PEOPLE

In August 2024, at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, JAL athlete employees will achieve a series of firsts for Japanese athletes. Kano Koki won the gold medal in the men's individual epee fencing, the first gold medal for Japan in an individual event. Kitaguchi Haruka won the javelin, the first gold medal for a Japanese woman in a field event. And Muratake Rashid became the first Japanese man to compete in the finals in the 110m hurdles. The three athletes look back on their achievements in Paris and talk about their thoughts on the team and the journey.

Cherry blossom trees in full bloom, flower fields spreading as far as the eye can see, and flowers you happen to see in the city. In the season when flowers bloom beautifully, you want to go out and look for them. However, it is surprisingly difficult to capture the feeling of "how beautiful" you feel when looking at flowers in a photograph. So, we asked photographer Nanako Araie, who says she "loves taking pictures with flowers," to tell us the key points to taking pictures of flowers.

What kind of bag do you take when you go on a trip? There are probably many occasions where you have to choose a bag with the right capacity from the ones you already have. Capacity is important, but there are actually many other points to consider when choosing a bag, such as material, shape, and fashionability.

When traveling, many people probably have a book in their bag. However, you may find yourself racking your brains over the happy dilemma of what kind of book to take with you. In this project, bookstore owners from around the country who come into contact with a variety of books on a daily basis introduce "books that are perfect for traveling." We asked three people, Okumura Chiori of 1003, Nakamura Shuichi of SNOW SHOVELING, and Mori Tetsuya of Brackish Airport, to choose three books each and provide comments on each book. Books by people who have traveled, books that allow you to experience different ways of traveling, books that make you think about what traveling is... We hope you find a book you'll want to read on your travels, or a book that will make you want to go on your next trip.

The food we ate together, the beauty of the places we visited, the little things that we thought were beautiful. Wouldn't it be nice if you could capture the memories of your trip with your loved ones in photos that retain the warmth you felt at the time? How can you preserve the memories of your trip with a warmth like a memory, rather than "embellishing" them? We asked photographer Erika Iida, who values time spent with loved ones, to teach us using photos from a trip with her best friend. With a little ingenuity, it seems that you can take photos with a warm feel even with smartphone cameras such as iPhones or affordable film cameras such as disposable cameras. If you follow these points, taking photos on your next trip should be more fun.

People who love traveling or are used to traveling will surely have their own travel　essentials. Sometimes you may find yourself packing in a hurry just before the trip, but if you take a good look at what you bring with you, you may find your trip is more enjoyable and comfortable. In this article, we introduce the "travel essentials" of model Otani Miyu, fashion designer Karita Ritsuko, and graphic designer Wakida Asuka. These three people who love to travel have chosen their items from their own perspectives, such as "travel essentials" and "things they would like to use while walking around the city at their travel destination."

Kohei Uchimura and Mai Murakami have achieved brilliant results on the world stage, including at the Olympics, in gymnastics, Japan's specialty. Uchimura retired from active competition in March 2022, and Murakami retired in October 2021. Now that they have finished their competitive careers, what changes have come to their mindset and lives? We spoke to the two about their thoughts on the Japanese gymnastics world, the highlights of the All Japan Gymnastics Team Championships to be held in Fukui Prefecture in December, and memories of the places they traveled to for world championships and other events.

"NICE FLIGHT!" (TV Asahi network) is a drama starring Kis-My-Ft2 member Tamamori Yuta. JAL is fully cooperating with the production. The drama, which depicts not only the professional attitude of the main character in his work, but also an intriguing love story between a pilot and a female air traffic controller, has been a hot topic since it began airing. In this article, we asked Tamamori, who plays the role of a pilot, about his memories of traveling and behind-the-scenes stories from the filming of the drama.

Mindfulness is a state of mind in which you focus your attention on the "here and now" rather than the past or future, and capture your emotions and sensations as they are. It is said to bring all sorts of benefits, such as reducing stress and increasing concentration, which improves work performance. Meditation is often used as a method, but some people also consider "traveling" to be a form of mindfulness.

Konomi Yanagisawa, a well-known essayist who loves traveling, keeps a "travel notebook" for each trip. In it, she records everything before and during the trip, including her schedule and what to bring in advance, and sticks maps and tickets during the trip. She also uses this notebook after the trip.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games brought a lot of excitement to Japan over the 17 days from July 23 to August 8, 2021. In fact, among the participants, there are athletes who work for JAL. They are Naoto Tobe, a men's high jump athlete who reached the finals for the first time in 49 years for Japan, Haruka Kitaguchi, a women's javelin throw athlete who reached the finals for the first time in 57 years for Japan, and Kouki Kano, who won Japan's first gold medal in the men's epee team fencing event.

Kozai Hiroaki was born with a congenital disability of missing both lower limbs. He started playing wheelchair basketball at the age of 12, and after graduating from high school, he moved to the United States alone and won the NCAA Championship while attending the University of Illinois. He played professionally for a German team from 2013, but relocated to Japan in 2019 with the aim of winning a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, and now he is currently based in Tokyo.