Maerchen

As we are now translating one of Andersen's works "the Snow Queen", I want to tell you about Maerchen.

The word "Maerchen" comes from "Maere" in the Middle Ages, which meant "famous, known or rumor". In the fifteenth century it meant a rhymed style in poetry. It came to have today's meaning in the middle of the eighteenth century.

Andersen and the brothers Grimm are the most famous as you know, and they were contemporaries. But their works are quite different.

Andersen wrote 156 pieces in all by himself, all of which were founded on his own experiences, his own thoughts and religion. He was born poor and had a wretched childhood. Later his works became famous, he got many friends and also he was invited to the Court. In spite of that he was always poor financially and in health, he didn't have home, and he always traveled.

The works of Andersen are absolutely different from the brothers Grimm's works, which are all handed down among the folks, they are folklore. Most of them were told by women around the brothers. I've read an interesting article, which says that in 1843 the story of Andersen "the Princess on the Pea" was taken in into their book, because some women told that story for them. But after the truth was proved, it was omitted.

I like Maerchen because I am a visionary. On this opportunity I'd like to read them all again.

to Index

Money Tree

I've found a very interesting article in the newspaper. It's about flowers of a tree, so-called "money tree".

An eighty-year-old lady has been growing her money tree for twenty years in Yokohama. In the last November it flowered for the first time. Her neighbors came to see the flowers, and said to her, "You must have taken good care of it." She said, "Nothing particular. But I'm mad with joy, because it's the first time in these twenty years."

According to a specialist in the company "Sakat-no-tane", recently there is an improved kind that has pink flowers and that flowers easily. But white flowers are the traditional kind and rarely come out. It's surprising.

I want to tell you why I've picked up this article. In my veranda the same flowers are in bloom. They put out buds in November, and began to bloom in January.

According to the article, the lady kept the tree in the glass, but I left it in the open air. I have been keeping it for over ten years, and as I didn't think it flowers, I was very surprised to find the buds last year. I'm very happy to have a very rare experience, and I also wish I could have real money flowers.

to Index

Japanese Name

As you know, we call the family name first and then the first name in our daily life in Japanese. But when we speak in English, we follow the English order, the first name and the family name. What do you think about that?

In Europe, where Japanese literature has become famous more and more, the both orders are mixed up in the book list and the author list. I think we should solve this problem and we should call our names in Japanese order, because it is very important matter. It is particular to Japanese language and also to Japanese culture.

For example some parents give their kids the first names which go well with their family name. Edogawa Rampo, who is a detective storywriter in Japan, is a name after Edgar Allan Poe in America. Futabatei Shimei, a writer in Meiji Era, is similar in sound to Japanese curse, which means, "go to hell". Yoshi Ikuzo, an enka singer, means, "now, let's go" or "I'll hang on."

If these names are turned over, they will lose their meaning, their characteristic.

to Index

In Nagoya

Last Friday I went to Nagoya with my elder son to see my husband. My younger son stayed home alone.

It took three and a half hours from home to Nagoya. As soon as we arrived at the room, we started to do housework and shopping food. I got so tired because in the morning I had already done all the housework at home.

On Saturday, after my son drove his father to the office, we went to Nagoya Castle. To our surprise the castle is completely modernized, and inside there are flush toilets and elevators. I like the Castle Park, which is full of tall trees and they make big and cool shade.
As we were to have lunch with my husband, we left for his office. On the way my son found out that we crossed the rivers which we didn't cross in the morning, but I thought we only hadn't noticed that. After about half an hour we found ourselves driving in the wrong direction when we saw the sign, "27km to Gifu".

Because of this accident, my son could drive an extra one hour. In the evening my son fixed spaghetti for his father and we were very glad to taste his cooking.

We came home Sunday evening. I was relieved so much to see that my younger son hadn't mess up the house so much as I expected.

to Index

Tennis Fan

From last Sunday up the Tennis tournament of Wimbledon is now held in England. I guess some of you are interested in tennis. Have you noticed a different thing in the court this time from before?

