EP Renewal Application Complete

In this early afternoon, I dropped my EP renewal application, with the turnovers filled in, into the mailbox of MOM. Otherwise, it was a relaxing day with some reading and napping.

EP Renewal Letter

I went to the Robinson Road office to collect the EP renewal letter. This is the second letter that MOM has sent to me with the first one having gone to the old Shenton Way office. Is it too much to ask that someone at Shenton Way would notify me of the original letter when it was delivered?? Certainly, people should have seen the sender was MOM, thus about the status of a foreigner. I wasted time by contacting MOM, sending the “ACRA BizFile” of the company borrowing the fax machine at a client’s office and requesting them to send me another letter, etc. Picking up the letter today, my plan was to go to MOM after filling in the renewal request, but I couldn’t. The form requires the turnover of the company for each of the past three years. No idea, as the company was not mine then. I had to come back home to search the relevant documents…

Rather Sleepy "Good Morning Hanoi"

Interrupting “The White House Years,” I have been proceeding with “Good Morning Hanoi.” Rather than a writing that bolts the brain, this book reads like a flat diary. There is no “toxin factor” in it.

*

A work inquiry came from someone that I’d met once before. It seemed she was spitting out words at me in a rapid succession. Her main concern was the rate I’d charge, which made my short phone conversation with her more uncomfortable. Or she might be nervous talking to me for some reason.

*

Since I finished the 3-week interpretation last Friday, my sleep has been sound. I even wake up early and start working before noon! This should be due to a sense of relief that I feel in having completed the job and understanding that, with all the work I’ve done since coming back from Japan, my finance should be okay for the next few months.

Stinky Stuff under the Lid

When a rigid way of thinking characteristic of communist countries is described as in “Good Morning Hanoi,” with the media’s role as an important vanguard to represent and protect the interests and views of the government and the party and taboos that people are not supposed to touch on, my mind automatically drifts to the situation here. There doesn’t seem much difference. “Put the lid on things stinky” as people would say in Japan. Open discussion on sensitive topics by decent, rational people with thought-provoking ideas should lead to a more inclusive society, benefiting everybody.

EXHAUSTED, REALLY

確かに疲れている。タイヘン疲れている。

*

「震度０」を予定通り昨夜終えた。ガヤガヤとやかましい人たちはやはり、静かな人に舞台を奪われた。登場人物数人を減らす必要はあるだろうが、映画化もできそうな作品。でも警察が撮影に協力するはずないか。

*

小沢民主党代表代行：「公明党と選挙後に連携するというようなことは考えておりません」

*

電話買った。550ドルと言われたのを税込みで396ドルまで値切った。

"The Fog of War," Washed Phone, etc.

昨夜、「The Fog of War」を見た。今回、「Hearts and Minds」と合わせて見ることができてよかった。Rationalな人間がrationalな行動をとるとは限らない。何の用もないはずのアメリカがベトナムに介入を深めた様子が、先日亡くなったマクナマラ元国防長官の口から語られている。キューバでのミサイル危機だって、「Kenney was rational. Khrushchev was rational. Castro was rational」だったと。この危機から「共産ドミノ」を信じたがために、ベトナムに深入りしていったと。しかし、自国と同盟国の周辺に核兵器を配備されたソビエト連邦が、アメリカと目と鼻の先にあるキューバに核を持ち込もうとしたことを不思議だと感じる方が不思議だ。まして、対資本主義／民主主義戦争としてではなく長年の植民地支配からの独立を勝ち取るために戦ってきたベトナムにとって、アメリカの介入は新たな宗主国の登場に他ならなかった。

*

先日借りた横山秀夫の短編集「真相」をおととい終えた。あってもおかしくない出来事が重なると異常な状況を呈する。「読ませる」本だった。同じく借りた同じ著者の「震度０（ゼロ）」は４分の３を過ぎて「真相」が浮かび上がってきた。日本全国が大震災に釘付けだというのに、Ｎ県警内は警務課長の失踪をきっかけに、階級とキャリア、準キャリ、地方（じかた）が入り乱れて、各個人が疑心暗鬼に陥りながら保身を考える。今夜中に読み終える予定。

