VS Golden Town

There is an area called Golden Town in Kabuki-cho 1 chome, Shinjyuku. The town is the area for drinking people. I went there last week.
There are over 150 bars in the area. All bars are very small. The average size is about 10 square meters. Each ones have 7 or 8 sheets only. They look very private places.

Golden Town has a long history. After the world war II, the area became a black market governed by Yakuza, Japanese mafia. But, some people started bars around there, and they became popular. And, soon the number of bars incresed very much. Then the area became the biggest drinking area in Tokyo.

A lot of novelists, journalists, poets, publishers, social activists and artists loved the area's atomosphere. So, the area became not only a drinking spot but also a kind of cultural place. I think, my company made the biggest bookstore then in Shinjyuku, for the area's cultural power. Actually the first president of Kinokuniya was a famous regular customer in Golden Town.

I went to a bar managed by a middle-age lady. I heard from others that she was an actress of pink movies. Without asking for my order, she searved soon whisky with water for me. And, without asking, she searved a small vegetable food for me. Perhaps, it is not cool there to order something there. Only I could do was to follow her searve.
When I and my colleagues drunk there, a drama directer came. He seemed to be a regular customer. I gave him my seat to him because I was a visiter. The local has priority. It's a sufer's rule, so I used the rule in the bar at the time.

Basically Golden Town is an old-fashioned place. So, it is for old men. But, recently, young people seem to start to work there. The nostalgic and unique atomosphere would give any impressions to them.

VS Head Office in Shinjyuku

Yesterday I went to the head office of Aeon, in Shinjyuku, to join a class for Kids-English teacher. It was my first time to visit there. From here, all schools of Aeon in Kanto area are governed strictly or loosely. I was a little excited before visiting.
Outside of the exit of Nishi-Shinjyuku station on Marunouchi line, Aeon staff waited for students. They had a sign to show the direction to the head office. I could go to the office smoothly by them. The office is in a big building. Family Mart is the landmark of the entrance of it. I bought Evian there.
Aeon head office is located on 16th floor of the buliding. It was more gorgeous than I expected. At the entrance of the floor, beautiful staffs waited for us, and checked our name and class. I was introduced to a big room next to their office room.
Before my class, I checked the toilet of the floor. I know the level of the toilet equals the level of the company. The company with a beautiful toilet must be beautiful. The company with an old toilet must be old-fashioned.
The toilet of Aeon head office is very gorgeous, clean and relaxing.
It has the wood-based wall, personal rockers and a wide window. Of course, it has enough toilet papers and a washing-machine in each rooms for a big size.

I wanted to check the gorgeous lunch box which Aeon staffs eat regularly, but I couldn't on the day. And, I didn't check 19th floor where there is a big textbook factory. Many new textbooks are developed there everyday. Zac did it before. We wouldn't or couldn't forget him forever.

The class for Kids English was good as usual. The teacher, Kaoru.T, was professional. I think Kids English is a kind of science, and a hard physical work! At the end of three-hours class, the teacher Kaoru.T looked to be almost dying, but she had kept smiling. Smiling is most important to kids. She was professional.
Next month, I will visit there again. I think I can study Aeon's managing system more then.

VS The Origin of 20 years old

"To be alone, and to be immatured, it is my origin of twenty years old." With this impressive sentence, the book with the same titile of this article starts.
This book was published 35 years ago in Japan, and prented again many times. But, it is now out-of-print.
The author is Etsuko Takano. She wrote the book when she was 20 years old. To be precise, she didn't write the book in order to publish it. It was a kind of diary for herself. She wrote down her thinking on a notebook. After her death (She committed a suicide.), her diary-like notebook was found out by her family, and published later.

She lived in the eara of Student Power.
Student Power... This word might be a dead word, so I should write the meaning. In 60's and 70's, the students all over the world had political power, or were seen have the power. They were very critical about their government and society. Vietnam war was a simbolic incident they should criticize at that time.
Student Power means the social movement lead especially by unversity students. Etsuko Takano spent her unversity days in the atomosphere.
She was not a political woman at first. But, she began to commit a political movement soon when she became 20 years old. The notebook was the document of her thinking in the movement.

She was influenced by political activists, but I don't think she was biased. She was very honest to herself. Soon after she wrote her political opinion in her notebook, she understood her bias and wrote down the possibility of her misunderstanding on it. So, she wrote that she was immatured. I like her stance.
Even though she committed a political movement, she was not a strong woman. Under the big pressure of politics, she committed a suicide. Maybe it is difficult for us to understand the reason of her suicide. Because for us, politics is the inncident on TV, not in our real life.

