The Singapore's way of developing human resources

(This entry is continued from "Singapore - their Housing Development policy".)

In my opinion, the most important reason for Singapore's development is their strong policy of human resources. The government is keen to choose elites even children who are under 10 years old, so people are very concerned about their children's educational qualifications. In my opinion, the fact that Lee Luan Yew, the ex-prime minister and the founder of New Singapore, is an admirer of so-called eugenics, in other words, "Like father, like son." plays a key role in this trend.

In 1983, he dropped a verbal bomb on two TV programs as follows: "If college-educated man want well-educated sons / daughters like him, it would be stupid to marry a low-educated woman." He also quoted from a study from Minnesota. The study showed that twins have a lot in common - even if they grow up in different countries. 80% of their trends are the same - vocabularies, IQs, habits, tastes of food and friends, characteristics and personalities. He said, "In other words, 80% of person's ability is decided by nature, 20% of that is a result of foster." This topic caused massive controversy. In the following year, Mr. Lee's political party's votes decreased 12%. Mr. Lee predicted these consequences in advance. Why?

He was anxious about Singapore's future when he read a statistics report in 1980: It showed that college-educated women of Singapore tended not to marry and not have children. The reason for this was that Singaporean men didn't want to marry with a woman with the same level of education. Half of college-educated people were women and two thirds of them didn't marry. No matter what ethnic group, college-educated men like to marry with women whose education level lower than theirs, the rate of marriage between college-educated men and college-educated women was 38% in Singapore. Mr. Lee thought this was a serious problem.


But Mr. Lee wasn't a man who worried about the "serious" scene, he was a man who was active. He and his partner created a national society club for college-educated men and women. This proved fruitful: the rate of marriage between college-educated men and college-educated women increased to 63% in 1997 from 38% in 1983.

In my opinion, I don't agree with his thinking "80% of human ability is decided by nature". I think the environment a child grows up in is very important. The book, "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond, says "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves." In addition to that, I am not an admirer of the opinion placing educational background above anything else.

However, I don't hesitate to admire Mr. Lee's quick response and enthusiasm for developing Singapore. His strong leadership and clear decision made many excellent results. Now, his son, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong is the Prime Minister of Singapore. He is also a smart leader. Lee Kuan Yew, his wife and his son all received the No.1 position in Cambridge University. At least with the Lee family, Mr. Lee's opinion seems to be true - "If college-educated man wants well-educated sons / daughters like him, it would be stupid to marry a low-educated woman."

Learning world history

My wife and I bought a series of sixteen comics for learning world history again. They are mainly published for high school students who are learning world history. My wife didn't like the subject in high school, but now she admits the importance of the subject and wants to study it again, as fun as possible. On the other hand, I liked world history very much and got the No.1 result in my grade a few times, but I have forgotten some parts of the subject and have lost comprehensive understandings. We searched for the comic series on the Internet auction and have now got them.

I can say that the comics are good works - comprehensive, keeping ethnic equality, authentically re-creating pictures, (For instance, in* the chapter of the Middle Ages of Europe, pigs are described like wild boars. It is true that pigs weren't as we know them today.) My wife and I enjoyed them and I recall studying world history in high school.

At that time, Japanese World history curriculum had three characteristics that I don't think they were appropriate. First, it was attached too much importance to Europe and China. Yes, our history and culture are much influenced by these areas, but I feel it was too much emphasis. To my eyes, (not based on statistics) the ratio of study of Europe to China to Middle East to the others is 40 to 40 to 15 to 5.

Second, learning to pass the examinations of both high school's regular tests and universities' entrance examinations was by rote very tedious. (It seems that these conditions still remain.) Questions on these tests were like history-maniac's quiz. For example: "What is the main religion of the country in which Auschwitz Concentration Camp of Nazi?" Answer: Catholic (from a basic level exam - the preliminary standard college entrance exam) "In the beginning of the 20th century, at a concert hall in Paris, a tune was released. Listening to the beginning part of music, the audience laughed it to scorn, got angry, and fought. What is the title of the tune?" Answer: The Rite of Spring (by Stravinsky) (from an entrance exam of a high level) I'm not surprised that many students hate these subjects.

Third, teachers and students tend to omit contemporary or 20th century history. In my opinion, contemporary history is the most important part of world history, because the purpose of learning history is to know the past mistakes and to not relive them. The contemporary history section was the last part of the curriculum and not adequate long. In addition, this period was also the period of the most critical exam, the college entrance exam. For above reasons, teachers find it difficult to teach contemporary history and students accepted that.