*

帰宅してすぐに洗濯を始めた。ふと、電話の置き場所が気になって、探したが見つからない。洗濯機が回り始めた時に、中からゴツンと聞こえた音が不安にさせた。案の定、洗剤で洗われた電話が出てきた。余計な出費となる。盗まれたよりはずいぶんマシだとあきらめる。

*

昨日帰宅後、また熱が37度を超えていたので「Panadol」で抑えた。今日の体調は悪くなかった。快方に向かっているように思える。明日、３週間通訳の最終日となる。

Ozawa Stays with His Old Supporters, Eye on Future Cooperation with "THEM" & High Fever

民主党の小沢代表代行（前代表）が岩手４区から公明党代表が出馬予定の東京12区へ「国替え」しないらしい。朝日新聞（電子版）によると、将来の「公明党との連携」の可能性も理由のひとつとか。新進党解党に際して、「公明党は党内党を作る」と言って、あれだけ嫌ったのに。他人の「ぶれ」を笑えない。

*

熱のせいで、電話をもらった「懐かしい人」に会えなかった。

*

体調に異常を感じることなく土曜日を過ごした。翌日曜日の午後は「日本語の時間」で、何も疑うことなく「Ｏｋです」と返信した。日曜日早朝から何やら体調がおかしい。だるい。熱がある様子。午後までじっとしていれば回復するだろうと思ってみたが、その兆候なし。この状態で出かけると、月曜日の仕事に影響しかねないと思って、悪いけど「日本語」はキャンセルしてもらった。午後から悪化の一途で、夜になってから恐々体温を測ると38.4度だった。やっぱり。月曜日の朝、ドクター・ゴーのクリニックに行くことに決める。体温は上下しながら、月曜日早朝には38.8度まで上がってしまった。

折から「新型インフルエンザ」が広がっており、（「ＳＡＲＳ時と同様に」）高熱の小生は診察室に入れてもらえず、待合スペースで診察を受けた。この日の勤務はあきらめざるを得なかった。以前効き目のあった薬を処方してもらって、夜には37.0度に、今日朝には36.3度まで下がった。ちょっとフラフラするのも、顔色が悪いのも承知の上で仕事に行った。そうするとインストラクターの体調も悪いとのことで、彼はランチの後、早退していった。

DVD Days

On Tuesday, the five DVDs arrived, one day sooner than notified by Amazon. I watched two of them, “The Sea Is Watching (海は見ていた)” and the documentary “Hearts and Minds.” The documentary may be the one that is played in the War Remnants Museum in HCMC, part of which I watched last year. Tonight (Wednesday), I watched a tribute to Yasujiro Ozu, “Café Lumière (珈琲時光)” by Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢).

*

GMSのことを書いたら、懐かしい人から電話をもらった。

Review 12

Once again, it was quite an experience to me, educational with lots of new information. And special too, as the two training were held in Tokyo. I also learned that two much more expensive interpreters are usually required to perform this kind of interpretation. I’m not very sure whether this is really true but there are only about five interpreters in Japan who can handle this specific field of industry. Nothing lasts forever, as I have witnessed with the GMS training school. But then, I do hope this very good relationship will be maintained at least for the few more years.

*

Today’s Japanese class was cancelled. Instead of the class, I went to Borders and got “Good Morning Hanoi: A Year on the Airwaves in the New Vietnam” by Iain Finlay and Trish Clark.

Review 11

６月１日（月）朝、ロビーで待ち合わせ。４日間の研修は日本市場の現状説明から始まり、このシステムの「売り」は何なのかという話に移っていった。他社機とも比較しながら、いかにこの「売りを売るのか」に全ての時間が費やされたと言ってもいいかと思う。内容に臨床が関わることがあって、少々苦労したが、なんとか研修をやり終えた。

それとは別に、おいしいものを毎日いただいて、感謝。そして、バスタブが気持ちよかった。木曜日の朝、ホテルを出ようとした時、すぐ外に小さな人混みを見つけた。自民党の幹事長が記者とカメラに囲まれていた。移動日の５日（金）の午前、チェックアウトして外に出ると、薄ピンクの服を着た「森進一」が女性１人、男性１人といた。

