Intellectual property rights

 We tend to assume the concepts of intellectual property rights or copyright were established in the modern world. However, a particular ethnic group in Africa has strict traditional rules about rights concerning songs.

 The rules are these. If there is a song, the owner of the song must be just one person. Other people are not allowed to sing that song. Even if you love a song and memorize the song, you can’t sing it. If you sing the song without permission from the owner, you are a thief. According to the rules you should not record or listen to any songs. KARAOKE? No way!

 If you want to listen to a song, you need to visit the owner and ask him or her to sing.

 It could be an interesting society.

If you think:

“Wow! I want to listen to the song. The song belongs to the person who lives in the next town.”

You need to visit the town, maybe with some presents. If the owner is not well or not in a singing mood, you need to stay and wait in the town for a while. Finally, you may get to listen to the song.

 It is possible to imagine people naturally gather around an elderly person who is lying in his or her deathbed.

The elderly person would say:

“Thank you for taking care of me for a long time. I want to give you my property. I will give you my farms. I will give you my cows. I will give you my songs…”

People could finally get the right to sing songs this way.

 I found this information in a book which was written by a cultural anthropologist ten years ago. So I am not sure if the ethnic group is keeping to the rules now. Africa! I heard there have been rapid economic developments in some areas. It is possible that the people in the ethnic group could download music from the internet and sing KARAOKE now.

Picture by Katyau

My father’s occupational disease

 My father was a reporter at a local newspaper company. When he was around forty years old he became hearing-impaired. Then he quit his job as a reporter and became a proofreader for the company, because being hearing handicap does not affect proofreading.

 Actually I heard he was an excellent proofreader. His co-worker described my father as “A proofreader who has the power of ten men”.

 But his occupational disease made our nursing care for him very difficult. He found it difficult to hear. So when I needed to discuss something with him I had to communicate with him in writing. He was a professional proofreader. When I made grammar mistakes or spelling mistakes, he scolded me very severely. Every time I showed my writing to my father, I felt very nervous, as if it was a test.

 My father needed to go to hospital three times a week because he needed kidney dialysis when he was sixty two years old. He had continued dialysis for sixteen years.

 One day a young nurse who worked at the hospital called me. She needed to talk with me about my father. She said:

“Your father doesn’t follow my advice. Recently he even refused to read a memo I wrote.”

She let me read the memo my father refused to read. I understood why my father had refused to read it.

 We should not blame her. Nurses require various abilities. They do not work at a newspaper company. Writing is not their most important skill. If there were a nurse who was good at writing but bad at giving injections, I would stay away from the nurse. If there were a nurse who never made a spelling mistake but always made mistakes with medication, I would run away from the hospital.

 My father was a proofreader. Maybe he had tried to educate the nurse to write a good memo. Tough love was the main educational way of his generation.

I asked my father:

“Young people these days are not familiar with tough love. Could you go a little easy on them?”

After that my father became more corporative to the nurse.

 In the future, the same things will happen to us when we are in hospital or a facility for the elderly.

I am a kind of actor. If young actors came to entertain us in my facility, I would get angry and would say:

“I can’t watch your terrible acting!”

If a cook were in a nursing home, he or she would get angry and would say:

“I can’t eat this terrible meal!”

If a carpenter were in an elderly welfare facility he or she would get angry and would say:

“I can’t live in this terrible housing!”

 All of us have careers. All of us will have occupational diseases when we get old. They could make nursing care for us difficult.

Picture　by　patrykkosmider

Ninja technique “Pretending to be a little bit stupid”

 

 Recently I read an academic book about Ninja. The author had read ancient documents about Ninja and analyzed them.

 I assumed Ninjas were specialists in martial arts. Actually their main activity was spying. Some documents say “If you are discovered by your enemy, just run away. Never fight. Killing two or three enemies has no value. You should bring important information to your side.”

 In this book, I read about an interesting Ninja technique. We should call that technique “Pretending to be a little bit stupid”. In this situation, a Ninja is hiding in enemy territory disguised as an enemy soldier. An enemy soldier might ask the Ninja for a password. The Ninja could not know the newest password. In that case, the document recommends “You should pretend to be a little bit stupid”. Passwords were renewed all the time. A slightly stupid person wouldn’t be able to remember the latest one. Sometimes a kind-hearted enemy would tell the Ninja the newest password.

