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

Picture by Koketa

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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

 

Body Language

　When I was a high school student, I felt that studying a foreign language was bothersome. Actually, I was not a good student. When my classmates and I had a bad grade in English, we all told ourselves, “Relax! We will not need a foreign language. Because if we need to communicate with people from abroad, we can use body language.” We comforted each other.

When I was a university student, I traveled to Kyoto by myself. Everyone loves Kyoto.

I forgot the name of the temple, but I watched a shocking scene there.

There were a couple. They might be from abroad. They were walking around. There were also two high school girls. They stood in front of a small house.

One of the girls said, “Come here,” using body language to the couple. The couple got angry, glared at them, turned back, and got out of the temple.

Okay, here is the question. What happened between them?

I had studied English for a long time, so now I could solve this miscommunication. I could help them. But as you know, I was not a good language student at that time. I couldn’t help them.

I wrote, “Come here,” with body language. If you are familiar with Japanese culture, you might already know the answer. Japanese’s “come here” gesture and the English-speaking world’s “come here” gesture are upside down. It was not the beckoning sign. If an ordinary Japanese person invites you with the gesture, he or she waves the fingers with one’s palm facing down, bringing them toward one’s body (like the famous Maneki-neko lucky cat), but it means “go away” in the English-speaking world.

From the couple’s point of view, this was a sad incident. They came from abroad. They were enjoying an old temple, but a high school girl expressed “go away” to them in a gesture. They love Japan, so they visited Japan, but they could assume they were not welcome by the young girls. This might be a shocking experience.

I could understand the situation, but I couldn’t speak English. So I couldn’t take care of the couple. I talked to the high school girls because they were almost crying.

They said there were mysterious stones in the small house. They wanted to explain about the stones to the couple. Instead of that, they explained that to me.

There were three stones in the small house. They were different sizes. The big, middle, and small. All of them were handheld sizes. One of the girls said, “If you caress a stone, it will become lighter. If you hit a stone, it will become heavier.”

Actually, I couldn’t believe that story, but I tried.

Actually, it worked as the girl said. Somehow, I felt lighter when I caressed it, and I felt heavier when I hit it. I tried all the stones. I felt the miracle. The big stone, especially, drastically changed its weight. I was surprised.

I am not sure you can believe this story, but I think it would happen in Kyoto. Kyoto is a mysterious city.

The girls wanted to explain about these magical stones to the couple from abroad. The girls tried to invite the couple to the small house, but there was miscommunication. The couple got angry and went away. This was a sad incident for all of them.

Language includes body language. Our body language might not have common universal meanings. We use body language in daily life, but these could have bad meanings in a different part of the planet.

Studying foreign languages is bothersome, but we have to study them steadily.

Japanese 

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Memories Are Four-by-Three

Love Is Like After the Rain was a Japanese animated product. It was on air in 2018. Already, it is a kind of old animation.

When I was watching this product on TV, I was surprised by the direction in that.

Let me explain the story. There is a high school girl. She was a hopeful track-and-field athlete, but she had an accident. She had to give up being an athlete. She started to do part-time work in a family restaurant after school. She started to love the store manager.

The manager was forty-five years old, a middle-aged man.

I was almost the same age at that time. This story gave me encouragement.

The manager also had a sad story in his life. He was divorced. He wanted to be a novelist, but he was still a manager.

One rainy day, they met. The story went on with them showing their sad pasts.

There was a big difference between the girl’s past and the manager’s past.

They showed the girl’s past with normal pictures, but the point is the manager’s past. They showed the manager’s past intentionally as four-by-three-resolution pictures. Once, all the pictures in a TV show were in four-by-three. Now we are watching sixteen-to-nine resolution. When we look at the TV now, if the TV station is on air and has recorded old pictures, the picture changes to four-to-three. Then, we realized it was an old picture.

The animation crew used that effect as the direction. The girl and the manager belong to different generations.

I don’t know whether the direction worked or not, but I remember a similar direction.

Once, memories were all monochrome.

I remember a drama was on air with a colored picture. A character started one’s memory, and a monochrome picture started to show past incidents.

I think this direction is not often used these days. Maybe the younger generation hasn’t experienced monochrome movies and TV. This direction could be hard to take now.

My parents’ generation enjoyed monochrome movies when they were young. They might never think monochrome would be a symbol of the past. Furthermore, most people would forget about monochrome.

Now, we are enjoying social media. It will be a symbol of the past, and everyone will forget about it someday.

