In Vino Veritas: Depressed Dog Journal

Chains of Books + Utterly Poor Defense MInister

2012-02-02T22:18:00.000+08:00

Friday last week, I finished “マレー蘭印紀行” and on Monday “旅行者の朝食 (Завтрак Туриста)”by Мари. And it was last Monday afternoon when I finally saw the lastpage of The End of the Affairs, moreexactly Introduction of the book because I went back to it after I had finishedthe story. The same afternoon, I started Anna Karenina, an English translation very unfortunately.

Looking at the new Defense Ministerof Japan, everybody should be remembering their schooldays, those moments whenthey had absolutely no idea as to what to say to questions from their teachers.Utterly poor guy… The big question is “why didn’t he refuse the portfolio whenit was offered to him”? Instead of those officials sitting behind him trying toteach how to answer, why doesn’t he have his wife there?? I’m afraid he, soscared, stops to come to Diet sessions soon.

Thunderbird Bug + Taiheiyo Club Goes Bankrupt

2012-01-23T20:21:00.001+08:00

Last night I wastransferring some photos from an SD card to the external hard disc drive. Itseemed to take forever to finish the job, and the drive started making ominousbeeps. The whole computer got stuck. I didn’t want to do it, but I pressed thepower button to turn it off. Then today, Mozilla Thunderbird was not showingfolders… They are nowhere. Received messages couldn’t be read. Quite scared, I searchedthe internet and after some time managed to find the cause (a bug with the latestversion) and a solution. This solution asked me to delete a file and it took meto find where the file is.

読売電子版が「かつては球団保有…太平洋クラブが経営破綻」との見出しで、「太平洋クラブは１９７１年創業。「三井住友ＶＩＳＡ太平洋マスターズ」が開催されることで有名な「御殿場コース」（静岡県）などを開設し、１８のゴルフ場を持つ名門クラブだ。７３～７６年にはプロ野球球団の「太平洋クラブライオンズ」を所有していた」と報じている。「太平洋クラブライオンズ」を保有・所有していたのは、中村長芳がオーナーの「福岡野球株式会社」であって、太平洋クラブではない。何でこんな基本的な事実誤認が編集の過程をすり抜けるのだろう。情けない。

Lunar New Year's Day is Approaching

2012-01-21T22:09:00.000+08:00

Mostparts of the country may be in some celebratory mood as the lunar New Year's Dayis approaching. I am taking no part in it.

I'm going slowly with The End of the Affair. One reason isthat I started “マレー蘭印紀行” of Kaneko Mitsuharu (金子光晴) yesterday and the bigger reason is that I have beenspending many hours almost everyday on my renewed attempt to learn Russian.

I feelthe synapses in my head are activated. I even had a dream last night in which Iwas struggling with words and phrases. Woken up and unable to go back to sleep,I checked my dictionary. The dream was reflecting the reality faithfully. Oh sotough. I don’t care much about stuff like “asking for directions” or “at thehotel.” But those seemingly now irrelevant words and phrases may come handy oneday… And this flash-card program does a superb job to make me feel that I shouldnot move on unless I have learned the current topic. And the program collectsthings that I have not seen for a few days, and looking at the number of the “staleitems,” clearly shown on the screen, raises the desire to conquer, an emotionaleffect, I guess, similar to that with computer, or any kind of competitive,games.

Languagestudy involves, but of course is not restricted to, memorization work. As Isometimes get frustrated with my power of memorization and I do understand theimportance of learning grammatical points, also yesterday I got a Russiangrammar book, which I hope allows me to connect dots and transform them intolines and planes.

Another Greham Geene Book, Boring Jpn News Writing Here, New Defence Minister + "Ronin Makarito'oru"

2012-01-16T23:35:00.000+08:00

In bed last night, I reached the last page of The Human Factor. Maurice Castle endedup in Moscow, now deeply wondering if or when he can be joined by his wife andson, Sarah and Sam.

As I couldn’t sleep, I randomly picked The End of the Affair, also by GrahamGreene. Maurice and Sarah again.

以前も書いたような気がするが、某日本語媒体「Ｎ」では、マレーシアを「隣国」と表記するのが定着してしまっている。そもそも語数が限られる見出しに「マレーシア」が長すぎて使いにくく、また「マ」も「馬」も使いたくなかったことから始まった「隣国」表記なのに、語数に余裕のある場合でさえ、また「マレーシア」と書いても何ら差し支えない場合でさえ、「隣国」と表記されていることがある。まったくの本末転倒だ。また、同媒体のコラムがやはりおもしろくない。（これも以前書いたか……）転勤してきたばかりの記者が観光客のつもりで書く感想文のようなものが目立つ。「あっ」とひざを打ったり、「う～ん」と唸らせるような内容を期待しているのに、これは何なのか？

新しく就任した田中直紀防衛相。これまで閣僚になってなかったことには、それなりの理由があったのでは。義父とカカの存在を排除すると、この人の政治家としての意味は何なのだろうか？「テレビ向け」でもないし、初入閣させるなら、普天間基地移転問題を抱えてよほどの技量が要求される防衛相ではなく、カカと同じように科学技術庁長官相当がふさわしかったのでは。

土曜日の夜、仕事上仕方なく付き合った店で、「浪人まかり通る」を発見。歌ってしまった。

When "SCDF" and "ITE" Are Translated into Japanese...

2012-01-12T22:49:00.000+08:00

当地で発行されている日本語媒体には、「SingaporeCivil Defence Force」に「民間防衛隊」、また「Instituteof Technical Education」に「技術教育研究所」という訳語を充てているもの見られるが、やめてもらいたい。「民間防衛隊」とすると、正規軍ではない民兵組織みたいやろ。SCDFは消防救急レスキュー組織やないか！また「ITE」は「学校」で、技術教育について専門に研究している団体やない。

不正確な訳語に記者や編集者は気付いてんのか？気付いてても、過去記事との関係上変更するのをためらっとるんか？そうやったら、怠慢やわな。

Unceasing Reading and Russian Study

2012-01-07T00:26:00.001+08:00

Burt-OutCase (again) > Stamboul Train (again) > TheHuman Factor (again and ongoing)

I hate festive seasons asbusiness goes down almost inevitably, doubling and tripling my anxiety. This time,it is less worrying because it was hectic and frenetic from late November toearly last month. All the same, angst is here with me. However, bent on or listeningto my inner voice, which usually gives me better counsel, I’m attempting tobring my heavy legs forward with my Russian study in this slack period. And forthis reawakened enthusiasm, I thank the engineer from Belarus with whom I workedfor six weeks altogether.

Ольга Морисовна

2011-12-21T23:49:00.000+08:00

今夜、「オリガ・モリソヴナの反語法」（米原万里）を読了した。どこまでが真実に基づいているのか、もちろん不明だが、チェコスロバキアやロシアでの実体験なしに書ける話ではなく、万里さんにとってプラハのソビエト学校での経験がどれほど強烈だったのかをあらためて感じさせた。また、「Sophie’s Choice」を思い出したりもした。以下は本題に大きく関係しないが、「あっ」と思った個所。

「…今は少女時代に親しんだロシア語を生かして翻訳者をしている。翻訳家ではない。文芸書を訳すような文才はないし、研究書を訳すほどの学識素養もない。それに、どちらも収入には結びつかないどころか持ち出しになる。…商社がロシア向けに売り込む機械の説明書や、契約書の翻訳が主な仕事だ」（48ページ）

プロレス技とレスラー名、それから来日したアメリカの野球チームと選手の名前以外に少年時代に外国語に親しんだ覚えはないが、翻訳家ではなく翻訳者というのも仕事の内容も、日頃考えていることとピッタリではないか。

「亜紀バレエ団で、藻刈富代が凡庸な才能とバレエには全く不向きな股関節の持ち主であるにも拘わらずプリンシパルの座を射止めたのは、藻刈の父親が団長の亜紀雅美に都内一等地のリハーサルスタジオをプレゼントした見返りだというのは、すでに日本バレエ界の常識になっていた」（147-148ページ）

誰のこと？あまりに実在する団体と人名に近い。

「…とにかく、台帳がないものだから、パスポート（日本のように外国へ渡航する際だけでなく常時身分証明書として携帯している）を持って行きさえすれば、台帳を新たに作ってもらえた」（468ページ）

数年前に見たロシア映画（Прогулка）でも国内を移動するのにパスポートを携帯していることを確認する場面があった。

From Leo Tolstoy to Yonehara Mari

2011-12-19T22:06:00.001+08:00

This late afternoon at the CoffeeBean outlet of T.B. Plaza, I finished reading The Deathof Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories. I can’t say I was able to understand the works on soldiers’life well enough as probably happens with many Japanese people of the post-war generationand started 「オリガ・モリソヴナの反語法」 by YoneharaMari right there. I should thank an engineer with whom I haveworked with for six weeks for rekindling my interest in things Russian thoughhe himself is not Russian but from Belarus.

Though for so long myRussian has been stuck on the level of “спасибо,” “пожалуйста,” and “хорошо,” it was “очень хорошо” to work with him, who alsoenjoyed his initiation to Japanese chicken “шашлык.” He even tried and likedraw chicken liver!

Comfort Taxi Drivers Make Me Feel Terribly Uncomfortable

2011-12-12T21:16:00.000+08:00

Somework at MBS today. I decided to go to the Promenade MRT station by taxi to gohome by MRT from there as it should be convenient.

The first“Comfort” driver didn’t know where the station is and couldn’t pronounce “promenade.”“Near where?” said he, passing his road map to ask me to find the station. I refusedto take the map. I asked if he isSingaporean, and he said, “From Malaysia. I’m new.” I don’t care. After a fewmeters, I got out of the taxi, saying, “I’ll report you to your company.” Shakingmy head, I returned to the taxi stand.

Becausethere was a long line of taxies, I had no problem finding another one. My secondone, “Comfort” again, had no idea about “Promenade MRT” either. He also couldn’tpronounce the word. I told him to go to the nearest MRT station.” He suggestedCity Hall, which I believe is not the nearest. He insisted on making City Hallmy destination and then I said, “You are not the one who decides. I decide.” Ireally didn’t understand what this Singaporean guy was saying in English (wasit English?) to explain why he didn’t know the place. When I found an MRT station sign, I asked himto stop. He said it was not possible and drove on. After about half a minute, Ihad to ask, “Where are you going?” He only mumbled and perhaps after anotherhalf a minute he stopped at an MRT station, which without his knowledge wasPromenade. As I was getting out, I said to him, "I'll report you to your company."

Ifinished a second reading of The PaintedVeil I don’t remember when and I got and started Collected Short Stories Volume 3 of Maugham right away. This alsodone, I’m now reading The Death of IvanIlyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy.

Newt Gingrich: "Remember there was no Palestine as a state. It waspart of the Ottoman empire… I think that we've had an invented Palestinianpeople who are in fact Arabs and who were historically part of the Arabcommunity. And they had a chance to go many places, and for a variety ofpolitical reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the1940s, and it's tragic… Somebody ought to have the courage to tell the truth.These people are terrorists."

Information Manipulation? and Hotel Europe + Hotel Van Dyke

2011-11-16T21:08:00.001+08:00

I received e-mails from Japan today that said, “I saw you on TV.” It seems it is only today that the events were reported there. There might be an embargo till today. But I found an article or two that reported the events were held only on 15th. Information manipulation?

I finished Maugham’s Collected Short Storied Volume 4 last Sunday though feeling quite sick with continuous sneezing. I got curious about the hotels named “Europe” and “Van Dyke” which he mentions in some of his stories.The Grand Hotel de l'Europe used to be standing where the old Supreme Court building is while Hotel Van Dyke was located in the area which we now call Raffles City and CHIJMES, formerly the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus.With no new book, I picked The Painted Veil for my next round of reading.

11-11-11

2011-11-15T23:47:00.001+08:00

On Friday, I arrived at Fullerton Hotel a few minutes past 13:00 and, after calling my contact person, went down to the ballroom floor. Then with her and a few others, I went up again to the ground floor and went into the restaurant to say “hello” to the actor who was having his lunch with his staff. In a T-shirt and sandals, he seemed a nice young chap.Then I reviewed some papers handed to me, and at 2:00 the press conference started. In half an hour, the conference was over and interviews by individual local media companies began. Nine interviews altogether… I with the Japanese TV crew was driven to another location, “nex” in the Upper Serangoon area, where an event with fans would be held. We waited quite a long time for his arrival. As a red carpet and premier event was scheduled to start at 20:30 at Cathay, people were worried if they might have to cancel his appearance at the meet-the-fans event. He and his own crew arrived just in time for a short interview with the MC and a prize presentation ceremony on the stage.The van that was carrying the Japanese TV crew and I arrived at Cathay before the one of his. After, say, 20 minutes, he appeared and walked down the red carpet at the end of which I joined him on the stage. After a short talk with another MC, we went to the VIP room for some rest and hurried to more short talks at four cinema halls. Then my work was over. Probably a success.Because I finished the day’s work at Cathay, I decided to have drink at CC. I walked to there. Soon after I started drinking, someone I know came in and I had small talk with him and a woman whom he claimed he had met for the first time in 18 years. After a few glasses, I found two young women, who used to be working at CC, drinking together. I joined them.Around 1:00 am, I received a call from the guy of the agency to which the actor belongs, who asked me about nightlife in this country. My interpretation work should have been a success.

