A Hot Spring in Snow

Every winter vacation, my wife and I went to a hot spring to recovery our exhaustion, which has accumulated for a year. This year, we stayed at a hot spring inn in Kaminoyama, Yamagata prefecture, which was full of snow.

I love a hot spring in snow, because the contrast between the warmness of a hot spring and the chillyness of the snow is really nice.

Yamagata prefecture is on the Sea of Japan, where snow falls heavily every winter season. Tokyo, was clear and sunny, but after crossing Ou Mountains, it turned to be a snowy world.



Just after arriving at a hot spring inn, Meigetu-so, I rushed to a public bath.

It is wonderful to see snow falling while taking an open-air bath. The hot water warms my body and at the same time open air cools my head, so I can stay in the hot water for a long time. Fallen snow absorbed noises, and I listened just to hot water spring.



After taking the bath, we drank a lot of sake with nice fish dishes, while seeing snow falling in a warm room. Fish caught in the Sea of Japan is much more delicate and delicious than in the Pacific Ocean.

I feel like making harder next year, now.

A Quiet, Simple, and Elegant Film: My Impression of the Film “Barbara”

I visited Eastern Europe, Berlin, Prague, and Budapest, in March 1990. At that time, the Berlin Wall had already fallen, but Germany had not yet reunited.

People could freely come and go over the borders between East and West Germany. I went through Checkpoint Charlie to East Berlin, and I visited retro-future TV tower and saw Ladas running on street.

On a night train from Berlin to Prague, I asked a passenger sitting next to me if Germany would reunite within a year, and he answered that he didn’t believe it would happen so soon. But, in fact, the reunification of Germany took place in October later that year.

Although I had actually visited East Berlin, it is now almost impossible for me to believe that one half of Germany was a communist state just twenty-three years ago.

--------------------

“Barbara” is a German film about people living in East Germany in 1980. Barbara is a doctor who is being watched by the secret police.



It is one of the greatest German films that I have ever seen. There is no exaggeration or omission in this film. Every element in it is essential and I couldn’t find that anything that was superfluous.

This film is very quiet, because there is no background music. That makes audience concentrated in every tiny sound. Barbara was always nervous about the secret police, so she got surprised when the doorbell started to ring, and the audience also got really surprised with the sound of the doorbell, and fully understood her emotion.

Nina Hoss, as Barbara, is also great and attractive. She doesn't overact her role at all, but accurately conveys Barbara thoughts and emotions. After seeing her performance, most actors and actress became to look unnatural.

This film is quiet, simple, and elegant. If you love films, I strongly recommend you to see it.

The Meaning of Learning a Foreign Language

I read the article "Why are Japanese so bad at English?" on the internet magazine. I almost agree with the opinion that the author said.

I think the reason why most Japanese are bad at English is that they do not have the opportunity to use English in their daily life. I'm living and working in Tokyo, and I hardly have to speak English at all, if I don't intentionally create an occasion to speak English. For example, by going to an English conversation school or by speaking with a native English speaker over Skype at midnight.

I think that we can find the same situation in some other countries. In the 1990s, when I was a university student, I toured across East Europe with my backpack. At Budapest station I found that a traveler, who looked depressed. Hence I talked to him. He said that he was an Australian and that he envied my English. In fact my English was awful at that time.

In Budapest in the 1990s, the first foreign language for Hungarian people was German and there were few people that could speak English. I guessed that it was first time for that young Australian man to get into the place where no one could speak English and he realized the meaning of learning a foreign language.

In the article "Why are Japanese so bad at English?" the author wrote, "And what’s the future language of the Internet going to be? Not Japanese, that’s for sure." I wrote an entry about the internet in China, which was separated from the internet by the Great Firewall. In this world there are two huge networks, the internet and China net. And there is another small network in Japan, in which people write in Japanese. Japan net is a kind of the Galapagos Islands in the internet world.

I just finished reading V. S. Naipaul's novel "Half a Life" and I found following passage.

Ana was now at a language school in England. She said, 'I wanted to break out of the Portuguese language. I feel it was that that had made my grandfather such a limited man. He had no true idea of the world. All he could think of was Portugal and Portuguese Africa and Goa and Brazil. In his mind, because of the Portuguese language, all the rest of the world had been strained away.

