Happy New Year♥!　

【A message for golf and baseball lovers!】

[Prologue] New Year's Day, 2017. Ujitawara Town in the south of Kyoto.This is a peaceful town adjacent to Uji City, famous for its tea, and most of the Uji tea is grown here. In the mountains all around the town, tea fields that look like perms are spread all the way to the neighboring Shigaraki area in Shiga Prefecture to the north and Wazuka Town in the southern part of Kyoto Prefecture, making it a peaceful rural town. Recently, the town has attracted companies and factories and developed into an industrial complex, while to the west is Joyo City, located exactly in the middle of Kyoto and Nara, 20km (Gori ) from Kyoto and 20km (Gori ) from Nara, and is close to Osaka, and is known as Gorigori Village, which has flourished as a commuter town to the city center. A number of episodes unfold in this terrain blessed with nature, mountains and rivers.

Act 1 [Birth] The morning of January 1st, every New Year's Day, is sunny and windless, and very calm.Two loud cries echoed through the hospital in this tranquil town. "It's been born! Is it a boy or a girl? Is it healthy? Is the mother OK?" Various voices were heard in the hospital.At 10 am, two new lives were born into this world. The baby of the Eburi family was a boy, named Gantan after the father's name Hajime（Gan）, as he was born on January 1st.The Ayu family, who also married internationally and whose husband moved to Kyoto and became a husband, had a baby girl, named Hapi. Seven years have passed since then, and the two children have been growing up healthy and strong. The Ayu family consists of seven people: Grandpa Ken, Grandma Natsu, single son Hidetaka, daughter Tomomi and her husband Daddy's eldest daughter Hapi, and three years later, her younger sister Moni was born. Ken's father passed away more than ten years ago, and he has never seen Daddy, Hapi, or Moni. Ken's mother, his great-grandmother, lives alone in the house next door to the right, and Ken checks on her from time to time. She lives next door to my house on the left, and was born on the same day and time as me.Ken's father is Eburi Hajime, his mother is Tora-san, his grandfather Jin-san, and his grandmother Tama-chan, making up a family of five. Both families were classmates of my grandfather's in elementary school, and they are very close, often having barbecues in the garden, and have a very lively relationship like a family. Grandpa Ken is now 66 years old, and after graduating from a technical high school in Fushimi, Kyoto, famous for its crybaby rugby coach, he worked at an architectural firm for several years, then became freelance and ran his own design firm for nearly 40 years, but he lost his clients due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the economic crisis a few years ago, and went out of business a year ago at the age of 65. After retiring, he spent his days freely playing golf and driving, which were his hobbies, but every day was boring, so now he is working as a part-time taxi driver for an app, three days a week. Grandma Natsu worked in a boutique when she was young, and then worked part-time as a caddy.She loves traveling and family dinners, and is a full-time housewife who enjoys hot spring trips and golfing with her grandfather Ken.Dad's Daddy JK was a shipbuilding supervisor, and after graduating from university, he got a job at a large trading company, but it didn't suit him, and he quit because he was a little neurotic. He was introduced by his uncle to a supervisor of a shipbuilding project overseas, where he could use his language skills, and he has been traveling abroad ever since.Now he goes to Kazakhstan for four weeks and takes a four-week break at home, repeating this cycle.He has always loved Japan, and when he was a student, he stayed in Hokkaido for a few days while working part-time, so he is fluent in Japanese.He also loves Japanese food, and is quite knowledgeable about Japan. Mom's eldest daughter, Tomomi, grew up free-spirited and took lessons in ballet, piano, and other subjects from a young age.After graduating from a high school attached to a prestigious university in Kyoto, she did not continue on to the university in Kyoto, but instead lived in a dormitory in Beppu, Kyushu for four years to study languages ​​and attend an international sister university.She now works part-time as an office worker at a real estate agency three days a week. Mom's younger brother, Hide-older brother, is our uncle, but we make him call us Hide-older brother.He has a personality like a vagabond tiger and is still unmarried, traveling all over Japan working in events. Her younger sister, Moni-chan, is in second grade and is a cheerful, active girl in excellent health.She loves her older sister and follows her wherever she goes, but she is stubborn and competitive.She often fights, but she also has a kind side, and in the end, even though she cries, she gives in to her older sister. I'm Hapi, a fifth-grader in elementary school.She is more competitive than her sister, and as her grandparents' first grandchild, she was spoiled and raised to be quite a selfish girl.She doesn't like to be number one in anything, and once she makes up her mind, she won't give in, even to her sister. Keiburi's grandfather, Jin-san, is a childhood friend and classmate of Ken-san's, and a former carpenter. After handing over his business to Gen-san, he seems to be busy with his hobby of fishing. Jin-san's wife, Tama-chan, works in the tea fields during the tea-picking season. His father, Gen-san, is self-employed and has taken over a construction company as a master carpenter. Tora-san, Gantan’s mother, also works in the tea fields only during the tea-picking season, and when Gen-san is busy, she keeps herself busy by making tea for the fellow craftsmen on site and helping with cleaning. Gantan’s, her only son, is in the same class, and is a comedian-like boy who never gives up in the face of adversity. My childhood friend had no siblings on Gantan, and when he came home from school and his parents were away at work, we would do our homework together at my house, so we grew up like three brothers and sisters. This is the beginning of a story filled with the ups and downs of such a family's sports and various jobs, and joys, sorrows, anger, sorrows, and happiness.


