My Impressions of the US

I went to Las Vegas in January 2012. It was my second visit to the US; the last one was in 1995. So for me, it seemed like it was my first visit. I had some impressions of the US.

First of all, on the airplane, people enjoyed talking with the cabin attendants. The attendants also seemed to enjoy talking with the guests like they were friends. It was a nice and unusual scene for me because in Japan the relationship between guests and clerks is like masters and servants, not like friends. In old days, the phrase "guests are the gods" existed among merchants. Even now, when some people are guests they are arrogant toward shop assistants. I like a society in which people are on the same level everywhere.

Second, people are so big: taller and wider. All US people who visit Japan may see Japan as a country of gnomes. In Japan, it is not common to find overweight ladies even in a big city with a lot of pedestrians, but in the US, it is easy. On the other hand, there are rarely smokers. I hate smoke very much, so I really envy this condition. Japanese society is more tolerant of smokers. For instance, many smokers walk down any street, a lot of offices are equipped with smokers' rooms in the buildings (In the early 1990s, in my office, co-workers who were smokers often enjoyed smoking at their own desks next to non-smokers.). Maybe both the US people and Japanese people are conscious of their health, but their approaches are different.

Third, on the airplane again, I found other difference between American and Japanese society. I sat in my seat, on aisle seat. In front of my seat, sat a three-year-old girl sat in her seat. On the right side of her, sat her mother and her one-year-old sister. At first, the one-year-old baby screamed for over ten minutes, but her mother did nothing. Nobody else did either. In Japan, in the same situation, a mother may be conscious of her baby annoying other people, so she will try to control her baby. If a mother doesn't do anything, other guests will ask her to control her baby. I cannot form a clear conclusion from only one sample, but I was surprised to find such severe individualism in US society.

A Day in Fukushima

A friend of mine who lives in a neighboring prefecture of Fukushima (so he was not required by the government to evacuate -120km (75miles) from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plants) releases his blog every week about his volunteer activities of rubble removal in Fukushima tsunami disaster area. I live in west Japan over 600km (370miles) from Fukushima, so I feel it is difficult for me to do such activities frequently. But I wanted to know about the real condition of Fukushima and learn what I can do for the Fukushima people. Many nuclear power plants are located in Fukushima, which is far from Tokyo, to generate a lot of electric power for Tokyo. They feature facilities that promote "the safety of nuclear power generation." I wanted to see them. Therefore, I asked him to guide me around Fukushima and he agreed to do so.


The first day - visiting facilities to promote the safety of nuclear plants

On the 5th of November, after a 6-hour train trip that was over 6 hours lomg, I met him in his home town. He drove me in his car to Tokai nuclear plant. It is not a Fukushima plant, and was not damaged by the tsunami, but it was the first nuclear plant in Japan. We visited two well-equipped facilities within a 10-minute-drive from each other. Both of them promoted safety and importance of nuclear power generation and plants, even to kids with some interactive attractions designed to learn about atomic power.

I don't have deep knowledge about them. But I realized one thing clearly -Nuclear power generation companies and electric power companies pay a lot of money for these facilities. They have strong reasons to do so.
I took all available brochures and textbooks from them. I'm going to read them to learn more about their story.


The second day - visiting an area which has been affected not only by the Tsunami but also by radioactivity

On the 6th of November, we went to Iwaki city, which is located in the south end of Fukushima prefecture. The distance from the damaged nuclear plants to the city is within 50km(30miles). The amount of radioactivity in the air (1m from the ground) is 0.2-0.5mSv of radiation, which is not large enough to have an affect on the human body. It is one one-hundredth the amount of radioactivity present at the edge of the restricted area, 30km/19miles radius of the damaged Fukushima plant. But some people, in particular parents who have small children, are nervous about the condition because it is double that of other normal areas.

Anyway, whenever people around the world hear the name "Fukushima", they generally think about the radioactivity, rather than the damage by the quake or tsunami. It may be a "natural" reaction these days. It is the same in Japan. However, I realized that this way of thinking is not entirely accurate.

It took about an hour to go from my friends town to Iwaki by car on the express way. He has a pass to go on the expressway without any fee, because the ceiling of his house was damaged by the quake (he and all his family were not injured).

Approaching Iwaki, the road condition gradually worse -like the shape of a wave. It is the result of the earth quake power. Except for that, the downtown of Iwaki (an inland area) looks very normal.

Was this a railway station in the disaster area?

When we went to the coast area, the landscape suddenly changed.

A damaged Seven-Eleven convenience store. The store remains open -selling things out of a store vehicle.

Leveled housing lots. Eight months ago, there were many houses here but they were washed away by the tsunami.

Rubble of destroyed of houses were gathered here at the former location of a school by volunteers.

The seashore was washed away, so there is a temporary embankment.

This grocery store suffered a lot of damage, but...

It is actually still opens for business!

Messages of encouragement from people to the shop.

I was surprised by the cheerfulness of the shop clerks... They worked with smiles and cheerful voices.

