Five years since the earthquake and the nuclear power plant accident. It has brought to light an abyss just next to us. I was convinced it should not be taken granted that we could live in peace.
For a few weeks, we had had to live in fear with looming threat of radiation contamination from the destructed nuclear power plant. As written before, I have lost my mother in a month possibly due to the stress she had had in this event. She had to spend several days in chilly darkness at a nursing home in Sendai area even though she had the best care available at that time by the staff. I started considering of retirement in reality after this disaster, which came true in a year.
Considering of the damages and the losses they have had in Pacific Ocean side of Tohoku area, what we have experienced in the disater was not worth discussing here. There are still more than 170,000 people evacuated mainly from Fukushima. More than 21,000 victims including 1000 of death related with the nuclear power plant accident. So many have lost family members and/or their houses. Some of them could not return home forever due to the radiation contamination. Pain, anxiety and distress are still full in the area. I should never forget of that.
The nuclear power plant accident has showed that, in big cities like Tokyo, they have enjoyed the convenience and comfort with the power generated in the countryside like Fukushima. The power was not used for the people in the countryside. The big cities' habitants have lived at the sacrifice of the people in the countryside. Immediately after the accident, they seemed to give up nuclear power generation. In a year or two, after having kept silence, the group of nuclear power concession has rebreathed and made the government decide to start running the other nuclear power plants. The government says they will start them when they have satisfied the strict safety regulations. As soon as the plant of Takahama in Kansai area has started its operation, it has occured a few troubles. Eventually, the local court has ordered them to stop its operation.
The safety regulations the Nationa Regulation Authority requires for restarting nuclear reactor are not perfect at all. They won't require strengthening of the reactor case as in Europe. The reactors are vulnerable to terrorists' attack. They won't question about how to protect the disastered reactor against the flow of underground water in another serious accident. It could cause endless contamination of the ocean as it is going on in Fukushima. Four hundred litter of contaminated water is generated there every day. Any management plan is not questioned in the safety regulations like this contaminated water due to underground water. Most of all, the evacuation of the people adjacent areas is not fully discussed in the regulations. This regulations seem to be based on "the safety myth" the concession group of nuclear power had believed, so that they had been bound to.
The disaster has not ended yet. A long way to go for full recovery. We could do little against natural disasters but could be ready for that. We should do protest against anything which recurs the man made aspects of the disaster.
3/12/2016
3/09/2016
Another trip to Takamatsu
We have been to Shikoku seeing the parents in law on Monday through Tuesday this week. It has started my wife had fallen the ticket for a reserved seat and a credit card at a local station. She realized that in Tokyo. All she could do was to purchase another ticket and took the train planned. A kind conductor in the bullet train has taken contact with the lost and found office of JR. He let her know those items had been delivered to the station office where she lost them. We were grateful to him and the person who kindly brought them to the office. I could not blame her at all. It was me who had a difficult time finding the ticket at the station where we exchanged the train bound for Shikoku. We could not help feeling the senility had creeped toward us. Anyway, all's well that ends well as they say.
On a bullet train, a box lunch has welcomed us.
In Takamatsu, there was a remnant of the Castle Tamamo close to the ocean. Only castle wall is left. The moat around it was sea water, that was pretty rare historically.
For dinner, we wanted to take something gorgeous like a full course of French. But the restaurant we went for that was closed. It seemed that the restaurant was for a meeting of the members of a juridical person, which worked to distribute funds to medical facilities. They are ”pocketing" a portion of the medical fee that should has been paid to the medical institutions. It sucked me a lot!
In stead of that planned gorgeous meal, we took a popular noodle for supper at a restaurant in downtown. Noodle is famous there. My wife told me how she had enjoyed it in her young days. Even noodle without any toppings was a feast for her those days.
The father in law, 91 years old. Pretty well for his age. He has had a variety of illnesses but has only hearing difficulty of an ear now. He said he had been to walk in morning every 2 or 3 days. He reads much and watches TV a lot, especially drama of old days before Meiji era. The mother progressively ill with Alzheimer could hardly even open her eyes. Father told she took meals well. Otherwise, she seemed to be asleep. I felt living safe everyday itself had been their work now. We have had lunch at a restaurant nearby together with a sister in law. Even though it was only for a limited time, it was a fun to talk about something trivial and old. Father has had a half glass of beer. He looked more cheerful and happy. He has told on old days when he had meeting having sake with his folks and the neighbors. Later, when we got back home, he told my wife on the phone it was one of the happiest times for him having that lunch with us. It has made me even happier.
It was worth visiting them.
