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Sunday 25/4/2004
先週は忙しすぎて流石にエネルギー切れ。回復には睡眠しかない。あとはボーっとして好きなことを少しずつ。本当に久しぶりに写真の整理をしてみた。カメラは毎日鞄に入れて持ち歩いているので、あちこちでシャッターを切っている。この季節の美しさは街でもなかなかのもの。思わず足を止めることが多い。ツツジのあとは藤、そして雨が降れば菖蒲となる。草木を愛でるゆとりのある状態を平和と呼ぶなら、どうか永久に。それは守らなくては簡単に失われるものなのかも知れない。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」にまとめて11編追加しました。時は待ってくれない。
Last week I was too busy to maintian my energy. Only sleeping helped me to recover myself. I was hanging around during the weekend. I checked photos I had taken for weeks. As I bring my camera with me wherever I go, I often take phtographs. Even in town, the beauty of this season is incomparable. I cannot help stopping here and there. Now azaleas are in their primes, next will come wisteria, and then rain will bring irises. If we call the state "peaceful" where we can appreciate plants, let it last forever. The state must be protected or it might be easily lost. Today's update: new articles in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Time won't wait for us.

Tuesday 20/4/2004
雨上がりに薫風が快い。ごく若い頃とちっとも変わらず、こういう日の朝は純粋な喜びで胸がいっぱいになる。単純、なのだと思う。手に余る課題を抱えたまま、右往左往している。期待とか、憧れとか、青臭いことばも許される季節のような気がしてしまう。本日の更新は『翻訳読書ノート』に「12 純愛の衝撃」を掲載いたしました。野も街も百花繚乱の今日、どうかお元気で！
After the rain, the cool wind is comfortable. Exactly like when I was very young, my heart is filled with sheer happiness. How simple am I! With my hands full of burdens, I'm hanging around as usual. Such youthful words as expectations and longings are suitable to this season. Today's update: a short review entitled The Impact of the First Love a popular Korean novel (Sorry, only in Japanese!). The world is flowering everywhere. Take care and stay well!

Sunday 18/4/2004
いろいろな出来事。いろいろな状況。一部のページを閉じていること、ご容赦ください。遠い世界からの問いかけに。いずれ形を変えてまた。この時代ならではのトラブル。しかし、だからこその工夫も。「ユーモラスな」という身に余る賛辞に感謝。いずれ余裕が出来たらゆっくりと。謎々のようなメッセージは自分の最も不服とするところだけれど。時には致し方なく。いずれまた、きっとまた。本日の更新はこれだけです。
Varous happenings and various situation.Sorry for closed pages of this site. I am writing to questions from the world far away. (With thanks and apology!) Someday I will recover them for sure. There have been troubles particular tothis age. In spite of them, we'll go on. I sincerely appreciate the compliment "humorous" that I received for this site from a far-away visitor. I'll reconstruct pages when I have time and energy enough for the work. How I dislike this kind of ambiguous excuse! Sorry! Sometimes it can't be helped. Someday, I promise I'll surely recover, friends.　Today's update is only this message.

Wednesday 14/4/2004
10日ぶりでここに戻ってきた。新学期はことのほか忙しい。新しい特別企画が加わり連日要請が続く。ただ追い立てられせかされるのは不本意だが、現実はどうだろう。睡眠時間が減ると体調も怪しくなってくる。思い切って仕事を中断し、「明日は明日の風が吹く」とばかり寝てしまうことにした。朝は朝で見切り発車。駅売りの新聞、雑誌など車内で立ち読みしてイラク情勢をフォロー。ネット上で交換されている情報や意見とマスメディアに載ることばの乖離は激しい。一方、教室で出会う学生たちの表情は清々しい。高校生となった娘は自転車通学を始めた。疾走40分の行程も何のその。何と言っても四月だ。困難は困難として。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に数編追加しました。まとまったものはいつ書けるのだろう。そのうち、そのうち。きっと。
After 10 years absence, I came back here for writing. I've been spending extremely busy days at the beginning of a new semester. A new project forces me to do a lot of things. Quite demanding. I'm not pleased to be rushed but the reality is I'm pressed with all kinds of requirements. I don't like the risk of sacrificing my health (mentally and physically) so that I've decided to quit my jobs even in the middle when time comes. I go to bed before midnight, saying "Tomorrow is another day!" In the morning I leave a lot of things behind jump in the train grabbing newspapers and magazines I purchase at kiosk on the platform to follow the Iraqui situations. How different are the information/opinions of massmedia and those online! BTW, students in classes are fresh. My daughter has become a high school student and is going to school by bicycle. She doesn't mind cycling in a hurry for 40 minutes. It's April in spite of all the difficulties. Today's update: new articles in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. When will I be able to write anything longer? Yes, I'm sure I'll wirte someday soon.

