An Autumn Night in Tokyo

I’m writing this entry while listening to the rain late at night.

As I wrote in yesterday’s entry “Don't Forget about Global Warming,” this is the hottest summer of my life. If I left the air conditioner on all night long, I would get out of shape, but it was too hot for me to sleep this summer.

Since yesterday, it has been much cooler. Autumn is coming to Tokyo, now.

This summer, heavy downpour frequently struck Tokyo, but the rain falling now isn’t a tropic downpour but a drizzling autumn rain.

Summer downpours are wild. They start suddenly with lightning and thunders, and then suddenly stop. On the other hand autumn rains are calm. The sounds make me settle down.

These last two months it was hard for me to think about anything, and I hardly wrote this weblog. A long and silent autumn night is perfect for reading and writing something.

I saw a light in the window next door. I’m wondering what they are doing in this deep autumn night.

秋深き隣は何をする人ぞ　松尾芭蕉

"Gibu Mi Chokoreito": Ration D Bars and Japanese Children

There was a cliche, "Gibu mi chokoreito", which was used during the U.S. occupation of Japan just after the Pacific War. Of course, "Gibu mi chokoreito" means, "Give me chocolate."

I just started to read the book "the emperors of Chocolate," which is about the U.S. chocolate industry, focusing especially on the competition between Hershey and Mars.

The first chapter of this book, "Bar Wars," is written about the relationship between the U.S. Army and chocolate companies. The author wrote:

In 1942, when the United States entered the war against Germany and Japan, the military ordered Hershey to commence full-scale production of the new ration bar, and for the next four years the Hershey plant operated around the clock, seven days a week, churning out half a million Ration D bars per shift.

I didn't know about "Ration D Bars" before reading this.

I heard that the  U. S. Army soldiers gave chocolate to Japanese children during American occupation of Japan. At that time, even dairy foods were running short, so obviously sweets were quite valuable goods. Japanese children followed American Army's jeeps and shouted, "Gibu mi chokoreito!"

I'd like to know what kind of chocolate was given by the U.S. soldiers, so I googled it and found an image of the Ration D Bars. It was much rougher and bigger than I imagined. I think that the Japanese children who got Ration D Bars were probably very surprised by the size of the chocolate.

I began to want to eat a simple “Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar.”

My Vanity Makes Me Progress

I have been keeping this weblog for three years and have written 272 entries. Actually, it is quite hard for me, as a non-native English speaker, to write that many entries in English.

Why can I keep English weblog? The answer is vanity.

I have just finished an essay written by Sakunosuke Oda, a novelist. He wrote about vanity in the essay as follows.

People can't live without vanity, because they feel so empty. Even if their vanity was just earpickful, they would survive in a crowd relying just on it. Do only little people have vanity? Do only fools have vanity? I don't think so.

人は己惚れが無くてはさびしくて生きておれまい。よしんばそれが耳かきですくう程のささやかな己惚れにせよ、人はそのかけらにすがって群衆の波に漂うているのではなかろうか。果して小人だけが己惚れを持つものだろうか。己惚れは心卑しい愚者だけの持つものだろうか。そうとも思えない。

I don't believe in my will. My will is so weak that I can't achieve anything by my will. How should I do? I use my vanity, because my vanity is much stronger than my will.

It is obvious that writing in English regularly improves my English, but at the same time it is difficult to keep writing in English. I thought that I couldn't keep a private diary in English for years, so I decided to use my vanity, and I started keeping my weblog in English in public.

Comments on my weblog make me happy.If the comments are favorable, I feel elated. I always watch the number of page views, which satisfies my sense of vanity. If I gave up the weblog, the readers of my weblog would know it and I would feel ashamed. They support me keeping weblog in English.

If you want to lose weight, you should declare it publicly and report on the changes in your weight. Your vanity will ensure that you lose weight.

My vanity makes me progress.

Working Mothers Are Always Running

Yesterday, I was listening to Radio Head at full blast on my headphones when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder as I passed through office security.

I turned round to find one of my colleagues smiling at me. I turned off my headphones, and looked at her. She was already running away from me, calling out, "Hi ! Happy New Year! Catch you later."

Recently she came back from childcare leave, and now she is now a working mother.

I also have another colleague who is a working mother. She also runs whenever she leaves the office because she has to to pick up her twins from preschool. I think that they are really great.

