The Oyashirazu Coast

When I was a university freshman, I traveled in east Japan by bicycle. I reached the Oyashirazu Coast in Niigata Prefecture. “Oyashirazu” generally means wisdom tooth in Japanese. “Oya” means parents. “Shirazu” means don’t know. Generally, a wisdom tooth grows when a child becomes an adult. So the parents don’t know that the child has a wisdom tooth.

In this case, though, it has a horrible meaning. In the old days, there was no good road in Oyashirazu. People had to walk on the beach by the sheer cliff. The rough waves would carry people away from the beach. Many people died. So, if a family was traveling in Oyashirazu, even if waves carried the parents away, their children could not afford to care. If the children tried to help them, the waves would kill them too. Similarly, parents let the waves carry their children away.

Now, there is a nice road for cars. You might think it makes things easier, but I have had a terrible travel experience on it. Even now, almost no one lives around the Oyashirazu Coast. On that day, there were no street lights, and, unfortunately, it was raining heavily before I arrived in Oyashirazu. The sun had set. It was dark. Moreover, my bicycle light got soaked. If a light gets soaked, it will never work unless it is waterproof. Mine was not waterproof, so I had to ride in complete darkness.

I could see the edge of the road near me. I rode alongside it. Sometimes a car would pass me. All the cars would use high beams. They would dazzle me then I could not see anything afterward. I rode for about ten kilometers. They were the longest, most horrible ten kilometers of my life. I feared my own mortality.

Once the Oyashirazu Coast road was behind me, I called home. My mother answered the phone. When I heard her voice, I felt relieved. It was the Oyashirazu Coast, but my mother relieved my fears.

 

Japanese

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My Story Returned to Me

I post my stories almost every week. I originally shared these stories with my theatre friends during breaks. Some of my friends said, “You are the most attractive actor during our break time.” That was not a compliment.

One day, a friend of mine was narrating a story during one of our breaks. The story was actually my story. I had narrated it to another theatrical group before. He told the story as if he were the one who had experienced the situation. So my story came back to me. Frankly, it was more interesting and more sophisticated than mine. I smiled and listened. I wasn’t angry. I reckoned that, if my story had spread, it must have been interesting.

There are similar folktales around world. Some of them could be born spontaneously in different places. Some could spread from one place to other places. These kinds of stories are likely to be localized and sophisticated.

If I were a professional storyteller, this could be a problem. But fortunately, I didn’t care about profit or loss.

When I read social media, I see the same content posted in different forms by different posters. The repeated content is very interesting. Everyone wants to post it in their style. I think there should be good ways for the original poster to get some benefit.

 Japanese

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The First Experience

When I was a high school student, a friend of mine said, “This morning, when I was taking the bus, I saw an old man standing. So I offered him my seat. But he yelled at me, ‘I am not that old!’ I’d assumed I would be praised.”

At that time, I thought that some old people were strange. I had to be careful when I offered my seat to an old person.

Now, I am over fifty. My senior friends have already had the experience of being offered young people’s seats. I find that I understand how the old man felt.

A person never realizes that they are old on their own. One day, suddenly, someone pronounces, “You are old!” That could happen to me soon.

Will I act properly then? A young person may offer their seat to me. Will I smile and accept that offer? Will I say, “Thank you,” to that person? I am not sure. Life is a succession of first experiences, and I have failed at most of my first experiences.

I think I might scream at the kind young person.

Ours is also a difficult age.

Japanese

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Waving a Hand

When I was young, I was a stage actor. I was on stage at mini-theaters. Some productions were broadcast on TV.

One day, I was walking around. Someone waved at me from a shop. I didn’t know who he was. But he could have been an audience member of my show. He might have recognized me and waved.

Wow! I was finally a celebrity! I thought I had to be friendly. So I waved back at the person. Then I noticed he looked surprised.

I walked to the shop and looked closely. Then I realized he was not waving. He was a clerk at the shop. He was wiping the window.

I was so embarrassed that I wanted to disappear.

I never did become an actor who was so famous that everybody would wave at me.

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Japanese

Picture by Shiho Mayuzumi

 

The Wheel Pose

　When I was an elementary school student, I was good at P.E. I was not good at ball games, but when it came to other activities, I was at the top level in my class.

I was good at muscle flexibility. Of course, I could do the wheel pose. Furthermore, I could stand up from the wheel pose. Only a few of my classmates could do that.

When I was over fifty, I thought I need to do something for my health. I bought a book about yoga. I decided I would do one pose every day.

I hadn’t known that the wheel pose was also a yoga pose: Urdhva Dhanurasana. I tried it. Shockingly, I couldn’t do the wheel pose.

I lay on my back. Then I tried to lift up my body. But my back never left the floor. It was impossible to stand up from the wheel pose. I was shocked. Was this a symptom of aging? The result of no exercise?

From that day on, I have tried to do the wheel pose every day. A few years have passed since then. Do you think I can do the wheel pose now?

I can do it easily. I am on the way to regaining my lost ability. I want to be able to stand up from the wheel pose some day.

Dear friends of my age, don’t give up!

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Japanese

Picture by Hinageshi

 

The Story of Ming Lan

 I am watching Chinese TV dramas to study Chinese.

