グレース・ランド

7月27日（月）快晴

あくまで私見ですが、マイケル・ジャクソンが10年に1度出現する大スターだとすれば、エルビス・プレスリーは50年に1度出現する超スターです。ネバー・ランドは見たいとは思いませんが、メンフィスのグレース・ランドは見ておきたい。ナッシュビルからレンタカーで往復8時間。2時間グレース・ランド見学してナッシュビルにとんぼ返り。

グレース・ランド

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Graceland
Mon. July 27 : fine

This is my personal opinion but if Michel Jackson was the only star you can see in 10 years, Elvis Presley was the only super star you can see in 50 years. I don’t think I want to see Never Land but Grace Land in Memphis. It took 8 hours round trip from Nashville to there by car. We stayed for only 2 hours there to visit Grace Land and then left for Nashville immediately.

Graceland

姉の死

7月26日（日）曇後晴

家族5人と見舞いの4人に囲まれて、午後8時ケアハウスの病室で姉は眠るように息を引き取りました。病院で死亡しても、 多分米国では日本のような無用の延命治療や濃厚治療はしないのだろうと思います。本人の遺志により姉は火葬の後バージニアの亡夫の隣の墓に葬られます。姉がナッシュビルで過ごしたのはわずか半年だけでした。

姉と甥夫婦

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Death of my sister
Sun. July 26 : fine after cloudy

My sister passed away in her sleep surrounded by 5 family members and 4 relatives at 8:00 pm in the room of the care house. If she had died in hospital, American doctors shouldn’t have give nonsense heaping life-support treatment like Japanese doctors. According to her will her ash will be buried next to her dead husband in the graveyard of Virginia after cremation. She spent only half a year in Nashville.

my sister and her son's couple

甥の家

7月25日（土）快晴

甥夫婦は共働きの医師。7歳の息子と5歳・2歳の娘の5人家族。600坪の敷地に4LDK ＋Salon+Studyの新築3階建ての家を8年前に3800万円で購入。現在価格は5000万円以上だそうです。家庭菜園もあり、雰囲気は彼が幼年期を過ごしたバージニアの家そっくり。姉のアパートも現在価格は3000万円とか。日本より不動産価格が安く購入できて、値上がりが期待できるのが利点。日本から駆けつけた義姉、韓国在住の姪も一緒にテラスで夕食中に庭に2 頭の鹿が現れました。

バージニアの家

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My nephew’s house
Sat. July 25 : fine

My nephew and his wife are both working as the doctors. There are five members in his family: a 7-year-old son, a 5-year-old and 2 –year-old daughters. He bought a 3-storied new house of 4LDK ＋a salon + a study on 2000-square-meter land with $400,000 8 years ago. Now it costs more than $550,000. It has a kitchen garden and it makes s quite similar atmosphere to hid old house in Virginia where he spent his childhood. I heard that my sister’s apartment is now worth $330,000. In the US people have an advantage of buying the houses less expensive than Japan and you can expect some rise in price. When we were having dinner with my sister-in-law and my niece from Korea on the terrace two deer appeared in the garden.

old Virginia home

高齢者アパート

7月24日（金）快晴

広大な庭、池、プール、テニスコート。屋内にはレストラン、ラウンジ、図書室、集会室、美容室、ジム、玉突室、カードゲーム室、陶芸や調理などの趣味の部屋、温室など至せり尽くせり。ここは富裕層向けの高齢者アパート。僕たちは施設付属のゲストルームに宿泊。姉は半年前に2800万円で2LDK を購入。国や州の補助があるので管理費と食費の合計は月3万円弱。現在は隣接するケアハウスに意識不明で収容されています。

10ヶ月前の姉

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Apartment for elderly people
Fri. July 24 : fine

There is everything you can imagine: a garden of immense size, a pond and a tennis court outside, and a restaurant, a lounge, a library, a meeting room, a beauty salon, a gym, a pool room, a gaming room, a working room for hobbies such as poetry and cooking, a glasshouse and others inside. This is an apartment house for elderly people in wealthy class. We are staying one of the annex guest rooms that belong to this institution. My sister bought a 2LDK unit with $30,000 6 months ago. Thanks for the grant from the nation and the state; the total monthly management fee and board is less than $300. She is now being admitted in the neighboring care house unconsciously.

