Saturday, January 31, 2009

My High School English Teacher

けさ、高校1年生の時の担任で英語担当だった「コイズミ」先生が夢に現れた。相変わらず、試験によく出していた「虫食い(空欄埋め問題)」の話をしていた。先生(「虫食いのコイさん」)は自作デザインのTシャツを放り投げるようにして教室にいるみんなに配っていた。そのうちの2枚を受け取った自分は、「パジャマにする」と言っていた。そして、「声に出して」笑った。寝言で声に出して悪態をついたことは何度もあるが、笑ったことはこれ以前記憶にない。

しかし、次の場面ではヴァカ社長が夢に登場して気分が悪かった。芸能関係のイベント企画のようで、ヴァカ社長は知ったような顔をして振舞っていた。彼から話しかけられていたようだが、無視した。あちこちで評判の悪いヴァカ社長、少なくとも会社を消滅させてくれませんか。

*
やらなくてもいいんだけど、他にやらないといけないといけないことがあるんだけど、昭和51年の南海ホークスの試合結果をまとめた。ただ、観客数合計が公式記録より多くなる。なぜだろう。主催試合のうち、和歌山での1試合、北陸での3試合を除いても合わない。また一から見直し。

*
I met K tonight accidentally, a surprise, who has been absent for at least some years from Singapore, or so I believe. She said, “You changed.” Of course. As much as I changed, she also did.

*
In “War-time Diary,” the German bombing on London seems now (October 1940) becoming intense. (Paris is already fallen.) Orwell had been complaining about air raid warnings that lacked precision and were wasting people’s time for sleep and work. He sounds far more serious.

Help Me Get out of This Place

With the financial documents passed to my nice accountant and the skin doom finally attended to, my immediate concern that remains, except the job I got this morning, is how to find a new place and move out of this flat. Since December, I’ve contacted four places and there has been no reply. Ever self-reliant, I would not feel comfortable with engaging an agent. This self-reliance, wherein I see beauty, made me wait for more than a month until I decided to see a doctor for this fucking skin trouble… Bad attitude/habit maybe, but at any rate I’d like to resolve as many issues of my own as possible. After all, here is a man who called the business of employment agencies “legal human trafficking.”

I’m not confident at all of paying the rent all by myself or my company. I’d like to rent a flat that has two bedrooms, of which only one will be used as such, and a living room or one bedroom and a big living room as I don’t want to work in a room that has a bed in it. Either case, I need a housemate. A housemate who understands that I work at home…

*
夢によく出てくる場面がもうひとつある。南海ホークスの試合日程をスポーツ新聞で確認して、大阪球場での試合には途中からでもいいから行こうとしている自分。反対に見なくなったのは、コンタクトレンズが巨大になったり、目の中で割れている夢。

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Life Extended

I brought the two files that I found yesterday to the accountant and they appear all that are necessary. On my way home, I visited one of the neighborhood clinics for my skin doom. The doctor said, “I’ve met you before,” and I believe so. He told me this was fungus infection and gave me a small container of white cream to apply to the patches twice a day. Let me see how it works. “What do you mean fungus? No fungus on me.”

*
Last night, I opened a mail I had received from the bank, and it was about the payment from Japan and today I found in the mailbox a cheque from another client. Enough to survive for a month. But then, what about March??

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

My Mind Do Not Work This Way

Errr… she can’t be called my client as no monetary transaction has took place. But since last November, there have been talks about future business. As it is business, I’d like to record things in writing including in the form of e-mail, but she seems incapable to write. What she usually tell me in an e-mail is “call me when you have time” without what the subject is about. When I see her, it is mainly for eating and drinking with a tiny dash of general talks of business. Not much cannot be accomplished in those talks and there is no written record. It is so slow to settle anything. This is not the way my mind works.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

It Was So Quiet

I went out for no particular reason last night (25th), the lunar new year eve. Orchard Road was quite deserted, eerily quiet. Even the street light-up decoration was gone. It seemed 80% of the population had disappeared. I dropped by Borders and found there “Facing Unpleasant Facts,” another collection of essays by George Orwell and bought it without hesitation. It was not there when I visited the bookstore when I was still reading “All Art Is Propaganda,” but there were three copies on the shelf last night. I walked down from Borders to CC and found two men sitting on a bench near the Somerset MRT entrance. Between them were four or five Tiger Beer cans. One of them were saying, “そこまではやらないけど (‘I wouldn’t do that much’ or ‘I wouldn’t go that far’).”

