VS Genome

Now the most rapidly develping and strongly influential study is Genomics.
By chance, one of my customer studies it, so I sells a lot of books about it.
Therefore I am very interested in Genome, DNA and so on. It is fun to know the process of solving the secret of life. And now many companies use the knowledge for medicine, food, agriculture, etc. This is why I think the knowledge is very useful.

I went to a small meeting for Genomics recently. An University professor talked about his study. It was too difficult for me, so I can't understand it, but I could enjoy it.
One of his students found an important function of a gene. It is related to some rheumatic diseases very well. Thus we can make a new medicine by it.
Many people is suffering from the illness related to the gene. Therefore if he can use the study for business, he must get a lot of money. But the student doesn't study fot business but for an academic interest. This is why he have to write about his study openly in a jounal. Once his study is open and known by others, everybody can use it. So he will not be able to get money. But of course he will be respected in a science world. If I were him, I would think it is a dilemma to choose business or academism.

In addition, I listened to a consultant for bio-venture companies in the meeting. She is supporting many young companies. Now Japanese government encourages people to start a venture business. We can make a new company by 1 yen. Now it is very easy for us to be a company president. But actually it is difficult that venture companies survive in a competitive market. They have a high-risk, but can't always have a high-return, usually a low-return or no-return. So their job is very risky.

I don't know the reason, but when I go to the customer, I think the women to study biology looks beautiful. This is my very private impression. So, I wouldn't say it in general.
Maybe, maybe, maybe, they are using biotechnology. I safely add "Maybe" again.

VS Car Chase

When I drove a car, I watched it.

The traffic light was red. I had stopped on the line of cars.
The road was a one-way road, but there were two cars in front of me.
A red car had stopped to turn right.
A wagon car had waited for the light color change to go straight.
Two cars were in paralell in front of me.

The traffic light changed to blue.
The red car didn't move. It had to wait for the timing to turn right.
Because the driving lane is left in Japan. We have to be cautious to another lane.

I watched it.

The wagon car next to the red car started to move.
At that time, the wagon touched the red.
It looked like a soft touch. But the power of a car was huge.
A side mirror of the red was completely destroyed.
Traffic accident happened.

Maybe it was a small accident. But accident was accident.
In this case, all drivers stop a car soon. And they check the damage of each other's car.
But the wagon driver ignored it.
He behaved like a person in a crowded train.
"My shoulder hit you? Don't complain me. It is bad that this crowded train is."

I followed the wagon, and checked the mirror in my car to watch the driver's face in the red car behind me. At first his face was surprise, but soon it changed to anger. The red car changed the driving plan ,from turning light to going straight. The reason was, of course, to chase the wagon.
Now I was sandwiched by two cars; the chaser and the chased.

This situation was so exciting. Actually I was so excited.
I was chasing the savage wagon. I had to teach the idiot the law in this city. " Guilty requires Punishment. You can't escape from it." Fortunately the traffic was slow. I wouldn't release him. I glanced at my mirror again to look at the driver in the red car.
He was chasing me.

I knew that he was chasing the wagon, not me.
But he was coming closer and closer to my car's tail. It was very uncomfortable.
My feeling had changed gradually. I felt as if I were running away. "What did I do? I have no guilty!"

"Are you kidding? Your shoulder hit mine, didn't you?"
"Ya, I touched you certainly. But don't OVERREACT to such a small thing."
"Ha? Who overreacts? You broke my mirror. Are you crazy?"
"Don't shout me, gay boy. You don't have a face to need a mirror."
"Who is a gay? Hey Ass-Hole, you had better choose the one to fight with before fighting."
"Hey hey hey, what did you say? Who is Ass-Hole? Do you want me to break another mirror too?"
"Try it if you can. You should be prepared to sink into sea with your car."
"Chao! I gonna bloody you!"

Because I changed the route, I don't know the end of thier battle.
The wagon might be in the bottom of sea now.
The red car might lose all mirrors ,and the color would be more red.
I'll never see the two drivers in the future. But I will continue to tell this story from generation to generation.

VS Salsa

Rainy season has almost finished in Japan. Recently everyday, it is very hot.
Yesterday I went to a very hot event, which was good for hot days.
It was Tokyo Salsa Festival 2005.

The festival was 10th anniversary. It was held in Zepp Tokyo in Odaiba.
Many people came there. Maybe 2000-3000 people.
I didn't know that Salsa dance is so popular in Japan. The population of Salsa dancer in Japan must be bigger than that of Sepak Takrow player.

