2021 is going away. I have had a pleasant dinner with family. And bringing another dark beer in the shack, I have called CQ on 40m for a few times. No luck. Closing down in the new year's eve for now. May the new year be freed from the pandemic!
The winter solstice, colder than usual, has passed peacefully 3 days ago. It is the time for me to extend the Season's Greetings to friends of mine, domestic or abroad. I feel it has become a kind of mannerism torturing them to read it through. On behalf of that lengthy greeting in an e mail, I would write here how and what I look back this year at its end. In addition, my hope for the future.
First of all, I am feeling deeply grateful to my life that I could spend this year uneventfully in good health. The older I get, the more I feel that way. I could hardly say it stands to reason we could live this time of our lives in this way. I have not been a sociable guy. Getting less capable of going out easily like before, I might lose sociability even more. Maybe, I should compensate it with SNS etc from now. It is a milestone for aged to get through.
Working at the home garden and farm throughout a year was my duty. A pleasant duty. In spring, I was busy planting various kinds of vegetables at proper timing. Having cool breeze on my face standing in the mid of farm in summer, I sure felt I was living. In fall, I have harvested various sorts of basketful crops. I was cooking with them every evening. I have learned a bit of the natural farming. It tells us not to plow the soil so much and to utilize the compost made from the pulled weeds and the remnants of vegetables. I don't think it won't work for farming as an industry but is a quite ecological way of farming. I would go on farming in that method in my own way.
Leave vegetables have been rich crop this year. One of them is Chinese cabbage. It has become a material of salad today.
As for my hobbies, especially, music and ham radio, I have made a lot of posts in this blog. It is advisable for me to omit commenting about them. In short, I am at the turning point as for them. I don't know where I should go. So far as things permit me, I would go on enjoying them.
Now closing this greetings, I would wish all of you good health and happy new year to come. The situation of the pandemic, of its devastating effect on the world economy and of the posttruth era politics, make me feel liable to be negative and even pessimistic for the future. But I would still carry on with the great optimism Robert Browning used to express in his great poem "Grow Old". I appreciate you for your courtesy and friendship to me in this passing year.
Shin Onisawa
Whenever I start a QSO with anybody, I always have the motto "Tell me your story" in my mind. It is not easy to converse in that motto. Without that, however, the conversation is often devalued. When that motto is realized, I always feel quite comfortable and it becomes worthwhile to spend the time.
With that motto, there is only the relationship of "Ich und Du" as Martin Buber depicted the ideal relationship with the other, although it is a matter of idealism. The other is my own aim as well as an end itself but not a means. Conversational CW enables us to do that because it could be a real dialogue. No others interfere us. We could concentrate on what the other says.
Buber used to tell that the relationship is categorized as Ich und Du or Ich und Es depending on the attitude toward the other. In his idea, of course, the ultimate relationship of Ich und Du converges into that with God. It is evident that this distinction of relationships lies in the ordinary human relationship, whether it is conscious or not. Conversational CW is not an exception for this categorization of relationships. It is rather the area where that distinction appears in most obvious way.
The idea of "Tell me your story" came from a conversation with Mike WB4ZKA years ago. He used to tell me he had enjoyed listening to me and to others in conversation on 40m late at night in his time. I can't remember if he expressed this motto as it is. His operation style was telling me he had been in that style. Writing this story with Mike, I remembered having mentioned about him and his mail to me in the previous article in this blog. I won't brag quoting it here but still even more firmly believe his attitude is precious in ham world, especially in QSO on CW that is the slowest mode of communication.
http://nuttycellist-unknown.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-borderless-world-and-ham-radio-as.html
I must admit such a style is less and less seen in QSOs nowadays. I am afraid this trend to forget this tradition and to deviate to the Ich und Es type could be an ominous sign of the future in this hobby.
