The 141st Installment
Record of Around-Forty-Year-Old Man’s First Times

by Shuji Kinoshita,
Assistant Professor

Hello, this is Kinoshita. The other day, I visited a studio in Shibuya to record a narration for AIIT’s PR video. As it was my first time participating in a voice-over recording of a voice actor in a studio, everything was a new and fresh experience to me. Speaking of “fresh,” I am also amazed by the changes in Shibuya, which is undergoing a major transformation.

I am going to be 39 years old this year, almost 40. It was in 2002, exactly 20 years ago, when I left my hometown Nara to enter the University of Tokyo. Komaba Campus is two stations away from Shibuya. It is within walking distance. Still an unrefined and uncool university student, I strolled around Shibuya, though you might have thought I was in the wrong place.

Book First (the first one), which I frequented back then, is no more there. Don Quijote (the first one) also moved to a new location... Well, I could go on and on about old stories. It is better to stop here. It's April, the season for starting something new. I will write a little about some new things that I have been working on for the past few years.

I started running in 2012, when I resigned from my company and entered graduate school. Compared to that time, I am now able to run relatively long distance consistently. I started going to a semi-private gym in my neighborhood in early 2019, partly due to a friend’s recommendation (this is actually the first time in my life that I take up class outside of school.)

I also received guidance on diet, KAATSU Training, among others. Being around the age of 40, I am experiencing for the first time that proper training and proper diet (proper intake of protein and carbohydrates) increases muscle mass, which should be obvious to those who like training. There is a saying, “A sound mind in a sound body.” This is true. I have realized that going to the gym helps me strike a good work-life balance.

[2. My first fasting]

It was also with encouragement from the above-mentioned gym that I tried 9-day fasting in March of last year and this year. This fasting does not mean eating nothing at all. The first and last three days are a period of preparation and recovery, during which I reduce the amount of food and stop consuming animal protein and stimulants such as caffeine. During the middle three days I take exclusively enzyme drinks.

Since around 2018 I only have supper on no-workout days, so I am relatively used to enduring long periods of hunger, but fasting gives me a feeling of resetting my body and taste sense.

I usually enjoy having a little drink at supper every day, but in the middle of the fast my desire to drink alcohol disappears and I start craving sweets (like Daifuku, or a small round rice cake stuffed with a sweet sweetened red bean paste) that normally I don’t eat at all, perhaps due to a lack of sugar.

I went through various changes such as fat burning through the release of ketones, headache as a side effect, and activation of the intestines. I will not go into the details, but I have learned the importance of having a certain period to do nothing at all.

This is not limited to physical health. I am planning to, for example, spend some days without sitting in front of a computer, nor checking my smartphone or other electronic devices, but just enjoy nature to the full.

[3. My first skiing]

I had always been determined never to ski or play golf through my entire life, but this year, an unexpected turn of events caused me to try skiing with my family and the family of my daughter’s classmate (they will be third graders from April.) Snow Resort Yeti, Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture, is about an hour and a half drive from my home. The first thing that surprised me was how easy it was to get there.


As my wife is a skier, my daughter and I took a ski lesson titled the introductory course for parents and children. I had thought that we would ski just a little, but during the about two-hour lesson, we were made to snowplow down to the bottom of the mountain and take the lift back.

Of course, my daughter learned faster than I. I had to struggle to keep up with the rest. Nevertheless, I found out that I am more or less able to make level-headed decisions in the clutch, for example, how to stop without panicking when I start speeding or how to fall safely when I have no other choice, which I probably would not have been able to 20 years ago. It was the moment when I became aware that “Oh, I became a mature old man,” though I was poor at sports.

I also realized that if you pay and receive proper guidance, you can learn in a short period of time. It is already off season, but I just bought winter tires for next year.

With proper guidance, students will improve themselves in a short time. To make sure that AIIT continues to be a graduate school that offers that kind of recurrent education, its faculty members keep trying new things.

That’s all for me, thank you.