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Skin Doom?

And the skin trouble persists. Mental stress is believed to be one of its major causes. Mental stress…

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Bruxism?

ときどき、自分のいびきで目が覚めると思っていた。いびきではなくて、歯ぎしりかもしれない。目覚めた時、こめかみが痛むこともあった。昨日起きた時の音はいびきではなくて、歯ぎしりのようだった。歯ぎしりの原因ははっきりしていないが、「心理的ストレス」が大きいらしい。心理的ストレス……。

Friday, January 23, 2009

Dropped from My Own Bed

何時頃か忘れたが、寝返りをうったらベッドから落ちた。象に寄生しているヒルのような「吸血虫」の1匹が自分に向かって飛んできた夢で、それを避けようとしたらしい。この「吸血虫」とのつながりは全く不明だが、「阪急百貨店の地下控え室」がまたもや現れた。正月営業のようで、「現業の人たち」と同様、エレベーターボーイにも弁当が配られていたが、しばらくぶりに勤務する自分の分があるのか、ちょっと不安だったが、結局その弁当を食べている場面はなかったよう。ロッカーにある制服も、どれが自分のものかわからなかった。また、阪急ガールの運転時間だったが、何をしていたのか、エレベーター前のお客さん整理業務の交代時間に間に合っていなかった。それでも、問題ないようで、きっと自分は余分の人員だったのだろう。

ここに書いたことがあるかどうか記憶がはっきりしないが、自分にとって四条河原町阪急(住友不動産ビル)での仕事はやはりかなり強烈だったのだろう。間隔をあけた勤務が多くて、給与の支払いを受けていないような気がして、それを伝えようとヨシオカ保安長を探している夢を何度も見ている。

*
I watched yet another FZ DVD, “Baby Snakes: a Movie about People Who Do Stuff That is Not Normal.” I understand that this concert was released as a CD. “What do you mean, ‘You don’t sing’? Sing ‘Baby Snakes.’” In this DVD, we can see how nice FZ is to his audience (foolish young consumers?). I also learned from his MySpace page last night that Ed Mann plays next month in Kalamazoo!

An Afternoon with Frank Zappa

I watched another DVD this afternoon, “An Evening with Frank Zappa during Which Torture Never Stops.” This is a 100% concert movie recorded at The Palladium, New York City, on October 31 1981, when I was only a high school student and had no idea any Zappa existed. Here, we can hear “Strictly Genteel,” played an encore piece, arranged differently from other recordings. We can also actually see how “busy” Ed Mann worked on stage. They are all so PROFESSIONAL.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

An FZ Night with No Titties

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been an FZ night here (DVDs of “Apostrophe (‘) Over-nite Sensation” and “The Dub Room Special!”), with beer but not with titties. On stage were FZ and all stars, including George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Ruth Underwood, Ray White, Ed Mann, Chad Wackerman and Steve Vai, who inexplicably visited this sterilized island some years ago.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Cloudy Mind

An SMS woke me up. It was asking me to deliver the job due this morning. Well, I sent two of the three files on Friday and the remaining one yesterday afternoon. They are in the “Sent” folder of my company e-mail account. I resent the last file again via my company account and went back to sleep (with a bad dream). When I checked my Hotmail Inbox after a few hours, there was one that said they had not received it yet.

I re-resent the last file by Hotmail and it went through. Immediately, I received another e-mail asking me to send the other files too… I duly resent them, by Hotmail. Anyway, one job is complete now.

*
There are two important tasks I need to get done. Important but my mind seems resisting to deal with them. One: find a new place to stay at. Two: prepare the financial documents of October 2007 to September 2008 for the tax filing.

I found three places late last month at a website and sent a message to each one of them. I haven’t received any response from any of them. They must be forgotten. Over this past weekend, I checked a few other websites and no place was appealing or affordable. So tedious.

For the business from October 07 to September 08, I’m directly responsible only for the very last month. Though I understand fully I’m the sole person who is responsible for the business of the company, for the reason above, I’m only quarter-hearted for the task. Tonight, I opened two of the boxes I inherited. There was nothing in there that was relevant for the period.

