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Showing posts from May, 2013

the Last Lunch

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It is difficult to adjust the schedule of all my family. Today is a weekday, but probably the last chance to have lunch together. We went to a Japanese restaurant for my daughters' birthdays and to celebrate my elder daughter's wedding. It might be the last lunch for my family. The hospitality of this restaurant was very good.

Katsura Imperial Villa (1)

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Katsura Imperial Villa is strictly preserved by the Imperial Household Agency, so we need the permission and have to wait for a long time. I applied at the beginning of February. I visited there with my wife yesterday. the Katsura River riverside road around the Entrance Katsura Imperial Villa is located at the south end of Kyoto City, alongside of the Katsura River. It was going to rain, but we didn't need our umbrellas when we arrived there. We entered the gate and showed our permit and drivers licenses. More than 30 visitors, including some foreigners, came at that time. A curator who was a middle-aged man guided and gave us an explanation with Kansai accent and comical talk. Main Gate from the inside At the Miyukimon, it suddenly began to rain hard. The curator comforted us that we were lucky because the moss looked most beautifully on the rainy day.

hug

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We don't have a habit of hugging in Japan. I've never hugged with my wife, as a habit. I can't remember even walking together with hugging her my hand around her waist. It's only because it makes walking difficult. A couple years ago, what I said to my wife made my elder daughter angry and she hadn't talked to me for about a week. One day, she came home drunkenly late at night and suddenly hugged me crying. She said to me, "Dad, I love you, I love you ... I'm sorry for rebelling against you ... Please wash dishes by yourself. I feel sorry for Mother ..." It was a little embarrassing for me. Since then I wash dishes after dinner. We had had a tough time since she was a teenager and she had been living alone for some years. I remember that we went see a circus together and talked about life back then. After she came home to live with us, I got a letter from her on my birthday some years ago. She apologized for her behavior in her early y

Wakayama Castle (2)

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I went to Wakayama city for business this morning. After that, I bought a boxed lunch at a convenience store and visited Wakayama Castle again. It was a beautiful day today, cool in the shade but hot in the sun. The Castle Tower and Ohashi Roka Momijidani Garden in the site of the castle is beautiful. This is Ohashi Roka, or the Bridge Passage; you can enter the inside, free of charge, but it's a little uneasy to walk because of being slippery. inside the Ohashi Roka The Ohashi Roka leads you to Engyokaku (floating pavilion) in the pond. It must be more beautiful in the autumn surrounded by colored leaves. Engyokaku Koshoan The Koshoan is a tea ceremony hut, donated by Konosuke Matsusita, the founder of Panasonic. You can enjoy a cup of Japanese tea even if you don't know the manners.

The Reader

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The author of this book is Bernhard Schlink and the original version was written in German. I read the English version. One day in post-war Germany, Michael, a fifteen-year-old boy, gets sick and on his way home he feels bad and is helped by a beautiful woman named Hanna. She is thirty five years old and is living alone. When he recovers from his hepatitis, he visits Hanna's apartment to thank her. After that they become lovers. His reading aloud to Hanna strangely becomes their routine after their love affair. One day she suddenly disappears. A few years later, he sees Hanna by chance. He is now a law student and goes to observe the court for the Nazi's war crime. Hanna is one of the defendants. She was attached to the Waffen SS and worked as a guard of the concentration camps. In the trial, she is considered as the responsible guard of a bloody incident, and she reluctantly accepts it. Because she wants to hide her secret. The sentence for her is a life in prison. I

Crazy Hashimoto

Toru Hashimoto, Osaka's Mayor and co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, commented that the comfort women were necessary for the soldiers of Japanese military force in WWII. Hearing Hashimoto's comment, I'm ashamed of it as one of Japanese. He doesn't understand the the essence of the problem at all.

Bird Watching (3)

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Most wild ducks in this pond have gone to the north. Only a few people were jogging and walking early in the morning. Tonbo-ike Park was very quiet. I was able to enjoy listening to singing birds. Hoojiro / Meadow Bunting On the way back to the parking lot, I saw a big beautiful bird and chased it. But while I pointed a camera at it, the bird was gone.