タクシーで問題なく東京駅に到着したが、次の「成田エクスプレス」は30分後だった。「こりゃ、カウンターまで走ることになるな」と思ったがどうしようもない。早朝の成田から東京駅へはほとんど待ち時間なく乗車していたので、ちょっと当惑した。時間を確認しておけばよかった。後の祭り。

ＳＩＡのチェックイン・カウンターは10分前に閉まっていた。憐れんでいただいて、同日夜のフライトに押し込んでもらった。去年のホーチミンに続いて、また国際線に乗り遅れてしまった。午後７時ごろまで空港で過ごすことになった。遅れたことでなおさら疲れを感じて、10分200円のマッサージチェアを２度続けて使ったが、もっと強力なマッサージが欲しかった。空港内では目を閉じて眠ろうとしたり、本を読もうとしたりで、落ち着かなかった。日付が変わってから当地に戻った。

Review 10

５月25日（月）に日本から戻り、29日（金）夜のフライト（土曜日着）で再び渡日するまでの翻訳２件を納品した。工事中ということもあって、東京駅周辺はやはりわかりにくく、その地下街の「東京駅一番街」に行動をとどめた。午後になって、タクシーで宿泊するホテルに移動すると、チェックインが午後５時になっていたが、その１時間前には入室できるようにしてくれた。ホテルロビーには結婚式に出席すると思われる人が多かった。時々小雨の近くを散歩すると警官がやたらと目立つ。理由は道路を隔てたところにあるアメリカ大使館へのテロ防止のようだった。時間をもてあまして、またロビーに戻った。「When Heaven and Earth Changed Places」を読んでいると睡魔が訪れ、そこでしばらく眠った。野球中継（広島Ｘ巨人）を見ながらビールと酎ハイを飲んで、就寝。翌日曜日は午後まで寝ていた。日曜日もよろしくない天気だった。少し歩くと、「アークヒルズ」があった。そのビル内のどこで食事をするべきか迷った挙句、トンカツ・レストランに入った。「When Heaven and Earth Changed Places」を持っていたせいだと思うが、「英語メニューを持ってきましょうか？」。店から出ると、雨模様だったので、ホテルには戻らずに１階の「Starbucks」で続きを読んだ。

"Communist Devils"

I slept deeply but much shorter than usual thus was wanting more, though quite awake and keen during the daytime. The taxi driver of this morning was very talkative. After checking my nationality, he asked me “how many languages” Japan has. Someone has told him that there are “three languages.” Ah, it is not three languages, but three different scripts including Chinese one. The language is made up with a combination of the three. “Is it possible to write all in the two Japanese scripts?” “Yes, but hard to read.” He went on to speak about “communists” in China, who are “devils who knows only how to kill. Satan, destroying everything that God created” He reviewed the war between Vietnam and Communist Khmer Rouge Cambodia, into which China got itself involved to save the Cambodians, perhaps forgetting Vietnam was and still is a communist country. He also complained about the government of this country that has been “supporting China.” I told him that was because of business reasons. He disagreed with me. He also mentioned “Falun Gong” and asked me what I knew about the organization. I don’t know about its teaching, but I know some of the things that “the Chinese government had been doing to it.” Then, he said, the Chinese communists are doing “prostitution.” “Persecution?” “No, it’s prostitution, like here in Geylang, whereby they are trying “to satisfy people by giving them money.” I didn’t understand.

*

Last night, I bought a small dictionary of Vietnamese, and it is very interesting to look at words although pronouncing them is totally a different matter.

(At “Cable Car”)

Robert S. McNamara Dies at 93

After reading the chapter, “The Agony of Vietnam,” of “White House Years,” where his name appears in several places, and ordering the documentary, “The Fog of War” at Amazon (UK), which features him only a few days ago, I found a news piece of the death of Robert S. McNamara, a big war escalator-turned-disarmament advocate, during the afternoon break today. He was 93.

*

Unsound-sleep syndrome continues though I’m feeling badly tired.