In tennis matches the players have a rest every two games for 90 seconds. Formerly they sat side by side with the umpire. But this year they have a seat with their back against the umpire's seat. And besides there are security guards near the players.

It is the reason why a few months ago the terrible incident happened, that is, Miss Seles was stabbed in the back by a fan of her rival, Miss Graf, while playing. They say the foolish criminal, who was of course arrested right away, thought that Miss Graf would be No. 1 player in the world if Miss Seles lost the match.

As the result Miss Graf became No. 1 player and Miss Seles couldn't take part in the big tennis tournaments in France and England, and she hasn't get well yet.

Those who like sports want to see players fight fair and square, and so do the players themselves, I think. Miss Graf must be not happy even though she is No.1 in the world.

to Index

In Nagoya Again

This summer is the most impressive to me in many senses. I have experienced many things that I have never done before.

One of them is the trip to Nagoya with my younger son. It was my first experience to travel only two of us. He is now in such a difficult age that I hardly expected him to go with me. So when he said he would, I was very happy but I got uneasy about our journey. I was afraid that he wouldn't talk to his father so much and he couldn't enjoy our trip. But I was much relieved to see them talking pleasantly.

We visited Museum Meiji-mura (in Inuyama). As I am interested in architecture, I am very sorry we didn't have enough time to observe each building carefully. The most impressive ones are the front part of the Imperial Hotel and Saint Xavier Church. The design of that seems to me very modern and to be accepted even today, and this has the beautiful stained glassed and very interesting wooden ceiling.

I'd like to visit this museum of building again. And then we drove to Nagara River and watched the famous cormorant fishing. My husband was very glad to meet his son and listen to the funny stories of his son.

to Index

The Last Japanese Crested Ibis

Do you know Nipponia Nippon or Japanese crested ibis? We call it Toki in Japanese.

This bird is the kind peculiar to Japan, and so we are very proud of the beautiful and noble figure. But according to the article, Japanese Toki will be extinct in the near future. The last two Toki live in Sado-ga-shima and in the course of October they will move to the new house.

The Environment Agency has completed the Wild Life Center, that is the institution for caring of rare animals. It is located at the foot of the mountain so that it can be seen in public. The old one, where the two birds now live, has become too old and deserted.

They are Kin, the female one, and Midori, the male one. Kin is 26 years old, and too old to lay an egg. The breeding season of the younger Midori is over and he is moving around lively. There are less than 50 Toki in all in Japan and in China. 8 years ago Kin and Midori were coupled, after that Kin and the Chinese Toki. And three years ago Midori went to Chine, but all these trials were in vain. It means the extinction of the Japanese Toki.

The breeder says that he wants them only to live as long as possible. Although they have not been open to the public in the new house, they may be open for the first time. Even then they can be seen only through the fence in the distance.

to Index

Today's Young Students

If I were a high school student now, I would choose a course of life different from mine.

Today's young people are happy because there is hardly any restriction in many senses. I mean that there are fewer gaps between the rich and the poor than before so that most of young students lead the average life. And they are free from the conventionalities so that they have more possibilities of their hobbies, education, and jobs.

Girls can also do the same things as boys. They are not accused of not getting married. I think they are happier than we of those days are. I am afraid, however, most of them do not take advantage of the freedom

Many children are drifting in the flood of temptations of mass media or they belong to the hands of "educational mamagons". High school students have themselves managed by the school authority and they oblige themselves to follow the rails that others lay in front of them.

When I thought this way and that so far, suddenly an idea occurred to me. The main cause for all this might be the conservative thoughts of our generation. We, who have lived inconvenient lives, want to live more freely, and on the other hand we might have potential fear that young people will go too far without restriction.