What the decline of Toshiba means
One of the major electrical companies, Toshiba, is at risk of bankruptcy. Its capital adequacy ratio has fallen down to 8% for now. They have not shown what caused it in detail yet. However, the big deficit due to purchasing Westing House Corp. , which has forced the management team to publish the window dressed accounts in a large scale, must be one of the reason. In such a financial crisis, there seem to have been battles among the management team for years in this company, as some sources say. It is amazing a serious economical crime has been committed by the management staff of such a big company.
Taizo Nishimuro, the present president of Japan Post, has lead this company in 2000s. He was, while managing Toshiba, the head of an economical council for the government those days. That council has published a report in 2008 that medical doctors should be compulsorily assigned to remote isolated places where they needed medical services. I felt it was not fair for the authority to force us that way. I have sent a mail of protest to him. He seemed to have received a number of protests from doctors, so that he replied to me in a printed mail excusing that it had not been his own opinion but a conclusion of that public council and it had not had any relationship with his company. He might be right that it had been plotted by the government/bureaucrats at that time.
I was surprised to know such a management top had cooperated with the authority as for publishing a policy regarding medical system etc through the council. They must have done the same thing as for the policy of nuclear power engineering industry. That has failed and has left a big amount of red which a company like Toshiba could not deal with.
We should learn that such hidden cooperation between the private sector and the public authority won't work at all. The management tops in both sides should be punished. The investment to WH Corp. and related criminal behaviour as for its account should be made public. The cooperation of private public sectors for nuclear power industry is out of date. The nuclear power industry won't be a growing field any longer.
Taizo Nishimuro, the present president of Japan Post, has lead this company in 2000s. He was, while managing Toshiba, the head of an economical council for the government those days. That council has published a report in 2008 that medical doctors should be compulsorily assigned to remote isolated places where they needed medical services. I felt it was not fair for the authority to force us that way. I have sent a mail of protest to him. He seemed to have received a number of protests from doctors, so that he replied to me in a printed mail excusing that it had not been his own opinion but a conclusion of that public council and it had not had any relationship with his company. He might be right that it had been plotted by the government/bureaucrats at that time.
I was surprised to know such a management top had cooperated with the authority as for publishing a policy regarding medical system etc through the council. They must have done the same thing as for the policy of nuclear power engineering industry. That has failed and has left a big amount of red which a company like Toshiba could not deal with.
We should learn that such hidden cooperation between the private sector and the public authority won't work at all. The management tops in both sides should be punished. The investment to WH Corp. and related criminal behaviour as for its account should be made public. The cooperation of private public sectors for nuclear power industry is out of date. The nuclear power industry won't be a growing field any longer.
3/06/2016
H minor Mass by J.S. Bach
Bach's H minor Mass is one of the monumental works in classical music. However, I haven't listened to it so often, honestly speaking. Especially compared with St. Matthew's Passion. The ritual words in Latin have prevented me from getting familiar with it. It sounded a kind of formalism to me. The question why he has composed in the style of Mass for Roman Catholic despite of his standpoint as an eager Protestant also made me stand before the gate of this great music.
The book "Johann Sebastian Bach Messe in H Moll" by Christopf Wolff has taught me that the church music had still been in the influence of the old mass in Latin those days. The reformation by Luther has given a discontinuity from the orthodox Roman Catholic in Christianity doctrine. Actually, Bach has been educated in the school of Latin. Even the service at the Lutheran church has taken the form of mass those days even though it had undergone changes. Anyway, mass, as a genre of music, seems to have been not strange to Bach at all.
In the end of his life, Bach seemed to intend to make grand sum of his music activity in his life. One of them was the Art of the Fugue. The other was this mass. He seemed to realize the music in German won't live long due to the changes in doctrine. Wolff has pointed out that was why he did it with the style of mass in Latin. Because of the playing time for longer than 1.5 hours of this music, it was not practical to perform it as a actual mass at church. It must have been of concern to him while composing this music what he has achieved in polyphonic vocal music in eternal phase. Latin and the traditional style of mass must have been suitable for his purpose.
One of the ritual words, Kyrie Eleison, in mass is thought to be as old as that in pre-christianity establishment era. This mass as the other masses, starts with this ritual in forte unison. It seems to express the entire character of this music in its size, objective and style. It impresses me a lot that it startes with such strong yearn for mercy on us. It has been the main concern to human since such ancient time. It has given birth to such an art as this mass. You won't forget this Kyrie once you listen to it.
