156 A Study of Liquors

Ladies and gents around me like liquors. Boys and girls also do. My family is no exception. In fact almost all the people like to drink. And I, being a stubborn coffee lover and water enthusiast (the latter sounds strange but it's true) did find ways to appreciate a few of them.

Water is an essential part of myself. Coffee is my old friend who accompanies me anytime with bitter warmth. On the other hand, tasting liquors is to know someone for the first time to see if the new friend might suit me. In many cases these little adventures succeed and when I drink up I say "Goodbye--- and see you again", though sometimes they just frown and kick me out.

More often my interest is attracted by their splendid shape. Does anyone like to watch the beautiful bottles, the well-designed labels and the crystal shine of various color, as well as their taste of alcohol? It's like a liquid gem as they say. Besides the fact I am a visually-inclined person, I think everyone could share the pure excitement when you see the lines of colorful liqueurs on the bar counter, or the lying fine wines in old good cellar. It reminds me of a boyish fun of treasure hunting.

Nevertheless I don't quite understand why people like to get drunk too much even if they know it'll end up with a nastiness---aesthetically, not just ethically--- anyway. It never occured to me to try it perhaps because of my, so to say, an animal instinct. An instinct to stay calm and sane wherever you are, to protect you from any outer hazard. I'm not saying people should always be alarmed, but isn't it true at least that when you get totally drunk you're helpless to any things that surround you? As far as I know no wild animals do such thing intentionally. 

So, in another aspect liquor is "the most civilized thing in the world", as E. Hemingway said about wine.

I shall quote two more from masters of each natural science and humanity;

"Wine is sunlight, held together by water"
-Galileo Gallilei

"Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used, exclaim no more against it"
-William Shakespeare (Othello)

Maybe I have much to learn. Then I need another cup of coffee.

155 Winter Wonderland

                                                               My hometown, 2005 Winter

いちばん暑い真夏のさかりにクリスマス物語を作るということが、どんなにむずかしいかは、わかりきっていましたから。「身を切るよう寒く、雪がどんどんふっていました。アイゼンマイヤー先生は、窓から外を見ると、両の耳たぶがこごえました」などと、こしを落ちつけて、うまく書くことはできません―どんなにやろうと思っても、そんなことは、この8月には書けません。おふろにはいって、シチュー肉のようにあぶられる思いをし、日射病を覚悟しているんでは、ね！

（｢飛ぶ教室」エーリヒ・ケストナー）

この本を読んだ頃に暮らしていたのは「窓の外を見ると両の耳たぶがこごえる」ような北国でしたが、それでも正反対の季節を想像力だけで物語るのがいかに大変かは十分わかりました。

作家でもさすがに想像力だけでは無理なときがあるようで、

暑さににえる思いで、うずくまりながら、たとえば雪合戦の光景を書くのは容易じゃありません。そういう時、わたしは木のベンチにぐっともたれて、ツークシュピッツェ山を見上げます。その大きな岩のさけめに、消えることのない、つめたい雪がきらきら光っています。―それを見ると、さきが書けます。

万年雪を見れば冬の光景が描け、椰子の実を見れば南太平洋の島が、化石を見れば恐竜の時代が想像できる、と言われてみればそうかもしれません。要はちょっとそんな気になるだけで、想像力は飛躍します。（後の細かいところは作家か科学者の仕事です。）

アルプスに行かなくても真冬を想像してみたいのなら、こんなfunnyなものも。

one of the awesome Coca-Cola campaigns.

さて、写真と文章と映像と音楽で、どこまで冬に近づけましたか？

154 Sunbeam

Don't you feel the sun looks bigger in summer?

‘科学史’専攻の割には、夏の太陽が大きく見える理由が目の錯覚だったか、大気の影響だったかよく覚えていませんが、本当は冬の太陽の方が地球に近いらしいのです。こんな巨大な白熱光を見上げていると、有益なのも有害なのも含めてすさまじいエネルギーが降り注いでいるのを感じます。（あまり、長いこと見上げるのはやめましょう）

春の朗らかさ、秋の澄みきった爽やかさ、冬の温かさと同じ物体とは思えない、苛烈な熱と光。ということはつまり、1年のうち4分の3は、この太陽もおとなしい友人なのですが。

153 Illusion

Yesterday, after the damped typhoon had gone, the evening sky was clear and chilly, as if it was the beginning of autumn. I felt like I was back in my childhood, when I woke up one morning to find myself in the cool air, in the change of the seasons.

It's an illusion---or a momentary dream. Summer has just begun.

152 Harry Potter

(I've just seen the last Harry Potter movie and am going to talk about it. So to anyone who wants to see it please keep away from the post not to ruin your entertainment.)

At their reunion the old Dumbledore told Harry that "Words are a source of magic. It would hurt but also can cure."