The harbor which is located at the back of the shop.

A flower in the rubble wilderness. It is the "work" of the artists of the project called "Let's make flowers bloom in the rubble field." They paint flowers on the walls of the wrecked houses which the municipal government has decided to tear down, to change the devastated landscape.

Flowers on the wall


After driving along the coastal area, we went back inland area and visited a temple. It was designed in the image of buddhist heaven and was established in 1160.

A Calm place. It was hard to understand that this garden and the wrecked coast were in the same city.


After this trip, I asked my friend what I can do for Fukushima people from far distant area except donation and purchasing Fukushima products. His answer was "remember them and this experience". At first, I follow the Twitter List whose member are the people in charge of reconstruction Fukushima. I read their tweets everyday. It is the first step for me. I'm thinking about the next step now.

iPhone4S Siri vs Me

I purchase my new iPhone(4S) and enjoy it, in particular, Siri(voice control personal assistant).
But my poor English confuses her.


These are my results:

Me "What is the weather of today?"
Siri "What is WeDah?"
My second try - Success

"Search for Paul McCartney"
"Such for Paul McCartney - Sorry, I don't understand"
I tried five times but failed...
"Tell me about Paul McCartney" - success

"Where is Nishinomiya(my hometown)?"
"You are always there and I'm here."(I forget Siri's exact sentences)

"Show me the way to Tokyo"
"Sorry, I cannot provide maps and direction services in Japan"

"Which do you like iPhone or Android?"
"I don't understand [Do you right]"
"Which do you like iPhone or Android?"
"It's on you, not me."

"You are excellent"
"I don't like such arbitrary sentence."

"Who are you?"
"I don't know. If you go Genius Bar you may know that."

"Sing Daisy" *cf. the movie"2001:A Space Odyssey"
I tried several times but failed.
ex. "Seeing Daisy","Think Baby", or something.
"Sing a song Daisy"
"I don't understand "Sing-a-song Daisy"


She is one of my teacher of English conversations.

If a cover band of the Beatles in 2010 time-slipped to the world of 1961...

If a cover band of the Beatles in 2010 time-slipped to the world of 1961 (one year before the Beatles debut), this may be what would have happened... This is the story of a controversial manga "I am The Beatles" ("Boku wa Beatles") by Tetsuo Fujii & Kaiji Kawaguchi


In Tokyo in 2010, the Fab Four, a popular Beatles cover band, faced a crisis which threatened to disband them due to conflicting future aspirations among the band members. Rei, on the part of John Lennon, Makoto (Paul McCartney) and Show (George Harrison), quarreled with each other and fell to a subway platform. Konta (Ringo Starr) also fainted with them. When they woke up, they were in 1961 Tokyo.

Makoto made a plan as follows; To play the Beatles' songs as if they were the Fab Four's originals in 1961, before the original Beatles' debut. The idea was that the Beatles would listen to them and then they would make greater songs. Show was hesitant at first but was persuaded by Makoto. They were discovered by a competent female manager like Brian Epstein and released the first single "I Want to Hold Your Hand". When they released their second single, Konta joined the Fab Four. Rei didn't join them because he thought what they were doing was blasphemy to the Beatles.

As they became popular, their manager sent their singles to a UK music producer. Their songs were played on air in the UK. After that, the manager went on a business trip to London for a contract to release records of the Fab Four. Having been asked by Makoto, she went to Liverpool and contacted fans of the Beatles. They told her that the Beatles had stopped singing their songs from the last month because "something shocking had happened," the Fab Four's songs began to play on air from that last month.

All members of the Fab Four were shocked very much and they became conscious of their obligation -to introduce the Beatles songs to the world. (to be continued)


My comment: This is a controversial manga among Japanese beatlemaniacs. Some fans admired the authors' unique idea and detailed description based on abundant data. Other fans think this work is blasphemy to the Beatles.

Some fans, myself included, feel this work is interesting, in particular, for taking up the theme of "a copier's identity". Rei said to Makoto, "When we copy the Beatles perfectly, even their misplaying, we are standing on the furthest point from the Beatles."

All creators might begin their career from copying their favorite artists and gradually adding their originality. But a cover band's aim is to copy other artists perfectly, not to make originality. The audience wants them to do so. Therefore, what is a cover band's identity?

I'm looking forward to what the conclusion of the theme of this work will be.

Househusband experience

I took three-weeks childcare leave to support my wife. She gave birth to a baby boy, our second son on 12th of May, 2011.

My days off had been already declared to my boss and he had approved it in March. So my work was so busy in April to manage my duties and for my co-workers to take over my routines. Anyway, I was able to experience househusband work. It was cooking meals for wife and our first child who is four years old, laundry doing, cleaning, shopping, playing with him and taking him to and from his kindergarten, all house duties except caring for our second child. The purpose of my days off was to help my wife concentrate on caring for the second child.

