A Nuttycellist's Monologue
A semiretired pediatrician living in a countryside in Japan will describe what he thinks of his hobbies, life and the events around himself.
7/10/2025
Another peformance of Brahms clarinet trio
7/05/2025
Musical instrument practice will keep us young
It is getting into the muggiest season in a year here. Disliking the artificial coolness by air conditioner, I try to sleep without it and often result in unwanted wake up at midnight or ery early in the morning. And I should turn on the air conditioner then.
A lot of unpleasant and unhappy news are continuously coming in. Tramp tariff won't only devastate the economy and people's lives in the US but also do wrong to the other countries like Japan. The government debt of the US has risen astronomically high and the US government has almost given up redeeming the government bond. USD is losing its value against the other major currencies around the world. The tariff rise won't cover the deficit at all. The tariff is the tax which the US corporations/people should pay. It is a domestic problem in the US. But if USD loses its key currency status in the world and the US government bond should not be creditted, it would give rise to formiddable confusion in the world economy.
Okay, enough about unpleasant topics of politics...
A recent good news to me is that practising musical instruments will keep us young.
A research group in Kyoto University has followed up elderly groups, one starting practising musical instruments and the other not practising for 4 years. The practising group has shown no decrease of the grey matter in right Putamen while the non pratising has shown decrease of the grey matter in the same region. The bilateral cerebellar function respnsible for linguistic working memory is better preserved in the practising group while it is reduced in the non practising group.
Music instrument training in elderly seems to work at least some of our brain function against aging. There are a lot of anti aging procedures. Music activity is involved in a lot of aspects in brain function, sensory, motor and memory/cognition. Practising musicl instruments is surely expected to keep us young as this scientific report says.
It has made me wonder if I should restart cello all after 3 years of absence. If tendonitis of both arms is settled down, I may do it again.
Even though there is no scientific evidence that pounding brass is comparable to music, sending beautiful CW may keep us young as well. Too much extention of thoughts?
Stay cooled, everyone!
6/21/2025
Vaccine elimination would cause over 6000 deaths in the US in a year
Recently, an expert of vaccination has quit CDC.
She was disappointed at dissmissal of the membrs of ACIP, Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices by HHS Secretary RFK Jr. They were mostly replaced to anti vaxxers or those unwilling for immunization. ACIP and their statement on vaccination have been the hallmark for immunization not ony in the US but also in the world. Whenever new vaccine or immunization protocol was published, I tried to see what they were saying about it. Having them replaced even to anti vaxxers is nothing but a nightmare for those involved in immunization all over the world. I could fully understand what this researcher has felt at it
This is a paper predicting what disaster vaccine elimination brings forth. This is not a fake or conspiracy but a scientific prediction. More than 6000, mainly children, would be killed by preventable diseases in the US. Even not being fatal, a lot of cases would suffer from the sequelae throughout their lives. Infectious diseases spread immediately to the other parts of the world, where even more people suffer from it.
Conspiracy theorists or demagogue won't take responsibility for the result.
6/20/2025
Our home and vegetables in summer
The summer vegetable I first think of is tomato. I have planted several plants of tomato together with bitter melon. The latter is told to get rid of insects which aspirate and ruin tomato fruits. I won't use any insecticides and hope this companionship may work well. Already several fruits are borne even though still green.
All of them will keep me busy. If you see an old guy sitting on a tiny chair on the ground and concentrated on caring for the vegetables and cutting unnecessary weeds, it is me.
Fascism looming
Leberation has posted an appeal against rising fascism around the world. It is by 400 intellectuals from all over the world. I have read it in Japanese.
https://www.liberation.fr/idees-et-debats/tribunes/400-intellectuels-internationaux-signent-un-manifeste-contre-le-fascisme-nous-appelons-toutes-celles-et-ceux-qui-croient-en-la-democratie-a-agir-20250613_SDZAU6AS65BQBJLM2OLQBEJELE/
The fascism is against the peace and democracy, which human has gained through the devastating world wars. It is dependent on the populism. Economical inequality among people and among countries has brought about despair and hatred. They would applaud and fanatically support the leaders of autocratic dictatorship as if waited for a messiah. Those leaders are always the rich themselves or those closely linked to oligarchs.
The problem of this modern fascism is that it's augmented and proliferated by the internet social media. Fakes, conspiracies or anti scientific discourses in favor of the fascists are echoing in that media and often amplify themselves. They won't care if it is right or even real. They tend to deny the intellectuals or the authorities. It would be a tragedy that those blindly worshipping the fascists would be exploited or even victimized.
It may be a difficult question how to do with this fascism grown in this modern era. Economical disparity brought by the neoliberal economy and enormous indebtedness of the most developed countries are the background of this populism. We should start with the present disparity.
6/16/2025
Airplane crash, Crowded Haneda Airport
Luckily, I won't have any chance to travel abroad any longer. If I should, I would choose a flight from Narita Internatl airport.
RIP to all the people victimized by the accident in India.
6/11/2025
A meaning of elderly
In the end of ourlives, why should we be burdened with such as pain, worry and anxiety? I could not help asking if I have gone through the hard life only for that.
No answer to this question possibly until the last moment of my life.
As I wrote in another article titled as "A gift in elderly", living elderly might give us a lot of new experiences. It might be a meaning of elderly, even though it could never be the ultimate answer. It may mean the elderly is the time to get ready free from things in on the earth and eventually to leave it for the another phase.
I am not an eager fan of any movies or movie stars. But the following sentence by Meryl Streep is quite impressive and ascertains an aspect of elderly. I have found this in a post of facebook. It was with her recent portrait. Not like the other most movie stars, she looked to have grown old as she is. No cosmetic suregery etc. I respect her not only as a movie star but also as a human being.
~~~
Aging is not for the faint of heart.