Words are magic. That's it. There were only words in a book by J.K.R. before this 10-years of exciting creation and world-class marketing success. What else is magical other than this?


But the movie achieves an honor of an overwhelming finale not only with the original magic of storytelling. If I were a kid I would admire the dragon or a thunderbolt-like spell fighting (it would have been more realistic if invisible.)  But this is no more a children's summer movie. Here's the strange calmness. Strange because it describes the fantasy in a way very similar to a documentary film (even with "snake-language" or "guardian of bronze statue").


Calmness, silence and almost a serene state of mind rule the film. It's the eye to witness the ending of 10-years enthusiasm. It has the glimpse of the deep origin of European culture and history. Deepest ever. I dare to say its feeling is not unlike an opera.


But basically this is an adventure of a boy with two best friends. Compared to the classic, mythical adventure in Starwars--- father and son, brother and sister, master and apprentice in a long time ago---it is more complicated and modern. Honestly I couldn't fully understand why Harry conquared his evil enemy and survived. It never be the simple theory of "Hero wins."  Its magic should be modern--- as this was supposed to happen in 1990s England!


Perhapse the most worthy to see is the actors. The cast has lived their 10 years with the series. The sense of finale is real because this is truely a finale for their long time achievement.

151 Electricity

こう何もかも、日常生活も経済活動も楽しみも全て電力の恩恵で成り立っていると痛感する一方でふと思うのは、人そのものは本当は電力を使わないということです。つまり、人が立ったり喋ったり食べたり笑ったりするのに別にコンセントに差しこむ必要はないわけです。人はふつうに栄養と休養を取りさえすれば、数十kgもの身体を好きなように動かし、好きなところに行って、ややこしいことを考えたり語ることができます（人が栄養と休養を取るために、電力を使いまくっていることはさておきますが）。

この素朴すぎる事実に思い当たって、人はいわばバイオエネルギーで活動する生き物であることを思い出します。

電力を使うのも人間なら、作るのも人間です。自転車を漕げばライトが点くくらいの電力は誰にでも作れるのなら、電車待ちやランチタイムや気分転換や暇な時に手足を使って発電できる、持ち運び型発電機を開発してはどうでしょう？

Notice on Poll

I'd like to notice that I withdraw the Poll, as it didn't work so well because of some technical error. Apology for inconvenience. I do appreciate those who joined the poll and yet, now I understand it doesn't matter if I don't know where my readers come from. The thing is that there are readers.

150 Do It Yourself

自分のかばんは自分で持つし、自分の靴は自分で履く。自分の歯は自分で磨くし、自分の友達は自分で見つける。自分の物や身体は自分でどうにかする。

一方、自分で行っているはずなのになぜかそう言われないものといえば、
「癒される」
「元気をもらう」

これは本当は
「癒える」であり、
「元気を出す」であるはず

そう言った方がもっと力強いし、正しい方向だと思います。

149 Reindeer Poll

Now I'd proudly state that I have readers in over 20 nations. I'm proud, honored and really amazed. I'm thankful that so many people might visit here so often, and thankful that they don't complain even if one of my stories is boring.

The statistics shows another interesting fact. The most popular post in this blog is #82 Chill out, a very short, simple note to describe a moment in late summer. To me it's a light snapshot but to my dear readers, somehow this is all-time best. It's like a small documentary film produced within entirely the director's neighborhood had won the Oscar. Do my readers prefer realism?

Maybe I should ask you "What kind of subject you want to read?" or "How many words could you accept in a post?" but I don't need to know so much. I'm just curious about "How did you find here?" and this time I set up a simple poll here and I'd appreciate if you could give answer to it. (Please see right)

Again I'm so grateful to the readers from the world.

148 Ozu

Although I often talk about movie, music, opera and literature, I do not like criticism. Comment, recommendation, impression, or opinions are okay. But criticism sometimes makes me wonder why the speaker could be so confident about understanding the creator's mind and thoughts. If a person could understand other person's mind so well and write it precisely, it would be a record not a criticism, like Dr. Watson writes about Sherlock Holmes.

Unless you're his family or a best friend, you will probably never know an artist. So when I talk about an artwork I try to simply follow my experience and my subjective eyes, not to become a spokesperson of somebody whom I've never met in my life.

Years ago I discovered the world of legendary filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu. The amazing experience to know his masterpieces was like boarding a supersonic transport. But I never found a criticism of Ozu which hit me truely. It's certainly a female and family drama as they say, but I think it's about break-through female and outstanding family living in almost surreal modern world. I can't tell why and I don't care.

People in his movie exchange a charming, sophisticated and catchy dialogue in a very clear, definite and distinct tone that I hardly hear in modern Japanese conversations. I don't know whether it's because of Ozu's unique creation or it's a style of people as they were in good old days. I don't care, I just enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArHMEzlcOp8&feature=related