Now, my company is planning to reprint and sell out-of-print books. I recommend "The Origin of Twenty Years Old" to my company. I get tired of too many boring publications in Japan. I think this book is worth to reprint. I don't know it can be sold very much, though.....

VS Knock Forever

In this golden week, Knock Yokoyama was dead. He was a comedian and a politician, especially popular in the western Japan. It just happen I spent my golden week holidays there. So, I could watch the news on TV many times.
Even for Japanese living in the eastern Japan, he was famous. But, I think, for them, he was jsut one of many popular comedians on TV. It was same for the western Japanese. However, the position of comedians in a society is a little diffrent there.
For the western Japanese, TV comedians are sometimes our relatives. Sometimes, they are our friends, teachers or students. In short, the distance between TV comedians and other people is close.
So, the news of Knock's death was more shocking for the western people.
Unfortunately we couldn't watch him on TV recently. Because, when he was a president of Osaka prefecture eight years ago, he made a sexual harassment to a woman and had to quit his job. After that, he couldn't have the chance to come back on TV at all. Osaka people wouldn't forgive him. Because the relationship with comedians is close, the people would have not forget his crime soon. I think, if the same kind of thing happened in Tokyo, the comedian can come back on TV earlier than Knock.
Other comedians say Knock was shining among comedians' community. It was not only because of his bold head but also his personality. We don't forget Knock forever.

VS Publishing in Japan

The book titles below was the most sold ten books in Jpan in 2006. As a book-salesman, I have to check the trend of Japanese publishing world.

1. Kokka no hinkaku, (The dingnity of the nation)
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
3. Tokyo tawaa okan to boku to, tokidoki, oton, (Tokyo Tower, me and my mom, and sometimes my dad)
4. Enpitsu de oku no hosomichi,("Oku no hosomichi" traced with a pencil)
5. Byooki no naranai iki-kata,(How to live without becoming ill)
6. Oide yo doubutsu no mori. Kanpeki gaidobukku,(The complete guidebook for "Come in to the forest of the animals")
7. Hito wa mita me ga 9 wari,(The 90% of information conveyed without using words)
8. Shin ningen kakumei,(The human revolution, 2nd series, Vol.15 an 16)
9. Ko-sodate happii adobaisu(1)(2)(3),(Three volumes of advice on how to bring children up happily)
10. Kagami no housoku. Jinsei no donna mondai mo kaiketsu suru mahou no ruuru,(The rules of the mirror. Magic rules for solving any problems at all in human life)

No.1 is the book for Japanese national identity. Shit.
No.2 is a too long story. No.3 is the novel for Tokyo people. Unfortunately I'm Kyoto people. No.4 is not a book but a notebook. No.5 is none of you business. No.6 is a guidebook for a game. Shit. No.7 is the book for biasist. No.8 is for religious people. No.9 is for mothers. No.10 is for the people who can't think about their life for themselves.

All books are out of my interest. Therefore I've never read all these books.
I can be a good book-salesman?

VS Tissue Paper

After Aeon discussion class, in front of Hon-Atsugi station, I watched Aeon staff gave passangers the tissue paper with the advertisment of the school. I didn't have to get the school information because I am its student, but I wanted to get a tissue paper, so I came close to the staff and I got it.
The advertisement said "20% off, Until today."
I was excited a little even though I didn't know what is 20% off. Actually this tissue paper advertisement system has magical power.

When I got the tissue, I was completely free. I didn't have any plan at the moment. So, I continued to watch her working.
I didn't have any idea of the tissue giving job. Usually except for hey fever season, I don't get such a tissue on a street. So, I didn't know who get the tissue, what the technique of the job is and how hard the job is.
Standing next to the staff, I realised that old men and women got the tissue easily. Young persons ignore the tissue offer more, but old people don't refuse the offer.
In addition, some old people came close to the staff, and asked her to give them the tissue.
An old woman, who realised the tissue was the advertisement of English conversation school, started to talk about her son working in America for five years. He seemed to tell her to come to and live in America someday.
"Do you think the old woman like me can study English?"
She asked me. She seemed to think I was the school staff.
"Of course, Madame. It's no problem."
I answered with smile.