A very interesting paper regarding cross reactivity of the SARS-CoV2 with the other species of Corona viruses has been published in Communications Biology in Nature dated Dec 2nd from a Japanese laboratory of Riken. What attracted my attention most was that the cross reactivity was through an allele HLA A24, which 60% of Japanese posses. It could, at least partially, explain why COVID-19 cases have not been so numerous nor serious in Japan and the areas adjacent in the Eastern Asia.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-02885-6
Most people have had Corona Virus infection as upper respiratory tract infection in the past since that species are quite common in the society. They have found the epitopes with high affinity to HLA-24 in SARS-CoV2 spike region. Unexposed healthy individuals could have cytotoxic T cells reactive to that epitope. Thus, the preponderance of the allele among Japanese and the races in the Eastern Asia and ubiquitous infection of "common" species of Corona viruses may explain why COVID-19 has not devastating in our country.
It is a clear cut example as for how specific HLA alleles could work in immune response. This finding may also be important for universal vaccine development against Corona viruses. Since I have been involved in research of relationship of HLA with diseases for a few years long time ago, this study showing the function of HLA as an immune response gene/product has made me a bit excited. The researchers have long been studying tumor immunity as their site says. The accumulated knowledges and methodologies in immunology through such a research might have made it possible for such a short period.
Universal masking or keeping the other precautions are often told to be the reason why we Japanese have not had so many cases of COVID-19 in our country. It is sometimes hued with a kind of nuisance nationalism or strange self confidence. This finding should be a thesis against those nonsense ideas.
If this finding turns out correct, it should be emphasized this HLA linked immune response might apply for the SARS-CoV2 and its variants except for the Delta variant so far. This RNA virus could undergo a lot of mutations ahead and may evade the immunity linked with HLA A24.
Stagflation seems to go on in our country. While the wages won't rise, the prices are going up from next month. While the corporate prices are up by 9%, the import prices have reached up to 40% recently. Considering all of these indices, we seem to get into the era of stagflation never experienced for the past decades.
Our central bank, BOJ, could hardly deal with this situation where it should rise the interest rate to calm down inflation. Because it has possessed extraordinary large amount of national bond and of stock as ETF. With the prices of national bond and of stocks declining, BOJ could do little against such economical emergency. If they get out of the quantitative easing by such as increasing the interest rate, it will strangle themselves through falling in prices of national bond or of stock. Their net worth equity capital is amounted only less than 10 trillion JPY, while they own more than 500 trillion JPY of national bond and more than 50 trillion JPY of ETF.
The tremendous astronomical quantitative easing by the Abe administration for 8 years will have resulted in this disaster very shortly. Have we Japanese dreamed of any euphoria in this bubble economy? How could we get it through? Maybe, someone tells me not to be too pessimistic for the future. I would ask him how we could manage this possibility of serious collapse.
Especially, for retirees dependent on the public pension, the situation is tragic, I am afraid. This will burden on the next generation as well. Those having worked as irregular employees without any social security would start retiring soon. If they won't receive any good pension of social security aid, what tragedy would there be in the society?
A new variant designated as Omicron by WHO yesterday was reported from Rep. South Africa.
BBC news says it is a heavily mutated variant with 50 loci of mutation. Among them, 30 are related with S protein and 10 with the receptor binding domain. Delta strain has only 2 for the latter domain. It seems mutation is remarked at loci involving infectivity of the strain. It is not clear yet whether it could evade immunity or not.
In a province of RSA, this strain has replaced Delta strain in a couple of weeks. There are already 2 infected in Hong Kong, who seem to have been infected through airbourne infection. Keep it in mind both of them have been vaccinated twice. There are no epidemiological findings reported on this strain yet. We should be careful about it possibly with even more contagious characteristics than previous strains.
As stated above, WHO has categorized this strain as VOC with the nomination of Omicron.
We should not be panic with this strain emerging in RSA. But, since it is getting into winter in the north hemisphere now, a season of vulnerability to viral infections, we should be even more conscious about precautions against COVID 19.
In this week end, I would say farewell to my car of Nissan, which I have been driving for the past 10 years. It was just after the big earthquake. It is a medium sized sedan with hybrid system. I loved its smooth run and comfortable devices including HDD. Commuting to and from the work on this car, I have listened to a lot of music with it while recording them into the HDD. Possibly more than 200 CDs.