As mentioned above, the world history program has some problems. However, I like the subject. The source of my curiosity and indispensable fundament of understanding the contemporary world is that the dynamism of world history - the prosperity and decline of many groups and how it affected. I realize then why I enjoy the world history comic series.

Singapore - their Housing Development policy

A friend of mine wrote an article about Singapore on his blog after traveling there. His stay was short, only 10 hours during transit, but his impression was good. The reasons why he was impressed are as follows: the nation is clean, well-disciplined, good natured people, and coexistence several religions. My impression of this nation is similar to his. I went to Singapore in Oct. 2001. I enjoyed the people's high energy and a feeling of safety but they were not impolite and bold.

As you know, Singapore is very small (632.6 square km: less than half of Greater London, two-thirds of New York City) and is very poor in natural resources - even water is imported. I wonder how such a "weak" country has developed and has surpassed (now almost equal) the GDP per person of the U.K. which is the suzerain of the country. After I read several books and webpages, I began to think the source of Singapore development is based on their excellent policy, in particular, of the first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. He and his partner's political actions are usually praised, but sometimes blamed as "development dictatorship" from limited freedom of press and expression, and so on. However, I am convinced that excellent brains and clear decisions mainly contributed to be survival and development of Singapore. (Now I am reading the autobiography of Lee Kwan Yew "The Singapore Story". It contains about 1,000 pages so I have not been able to finish reading it.)

At the comments and responses on my friend's blog, I am interested in their housing policy. Since achieving autonomy in 1959, the Singapore government held up their housing development as one of the highest priorities because of the low level of its citizen's lives (the jobless rate: 13.5%, living at poverty level: one forth of the population) and the people's ethnic groups, which might be a source of conflicts. HDB, a.k.a. the Housing Development Board was established in 1960 to solve these problems. I take more interest in the latter problem than the former.

HDB has two main programs for the problem of ethnic group concentration. The first, "Ethnic group mix program" is to make the ratio of ethnic residents as many as the ratio of ethnic groups all over Singapore. The tour guide who I traveled Singapore with said that HDB even locates each room of residents mixed in ethnic ratio, for instance, Chinese, Malayan, Indians and others... But I couldn't confirm this topic in any books or on websites I've read.

The second one is "Moving to a new flat" program, in the 1970s, the government was forced to expropriate some ethnic zones by law, with monetary compensation of 10,000 Singapore Dollars) and moved residents to HDB flats. These two programs resolved ethnic groups and reset them up as "Singaporean", the base of a multiracial nation.



HDB flats (Oct. 2001)

Now, most of Singaporean people (87% of all) dwell in the flats, which are provided by HDB. Such a drastic political action is more difficult for Japan which has a population of over 120 million. Singapore only has 3 million. Nevertheless, the policy of Singapore may be good model for Japan, a country whose population is mostly made up of elderly people (about one third of all citizens is people over 65 years old.). Foreign workers are needed to come into the country to help, thus creating a more diverse atmosphere.

(For the continuation of this entry, please access to "The Singapore's way of developing human resources")

Japanese feelings about their Emperor

A friend of mine who is French gave me a celebration message for the arrival of Japanese Imperial family's son. I was happy he is interested in the big news of my country. I also felt moderate pleasure of this news. I think there is magic in a new life.

However, Japanese people have different feelings for the Imperial family. Generally, it depends on generation and age. It seems that people over seventy years old respect the Imperial family. If you are under sixty year old, some people love the family, some people don't respect that much. Under forty years old, people don't have a strong interest for them.

Even though, all of my co-workers talked about this in the morning and lunchtime of the news-release day. In addition, all over Japan and all generations, some people have a strong opinion that the Imperial family is noble, precious and proud of Japan. Therefore, all the mass-media in Japan never criticize the Imperial family like my country is under a gag rule. If a famous man criticizes the family in the press, the Imperial family-fans bash the man strongly and without mercy, sometimes by violent methods.