During the first week, it was quite harder than I had expected. There was no time for myself. I didn't get used to all of the work, in particular, cooking. I am a novice cooker - sometimes I forgot to put oil in the saucepan to fry something - so it took much time to cook everything. What's more, our first son and I had to go to the maternity hospital everyday. I felt pain on the bottom of my feet because I stood up much more than my office work.

After the second week and when my wife and our second child come home, my work was getting easier and easier. Thanks to my wife, who could watch our first child, it became easier to go shopping. I don't have to leave home with our older child. It made my everyday schedule flexible. I realized some basic ways to do housework effectively. My feet also got used to my housework, so I began feeling no pain. I could even enjoy my work.


I learned many lessons from my experience. At first, I realized that housework is physically hard. I imagined how hard it would be, but the reality of it is harder than I had thought.

Second, housework brings me delight directly. My office work is to negotiate my clients, to manage twelve call centers and to maintain clients' satisfaction and company profits. Such work brings me abstract delight - it shows on a PC display only. On the contrary, housework bears clear fruits - tasty foods, clean rooms and the smiles of family members.

Third, housework is easier than my office work on the mental side. I had no stress on my mind throughout my time off.

Fourth, our everyday life is supported by my earnings. I couldn't imagine such a simple thing, but I realized it because of my shopping for many things every day I was home.

My experience made me understand that both my office work and housework are important and fundamental to our families' life. Of course I already knew that but I learn it deeply through this precious opportunity.

My iPhone home screen

(Comments for English available apps) (From Top and Left)

-In the mood: Posting the music you are listening to on Twitter.

-RunKeeper: Tracking automatically your jog pace, time and distance ,etc. and playback of your selected playlist for jogging.

-Mercury: Web browser. It is easier to select tabs with than Safari and features many other gimmicks which Safari doesn't have available.

-Read It Later: Listing websites to read them later. My everyday habit is (1) On the commuter train, checking over 70 blogs by RSS Reader on my iPhone (mention at below article about Reeder) (2) Registering important or long articles are registered by Read It Later on my iPhone (3) At night, checking the articles listed by Read It Later on my PC at home.

-Simplenote: Text editor on cloud (allows editing anywhere: with iPhone, my office PC or my home PC) I use it for my ToDo list, my memorandum book, etc. As for cloud notebook, many people think Evernote is the best. In my opinion, it is excellent as the web clipper (it can make copies of websites on the Note) but not good as a text memo. Because Evernote doesn't feature "plain text" format (this application changes fonts, line feeds and line spaces of your plain text article without asking - it is irritating.)

-Reeder: RSS reader. It can be used to download new articles of your registered blogs automatically, you don't need to visit your interested blogs to check new articles. Many RSS readers are released at App Store, I choice Reeder because of its speed of download (therefore you are able to read articles when you are at non-internet-connected areas, for example in subway lines) and its intuitive design.

I admire iPhone for many reasons, in particular, for its possibilities: it is constantly evolving with such excellent apps.

Beer Lecture

I love beer. In my town, there is a bar which serves over 100 kinds of beer but no other liquor. In addition, the beer master of the bar announced that he would hold a lecture for beer-novices this month. Why don't I apply for it?

In Japan, beer is in a unique situation. It is doubtlessly the most popular liquor. It is a kind of "unspoken rule" to order beer for the first in a pub with friends or co-workers - everybody does so. Even though beer is so popular, only lager beer is available at supermarkets or pubs in Japan, for example, Japanese brands, Budweiser and Heineken and so on. Other types of beer, for instance, stouts (like Guinness), pale ales (like Bass) are rare (these days, Guinness has become a little popular, but many pubs don't serve it.). Very popular but no variations - this is the beer world in Japan.

I didn't realize this situation with Japanese beer, until when I stopped in the bar "Beer Café barley" (which I mentioned above) and read the menu lists. I was astonished by the vast world of beer. After that, I wanted to expand my beer-experience and to learn more about drinking beer. It seems that some Japanese common thoughts of beer are incorrect, for example, the more colder beer is better it tastes. No sooner than I checked the notice of the lecture, I applied for it.

The lecture began at the bar with eight students. At the front half of the lecture, the beer master passed out a test to check our common knoeledge about beer. The test revealed that our understanding isn't the world's understanding of beer. For instance, beer consists of two kinds, normal and black. Also all beer is bitter. Many people believe it is good for the taste to chill a glass in freezer. When serving beer, it is proper that you pour 30% head and 70% beer in the glass. All of these Japanese common thougts are actually not proper practices to taste beer better. Such information is good knowledge for a beer-novice like me.

In the latter half of the lecture, of course there was a beer tasting. We tried five types of beer: (from right) pilsner, pale ale, weizen (wheat beer), stout and barley wine. Every type of beer has its own unique characteristic (please visit the links). The beer tasting has widened my beer world like when a man who has only traveled in his country begins to travel abroad. For the most part, knowledge makes your world wider and clearer. The theory applies well to my new passion for beer.