 I will introduce one that I recommend.

 The Story of Ming Lan.

 I already introduced The Knockout a few years ago. The Knockout is a story about a policeman fighting the mafia. Man against man. The Story of Ming Lan is about a woman fighting a woman. Women against women. Originally, the story was a novel. The author is a woman.

 The story describes many kinds of fights between women. Sometimes young women fight for a man to love. There are fights between a wife and her mother-in-law. Fights between sisters. Fights between a mother and her daughter. Fights between relatives. Fights between wives who have the same husband. The setting is the Northern Song Dynasty. Polygyny was common in high-class families.

 Polygyny! Stupid men, including me, might envy that. But if you watch this drama, you will think polygyny is the worst system ever. The heroine, Ming Lan, was born as the daughter of the third wife. Of course, the wives always fight each other. The children always fight each other. The family belongs to the upper class in society. But Ming Lan’s status in the family is not strong. The family members are too many, and their relationships are too complex.

 Ming Lan is a super smart girl. But she needs to hide that. She pretends to be a stupid girl for her life’s sake. If her enemies find out, they could kill her.

 One of the points I love about this drama is that there are no superstars from history. Of course, there are famous people, powerful people, and great people who show up in the drama. But those people are not historic people. The superstars in history have been studied for a long time. If a drama describes a superstar, the scriptwriter needs to get busy writing the historical facts. I want to enjoy a period play as a fictional drama. Some period plays look like educational videos from history class. But in Ming Lan, there are wonderful people who were never recorded and studied in history. These fictional people give the writers freedom of imagination. However, I think the writers and the crew did their background research very well. Everything that happens in this drama could have happened in this period.

 The other point I love is the atmosphere of this drama. It has a lived-in feeling. Japanese period plays can be influenced by kabuki theater. Chinese period plays can be influenced by Peking opera. I also love these traditional period plays. But sometimes those traditions make the direction and acting too strong. Audiences these days tend to love natural direction and acting.

 In The Story of Ming Lan, every actor and crew member tries to create a natural atmosphere. As if they live in the world. So, most of the conversations happen while doing something. The actors talk while walking, working, eating, and so on. These are difficult and bothersome to do.

 Most of my readers are theatrical people. So, there is no need to explain that saying lines and doing other things at the same time is so difficult. They must practice a lot.

 You might think Chinese dramas contain a lot of physical action scenes. Actually, most of the fights in this drama are not about sheer strength but rather battles of wits. Most of the characters are highly smart people.

 The direction and acting are elaborate. Not too dramatic, but there is reality. I recommend watching.

 There are seventy-three episodes. But I guarantee it is interesting from beginning to end.

 It was on air in 2018.

Japanese

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Professional Baseball Player

 Most Japanese males love baseball. Most of them played baseball when they were boys. I was one of them.

 When I started playing baseball, I immediately realized I was not good at it. I was the worst player on the team. I hated that.

 Of course, I was never interested in joining my school’s baseball club. I have never even thought about being a professional baseball player. A professional baseball player is not my dream.

 But one night, I dreamed a strange dream.

 In the dream, I was a professional baseball player. Of course, I belonged to Nagoya’s home team, the Dragons. I was in the locker room. The game would start soon. But I had a problem.

 I couldn’t find my uniform shirt. I couldn’t remember what I had done with my uniform after the last game. I could have brought it home to wash it and forgotten to bring it back. I couldn’t borrow a uniform from my other teammates. Because each uniform had a number. My number was fifteen. I couldn’t play as a different number.

 I saw a laundry lady. I thought she might know where my uniform was. It was possible that I had not washed it at home. She could have forgotten to give it back to me after laundering it. I asked her where my uniform was.

 Then she got angry and scolded me: “Did you take it home? What a brat!”

 I was shocked that she didn’t show any respect to me, a professional baseball player!

 The game would start soon. But I was still in the locker room. I decided I would play half naked. Optimists would say I was half dressed.

 I went out of the locker room. When I had almost reached the field, the laundry lady called after me, waving some article of clothing. She said, “Wear this, brat!” I thought it might be the uniform.

 Actually, it was a uniform. And the uniform number was fifteen. But there was a problem. It was not a baseball shirt. It was a tank top for a basketball player.

 It might be better than half naked. But would a professional baseball player wear a tank top on the field? I thought about that. Then I woke up.

 After waking up, my first thought was, “Who has uniform number fifteen in the Dragons now?” It could be a message from the dream world. If I support the player, I might be happy.

 I checked who has number fifteen.

 Actually, no one has the number right now.

 Dragons uniform number fifteen is permanently retired.

 The player who had the number was the first “Mr. Dragons,” Michio Nishizawa.

 He was a great pitcher before the war. He needed to go to war as a soldier. He was injured. He had to give up pitching. After the war, he became a great hitter. He was a two-way player.

 We know Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani as two-way players. But we should not forget the tragic time-lag two-way player, Michio Nishizawa.

 I was relieved I didn’t wear that uniform number, because that number is too heavy for me.

 I wish the late Michio Nishizawa will support the Dragons now.

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Japanese

Picture by SUZUKI