Ana was born in the Portuguese colony on the east coast of Africa. Like her grandfather most Japanese had no true idea of the world, because they live only in Japanese world. When people master English, they can recognize the new idea of the world. Of course, although this new idea of the world can't be "the true idea of the world", they become able to see the world from multiple perspectives.

After the accident of Fukushima nuclear plants, I realized that we should get news from a variety of sources, not only Japanese mass media but also foreign press, because Japanese mass media was really biased.

Japanese people can live and work just in Japan and just with the Japanese language, but it keeps them in a small world.

Modernization and Indigenous Culture: Hula and Bon Odori

I'd like to write about the book "Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii" again.

In this book he wrote about hula as follows.

At night they feasted and the girls danced the lascivious hula-hula―a dance that is said to exhibit the very perfection of educated motion of limb and arm, hand, head, and body, and the exactest uniformity of movement and accuracy of "time." ...

Of late years, however, Saturday has lost most of its quondam gala features. This weekly stampede of the natives interfered too much with labor and the interest of white folks, and by sticking in a law here, and preaching a sermon there, and by various other means, they gradually broke it up. The demoralizing hula-hula was forbidden to be performed, save at night with closed doors, in presence of few spectators, and only by permission duly procured from the authorities and the payment of ten dollars for the same. There are few girls nowadays able to dance this ancient national dance in the highest perfection of the art.
(pp70-71)

Mark Twain wrote this article in 1866. He always sympathized with Hawaiian culture, but at the same time he described how it had been lost. Now, of course, hula is one of the symbols of Hawaiian culture and nobody would think of trying to prohibit it.

Hula isn't just an element of Hawaiian culture but it spread overseas. For example, there are a lot of amateur hula dances now in Japan . But in 1866, the situation in Hawaii was that "There are few girls nowadays able to dance this ancient national dance in the highest perfection of the art."

This article reminded me of an essay written by Torahiko Terada, who was a famous scientist and essayist born in 1878. He wrote about "Bon Odori" in 1933. Bon Odori is now a very popular dance performed in summer festivals, now.
I wrote about this essay in my Japanese weblog.

I'll try to translate his essay into English.

I saw Bon Odori in a lonely beachside village in Tosa around 1901 or 1902 by chance, and since then I've never seen it again. At that time, I remembered that such a thing was thought to be "a savage and shamful custom that we didn't want Western people watching" and they were prohibited to be performed openly.

I was really surprised to know the fact that Bon Odori used to be prohibited and that Torahiko Terada had seen it only once, because Bon Odori is so popular now that we can't even imagine the possibility of it being prohibited.

I found the 36th (!) Bon Odori Festival 2012 in Malaysia on the internet. Bon Odori isn't as popular as hula in the world, but at least it isn't thought to be "a savage and shameful custom."

Modernization is homogenizing the world, andbut indigenous culture maintains the diversity of the world. Mark Twain knew the importance ofindigenous culture in Hawaii, for example hula, in the middle of the 19th century.

Hawaii in 1866 and 2012: "Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii"

As I wrote in the previous entry, I visited Kauai Island, one of the Hawaiian Islands in this summer.

At a bookstore in Honolulu airport I bought the book "Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii." I brought it everywhere I went during my visit to Kauai.

This book was written by Mark Twain in 1866. At that time he hadn't yet written any novel yet and he was a journalist. He took a trip to Hawaii islands and sent 25 articles to some newspapers in mainland America.

He observed astutely every side of Hawaii, nature, culture, society, industry, language, politics, and so on. Of course he had a great sense of humor and I really enjoyed reading it.

When I read it lying on the deck chair beside the pool in the hotel where I stayed, I went back to Hawaii in 1866.

In 1867 the Meiji Restoration occurred in Japan. The Edo Bakuhu, which was a regime ruled by the Samurai, was overturned, and Japan had became to be a modern nation state. One of the biggest causes of the Meiji Restoration was the visit of Matthew C. Perry's fleet of the U.S. Navy to Japan asking the Edo Bakuhu to open the country, because the U.S. Navy, American whalers, and shipping companies wanted to have bases in the eastern Pacific.

In this book, Mark Twain wrote about the whaling industry and shipping in the Pacific at that time in exact detail and I could understand the background of Japanese history much more than before.

