Nightmare

One night, I had a nightmare. I jumped up from the nightmare. I was sweating a lot. My heart was beating very quickly. I was relieved when I realized it was a dream. I went back to sleep again.

The next morning, I checked my smartwatch. It recorded that I had woken up in the middle of the night. It also recorded my heart rate. It was for a very short time, but my heart rate was as fast as when I have been doing strenuous exercise.

This could be used as a good dieting method in the future. You can sleep while using this method, but you can also do strenuous exercise. If you invent such a method, you will get tons of money.

But if I need to experience nightmares while using this method, I don’t want to try it. I don’t want to experience any nightmares.

Someone, please, invent a new method I can use to have a good night’s sleep and nice dreams while dieting in a healthy way.

 

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Japanese 

May Be a Friend

 One day in spring, my wife and I went for a drive. Of course, my wife was driving the car. I am not good at driving, but I can enjoy the drive. What a wonderful day!

 We stopped because the traffic signal was red. In the next seconds, we felt a shock. We heard a crashing sound.

 Our car was bumped by a truck from behind.

 I bought the car for the memory of our marriage, but it was badly broken. At that moment, it became a scrapped car.

 When the truck hit, I looked back at the driver. I saw that he was putting down his smartphone. I am sure he was driving while using the smartphone.

 Luckily, no one was injured in this accident. Policemen came, and we did all the procedures after the accident. We exchanged phone numbers with the truck driver.

 After everything, my wife and I went back to our normal life. I checked my smartphone. Facebook showed the truck driver’s page and read “May be a friend.”

 He is not my friend. I don’t want a friend who drives and uses a smartphone at the same time.

 I love social media, but sometimes, it is insensitive.

 

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My Great-Grandfather’s Retirement Allowance

 Will you get a retirement allowance in your future? It depends on your working style. If you work for a Japanese-style company as a full-time worker, you can get a lot of money when you retire. If you can get it, do you have plans to make an efficient investment of funds?

 For your information, I shall tell you an old story about my great-grandfather’s investment plan.

 My great-grandfather was an elementary school teacher. When he retired, he successfully got his retirement allowance. 

 His investment plan was this: He lent land and built many small houses for rent. He could get rental income and enjoy his old age.

 His plan worked for a while.

 But my grandfather recommended changing the plan and selling the houses. My grandfather was a highly educated person who graduated from a national university. It was during WWⅡ, so if there were an air raid at the houses, my great-grandfather would lose all of his property.

 My great-grandfather refused to sell them. He said he had donated tons of money to a shrine. He believed no bomb would ever come to his houses because of religious power. My great-grandfather was a religious and highly educated person. My grandfather tried to persuade him logically, but it was in vain.

 Sometimes, a religious person could be stubborn.

 I respect all religions in the world. When I visit churches, shrines, temples, and other holy places, I pray sincerely. But I also know religions never work like that. Any religion doesn’t work depends on money.

 As a result, my great-grandfather’s houses were all burned down. He didn’t own the land. He lost his retirement allowance.

 If he had had a different plan, my family might still be rich.

 Financial planning is always difficult.

 

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April in Japan

Are you coming to Japan? When?

 April is a good time to visit Japan. Those are warm days. You can watch cherry blossoms. It is a highly recommended season.

 But be careful because in April, Japan experiences small inconveniences every year.

 Schools, companies, and government offices all start the new term on the first day of April. Many people are given transfer notices. There are many freshmen in all fields.

 In a train, most Japanese people follow some unwritten rules, like giving way to passengers getting off at a busy station. But in April, you can find many people who don’t know the rules. So sometimes, some disruptions happen in trains. The train crew could also be freshmen. Japanese train systems are punctual. But in April, there are many delays.

 When we drive in April, we can find new drivers on the roads. Some people may be from different areas. They are not familiar with the roads. I am really careful to drive in April. I feel that my blood freezes a few times in April.

 Even in TV, there are many technical issues on pictures and sounds in April. I guess new TV workers make mistakes in April.

 If you go to a hospital in April, you need to be a little brave. It depends on the hospital, though. Some doctors tend to recommend that patients take a blood sample. Of course, in some cases, the doctors really need a blood sample for your health, but actually, some doctors want newbie nurses to have an experience taking a blood sample. I had an encounter with a neophyte nurse who had not yet experienced taking blood samples from a patient. I was the first. I had blood congestion for two weeks. I contributed to the medical world.