On the other hand, the family is the subject of some people's criticism. There are two points to this issue. One is that the Imperial family system is against the human-equality principle. The other (more controversial than the former) is about the former Emperor (Hirohito - Showa Emperor)'s responsibility of the Pacific War (World War II). Before WWII, the Emperor is also the top of military hierarchy. In reality, military generals controlled Japanese Army. But the Emperor could make a final decision. Most Japanese people think that Showa Emperor's "Holy decision to stop the war" made the end of the War. On the other hand, it is also the fact that the delay of his decision made many victims, for example, atomic bombs tragedies. In the war, over two million Japanese and millions of foreigners were killed. Nevertheless the Showa Emperor wasn't executed or imprisoned. He lived his life as the Emperor after the war till he died in 1989. Some people blame the Showa emperor for his improper action, such as responsibility, for the War.

My opinion about the two points above is as follows:
I think that it cannot be compatible between the Imperial system and the principle of human equality. The victims are not ordinary citizens but the Imperial family itself because they don't have the basic human rights – the right to vote and to choose their occupations. At these points, their freedom is limited. Therefore, I think that the Japanese Imperial system may be abolished.

I also think the Showa Emperor had the war responsibility. They say the Showa Emperor was a modest gentleman, loved peace and hated wars. I agree their opinion partly. However, in my opinion, the supreme commander should have taken his responsibility for the tragic result of the Pacific War. It is his work and duty.

Though I said above, I personally feel that (according to the mass media) all of the Imperial family members are very modest, graceful and decent people. Above all, the beginning of a new life is delightful case for me and many people, no matter that their background is controversial.

From "Collapse" - Martha's Vineyard Island

I read Jared Diamond's "Collapse" everyday. Every part of the book is cool and interesting. Not only its main contents: history, geography, archaeology and biology of many countries and areas in the world but also its sub topics. I learn much information from such sub topics of this book as follows:

Main and sub topics
Diamond contends some reasons why ancient people destroyed their environments and their societies collapsed. One reason, in particular, is a society that relies on another specific society ends the trade relation. He gave us an example of Pitcairn Island in Polynesia. When the island was "found" by westerners in 1790, there were no people on the island, but some ruins showed them ancient human habitation. Why did the islanders vanish? The answer is that Pitcarn was totally depended on the nearby Mangareva island for trade. A massive increase in the population of Mangareva island eventually led to the destruction of the island environment, thus, ending its trade with Pitcarn island and other island. Pitcairn Island is so small and has little natural resources except fine stones for stone tools. For example, it is hard to catch fish because the surrounding sea bottom falls of steeply. Thus, people couldn't live without trade. That's the main topic of the chapter.

As for sub topic, it is the sentence about the small world like Pitcairn Island: "If the small population did ignore incest taboos, the resulting inbreeding may have caused congenital physical anomalies to proliferate, as exemplified by deafness on Martha's Vineyard Island of Massachusetts or on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha."
I didn't know of Martha's Vineyard Island and Tristan da Cunha. I felt they were interesting so I searched and visited some websites.


Martha's Vineyard Island
The story of this island began in the mid-1600s. Many puritans went to this island from Weald, Kent in England, which was famous for many deafness caused by a genetic mutation. In 1854, according to a survey, the United States national average was one deaf person in 5728, but in Martha's Vineyard it was one in 155. Because the gene for deafness was recessive, such a large number of deaf people meant their parents must have had a common ancestor.

In 1881, a scholar studied deaf people in Martha's Vineyard Island and concluded that the deafness was caused by genes. So he recommended that deaf men don't marry with deaf women in the view of eugenics. His name is Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.

But the people of the island were well adapted to such a situation. People had original sign language and all residents, whether normal or deaf, could use it. The last person who could use this language died in 1952 and the language vanished, but this case is still appreciated as a successful barrier-free approach.

Xmas in Japan

Also in Japan, Christmas is a special day. People buy and give presents, have Christmas cakes. There are many decorated Christmas trees everywhere.

But, it is only a celebration, without Christianity. All Japanese know that Dec. 24th is Christmas Eve, but most Japanese haven't read the Holy Bible at all. Few people go to mass on Christmas day.

Some Japanese (in particular, younger people) don't know that Christmas is the birthday of Jesus Christ. Because most Japanese are Buddhists or believers in Shinto (Japanese original religion). Yes, in Japan, non-Christian people celebrate Christmas.

Of course, we Japanese respect Jesus Christ and Christian religion. Merely, Japanese are very tolerant of religion. The most popular Japanese celebration style are as follows: new baby celebration in Shinto style, wedding ceremony in Christian style, funeral ceremony in Buddhist style. People say "Merry Christmas!" on December 25th and pray to Japanese God on new year's day.