This was my first time to watch Salasa dancing. I watched many group's dance.
The dance was very energetic and passional. I didn't think that the dance was acrobatic. So, I thought that I can do it. But the rhythm and the body moving are original. Therefore Salsa must be more difficult than I thought.

Salsa seems to have many variations. Some performances were influenced by Hip-hop, Cheer dance, musical, Japanese traditional dance, and so on. I am not familier with a dance, but I thought that some dances were experimental.
This festival was supported by Cuba embassy. And a Cuban dancer showed us his dancing. To be honest, I did't think that his dance was Salsa. It was like a pantomime. But Cuba is an origine of Salsa ,and a developed Salsa country. Consequently his dance is the most progressive Salsa.
Near the dance floor, we could buy a real Cuban cigar. It is legal. No problem. But I heard that it is illegal in US. It is lucky for Japanese to have no political problem with Cuba.

I didn't dance with the dancers and other audience. But it was very enjoyable for me to watch their dance, with drinking whisky. Alcohol was dancing in my blood with an original rhythm.
Next morning, I got a body pain when I waked up after long, long sleep.

VS Gyoza

I talked with my colleage from London. He came back to Japan temporally. So he didn't face the terorism. He was lucky. He told me that he could anticipate it. And also he told me that Tokyo can be one of the next targets.

Now I am writing a jounal in my English school, AEON.
On the writing, I am thinking about my porpose of studying English and the general purpose of gettong a communication skill with DIFFERENT people. I hope the journal can be showed in this blog someday.

I went to Mankin Gyoza with Lance and Akira.
Mankin. It sounds fantastic.
Mankin. It sounds precious.
The sound didn't betray me. The Gyoza was delicious and so cheap.
Mankin. Japanese think of money from it. However we don't have to think about it in the restaurant. Because it was so really cheap.
In the restaurant, the highest price menu is beer. It is 500 yen. Gash!
We ate many Gyoza and rice. And Lance bought a souvenier for his girlfriend. But our total cost was under 1000 yen per each one. So great.

The quality of the Gyoza was original. The skin was thick. The taste was mild and light. I like such kind of light Gyoza because I can eat many.
It was Saturday afternoon.
It was very relaxing. It was a good timing to eat food and drink.
Special Gyoza is fitted to the day.
We have an advantage to enjoy it in Japan. If you can, don't miss Mankin.

VS Sepak Takrow

At last, I watched Sepak Takrow.
Beautiful! It's a beautiful sport.
Sepak Takrow is a foot volleyball. Maybe many Japanese know there is such a sport in the world. But almost all Japanese doesn't know there is a Sepak Takrow player in Japan.

By Akira's invitation, I and my friends went to All Japan Sepak Takrow Open Tournament.
Even though this tournament decided No.1 team in Japan, the play court was very tiny.
There were little spectators and no media.
I thougt this was a real minor sport.

This was my first watching of the sport. Then I can't judge the player's level. But I was very excited. As I wrote above, my first impression was that Sepak Takrow was beautiful.
Treating a ball by foot is magical, I think.
They controlled a ball an kicked it naturally. It looked easy. But the ball size is smaller than volleyball and a little bigger than softball. It must be difficult to controll by foot.

I don't know why this exciting sport is so minor in Japan.
Akira explained to me that the PR was very bad.
Actually we can't get any information about the tournament on internet.
I think this sport can be more popular in Japan. It doesn't need a big court and many equipments. Then it's easy to start to play. I will and must play it soon!

VS Traffic safety

Nine months have passed sicne I stopped watching TV and reading newspaper.
This world is filled with much information. Then I want to reduce noise information.
This is the reason why I stoppped them. TV program in japan is silly. Newspapers in Japan have bias.
But much boring information still come to me.
Two famous Sumo wresthler brothers, Waka and Taka, are critisizing each other on mass media. They are denying each other's personality. This is one of big news in Japan now. Silly!

The theme in last discussion class was Traffic safety in Japan.
A big train accident happened a few month ago in western Japan. Many people died.
The time schedule of train in japan is correct. Train comes to stations just in time.
It's very convinient. But sometimes the driving of train becomes dangerous to keep their schedule. The accident above was caused by this reason.

