Claire's farewell party

To our tremendous sadness, Claire finally left Japan after her five years stint here. Since we own her so much, since she has been so popular among students, especially bunch of tired, smelly, and politically-incorrect middle-aged OYAJI men, and since we appreciate so many things that she has done for us, her farewell party seemed to become kind of hostess clubs at Romance Dori! Many people got together to say thank you to her at one night on late September. Because many people wanted to talk to her, I couldn't get enough time to have a chat with her, but hey, Claire! Again, thank you very much for everything you have done for us! You have been listening to my English since I started Nova nearly four years ago. I am not sure how much my English has improved over the course of those years, but thanks to your kindness, sincerity, and, your phenomenal perseverance against inappropriate remarks, we could really enjoy good time in your voice! Manabu is crying now! So are Toshifumi and I! But we also understand that it is time for you to move on now, So... no cry!
I wish from the bottom of my heart that your experience in Japan would be somehow helpful for your future! We will gossip about you some time at Nishi, and we are looking forward to seeing you some day. But now, see you again and good luck!







Oyaji-trio at Nishi

I am angry

Imagine the following situation. You live in a small apartment in Japan. It would be for five months or seven months or two years or more, but duration doesn't matter here. You have been a good resident. You have never delayed monthly rent fee at all. You have always paid it by a due date from your moderate monthly salary. Provably, you have caused small troubles for your neighbourhood in the past, either by making noise too loud or by throwing away your rubbish at wrong day a couple of times. But, you have never caused any serious problems. You have been an ordinary citizen as normal as your person living in next door.

Then, one day, a person from real estate company knocks on your doors, nervously smoking cigarettes as if he is trying to calm himself down for ensuing confrontation. He asks you to let him in your room apologetically, but you can tell that he is convinced that you don't have any choice but let him in in this situation. He may well saunter around the room for several moments, tapping the walls as thought inspecting them for damage. Then, he stops, turns around, and says to you, "You gotta be out within seven days".

How would you feel if this happened to you in reality? How do you think the person who got evicted like this would feel, if he or she is a foreigner who lives far away from his or her hometown and has difficulty in communicating with local people, let alone protesting to such a awful situation.

But this is exactly what has happened to some of Nova teachers today. One of the teacher showed me today a piece of paper he got from a real estate agency, which orders him to leave his apartment within seven days. He has never failed to pay his rent fee at all, but Nova couldn't pay it for his apartment. That is why. This situation is totally unacceptable. You can't force somebody to leave with only SEVEN days notification, even if you couldn't have paid your monthly fee. I have never felt such a strong anger toward Nova as I am now feeling in my four years student hood. And, I don't know much about real estate businesses or its procedures, but this is completely illegal. And if it is still legal to have law-abiding residents evicted within seven days, I don't give a shit with such a fucking laws!

While I was hearing this appalling story from a teacher, all I could do was just to listen to him and convey my sorry for him, hoping that this horrible experience in Japan would make him prepared for anything unexpected in the future, and that time would come someday when he can talk about this shitty situation with laughter in party talk.

See you again, A Blushing English Rose!

Today, I went to Narita Airport to send off one of my best friends. She was my private English teacher, and because we shared the same passion for great novelists, such as John Irving and Murakami Haruki, we talked lots about what we read at that moment. Oe Kenzaburo, Mishima Yukio, Endo Shusaku, Paul Auster, Noam Chomsky, etc, etc, etc... Actually, all the books I posted on this blog were the books she recommended to me. I have never met someone who has read as many books as her. To use Japanese expression, she is a worm of books. During our conversation, I was always impressed with her insatiable curiosity, which ranges from documentary on warfare and African countries history to surrealistic Japanese novels and New York Times best-sellers. I grew fond of hearing what she was reading or what she made of. She always asked me, "Why do you think so?" or "What do you make of it?", when we were talking about books. Because I am a feeler, rather than a thinker, I always had difficulty in answering to those questions, to be honest. More often than not, I got stuck in the middle of sentences in front of her, realizing that I hadn't thought about the subject deeply enough. I am pretty sure that she was sometimes frustrated with my simple answers or sitting-on-the-fence attitude, but she rarely showed her tedium, rather successfully making me feel as if I am the funniest person on the surface on this planet. To put it simply, she can listen to others carefully and patiently.

Now, she and her boyfriend are going to go to Ghana for volunteer work. They are going to teach English to local people. It would be hard and touch, but I am certain that their experience in Africa would be valuable for their future. And also, I am definitely sure that they would make a difference to people there, as she did it to me in Japan.

When I sent them off at Narita Airport, I cried(a bit), and I was so confused that I couldn't say "Take care!" nor "Thank you". But, Helen. I am really grateful to you for everything you have done for me! The time I spent with you was one of the most meaningful events of my life. I have learned so many things through your patience, honesty and kindness. I wish I could give something back to you!

When I have a time to part with somebody who is very important to me, I always recall lines from "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens.

I have stood aside to see the phantoms of those days go by me. They are gone, and I resume the journey of my story.

