NPP and money

The Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident unveiled a lot of problems that are underlying in our society. One of the most serious things is the situation of underpopulated areas that have to depend on the NPPs.

As you know, most of the NPPs are located in remote areas from big cities because originally the NPPs are planned to be built in such a low populated area to avoid possible trouble.

As a matter of fact, in those areas, the number of residents is decreasing and young people are heading for big cities for their jobs. Consequently, only old people remain there and it makes the situation become even worse.

Suppose, you were a mayor and you were offered huge subsidies. With the money, you could create jobs for young people, provide good social welfare services for villagers and finally your village would get animated, though, you definitely have to accept to build the NPPs, in return.

The Reality is that mayors receive tons of funds and donations from the government and TEPCO. I was taken aback to know that it adds up to over 3 trillion yen.

Kashiwazaki city that has 7 plants is way ahead of other cities in terms of the amount of subsidies. It’s 300 billion yen in total. However, the city is in a debt 57.3 billion yen and it exceeds the city’s annual budget. What brought this about to Kashiwazaki?

The money the city received was limited in use. The city was just allowed to use only for facilities like a museum, a gym, a concert hall. Those big facilities have required a lot of running cost and finally it ended up pressing local finance.

As a result, they have to accelerate the invitation of plants for more money to make up for the loss. It is a vicious circle. There seems to be no way out.

Sauce: 「原発マネー」NHK

http://www.nhk.or.jp/special/onair/120308.html

photo: wikipedia

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Is Japan heading for space?

There is no doubt that the TV industry is declining.

Now, people have a lot of other options to spend their spare time on. Besides, as long as information is concerned, it’s not necessary for people to depend only on TV anymore because they can get any kinds of information through the Internet and SNS.

Actually, most TV shows are not worth watching. I’m getting bored with them because they have been broadcasting just about the same contents in the same time zone. Even the news shows pick up the same topic with a similar priority.

Maybe it’s the curse of ratings and marketing.

One thing’s for sure. The research doesn’t tell what people want to see. It only tells what people are familiar with.

The media people are also concerned about their future and some people have started trying out a new type show to demonstrate what they really want us to see. In that sense, I think “宇宙テレビ” or Space News (TV Tokyo, a Tokyo based key station) is a good start.

The idea comes from one of staff members who is a space fanatic. It features only space news, from a new discovery from the edge of space science to breathtaking views from the space station. The show is quite unique and it inspires us with infinite possibilities.

Speaking of space, a young J-pop idol unit “Momoiro Clover Z” has released a new single titled猛烈宇宙交響曲・第７楽章『無限の愛』, Fierce Space Symphony, 7^th Movement, “Endless Love.” Probably, “space” is coming up in Japan.

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神隠しされた街

私の好きな詩人、アーサー・ビナードさんのトークセッションに参加してきました。歯切れのいい、しかもちょっと毒がある日本語はいつも通り！ 鋭い洞察力で、言葉に隠された真実を、白日のもとに「晒し」てくれました。痛快！

たとえば、みんながぼんやり感じてる「絆」って言葉の胡散臭さ。私たちの善意を悪用して、裏で何か誤摩化してるっぽいよね。そんな話のあれやこれやで、あっという間の３時間でした。

その時、アーサーさんが紹介し、朗読してくださった詩があまりにもインパクトがあったので、載せときます。南相馬に住む詩人、若松丈太郎さんが１９９４年に発表した「神隠しされた街」です。現在は、１７年前に予言されていた！？