So we frown at their behavior and try to restrain them from acting too freely, while they rebel against us and try to work of the frustration by naughty behavior.
Perhaps here is the gap between the younger and the older.

to Index

The Article About Dr.C.Segan

Now I enjoy reading a series of interesting articles in the newspaper. The title is "Memories of a long time ago", and it was written by Carl Segan and his wife.

He is a famous space scientist in America. In this column they tell us what kind of being the human being is, that is, the mechanism of life, the wonder of life, the carefulness and the carefully considered stupidity of life and other marvelous facts of nature.

Every time I read the article, more and more impressed I am by the feeling that the mechanism of life and its preservation is so mysterious and incredibly logical and the will of nature is beyond the primitive brain and the shallow knowledge of human being.

For example the article of yesterday. It says the best way of surviving the hard natural environment of a species. First of all they must live in small groups and they must be exclusive, besides they must receive the blood of other groups frequently.

If all the groups have the same nature, they all can die out in a global change of surroundings. If they have a little different nature on the hereditary level, one or two of them can survive. For that, each group must be selfish and exclusive in order to avoid unity. On the other hand the pure blooded are weak and they are faced by the danger of their own species. Therefore, there sometimes exist exceptional females that fall in love with the males of other groups like Juliet.

Why do the females leave their group? Because the males know their own mother in the polygamous society so that they can avoid the intermarriage between mother and son. That's the reason the males stay there.

Miraculously the nature has made all those plans since the beginning of life. How clever and deep!

to Index

Victim of Fraud

Last night I happened to watch a program on TV. It was about a fraud, who pretended to be a TV director and deceived students. He told them that they could become talents or actresses, took them to the broadcasting station, and cheated them out of their money. He made them get money from students' loan. A female student, who believed in him, followed him anywhere, to TBS, to the hospital, where she was deceived into having urine analysis, and he told a lie that she was affected by a certain disease and took her around various hot springs. Thanks to those who were suspicious, the fraud was arrested at last.

But yesterday one student called TBS and asked them about the program, because she saw the headline on the papers and was afraid that the student might have been herself because of her own recent experience like this. That is to say, the same kind of fraud still walks around now.

This story reminds me of an experience in my college days. One autumn afternoon, a middle-aged man called me to in the passage to the Umeda station. He gave his name as so and so, a director of a certain TV station or so, I don't remember. He asked me to go to a coffee shop and to talk with him. At that time I was rather tall in my age, slimmer than now, and with straight long hair. On that day I wore a dark red one-piece dress. Mini skirts were in mode, so my one-piece was also very short and my shoes were red.

Try to imagine my appearance. Awful! I'm sure that I must have looked like a foolish girl, and easy to be deceived. Then I felt very uneasy and worried. And I refused his offer and hurried home. When I think about that later, I wonder if he was a fraud or really a director. My sons don't believe my story, and says you were cheated, or you were almost sold off to the terrible place.

But anyway, to my relief, nobody will call to me now!

to Index

This Year

This year was to me the year of change.There were so many changes for one year of my life that I feel it over one yearlong.

I've ever read in a novel an expression "wrinkled time". It means condensed time, in which many happenings or many feelings were pushed up. Because of the rich content, it is considered longer than it really is.

The similar feeling I have for this year. My elder son had entrance examinations and became a student. I came to go to work in an office. My husband moved out to Nagoya. Irregular movements of family members. My father's sudden sickness. My younger son irritates me all the time. And so son. All happenings were ahead of my thought, and I have got so exhausted that I can't catch up with the changes.

I am always afraid if I have made some mistake somewhere. I need time, enough time to think about. I need careful consideration before acting. But the fact is, I have to manage to make immediate decisions, and I have to act before thinking.

Now I'd like to live calm, gentle, elegantly. I often dream of my figure sitting on a sofa in the sun and knitting a sweater. But I think next year is going to be another busy year.

to Index

That's all in 1993.

---

Top of English Diary

Home to Pumpkin Page