my sister 10 months ago

ナッシュビル

7月23日（木）快晴

米国の76歳の姉が肺癌・脳転移で重態と聞き急遽ナッシュビルに飛びます。43年前に渡米し、9年前に同じ病理学医の夫も肺癌で死去。2人の子供と3人の孫がいます。ナッシュビルは人口60万人、テネシー州の州都。南北戦争の激戦地。現在では米国カントリー・ミュージックの中心地として音楽産業の他、印刷、交通、農業、自動車産業も盛ん。ケアンズからブリスベン、ロサンゼルスで乗り換えて30時間の強行軍です。今日の真冬のケアンズは予想最高気温が30度。真夏のナッシュビルの夜は寒いかな？

タムワース

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Nashville
Thu. July 23 : fine

Hearing that my 76-year-old sister is in critical condition suffering from lung cancer brain metastasis, we are flying to Nashville in a hurry. She immigrated to the U.S. 43 years ago and her husband who was a pathologist as well passed away of lung cancer 9 years ago. She has 2 children and 3 grandchildren. Nashville is the capital of Tennessee that has population of 600,000. It was the site of a hard fought battle of the Civil War. As being the center of American country music now its industries are music, printing, transportation and automobile manufacturing. Our 30 hour-schedule was tough flying from Cairns via Brisbane and Los Angels. Today we expect the highest temperature of 30 degrees in midsummer Cairns. Will it be chilly at night in midsummer Nashville?

Yamworth

大長今テーマパーク

10月28日（火）晴

ソウルの人口は1000万人。緑乏しく慢性的な交通ラッシュ、公害も多そうです。大半の小売店や食堂は10：00am－10：00pmの間しか営業していません。若者は兵役や塾で余暇を楽しむ時間もないようです。ソウル市内に見るべきものはあまりないのに、日本人観光客はドラマロケ地見物にやってきます。昨日午後は自由行動だったので、大長今テーマパークのツアーに参加。日本の中高年女性の心情を理解しようと秋の午後を空しく過ごしました。ソウル→成田。

ピョンヤン観光

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Dae Jang Geum theme park
Tue. October 28 : fine

The population of Seoul is 10,000,000. The city is poor in green and there is chronic traffic jam. There also seems to be a lot of pollutions. Most retail shops and restaurants are open only from 10:00am to 10:00pm. The young people seem to be too busy with serving in the national service and going to the cram schools to enjoy their spare time. Although there are not so many seeing spots in Seoul, many Japanese tourists visit to see some shooting places of Korean dramas. As I was free yesterday afternoon I joined in the tour to Dae Jang Geum theme park. I unavailingly spent an autumn afternoon to try to understand the emotions of Japanese middle aged women. I moved from Seoul to Narita.

Pyong Yan tour

漢河（ハンガン）

10月27日（月）快晴

ソウルを東西に流れて黄海に至る漢河は、ロンドンのテームズ川、パリのセーヌ川、東京の隅田川のようなもの。人工的で殺伐とした汚水の川にベルトコンベアー的な観光船。夕方シドニーの英語学校で同級生だったジミーと明洞で合流。ジミー夫妻は8月に第1子を得て、3日前から帰国中。今日はチジミ、チャプチェ、韓国BBQ,ケジャンを食べました。

漢江クルーズ

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Han Kang river cruise
Mon. October 27 : fine

Han Kang River, that flows into Yellow Sea running from east to west of Seoul, is similar to Themes of London, Seine of Paris or Sumida of Tokyo. They are all quite artificial and savage and the sight-seeing boat that proceeds like a belt-conveyer drifts in the dirty water. I met with Jimmy who was one of my English conversation school classmates in Sydney at Myondong in the evening. He had the first baby in August and came back to Korea with her wife and their baby 3 days ago. I had some chizimi, chapche, Korean BBQ and kejang.

