I'm a Japanese housewife living in Japan. I'm in my 60's. I want to know daily lives in the world, so at first I'll tell my daily. What is your daily life?
It’s New Year’s Eve. I’ve already started cooking for the New Year. Right now, my pressure cooker is working on hanamame, large black beans. I’m making some traditional New Year’s dishes.
While cooking, we’re also revisiting our life planning notebooks and looking back over what we’ve written.
One thing we haven’t done yet is wash our cars. That will be our first mission after the New Year holidays. This year, we gave up washing them ourselves, and car-wash machines at gas stations are crowded everywhere.
It’s the day before New Year’s Eve, isn’t it? Today is the last day Yuki is going to his gym this year. I missed my gym yesterday, so my gym year has already come to an end.
Since yesterday, I’ve been slowly organizing paperwork—tax returns, medical expense claims, and so on. I’ll also be closing our household accounts for the year.
I’m no longer self-employed, so I don’t really have to do all this anymore, but out of habit, I continue to take care of these things for our household.
Yuki used to work as a company employee, so his company took care of everything for him. He says he’s not very familiar with this kind of paperwork. Perhaps that’s just an excuse.
Winter vacation has started, but some people are still working until tomorrow. (And of course, some people don’t get a winter vacation.) The gym is still open, so we’re planning to go this afternoon for about 30 minutes of light exercise each.
It’s Sunday—sunny but cold. Yuki is planning to go to a big stationery store to get a new diary. I switched our Christmas decorations to New Year’s ones. Since Yuki’s mother passed away this year, I kept the decorations simple. 2026 is the Year of the Horse, so I put out a small wooden horse that belonged to my late mother.
Yesterday Yuki was able to get his treatment. Now he has about two weeks off to rest. He also saw an ENT doctor yesterday. Unfortunately, his hoarse voice doesn’t seem likely to improve, since his left vocal cord is paralyzed. Still, there’s no aspiration, so we’re glad he can eat noodles—that’s something to be thankful for.
Today we’re heading to the apple orchard for the last time this year. Just a short drive. It sounds fun.
Today is the last hospital visit of the year. Next week, Yuki will finally have a break from hospitals and clinics. We hope his numbness will ease, even just a little. Lately, though, we’ve almost given up hoping. Still, if it gets any worse, the treatment will probably have to be stopped.
I find myself writing rather pessimistically, but we’ve finished our year-end cleaning as much as we could. Starting tomorrow, we should be able to take our mornings slowly.
Yesterday, we somehow ended up with a lot of chicken. Yuki bought a small turkey at a department store, and then in the evening a friend brought us three chicken legs. We couldn’t possibly eat it all, so we’ll be having chicken again tonight.
Today we’re heading downtown again to run some errands, and we’re planning to borrow a few books from the library for our winter break.
It’s Christmas Eve, isn’t it? We don’t have any special plans. If anything since yesterday my tooth has been hurting, so I should make an appointment with my dentist. Today, our architect and the repairmen are coming to reconsider the bathroom renovation plan.
Our Christmas event has come to an end. Our friend’s performance yesterday was wonderful. This week, we have our last round of hospital visits for the year.
Yesterday, he was able to receive chemotherapy. The tumors haven’t grown, though they haven’t shrunk either. The treatment does seem to be keeping things in check, even if the doctor is hoping for a little more improvement.
Today, the architect is coming. The bathroom renovation is proving more complicated than we had expected, and it seems the plans may need to change quite a bit. Still, we’ll take it as it comes.
It’s Friday again—Yuki’s hospital day. When Friday comes, we remind ourselves to accept the situation, telling each other, “Somehow, it will work out.” It’s going to be a long day today.
Today I’m going to a clinic for CBT. While I’m there, Yuki will be at Costco. After that, we’ll visit our lawyer. In the evening, Yuki will get a massage. He only just joined a gym, but it looks like he won’t be able to go for a while.
Yesterday, two repairmen came to look at the bathroom renovation, but they felt it might be a little difficult to meet our request. Of course, if we set the budget aside, there would probably be ways to make it work—but that isn’t realistic. We’ll talk it over with the architect once more.
In the afternoon, we made a round of banks to pick up some documents.
It turned into quite a long day.
Today, an acquaintance is planning to stop by this afternoon. I’m looking forward to it.
Yesterday, after I received acupuncture treatment, I lay down in bed all afternoon. I guess the fatigue finally caught up with me. Yuki went for a massage in the afternoon, and both of us stayed at home, taking it easy.
Today, a repair person is coming to check the condition of our bathroom. Somehow, there’s been a lot going on.
Monday has started. This morning, the two of us are going to receive moxibustion. To be precise, a friend of mine, who is a licensed acupuncturist, is teaching us how to do simple moxibustion at home to help reduce numbness.
The lesson will last about 30 minutes, because Yuki cannot tolerate a longer session. After that, he will go to his clinic and then to the Legal Affairs Bureau. While he is running those errands, I will receive acupuncture and moxibustion from her. It’s been quite a while since my last treatment.
It is a quiet Sunday. It’s raining for the first time in a while. I’m glad it’s rain and not snow. It’s a bit disappointing that rain is falling on the windows I’ve just cleaned, but that’s all right too.
Yesterday, Yuki was able to receive chemotherapy. Balancing treatment and side effects is difficult, but for now, he continues the treatment.
This afternoon, he will join a jam session. I will participate in an online meeting of shuukatsu advisers.