In discussion class, we talked about the solution.
I have two solutions; social solution and cultural solution.
Social solution is to regulate the speed of train officially.
We have the regulation of speed on car traffic. But not on train.
Each train company have thier own regulation but such a self-governance is weak.
We should have more strict one.
Cultural solution is to hire old age drivers for train.
In general old people is slow. And their driving is also slow.
Maybe many passangers are irritaed by their slow driving.
But respecting old people is japanese most strong culture.
We can't complain to the old. We can keep our safety.

After the class I ate Tofu for lunch.
Tofu is a very safe food. It has low calorie. It's soft. It's white. It's not aggressive. It's kind. It's peaceful. It's gentle. No taste. No smell. It has perfect flexibility. My hook hand must be like a Tofu.

VS Marxist

It becomes humid and humid in Japan. Not so much rain. But humid.
Jacket and Tie system is terrible in this season.
If here is Russia, it's no problem.
But in Japan this self-boiling and self-neck-hanging culture is nonsence.

When I got angry with the nature or the culture, I had the chance to listen to a Marxist.
I am not sure if he is a real Marxist. But he studies Karl Marx for a long time.
He is a professer and the top of a library. Then I sometime meet him.
Recently he wrote a book about Marx. And he produced a speech about the book by himself.
I went to the speech in the library.
I was very irritated by these days' humid air.
Then I expected to know the possibility of revolution to change this uncomfortable society by his speech.

I went into the library with anger to this world.
I had already prepared to fight with my fellows. I was very hot.
But the speech place was very comfortable by a good air conditioner.
And it was a little dark there in order to use a slide or something.
Of course it was very silent there. Because it was in a library.
This too comfortable condition got rid of my fightingship.
When he started to talk, I strated to sleep soon.

I couldn't remember anything.
When I came back from a coma, he was asking to the audiences.
"Do you have any question? Any question is OK. Please ask me."
Sorry, I had no question.
Moreover nobody ask anything to him. He looked a little sad.
No reaction. Long silence continued.
I was very uncomfortable in the situation, then I asked a question almost not related to his speech. But he answered it very kindly.

After the speech, he drunk with his students. I joined it.
He drunk wine. It was red.
He worried about the sales of his book.
I hope the balance of publishing will not be the red.

VS Yakitori-Don

My busy weekdays were finished. Recently I am getting new customers, then I have many things to do. I work until midnight. But OK. I am positive. Now only one thing to do is to wait for Lance's party time coming. It's soon.

I don't go to Yoshinoya.
Because I think Yoshinoya food is unhealthy.
Of course unhealthy foods have an unforgettable character of taste.
Then it is difficult to avoid them permanently.
But about Yoshinoya, it lost the strength by BSE American beef problem.
It can't provide us the unhealthy but tasty ,beef and rice food.
Including me, everybody don't have the reason to go to Yoshinoya now.

But I went there midnight on my way to home from my office.
I found new menu there at the time. The new menu was Yakitori-don.
Chicken baked with soysauce, half boiled egg and laver was on rice.
The taste was more than my expectation. And enough healthy.
Moreover it's cheap. 380 Yen.

Lance's party will have many stages as usual.
I think we can have a Yakitori-don stage late midnight or early morning.

VS Sake Study

Rainy season has came in Japan. Fantastic.
Akira has not decided to buy new car. Fantastic too.
Lance's party night is coming soon. The 1st stage is a small bar.
I think it's better for everybody to prepare for an air bottle because the place will be very crowded. And it's also better to eat something a little before 1st stage because bar foods are always not healthy. Drinking hungry in a bar gives us a serious effect on our body shape.

I met a professor recently on business.
I asked him what his major is. His major is Sake Study.
Gash! Sake Study. It's same as mine.
I have ever saw the people studying Sake in a bar. But not in an university.
He studies the history of Sake making.
Hm, I study my own history of Sake drinking.
His study is general. My study is specific.
I realized soon we are complementing each other.

He is searching for the documents in Korea.
When Japan governed Korea before the war, there were many Sake companies and factries there. Then many documents about Sake making were written there at the time. Such documents were copied and brought to Japan then ,and preserved. But Japanese government has not made them open to us. He is trying to find out the original in Korea. But many documents were thrown away after the war. Maybe Korean people didin't think it was important to preserve documents. The interesting point is that Chinese people preserved many documents during the war period oppositely.

Sake study night is coming soon. I have to adjust my body condition to the long study.

