雨の日は好きですか？ | Do you like a rainy day?

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雨の日は好きですか？
大好きな人は多くはいないと思う（笑）。

僕は小さい時、雨を待ち焦がれた時分があった。
いつも家にいた訳ではないが、雨の日は僕の父が家に居る事が多かったからだ。

父は、工事現場で働く、圧接・溶接工だった。
屋外の工事現場だから、雨が降ると当然、作業中止でたいていお休みになったのだ。

今となっては、日給でもらっている給料で、給料が出ない雨の日がどれだけ、父にとって負担となっていたのかなと思う。

ランドセルが重くてもわくわくして、雨の日は、父が家に居る事を期待しながら下校した。

大人になって大好きでは無くなったけれど、雨の日も悪くないのである。


Do you like a rainy day?
I don't think there are many people who like it (lol).

When I was small, I longed for a rainy day from time to time.
It was because my dad was at home usually when it rained. Of course, he was sometimes away as well.

My dad was a welder who worked at construction sites.
Because he worked outside, he was usually off when it was a bad weather.

When I think about it, I can now easily imagine how hard it was for my dad not to work for rainy days with receiving wage daily.

In a rainy day, I went home from school with being excited that I might have been able to see my dad at home, no matter how heavy my randoseru I felt.

As I grew up, I don't necessarily like a rainy day, but it isn't that bad sometimes.

(Haiku by me (in the above image, lol) meaning:
Haru no ame
Spring Rain

Kirin no kubi to
Giraffe's (long) neck (means that I am waiting as long as a giraffe's neck)

Tsubomi sakura
buds of cherry blossoms

曇天歌声 | Singing, Cloudy Sky

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グレイな１日だった。
気温は低く、ヨーロッパの冬の様な春の雨。

歌声は曇天の下、美しく響く。
雨の日は、室内で音楽を聞いて過ごしたら良い。

僕の好きな人は風邪をひいて、部屋に籠っている模様。
病気ばかりはしょうがない、他人の代わりはできないのだ。

僕は朝から眠いんだ、いくら寝ても眠いんだ。
さ、早く寝よう。


It was a grey day today.
The temperature was quite low and it rained like a winter in Europe.

Singing voices echoed beautifully under cloudy weather.
When it's raining, it's better to listen to music inside.

My favourite guy couldn't go out because he caught a cold.
We can't really do anything for a sick person. We can't be sick to get rid of someone's sickness.

I have been sleepy since this morning. I am still sleepy no matter how long sleep I got.
Yep, I am going to bed now.

Generation X

I am sure I am too late to notice Douglas Coupland's website and blog.

I don't know what he looks like really.

Like other authors, I am not keen to see the real author – just going with my imagination for that.

"Generation X" I found the word in a brochure* of movie, "Reality Bites."

(*In Japan, you can buy a little thin brochure about a movie you see at movie theatres.)

People say that it's a crappy movie ever. In Osaka, the movie was shown only at a small theatre where sub-culture lovers gather. I thought that it was a slow kind of movie, but I really liked the atmosphere in the movie (it is a little hard to describe really). This movie made me choose to go to Texas to study English. It's so funny, but it's a true story.

I went to a bookstore in Umeda and I bought a copy of "Generation X."

It was, of course, translated one. I couldn't read English books at all at the time.

The translation was kind of boring and stories didn't really hit my heart. I thought "Generation X" wasn't my generation. I was too young for that. However, I still like a story about "Texalahoma" in the book.

When I lived in Calgary for less than one year, I called Alberta "Texalberta" copying the idea from the book.

My generation is now called "Lost Generation" in Japan.

The reason why we are called is because we went through the recessions after the bubble era when we start entering the labour market. I was in Canada at the time, but I felt that I couldn't ride on any waves of any boomings (i.e. IT bubble) even in Canada.

Anyway, it's been a long time since I read a book. Maybe I will pick up some book to read, like a one by Douglas Coupland.

An Adult Man in his 30s, Who Doesn't Know Common Courtesy

There is a guy who lives with us.

He got sick lately, seems like got a really bad flu. It is just really unlucky to be sick with this good, old winter weather in Toronto.

I am simply sympathizing for that. It is not very nice to be sick when you live alone. However, this is such a shared accommodation. We are here to help.

This guy has asked his landlord for a help, that is my partner in this case. My partner has done really good things – bringing him cups of tea, something to eat, etc.

Yesterday, this guy didn't come down stairs at all. I started wondering if the guy gets hungry and how sick he is. I made congee, and I asked my partner to bring it up to him.

I didn't expect to get a compliment and I cooked it because I simply thought that he was hungry.

This guy was in the kitchen this morning and sitting on the sofa. He said "hi" to me, but there was no "thank you." I became a little mad and sad. lol It will take me a while to start to communicate with him again. lol.