「神隠しされた街」

　　４万５千の人びとが２時間のあいだに消えた


　　サッカーゲームが終わって競技場から立ち去ったのではない


　　人びとの暮らしがひとつの都市からそっくり消えたのだ


　　ラジオで避難警報があって


　　「３日分の食料を準備してください」


　　多くの人は３日たてば帰れると思って


　　ちいさな手提げ袋をもって


　　なかには仔猫だけをだいた老婆も


　　入院加療中の病人も


　　１１００台のバスに乗って


　　４万５千の人びとが２時間のあいだに消えた

　　鬼ごっこする子どもたちの歓声が


　　隣人との垣根ごしのあいさつが


　　郵便配達夫の自転車のベル音が


　　ボルシチを煮るにおいが


　　家々の窓の夜のあかりが


　　人びとの暮らしが


　　地図のうえからプリピャチ市が消えた


　　チェルノブイリ事故発生４０時間後のことである


　　１１００台のバスに乗って


　　プリピャチ市民が２時間のあいだにちりぢりに


　　近隣３村をあわせて４万９千人が消えた

　　４万９千人といえば


　　私の住む原町市の人口にひとしい


　　さらに


　　原子力発電所中心半径３０㎞ゾーンは危険地帯とされ


　　１１日目の５月６日から３日のあいだに９万２千人が


　　あわせて約１５万人
　

　　人びとは１００㎞や１５０㎞先の農村にちりぢりに消えた


　　半径３０㎞ゾーンといえば


　　東京電力福島原子力発電所を中心に据えると


　　双葉町　大熊町


　　富岡町　楢葉町


　　浪江町　広野町


　　川内村　都路村

　　葛尾村
　　小高町

　　いわき市北部
　　

　　そして私の住む原町市がふくまれる


　　こちらもあわせて約１５万人


　　私たちが消えるべき先はどこか


　　私たちはどこに姿を消せばいいのか


　　事故６年のちに避難命令が出た村さえもある


　　事故８年のちの旧プリピャチ市に


　　私たちは入った

　　亀裂がはいったペーヴメントの


　　亀裂をひろげて雑草がたけだけしい


　　ツバメが飛んでいる


　　ハトが胸をふくらませている


　　チョウが草花に羽をやすめている


　　ハエがおちつきなく動いている


　　蚊柱が回転している


　　街路樹の葉が風に身をゆだねている

　　それなのに


　　人声のしない都市


　　人の歩いていない都市


　　４万５千の人びとがかくれんぼしている都市


　　鬼の私は捜しまわる


　　幼稚園のホールに投げ捨てられた玩具


　　台所のこんろにかけられたシチュー鍋


　　オフィスの机上のひろげたままの書類

　　ついさっきまで人がいた気配はどこにもあるのに


　　日がもう暮れる


　　鬼の私はとほうに暮れる


　　友だちがみんな神隠しにあってしまって


　　私は広場にひとり立ちつくす


　　デパートもホテルも


　　文化会館も学校も


　　集合住宅も


　　崩れはじめている


　　すべてはほろびへと向かう


　　人びとのいのちと


　　人びとがつくった都市と


　　ほろびをきそいあう

　　ストロンチウム９０　半減期　　２９年


　　セシウム１３７　　　半減期　　３０年


　　プルトニウム２３９　半減期　　２万４０００年


　　セシウムの放射線量が８分の１に減るまでに９０年


　　致死量８倍のセシウムは９０年後も生きものを殺しつづける

　　人は１００年後のことに自分の手を下せないということであれば


　　人がプルトニウムを扱うのは不遜というべきか


　　捨てられた幼稚園の広場を歩く


　　雑草に踏み入れる


　　雑草に付着していた核種が舞いあがったにちがいない


　　肺は核種のまじった空気をとりこんだにちがいない


　　神隠しの街は地上にいっそうふえるにちがいない

　　私たちの神隠しはきょうかもしれない


　　うしろで子どもの声がした気がする


　　ふりむいてもだれもいない


　　なにかが背筋をぞくっと襲う


　　広場にひとり立ちつくす

アーサーさんが英語に翻訳した詩は、『ひとのあかし』に収録されています。

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Miyako Yoshida

I was invited to a ballet performance of Tokyo Star Dances Ballet. It was just one of their monthly performance but for me it was a great opportunity to see Miyako Yoshida, a legendary ballet dancer, who had been a principal of Royal Ballet theatre for 22 years.

The show focused two great choreographers, George Balanchine and William Forsythe and we were able to quickly trace the history of contemporary dance.

Miyako appeared in act 3, “Walpurgisnacht Ballet“ as a guest dancer.

Her performance is still sweet and elegant though she is already in her 40s now.

I had been keeping my eyes on her with binoculars in my hands.

Performing with Royal Ballet for more than two decades must have been super tough. Miyako is small framed compared with European dancers. She has been making up for her physical disadvantage by working hard.

Her technique is incredibly accurate and her expression is poetic

Ballet is fantasy. Many of programs describe imaginary things such as fairies and spirits. That’s the reason why female dancers put toe shoes and try to be free from the gravity on the earth.

When Miyako performs a spirit of flowers, she really looks as if falling in the wind. It’s the result of her constant highly aiming effort.

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What I talk about when I talk about running

Some years ago, I started jogging.

For the first several months, I jogged on a regular basis and I was proud of myself becoming such a diligent and contestant person. But soon, my rather lazy nature overpowered my newly acquired virtue and finally I stopped jogging.

Why couldn’t I keep going on jogging? Is it just because I’m lazy?

I’ve found the reason when I read Haruki Murakami’s essay “走ることについて語るときに僕の語ること” or “What I talk about when I talk about running.”

The book is like his autobiography and he talks very honestly about himself and running. I was impressed to know what Murakami has been holding inside.

