Diary of Joy and Shine — 安岡喜晴 (JoyShine)

Wednesday, June 10, 2026 : Back in the Old Neighborhood

Today I went out for my occupational physician duties to the nostalgic area where I used to live.
The agenda for the health and safety committee focused on heatstroke.

On the way back, the weather was nice but hot, so I sipped a soda as I walked.
This road was the one I often passed through on my way to play at a friend's house.
I thought they might still be there, and I checked the nameplate, but there was none.
Come on, there's no way they're still here.
After all, it's an apartment, and that was 40 years ago.
Remembering the old days, wishing I could go back to those times, I walked to the station.

After getting home, I went out for a haircut.

Saturday, May 23, 2026 : Cafes, Beef Katsu, and Bibim Naengmyeon

Taking a break at Tsujiri, then lunch at Katsugyu, newly opened at Kyoto Yodobashi.

Beef katsu, soft-boiled egg, miso soup, and a variety of sauces.
Around 2000 yen for this, and considering the location and what's included, the cost performance is impressive.

Pretty satisfying for the price.

Leaving the restaurant, we figured we'd get going early since the sky looked threatening.

After that, we took another break at Holly's Cafe, then biked to the shopping mall.
We grabbed dinner at a Korean restaurant in the shopping mall. I ordered bibim naengmyeon.
Then we did some shopping at the supermarket and headed home.

May 16, 2026 : More Than the Dress and the Voice

Today, we went to Sakanoue Shoten, a restaurant located on Shinbashi Street near Shijo Kawaramachi.

When we stepped inside, the interior of the restaurant had an old, nostalgic look that brought back memories of the past.
According to the staff, this building has been here since the Taisho era, it dates back over 100 years.

For drinks, we ordered a melon soda and a sudachi citrus squash.

Inside the restaurant, John Lennon's "Love," the Bee Gees' "Melody Fair," the Cascades' "Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain," and lots of other nostalgic songs I used to listen to all the time were playing.
Even Richard Clayderman came on, ah... memories...

The food had a purely Japanese feel, and it was delicious.
And it reminded me of how delicious ochazuke is.

And, just as we were about to leave, "Eyes on Me" came on, of all things!

John Lennon, the Bee Gees, the Cascades, Richard Clayderman... and so on... and then, finally, game music came on!!

What on earth is this lineup?
From oldies to game music... what kind of genre is this?

Come to think of it, ever since we entered, the songs playing had all been ones I sing at karaoke, beyond genre.

Maybe memories work the same way.
Scattered, inconsistent, impossible to categorize, and yet unmistakably ours.

In other words, we're all more than what others see, hear, or can gain from us.

May 15, 2026 : Clinic, Committee, And Cafe Break

Today, morning outpatient clinic, then I saw patients until three in the afternoon, and then I went on to my occupational physician duties to attend the health and safety committee meeting.

At the health and safety committee, I talked about heatstroke prevention and customer harassment countermeasures.

Kyoto's already seeing days around 30°C, and the forecast for the start of next week is up to 36°C, so I said we need to check the flow for who to report to when they feel sick and how to step away from work, including for the backyard, receiving area, kitchens, and event work.
I also said kitchens are an especially high-risk spot for heatstroke because humidity and radiant heat come on top of the air temperature, and WBGT meters should be installed there.
Also, I shared the standards. Even under WBGT 21 drinking water is necessary, 28 or above is severe warning level, and 31 or above is the danger zone, where you should think about changing the work content, adding breaks, rotating staff, or even stopping work depending on the situation.

On customer harassment, I explained that since service work is emotional labor, behaviors like verbal abuse, intimidating language, long forced interactions, excessive demands, and hinting at social media posts are health and safety issues that can drive employees into mental health problems or out of the job.
I also told them that since customer harassment countermeasures will become a mandatory obligation for employers under the revised Labor Policy Comprehensive Promotion Act starting October 1, 2026, the company needs to do more than just lay out a policy.
The company needs to set up early on who staff can turn to on the floor, at what point to escalate to the store manager or head office, how to keep records, and a system that doesn't leave employees handling things by themselves.

On top of that, I brought up the measles outbreak as another agenda item.
Routine measles vaccination in Japan started in October 1978, and depending on the system before that and the number of doses, immunity levels vary widely by generation.
I pointed out that those born between October 1, 1972 and April 1, 1990 in particular are the single-dose generation, so their antibody levels have likely declined, and I asked them to check their maternal and child health handbook, get an antibody test, and consider getting a booster MR vaccine if needed.