A week has passed since Japan's 2011 quake occurred

My experience, far from the earthquake center

The massive earthquake came at 14:46 on Friday, March 11th in Northeast Japan. The quake center was about 1000km(600miles) away from my residence in west Japan.

At that time, I was on my business trip to a city which is located at more western area from my living place. So I couldn't feel the shock of the quake. When I heard that a member of telephone conference starting at 15:00 talked about the news, I realized what had happened.

I am a salesperson and a controller for my company's twelve call centers which are in charge of my client, so I exited the conference and contacted my client and stop operations of the call centers because they are sales promotion centers, not customer support ones. My clients' products are not living necessaries. Therefore my clients decided that sales promotion in confusing situation made the company's image bad. It was a busy work, but not serious. All offices and centers of my company are located in west Japan, far from the quake center (My company used to be one company but Japanese government divided it into east and west.).

However, I was shocked by my twitter timeline, not by the TV or newspaper websites. Broadcasters and newspapers told us only "a big earthquake occurred". On the other hand, my friends in Tokyo, only 200km (125miles) away from the quake center, tweeted their conditions via Twitter. They were frightened and confused. Many waves of quake shaking were coming. Most public transportation stopped. At last, some of them went home on foot even though it took three to six hours*, the others stayed at their offices. Tokyo people could tweet, but northeast people (near the center) couldn't tweet. My boss "predicted" that all victims would be counted over 100 at the same evening. My boss and I realized it was serious, but didn't realized its true condition.
*Those who use Twitter could exchange transportation information, but other people couldn't (mobile voice network broke in Tokyo at that time.). The next day, many friends of mine who didn't use Twitter began to use it.

From midnight to next morning, the news reported the devastation of northeast area. They said victims and missing persons would be over a thousand (a few days after, the counts was over ten thousand, and now over 20,000). In addition, nuclear plants near the center were broken. I finally realized that this earthquake is the worst and the most serious natural disaster in Japan, in these hundreds years even though my everyday life never changed. The only encouraging news were messages from nations all over the world. Formal messages of nation's leaders, articles of mass media like that, in particular world's ordinary people's tweets with the tag "#prayforjapan" encourage us.


What I can do

I think over what I can do. Of course, donation was off the top of my head. To know the amount the sufferers need, I researched the amount of the emergency budget for 1995 earthquake in west Japan (victims over 6,000), divided it by Japanese population and multiplied it by three (my family members' number). I donated the amount to the Red Cross as the result of the calculation.

Only that? The government restricts amateur volunteers for a while because they will be obstruction of professional rescue in infrastructure-broken area.

Tokyo people are under a hard condition – the lack of electricity because of many power station including nuclear plants are broken. Tokyo Electric Co. controls "planned blackouts", the company deliberately stops electricity some areas in rotation to stop all area blackout. It makes Tokyo people's life, business and other all activities confused. You might think that west power plants should provide electricity to Tokyo and northeast. But it is impossible. The reason why is the difference of the frequency of AC (alternating electric current) between east and west Japan. Why different? 120 years ago, in the beginning of Japanese industrialization, east Japan electric company purchased a 50Hz generator from Germany, west Japan company purchased a 60Hz one from the US. Around that time, Japan had no technology information. So now, people in west Japan can't support people in east Japan in a serious lack of electricity.

About the problem of nuclear plants, maybe I can only pray for the staff who devote all their energies to settle down the plants.

In my opinion, as for people who are far from northeast Japan, all you can do for the sufferers at present is to activate the economy by your jobs and everyday life, except donations. Do the best at your work, buy things your family and I need or want.

Furthermore, the most important point is imagination. I keep collecting information and imagining the pain, sorrow and inconvenience of sufferers and survivors.

In addition, it is also important and meaningful to expand my concern about not only this quake, but also other world's issues. I make this expansion my pray for victims.

Top 10 Musicians on my iPhone in 2010

1. Johann Sebastian Bach
2. The Beatles
3. Paul McCartney
4. Ryuichi Sakamoto
5. Brian Wilson
6. Vampire Weekend
7. Muse
8. Kinoco Hotel
9. Gilbert O'Sullivan
10. L<->R

This year's new artists for me are 6,7 and 8.

Foreigners' Questions about Japan (3) Why is working long hours, with little vacation time, so important in Japan?

At first, I want to tell you that Japanese hate to work long hours. We like holidays and envy long vacations among many European workers.

However, Japanese workers can take only 5.1 days on average for summer holidays including Saturday and Sunday. Companies give 18 holidays per year but workers take only 8.5 days on average. Why do we work long hours and take short holidays?

I think the reason why is depending on two points as follows:

(1)Companies and workers fear losing jobs
If your client asks your company, "Can you finish this 48-hour job within these two days?", what does your company reply? Maybe all foreign companies don't accept this offer because it is impossible. But some Japanese companies will accept it. For them, it isn't an impossible order – if workers don't take a rest throughout the 48 hours. Such Japanese companies and workers think such work is convinient to their clients, and they try to avoid losing this precious work. If they refuse it, the work will be simply brought to another company which can accept it. And such companies are not rare in Japan.