 Everyone was a freshman once. Everyone could be a freshman again. All you need is to tolerate April in Japan.

 Please come to Japan in April. You can experience wild Japan.

 

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Treated Like a Child

 When I was a university student, I was invited to a party with my mother and her friends in a restaurant. My mother had many friends, and she often asked me to accompany her to her meetings with her friends.

 At the dinner, I felt a strange atmosphere. It started when I saw a man and a woman who were sitting separately but paying attention to each other. I didn’t know why.

 I guessed they might be a divorced couple. This might not be a simple dinner party. It could be an opportunity for an intentional reunion for them.

 Actually, I was wrong, but my guess was kind of close. It was an arranged introduction for marriage. Officially, we had a dinner party, but it was also an event for the meeting of the man and the woman.

 In that case, I wanted to be involved. I could be supportive. I had no idea that was an arranged introduction for marriage. I was already a university student. I could understand the situation. My mother didn’t tell me; I think she treated me like a child.

 I didn’t know the situation, so I made a mistake.

 The man started to talk about his adventure. He traveled all around Biwa Lake (the biggest lake in Japan) by bicycle. After that, I talked about my adventure. I traveled all around Hokkaido (the largest prefecture in Japan) by bicycle. I think my story was not supportive of him. 

 If I knew that it was an arranged introduction for marriage, I shouldn’t have told my story about Hokkaido.

 I don’t know if they got married or not after that.

 If you have a party with a specific purpose, inform all the party members, including university students. We should not treat university students as children.

 

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Thinking New Music is “Noise”

When I was a high school student, I loved Blue Hearts very much. Blue Hearts is a Japanese punk rock band. I often listened to their music on cassette tapes. My mother listened to some of the music, and she said, “Why is such a bad singer singing a song?”

I was shocked. I doubted my mother’s intellect. This was punk rock. The vocalist should not be evaluated as “good” or “bad.”

My mother was a highly intelligent person. Her opinion was not related to her intellect. It was her way of looking at music. When she was young, singers had to be well-trained, which meant they were professional singers. That was common sense in my mother’s time.

I listened to the Beatles when I was a child. Everyone loved them. But when I researched them, I found that the Beatles were controversial in their early years. Some of the harsher critics described their music as “noise”.

When I was a junior high school student, I studied baroque music. I actually listened to records of some of it. I felt this music was boring. But the word “baroque” meant “twisted like a baroque pearl”; that is, “bizarre” and “foolish.” The original meaning had a negative connotation. In the early modern age, baroque music was like punk rock; it didn’t follow the old rules.

I’m not saying that my mother, the critics who criticized the Beatles, and the people who called the new style of music “baroque” are all stupid.

My point is that all of us, someday, will reach an age when we hear new music and think of it as just “noise.” If we have a long life, we can’t avoid that. That is a symptom of aging.

Luckily, I can still enjoy the newest music. I have never reached that age. But I still feel that the music that I loved when I was young is good.

Someday, I will reach that age. In that case, I will never say negative things about new music. I will pretend that I also enjoy it, so younger people won’t make fun of me.

“The newest music! I like it!”

 

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Blur

Since I’m studying the Chinese language, I watch Chinese TV dramas, which are easily accessible in Japan. A few years ago, I came across something unusual in a Chinese program. Part of the screen was blurred out, even though nothing shocking was going on.

It was a Chinese show about high school students. In the morning, the heroine woke up in her bed, and large parts of the bed were blurred out. It was unlikely that she had anything indecent in her bed, so I guessed the blurred objects were stuffed toys; maybe Mickey Mouse or Doraemon. In China, showing such things might be OK. But in Japan, they couldn’t show copyrighted goods without permission.

I remember a particular episode about the relationship between the heroine and a boy. One day, they had a quarrel because of a misunderstanding. She bought a pair of T-shirts, which I guessed each had a character from Tom and Jerry. She kept the Jerry T-shirt and sent the Tom T-shirt to the boy. At first, the boy refused to wear the shirt, but finally, their misunderstanding was resolved. The boy put on the Tom T-shirt, and they healed their relationship with the pair of T-shirts.

It was a happy ending to a cute story. Of course, I’m not sure the T-shirts really were Tom and Jerry, because the pictures on them were blurred from the beginning to the end.