Past Week

2011-11-06T21:18:00.000+08:00

On 28th October, I finished a 3-week interpretation job the content with which by now I am familiar. Around a week before, I had an inquiry from someone I knew for another interpretation job for a media event, where an actor would appear, scheduled on 11th November. I answered I would be available.After exchanging a few messages with the film distribution company which was organizing the event and needed an interpreter, it was set that I would visit its office on Tuesday. During the meeting, they started to play a DVD of a movie I had never watched and the story of which I only had vague idea only through Wikipedia. I was asked to translate parts of it on the spot. A trial, sort of. Actors when they are acting do not talk as they would when they are who they are. Often they are overly histrionic, which is their job after all, making the whole thing unsuitable for interpretation. I said, “I have to say this is not how interpreters work.” They blushed. But I should have said “how I work” instead of “how interpreters work” as I have no idea as to how other interpreters work or how their minds are activated when they work.For my preparation, they lent me three movie DVDs in which this particular actor appeared previously. Over these years, I have learned that it is crucially important for me to put myself on the speaker’s shoes. In a sense, I must act his character. Looking at a screen and not knowing much about the speaker, in this case an actor, I was very much detached from his character. I was not him. Whatever they thought about me, I secured this assignment.Also on Tuesday, I received another inquiry from my former employer though the person who called me should have no idea that I was working some years ago at the very office where she was working now. The inquiry was about whether I could attend a meeting as interpreter to be held on Friday. I asked her to pass my contact number and e-mail address to the inquirer who needed an interpreter for the meeting. I submitted a quote to him and the job was secured. The meeting went smoothly as I believe, and my job was done.This afternoon, feeling pressed with time before the media event this coming Friday, I watched two of the three movies. They are the sequels of a series. I thought Part 2 went too far, diluting the impact of Part 1. Or I feel this way because I got just tired by the time when Part 2 was over. I have another DVD I am supposed to watch before an internal premier (pre-premier) of the latest film which is the sequel of this third DVD and I would attend.

She Seems to be Getting Lost + "Seis"

2011-10-31T20:49:00.000+08:00

Around 5:00 pm today, I received a call from mother again who then started the same “I saw it wrong” story. What’s really happening to her? Who’s taking care of her condition?In The Book-bag by Maugham, I found the word “seis” of which meaning I am not sure.

Collected Short Stories Volume 4

2011-10-30T21:27:00.001+08:00

Yesterday afternoon, I bought Maugham’s Collected Short Stories Volume 4 (20% off). I don’t remember if I have read this collection of stories, some of which are set in British Malaya but it is very likely that I have read it at least once. After I finished the volume 1 at Coffee Beans of T.B. Plaza, I started it at home.

Yakuza Story Concluded

2011-10-26T20:53:00.000+08:00

Dewali holiday today.Last Monday (17th), when I was having beer before dinner with my client, mother called me and started repeating the yakuza story as if she had not remembered telling me the identical story. Impatient, I cut it short. And tonight, she called me again to tell me that he visited her today and she found it was all her imagination as I thought it was.On 20th, I attended a seafood dinner party at East Coast Park. There were 14 of us, six Koreans, two Sri Lankans, two Japanese, a Belarusian, a German, a Malaysian and a Singaporean. I didn’t touch chilli crab, fearing a sweat flood from the crown, and bamboo clams, fearing they are half-cooked.On 21st, my client, the Belarusian and I tried a Russian restaurant on Duxton Hill. It was a little too fine to our taste. I had my borrowed DSLR camera with me and found there was no memory card inside. Nothing was recorded.

Maugham's Short Stories Volume 1

2011-10-17T21:00:00.003+08:00

Collected Short Stories Volume 1 (W. Somerset Maugham) followed The Razor’s Edge. Mostly I read it on train or in bed. This is my third, or fourth, time reading the book. Now I’m reading Gigolo and Gigolette, thus half way through. This Volume 1 is the first book in English I have read. It should be more than 25 years ago.

SHAME ON THEM

2011-10-16T21:43:00.000+08:00

Last night with my client, currently visiting here, I had dinner that perhaps should be described super. Salute to the chef.After the dinner we walked around the area which used to be known for its seediness. It seemed cleaned up though the budget hotels that remain reminds one of its recent past. We decided to hop into one of the lounges for no obvious reason. Inside I found that the untidiness was something that I would see in Chinatown pubs years ago. And it seemed that nobody spoke much English and many of them none. A few poured beer for themselves from the jug we had ordered. I tried to communicate with one of the girls working there in Chinese not very successfully as she told us she was from Chongqin. We only had a jug of beer but it was a waste of time and money anyway.Then, we could, or should, have gone back to our abodes, in his case a hotel room. But we moved on to the by now familiar "Y." Time flowed nicely and we had already settled the bill and been ready to leave when one of the few customers present whom I had not met before stood up and said, "I am going to marry Miss so and so. I want to celebrate this occasion with all of you." Lovely. He offered Chivas Regal in shooter glasses to all of us and we obliged to accept. And after the celebratory toast, he was incoherent totally. So incoherent that no meaningful, or even civil, conversation was possible as he couldn't even give his name. He was behaving very badly going around the place to bother and annoy those who congratulated him in a polite and friendly manner. He then started leaning his body to my client and covering him and even touched his groin. And he did the same to me. He was saying, "I'm not gonna let you go tonight."By this point, my patience was thin enough. I gave a clear warning to him to behave himself as the way he was behaving was not anything I expected of anyone who asked us to stay on for his own reason. Not even words from him for appreciation. After all, we had no obligation to celebrate him and Miss so and so and we were ready to leave. Noticing I was objecting his behaviour severely, Miss so and so started abusing me. She said, "I will report you to the police. You are not a gentleman but a bastard. You took Chivas free from him." Be serious, Miss so and so. I did not ask for the glass. I only accepted it out of politeness and courtesy. She also mentioned the nationality he and I share. Sorry, I see a person as an individual. His nationality does not matter.Miss so and so, furious and unable to win verbally, seems to have decided to use physical force. She attacked me with violence. She tried to punch me and failed. Then she pulled my hair at which point the staff rushed to subdue her, or it seems so.There was another man, who had been drinking with this drunken husband and Miss so and so, and he did nothing to stop his disgraceful behaviour and her verbal and physical abuse. On the contrary, this man joined the fray and also tried to use force against me. Shame on them.I am absolutely sure that I did what any decent person would do in such a situation, especially when he is with his important client.

Who/What Killed Sophie?

2011-10-06T23:31:00.000+08:00

I finished The Razor's Edge this afternoon, which I started reading for my second, or probably third, time after A Doctor in the House and「劇画暮らし」. Was Sophie killed by zubrovka or by Isabel, or her own wantonness?"Do you know who did it?""No, but I do. I think you killed her.""... You only lack only one thing to make you completely enchanting."She smiled and waited."Tenderness."

More of "He Became Yakuza" Story

2011-10-02T20:29:00.000+08:00

She also told me that he was in bed with a fever for two days last week. And she claims the fever was because of the tattoo work he had gone through. I said, "Anybody can be in bed with a fever for two days." "No! He's never been in bed for as many as two days. It must be because of the tattoo!" I don't deny some people will become feverish after needle works. But it is most unlikely for him, a devotee to music, to allow himself to get connected with disagreeable, almost criminal, people.And she says when she talked to him on the phone, she heard that his current woman, apparently being behind him, was saying, "Put her into a nursing home." I'm far more worried about her capacity of thinking. It does seem to me that she is now living in the world of imagination. I have received "He went missing" calls a few times before and about three years ago, she called me to talk about "your (my) visit of the other day." By "the other day" she meant some recent day. The fact is that I had not met her for about a year then. She couldn't believe it at first but I eventually convinced her that she was wrong.Even when the capacity of reason deteriorates, one's core, tightly held belief may remain intact. If this belief itself is represented with negatives, that is "against something or someone," or a victim mentality, as seems to be my mother's case, the situation will be complicated, of course adversely.

Huge Emotional Disruption by "He Became Yakuza" Story

2011-10-01T22:45:00.003+08:00

Today, her story was "He (my elder brother) became a yakuza. Last Monday, he brought some food he had cooked for me with his whole back tattooed." And she insisted it was not her imagination because "I did see it." My side of the story based on my recollection:At first she said, "He came with no shirt at all." When I pressed, she changed it to "He came in a white open collar shirt, unbuttoned. Wind blew the shirt off to reveal his back." He passed the food to the welfare worker who was at her place and left there quickly without a word to her. Did the welfare worker see the tattoo? "No, because he (or she?) was facing him." "We used to sit down and have dinner together, but these days he doesn't say even a word to me. This time, he hesitated to talk because if he had, he would have been asked about his tattoo."Does a yakuza cook any food for his mother? "He is still concerned of me."Worried, she contacted an office of the local government and even the local police. The police told her that they could not look into the matter (what matter in the first place?) when there was no allegation of law breaking on my brother's part. (It is possible she was throwing this part into the story from another episode.)Why do you think he has anything to do with any yakuza organization? "Some time ago, he was saying he was going out for drink every night. There is a drinking place near his apartment. As he is not really working, he should not be able to pay his bills. A yakuza group then started threatening him and tattooed him (against his will). It is totally unthinkable he would willingly tattoo himself." How can you be so sure he is still going out for drink every night? "Because he said he was going every night..." Some people do have tattoos because they wanted to. "I don't know about foreign countries, but it doesn't happen in Japanese society. Here, only criminals do."While we were talking, I checked the web to see where he lived. I found she was referring to the wrong area. When I tried to correct her, she insisted that she was right and she knew the area he lived in. "Terrible things such as this (yakuza and tattoo) happen because he is not working properly." How can you say so when you don't know anything about the way he works and the nature of his work? "He abandoned his piano, which HIS FATHER GOT AFTER MUCH EFFORT (surprisingly positive remark about my father)." Why do you think he need his piano for his composition? "... He is only making final copies for and arranging others' works." "He is not composing his own." How do you know? "I know because he told me so some time ago. The mistake is he is not working properly.""His woman (of whom mother has no clear idea at all, and I know no better than she) is contacting people." Who is she contacting? "..." (In our last conversation (about a month ago?), she mentioned that she was connection with "such people and he was being threatened by them." I ended the conversation by saying that "You story is so incoherent that I don't understand what you were saying.")"Why do I have to worry like this at this old age. I got you two (my brother and me) enough education. I brought up you two to lead a decent life." "I didn't force either of you to choose any particular kind of life." "And you wanted to go abroad, didn't you?" You don't understand a bit of my life here. And I didn't get any assistance from you for my going overseas.I must wonder what kind of decent childhood you gave me? "I PROTECTED YOU FROM YOUR FATHER (her familiar refrain)." Though familiar, this saying of hers almost exploded me. You really love to stress how much you suffered, but do you know I too suffered so much growing up in such a family? You even pushed me to visit father (because you didn't like to do so yourself)."I also suffered when I was young. Every child does. Then children can grow into adulthood. You don't understand what I have done FOR you. I never expected you to talk to me in such a harsh way (to disregard my effort and suffering)."Unspeakably unbearable, after about an hour and a half, I selected "End active call" of my mobile phone. Sorry, mother, but you are, and have been and most likely will be, impossible. My emotion is disrupted in a huge way. The only way to calm down even only a little is bang the keyboard.Isabel: "... A mother only does her children harm if she makes them the only concern of her life." (6, Chapter IV, The Razor's Edge)

Those Days in Kalamazoo + Lakeshore Limited

2011-09-24T23:54:00.002+08:00

I amkinda emotional, remembering those days I spent in Kalamazoo, MI. And also mylone trip through the Lakeshore Limited of Amtrak to Boston via Tanglewood, Lenox,MA. Definitely, the documentary, "Ozawa," is bringing about thisfeeling. I was so young then... and full of hope.

Thanks to My Old PC + Country A

2011-09-19T22:31:00.000+08:00

On 7th, I purchased a new PC out of necessity. The old PC started acting odd many months ago, turning itself off while I was typing. I noticed it would become so hot. I got a cooling fan to be placed below the PC, but it was probably not much help. It seemed it was refusing to work for me and it loved to go off. For the past two and half years, it has worked so much for me. Time to say "thanks" and to move one, I thought. I still don't know what the problem is, but it was too risky to continue using the old one as it might totally break down at any moment. If I had decided to send it for a repair work, I would have needed a substitute computer for the days required to repair it.

***

I found the following passage in a book I have recently finished reading: "I negotiated with (country A) for more than 20 years but none of the outstanding issues between us were resolved. (Country A) always delays, withholds agreement, and demands outrageous concessions in exchange for consenting to what is rightly ours."Country A: Israel or Singapore?