Maybe it is not the way religion is viewed worldwide, but this is our unique religious practice. It is not a recent trend, it is a trend from A.D. 538 - the year Buddhism came to Japan. Since that year, Japanese accept two or more religions equally (For example, Buddhism and Shinto).


We enjoy our New Year's celebration very much. In Japan, Christmas day isn't a holiday for all companies and schools, but from December 28th to January 3rd, most companies and all schools are closed.

We send many new year's cards (I have written 170 cards for the coming new year, for friends, relatives and co-workers.), and we have a special classical meal in our houses. Relatives gather to the oldest relative's house and say "A Happy new Year!" together. I'm anticipating the days - winter holidays and new year's day.

Best Wishes for a Happy New Year!

The Chair of Destiny

As it is often said, "People spend one third of their lives in their beds. That's why the quality of the bed is very important." Maybe the phrase was made by a bed seller. But, in my opinion, it is true not only for beds but also chairs.

I spend much time in my chair: reading books, checking e-mails and websites, writing e-mails and weblogs, and sometimes learning English. I mean to say, I spend over one third of my holidays in my chair. But my chair is not suitable for my body. Its surface is hard; therefore, I placed a cushion on the surface. But I felt uncomfortable because the thickness of the cushion touches my thighs. It means that I spend over one third of my holidays uncomfortable.

Some days ago, I decided to buy a new and comfortable chair. Then I thought about the kind of chair I want. The points are: suitable for my desk, being equipped with many adjustable parts, and fitting my body.

I went to the biggest furniture shop in Osaka city, because I wanted to check a variety of chairs as possible. The furniture shop is in a former upscale hotel that went bankrupt and was bought by the furniture shop. I was very content shopping in such a large, calm environment . I sat on fifty different kinds of chairs and enjoyed fifty kinds of feelings.

It was not difficult to meet "the Chair of Destiny", which is suitable for my desk, being equipped with many adjustable parts and fitting my body perfectly. But, as it might be expected, I realized that the chair's comfort was directly proportional to the price. The price of the chair was twice the amount my budget. But I think nothing compares to the chair, so I bought it.

After all, it didn't take much time to choose witch chair, but it took a lot of time to choose the color of the chair.



The chair: Okamura Contessa

Strawberry Field Forever

News sites said that Strawberry Field, in Liverpool, is to be closed within several months. That is the orphanage that used to be John Lennon's playground, that became famous from The Beatles' song "Strawberry Fields Forever". The entrance gate is also memorial place for Beatlemania.

I have been to the place three times, and have unforgettable memories, especially from 1990. When I went the orphanage, its wall block was under reconstruction. Then, a workman approached me. He passed me a block, said, "Put it in the wall". He helped me make a special memory that was that I put a block in Strawberry Fields. I was deeply moved and appreciated his action.

So, the news reminded me of this memory and I thank the workman again. After it closes, "Strawberry Field will be forever", for me, thanks to this memory.

A report about Amazon.co.jp

Amazon.co.jp is one of the most popular net-stores in Japan, but it is infamous for their secretive management. They don't accept most interviews, and don't reveal their management data, even the net sales. A documentary writer was frustrated with this situation, so he quit his job as the chief editor of a logistics magazine and got a part-time job for a logistics center of Amazon.co.jp, of course keeping his real purpose for this job a secret from Amazon.

His job is to pick books from many huge shelves and carry them to a packing counter. Amazon promotes rationalization and efficiency in a positive manner, but it is impossible to mechanize this picking process, because all books have their own size. For this purpose, Amazon employs 400 part-time-jobbers at a 900yen(7.5US$,6euro)-an-hour salary. It is the job the reporter had.

Amazon controls the workers with a time tracking machine. The machine tells Amazon and the workers how many books they are picking in a minute. Amazon sets a target as 3 books / min. Because of its difficulty, workers can't be lazy. This simple job goes on every single day. The finishing time of this job changes every day, and depends on the number of orders from customers. Sometimes the staff tells workers to work overtime untill 8 pm at the start, and sometimes he tells them to stop working at 3 pm. 9 / 10 workers quit this job in one year. Workers have no loyalty to Amazon.

The reporter gathered information about Amazon from workers in the center, and interviewed a retired chief executive of the logistics company and rival company of Amazon. He estimates that the last sales amount of Amazon was far and away ahead of rival companies (more than ten folds of rivals), a 70% amount of the biggest bookstore chain in Japan, Kinokuniya. In his opinion, Amazon's strength is based on their corrective logistics demand forecast, and thoroughly "customer-first" thinking (for example, customers can returned books they bought from Amazon any time within 30 days.).