It still runs fine. But I am concerned about the gas mileage and its size, both of which are not suitable for a retired person. Compact cars run at much lower gas mileage while they are much easier to drive in the crowded city area. Those are the reason why I decided to change the car to a compact one. Thinking of my age, wondering if I should get a new one or not, I have made up my mind that way.
For the last long drive on this car, I have gone to Abukuma Mtns, north east of here, along the Pacific Ocean. It is the place where I have taken my family for drive a number of times and have already previously posted some photos in this blog. It took me a couple of hours to go there. The traffic was not crowded at all among the mountains.
Hananuki Valley among the mountains has welcomed me with the colorful trees. It was always in summer when I visited this area. I have never seen this beautiful clors in the forests there. Even on a plain week day, there were a few tourists for viewing fall foliage. The small river was running rather vigorously. This river runs only 13 or 14 miles from the origin in the mountains and had caused flood frequently. There were a dam constructed in it mainly for flood control, which has made a small lake there.
It will be our 43rd anniversary tomorrow. There will still be a lot of steep slopes ahead of us. As we promised in the engaged days, go on through them supporting each other however hard it may be.
As this poem of Robert Browning, quoted a few times in the past, says, I would go forward with Chiaki;
Grow Old
Tatsoi, lettuce and white radish etc are growing. Typical fall/winter vegetables. Cabbage and chinese cabbage are ready to ripen soon. Broccoli and a variety of beans are prepared for the next spring.
This is a corner of the garden farm, a tiny farm. You may realize there are a lot of metal supporters stood around the farm like a fence. A intruder has come in the farm and left footprints everywhere. I have set them to avoid it coming in.
It is our cat, Hikaru, who does that mischief. He doesn't understand that he won't be welcomed in the farm however comfortable it may be for him to walk in the soft soil of the farm. The supporter fence did not work.
I have given it up to train him not to invade the farm. But I have decided to plant more number of vegetables. It won't disturb us so much even if he harms some in a large number of plants grown.
After harvesting the last lot of tomatoes, I have taken away all the tomato plants. Getting older, I find myself feeling sad to such plants finishing their lives.? Sentimentalism? Maybe, that's right. Anything mortal draws my interest and makes me feel sympathetic to it. It is a fact that we belong to such nature mortal.
Reading the last chapter of "Jean Christophe" by Romain Rolland recently, which was a favorite novel in my teenage days since it was recommended by a teacher at elementary school days, I was again touched with the last scene that Christophe meets a child who answers Christophe he is the day to be born. We are in or a part of the flow of life which goes from the past to the future, unknown to us. In the very last day of life, it is questioned if I could tell myself about own proper engagement in the flow and if I have lived it as it was required.
I would cook chicken and egg plants with the white radish harvested in the garden farm this evening. It is seasoned with vinegar soy sauce.
It was my wife's 69th birthday yesterday.
It has been half a century !! since I met her first. It was at the orientation of the medical school. At the introduction event at night in a room, I have seen her first. She was a shy looking girl with curly hair and fair skin. A typical country girl. She was a student so shy to walk at the side of corridor in order not to stand out in the class. It was not until the last grade before graduation that I knew her in person. I don't know how but we have become married and have grown family here.
This photo is most beloved one for me which shows her in young days. I have posted it a few times in this blog in the past. Taken at the honey moon. A very short trip to Izu near Tokyo. We have not had much time as well as much money for a gorgeous trip. One of the days when she has looked most bright and beautiful.
Each of us has not been perfect. But she has worked hard as a wife, a mother and a psychiatrist. I owe her much. Recently, I continually think of a couple of things regarding her.
First, I should be asked if I could tell her parents that I have made her happy in her life when I could see them in the heaven. The parents in law both are suffering from dementia now and it might be difficult for us to see and converse with them like before for now. I feel responsible for this toward them.
The other thing is that we might not be able to share such an event as this one for many more years any longer. I might be too pessimistic for the future. But eschatological way of life is essential for us at our age. Treasure everyday as it won't be repeated any more.
I have prepared a present of a cloth for winter and this cake.
I don't know what she feels about my attitude. At least, she looked happy to have them yesterday.
And chestnut rice is ready for dinner.