Super Etcetra: Stroy of Past Weeks

2011-09-16T23:02:00.000+08:00

Last month, I exchanged a few e-mails with a man whom I have known for so many years. Reading those e-mails from him, I had that some feeling stronger than friendship was emanating. To a man, I would not write things like "I admire you" or "I enjoy reading your messages. Please write me on any subject when you are free." To me, these passages seem to be reserved for someone I love.On 18th, though I am not a fan of karaoke lounges, I decided to visit one of those places managed by another friend of mine, especially because she was my friend from days before she started managing there and she had told me about her plan to sell out the place. When I entered the lounge, I found a young woman apparently from the Philippines was manning the place alone. I started talking to her in a rather friendly manner. I opened a bottle of shochu as she could not find any bottle with my name labelled on it (or I really did not have any). After a while, she mentioned that the ownership had changed recently, which was news to me. I believed that it was still managed by my friend when I started small conversation with the woman. As it happens in such occasions, I hid my surprise and continued talking to her. Afterward, the mama-san came in and joined us. With kind help from the young lady, the bottle got empty. I do not know how many glasses she had from the bottle (I know the mama-san had one). She must have had many as I think I could not have kept standing if I had finished most of it alone. When the bill came, it stated S$389.40. This should be my first and last time to drink there. A person, another customer, I met there wondered if I am a Chinese American.On 25th, when I was reading "A Doctor in the House" by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at a Coffee Bean outlet in the Orchard area, I received a message to my mobile phone from this friend, who used to manage the lounge and whom I had not seen for a few months, asking me if I would go to CC that night. As I was thinking it was about time to visit CC after more than a month and I was already in downtown, I replied yes. We set the time at around 7:00. I arrived 15 minutes earlier and she appeared perhaps half an hour later. After updating each other (she had already found a job after the closing of her lounge business), she started talking about her two boyfriends, one overseas and another here who shares the nationality with me and is married. Once again, I was calm perhaps unnecessarily. But I did not forget to caution my friend that if his wife found out the relationship, she may decide to sue her, demanding money, a common practice. She also mentioned the "big one" of this married boyfriend and I pretended not to understand what she was referring to. After a few glasses, she asked me to follow her to another place and I, being nice, obliged. The place she brought me was a karaoke lounge that I had not visited for many years (practically I stopped visiting those places. I do only when I am with someone from my client company but not always). She seemed to be a regular there and I hoped that the mama-san there did not recognize me. When I told to her, she said, "She asked your name." Too late. With some Chivas Regal consumed, my friend began singing karaoke. And some of the songs she selected were clearly sex-themed. And when I turned my face toward her, who was sitting to the right of me, I noticed that her legs were opened toward me. I do not know if she might have discovered the pleasure of sex only recently and wanted to perform some experiment with another man. She has asked me to go out with her twice since then. I declined both times.I had not much work to do during the second and third weeks of August and suddenly it became a flood. On 31st of that month, I worked as an interpreter at MBS again, surprisingly this time for a media company I was working for some years previously. I guess the two people who came for this interview did not need me. But in any case I did my job. On 24th, I receive an e-mail from the producer of a film company to inquire my availability for another visit here by the man about whom the production company made a film. I have met him and his wife in January last year as his interpreter and exchanged a few e-mails since then. With no hesitation, I accepted this occasion offered to be his interpreter.It was in October 2008 when I learned about the project and met the film director. I was booked to work as the interpreter for two film producers from my country, who came to talk about financing issues for their project, a film which was based on a real wartime story. Aside from the talk about this Japanese project, the director started talking about his own project. He showed us a few short stories by the man he adopted as his material. I remember saying at the meeting that the stories reminded me of "Hanato Kobako" and TV dramas created based on his works. It turned out that they were written/drawn around 30 years ago, thus this atmosphere reminiscent of Hanato Kobako.I watched the completed film on 27 May at a premier/charity event. Partly because of my small involvement in this project and more because of his straight way of life, which was reaffirmed in this form of artistic expression produced by the director, it left a strong impact on me. Obviously, another reason for this impact is the fact that, as his interpreter, I played him, making part of me become him. He is not the first person with whom I have worked on more than one occasion. But I know I am feeling that the person of him is seeping into me definitely because it was his life and personality he, through me, was talking about. It was so profound.At the reception held before the second premier on 9 September, I talked with an actor, the director's favourite, who played the role of the brother in a film who was so exact and strict toward his younger sister's behaviour. I instantly recognised him and he went like, "Oh no..." It was a great pleasure too.On 11th, 15th and today (16th), I went out for interpretation. A business meeting on a possible 3-way merger, a presentation meeting on Japanese roof tiles and a stage appearance and interview of the two lead actresses for a musical to be opened here in December. Tomorrow, I will have another...Watched:- Karajan: Or Beauty as I See It- Gershwin Night- Seiji Ozawa: Half a Century of Struggle with Western Music (Seiyo Ongaku to Kakutoshita Hanseiki)- Also Sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss) and Symphony No. 1 in C Minor (Johannes Brahms), Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa (I am in the audience.)- Dvorak in Prague: A Celebration- Ozawa (Watched this documentary for the first time in at least in a dozen years)

Japanese Soldier of the Present Day

2011-07-17T22:27:00.000+08:00

If the man were a Japanese soldier stationed in this part of the world, how would he behave? It does not matter if that is pre-war, during war or post-war.
He, a self-proclaimed patriot (how superficial and vacuous his patriotism seems to be to me is another story), would try to rape as many women, local or otherwise, as he could find, following the disgraceful examples that some of the soldiers of the past left. I cannot be certain as to what lies behind his behaviour. It may stem from his power of spending, a gross demonstration of one’s stupidity. Or it may be because his intrinsic addiction to intercourse.
I’m no t visiting many places these days, and it is few and far between when I visit a few places that are familiar to me. At those places, I hear stories about the man. All unfavourable. He may be happy, but there are people out there who are laughing at him. He should know it, but he may not care. Especially given his profession, which should receive respect, his behaviour appears very risky. This, I have cautioned him a few times. If those stories about his folly actions spread farther, he will lose his position in this small society, which he has been depending upon.

Nice Dinner, Indians Eating Beefsteak & Friend Becomeing Former Friend

2011-06-26T22:44:00.002+08:00

Last Friday (24th), I had dinner with a group of people at a steak restaurant near Conrad. I can say that it was the first occasion in many weeks where I talked and laughed while eating almost totally forgetting about business. The group consisted of three Japanese, including me, two Indians, a German (my friend since 2009) and an Australian, the kind of mixture of people I love. I was very much surprised to find those Indians eat beef. I only hope they knew what they were putting into their mouths.

After the jovial dinner, I moved to “Y” with one of the Japanese guys. Well, I certainly enjoyed my time there (we stayed there until 2:30 am), but there I was asked about “Z” by two women, whom I had known for a decade. I said, “I really don’t know what is happening to him. He does not care about, and pay attention to, small fish like me.” Judging from what they implied, it seems to me that he has established some reputation there too. This was not the first negative comment I have heard about him. (There had been at least a few before.) I also have been feeling for some time that he has changed. He is not who he was that I found when I first met him. Or he has not changed at all. Very sadly, this face that he is now exhibiting may be the real one. It has been that, in any case, most of his talks are regrettably superficial therefore with no depth, boring or lewd. It is so vacuous. There is no grace. Worse, when he has money as apparently he does now and behaves like a scoundrel, people will leave him eventually. Only those who got to know recently stay with him, for now. A good friend is now becoming a former friend. Or I think you should seek consultation for your sex addiction. Ridiculous,

Day of Super Irritation

2011-06-17T22:29:00.002+08:00

A day of super irritation. Reasons I can think about this irritation include the phone conversation I had with maman Sunday night (5th) and payments that have not arrived. One of the payments is to be from the company of a man who boasted when asking for my translation service, “We have money now. I will give you money in no time.” Not being a beggar, I have no intention to be given money for poverty. I felt, and do feel still, insulted. This man, whom I have known for some years, asked for my half-day interpretation at a 50%-off price and extended it to a whole day with the price unchanged. And when he came to me for the second time, he delayed his payment making untruthful excuses, that is, lies. Definitely, I will refuse any business with him. And talking to maman, once again I wanted to terminate the blood relations.

StarHub Threatens "Legal Action" against Me

2011-06-13T21:52:00.002+08:00

Today, I received a letter, "FINAL DEMAND NOTICE," dated 10 June, from, as I believe, a debt collector with a Chinatown address, acting on behalf of StarHub.
The letter, printed on a nice salmon pink paper, says:
“This is the final notice on your seriously overdue StarHub account. You have been given many reminders and enough time to pay the overdue amount. Please note that if the payment is not received within 5 working days from the date of this letter, we are proceeding with legal action without reference to you. And all legal costs and additional charges has to be paid in full immediately. Please treat this final demand notice seriously and call us at 62XX-12XX to advise us the payment details.
Yours sincerely
(Signed) Managing Director
StarHub/FL/jg
I do not want to repeat this utterly ridiculous MaxOnline story. I am hundred percent sure that I am the party that is rather entitled to a compensation because this is over a service that StarHub could not provide me. And I even paid the fee for several months even when I was receiving absolutely no part of the service. Money for nothing! And as for the reminders, yes, I have received a few calls from StarHub persons over the period of about two years, (it seems every time it was a different person) and I had to explain the same thing every time. Some of them told me that they would refer the case to their manager, but I have never received anything from anyone who can be accountable. Okay, I settled the bill tonight with utmost unhappiness and grudge. Are you happy now, StarHub? I am convinced that this is the way you do your business and collect money.

Hatoyama Retracts His Words about Prime Minister

2011-06-09T21:30:00.001+08:00

ハトヤマさんがまたもや前言を撤回した。首相を「ペテン師」呼ばわりしたことを、「今求められているのは冷静な心だ。私も一時、冷静さを欠いた発言をしてしまい、大変ご無礼をした」（読売電子版）、「今我々に求められているのは冷静な心だ。私も一時、冷静さを欠いた発言をしてしまい、大変ご無礼したことを皆さんにおわびしたい」（毎日電子版）だと。本当なら今は一民間人のはずなのに。美しさも潔さも感じさせない人だ。

The renovation work that has been going on upstairs now quietened down somewhat though I found a leak from the ceiling of the common corridor last night.

My second reading of “Demons” has gone into “Part Two: Filibusters. A Fatal Meeting.” “Night,” where a meeting of Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky and Nikolai Vsevolodovich Stavrogin takes place and Kirillov explains himself and also Stavrogin goes to see Shatov to ascertain his attitude, and “Night (Continued),” in which Marya Timofeevna Lebyadkin talks about her prince, can be considered two climaxes of the story.

Ugly Democratic Party & Leaking Ceiling + Air-Conditioner

2011-06-04T23:20:00.001+08:00

内閣不信任案が２日、否決された。与党内から造反する議員が続出して、宮沢内閣に対する不信任案可決を思い出させるような状況になるかとみられたが、あっけなく否決された。その後の民主党内のいざこざには深く落胆すべきか、それとも笑いをこらえるべきか。
沖縄県普天間米軍基地の「国外、少なくとも県外移設」、アメリカ大統領への「Trust me」発言、さらに政界引退の決意撤回で知られる前首相は現首相の態度を「男として、人間として、あるまじき態度だ」「許しがたい。『ペテン師』といわれても仕方ない」（産経電子版）と評している。この人に「ペテン師」と呼ばれてはたまったものではない。民主党を自分の手の届かないところにやりたくないというこの人の姿勢から、この政党は公党ではなく、ハトヤマ私党だとの印象がますます強くなった。
また、「市川房江時代」から社会市民連合時代にかけての同志だったという田上等氏は、「『菅が将来、もし首相になったら日本人を辞める』という仲間が周りに少なくなかったことを、ご存じないでしょう」（産経電子版）と語っている。不信任案採決直前の民主党代議士会で首相が「若い世代に責任を引き継ぎたい」と言ったのは、（いつなのか知らんが）自らの退陣とともに、ハトヤマ、オザワを道連れにしようということではなかったか。この３人には即刻退場してもらいたい。
この「若い世代」は何をやっとるのか！

I think it happened last Wednesday. My memory is somewhat blurred. Late morning when I still had not eaten anything, I heard the sound of water dropping just outside the tiny flat. The ceiling was leaking obviously because of some work being done upstairs. Immediately I went up to complain, but any of the workers did not understand English. From the gesticulation of one of the guy, apparently the manager, and my fragmentary capability of the Chinese Mandarin language, he understood that he was saying that they had cut some pipe and that is why it was leaking. I said to that, “I don’t care what is happening up here. I do care what is happening down there.” Soon the leakage stopped.
The following day, the same man knocked on the door to ask to do some work inside my flat. I knew very noisy dismantling work had been going obstructing my own work. I understood this much only with his gesticulation. He called the man of the management company, “boss” as he described in English, whom I had met many times before, and passed the earpiece to me. He said the work would continue for three hours. I should also have complained about the fact that there had not been any prior notice. But that is after the event and I think it would have made any difference. A worker began dismantling part of the ceiling here for extending a piping from the flat upstairs. For all those hours, I kept silent, sitting on my rocking chair with a fan and not feeling doing anything, work or otherwise. The dismantling guy cleaned up the mess he created. Of course, I had to do more cleaning work afterward.
It seems the work will continue some more. Last night, I brought the shoe rack inside because all my footwear was covered with dust. They don’t know how to take precautionary measures and how to clean up after work. (I miss my country.)
And this afternoon, there was another case of leaking, this time inside the flat. I loudly complained and it stopped after a while.

Making things worse still, the air-conditioner has also been leaking since around the time when the work started upstairs. I first thought that the leak should be because of a clogged cooling-water drainage, as the piping is crudely designed and tough to clean up. Then I thought it should be because of the piping work upstairs. Funnily, I had no leak yesterday. Then tonight it started happening again. I don’t know if this leakage has anything to do with the work as the drainage seems independently installed. The air-conditioner itself looks very old. Its front cover cannot be opened easily for cleaning. I looked at the filters and they were okay.

Becoming a Hermit Again

2011-05-21T23:20:00.001+08:00

It seems I’m becoming a hermit again. For three weeks, I was out Monday to Friday to see people from a client company, which should be a reason why I feel like staying home – this uncomfortable home. Another, perhaps bigger, reason is that I have been losing my social life. I used to be invited to parties, but no more, though I recently received an official invitation to a film on 27th, presented here for the first time. But this is part of business, rather. Why my social life is disappearing may be because people have forgotten my existence here and because I’m almost intentionally avoiding contacting them, fearing that would bore me to death. With a borrowed DSLR camera, I should go out for some shooting. But what to shoot?

A few days ago, as soon as I finished reading Demons (Беси), I returned to its Foreword and started reading it again. Some weeks ago, I wrote its Part One gathers characters to assemble the story. I still think this is right, but in my second, and more careful, reading, I found out that Liputin, a gossip, described what kind of person Nikolai Vsevolodovich Stravogin is in “Someone Else’s Sins,” later proved correct. Pieces are already falling into place.

Where Is the Editor?