VS Pollution

Rainy season is coming soon in Japan?
I have stopped watching TV and reading a newspaper. Then I don't have an exact information about wether.
I feel the increasing of the percentage of water in the air recently.
After the rainy season, humid summer is waiting for us.

I am worrying about the pollution in China. I experienced bad air in Shanghai.
Chinese people don't prepare for tha bad by-product caused by rapid economic growth well.
I think they are following the same way Japan walked on.
Japan was a rapid developing country too.
Japan had the four big terrible diseases by pollution after the war.
The most famous was Minamata disease. This disease was caused by polluted water from one company's factory.
Recently the document about this disease was published.

I have met the author before. He is an old lawer.
He met the patient of the disease 30 years ago. He was a justice man. He got angry very much.
And he decided to protect the patients and started the court battle against the company soon.
The company hired their side's lawers and scientists.
They tryed to deny their responsibility.
They said "This disease may be related to other factors." "The relationship between the disease and the company is unclear from the viewpoint of science."etc.

But the justice lawer was a strong will man. He destroyed all protections one by one
It took 30 years to solve all prblems about this disease. It is too long! But anyway, he won at last.
Unfoutunately he was sometimes too aggressive. Then he fought againt not only the company group but also the patients' group and other lawers.
He disliked a compromise. But some patients prefered it.
At the final stage of the court battle, he quited his job. Maybe he could fight more ,but most patients got old then they wanted to be free from long fighting days.

Now I am trying to sell the document about Minamata.
It is a very big collection. Then it's VERY expensive. We can buy a car by same money.
As you can image, this is a very difficult job. Car is more useful for most people than Book.
Akira the Aeon student is thinking about buying a new car. Because his car is old and almost broken.
Today I persuaded him not to buy a car. "Your car is still alive! It can do it!" He is rethinking.
If he will cancel to buy it, he can be my custmer. Tonight I will try to persuade him again.

VS Party Night

5:00 PM
I have a few hours before the party. This is one of the longest nights in my life.
I take a nap a little.

6:00 PM
I wake up by my handy phone alarm. I take a shower to make my brain work.

7:00 PM
I eat a junk rice food. Because eating a little before a drink is good for my body.
Many people are waiting for the start of the party.

8:00 PM
The party starts. The party space is not big, then very crowded.
But it's OK. We can talk together close. Mike calls "Kanpai".
I wanted to listen to the call. My first drink is Beer.

9:00 PM
Tonight's MC is Chiaki. She proceeds the party. Her lack of such an experience makes us fun.
Mike makes a speech in Japanese. It is a good challenge.
New guy Jay also makes a speech. Mm? He can speak Japaese?
Sudan makes a speech. Oh, He has an advantage of Japanese.
And Lance. He have to catch up with others' Japanese in one month!

10:00 PM
1st stage is finished.
Tonight is one of the longest night in my life.

11:00 PM
We are singing in Karaoke. I sing an usual song "Let's groove" with Mike.
How many times do I sing this song?
Mike sings Bon Jovi. Junko sings Maloon 5. One guy sings "Love Portion No.9".

0:00 AM
We are still singing. Many beer is coming.
Some people start to check thier watch. But don't worry.
Tonight is endless. Daisuke's Billy Joel is always good.

1:00 AM
What a classical song YMCA is! It's very old.
But we are standing on the chair and make Y,M,C and A with our body.
We should chinge the stage.

2:00 AM
Hungry.
Izakaya is the best inventment in Japan? I order Beer and Yakisoba.
Miho and Todo and Momoko join us form now! Our party is still big.

3:00 AM
Don't sleep, Akira. I order sweets. Sugar may get rid of our tireness.
We throw many paper airplanes to Akira's face.
He doesn't wake up. He doesn't wear socks. Gash.

4:00 AM
I think it's a hatopopping time.
We move to Hatopoppo Park. This is 4th stage and the last stage.
I konw I am weakened. But I continue to drink. It's my challenge.
Now 10 people is alive. Yuriko is only one female. She is the youngest, then strong.
Mike is still energetic. He requests more food. He is an iron man.
Jay's first night in Atsugi is no night.

5:00 AM
It is a mornig. Pigeons start to work. Dogs take a walk with their owner.
Odakyu Train starts to drive. Many people get together to Hon-Atsugi station.
Ok, it's the time to finish this party. We are winners.We made a legend again.
People, admire us.