Monday 5/4/2004
すっきりと空は晴れ上がった。降ってくるのは様々な要請ばかり。「黄金週間」までが長い。同僚たちはみな落ち着いて立派に見える。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。今日も「君の名は？」
The sky cleared up. Only requirements are falling on me. It's long way up to "The Golden Week." All my colleagues look stable and sophisticated. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I have to ask "What's your name?" to the plant.

Sunday 4/4/2004
名残の桜に容赦なく降りかかる雨。慈雨なるべし。いよいよ本格的に学期が始動する。明日は全新入生を前にひとりずつ挨拶というのも照れくさい。いろいろな課題を前にたじろいでいる。年甲斐もなく。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。なんとか切り抜けなくては。
Rain falls incessantly on the rest of cherry blossoms. A new semestar has started actually. Tomorrow, we are supposed to greet in front of all the freshers one by one, which is very embarrasing. I am inclined to draw back from all the challenges in front of me in spite of my age. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Anyway, I've got to go on.

Saturday 3/4/2004
電話は伝言ゲームもどきの危うさ。受け手のニュアンスで「情報」はいかようにも変化する。「メールで」と念を押したい人の気持ちがよく分かるが、書きことばが文脈をはずして複製されたらさらに危険だ。だからといって対面での議論が最も正確かというとそうでもない。「伝わらなくて当然」くらいに思って万事に臨んだ方が無難なのか。発言にも沈黙にも誤解がつきまとう。僅か一日の間に目まぐるしくそんなことを考えさせられた。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。雨が上がったら、新緑へ。
The danger of telephone calls, which are like games. Information can be modified with the nuance that each receiver gives. I agree with those who prefers e-mails to telephone but it's more dangerous when the message is copied out of the original context. Whereas, the direct discussion is not always the most correct communication. I'm afraid if the best posture is to doubt the possibility of correct communication on most occasions. Words are as misleading as silence. I thought of the difficulty of communication from several aspects today.Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. After the rain, fresh green leaves will sprout all at once.

Friday 2/4/2004
武蔵野線の駅から千葉県の郊外キャンパスへスクールバスが走り始めたものの、入学式とあっては長蛇の列。結局いつもの道を歩く。帰路バスに乗れた時の嬉しさ。今時バスでこんなに感激するなんて。武蔵野線沿線は茫漠と広がる休耕地にも、ひろい河川敷にも花の靄がかかる。電車は千葉県、埼玉県を縦走して風景が夕闇に沈む頃東京都へ。長い道のりも慣れれば苦にならなくなるのだろうか。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。読みさしの本を閉じて春眠。
Although the school bus service has started between a local JR train to our campus in the surburbs of Chiba Prefecture, there was a long line of freshers who were going to attend the entrance ceremony this morning. I gaive up to ride on the bus and walked all the way to campus as usual. Fortunately on my way back, I could catch the bus. How I could be so happy with a bus ride today! Along Musashino Railway Line, fields and river banks were all vaguely colored with pink cherry blossoms. The train went from Chiba Prefecture through Saitama, and then into Tokyo when it was getting dark. I wonder if the long way will be no problem for me in time when I get used to it. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. While I was reading on the train, I fell asleep.

Thursday 1/4/2004
卯月。郊外キャンパスの二階会議室の窓から、満開の桜が目の前に見えた。静心なく花の散る様が夢のよう。しばし見とれる。明日の入学式は花吹雪の中で。多分。本日の更新は表紙ページの写真です。前線はゆっくり北上していく。
It's April. Out of the window of the conference room on the second floor of the campus in the suburbs, I saw the cherry blossom in full bloom. The dreamy scean of flower petals falling quietly continued. I was watching it for a while during the meeting. Tomorrow the entrance ceremony will be in the flower storm tomorrow. Probably. Today's update: the photo of the cover page. The front line of cherry blossoms is going up to the north slowly.

Wednesday 31/3/2004
弥生の終わり。終息と再生は同時に。花が散り始める。思いがけない芽も出始めて。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。再見！
The end of March. The end is the beginning at the same time. Flowers are falling. Buds are growing. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. See you again!

