Fierce Creatures —危険生物—

“Daddy,” begins my son, “Do you think that a giraffe is a nice animal, or a dangerous one?” 

“I suppose they are nice,” I say.  “They are herbivores – They eat only plants, not meat.” 

“No Daddy, you are wrong,” says my son.  “Giraffes have a powerful kick, and are very dangerous.  It says so in my book.” 

My son had his seventh birthday recently, and he was given a reference book about dangerous animals as a birthday present.  He now spends a lot of his time reading about scorpions, jellyfish, snakes, and bees. 

We were initially pleased that he had found something which caught his interest.  But I fear that his interest in dangerous creatures is becoming a problem. 

We stayed overnight in a hotel in Tateyama this week, and took our son to the beach.  The last time we took him to the beach, he was incredibly excited, and ran in the water happily, looking for seaweed and interesting shells. 

This time he refused to go into the water. 

“Do you know that there are many kinds of dangerous jellyfish that live in the waters around Japan?” he said. 

“Okay,” I said.  “We’ll keep our waterproof sandals on when we wade into the water,” I said. 

“But what about the urchins with poisonous spines?  They are so sharp that they will cut through our sandals.” 

It took a lot of persuading to get my son into the water.  I didn’t tell him about the recent release of radioactive water into the sea a little further north. 

Later, in the hotel hot spring, my son shouted in panic.  “A wasp, a wasp!  It will sting us!” 

It was a fly. 

Next year we will buy our son a book about a safer topic.  The world of kittens?

 

Moonlight Sonatas －月光－

Congratulations to India on successfully landing a spacecraft on the moon this week. 

I like the moon.  In my most memorable ever dream, I was an astronaut on the moon, and I was hopping about lazily in the low gravity. 

A lot of artists like the moon too.  Here are some lyrics of some songs I like, which are dedicated to the moon.

 

That old Devil moon by Chet Baker

“I look at you and suddenly,

Something in your eyes I see,

Soon begins bewitching me.

It’s that old devil moon,

That you stole from the skies.”

 

The Moon by Cat power

“The moon is not only beautiful;

It is so far away.

The moon is not only ice cold;

It is here to stay.”

 

paint the moon by Czars

“Don’t paint the sun any more;

Paint the moon, and the stars in an autumn sky.

Paint me cool blue waters, with shades of gray;

Just don’t let me live my life this way:

Without you.”

 

Werewolf by Michael Hurley

“Once I saw him in the moonlight when the bats were a-flying,

All alone I saw the werewolf and the werewolf was crying,

Crying – Nobody, nobody, nobody knows how much I love the maiden as I tear off her clothes,

Crying – Nobody, nobody knows the pain when I see it has risen:

That full moon again.”

 

Moondance by Van Morrison

“You know the night’s magic,

Seems to whisper and hush.

You know the soft moonlight,

Seems to shine in your blush.

Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love?”

 

The Last Men on the Moon by the Stranglers

“We’re getting short on room:

Imagine when they colonize the moon.

Of all the things you can chase;

They’re putting geckos out in space.”

 

Alabama Song by Lotte Lenya

“O moon of alabama – we now must say goodbye,

We’ve lost our good old Mama,

And now must have whisky,

Oh, you know why.”

 

Moon Karaoke by Kathryn Williams

“If the moon was on karaoke, what would she sing?

…I’m just trying to be me,

While the moon pulls the sea.”

 

Golden Issues －金色の問題－

I recently finished reading Yukio Mishima’s novel, “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion,” or “Kinkakuji” in Japanese. 

It is the second novel of Mishima’s that I have read.  Both of them have been about highly intelligent young men who are misfits in their society.  In both novels, the main character takes drastic, selfish action to attack society.  In this novel, a trainee monk at the beautiful Kinkakuji temple in Kyoto comes to the decision to burn it down. 

It is not at all surprising to learn that Mishima tried to instigate a mad revolution in peaceful Japan to return the country to militarism, or that he committed suicide by imitating the samurai’s custom of seppuku.  Clearly that boy had some issues. 

Here are a few interesting quotes from the novel which I have picked out. 

“The special quality of hell is to see everything clearly down to the last detail.” 

In the Christian tradition, Adam and Eve were thrown out of heaven for eating an apple from the Tree of Knowledge.  If a lack of knowledge is heaven, or blissful ignorance, is too much knowledge hell? 

“Clearly it is impossible to touch eternity with one hand, and life with the other.” 

Choose life.  If eternity really exists, then it will still be waiting for you later. 

“Cripples and women hate being stared at, for they tire of it.” 

That’s why beautiful women should date only blind men.

 

Vocabulary:

a misfit – a person who doesn’t fit in (eg., “He seems to be a misfit.  He has no friends, and can’t keep a job for very long.”)

a cripple – This is often now seen as an offensive or outdated word – Someone who has a severe physical injury or disability (eg., Jesus is said to have healed cripples, and made them able to walk again.)

 

Silver Slurpers —シルバーすすり屋さん－

I teach a lesson to my students about restaurants that have a gimmick to attract customers.  A gimmick is a novel or unusual idea that catches people’s attention.  The word “gimmick” also has a slightly negative meaning, suggesting that something is not new in a very deep and important way, but in a superficial way. 

I once ate at an “ice restaurant” in Shanghai.  The temperature inside the restaurant was as cold as a freezer, and the customers had to wear special warm jackets and gloves while eating their food.  It was interesting, but once was enough. 

Some other restaurant gimmicks include using swings as chairs, or making the dining table look like a boat, or train carriage, etc. 

I ask my students to come up with their own ideas for unusual restaurant selling points, or gimmicks, which might catch on. 

One of my students had quite a good idea the other day.  She suggested starting a ramen restaurant which catered for elderly customers. 

The ramen noodles would be soft, and so not difficult for elderly customers to chew.  And the soup would be less oily than ramen usually is. 

All my student needs now is a name for her restaurant in order to get the business going.  Do you have any ideas?  Mature Ramen?  Wrinkly Noodles?  Silver Slurpers?  Restful Ramen?

 

Vocabulary:

a slurper – someone who slurps

to slurp – to make a noise, especially when eating soup, by sucking food or drink into your mouth.  (eg., Many Japanese diners slurp when eating ramen noodles.)

superficial – on the surface only

 

The prison Hilton －刑務所のヒルトン－

 A story emerged in Britain recently which shocked many people. 

After a woman was assaulted by a stranger, the police arrested a man that they said was the criminal.  Despite having little evidence that suggested he was guilty, the police charged the man.  At the trial, he was found guilty and sent to prison.  After spending 17 years in prison, all the while fighting to have his case looked at again, the man was released.  Then d.n.a. evidence was found which proved that the man was totally innocent of the assault. 

So the falsely imprisoned man is claiming compensation from the government for the 17 years he lost in prison.  When the rules for claiming compensation after miscarriages of justice were explained to him, he discovered that he might have to pay the government hundreds of thousands of pounds in order to cover his “room and board” for the time he spent in jail.  In other words, if the government wrongly sends somebody to prison in Britain, they will then force the innocent victim to pay for the accommodation and food costs of the time they spent in a government jail. 

I wonder how good the room service was in his cell? 

Most people who heard about this in the news were amazed by it.  It makes me think of a political prisoner in the old Soviet Union.  After the government executed the prisoner by shooting them in the back of the head, they would then charge the executed man’s family for the cost of the bullet.

All governments are heartless, though some are more heartless than others.

Vocabulary:

a miscarriage of justice – A case in which the wrong person is punished for a crime, or is unfairly treated by the justice system of trials, appeals, etc.

room and board – accommodation and food