I think this clearly showed that most people in China love American animation. Isn’t there a better way to broadcast this episode in Japan, though?

I also wish all relationships ended up as happily.

 

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Difficult Place

My wife is a runner. She takes part in the Nagoya Women’s Marathon every year. I visit the venue to root for her every year.

I asked her which point I should go to on the course. She answered that she needs support at the most difficult place. This place is near Nagoya Castle (Meijo) Park. It is around the thirty-five-kilometer point. The course is slightly uphill. That is the toughest for runners. No one lives in the park. On the opposite side of the park is a university. There are no students there on Sundays. So, there are few supporters at the most difficult point.

So, I go to that point when she runs every year. I bring some snacks and drinks to give her.

One year, I went to Nagoya Castle Park, and I was surprised. There was a booth on the course. They played music and served cups of drinks.

On the signboard was written “Red Bull.” They served Red Bull to runners.

The Red Bull company is great! They researched the most difficult place on the course. They found the most effective advertising point at this event.

Advertising must be like this. People never forget someone who helped them during their hardest time.

However, my wife doesn’t drink Red Bull except at marathon events. She drinks beer and lemon sour.

If you come to Nagoya Women’s Marathon to cheer on the runners, I have already recommended this viewing point. But the Red Bull booth only gives Red Bull to the runners. They don’t give it to supporters.　

Maybe they will give you wings.

 

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My Recommended Chinese TV Drama End of the Beginning

My Chinese TV Drama Recommendation: End of the Beginning

 

I am studying Chinese language. I watch many Chinese TV dramas. These are easy to watch in Japan. I started to watch Chinese dramas in the 2000s. I am surprised because they are rapidly progressing.

Today, I want to introduce a Chinese TV drama I recommend, End of the Beginning. I don’t know the actual English title of the drama in your country. I don’t know if you can even watch the drama in your country.

Most good TV dramas in China are period plays. A lot of money is spent on making those. But End of the Beginning is a modern play. It is an exception among Chinese TV dramas. It is modern, but the story starts from 2000. It covers twenty-one years up to 2021 and an additional few years. The PHS (Personal Handy-phone System, an early mobile network system in Asia that was developed in the 1990s)  features prominently.

There are two leading roles.

One is An. He is a policeman with strong sense of justice. He is always fair to everyone. Even criminals start to trust him because he is an extremely honorable man. But he does not know how to get along in the world. He is not interested in promotion. He hardly ever gets promoted.

The other lead is Gao. He is a fish shop owner when the story starts. His educational background is not good. But he is a smart and brave man. One day, he is offered an illegal job. He can’t refuse. After that day, he needs to get involved in fighting between mafia groups. He always wins. He becomes a mafia boss. But he also loves his wife. And he is a henpecked husband.

This drama describes the struggles between policemen and the mafia focusing on these two guys with contrasting characters.

I was surprised when I watched this drama because it describes bribery. It describes corrupted policemen and politicians. These topics are very sensitive in China.

Ironically, a policeman’s enemy is another policeman. And a mafia member’s enemy is another mafia member. Policemen and the mafia have complex relationships.

I felt the scenarios were well thought out. The writers did a lot of research on policemen and the mafia. The drama introduces various tricks that the mafia use to corrupt ordinary people.

I heard that media regulation is very strict in China. I guess the scenario writers needed to rewrite the scenarios again and again to clear government regulations. In this case, I think it made the drama more profound.

I found some scenes of the story to be unnatural. I guess it is because of these regulations. These kinds of regulations are like taxes for making dramas in China. We should ignore them.

Policeman An and fish shop owner Gao are played by middle-aged actors. Makeup artists did a good job making them look younger and older to cover a period of more than twenty years. They are not typical good-looking guys. But they say attractive lines and act in attractive ways. Magically, I started to recognize that they are cool.

Thirty-nine episodes. It was released in 2023.

If you are looking for a good drama in Chinese, I recommend this one.

 

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Hokattoite

Dialects are the most complex aspects of languages. My wife and I are from the same part of Japan, so usually, we can communicate easily. Even so, we still sometimes misunderstand each other’s words.

One day, we cleaned up our house. My wife put her CDs in a garbage bag. CDs once held so much meaning for our generation. When I was a high school student, I bought a CD of my favorite artist’s songs. For me, it was very expensive, so the CD was my treasure. But now, I have only a few CDs in my room. I download music or listen to it on demand.