My answer didn't have any knowledge for old people's study, and my smile could include a natual reaction and intension of salesman. However, I don't think it was a problem. If she can trust her own possibility by my answer, it's ok. If she will decide to study English someday, I hope 20% discount extend until the day.

VS First Pay Day

April is the first month of a fiscal year in Japanese companies. Many new things start. New works start. New people start to work.
For booksales, this season is a textbook-sales season. As well as Japanese companies, the schools in Japan start a new educational year in April. So, all students need new textbooks. It's a big business for me. I am busy now.

New workers (a man and a woman) came to my office this month. I and other old staffs have to teach them many things. They don't know the system, the rules, the common sense or the way to live in a company world. The world has many interseting points and many boring points. If they will know only boring things before finding out intersting ones, they would quit and change their job soon. Actually, recently in Japan, around 33% of new workers quit the job within 3 years. It's very bad, at least in Japan. Nobody want such a situation. Everybody want young people to stay longer in their working place.

What kind of working place is comfortable for young Japanese? Recently I read an intersting survay in a newspaper.
Veteran workers think young people want to work free, as they like. So, the veteran don't say anything to the young.
But, from the survay, working free is not so much prefered by the young workers. What do they want?
The young workers want them to be taught very kindly by the veterans.
"Do it as you like." seems to be a bad order. "Do it as I explain how to do." seems to be requested by Japanese young workers.

Yesterday was my company's pay day. For new workers, it was their first pay day. I talked to them, "First pay day will not come again. So, this day must be something memorial. So, you have to eat something memorial. Now, you have two choices. Good fish or good beef. Which?"
They looked to undertand what I said.
Female worker's answer was "Beef." Male worker's answer was "I follow her." That's why we went to a good korean yakiniku restaurant. We ate top three expensive meats on the restaurant's menu. The meats' quality was very nice.
Maybe, the memory of the good yakiniku will be left in their mind for a long time. The bill was also memorial.

VS Enforcement

Don't push me, Mike. I need 15 days to think about and write political issues here..........

Now Japanese Government seems to be very sencitive to the word, "Enforcement". Two recent issues related to the perspective of historical facts have us know it.

The first issue is the one which Chinese people, Korean people and American Congress are interested in. The sexual slave in World War II is it.
Some Japanese politcians including the prime minister Abe denied recently that Japanese army and government "enforced" Asian women to be sex workers to Japanese soldiers during World War II.
This opinion made the people above be surprised at it and get angry with it.
But, in Japan, I think most people weren't surprised at it.
It doesn't mean they agree with the opinion. It means they are accustomed to listen to it.

The politicians don't say there were not sex workers to Japanese soldiers. They say Japanese army didn't enforce Chinese and Korean women to do it. What's their point?
They think about this issue like this:
Japanese army invaded the cities in China and Korea. In the cities, there had already been sex workers. They worked originally in their country. Japanese army hired them, and gave sexual services to the soldiers. In short, it was business, not enforcement.
They ask, "Are there any documents to certify the enforcement of Japanese army or government? I know the answer. The answer is Not."

Document. It's the key word.
Their asking is right to some extent.
For historical facts, the existence of documents is important.
In order to understand historical facts, historicians value the documents written soon when the facts happened.

An incident happend one day.(For example, A farmer met Alien.) The article for the fact in newspaper is very important for historical study.(A young farmer in Idaho could contact Alien this morning.) The diary for it written by somebody is also important. (Gash! Tommy was talking with Alien in his farm today. He is heavy!)
Alien's official report is very important.( Project code 1988. Mission: To calculate the farming ability of Earth people. Result: They can make only potatos.)
But, the importance of the book written later about the incidents is seen less. (In this summer, I had a trip for U.S. I met the person who said he had seen Alien in his childhood. He told me that they came to the earth to steal his potatos.)

Historicians think a historical fact or story will change gradually after it happens, depending on the talkers for the fact. So, they value the document written soon when the fact happened.
In this case of sex workers or slaves to Japanese soldiers, there are not this kind of documents. There are just testimonies given by the old women who were sexual slaves during the war, but the value of thier confession is seen low from the view point of historical studies. That's why some Japanese politicians deny the issue even though many people in the world get angry to them.

Testimony. It's the next key word.
It's really valueless? It is always the wrong description different from the real fact, like that Tommy explained Alien's purpose wrong?
There is the place that people value testimony very much. It's the Court.