 Actual Ninja could be like this.

 We live in a modern digital society. Sometime we are asked for passwords. Digital systems tell us “The password needs to include a number or a capital letter” or “You need change the password frequently”. It is very bothersome. I often forget a password which I have chosen myself. I am a little bit stupid but digital systems can’t accept the ancient Ninja technique. It just doesn’t work. There is no kind-hearted enemy in the modern world.

Picture by　TopVectors

The night in KASUMIGAURA

 

 In 1988, I was a freshman at university. During the summer vacation I travelled around east Japan by bicycle.

 I spent one night in Tokyo then started to travel towards the north east of Japan. My next goal was the youth hostel in KASUMIGAURA in IBARAGI prefecture.

 When I was on the road I saw a young man wearing a shirt on which was written “Anti-nuclear power plant”. He was riding a bicycle in the same direction as me. I thought he might be an interesting fellow. So I followed him for a while. But his riding speed was too slow, so I overtook him. Then I arrived at the youth hostel before sunset.

 In those days, local youth hostels were like conversation salons where travelers could enjoy talking about various topics. I was also enjoying myself there.

 Somebody asked a middle aged person:

“What kind of work do you do?”

The person answered:

“I work at a nuclear power plant.”

I remembered the anti-nuclear guy I had overtaken during the day. So I told him:

“I saw a person wearing an “anti-nuclear power plant” shirt today.”

The power-plant-guy answered:

“I know some people have such ideas about nuclear power plants, but…”

He started to explain fluently why we need nuclear power plants.

Most of the travelers listened to this explanation with a smile. It had been two years since the incident in Chernobyl, but most of the people in Japan, including me, didn’t think about that problem so seriously.

 After dinner and a bath we had time to relax and chat again. Then the owner of the youth hostel said to us:

“One guest who was supposed to stay here tonight has not arrived. I can’t clean the table and the bath.”

We answered:

“The guest must have cancelled. It is already late”.

The owner said:

“No, he called me and said “I am on the way from Tokyo by bicycle. Don’t close the gate. I will definitely arrive there tonight.”

 I remembered the anti-nuclear-guy again, because I had also left Tokyo that morning. On the way the guy was the only bicycle-traveler I overtook. So I said:

“The guest could be the anti-nuclear-guy I saw.”

Everyone laughed and said.

“It will never happen.”

Finally the guest arrived by bicycle. The guest was indeed the guy wearing the anti-nuclear-plant-shirt I had seen. Everyone in the hostel was surprised.

 The anti-nuclear-plant guy went to the bath. Most of worried about what would happen tonight, but an optimistic traveler started live coverage of the situation to us:

“The greatest match of the century is coming soon! The challenger, the anti-nuclear-plant-guy has finished his bath. He is putting his clothes. What kind of shirt? Of course it has the slogan “Anti-nuclear-plant”! The champion, the nuclear-plant-guy is prepared to engage the enemy!” 

The worker from the nuclear plant turned pale and said:

“First of all, I did not to want to work for a nuclear plant. It is just my job. I didn’t have choice”

 The anti-nuclear-guy came to the living room. He joined our circle. He explained the purpose of his trip. As an anti-nuclear-plant action, he planned to visit all the nuclear plants in north east Japan by bicycle, wearing the anti-nuclear-plant-shirt.

 The tension in the living room was extreme.

 I was eighteen. Of course I was reckless and a greenhorn. I pointed at the  nuclear plant worker and said:

“He works at a nuclear plant!”

After a long silence, the anti-nuclear-plant-guy said.

“I am so happy to meet you. I started my travel because I wanted to listen to people like you!”

 I can’t remember what they talked about after that, but the hostel became a salon again. I guess all of us enjoyed talking.

 About thirty years has passed. The nuclear plant worker has been able to climb the career ladder. The anti-nuclear-plant-guy may be a leader of an anti-nuclear-plant movement. It was in 1988, long before the incidents in Fukushima.

 If they met now, could they talk gently like that night? I don’t know.

Picture by kathygold

 

animation ENGAWA KOMYU-KOMYU A dream about the future

Finally we made it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEOiKfJH1Ro

“Alzheimer’s patients are mirrors which reflect their caregivers”?