I can't believe that he is in his 30s.

1989

In 1989, I was a grade 7 (junior high) student.

The emperor Showa died, and the imperial era name was changed from Showa to Heisei. The year, Showa 64, lasted only for 7 days. When a new semester started after new year's recess, the year, Heisei 1, has already started.

I had my own small TV and I was such a TV child at the time.
I watched the TV and play video games on and off.

I don't remember when I first time saw a Trabant. It was probably on the TV. I kept watching news shows when the Walls of Berlin fell. "Something new is starting" – the fact made me very excited although I was in Japan and far from Europe.

Trabant was something I have never seen and I wanted them.

I recently learned that Trabant is no longer produced and the manufacturers stop making it in 1991.

(The photo is from Asahi.com)

ビールとフィッシュ・アンド・チップス | Beer and Fish and Chips

この友達とパブに行くと、だいたい決まって、フィッシュ・アンド・チップスをビールと一緒に食べる。

なんの変哲もない白身の魚のフライ、タルタルソース、そしてポテトのフライ。

ジョッキに２杯と１パイントで、かなり酔った。

久しぶりに飲んだからかな。

いっぱい話して、楽しかった。

あんたに会うと、食べたくなるんだよね。

***
When I go to a pub with this friend of mine, I usually order a plate of fish and chips – just an ordinal deep-fried white meat fish, tartar sauce, and French fries.

I became quite drunk after 2 small jugs and 1 pint of beer.

It's been at least a month since I drank last time. It was quite easy to get drunk.

I talked a lot and had good time.

My friend's face always reminds me to order a plate of fish and chips.

Facebook Inferno = Facebook でお腹いっぱい

I deactivated my Facebook account.

It's nice to know that people are relating to each other, but at the same time, I don't need to know entire whose-friends-are-whose map sometimes.

I am (or most of us are) well aware of that certain communities are tinier than you think.

People need a balance of being public and/or anonymous because I am not a celebrity on the media.

You know my blog, my email address, and my phone number.

I can breathe a little easy now.


Facebookをやってましたが、突然辞めました。
なんか息が苦しいというかお腹いっぱいになりました。

Mixiもやってるし、ブログもあるし、僕の友達だったらメアドも電話番号も知っているので、すこし余計なものを省こう、ってな感じです。

ただでさえ、小さい世界に僕たちはいるので、家にいながらちょっとパブリック過ぎるってのが気に入らない（笑）

また気が向いたら復活させるけど、今は満腹になっちゃいました。

Good Bye, North York

Hello, the West End.

Moved.

Change the Perspectives

< This is the typical look of the world map in Europe and North America. You usually don't see the Eurasia continent in the west of Alaska and see Far East in really far east, especially from North America.





< This is the world map that should be replaced with the above Europe-centred map to use in North America. The Americas is now middle of the Asia and Europe.

Do you start feeling something different from what you usually feel?




< This is the typical look of the world map in Japan. Europe seems very far and the U.S. and Canada are across the ocean and something promising and adventurous.






There is a world map that is centred with Australian continent in the middle and the South pole on the top, too.

Are there still people who believe that there is a world end? There are maybe, still some.

Feel weird and shake the place where you stand on to nudge to off-centre line.

NEET

NEET
In Japan, the classification comprises people aged between 15 and 34 who are unemployed, unmarried, not enrolled in school or engaged in housework, and not seeking work or the technical training needed for work. The ‘NEET group’ is not a uniform set of individuals but consists of those who will be NEET for a short time while essentially testing out a variety of opportunities, and those who have major/multiple issues and are at long term risk of remaining disengaged. (Source: Wikipedia)

I feel like that I have become one of those NEETs, but I am not.

We are the First FamiCom Generation

I think I still have a FamiCom (Family Computer, the product name for Nintendo in Japan) in my parents' attic storage.

(A photo from Wikipedia)

Interview

I had an interview for a job.

I got to the place like 10 minutes ago. I don't know where to go and I found a worker in the hall way, so I asked her. She was in the middle of doing something, but she let the person in charge know that I was here.

I was waiting for the interviewer till she showed up at the door. There was no place to sit so just standing politely, looking at pictures posted on the wall.

She showed up and took me into her office. There were 2 other people. All of them looked young. Maybe, they are the same age as I am or younger. the two were sitting on the chairs still, so I started to introduce myself to them.

The interview started.

"So, I should read the questionnaire?" the main interviewer said.

I thought this interview session is a little too casual.

After a couple of questions, someone's cell phone started ringing. It was the middle of the time when I was answering.

"Ah, great..." I thought.

The interview was resumed, and then another call with loud ring tones.

"Okay..."

By the time, I started to feel that I was spaced out. I had to ask the interviewer about 2 questions to repeat them because I wasn't clear about the questions.