Most criminals wouldn't make official documents to commit a crime. From the testimony by Tommy, we can know the Alien stealed( or, at least tried to steal) his potatos. But, from the official document written by the Alien, we can't know the fact. To judge this crime, we have to depend on the testimonies by the related people. It is clear that no document doesn't mean no crime.

Back to the sexual slaves problem, we can know the two diffrent viewpoint of the problem. Oviously, Japanese government sees it the problem of Historical Studies. But, Korean, Chinese and American Congress see it the problem of War Crime.
For Japanese government, the opinion of K, C and AC might be too emotional and not logical. But, for Korean, Chinese and American Congress, J's thinking might be cold, too self-defensive or foolish.

In addition to this issue, Japanese government recently erased a description in the textbooks of Japanese history: Japanese government and army enforced the people in Okinawa to commit suicide in the case that they couldn't fight against US army.
Actually, many Okinawa people committed suicide before they were captured by US army. We can know the same kind of story from the movie "Letters from Iwo Jima".
But, Japanese government says that it is not clear whether there was such an enforcement or an order by the government during the war. So, they erase such a discription in textbooks.
For this issue, the value of documents and testimonies are key words again.

In this article, I tried to show the point of the historical and political issues in Japan. Historical Study vs War Crime is the key point.
If I say my opinion, I think the viewpoint of Historical Study is more important. Because the things in the war are just histroy for me. However, over 60 years has passed after the war. If Japanese government thinks Historical Study is important, they should have studied it more earlier.
To be honest, I think they were not interested in these issues for a long time after the war.
So, I think the person over 60 years old can't have the right to insist on the viewpoint of Historical Study.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the prime minister Abe is under 60 years old. He might have the right to say his own opinion for history free. But he has a big problem. His talking is boring. That's why I want to recommend him not to use his right.

VS Leah Dizon

Now I'm writing this blog excited. Today I went to Leah Dizon's first memorial historical great super live in Roppongi. Maybe because my behaiver is good everyday, I could get the very rare ticket which the only limited people can get.

As you know (if you are Japanese.), she is becoming popular in Japan now. She started with a gravier model, and now she is a singer. She released her first songs recently. So, we can sometimes watch her singing on TV.
However, when it comes to me, I've never watched her on TV because I have only a broken television. So, the live was my first time to watch moving and singing Leah Dizon.

The live space was surrounded by a kind of enthusiasm.
It was her first live. Nobody had never watched her live.
I think it is very easy for you to understand the very special situtation. Everybody looked excited.
Especially, the girl sitting next to my seat looked very excited. Before the live, she looked not to wait for Leah's coming in front of us.

Then, at last, her live started with her new song.
My first impression was this.
"Gash. She is moving."
All audiences seemed to look at her moving and singing very carefully. We wouldn't miss anything in front of us in the live.
The girl next to me had repeated "Kawaii, Kawaii" many times. I agree with her. I also repeated it in my mind.

After some songs and her talk, the lot corner started.
Only five audieces could get the chance to take pictures with Leah Dizon on the stage.
Don't be surprised. I got it.

Again. I got it.
My seat number was called, and I was ordered to come to the stage.
If I express the feeling at the moment by one word, it was "guilty". Of courese I was very happy at the moment, but I knew the girl next to me was a super fan, so I couldn't look at the girl at the moment.
But, anyway, I was on the stage, very close to Leah Dizon. I could get a picture with her, and shaked hands with her.
I was required to say a comment on the stage, but I couldn't say anything special. At the moment, I was the sandwitch of Guilty and Happiness. There was no comment fitted to my feeling at the moment.

After the live, my friends told me that I finished to use all fortunes in this year. I think so too. But the fortune deserves one year. So, I'm satisfied with it. Cheers.

VS Kojima Usui

Kojima Usui. He was a banker in Meiji period. He worked for a bank all through his life.
But he had other unique aspects. He loved climbing and loved literature. So, he published a magazine to focus on nature writing. In addition, he was a great collecter of art works.
Now we can watch his great collection in Yokohama Museum of Art. I went to the museum with my customer recently.

I didn't know him before going to watch the exhibition. As everyone could do so, I realised soon his scale-wide world when watching the collection. He was interested in many genres of art, so his collection is huge.

At first, he collected a lot of Japanese pictures which went abroad. When he worked for foreign branches of his bank, he bought many Japanese pictures there.
Why did he buy them not in Japan but in foreign countries?
Japanese didn't understand the value of Japanese art at first, so many important Japanese art works were bought by foreigners in Meiji period. It meaned that Japanese lost their own estates.
Kojima Usui was the one of the first Japanese to understand the significance of Japanese art, so he tried to collect them in foreign countries. In the exhibition, we can watch many famous Japanese pictures by Hiroshige, Hokusai and others.