 A medical specialist for Alzheimer’s disease wrote “Alzheimer’s patients are mirrors which reflect their caregivers” in his book. It means if a caregiver yells at or punches a patient, the patient also starts to yell or punch people. If caregivers treat patients gently, the patient treat other people gently.

 I found out about the theory by myself. It is easy to imagine if you assume you have Alzheimer’s disease. The patients basically always cause trouble. They do things which make people mad, but they can’t remember what they have done. From the patients’ point of view, people start to yell or punch you without any reason. Closer people attack you more aggressively. It is pure hell. You need to protect yourself. You need to start to yell or punch people.

 But I don’t want to insist on this theory strongly, because every patient is an individual. First of all, there are naturally aggressive or violent people. If these people became patients, they might keep yelling and punching all the time. Furthermore, atrophying of brains varies with individuals. Even if all caregivers treat patients nicely, there might be aggressive or violent patients.

 Even if this theory is correct, I don’t want to blame the caregivers. They sacrifice themselves to give care. Family members in particular need to spend a long time caring for patients. Taking care of those with Alzheimer’s disease is very stressful. It is almost impossible to spend a long time with a patient without feeling any anger. Caregivers naturally tend to experience crises that to make them mad. But they are basically good people. They love the patients, which is why they started to take care of them.

If I found a patient who always yelled and punched people, I would not be comfortable blaming the caregivers:

 “He or she behaves like this because you abused him or her!”

 Because of luck or because of the good quality of our care, my mother behaves gently. Ten years ago my mother and I yelled at each other every day. But I quit yelling at her when a doctor diagnosed her as having Alzheimer’s disease. I have never yelled at her since the diagnosis. But there were tons of times when I wanted to yell and punch her. Even now, I sometimes face such crises.

 My wife started to live with my mother three years ago. Last month when my mother and my wife were at home just the two of them, my mother tried to do terrible a thing in front of my wife. So my wife yelled at my mother. That was the first time she had done that. My mother yelled back at her immediately. My wife was very surprised because usually my mother is so calm.

 “The mirror theory” could be correct, at least in our home.

 The theory is simple, but applying it is very hard.

 

Picture by photo2465

 

The inane person in SHIRETOKO

 In 1988, I was a freshman at university. During the summer vacation I travelled around east Japan by bicycle.

When I approached SHIRETOKO in HOKKAIDO, a middle-aged guy in a car said hello to me. He said:

“If you’re going to SHIRETOKO, I will give you a ride.”

I accepted. The guy put my bicycle in the trunk. I sat in the passenger seat. We enjoyed chatting and driving. But suddenly he stopped the car and said:

“Excuse me. Could you wait in the car?”

Then he got out of the car and walked up to a young couple on the road. He started to scold them. His face reddened with anger. I couldn’t hear what they were talking but I realized some emergency had occurred.

 I assumed he was insane. I thought:

(Oh, God! I am in an insane man’s car. I have to find a way to escape.)

After a few minutes, he came back to the car and explained briefly.

“We should not feed wild animals.”

I couldn’t understand what he meant. The young couple had put bread on the road. After they were scolded they picked up the bread.

 I couldn’t understand what was happening. I could only think about how to run away from him.

Actually I didn’t need to find a way to escape. When we arrived in SHIRETOKO he gently stopped the car and we parted. Of course I never gave him any contact information because I still thought he was insane.

 Later, I understood what he was doing.

Feeding wild animals is strictly forbidden in Hokkaido. If wild animals learn they can get food from people they will come to the road and be hit by cars. If wild bears connect people with food, they will come into towns. If we find bears in a town, we have to kill them with guns. Tourists are not familiar with this situation so they often give food to wild animals, but it risks the lives of the wild animals as well as people.

 The middle-aged guy was a volunteer who found tourists who were not aware of this problem and warned them. He was doing an important job that saves wild animals’ and people’s lives. I am sorry I thought he was insane.

 Two years ago, I went to Hokkaido by plane. A local TV announcer said “We should not feed wild animals. Let us give a good example to the tourists”.

 Almost thirty years has passed. I wonder if the “insane man” is still patrolling in SHIRETOKO.

 

Japanese version

http://miurashujiro.blog.shinobi.jp/

Picture by ayacon