Being cautious...

Waking up at around six in the morning, I went to my office to send off my crew going to the east today where it is still warned by the MOFA that Japanese nationals should not enter. I had already gone once to this dangerous area, but this time I decided not to go and asked my staff to take the necessary pictures for me. I don't think my decision was wrong, but I'm sure it would have better off for my crew as they can have their lunch and drinks even though it's Ramazan as they can be treated as tourists who are allowed to eat and drink.
I was actually more worried about the plane that would take my precious staff as there were several accidents in this country recently and anything can happen. I received continuous reports from them that they were okay and I was very happy to hear they arrived safely in Tehran late at night. I was really relieved to hear that. I hope the air industry of this country will be safer as there's no other way to travel around in this large country. Thank God everything went fine today!

PS
My computer was heated up! I tried the same trick as before...

putting an iceberg on it! I think the speed was a bit faster... only just a bit...

Ramazan in midsummer!

Ramazan (Ramadan) time has arrived in the Islamic countries! I'm not a Muslim, so I do not intend to fast, but I want to at least show some appreciation by not drinking in front of my staff who are fasting.
I had some regrets when I found out how tough it is not to drink anything in midsummer though we have airconditioning! It would be even tougher when we have to go outside to cover something! I hope we wouldn't have a major press conference for a while!

Today, unexpectedly, we had some flowers sent to us! Wow! Our neighbor gave us these to show her gratitude as we had let her maid stay in our living room yesterday... Oh, we just wanted to help a neighbor and we felt a bit overthanked, but being awarded with flowers feels nice in any circumstanes!


a beautiful flower sent to my wife!

ONE YEAR ON FROM...

THE START OF MY LONG JOURNEY...

It's exactly a year since I arrived in this country... already a year! only just a year!
Will I stay here for another year or another two years, I have no idea, but it's going to be a tough year coming up with all of the turmoil I experienced especially in the last month...
Today, I had already decided to go out to have dinner with my staff and once again show my appreciation to their hard work. We also invited a journalist friend who had helped us in many ocasions and congratulate him for his recent marriage.
But abrubtly, we found out that protests were going to be held at a square near our office and once again I felt blue... As a supporter of democracy and freedom of expression, I have no right to tell them that I feel blue that they're fighting for their rights, but also as a human being, I was asking "why today??"
The answer was so simple... they were holding demonstrations calling today the day of Global Action all over the world... okay, can't blame anyone anymore... I just prayed there wouldn't be terrible news that I had to cancel everything!

We were able to go out to have dinner... thank God. We enjoyed the Thai food at a restaurant in a hotel in the north and just for a short while forgot about all of the darkness engulfed around our smiles... It was a great occasion just to smile, so leave us alone!


food on the table... there's no going back from here!

There's still news waiting in front of us... I can't run away from it as it's my job to confront them... I feel the responsibility to tell our viewers about what's happening in this country... I have faith in myself that I can continue... Let's go forward!

Allez!

Something in the ordinary

Using my spare time, I went out to get a haircut. My wife came along to the shopping center where the barber was and we stopped by an ice cream shop to get some treats for my staff. No major steps in our coverage, but there were indications that the authorities were not thinking of kicking us out as we received another three months visa today.

PS
It was a day of election coverage in Japan, as the major step of dissolving the Lower House took place. From now on, most of my colleagues working in Japan will have to take part in the coverage and we would feel the pressure of filling the news from abroad... do I have enough dough to make a nice report!? I don't think so...

Photos...
Our lunch today!

Super Star burgers!

And...

to the ice cream shop!

6 scoops please!

sharing with my staff!

Waiting for the new front...

It's getting obvious that tomorrow is the next day that could decide the near future for this country. Today, I wanted to finish working as early as possible and I told my staff to do the same. It could be a very long day tomorrow and I was sure nothing important would happen today. The day went by quickly and I spent some time with my wife in the nighttime. We even had a chance to play Wii Sports together for the first time in months! Would it be peaceful as it is tomorrow night, or would it not... let's see... it depends on what the people decide and it's my mission just to give the report out!

PS
For dinner...

having spaghetti my wife made using the leftovers from lunch!

Generous tip?

As I was turned down my plan to offer my staff a reward for all the pains they have gone through these two months, all I could do is use my private money as the bureau chief to show my appreciation for their services...

Going to a restaurant serving "Caspian" food!

starters...

mahi (fish) my wife had!

and the kyabab I had!

dessert!

This is always my way of showing appreciation to them, but maybe it would only be a small tip for them... I'm trying to make it generous as possible... natural as possible... humble as possible... and hope they would understand I'm happy for their performances... though my bosses in Tokyo wouldn't care at all...

A fresh week...

Three weeks have passed after the ugly developments unfolded... I'm sure it's not going to be a stable week, but at least it's a start of another one. I'm so tired that now, even sleeping for more than 8 hours seems not to help at all!
My staff, except one of them, are taking days off by turns and I've also asked an assistant to come part time for help. It's too bad, no one can take my position so I could take some days off... It's really sad to know that's the position I took and as long as it's impossible to let anyone get a visa to enter this nation, I will just have to work until my batteries run out!

PS
A nice dinner!

oinari san!

No troubles...

Since I had hired two helping hands today, I should have prayed for something to happen to make good use of them, but I really didn't want any trouble... Fortunately, there wasn't anything developing today and we called it a day at 4PM, an hour and a half later than usual.

Before saying good-bye, I had my regular staff get a nice cake to enjoy together!


a nice one with strawberries and mango!

I hope they enjoyed their temporary stay here, because I'd need their help from now on too!


oh you too! well, next time you can help too!

PS
In the nighttime, I tried to find a satellite channel that broadcasted the race in Dubai where my favorite horse was competing...
Sadly I couldn't find any and I had to give up watching the race simultaneously, but could manage to enjoy it after about 30 minutes of its real race time.


at the site of the Dubai Racing Club...


sadly my favorite did not win...


Vodka finished fifth... but she still has a chance to win the real take!

First time in 223 days...

It's almost eight months and it was the first time I saw...


the Supreme Leader!

I've seen the President for numerous occasions, but it was an impossibility to see the Leader of this country live. Well, to think about it, I've only seen our Emperor... was it once perhaps in Kobe when he came to visit the victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe? It may be natural as unlike our symbolic Emperor, the Leader here has all the power in his hands.
We left our office just after 6AM to get to the venue and it was an enormous security process to get inside and hours until the session started... I understand how important this is to the Government of this country but... oh yes... there's no BUTS in this country... none...

As I hired a cameraman for this event, I also had to work with the pictures he had managed to take... some were out of focus and not usable, but it was enough to make a short story. I also had to do the rough edit myself and accompany the cameraman to the feeding point. It was a very tough for me, but it was surely a good experience. It made me realize there's more things I have to learn and more I should see before I leave this country for good!

Four minus two

Two of my staff are gone. One to a training session in Tokyo and one to a tour in Dubai. Both have press cards that are necessary to do coverage here in this country and I'm a bit worried that there's only two including myself that has a press card to be able to cover the events this week.
I've asked my staff to hire one with a press card for this week, but sadly he will only be here for three days... Oh well, there are weeks where nothing really important takes place, and why not hope that this week will be the same. Inshallah!

The boxes of Japanese goods are here!

oh these are important!


but I have to take all the styrofoam fillings out!
well I'll do it one by one!