2011-04-16T23:06:00.000+08:00

読売電子版の見出しが「４号機の建屋でも強い水素爆発？写真で明らかに」と言っている。何が「明らかに」なのか。その前にはご丁寧にも「？」が付けられている。本文には、写真から北海道大の奈良林直教授が「相当強い爆発が起きた証拠で、４号機でも大量の水素が発生したと考えられる」と話したと書かれているが、「考えられる」で強い水素爆発が起こったことが明らかだと言えるのだろうか。紙面には使ってほしくない見出し。どの新聞の電子版か忘れたが、「内縁の妻の女」とか、「夫と夫婦喧嘩」もやめてほしい。

Media Should Ignore Hatoyama: You Are Eyesore

2011-04-09T21:54:00.001+08:00

ハトヤマさん、また登場。自分が首相なら、「国民の皆ハンの思いに応えて、もうちょっとうまくやるよ」と言いたいようだ。勘弁シテ欲シイ。

鳩山由紀夫前首相は９日、福島県南相馬市で約５０人が避難している施設を訪れた。福島第一原発から放射能が漏れ続けている状況について「今の政権のやり方ではまだまだ時間がかかってしまう」と菅政権を批判。「私も新しいやり方を考えている。うまくいくようがんばる」と語った。（朝日電子版）

民主党の鳩山前首相は９日、福島県の南相馬市などの避難所を訪ね、野菜や果物などを差し入れた。鳩山氏は桜井勝延同市長との会談で、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所の事故に関し、「原発事故は天災ではない。政治の世界に想定外という言葉は許されない。大変申し訳ない」と語った。（読売電子版）

この人が目を泳がせながら、会見で実現できもしないことをいい加減に話す姿を想像したくもない。「原発事故は天災ではない」が「普天間基地は国外移設」に聞こえる。野菜に果物の差し入れだけでなくて、一族の資産を投じて被災者の生活を今後１年間保証するぐらいのことやったらどうですか。もちろん政治からは一切身を引いてから。メディアもこの人を完全無視してはどうだろうか。

Бесы & "I'm Here to Get Inspired"

2011-04-08T21:26:00.001+08:00

This afternoon, I started Part 2 of Бесы (Demons). In Part 1, Dostoevsky prepared the characters so meticulously and I feel that the plot seems to have begun to congeal only Part 2. Eager to move on to find what is to come. Just as when I was reading Преступление и наказание (Crime and Punishment) a few years ago, I am amazed by his psychological descriptions and attention to minute details.

I will not name them. But over some time, I have encountered occasions when I noticed the display of absurdity made by a few friends, all of them considered old enough. Their comments, obviously made inadvertently, and well-intentioned in some cases, were so far off the mark that I did not say anything, perhaps even nodded as if in agreement. I have to wonder why they dare demonstrate their quarter-baked knowledge especially about things that I can consider belonging to my fields. Since every one of these occasions, my perception towards them seemed to change. I always set the benchmark with myself as the zero point to avoid despicable traits like envy, arrogance, denigration and self-pity. I am here to get inspired. If I really cannot have anybody I can emulate around me, I may have no choice but to surround myself with other means. Sorry state.

"Mokugekisha" by Kondo Koichi

2011-04-03T00:15:00.002+08:00

木曜日に買ってきた「目撃者『近藤紘一全軌跡1971～1986』より」を終えた。

「せめて五分刈りぐらいには」（「マネジメント・レポート」1978年７月号）では、ベトナム戦争中に「日本の多くの識者」が中国とべトナムにある「連帯と結束を信じ、これを称えつづけた」と振り返り、「三年後の今、北京は、ハノイを、『恩知らず』ときめつけ、ハノイは北京を『漢族』を罵っている」（37ページ）と現状を知らせる。ベトナムの歴史をほんの少しでも知っていれば、それが北の大国との対峙であったことがわかるというものだが、当時の「日本の多くの知識人」は「『人民の総意』『歴史の正義』などという耳ざわりのいいスローガンで事変を割り切っていた人々が、それと明らかに矛盾する事態を突きつけられても要領よく沈黙をきめこみ、でんでそのばかばかしさかげんを恥じたり、反省したりしないのはどういうわかであろう。実際に私たちが問題にすべきは『人民の連帯と結束』を殺し文句に、自らと異なる意見を吐く者を『反動の手先』『米帝のイヌ』呼ばわりしたこれら識者らのその後の不誠実さではないのか。
全員坊主になれとはいわないが、今なお新聞・雑誌ですましてオピニオン・リーダーを気取っている先生方の何人かはせめて五分刈りぐらいにするていどの男らしさがあってもいいのではないか、と思う」（38ページ）と厳しく問う。

「キッシンジャー回想録」にあったように、中越関係については「米帝」もしっかり分析していた。当時の識者の皆さんにおかれましては、「アジアの共産主義は一枚岩」だという、個別の国の事情を無視した結論が先にあり、まじめに調べれば自身の主張が破綻することを知りながら、つじつまを合わせようと論理をこじつけ、日本国民を騙くらかそうとしておられたわけですね。立場は違えど、こういう人たちは今でも散見される。

また、「『南方』という意識」（「文藝春秋」1987年３月号）においては、日本人にとっての「南方」が「ジャングルにおおわれ、どこへ行っても腰ミノひとつの“土人”がひしめいている、いわばのべたんの未開地であった。軍部だけでなく一般日本人の大多数にとっても、それは『冒険ダン吉』『私のラバさん……』の世界であった」「十把ひとからげ、冒険ダン吉の発想はすでに往時の日本人の思い上がりと愚劣さを刻み込んだ化石的盲影となった……はずである」（125ページ）「今、かたわらのテレビのチャンネルをＮＨＫに合わせた。たままた中曽根首相のＡＳＥＡＮ（東南アジア諸国連合）歴訪終了を告げるニュースが流れていた。（中略）その端整かつ流暢なコメントを聞くともなく聞いていて、またまた恐れ入った。『フィリピンの場合、マルコス大統領ら政府首脳はともかく、原住民の反応は……』」（126ページ）とある。

日本人が抱いていた、あるいは今も抱いている他のアジア民族に対する差別意識を考えれば、「大東亜共栄圏」なんてハトヤマ流に言えば、国家延命と資源確保のための「方便」に過ぎない。大東亜会議にも参加したインドのチャンドラ・ボースは強烈な反英であり、イギリスに対して戦争を始めた日本に戦術上肩入れしたにすぎない。日本軍による中国大陸での蛮行への彼の批判からもそれは明らかではないか。

また、「白熊と老猿と宝石と　シンガポール動物園」（「銀座百点1984年８月号」）では、「ところが、どういうわけか、そのとき私のかたわらにも、正体不明の二本足が一人いた。漆黒の髪を肩まで流し、白熊より劣るが、まずは申し分ない白磁の肌をしなやかなチャイナドレスに包んだ年若き二本足である。
空港から、いったん昼なお罪深いこの町の中心街オーチャード通りに出て、そこで動物園のありかを尋ねて、再びタクシーでやってきたのだが、いったい、どこで、どうしたはずみで、道連れになってしまったのかわからない」
「タクシーで市中に引き返し、あとは、ガイド役の彼女の誘導のままに行動した―はずだが、具体的にどういう行動をしたかは忘れてしまった。
ただ翌朝、別れぎわに、ガイド料としてはどうやら法外の額を請求されたことだけは憶えている」（225～228ページ）。

近藤さん、オーチャードのどの辺でこの白磁の二本足を見つけられたんでしょうか。ぜひ、知りたいです。

「夏の海」は亡くした前妻への恋文なのか鎮魂なのか、「妻と娘」では知りえない感情を表した作品。そして。巻末にある沢木耕太郎の「彼の視線」には「仏陀を買った」について、「吉行淳之介が≪主人公が下宿の女主人と結婚する気持についての表現が、すこし不足している≫と書いているは、当を得ているように思われる。小説には不要と思ったのか、書くことで事実に縛られるのを嫌ったのか、いずれにしても何も知らぬ読者には、いささか唐突の感はいなめなかった」とあるが、そうだろうか？これは、近藤さんのベトナム経験を知る人の意見であって、彼にとって「仏陀を買った」はあくまで独立した作品であり、彼のベトナム・ストーリーは読者が他の作品から独自に見つけ出す作業であるべきだと思う。

I came back home with “Demons” by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

No Gulag Archipelago at Kinokuniya & No Grated Parmesan in Singapore

2011-03-31T22:30:00.003+08:00

Another fever-free day. But the pain is still with me. Funnily most of it moved to the other side almost overnight.

I spent about half an hour at an MBS suite to help a 15-minute media interview. And after the work, I went down to Kinokuniya to buy Gulag Archipelago. I’ve seen a three-volume edition at the Russian history section many times before. Alas, Kinokuniya has now only an abridged edition at the section and none at its literature section. Pity. Wondering if I should go home empty handed (I finished Years of Renewal last night), I came across Mokugekisha (目撃者) by Kondo Koichi (近藤紘一). This is an out-of-print work of Kondo, which Kinokuniya revived. Good job, Kino! Please revive his Pari he itta tsuma to musume (パリへ行った妻と娘) too!

Deep respect felt by Dr. Kissinger toward Gerald Ford is unmistaken. Ford became the 40th Vice President of the United States almost accidentally and its 38th President almost accidentally. His do-the-right-thing attitude is refreshing in the world where betrayals and manipulations are the norms.

It seems Kraft’s grated Parmesan cheese has completely disappeared from the domestic market. It’s been this way, I think, for about two months. Why?

Antibiotic Story (cont.) & When Elephants Make Love

2011-03-30T22:12:00.002+08:00

My condition was greatly improved, but only for less than a day. Sunday night, my body temperature began climbing up again. Though I was sure that I had been given the same two kinds of antibiotic (Mideca and Beatacycline) by Doctor Goh at least once before, I was also certain there has been yet another type prescribed for my badly infected throat. On Monday, my body was feeling heat and chill. I tried to find the name of the drug in my diary. The only thing I managed to find was the name of the one given by an expensive specialist doctor a few years before for a similar condition (Zinnat). In the meantime by early evening, fever went up to as high as 39.4 degrees. As the doctor had instructed me to come again if the condition had not improved by Monday, without hesitating I went see him. I honestly told him about the other kind and he was aware that he had prescribed me different antibiotic types before. The other was, well, Zinnat. With Zinnat, the fever started coming down yesterday afternoon and is staying down now. I will visit the clinic again on Saturday for a prognosis check. It should conclude this infectious episode.

There are only 10 pages left to reach the end of Dr. Kissinger’s 3-volume memoirs. Reading the heavy volumes, I’ve often heard Kissinger’s accented bass. In page 1057 of Years of Renewal, there is this passage: “The fate of the vast majority of the people of Lebanon who were not participants in the battles and meneuvers of the various militias and outside forces [of 1976] called to mind a story told me by Julius Nyerere, the President of Tanzania. At one Nonaligned meeting or another, Nyerere had justified his mistrust of the great powers to pro-Western Lee Kuan Yew, the Prime Minister of Singapore, by saying: ‘When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled.’ Lee had replied: ‘When elephants make love, the grass gets trampled too.’

Throughout the volumes, one thing that strongly impressed me is a visible lack of presence shown by Japanese players. Two major issues between Japan and the US, negotiations over Okinawa and textile, were described in the first half of the first volume, The White House Years. Thereafter, there was not an in-depth analysis of any Japanese politicians, though Prime Minister Miki seemed quite deep in his sleep in the 1975 Rambouillet summit. Dr. Kissinger has very high regard for profound insights and statesmanship exhibited by allies and adversaries alike. Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Leonid Brezhnev, Anwar Sadat, Hafez Assad, Golda Meir, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda are examples.

And this is not my first time I felt this way. Reading books by US major political players (and Che Guevara), it seems that there has not been even one post-war Japanese statesman. One accolade is from Bill Clinton to Tsutomu Hata, Prime Minister for 64 days. “I like Hata. Speaks more English than he lets on; caught himself answering my questions before they were translated. But he’s a good politician.” (p.275, All Too Human, George Stephanopoulos) Just maybe, Hata’s listening power in English is better than his Japanese speaking capability. I remember his days as Prime Minister for his struggle to find the right Japanese words at press conference. Failing to do so, he would a pronoun for the substitute though nobody knew for what noun the pronoun was substituting.

Emotional Roller Coaster of March Ends in Sickness & Southern Africa

2011-03-27T21:08:00.002+08:00

This month, it has been an emotional roller coaster to me because of what fell upon the people of the Tohoku region and beyond. Now more than two weeks after that day, the nuclear reactors in Fukushima are still giving hell. As an organisation, Tokyo Power should be held responsible and liable at the very least for providing confusing information on radiation leaks. A huge number of people are bracing up at shelters with more than 10,800 confirmed dead.

And this roller coaster took a toll on me in the form of bad throat infection with a high fever. Thursday night, I was feeling heavy and dull. By Friday morning, my throat was causing an impossible pain. To prevent it from creating more trouble, I went to a clinic in Tiong Bahru, which I had visited a few times previously. I also thought about seeing Dr. Goh who definitely knew more about this condition of mine. Given my condition, I decided his clinic was too far. Wrong decision. The consultation by the doctor at the TB clinic whom I had met before was professionally done and I liked his examination style that was rather old-fashioned. The problem was that his prescription was not appropriate for my throat condition. I strictly followed the instructions given taking the antibiotic tablets. By Saturday morning, there was no improvement. In fact, it was much worse.

After all, I pushed and kicked myself out of bed and took Bus 961 to visit Dr. Goh’s clinic. It was 9:10 when I arrived. I was much relieved when I saw the OPEN sign when the clinic entered into my view. But it was dark inside and a notice on the door was saying that there would be no morning consultation from 21 to 25 March. I called but there was nobody to answer my enquiry. At this point I started thinking about going to the TB clinic again for a second consultation. After a few minutes, I realised this was 26 March and also the consultation would start only at 9:30. I showed the antibiotics to the doctor who said, “This does not work for your kind of sore throat”. The pain is still with me but the condition is now greatly improved.

