ChanomiTalk

In the next few days Oahu will start to get jelly fish coming to one of the shores. It depends on the trade winds but they usually come to either the south shore, Waikiki side, or more towards the East, Hanauma Bay side. When they do arrive here there are always staff from the State who section off and area of about 30 feet and then collect as many jellyfish as they can find. After counting all of them they then use some special calculations to come up with a fairly accurate estimate of how many there are. In Hanauma Bay, if even one person gets stung the beach is closed. In Waikiki, the life guards will put up signs but it is up to the person on whether to go into the water or not. The sting can be very painful but is not considered dangerous except for those with allergies. The jelly fish are usually gone after a day or so. While they are here one can see the green sea turtles eating them as they have a special coating on their throats that prevents them from being stung.

This year I went to Hanami with my coworkers and family. There were about 50 people. We were lucky and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. I even participated in a tug-of-war contest. We made it to semi-finals but lost, unfortunately. All in all, it was a lot of fun.

Names are important to us. They help to define who we are, not only for us but for those around us. For the same reason that one would find calling a ‘rose’ a ‘violet’ hard to accept, changing one’s name is often met with great resistance.

I speak from experience. When I was born, my parents named me ‘Chaitanya’, which comes from Sanskrit and may be translated as ‘consciousness’ or ‘cognizance’. I think that’s kind of cool, but when I was 5, my parents were concerned that they had made a mistake and gave me a more normal name, ‘Stephen’. As I began to discover who I was at the typical age of 20, I thought perhaps the previous name was more fitting. I realized that if I shortened it to ‘Chay’, it would sound kind of cool. At that time I was also beginning to study Spanish, so I was exposed to Ché Guevara. Ché is actually a casual way of addressing someone in Argentina.

I realized before actually going through with the change that it would be permanent, for the people who met me as Chay would know me by no other name. I also realized that people who knew me as Steve would drag their feet on the issue. So, I wavered.

I finally decided to do it when I was 22 and getting ready to go to Spain on a study abroad trip. Everyone there would be completely new, so they wouldn’t know any better and I would have three full months of being called by the name and responding to it so that it would sink in as my identity. It worked, and now it’s who I am.

So, to conclude, names aren’t something that we have complete control over. In fact, I would argue that the world around us has much more control over our own name than we do. We have no choice as to what we are called, indeed we have not the mental faculty to even make such a decision until it’s already too late. And just as a rose isn’t known by any other name, neither are we. Unless, of course, we give the same concerted effort to change our name that we would afford to any other important life change.

私の叔父はテーラーでした。何年か前に引退しましたが、オーダーメイドのスーツを作っていました。
その叔父が、亡くなった祖母の大量の着物を利用し、部屋用のガウンを作ってくれました。
とても華やかで綺麗で、着るのがもったいないです。
表と裏で、リバーシブルになっています。

袖口を引っ張り上げる工夫もしてくれています。

並べると芸術的です。

以前陽子さんが趣味でされているキルトについての話題の際に、おじのガウンが写真のキルトに似ているなと思いました。
陽子さんも興味を持たれて、ブログに写真を！とおっしゃってくださったので、載せてみました(^ ^)

祖母は私が中学生の頃に亡くなりました。離れたところに住んでいましたが、私のことを本当に可愛がってくれました。
祖母は日本舞踊を習っていましたし、若い頃は日常的にも着物を着る機会が多かったので、祖父がたくさん買ってプレゼントしていたそうです。本当にたくさんあり、数回しか着ていないものもあるそうです。すでに傷んでしまっている部分もありましたので、綺麗な部分を利用したそうです。

時折祖母がつけたのか、私がつけたのかわかりませんが、シミがあります。自然についたものかもしれません。
でも、もしかすると祖母がお茶か何かをこぼしたのかもしれません。それを見るとなんだかすごく祖母を身近に感じることができます。

Durian is a tropical fruit. It is large and round. The shell is very hard and requires a knife to cut open. The shell has sharp thorns so you have to be careful not to cut your fingers. The fruit inside the shell is white in color. The fruit tastes sweet and is quite soft. Durian is famous because it tastes good but really stinks! I ate Durian for the first time in a market in Thailand. I had to eat it in the market because it smells so bad that hotels will not let you bring the fruit inside. Fortunately, the vendors in the markets can cut it open for you. I do not recommend ever taking Durian home. For one thing, it is best to eat when it is fresh. Also, I tried to reheat a dish made with Durian in the microwave once and it made the entire house smell terrible!

I’ve been in the process of locating my family koseki. It has been an interesting process. My grandather left Japan for Hawaii when he was 17 years old. He kept Japanese citizenship and had to register every year as an alien in the US. I made several calls to the Japan Consulate. They directed me to the Kumamoto City Hall. I then was directed to the Mashiki Town Hall and finally to Misato Town Hall. I had an old name for Misato. It was Toshine-mura. Thankfully all of the places I called had English speaking staff. Once I gave them my grandfather and great grandfathers birth and death dates, they were able to locate my koseki. It was a miracle!!

