Sharing the same interests in music with a friend

In the meeting at Ham Fair yesterday, I have talked much of music with Len JA1IKA. He has praised of Glenn Gould playing Bach. I have totally agreed with him. What a beautiful touch Gould has made with this Intermezzo by Brahms! Each touch is leading to serene and brilliant tone like dews on a leaf in the morning.

 

He has played the Number 2 Symphony "Resurrection" by Mahler as a cellist in an amateur orchestra . What a joy it must have been for him. I told him I could not help weeping when I listen to the tune sung by Soprano with the phrase shown below in the 5th movement of that Symphony. This shows how Mahler has struggled in his life. His struggle and subsequent catalysis are coming into our minds with enormous emotion. He has nodded his approval to my story.

                                           O glaube: du wardst nicht umsonst geboren!
                                           Hast nicht umsonst gelebt, gelitten!

Unfortunately, he is not playing either violin or cello any longer. He told me he could play instruments until age late 60s. It has encouraged me to do a bit more effort with my cello.

I haven't known of Len until meeting him in Tokyo this time. But I have found a guy whom I could share the feelings and interests with. It is always good to have such a friend in my life.

A meeting at Tokyo Ham Fair 2013

Since I retired last year, I felt it was necessary for me to have social activity. I have planed a meeting at the Ham Fair in Tokyo 2013. The main purpose was to meet an old friend, Shun JJ1RZG, who had had a long career in ham radio since 1960s. He has been working as a pediatrician as well. We have promised meeting each other after a long hiatus. There were four other guys who would like to join us there. 

 

JA1IKA, a retired engineer and an experienced musician. He plays violin as well as cello. It turned out that we shared the same kind of interests in ham radio, music, engineering as well as politics etc. I would write about our interests in music in another article. We have had mutual friends in the US as well.

 

JA7WTH, who is working as an administrative manager at a hospital in Sendai city, has come back on CW after a long interval. He used to work as a pediatrician as well. He was willing to work with foreign hams on CW. The current issue for him is to get a proper antenna for HF better than the present random wire. He looked young and positive for his renewed hobby. I promised him a regular schedule on 40m CW once a week.

 

JA1KIH, an active operator as well as an engineer. Already retired from his work. I have known him for longer than 40 years for now. Even though not so frequently, maybe, once several years, we have met in person for that period. He has given us some valuable info and tips on the radio and the movements of the administrative authority.

 

JA3EGZ, whom I first met this time, has been a well known DXer in Japan. He owns a gorgeous antenna farm in Himeji. He is a representative member of JARL and let us know what had been going on in JARL. Now JARL has become a juridical person where only those representatives could be involved in the decision for its policy. JARL is almost bankrupted at present, so that they have decided to impose the annual fee to the life members. Evidently, such a change in rule is against the original contract between JARL and the life members. He has voted against that change at the representative meeting. Hopefully, such representative members as him will let us know what is going on in JARL.

 

JJ1RZG, an active DXer as well as a ragchewer. He told us he would chase as many DX as possible in the height of this sun spot cycle. He operates at his home in the mid of the downtown in Tokyo. He owns old equipment and an old hand key. He told me whenever he introduced himself as a pediatrician to hams in oversea, quite some of them asked him if he had known of me. I told him the same thing happened to me when I made self introduction to them. An experienced and sociable person.     

 

From left to right:JA1NUT, JA1IKA, JA7WTH, JA1KIH, JA3EGZ, JJ1RZG

 

 

 

In the meantime, I have looked around the Fair. There were some faces well known to me. Among them, I have talked a bit with JK7UST, K6RB and JE1TRV. Rob, K6RB, visited here to recruit some new members of CWops. It seemed successful. He kindly offered me to come back to the club. I suspended deciding that at present. He is returning homeland onTuesday this week and will get ready for CWT on Wednesday as well as the CWopen in this week end. I wished him a safe trip back to his home in Santa Cruz.  