Then, my phone started to vibrate – "damn, I forgot to shut it off."
I always put my phone in the silent mode, but they noticed the vibration, so I apologized and turned it off.

It was a short interview, but it was the hardest interview to focus on.

Let's shut off your cell phone while in the meeting...

On this day of the 23rd of July, 2007

Someone asked me that why I don't call my blog "east and west" a while ago, so I did now.

Today, I noticed one thing that I am surely getting old – my thoughts, sense of challenge, realisation of how I can be a responsive and responsible son of my parents, and so on.

I know my parents would say, "We don't need your help and do whatever you think it is good for yourself." However, as a son, I should start to think about how I can deal with usual Japanese society common things.

Yet, I still have momentum before it. I will try to build my new career and stabilise myself financially. Those are my immediate goals to reach.

I always seem to decide to meet the same friend of mine for the moment when I need to think by myself, but it is always good to see him and talk about anything.

Is it going to rain? I was working out at the gym with the Radiohead's depressing songs from "OK, Computer" on my iPod.

An Atomic Bomb and A Man

I had a dream early morning this morning.

A man were siting on a bench at a park and he was about to start his lunch, having a lunch box on his lap.

Suddenly, the lunch box started to burn and the lunch box turn into pitch dark carbonated in Milli seconds. At the same time, the man was also turning into black, black ashes with flames.

The scene changed like a movie, from a bird eye view, the bomb's shock wave is expanding toward mountains.

And, I woke up with my cell phone's alarm clock.

Something Japanese

Generally speaking, for non-Japanese people, when they hear, see, or touch something Japanese, it is a cool thing to do and/or have.

In Toronto, people, whose origins are from East Asia or people, who are the second or third generations of East Asian origins, often say that Japanese people work hard without any complaints that is generated by solemn post-war Japanese generations.

Those people still have an image that everything in Japan is very expensive that is generated during and after the Japan's bubble economy in 1980's.

When I went home and during my stay in Japan, I realised that we had more services and goods that prices are reasonable and even cheaper than it used to be. There is no "the cheaper, the worse," and the prices of goods and services became more adequate.

People often compare two things and decide which is better. The fact is that each one has goods and bads.

Here is something that happens often in Toronto:

Person A: "I took a trip to Europe. Oh yes! I bought a Japanese shirt in Paris. I don't know what is written on the shirt, though. Do you want to take a look?"

I: (um, why did he get a Japanese shirt in Europe?? Oh maybe, he got a shirt from Muji or Uniqlo or some sort of Japanese designers...)

Person A: "This is the shirt. What does it say?"

I: (Oh no... I don't know what it says... Oh wait, I can see Japanese soccer team's name, but it should be 'Kashima Antlers' instead of 'Antlers Kashima.' This is 'pachi-mon' kind of shirt because the shirt has just Japanese-themed names...)

*pachi-mon: is an Osaka dialect, that means something fake or a copied brand product.

Person A: "It was expensive."

I: "...." (Why did he buy a pchi-mon in Paris?? He was so excited during his trip and he just did traveller's spending. But, he doesn't know neither a culture of pachi-mon nor Japan. It is kind of tiring to explain it in English and I don't want to hurt his feelings.) "Oh, I have never seen the shirt you have, but that's good." (No further comments and I was a little sweating with my nervousness.)

A Youtube Moment

Untitled

大阪、玉造のみなさまへ

連絡もなしに大阪から去ってしまってほんとに申し訳ないです。

環状線脇の素敵な食堂で再会できてほんと嬉しかったです。みなさんの忙しい時間を割いていただいてありがとうございました。

再会以降、バイト探し、バイト開始、姪っ子たちと遊ぶ、家族と集う、東京１泊２日などなど、となんだかんだと薄っぺらい財布とにらみ合いながらしていると、一月あっという間に経っていました。

６年ぶりに会った顔は変わりなく、元気そうで良かったです。街の携帯電話やカーナビやウォシュレットの氾濫に戸惑いましたが、本質的にはあんまり変わっていなくて少し安心しました。

いろいろな意味でやっぱり帰省できて良かったと思います。どっちに転がるにしろ、もう少しこっちで頑張って精進したいと思います。次回は６年後ではなく２年後くらいに帰省の標的を合わせて。

みなさんのますますの発展と活躍をホッキョクグマとアライグマとともにお祈りしています！

Mango Nectar | 誤字

I love mango nectar. I love a multi-lingual package. If you can read Japanese, you'll see a typo. In its look, yeah, it's very similar, but I guess I can say that it is a typical Japanese-as-a-second-language problem. ソ (so) and ン (m), ツ (tsu) and シ (shi), マ (ma) and ア (a), etc.

***

惜しい、座布団一枚引き。