Hey, Helen and Kentaro! I wish from the bottom of my heart the prosperous journey of your life!!!
I am looking forward to seeing you again soon. But now,
Take care and Good Luck!!!

Who is the one irresponsible?

I guess Prime Minister Mr. Abe is now wondering in his bed where he got it wrong. As a promising politician coming from a patrician family, he had been lionized as a desiable figure during Koizumi premiership; a young, determined, and hawkish statesman who can appeal to a wide range of voters. His popularity culminated in abduction issues. As a secretary-general of Koizumi government, he has been said to have taken a strong leadership to deal with North Korea. His tough stances and harsh remarks toward North Korea, combined with his nationalistic romanticism toward Japanese uniqueness, were highly applauded not only by conservative newspapers and patriotic students, but also by tired salary-men whose only subscribing magazines are comic-books and innocent house-wives in voice room. So, when Mr. Koizumi resigned, he was widely welcomed as his successor, with an approving rate over 70%.

After less than one year in power, he suddenly threw up all his responsibilities and called it a day. To be sure, his premiership has been tainted with lots of disgraces. Four or five cabinet ministers were forced to resign due to political funds scandals. However, his party’s colossal defeat at Upper House election this summer resulted largely from economic policies of Koizumi reforms, such as taxation reforms, which now have directly hit elderly people or pensioners. A fiasco surrounding pension system, where as many as 50 millions payments records have been somehow erased or lost and allegedly there are countless people who got paid or would get paid their pension less than they are entitled to, is not a problem which has begun just recently. There has been a wide range gap between the have and the have-not for over the past ten years, which again has aggravated by Koizumi-reform under the banner of “Short-time pain for long-time gain”. His stance toward North Korea has been always hawkish and unyielding. He has been always pompous and nationalistic both before and after he became prime minister. He has been as drab and as dour as he used to be when he delivers his speeches. So, what is the cause of his sudden downfall?

After all, I think that he was just used as one of leading characters in our political theatre on mass media. When abduction issues arose five years ago, he was presented before us as a strong-willed politician who can stand up to “rogue country”. No date passed when news media didn't report his sustained efforts to get abducted Japanese back. When we were in clutch, we needed someone strong. Now that negotiation with North Korea has been in deadlock, and now that focal point in Diet has shifted from Abduction issue to more domestic one such as pension or salary gap between the have and the have-not, Mr. Abe is no longer newsworthy unless he can offer another charm.

What was that zeal which people showed when Abe came in town a year ago? Where are those words such as “Prince” or “Young thoroughbred” which we threw at him? Now if you read any newspaper or magazine, you would see any kind of virulent smear, such as “Coward”, “Chicken”, “Spoiled child”, “Irresponsible nincompoop”, “Arsehole”, “Guy who is incredibly overestimated and has no magnanimity for Prime Minister from the beginning”, virtually as imaginable vindictive as possible, you name it. True, he is to blame for his failure to keep his health, which is the first priority and responsibility not only as Prime Minister, but also as a member of any kind of organization. But bashing Abe with such vicious words is absolutely hypocritical given their past unlimited treatment to him. Those same media or critics who used to acclaim or even adulate is shamelessly attacking with malicious comments. Such a hypocrisy!

As some of you guys know it, I couldn't disagree more with almost all Abe’s policies. However, Japanese media’s overnight turnaround against Abe is totally going too far. Unless there would be no serious reviews for the past reportage regarding the former Prime Minister, we would be unwittingly made believe another “Prince” or another “Messiah” by these irresponsible mass media. That phenomenon is what I dread most.

Who is our next Prime Minister?

Now that Abe-chan has gone, everybody is talking about who's the next. I don't know much about politics, and I am not interested in politics so much, so I don't have any concrete idea regarding our next top politician. But I think it's wonderful thing if we had Prime Minister whose name sounds quite similar to often-used swear word.

I don't think that Mr. Asou is arsehole, but unfortunately I imagine that everyone assumes he is arsehole. If he was chosen as our Prime Minister, he would go to the general assembly of United Nations or G-8 summit or APEC or whichever. He would meet President Bush or Putin or other heads of states. And in that situation, he must be introduced to lots of bigwigs and audience from all over the world, "Here is Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Asou!!!". And then, people would question to themselves whether what they heard now is arsehole or not, or they would assume if Mr. Asou is actually arsehole or not, even though they are sure that Mr. Asou is not arsehole, because they know that arseholes can't be elected as Prime Minister usually. Or, maybe that announcer is not sure how to pronounce Japanese name so he or she would say, "Mr. Arsehole", and then, Mr.Asou would approach over him or her and correct their mistake, saying "I am not an arsehole!", then people at present would realize that he is not an arsehole because he is Mr. Asou. And, Who want to attack a country whose head of state is called Arsehole? Even some countries hostile to Japan would find it funny and comfortable, forgetting their hatred toward Japan and throwing away their AK-47 because they are busy with imagining if they had top leader named Arsehole in their totalitarian regime.

