Turning 76 years old

As reiterated in this blog, I was born at the very same place as I am living right now. Around WWII, our aunt was managing a small sanatorium for tuberculosis patients who were seriously ill and had no one caring for them. It was among woods very sparsely populated area. My parents have met there, have married and have owned their family while working at the facility. I have only few memories then. I still remember our home was literally a shack made of woods and grass. No windows with sash at all. Only a room inside with a hearth in the center. As already told before, one of the earliest memories in my life was hymn in a capella flown on breeze, which the patients and the staff sung. A memory in serenity and peacfulness.

Before I entered an elementary school, my parents have decided to move to Tokyo. Parents might think of the chance of our education. And it was the time when anti tuberculosis medicine became available and tuberculosis could be cured. They might have judged that such a small sanatorium would be of no necessity in the society in the near future. Actually, our aunt has decided to close it down in a few years after our move.

My father went a suburb of Tokyo a bit earlier than we did and built a wooden tiny house renting a property from a friend. It is shown back on the right on this photo. It was a little bigger than the shack we used to live here. Still a poor and small house. The houses in front might be cages for chicken. Our house was comparable to the cages. It was 1955 or so.

   

 

Both of my parents have worked really hard. Father as a house keeper at a few different hospital/clinic while mother as a nurse at a Salvation Army hospital. In a few years, we could move to a public apartment nearby. It was still a small one for our family. Our parents have had three of us, their children, complete having professional education. Sister became a nurse while I and my brother chose to be MD. In my case, I have first learned mechanical engineering at a college. I could not be interested in doing with drawing diagrams or doing with machines at factory. Interested more in something human, I mean, directly involved in human, I would like to be an MD. Despite of limited amount of income, our parents let me go to a med university in Tokyo. No complaints from them. I could spend youth as I would like to. Playing with ham radio since teenage days and even cello at the university orchestra. I am sure it has been a burden to my parents but they never said no to me. 

A couple of days ago, I dreamed of coming to see and bring back my parents to this place. They seemed to have been on a journey together. Heading to the train station we were supposed to meet, in the dream, I could not be happier expecting seeing them after such a long interval than I was at any occasion. It was a mysteriously pleasant feeling. Unluckily, I could not see them in the dream. I woke up in that height of happiness.  

I have turned to be 76 years today. I would spend this day with gratitude to my parents. And also to my family and friends as well. It was not a life of success at all. To be fair, it is full of failure and regrets. But thank to my parents' efforts and the others, I could live so long. It is the day when I recall all of them with much gratitude.

Waking up dawn

Getting up around 4 AM here, it is always in vague twilight nowadays. It's only a month and a few days until summer solstice comes, I realize. In such a situation, a phrase of a psalm often comes up in my mind; "I wake up dawn". It is a phrase telling how hopeful we are for the day coming up. Even passing the days of hope in youth, I still recall of it. I must be thankful to have another day I could spend freely.

Having breakast I prepared for myself, I always wonder what to do in the farm. Summer vegtables have been planted. Some more to come. Bugs are getting active and ready to eat young plants. No pesticides used. With adequate compost and rice bran, hopefully they grow faster than being eaten by those bugs! A lot of peas are being harvested. They taste sweet. They are boiled for salad. Egg binding with proper seasoning is also good. Onions are getting ripe as well. Potatoes are also going to be harvested in a few weeks. 

They say socialization is important for mental health in the elderly. However, becoming free from things and relationships means to be solitary in a sense. Solitude and socialization seem to be contradictory in life of the elderly. It is a natural course in life. Whenever I listen to the late piano sonatas of Beethoven, I know he must spent the last chapter of his life in solitude. That's why he could compose those brilliant works of freedom. In the 2nd movement of the last one, Arietta, he took the style of variation. Variation always sound like life itself. Changing freely with the main theme in the core. This movement ends recalling the motif of the main theme as if it still went on. As if vanishing into thin air. No obsession of conclusion in the end as with most of his other works. He has composed Diabelli Variation after this sonata. But this was the very last sonata he composed. It is not easy for everyone to live like him. Still, may I be able to accept elderly as it is!   

Autocratic countries are increasing

A sociopolitical analysis regarding autocracy vs democracy in the world is published by  V-Dem Institute in Sweden as Democracy Report 2025. 

https://www.v-dem.net/documents/60/V-dem-dr__2025_lowres.pdf

It urges us to confront daunting reality of autocracy arisen and investigate by what cause it is brought about every where in the world.

The summary of the report says;

The number of autocracy countries is increasing. It is 91 while the number of democracy countries is 88.

Liberal democracy, the least common regime type in the world, is present only in 29 countries. Approximatly 72% of people live in autocratic countries, highest ever since 1978.

Loss of freedom of expression is worsened in 44 coutries, elections are corrupted in 25 countries, freedom of association is lost in 22 countries and rule of law is diminished in 18 countries. These changes tell how autocratization is being increased in the world.

So far as I understand, this tendency toward autocratization is due to or, at least, accompanied with the rise of far right in politics. The far right often insist of anti scientific views such as anti-vaxxer, neglect of the so called authority based on unintelligence and affinity to cults.  They also won't hesitate making lies.  

There are a lot of examples of such far right wing in the world. In our country, the main faction of  ruling LDPJ has insidiously turned to far right long time ago. Even some of the opposition parties have emerged as far right. They are trying to return to the regime of imperialism before WWII. A few European countries have such far right parties as well. Some of them are involved in the administration. Of course, the Trump administration is apparently another with imperialistic ambition they dare not hesitate hiding. A lot of executive orders the President has signed seem unreasonable. Undocumented  immigrants or those with legal visa with view of anti-semitism or against the government have been arrested and deported overseas, which seems to violate the constitution in the US. 

This change in sociopolitics in the world won't seem to be only a temporary phenomenon but would last to devastation. As Pope Francis wisely indicated in adhortatio apotolica in 2013, I believe, it is due to the greedy capitalism and the economic disparity as its consequence in the world. Without its reformation, the world would become a real chaos soon. What an irony it is that those exploited by the greedy capitalism are supporting the autocratic politicians who show up with populistic propaganda.

Mocking pope should never be allowed

 In 2013, Pope Francis has issued an adhortatio apotolica. It has raised an alert against the trend in the world that the stronger preys the weaker. He pointed out humans were handled as disposable products. He advised to establish ethics in economy as well as in finance. 

There have been a couple of encyclicas published, one by a pope Leo XIII in 1891 and, the other by John Paul II in 1991, a century apart each other. The former warned an evil effect of capitalism while the latter of socialism. This adhortatio ranked lower than encyclica should issue a warning against financial capitalism based on neoliberalism. 

Pope Francis has payed attention to the society and to the weaker in that way. From that standpoint, he could not help publishing that adhortatio, I guess. As the two encyclicas have influenced on the thoughts of the times, this adhortatio would be remembered as an important publication to the world for a long time. 

While it has not passed a long time yet since Pope Francis died, Trump has put a photo AI generated which showed him in clerical garment of pope. They say he actually told he would become a pope. It could never be regarded as a joke or a banter. He is on the opposite side to Pope Francis and embodies the extreme neoliberalism, with the motto, only now, only money and only myself. 

It is a terrible humiliation not only to the Catholic Church but to the whole world. Isn't it enough for him to be impeached in the US? Or do they enjoy his joking? I could hardly believe it is only a joke but his sense of omnipotency, which is dilusional, would try to realize it by some means if the situation permits.