Contents in 1992

Gone With The Wind

I'm now very exciting to know that the sequel of 'Gone with the Wind' is now under translation into Japanese and will be published in this fall.

Last autumn I heard that the sequel, "Scarlett", had been published. Since then I have often been to the bookstore, but I haven't found the book in English.

A few days ago, in the morning I saw the ad on TV, that of the magazine which gave extra space to that topic, and in the afternoon I went to buy the magazine to the bookstore. There was an excerpted translation of the sequel and I enjoyed it very much.

According to the article of the magazine, it is the smash book in many countries and it has established many records in the publishing world. I'm looking forward to reading it so much.

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Gold Medal

Mr.Kiyokawa Seiji, the honorable Committee of IOC, complained, "It's so good to have Gold Medal, but it is regrettable to pour Champagne on the celebrating place."

After 20 years Japan has got the second Gold Medal in Albert Ville Olympiad. In the ceremony of awarding an honor the members of Japanese team poured Champagne out like that of F1 racing. That's never happened in the Olympic history.

The fact was that; the stuff of the maker of sporty goods handed them the bottle, they got embarrassed at the first moment. One stuff of IOC directed them "Do it later". One of the TV crews agitated, "Go, go". And they did.

There were some different opinions for that. On said; "It's good for young men. That's fun. Don't be so strict." Others complained their impoliteness. It's very sorry, the columnist says, that the Japanese members forget to admire the good fight of the Silver Medallist or Bronze Medallist.

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Manners

I have read the book titled "Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior" (by Judith Martin, USA) in Japanese.
It is a very interesting, funny and almost comical book for manners. It might sound strange that a book for manners is comical. But the book consists of questions and answers, which are very humorous.

The first example is "Please tell me the right way to walk on high heels." The answer is "Right, left, right, left."
The second example is "Please give an advice to the couple who is going into society." The answer is "Don't do that."
The last example is "What is your advice for the newly-married couple?" The answer is "They say it's important to be thoughtful (considerate) to each other, or to share sadness and happiness. But the last important thing which anyone thinks of is to be calm or not to care when the other fails in anything."

Of course it contains a lot of useful and valuable advice. The point that the author wants to say is that the manners are the rules, which is necessary for us to get along with others. I think they are not the fetters which would limit our human relations, but the mixture of faith and generosity. I dare say they could never be written in letters like the law.

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The Tigers(Baseball Team)

My family members are all Tigers' fans. Especially my younger son is a devoted fan of Tigers.

This year the team is in good form so far. So he is so happy, and so exciting when he watches the games on TV that he brings his mascot bats and claps them intensely. He shouts and shouts. He claps and claps, cheering the team. The rest of the family are annoyed at the too big noise, although we hope Tigers will go on to win.

In the meantime my elder son and I have found it interesting to tease him. When the player who often makes an error, does a good play, he gives a shout of joy. My elder son says to me, "It seems to rain tomorrow, maybe snow." When the team that usually loses a perfect chance gains additional four points by a grand-slam homer, he jumps around for joy clapping and shouting. I say to my elder son, "The last day has come. The extinction of the earth!"

But he doesn't care whatever we say. He goes on to say hurrah. I tell him to enjoy the happiness right now as much as possible because the future is maybe in the dark. He says, "I know well that there are at most forty games to win a year."

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Disgusting Thing

The other day I watched some TV program concerning the recent situation of workers. The point of the recent labor movement is the shortening of working time. Single young people would rather have much free time than a high salary.

But there are many people who count on their overtime pay. In that program the reporter visited a family and interviewed. The family consists of middle-aged couple and their two teen-aged kids.

The husband used to work overtime for two hours every day, but now he comes home at seven o'clock. He says he has more time than before so that he is going to learn something for his hobby. On the other hand his wife complains of their reduced income. She says that they can't afford the expense of bringing up kids because the income has reduced into three fourths. They have a home loan and the tuition of the cramming school is very expensive. And more she says that her husband doesn't have to come home so early, rather enough at 9. Their situation is very severe, I guess.

It was the words of the executive member of the labor union that made me disgusting. He said, if the parents come home early and the family is very happy, the kids don't went wrong and the school-phobia can't occur. And the kids don't have to go to cramming school, because the parents should teach them in their free time. I got so much upset to hear that. Clearly he sidestepped the problem disgustingly, or he understood nothing at all.

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Milva

Last night I went to the concert of Milva with my husband. It was the first time for us to go to the concert together in our twenty-year marriage.

Once we went to the movies titled "Caesar and Cleopatra", in which Charlton Heston, my favorite actor, played the leading role. When the drama reached its climax and Brutus stabbed Caesar, Caesar spoke his long lines in his pains and struggles and the audience watched the scene with breathless interest. Long lines and so much strain. A dead silence ruled the theater.

All at once big laughter rose beside me. I was so shocked and so ashamed because it was my husband that laughed aloud. He said, " It is as if it were a playacting. It's just laughable."
But it was just right a play. That's the way of a classical drama. Since then I had avoided going to the theater with him.

The other day I read the article of the concert in the newspaper. I said to myself, "I wish I could go to her concert." Hearing my words, my husband got interested in that event. That was rather unusual for him. I had been just skeptical until we sat in the theater last night.

Fortunately this time he behaved himself to my satisfaction.

The concert was more marvelous than any other ones I ever heard. She sang her songs in English, francais, deutsch, and of course italiano. The songs were composed from 1915 to 1940. For all the various languages and old numbers, her feelings rushed deeply into my heart. From her rich and emotional voice, and from her good shaped body, she couldn't seem to be over fifty.

We gave her a great hand until she couldn't sing encores any more. As I wanted to give a standing ovation to someone who impressed me most, I did it last night. At first only a few people stood together, but the next time about thirty or forty did. I hope that habit will become popular in Japan soon.

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Something Dying Out(Children's Play)

When I look back upon my young days, I can find out that the children of these days live a very different life from mine.

Of course, as the world is changing, it is natural that everything goes changing. But it seems to me that the change causes the children bad result.

Once the children had various plays, and every play was useful to develop many things. Gomu-tobi (high jump over an elastic cord) could develop the muscles of legs and jumping ability. Ikusa-gokko (playing soldiers) could let them act in a body. Without concentration they couldn't play with Kendama (a cup and ball) or Otedama (beanbags). If you fold a sheet of paper carefully and in the right order, you can form it into a crane, a plane, and so on.

Nowadays, such children's plays as we used to do in our young days have almost died out.

Today's children often break their bones. They are often so selfish in their group that they easily hurt others or get hurt themselves mentally and physically. Some of them are careless and easygoing.

They are too busy to play in their grade school or junior high school. I think all this depends on us, grown-ups. Children's plays are gone not automatically, but it might be we that have let them go out in a sense. We should make the situation where the children can play at will, with their full imagination, and with all their body.

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