My Daily Routine: Toilet Duty and Yogurt | Hideyuki Tokuda (Dean, Graduate School of Media and Governance)
2007.04.02
On March 29, the commencement was held at the Hiyoshi Commemorative Hall. Since last year, graduates from the Keio University Law School and the Graduate School of Health Management have also been included, so the ceremony is now held at the Hiyoshi Campus instead of the traditional Mita Campus. This year, the Graduate School of Media and Governance saw its first graduates from the double degree program. One studied abroad at Yonsei University in South Korea and the other at Fudan University in China, completing two master's theses and being awarded two master's degrees. I was able to personally present the two master's degrees to the student who went to Yonsei University. The student from Fudan is scheduled to receive their other master's degree in June. In fact, to honor their achievement, we decided to confer their diplomas first. As more and more people are becoming active internationally, I hope that many more will take advantage of this double degree program.
Now, about the "routine" in the title.
Back in the day, when I was heavily into programming, waking up at 6:00 a.m. was a foreign concept; it was more often the time I would finally go to bed after pulling an all-nighter. The only times I would be up before 6:00 a.m. were on business trips when I had to head from my home to the Pittsburgh airport.
Lately, however, I find myself waking up early more often. It might be due to my age, but it all started when our beloved dog, Cookie, became a member of our family. Naturally, the whole family was supposed to take care of her, but the morning shift has ultimately become my established duty. In short, I'm the one who walks Cookie. To be more precise, I'm on "toilet duty."
It would be fine if everything always went smoothly, but sometimes, what's supposed to come out just doesn't. Having done this for a long time, I've developed something akin to a sense of mission, and I end up walking her with a strange determination, as if to say, "We're not going home until you do your business!" It's truly a problem when she can't relieve herself. I hear there are clever dogs out there that, with a simple command like "Go potty!", will immediately start sniffing around and do their business, but in Cookie's case, when she doesn't have to go, she doesn't even get into a ready stance. Fortunately, my success rate on toilet duty is a solid 95%, but it seems things don't go as planned if she ate something unusual the day before or if the rain has washed away the usual scents.
After returning from our walk, it's time for my own breakfast. My standard morning meal isn't rice and miso soup, but rather bread, fruit, vegetables, coffee, and yogurt. When I'm on business trips within Japan, I make a point of trying rice and miso soup, but on those occasions, my stomach sometimes feels a bit heavy. I eat a considerable amount of yogurt. There are many different flavors of yogurt, but I find that plain is the one I never get tired of. Back in the US, I used to have Dannon's plain yogurt, which was slightly sweet, but now I eat Meiji's Bulgaria or Morinaga's Bifidus straight.
I forget when it started, but my wife began giving Cookie yogurt, and it became a habit. Now, after her own meal, she waits for her yogurt just like a person. Yes, it's a bit of a hassle, but giving her this yogurt has also become part of my daily routine.
(Date Published: 2007/04/02)