I understood it was time for my wife to say goodbye to her CDs.

The next morning, I asked her, “Shall I dump the garbage bag with the CDs?” She thought for a while and answered me with the Japanese word “hokattoite.”

Hokattoite is a common dialect word in the western part of Japan. It has two meanings. One is “don’t touch,” while the other is “dump it.”

I assumed she meant the second meaning, so I dumped the bag. When I returned home, my wife asked me, “what did you do with the garbage bag?” I answered, “I dumped it.” She really told me off. She said, “I told you not to touch it.”

Luckily, the garbage truck had not yet arrived. My wife got to keep her CDs.

You know, language is very difficult.

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Master of Karate

　The pandemic altered the restaurant landscape in my city. Japan didn’t experience a lockdown, but many restaurants closed down anyway. I felt sorry for them because I used to work for a restaurant when I was a student.

I still remember a restaurant that was open, but there were no customers. The clerks silently wiped the tables and chairs. Such sights were tragic.

Incidentally, The Karate Kid is one of my favorite American movies. In the movie, a boy wants to learn karate from a master. But the master doesn’t teach him fighting moves; instead, he makes the boy wax cars and paint walls. The boy assumes these are mere chores, but actually, they are fundamental training for karate.

It is possible to think that wiping tables and chairs could be fundamental training for karate. Every clerk who experienced the pandemic could be a master of karate. You should not fight against clerks. They might be strong.

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Celebrate the Birthdays

            When I was an elementary school student, my mother declared to all the family members: “From now on, we will never celebrate family members’ birthdays! Instead of that, we will have a gorgeous dinner in a high-class French restaurant once a year!”

 

I don’t recommend this. However, it might be one of the solutions to the birthday presents problem. Birthday presents become more difficult and more expensive year by year.

 

My mother became famous and busy during those days. She was popular and busy, but we were not rich. My mother was a creative woman. She invented the easy and cheap birthday present system. No one could say anything against my mother among my family members.

 

             Actually, from that day on, we have never celebrated our birthdays. Our family lost all the traditions of giving birthday presents. I started to forget my family members’ birthdays until I became an adult and left my parents’ house.

 

My mother was famous. Sometimes, she was on TV or newspapers. Prosperity makes friends. She was always surrounded by many “friends.” Once, when I returned to my parents’ house, one of the “friends” scolded me, saying, “I heard you never called your mother on her birthday. You have never given her a birthday present. You are an unfilial son!”

 

 I didn’t say that my mother started it. If you make a rule, you have to keep the rule. If you didn’t give birthday presents to a child, you would never be given birthday presents from the child, too. I didn’t get birthday presents from my parents. I have never given a birthday present to my parents either, but when my mother got Alzheimer’s disease, I lived with her for fourteen years and gave her care. After she moved to a nursing home, I visited her every week for six years.

 

The “friend” who scolded me vanished after my mother got Alzheimer’s disease. She had never taken part in caregiving. We lost contact with her. I don’t even know where she is now. If you know where she is, let me know. I have something to say to her.

 

When I started caring for my mother, I regretted that I didn’t memorize my parents’ birthdays. Governmental offices, hospitals, and nursing homes required me to fill out forms. I needed to write down my parents’ birthdays. I couldn’t remember. Hence, I had to check their birthdays every time. Because of complex reasons, my family name and my parents’ family names are different. All the clerks gave me a dubious look as if I were a fishy person. I believe caring for one’s parents is a good thing. However, most people doubted me. I almost lost my motivation.

 

Dear friends, celebrate your dear people’s birthdays. If you are too busy to celebrate your important people’s birthdays, your lifestyle is wrong. Remember, if you don’t celebrate the ones you care about, you will soon forget their birthdays.

 

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Firing a Teacher

              I was once a member of a language class. All the members had already graduated from their schools. The class was managed by the students. We paid a membership fee every time, and we gave all the money to a teacher. That was simple accounting. The class continued for a few years.

 

 One time, a teacher became too busy, which created a problem. She often skipped the class or came in late. She didn’t give us any advance notice for doing that. She could have personal problems. However, all the students were also busy. All of us managed to make time for the class.

 

The students decided to meet and discuss the situation, and we decided to fire her. Actually, I was a main member of the students at that time. I found a new teacher, and now I had to tell our ex-teacher: “You are fired.”

