Rereading the Story of E.J.H. Corner

「第一稿」を読み終えて、数年前に読んだ「思い出の昭南博物館」を再び開いた。場面が重なって興味深い。ただ、同書の基になったコーナー博士自身による「The Marquis: A Tale of Shonan-to 」は入手困難のよう。博士に対する日本軍協力者との疑いが晴れたという2001年の「Straits Times」記事も見つけた。
「グルニー路」は「Cluny Road」「ラーミット路」は「Lermit Road」、いずれも植物園周辺の道だが、「中央橋」（「私はフラートン・ビルを出ると、市庁舎の民政長官執務室に置かれていると聞いていた日本軍司令部へ向かった。中央橋を通ろうとしたとき、歩哨に行く手を遮られた」「Anderson Bridge」か？）「ペルリス」「グノン・ターハン」はどこだろう。「ペルリス」はもしかすると「Pasir Ris」か。そして山下奉文将軍が起居していたグレンジ路の「ローズマウントの丘」とは？

Chomsky Explained by Two Girls

Last night I found this passage in Steve Pinker’s “The Language Instinct”: “In Woody Allen’s story ‘The Whore of Mensa,’ the patron asks, ‘Suppose I wanted Noam Chomsky explained to me by two girls?’ ‘It’d cost you,’ she replies.”

It compelled me to run to HMV, Orchard, to get the movie. It didn’t have it. So instead I bought two other Woody Allen movies, “A Midnight Summer’s Sex Comedy” and “Manhattan Murder Mystery.” Tonight, I found out that “The Whore of Mensa” is not a movie. It is a short story by Allen. A story, Pinker had already told me. But somehow I thought it must be a movie. Okay, I enjoyed the two movies.

Mother and Sons: Hatoyama Family & Young Friend

鳩山首相の偽装献金問題で母親から約９億円の資金提供疑惑が浮上した。９億円……。恵まれた家庭に育つとカネの単位がこんなふうになるらしい。もし本当に資金提供があったとしたら、本人の知ってた知らなかったに関わらず、こんな話が出てくること自体に鳩山家の感覚が問われる。親離れできない息子なのか、子離れできない母親なのか。そして、母親の資金提供は兄に限られているのか？弟はどうなのか？

*

I locked myself out again. I had left the key behind and neither had I have my mobile phone with me. As there was no other choice, I knocked the door of one of the units of the house whose resident I had met before. She was really helpful and tried to contact the guy of the management company, and he, as expected, was unwilling to offer help by coming here to open the door. She called a few other different numbers to no avail. I decided to seek help from the guy who manages one of the restaurants down there and might know the phone number of a locksmith. This man of this noodle/xiao loong pao shop scraped off a phone number from an outside post or something. It took just second for the locksmith who came to open the door. I befriended with a cute boy of her.

Happy Monday after Unhappy Friday

Such a big contrast between what I was forced to go through on Friday and what I enjoyed yesterday. Following Friday’s conference, I was picked up as the interpreter for three meetings for two movies. They were all for movie production. The production of one of the movies, the main topic, had been mentioned at the end of the keynote speech by the Chairman in the morning of the conference and subsequently reported by a few Japanese newspapers. The movie is going to be an epic in that it will be directed by a Japanese man and produced by a Japanese company but Singapore companies will be responsible for almost all other aspects of the production. The participants of the meetings were apparently quite satisfied with my contribution, which made me feel fulfilled of course.

*

亀井静香金融相の老いについて書いたけど、お疲れが見えるのは岡田克也外相だ。落ち武者の姿さえ想像させる。

"Language Instinct"

Steven Pinker’s “The Language Instinct” naturally cites Noam Chomsky in places. Acquiring language for human beings is innate, like growing arms rather than wings. There have been cases of stroke patients who retain their intelligence but whose linguistic capability got impaired. Or cases of retardation that can demonstrate intact fluency in language.

*

鈴の夢、見た。両手首内側の真ん中から親指寄りにひとつずつ小さなふくらみがあって、ちりんちりんと音がする。
「そや、小さい頃に手首に切り込みを入れて、鈴を埋め込んだんや」
誰かにこの話を伝えようとしてたけど、誰やったかわからん。