*
Mysterious patches on my face appear spreading. It’s been a month or more since they started visiting my face. Now the one on the right temple is big and reddish, and more obvious than the other few. Itchiness can be suppressed with an antiseptic cream I got at a neighborhood pharmacy. But it doesn’t seem healing them. And this morning I noticed I have pain just below my right ear. Do they have anything to do with my hair, which has never been longer since 1987? I don’t really know what is happening to me. Mentally, I spent a cloudy day today.

*
I’m now in the “Newspeak” Appendix of “1984.” The story was not as shocking as when I read it many years ago, maybe because I’m now a callous person.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Then Blair and Now Obama. Political Chameleons

数年前はトニー・ブレアのイギリス労働党を真似ようとした日本の民主党が、今度はアメリカで大統領に選出された民主党のバラク・オバマに倣おうとする。こんなことでいいのだろうか?

かつて新進党が突然、当時「The Economist」がさかんに言及していた「規模の経済(economy of scale)」を言い出したことを覚えているのは自分だけではないだろう。短絡的で信用ならん。新進党の初代党首は、首相経験者で今は自民党に戻って影の薄い海部俊樹だったが、実質上その代表的存在にあって第2代党首となったのは……。今日、自民党大会とともに民主党大会も行われた。現代表と、新進党から分かれて太陽党を結成し、その後民主党に合流した羽田孜が並んでいる写真を見て、またもや違和感が沸いてきた。自民党と相対して、清新な印象が必要なはずの民主党に、政治家としての潔さを持つ人がどれだけいるのだろう。

社会党から自民党田中派まで。その間に民社党、社民連、日本新党、新党さきがけ。何とか数を維持しようという意図がうかがえる。

乱を起こしたことのある加藤さんは、政界再編には2、3回の総選挙が必要だと言う。そうかもしれないが、そうだとすると宮沢内閣不信任以降の政治状況は何なのだろう?あの頃やかましかった「政治改革」や「政界再編」の大声が空々しい。

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Any Anniversary Today?

今日は14年前に阪神淡路大震災が起こった日だけど、その他に何の日?正午あたりから、外で「バリ島風」の音楽が流れている。午後出かける時に横目で見ると、白馬の「平面模型」にまたがっている人やら、それにムチ打つ人やらがいた。この時間(午後8時44分)、まだ続いている。音楽は速度が変わるが、基本的に同じ調の同じ旋律。写真を撮ってこようかと思ったけど、面倒なのでやめた。

Exhaused

あぁ、しんど。なんで仕事はまとめてやって来るんやろ。

*
I’m sure that Israel will agree to a truce only after it has accomplished its planned mission. Be careful though. Active forces in Lebanon started making noise.

Friday, January 16, 2009

ANOTHER BEIRUT THAT WE ARE WITNESSING

More than 1,000 Palestinians are reported to have been killed in Gaza by Israel. Nearly a third of the dead are children and about 5,000 have been injured. Israel is only creating more Israel-haters. WE ARE WITNESSING ANOTHER BEIRUT.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Dreadful Word, "Deadline"

The mission to the bank has been accomplished. Then I can pay myself for December. This afternoon, one job has been confirmed and I started working on it. Contract documents… totally boring stuff. But lots of it. And the rate is very low. Who created the word, “deadline”? Such a dreadful word.

Again, on the way from the bank, I dropped by that Onitsuka Tiger shop this time to have the pair I got yesterday exchanged with one of a one size smaller. Tonight I went out wearing it to pay a phone bill and buy a six-pack. My soles already hurt. The one I bought yesterday was creating a lot of gap between my toes and the tips. Shoes “grow” to the shape of one’s feet. I hope I just have to wear the pair for a week or so. I believe the shape of my feet has changed because of my continuous use of sandals. I need a new pair of cheap sandals too.

*
As soon as I finished “All Art Is Propaganda,” I started “1984,” which I read soooooooooooo many years ago. It was definitely before I left Japan for my graduate study in the US. Proceeding with the book, I’ve been feeling some uneasiness because the atmosphere it creates is quite similar to what I’ve experienced in where? I won’t say. “Newspeak,” “doublethink,” “thought police,” even “facecrime.” It seems many people adopt Julia’s attitude, that is, while she hates the Party, as far as things do not affect her personally, she does not care. She is rather an active supporter of the Party on the surface.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Onitsuka Tiger & Emoto "from the Nippon Ham Fighters"

I went to the bank to deposit two cheques. As it is located at a quite inconvenient place from my unit, I took a taxi, only to find it was already closed. I’ll try again tomorrow.