Part Nine of Years of Renewal deals with Southern Africa, notably Namibia and Rhodesia. I am reading this part of the last volume of Henry Kissinger’s memoirs with keener interest than otherwise. So far away from where I am, but Rhodesia would become Zimbabwe. An occasional visitor to Singapore and whom I saw at Ngee Ann City some months ago, Robert Mugabe, would be at the helm.

In This Disaster, Keepin My Routine Is Also a Contribution

2011-03-18T00:20:00.002+08:00

So much has happened for the past week and I am sure so much more will happen. This morning, SDF helicopters sprayed sea water onto the No. 3 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant four times in an attempt to cool it down. And this afternoon, the government also used high-pressured water-cannon vehicles, designed for dispersing unruly mobs.

When events of this magnitude (literally) occurred, it will take some time to collect my mind. This is confounded by the fact that I still have to maintain my everyday routine. In a sense, I, a overseas Japanese, believe doing things as I usually do them is a form of expression of my positive contribution, which I also believe was reflected by the calm attitude of many people, evidenced so many times before in emergencies.

And almost naturally, foreign (=non-Japanese) media have been reporting that a devastating earthquake hit Japan. True, but if the reporting gives their audience the wrong impression that the whole country has been destroyed or is now being destroyed, I should say they are not doing their job as journalists. We all know that something unbelievably extraordinary has been happening. But what we need is accurate reports that do not cause any kind of panic. Some media guys seem to love panics on the principle that good news is no news.

World Is Watching and Feeling for You, Japan

2011-03-16T20:01:00.001+08:00

The whole world is watching the desperate effort to get those reactors under control. (I used to laugh when I encountered this the-world-is-watching expression in reports on domestic matters by the US media, thinking, “Oh, Americans believe they are the world”.) The progress appears painstakingly slow and I hope they are making any progress at all. The situation has been, as soon as a problem got solved, another crops up. The government decided to use SDF helicopters to extinguish the fire on the No. 3 reactor but then suspended the operation because of an unacceptably high level of radiation detected above it. In the meantime, on the ground and inside the damaged reactor structures, people are working with their hands and torch lights to avert a nuclear catastrophe. Salute to them. Tokyo Power, as a company, is dead.

Partly because of some of the media reports, the wrong impression that people outside of Japan may fall victim to is that the whole country is on the brink of meltdown. This is not the case though the situation is horrifyingly critical now. After all, Chernobyl did not melt down the whole Soviet Union. Just yesterday, I met a man from Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, for an interpretation work. He told me that things were as usual in his region. Not surprising at all.

If there is any consoling thing, it is that the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant stopped automatically and successfully soon after the earthquake struck. We are now talking about the residual heat of the reactors. Left alone (an impossibility definitely), over time the temperature should go down with the help of cooling water. The problem is there is no functioning cooling system.

But then, this nuclear drama has been going on already long enough. When the government is supposed to be putting all its resources to rescue those still under rubble, it has to deal with this engineering, environmental and human disaster. It decided to mobilise SDF reserves for the first time.

On my own personal level, I thank all who expressed their concern for my family and friends in Japan. Some are people whom I barely know like a taxi driver who took me to the meeting point yesterday and cashers of 7-Eleven in my neighbourhood.

Nuke Concern: Possible Meltdown & Any Water to Wash away Radioactive Materials

2011-03-14T23:42:00.002+08:00

No doubt, this is a national disaster. In addition to heart-wrenching personal tragedies, the link to our history has been broken with some physical historical heritages destroyed. Another big concern is with nuke plants. Their cooling operations having been failed for some time causing some of the fuel rods completely exposed, three reactors in Fukushima must have had partial meltdown.

放射性物質が付着したら、「シャワーで洗い流して」（NHK解説員）。洗い流すのに必要なシャワー用の水があるんか？それから、避難指示がでている福島第２原発の周囲10キロは、南側を除けば福島第１原発の避難指示地域内になる。どこに避難すればいいの？

Kesenmuma Being Engulfed Now!!

2011-03-11T23:38:00.000+08:00

This is a reminder that Japan is a pretty big country. Watching and listening to reports from Tokyo on this massively devastating earthquake on the BBC, a woman, “Yukiko,” actually chuckled, saying “I’m watching TV” responding to the question, “what do you do?” And a guy on Skype was describing people who were using Twitter when the shake struck and another guy said things were “normal.”

Pity I don’t have NHK feed here. The images I’ve seen on the BBC and CNN are powerfully overwhelming. And at this moment, the city of Kesenmuma seems engulfed in inferno as I can see from BBC/NHK footage.

Japan's Mr. Clean Prime Minister Sleeps through Summit

2011-03-09T23:28:00.000+08:00

The one possible exception to the general cooperative mood [at the Rambouillet summit in November, 1975] was Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Miki. Except for his opening statement on trade, which had concentrated on Japan’s national problems rather than the global economic system, Miki was not heard from. He seemed to be dozing through most of the presentations, which was a polite way of avoiding participation in the dialogue being, however, carefully transcribed by a note taker. This caused Simon to send me an irreverent note – “I think Miki has just died” – which I had framed as a reminder that not every moment of high-level meetings is equally portentous. (Years of Renewal, p. 695)

Japanese Foreign Minister Resigns

2011-03-06T21:31:00.001+08:00

在日韓国人からの献金を受け取っていたことが明らかになった前原誠司外相が辞任を表明した。小生が育った地区にある高校を卒業した人だ。報道にあるように、献金した人は外国人による献金が違法であることを「知らなかったし、知っていたら献金するはずがない」（産経電子版）、また献金があったことを外相は「知っているわけがない」（同）というのはおそらく事実だろう。これまでの苦労と悲壮感が見え隠れする人だとの印象だけに残念に思う。

2011-03-02T20:28:00.004+08:00

20 February 2011: I received the news when I was with Sheldon Adelson and a Japanese media crew at MBS. My ex colleague and drinking buddy, Tony had passed away. He navigated me through this society in my first months here. At Singapore Casket, his wife looked distraught but polite as she always was. It was rather more heartrending that their two daughters, especially the younger one who even remembered my name, was so nice greeting me and answering my questions about what had happened to her father so suddenly.

友人がうちに忘れ物をした。「鷹標　徳國　風油精」と書かれている。ネットで調べてみると、次のような効能書きがあった。
【功能主治】消炎，止痒，止痛.さわやかで、痛みを止めて、風を走らせて、酸素に止まる.蚊に用いて刺して風邪を引いて引き起こす頭が痛いこと、くらくらして、車に酔うのは調子が悪い。
【適用人群】蚊に用いて刺して風邪を引いて引き起こす頭が痛いこと、くらくらして、車に酔うのは調子が悪い。
さっぱりわからない。

Sadat Introduced Mubarak to Kissinger

2011-02-12T23:07:00.001+08:00

Then this afternoon, I encountered this passage in Page 415, “… for the first time, Sadat introduced his new Vice President, Hosni Mubarak, wearing a blue air force uniform. Though Mubarak did not play a major role in the dialogue, he was a necessary guarantor of the military establishment’s interests.”

Mubarak Leaves Office

2011-02-12T00:05:00.001+08:00

President Mubarak is stepping down from office. I’m reading the “One Shuttle Too Many” part of “Years of Renewal.”

Lowering Language Hurdle Is Not the Answer

2011-02-09T22:45:00.002+08:00

読売新聞のきょう（９日）の社説は「外国人看護師　日本語を非関税障壁にするな」として、「インドネシアやフィリピンにすれば、極端な（看護師試験）合格率の低さは、ＥＰＡで製品をどんどん売り込みながら、看護師らの受け入れは、日本語という“非関税障壁”でブロックしている『日本の身勝手さの象徴』と映るのではないか」と述べている。日本語での会話しかできない人びとの健康と生死を扱う看護師に言語能力を求めるのは当然だ。日本語が「障壁」になることなど、この制度の導入が検討されていた時点で明らかであるはずだった。制度を継続するつもりなら、日本語能力のハードルを下げるのではなく、期間を延長することが妥当な手段だと思える。

Egyptian Army Poised for a Coup?

2011-02-03T00:22:00.001+08:00

Pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators clashed throwing stones at each other in the central part of Cairo. The Egyptian army is not taking any action. It seems to me that the army may be looking for the moment of a coup.

Al Jazeera's Bombshell

2011-01-24T22:30:00.001+08:00

Al Jazeera is disclosing how the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been negotiating with Israel. It says, “The material is voluminous and detailed; it provides an unprecedented look inside the continuing negotiations involving high-level American, Israeli, and Palestinian Authority officials.

Al Jazeera will release the documents between January 23-26th, 2011. They will reveal new details about:
• the Palestinian Authority’s willingness to concede illegal Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, and to be “creative” about the status of the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount;
• the compromises the Palestinian Authority was prepared to make on refugees and the right of return;
• details of the PA’s security cooperation with Israel;
• and private exchanges between Palestinian and American negotiators in late 2009, when the Goldstone Report was being discussed at the United Nations.”
One of the first disclosures is titled “The biggest Yerushalayim” and its subhead is “PA offered to concede almost all of East Jerusalem, an (sic) historic concession for which Israel offered nothing in return.”

Today, I went on to the last volume of the Kissinger memoirs, Years of Renewal.

Two Sick Nights

2011-01-23T19:31:00.001+08:00

Late Friday afternoon, I felt sick and feverish. The sick feeling came with no precautions. I had fidgety sleep that night and next, measuring the temperature every hour or so and taking “Flu MAX” at a more-or-less regular interval. Fever came down this early morning at last, but I’m feeling weak and the pain in the shoulders is still annoying me. I probably let my guard down as the stream of work, which started flowing in mid October, had broken recently and invited the fever.

また一人、昔話をする人が減ってしもて、淋（さび）しい限りです。いとこいさんの漫才には品がありましたな。一切お客さんをいらわずに、２人の会話だけで進めて行く。呼称は常に「君」と「僕」。決して「おまえ」、「どついたろか」といったドぎつい言葉は使いません。上品の極みや。今の漫才さんの中に、このスタイルを受け継いでくれる人がおるかしらん。こいしさんは私より二つ年下やが、芸歴は私より古いんです。旅芸人の一座に生まれ育ったんでっさかいな。彼と古い話をしだすと、もう止まりません。最近も放送局の控室で何時間も話し込んだことがありました。（落語家・桂米朝さん）
今月１７日に病院に呼ばれて、「しんどい、もうアカン」とつらそうに言うんで「兄ちゃん、みんなのためにもがんばらなアカン」と励ましたばかりでした。本当に悲しい、涙が出ます。昔からやんちゃ坊主で、曲がったことが嫌いでした。若い人の手本になるしゃべくり漫才で、みんなに尊敬されていたんです。ご冥福をお祈りします。（交友が半世紀以上に及ぶ「かしまし娘」の正司歌江さん）（朝日電子版）

Baby Doc's Mysterious Homecoming

2011-01-20T21:24:00.000+08:00

Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, long in exile in Paris, returned to Haiti on the 16th and subsequently got detained, and then released though he is ordered to remain in the country. Why he returned after 25 years is very much unclear.

His flight in 1986 while still young, amid a popular uprising against his dictatorial rule that was aided by his private militia known as the Tontons Macoutes, coincided with the People Power Revolution in the Philippines, which I was trying to follow closely and which was my first lesson on international politics. Following the Marcos-Aquino saga, I inevitably turned to the pages that were reporting the turmoil in Haiti. Duvalier was succeeded by a priest of the liberation theology, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a radiant hope for the country that would turn out be a huge disappointment.

Hatoyama Losing His Love

2011-01-17T22:03:00.001+08:00

インドのニューデリーにご滞在中のハトヤマ前首相が改造内閣について語られている。
「（首相は）挙党態勢を望むと言いながら、自分の仲間だけで決めてしまう。『どうぞ４人でやりなさい』という気持ちだ」「『最強の体制』と首相が胸を張るほど、国民は期待していない」（読売電子版）
「菅直人首相が最強の体制だと胸を張ったほど国民は期待していない」「挙党態勢と言いながら４人だけでやるなら、どうぞやって下さいという気持ちになる」（朝日電子版）
民主党創設者としてのご自負が粉々にされていく様子を目の当たりにしては、強固な友愛の精神もお忘れになってしまったようですね。みっともないです。

1995年のこの日、阪神淡路大震災。

Nixon: "Composed, Almost at Ease"

2011-01-13T23:18:00.000+08:00

It seems to have been a few of Republican leaders, Senators Hugh Scott (PA), Barry Goldwater (AZ) and Congressman John Rhodes (AZ), who pushed President Nixon over, persuading that he had no other way. Dr. Kissinger does not tell us in what words Nixon described his decision to resign. Dr. Kissinger only writes, “Nixon turned when he heard me. He seemed very composed, almost at ease. He had decided to resign, he said. The Republican leaders had reinforced his instinct that there was not enough support left in the Congress to justify a struggle…”

I moved on to a book by Alistair Horne, “Kissinger: 1973, The Crucial Year,” that covers the same period as “Years of Upheaval.”

10 Pages to Go for "Years of Upheaval"

2011-01-12T22:16:00.000+08:00

I’m reaching the end of the second volume of Dr. Kissinger’s memoirs, “Years of Upheaval,” ten more pages to go to finish. Devoured by the Watergate frenzy, the Nixon Administration is in its terminal condition. Richard M. Nixon is such a complicated human being, needing to be reassured at every step, able to be at his best in crises, shy and devious in human relations. Somewhere in the last ten pages how he conveyed his decision to resign to Dr. Kissinger will be shown to me.