 

             This was a very difficult job for me. She was a nice person. Maybe she was not good at managing time. First of all, she was the person who invited me to the class. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

 

I can still remember the night I called her. I was at a park downtown when I decided to do it. I called her and told a lie that we were too busy to continue the class, so we decided to take a break. I said that we all thanked her for teaching us for a long time. I didn’t tell her we already found a new teacher. I didn’t tell her that we just kicked her out. I think she believed my story. She accepted it. I felt she might have been relieved when I told her about it.

 

I finished my hardest work. Right after, I called my classmate. I reported what happened. My classmates also felt relieved.

 

Afterwards, I called our new teacher. Now, we didn’t have any teachers. Officially, we could invite the new teacher. I said, “I look forward to your class” in a happy tone.

 

I finished all the work for that day. I sat down on the bench to relax, and then I realized a homeless guy was glaring at me. He might have heard all my lines. My stories were contradictory. He might have thought I was a fishy person. It is possible to think that he hates a contradictory and fishy person. That might be why he was homeless. Our society is contradictory and fishy.

 

We continued the class for a few years. The new teacher was good. However, after the Great East Japan Earthquake, we couldn’t continue the class anymore. My city was far from the epicenter, but all of us were affected indirectly. Schools, companies, theater groups, and any organizations found it hard to continue.

 

When people are together, there are many kinds of problems. We tend to look at the leaders of the organization. We should not forget about the shadow workers who actually carry out the organization’s work.

 

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Great Reader

 I have been a great reader since I was a child.

 I guess the reason was that I needed to read a book to protect myself.

 I have an elder brother. He is not a nice person. He always bullied me. My mother never helped me. But if my brother disturbed my reading, my mother would scold him. She thought disturbing someone while they were reading a book was worse than bullying. So, I had to read books to avoid being bullied by my elder brother all the time.

 I often used the school library. I also visited the city library with my friends by bicycle every Saturday.

 Once, my university and workplace were very far from my home. It took about two and a half hours to commute. But this was a joyful time for me. I could read books on the train.

 My home was at the edge of Nagoya city. I needed to take trains to do anything. If I needed to meet someone, I needed to take the train. Usually, I needed to transfer to another train. Most people hate wasting time on transportation. But I loved it because I could read books. In my case, being on a train is the best situation for reading a book.

 I married my wife. There was the pandemic.

 One day, I realized that my reading time had drastically decreased.

 My wife is not a good talker. But she is a nice person. Talking with a nice person is joyful. I read almost no books at home.

 Since the pandemic, I can work and meet people without transportation. Before the pandemic, I took the train to go somewhere every day. But now, I only take the train a few times a month.

　Furthermore, I have my smartphone now. I enjoy games on my smartphone. Sometimes, I also read electronic books on my smartphone. But it is only a few times a month. I almost forget the content.

 I am not a great reader anymore.

 I had an opportunity to talk with a talented young playwright. She said the shocking words: “I hate reading a book.” When I was young, senior playwrights always appealed to how many books they had read.

 A new era is about to come.

 If I had been born in this era, I might stick to my smartphone all day and night. In this case, my mother would never have protected me from my elder brother.

But I am sure we can learn from smartphone games or smartphone movies the same as books. I think they are just different types of media for individual use.

Like me, most great readers didn’t use to have good conversation partners at home. Or most of them needed to spend time on transportation. Since smartphones’ spread, they have another option to spend their time.

A famous Japanese novelist, Osamu Dazai, wrote, “Not reading books is proof that a person is not lonely.”

I think we can say the same thing about smartphones and games. If a person is not lonely, they never need any book, smartphone, or game.

Most people can’t spend their lifetime without being lonely. Books used to be our only friends when we were lonely. But we have other options now. I think it is a good thing.

 

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Seven-Herb Rice Porridge

 Generally, Japanese people eat seven-herb rice porridge on January 7. It is an old Japanese tradition. Some people believe it can keep people healthy.

 Actually, I never ate it when I was a child. Because my mother tended to doubt all superstitions.

 My mother was a strong woman. She was always the leader of our family. But she got Alzheimer’s. Then, my father became the leader of our family. But at that time, he had disabilities in his body. He just provided direction to me.

