Thursday, September 17, 2009

Visiting Lake Biwa (1)

Stephen R. Covey wrote: "If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster." I think my own life has already started traveling down a turned-back road (I will be 39 years old soon), therefore I want to lean the ladder to lean against the right wall. How can I do so? My busy everyday life makes me think unclearly. Every half year, I think about "the right wall – my life's aims and directions" during a silent night. However, this summer, I thought it would be good idea to take a trip somewhere to think over "the right wall" But where? Then, my childhood memories came back to me; it was Makino, near the northern part of Lake Biwa*. My family and I enjoyed swimming and chasing fish and insects in it's abundant nature. Does that nature still exist?

*Lake Biwa: It's the largest lake in Japan; its size is the same as the island of Singapore, the circumference is about 241km (150 miles). It's the third oldest lake in the world (following Lake Baikal and the Caspian Sea), therefore it is a precious environment for many endemic species.

The day to take a trip will come soon.

The commuter train took me to Makino. It took 2 hours.



From such a familiar-looking urban view...




to this rural view. It feels like leaving the everyday world and entering another world.

It took more than one hour before I arrived at Makino station. Only three people got off the train. Heading to the hotel I reserved, I began to walk.



There was clear water, crowded water grass, and many fish, which are never seen in urban areas, in the stream. Also a black butterfly was flying near the stream. I was glad to see that the nature I had seen thirty years ago is alive.



After several minutes, I reached the hotel.



My room was located in front of a beach. For a time, I lied down on the bed and rested.

I drank water and took a small bag, then began to walk along the Lake Biwa beach, remembering childhood memories and thinking about how to lean the ladder to lean against the right wall



At the beach in front of the hotel... I thought, something smells, like rotten fish. What happened? I moved my viewpoint from the beach road to the water's edge. There were many fish bodies in a long line.

I was scared spitless. Was this the nature I saw a little while ago? Awful. But I also saw many fish swimming in the lake. Why?

I asked a man who cut down beach grass, "Why were so many fish dead?" He replied, "They are ayu (sweetfish). In this season, all ayu produce eggs and die. Ayu's life span is only one year."

That means the fish bodies are a seasonal event. I breathed a sigh of relief, but was still surprised. When I was about to think about how to live for rest of my life, I encountered the end of many lives.

Changing my mind, I walked with my iPhone shuffling my music library, wishing my iPhone select calm tunes.




(This island is Chikubu-jima, where "Gods live")

The first song which my iPhone selected was The Beach Boys / God Only Knows. I got a jolt from this good selection by co-incidence. After that, my iPhone continued to select such calm and deep songs: Oasis / Stop Crying Your Heart Out, Kirsty MacColl / Perfect Day, Paul McCartney / Somedays. Wonder of wonders, no noisy tune was played.

Ten minutes passed, I went by a group of high school students playing in canoes. I bet they never think back on the roads of their lives.



It took about one hour to reach these blocks. They were constructed in 1703 by an official who could stand no longer this area's water damages. He left a thing which is still alive through 300 years. It reminded me of Akira Kurosawa's film "Ikiru" ( "To Live")



A turned-back road. No sooner than I begun to go back to the hotel, my iPhone played Guns'n Roses. I thought it was my iPhone's magic end and selected J.S. Bach / French Suite by myself.

Those high school students, whom I saw outward were about to go back to school. They never realized, however, that they surely approached the turning point of their lives. At that time, I had passed my turning point and was walking down a road already traveled.

After arriving at the hotel, I took a nap, bath and had good dinner. With my satisfied mind, I relaxed and thought about "Do I make my ladder lean against the right wall?" "How do I find the right wall?" As a result, my mind is filled with thanks to my family, friends, co-workers, and customers.

I went to bed, although I didn't wanted to sleep, because I was full of thankful memories.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Using My iPhone for three months

Using my iPhone 3GS for three months, this gadget has changed my everyday life. What has it changed?

I have become able to read most of the information on the Internet during commuting, which includes e-mail, Twitter(including writing for it), blogs (by RSS Reader) , social bookmarks and SNS. Because I follow not so many blogs and Twitter users, I can read their full content within my 50 minute train commute (going and coming total).

This change also effects how I use my free time in my house – Reducing my PC time increases my family time. Truly, my iPhone has changed my everyday life.

What is the bad effect of my iPhone? It is difficult to find, but I manage to... It is decreasing my time to read books. However, I can find a good result in that. Prevuously, I continued to read a book outdoors even if it was is not very interesting, but now, if I find a book I take outdoors not so interesting, I switch it to iPhone contents. So I have become to be able to spend my time reading only interesting books.