Han Kang river cruise

イムジン川

10月26日（日）快晴

統一展望台から川向こうに見えるのは北朝鮮。こちら南側は山に木が生えていますが向こう側は禿山。北側では展望台からの視線を過剰意識してか10年前に4階建てアパートの並ぶモデル農村の建設を手がけましたが未完成のまま。南北の川岸には鉄条網が伸びています。今日は純豆腐チゲ、ビビンバ、プルコギ、タコ刺しを食べました。垢すりは店長の口車に乗せられ、オイル・マッサージ6,000円、足裏の角質取り2,000円の追加料金。

戦争博物館

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Imujin River
Sun. October 26 : fine

You can see North Korea beyond the river from Reunion Lookout. On this side of the river, in South Korea there are a lot of trees on the mountains but no trees on the opposite side. Being hyperconscious to the audience in the lookout North Korea started to build the modeling agricultural village with the 4-story apartments 10 years ago, but it is still uncompleted. Barbed wire fences are extended both sides of the river. I had zuntofu-chige, bibinba, bullkogi and octopus sashimi today. I paid the surcharge of $60 for oil massage and $20 extra for peeling off foot dead skin being led by the snow-job of the skin-scrubbing shop master.

War Museum

成田→ソウル

10月25日（土）暴風雨後曇

飛行機は大揺れでしたが、ソウルは雨がやんでいました。ツアー参加者は21人。僕だけが単独参加で1人部屋の差額が3泊で18,000円。油代の追加料金が6,000円で総支払額が63,000円。夕食は野菜たっぷりの慶州名物サンパプ。ソウル市中心部を流れる人工河川は前市長＝現大統領の税金の無駄遣い。宿の漢河ホテルの施設はかなりくたびれていますが、部屋は広くて窓が大きく、眺望良好。開発を急ぎ沈没しつつある韓国経済。質実剛健は王道です。

12年前のソウル

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Nrita to Seoul
Sat. October 25 : cloudy after storm

Our airplane was tossed about badly by the storm. However, the wind and the rain had stopped in Seoul when I arrived there. There are 21 members in my tour. I am the only one who participates in without any companies and the surcharge of single room is $180 for 3 nights. As the oil surcharge is $60 I paid $630 totally. The lunch was sonpab, the local dish with a lot of vegetables in it. The artificial river that flows in the center of Seoul was built by the ex-mayor, present president, using tax wastefully. The facility at Han Kang Hotel where we are staying is pretty old but the guest rooms are spacious with the big window and the nice view. Korean economy has been sinking due to the rapid development. Being simple and sturdy is the royal rule.

Seoul 12 years ago

勝浦→成田

10月24日（金）暴風雨

昨夜からの嵐で海辺の民宿は吹き飛ばされそう。暴風雨の中を2時間半電車に乗り成田エクセルホテル阪急に移動。ツインの部屋に1人泊まり、インターネットもプール・ジムも無料で7,900円。感激したついでに阪急旅行社主催の3泊4日の韓国ツアーに参加します。全食事つき、観光・垢すり体験つきで39,000円。アジア旅行は豪州直行より日本からツアー参加が絶対に安い。

ヒルトン成田

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Katsuura to Narita
Fri. October 24 : rain and wind storm

My sea-side inn seemed to be blown away by the storm last night. I moved to Narita Excel Hotel Hankyu on the train for 2 and half hours during the storm.
It was $78 for single use in a twin room with free of charge of internet, swimming pool, and gym use. As I was impressed so much I will join the 3day-4night group tour to Korea assorted by Hankyu Tour. It is $390 including the air ticket, the accommodation, all the meals, the sightseeing, and the full-body skin-scrubbing. The group tour from Japan is much more reasonable than flying from Australia directly for a trip to Asia.

Hilton Hotel Narita

北京土産 2：紅梅白梅図

6月6日（金）快晴

故宮は東西750m、南北960m、部屋数9000以上の中国古代建築。半日観光の途中に外国人用休憩所があり、政府の役人と称する人が「五輪準備の改装に莫大な費用が必要なので所蔵品の一部を特別頒布しています」という口車に乗せられて100点の展示物の中から2幅の掛け軸を購入。家具付き賃貸リビングのがさつな静物画と交換。

台湾の白梅図

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Souvenir from Beijing2：paintings of red plum and white plum
Fri. June 6 : fine

