Class Reunion

Two months ago one of my high school classmates called me and asked me to attend the preparatory committee of the alumni association of Kanto area. But I refused the asking because I don't want to be involved in complicated tasks, and because all the attendants were over sixty except him. And I suggested having a class reunion. Our class in the twelfth grade was the happiest one for me all through my school days. We were on good terms, took part in various school activities together, and went camping in the very summer of the twelfth grade.

The plan went on and finally realized on June 20. Nine members of our class lived in Kanto area, 5 boys and 4 girls. And 8 members except one girl could be present that day.

I saw one girl a few years ago, but I hadn't seen the rest of them for over 23 years. Girls met in front of Marion at Yuraku-cho. The girl whom we met after a long absence was touched so much and said repeatedly, "It's like a drama, like a movie!"

When the girls were led to the table where four male members had already gathered, we caught our breath at the sight of almost strange people. Middle-aged men, one of them had a mustache, another had a baldhead. Besides they stared us from top to bottom.

But once we started to talk one another, everyone found out that everyone still had the remains of looks, the ways of talking and personality of old days. And we felt as if we were transported to our school days when we were 17 or 18 years old. We talked and talked for over 5 hours and decided to meet again at least once a year.

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Family Reunion

This summer we had a family reunion in Shinshu. My parents, my sister's family and my family, 9 members in all, joined at Shirakaba Lake.

Being afraid of being caught in a traffic jam, we left home at five in the morning. Fortunately we could make good time and reached Yoko-dake in less than four hours. My sister's family, who left home after seven, was caught in a traffic jam after an accident.

Over there it was very cool and very quiet, because our hotel was located in a hill a little away from the lake. Around the lake were many hotels, parks and stores, and the nature was spoiled and very noisy. Besides the premise of our hotel was very extensive and it had many kinds of recreation facilities like sports, billiards, karaoke and pool. It looks like one village as the name suggests ("Alpendorf" means village in the high mountain). We were very surprised to see my mother play billiards for the first time, and to see my father play table tennis rather good.

This was a successful get-together, especially for my parents and their grandchildren, and for my kids and their uncle and cousin.

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Trip to Universe

Mr.Mohri said to the students in his lecture, "In about ten years you can travel into the space." It seems marvelous for the ordinary people to fly to the moon or to travel around the solar system.

But as for as I am concerned, I wouldn't want to go to the space by two reasons. The first reason is that I don't like to be shut up in a little space and the second is that I am afraid of being free of ground. By the same reason I don't get on the plane or ship without slight fear. A big plane or ship will do because there I can feel like being on the ground.

If the spaceship is so big as a gorgeous passenger boat, if the spaceship is self-sufficient in every meaning like that BioSphere II in Arizona, and then I may agree to the space trip. But I don't believe that the day will come while I am alive. The thought makes me relieved so much.

I have debated for a week where my fear comes from. To tell the truth I am very interested in space science, so I have read many science magazines and science-fiction novels, and have seen many science-fiction films and scientific documentaries. All those make me think that the universe, which is the same as the nature, is incredibly vast and on the other hand the man is but an insignificant being in the universe.

I even feel the Great Will in the universe. In other words I don't believe in what the human being does. High above the sky was the space shuttle flying, on the ground was many people fighting and starving. You may laugh at me, but I am satisfied with my flight in my dreams.

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Rice Bran(News)

I've found very interesting news in the reader's column. It's from a certain homemaker who lies in Machida. She is now a consumer's monitor of the city, and the other day she learned a terrible fact about Japanese nuka-zuke.

That is we should exchange the rice bran of nuka-zuke (Japanese pickles in rice bran paste) into the new one once a year, because the agricultural chemicals ooze out from the vegetables and come back to them again. We've been having the belief that older rice bran is better, that is, more delicious. The homemaker also had her salted rice bran paste that was given by her mother, and she stirred it every day to keep well.

But after hearing that, she dared to throw away most of it and to put a little bit of it into the new rice bran.

In the column she was very pleased to know that. But it seems to me more dangerous, because rice bran contains much of agricultural chemicals. They say unless we eat the rice free from it, we should wash rice as well as possible lest rice bran should remain. I think the old rice bran paste is safer. Don't you think so?

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Good Custom of Japan

It is very difficult for me to tell a Japanese good point. I think we have many good points but we are not aware of them, because we live with them quite unconsciously.

If we live in a foreign country for a while, we realize what they are. When I see foreign films, I find one of them. It is our custom, that is, to take our shoes off in the house.