As most of my friends know, I have started playing cello at the university orchestra. In 2 or 3 years after starting it, I managed to be on the stage as a cellist. At that time, we have had regular practice at a women's university every week end. Our orchestra was composed of the students of both of the universities.
Finishing such a practice at the student hall, we have set out for home in some small groups. I have known a group of younger members who had the same taste for classical music. Often we got back home together.
In this season or a bit later when fall was deepened, I walked aside of the main hall of the university, an old building with brick exterior built in the prewar era. Street lights were lighting at certain interval of the campus street leading to the exit. Otherwise darkness has governed the area. Quiet and cool.
One of such company, who was quite a good violinist and would play in the orchestra as a concertmaster for the next few years, has come close to me. He whispered to me as if asking for my approval that the Intermezzo by Brahms was excellent. At that time, Brahms or Franck was of concern for both of us and the company. I still remember of him saying that in husky and low voice as if it were yesterday.
Early fall, from that episode, I could not help remembering of the Intermezzo. In the last years of life, Brahms has composed piano pieces except for a couple of the clarinet chamber music. By that time, he has started organizing his works in his whole life as if his last will. In the Intermezzo, we could hear him composing with his beloved instrument piano all in solitude. This opus 117 sounds like a music of solitude. He still held passion for life and music but his basic emotion was that of solitude.
I believe that violinist friend is already reaching the age of retirement for now. Wondering if he still listens to this Intermezzo expressing solitude and resignation for life.
This performance of the piece by Pires is touching. She makes it sound as if Brahms himself told me he would let me know of his thought and feelings in the end of his life. How much I would like to go back those days when I talked about such music with friends...almost 50 years ago!
Tonight, we had a thunderstorm or rather a rainfall with a bit of thunder, which has left much static noise on 40m. I found old friends of mine, Don WB6BEE and Jack WA7HJV, on 40m like old days. That noise and some QRM made it a bit tough for me to read. How long has it been since such I often listened to such a QSO? Very rare for now. I could not be patient enough to stay there until they finish their chat.
I have moved to 20m, much less noisy but scant activities. A few Europeans came through without making S meter move. There was a station working in an old style. Not rushing and talking something different from the so called rubber stamp. He signed as something 8AL. I was a bit disappointed not to be able to copy his whole call. Staying on the same frequency for a while, luckily, I have heard him calling CQ there.
It was 5R8AL Alain. Surprised and of course turned the beam to him. I asked him if he was the same 5R8AL which I used to hear or even worked in '80s. He answered affirmative and told me he had been on with this call since 1975. Yes, it was him. In '80s, 5R was a pretty rare entity. I can't remember if he was my first 5R. But I still remembered of his call very well.
He started radio as F6ACT at age 13 years, as he told me. Then, as stated above, he has moved to 5R and got this present call. He also told me there had been more active stations in his area but nowadays rarely on CW. I have visited his page at G3SWH, his QSL manager, web site. A neatly arranged gears on photos. At a corner, there were a lot of old boat anchors. He said he had been enjoying restoring those old radios. Now he is 77 years old. But his fist won't tell that at all. It was not a long ragchew in fact. But in the end, the condition was dropping. Saying au revoir, we promised seeing again on this old mode. I sure wished him good health and good activity on this mode.
There is always a pipe line path to southern Africa from here what band it might be. The path is over the Indian Ocean and the propagation is always secured. Back even in '60s, I often heard a lot of ZS working the West Coast through long path. It was a spectacle for me to listen to a number of big guns in W6 or W7 working Africa through long path. As told elsewhere in the past post, I used to break in W6ULS Merle, later K6DC, working with ZS2MI in Marion Island on 40m at our midnight. Merle was kind enough to let me work that pretty rare DX for me running homebrew 6146 transmitter with a wire antenna. What an excitement it was! ZS5KI, ZS6QU or ZS1AAX were other regulars. There might be others logged in the old log book. In '80s, when I came back on the radio after a decade absence, I was again thrilled to work a few Africans like ZS6BCR, later ZS6EZ, same ZS6QU, 9J2BO or ZE1FN, later Z21FN etc. Sadly, most of them went SK or inactive any more. The only exception is Brian 9J2BO who often shows up on 20m. But not so often as before.