Gugong has 750m long from east to west and 960m long from north to south. It’s an ancient Chinese building that has more than 9,000 rooms. There is a rest area for the foreigners in the middle of half-day tour course. A man calling himself “a government officer” explained me “As we need a huge mount of money to renovate the facility for Olympic Games, we are irregularly selling a part of our collections”. Being snow-jobbed I bought 2 of 100 roles of scroll picture. I exchanged it for unskillful still-life painting of living room in my furnished rental unit.

painting of white plum from Taiwan

北京土産 1：鮑魚真珠

6月5日（木）快晴

北京の土産店で直径14mmのアワビ真珠のネックレスとイヤリングを購入。アワビ真珠はプラスチックの核を使用しません。ユミも僕も宝石には全く興味はありません。日本の阿古屋貝、金曜島の白蝶貝、タヒチの黒蝶貝を無視して通過した僕もアワビとウニは素通りできません。本日ケアンズに帰還。高級真珠を求めて来月はブルームを訪れます。

金曜島の真珠

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Souvenir from Beijing 1 : abalone pearl
Thu. June 5 : fine

I bought a necklace and a pair of year-rings of 14mm-diameter abalone pearls at the souvenir shop in Beijing. The plastic nuclear is not used for Abalone pearls. Yumi and I am not interested in jewels at all. Although I have passed disregarding in front of Japanese Akoya shell, white butterfly shell in Friday Island and black butterfly shell in Tahiti, I cannot ignore abalone and sea urchin. I am back to Cairns today. I’ll visit Broome to search for high quality pearls next month.

pearl of Friday Island

京劇のパンダの隈取り

6月4日（水）快晴

北京滞在中に北京雑技団と京劇を見物。北京雑技団はレーザー光線や生きた鳥なども利用した演出過剰な印象で、アクロバットは上海雑技団には及びません。京劇も歌舞伎やオペラと同じ程度つまらない。小坂町の下町歌舞伎のほうが面白かった。北京動物園で5頭のパンダも見ました。

ドラゴン・パレード

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Stage makeup as panda of Beijing Opera
Wed. June 4 : fine

I saw Beijing Acrobat Show and Beijing Opera. Beijing Acrobat Show was over-directed. They used the laser beam and live birds, and its acrobat was inferior to Shanghai’s one. Beijing Opera was as boring as Kabuki or Opera. Downtown Kabuki in Kosaka was much more interesting. I saw 5 pandas at Beijing Zoo.

dragon parade

鳥の巣

6月3日（火）曇

正式名称は北京国家体育場。設計者はスイスの建築家で総工費600億円。最大収容人員91,000人で、開閉会式、陸上、サッカー決勝に使用予定。凝ったデザインのために維持費が年間10億円必要。将来はお荷物になりそうです。隣接して国家水泳センターや国家体育館などがあります。

オリンピック狂想曲

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Bird Nest
Tue. June 3 : cloudy

The formal name is Beijing National Stadium. The designer is a Swiss architect and the total construction cost is $600,000,000. The maximum capacity is 91,000 and it will be used for opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, and the final succor games. $10,000,000 is spent every year for the maintenance because of its sophisticated design. It must become a burden soon. There are National Swimming Center and National Gymnasium near there.

Olympic Rhapsody

天安門広場

6月2日（月）曇時々雨

故宮の入り口の天安門に隣接する南北880m、東西500m、最大収容人員50万人の世界最大の広場。広場にトイレはありませんが、広場周囲の歩道に鉄板が敷かれ下水に直結する部分が多数あり、大集会の際には鉄板をはずして周囲を天幕で覆うと臨時トイレになるという革命的広場。マドンナの屋外ライブも開催できそうです。

ホーチミン広場

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Tiananmen Square
Mon. June 2 : cloudy occasionally rainy

The square locates next to Tiananmen, the entrance to Gugong; it’s the largest square in the world that has 880m from north to south and 500m from east to west. It can accommodate 500,000 people. There are no toilets in the square but a lot of holes covered with iron plate under the sideway surrounded revolutionary change to the temporary toilets when there is a big session. They remove the iron plates and cover the surrounded area with the tents. Madonna’s outdoor live might be able to be held here.

Ho Chi Mihn Square