My home screen now: (Maybe it will change in the near future. It is one of attractive points of iPhone – the evolving gadget.)



The first line: Picture viewer (flower icon) is very often-used. It contains pictures of the past 12 years, so I appreciate them and show them to friends.
The second line: Dictionaries. Consulting dictionaries is my custom. Therefore I thank my iPhone. Anytime, anywhere I can seek my needed information.
The third line: The others. SkyBook is a viewer for Japanese public domain novels on the Internet. After checking Internet contents, if I don't have any interesting books, I read classical novels by SkyBook.
The forth line and the Dock (the fifth line): Viewers for Internet contents and iPod.. I think that Echofon (formerly Twitterfon) is the best free application of many Twitter clients for easy-to-understand interface and stabilization.


peripheral goods:


Using my iPhone 3GS for three months, this gadget has changed my everyday life. What has it changed?
PDAIR leather case: This good has a belt-clip. It is useful for me especially in summer; I wear only shirts, not jackets for business in summer. Shirts have breast pockets but they leave the possibility of dropping my iPhone. This case is safe for carrying the iPhone and it is easy to pick up.

Anti-glare film: I never mind some scratches on the iPhone body, but I do on the screen. In addition, I don't like glare and fingerprints on the screen. This film guards my iPhone from those problems.


Noise-cancelling earphone: audio-technica ATH-ANC3 BK I selected this earphone for two reasons. The first; it features a small canal, so it is able to store and carry easily. The second: users reviews of Amazon Japan and so on. This earphone works effectively when I'm on a train. It decreases outside noise, so I don't have to turn up the iPhone volume. I know iPhone's original earphone is useful (equipped with remote controller. This noise cancelling earphone doesn't.). However, I think the health of my ears is more important than an easy-to-control iPhone.

What are iPhone's attractive points? Usefulness? Cool user-interface? Yes, I think so. In addition, in my opinion, the most favorable point of iPhone is possibility to customize one's iPhone like I have above. Also for other most hobbies, customizing has been intriguing and exciting. For example, cars, cooking, and PC. In particular, iPhone is the gadget you carry anytime, anywhere, therefore you can get a bigger reward from customizing iPhone than the others. Moreover, abundant applications and peripheral gears accelerate your customizing mind. iPhone is the gadget which teases us in a joyful way.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Top tunes on my iPod in August, 2009




1. Paul McCartney / Summertime
2. Vanessa Paradis / As Tears Go By
3. Keisuke Kuwata / MERRY X'MAS IN SUMMER
4. Ryuichi Sakamoto / Lost Theme
5. Ryuichi Sakamoto / Yamasaki 2002
6. The Beach Boys / Kokomo (from "Cocktail" Soundtrack)
7. Ryuichi Sakamoto / to stanford
8. Ryuichi Sakamoto / Bring them home
9. Southern All Stars / Taiyo wa tsuminayatu
10. JUDY AND MARY / DAYDREAM
11. L<->R / NOW THAT SUMMER IS HERE
12. Ryuichi Sakamoto / ice
13. Bach, J.S. / Inventions No.14(Takahiro Sonoda)
14. Flipper's Guitar / Wild Summer
15. Ryuichi Sakamoto / aqua
16. Bach, C.P.E. / Wurttem Sonata No.1-3(Glenn Gould)
17. The Beach Boys / Sloop John B (Stereo Mix)
18. Flipper's Guitar / Southbound Excurtion
19. The Script / Before The Worst
20. The Script / Talk You Down
21. Ryuichi Sakamoto / glacier


Most of these tunes except Ryuichi Sakamoto are the results of my playlist I made for this summer.

I listened to No.1 again and again, because this cover version reflects this laziness of summer well. Many people may recommend Janis Joplin's cover version of "Summertime" and I admit it is good, however, I feel Janis' fire-like version surpasses "laziness" – I can't remeber that this song's original is a lullaby when I listen to Janis' version – So I didn't select Janis'.

Napping is my favorite. In particular, in summer. Summer napping which gets rid of my tiredness with sweat is a pleasure of life, I think. However, I had always felt loneliness after waking up after napping before I married. It is a feeling of deep isolation like being alone in the world, though the sun was high and shining and neighboring kids were laughing outside. No.2 reminds me of those feelings of isolation nowadays. I usually never feel such isolation since being married. I am reminded of this not by the original version, but by Vanessa's version. Her singing recalls the loneliness of summer afternoons. So this song is a summer song for me.