Surely this QSO with Alain has brought me back to those days. I am afraid those good days have gone and won't return to us any longer. Alain and myself are the remnants from the good old days.
No JA has called him after we finished the QSO. 5R is not a rare one for them? Or they are watching only the display?
A bit overmatured but better than unmatured. Sweet and fresh. It is the best dessert after supper in this season.
Recently, I found this piece to be one of the most beautiful pieces in any genre.
There was a Japanese, Tetsu Nakamura, who worked as a doctor as well as a constructor of irrigation facility in Afghanistan. He was deployed there for medical aid from JOCS, Japan Overseas Christian Medical Cooperative Service, until 2019, when he was killed by a hostage kidnapper group there. He found it was necessary for the Afghani to have irrigation facility for life without the influence of frequent drought on the farming. Away from medical service, he constructed a canal in an area, which worked well for the people. That construction has been well appreciated by the people there. His life is described in WikiPedia; here.
He once told that Taliban, which has been deemed as a Muslim fundamentalists, had not conducted politics of terror for the people in reality. For example, they have allowed the schools for women to run and had not charged too much taxes on people. He seemed to be on the side of Taliban and to believe it was not bad to let them govern the country. He, a Christian, was welcomed and could work freely. His life tells us, respecting the people's life style, religion and ideas is essential for us to do with them. They are living in the society of tribes under the influence Muslim for centuries. It should be remembered.
The US and UN allied forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan. Spending over 80 trillions and having the victims of hundreds of thousand people, the war will have been ceased with Taliban's victory. It might be difficult for us to tell what war it has been at present. But the US should have negotiated to hand over Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaida, having lead the tragic attack to World Center buildings and to kill thousands of people in 2001, with the Taliban government. Without military action. If they should have supported Afghani with the money spent in the war for people's welfare there, the situation was drastically changed. Forcing certain ideology different from their own to such developing countries like Afghanistan and trying to hold hegemony there won't be successful as this event tells to us.
What would Dr. Nakamura say at ceasing the war for 20 years in Afghanistan?
Several days ago, a couple of typhoons have passed by here. It has left a bit cooler atmosphere in morning and evening than in midsummer. A gentle wind stroking my face has surprised me a lot late in the afternoon. It sure told fall had come close to us now.
The egg plants in the garden farm have been bearing a lot of them this summer. I was surprised to see them grow slow simultaneously. The biological clock in them was faithfully marking the passage of time. The tomatoes are growing slowly for now. In my optimistic view, they might have gone on growing and bearing fruits much longer.
Harvesting a lot of egg plants, I have cooked them with sweetened miso.
Recently, I learned what Samuel Morse had sent through the land line for the very first message to the receiver far away. It was a phrase from Numbers of the Old Testament.
It says;
23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!
This was described in the story of Balak and Balaam in this one of the Pentateuch. There must be temptation to the Israeli from the heathens around them. It emphasizes that Israeli people after having wandered for the land of promise in the wilderness since Exodus, believed in God's words firmly, but not enchantment nor divination. It was a message to have the people united under the same belief for Yahweh, wasn't it?
They say a daughter of Morse's friend has chosen this scripture. Whatever it may mean, I am sure, they intended to express their motivation and willingness to deliver the message through this new way of communication. It is not such as non scientific thing but an invention based on findings of physics. It must be an intense message they would communicate with this method from then.
Morse code communication has worked well as the main stream of communication world wide. It has conveyed numerous messages whether for commercial use or for ham radio fun. Since the other more efficient and reliable modes of communication have been invented and used mainly in commercial communication, Morse code was destined to be carried on only in the field of ham radio now. Unfortunately, it seems they are forgetting about Morse's intention and will to bring this mode of communication in the world. It was not for exchanging meaningless thing but conversing something meaningful just like the story of Numbers.
In order to have Morse code live long, shouldn't we recall of the episode at the very beginning of communication on it? When we converse with it, the simplest mode of communication, we could feel being rewarded with it. It is comparable to listening to music. We should experience this pleasure in communication and deliver it to the next generation. Morse code itself is the origin of pleasure in communication.