 

There were some young hams at the place. But the majority was those already retired including myself. I took glances to the manufacturers booths. I was happy to find the booths of some university clubs. Though they were doing with the digital modes.

 

No new products at the manufacturers' sites. Kenwood has demonstrated several TS990s in pararell on a counter. There were some people trying this new rig. I have just looked from behind of them. The displays looked beautiful. Icom has published a new software for IC7800, so far as I heard. Nothing new at Yaesu. One of the attendants at the lunch has shown a leaflet of SDR produced by a small company in Japan. In his opinion, SDR overwhelms the conventional gears in the function. SDR could be, however, much cheaper those most modern high end equipments. They won't get much profit from SDR compared with the conventional high end radios. That is why the other major manufacturers won't start publishing SDR at present. The users won't pay thousands of dollars for those like TS990 or IC7800 if they could get SDR with half or one third of the prices of modern DSP radio.

 

I was concerned about the audio quality of CW reception. Don WB6BEE told me at the night that, when experimenting down loaded SDR, it did not sound very good on CW reception. If it is the level SDR could yield as for CW reception at present, it may be sometime before SDR takes over the conventional gears with DSP. 

Spending a few hours with the above mentioned guys at the lunch, we have tied the ribbon there. We might meet on the air in the near future. I headed back home without going anywhere. It was fun seeing them in person.

An old shrine and temple complex Part 2/2

There was the property of a temple next to the shrine I had just visited. At the entrance, the shrine was on the left side while the temple was on the right side. In the last article, I have erroneously written either of those religious facilities had been moved from somewhere. In reality, the shrine was built next to the temple by an ancestor of clan Ustunomiya, a local leader in Muromachi era. He had been punished to be sent to Tosa area in Shikoku due to a political mistake by the government at the time. Praying for returning to homeland at a shrine in Tosa area, as the story tells, he was allowed to come back here in a year. When he came back here, he decided to build a shrine as a branch of the shrine in Tosa area just next to the shrine where the genereations of the clan had been buried. I had not known of this story until I looked up about the history of this shrine/temple complex.

 

This is the entrance of the shrine. It is paved and surrounded by cedar trees. Again, no tourists.

 



 

 

This is the building storing a Buddist statue in it. The priest and the family may live in the houses on the background.

 

 

The building seemed nail free again. Very beautiful and perfect craftmanship.

 

 

Another view of the building. The base made of the stones looked in good shape. I am sure the building has been cared well for the years in the past. They say there is an old statue stored in this building.

 

 

Another building in the temple. A beautiful straw roof on it again.

 

 

The yard is surrounded by old trees. The tree in the center on this photo is told to be over 500 years old.

 

 

Another view of the yard. You may see a few tombs on the top. There were dozens of tombs in the yard. There must be a number of supportive members in this shrine, who have been donating for the management of the shrine as in the case of the other shrines.

 

 

It was interesting there have been a shrine and a temple just nextdoor each other at a place. In Japan, different religions have been accepted at the same time. Shinto was established to be a religion authorizing the first governments in the history of Japan. It has been oriented to the political power, I believe. On the other hand, Buddhism underwent a reformation in Kamakura era etc, which urged it to be a religion relieving each of the people. Unfortunately, it has lost its vitality as a religion for now. Buddhism is only for funerals at present while Shinto is for the ceremeony in the new year days. I am proud of the histories of the religions and those historical monuments. But they are not alive for those who need relief by religion at present, I am afraid.

 

I feel relieved to visit such a place, though. Very quiet and peaceful. No crowds of sight seeing visitors. We should preserve such a place as a treasure from the ancestors. To those, who would visit our country, I would recommend you to visit somewhere like this, not popular but historical enough. 

Some harvests in my garden farm

It was my first experience to grow okra. I didn't know how it grows and bears fruits. Here is the flower. I was really impressed at it. For these okras have been badly damaged by hail several weeks ago when they were young and small. Now they have finally grown to bear flowers and fruits. A lovely flower, isn't it?