After the health and safety committee, I conducted a return-to-work interview with an employee on leave over the web.
There were no particular issues, and I concluded that he could return to work.

Interview wrapped, and the weekend mood finally kicked in!
I took a break at a cafe on Gokomachi Street and then headed home.

May 5, 2026 : Path That Lives On

Today we went to Arashiyama.

We biked west, west along Oike Street.
Turned right at the famous (?) Sanjo Oike intersection.
Before long, we reached the Daiei Street shopping arcade, then went down the slope and kept going straight, straight, straight!

And we made it to Arashiyama.

After about a 30-minute wait, we got into this cafe.
One of the most popular cafes around.

A bit unusual, but I ordered an orange cream soda.
And a matcha tiramisu.

Melon cream soda is everywhere, but orange cream soda is a rare find.
Plus, since I'd been waiting under the bright sun, I was tired and went with a soda.
But the soda took so long to arrive that by the time it came, I'd already recovered from the fatigue.
So drinking the soda was kind of a struggle to finish.
Since I was no longer tired.
I should have gone with a hot cafe latte.
So after finishing the soda, I ordered a hot caramel latte on top of that.
I finished the hot caramel latte, and we left.

After leaving the cafe, we walked along the Bamboo Path.
I walk this path every time I come to Arashiyama.
I remembered that day.
The day in 2014 when I walked along the Bamboo Path with my mother and father.

That moment is gone, never to return.
I want to return, but there's no going back to that world.
This path I'm walking now.
What's waiting at the end of this path, I wonder.

May 2, 2026 : A Day of Cycling Around Higashiyama

Today we'd planned to go to Arashiyama, but we got a late start, so we switched to the Higashiyama area instead.

From Oike Street, we headed north on Teramachi Street.
We hit Marutamachi Street and turned east.
After that, we went north and further north on Shirakawa Street.

Then, we stopped at a Japanese sweets cafe, Ichijoji Nakatani.
We ordered the warabi mochi parfait.

We then went to a cafe, Tsubame, for a coffee break, but it was almost closing time.

So we just kept cycling north up Shirakawa Street to Shirakawa Kitayama.
From there, we headed west along Kitayama Street for Horikawa Kitayama.

Along the way, we crossed Matsugasaki Bridge. It reminded me of that day.
That day when, on the way back from cherry blossom viewing, we stopped at Volks, the restaurant that means so much to me, and then rode home along the Takano River.

Partway there, we stopped at a place on Kitayama Street that looked like a cafe to rest, but they were only open until 5 pm, so we used the bathroom, bought some cookies, and left.
There was a tea cafe close by, but it likely served only set courses and looked pricey, so we skipped it.
So we got back on our bikes and continued west until we reached Horikawa Kitayama.
From there, we biked south to Horikawa Kitaoji.

Then, we cycled east to the mall near Karasuma Kitaoji.
There, we took a break at Freshness Burger on the first floor. This is a place where I often took breaks during my Doshisha days.
We stayed there resting until around 7:50 pm, then around 8:00 pm, we had spicy ramen at Fukuchian, a ramen shop on the same floor.

After eating, we went to the bike parking.
AAAAH!! We parked at the same time but hers was free and mine was 200 yen?? These automated bike parking systems really mess up way too often!!
There's actually a spot at Shijo Omiya where it always comes out free. I'm not gonna write which one here, though.

We left the mall and sped home on our bikes down Shinmachi Street.
Shinmachi Street has light traffic, so it's nice to bike on.

We didn't make it to Arashiyama as planned, but the cycling turned out to be more fun than expected.
It was a good day.

April 30, 2026 : The Power of Timing

Today, we had sukiyaki for lunch at Juen.

Before the sukiyaki started. I remembered that day.
That rare day, surprisingly I was the first to arrive lol.
That day was sukiyaki too.
We ate sukiyaki, got full, and left the restaurant.

Since we were nearby, we thought we'd check out Gion Tokuya, and when we got there, what a miracle, zero wait time.

We enjoyed Tokuya's warabi mochi with zero wait, and when we left, the usual line was there as always.

The wonder that timing weaves.

Back in junior high, that instant when the noisy classroom suddenly went dead silent, just for a moment.
At that moment, everyone got buzzing, "What was that silence just now?"

Dozens of conversations, all going silent at the exact same moment.
Dozens of people in line, all happening to disappear right before I arrived.

Slipping through the mesh of probability, a miracle born from coincidences stacked together.

Tokuya, and the memory of that classroom, taught me the power of timing.