He finds a future society in Amazon's model. It is a workplace that consists of "thinking workers who make manuals and earn a high salary, and non-thinking workers who are controlled by the manual and earn a low salary." His feeling about Amazon is "As a customer, I want to buy again. As a worker, never again."

Videogames in the 80s

On the first day of this Golden week holiday, I tidied my room all day long. When I unpacked my cardboard boxes that I had packed for moving, I found some towels. A parade of many videogame characters are printed on the towels. These things made me very nostalgic.

When I was an elementary school pupil, some classmates were enthusiastic about playing videogames in an arcade. But our parents and teachers prohibited us from going to arcades and playing games at them. There are some reasons for their prohibition. Some pupils stole their parents money for playing. Bad boys often made threats pupils at arcades. Adults didn't know what videogame were. They thought of them as an underground indulgence and didn't have sympathy for them. At the time, NES hadn't been released yet.

But my parents gave me money for playing some games, and never banned me from going to arcades. So I went to some arcades that were located in a department store that bad boys never gathered at, and fervently concentrated on each game I played by using the small sum from my parents. So I started to understand some games in detail, and so, I wrote a guidebook of a game and sold some copies of it to classmates (This was my first experience making money). In those days, guidebooks of videogames had not yet been released publicly. (Actually, a student satarted a game circle in Tokyo and wrote a guidebook in his private time at same time. After that, he made a company and created the original Pokemon.)

As stated above, some videogames caught my fancy very much. Those games had one point in common. It was the maker, NAMCO. It was still a small company in early 80s, and unknown among ordinary people but was becoming famous among videogame maniacs for being the originator of Pac-Man and other innovative games. Every game had new ideas, a beautiful pop design, and good music. More than anything else, all the games were great fun. I was heavily into their games, so I wrote a long letter to tell the NAMCO staff how I love their work.

After a month, a big parcel was sent to me. It was from NAMCO. I was very surprised and opened it quickly. There were some towels and a letter in it. The towels had a parade of many videogame characters for the 30th Anniversary of the founding of NAMCO. Perhaps these were for their corporate customers. The letter stated their thanks. I was deeply impressed for their consideration, and treated it as my treasure.

NAMCO has developed very much, and was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after 7 years, and now is one of leading companies of videogames in the world. Based on my memories in the early 80s, I think this was a natural result.

Mozart, the English Speaker

I have a fundamental question about English or American movies. Why do non-English speakers speak normal English in the movies?

For example, in "Amadeus", it is staged in 18th Century, Vienna, but all characters speak English. I wonder if American people think it's funny that Mozart said "My opera is full of German virtue." in English.



Asian characters who speak English in movies set in the past is even more funny. In "The Last Emperor", the Chinese Emperor and his mother speak English. I think it is very funny for Japanese to hear this. Even in "The Last Samurai", Japanese peasants speak Japanese and only the educated class speak English. A lot of Japanese question "Why can so many Japanese people speak in English?"



Of course, there are some incorporation of Vienna in "Amadeus". People don't say "Mister" but "Herr". The DVD's English subtitles says "Direktor" not "Director". But, in my opinion, it is not enough. This movie is very real. The location was an old city of Prague, which has 18th Century buildings and atmosphere. The costumes were reproduced in detail. The music director was Sir Neville Marriner, a very excellent conductor. But the language isn't real.

When I watch these movies at first, I don't think it's funny because I concentrate to read the Japanese subtitles. But whenever I watch it the second time, I always question the use of language.

Meeting Brian Wilson in Tokyo

I went to the autograph session of Brian Wilson. It was a very rare chance for us Japanese.

Brian Wilson was an original member of the Beach Boys. Because of his songwriting talent, they released many hit songs in the first half of the 60s. People felt the California sunlight, girls on the beach, hot rods and surfing in their songs.

But Brian's genius wasn't to be contained in this style. His lyrics became reflective, and his melody got more and more complex. Being inspired by the Beatles' Rubber Soul, he became eager to make the album that could would be better the Beatles. Concentration was the most important thing for Brian. He shut himself off to the outside world. and composed songs for months. At last, he quit the Beach Boys' concert tours in 1966.