In 1866, Hawaii was the Kingdom of Hawaii, which had been at the mercy of the imperialistic countries. Now, of course, Hawaii is a state of the U.S. The history of Hawaii reminds me Okinawa, Japan.

The Kingdom of Hawaii was established in 1810 by Kamehameha the Great with the help of western weapons and advisors, so it was deeply influenced by Western culture. For example, the flag of the Kingdom of Hawaii was the combination of the flags of British, French, and U.S. (, and now it is the flag of the state of Hawaii.), and some ministers were assumed by American, English, and French people.

In 1866, Okinawa, the southernmost part of Japanese islands, was the Kingdom of Ryukyu, which was formally an independent country. It had been at the mercy of China and Japan, and in 1879 it was annexed to be part of Japan. From 1945 to 1972 Okinawa was occupied by U.S. army, and it's no wonder that Okinawa could be like Guam, which is the unincorporated territory of the U.S, now.

I love Hawaii and Okinawa, so I visit there frequently. Though I love Hawaii in present times, I am thankful to Mark Twain for making it possible for me to to enjoy a Hawaii long gone, Hawaii in 1866.

The Perfect Climate for T-shirts

I visited Kauai Island, one of the Hawaiian islands for this summer vacation.

It's the fifth time to visit Hawaii, and the first time Kauai. I love to spend time on tropical islands, especially Okinawa, Japan, and Hawaii.

What I like most about Hawaii is its climate.

In Tokyo it's hot, moist, and, uncomfortable in summer. In daytime temperature rises over 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), and I pour sweat in the open. In nighttime it keeps over 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit), and I can't sleep well. In doors it's too cool for me with air conditioners, but this coolness makes me feel no good.

On the other hand in Hawaii it's cooler and much dryer than in Tokyo. The sea breeze is always blowing, and it's really comfortable out in the open air.

There are many beer gardens in Tokyo during summer, but I don't feel like drinking beer in these beer gardens, because it's too hot and wet even in nighttime. On the contrary in Hawaii, it's weather is perfect for drinking beer or Pina Colada under an umbrella along the beach in either daytime or nighttime.

I also played golf in Kauai. In summer it's tough to play golf in Japan, because it's so hot that I get exhausted. I wasn't exhausted in Kauai after playing through 18 holes. I've never played golf more fun than this time.

I was always wearing a T-short and shorts in Hawaii. It's the perfect climate for T-shirts.

Journeys along the Historical Stratum: "My China (我的中国)"

I've just finished reading Levy Hideo's essay " My China (我的中国)".

In the previous entry "The World in English 我的英语", I wrote about his essay "The World in Japanese 我的日本语". He is an American author who writes essays and novels in Japanese. He had lived in Taiwan when he was a child, so he also can speak Mandarin. Recently he's made journeys to China by himself and writes about his journey to China in Japanese.

I'm a Japanese and learning English and Chinese now. My English is far much worse than Levy Hideo's Japanese, but I also try to write in foreign languages like him, so I'm quite interested in his works. Today I, as a Japanese, will try to write about a journey to China in English.

At first he began to write in Japanese about Shinjuku, Tokyo in the late 1960s, and then he started visiting Korea and China. He found the "historical stratum" in Shinjuku, Korea, and China. The city Shinjuku in the late 1960s was a mixture of old and modern Japan. Now we can see ancient and post-modern societies in China at the same time.

About twenty years ago I've been to Hong Kong(香港), Kun Ming(昆明), Dali(大理), and Lijian(丽江). At that time Hong Kong was the international modern city, and Kun Ming was just starting modernizing and capitalizing. Dali and Lijian preserved their beautiful ancient towns surrounded by stone walls. I could see ancient, communist, and capitalist societies just in a week journey.

It was a really tough journey. I flew from Hong Kong to Kun Ming. The airport at Kun Ming was small and modest, and no one could speak English. At that time I could only speak a little Chinese, but I couldn't survive without speaking Chinese. I bought a bus ticket with my broken Chinese, and it took ten hours to Dali by bus. And then it took ten more hours to Lijian.

The old towns in Dali and Lijiang were really beautiful. There were many old buildings, which were built of stones several centuries ago, and Bei people (白族) with traditional fashion were walking in the towns. It was just like a time trip.

