Invincible colors

A few days ago, it was 18:00. My working hours were coming to an end. I was in my office and happened to take a glance at the view which I always see from my desk through the window. It had to be a familiar view; however, it was not so necessarily. There was the view which buildings in front of my office were reflecting the sunbeam on their windows and walls in orange with the deep blue sky as their background. The windows reflecting the sunbeam of the setting sun firsthand made the building looked like firing in the ground floor. It was so beautiful that I was watching the view vacantly for a while, and thought that sunbeam which can change a familiar view to a breathtaking view must be the summer's. Although I saw the view in May, I felt that the season, spring, is steadily shifting to summer. Summer is the season of colors, which are vivid, attractive, therefor invincible!

P.S. The photos in my blog this year are of my own taking. If there is any one of your favorite, can you leave me any comment?

Missing winter

Some people say that summer is the only one season which we miss to pass away. Probably, you can easily think of the reason, because summer is the season which is full of brightness and energy of life, and is happy for most of the people. So, if I say winter is the other season which I miss to go, you may wonder why I miss it which is usually dark and cold. There are a few reasons. The main reason is that I can enjoy wearing a variety of high-quality, characteristic clothes in winter.

Although high-quality clothes are relatively expensive, you will find it cost-effective to have chosen them in the end as you can wear them longer than cheap clothes. Furthermore, the only people who choose the high-quality, characteristic clothes can enjoy their tasteful good appearance after using them for many years. Characteristic clothes for me are e.g. a Harris Tweed jacket, an elbow-patched sweater and an oiled coat and so on. They are made to be comfortable when they are worn in certain hard surroundings: for example, the original Harris Tweed in nineteen century was a thick and strong cloth, which was handwoven by the islanders on the Isles of Harris, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They wore the jacket to be against cold and strong wind in winter there. It must be fantastic for you to imagine how the islanders, wearing the Harris Tweed jacket, lived there in nineteen centuries when you wear the Harris Tweed jacket. As you can enjoy traveling in a country more by looking up the history, culture and famous dishes of the country, you can enjoy wearing the clothes by examining how they were conceived.

Furthermore, as I wear several layers of the clothes in winter, I must consider how to layer the high-quality, characteristic clothes. This is challengeable and is another pleasure for the clothes in winter. Thus characteristic clothes tell a lot how chary you are about the clothes.

It is April. I miss winter to have passed away.

Karasawa corrie

The cool wind blowing in the downtown of Tokyo seems to tell me an early herald of autumn. If you want to enjoy the autumn atmosphere and views more, I recommend you to visit Karasawa where is full of autumn now. Kararasawa is the corrie, which means the lay of the land made by erosion of a glacier in ancient times and is located at the foot of Hodaka mountain range in the Northern Alps. It takes about six hours from kamikouchi to reach Karasawa only on foot and moreover the half of a route is a slope as a matter of course. So, if you have no experience of mountain walking, it may be hard for you to get there. When you can get there, however, you can stay at the Karasawa hut where dishes up a sumptuous meal and beer.

When I look back my mountain walking experience, it was two decades ago when I climbed Mt. Fuji at the start. The purpose to climb the mountain was to see and pray for the rising sun, Goraikou, on the top. As the scenery is divine, I think it is worth going up the mountain once in a life to say the least, however, I am skeptical that you need to visit there several times for the same purpose due to the following reasons: i) Mt. Fuji is a stand-alone mountain and you cannot enjoy the sceneries of surrounding other mountains, ii) the dishes served in the hut on the top were very shabby and iii) beddings were dampened, and so forth. Nevertheless, I am grateful to the experience which brought me a good sense of accomplishment in a mountain walking mixed with fatigue and pleasure. And it led me to the mountain walking custom in the Northern Alps for the next decade.

I write this topic now for a certain reason that the forthcoming days of a year from the latter part of September to the former part of October is the only one when you may have a chance to enjoy the autumn breathtaking views, namely, three layers of green trees, red leaves and snow at the top of Hodaka mountains.

While I am writing this musing, I lively remember the days when I visited Karasawa. As I cannot call on karasawa now because of everyday chores, I recommend you to visit there and to be exposed to the mountain breeze. Furthermore, as karasawa is the gate of Hodaka mountains range, I hope the mountain walking possibly will be the gate for your new custom. I think what you have to do now is to call on the outdoor shop and talk to the clerk, “I want to visit kawasawa. What do I need?”.

P.S.
Please refer to my essay, “Red Leaves”, in “Nature”category.