Some Kind of Interpreter

As an interpreter, I participated in a conference yesterday that should be considered as an international event. As for my own performance, I think I deserve at least a “pass” evaluation. But what I saw in the interpretation booth was not all happy. Rather it was a frustrating experience from the point of view as someone who has worked as an interpreter though I am professional only in the sense that I have earned some money for this kind of service. Professional interpreters are those people on as par with the caliber of Yonehara Mari. My idea is that anyone who is unable to display her level of performance should not be called real professional. But people can try to be professional in a “professional way” to go a half step ahead even though the road is very long.
There are people who, with a surprising level of self-confidence, say, “I am an interpreter,” “I do translation,” etc. I have not done any statistical study, but my experience tells me that those people possess only a linguistic capability that allows them to exchange greetings and communicate some more because they have “been” overseas for some time or they have a degree in English literature, or some variety of these.
The “interpreter” I worked with yesterday belongs to this category. Unless she shows me a truly spectacular performance, this judgment will remain with me. What she said, when she said anything, was incoherent and sometimes totally wrong hampering the conversation or speeches that were going on the stage. There is no doubt that she is unqualified in a huge way to be called an interpreter. She is incompatible with this work. Probably, she should not be in this type of business at all as I see nothing to convince me that she has an attitude to try to be professional in a professional way. An interpreter who needs an interpreter...

*

I finished “発明マニア” and “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” a few days ago and started reading “The Language Instinct” today.

Pain Still There + Kudo back to the Lions

“Salonpas” seems easing the pain. Last night I didn’t feel the same kind of pain that woke me up many times the previous night. Then, because of the posture that the pain forced me to make, now I have a pain on the right side too. My movement is jerky and the Salonpas sheets on my body make it look stupid and miserable.

*

「くどちゃん」が西武ライオンズに復帰した。背番号は47ではなくて55を選んだ。２歳年下のナベＱ監督より若く見える。 秋山はソフトバンクの監督。清原は引退。彼にはもう１年と言わず、55歳まででも現役でいて欲しい。

*

かかさず読んでしまう読売サイトの「人生案内」。相談に対する回答の説得力は回答する人によって違う。野村総一郎、樋口恵子、出久根達郎の三氏がいい。

PAIN

BAD SLEEP! This time for a physical reason. This pain from the neck to the upper back on the left side kept me awake. Lying down was a delicate task but whichever way I turned the pain was unbearable. The left arm is slightly numb. It is certainly worse than two days ago. Placed three “Salonpas” sheets on the neck and back but seems impossible to locate where the pain is really coming from. And I don’t know why I’m having this pain and how it came about.

Yonehara Mari Again

きのう、2003年11月から2006年５月にかけて「サンデー毎日」に連載されたものをまとめたマリさんの「発明マニア」を見つけたので買った。

Ambulances Stopping on Red

かなり長い間気になっていたことが解決した。当地の救急車は赤信号で止まるか。日本なら、赤信号突破、一方通行逆走で、最短距離を最短時間で病院へ向かおうとするが、さっきＳＧＨの裏側で赤信号停止している救急車を目撃した。

PM Hatoyama: Sorry, I'm from a Rich Family

鳩山首相は11日夕、取得した株や有価証券の記載漏れなどで７年間分の資産等補充報告書などを10日に訂正したことについて、「恵まれた家庭に育ったも のですから、自分自身の資産管理が極めてずさんだったことを申し訳なく思う。心を入れ替えてしっかりとやりたい」と陳謝した。（読売電子版）
鳩山由紀夫首相は11日、記載漏れがあったとして資産報告書の訂正を届け出たことについて、記者団に対し、「恵まれた家庭に育ったものですから、自分自身の資産管理が極めてずさんだったことを申し訳なく思う」と述べた。（朝日電子版）
鳩山由紀夫首相は11日夜、自身の巨額の資産報告漏れ問題について「恵まれた家庭に育ったものだから、自分自身の資産管理が極めてずさんだったことを申し 訳なく思う。心を入れ替えてしっかりとやりたい」と反省の弁を語った。（産経電子版）
鳩山由紀夫首相は11日、資産報告書で５億円余の記載漏れが新たに判明して訂正した問題について「恵まれた家庭に育ったもんですから、自分自身の資産管理が極めてずさんだったことを申し訳なく思う。心を入れ替えてしっかりやりたい」と陳謝した。首相官邸で記者団に語った。（毎日電子版）

はっ！「恵まれた家庭」やて。「自分自身の資産管理が極めてずさん」やて。こんな人に役所のムダが省けるはずがない。ふわふわの友愛もこの「恵まれた家庭」の産物である。

Usual Political Word Plays

５日付の朝日電子版が、「いわゆる日の丸、君が代は国民にとって大変大事なものだと思っている」という鳩山首相の答弁を掲載しているが、「いわゆる」は必要なんかね。きょうの産経電子版は、民主党の細野豪志議員による「政府・与党一元化にこだわり過ぎて、そこに議論が集中している面はある」との発言を紹介。「面がある」やったらあかんのか。よくある政治家的、役人的言い回しではあるが、逃げ道を作っておきたいという意図がうかがえて潔さに欠ける。

*

夢に出てきた「誰だかわからない人」は、「森永ラブ」でのアルバイトでいっしょだった人かもしれない。それからけさは、先日亡くなった加藤和彦氏と親しく、京都に縁のある人が自殺したという夢だった。夢では実名での登場だった。