(2)Mature people should bear hard situations and never complain about them.
If your daughter or son in kindergarten screams "I wanna eat something!" on a train, you say to her or him, "Hold on". Self-control is an expectation for mature people.
Japanese tend to adapt this expectation to the workplace. Refraining from taking holidays and to leaving your office on time are required for you as a mature people. They think that a person who says "I wanna take long holidays" is a child.

Of course, many Japanese workers think that this is an absurd notion. But unfortunately, most people are afraid of their co-workers or bosses thinking they are like children. Conformity is an essential element of our community. So people have a tendency not to take long holidays.

Other reasons: see my past entry "Why do Japanese businesspeople work till late?"

Foreigners' Questions about Japan (2) What is your favorite thing about Japan/Japanese culture?

I don't hesitate to admire social safety in Japan. According to OECD Factbook, Japan's victimization rates (Percentage, one year prevalence victimization except murder rates among the entire population) is the second lowest in all OECD countries. Rates in 2005: Spain 9.1, Japan 9.9, France 12, OECD average 14.5, US 17.5, and UK 21.
http://puck.sourceoecd.org/vl=19842971/cl=16/nw=1/rpsv/factbook2009/11/04/01/index.htm
As for murder rate among 150 WHO member countries, Japan is the second lowest.
Last year, I dropped my wallet which contains $700 / 530Euro / 475pounds at Tokyo. Three days later, my wallet was sent to my home in the same condition as when I dropped them. It was lucky case, but not rare in Japan.

Cleanliness and hygiene mind and punctual customer services (for instance, railways) in Japan make me feel comfortable.

I like some modern culture of Japan, but most of them are affected by western culture. But graphic novel, a.k.a manga is one of Japan-established culture which may be easy to be understood by worldwide people. I also like Japanese traditional culture – cooking, arts and architectures (for example, Buddha statues and temples) – but I think that some of them aren't easy to be understood for some westerners except as for orientarism-understanding.

Japanese people are tolerant for religions. The same person is celebrated by Shinto way, which is Japanese original religion, when after one month later he / she was born, He / she marries in Christian style – even though they never read the holy bible, and his / her funeral is conducted according to Buddhism rites. Many foreign people, in particular monotheism believers, may feel it ridiculous. But I think it was a good side of Japanese culture. Many Japanese seem to think that religious intolerance is an origin of serious conflicts, and I also agree with it.

For reference: newspaper findings
What characteristic of Japan do Japanese like best?
Safety, beautiful four seasons, diligence, delicious foods, glorious nature, moralistic mind, heritage, peace-oriented mind, non-class-based society, comfortable climate, cooperativeness

What characteristic of Japan don't Japanese like?
Closed-society, group mentality, intolerance, political system, opportunism, lack of creativity, irresponsiblility, indifference for others, homogeneous society, history during era of imperialism.

Foreigners' Questions about Japan (1) What do you think is the most misunderstood aspect of modern Japan?

Male chauvinism. When I told westerners that my wife was housewife, some of them thought that I forced my wife to quit her work. It wasn't true, quitting her job depended on her own will and a condition (our new house was far from her office.) I admit that male chauvinism still remain in Japan, in particular many elderly people and some younger people. But times are changing. Japan is behind western people about gender equality, however, it's getting to improve.

A trip to meet two heroes for Japanese (2)

My family and I parted in the meantime. I went to Kouchi city to see a exhibition and museum of Ryoma Sakamoto, who is a hero among many Japanese.

He was a swordmaster, an entrepreneur, and a peacemaker in the last part of the Samurai era (1860s). Japanese think that he is one of the most important people of Japanese modernization.




What did he do? The Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum said as follows:
In short, Ryoma was a man who triggered the collapse of Shogun's feudal government. In the 1860s, the government had no power to refuse western nations' requests (for example, trading on unequal treaty) and lost power to control regional feudal lords. Some people thought that the government couldn't defend Japan from western nations, and therefore supported the overthrow the government and establishment of a new unified nation under the Emperor. He was one of those man.

Ryoma succeeded to make partnership between two powerful feudal groups even though they were opposing. Both groups thought to overthrow the government by force, but Ryoma thought to avoid civil war. So he proposed to a lord a plan in which the government returned political power to the Emperor. The lord proposed the plan and the government accepted it. In addition, Ryoma wrote the way of new government: establishing the parliament, new law system and modern navy, trading other nations on equal treaty (the old government shut down trade with any nations except China, Korea and the Netherlands for over 200 years.), etc.

His action and plans affected new Japanese modern government strongly. He was assassinated by an unknown person in December of 1867. The new government was established in 1868.

He is very popular among Japanese of all ages, especially this year. Because one of the most popular TV drama series this year picks up Ryoma as a main character. So there is a temporary exhibition displayed in front of Kouchi station.



Right: Ryoma. Left: Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi. Iwasaki was a friend of Ryoma. Both of two were born in this prefecture, lower-class samurai. In particular, Iwasaki was very poor.



The Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum. It exhibits Ryoma's career, background and his letters.

My opinion about Ryoma is simple: If he didn't exist, there is a possibility that Japan would have failed to modernize peacefully, otherwise terrorism could have happened. Like many other Japanese, I also think he was great.

A trip to meet two heroes for Japanese (1)

My wife, three-year-old son, and I took a trip to meet a hero. Who was he? He was Anpanman, the most popular hero among Japanese pre-kindergarten kids.

Anpanman is a justice friend wearing a cape and flying in the sky like Superman. His item to help people is his face – it is made of bread! When he finds a starving person, he cuts off a part of his own face and gives it to him/her.. "Anpan" means bread with "an" which is Japanese bean jam.

The history of national star of Anpanman is very long. He was born as a picture book character in 1973. At first, it was popular among a group of kids. In 1988, this character was animated for a TV program, then he became a popular nationwide hero for kids. On the TV program, the original story was changed. It didn't include starving people but many characters based on meals. For example, a banana, pizza and a donut... Guinness book of world records admitted this program for the world's highest character count animation – 1,738. Of course now Anpanman is broadcasted all over Japan every Sunday morning.

Like other kids, my son likes him (his first word was "Anpanman") so my wife planned a trip to Anpanman sanctuary. It is the birthplace of the author of Anpanman where the Anpanman Museum was built.

We reserved the "Anpanman-train". Its walls, ceiling and seats are printed with Anpanman characters.






It took two and half hours by this train and 30 minutes by Ampanman bus to go to the Museum (the author's birthplace is rural).






The museum (left) and a hotel.



This hotel is fully furnished in Anpanman!



A settlement near the Museum also features Anpanman characters.

(Taking pictures of the Museum is allowed but posting them on blogs is prohibited.)
My son seemed very excited and satisfied by this hotel and museum. It was what my wife and I wanted.

(to be continued: the next entry will be about a hero of most Japanese adults.)

F. Scott Fitzgerald "Great Gatsby"

(This entry was written in 2006, soon after Haruki Murakami's Japanese translation was released.)

[Story]
In 1922, 30-year-old Nick moved to New York. He spent his life frugally, but lived in an area of many mansions. In such an area, Gatsby, who lived next door to Nick, had especially large land and a splendid house. Nick attended his party to know the mysterious neighborhood...

[My opinion]
This is a new Japanese translation by Haruki Murakami. With Murakami's many praises to this novel, I had been looking forward to reading it. In conclusion, this novel certainly met my great expectations.

The Japanese publisher of this new translation labeled this copy "a sorrowful and noble story". Such words fit this work more than other novels, I think. The vanity of luxurious parties, love affairs among men and women, unmeasured indiscretion of people who have power, sudden tragedy and Gatsby's rarefied will and behavior of his will – these factors were described by very classical sentences. This "classical" means high quality, neat and having value that may not be lost overtime. I think it depends on Fitzgerald's original sentences but also Haruki Murakami's spirited translation.

After a long interval, I encountered an overseas novel which I now want to read many times. The intrinsic value and power of this story are deserving.

After reading, I saw the book cover of this novel and felt very sad, even though I never gave heed to it before reading. It is merely a picture of a withered leaf floating in water. This difference of feeling may show the power of this novel.

Hannah Arendt "Eichmann in Jerusalem"

He was a man who proceeded the Nazis' Jewish extermination plan. He escaped from Germany to Argentina after WWII, was then captured by Israeli Mossad, and was executed in Jerusalem. I had limited knowledge about Adolf Eichman, before reading this book.

This book is the record of Eichman's Nazi work, his Jerusalem court trials and Arendt's observation.

After I finished reading this book, at first, I felt sorry for Eichman, partly. He read Zionist's books, was impressed, and seriously considered the extraordinary plan to move Jewish people from Germany and Europe to Madagascar and establish their nation. He felt bad to see the execution of Jewish people. "I moved Jewish people to concentration camps by my boss's command. I only obeyed the command." said Eichman repeatedly in Jerusalem courts. I think it may be true.

On the other hand, his loyal attitude is a good example for workers especially in organizations, I think. Normal organizations don't command murder or execution, but there is a possibility they might command some illegal actions. What do we do when in such a situation?

Arendt comments that Eichman deserves the death penalty in any situation. My conclusion hasn't been decided yet.


My viewpoints points of this book are as follows:

Eichman's position wasn't very high. The reason why his position became more important was that the Jewish problem gradually became more important in Nazi ideology. On this point, I think that many other people are to be punished.

In Germany and her occupying nations, Jewish organizations became the "Nazi's tool". For example, 103,000 Jewish people were moved to an execution concentration camp by the support of the Jewish council. High class Jewish people were the exception, however, they were in "insensible accomplices", Arendt said. I may also be an "insensible accomplices" in some situations without noticing.