Murakami said this;

“When it comes to sports, playing in a team is not for me, neither is one-on-one game such as tennis. Instead, I’m interested in whether clearing the criteria that I set for myself rather than competing with each other. In that sense, long-distance running just fits in my mentality.

Writing novels is similar to long-distance running. The important thing for me is to overstep myself yesterday as much as possible because the only opponent I have to beat is myself.

I might have ended up seeking for becoming isolated. After all, it’s a two-edged thing. It would protect my inner security but hurt me at the same time. Therefore, I’m running continuously to cancel them out.”

I see how strongly Murakami is determined to push through what he has decided to do at any cost. I’m way too far away from that kind of motivation that requires me to run.

photo:mainichi.jp

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A hundred camellias

I went to Nezu Museum to see a special exhibition titled “One Hundred Camellias.”

Camellias have been adored both in the East and the West, and the past and the present. In Japan, growing camellias became a fad in Edo period. People were not satisfied with just appreciating flowers and started breeding them to have some new types. (It’s a bit similar to the enthusiasm for tulips in Europe in the 17^th.

“One Hundred Camellias” is a 24m-long picture scroll in which we can see more than 100 kinds of camellia. A variety of flowers are arranged in articles for daily use such as a bowl, a fan, a basket, a trash tray as well as in vegetables! The ideas of combinations with a flower and a container are incredibly intriguing.

The scroll was planned by Tadakuni Matsudaira and was finished by his son. It took 2 generations to complete it because they asked poets, monks and scholars to write down praises for each camellia. The scroll has a great literary value, too.

The museum building, which was designed by a successful architect, Kengo Kuma, is also worth seeing. When I stepped into a long and narrow outside corridor, which is lined by bamboo trees, I felt as if I were walking around Kyoto. It’s quite relaxing.


photos: Nezu Museum, izuhapi.net

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What’s Shintoism？

Recently, I started visiting shrines as a member of a historical walk club and I’ve realized that I don’t know anything about Shintoism. It might sound like an excuse but, for me, visiting shrines is just about the same as visiting historical sites and I didn’t need to think about exactly what Shintoism is.

However, It seems that it’s about time for me to touch the headwater of our culture.

What is Shintoism?

Minoru Sonoda (1936~), a professor of religion and a priest in Chichibu shrine said: “Shintoism is a religion in which you feel the existence of gods in nature.”

神道は「自然の中に神を見た信仰」だ

Saigyo(1118-1190), a famous poet and a monk from the Heian period (8^th c) composed a poem when he visited Ise shrine.

“I don’t know exactly what there are in the air but I somehow shed tears because they are very grateful and respectable.”

なにごとのおはしますかは知らねどもかたじけなさに涙こぼるる

Nobuhiro Nishitakatsuji(1980- ), second primary priest at Dazaifu Tenmangu said; “The principle of Shintoism is that you feel and appreciate the beauty of four seasons.”

神道とは四季を感じること

Shintoism, unlike other major religions, does not have a founder, nor a certain bible, but if there are some texts that we can find the heart of Shintoism, they should be “Kojiki” or Record of Ancient Matters, “Nihon Shoki” or The Chronicles of Japan, and “Manyo-shu” or the oldest collection of Japanese poems.

Especially, Manyo-shu is important when it comes to seeing how the ancient people perceived the nature and felt like one with it.

In Manyo-shu, for example, a deer and bush clover get married. Sea and mountains die as if they were mortal. There was no clear distinction among human beings, animals, plants, mountains, river and such.

It seems like that all the objects on the earth are living in the same level without any hierarchy.

When ancient people sing as “mountains laugh,” the word “laugh” isn’t a metaphor. People think mountains are really laughing.

In here, everything on the earth is unified one.

（to be continued）

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Going on a diet

It’s been one week since I started going on a diet.

I have already tried some diet methods before but this time, I’ve chosen the one called ‘recording diet.’ It’s very simple and all I have to do is just write down my daily weight and body fat count.

To facilitate this, I’m using a free iPhone application “Simple Diet.” The photo above is the icon of the application. It’s quite nice to have the cute bear character as my companion all the way to my goal.

I think that this method is effective if you want to get rid of your bad eating habit caused by stress.

In my case, when I zero in on my senses, I’m aware that there is clear difference between real appetite and eating binge. Now, I’m trying not to eat unless I feel hungry so that I can avoid eating snacks and junk food.

I’ve just lost about 1.5kg in one week and I hope that my new habit doesn’t fizzle out soon.

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Manyo Club in Yokohama

There is nothing like a hot spring on a cold day.

It’s not only half the fun of living in Japan but also just what the doctor ordered.

There are many spa facilities in the middle of big city and you can enjoy having a bath without going all the way to mountain areas.