Seeing her disappear into the distance, made me want to write a haiku.

松飾りの脇を母は駆け抜けて

A mother is running through a pine decoration

A Bar Just After Opening and A Hair Salon Just Before Closing

I love a bar just after opening and a hair salon just before closing.

I went to my favorite bar at 5:00 p.m. I was the first customer at the bar that day. The air in the bar was clean and the bartender was fresh and a little nervous.

I said, "Hello" to him, and sat in my favorite chair at the bar. There were many glittering glasses and bottles on the shelf behind him. The top of the bar was brightly polished.

He put a dish of nuts and said, "Welcome. What would you like today?" I replied, "Well, I'll start with beer."

He poured cool beer into the tall glass. I drank the first shot of beer that night. It was like heaven.

The other day I went to my favorite hair salon after work. I was the last customer that day.

My hairdresser said, "Hello, how are you?" He was happy and relaxed, because the salon would close soon. We cracked jokes with each other.

He had my hair shampooed, cut and blow dried quickly. Other hairdressers were cleaning.

After he finished cutting my hair, all of the hairdressers and clerks saw me off and said, "Thank you very much."

I walked down a street with short hair, and felt fresh wind. It was like heaven.

The Laws of "Salaryman" (1) "Cool Biz"

When I wrote about "Salaryman" ("English Words" Made in Japan ), I got a comment "I do hope you'll survive!" I've survived as an ordinary "Salaryman" in Japan for twenty years.

I have to keep many laws, which seem to be quite ridiculous for the people who aren't in the Japanese companies' culture, to survive as a "Salaryman".

Today I'll write about "Cool Biz".

It's quite hot in the summer season of Tokyo, but, as I wrote in the previous journal, a typical "Salaryman" always wears a dark business suit and tie, no matter how hot it is.

The ministry of Environment started a campaign called "Cool Biz". They insisted that "Salaryman" should take off their jackets and ties in order to save the environment. Do you understand the relationship between "Salaryman's" suits and the environment? They said that companies should raise the temperature in their offices to save electricity and "Salaryman" should take off their jackets and ties to stand high temperature. Poor "Salaryman"!

Anyway "Cool Biz" has spread over "Salaryman" and they have taken off their jackets and ties in the summer season. And of course it has been hotter in their office.

Japanese government has been worried about shortage of electricity because of the accident of Fukushima dai-ichi nuclear plants, so they started the campaign "Super Cool Biz". They are recommending that "Salaryman" should dress down more.

My company is very Japanese, so they obey the policy of the government. In my company's website I found an announcement as below.

Announcement: Light Closing in the Summer Season

We will relax the dress code in the summer season in order to meet the request power saving by the government.

1. Light Closing in the Summer Season
1) Implementation period: June 20th (the date of closing period will depend on the supply of electricity)
2) Dress code:
Both of men and women basically should wear "clean and moderate" clothing.

The purpose of the light clothing is to promote ease comfort to work in the office, but we show the example of "inappropriate clothing" in order to keep the minimum manner and working environment. Please keep the dress code.

This dress code is applied to only in the office. Please consider and wear appropriate clothing with your common sense when you visit your clients and keep confidence of them.

For male
The present dress code
tops & bottoms
Basically wear a business suit and tie, or clothing corresponding to them, and be allowed to take off a jacket and tie in the working time.

The new dress code
tops
Be allowed to wear a polo shirt and an open-necked shirt.
bottoms
Be allowed to wear chinos and cotton pants

The inappropriate clothing
tops
Flamboyant shirts
Putting a shirt out of pants
bottoms
Half pants, cropped pants, pants without press, gym pants, jeans and so on
Sandals

For female
The present dress code
tops & bottoms
Wear clean and moderate clothing corresponding to a suit or a jacket

The new dress code
tops & bottoms
We don't show a concrete guide, but don't wear inappropriate clothing as below

The inappropriate clothing
tops
A sleeveless dress without a jacket, a T-shirt, scanty clothing (a camisole, halter-neck and so on) and clothing with a slogan or logo
bottoms
A too short or too long skirt, a skirt with long slit, casual pants (short pants, jeans and so on), jersey pants and skirt, leggings and gym pants

When I read it, I literary laughed out loudly.