 One January 7, he bought a package of seven herbs and said, “We should eat seven-herb rice porridge. Make it.” I didn’t know he loved that kind of tradition. I was surprised. But I tried to make it. I used to work at a restaurant. Cooking is not difficult for me. Actually, I made all my family’s meals at that time. But I needed to check how to make seven-herb rice porridge on the internet.

 I assumed I made a perfect seven-herb rice porridge. It was the same as the sample picture on the internet. I proudly served the seven-herb rice porridge to my parents. But my father was not happy about it.

 He said, “This is not seven-herb rice porridge.”

 I was confused. Seven-herb rice porridge is not a difficult dish. Could the information on the internet be wrong? According to my father, I needed to add more water to make it. His ideal seven-herb porridge must be much more like soup. In Japan, rice porridge is served to sick persons. It is easy to digest. In this case, they add a lot of water. But for healthy people, porridge doesn’t need so much water.

 It is possible that his image of seven-herb porridge formed when he was a child. He had ten siblings. His family was poor. It was during World War II. In those days, many people were starving.

 Maybe my grandmother needed to add a lot of water when she made seven-herb porridge. She didn’t have enough rice to serve ten children.

 I didn’t argue with my father. I remade it into his ideal seven-herb porridge. From that day on, I made his ideal seven-herb porridge for him every year.

 There is no such thing as one correct answer in cooking.

 

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It Takes Ten Years for a Dissatisfied Customer to Come Back

Yakiniku is a popular restaurant style in Japan. You can cook your meal by yourself.

My wife, her parents, and I sometimes go to restaurants. Yakiniku is one of our favorite restaurant styles.

One day, we decided to go our favorite yakiniku restaurant. But the restaurant was closed. So, we went to our second-favorite yakiniku restaurant. But the restaurant was also closed. We could have gone to a different style restaurant. But we really wanted to eat yakiniku. My mother-in-law said, “I know another yakiniku restaurant. But it was not good ten years ago.”

We discussed wanting to eat yakiniku. We didn’t care about the quality of the yakiniku. So, we went to the not-so-good yakiniku restaurant.

But, unexpectedly, the yakiniku restaurant was good. It had a clean room, tables, and chairs. The staff were so polite and friendly. The food was delicious.

Maybe there had been drastic changes during those ten years. The store manager might have changed. Or their operating policies might have changed. I don’t know why, but that restaurant became a delicious yakiniku restaurant.

But if you think about this story from the yakiniku restaurant manager’s side, it is a scary story. If a restaurant gives a bad impression to a customer, the customer would not come back for at least ten years.

I used to work in a restaurant.

Dear friends who work in a restaurant, you are doing a great job. You have to concentrate hard every day. Kudos to you. Kudos again.

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Presents from the Sand Dunes

I visited Tottori prefecture with my wife, her sister, and her sister’s husband.

If you visit Tottori prefecture, you should visit the sand dunes. It is the most famous spot for visitors to Tottori.

We enjoyed climbing up and down the dunes. We also rode on a camel. I strongly recommend visiting the sand dunes.

After we enjoyed the sand dunes, we went to our hotel. Walking around the sand dunes was hard work. I jumped into my bed to relax. After that, we planned to go out for dinner. The hotel was near the sea. We could eat fresh seafood there.

Then, I got up. I was surprised. There was a lot of sand all around my bed. I couldn’t understand how it had happened. I lost my mind for a while.

At that time, I was wearing longer pants than normal. So, I had rolled up my pants. Doing this made pockets in the bottoms of my pants. I walked up and down the sand dunes. The pockets filled with sand. When I jumped into bed, the sand spread around my bed.

This could be a present from the sand dunes. If I slept in that bed, I could dream about the sand dunes. Thank you, sand dunes.

No. I wanted to sleep in a clean bed.

Dear friends, if you visit the Tottori sand dunes, you should wear tight-fitting pants.

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Who Knows the Champion

　　　It is a classic scenario that you may have seen before.

Some competition is taking place, and the final candidates for the championship are on stage in a theater. The stage is dark. You hear drums roaring. The spotlights are wandering. The master of ceremonies opens an envelope. He reads the paper and loudly announces the name of the champion! All the spotlights light up the winner. What a moving moment! Some people will cry at the spectacle.

Now, I have a pop quiz for you.

Before the master of ceremonies opens the envelope, who knows who the champion is? The judges, of course. They decided who it should be. Other than them, a few people know who it is.

Please think about it. I already gave a clue above.