Sano-san, Long Time No See! + Kamei-san + Minna no To

夢にＴ興業の「サノ」さんが出てきた。10年前後、会うこともなく、また考えたこともなかった人だ。表情や静かな話し方は当時のまま。自分が新しく働き始めた会社にいた。もうひとりは、この会社のどうやら社長だったが、誰なのかわからない。しかし、見覚えのある人だった。過去の同僚にも、客先にも、級友にも見当たらない。

*

亀井静香金融相、ずいぶん老けてしまったように見えるなぁ。めがねのせいか？大昔と言ってもいい以前、「Newsweek（アジア太平洋版）」の巻末インタビューに登場して民族主義的保守の立場からの発言していた頃はまだまだ若かったなぁ。

*

「みんなの党」、どこへ行ったんやろ？結党時に注目されたわりに、選挙後はほとんど報道されない。

Brain's Capacity to Compensate for Losses

“But my brain, when Freeman got to it, was young. It was still growing. After the surgery, it adapted to the lobotomy and found ways to compensate for it. The parts of my brain that Freeman hadn’t damaged grew stronger. This was very unusual, according to Bob and Glenn, but not unheard of. Bob had read about a teenage girl in Germany who began to experience some weakness in her left leg and arm. Her parents took her to the doctor. The doctor referred to a neurologist, who got worried – he discovered that she was weak on her entire left side. So he ordered an MRI, which showed that the girl, basically, had no brain on the right side. She had probably been born that way; the right hemisphere of her brain had just never developed.

In an adult, if the right hemisphere is destroyed or damaged, forget it. That person would be finished. They would experience terrible problems with vision, language, reasoning… with everything.

But this girl’s problem had begun at birth, or even in the womb. So her brain had adapted right from the start. The neurologist found that, other than some weakness on the left side of her body, she had no other problems. She was perfectly healthy and even though she might not make it to the Olympics, she’d be able to play sports and do all the things that teenage girls do. She would be able to live a totally normal life.

I was a bit shaken up by that story, and by what Glenn and Bob said about the damage done to me. But then I started see things a little differently. I had always thought it was terrible that I underwent a lobotomy at the age of twelve. How could anyone do something so barbaric to a child? I always felt sorry for myself because this terrible thing had been done to me when I was so young. But now I saw that I was actually fortunate to be young when it happened. If I’d had the same lobotomy even five years later, when I was seventeen, I might not have had a life at all.” (“My Lobotomy”)

*

When I myself saw how my brain was shaped for the first time, I got literally stunned. What is this? I believe it was in the summer of 1999. After another episode of blackout, my neighborhood doctor referred me to a CT scan session. The scan pictured showed a brain that was asymmetrical with the left side much smaller than the right one because of the shape of the skull. As I was born three weeks earlier than I should have, my anatomical formation must have been even more imperfect than other babies. The skull should have been quite soft still and for reasons I can only guess, it shaped the way it is. It might have been how I was placed down in a bed or crib or whatever or it might have been how my head was handled by people. There should not be enough room in the skull for my left hemisphere could grow into. I guess something similar to the above stories occurred with my brain even though my brain was not damaged physically or neurologically. And it may offer some clues about my conditions as a depressive.

*

In the meantime, the first case of “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” tells a music teacher who can describe things in detailed abstract ways but cannot name them. His perception of things is all in the abstract. For him, a rose is “about six inches tall. A convoluted form with a linear green attachment.” The second case is about a 49-years-old man who believes he is still nineteen. His present tense only belongs to the time of 30 years ago. His memory lasts only a minute or less.

Indonesian Working at Japanese Pig Pen?

産経電子版：「４日午前１時25分ごろ、茨城県行方市次木（なみき）の中村畜産豚舎（中村一夫場長）から出火、鉄骨平や建て豚舎１棟約400平方メートルが全焼、子豚約730頭が焼け死んだ。
県警行方署の調べでは、３日午後４時半ごろに業務を終え、出火当時は豚舎に人はいなかった。豚の鳴き声がすることに、敷地内の社宅に住むインドネシア研修生が気づき、豚舎に駆けつけたところ、出産直後の豚を飼育する「育成舎」から出火していた。」
豚舎で働くインドネシア人？その人はイスラム教徒じゃないんだろうか？

Death of a Shortstop

広島・三村のストッキングの伸ばし方が格好良かったなぁ。

A Totally Unexpected Encounter

A totally unexpected encounter: “[Napoleon Murphy Brock] was black too, and he was a musician. He played all kinds of instruments. He was studying psychology and music at San Jose State. A few years after I knew him, he was hired by Frank Zappa to join his band, The Mothers of Invention. (He still tours today with Frank’s son Dweezil.” (“My Lobotomy”)