January 12, 2015　=========
☆ obligation 　義務感
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What did you do over the New Year holiday? Did you return to your hometown to visit family? Is it an obligation to do this or is it something you want to do? When I was living in Japan, most people I knew went home for at least a couple of days over the New Year break, and a lot of them seemed tired from the journey on the busy roads – it seemed to me that it was more of an obligation than something they wanted to do.
For me in Australia, Christmas is the time when we return home and spend time with family, rather than New Year. And of course, while I was living in Japan, I never felt it was an obligation to go home at Christmas – it is summer in Australia, so it was an easy choice to leave winter in Japan and go home for a week!! However, now I am living here, it actually does sometimes feel like an obligation – lunch at X’s house, dinner at Y’s house, and so on, until all of the Christmas break is full, with no rest! But I guess the food is always yummy, so it’s not too hard of an obligation. 😉
Bye,
Chris