VS Applied Physics

The topic in today's discussion class was DIET.
But we talked about Applied Physics(!) in the class. Because we knew Shunichi a student studies Applied physics in his university. His study is related to Robotics. We were very interested in the topic.
The topic is difficult to discuss. But luckily all the member in the class is familier with the topic to some extent.
Tadahisa wroks for a telecommunication company. It's completely the job of Physics.
I sells many books and journals of Physics to my custmers. Then the theme was OK.
Junko's English is sometimes like Applied Physics. She can do it.

Robot can understand Art? This is Shunichi's theme of study.
I thought such a theme was in SF movies, but now scientists study it seriously.
The robot understanding art must be almost a human. It must have emotion. It's interesting but dangerous.
Now all robots obey human's order. But it is not sure if the robot with emotion obey us or not.
To escape from a future crisis, I want to give a strict rule to all scientists of Robotics.

"The fingers of Robot hand must be limited to two."
Robot is very powerful. If it want, it can easily grasp us, hang us up, swing us and throw us away.
Were its fingers two, such actions are possible but become difficult.
Its hand may be like a pair of chopsticks. It need a correct point and a correct angle to catch something.
Of course Robot must be still strong and powerful. But it will have a big handycap.
Then we can have a chance to beat it.
After we escape from Robot's try to grasp our collar of shirt, we will move quickly and put a big wood into the caterpillar from the side position. We can get rid of the Robot's movability. Robot must be panic because it has emotion unfortunately. It may regret it got emotion. But it's late.
We have to think about the balance between the utiliy of Robot and the risk-hedge.
We need any kind of regulation of science because it tends to be extreme.
Two finger robot is my conclusion.
I know this is very suffering regulation for all scientists. But they have a duty to save the world.
I want them to understand it for the children in the future.

VS International School

Japan had been closed to foreign countries until 1853. Japanese might have enjoyed a happy single life for a long time. But it was difficult to be alone forever in the world. We opened the country and chose Yokohama as the entrance city about 150 years ago.
This is the reason why there are many international schools in Yokohama.

I went to Saint Maur International School with my friends.
(See: http://www.stmaur.ac.jp)
This school is the oldest international school in Japan.
It had recently a school event, International Food Fair.

The school location is very nice.
It is in Yamate area in Yokohama. Yamate means mountain-side.
Yokohama has sea-side. Then the view from Yamate is very beautiful.
There are many historical places and architectures there.
Old church, Old apartment for foreigners, Foreigner's cemetary and so on.

Food Fair was very exciting.
We could eat many countries' foods. At first Mexican food, next Indian snack, Shingapole sarada, Spanish paerea, Bergian beer, Austrarian lamb and Japanese Yakitori! I enjoyed one day world food tour. If I had more time and more stomach capacity, I could eat Korean food and Levanon food.

The relationship between me and this school was at first business.
I sold some textbooks to this school.
I like this school. This internationality is very good. If possible, I wanna be this school student.

Yokohama China Town is near Yamate.
We went to China Town to drink tea.
I konw real China. But China Town in Yokohama has itsown uniquness.
I will report it in another article.

Now I am a food cosmopolitan.

VS Tokyo

My colleague Satoru gave me a difficult request.
He will leave Tokyo soon to move to another office.
His request was to go to a typical Tokyo restaurant bfore leaving.

This request is more difficult than we think.
Because Tokyo is an international city as everybody know.
International city has everthing.
We can eat and drink anythimg we want.
It means it doesn't have a local unique color.
Then it's difficult to find a "typical" Tokyo.

We can go to old Tokyo area.
There are many classical restaurants there.
But in my opinion, they are just an old memory. They were typical before but
now are not typical.

I choose a restaurant, Chritian Cafe in Shibuya, Tokyo.
(See: http://www.ug-gu.co.jp/restaurant/shop/christon-shibuya.htm)
This restaurant concept is "Church".
Yes. It's a fake. It's not real.
The restaurant has a very costly gorgeous decoration.
All customers forget to be in a real world ,Tokyo.
And we can eat many foods NOT related to Tokyo.

I thought this kind of place was "typical" for Tokyo.
I was not sure Satuoru was satisfied with the restaurant.
But I was satisfied with my choice.
He will go to Sendai, a local big city in Japan.
He can enjoy good locality there.

VS Shanghai(3)

A Japanese minister went to Yasukuni shrine today even though the relationship wiht China becomes worse now. I don't know his "bravery" can get anything from Japanese gods. (By the way, God has a nationality?) It will give Chinese people bonus motivation to throw stones more to Japanese restaurant or property.