On the way back, I dropped by an Onitsuka Tiger shop. I checked the same shop when I visited the bank last time too. The red pair, which I had seen before and somewhat resembles to the one I used to wear when I was in college, was still on display and I decided to take it. Nobody can blame me for overspending given the condition of my old Adidas shoes. My size seems to have grown bigger perhaps because I usually wear sandals, not those not-so-well-ergonomically-designed shoes. But I should have it exchanged with a pair of one-size smaller.

*
ヘンな日本語(また)発見!「さわやかな経験は待つ」(Suntec City)。何なんだろう。わかりにくい。 「さわやかな経験」が「誰を」「何を」待っているんだろうか? それから、しばらく前にバス停で見た「高級の食品」がMRT駅(City Hall)にもあった。「高級食品」やったらあかんのか?予算けずって、翻訳させるからこんなことになる。

*
それから、また情けない誤りを見つけてしまった。別冊週刊ベースボールの「さらば!南海ホークス」に掲載されている江本孟紀の写真キャプションに「日本ハムから移籍して」とある。当時を知る人なら、こんな間違いをするわけないし、また見過ごすはずがない。

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Have I Advanced Their Cause?

楽天監督ノムラさんが話し手として出演したNHKの「人生の歩き方」 (全4回)を見る機会を得た。まず驚いたのは、野球殿堂でのインタビューが77年のホーム用ユニフォームを背景に行われていることだ。「私は西武OB」と公言し、大阪球場跡に建設された商業施設「なんばパークス」にある南海ホークスの展示には、彼の名前も写真も登場しないのである。この番組については「南海ブログ」にもう少し書こうと思う。

*
On Friday, a T-shirt and a bracelet arrived, from Jerusalem via Israel Post. I was stupid enough not to think when I ordered these items. Maybe, these were produced by an Israeli company that is taking advantage of the misery and suffering of the Palestinian people. If so, my purchase did nothing to advance their cause.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Trouble with Making Myself Understood

Several days ago, I had a shampoo bottle in the basket at a supermarket. A woman was promoting shampoos and conditioners of a different brand and approached me. I said, “But I have a matching conditioner.” She asked me to repeat myself by saying “Excuse me?” “I have a matching conditioner at home,” I said again. “But that is not a conditioner” was her reply.

This afternoon, I was rushing for an appointment. I took a taxi and said to the driver, “Forum shopping center, Orchard.” He started the car and said, “Holland shopping center…” “No, no. Forum, Orchard,” I repeated. After a few second, he said, “Funan shopping center...”

How can I make myself understood in this country?

Friday, January 09, 2009

Baddy Japanese Writing & My Childhood Celebrities

タイ首相:ASEAN会議の開催地また変更 ホアヒンに(毎日新聞電子版)
【バンコク藤田悟】タイのアピシット首相は7日、昨年12月から延期されている東南アジア諸国連合(ASEAN)首脳会議を、2月27日から3月1日の日程で、首都バンコクの南約150キロのホアヒンで開催すると発表した。
首相は先月の就任後、「ASEAN会議は1月下旬以降にバンコクで開く」と表明。しかし、タクシン元首相派の反政府団体が、反タクシン派団体による空港占拠を擁護する発言をしたガシット外相を批判して「デモ隊を動員して会議場を封鎖する」と警告したことを受け、「治安上の理由」(首相)で開催地を変更した。
日中韓やインドなどが加わる東アジアサミットなど拡大首脳会議は参加国の都合がつかず、分離して4月後半に開くという。

「また変更」と言う限り、これが最初の変更ではないことは承知している。しかし、開催地変更についての経緯に言及すべきやろ。

*
うちから駅の方へ歩いて、Tiong Bahru Roadの手前、HDBブロックの1階に小さな商店が並んでいる。そこを通ると、「人は誰もただひとり~」のメロディーが聞こえてきた。歌詞は中国語で、子供の歌声だ。どうやら、コインを入れると数分動く子供が乗って楽しむ遊具からのようだ。

