２０２４年の反省 - Reflecting on 2024

With 2024 coming to a close in a few hours (at least here in Japan), I thought I would take the time for a bit of 反省 (hansei/self reflection) on this year. Compared to previous years, a lot of big things have happened for me this year - both good and bad. 

So below are my highlights for 2024, with links pointing to the relevant posts.

I was hospitalized for the first time in Japan.

As a result of a bad diet, I was admitted to hospital for a little over a week. Compared to my experiences with ambulance crew when I had the CCP virus, the nurses at the hospital were actually rather friendly and kind. 

This experience was also a wakeup call to make significant changes to my diet. I'm trying to cook more often, and avoiding a lot of oily food, especially deep-fried food. So no more karaage, or curry and rice. Hell, I haven't had McDonald's or even Mos Burger since then.

I got engaged.

Yeah, after 10 years, my girlfriend (now fiancée) and I finally got engaged, and we are going through the process of getting officially married before having the wedding ceremony. Furthermore, we are looking to move to a new apartment so that we can officially live together.

I visited the future mother-in-law.

Earlier this month, I travelled to Kagawa prefecture. While my fiancée had some other business to do here, it was an opportunity to do a bit of sightseeing in a part of Japan that I have never been to before. However, the main purpose was to visit my fiancée's mother for the very first time in all the years that we had been dating. Her mother was happy and approved of me (even though I had proposed before that), and my fiancée gave her approval of my performance when meeting her mother for dinner.

I went overseas this year.

I travelled overseas for the first time in 5 years. While I didn't go back home to Australia, I did go to the Philippines to see mum and the rest of my mum's side of the family. It's been nearly 20 years since I went to the Philippines, and it's also the first time to go to the Philippines without Dad since he passed away. 

So what will 2025 bring? Hopefully more good news than bad. In any case with just under 3 hours left here in Japan as of this post, よいお年を/Have a happy new year!

まだ生きてる - I'm still alive

 It's been over a month since my bout in hospital. So how am I doing now? Better than just before I went in to hospital, that's for sure. I had a checkup later on in May for a blood test, and the doctor said that my results were good. He showed me a comparison of my previous results when I first arrived at the hospital to figure out what was wrong, along with the regular blood tests that were done during my stay in hospital, and yeah, I am clearly doing better. 

The doctor wants me to return in late August for an echo scan and blood test to make sure that there are no further problems. Depending on the results, I may not need to return for several months, if ever. 

The cause of my condition was caused by a bad diet, and I have been making efforts to improve my diet - the first of which I am incorporating more vegetables. Furthermore, I have been bringing my own lunch to work recently and eating out just once a week. As the part of Tokyo that I am working in is particularly expensive, finding a cheap (but healthy) meal is a little more difficult. Though I found a nice restaurant near my office that does a nice vegetarian sandwich that is not served on white bread for a change, something I found is very rare in Japan. 

Something else I have started eating regularly is natto (納豆). If you don't know what it is, natto is fermented soybeans, and it's something that many foreigners usually don't like due to its smell, strong flavor and sticky/slimy texture. 

Natto - an acquired taste among foreigners

For a long time, I didn't like it either. However, there are several pros to natto - the first of which it's very healthy and helps improve digestion. The other is that it's very cheap to purchase at convenience stores or supermarkets, and can make for a quick prep meal, when eaten with rice and a side of vegetables. Since my time out of hospital, I've been eating natto with rice, and buying some pre cut vegetables at my nearby 7eleven for a quick dinner, which is also useful because I usually get back from the office around 8pm, due to my long commute home.

入院してしまった (I've been hospitalized)

For the last few days, I have been in hospital. I won't go in to the details of why, but I will have an operation tomorrow. 

In any case, in all the years I have lived in Japan, this is the first time that I have needed to be hospitalized. I have read about some people having some bad experiences with Japan's medical system, even myself when it came to dealing with getting an ambulance to come pick me up when I had covid. Fortunately, this time around, the doctors and nurses have generally been friendly. However, as my Japanese ability in the medical field is limited, and so there are many terms that I was not familiar with. Fortunately, my girlfriend, who has been an absolute legend throughout all this, was able to translate most of what the doctors were explaining, and I could kind of piece together other bits of information.

Of course, I also contacted my boss to let them know what has happened also.

My girlfriend was able to bring me all my essentials and necessities, along with a couple of extra things like my laptop and some puzzles to keep me busy in the meantime, but due to the hospital's covid policies, she cannot see me directly. The best that could be done was see each other through the glass wall and talk on the phone. Not the most ideal solution, but it's better than nothing. 

Though my condition is fortunately not life-threatening, I am a little afraid of the operation, even if it means I can make a recovery.

Another Year, Another Physical

The thing about working in Japan is the requirement that we have to do a medical/physical examination every year. While I had to make a booking and pay for it under my previous employer, my current employer takes care of the booking and payment of it. During all my time working in Australia with various employers, I have never had to do a physical examination.

Fortunately, as I have taken some days off this week, taking the medical exam worked well for me. 

Compared to having to do a physical in Australia (or at least, in my home town), in Japan I only need to go to the one clinic to get everything checked - vision, hearing, blood test, height, weight, chest x-ray - plus I could pick one optional check as part of the exam - some options including tumor marker to even checking if one has antibodies against the Chinese Communist Pneumonia. From getting in there to leaving the clinic, it took maybe 45 minutes at most, though with so few people there that day, I would say these were ideal conditions and there was very little waiting between each check.

When I had to do my medical before moving to Japan all the way back in 2016, I had to go to 4 different places, all on different days. I went to my GP for my height, vision and weight check; a different place for hearing, another place for my x-ray, and another place for my blood test - all out of my own pocket (despite health insurance), though it's not exactly reasonable for an employer situated in a different country to fork out for a medical examination in Australia. As it was on different days, it takes time to get the results back, and I had to go back my GP at the end of it all anyway. 

There are some things that Australia does better than Japan (which I may cover in a separate entry some time) but when it comes to things like medical exams, Japan completely trumps Australia on this. Lift your game Australia.