The Little Sumo, and the Princess, and the Giant, part 2 －小さなお相撲さんとプリンセスと巨人 パート2－

In part 1, the Little Sumo, and Mummy and Daddy go to the vegetable garden.  There they see a very elegant princess who is growing vegetables without getting dirty.  She uses two long sets of chopsticks to pull up weeds, without touching the soil.  But then a nasty giant comes to the vegetable garden, and decides to take the princess, the Little Sumo, and Mummy and Daddy away to his castle.  He plans to eat them.

*

Before anyone could complain, or run away, the giant picked up the princess in his left hand, and scooped up the little sumo, and Mummy and Daddy in his right hand.

“How lucky!” boomed the giant.  “I have found breakfast, lunch dinner, supper, and a snack too, in this vegetable garden!”

And the giant carried them all off to his castle, so that he could eat them the next day when he got hungry.

*

Part 2:

The giant put everyone inside a cupboard in his huge castle, and then put a heavy stone in front of the cupboard door.  The princess, and the Little Sumo, and Mummy and Daddy were trapped inside the cupboard.  There was only a little light coming into the cupboard from a crack in the door.

“Stay in there tonight, and we can have a nice breakfast together in the morning!” laughed the giant.  Then he went to bed.

“We have to escape before morning,” said Mummy.

“I know!” said Daddy.  “We can escape using a rocket ship.”

“That’s a great idea!” said the princess.

“But we don’t have a rocket ship, Daddy,” said the Little Sumo.

“Ah, yes.  Well that idea won’t work then,” said Daddy.

“So the giant really is going to eat us,” said Mummy.

Everyone sat there unhappily in the gloomy cupboard for a while.

“I wonder how the giant eats,” said the Little Sumo.  “Does he use a fork and knife, do you think?”

“That gives me an idea,” said the princess.  “Maybe if we wait until morning, we can escape after all.”

*

The next morning, the giant came into his huge kitchen to prepare his breakfast.  He opened the cupboard, and scooped everybody up and placed them on his giant dining table, which was pushed up against a huge wall in his castle.  The Little Sumo could see green grass outside of a giant window in the wall.

“I’m so hungry,” said the giant.  “I can’t wait to start eating my breakfast.  Now there are four tasty-looking people.  Who shall I eat first?”

“But where is your plate?” said the princess.  “I’m a princess and I have eaten breakfast with many important people.  They always eat with a plate.  Surely a giant like you is important enough to eat breakfast using a plate?”

“Uh… Of course I’m important enough to eat breakfast with a plate.  I was just about to get it.”

Then the giant walked out of the huge kitchen, looking a little embarrassed.

Everybody quickly ran to the window, looking for a way out.  They found a little gap between the window and the window sill.  It was just big enough for one person to slowly squeeze through.  Daddy was about to try to crawl through to escape, when they heard the giant coming back.

“Oh, dear!” said Mummy.  “We don’t have time to escape.  We’ll have to try again.”

They all ran back to the middle of the table, and pretended not to have moved.  The giant set down a huge, smooth rock on the table in front of them.

“Well, now I have my plate,” he boomed.  “Let’s eat breakfast!”

*

Oh, dear!  The princess’s escape plan hasn’t worked.  Find out if the Little Sumo and his companions become the giant’s breakfast next time!

Vocabulary:

to be trapped – to be stuck; to be unable to escape

a crack – a long, thin line where something is breaking apart

gloomy – dark; unhappy

Appreciating the Small Details of Urban Japan －日本で、都会の細部の有り難みを知ること－ ジャパンタイムズに記事が掲載されました

I promised to finish writing a Little Sumo story I started last week.  But today is a public holiday, and I decided to lie on my sofa in my boxer shorts all day, eating from a bag of mixed nuts and listening to podcasts instead.  You shouldn’t work on a public holiday.  Actually, I stood on some scales for the first time in about a year this morning, and found out that I am about 6kg heavier than I was in the recent past.  So maybe I’ll have just a small bag of mixed nuts then.

Because of this holiday, let me keep today’s blog simple.  I will tell you about an article I had published in the Japan Times this week.