First Days of 2011

2011-01-09T21:00:00.001+08:00

On Wednesday, I saw Robert Mugabe and his beefy bodyguards at Guardian of Ngee Ann City. They went on to Watsons, next door.

It has been like living with Sir Simon Rattle and Berliner Philharmoniker for two and a half days, quite an experience.

「生活向上委員会（生向委）」っていう楽団があったなぁ。それからトランペットを西部劇のピストルのようにクルクル回していた管楽バンドもあったなぁ。ベルリン・フィルの仕事とはあんまり関係ないけど、突然、記憶の引き出しから現れた。

Beicho-san, Please + Kakefu, Egawa and 1 More Player

2011-01-02T21:53:00.001+08:00

朝日電子版の「米朝　口まかせ」（12月29日）で、米朝さんが「そろそろ、死ぬ年やと思てる」と。枝雀、吉朝と先に弟子を亡くし、先日は茂山千之丞さんが亡くなったばかり。もっと噺が聞きたいんです！

同年生まれの掛布雅之と江川卓の対談が新書になっている。同書を当地で見つけ、掛布と同じ日に生まれ、ケガさえなければ弱小球団に所属していながら大きな記録を残せた選手だったはずの藤田学のことが思われて仕方なかった。

Younger Hatoyama, You Too Get Out!!

2010-12-31T21:55:00.000+08:00

ハトヤマさん兄弟はどうしようもない。弟が民主党は「兄が首相の時はよかったし、小沢さんが代表の時はよかったが、今やもう、左翼政党じゃないか」と述べている（産経電子版12月20日）。左翼って、今の時代に何を意味するのだろうか。お兄ちゃんは「民主リベラルの結集」と言って結党した。「民主リベラル」の意味や定義については、何年も前に民主党にＥメールで質問したことがあるが、何の回答も送られてこなかった。左翼がだめなら右翼じゃないといかんということか。「民主リベラル」は右翼と同義なのか。「友愛」は右翼なのか。この兄弟は思いつきで発言するだけで、思想の深さをさっぱり感じさせない。表現方法にも全く魅力を感じない。さらに30日には同じく産経電子版が、民放の収録番組で同氏が「こんなやつ、生かしてたまるかと思う」と法相時代に死刑執行を指示した死刑囚について発言したと報じている。なかなかの友愛ではないか！兄弟そろって政界引退して、先祖の残した財産で余生を送ってほしいと願う。

Ozawa: Back on Stage, Not Wet Enough Here + Surprising Work Inquiry

2010-12-26T21:10:00.002+08:00

Some days ago, Seiji Ozawa came back in New York. In September, he had conducted in Matsumoto, his very first appearance since a cancer surgery. Judging from the headlines, the interest of the Japanese media seems to be how many minutes he conducts, seven in Matsumoto, 40 and 90 in New York. This is certainly not the way that anyone who appreciates music sees it. The impression that those headlines may imply is that shorter pieces are of less importance.

On Tuesday, I went to a Tiong Bahru clinic because of a skin trouble. I had the same problem, caused by fungus, more than a year ago. I met the same doctor, who asked me if I had travelled to any wet country. I told him that I had been staying here all along with no overseas trip. Hmmm, he thinks this country is not humid enough.

And late Friday afternoon, I received an inquiry by e-mail about an interpretation job. The person got my contact through a TV station bureau I had worked with before. The job is about a 3D editing work, scheduled in early next month, for recorded concerts of a, perhaps the, preeminent orchestra! And one of the pieces recorded was Mahler’s No. 1 Symphony!! I quickly prepared a quote for his consideration, and within two hours, the job was confirmed!!! I felt all my hair stood up with excitement.

Hatoyama Did Change His Mind as I Had Expected

2010-12-18T22:45:00.001+08:00

予想通りだったが、ハトヤマ前首相が「皆様のご期待をもらえるなら」と言って、政界引退の決意を翻した。自政権時代の迷走を忘れたかのように振舞い、また現政権になってからは建設的なことをやっているとも思えない。「自分の党」が自分から離れていくのがガマンならんのだろう。日本では誰か期待しているのか？

昨日、朝日新聞サイトに掲載された「季節のおいしいコラム／好吃（ハオチー）！中国料理！身体が温まる煮込み料理を召し上がれ」に、いきなり「気が付くと、早いものでもう年を越してしまいました」とあった。日本では暦が違うのか？

And Captain Beefheart, a Zappa buddy, passed away at the age of 69.

Showa Disappearing

2010-12-11T00:42:00.000+08:00

「正司敏江・玲児」のあのおっちゃん、亡くなったんや。舞台では、九州なまりの関西弁で元嫁はんから愚痴られながら蹴りかましてたあのおっちゃんか。枝雀ももうおらん。馬場に鶴田はもう数年前のことになるけど、ラッシャーに剛竜馬、柴田勝久に小鉄に勘太郎と子供の頃に当たり前にいてた人たちがどんどんと亡くなっていくなぁ。

PC Lock Problem Solved, It Seems

2010-12-10T23:10:00.001+08:00

On Tuesday, I changed my keyboard and USB hub to new ones. Since then, no PC locking problem has taken place. And even the web connection speed looks better. The culprit seemed to be a loose wire connection of my old USB hub. I know that the wires inside the connection cord to the PC were in a precarious condition as to get exposed. But then, what things does the USB connection have to do with my net connections?

Hoshino Kantaro

2010-11-27T23:25:00.000+08:00

山本小鉄の後を追うように星野勘太郎まで……。ミル・マスカラスが初来日した時の最初の対戦相手だったなぁ。

Shortening Words Does Not Always Work

2010-11-25T23:44:00.002+08:00

先週だったか、あるいは先々週だったか、ある当地日本語メディアで水処理大手企業の「Hyflux」を「ハイフラ」と省略している見出しを見つけた。やり過ぎだと思う。また、日本語メディア全般について言えば、比較的新しいと思える「infrastructure（社会基盤）」を「インフラ」とするのはまだ許せるとして、「流行性感冒（流感）」という日本語がありながら「influenza」を「インフル」と略すのにすでに抵抗を感じる。同メディアでは、見出し語数の制限から「マレーシア」を「隣国」することが多いが、しばらく前にはそうすることがないコラムの中でさえ「隣国」を使い、最後までどこの国なのか結局特定されていなかった。「インフラ」「インフル」「インフレ」「ハイフラ」……。

For the annoying “lock” problem, I’m now suspecting my keyboard that’s connected externally.

DO NOT LOCK MY PC

2010-11-22T20:47:00.001+08:00

The PC lock problem is happening without “Trados.” So annoying. And my apology to the program. A funny thing is that it occurs overwhelmingly during the day, not at night. It may be a trouble with the wireless broadband connection, which is not really broad and can be frustratingly slow especially in the weekday daytime.

State Secretary Kissinger laments about the failure of the Year of Europe partly caused by the reluctance, and covert and overt sabotage, of the West European allies to deal with President Nixon who is embroiled in the escalating Watergate scandal. Dr. Kissinger still manages to organise a conference in Geneva for the Middle Eastern issues, an aftermath of the war of 1973. His comparative analysis into how Japanese politics, and society by extension, works is insightful.
It makes me wonder to what extent the same analysis can be applied to today’s society. If the same system is still controlling there, it can be yet another reason that I shouldn’t go back. This should not be an issue of “either or.” It should be about how much the negative side of the small-village thinking still dominates in Japan’s society. This thinking can be seen through the cover-up of the collision video in Senkaku and the resignation of the Justice Minister today. In fact, the minister was shown the door.

Hello Again, Dr, Kissinger

2010-11-15T22:01:00.000+08:00

「サンダカン八番娼館」を数日前に、そして「物語　フィリピンの歴史」を今日の午後に終えて「Years of Upheaval」にまた戻った。「物語　フィリピンの歴史」の最後あたりは、非日本語の文献からの短い引用文のような「……した」の連続で終わる文紋切り型が減って幾分読みやすかった。「Years of Upheaval」を再開したものの、繰上げ選挙から「People Power」までの日々を報じた米誌「TIME」と「Newsweek」の記事を読み返したい気持ちもある。

Without “Trados,” my PC does not give me that “lock” trouble. The suspicion is growing even bigger.

Trados Mischief?

2010-11-13T22:21:00.000+08:00

It seems “Trados” is making my PC crazy. Two days ago, it entered its locked mode while I was working on a “Trados TagEditor” file. I’ve never set the mode, or changed if it was set by default. I’ve been using the PC for more than two years and this has never happened before. As “Trados” has history of giving trouble to me and this phenomenon of turning the screen all black happens only when a “Trados” file is open, the main suspect is this program. The locked condition appears in a progressively short interval. Every time the symptom appears, I have to press the power button and the “user icon” displayed to return to the normal condition. After a few cases of this cat-and-mouse, the screen starts turning black even before I hit any single key. “Trados,” I’m blaming you with reason. This program, which supposedly assists my work, is bullshit. It doesn’t care how I read documents and inhibits the natural flow of reading. Is any programmer who understands my mother tongue involved in the program development? Or has there been any meaningful progress for a decade or more?

Senkaku Video, "Story: History of the Philippines," + Nomura-san on Money

2010-11-11T22:13:00.003+08:00

先週５日、尖閣での衝突事件のビデオが「流出」した。こんな展開を予測できた人はまずいないだろう。政府は全く公開する気がなかったようだ。公開せよという声に抗しきれず、今月１日に衆議院の「予算委員会理事人ら30人」がこの映像を視聴したが、全面的に公開したくない理由は明らかだ。日本の法規に照らして容疑のある者を釈放しておいて、その措置が誤りであったかのようなことを示す映像を見てもらいたくなかったのだ。相も変わらず日本村の解決法だ。しかし、解決にはほど遠かった。一方で逮捕容疑者を無罪放免にしておきながら、映像を流出させた海上保安庁保安官を公務員の守秘義務違反で問うことの矛盾をどう解決するつもりなのだろう。企業の悪行を密告した場合とどう違うのだろう。実は先週連絡してきた某女は、この流出ビデオに中国語字幕を付けたいと言ってきたのだったが（「あんたがやらんでも、もう誰かがやってるわ、そんなこと」とは言わずも、そういう気分だった）、そんなことより日本国民なら日本政府の対応を厳しく批判するのが筋ではないか。

「物語　フィリピンの歴史」（中公新書）は読みにくい。「物語」と呼べず、「これ、日本語」と言いたい。

産経電子版で読んだ夕刊フジの記事に、岩隈の大リーグ落札金について「13億円はどこに入るんや？　これで星野の（年俸）分が出たな。楽天は完全な金儲け主義」と、ノムラさんのコメントがあった。友人はなくしたが「カネは残った」と言った人がいうことか。

And Then Joe Higuchi

2010-11-08T22:22:00.000+08:00

ジョー樋口の訃報あり。山本小鉄に続いて……。

産経電子版の見出し：【尖閣ビデオ流出】投稿者特定に限界　“密告用”プロシキならたどれず

「プロシキ」って何？「ピロシキ」？

Japanese in Those Days of Singapore + Unwelcome Call

2010-11-07T19:55:00.000+08:00

続いて「シンガポール花街の跡」から引用すると、
「……いま見るかつての日本人花街は、シンガポール人にたいする非礼をかえりみずに記せば、スラムという言葉がもっとも当たっているような街であった」
「伝手がないためわたしは、それらかつての日本人娼館の内部に入ってみることはでなかったが、しかし、この街の近くで育ったという太田さんの話では、二、三階の部屋はいずれも日本の六畳間ぐらいの広さであるという、台所とトイレットの備わっている部屋はひとつも無く、各階に共用のものがあるばかりだというが、そのことは、元来これらの部屋が居住のためではなく娼売用のものであったことを間接的に示していると言わなくてはなるまい、そして現在、老朽したこれらの部屋のひと月の間代は三十ドル前後で、住んでいる人はもちろん華人系に限られ、しかも船員・店員・工員・運転手など主として肉体労働にたずさわる人びとと、いわゆる水商売関係の女性などが多いということだ」
「――わたしが書物や古老の談話などから得た知識によるなら、シンガポールにおける日本人娼婦の第一号は、明治初年にシンガポールで夫のイギリス人が死んだため生活の方途を失った日本人妻だとも言われ、また明治四年にシンガポールへ上陸した横浜生まれのお豊という女性であるとも言われている。このほかにもまだ、黒髪を切り男装してシンガポールへ渡って来たおヤスという女性が最初だとか、サーカス団の一員としてシンガポールに来てそのまま帰らなかった通称＜伝多の婆さん＞が嚆矢だとかいった説もあるが、いずれにせよ明治期も非常に早い頃からからゆきさんの歴史ははじまっていると言わなくてはならない。そして西郷隆盛が鹿児島で死んだ明治十年に、早くもマレー街に二軒の日本人娼館が建ったのを手はじめとして、年を追って日本人娼館はふえてゆき、明治二十年にはからゆきさんの数およそ百人、明治三十五年には娼館八十三、からゆきさん六百十一人、日露戦争の勃発した明治三十七年には娼館百一、からゆきさん九百二人というぐあいに急増して行ったのである」

貧困と性差別を根底の原因とした海外売春だったが、平成も20年を過ぎた今、日本国内では少女によるフリーランス売春がめずらしくない。数年前だったか、「貧困を理由としない売春が存在するのは日本だけ」と言った人がいたはず。女性史にとってどういう意味を持つのだろうか。

