Aino Kuusinen and Richarad Sorge, and Myself

Aino Kuusinen appears in many places of “Stalin’s Spy.” And I somewhat find myself in the following passages:

Richard was not an easy person to live with, Christiane had discovered. He was self-contained, with deep inner resources, and although he was fond of her, she could as easily have lived without her. ‘No one, ever could violate the inner solitude, it was this which gave him complete independence – and perhaps explained the hold had had over people.’ (p. 26, Stalin’s Spy)

The tiny German community did not provide the intellectual and cultural nourishment he craved, or satisfying comradeship: he complained repeatedly that he had ‘no friends.’

During his seven years in Japan we sense that Sorge keenly felt himself to be the sad wanderer of the poem written in his student days – ‘eternally a stranger who condemns himself never to know peace’. (p. 119, Stalin’s Spy)

I Started "Stalin's Spy"

This afternoon, I finished my re-read of “北方領土特命交渉” and found “Stalin’s Spy” in my letter box. I started this book tonight. As for Japan’s negotiations with the Soviet Union and Russia over the “northern territories,” I should read at least a book written by 東郷和彦.

Shame on you, Lessie!! And your country!!

Quiet March

This month has been quiet as I had predicted. Considering the amount of work I’ve done, it is very unlikely to lose money for this financial year (October 2017-September 2018). What worries me is, of course, how much more work I can get to the end of September, thinking about not this FY but the next. If things go as I think they do, my company should expect earn only around S$2,000 or less per month for the rest of the FY.

Since the middle of February, I’ve re-read the following books:

沈黙のファイル：「瀬島龍三とは何だったのか」（共同通信社社会部編：新潮文庫）

パンツの面目　ふんどしの沽券（米原万里：ちくま文庫）
言葉を育てる　米原万里対談集（米原万里：ちくま文庫）
旅行者の朝食（米原万里：文春文庫）
打ちのめされるほどすごい本（米原万里：文藝春秋）
国家の罠：外務省のラスプーチンと呼ばれて（佐藤優：新潮文庫）

きょう、「北方領土特命交渉」（鈴木宗男/佐藤優：講談社＋α文庫）を始めた。これも再読。

「打ちのめされるほどすごい本」で読書日記や書評の対象になっていたうち、「Stalin’s Spy: Richard Sorge and the Tokyo Espionage Ring (Robert Whymant)」「Before and After Stalin (Aino Kuusinen)」と「Memoirs (Mikhail Gorbachev)」、それから「南ベトナム」について知るうえで、おそらく欠かせない「Finding the Dragon Lady: The Mystery of Vietnamese Madame Nhu (Monique Brinson Demery)」を注文し、到着を待っているところ。
Shame on you, Lessie!! You’re not human.

So Unusual about Singapore

What’s so unusual about this scene in Singapore? Power poles.

Sakurada Junko and "Uku Uku"

産経新聞（電子版）が桜田淳子の芸能活動再開への意欲に全国霊感商法対策弁護士連絡会がこれに反対する声明を改めて発表したと報じている。（www.sankei.com/entertainments/news/180314/ent1803140003-n1.html）「静かな老後」を考えてもいい年齢になってから、「芸能活動再開に意欲を見せる」のはなぜなんだろうかと思う。20年以上も活動停止状態で、この人を引っ張り出してカネ儲けしたい人たちが背後にいるのではないかと、疑う。

先日、近くのスーパーでまたもや怪しげな日本語を見つけた。きょう夕方、写真を撮ってきた。

「カップタッチ」って何？自分が知らないだけで、当たり前の現代日本語？「うクうク」は「うきうきワクワク」の略として使えそう。もしかすると、わざと「うクうク」にした？（そんなわけない…。）でも「操作らくらく簡単」では「らくらく」と書けているのに、何でこの２行は「うクうク」なんだろう？
Shame on you, Lessie!!

Xaлba

仕事柄ということもあって、米原万里の著作はほとんど読んだ。10年ほど前に読んだ『旅行者の朝食』をきょうまた読み始めたところ、「トルコ蜜飴の版図」のページで（万里さんが通っていたプラハのソビエト学校で学友だったイーラが（トルコ蜜飴より）「百倍美味しいわ」と言った）ハルヴァ」に関する記述に出くわし、気になったことがあった。2012年12月、いっしょに仕事をしたベラルーシのアレクサンドルがおみやげにくれたお菓子。普段、甘いお菓子は食べないが、印象に残るおいしさで写真に撮っていた。「靴磨きのクリームが入っている缶のような形とサイズの青い容器」には入っていなかったが、やっぱり「Xaлba（ハルヴァ）」と書いてあるではないか！トルコへ移住したいと言っていたアレクサンドル。今、どうしているのか、知らない。

Shame on you, Lessie!!

Japan Trip, Another Mistake of Lifetime and LIfe Insurance Work

I went back to Japan to visit the local pension office in Kyoto and the temple in Osaka where mother rests (for the first time). My original plan was to depart Changi at 1:30 of February 19th by SQ618 and Kansai at 23:00 of 20th (SQ615), a one-night trip.

I expected to receive an e-mail from Singapore Airlines asking me to check in online for the return flight to Singapore. I didn’t receive it. I signed in to its website to search my booking. It said there was no such flight booked.

I could’ve gone to the Kansai Airport without further checking. But I felt really strange and decided to call the number listed on the website.

I explained what was happening and the person I talked to said “The flight booked was for yesterday.” It was not possible as I arrived only “yesterday.” Then, she said, “Your return flight is booked for MARCH 20.”

Because they were mid-night flights, I paid my very close attention only to the dates and times, not months… I had booked the wrong flight.

I cancelled the March flight and booked SQ619 departing Kansai at 11:00 on 21th, costing me 67,700 yen (S$859.12) for rebooking and 13,400 yen (S$170.04) for an extra night at the hotel. This is the kind of mistake you can make only once in your lifetime. My schedule was to go to Senai in the afternoon of 21th, which became impossible, causing trouble for my client.

I delivered the last life insurance file yesterday. That concluded a job of about six months.