I wrote about how difficult it is for people to travel recently – the corona virus has made people scared, there are few flights, and people in other prefectures don’t seem to want visitors from Tokyo.  So I advised foreigners living in Japan to remember that they are living in a fascinating country, and to appreciate some small details which make Japan different from their home country.  I suggested some things such as admiring the stylish jackets of Japanese construction workers, or walking past a tonkotsu ramen restaurant to enjoy the unique smell.

Can you think of any other small details that someone stuck in Tokyo could enjoy?

Here is a link to the article:

ジャパンタイムズの記事リンク（2020/07/19）

The Little Sumo, and the Princess, and the Giant, part 1 －小さなお相撲さんとプリンセスと巨人 パート1－

Here is a Little Sumo story.  They are jointly written by myself and my three year old son.

“No, Daddy!” my son says.  “You’re telling a silly story!  Let me tell it now!”

See if you can tell which parts were written by me, and which by my son.

*

The little sumo had never met a princess before.  But one day he met a princess in the vegetable garden, where he and his family grew aubergines, tomatoes, and green peppers.

Daddy was wearing Wellington boots, long trousers to keep the mosquitos away, and a big hat to keep out of the sun.  Mummy was wearing an old pair of shoes, a long-sleeved jumper, and thick gloves to protect her skin from the dirt in the vegetable garden. The little sumo had little Wellington boots, little gloves, and a little hat.

All of a sudden he noticed a beautiful woman in a purple dress who was pulling up weeds in the vegetable plot next to the little sumo’s.  She was wearing a purple dress, and stylish moon shoes, which were silvery-grey.  There was a smell of orange and cinnamon coming from her exposed legs and arms.

“Look Mummy and Daddy,” said the little sumo.  “There’s a princess in the vegetable garden!  She’s not wearing Wellington boots or long trousers.  How does she keep away the mosquitos and keep clean?”

“She has sprayed her arms and legs with orange and cinnamon to keep away the mosquitos,” whispered Mummy.

“What a clever idea,” whispered Daddy.

The little sumo could tell that only a princess would grow vegetables in a vegetable garden wearing a beautiful purple dress, and smelling of orange and cinnamon.  She wasn’t pulling up weeds in gloved hands like Mummy.  Instead, she was pulling up weeds using special chopsticks.  She had a pair of chopsticks in each hand and pulled up the weeds in her plot of land like this:by pushing one set of chopsticks into the dirt and scraping it away from the weeds, and then pulling the weeds up with her other set of chopsticks.  This also allowed her to stay on the path, and reach the weeds without standing in the dirt.

“How elegant!” whispered Daddy.

“I wonder where she buys her special chopsticks,” whispered Mummy.

It seemed to get dark in the vegetable garden all of a sudden.  A huge shadow was blocking the sun from touching the vegetables.

The little sumo looked up and saw a giant, dressed all in green, who was standing over them all.

“Fee-fi-fo-fum!  I smell the blood of an orange-flavoured woman!” said the giant in a booming voice.  “Fee-fi-fum-fo!  I smell the blood of a tasty sumo!” he continued.

Then before anyone could complain, or run away, the giant picked up the princess in his left hand, and scooped up the little sumo, and Mummy and Daddy in his right hand.

“How lucky!” boomed the giant.  “I have found breakfast, lunch dinner, supper, and a snack too, in this vegetable garden!”

And the giant carried them all off to his castle, so that he could eat them the next day when he got hungry.

*

Oh, dear!  Will the little sumo, Mummy and Daddy, and the princess be safe?  How will they escape from the giant’s castle, or will they all be eaten like squishy aubergines?

Find out next time!

Vocabulary:

an aubergine – a vegetable, also called an eggplant

Wellington boots – long boots designed to keep the feet dry and safe from mud, puddles of water, etc.

exposed – uncovered, not protected by clothing

Fee-fi-fo-fum – In the traditional fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk, the giant says, “Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman

to scoop something up – to pick something up as if using a spoon

squishy – easily crushed and spilling out juice (for example a strawberry is squishy, but a potato is not)

Harry Potter and Freedom of Speech －ハリーポッターと言論の自由－

Recently the writer of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, has been attacked on social media after she expressed opinions which some people strongly disagreed with.  She is one of many people who have been attacked on social media for expressing their opinions, even when they were not trying to cause any harm or in any way spread hate.  It seems like people can no longer argue and persuade, or agree to disagree.

