As the forecast said yesterday, today was sunny and relatively warm. At this time of year, a lot of pollen is in the air, which makes things difficult for people with allergies. Even for those who did not have problems before, the amount of pollen has increased in recent years, so many people are affected. I also start to have allergy symptoms around this season. It is not very severe, so I would say it is about average. I have heard that warm days like today tend to make the symptoms worse. On television and in the news, it has now become common to report the pollen levels together with the weather forecast.
From today, Japan has a three-day holiday weekend. February 23 is the birthday of the current Emperor. The date of the Emperor’s Birthday holiday changes each time a new Emperor takes the throne. The previous Emperor’s birthday was on December 23. The current Emperor turns 66 this year. He is still relatively young. He became Emperor at the age of 58, so now that I think about it, the Reiwa era has already reached its 8th year. In Japan, besides the Western calendar year, we also use another system called the era name. The current era is called “Reiwa,” so this year is Reiwa 8. This era name is widely used in daily life. From my personal feeling, when saying or writing a date, many Japanese people may say “Reiwa 8” rather than 2026. However, younger people may be using 2026 more often these days. For people of my generation and older, when we were children, the Japanese era name was used much more commonly. By the way, I was born in the Showa era. In Japan, the era name changes whenever the Emperor changes. The government and scholars decide on the new name and announce it when the new Emperor ascends the throne. When the current Emperor became Emperor, the name “Reiwa” was announced. For reference, the recent era names are: Meiji (from 1868), Taisho (from 1912), Showa (from 1926), Heisei (from 1989), and Reiwa (from 2019).
As planned, today I made and attached the sliding key panels for the 4-sun 27-steps puzzle boxes. Since the temperature was higher today, I thought it would be more suitable for this kind of work, so I gave it priority. The production of the 14-steps puzzle boxes is on hold for now. Usually, the machining is finished in half a day, and I spend about an hour in the afternoon attaching the panels. However, today it took the whole day. The machining was not finished in the morning and continued into the afternoon, and the gluing process also took longer than usual. At the same time, I adjusted the tightness of the bottom panel of this box. This adjustment must be done at this stage, because later it will no longer be possible. The sliding key panel that I am attaching now will act as the lid, and once it is glued in place, the bottom panel cannot be removed. Today I attached the panel on one side, and I will attach the panel on the other side on another day. When the weather suddenly becomes warm after a series of cold days like today, the mechanisms tend to become looser. So I continue my work while paying close attention to storage conditions and production methods.
