Minors Should Not Drink Alcohol

 When I was a child, one of my favorite manga was Pro Golfer Saru. The main character is Saru. He is a child, but he is also a talented golfer. He plays golf with rich adult golfers for money. He needs to support his younger brothers. One of the younger brothers always has a bottle of alcohol. He always drinks alcohol and gets drunk. A minor should not drink any alcohol. But I thought that was the most interesting part.

 They started a TV animation series of Pro golfer Saru. Of course, I watched the animation. But I found a difference. My favorite character, Saru’s younger brother, didn’t have a bottle of alcohol. He had a bottle of mineral water. He always drunk the water. At that time, I felt they had lost the most interesting part.

 Now I am an adult. I know why that happened. Even in a fictional story, we should not show a minor drinking alcohol on TV. Alcohol is dangerous. If a child drinks alcohol, it could become a life-threatening situation. Japanese TV regulations ban scenes with minors drinking alcohol. Even if an adult actor plays that role, if the character is a minor, the character can’t drink alcohol.

 I am studying Chinese. I watch many Chinese dramas. I found that the regulations are not strict in China. In some Chinese dramas, there are scenes with a child drinking alcohol. I don’t know why.

 It can be assumed that Chinese regulations don’t cover that issue even now. Or perhaps in East Asia, there is a tradition of drinking medicinal wine. You can buy medicinal wine in Japanese pharmacies. I believe China also has that tradition. So, I guess the concept of drinking alcohol could be different in China.

 Japanese manga are popular all around the world now. Your Home Is My Business! and Hikaru no Go are Japanese manga. China made TV drama series based on these stories. I enjoyed both of them.

 I wish Pro Golfer Saru could be dramatized in China.

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My Recommended Language Studying Method

 I have heard an American joke that “the best way to study Japanese is by being born of Japanese parents in Japan and growing up in Japan.”

It sounds like a meaningless joke. But sometimes, a joke includes some truth. “Being born” and “growing up” are the best ways. However, we can try a second or a third way to study a foreign language.

Overseas study might be a good way. But it might be expensive. If you want to work in a country, you need a working visa. Furthermore, it might be a big decision. You have to say goodbye to your family and friends for a while. I studied overseas when I was young. It changed my life in many different ways.

 Having a boyfriend or a girlfriend who is a native speaker from the country is another good way. Actually, I have never experienced that. I heard that it is a very effective way to study a language. But if you already have a partner, you should give up on this study method. Studying should not disrupt your happy life.

 One-on-one lessons are also a good way to study. But they could be expensive. We have to pay a lot of money to good teachers.

 Taking a class is a good way at a reasonable price. If you loved classes in school when you were a student, you would also love taking a language class. If you hated school, I am not sure you would love a language class.

 The above ways are my recommended language studying methods. I, at least, have tried almost all these ways in my life. I am sure they are effective.

 The following method I actually tried too. I found it was also effective and fun.

 Repeatedly watching foreign TV dramas is my recommended language studying method.

 First, you should find a foreign drama series you like.

 You should watch that drama in the foreign language with no subtitles. You will find it difficult to understand the story. But if you are studying the language, you can guess the story. I think the most important key to studying a foreign language is guessing. If you are not a native speaker, it is impossible to fully understand all the lines in a drama. But you can guess.

 Second, watch the same drama with subtitles in the foreign language. The subtitles will help you understand the story. That process links pronunciation and letters. 

 Third, watch the same drama with subtitles in your mother tongue. I am sure you can now understand the full story. You will find places you misunderstood or had listening problems. The translators needed to make subtitles with fewer words. Sometimes they needed to omit the original lines. You will find some original content this way.

 Finally, watch the same drama dubbed in your mother tongue. This is the most fun option. You can fully enjoy the drama. I think the best translators and best voice actors cooperate in the drama. It might be an artistic masterpiece.

 I recommend this method to you because most of my readers are theatrical people. We practice the same story and the same scenes again and again. I think you will like this method.

 But I also have a warning for you. Watching a drama repeatedly is one of the effective ways to study a foreign language. But I also recommend other standard listening, writing, and speaking methods. This is just an additional way to study.

 Furthermore, this learning method has risks. In general, the conversations in a TV drama might happen in emergent situations. Or the conversation might be acceptable between people in a close relationship. You can’t use these words to people you meet in everyday situations. It could be rude.

 For example, the phrase “shut up” is very common in English dramas. But one of my American teachers said, “I have never said that phrase to my family nor my friends.”

 “Damare” means “shut up” in Japanese. Actually, I have never used that word in my life. But in TV dramas, the characters use the word very often.

 Reality and dramas are different. But still, the watching dramas method might be one way to enjoy studying a foreign language.

 If you are studying a foreign language, please try it.

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Ambidextrous

I am a right-hander.

But I was once in the hospital for a long time as a patient. And I needed to take care of my mother who had Alzheimer’s for a long time. I had a lot of time to kill. So, I tried to be a left-hander.

Now, I mainly use my left hand.

Every morning, I measure my grip strength for both my right and left hands. At first, my right hand was stronger, but my left hand gradually became stronger.

I kept using mainly my left hand for eight years. One day, my left hand was stronger than my right. I was surprised.

Now, when I measure my grip strength, my left hand wins once a week. When my left hand wins, I use my right hand that day.

My goal is for the strength of my right and left hands to become equal.

On TV, a professor said, “If a person mainly uses the opposite hand to their dominant hand, that might make the person a genius.”

I have never been a genius.