金曜日が祝日だったため３週間通訳の最終日となった木曜日の夜、「ヴァカ社長」の姿を運悪く見た。そして翌金曜日の午後、その社長と一時期、抜き差しならぬ間柄にあり、自分にとっては社長同様に忌み嫌いたい女性から電話があった。わざわざうちの電話番号を人に確認してまでの連絡だったが、偶然なのか。その話の内容は、政治史を中途半端にかじった人の戯言のように聞こえた。

Hatoyama Considers No Career Change + Karayuki-san

2010-11-06T21:23:00.003+08:00

ずいぶん書かなかった間のことだが、鳩山前首相が引退発言から大幅に後退した。驚かないが、ずいぶんと人を落胆させる政治家だなぁ。在任中の泳ぐ目線と説得力のなさはともかく、この人から真っ直ぐな潔さがすっかりなくなってしまった。

何で今頃と思われるだろうが、山崎朋子の「サンダカン八番娼館」を木曜日夜から読み始め、その「エピローグ」まで進めた。同書によると、「おサキさん」の夫だった北川新太郎は、「明治弐拾九年五月拾八日、京都府紀伊郡深草町字＊＊参拾壱番地」で出生とあり、「深草」の文字に心が騒いだ。次いで、「昭和参十弐年七月弐拾参日午後参時八分、京都市伏見町深草向畑町官有地で死去」とあるではないか！そこはおそらく国立京都病院の住所だろう。

ちょっと先読みして、併録されている「シンガポール花街の跡」を覗くと、
「……さっきまで歩いていたモダンな大通りとちがってそのあたりは、さして広からぬ道をはさんで両側に古びた二、三階の商店がひしめく街―いわゆるチャイナ・タウンであった。そしてわたしがその街の商店看板などのどぎつい色彩に眼を奪われているうち、太田さんはいくつかの街角を指さして、『山崎さん、ここがその昔のステレツですよ――』といったのである」
「ちょうど眼の前が十字路で、道をへだてた向こう側の建物の壁に細長い街路標があったので瞳をこらすと、一方の側のそれには、『MALAY STREET（馬来街）』の文字が、もう一方の側のそれには、『HYLAM STREET』の文字が読めた。わたしは、胸のとどろくのをおさえることができなかった」
1974年に書かれたものだ。「Malay Street」に「Hylam Street」、そして同じ地区にあると記述されている「Malabar Street」。聞き覚えはあるが、「チャイナ・タウン」にあるように思えず、オンライン地図（www.streetdirectory.com）で確認しようとすると、いずれの通りも検索にかからない。それもそのはずで、どれも現在は1995年９月にオープンした「Bugis Junction」内の「屋内標識」でしかお目にかかれない通りなのだ。あの辺りはチャイナタウンの一部とされていたのだろうか。当地の国立図書館のウェブサイト（http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_297_2004-12-20.html）には、「Malay Street」の呼称について「Chinese: Jit-pun koi (Hokkien), meaning "Japanese Street", referring to the Japanese prostitutes on this street. Yat pun chai kai (Cantonese), meaning "Japanese brothel street"」との記述がある。
「おサキさん」が北ボルネオのサンダカンへ渡ってから90年ほど経過している今でも、人種や出身国の構成が変化しただけで出稼ぎ売春はなくなっていない。

Deep Cut

2010-10-13T21:56:00.002+08:00

昨日の夜、買ったばかりのナイフを使った後、洗おうとして左手人差し指をグサっと切り込んでしまった。かなりひどい。ズキズキ痛んで、睡眠にも差し支えた。よく寝てないせいで、「イギリス近衛兵の帽子をかぶって眼鏡をかけたイタリア人の男」がベッドの足元先右側にあるドアから刀を持って入ってきた夢を見た。（本当はそんな場所にドアはない。）「なんや、ナンヤ、何や！」と寝言で叫んで目が覚めた。関西弁で叫んだのが救いか。キズはまだ閉じてなくて、絆創膏に血がにじむ。タイプもつらい。

Rakugo Zanmai & Zappa Dream

2010-10-12T22:52:00.001+08:00

おとといの夜、「ニコニコ動画」で桂米朝の「七度狐」「不精の代参」「植木屋娘」「風の神送り」「肝つぶし」、今日は「鹿政談」「貧乏花見」「近目の煮売屋」「親子茶屋」を楽しんだ。昨日の夜はCCにいた。

また昨日の朝は、Frank Zappaがメンバーと大阪平野区のバーで演奏している夢を見た。バーの客には、見覚えはないけど英会話学校の生徒だった人が数人かいて、「何年か振りでみんなと会うことにしたんです」。メンバーは演奏後に客といっしょに気楽に酒を飲んでいた。どうやら話しかけたようだが、よく覚えてない。

No Eulogy from Nomura-san

2010-10-07T22:56:00.001+08:00

大沢啓二元ロッテ・オリオンズ／日本ハム・ファイターズ監督が亡くなった。各紙はいろいろと談話を掲載しているが、ノムラさんの言葉を載せている紙面は見当たらず。やっぱりなぁ。

産経電子版によると、菅首相が６日の衆院本会議で、「在日外国人が党員となるのは、わが党だけが採用しているものではないが、議論があることも承知している。党内で検討していきたい」と答えたと報じているが、それならそれで、どの他の政党が外国人を党員としているのか明記してほしかった。首相もそれを指摘してもよかったのではないだろうか。

Hatoyama Should Go

2010-09-26T22:18:00.001+08:00

首相を辞めたら政界引退とまで言っていた鳩山由紀夫氏だが、友愛の精神を忘れたかのように、自らの失策の結果として誕生した現政権に対する批判がうるさい。「地域主権」と「新しい公共」という政策課題が「一丁目一番地が三丁目の夕日になった」とか、中国漁船船長の逮捕と釈放については「私なら温家宝首相とホットラインで話せた」など。「国民のみなはん」に「思い」を長々と意味不明の語句を羅列して話し、目線の泳いだぶらさがり会見やしどろもどろに近い沖縄県知事へのあいさつが深く印象づけられている。小生のこの人への信用はすでに消滅している。当初の思い通り、引退されるべきだろう。これ以上にうるさくなると嘲笑の対象としての存在がさらに大きくなる。みなはんを再び裏切ってはいかん。

"Years of Upheaval": The Nixon Administration is in disarray over how to approach the Soviets in its negotiations for SALT II partly because Nixon is beside himself over the Watergate scandal, which is about to explode.

Kyo no Chazuke & Nagatanien

2010-09-24T23:37:00.000+08:00

１年にわたって「京の茶漬」（桂米朝）を繰り返し見たせいで、とうとう永谷園の「お茶づけ海苔」と「さけ茶づけ」を買ってしまった。「お茶がよろしいなぁ」とも、まともな漬物が見つからない当地なので「お漬もんは京都でやす」とはうらやましいが、まぁしゃあないか。チューブわさびをちょっと入れて、ごはんにしよう。「飾りのない普通の」和食をカネをかけずに食いたい……。でまた、「YouTube」に「味の招待席」をアップロードしてくれた人がいて、うれしいような情けないような、何とかしてくれ～という気分。

The Persistent Image: Is It My Own Fault?

2010-09-14T20:01:00.001+08:00

I had to get up early today to meet someone from Tokyo at 7:00 am at a Bencoolen hotel lobby. As often happens, I couldn’t sleep because I was already thinking about waking up when I was trying to sleep. In this state, the recently persistent image came back, making putting myself to sleep even more difficult. At the same time, I know that some part of me was actively trying to remember what it looks like. The image which I’m not sure what I should call is troubling me. Or more likely I’m giving trouble to it. I’m old enough to know better.

It appears I have almost recovered my health though feeling some throat irritation.

Feeling Weak

2010-09-13T21:45:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday night, I visited one of the clinics around Tiong Bahru MRT station, which was open. I got my nose blocked and runny at the same time (though my nose cannot even walk) and my throat was quite irritating. I was sneezing too. After half an hour of waiting, I met the doctor, who, after rather cursory questions, temp measurement (“36.9, no fever”) and throat examination, prescribed two kinds of tablets for my blocked and runny nose and lozenges for the throat. It was only a matter of a few minutes. Yesterday, I was not feeling very well still. I decided to reinforce the effect of medication with Panadol FluMax. It might not be a wise decision considering potentially adverse chemical mix, but I couldn’t resist doing so as the tablets given didn’t seem to be working fast enough. Last night with this condition, I had to finish a job and I did. Now my condition seems better though I’m still feeling very weak. 36.9 is a borderline temp as at 37.0 and above one is considered having a fever in my country, but not here where the benchmark is 37.5.

At around 6:30 am, Friday (or Saturday: memories are going) and after so many interruptions, I came to the last line of the last page of “White House Years.” In January, 1973, Kissinger concluded the negotiations with Hanoi in Paris to end the war in Vietnam, after a breakthrough in October of the previous year, when the Hanoi government demonstrated its willingness to end the war as rapidly as possible. The subsequent stonewalling and cunning tactics of North Vietnam and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu’s resistance to an agreement with Hanoi greatly unnerved the whole US negotiating team and President Nixon, who resorted a B-52 Christmas bombing to force the North to come back to serious negotiations. It is easy to forget the fact that Nixon and Kissinger inherited the US escalated involvement in Vietnam, which was started by Eisenhower whose Vice President was Nixon ironically. The Nixon Administration seems to have wanted to get out of Vietnam soon in a way that could preserve the honour of America. A near certain fund cutoff by the new Congress strengthened the resolve.

In the second volume, “Years of Upheaval,” Kissinger visits Hanoi, a distressing experience for him. It was clear that, only two weeks after the signing of the Agreement, the North was violating its major clauses. The issues of the neutrality of Laos and Cambodia and the troop withdrawals by North Vietnam from these countries remained unresolved.

Mid West Towns in Taiwan

2010-09-06T22:32:00.000+08:00

朝日新聞電子版に掲載中の「クリックディープ旅」（台湾編）に、「僕らもこの電車に２時間乗って嘉義（かぎ）、さらに１時間乗って彰化（しょうか）に着いた」「翌朝戻った彰化駅にもセブン―イレブン。つい入ってしまう」とあった。彰化は2000年初めに２カ月滞在した町だし、嘉義（そして員林）もなじみ深い。彰化駅には、便利商店セブン―イレブンか……。町もずいぶんと変わったことだろう。員林駅前の「黒猫」はまだあるだろうか。

A Job Completed, Visa Renewal and My "Lovely" Vein

2010-09-05T14:29:00.001+08:00

On Friday, the 3-week interpretation job completed. Unexpectedly, the last day was the hardest as the explanation continued for an hour and a half. Having said so, the training has been very informative.

Because of mismanagement by my accountancy and possibly by MOM that apparently did not acknowledge my original application on 30 July, the process for my visa renewal was delayed. It was finally approved, in principle pending the result of medical exam, on 30 August, three days before the expiry date. On the early morning of 31th, I went to a blood test and chest X-ray before going to the client’s training centre. Again, on the early morning, I picked up the exam result and went on to the Employment Pass Service Centre to submit the in-principle approval letter and the result. A good thing is that it is going to be a 3-year visa this time.

The doctor looking at my vein: “Lovely”
Some years ago, at another clinic, “beautiful” was the adjective for my vein.

Shameless Hatoyama & Yamamoto Kotetsu Dies

2010-08-29T23:01:00.001+08:00

鳩山前首相が目立つ。会見で目線の定まらなかった首相在任中とは違って、自信さえ見える。しかし、党代表選をめぐる行動は容易に理解できない。首相を辞めたら引退するという公言も怪しいし、期待を大きく裏切ったこの人こそ静かにしていてほしい。

山本小鉄が亡くなった。あんなに元気な人もなかったのに。格闘技人の寿命は長くない。

An Powerful Image That Kept Me Up

2010-08-17T22:42:00.000+08:00

An image kept me up most of the night, though I came back drunk after the first day of the interpretation weeks. It was an image that is so nice and, at one and the same time, blush-making. I’ve become an old man.

悠仁親王がご訪問になった国立科学博物館でムササビに関心をお示しのようで、これって子供の頃の小生といっしょやん。それから、秋篠宮殿下が白髪を染めてる。

Et Cetera

2010-08-15T23:02:00.001+08:00

おとといの朝方やったか、腰あたりまで葦のある川岸が前にあるうちから外を見ていた。その岸には、閉店が決まっている河原町阪急（住友不動産ビル）の仕事でいっしょやったダイモン君がテカテカ光る赤い「Phillies」と胸に書いたジャンパーを着て立っていた。よう見ると、部屋のすぐ外にあるベランダには袋分けされたゴミがいっぱいだった。

金曜の午後、当地の最大手通信会社を通訳として訪れた。先方担当者がコンテンツ開発の技術担当でその分野しか答えられず、経営戦略などについては公開されている情報にとどまってちょっと残念やった。その後、オーチャードを歩いていると、世界初の「ユース・オリンピック」の聖火リレーに出くわした。

昨日の晩は出かけるつもりやったんやが、落語の誘惑が強すぎた。「はてなの茶碗」「京の茶漬け」「けんげしゃ茶屋」で過ごした。また今日は、「たちぎれ線香」（米朝）と「天王寺詣り」（文枝）「不動坊」（吉朝）を楽しんだ。上方落語の言葉遣いが小さい頃を思い出させるし、やっぱり着物もええなぁ。

明日から３週間通訳の開始。

Sankei Calls Koizumi a Dove

2010-08-11T20:49:00.000+08:00

朝鮮併合100年にあたって発表された菅首相の談話について、産経電子版「自民苦しい抗議　過去の談話の呪縛なお」が、宮沢政権の河野談話（平成５年）、自社さ政権による村山談話（平成７年）、戦後60年に発表された小泉談話（平成17年）を例にして、「つまり『反省とおわび』はむしろ自民党ハト派のお家芸だったわけだ」と述べている。小泉政権をハト派なんて呼ぶのは、この記事を書いた人ぐらいだろう。

"White House Years" Restarted

2010-08-09T22:34:00.001+08:00

I restarted “White House Years” by Henry A. Kissinger some weeks ago when I finished “Words and Rules” by Steven Pinker. In July, 1971, Kissinger, as Nixon’s national security adviser and with great help from Pakistan, made a secret trip to the People’s Republic of China, the first visit by any US government official, which led to Richard Nixon’s visit there in February the following year. In the meantime, Kissinger dealt with the war between India and its ally, Pakistan, which was to lose its Eastern part. After North Vietnam began its major offensive and the US started bombings on the North, Kissinger visited Moscow secretly in April, 1972, to meet General Secretary Brezhnev to prepare a summit meeting, to advance the SALT talks and to engage the Soviet Union in US effort to solve the war in Vietnam. These cases of back channel diplomacy were necessary because of infighting between the White House and government departments, especially State and its Secretary Rogers and to avoid information leaks. Kissinger says that he is not an advocate of secret channels.