When I came back to Kun Ming, I went to Holiday Inn to eat breakfast. In Dali and Lijian, I could eat just local food, so I ate toasts with butter and drank coffee. The price of this breakfast was almost five times of the local food dinner in Kun Ming. Holiday Inn was a small island of the Western society in the huge communist ocean.

When I was back to Hong Kong, I felt relieved because I could communicate in English. It was quite exciting to travel around ancient and communist China, but it was quite tough at the same time. I realized that I was a person living in the modern city.

Frick Collection in New York

Recently I've gotten so busy that I don't have enough time to write a journal on this weblog, so today's journal is about a light topic.

When I visited New York with my wife this summer, I planned to see a Yankee's game at Yankee Stadium, but the game was postponed by rain. We came back to Manhattan and visited Frick Collection.

There are many famous museums of art in New York such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art), Solomon Guggenheim, and Whitney Museum of American Art. But I love Frick Collection best.

The Metropolitan Museum and MoMA have a lot of famous works of art to see and they are good for "studying" fine art. But they are so big that I get tired of walking in all over these museums.

On the other hand there are small and cozy museums, which have a very tasteful collection. I can comfortably spend time in these museums.

In Paris the formers kind include the Louvre Museum and the Orsay Museum, and the latter include the Orangerie Museum and the Rodin Museum. Frick Collection is one of such museums in New York. I love the atmosphere at Frick Collection. (I also love the Hosomi Museum in Kyoto.)

The Frick Collection building used to be the house of Henry Clay Frick, who was one of the funders of U.S. Steel. He had lived in Pittsburgh, which was the center of the steel industry in the U.S. After retirement he moved to Manhattan. He built a magnificent mansion beside Central Park and began to collect works of fine art.

The quality of his collection is really great. It has several Vermeer works (!), Rembrandt self portraits and many Anthony van Dyke portraits. Before I visited Frick Collection I wasn't interested in van Dyke and just knew his name. But I was fascinated with his works there.

Of course his works themselves are excellent and even more they fit the atmosphere of an old luxurious mansion. They are put in the right place. If I saw them in a modern museum, I wouldn't be fascinated with them.

If I were a millioner in Netherlands in the seventieth century, I would have wanted to make van Dyke draw the portrait of my wife and put it on the wall of my mansion.

The Grammar of Fashion

A fun part about a journey is watching people walking on streets.

When I made a trip to New York this summer with my wife, we ate breakfast at Dean and Deluca and saw people walking to their offices. We found fashion in New York were far more various than in Tokyo. The varieties of colors of their hair, skins and eyes, their height and weight, and their cultural background make their fashion so various. On the other hand we, people living in Tokyo, wear all kinds of uniform. I wear "salary man" outfit and young girls playing at Shibuya wear young girl outfits playing at Shibuya.

New Yorkers' fashion was quite various and well-ordered at the same time. I had a dinner at Union Square Café in New York, which wasn't an expensive restaurant but a cozy restraint where we saw an old couple celebrate the anniversary of their marriage. All customers there wore nice and cozy outfits, which were adequate for the atmosphere of Union Square Café. I thought that New Yorkers kept "the grammar of fashion," which defined the outfits to wear at particular places, times and occasions.

My wife said that university students in Japan are more fashionable (at least care about their fashion more) than students in the US, who always wear hoodies with the logo of their own university or GAP and backpacks, like Zuckerberg in the movie "Social Network" (it might be my stereotype for about them.)



On the other hand, students in Japan (of course including male students) always care about their own hairstyle (although in my school days, most male students didn't care about their fashion at all, so I'm not fashionable now.)

But Japanese people didn't import the grammar of Western fashion but the elements of Western clothing. Sometimes Japanese people wear inadequate outfits, because we don't know the grammar of fashion. For example, some university students bring Louis Vuitton's bags to their class.
(see Kyary Pamyu Pamyu)

When I'm in Europe, I feel the presence of the class. The class, which they belong to, defines their fashion. Only the members of the particular class are implicitly entitled to have Louis Vuitton's bags. Of course there are rich people and poor people in Japan, but the difference between them is quantitative. In Europe the difference between classes is qualitative.

Some Western fashion designers give great attention to Japanese street fashion. As I mentioned, people on Japanese street coordinate their clothing without the grammar of Western fashion, so Western fashion designers see Japanese street fashion as new and fresh.