April 29, 2026 : Song That Hasn't Aged

Today we went out for dinner at Benjamin Steakhouse Kyoto.
Inside, we were led to a booth.
The space felt cozy and relaxed.

We ordered the three-meat course and ginger ale.
The first dish was a salad with prosciutto.

In the background, Ray Charles's "I Can't Stop Loving You" was playing.
It felt nostalgic somehow.
It's a song I used to listen to thirty years ago, when I was a ronin studying for university entrance exams.

Even at that time, the song was already more than thirty years old.
The Beatles, too.
Thirty years have passed since then, so logically the songs should feel even older than they did back then.
But listening to them now, they feel just as old as they did then.

Why? Strange.
Oldness isn't about time. It's about whether the brain perceives it or not.
Probably that's because the song's presence hasn't changed, and so the oldness I feel stays the same, no matter how many years pass.
Just like my own memories, no matter how much time passes, I'm still the same self I was back then.
Time has stood still, I thought.

April 11, 2026 : Sakura Pancake at Micasadeco

Today we went to Micasadeco Cafe Kyoto.
I had the sakura pancake.
It came topped with a cherry blossom petal and gold leaf, and I ate it with matcha cream on the side.

After that, we stopped by Doutor.
I was already full from the previous place, so I just relaxed with a cup of hot tea.
On the way back, instead of taking Kawaramachi Street, we walked along the Takase River on Kiyamachi Street.
Because this way is less crowded and easier to walk.

We thought about stopping somewhere for dinner on the way, but we weren't really that hungry, so we just bought something at the convenience store and came home.

April 10, 2026 : Quite the Multitasking

In the morning, there weren't many patients, but somehow, I felt tired.
I'm not so sure why, but I've been feeling kind of tired lately.
Then a man who'd had lung cancer surgery came in, and when I checked his past records, I realized that I was the one who had flagged his chest X-ray for further examination.
After that, somehow I got my energy back and the tiredness seemed to fade away.
It made me realize that fatigue has so much to do with whether your heart feels it or not.

In the afternoon, I worked on a PC investigation.
I traced the behavior of an app to figure out where it saved its data, to extract the data I'd been asked to pull.
And, I also talked with one of the technicians about how we handle the assessment of color vision test results.
After that, I reviewed the chest X-ray readings for today's patients. I check all the other doctors' readings at the end, as well.
Quite the multitasking, lol.

March 29, 2026 : A Spring Day at the Kyoto Imperial Palace

Today we went to the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

While walking down the gravel path in the grounds of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, we saw a tree with white blossoms among the pine trees.

From there, we visited the exhibit about Emperor Showa's enthronement, with black-and-white photos of the Emperor and Empress in their robes.

Next, we came to the Gishumon Gate, and looked up at the wooden pillars and golden ornaments.

Then, looking at the Shishinden from under the Jomeimon Gate, we could see the hall beyond the vermilion pillars.

We then went around to the front of the Shishinden, with the Sakon no Sakura and Ukon no Tachibana standing on either side.

"Sakon" means "left guard" and "Ukon" means "right guard", the names come from the imperial guards who used to line up near these trees during ceremonies.

The cherry blossom symbolizes fleeting beauty, while the tachibana citrus tree symbolizes eternity, they're paired together as a contrast.
A thing that flees, and a thing that stays unchanged forever.
I wondered what this contrast means.
Does it mean that a thing is beautiful because it isn't eternal?
Or does it simply show how this world is built, from things that are fleeting and things that are eternal?
Either way, I feel the essence of Japanese aesthetics standing on either side of this place.

From there, we came to the Gonaitei Garden, where the curved Dobashi bridge was reflected in the water beneath beautifully sweeping pine branches.

At the back of the garden, there was another weeping cherry tree.

Finally, we stopped at SASAYA IORI+.

It was really a relaxing day.

March 28, 2026 Chasing Cherry Blossoms from the Kyoto Prefectural Office to the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park

We went to the Kyoto Prefectural Office to see the cherry blossoms. Most people don't think of cherry blossoms when they hear the Kyoto Prefectural Office, but it's a famous spot, and the courtyard was lively with people snapping photos.
We joined them, took our time wandering, and stopped to look up at the beautiful sakura trees.

Then, we walked over to the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park. The place is so spacious, and the sakura trees there had room to bloom with a powerful presence.

We tried to go into the Kyoto Imperial Palace, but the gates had already closed for the day. So close! Oh well, I guess we'll just have to come back tomorrow!