There were many variations of responses to the Nazis' Jewish policy in Europe. Danish government clerks told Germany that they would quit their work if Germany asked them to commit any kind of Jewish suppression. In Italy, the government established an exception of the Jewish suppression law for the Jewish people who had family members who belonged to the Fascist Party. The rule covered most of Italian Jewish people. Bulgaria even turned down Jewish Badges for six months. On the other hand, those who supported the Nazis' Jewish suppression in a full scale were the eastern peoples (Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and some Russians), even though Nazis thought them also to be lower human beings. In Romania, Jewish people were killed by suffocation by stuffing up to 5,000 people in cargo trains as the trains travelled around the same railroads. Sometimes the bodies were then displayed at Jewish butcher shops.
Why were there such differences? The book didn't have the answer. I understand that this book isn't for thinking over this question, so if I find a book about this problem, I want to read it.

It took more time to read than usual this book because the sentences were difficult to read smoothly. I don't know the reason why is either the original sentences were difficult or the translation was hard. Anyway, this book deserves such time.

Gran Torino

[story] A ex-Korean war soldier Walt Kowalski spent his life in solitude because of the death of his wife and conflicts with his sons. His only pleasure is his 72 Ford Gran Torino. One day, an Asian Hmong family moved next door. Walt, who was a racist, didn't like this situation, but communication between the two began by accident...

[my impression] I don't hesitate to admire the director Clint Eastwood. This is a masterpiece, not only the part of describing the importance of communication between different culture and the question of "What can I do when I am elderly?", but also the deeply impressive ending. It was not heavier than "Million Dollar Baby", but this work also has heavy a "true theme" after the middle part which features a heart warming scene. At the ending, I felt a deep resonance and I was moved. Eastwood's work always leaves an impression on me. Because of this work, I ranked him up at the top of my director's ranking.

After a brief interval of my appreciation, I felt that Eastwood asked me "What can I do when I am elderly?" I'm 39 now, which means that I am not a man like Tao (a Hmong boy who learned many things from Walt), but a man like Walt. In the rest of my life, what will I hand over to younger people, including my son? Will I get it right about incidents involving me like Walt? In my everyday life, I don't think about such a theme. This film gave me that theme.

Rwanda's Genocide and their population pressure from Jared Diamond "Collapse"

I read this book again. (My former memo: "Twilight at Easter", "One island, two peoples, two histories" and "Martha's Vineyard Island") And I would like to write down another part of the book; Chapter 10 "Malthus in Africa: Rwanda's Genocide" The author Jared Diamond says his theory as follows in this chapter:

Rwanda (and neighboring Brundi)'s 1994 genocide is the second biggest massacre, per population since 1950s, next to Cambodia. There are many presume statistics but many people say the death rate was 10% of the entire population of Rwanda.

Why did many people kill neighborhoods suddenly? Generally speaking, the main factor was the hatred between Hutu and Tutsi (and the ex-host country Belgium's policy to make it). However, we can't attribute all topics to this factor. In the northwest area of Rwanda, Hutu people killed Hutu people. And in other areas, with decreasing Tutsi population, Hutu killed Hutu people. Why?

Admitting this hatred factor and many other factors, additionally, Diamonds mentions Rwanda's population explosion and the destruction of environment as a result of this explosion. In short, high population growth made an agricultural land quite smaller per person. My question was "Is it true killing neighborhoods because of such a reason?"

In Rwanda, after their independence, the government continued their conventional agriculture method and didn't try an innovation to enhance productivity. They also didn't go ahead with family planning. The author's friend found this proceeded environmental destruction in 1984. He saw the lack of basic and important agricultural methods: the whole country land was like banana orchids, not in terraced fields but ordinary fields along the steep land (it was a danger for the fields to be flushed away by heavy rain), not aerating the soil by covering it with grass (which is bad for soil).

As a result, the population density of Rwanda and Brundi is the world's highest, the worst of Africa, ten times that of neighboring Tanzania. Other highly populated countries, such as Holland and Belgium use highly efficient agriculture and have other industries. Bangladesh is transferring from a conventional agricultural method to the new "Green Revolution" method. But Rwanda didn't change their method.


Rwanda's agricultural land per person was 0.09 acres (360 square meters) in 1988 and 0.07 acres (280 square meters) in 1993. In the state of Montana in the USA, one family needs over 40 acres of land. So, you can understand the seriousness regarding the lack of Rwanda's land.

I say it again, the author doesn't say that the population explosion is the only reason for Rwanda's genocide. If this is true, genocide would occur in Holland and Belgium (in Bangladesh, genocide occurred - smaller than Rwanda), but it hasn't. In less densely populated countries - the Third Reich of German and Cambodia - people experienced genocide. However, along with other factors, population explosion can be a big factor of genocide. It is the author's conclusion.

In my opinion, the author's theory gave me some convincing explanation to my question "Why did such a tragedy happen?" after seeing the movie "Hotel Rwanda" and reading "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda" by Philip Gourevitch. But this tragedy is still beyond my imagination. I want to understand it, I need to, but I don't understand.

My 2010 resolutions

1. Health

Take no day off due to catching a cold.