Why did they prohibit "putting a shirt out of pants" or "clothing with a slogan"? Women in the office are prohibited to wear shirts with the slogan "save the earth" in order to save the earth. That's the low of "Salaryman".

I tried to break this ridiculous low and put my polo shirt out of my chinos in the office.

Three days after I started a tiny revolt against the low of "Salaryman", the person in charge of risk management said to me in whispers that the president didn't like "putting a shirts out of pants".

Our president might think that "putting a shirt out of pants" would be a huge risk of our company. I'm living in such a ridiculous world.

Scanning My Brain

I have many things to write on my weblog, but I don't have enough time and energy to write a journal by myself now. It takes much time to write a journal in English, because I need to look up words or phrases in dictionaries and thesaurus, read over it and make many corrections.

I with that someone could scan my brain and write my thoughts down on my weblog automatically.

Mobile Devices Bring Work into a Private Life

I used to be a workaholic.

At that time I was literally working for twenty-four hours a day. Of course I was working at the office, at my home and even in my dreams. My wife said that I was talking with someone in a business meeting in my sleep.

The day before a business trip I often worked at the office all night long. In the early morning I went to the airport. On my way to the airport I was working with my mobile PC in a train. I took a shower and shaved in a lounge at the airport, and ate a croissant and drank coffee while looking at the display of my mobile PC. I took an airplane and when the airplane started flying level, I opened my mobile PC as soon as possible. When I had time for a business meeting with my clients, I got into a coffee shop to work.

I was completely addicted to my work and I think that I was crazy now. But I couldn't find myself crazy in those days.

After I've suffered from depression, I decided to divide my private life from working time. I changed my mobile PC for work into a desktop PC and stopped bringing a mobile PC. I worked only at my desk in my office, never at home. My company prohibits employees from working on their private PC, so I actually can't work at home without a mobile PC.

My desktop PC got older and too slow to work, so I would change my PC for work. My boss told that you would need to check e-mails out of our company and you should get a mobile PC. I've changed my policy and got a new mobile PC.

On Friday evenings I always can't finish my tasks to be done in the week, so in the end I bring my new mobile PC and work at home in the weekend. I returned back to where I started. To tell the truth I've brought my mobile PC to work this weekend.

I heard from the manager of salesforce.com, which provides cloud services to companies, that he had a blackberry mobile phone, and always checked e-mails and his company's cloud website, and instructed his subordinates to do the same. Since the central office and Japanese branch of saleforce.com have time difference, I think that he can't take a rest all day long.

Mobile devices bring work into a private life. If we don't intentionally resist it, we would be caught in these big waves.

How to Meet a Friend in the Stone Age

Do you remember Palm OS PDAs? I had used WorkPad made by IBM not Apple, although its name included "Pad", (now that ThinkPad is made by Lenovo, who?) But I already had forgotten how to write Graphiti of Palm OS. WorkPad, with a small white and black display and stylus (I'm not talking about Nintendo DS), was so cool, wasn't it? But now I've returned to a notebook and a pen and enjoyed the feeling of the pen running on the paper, because I'm a Stone Age man.

My wife took a photograph album of her trip to Nepal in her university days. She and I saw full of photographs of beautiful views of Himalayan Mountains, Buddhist statues, Nepalese people and young my wife, of course. In the photograph album there are not only photographs but also lots of the other things, such as tickets, broachers, post cards, pieces of newspapers and so on. The memories of her trip were packed into this photograph album. But it was too heavy to hold it in my hands for long periods of time. At least it was heavier than the iPad.

Well, anyway, I'd like to talk about how to meet friends in the Stone Age. If you are interested in the Stone Age, take a look at this journal. I promise that you must be fascinated by the ancient wisdom and technology in the Stone Age.

So let's go to the Stone Age!

You know Clint Eastwood, don't you? He's been making the great films vigorously in the 21st century, (it's one of the biggest miracles in the Iron age, isn't it?) but he is basically a Stone Age man.

In his film "Dirty Harry" public phone system, the representative Stone Age technology, was used effectively. A kidnapper called up Harry, who was a detective in the San Francisco Police Department, by a public phone. In the middle of the night a public phone settled in the park was ringing, and Harry ran to get the phone. The kidnapper ordered him to run to the next public phone. And Harry ran to the next public phone and he'd been getting more exhausted.