I went to therapeutic shops twice in Shanghai.
It was a good expreiece for my health. Foot massage helped my blood circulation. The beer after the massage moved inside my body quickly. I felt very good drunk. Milk and Oil massage was good for my skin. And more it got rid of my tireness of travel. Though I can't compare with therapeutic shops in Japan, the quality in Shanghai was very good. The service in many places in Shanghai is not sophisticated or not complete. But the people in therapeutic shops understand deeply what service is, I think.

I watched very very strange barbar.
The barbar inside was lightuped pink or red.
Staffs were all women.
Customers were all women too. Very strange.
Yes. They were prostitutes.
I did't think there were such women in China because I thought China was very strict to such a job. If my memory is correct, there was not such a barbar when I visited Shanghai four years ago. What is happening there? This is on the natural way to be a normal modern city?

From the interest of my job, I went to a bookstore in Shanghai.
There are many magazine stands on the street but there are not so many bookstores and not a good bookstore there. I think it's a good chance to start a publishing business. But still now publishing is regulated by Chinese government. Though my company has a branch in Taiwan but it has difficulty to make Chinese branch because of the old regulation.
I studied Chinese language a little by reading children's book to master the language.
I don't understand the complexity of pronounciation at all. Mustbe my reading was terrible.
One kind staff lady corrected me in the store.
I will study Chinese in this year. Fortunately one of my coworkers in my office is good at Chinese. I can learn it from her.
Besides the regulation, it must be a challanging work to try a publishing business in China.
Especially it's meaningful that Japanese companies start the business there.
Book is the best media to understand people's bias totally and completely.
Chinese people can know Japanese bias more directly.
It is better for both countries' people to judge each other by complete information.

I am not sure when I go to China next.
China is an interesting country still now . I have to visit there again and again.
Now I have a VIP card for a good restaurant in Shanghai because I went to the restaurant twice for a short period. But I failed to communicate with staffs there because of my lack of Chinese language knowledge. I have an unfinished work in China.

VS Shanghai(2)

During my stop writing this blog, the relationship between China and Japan becomes worse.
Many chinese people blame for Japan and throw stones or ink to Japanese embassy.
The Chinese people I met last month in Shanghai were friendly and kind.
Then I forgot the deep scar between two countries at the time.
But now I seem to remember it.

News commentators says on TV "China has many problems inside. For example, unemployment, poverty, too rich calss and so on. Then the goverment want people to look outside. Japan is made Scapegoat by them!"
Hmm, I am not sure if such an interpretation is right or not.
This kind of interpretation became common when the Korean president officially blamed for Japan recently.

We should understand too self-defensive opinion is uncool.
Certainly some people's opinion may be extreme and based on wrong information, but some people's is serious and important. To it, Japanese have to respond seriously.

However I don't know Chinese people want serious response from Japan.
If they want, their anger power should ride on official route.
Through government channel, they should blame for Japan officially.
Throwing stones and ink is only performance.
It is useful for breaking frustration but it's difficult to get anything from it.
People's anger moves their goverment. And the goverment officially requires something to another country. This means Democracy is working very well.

Again, News commentators think Chinese people's anger is controlled or made.
Then most Japanese don't react seriously.
I think now their anger is not organized.
Their anger should be organaized to be a social power, which can move thier government and give a serious request to Japan.
If China and Japan can battle seriously about some unfinished issues on official level, it is nice to understand each other.
Our problem is unsufficiency of fight.
If I were Chinese, I throw storns to Japanese embassy and Chinese government.

VS Shanghai(1)

It was my second visit of Shanghai in this year.
I am not a china freek but China is close to Japan. It is easy to go.
And it is valuable to go.
I and my friends made a tour and visited there.

My last visit was early February. It was a chinese new year season.
Then it was a holiday for many chinese people.
Many shops, restaurant, company and places were closed.
This time in March was different.
All places were open. Compared to last month, Shangahi was more active
and more and more noisy this month.

I rushed to see many sightseeing spot on the previous trip in Shangahi.
But ths time I don't have to rush.
I walked around Shangahi slowly, and I found many things I could't find last time.