A rainy season

A rainy season is one of the seasons in Japan and is a pathetic one, because, nobody admits it as an independent season although it has a specific good feature, which is as indispensable as the other four seasons’, bringing blessed rain for crops and saving people from a famine brought by the drought. While spring, summer, autumn and winter – the four seasons pass in Japan, everybody neither longs for it nor holds it in mind.

So, if anyone murmured that he/she were fond of the rainy season, the season would put on a smile and the sunshine would filter in thorough a rift in the rain clouds.

We have a rest in a rainy season and sunshine in Tokyo.

Pastel

How many colors do you think there are in Japan? In Japanese Industrial Standards (JISS), two hundreds sixty nine colors are registered. As colors have light and shade, the number is countless in a correct meaning. This is an essay for a light color.

It is March. The wind blowing in Tokyo is still cold, however, the sunshine becoming brighter and brighter day by day seems to tell us the advent of early spring. When I was much younger, in this mixed season I excitedly wore a clothing of pastel colors and went to school. The colors of sunshine, sky, flowers and leaves etc. are pastel in spring. Thus pastel is the color of youth, which buds from white, representative color of winter.

As I am not young anymore, the clothing in pastel may not suit me if I wear it. So when spring has come, I often remember and cherish the younger days when I could enjoy wearing the clothing in pastel. It is generally said that autumn makes people sentimental, however, it may be spring that makes adult men so.

I remember the poem of William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850), a major English romantic poet, "Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood":

What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind...

When I first read this poem in younger days, I could not understand what Strength means well. Now, I became an adult man, I suppose that it means the strength of maturity. And I think the matured colors having shade of summer rather suit an adult man. As I am not Wordsworth, I cannot thoroughly abandon longing for the youth.

Someday in the future, when I become able to be an old man of the heart of a juvenile, I wear the clothing in pastel again. The appearance that an old man fashionably wears the clothing, e.g. a cotton sweater, in pastel look cool, doesn't it?

Hangover

December - it is the season of continual year-end parties. You may have lots of opportunities to drink with co-workers. As I basically like to drink, I want to go anywhere if you invite me to such a party on you, however, there is one problem; the older I become, the more easily I come to have a hangover.

Characteristics of a hangover usually include headache, nausea and lethargy., although, my symptom is very curious one that, even after drinking a cup of beer, I sometimes vomits in the afternoon on the day following a dink and continue to feel sick and have a headache until around four o’clock in the evening. As you see, it is not fun for me to drink as I worry about having it.

A hangover is muti-causal; Hypoglycemia, dehydration, Acetaldehyde intoxication, and vitamin B12 deficiency are most commonly reported. I heard that dehydration causes the brain to shrink away from the skull slightly, however, my aforementioned symptom is inexplicable.

I tried many ways which are said to be effective for preventing or treating it: drinking water, eating a little before drinking and taking medicine for the digestion and so on. There currently seems to be no known proven mechanism for making yourself sober short of waiting for the body to metabolize ingested alcohol, which occurs via oxidation through the liver before alcohol leaves the body.

When I was going to fall into the bottomless pit, the sunshine filtered in this miserable situation, that is, I found a medicine which is very effective my symptom of hangover: NEW HEPALYSE PLUS of Zeria Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Zeria Shinyaku Kogyo K.K.). This medicine strengthens the function of the liver which counteracts alcohol. Especially, if you have a similar symptom, believe me or not, I strongly recommend you to try this medicine, although I have not received any money from the company for the propaganda.

If you are not cured by this one, I think that the last resort for you to avoid the symptom of alcohol induced hangover is to practise moderation. Anyway, take care and have a pleasant year-end party!

Influenza virus

The flu season fully strikes earlier and is spreading throughout the nation, however, we, salaried men, are unable to easily take a day off even due to a cold in the end of the year?

Basically, I am fond of this season as the air is cold and crisp, and red leaves are very beautiful, and there appear my favorite dishes such as a hot stew and oyster and so on. A fly in the ointment of the season, however, is that we easily catch a cold.

Do you know why we frequently catch colds in winter? I had presumed that it was due to the increasing number of viruses in winter, but I learnt that I was wrong. One of the correct reasons is that the humidity drops in winter. Viruses not weighed down by the low humidity waft relatively high in the air, so people inhale them. The other reason is that ciliary movement in the throat decreases due to the dry air. Therefore, one of the ways to avoid catching a cold in winter is to somehow keep the humidity high. Of course, washing hands and gargling must be very effective.

