* I took a lunch at an Italian restaurant in JR Shinagawa station. I found a few foreign customers (maybe mostly Italian) not only today but when I was here months ago. The name of restaurant was written in Italian. So I asked a manager (he looked like so) whether this restaurant was managed by a foreigner. He replied he was a Japanese and whispered to me that it was managed by a subsidiary of JR and owned by JR. I ate a dish of tomato spaghetti and a small bowl of oyster gratin. They were very good and not expensive.
* At a photo shop near the station, I asked a chief of shop whether he can print pictures taken by a digital camera on new year post card. The size of picture must be the one I want to have and there must have enough space where I can put my message. He replied he could do it. (A few photo shops where I dropped in said they could print in color taken by digital camera in size which was set before hand by shop on card specified by shop. The message must be selected from a menu set by shop.) The IT equipments installed in the shop amounted to 100,000.000 yen, he said. His company have now about sixty shops all over Japan. He added the company has been making profits in spite of such a big investment. His monthly salary is not enough but the company pay big bonus at year end, much more than the ordinary companies. He learned IT after he joined the company. I was surprised to find new businesses were growing beyond my imagination wider and deeper in our life.