The source I always listen to is the performance of Muenchen Bach Ensemble conducted by karl Richter. In the internet, the following one is also quite moving. English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
https://youtu.be/JxKR7BaitxM
As I have introduced about it elsewhere in this blog, Carmel Bach Festival will be held again in Carmel California this summer. Bob, W6CYX, has kindly sent me the pamphlet of that festival. The main program is this music. Owing to various reasons, I could not attend it with him this year. I just would share this music in mind with him. That is a reason why I have been listening to it repeatedly.
The book "Johann Sebastian Bach Messe in H Moll" by Christopf Wolff has taught me that the church music had still been in the influence of the old mass in Latin those days. The reformation by Luther has given a discontinuity from the orthodox Roman Catholic in Christianity doctrine. Actually, Bach has been educated in the school of Latin. Even the service at the Lutheran church has taken the form of mass those days even though it had undergone changes. Anyway, mass, as a genre of music, seems to have been not strange to Bach at all.
In the end of his life, Bach seemed to intend to make grand sum of his music activity in his life. One of them was the Art of the Fugue. The other was this mass. He seemed to realize the music in German won't live long due to the changes in doctrine. Wolff has pointed out that was why he did it with the style of mass in Latin. Because of the playing time for longer than 1.5 hours of this music, it was not practical to perform it as a actual mass at church. It must have been of concern to him while composing this music what he has achieved in polyphonic vocal music in eternal phase. Latin and the traditional style of mass must have been suitable for his purpose.
One of the ritual words, Kyrie Eleison, in mass is thought to be as old as that in pre-christianity establishment era. This mass as the other masses, starts with this ritual in forte unison. It seems to express the entire character of this music in its size, objective and style. It impresses me a lot that it startes with such strong yearn for mercy on us. It has been the main concern to human since such ancient time. It has given birth to such an art as this mass. You won't forget this Kyrie once you listen to it.
The source I always listen to is the performance of Muenchen Bach Ensemble conducted by karl Richter. In the internet, the following one is also quite moving. English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
https://youtu.be/JxKR7BaitxM
As I have introduced about it elsewhere in this blog, Carmel Bach Festival will be held again in Carmel California this summer. Bob, W6CYX, has kindly sent me the pamphlet of that festival. The main program is this music. Owing to various reasons, I could not attend it with him this year. I just would share this music in mind with him. That is a reason why I have been listening to it repeatedly.
2/26/2016
Spring has come in a countryside
After a long chilly winter, it seems we finally have spring come here. Japanese apricots are fully out now.
Opening the windows of the house parents used to live, I have ventilated it. I found simple papers which the caregivers had reported how mother was doing. Since both of us were working in full time, we asked them to care for her in morning/evening. I was full of thanks to them knowing how they had cared for mother with dementia. After bathing, she looked tired and took a nap. Having her old friend visiting there, she was talking to her with tears. And so forth. It was 6 years ago, a couple of months before he left for Sendai. She was in a nursing facility and has undergone the big earthquake a year later. Possibly, due to the stress from that disaster, she passed away there a month later. Whatr she repeatedly told us whenever we went to see her there was that she would like to go back here. We could not make it true even once.
I have plowed the ground at a corner of the garden and have planted potatoes today. Soon, many more kinds will follow it.
Some plants of daffodil are coming out of the soil. Of course, it is thanks to the bulbs underground. It still makes me amazed at how things go on in time.
2/22/2016
Christoph Wolff;Mozart at the Gateway to the Fortune:Serving the Emperor 1788 ~ 1791
I have read this book translated by Prof. Tadashi Isoyama. A very interesting work on the last 4 years of Mozart's life.
It has been widely believed that Mozart spent hard time in his last years of life. The movie "Amadeus" typically expresses such a view on his life. He had suffered from debts, poverty and an illness led him to death. However, the author of this work tells us it is wrong.
In the last 4 years of his life, Mozart has gained a position at the court of Austrian Empire, which he had yearned for. Since this epoch making event for him, he has opened up the new horizon for new style and perspective of music in his composing activity. He takes the example of such music in the Magic Flute, the piano sonata KV533, Requiem or the ｆｒａｇｍｅｎｔａｒｙ musics as listed in the 6th chapter of this book. You may listen those fragments in the site linked here. They are revolutionary works which lead us to the new horizon Mozart had headed to. The title of this book "Mozart at the Gateway to the Fortune" tells us what the author thought of.
There are a lot of fragments of composition by him left in the history. Mozart used to answer to his father asking him to compose quicker that he had finished composing music but only had to write it down on paper. When it became necessary for him to do so, all he should do was to recall all the music in his memory and write it down. The author tells that the existence of those fragmentary musics means there the music opening the gate to new horizon has been playing in his mind. It is the enthusiasm for new style of music more profound and rich with polyphony and chord. It has just a start for revolutionary music.