この歌は、「風」。はしだのりひこが歌ってたなぁ。「はしだのりひことシューベルツ」。北山修作詞で端田宣彦作曲。

京都のうちから徒歩圏内に住んでいた「著名人」は、このはしだのりひこさんと阪本敏三選手(阪急―近鉄―南海)だった。

はしだのりひこさんが京阪深草駅近くにお住まいなことは、中学校で同級生になった稲荷学区の友だちが教えてくれた。ある日、深草駅へと歩いていると、駅から本町通りに向かって、両手に子供の手を取って歩いてくる彼とすれ違ったなぁ。

それから、阪本選手。プロ野球選手の家が近くにあると知って、ガマンならずにその家まで歩いた。誰に聞いたのか覚えていないが、酒屋さんだと聞いて「阪本酒店」が見つかるまで歩いた。そこにあった。阪本選手が登場するのは、阪神・江夏が達成したオールスターでの連続三振(西宮)の映像。

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Simple English & Pacifism a la Gandhi

夕方、“All Art Is Propaganda”を終えた。Orwellが“Politics and the English Language”で述べていることは、自分が実際に観察した“The Economist”と“U.S. News & World Report”の“Style Book”に反映されている。外国語の不使用などについては、常に守られているとは言えないが。

そのポイントを列挙すると:
(i) Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.
(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.
(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
(vi) Break any of the rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable…

“Refection on Gandhi”: Close relationships, Gandhi says, are dangerous, because “friends react on one another” and through loyalty to a friend one can be led into wrong-doing. This is unquestionably true. Moreover, if one is to love God, or to love humanity as a whole, one cannot give one’s preference to any individual person. This again is true, and I marks the point at which the humanistic and the religious attitude cease to be reconcilable. To an ordinary human being, love means nothing if it does not mean loving some people more than others… [At] any rate, it makes clear that on three occasions he was willing to let his wife and a child die rather than administer the animal food prescribed by the doctor… It is true… also that Gandhi – with, one gathers, a good deal of moral pressure in the opposite direction – always gave the patient the choice of staying alive at the price of committing a sin… This attitude is perhaps a noble one, but, in the sense which – I think – most people would give to the word, it is inhuman. The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one’s love upon other human individuals… Many people do not wish to be saints, and it is probable that some who achieve or aspire to sainthood have never felt much temptation to be human beings…

In relation to the last war, one question that every pacifist had a clear obligation to answer was: “What about the Jews? Are you prepared to see them exterminated? If not, how do you propose to save them without resorting to war?” I must say that I have never heard, from any Western pacifist, an honest answer to this question… According to Mr. [Louis] Fischer, Gandhi’s view was that the German Jews ought to commit collective suicide, which “would have aroused the world and the people of Germany to Hitler’s violence.” After the war he justified himself: the Jews had been killed anyway, and might as well have died significantly…

(I've read about this "collective suicide" comment somewhere.)

Monday, January 05, 2009

G Vs T, Oct 1973

昨日、今日と、「YouTube」で昭和48(1973)年10月10、11日の巨人阪神戦(後楽園)のダイジェストを見た。アップロードしてくれた人に感謝したい。解説する村山さんの関西弁も懐かしい。

特に11日の試合は記憶に鮮明だ。学校からの帰り、直違橋通りを歩いていると、うちの近所のおばちゃんが、「今、X対Xやで」と教えてくれ、うちへと急いだことが思い出された。この試合は10対10で引き分けるが、その後の中日球場、そして甲子園球場での試合につながる。20日の中日球場での試合、阪神は引き分けても優勝。しかし……この試合に先発した江夏豊の述懐は……、
「十八日、球団から電話があって、あした球団に寄ってくれという。南海―阪急戦(プレーオフ第1戦)を見るので大阪球場へ行くと言ったら、その前に来るようにとのことでした。こっちは、優勝がかかった試合を前にして、ボーナスか何かの打ち合わせかなと思って、午前十一時にホイホイホイと事務所に行ったわけです。
部屋に入っていくと、長田球団代表と鈴木常務が、むずかしい顔をして座っていました。何の用事かと聞くと、二人は『あしたの中日戦には勝ってくれるな』と言うわけです。
『どういうことですか』
『いや、勝つと金がかかるから。これは監督も了承している』
聞いた瞬間、僕は思わず目の前の大きなテーブルを引っくり返しましたよ。わざと負けるなんでことは承知できるはずがない。しかも監督まで『了解済み』というのは、とんでもない話ですよ。僕はカッカしたまま下に降りていって、待っていた蔦さん(報知新聞記者)に、事務所でのやりとりを話したんです。さすがの蔦さんも驚いていました。
『おい、それは書けんぞ。おまえの胸に納めておけ。俺も書かんから』」(「左腕の誇り」)