The answer is the stage lighting artists. The judges send the envelope at the same time as they send the information to the lighting crews. They have to light up the champion just as the master announces his name. To do that, the lighting crews need to know who he is.

I know that because my wife is a stage lighting artist. She told me. She said she becomes very nervous when she needs to aim the spotlight in that situation. If she makes a mistake, someone other than the champion could have short-lived joy.

Dear friend, if you see that situation in a theater, you should pay attention to the stage but also to the lighting crew. They are behind the audience. They are also nervous. They might rehearse lighting up the champion on the stage. You could guess who it will be.

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Proofreading by Michael W, ProofreadingServices.com

A New Technology Looks Like a Toy

　When I was a junior high school student, mechanical pencils started to spread among students. We loved those. We were excited to use the new technology. But one of my aged teachers argued, “You should not use those toys. Use a pencil. If you use a knife to sharpen a pencil, it concentrates your mind.”

Actually, I didn’t agree with him. But mechanical pencils had problems in those days. They broke easily. So, I used both pencils and mechanical pencils.

When I was a university student, electronic dictionaries started spreading among students. We loved those. We were excited to use the new technology. But one of my aged professors argued, “You should not use those toys. Use a paper dictionary. You will memorize new words better by using a dictionary.”

Actually, I didn’t agree with him. But I have to admit that the very first electronic dictionary models were very expensive, and they didn’t have as much information as paper dictionaries.

When I was a teacher at a technical school, digital cameras started to spread. I was not interested in those. But one of my senior teachers argued, “Those are not real cameras. Young people miss out on the precious time waiting for photos to develop.”

Another of my senior teachers gave me a digital camera. It wasn’t useful. The number of pixels was too low. That was one of the very first models.

When smartphones started to spread, I thought, “These are toys for people who have a lot of time to kill.”

My wife recommended a smartphone to me, and I started to use it. The first smartphone models ran out of power quickly and froze up easily. But now, I can’t do anything without my smartphone.

Such things have always happened in history. Guns were imported to Japan in 1543. In those days, Japan was in a period of civil war. In 1575, Oda won against Takeda by using guns effectively.

I assumed Takeda didn’t know about guns. But I was wrong. The Takeda faction was aware of guns. They bought and tested them. But their leader’s conclusion was, “These are useless on the battlefield.” Maybe the very first guns brought to Japan were not of high quality.

New technologies always appear disguised as useless toys. The very first models are of poor quality. Young people happily use new technologies. Aged people tend to hesitate. They feel that using a low-grade new thing could be a waste of time. I think old people lose their patience. They are busy. They might feel that the time it takes to learn to use a difficult toy could be humiliating.

Keeping up with the times is hard.

 

Proofreading by Michael W, ProofreadingServices.com

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Mencius’ mother moved three times

This old saying is popular in East Asia. Mencius, also known as Mang-Tze or Mang-Tzu, was a Confucian philosopher during the Warring States Period in China. Some people say Mencius is the second-greatest Confucian philosopher. The greatest is Confucius.

When Mencius was a child, he and his mother moved to a house near a graveyard. Mencius started to play funerals. His mother hated that. So, they moved to a house near a market. But he started to play merchant. His mother hated that. Finally, they moved to a house near a school. He started to play student. Then, he became a great philosopher. Generally, this saying suggests to us that we should give children good educational environments.

Mencius is almost a legendary person. I don’t know if this story is truth or fiction. But I think this story has a deeper meaning than is generally believed.

I don’t think near a school is the best environment. The most important thing is that Mencius had experience playing funerals and merchants. Mencius’s mother hated those. But if they had first moved to a house near a school, I think Mencius couldn’t have become such a great philosopher.

In a graveyard, people move in religious rules. Religiously good people will be praised. Rich or highly educated people are not directly powerful. In our society, people partly move in religious rules.

In a market, people move in market rules. Rich people and people who have attractive goods have the advantage here. Religiously good and highly educated people don’t have direct power.

In a school, people move in school rules. Clever or highly educated people have the advantage here. Religiously good and rich people don’t have power directly.

Roughly said, our society may move based on these three complexly mixed sets of rules. Our society is part graveyard, part market, and part school.

The important thing is that Mencius had experience observing people in a graveyard and a market. He not only observed but also played. It might have given him deeper consideration. That consideration could be what made him a great philosopher.