Obnoxious Personality

2010-08-04T22:56:00.002+08:00

“人間的におかしい.” No doubt it's a strong statement that I rarely hear and, as far as I remember, I have never uttered about anyone. But this is how A described the character of B. It’s been some time since I myself started feeling something obnoxious about B’s behaviour. As damning is another statement of A’s, “（彼は）媚びる.” I’ve noticed such a disposition of B’s. And the knowledge B seems happy to exhibit is often laughably superficial, to the extent that I, out of courtesy and maybe friendship, am forced to go along not to make him embarrassed. Unless B becomes aware of these and attempt to rectify his behaviour, he will only vitiate his own self further.

東京上空の「遊覧飛行」は、どこか１カ所を観光したい、させたいと金賢姫元工作員本人と韓国側から要請があったからだという、中井洽拉致問題担当相の発言を、読売電子版によると韓国政府が否定している。どっちかが正直ではないということだ。また、賢姫さんが「『（拉致された）横田めぐみさんと田口八重子さんが生きている』とはっきりお答えいただいた。」という同相の発言（朝日電子版）も、賢姫さんが爆破事件以降は北朝鮮に戻っていないことから、どこまで現実を言い表しているものかわからない。だからと言って、彼女の来日が無意味だったというものではない。拉致被害者の家族は、どんなに古いものであっても直接情報は貴重なものだろうから。

I received a late night call from Kyoto yesterday. For about 45 years, I’ve been trying to make sense of all. But she has never shown faculty to listen to me and come to terms of any part of all. It’s hopeless.

British Author Arrested

2010-07-19T21:18:00.002+08:00

イギリス人作家が逮捕された。出版した著作で司法制度を侮辱した容疑。この国の面目躍如だ。「Yahoo! Singapore」には、「よその国のことにクビを突っ込むな」というコメントも見られるが、「Sea Sheppard」のような活動家ならともかく、物書きを生業とする人に国境なんて関係ない。

一方、日本では、首相である党代表が会えない前幹事長ってどんな人？

Feeling Down, a Dangerous Sign

2010-07-18T21:28:00.000+08:00

After a party night, feeling down with no appetite. A day has been wasted. I do hope this will be severed by tonight’s sleep.

プロ野球ユニフォーム、何とかならんかな。あの引きずるようなパンツ。キリっとしたストッキングはそれ自体が美しいデザインなのに。そして、楽しもうと思っていた「ESPN」のMLB中継が見当たらない。番組表を確認するほどの意欲もないが、開幕直後以降、お目にかからない。次はプレーオフとワールドシリーズになるのか。

Those Who Couldn't Make It to Upper House

2010-07-13T21:06:00.000+08:00

30数年前の「奥様は18歳（ママはライバル）」も「飛んでイスタンブール」もダメだったし、自分自身より「長嶋さん」を強調してもダメだった。当たり前やろ！こんなんを売りもんにして国会議員になろうなんて、出馬をすすめた人たちと合わせて見識を疑わざるを得ない。

"Rakuda" DVD

2010-07-11T00:23:00.000+08:00

「らくだ」の全編ＤＶＤはないのかなぁ。もちろん上方で。米朝ＤＶＤは、この長い噺の前半だけと言ってもいいし、全編の松鶴版は音だけ。

What a Strange Country Japan Is

2010-07-07T22:15:00.001+08:00

参議院選挙が迫っている。突如として消費税率の引き上げが争点となって、年金改革や前政権が投げ出した普天間基地の移設問題が忘れ去られているようにみえる。

産経電子版は、仙谷官房長官が韓国政府による個人補償の請求権放棄について、「～『法律的に正当性があると言って、それだけで物事は済むのか。（日韓関係の）改善方向に向けて政治的な方針を作り、判断をしなければいけないという案件もあるのではないかという話もある』と述べ、政府として新たに個人補償を検討していく考えを示した。
仙谷氏はまた、日韓基本条約を締結した当時の韓国が朴正煕大統領の軍政下にあったことを指摘し、『韓国国内の事柄としてわれわれは一切知らんということが言えるのかどうなのか』と強調」と報道している。

法律を基礎にせずにどうしようというのか？この人は法律を作ることを仕事にしている国会議員ではないのか？こんなことを認めたら、世界中から補償を求める声が止まらなくなるだろう。軍政下が問題なら、中国共産党による一党独裁の中華人民共和国との法律的取り決めはどうなるのか？「韓国国内の事柄としてわれわれは一切知らんということが言えるのかどうなのか」って、あからさまな内政干渉ではないか。消費税率の引き上げを言い出し、国民への負担増を求めながら、外国人に対する生活保護支出を行い続け、はたまた法律で決着している個人補償にかかる費用負担を検討するなどということが許されるのか。こんな国、他にあるか？

"Words and Rules" Found

2010-06-22T21:44:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, being in downtown after an interpretation work in Kallang, I found “Words and Rules” by Steven Pinker at Kinokuniya. I had been looking for this book for a few months unsuccessfully. At the bookstore, I only looked at the psychology shelves because other books by him were all there. This time, I used the in-store search engine to look for the title and located it at its linguistics section. I wanted to read it before “The Blank Slate,” which I finished this afternoon.

相撲協会の陸奥生活指導部長（元大関霧島）が賭けゴルフと花札賭博にかかわっていたことを認めたそうだ。産経電子版は、陸奥親方が「いずれも千円から２千円程度を仲間内で賭けたと主張している」と報じている。だが、「主張している」を使うのは行動が正当だと言いたい場合についてであって、「悪いことはしていましたがわずかな金額の賭けだったんです」なんていう言い訳には使わんだろう。情けない。

そして、週刊誌報道をきっかけにした今回の調査に何か「今さら……」という気がしてならない。同じことをやっていても、すでに引退した力士や退職した親方は、お咎めなしだ。

"Worst Than Ever Before" -- That's Really Bad

2010-06-17T20:59:00.001+08:00

Reporting the flood of yesterday, the website of Channel NewsAsia quotes a shop managing director in the Orchard area as saying, “worst than ever before.” I say to the manager, Go back to school and learn English from scratch. Even Japanese high school kids can detect and correct the mistake.

"Differnet Personalities" Lead to Divorce Here + Orchard Flood

2010-06-16T21:38:00.002+08:00

The article of Channel NewsAsia on divorce cases today says, “A higher proportion of males (29 per cent) than females (8.7 per cent) petitioned on the ground of ‘Personality difference.’” If you want the “same personality” in your spouse, marry yourself.

The intersection of Orchard and Scotts got flooded this morning. It was quite dark this morning and I thought it was still before dawn. To me, before dawn means night, no matter what time it is. By the time I was out of bed, the rain subsided substantially and it was only a drizzle here. And when I learned about the flood, it was like “Heavy rain and flood? What flood?”

Bug Extermination Campaign & "你来、你来"

2010-06-12T22:36:00.000+08:00

I’ve embarked on a dry-up campaign here to kill the book bugs as they love humidity. But what’s funny is that the air-conditioner when it is set to “Dry” seem to push down the temperature lower than when set to “Cool” though the selected temperature is the same or above. Or at least my body feels that way.

Early morning, I had trouble sleeping because of shouts of drunken people outside. I even heard a woman’s voice saying “ni lai, ni lai (你来、你来)” apparently to invite a man to her unit. I guess the woman was one of my neighbours who seemed to manage to pay the rent and is continuing to stay here.

Amateur Editor, "JA Post-O Pre-Q" and Book Bugs

2010-06-10T22:18:00.001+08:00

It has been an irritating day. Since last night, I have tried to avert attempts to edit my work as I believe the person cannot be considered a pro. What’s worse, when I objected, he suggested consulting “local” people. Nothing could be worse than that! I know the English proficiency of the “locals” better than most people. Eventually, I gave up realizing the futility to convince him otherwise.

And this afternoon, three PDF files arrived for another work. The name of each one of them contained “ja* (after o and before q)-eng.” The parent company of the original sender is a huge U.S. organization. Is her company not educating its staff not to offend customers, colleagues, business partners, etc.?

For the past fortnight or so, I see “book bugs” enjoying themselves on my bookshelves. They don’t make serious damages to the books but it is not a very good sight to greet them. Wonder if there is any effective way to get rid of them…

"DON’T PAID RENTAL BY MONDAY..."

2010-06-04T21:57:00.001+08:00

I found a notice on the door of one of my neighbours that said, “DON’T PAID RENTAL BY MONDAY WE WILL ERASE UR CARD NO. & TRIP UR ELECTRIC. TKS U.” This is the neighbour who used to live with her son at the unit. The “CARD” seems to refer to the number of the security card assigned to her that is required to enter the building. The message is written in almost the worst Singapore-style English. Why does it have to be written in English when it is done in a very terrible way? Would it be admitted as a piece of evidence should it become a court case? The tenant may say, “I have seen the message but I couldn’t figure out what it meant because it was written in such an unintelligible way. So I ignored it.”

Miserable Language of Departing PM

2010-06-03T20:02:00.004+08:00

昨日の民主党両院議員総会で鳩山首相が、「私自身もこの職を引かせていただく」「幹事長の職を引いていただきたい」「壁にWe are the one。我々は一つだと標語が掲げられていた」と上ずった口調で話していた。
「職を引く」なんて日本語があるのか。「職から身を引く」ならわかるが。「We are one」ではなく、「We are the one(s)」なんだから、「我々は一つ」ではなく、「自分たちが主役だ」などの意味だろう。この人、本当に「すたんふぉ～どダイガク」なんだろうか。奇妙極まりない敬語を使いながら、このような語句の誤用をやらかす。前任者は漢字が読めないとさんざん批判されたのに、マスコミは何で見逃してきたのだろう。「loopy」の意味が何だとくだらん話をしているマスコミ自体の言語に対する無知を反映しているような気がする。

Two Starkly Different Meetings

2010-06-01T21:22:00.002+08:00

Afternoon of the 26th, when I was walking in Millennium Walk after depositing some cheques at the bank, I received a call from AL. We quickly set up a “Brewerkz” beer session for that evening. It was nice to see him again exactly a year after we worked together in Tokyo. We updated each other and had a nice talk, the kind of talk that is almost impossible to have with my country folks. Two "decent" Filipino women joined us, which made the night even more enjoyable. I appreciate that he contacted me.

The following day, I had a meeting at the office of my newest client to sort out the culinary confusion. Though the author of the recipes was a nice middle-aged woman, it seems to me she is unable to talk logically without digressions. She said, “For the dozen years I’ve been here, I’ve visited only Isetan, Meidi-ya (formerly Daimaru), Takashimaya and Japanese school.” Such a person! The contrast was stark with the stories AL and I shared with each other. All points should have been clarified at the meeting, but not very surprisingly I found a few other inconsistencies after the talk, which I managed to solve, thus saved time. I delivered the translated recipes today.

It's Not Been a Very Nice Night and Day

2010-05-25T21:42:00.000+08:00

It was a bad night’s sleep. Still unable to sleep, about two hours after I turned out the bedside light, I turned it on again for some more reading. And at around 5 am, I waked up to a mechanical noise and thought that an early morning cabling work had started. But realising it was too early for that, I went to the window and found a bus driver crossing from the other side of Neil Road to his Malaysia-looking bus parked in front of this apartment. Apparently he was coming back from an outdoor urination session. The bus was empty and it seemed he had decided to stay and possibly sleep there with the engine running. I couldn’t stand the engine sound and went out in my pajamas to tell him to fuck off.

Back in bed, I was woken up this time with my own snoring right when I was falling into sleep. It happened a few times and, at the same time I was feeling a bit sick with a sore throat and irritation in the nasal passage.

I knew that it was not that “bad infection” I’m very familiar with. Regardless, I wanted to crush this ominously growing sickness preemptively. With little sleep and though there is some distance from here to his clinic, I decided to go see Dr. G who should know my condition very well. I didn’t have to give my name, the nurse remembered me. It’s been almost a decade since I first visited there. I hope I will feel much better tomorrow.

Damaged "Gurrelieder" CDs & Pig's Legs up Your Cunt

2010-05-24T22:15:00.000+08:00

I found another damaged 2-CD set, “Gurrelieder,” last night. I bought it in Kyoto who knows when. The set, an import from West Germany, was priced at ¥8,000. Back then, a CD cost ¥4,200. After my first attempt, I have no trust in the repair kit.

Steven Pinker mentions this Japanese imprecation in page 354 of “The Stuff of Thought”: I’ll stick a pig’s leg up your cunt until your back teeth rattle. I’ve never heard of it. I should know the original Japanese version of it.

The Tanjong Pagar station of the Malay Railway (KTM) is to be moved to Woodlands by July next year though the station itself will be preserved as a historic site. This is a big removal of the presence of Malaysia from Singapore.

ラッシャー木村が亡くなった。