Inamoto, an old friend of mine, gave a comment to my weblog as follows.

自分のところが起源じゃないと、割と澱みたいなものを引きずらずにあれこれ試せるのかな、とは思います。日本のジャズもそうだし、ジャマイカのR&Bやロック、ヒップホップ、昔のイギリスのロックとか。

People could try many different ways freely without "dregs" about the things which are imported from other cultures, such as Jazz in Japan, R&B, Rock and Hip Hop in Jamaica and Rock in the UK.

In the process of spreading cultural elements overseas they would be put in all new contexts and given new meanings.

Watching the View of Hazy Brooklyn

My wife told me that she wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. I checked the Statue of Liberty's website and I found out that the reservation of the tour for it was all already filled up. So we decided to board to see it from the Staten Island Ferry.

The Staten Island Ferry shuttles between lower Manhattan and Staten Island, passing along the Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty stands. Most of time, this ferry is basically public transportation for the people living in State Island, but tourists like us who want to see the Statue of Liberty board the ferry. I was surprised that the price of it was free. The New York City government is quite generous.

We went to Battery Park at lower Manhattan by the subway and got on a ferry. On the left side of the deck was full of tourists who waiting to take pictures of the Statue of Liberty. I hung out of the side of the ferry, and my wife took a picture of the Statue of Liberty and me, just like the other tourists.

When we arrived at Staten Island, we boarded the ferry returning to Manhattan because we had nothing to do there. At this time we were on the other side of the ferry, and we found a variety of people living in New York. A business person wearing a business suit was just reading the newspaper. A group of women were gossiping loudly. An old man looked tired and was sleeping on the bench. There are ordinary lives in New York.

While I sat on the bench with surrounding New Yorkers, I felt as if I was also living in New York. For a while, I was just watching the view of hazy Brooklyn and I started to wish that I didn't have to go back to Tokyo and could stay here forever. I didn't know why I thought so.

"Kawaii" and "Cool", "Moe" and "Sexy"; Japanese and American Pop Culture

When I stayed in New York, I went to the store "Forbidden Planet" which sold American comics and figures. I really enjoyed this store, but at the end I didn't buy anything.

I guess that I might like American comics very much, but I stop myself from getting into the world of American comics, because I know I couldn't stop collecting comics and figures, if I started it once. I don't have enough time, money and space in my house for them. I'll keep it as a hobby in my old age.

My wife used to tell me that she had found I was an Otaku only after our marriage. I thought of myself as an Otaku at that time, but now I doubt if I'm really an Otaku. Actually I'm maniac to pop cultures and often writing about them on my weblogs, but I'm not interested in Japanese Anime and AKB48 at all, which are the core of the Otaku culture and I don't frequently go to Akiba, which is the center of the Otaku culture.

I wrote about three of my favorite Manga authors, Moto Hagio, Katsuhiro Otomo and Taiyo Matsumoto. They've had a major impacts to Otaku culture, but their works themselves are outside of the Otaku culture.

Japanese "Girls (女の子)" (a "Girl (女の子)" isn't limited to a child and every woman who has "Girl's" mind is a "Girl") and "Otakus (オタク)" are making up contemporary Japanese pop culture. The key concept of the Girl's culture is "kawaii (カワイイ)" and one of the Otaku culture's is "moe (萌え)".

It's impossible to translate "kawaii" and "moe" into English, but if I try to translate them, "kawaii" might be "cute" (although "kawaii" has wider connotations than "cute"), and "moe" is a kind of excitement often with sexual emotion.

"Hello Kitty" ( is the symbol of "kawaii". Every "Girl" (including "adult Girls") loves Hello Kitty. An "Otaku" feels "Moe" from characters of Anime, such as "Precure (プリキュア)" or "Idoru (アイドル)" such as AKB48.

"Kawaii" and "moe" are spreading into every corner of Japanese society. When I left Tokyo International Airport, I found "Kasutamu-kun (カスタム君)", which might symbolize (?) Japanese customs. Why do Japanese customs need such a "kawaii" being? In Japan even customs should be "kawaii" now. Of course I didn't find anything like "Kasutamu-kun" at the U.S. customs.