The one I went to last weekend is called Manyo Club in Yokohama.

It’s a hot spring complex and it provides us with a variety of spa such as open-air baths, a cypress bath tub, a feet bath and a stone sauna. That’s not all.

To my surprise, the location is amazing.

It’s in the center of Yokohama Minato Mirai area, where the Landmark Tower, an international convention center, a shopping mall and a big Ferris wheel are all located. You can appreciate the scenery of modern aspects of port of Yokohama while tapping your feet in a bath.

The quality of water is not bad because they deliver, every day, hot spring water from Yugawara, which is know as one of the best hot springs in Izu.

After staying there for some hours, I was warmed completely and felt very good.

I’m off to a good start this year.

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Red Torii in Bangkok?

A friend of mine who is living in Bangkok uploaded an interesting picture on SNS. There was a tall, red and simple structure in her picture and it looked like a torii or a gate to a Japanese shrine. I wondered if there were some shrines in Bangkok. Suddenly, I started feeling very curious about this monument.

According to one theory, the torii originates in an entrance gates to Akah village, a minority group in Thailand. Then, this object may possibly be another origin of Japanese torii.

Soon, the structure turned out to be just a giant swing. It’s about 25 meters high!

It is located in front of a Buddhism and Hindu temple, Wat Suthat.

The swing was used for an annual ceremony to celebrate harvest and to express thanks for Shiva.

In the ceremony, an arch was said to be hung with six ropes from the top of the structure. Four Brahmas got into the arch and they swung it until the ropes became parallel to the ground.

It was a very dangerous swing and due to accidents, the ceremony was banned in 1932.

I think they should have equipped with safety belts.

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Town-Jack!

“Town-jack” is one of the exciting ad promotions. I like it.

Town-jack is a way of promotion that focuses on one area where targeted people supposed to fragrant and an advertiser put in a large amount of ads such as posters, billboards, digital signage. It’s really exciting to see walls, pillars and concourses being covered by the same series of posers here and there.

Town-jack promotion is effective in terms of drawing people’s attention and making people talk about it as the first step of word-of-mouth-marketing.

I like to be at the site to watch people so that I know how they react to the promotion. It’s a kind of simple research. What kind of people look at the posters? How many people stop at the posters? And what kind of conversation do they carry before them? It’s quite fun.

In here, the promotion seems to mix into one with the scenery of town and people. I hope it touches people’s mind in a good way.

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Can you write down cursive?

As we know, IT devices totally have changed our writing style but I didn’t know it did to this extent. I’m surprised to know that many young people both in the US and Japan don’t know how to write cursive!

However, I have to confess that I didn’t quite remember how to write down cursive of D, G, H because I have never written them for many years. Well, I might not be qualified to say something about younger generations.

The other day, when I was reorganizing my drawer, I found some old writing implements that I almost had forgotten about owning. They were a fountain pen, a mechanical pencil and a ballpoint pen. They looked a bit rusty but still useable.

I brought them to Kinpendo to have them repaired and adjusted. Kinpendo is a kind of specialty store that specializes in high quality writing implements and it has a lot of good customers such as authors and journalists.

The master said that my pens were very rare items nowadays and it would be nice for me to keep using them. I might come up with some good phrases with these pens like great authors.

Now they are on my desk but I still haven’t had any chance to use them.

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Men who became a god in Chichibu Night Festival

I went to Chichibu to see the Chichibu night festival last week.

The festival is considered to be one of Japan’s three greatest float festivals and it has about 250,000 visitors every year.

Six floats decorated with wood carving, embroidered tapestry and lanterns are being pulled around the town by local residents from morning till late at night.

The excitement reaches its peak at night when floats climb up the Dango-zaka, a very steep slope, one after another. In addition to this, the fireworks display enhances the atmosphere.

It was so beautiful that it made you forget the cold weather in December.

What interested me most in this festival was the men who are standing on the front part of the floats, continuously shouting “hoo-ryai.” They are inclining over to the drawers, stretching out their hands widely or shaking their lanterns from side to side as if they were saying “come on!” or agitating people to excite.

“They are called Hayashi-te, or hurrayer.” An old man from a neighborhood explained to me. “And you know, they are considered to be gods as long as they are on the float.”

Wow, that sounds very interesting.

According to what this old man told me, “Hayashi-te”s need to have a purification ceremony before the festival. They take off their clothes and bathe in cold water to purify them. And once they step upon the float, they are respected as gods during this 2-days festival.

“Hayashi-te”s are selected strictly according to their behavior and contribution to their community. For local people, it’s a hero of the festival and a very honorable once-in-a-life-time role.

Here in Chichibu, gods seems to summon people to this festival very much.

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