Wow, January went too fast! Is this how all of 2023 is going to be? 

Apparently according to science, the years do move faster as we get older. It’s a real thing. As we age, the rate of new experiences lessens compared with youth, when almost everything is new. That leads to a sense of the days being longer but time passing much more quickly overall! 

Good to know we can blame science not our age. 

It also means we need to treat our bodies like a house you have to live in for another 70 years and maintain it, touch up the paint, mend the ripped wallpaper and oil squeaky doors and generally repair wear and tear before it worsens. This is a great analogy for me as it links to where I have been focusing myself on steady, sustainable weight loss since September 2019, and also focusing on gut-health since January 2021. It rests on me, and me alone to invest in keeping sound, these foundations and structures. Regular attention and maintenance can go a long way and has seen me a long way from the doctor’s waiting room (three years and counting…)

As I mentioned last blog I was in New Zealand and stayed there till 20th January so it’s only right to give you some of my top reflections and learnings from this 2022-2023 trip back to my homeland:

• My mum is an Aussie and my Dad a Kiwi. Mum always used to get visibly irritated when I said I was “returning home” to Japan at the end of a trip back to NZ. But this time I noticed a shift. She calls Australia, where she was born and raised, her “homeland”, and she calls New Zealand, where she lives (has lived most of her life), her “home.” So I now have this cadence to use when speaking about my two homes - my homeland of New Zealand and my home in Japan.

• To remind me of my homeland, I always get three calendars from New Zealand - one special calendar is from my friend Tarns. Every year for 20 years, as a tradition, she has given me a Kiwiana calendar, and it takes pride of place on my office wall so I see it every day; the second calendar is always a NZ scenic calendar that I hang in the lounge (this time, a special one featuring Christchurch scenes only); and the third calendar is a motivational calender that is popped on the wall in my bedroom where I get into and out of my PJs morning and night. January says “Embrace all that you are!!

• There’s nothing like fresh fish and chips - I got to devour some after three years of abstinence. The Akaroa Blue cod was so delicious, especially washed down with Bladen Gewurztraminer! I travelled over the hills from Christchurch to Akaroa harbour with two of my brothers and we had a lot of fun in the car talking of old day memories of holidays in the Akaroa campground where our cousins were each summer. The view from the Hilltop Tavern looking down into Akaroa Harbour is one of my all time favourite views. Taking a walk through Tane’s Forest, up to Lovers Point and looking out to the Lighthouse and sparkling blue waters was so beautiful too.

• I aced my remote working. Trialling this in 2021-2022 was a good thing to do as I was primed for this time round. Working remotely (+4 hours ahead of Japan) can be a bit tricky as the day wears on but you can work remotely successfully with a bit of finesse in setting things up before you go. For example, a regular client secondment client agreed to move their 3-5pm (7pm - 9pm NZT) retainer to 9am -11am (1pm - 3pm NZT.) All that took was to ask, and have the new time socialised in the business, for the period I was away.
  
  Also I found the morning time was such a gift. It was super for doing all the things I like to do like having a walk, a relaxing french press of NZ-ground coffee, and doing Wordle with my mum and then getting some other chores or tasks before starting work 1pm NZT (9am JST). That allowed me to weed the garden while mum had covid, do grocery shopping, cook meals for the week and also go find a new pair of specs and renew my drivers licence. NZ shops close very early especially over summertime so maximising the morning hours was perfect. Work schedules and board meetings just took a bit of adjustment to create the temporary change of rhythm (routine)

… and onto my end of month wrap up! Here's what I got up to in January - a shorter, low-powered version this month due to being away from a social calendar in Japan  and it was basically the holidays after all!

• I released TWO new episodes of the Lawyer on Air Podcast with Rika Beppu as Season 4 Episode 10, about “Developing a Growth Mindset to Become Managing Partner of a Joint Enterprise Law Firm in Japan” Mindy Allen returned to feature on Season 5 Episode 1 of the podcast with “From Lawyer to Recruiter in Japan”as her episode title. Since Mindy recorded her first chat with me - Season 1 Ep 6 “Leveraging Serendipity with Work Ethic for Success in the Japanese Legal Industry” - she has moved to a new exciting role as a legal recruiter. Mindy shared her insights and a recent article she wrote on Bengoshi lawyers and a growing trend away from taking up overseas LLM assignments.
  
  If you are enjoying my podcast episodes, I would love you to take just a few minutes of your time over this holiday break to leave me a rating on Apple podcasts, and write a short review so more people can hear about the podcast after reading your words to encourage them to do so. Thank you!
  
  

• Together with co-host Jayne Nakata we released another two new episodes of the Jandals in Japan Podcast. Episode 22 was with Jess Souchon who joined us to talk about landing a dream rugby job in Japan as a Performance Analyst and we went into space, talking with Professor G. Aglietti from Auckland University for Episode 23, about space collaborations between New Zealand and Japan, such as cleaning up satellite debris!
  
  

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• I became a tourist in my hometown! It was a lot of fun and made me reminisce about my first career as a Japanese-speaking tour guide. Right on Christmas the Tram operations company in Christchurch gave away free tram tickets (usually NZD$30) if you donated a basket of goodies to charity. We did that and as a family we cruised around the city together and retold stories of buildings and locations that held memories, and saw remnants of the 2011 earthquakes, still to be fixed and other areas that have been modernised. Afterwards we had a rare family gathering for cocktails at OGB Bar in Cathedral Square. 

  
  

• I was em-cee at the ANZCCJ Shinnenkai - New Years Party - at the Conrad Tokyo (yes this hotel is constantly in my ecosystem) and it was a lot of fun to be back in the thick of public gatherings again in Tokyo … without a mask on. I can recall days when standing at a podium would give me shivers and now it fills me with excitement as I aim for delivery of the evening’s flow with equal portions of fun and professionalism. 

And finally… 

It was a shock to hear of the resignation of Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister, on 19 January, the day before I was leaving to return to come back to Tokyo. I heard the news first via text message from Jayne Nakata in Japan, as I walked to my car in the carpark, and sat in the car in disbelief before I could turn over the ignition key. When I got back, I wrote a short piece on Linkedin about my memory of meeting a person who led with empathy and kindness and changed our worldview of what leaders should be like. She was well-known and has many fans in Japan and I think that speaks volumes of the depth to which her vibrations have been and will continue to be felt. I can’t wait to see what she does next and hope it means we can meet again one day.

That’s all from me for this month. See you in February (my birthday month).

Catherine