Not only Japanese works but also Westeners' were the target of his collection. Millet, Manet, Hugo, Degas, Renoir, Gogh, Picasso and many others are included. We can watch these big names at the same time in the exhibition. I think it's great.

In addition of these great art works, he collected strange things like advertisements. Maybe in the eara when he lived, people didn't see them art. But, now, from our viewpoints, these strange things look a kind of art.

I had the chance to talk with the professinal in the museum.
He told me that Usui's world was very big, so even for the professionals, it was very difficult to study him fully.
I heard that there are about 900 works in Usui's collection.
But we can watch only 200 works in the exhibition, because the museum doesn't have enough space to show all his collection. If you have a chance, I can recommend you to watch the huge collection in the museum.

VS St.Patrick's day

Now it doesn't deserve to be compared with Christmas day and even with Halloween day, but St.Patrck's day actually and steadily seems to become popular in Japan.
March 17th is the day. Irish people celebrate St.Patrick, who was the first person brought Christianity into Ireland.
I heard that everybody have to drink Irish beer Guiness all through the day on this weekend.

So, I went to Irish pub in Machida last night.
I went to the pub soon after it was open, because I wanted to drink in a happy hour. But, the day was special. All time was a happy hour.
When I went to the pub, there was only one customer drinking beer. But most seats had already been reserved.
And soon the pub became full.
I started with,of course, Guiness. The pub was decorated by green, Irish color, and Celt music sounded there. I don't know why, but a wolf man movie was on the TV screen in the pub. I thought it was fitted to the Irish festival mood.

I could enjoy the day fully, but the only one thing I don't know remains. How does St.Patrick's religious matter relate to the beer drinking? I read the explanation for the day in the pub, but I couldn't get enough information.
In Japan, the new year day has a religious meaning the most. Japanese drink sake in a temple or a shrine. The sake has a religious meaning then. People think it makes us clean.
I don't know Guiness beer has such a meaning, but the relationship of Religion and Alcohol is understandable, and even in the case that they have no relationship, I still continue to drink. Happy St.Patrick's day.

VS Sketch of Conversation

I listened to a very small part of a conversation between two ladies in a train by chance.

"You know? Even though she is a one-year-grade worker, she weared a cardigan today."
"Really?"

I didn't know the context of the conversation.
So, I couldn't understand what it exactly meant.
But, fortunately or unfortunately, I could supplement the lack parts, guess the exact meanig, and think the conversation was understandable or "natural". Because I am Japanese.

If you can understand the conversation easily, you are Japanese or japanised.

VS Okinawa bar

I found a new bar in Atsugi today. The bar name is Froggs. It is an Okinawa-style bar.
I've been to Okinawa a few times. It is a very relaxing place. For me, Okinawa is like a hometown, even though I don't have my relatives there. I can be peaceful there very much.
In the bar, we could drink Orion draft beer.
Orion beer is a popular Okinawa beer, but its draft beer is rare. So, when I drunk it in the bar, I was very surprised.

I ate some Okinawa original food there.
Tofu-yo was one of them.
Tofu-yo sounds like Tofu, but is diffrent.
It is like a cheese and has a strong smell. The taste is salty.
When we eat it, we can use a toothpick.
We don't pick it up with the toothpick. We just dig it a little with the head of the toothpick, and lick it.
As you can easily imagine, it takes a long time to eat Tofu-yo.

We can eat Gurukun, the fish popular and cheap in Okinawa, in the bar. The taste is not special. Honestly speaking, the quality of fish food in Okinawa is low. We can eat better fish foods in other areas in Japan.
However, because Gurukun is related to the memory of my Okinawa trip, it was very happy for me to find the fish in the bar. I've never seen the restaurants to use it around here.

KuuSuu should be drunk. So, I drunk it there.
KuuSuu means an old Sake in Okinawa language.
I don't know how to express the taste. "It is round on my tangue." I hope this explanation works well.
The bar has some types of KuuSuu.

New restaurants and bars are increasing recently in Atsugi.
I thought this city was dying before, but now it is getting alive again.