Prime Minister hopeful Mr. ASOU

Typhoon No.9

The other day, typhoon No.9 directly hit Tokyo(We numbered each typhoon in sequence, rather than naming like U.S. So, this typhoon was actually the ninth which was born in East Asia). As civil servants, when flood or other kinds of disaster would be expected to happen, we stay at our office overnight on vigil to make sure that we could react as soon as possible in case of emergency.

I was picked as a member of night vigil this time, so I was dispatched to one of local community centre, which could become local evacuation centre if people in neighbourhood were forced to flee in case of flood. During terrible storm and occasional strong rain, I patrolled around close area with flash light and map, checking whether fallen trees clog traffic on the streets or there is power-line that is cut off.

Fortunately, typhoon No.9 didn't cause any flood nor accident at all in Nakano-ku. After night vigil was over and we were dismissed, I got lipton tea in the morning, which was the best tea I have drunken for ages. And, unbelievably, we changed clothes and went back to each section, and started working normally as if nothing had happened at all. They didn't give us swapping day-off and expected us to work usually. The principle being, Get day-off if you are tired. It sucks!!!! So, I took half-day off, and went to Voice room...

the funniest man I have ever seen

Here is the funniest man on the surfice of this planet!
so, my japanese friends, have a gander!

Another war book

When a Japanese who studies English reads an English book, he will face a lot of difficulties. Vocabulary and unknown idiom are of course one of the biggest problems among them. Although people would stress a necessity to guess unknown words from context, after all, you wouldn’t have any clue about what you can guess if you don’t know half of words in a sentence. Then, even though you could overcome this primary problem, another headache is waiting for you: name.

It is very difficult to remember names of people or names of towns in another language. Because I have been exposed to English-speaking cultures through my study or friends, English names are getting familiar to me. However, when I try to read different cultures in English, I would feel as if I became a foreigner who is at a loss where to go at the basement of Shinjuku station. Encountering a name such as “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”, my brain is always stuck. “Jeeess. How is it pronounced?”

For a month, I have struggled to read a book about the Bosnian War. On top of vocabulary and name problems, complexity of the way and the author’s peculiar writing-style, (he tends to depict final scenes at first in each chapter and then amplify the processes which lead to those culminations mentioned earlier), make the book one of the most difficult books I have ever read. But, I couldn’t help but read one page after another, sometimes going back to the first page again and again, due to the compelling tales which the author saw or felt.

I have to admit now how little I knew or pretended to know about the war. My broad picture of this conflict was, it was a war between the Serbs and a Muslims-Croats coalition. Serbs who wanted to create a Greater Serbia out of the swathes left by the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Muslims-Croats who wanted to live in a multi-denominational secular Bosnia. But actually, Croatians and Muslims fought with each other in some stage of the war. There was a mention of the coalition between Serbs and Croatian against Bosnian Muslims. Muslims who are loyal to multi-national force in Sarajevo and those who believe fundamental religious ideology. There are references to the history also. Cetniks, Ustasa, Ottoman empire. Yoship Tito, Ante Pavelic, and Milosevic. All mixed up, I nearly snapped.

This is the book about the author’s experiences in Bosnia and Chechnya during the wars in late nineties. At first, he is presented as a fledgling journalist who just graduated university and couldn't find any decent job. Bored with daily tedium and starving for excitements, this guy walked into battlefields under the guise of journalism. It seemed at first that to go to wars is no more than to go to clubs for this unemployed English man. But as the story goes on, you will find that this guy is preordained to go to wars, destined even before he started having his own ideas about wars. Coming from the family with a history of legendary soldiers, he is a born war-correspondent or war-witness or war-by-stander or whatever status you would think.

I was really captivated with his change as the story goes on. At the beginning, he had the value not to kill anyone without reasons. There were times when he pondered the reason why he was in their war, not his war, sticking nose into other’s tragedy. And there were times when he was agonized with dilemma between politeness and safety, whether he should show some decency not to embarrass local people at the risk of his life or he should just run away. But soon enough, those morality or consideration were blown up into millions of pieces and replaced by description of battlefields. His identity problem just came down to how to deceive the authority, rather than some introspective question. Transforming from a trainee journalist to a seasoned cameraman, he started looking in from the outside, rather than looking out from the inside. Incredibly horrendous scenes, the complex nature of the war, his drug problem, his family estrangement, his honest description of the situations, I was capitalized with those things in this book.



a trace of struggle...

There is a face, next muffin.

One of the essences of "Owarai", comedy-shows in English, I think, is "Ma", a pause in English. You can either spoil or upgrade your story, depending upon the timing of your pause. This guy definitely knows that timing perfectly.

"There is a face, next muffin. There is a face, next muffin. There is a face.....next muffin".

I forgot exact sketch, but I remember seeing exactly the same type of comedy skit on Japanese TV show. All that the comedian was saying were repetitive phrases again and again. But, changing the tone or duration of phrase, he made a hiralious sketch of daily scene. Who was that? A pause must be a universal key to the comedy show.