Shuukatsu is a Japanese concept that refers to end-of-life planning, such as organizing personal matters, caregiving arrangements, and funeral preferences. I obtained a private shuukatsu adviser certification. I do not plan to work using this qualification; however, while organizing the knowledge and information I gained through my late mother and my late mother-in-law as they aged, I was able to earn it. Recently, many people working in insurance, caregiving, and funeral-related fields have begun obtaining this certification.
Today is Yuki’s hospital day. Since he couldn’t receive his treatment last week, we think he will probably be able to have chemotherapy this week. That’s good news, but it also means that the side effects—which had calmed down during his break—will trouble him again. There’s no way around it.
As I wrote before, Yuki quit all his tennis clubs except one, and instead he has started going to a light-exercise gym. He thought he could handle the machine exercises easily—and he actually could—but because all the exercises were new to his body, his hip muscles started to hurt. So he has also begun visiting a nearby Japanese-style bodywork and massage clinic. It feels like the typical life of an elderly person, doesn’t it?
Yesterday I joined an online English meeting. The topics are... "Appliances"
◆What is an appliance that you have bought but rarely ever use? What does it do?
We usually use the appliances we buy, and if we notice we have something we rarely use, we usually let go of it.
I checked the shelf in my kitchen and realized that I have a juicer. I use it sometimes, but I’ve only used the attachment that grates daikon radish once.
If I looked through all my appliances, I’d probably find some attachments I hardly ever use.
◆When did you last buy an appliance? Why did you decide to buy this machine?
I recently bought a microwave-safe grill pan that lets you grill fish in the microwave and even gives it a nice sear.
We thought we should eat more fish, but washing the regular grill is troublesome.
◆How many appliances do you have in your kitchen? Which do you use the most?
At a quick glance, I have eight appliances including the refrigerator in my kitchen.
But if I include the smaller ones stored in the cupboards as well, I probably have more than twenty in total.
I use my microwave-safe grill pan, yogurt maker, and electric kettle the most.
Today is the second Tuesday, the day of my performance with my friend at Karaku Café. This past month went by so quickly. Though you may not believe it, I always feel a little anxious about whether I’ll be able to go to Karaku again next time.
Today I’m going to wear a red sweater and white pants—like Santa without his bag.
Our architect is coming today, and we’ll get the final estimate. The renovation is planned for next month and will take about a week. We had already included this in our retirement plan six years ago. Prices are very different now, which is a headache, but we’ll figure it out somehow.
Yesterday, just as we expected, the doctor instructed Yuki to take a break from his chemotherapy. Reducing the numbness was given top priority. So he was supposed to come home earlier than usual, but there was also a mistake with the prescription, and in the end, it turned into a long day as usual.
Because of that, I missed my dental appointment, so I’m going today to have the stitches removed.
From now on, we will probably always feel anxious about choosing between continuing the treatment and reducing the side effects. But for now, at least, he still has something to treat—or suppress—his tumors. It’s scary that the future looks even more uncertain, but somehow I have to learn to accept it.
Today is Yuki’s hospital day. He will probably have to take a break from his medication.
We—especially I—feel that he needs time to recover his physical strength, and if he rests from the treatment, his strength may come back. Of course, the tumor might become active again as well, but even so, we think rest is important for now.
According to his schedule, he plans to play tennis tomorrow and join his jam session the day after tomorrow.
Yesterday, we (mainly I) almost finished cleaning the windows, which is our top priority for winter cleaning. Our motto is that trying our best is what matters most—the result comes second.
I wiped the windows with cleaner, so the dust was removed. But as you know, I’m not a very careful person—I am a bit sloppy—so there are still streaks on the windows. Additionally, I don’t plan to wash the lace curtains.
It’s Thursday. This morning, each of us is going to our own gym for a 30-minute workout. Then we’ll buy some deli food for lunch at the supermarket where Yuki’s gym is. In the afternoon, Yuki will go to the radon hot spring sauna by himself. It should be a peaceful day.
Today I am going to hold my laughter yoga meeting. Unfortunately one woman has to cancel because she has to go to the dentist. Today’s laughter yoga meeting is the last one of this year. Probably next meeting will be in February. I hope I will be able to held it next year.
In the afternoon, the architect is coming. We’re looking forward to seeing what kind of plans he’ll bring. On the other hand, we already know the estimate will be over our budget, so we are a bit worried.
The bathroom renovation was part of our retirement plan. We planned to renovate after turning 65. But the economic situation has completely changed since then.
Even so, we’ve been steadily using our retirement funds as planned—which means our savings have been decreasing exactly as expected. In a way, that’s pretty amazing. I take pride in being stingy.
Yesterday Yuki joined a gym. For his first session, he used the exercise bike while watching YouTube on his phone, because the gym has free Wi-Fi. While he was doing that, I was also doing a 30-minute workout at my gym, which is right across from his. But to tell the truth, my hip joint started hurting this time, so I only did one circuit. It probably took just 15 minutes. So he must have exercised for more than 30 minutes. I waited for him at the supermarket’s food corner, reading a book and drinking a 140-yen coffee. Until half a year ago, it was 120 yen.
Yesterday I went to do sutra copying, and I talked a little with the head priest. I’m not a Buddhist, but in Japan Buddhist elements are part of everyday life, so I can go and do sutra copying without feeling any resistance. It seems I enjoy gentle spiritual cultivation — not rigorous training.
My husband Yuki and I live in a regional city. Our retirement life has state since 2020. Though Something good, exciting, worried or bad often happens, we try to focus the current situation and spend enjoyable days while living offf our savings little by little carefully.
