Japanese culture

 I really feel many things every day. The other day, for the first time in many years, the sky was clear and sunny for Tanabata, and I wondered if Orihime and Hikoboshi had enjoyed their brief rendezvous with each other. I wondered if Orihime and Hikoboshi had enjoyed their brief rendezvous in the night sky. I think Japan, the country of my birth, is beautiful. I think there are some very good things about it, such as its culture, craftsmanship, food, and care. However, I have come to lament the fact that power has become so concentrated that people with the spirit of the samurai, who could train and admonish themselves strictly, have completely disappeared from the country. It seems to me that the great men and women of the past focused not only on their own self-interest, but also on their contributions to others and on altruism. They thoughtfully considered how to nurture future generations, even their successors, and did not care that they might be the bad guys. But now, people...

 I am reading Regretting motherhood. Very logically, it describes the role of "mothers" in the world. It is not a beautiful, skeletonized story of motherhood, but the cry of the souls of real mothers. I believe that people always encompass conflicting aspects. Because I want to lose weight, but I also want to eat good food. I have a great boyfriend, but I also care about that girl. If everything could be moved away from emotion like a computer program, there would be no dramas, plays, operas, or music in the world. We wouldn't have to worry about them, and we could just go straight down the right path. He explains the contradiction that those logics can be applied to various things, but they cannot be applied to "motherhood. I love my children, but there must absolutely be some identity, time, and possibility of self that I have lost because of having them. Saying that children are cute or important must inherently be separated from that issue. This is why, as soon a...

 I received a very nice comment the other day. Receiving compliments from people outside of Japan made me keenly aware of the great influence that English has. It seems that many foreigners come to Japan on vacation. I was also surprised when I saw sumo in Osaka, which seemed like a foreign country. They say it is cheap and good quality is available. I have always thought that this is like a reversal of the Japanese people's flamboyant and pompous behavior overseas a few years ago. I believe that Japan does not have the courage to accept its declining country head-on. No matter which direction you look, it is obvious that the situation is in all directions. Even an ordinary commoner like me can understand this. Or, to put it another way, it is precisely because I am an ordinary citizen that I understand. Even in developed countries, we are still a conservative country, and many things have remained unchanged from the past until today. They talk about women's activities, but I d...

  I had a wonderful experience!  I got to meet up in Japan with friends from across the ocean that I've known online and exchanged ideas with on a daily basis!  There was a corona and it was not easy to make it real, but I was very happy.  Mika is an American who has a very kind and gentle heart, more so than the Japanese. I also met her husband for the first time. They both had a very warm atmosphere.  She loves Japan, so she also studies Japanese and has a wide range of things to talk about, such as sumo, her thoughts, and so on.  Everyday, I only speak with native Japanese speakers, and it is very tiring to read too much into small discrepancies in language. However, speaking with people from other countries, I keenly felt the kindness of thinking about how to communicate with them and what they are trying to convey from their perspective, which is very simple and considerate of others.  I felt how we spend our days asserting ourselves. And she gave...

 We have just celebrated 3/11, 12 years have passed. I am sure that this day is etched in the minds of the Japanese people and the world as an unforgettable day.  No human being can ever compete with the wonders of natural disasters.  No one was to blame, but we all blamed ourselves.  They lost their loved ones and wondered what they could have done to help.  The people who were involved in the nuclear power industry also blamed themselves for their ignorance, which they had exposed to the wonders of the world.  I felt helpless to do anything while there were people suffering in the same country.  I wondered why I survived and why lives that should have been valued more were taken away from me. In a place where people are close together, the cold-heartedness of people becomes evident at the same time. Many groceries and consumables disappeared from supermarkets and convenience stores.  Even now, remnants of those days remain.  People are supp...

  Ladies and gentlemen, we are now in the middle of February 2023. With February only lasting until the 28th, it seems to be flying by.  Up to this point, have you kept your New Year's aspirations? ☺️ As for me...it's all peaks and valleys. I went to counseling again today. I went to a counseling session today and was told that it is important to accept the fact that things are not going well and not to rush into things when things are not going well.  It is true that not being able to accept the pain when it is hard is like giving a broken bone an extra jolt...it is very hard.  (Between you and me, sumo wrestlers sometimes hide their broken bones to fight. But they are fighters. We are ordinary people, so we should not imitate martial artists!) Do you have fortune telling in your country? And do people believe in them? I like fortune-telling. However, I have a cynical side, so I don't believe in everything, but I enjoy it as a kind of therapy. I think I mentioned be...

 How are you all enjoying the heat wave? Nowadays, the world is full of things that destroy the earth, for example, cars and air conditioners, and there are many more. I believe that this is a punishment for human beings who sit on the blessings of nature. Oops, I didn't mean to make such a snide remark. Sorry. The other day, I went to see a sumo match. I was seated very close to the audience, so I could feel the realism 😲. Sumo is a sport, a Shinto ritual, and an entertainment that is a perfect example of the beauty of Japanese style. It is a sport, a ritual, and entertainment that changes like a kaleidoscope depending on the perfection of the recipient. Each of the rules and regulations surrounding a bout has its own beautiful gesture. However, the influence of corona also creeps in, and if the sumo wrestlers are found to be positive, everyone in the collective sumo stable is ordered to take a leave of absence. It is very unfortunate, but I also felt that it was inevitable. We m...