Act 2 [First time skiing] A relatively calm morning during winter break in January.Today, we are going skiing for the first time. Grandpa Ken used to ski when he was young, so today we decided to go skiing together.It's sunny outside and not that cold. Grandma said."Uchi（Me） and Uttoco（husband） are sunny girls and boys, so we hardly ever get caught in the rain even when we go golfing." Grandpa was driving a five-seater car, Mom was in the passenger seat, New Year's Day was in the middle in the back seat, and Moni and I sat by the window. It was the usual style. Early in the morning, Grandma made us lunch boxes by grilling tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet) and sausages. Daddy is going to Kazakhstan and is planning to come back the week after next. We drove over the mountains from Ujitawara to Otsu in Shiga Prefecture, and arrived at the Biwako Valley ski resort on the Kosei（Lake West） Road in less than two hours. The frozen roads and snow that we were worried about have mostly melted due to recent global warming, so it's no problem. We were able to park at a relatively high level since it was a weekday. When we took our skiwear out of the trunk and put it on, it was so stiff that we all looked like robots, and my grandpa looked like a Michelin tire character, and I burst out laughing. I was carrying a pair of short skis that my granddad had bought at an alpine ski shop a few years ago, and my mom had a child's bike slider without a chain.The ski sled parts were attached to the front tire with a string. My younger sister Moni carried a plastic snowboard sled and a bag containing lunch boxes and drinks to the bus stop. The bus arrived, and we all got on, and the bus took us to the cable car station. We bought tickets and got on the cable car, which can carry more than 50 people, and it climbed steadily towards the summit. The view from the window was turning whiter in an instant. When we arrived at the station at the top, we all rented skis and shoes and went outside. The cold wind whistled on our cheeks, and it was a little chilly, but it felt good. Moni-chan took a sled with her mother and climbed up a small hill designated for sledding, and was squealing with delight as she rode on the sled. When Moni got bored of sledding, her mother carried a slider to the top of the hill, and Moni-chan, wearing her boots, climbed up to follow her. They straddled the slider and went straight down the hill, playing happily. Last night, I received special training from my grandpa, and learned how to make a wedge turn with your skis. You bring both knees together to narrow the front of the sled and widen the back. At first I couldn't do it well and kept falling over, but little by little I'm getting better at it. Grandpa's short skis are for girls and have very cute pink hearts on them. "What, Grandpa, did you buy these girly-colored skis?""They were the only ones on display at the clearance sale!"What's more, they didn't have stoppers, just vinyl bands."It's fine if I can ski!" With Grandpa watching from behind, I and I started skiing slowly. Gantan hadn't had any training, so he went straight and went fast, tripping here and there and sliding like he was stealing bases. I also fell, but little by little I was getting better at turning. The slopes at the beginner's slopes at Lake Biwa Valley are relatively gentle, so you can't go very fast, so instead I used the poles they lend out for free to push my feet. Gantan slid as usual, and not only stole third, but he was about to steal home. Having used the lifts a few times and gotten used to the beginner's slopes, we decided to go to the intermediate slopes. The lifts at the beginner's slopes were single-seater, so I managed to get on and off while holding the pole with my right hand. It was a little scary when we got off, but we managed to get down like we were jumping off a swing. When Gantan went down, the sled slipped and he fell over. The lift stopped, Gantan moved to the side, and the lift started moving again, and Gantan laughed."You did it on purpose?" The intermediate slope's lift can hold four people at once, so Gantan and I took off our skis and held them in both hands. The three of us stood in the middle, and the lift slowly came up from behind, and the rubber of the bench hit our thighs on the soles of our feet. The grandpa said,"Sit down!"and we all sat down nicely. It wasn't that crowded, so the three of us were able to sit on the four-seater lift. When we brought the safety bar from our backs to our heads and in front of us, it was exciting, like we were riding a roller coaster at an amusement park. On the sunny slope, Hirose Kohmi's"Gerende ga Tokeru Hodo Koi Shitai"was playing at full volume from the speakers. When we got to the top, we had to get off the lift quickly and move sideways or else the lift would stop again. We somehow got off and put on the sled on a flat area.Looking down, it was a little scary, the old man said. "Don't slide straight down the slope! You have to go down diagonally in a zigzag pattern!""Okay, I got it!"Looking to the side, I saw that New Year's Day was sitting on the slope and putting on a ski on his right foot. Then the other ski started to slide on its own.It seemed that the stopper had been lifted and it started to slide. The skiers and snowboarders around us burst out laughing at this!Gantan was laughing too."He's really stupid." The ski ended up sliding about 50m and stopped at the moguls. Gantan took off the other ski he had put on and slowly walked down while carrying it. Everyone burst out laughing at this again.Gantan has a better sense of humor than Yoshimoto comedians. Grandpa and I slowly went down the slope in a zigzag pattern, picked up Gantan's sled, and with the sled in his right hand and two ski poles in his left, Gantan climbed sideways like a crab. He was really skillful. Gantan had gone down about halfway, and grandpa handed him the ski sled. On the flat mogul part, Gantan put the sled on both feet, and the three of us were finally able to start skiing. But Gantan was sliding more like a straight downhill than a diagonal one, and even here he was sliding spectacularly, kicking up smoke."Go for it, Gantan!"Grandpa was worried that Gantan would break a bone. At lunchtime, Mom and I went back to Moni's place, sat on a bench in the rest area, and ate our lunches together. On Gantan, he stuffed rice balls into his mouth, his cheeks were puffy, and even though he hadn't finished eating, he said,"Let's go skiing!"He seemed to really like skiing."Don't give up even if you fall over and over."In the end, we played to our heart's content until about 3pm, and on the way home, everyone was fast asleep in the back seat of the car.