 

 

 

This is the fruits. I am wodering how to cook them. Boiled with the other vegetables or raw as salad?



 

 

The basils are fully blooming though the flowers are not very noticeable. They still look vivid and beautiful.

 

 

Wild tomatoes. Fully ripe. They say tomatoes won't grow well at the same place as the same species have been grown the year before. But this wild one is exceptionally good. The other tomatoes have often been damaged by the heavy rain a few weeks ago. I would praise this wild ones for it has grown so nicely by itself without any nutrients etc.

 

An old shrine and temple complex Part1/2

We have a number of historical monuments around here. Most of them are not so famous as those in Kyoto or Nara. There are only very few visitors there. Nevertheless, it is always refreshing to visit and stay there for some time.

 

As Bob W6CYX has requested me to upload photos showing around here, I thought it is not bad to visit one of those cultural monuments around here. That is the Tsuna Shrine and Jizoin Temple in a town named Mashiko, which has been renowned for its pottery products. There is no definite reason why I described the name of those monuments as a complex. But these are located next door each other.

 

At first, I should excuse for my ignorance of these structures from historical point of view. All I know is that both are estimated to have been built in the 12th century. The temple was established for the clan Ustsunomiya, the leader of this area, those days. It was an era when the sovereignty by Shogun was not stably established. Many people, high or low, relied on Buddhism, I believe. Either is believed to have been transfered here in a later era. A shrine is for Shinto, our native religion, while a temple is for Buddhism. It could mean the close relationship between Shinto and Buddhism in their histories, I guess. But no evidence for that at all.

 

Anyway, in a hot and muggy afernoon, I left my home on a small car with 1200cc engine. Getting through the downtown of Mohka, our town, I came into a countryside. Many rice paddies looking like green carpets all around. In some 30 minutes, there was a range of hills appearing in the direction I was heading to. There are a few ranges running from north to south. They are not very high all the way but are originating from the mountain areas in Fukushima. I bet this ranges have spared our area from contamination by the radioactive plume due to the nuclear power plant accident. The plume has flown westward to the city of Fukushima and to the coast area southward. The range was the obstacle to our area located southwestward from the nuclear site. I don't know if we could be pleased at it or not.

 

This is a view from the range over the plain area. Among lower hills, there are houses and rice paddies. My home is 10 or 15 km away from this point.

 

 

 

The road is a steep slope. Very little traffic. My tiny car was almost suffocating all the way. Again, I remembered driving here with my children and old mother 20 years or so ago. On the other side of this range, there is a valley, where the destination is located. Not so far from this point.

 

 

The shrine/temple complex was on a low hill in the valley. Many cedar trees in the property. There was a couple of signs explaining these shrine/temple. One in Japanese, while the other even in English. It was hard to believe that there had been tourists from overseas. There were a couple of guys being engaged in the repair there. No tourists at all.

 

This is the gate for the shrine named Tsuna, which means a thick rope. This gate seems pretty new. I believe there would be some people in this area come to pray in the new year days as they do in the other shrines all over Japan.  It is not a religious behaviour but just a tradition. Exactly speaking, I doubt there is a true native religion in Japan. They just come here to pray for their good luck in the new year. A kind of greeting. 

 

 

 

The entrance way to the shrine.

 

 

A long way of steps up to the shrine.

 

 

The main building of the shrine. A thick straw roof is remarkable. Old but still well cared for.

 

 

The ehickness of the roof is noted in this shot. Evidently, no nail is used in constructing this wooden structure. A statue of god may be placed inside. A box before the building is the offertory box. Those coming for the hew year's pray will send coins into this box.

 

 

The other building. Smaller one.