I dare to write this article as I do not want the regular audiences of this blog to catch a cold and also to spoil the rest of Yule. Take care and have a nice weekend.

Red leaves （紅葉, 英詩)

It is November - the advent of the season of red leaves.

Red leaves can only be seen now in lofty places such as near the top of the mountain. They will gradually descend to the foot of the mountain, spreading their abundant beautiful colors for months. They are tapestries weaved by nature, and I look forward to their reaching the town like I relish waiting for a letter from an old friend. Until they reach the town, my heart will be completely soaked in autumnal colors.

Furthermore, the autumnal wind passing whispers that red leaves also herald the forthcoming winter. There will be bare boughs where branches of red leaves no longer are and also leaden skies where clouds like sheep have moved along.

Footsteps of Old Man Winter will also be heard before long; however, you do not have to feel sorrow. Put firewood in a wood stove and light it. You will hear a crackle from inside, which may sounds like the chuckles of little children, and it will muffle Winter’s footsteps and light a candle in your heart.

(For your reference)
This is the first prose poem I made. A prose poem is a poem written in paragraph forms, but in which the word choices are made as consciously and carefully as in poetry. You could easily make a prose poem into a regular poem by breaking the sentences into lines. How to break the sentences is tricky, and in an essential part of poetry. A few reasons to break lines at any particular point are to emphasize a word or idea, to create a double meaning by where you break the lines, or for ease of understanding. Some poets also prefer to have all their lines be of a similar length, for aesthetic purposes.

The following is a lineation of this prose poem, making it a poem by the teacher of poetry for your refernce.

It is October - the advent of the season of red leaves.
Red leaves can only be seen now in lofty places
such as near the top of the mountain.
They will gradually descend to the foot of the mountain,
spreading their abundant beautiful colors for months.
They are tapestries weaved by nature,
and I look forward to their reaching the town
like I relish waiting for a letter from an old friend.　

Until they reach the town, my heart
will be completely soaked in autumnal colors.
Furthermore, the autumnal wind passing
whispers that red leaves also herald the forthcoming winter.
There will be bare boughs where branches of red leaves
no longer are and also leaden skies where clouds like sheep
have moved along.

Footsteps of Old Man Winter will also be heard before long;
however, you do not have to feel sorrow.
Put firewood in a wood stove and light it.
You will hear a crackle from inside,
which may sounds like the chuckles of little children,
and it will muffle Winter’s footsteps
and light a candle in your heart.

Can you foresee the future?

We have many chances to make decisions throughout our lives. We think it would be convenient to be able to foresee the future before we make any decisions.

I have had some mysterious experiences in my younger days. For an example, I was very interested in a woman and wondered if I should ask her to go out with me. Around this time, I happened to see a poster of a young woman who resembled her a little at a railway station. This woman had a big signboard of an “X” in her arms, saying that we should not smoke on the platform. The moment I saw the poster, I felt that my love for this other woman would be over before long. After a few months, I found out that she was having an affair with a married man.

In the other case, when the wife of my close friend was expecting, I was worrying about them as I heard from the friend that the embryo of an early stage of pregnancy was not in good condition. Then I happened to see the signboard “OUT” placed at the exit of the parking of a hotel in my way home from the office and felt the forthcoming mishap immediately. This turned out to be true soon, that is, unfortunately she had a miscarriage.

I only sometimes have come across such signs which seem to tell me a hint of what would happen in the near future. However, it’s not like I have a psychic power since they did not happen at will. They may be the phenomenon which has been called “having a hunch” in Japan.

Have you ever had the similar experience?

A new plant of life was found!?

A new planet, which may sustain life, was found. According to the announcement, made by the discovering European astronomers, on April 19, 2007, it is a rocky planet, orbiting a star close to our own neighborhood in the Milky Way. The planet lies within the star’s “habitable zone”, where life could exist, most likely in large bodies of water.

If this observation is correct and life does exist, it is a huge milestone for astronomers. It would mean that we may not be alone in the universe, which leads to the idea that an external intellectual life could also exist somewhere in space. However, it would only be a milestone if life exists. Since the planet is about 20.5 light years away from Earth, we have no
technology available to reach it and therefore can not know if life exists or not.

Furthermore, we laymen of astronomy, often fail to recognize the time line when talking about the existence of life on other planets. If there is life, there is no guarantee that it is on the same level of evolution that we are. Intellectual life may lie far in the future and the actual life on these planets might be a water flea or something.

Anyway, you do not want to come across such a life form as depicted in the film, STAR WARS, do you?