Brian released Pet Sounds released that same year with Brian's fully confidence. The music was innovative, complex and beautiful. The Beatles, especially Paul McCartney was shocked by the album. But people were bemused. They couldn't find the sunlight, girls and surfing in it. Even members of the Beach Boys didn't realize the true worth of Pet Sounds.

Brian was very disappointed. He began to create the next work, SMiLE. This album, was composed with some unique themes - The four elements (Fire, Air, Water and Earth), a native American girl dancing in the war among natives and whites, etc. - should have been one of the masterpieces of American music. But when making SMiLE, Brian became mentally deranged because of the pressure and a lack of understanding by the record company, fans and the other member of the Beach Boys. Thereafter, he was in a state of a suspended animation for many years.

After struggling, he was back. SMiLE was released after an interval of 37 years with big help from his young supporters. And he came to Japan for his SMiLE live concert. An autograph session was held on the day before of the first day of the concert. A friend of mine who lives in Tokyo got the ticket of this session for me. How can I thank him?

I went to Tower Records Shibuya, the place of the session to meet my friend. It looked as if was going to begin, so a friend of mine was waiting for me, nervously. 200 ticket holders gathered there.After ten minutes, Brian Wilson appeared, and said hello to us. He looked very casual, like he had just walked out of his hotel room. His style didn't radiate with his usual charisma, but we feel soft and gentle atomosphere. As soon as he arrived, the session had began. It had many rules. They said: Things for autograph are only SMiLE's vinyl record sold by Shibuya Tower Records.

Participants could not pass things to Brian directly. Participants were kept away from Brian, etc. What's more, Brian looked tired, so he concentrated to sign autographs with no reaction, no smile. He looked only at his desk. So, the session seemed like a distributing station. But I thought of it as a golden opportunity. I said a message to Brian, keeping in the rules. Then, Brian looked at me, a little surprised, gave me a kind smile, and said "Oh, thank you." Of course I replied.It seemed to be a rare case. When I wrote about it on my weblog in Japanese, some people I didn't know trackbacked with surprising comment like "Here is a miracle man who could communicate with Brian in such situation!"

Despite his nervousness, Brian's concert tour through Japan was a big success and fans were deeply impressed.

Horyuji Temple with moving friends

"Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?" The ancient Chinese wise man Confucius said these words in the beginning of the Analects over 2,500 years ago. The words still hold true today.

K is a friend of mine who lived in Tokyo with his wife. They spent happy days there, but they were determined to move from Tokyo to Chugoku area, Japan Sea side.

They planned their moving journey. They bought a Smart, very small car of Daimler Chrysler.
Then, they made their weblog that was opened only to their intimate friends. The site has pictures and comments of customizing their Smart, preparing for their move, and their journey from Tokyo to Matsue by their Smart. They began to move in late November.

They traced back to their memorable places. They went to see their relatives, friends, their first workplaces, and where they first met. They were working towards Kansai.

On the 4th of December, they reached my hometown, Ikaruga, Nara. They had been looking forward to see Japan's first world heritage, Horyuji temple in town.

Horyuji is the world's oldest wooden architecture in existence, established in A.D.672 by a prince regent (nephew of emperor). To make the nation of ancient Japan and rule it peacefully, he established diplomatic relations with China (He wrote the beginning of the diplomatic letter as "From the emperor of the sunrise place to the emperor of the sunset place, I wish you are safe and sound..." So the emperor of China got very angry, but Japan could make diplomatic dialog on equal terms, not as a subject state.), imported Buddhism from Korea, made the constitution based on Buddhism, and established Horyuji temple.

I guided them to good spots in Horyuji and answered most questions about Horyuji for them. Because I had guided friends at Horyuji several times, I had already learned about the temple.
We appreciated the old architecture and statues of Buddha. When I was a young boy, I didn't realize the reason why mature people loved such old things. Now, I can understand the true value of some things, but still can't understand some other things.

We took lunch at the riverside of Tastuta-gawa. It is famous for tinted autumnal leaves and is described in two poems of the Ogura Anthology of One Hundred Tanka-poems by One Hundred Poets, complied in the 13th Century. The anthology is the basic classical refinement for Japanese people (Even nowadays, high school teachers recommend students to learn poems by heart). We enjoyed beautiful red leaves and appreciated the old poem as follows:

No.17: Water of Tatsuta River was tie-dyed scarlet by
maple leaves...? I would never hear such a thing even in the era of God when strange things often happened.

No. 69: The maple leaves on Mt. Mimuro with a storm raging fall and float on Tatsuta River one after another and make a gorgeous brocade.