 

 

I am proud that our ancestors have built those structures and have kept them intact for so long time. In Shinto, so far as I know, every natural things could be gods for them. It is just for the profits in the present world. No idea of a God with a character. I won't evaluate which is superior to the other etc. It may reflect that our country has not been attacked by foreigners or has never been conquered by any other nations in the past. And we have been blessed with the mild climate suitable for rice farming etc. It has not given us a chance to take religious ideas seriously, I guess. At least, this Shinto monument is still intact here but Shinto is already dead.

 

It is enough to discuss about religion in my own way. It is getting too late tonight. The 2nd part will follow soon.

Our recent garden

A few snaps of our garden. The heat wave has damaged the lawn along the drive way. Honestly speaking, the other parts of the garden has kept me too busy to care for this pretty large lawn. It has made the trouble shown here. There is a small farm in the foreground not shown on this photo. A number of water melons were grown up. But, without much care, they have become like a jungle! Luckily, that jungle has yielded a few juicy water melons. Now another kind of vegetable is growing neatly this time.   

 

 

 

A hedge along the drive way from the street. This requires me some more care as well. Some ivy is on it. Four ginko trees are growing along this hedge as well. The other hedge is set along the street. It is composed of two layers of a kind of azalae with a small lot between them and the street.

 

 

 

One of the flower beds we have made this spring. This belongs to my wife as for its care. Some of them are getting worn out with the sun ray.

 

 

My lovely basil germinated from a seed.  I was going to use the leaves for cooking.

 

 

A rose tree. It belongs to my wife. But I often pour water in the morning. It was first planted by my father years ago.

 

 

My wife has planted these. The names unknown to me! Again, I often water them.

 

 

A magnolia tree. The branches were cut in a bizzare shape by professional gardeners this spring. But it has revived in this way. The power of a life amazes me a lot. This tree comes into numerous white flowers in spring, which my mother used to love. It is a sign of spring's arrival.

 

 

A "wild" tomato. Maybe, it has been germinated from a fruit fallen on the ground last year.

 

 

A zelkova tree south of the small home our parents had lived. It was planted to avoid the strong sunray. It used to be a small tree and has grown up to over 10 meters or so. I have ventilated the home yesterday. Even though I know no one would live there.  

 

So that is a small round trip in our garden. A little bit more east and south of our house. Some parts are getting too messy to take photos. Maybe, in several weeks, I will clear jungle-like vegetables and tidy it up. Then I could publish it! This is the place where I am spending most of my days here. It makes me feel settled down and cosy so much.

A contradiction

In a closed mailing list, someone sarcastically kidded me saying that I was a heavy user of the reverse beacon network:RBN. Really, I had often used the RBN to know if a band was open or not. Not rarely, we experience the band opens well even though we won't get any takers to our CQ. Yes, it is the subject I have repeatedly talked in this blog. The overall inactivity on CW on any band seems to me very conspicuous nowadays. I am using the RBN reluctantly for there is no other way for me to know of opening on a particular band. I am not willing to use the RBN. That cynic won't understand what a contradiction I feel myself using that high tech skimmer.

Fewer takers to my CQ has annoyed me for a while. Has my operating style or talk bored my friends? Or all of them have lost interests in chatting generally? Is the relatively poor condition the reason why they won't show up? Maybe, all of these guesses are partially right. There may be personal reasons for everyone. Anyway, it is beyond my speculation and is not my business.

One more guess is that some of them won't watch the bands any longer but they just watch the RBN on the display. When they knew the band was not in the shape they wished, they may start something else like net surfing or doing chores etc. The RBN is a convenient tool, I know. It is more efficient and sparing out time than our watching the band by ourselves. But, I guess, its convenience and efficiency might have deprived us of the pleasure finding a friend by chance. The skimmer could watch the whole band at any given time. No happenings nor accidents.  Seeing a friend after sweeping a band makes us feel more pleasant, doesn't it?

I still hate this high tech thing even more now. But I could not know if a band is open or not without it. What a contradiction! I should not have set a PC in the shack, as Pete K4EWG has told me. Being a Luddite may be the solution to this question.