2016 was not that bad after all.

Hi guys, this year is getting close to the end…thank you for all the fun time we had! How was 2016 for you? Looking at Social media (especially English posts), it seems there are lots of negative voices such as “2016 was a terrible year” “I want it finish now” or “2017 will get worse…” but I don’t know…for me it was “going up” year.

Sure, there was a lot of terrorism. But it was just because they happened in the “developed” countries hence the media reported a lot, there has been lots of terrible incidents worldwide in recent years. They say “we lost lots of celebrities”, but for me, 2012 ~ 2015 when we lost lots of famous Kabuki actors looked worse. Brexit? Trump? It hasn’t happened yet, he hasn’t become the president yet, we don’t know the outcome of them in long term…

…thinking in that way, I think 2016 was the year of “transition”. One flow ends, and we have to plant new seeds for the next change. How you view this “end” depends on the person I guess. However, I believe whether you see this situation as “hopeless” or “chance” will determine what kinds of flower you will see in the future…thinking about my flowers, I’m preparing for the next year.

Right, I will look back 2016 by talking about the products/service I used a lot.

Jet-setter!

As same as the last year, I flied a lot! The first half of the year, I went to Sweden monthly. This was phisically tough but the people there welcomed me warmly. Also I learnt a lot by experiencing the life and work in Sweden, this was amazing considering that living/working in London is already special as Japanese. By the way I was so in love with scandinavian design…when I get a new flat in Japan I will get inspiration from them!

https://uk.pinterest.com/bothamar/scandinavian-design-home-decor/

Throughout this tough year, again it was the mindfulness which helped me a lot. Everyday is a bit difficult but I still continue Headspace. Another thing I begun this year is Five Minutes Journal. This is a simple journal which you can write every morning and night, but the key is to keep it short and simple like 5mins. Does that short journal mean anything? Definitely yes – they ask you very important questions so that simple answers do help. I tend to give up these rituals but now it’s my 143th day!

The Five Minute Journal

Based on positive psychology research. The journal you’ll actually stick with. Add to cart Max 300 items. Cannot be combined with other offers. Need more items click here. Width: 5.3 inches Length: 8.3 inches Weight: 0.8 lbs Pages: 268 USA: 3-5 Business Days Canada: 3-10 Business Days Europe: 2-10 Business Days World: 10-25 Business Days 10+ Journals?

Also while moving between locations, Barlcays’s mobile app and Paypal were incredibly useful. I knew Barclays app good before, but Paypal was rather unexpected, I like its overall experience and service. Actually, I was hoping financial sector’s UX and transaction in Japan becoming better. Maybe I should write another post about comparison…

Another thing I strongly felt was that, I want to involve in designing UX around airline/flight experience! Comparing some apps, I thought BA was ok but overall experience still seems fragmented. At the moment it feels like the best UX to view travel schedule is Google’s inbox, so it would be great if we had more seamless experience including physical experience. Does anyone know someone in airline industry?

I love Japanese contents…

After July, I went to Japan several times. Since last year, I had even more chances to work with the designers in Japan which made me really happy. In my personal life, our family had two celebration; my counsin’s wedding in July and my brother’s in November, and I enjoyed staying in Japan by doing a lot such as… played PokeGo, listening/watching Arashi, watched TeamLab and Ghibli’s exhibition, went to Osaka, Nikko, enjoyed the PM being Mario, watched Shin-godzilla, Kimi-no-na-wa, Sanada-maru, Daradara and Kabuki! Wow, it was a really good year.

Only a bit of 2016.

12 Likes, 0 Comments – Mayu Nakamura (@mayunakk) on Instagram: “Only a bit of 2016.”

So. What would you enjoy a lot in Japan? …food! This is not anything new but I enjoyed usingTabelog a lot. My colleagues were using Foursquare but I’m afraid that’s useless in Japan…The experience of these two are quite different and I guess it also comes from cultural difference. Maybe I should write about it too…(setting a high hurdle for myself). By the way, another thing I used a lot in Europe while not in Jaa pan was Vivino. I love being able to view rates of wines easily by taking picture of a label, since I know nothing about wines!

Vivino.com – Buy the Right Wine

Trusted by millions to discover and buy the right wine.

Does anyone want to make Japanese sake version of this app?

Next year: Focus and share

Right, the next step of my life is to focus on Japan. At the moment I’m doing final “danshari” – it’s a concept of not to have attachment to things, to clean up unneccessary things, to keep the life simple and minimal – by using eBay and Mercari (Oh, the experience of these two services are different and interesting, hopefully I will write about it too..) In this year, too many things happened and I tended to get distracted, but next year I will have more focus. Hoping this will help, I bought this big journal (Ok, this is no 5mins anymore, and maybe too expensive as a journal…) so I will do my best on this as one commitnent. (Below is a discount link if you’re interested)

Check Out Dailygreatness 10% OFF!

I just purchased a fantastic Dailygreatness Journal & got a discount code for you to use! Check them out here…One for every personality. Business, Yoga, Wellness, Parents, Success, Training…

Right, I just commited to write three (!) blog post so I would like to try writing something about UX soon. I will. Try. Next year.

Right, happy new year everyone!

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