Betrayed by Epilim Yet Again & Review 9

Last night, there was not choice but to resort to the discredited Epilim with very slim expectations that I would work after a long period of non-use. It did not let down what it had been. Too slow to kick in and making me groggy.

*

Coming back on the booked flight here from the Kansai Airport on May 25, it seemed a lot but at the same time it was not much... After all, it was a homecoming trip though there were some reverse culture shocks like there were few places (I could not find any) to connect to the internet wirelessly causing me communication problems and the language of some people sounded unrefined, even rude.

Back here, I had no luxury to relax. There was work to be finished and I would be off to Japan again on May 29.

Nice Dream after So Many Weeks

I had, even enjoyed, the best sleep I had had in many weeks. An American man appeared before me. He, unhappy with the current way that went too much to the direction of entertainment, wanted to establish a new system for pro-wrestling management. He was seeking investors for his plan. The minimum amount of investment was 100,000 yen. He was visiting my house, but not to see me, apparently. It seemed he was explaining his vision to other people. I was thinking that I might be able to invest 100,000 yen to his plan. Together with him present at my house, I found “Anton I.” who had already invested. The booklet the man from America had already had my profile even though I had no idea where he had gotten information about me. The profile listed my experience briefly. What made me so appreciative was the last line of the profile: “To his own credit, he did it all at his own initiative.” Every investor had a gold metal plate with his/her name on it in the man’s office. He was from “Mesa.” Someone was wondering aloud where the hell Mesa was. I answered, “Arizona.”

*

It was very different yesterday. I found some of my relatives walking down together in my old neighborhood. I had no idea at all as to why they gathered. I don’t think I exchanged any word with any of them. Then suddenly from one of the alleys connecting the road to the canal, my father appeared. Again I don’t know why. At home, I was not listened to and totally ignored. The only exception was a young girl, who was my sister, who showed understanding on her face. And I was thinking if I had been wrong in telling people that I was the youngest in the family.

"The Agony of Vietnam"

“White House Years” describes the policy of the Nixon Administration and the public psychology in the chapter, “The Agony of Vietnam.” Kissinger tells us that it was unfair to criticize Nixon over his policy toward the war as this was something he had inherited from Kennedy and Johnson. Quite true. He also expressed his incomprehension for politicians, especially members of the previous administration who had escalated the war in the first place, and the public opinion of a vocal minority that asked for concession after concession and supported even a unilateral withdrawal of the US troops after 31000 dead US soldiers and with no reciprocity from Hanoi. It all seems logical to me. But, what sort of business did the US have in a far way country like Vietnam?

*

My sleep seemed better. However, it ended with a series of unpleasant scenes though. I managed to wake up only well into the afternoon.

GIVE ME NICE SLEEP

Yesterday’s morning and this morning, nightmares again and so tired. Yesterday, there was a baseball tournament, which I was not aware of. All of my classmates were out cheering out own team. But I did not know even any kind of tournament was going on. I was very much ostracized.

This morning, it started off just fine. I was living in the northern part of a city and was visited a bicycle shop. The man who managing the shop very much looked like the guy who in reality has have my hair cut for the past few years. He was repairing a bicycle. I found the man was a grandson of the old man who was managing the same kind of place in my old neighborhood in Kyoto. This old man came into the shop wearing a workman’s cap. I politely greeted him giving my name and telling him that I used to live in that area. Change of the scene. The old man and I were at a restaurant. And I was telling him that as there were many college students staying, there had not been a big property and rent slump here. He agreed. I went on to say that even so, there were more shops and restaurants in the area, specifically a noodle shop. That was when I realized I was sitting at the noodle shop. I told him that the shop used to be across the street. And some more events occurred, like his grandson appeared at the noodle shop.

That was okay compared with what followed. I was meeting my relatives. Maternally side. They know so much more about my family history than I ever have known. I should not go further into the story. In a few days, I will forget what I saw in this dream. SIMPLY, I NEED NICE SLEEP.

*

Yet again today (30th) , I received a small translation work from Tokyo, which I finished in an hour and sent it back. Also I found a deposit has been made into my corporate account. I managed to pay myself.