So it is not surprising that J.K. Rowling has signed an open letter, explaining the importance to our society of allowing people to speak freely without being attacked on social media, and without writers being disciplined by their editor because some people feel offended.  The letter was also signed by many other writers, journalists and academics, such as Noam Chomsky and Salman Rushdie.  I agree with the letter and feel it is a very important issue.

So I have taken some key points from the letter, edited to make it easier for non-native speakers to read, and included it below.  Feel free to disagree (politely!)

An edited version of “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate”

Our cultural institutions are facing a moment of trial.  There are calls for greater equality and inclusion across our society.  But this has also weakened our norms of open debate and toleration of differences.  It instead promotes ideological conformity.

The forces of illiberalism are gaining strength throughout the world.  We must speak out against an intolerant climate that has set in on all sides.

The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more limited.  An intolerance of opposing views is spreading, and there is a vogue for public shaming.  It is now too common to hear calls for swift and severe punishment for speech or thought which is perceived to be wrong.  Editors are fired for running controversial pieces; books are banned; and journalists are barred from writing about certain topics.

The result has been to steadily narrow the boundaries of what can be said without the threat of reprisal.  We are already paying the price in greater risk aversion among writers, artists and journalists.  The way to defeat bad arguments is by exposure, argument and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away.

Vocabulary:

an institution–a long-lasting and important organisation, such as a school, church, etc.

a moment of trial – a time when something faces difficulty and challenge

inclusion–openness to wide numbers of people taking part

a norm – a normal or commonplace thing; a custom or general rule

toleration – the practice of living peacefully alongside people with opposing views

ideological conformity – the tendency to think the same about important matters; a lack of difference in thought

illiberalism – lack of liberalism; a lack of freedom, openness and tolerance

a vogue for something – a current trend for something or fashion for something

perceived to be – seen or thought to be

reprisal – revenge attack

risk aversion – an unwillingness to take risks; a desire to stay safe

exposure – the opening of something not well known to wide knowledge

Teaching a Pig to Sing －豚に歌うのを教えること－

I recently read an old sci-fi novel.  It was Robert A. Heinlein’s book, “Time enough for love”.  One of the characters gives out life advice throughout the story.  Some of his advice is very interesting.  Here are a few quotes from the book.

1 - “Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.”

This reminds me of my attempts to learn to speak Chinese.  My teacher spent months trying to teach me to recognise the difference in tone of four words which sounded to me like, ma, ma, ma, and ma.  This pig never learned to sing.

2 – “Never try to out-stubborn a cat.”

Cats don’t change their ways to suit humans.  In the news today there was a story about a cat who returned home 12 years after jumping out of a window and running away.  He didn’t even say sorry, but went straight to the place where his food bowl had been kept.

3 – “A society that gets rid of all of its trouble-makers goes downhill.”

This makes me think of recent demonstrations in Hong Kong.  Young demonstrators have certainly caused a lot of trouble for the city.  But maybe it is a scarier situation when no one is brave enough to cause any trouble at all.

4 – “Delusions are often functional.  A mother’s opinions about her children’s intelligence, beauty, goodness, etc. keep her from drowning them.”

Sometimes it is best to pretend.  I am still as handsome and desirable as I was twenty years ago.

5 – “If you are part of a society that votes, then do so.  There may be no candidates and no measure that you want to vote for…  But there are certain to be ones that you want to vote against.”

This is timely advice for the upcoming election for Tokyo governor.

Vocabulary:

to be stubborn – to be unwilling to change your opinion or attitude; to be hard-headed

to go downhill – to become worse

a delusion – an imagined and false reality

to be functional – to have a practical purpose

to drown someone – to kill someone by forcing their head underwater

a measure – a policy or plan or proposal to change something