After appreciating ancient Japanese culture, they left my hometown and went to their future hometown.

My desire is always to be here, Mull of Kintyre

(The original article was published on my former website in 1997)

My Wanderlust for the Mull of Kintyre

Paul McCartney / Mull of Kintyre
When I heard this song's title, I presumed it referred to a place in Africa or somewhere because it didn't sound like English. However, the sound of bagpipes made me realize the song was about Scotland. The strange songtitle and sweet, peaceful melody tempted me to travel to Scotland without me noticing.

When I came to love the song and decided I wanted to go on a trip to Scotland someday, I gradually founded out how to get there. At first, I checked the location of the place on a map. I had thought Mull of Kintyre was a very famous tourist resort, but few Japanese articles dealt with the place. According to "Blue Guide:Scotland" published in the U.K., the place is at the top of the Kintyre peninsula of Scotland. The aritcle told me that there is the lighthouse. (At first, I had thought that the Mull of Kintyre was on the Isle of Mull in Scotland, but it wasn't.) I decided the destination of my journey, it was the lighthouse.

Consulting books and websites about Scotland so like that, and with help from members of the PC communications forum for U.K. lovers in Japan, I rearized that the cape Paul had sang about was very far away. I heard that there was no railway station near the place, so it would take at least one way to get to. I checked railway and coaches timetable, began to prepare for travel, felt a touch of anxiety, and left Japan.



On the way

The places I travelled to Mull of Kintyre are as follows:

-Japan(Kansai airport) to London Heathrow(about 16 hours)
Heathrow - London King's X - Glasgow (four and half hours by a limited express"Flying Scotsman")
I was so tired that I stayed for one night at Glasgow.

-Glasgow to Campbeltown (took 4 and half hours by coach)
There are no railways between the two points. When I got in the Kintyre peninsula, I found the sightseeing guide board that said"... one of the most exciting roads to the Mull of Kintyre, immortalised in song by Paul McCartney". I fell his lyrics "I'm Getting Closer!".



the sightseeing guide board


-Campbeltown to "End of The Public Road" (20 minutes by taxi)
Campbeltown is small town, however, I didn't got the impression that the town was inconvenient for daily life, because there is no large city near the town. I checked in a B&B and took a rest.




Campbeltown


A few hours later, I took a taxi in mainstreet of Campbeltown. The taxi went through the green grasslands. There is no car coming from the opposite direction.


on the way...


-End of the Public Road to Mull of Kintyre(20 minutes on foot)
The end of the road was a small park.I had to get off the taxi.
There was a board for sightseeing, it had the sentences as follows;




"Made famous by Paul McCartney's hit single in 1977,the Mull of Kintyre is strictly speaking,the rounded headland making up the south west corner of the Kintyre peninsula."
At last, I could see the sea and the lighthouse here. I went down to the lighthouse, on the winding road for a mile.



The Mull of Kintyre

Soon I saw beautiful and wide landscape; deep blue sea, brilliant green plains. The landscape had a splendid view, because there is no tree. Rabbits sometimes ran across walking path. The fine weather made the place surrounded by gentle light.

There is no people, like the Mull of Kintyre was reserved for me. So I sang "Mull of Kintyre" sitting on a small bench near the Mull lighthouse. I could hear Paul's song with My MD player and a ripple without the player. I could see the land of Ireland dimly over the calm sea.













Back to the town

At 8 p.m., The taxi I had took on the way to there came to pick me up. We went back to Campbeltown behind strong west sunlight. When I told her to take thirty pictures for the Mull of Kintyre, she smiled.



Souvenirs

The Campbeltown's only one tourist information centre had these souvenirs;



The postcard



The sticker



6years later

In 2003, a reporter of The Independent (UK newspaper) asked me to quote this article. He said that he would like to take it for his page "The End of The Earth" travel guide including the Mull of Kintyre.

I was happy to comply with his request! What's more, The Independent is Paul's favorite paper (He said so on his concert brochure in 1990)!

Then, fortunately, I could get the paper quoting this article, including my name in the UK because I was happen to travel the UK at that time. Thanks for lucky streak!






(now the URL on above was changed)


Actually, this article brought me not only this fortune but also friendship with some fans of Paul who read my article. I have good friends through this article about Paul's song.
Paul McCartney change his fans' life better worldwide, but not only by his great music. The real case is here. Thank you, Paul.