Our party walked around the area where many old modern western architectures were built.
They are historical architectures when France, England, America and Japan etc governed China. They are not only historical but also very beautiful. I looked at one old church. It was like a church in fairy tale.
Now the area is a good sight spot. But also it is a target of real estate investment.
The land price becomes too high.
Unfortunately the people only watching the old houses, like me, don't drop money in the area.
It is good for the land owner to scrap them and build new office buildings.
Then I heard that the old architectures become less and less.
It's a disappointing thing.

We went to the antique goods shopping street.
Old books, pictures, photos, plates, swords, crowns, marjang pies, chinese chess boards, Mao Tsu-tung pins etc. This place was very nice. I was not bored with watching this area.
If chinese peoples sales is softer, this place is better.
They tend to hustle on business.
It is OK for electric equipment sales.
But an antique market is the place which a well understanding buyer meets a well understanding seller. Aggressive sales is not sophisticated there.
I bought some old postcards there.
(to be continued.)

VS Narita

I am in Internet Cafe in Narita airport.
From now, I am going to China again.
Narita is very uncovinient to reach. It is located in very rural area in Japan.
In addition, this airport is not attractive for me.
Maybe here is very boring for all passangers.
Then, when I found this Internet cafe, I was very happy.
Now I am waiting for my flight. I and my friends came here 3 hours before flight time.
It's a taugh work to kill time here.
I will drink beer after this cafe.

But staying in a air port is exciting for me.
I don't know the reason. I like to watch many passangers, flight attendants, air planes...
Airport has its own unique rules.
Then we have to adjust the rules. All peoples' behavier here is different form non-airport.
Many many checkings. Very correct time schedule. Existence of rule breakers.
Police dogs. Non-tax goods. Uneconomical price foods.
When writing, I become excited.

Hm, Narita may be more attracive than I thought.

VS Photo

There are so many photographer, professional or amateur, in Japan.
Everbody has a handyphone with camera or a digital camera.
And they love taking a photo. Japan is filled with a lot of photos.
But studying photo is unpopular in Japan.
We don't know which photo is good or bad.
I sometimes sell good photos to my customer.
Selling good photos encourages photo study, then I think it is a meaningful job.

Sebastiean the British photo hunter emailed me last month.
He found the very old photo recently.
His job is to find out the antique rare photos, to study them and to sell them.
To search for them, he travels all over the world.
The photo was found in Paris.
It was a portrait of Alfred Dreyfus, who was unfamilier with Japanese but maybe
famous in European history.
One musium in Japan is collecting the documents and photos about this man.
Then we tried to offer it to the musium.

We met one professor to offer the photo.
I realised soon he was very interested in it. He seemed to understand the value.
Such a rare photo is usually expensive.
Of course we wanted to sell it by higher price.
But the professor's position was oposite. He didn't want to pay money so much.
He checked it with calm face.
I checked his face with calm face.
Our faces were calm. But the situation was hot.

We found a sign "Alfred Dreyfus" in the margin of the photo.
If the autograph was written by him, the photo price becomes extreamly high.
I found the professor's nose hall to be bigger and bigger.
Maybe he also found our nose hall size changing.
But to judge if it's himselves or not was difficult.
Then now the proffesor is investigating it.
I don't konw if he will buy it, but it is sure this photo must be very valuable.
Don't miss it ,professor.

VS Live show

Tsukuba in Ibaraki prefecture is a developing city.
I sometimes visit there to see my friend,Peter the great entartainer .
This city was only rural site at first, became scientist living area next and now is becoming very young modern city.Basically the population in the cities in Japan is decreasing, but Tsukuba is getting many new comers.

This time my purpose of visit was to go to Peter's Live show.Live space was "CORK HEAD'S" which was a very good Australian bar.
The bar owner was a frank and kind guy. I enjoyed a real ozzi hamburger with beer.It was my first time burger after watching the movie "Supersize me!" a few month ago.
I had thought we don't need hamburger in our life after the movie.
But I changed my mind.
We must eat it.

His show was successful regardless of twice broken of his guiter strings.
He would think the accidents were terrible.
But I think it proves his guiter playing was powerful and perfect.
Last year he broke one Live show by himself because of too much drinking before the show.
The strings broken was not good but better at least.

I hook whisky and listened to the music with some junior high school teachers.
Decreasing children give an serious impact on all schools in Japan now.
Some famous school group is making new campuses in new location to get students.
Developing area like Tsukuba must be fitted. Of course, many competitor schools aiso exist there. The teachers I drunk with are new challengers in Tsukuba. I hope they can win the school survival race.