新しい職場が決まったら、ペットを飼いたいと思っています。
犬を飼いたいですが、2年前に愛犬が亡くなってから、母が頑なに拒否します。
しかも私はアパートに引っ越す予定なので、小動物でなければなりません。
以下の動物で迷っています。

◎文鳥
文鳥は、子供の頃に、友達が飼っていたのを預かったことがあります。体は真っ白で、ピンク色のくちばしがかわいいです。
鳴き声もやかましすぎず、なついてくれます。私がピアノで子守唄弾くと、目をトロンとさせて、コックリコックリ眠っていたのをよく覚えています。





◎リス
ハムスターと迷うところですが、リスの方が顔がシュッとしていてて、私の好みのタイプです。なついてくれるかどうかはわかりません。





◎亀
子供の頃に飼いましたが、冬眠から目覚めなかったという残念な思い出があります。なつきません。

◎ウーパールーパー
可愛らしい顔ですが、あまり好みのタイプではありません。よっぽどのことがない限り、飼わないとおもいます。




迷うところです…

今朝８時ちょっと過ぎ、廊下を遠慮がちに歩いてくるヌービーの足音を耳にしました。

「（既に）５時に出たのにまた出たい？」とつぶやきながら玄関の戸を開けたとたんに目に入ったのは、赤い光を点滅させたパトカー。おや、事故、それとも誰か病気？眠気もすっかり覚めて、よーく見ると、家の直ぐ前の道路には黒っぽい車がずらりと並び、その中にひときわ目立つ白い車にはSTATE TROOPERのサイン、そして筋向かいの家の車庫の前にはFBIの文字の入ったジャケットを着た人が４、５人立っています。

しかし、ものものしい雰囲気にもかかわらず何事も起こりそうにありませんので、いつもの通りのモーニングテイーを作りゆっくり窓辺にもどって来ると、２人のFBI捜査官が黒い車になにか詰め込んでいます。一人は３個の額縁、もう一人は写真機か映写機らしい物を２台ほど。

その向かいの家には毎週金曜日の夕方、３、４台の車がやってくるのには、今の家に引っ越して来た直後から気はついていましたが、特に騒音をたてるでもなく、ポーカーかブリッジとかのカード遊びでもするのだろうとそれ以上は考えていませんでした。　

それが今日！静かな住宅街での早朝のFBI手入れ捜査！
捜査の的は何であったかは推測するほかありませんが、野次馬根性を充分満足させる出来事でありました。

そこで、ネブ柳を一つ、秋深し隣は何をする人ぞ　をもじって

春浅し向かいの人はなにをした
　
陽子
おそまつでした。

　

I sometimes enjoy playing a World War II-based game called Axis and Allies. I recently played a few games with my neighbor, and started thinking about whether the scenarios that can occur in that game could have happened in the actual war. I have found that historians often do the same thing, and there is one scenario they consider quite often: what if Hitler had decided to pursue and defeat the British instead of turning his attention to Russia? As the Nazis were completing their conquest of France, British and French troops were scrambling to evacuate in what became known as the evacuation of Dunkirk. They managed to make it to Britain, but many historians hold that the Nazis more or less allowed them to escape because Hitler still hoped for peace between Germany and Britain. If troops had been stopped at Dunkirk, Hitler would have found an invasion of Britain to be much more feasible, and perhaps would have executed Operation Sea Lion. Britain may have fallen.

The real question is, would America have stood idly by even if their brothers across the Atlantic had fallen? Could we possibly be at peace with an evil empire that had conquered Europe? Japan bombed Pearl Harbor pre-emptively because they saw American intervention in the Pacific as inevitable. If they were right, then the answer to the other question would be no. The war would have been fought, but on terms much more favorable to the Axis. My guess is that neither side would have a complete victory, and there would be an armistice and an uneasy truce lasting for a long time, as was the case with the Korean war. A different kind cold war would have happened, with multiple sides aiming missiles at each other instead of just an Eastern or Western bloc. We are lucky that history chose the path that it did.

４月１日（月）から２０日（土）まで、

瓜生山　京都造形芸術大学「春の顔見世」展覧会

今年は、研究領域教員の部で開催されます。私も出展しています。
霊長類研究所のチンパンジー、アイが、私の学長就任祝いに、
新しく絵を描いてくれました。それも特別展示します。
ぜひご覧くださるよう、よろしくお願いします。

11時から18時まで
日曜日休廊（ただし４月１４日のみ開廊）
Galerie Aube　人間館１階（大階段の上のフロア）
京都市バス5番、上終町下車すぐ