Japanese

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Egg Shop

　My wife buys eggs at a shop that specializes in eggs. Most Japanese buy eggs at the supermarket. I asked my wife why she buys eggs at the egg shop. She got mad at my question. According to her, it’s because of me.

 I lived with my mother who had Alzheimer’s for fourteen years. There are many difficulties involved in living with someone with Alzheimer’s. In my case, the lack of sleep was the hardest aspect.

 For someone with Alzheimer’s, when they wake up, it’s morning to them. My mother often used to cause trouble in the middle of the night. She always disturbed my good sleep.

 When I decided to get social welfare help, a care manager asked me one question: “If you use short-stay care and have some time to yourself, what do you want to do?”

I answered “I want to sleep.”

　If you suffer from a lack of sleep for a long period, you will be half asleep. Someone in that condition might talk nonsense. And they won’t be able to remember what they talked about.

 Apparently, when I was half asleep, I told my wife, “You have to buy eggs at a shop that specializes in eggs. Don’t buy them at a supermarket. The eggs from an egg shop will be fresh and delicious! You understand?”

 My parents never bought eggs from egg shop. I have never been to any egg shops in my life. I have no idea why I said this. I don’t even remember the incident.

 My wife obeyed my request. She started to buy eggs from an egg shop. She didn’t know I was half asleep at that time until I asked the question.

 My mother has already passed away, but my wife keeps buying eggs from the egg shop.

　Scientists study the brain and dreams. I have read those kinds of books. I have never read a book about being half asleep. They should study that phenomenon.

 How are the eggs from the egg shop? They are good, but I can’t tell the difference between them and the eggs from a supermarket. I don’t think there is any need to buy eggs at an egg shop.

 Messages from dreams can be mysterious. We should study them. Messages from a half-asleep person can also be mysterious. But we shouldn’t study those closely.

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Japanese 

Picture by Urelzita

We Assumed It Was a Joke

 

 My wife’s sister is working in London as a nurse.

 Sometimes we talk on Skype.

 When the pandemic started, the hospital my sister-in-law was working for didn’t have enough PPE. They had just one size. There were bigger and smaller nurses in the hospital. Only my sister-in-law fitted the PPE they had. So, she took care of the very first COVID-19 patients in her hospital. She became the most experienced nurse there. After that, she moved to a hospital that specialized in COVID-19 cases.

 In those days, the TV news informed us about the pandemic all day every day. At that time, there were about one hundred patients in Japan.

 My wife and I talked to her sister on Skype, telling here, “There are about one hundred patients in Japan.”

My sister-in-law said, “There are over five thousand patients in the UK.”

 Unconsciously, my wife and I laughed. We assumed she was joking. There were too many patients for it to be true.

My sister-in-law scolded us. It wasn’t a laughing matter. She was working on the front line dealing with COVID-19. She would never tell that kind of joke.

 Sometimes, the worst situation sounds like a joke.

 Now, we have survived the pandemic. My sister-in-law went back to her original hospital.

 We hope there will never be a pandemic again.

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Japanese

Picture by Tsuneo MP

 

Warning Sound

　This is a memory from when I was a child.

 One summer night, someone didn’t close the door of our refrigerator. We slept through the night. The next morning, we found a disaster had occurred. I remember my mother cleaning the refrigerator and dumping food that had gone bad. She was almost crying.

 These days, we don’t experience that kind of disaster very often. Modern refrigerators make a warning sound when someone leaves the doors open for a while. When we clean the refrigerator, we need to open the door for a long time. In this case, the sound gets very annoying.

 One day, I opened the door of our refrigerator. My wife was watching TV. I left the kitchen. I heard a sound, so I assumed I hadn’t closed the door. I returned to the kitchen. I checked the refrigerator. But the doors were closed. The sound was not from the refrigerator. What was it? Then, I heard the same sound again. I froze. Which home appliance was warning me? What was happening?

 Actually, the sound was coming from the TV. My wife was watching a fencing match on TV. In a fencing match, if a player gets a point, a machine makes an electronic sound. The sound is similar to our refrigerator’s warning sound.

 When I was a child, the only talkative home appliances were the radio, the record player, and the TV. These days, all appliances are very talkative. When I hear a mysterious electronic sound at home, I start to worry. If it was the sound warning us of a gas leak, it would be dangerous.

 Why are our refrigerator’s sound and the sound used in fencing so similar? I guess the designer of our refrigerator might have been a fencer.

 Japanese

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Picture by freehand