VS SINKING OF JAPAN

I watched a Japanese SF movie "Sinking of Japan", which is based on the original novel written by Sakyo Komatsu, 70 years old, who is a famous SF novelist in Japan.
The original story was written around 30 years ago, and soon became a millionseller.
In the story, Japanese faces the crisis of sinking of their country. The mantle dynamics under the soil of Japan couses a lot of earthquakes. And, the plate on which Japan stands slides into the sea. At last, the land of Japan sinks to the depth of the sea.
The novel is an authentic scientific fiction. The description is very realistic. When I read this novel in my school days, I enjoyed and was surprised very much.

That's why I was happy to hear of the movie, even though I had almost forgotten the story.
Compared with the novel, the moive is less realistic. Maybe because we can use our immagination in reading more than in watching a movie.
The movie was not a "hard" science fiction but a love romance.
It may lose the greatness of the original novel, but it might be good for the sales of the movie, because most people like a love story. In fact, when I went to a theater, a lot of people was there to watch the movie.

Now, the book about the story after the sinking is on sale in Japan.
It is the most important book for me to read in this summer.

VS HO CHI MINH (2)

If you go to Viet Nam, you will find out soon a lot of moterbikes on the road. Moterbike is the most popular for Vietnamese traffic. Even though the economy of Viet Nam is growing, car is still expensive for the people to buy. And, the railway is not constructed enough. We can't use it for our moving. So, many people use moterbikes.

Watching Vietnamese driving, I thought I couldn't ride a bike there. For me, their driving looked crazy. Nobody looked to care for the traffic rule. The distance between bikes are short. They change the lane suddenly and rapidly, without no sign. At the intersection, all bikes from all directions are keeping moving. I can't understand why traffic accidents don't happen more there.

I remembered the crazy car drivers in Shanghai.
Their driving was also crazy when I went to China last year. Now Chinese is importing and making a lot of cars. We can see varieties of cars there. Maybe for Chinese living in a city, a car is not a special thing now. However, their understanding of the rule or manner related to a car life is not enough at all. I can say simply their drinving is very selfish.
So are Vietnamese driving. It may take more time for them to sophisticate their culture on the road.

It was unfortune that I couldn't go to many historical places in Viet nam in this trip. I didn't have enough time to visit many places.
But, I heard that the bar I went to with my business partners was a historical place. The bar name was Saigon Saigon Bar. It is in the seventh or eighth floor on a building. The place was used for many journalists during the Viet Nam War.
There are not many high buildings in Ho Chi Minh city even now. So, the view from the bar is good to look around the city. Many journalists stayed in the building, checked the situation in the city and reported the war to the world.
Thinking about the journalists' brave soul, I drunk a lot of whisky there. It was a great time.

My English teacher, Sudhan, asked me after my coming back to Japan, to say one word in order to express my image of Viet Nam. It was difficult to describe a country by one word, but I said "Peaceful".
I am not sure if I can get a correct image of Viet Nam by such a short stay. But I hope my image is fitted to the country which had suffered from a long war time.

VS HO CHI MINH (1)

Today, I came back from Ho Chi Minh city to Japan.
I stayed for three nights there. It was my first trip to Viet Nam.
The main purpose of my trip was for attending a business meeting. I could enjoy the meeting itself, and, in addition, I could enjoy to see a lot of people from many Asian countries. Of course, the culture of Viet Nam was also enjoyable for me.
This trip was very impressive for me.

I stayed in Park Hyatt Saigon. It's a five-star hotel, located in the center of Ho Chi Minh city. Very gorgeous! It wa very lucky for me not to pay the hotel fee. My business partner paied everything for me. Not only for the hotel fee, but also for all meals, drink, taxi, and so on. I was treated very much. Maybe too much!
I don't know when I became such an important man?
Certainly same as other developing countries in Asia, the living cost in Viet Nam must be cheap. But, same as other countries, five-star hotel are exception.

Before going to Viet Nam, I heard that the trip to Viet Nam is veru popular in Japan. I didn't know that, so I had no idea of the reason.
In this trip, I thought Vietnamese is similar to Japanese. If my impression is right, I can understand why Japanese traveler like to go there.

I ate a lot of foods there. Viet Nam food is very healthy and light.
Compared with Chinese food, it's less oily.
Compared with Thai food or Indian food, it's less spicy.
The original rice noodle, Pho, is very easy to eat. It's like Japanese noodle.
The food preference of Vetnamese is, I think, similar to Japanese.
May because of such a healthy food, the body shape of Vietnamese is very good. I didn't meet fat people there at all.

One day, I joined a dinner cruise on Saigon river.
This river is wide and long. It's clean and peaceful. The view form a ship was very nice. This river must be a symbol or an identity for Vietnamese. I was very impressed.
Now it is summer and a rainy season there. That's why it's very humid. But the great river brings cool air to the city, so I felt comfortable. Actually I thought it's more humid in Japan when I reachd Tokyo today.

(To be continued)

VS North Korea

Seven unlucky missiles were launched from North Korea toward Japan last week.
All of them dropped into the sea of Japan. Now Japanese government is searching for them, and investigating the details. Many TV programs are treating this issue. Now Japan is filled with the missile information.

I thought North Korea is a more challenging country than we thought, though nobody knows what they are challenging to. Their launch of the missiles must be surprising for all countries, because we can't understand the rational reason for North Korea to do it.

For Japan, North Korea is like a crazy neighbor. Honestly speaking, we don't want to keep in touch with them. But it is impossible, because they live next to us. We hope they will move somewhere someday. But it's also impossible. They are the pain in the ass.

Maybe Japan and US can't communicate with North Korea successfully. I expect China to control them. I don't think the friendship between China and North Korea is the real one, but they pretend to be a friend. So, North Korea may listen to only China.

Today I am going to fly to Viet Nam for a business meeting. I can meet many Asian people in the meeting. I will ask Chinese to scold North Kore

VS Viet Nam

After the lost of Japanese team against Brazin in the World Cup, my body condition became bad. It must be a summer cold. Now it is a rainy seson in Japan. So, many people have the difficulty to adjust to the weather change. I also caught a cold and suffered from a throatache. I couldn't drink, eat and speak for a while. It was too terrible.

Now I am OK. I have to hurry up for the prepareation for my trip to Viet Nam in a week.
I have no idea of Viet Nam at all. Today, I went to buy a guide book for Viet Nam.
My trip is mainly for a business meeting among Asian publishers and book-salesmen; from India, China, Shingapole, Thailand, Korea, Japan and so on.
I am now becoming intersted in a publishing world in Asian countries. I think this trip must be stimulating to me. One of my dream is to make an international publishing company in Asia, so this trip is a very good chance for me to know Asia.

I will go to Ho Chi Minh city. I see on the guide book that the city is both modern and traditional. I thought the image is similar to Shanghai in China. Of course, it's a just image from the book. The real image might be diffrent.
My stay is only three nights. And, two days are only for business. So, I can't have an enough time to go to many places. But, if I will focus on the center of Ho Chi Minh, I think I can enjoy the city fully.

Unfortunately I have no time to study Viet Nam language!
I think it's a fatal element in a trip whether we can communicate with the local people or not. So, if I can, I should study the language before going there.

"Xin chao" is Hello.
"Cam o'n" is Thank you.

How many phrases can I meomorize in this week? I'm not proud of my memory function....