The Beach Boys made many summer songs, but No.17 is included in an album which is one of their "most unlike summer" albums, "Pet Sounds". I don't understand why I selected this tune for my summer playlist. Maybe because the song's promotion film described that the members played in the pool.

I'll be fond of making a new summer playlist for next summer.

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Top tunes on my iPod in July, 2009




1. Perfume / Oneroom Disco ("oneroom" is a Japanese English word – it means bed-sitting room for young single person.)
2. Perfume / I still love U
3. Perfume / Dream Fighter
4. Perfume / The best thing
5. Yuzo Kayama / Tabibitoyo (To a traveller)
6. Perfume / Kiss and Music
7. Perfume / Negai (Wish)
8. Bach, J.S./ Inventions No.1 in C-maj. BWV 772
9. Bach, J.S./ Inventions No.10 in G-maj. BWV 781
10. Cornelius/ Beep It
11. The Monkeymind You Cube Band/ Dying Message
12. Perfume / NIGHT FLIGHT
13. Perfume / Zero Gravity
14. Perfume / Speed of Sound
15. Bach, J.S. / Inventions No.8 in F-maj. BWV 779
16. Bach, J.S. / Inventions No.13 in a-min. BWV 784
17. Bach, J.S. / Inventions No.14 in B♭-maj. BWV 785
18. Bach, J.S. / Inventions No.15 in b-min. BWV 786
19. Bach, J.S. / Sinfonias No.3 in D-maj. BWV 789
20. Bach, J.S. / Well-tempered Clavier Book1 No. 6
21. The Monkeymind You Cube Band / To Classical Future
22. The Monkeymind You Cube Band / I Will Hold You Soon

Perfume is a Japanese techno-pop idle group. I am a 38-year-old man, I am not attracted to them by their looks, but by their music. All of their music is composed / produced by Yasutaka Nakata. He created young, keen and easy-to-understand melodie with complex sounding arrangements. No.1, 2 and 3 are the best tracks for me in the new album.

Yuzo Kayama is a famous actor in Japan; he appeared in Akira Kurosawa films. On the other hand, he was also a talented singer-songwriter especially in the 60s. For his short autobiography appeared daily in July's newspaper the I read, I downloaded his songs from the iTunes Store. My favorite is No.5

Many of Bach's Inventions made me feel cool because of their decent melodies and clear piano sounds.

The Monkeymind You Cube Band is amateur, but I take to their album. It is the third amateur band album in which I've found attractive points in the album.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Top tunes on my iPod in June, 2009

1. Janacek, L / Sinfonietta I (Czech Philharmonic Orchestra)
2. Paul McCartney / Don't Get Around Much Anymore
3. BOOM BOOM SATELLITES / UPSIDE DOWN
4. Bach, J.S. / Sinfonias No.1 in C-maj. BWV 787
5. Bach, J.S. / The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I No.3
6. Cornelius / Fit Song
7. Flipper's Guitar / Southbound Excursion
8. Misato Watanabe / Have you seen the Rainbow?
9. Bach, J.S. / The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I No.14
10. Mr.Children / [es] -Theme of es-
11. Ryuichi Sakamoto / aqua
12. The Bangles / Manic Monday
13. The Beach Boys / Here Today (Stereo Mix)
14. The Beatles / If I Fell
15. The Beatles / Mother Nature's Son
16. The Dukes Of Stratosphear / Brainiac's Daughter
17. Guns N' Roses / You Could Be Mine
18. Lenny Kravitz / Again
19. The Manhattan Transfer / Four Brothers
20. Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney / The Girl Is Mine
21. namco (Junko Ozawa) / DIG DUG II
22. Southern All Stars / Full of Love and Passion from me to you


No.1 and 5 are the result of reading Haruki Murakami's "1Q84". No.1 appeared in this novel several times, from the first scene. The Well-Tempered Clavier works is the main character's favorite. He said that it is heavenly music for mathematicians.

When I listened to No.6, I felt the commonality between the album "Sensuous" which No.6 is included in and Radiohead's album "Kid A". Both of them are new, unique and keen, nevertheless, composed wonderful comfortable sounds.

Though I haven't surveyed all of Mr.Children's (Japanese temporary long-populated pop group) songs, If I can choose their best one, I think No.10 is the best.

I think that the bass line of No.13 proves the theory "Music doesn't depends on formula". They were out of "theoritical tone" but so cool beyond description.

No.19 is one of a compilation which my music-buff friend selected for Jazz novice (me). Their perfect chorus works made me feel that is something special.

No.20 - RIP and I wish you and Paul have already restored good relationship.