Author Archives: MD

Arigato NattoーHow to Make Natto at Home Even in Africa

Once you touch it, it will stick to you without leaving you. Usually people hate it at the first sight , but some people gradually start loving it and cannot even stand without it as it can be a great supporter of your life.

What is it? Is it what is so called a love?

No, it is Natto, fermented soy beans which is one of the cheapest and healthiest foods in Japan (you can buy 3 packs of Natto for 100 JPYーless than 1 USDーin most markets. In this article, let me share the importance of Natto and how to make it at home, which was successful even in Africa.

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Mauritania 5ー 3 Learnings from the First Rain

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Do you know what does the July 29th mean?

Based on the historical events on this day,

(1221) Japanese emperor Go-Horikawa aged only 10 years old ascends to the throne.
(1836) Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
(1921) Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party
(1923) Albert Einstein speaks on pacifism in Berlin
(2018) 6.4 magnitude earthquake strikes island of Lombok, Indonesia

Well, in short every year something happens on the same day, and although I picked some events which caught my attention, those do not have direct meaning to me.

What’s meaningful to me was the July 29th in 2018, the day I saw the rain for the first time in Mauritania. At that time we were in rainy season more than 1 month without any drip of water. You might think it is no big deal. But what matters is the meaning that brings to the life of each of us depending on the context, about which I would like to share, as there are some learnings which can be aplicable for other context (at least I hope).

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Mauritania 4ーHow Russian World Cup Empowered Japanese in West Africa

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E nglish, Español, Français, 日本語

It’s been 12th year since I left Japan, and the more or less I am used to living in other countries. Having said that, the first 3 months in Mauritania was quite tough (as you can see the detail in the previous blog entries:
Mauritania 1ーLife turning point
Mauritania 2ーRamadan and Life cycle
Mauritania 3ーIs it a private taxi or what

Mauritanie 1, Mauritanie 2, Mauritanie 3 ). Just to show one indicator, within 3 months, I already lost 4 kg and sometimes felt a bit down.

It was the best moment, when worldwide event happened. Ole- Ole- ! Yes, world cup Russia 2018.

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Importance of taking a break from work and how to recharge mental and physical energy

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WORK.

It has existed throughout our human history for various reasons: Adam’s punishment from the god, then humans worked for survival; followed by maintaining their family, money making, finding one’s own passion and serving for others / words, etc. The type of work has evolved from hunting, farming, religious act, art and product making, mass production and service, digital work, etc.

Except 7-8 hours unconscious time of sleeping (if you are lucky and conscious enough to get that much), most people work more than half of our given time (be it at home or office). We work to live, achieve something meaningful and/or probably be happy. It is our nature and that’s how it has been.

However, our energy has a limit and we cannot keep using. Let’s see the mechanism of work and energy, and how to live happily without burnout.

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Small dream came trueーTravelling to Senegal

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Small dream came true!

As I wrote in my previous entry (Mauritania 1ーLife turning point) coming to Africa was my small dream, and I heard about Senegal being famous for my favorite culture: music, dance, food, fashion, history, etc.

Although it was there for job purpose, I travelled one day before to get to know a bit of Dakar, the capital of Senegal. I would say I could achieve most of what tourists would do in this city, about which I would like to share in this entry.

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Things to do in MoroccoーBullet TravelーVisit 5 main cities in 4.5 days

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When I was a backpacker (10-15 years ago), I didn’t want to visit the same country I already went, as i wanted to know other contexts as much as possible. However, the more I travelled, the more I realized that it is quite difficult to generalize a country as each city, and sometimes each village has something different.

That’s why I decided to travel Morocco (where I went once) and managed to visit 5 major cities although I just had 4.5 days of vacation.

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Recharge energy in Tenerife – Eternal Spring

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If I had not come to Mauritania, I would not have been to this place— Canary Islands, also known as “Eternal Spring”

As a backpacker (or at least someone with backpacker’s mind) who prefers to see as many different things as possible, I was not into beach and resort places. However, I actually needed to find the way out to change the air, as the expat life in Mauritania without entertainment was not easy.

Then voilà!Literally the air of the island was different (comfortable temperature without flies and sand dust). In fact, the entire environment was different from the one in Mauritania (Nouakchott) even though the distance between them is quite short (2 hours flight distance). This experience allowed us to recharge energy. I will briefly explain how it was done.

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