In the Stone Age public the phone was actually only a way to contact someone far away out of their home or office, but the public phone system had a fatal defect. When I used public phones, I could only contact someone in their home or office, whose telephone number I knew. I had to know where they were in order to contact them. The kidnapper watched Harry, so he knew where he was, but usually when I want to contact someone, I wouldn't know where they were! Otherwise we should use a signal fire or a drum.

When I had an appointment to meet a friend outside, I went to the appointed place and at the appointed time, just waiting for their arrival. That's all. There was nothing else to do. Sometimes I couldn't meet them, and then I left a message on a message board. This message board was not software in the Internet but hardware in the real world, which was made of wood painted with green or black.

In the Stone Age in Japan most railway stations had message boards, on which were usually full of graffiti. I don't know if there is an example of a message board excavated in the ruin of railway stations abroad. (In my childhood I didn't believe that railways would exist in the 21st century.)

I found space to write a message on it with a piece of white chalk, such as "I've been waiting for you for an hour, FXXX XXX! I'll be back home now." Of course I knew that it was no use leaving such a message. That's it. That's the way of living in the Stone Age.

I had made an appointment to meet my friend in front of Cologne Cathedral just by mail (of course it was "real mail" but not "e-mail".) I was really glad to see him! It's the miracle of the Stone Age, isn't it? You, Iron Age people, never know such a delight.

An Insomniac's Morning

Even since I have suffered from depression, I have not been able to sleep well. I take a sleeping pill before I go to bed, so I can fall asleep quickly. But I awake very early in the morning.

The minute I wake up in my bed, I try to go back to sleep again for a while, then I give up. I began to think about what I'll write on my weblog, or what I should do on business today. Then I get out of the bed without waking my wife up, and turn on my PC.

It's dark, silent, cold and I am alone. I love such mornings.

The insomniac's morning is busy. I check my e-mail, twitter, facebook, lang-8, some weblogs and newspaper sites.

I e-mail a list of what I should do today to myself. And I send some e-mail to friends of mine and make some comments on SNSs. Some of my friends overseas log onto the Internet when it is very early in the morning in Japan, and they immediately reply to my e-mails and comments.

After we exchange e-mails and comments, I begin to write a journal on my weblog. I already wrote it in my head when I was in bed turning over, and I just type it. (Of course I have to make corrections.)

I read newspapers. Recently I get angry over the news about the accidents of the nuclear plants.

I see a morning glow in the sky through the window over the PC, and my wife gets out of the bed. I make two pieces of toast, and she makes two cups of cappuccino. We eat crisp toast and drink hot cappuccino together with a warm talk.

I also love such a breakfast.

I get the energy to work today and leave home for the office.

This is an insomniac's morning.

Spring Has Come, Again.

I saw cherry blossoms blooming along the Kanda river,
and I heard a warbler singing behind my house.

This is spring in uptown Tokyo.

Whatever happened,
spring has come, again.

I Will Just Do What I Can Do

Yesterday I witnessed an awful behavior and heard terrible words at my office despite of there being such an emergency. I could not believe my eyes and ears.

I was really upset, and then I alternated between feelings of anger and powerlessness.

I hated people who behaved in such a way and said such words.

I didn't really want to see them and go to work this morning.

But I have many things to do. I decided that I would do just what I could do.

I woke up and went to work. And since then I've just done what I can do.

Tomorrow I will just do what I can do. The day after tomorrow I will just do what I can do, as well.

A Daily Life in Uptown Tokyo

In the morning my wife and I went to golf school as we usually do on a Saturday. We met our coach for the first time since the earthquake. He was safe.

After we got back home, we took a nap on the floor heating like two cats. I found myself tired because I had worked hard this week.

We went to our favorite Sushi restaurant for dinner. This restaurant closes at 6:00 pm, so we arrived there at 5:00 pm. It was empty and the two of us were the only customers.

We drunk draft beer first. I felt really refreshed.

We ate Awabi and Hokkigai, which are caught off the coast of Sanriku. The chef said that these were the last Awabi and Hokkigai because the earthquake hit the coast of Sanriku. I should remember the taste of these Awabi and Hokkigai.

After we got back home, I read the New York Times on the Internet.

The New York Times is more reliable than the Japanese press after all. Japanese press just covers the information from Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Company, but the New York Times collects materials from broad sources and analyses these materials.

I've been calm today. Tomorrow we will go to see my wife's mother.