VS Foreign Settlement

It was strange that I took part in an academic workshop by chance last week. It was the gathering of scholars to study foreign settlements in Asia.
There were a lot of foreign settlements in Asia including Japan. Three big settlements in Japan were Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki.
But, the workshop's interest was not for the study foreign settlements in Japan but for the study of Japanese settlement in Asia, especially in China.
Some particepants are studying it from the view point of China-Japan relationship. Some are interested in it as the case-study of the company management in foreign countries. And, some focus on the culture in the settlements.
Each person had their own interest in the workshop.
When it comes to me, my interset was, needless to say, book-sales. This study is very young. Many books and documents will be published in the future. That's why I joined the workshop, even though I didn't have any knowledge for it. I thought I could get the hint for my business there.

For the people who study foreign settlements in China, Shanghai is a special city. It was the city which had foreign settlements most then. Therefore, Shanghai became very international. And, now a huge amount of documents for the settlements are preserved in Shanghai. So, it is the city easy to study.
In the workshop, it was said that Shanghai is focusd on too much for the easy-study condition, but other cities in China should be studied more. But, because I even didn't know that there were Japanese settlements in Shanghai, I thought the gap between professinals and ordinary people was big
. I think, most Japanese don't know at all where Japanese settlements were in China, except for Manchuria, the country made by Japanese government before the war and located in the northen China. Or, there is the possibility that even Manchuria is forgotten.
A chinese scholar joined the workshop, and he introduced us to some recent studies for foreign settlements in China. He spoke Chinese. He looked like a humorous man, and actually said a joke sometimes. Some participants laughed very much. I could understand it later by translation, but it was bad for me to lose the timing to laugh.
He told us for the universities in China.
From March 5th this year (Tomorrow), the university students in China are going to be oblidged to study official-history written by Chinese government. He studies history and he has his own opinion for history, which is diffrent from the official-history. But, he is oblidged to teach it to his students. He talked about it to us with smile. I couldn't judge at the time whether I should also simle, or not.

The study of history is sometimes difficult. I can be political. It can be emotional. Even in the scholar's workshop, some looked biased for me. But history could be like that.

VS Historical Animation

My company has the division to make visual contents. It made recently a DVD collection for the histroy of animation films in the world. I watched it.
The works are very old, made in 1920's or 30's. For example, Walt Disney's very early works are in the collection. They were the ones before Micky Mouse. Young Disney's works were very different from the ones we know as Disney animation. The most famous one was Alice series, in which a young real girl "Alice" acted with animation characters. Real film and animation were combined.
The works of Max and Dave Fleischer II were also impressive. A character they made are a very famous one. Betty Boop is it. Japanese calls it Betty-chan.
Watching some old mono-tone Betty series, I thought they were certainly unique. Even though the animation was for kids and the stories' themes were adventure, friendship or thriller for instance, the existence of Betty reminds us of sexuality. So, I guess that Betty was very exciting for the kids in early 20 centuries.
Very very early animations in 1910's were also interesting and exciting. The oldest clay animation by Willis O'Brien "Swat the fly" was very short (about 3 minutes) but the impact was strong. It enlarged the possibility of expression in animation. And, he made many films of prehistorical story, especially about dinosaurs. Their moving in his films was very realistic. Therefore, his skill of animation-making created one of the most famous monster character, King Kong later.

I sometimes drew pictures on the rims of a textbook in my school days, and made animations. The works would be historical in the future.

VS View of Enoshima

Last weekend, the view of Enoshima was beautiful.
Even though it was very cold in Japan then, I went to surf there.

Fine day. The sky was blue. Enoshima island was existing peacefully as usual, in front of horizon. We could also look at Mt. Fuji existing far away from the beach.
Far away. But, it's huge. I always misunderstand I can go there soon from there. Of course, impossible. The mountain is covered by snow now. Surfing on the sea with watching a snow mountain. It's funny.

There is an aquarium in Enoshima. It has dolphin shows everyday. I can listen to the music and announcement of the shows on the sea.
For some surf lovers, the loud sound might be noisy. Actually it erases the sound of the wave. It might be destroying the peaceful atomosphere of beach. But, for me, it's ok. For me, it's Enoshima beach.
This beach is always messy. In summer season, a lot of shops are built on the beach. Some are open almost for 24 hours. The access to the beach is very easy, so many people come there. The beach looks like a rush hour train. We can't count the number of people on the beach like the number of sand.
Not only in summer but also winter, many people come there. Some are for dating. Some for fishing. Some for just looking at sea. And, a small portion of some for surfing.
I think Enoshima souldn't be a silent beach. The unique atomosphere colors the beach.