I believe it's a very excellent custom in the world. In foreign films, people walk around the house with the shoes on, with which they walk in the mud, in the rain or on excrement of animals. When I see foreigners lie or sit on the bed with dirty-looking shoes on, I can't believe their nerves. Even if shoes are cleaned on the doormat, none of them is cleaner than a bare foot.

I hear some foreigners imitate this custom of Japan. It is a very reasonable way to keep our house clean, to keep outdoor dirt away and also to keep our body healthy. I want to recommend this custom to the world.

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Notice of Cancer

The Citizen Association of Thinking about Hospice in Yokohama has summed up the result of their questionnaire. That is 80% of people, if they are suffering from cancer, wish to be declared, and they also say that the opinion on cancer has evidently tided up in public.

This association started in June for the purpose of thinking about the problem of a hospice, life and death, after the case of euthanasia in the Tokyo University Hospital (in Isehara).

Over 500 people answered the questions. If they get cancer, 95.7% of them want to know the name of their disease when it is the earlier one, and 88.2% when the terminal one.

On the other hand, when their family member has cancer, a little fewer people will tell it. In the earlier case 82.1%, in the terminal one 55.5%. 50.9% of them want the doctor to say so and 25.7% want their family member to do so. 93.7% don't want the care for prolonging life. And 76.3% don't want that for their family either.

When their days are numbered, over 40% of them want only to be free from pains and to have good advice physically and mentally. 62.9% people want to die in a hospice and 36.2% at home. If the family member is dying, about the same number of people want him or her to die in a hospice or at home.

As for me I never want to be tied to a lot of tubes. If possible I hope to die suddenly without any notice.

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Great Teacher

When I was a high school student, our class teacher was a teacher of mathematics. He was then very young and shy. The students called him "Frog" because his face looked like a frog.

When I got bad marks in a math test, he called me to the staff room and said, "Don't be depressed. The marks you've got can't show the quantity or quality of your knowledge. You must know some more other things than the ones in the test. If you fill up the lost marks, you will get much more than full marks. Don't be disappointed!"

To tell the truth I wasn't so depressed. I don't remember the marks concretely. But his kind attitude and, of course, what he said was very heartwarming. From that time on I felt him closer. And even now I think what he said could be available for everything. Though it might seem to be an excuse, but no one could show all he has. Especially when my kids let me down, I say to myself, "I'm sure they have good points or ability that can't be seen yet." It's my optimism.

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Memory of A Party

Speaking of a party, now I remember my freshman's days. Our class was small, about 25 members there. Our German teacher was very good to us, we were her pets.

She invited us to her house at Christmas time. As some students went back to their hometown, about ten classmates visited her. She wanted us to put on a play, but we couldn't do that. One of our members thought of a good idea, a picture drama.

We made a scenario in German; we borrowed a sound tape from NHK and painted different scenes. We practiced hundreds times. On the day we took them all to her house.

She was very delighted to see our picture drama. In fact she was single, and she was at that time in her fifties. She lived alone in a small Japanese-style house beside a church in Nishi-no-miya. Her homeland was Poland, but it was often invaded in its history. She always said, "I don't have a homeland." We were very sorry for her. Therefore, we were very glad to delight her so much.

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Andre's Mother

I will tell you about the film I watched on TV the other day. The title was "Andre's Mother".

Andre was a would-be-actor and lived in New York far away from his hometown. Andre, who didn't show up in the film, was described by his male-partner's words. When Andre's mother went out of her way to visit her son for the first time, he was out to have an audition for a big role, and she was very surprised to know that he lived with a man. Although he was very polite and gentle, she couldn't understand her son's way of living. In the meantime some flash backs showed that she tried to understand her son in vain.

At last he died of AIDS. His funeral was held in his hometown. Later in New York his friends held a memorial service for Andre and they invited his mother. Still she couldn't understand her son, neither could she forgive his partner, because she thought that Andre's AIDS was his fault. But for the first time she found out through the stories by his friends what her son was, how he lived, how he thought of her.

The most touching scene was in the Central Park. Every attendant went there with a white balloon in his hand. The white balloon stood for the soul of the departed, and when the balloon was let go of, the soul was set free and went up to Heaven. Andre's mother and his partner couldn't let go of the balloon. He talked and talked about Andre, and finally she knew that he was not guilty for Andre's AIDS and that Andre wanted her to understand him to the very end. Two white balloons went up in the air.

I couldn't understand homosexuality, but the words of Andre's partner gave me an impression, that is, their love is just like a love between a man and a woman, everyone wants to be with one he loves.

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That's all in 1992.

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