Concrete plan: I will go to my fitness club 1.5times a week on average. Sleeping over 7 hours every day.


2. Learn cooking more

Concrete plan: Learn how to two cook meals.

I can cook only five menu items to help my wife who looks after our three-year-old son. I have to learn how to cook more.


3. Begin to make my ideal room

Concrete plan: One of my dreams is to make my ideal room. It will be a paradise in which I can enjoy reading books, listening to music and appreciating movies. This year, I purchase my family's own house instead of a rental flat, so I can start my idea. To begin with, I will select good speakers for my PC, which is like a juke box with thousands digital tunes, a HD Display and a high-spec PC for editing my son's HD movies.


4. Select one theme and study it for this year

Concrete plan: I will make summary sheets of this study and show them to my friends (sorry, in Japanese)

I studied the Japanese government tax system and the amount I pay and the government uses. This year, I still haven't decide the theme, however, I want to study something appropriately help my political vote or my job (I am a consultant of practical using / improving / constructing call centers.)


5. Be able to play a new tune on piano

Concrete plan: I will upload my playing to the web.


6. Keep TOEIC score above 800 and 400 for the listening section

I would like to maitain my English ability and improve listening ability (last year, I got 370 listening score in 820 total score.)


7. Reform my website (Japanese Version)

Concrete Plan: I will update all "under construction" pages except music, movies and books critics.

Checking My 2009 resolutions

1. Health
Take no day off due to catching a cold.
Concrete plan: I will go to my fitness club 1.5times a week on average. This frequency helped me keep in good condition last year.

result
I went to my fitness club 72 times, so I nearly achieved my goal. Unfortuynatelly I've caught a cold several times in 2009. So I consulted my personal doctor in the summer, and he priscribed me a tremendous amount of Vitamins (about three times of commercially available Vitamin pills). I caught few colds since the remedy.


2. Learn cooking more
Concrete plan: Learn how to cook meals suitable for a sick person.
Last year I increased my ordinary menu from two to five dishes to help my wife who looks after our one-year-old son. My wife appreciated that, but her imperative need is that I can cook meals for her when she is sick.

result
I learned how to cook rice gruel, udon (Japanese noodle which is easy to digest) with miso soup, and tofu miso soup.


3. Study and research for my family's future residence
Concrete plan: Making study sheet for as follows:
(1) Which is better, purchase or rent?
(2) What is the best plan to manage money for a residence for us?
(3) What are the important points for selecting a good residence for us?

result
(1) I made an Excel simulation sheet for comparing purchase vs. rent. If I live to be over 77 years old, purchasing is good moneywise.
(2) I selected a mortgage – the company which I work for supplies a part of its interest.
(3) My wife and I listed the important points for selecting a good residence for us. My list is as follows;
1. Its location is far from heavily trafficked roads: clean air is the most important
2. It takes under 20 minutes from the nearest railway station to Umeda (West Japan's biggest urban area)
3. It takes under 15 minutes from the residence to the nearest railway station by bicycle, without steep path.
4. It takes under 15 minutes from the residence to the nearest library and fitness club by bicycle.
5. 4LDK
6. A warm place in the Sun (In Japan, the house density is so high that it is rare that houses are open to the south side.)
7. My room is larger than 20 square meters.

So we found and purchased my house. It is now under construction. We will move in March.


4. Select one theme and study it for this year
This is Peter Drucker's method. I am learning his self-management method from my company's textbook, so I would like to bring in his good system.
What should I study? I want to know more about a theme which is concerned with politics. Last year, when I read a book (Robert B. Reich "Supercapitalism"), I thought that we should take part in politics more, in particular, the Japanese generation under 40, which includes me, politicians became less interested in their policies for younger citizens, because of the low voting rate of this generation.
I decided to study about tax system, one of the important parts of administration.
Concrete plan: I will make summary sheets of this study and show them to my friends (sorry, in Japanese)

result
I made an Excel sheet that you can use to calculate your taxes paid to Japanese and local governments and your taxes' use.


5. Be able to play a tune on the piano
Concrete plan: I will upload my playing to the web.
My ambitions through my life are improving my English and playing piano better. I got a TOEIC score of 825 last year, which I think it meant my English was a step up (even though I know my English is not advanced enough) . Next, I will turn to the piano, I will continue learning how to play the piano.

result
I entered a piano lesson club and I restarted lessons (the last lesson was in 1995 – 14 years ago). The tune I practice is Ryuichi Sakamoto's "aqua". Listen to this, even though it isn't completed...


6. Keep TOEIC score above 800
I would like to maintain my English ability, even though most of my free time will be taken up by some other studies and learning the piano.

result
My score in 2009 was 820.


7. Speak more slowly than now
Sometimes my Japanese speaking is too fast to understand.
Concrete plan: To begin speaking at a normal speed and for my friends to admit that in December.

result
Maybe I can't achieve this resolution. Anyway, I felt difficulty measuring for a non quantitative resolution like this.