Sometimes, fish jump up from the surface of sea into the air. When I saw it first, I thought they were playing. But, it's not true.
I knew they are fighting each other to keep their territory in the sea. And, the loser jump up into the air to escape.
Last weekend, I watched a lot of jumping fish on the sea. The battle in the sea seemed to be escalated.

I had stayed on the sea for three hours on the day. It was longer than usual. The longer I stayed on the day, the longer I wanted to stay. It might sound masohistic. But, the truth was that the water temparature was warmer than the cold air. That's why I couldn't get away from the sea. Now I realised, I should go to hot spring in this season.

VS Terrorist?

Everytime I get on a plane, I become very nervous. I always guess the possibility of the accident of the plane. How much is the probability of falling down of the airplane? How much is the percentage of my survival possibility in that case? I can't escape from calculating the risk of death before the flight everytime. Besides that, lately, to be worse, I have to think about the case of terrorist's attack of airplane.
That's why I had to be more nervous in this trip.

On my last day in Australia, after I ate dinner in the Sydney airport and drunk beer to be relaxed, I got on an airplane to come back to Japan.
In the airplane, two old male fight attendants and an old female one were working for us. Because I knew the working of old flight attendants didn't mean that the plane was old, I could rely on its safety flight. Even though I could lose the interest in the flight attendants a little, I was totally satisfied with the well-maintained airplane before its flying.
Sitting on my aisle seat, I waited for the flight without anything to do. I checked the movie schedule on the flight and the menu for night food, to kill time. But, suddenly, a young woman asked me to stand up for a few seconds in order to sit on her window seat next to me. I stood up gently soon, and she could sit down there softly. My interset moved naturally from the airplane-inside information to the outside view from the window. I wanted to memorise the beautiful scene of Australia then, even though it was completely dark outside. I could expect for the happening of drama in the flight.

Then, something happened soon.
A flight attendant suddenly started to check a Japanese passanger before flight. His board ticket and passport were checked very carefully, and he seemed to be asked for something. He looked surprised because he couldn't why he was checked.
Everybody near him were looking at him very well, including me. He looked an ordinary man. But, of course, his looking could hide his wrong political or religious thinking. It was clear that he didn't have any weapon at the moment, so if admitted, I could attack and submit him soon at that time, because now he concentlated on the flight attendant but me, so it was very easy for me to punch him from the back-side of him.
However he was seen clean.
Soon after that, another flight attendant came close to the guy next to him, and asked the guy to remove his bag under his seat to a shelf. He obeyed the attendant's suggestion soon, and put his bag up on the self.

I couldn't understand what exactly happened and was the problem then. Anyway, I started to be more nervous after that. I lost the room to glance at and check the window.
The terrorists were still sitting near us. I was not admitted to attack them. It was very natural that my feeling was very uncomfortable.
Soon after the plane taking off, I ordered a flight attendant a bottle of wine. The wine was not special, but I could be enough drunk by it, so I could be relaxed under the dangerous situation. But, of course, I didn't stop checking the suspicious Japanese men during the flight. If I was ordered, soon I could put my heel on their head from the dangerous angle of the buck-side. They would be calebrated by bloody-shower, and become in comma if I did so.
However they seemed to understand their situation. They continued to behave as normal persons till the plane reached Tokyo. That's why I lost the chance to show my diamond-heel-stamp-technique.

I drunk two small bottles of wine in the airplane. So, I could sleep very well. When I got up, I had already been in Japan. The terorrists looked to have a sleep very well, too. The woman next to me also looked to have a good sleep by the help of beer.
Finally my travel finished peacefully. The plane reached Japan, and I went home by bus. Three days travel to Australia was certainly short, but it took more days to go back to my daily routine life in Japan. I might be still dreaming.

VS Cricket

One of the purpose of this trip to Sydney was to watch an international cricket game; Australia vs England.
The game was the first cricket game I watched in my life.

Cricket is one of the sport Japanese are not familier with. I didn't know the rule, the palyer's name and the interesting point of the sport, before the game. I had no idea about it at all.
I tried to know the rule at least, before going to Austlaria. But it was impossible. I went to a bookstore in Japan (it's my company.) to buy a book about Cricket, but there were no Japanese book about it. I even searched for Cricket book in the database of book market, but there were no books I could get. Japanese don't have the chance to know about the sport. It's a shame.