I think “Mencius’ mother moved three times” means, “Let children experience various things.”

If the order of their moving had been different, Mencius could have become a great religious leader or a great merchant.

However, moving is a very stressful experience for a child. If you have a child, you can’t move easily. When I was a child, some of my best friends had to move to a different town for their parents’ reasons. Those are hard memories for me. Now, I am an adult. I can understand that life is difficult to control. Sometimes, we need to move and ignore children’s feelings. I think “Mencius’ mother moved three times” will encourage people in these situations. If your parenting succeeds and your child becomes a great person, you can make up a good reason for moving.

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Oversleep

Oversleep is the worst excuse for being late. An overslept person is usually scolded.

One of my favorite manga is Parasyte. It was published in the 1990s. The main character is a high school boy. But in his right hand, there is a monster who parasitizes the boy. The monster can talk. Its intelligence is no less than a human being’s.

One day, the boy oversleeps. He complains to the monster: “If you awaken, you should wake me up.” The monster says: “You overslept because you needed sleep … taking rest is a good thing.” He is a monster. He doesn’t care the boy might be late or be scolded.

A few days ago, I overslept. I was late. No one scolded me. But I was embarrassed. That was uncool.

But there was one who praised me. My smartwatch. My smartwatch always evaluates my sleep. That day’s score was better than other days. As if my smartwatch was saying, “Taking rest is a good thing.”

Dear friends, don’t be late. Don’t oversleep. But we are human beings. Sometimes, we will oversleep and be late. But if you have a parasite or a smartwatch on your hand, it will praise you.

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Picture by Juri Takai

Walking Alone at Night

 I believe all men and women have had such an experience.

 I am a man. So, I will start the story from the man’s point of view. A man walks on a street at night. A woman is also walking ahead in the distance in the same direction. The man is faster than the woman. The man approaches the woman slowly. The woman realizes it and runs away from the man. I have experienced that many times. I was always shocked about that. I am not a pervert.

 But from a woman’s perspective, it is natural. An approaching man at night might be scary.

 So, I decided on my rules for when I walk alone at night: Don’t approach a woman. If I see a woman walking alone, I must change the way I am going. Or I should cross the street, then pass her on the opposite side of the street. Otherwise, I rest on the street for a while. When she disappears from my sight, I start going in my direction again. I should not scare a woman. I don’t want to be suspected of being a pervert.

 One night, my wife and I were walking down a street. I had never suspected we could scare anyone. We were a couple. I think couples are harmless. We walked and chatted joyfully. There was a woman ahead at a distance. We slowly approached the woman. Then, the woman started to run away. Why?

 I had forgotten some important information. My wife always wears boyish styles. She looks like a male. Her voice is lower than a typical female’s. Her voice sounds male. From a long distance, we didn’t look like a husband and a wife. We looked like a pair of males. To the woman, we were scary.

 I told my wife that I was shocked. She said, “It is always happening.” She didn’t worry about it.

 My wife does not care, but I care.

 From now on, we need to keep to my rules when we walk together down a street at night.

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Gardener

 I live at my parents’ house. My parents passed away. I took over it. This is my house now. It is a detached house which has a yard.

 When I was young, I lived in a condominium downtown by myself. At that time, I couldn’t even imagine that there was a bothersome job at a detached house. Weeding the yard.

 Weeding is not an exciting job. It is a boring and bothersome one. It is too hot in the summer. It is too cold in the winter.

 I can skip it in midwinter. But except for that, I need to weed almost every day.

 I bought coveralls for weeding. Then I try to believe: “I am a professional gardener.” When I wear the coveralls, I need to keep the yard clean for the owner. The owner is, of course, me.

 I try to imagine I am a professional gardener, but I am not. So, I listen to music through my speaker. I think a real professional gardener does not do that. It is OK. I am a fake gardener.

 One day, one of my wife’s friends came to our home. The friend took her daughter. She was an elementary school student. She saw me when I was weeding our yard. And she asked her mother: “Why is the gardener listening to music?”

 She assumed I was a professional gardener because I was wearing coveralls. Actually, I am the owner of the yard. But I pretended to be a gardener. If she knew I was the owner of the garden, I would have had to give her candy or a snack. I think the owner of a beautiful garden should give candy or a snack to children.

 It is possible to think my neighbors also assumed I was a gardener. They could think my family might be very rich because we can hire a professional gardener every day.

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