I was taught that my view on his last years of life was totally wrong. We should listen to his latest music as the gate to the new fortune in his music. However, in other words, his death has deprived us of the rich new world of his music all of sudden. it has been lost in the eternal nihility. It seems another aspect of a reality shown in this history.
The world and our lives are incomplete. The more we feel lost due to that incompleteness in our lives, the more valuable Mozart's music in the latest years of his life sound to us.
It has been widely believed that Mozart spent hard time in his last years of life. The movie "Amadeus" typically expresses such a view on his life. He had suffered from debts, poverty and an illness led him to death. However, the author of this work tells us it is wrong.
In the last 4 years of his life, Mozart has gained a position at the court of Austrian Empire, which he had yearned for. Since this epoch making event for him, he has opened up the new horizon for new style and perspective of music in his composing activity. He takes the example of such music in the Magic Flute, the piano sonata KV533, Requiem or the ｆｒａｇｍｅｎｔａｒｙ musics as listed in the 6th chapter of this book. You may listen those fragments in the site linked here. They are revolutionary works which lead us to the new horizon Mozart had headed to. The title of this book "Mozart at the Gateway to the Fortune" tells us what the author thought of.
There are a lot of fragments of composition by him left in the history. Mozart used to answer to his father asking him to compose quicker that he had finished composing music but only had to write it down on paper. When it became necessary for him to do so, all he should do was to recall all the music in his memory and write it down. The author tells that the existence of those fragmentary musics means there the music opening the gate to new horizon has been playing in his mind. It is the enthusiasm for new style of music more profound and rich with polyphony and chord. It has just a start for revolutionary music.
I was taught that my view on his last years of life was totally wrong. We should listen to his latest music as the gate to the new fortune in his music. However, in other words, his death has deprived us of the rich new world of his music all of sudden. it has been lost in the eternal nihility. It seems another aspect of a reality shown in this history.
The world and our lives are incomplete. The more we feel lost due to that incompleteness in our lives, the more valuable Mozart's music in the latest years of his life sound to us.
2/18/2016
The art of CW
Tom, K3TW, has posted an article in the FOC reflector, which told how less hams were involved in CW as he knew at the ham convention in New Orleans lately.
Dave, W7AQK, has told in the discussion that it was important to realize we had carried the art of CW. He says we should be proud of that. On the other hand, Dave, K6XG has analogized the art of CW with the music training for that in the medieval era.
This is the post I submitted there. Even though I have not verbalized my idea in this short article well enough yet, I wanted to tell we should be aware what art we are taking over to the next generation.
quote;
Hi everyone,
Dave, W7AQK, has told in the discussion that it was important to realize we had carried the art of CW. He says we should be proud of that. On the other hand, Dave, K6XG has analogized the art of CW with the music training for that in the medieval era.
This is the post I submitted there. Even though I have not verbalized my idea in this short article well enough yet, I wanted to tell we should be aware what art we are taking over to the next generation.
quote;
Hi everyone,
I agree with Dave, W7AQK,who told CW is an art. We should be proud of that. But I suspect that it is not evident that such a pride may attract the new comers, especially young ones, to this mode.
Art is a skill you should make much effort to obtain and to maintain. This will give us a feeling of achievement. The other characteristic of art is that it is related with something of our life, that is, something which gives us long lasting pleasure. This is related with its content.
Learning CW is comparable to practicing musical instrument as Dick, K6XG, has mentioned. It requires much effort to be good at it. Once we achieve it, we feel rewarded with that effort.
The problem is what CW gives us as we communicate with it. Usefulness to communicate with small set up? Competition with it like DXing or contests? I believe these things are not lasting long but only temporary or not related with our life, even though these aspects of CW are often much fun for us. What else? As I used to quote in the posts here in the past, CW reception, and most likelily, transmission as well, are handled in the brain center of reading and/or writing. This simple symbol system relates certain grammar and lexicology in reception. When this correspondence goes well in our brain, it might give us another feeling of achievement. Of course, it is closely related with what message we are reading as well. The tempo of communication is always parallel to how fast we think of. CW is never a symbol system relating only meaningless numbers or letters.
As I practice unaccompanied suit of Bach with my cello, even though not proficient at all, I sometimes see in mind what Bach has had in his mind when composing it. Even if the art of CW is a bit different from this music experience, I am sure it is and should be involved with something lively and meaningful to us. I guess young people are sensitive as for the truth in art. If we are doing anything not giving us long lasting pleasure, they won't be interested in it.
Shin
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