I would have been a strange watcher in the cricket studium.
Australia vs England. The game was the important and high-quality game. I heard that the importance of the game was as same as the one of the world cup of soccer. The level of both countries was very high.
However, I didn't know the rule of the game. Imagine that the person who don't know the soccer rule comes to the game, Brazil vs Italy. The person must be strange.
So, in the studium, I was such a person.

The game started at 1:15 pm.
But I arrived at the studium at 11:00 am. That's why, I waited for the start of the game, with beer and humberger. I was so excited when waiting.
The ground was large and the turf was meintained beautiful.
I thought it's was very comfortable to play the game in such a good field.

At 1:15 pm, the game started with singing both countries' songs. As I imagined before, Cricket was a very strange sport for me. Historically, it seems to be the origine of baseball, but now they are utterly diffrent sports.
I saw cricket the combination of handball, hockey, golf and baseball. ( This must be the incorrect and misleading explanation of the sport. But, I thought so at the time.)

During the game, I sometimes went outside to eat, drink or have a break, because the game was very long! The game started at 1:30, and finished about 10:00. ( Actually, the end of the game was not normal. The game finished for the day's bad weather. So, it could be longer.)
It was very natural that we must sometimes take a rest during watching the game.

The game was often stopped due to the rainy weather. So, I didn't stay in the studium until the end of the game, to escape from traffic jam.
The rain was bad for the game, but would be good for Australia. Because the people in Australia suffer from the lack of water now.

It is often said that cricket is a gentlemen's sport. But, I knew it was not true in the game. Many supporters said to the going-out players "Fuck off! Go home baby!"
I heared that even the players wouldn't behave as gentlemen on the ground. Bad phrases like "You are dixx-hexx!" seemed to fly there. The ground looked very nice, but it was ertainly a battle field.
The players and the supporters were very energetic. For me, it was interesting to watch them, without enough knowledge of the sport.

I bought a cricket ball for official games, and brought it to Japan. It was a good souvenier for myself. Now, my mission is to make this sport more popular in Japan. I think it is fitted to Japanese people.

VS Harbord Beach

No, no, Mike. My dreaming was reality. Surely, indeed, at last, I stood on the soil of Australia again. It was the summer I dreamed of.

I had stayed in Sydney for just three days. This time, my trip was very short, but it was still ok for me to escape from winter for a while. I enjoyed the trip very much.
Ont the first day when I arrived at Sydney airport, I and Peter went to Harbord Beach soon. The reason was, of course, because we had to surf there. As I wrote it before in this blog, the beach is a memorial place, because the first surfer in Australia did surf on the beach. As an representative amature surfer from Japan, I had to respect the beach, so I tried surfing there.

It was cloudy on the day, but the sunshine was still strong. The waves were big and powerful.
It was Saturday's daytime. Many people were there. But, compared with Enoshima beach in Japan, Harbord Beach was not crowded at all. People were enojoying swimming, surfing or banana boating.

When I watch the waves at first, I thought it was easy to catch it. Because basically weak waves are more difficuly to catch, and I am familier with it on Eoshima beach.
But I thought wrong. Actually it was very taugh to surf there.
For me, the pattern of size-up of waves was irregular and random. Besides that, everywhere on the sea was waving. There were no flat space and time. That's why it was difficult to keep my balance. The waves wouldn't give me the enough waiting-time, and, without enough prepareation, I had to try the waves. If I had more skill and experience against such a condition, I could control myself well. However, I didn't have them. Even for Ausiee, the beach seemed to be uneasy for surfing. So, it was understandable for me to have the difficulty of surfing there.
Although my performance was not good at the time, I could say that I enjoyed my first surfing oversea very well.

I used Peter's surfboard, which was made by Manly Long Board Co. It was a local company in Manly.
The surfboard was cool. It was 9.2 feet long. The body was thin but strong, because it was made of a hard but light materials. Its float was strong, thus it makes us stand up on it easily.
At my best ride on the day, at the moment, I felt I was flying, not surfing. The strong wave was combined with the strong floating power of the surfboard, to make the feeling.
It is the most excellent moment when we surf.
It was lucky for me to get it at this time.

I will write about my first game of cricket I watched in my life on the next post.

VS Summer Dreaming

Strong Sunshine, Birds Singing, The sound of the waves crashing on the shore, Brown Skin, Beautiful Bodies, BBQ, Beer and Wine.
Am I dreaming............