But if I had to eat a meal at a small table with many people, being ambidextrous would be useful.

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My no-fail joke

I have a no-fail joke. I’ve had it since I was a child.

It’s my sprinting. Whenever I sprint, everyone laughs at me.

I don’t sprint as a joke. I always sprint seriously. But everyone laughs.

When I was young, I was a part-time actor. I needed to sprint in a scene. The director scolded me many times because he assumed that I was kidding. Of course, I was not.

When I was in my final year of high school, we needed to time our runs in P.E. class. As usual, all of my classmates started to laugh when I sprinted, except one person. He was a member of the track and field team.

After the run, he came to me and said, “I couldn’t believe you could run that fast with such bad running form. I wish you had joined our track and field team and studied effective running form. You could have won a major competition for high school students.”　

My running form was a joke, but my time wasn’t so bad.

My hidden talent was found in my last year of high school. If I had known it before, I could have had a wonderful high school life. In reality, I was a member of the drama club. I lost the smallest competitions every year.

I wish I had joined the track and field team instead of the drama club.

What is done cannot be undone.

 

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Neighborhood Association

Are you in a neighborhood association? In Japan, in the old days, everyone joined such an association. However, these days, some people avoid joining one.

My wife and I are in a neighborhood association. Once, my parents did the neighborhood association’s tasks. When my mother contracted Alzheimer’s disease, she couldn’t do the tasks anymore. When I took over these tasks, I had to act as the leader of the association many times.

The neighborhood is an important system. If a disaster happens, we have to help one another. I know it is important, but the association’s tasks are too bothersome to perform in a peaceful world. Furthermore, I needed to take care of my mother and father; it was so difficult to be the leader of the association.

Some people in my neighborhood quit the association. The post of leader is turn-based. There were only a few members. My turn as the leader arrived too quickly.

One year, I became the leader of the association again. I thought this was bothersome. Then the pandemic started. The association skipped most of its events. I had almost no tasks as the leader of the association that year.

We all experienced tragedy during the pandemic, but at least my wife and I took a small break.

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Uirou-Uri’s Line

 

The most famous line in English theater might be “To be or not to be,” from Hamlet by Shakespeare. The most famous line in Japanese kabuki theater might be the line of uirou-uri from uirou-uri.

This line is famous because of its difficulty to recite. Most of the lines of uirou-uri are tongue twisters. So actors and announcers who are required to speak to their audiences recite this line for practice. Some of them memorize all the lines. Saying all the lines might take about six minutes.

I also studied this line when I was a high school student. I was a member of the drama club. Actually, I assumed the line was just a combination of tongue twisters, but this is not true. uirou-uri is one of the best eighteen stories in Kabuki theater. It has a full story, which I only recently learned.

The famous line is a speech by a medicine salesman. He explains that he is selling a wonderful kind of medicine, named uirou. He says that the medicine heals all kinds of illnesses—a cure-all. Furthermore, it has a side effect. If you take this medicine, you can recite any tongue twister easily. Then through a product demonstration, the salesman takes the medicine and recites several tongue twisters.

A half-witted samurai watches this demonstration and believes the salesman. He buys the medicine and takes it, but the samurai can’t recite the tongue twisters. He flubs the line many times. There is no such side effect from the medicine. The salesman simply practiced saying the tongue twisters many times. This is the comedy aspect of the show.

The salesman is actually a samurai. His father was also killed by a samurai. To avenge his father’s death and to determine the enemy’s identity, he disguised himself as a salesman and traveled for long time. Then he eventually finds his enemy. This is the story of uirou-uri.

Uirou-uri and Hamlet are both about sons avenging their fathers’ deaths. The most famous theater lines in the West and in the East are similar in this sense.

Interestingly, the medicine uirou really exists, even now, but we can’t buy it online or even in any drugstores in my town. Just one shop in Odawara City sells it, face-to-face. It is said that the shop has over five hundred years of history. They said that they have never sold their medicines via product demonstrations such as that in uirou-uri.

So it is a little complicated. uirou is an actual medicine, but the uirou salesman is a fictional job.

Wait! What are you doing? Are you still reading this document? I uploaded a video of myself reciting Uirou-Uri’s line. Please enjoy my attempt at saying a tongue twister.

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Smartwatch

Now, many people wear a smartwatch. I also wear one.

I believe I was one of the early users of smartwatches. A friend of mine wore one and recommended it to me. I liked it. I quickly ordered a smartwatch.

Smartwatches have developed nicely. But the old models were not so “smart.”

My smartwatch evaluates my sleep every day. Sleep is important for health. I started to care about my sleep. The smartwatch can share my sleep information with my family and friends. Actually, I don’t use that function. If you can share sleep information with close friends or family, it might be fun, though. But if you take a nap during work time and everyone knows that, it would be embarrassing.

Once, I went to a dental clinic for a regular checkup. After the checkup, a dental hygienist removed tartar from my teeth. I hated that. It was a very unpleasant experience. The machine was noisy. I couldn’t move during the treatment. It took almost one hour.

After that, I bought a soft drink. I had a small celebration party by myself. The next checkup was six months later. I didn’t need to go to a dentist for six months, as I didn’t have any tooth problems. What a relief!

Then, I checked my smartwatch, which linked to my smartphone. I was shocked. My smartwatch recognized that one hour as a nap. I didn’t sleep! Who can sleep while having tartar removed? Am I a big shot? Was the smartwatch really “smart”?

I recommend smartwatches to you. New smartwatch models never make this kind of mistake anymore.

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