I don't like Hello Kitty, Precure, AKB48 and (of course) Kasutamu-kun. They are so childish, unsophisticated and decorated. On the other hand I don't find "kawaii" or "moe" but "cool" and "sexy" in American comics and, as I wrote, I love them. I like "Catwoman" better than "Precure". I'm not an Otaku but a geek, aren't I?

P.S.
It's quite difficult for me to explain today's topic. I simplified explanation of the relation between Japanese pop culture and American pop culture.

In fact they've deeply affected each other. I found Japanese Anime in "Forbidden Planet" and there are geeks who like "kawaii" and "moe" in America. On the other hand American comics and Hollywood movies have influenced Japanese Manga and Anime.

For example the anime "Transformer" was made in Japan in order to export to the world market and the movie "Transformer" was made in Hollywood.

Anyway "kawaii" and "moe" are the most important concepts of the contemporary Japanese pop culture, but there are people who don't like "kawaii" and "moe" in Japan.

I love suffering from insomnia!

I've been suffering from insomnia for many years, so I take a sleeping pill before I go to bed. I can get to sleep with a sleeping pill, but I wake up very early in the morning, at four or five o’clock.

But insomnia isn't always bad.

I love the early morning hours. It's a completely silent time without anyone else around. I turn on my computer and write a journal on my weblogs. I enjoy this precious time by myself.

Last week I took a trip to New York and Washington D.C. I can control the time when I fall asleep. Whenever I don't take a sleeping pill, I can't get to sleep. If I take a sleeping pill, I can sleep. So I don't suffer from jet lag, because of my insomnia.

I always bring a small notebook and when I get an idea to write on my weblogs, I write it down as soon as possible. When I write one of the ideas as a journal, I cross it out. On my trip to the US my notebook was filled up with new ideas.

I have a lot of things that I want to write now, and these ideas have a best before date on writing.. But recently for some reason I'm sleepy in the morning and I can't wake up early in the morning. Is it jet lag? Anyway I don't have enough time to write new journals, because I sleep during my precious time.

Why am I sleepy? I love suffering from insomnia!

I'll be back in the real life again.

It's been a week since I last wrote.

Today is the last day of the summer vacation.

During the summer vacation my wife and I took a trip to New York and Washington D.C. We spent all day everyday with each other for a week and talked a lot. I read several books and thought a lot of things deeply.

Now I have a lot of things to write about on this weblog, so I'll write about them topic by topic.

But now after a week escape in Wonderland I've also been forced back to a real life lasting forever. I must be a white rabbit always saying "I'm late, I'm late" again.

"Back in High Life Again" Steve Winwood


My real life may be a high life like Steve Winwood, haha.

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.

Travel in the Stone Age and Travel in the Iron Age

Traveling is fun, and planning a travel is fun, too.

My wife and I are now planning to travel to New York and Washington D.C. for our summer vacation. We really enjoy it.

Before I could use the Internet, planning a travel abroad was completely different from now. I call the age before the Internet the Stone Age. I'd like to write about travel in the Stone Age.

At first I, the Stone Age man, had to buy a travel guide, which was printed on "papyrus". At that time there was no good travel guide for personal travelers written in Japanese, so I used to buy a travel guide published by Lonely Planet. In the Stone Age of course there was no amazon.com, so I bought it at a small foreign bookstore, for example Iena bookstore in Ginza. I loved such foreign bookstores, but in the Iron Age amazon.com has wiped out these lovely foreign bookstores.

A travel guide published by Lonely Planet was quite useful, but it was full of words. I tried to decipher it with an English-Japanese dictionary and an English-English dictionary, which were of course printed on "papyrus", and I found where to visit.

The next step was to go to a travel agency in the "real" world to buy air tickets. There were small travel agencies selling cheap air tickets in old and small "caves". HIS is now one of the biggest travel agencies in Japan, but at that time it was one of such small travel agencies. In order to get the cheapest air tickets I went to such travel agencies and compared the prices of air tickets. To get real information I had to walk around by foot in the Stone Age.

When I visited Europe in the Stone Age, I used Aeroflot, because it was very cheap and fast. At that time airlines in Western countries could not fly over the region of Soviet Union, so they went a long way around from Japan to Europe. Aeroflot, which was managed by the government of Soviet Union, could fly straight from Japan to Europe. I took an old airplane called Tupolev, which was made of "wood", "cloth" and "fur".