この20日の試合中、中日球場外野席の外を甲子園へと向かう巨人の選手が乗った新幹線が通り過ぎていったことは、マンガ「侍ジャイアンツ」でも使われたほど、当時としては有名な話。先発した江夏は中日打線に3点を許し途中降板。阪神は2―4で敗れた。

129試合(当時は130試合制)を終えて、阪神と巨人は同率首位。22日の甲子園での決戦は上田と高橋一三が先発。阪神は0―9と惨敗する。テレビ解説はやっぱり村山さんだった。(「侍ジャイアンツ」は解説席の村山さんも登場させていた。)セリーグを制した巨人は、プレーオフで阪急を抑えた南海との日本シリーズに臨み、4勝1敗でV9を達成する。

12,000-yen Vouchers

ここ数カ月にぎやかな「定額給付金」は一人に1万2000円かな。数年前の金券とどう違うんや。あれ、「金券」って呼んだらあかんかったっけ。どっちも公明党が言い出したことやろ。連立与党のジュニア・パートナーやから言い出せる、無責任なポピュリスト、人気取りの手段ってことやな。「福祉の公明党」やからな。「金券」(正式に何て呼んでたか思い出されへん)がどれだけ景気回復に貢献できたんや。「金券」(同)がどう景気に影響したのか、しっかりしたデータを示してほしいもんや。失業して住む場所を失くした人に1万2000円あげてどうなるって言うんや。

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Sniper, Floating in the Air & Kisses from Miss MQT

2009年1月3日(土)

けさの夢はかなり気分よかった。

前の日は、狙撃から逃げていた。狙撃者は必ず2発撃つ。1発目を外して、2発目が命中することはない。1発目が命中すると、必ず2発目も当たる。この狙撃者から集団で逃げ惑っていた。場所、忘れた。

けさの夢は、カレーを作ろうと思って材料を用意している場面で始まった(ようだ)。たまねぎはなぜか表面が濃い紫色で固く、その部分は捨てた。気づいたのは、肝心のカレーがないこと。スーパーマーケットに行った。京都での大学生時代、同じエレベーターボーイだったウエサカさんの他、数人といっしょで、カレー売り場を先に見つけたのはウエサカさんだった。陳列棚の上の方にあって、「Tom Yam」と書かれていた。「トムヤム味のカレーはいらないな」と思いながら、自分はジャンプしていた。トムヤム味カレーを棚から取ろうとしたのかどうかはわからない。ジャンプすると、外の風に乗って浮き上がった。ゆっくり降りてくると、また風に乗って浮き上がった。その繰り返しだった。

2009年1月4日(日)

Miss MQT came to my bed and woke me up. It was 3:30 am. I tried to find her, but she was very elusive. Altogether, she kissed me in more than five places.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

From Japan to Singapore Seeking Freedom of Speech?

産経新聞(電子版):「2ちゃんねる、“言論の自由なき日本”を見捨てた?」
譲渡先は「PACKET MONSTER INC. 」とされており、これについての詳細な説明はない。ただ、2ch.netのドメインを所有しているのはwhois上でもシンガポールの「PACKET MONSTER INC. PTE. LTD.」となっており、形式上だが2ちゃんねるの所有権が「ひろゆき」氏の手を離れた。

「言論の自由なき日本」を見捨てて、シンガポール法人に譲渡って?悪い冗談やな。「ACRA」へ行って、誰が役員になっているのか、資本金はいくらなのか調べようかな。って、そんなことしても意味ないか。

Friday, January 02, 2009

Some Familiar Pattern

It seems almost always a sense of desperation on the part of the Palestinians that makes them resort to armed attacks against Israel because they should know that it is not possible to force Israel, which has advanced fighter jets financed and backed by the US, to cave in or come to talks in a sincere way by any military means. The death toll is mounting, now over 400 Palestinians including a senior Hamas leader. Meanwhile, on the BBC, Shimon Peres, President of Israel, is talking about the 70 rocket attacks fired from the Gaza Strip today, which should not be compared with air raids by his own country. Eerily silent are the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank and Barak Obama, the US president-elect, which indicates what is in store in the next four years and possibly more.