I usually didn't book a hotel, because it was bothered. Travel agencies in Japan didn't reserve cheap hotels, in which I wanted to stay. I looked for a cheap and clean hotel in a travel guide published by Lonely Planet reading small letters. When I arrived at a city, I directly went to a hotel and looked over at it to judge if it was a safe and clean hotel. After checking it, I got into the hotel and made a negotiation with a clerk, who was usually an "Aarchanthropine" at that time. If there was no vacancy or the price was too expensive, I would try the next hotel.

Sometimes I made a hotel reservation from Japan. I should make a phone call or sent a fax or a letter. At that time I wasn’t used to speaking English on a phone, so I really got nervous.

Now in the Iron Age it's very easy to find a hotel. I search for a hotel on Expedia. I read comments about it, and I also check its website. I can expect what kind of hotel it is, and I have never been disappointed with what the hotel really is. After I have decided in which hotel I’ll stay, what I have to do is just click a button of reservation. And then the hotel is waiting for me!

In the Stone Age I had to buy a train ticket at the station, a ticket for a sport event at the stadium, and a ticket for a show at the theater. I wasn’t sure that I could get a ticket before I arrived there. Sometimes I couldn’t get a ticket and had to change my travel plan.

But in the Iron Age I can arrange everything while sitting at my desk. I met a lot of unexpected accidents, for example finding a "dinosaur", in the Stone Age travel. It was a kind of adventure, and very exciting. The Iron Age travel is easy and comfortable, and everything in it can be expected. I can’t do the Stone Age travel in the Iron Age again (because I’m not so young now), but I miss such travel a little.

New Year's Eve

Today is the very last day of this year. I will write about a reflection of this year and a plan for the next year.

At first I will start from my jobs.

I could not work well suffering melancholia in several years, so it is great for me to be able to work steadily all year long.

In October two years ago I thought of myself out of use in direct department, and I was transferred to back office. But I didn't work with my boss well, so I had absences often with stress. Last October I was transferred to another section again. At that time I could work with my boss well, and I was relaxed. But I had a little thing to do, and I spent free time.

And last June I was transferred to the section in which I am working now. The main mission of this section is supporting execution of projects, so called “PMO” (Project Management Office). In addition I was assigned to the project of development of the next information systems of my company. So I was getting busy suddenly. I was anxious that I could hold up, but I could do the jobs positively. I got a sense of fulfillment to work.

Next year according to the schedule of development of the information systems I will do my job and work for PMO. This year I could just get used to the job of PMO, but I am willing to reform it. My boss recommends me to get a certification of PMP (Project Management Professional). If I have time and energy, I will try it. Anyway I will not do too much for my health.

Next I will write about my hobbies.

I've been to Bali this year. I had thought that it might be fun to visit Bali, but I've never been there because I felt that Bali was too touristic. Once I visited Bali, it was very fun. I visited Ubud where was in mountainside, it looked like a rural area in Japan in old days. Most of Japanese tourists are couples in thirties, but older people could enjoy Ubud, Bali.

Next year I'd like to visit New York City to see a game of MLB in summer vacation. After 9.11 I've not been there, I should visit the Ground Zero. In Japan I'd like to visit Kyoto to have a drink with my friend Inamoto in an authentic Japanese-style bar.

Since last October I go to a golf school, and I get to be able to feel fun of playing golf. Next year I want to score under 110 stokes. (At heart I want to score under 100, but it may be impossible.) This year I went to swimming pool to swim 1,500m. Next year I will keep pace with this year.

On Internet I started Facebook, GREE and Lang-8. I can't use Facebook well, but I could make friends on GREE and Lang-8. I began to write my weblog in English, because I've heard English News on Podcast and my wife recommend it for me. I am willing to continue it next year. I'd like to interact overseas people.

A TV program about Professor Sandel inspired me to read books on the contemporary philosophy (Michel Foucault, Claude Lévi-Strauss, John Rawls, Michael J. Sandel and more). I also read book on the philosophy in Edo period, for example Masao Maruyama's works. Next year I'd like to read books on Japanese history and western classic novels. And I will try to read books written in English.

I have a lot of plans in next year, and it is not bad because I can't have such motivation for a long time.But health of my family and me is most important, so I will take care of it well.