Tuesday 30/3/2004
激しい雨。どこもかしこもウェッブサイトは変化し続け、サイバーワールドの虚と実が入れ替わる。このようにサイトを開いていることに如何ほどの意味があるのか、しばし立ち止まって考えなくてはならない。惰性で古いものを開示し続けることは怠慢だろう。一区切り付けて内容の整理が必要な時に来ているように思う。ここで取り立ててアナウンスせずに消えていくページもあることをご容赦ください。本日の更新は「東京散歩」中「弥生の風　多摩湖自転車歩行者遊歩道　2 桜咲く日」です。先日の「1 早春サイクリング」の続編です。昨日の、切り倒されていく桜へのオマージュとして。
It's raining hard. Everywhere websites have been changing drastically; lies and truths exchange themselves freely in the cyber world. It's time for me to stop to think what's the use of (meaning of) having the website like this. I shouldn't be so lazy as to keep showing something old and abominable for ever. Forgive me for deleting pages without notice here. Today's update: "2 Cherry Blossoms in Bloom", at "In the Wind of March on Tama Lake Cycling-Walking Road", Tokyo Walking. It is following "1 Cycling in the Early Spring". It's an homage to the cherry trees cut down I mentioned yesterday.

Monday 29/3/2004
桜の開花に先ず思い出したのが、東京都文京区本郷は右京山の桜並木。「伐採するところをテレビのニュースで見た」という話をあちこちから聞いたので、勤め帰りに回り道してみた。胸を突かれたのは切り株の色の鮮やかさ。まさに「肌色」だった。そしてマンション建設予定地に並べて置いてある切り落とされた枝からは花が咲き出でていた。枝は未だ生きている。感傷だけではなんの役にも立たないが、人間の行為と植物・土地の関わりというものを長く考えていくヒントを与えられているように思う。緑地がどんどん失われていく都心では、一本の木も貴重だ。単に住民のエゴイズムとは思えない。「このままでいいのかいけないのか、それが問題だ」というのはシェイクスピアの最も有名なセリフ。本日の更新は、二月に引き続いて「右京山」の桜並木を単独ページで掲載いたしました。そのうち表紙からもアクセスできるようにいたしましょう。豪華絢爛の花見スポットではないけれど大切な場所。
The news of "cherry blossoms in bloom" first reminded me of "Cherry Slope" in Ukyou-san in Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, TOKYO. Some people told me they watched the scene in which the trees were cut down on TV news; I made a slight detour to the slope on my way back from work today. The most shocking thing was the vivid color of the stumps. They were really in skin color (very close to that of human beings). Another thing was that cherry blossoms were blooming out of the branches cut down which were laid down on the construction site. They are still alive. I know sentimet only can be of no help to the situation but I feel I'm getting an important suggestion to continue thinking of the relationship between human activities and plants/lands. Particularly in the central part of Tokyo where green space is growing less and less, even a single tree is important. It can hardly be considered as the egoism of local peole to protest against the cutting of cherry trees. "To be or not to be; that is the question" is one of the most famous lines of Shakespeare. Today's update: Cherry Trees and the Slope of Ukyo-san. I added the latest photos to the independent page I uploaded in February. It's not a gorgeous spot for watching sakura but a precious place.

Sunday 28/3/2004
つい数週間前凍えながら走ったサイクリングロードは桜咲く道となり、人々が花を振り仰ぎながらそぞろ歩く。満開一歩手前の慎ましやかな華やぎだった。これで一気に季節は進む、人を待たずに。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。潔く、と繰り返す。
The cycling road I went freezing a few weeks ago has turned into a path covered with cherry blossoms. People are taking a lesiurely stroll looking up at blossoms which were slightly before the full bloom in their modest beauty. Thus the season goes on swiftly to the next stage not waiting for people. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Be brave, I say to myself again.

Saturday 27/3/2004
古い季節に決別を。潔く。大地の再生を感じつつ。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。煌めく若い命に魅せられて。
Farewell to old seasons bravely! Feel the resurrection of the earth. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I'm fascinated with the brightly sparkling young lives.

Thursday 25/3/2004
「イージープリゼンター」ってどんなものだろうと思っていたら、片側にビデオ画像、片側にパワーポイントで作成したスライドショーが表示できる。ベースはブラウザーで。オンデマンドでオートマティックにコンテンツを紹介できるのが便利。しかし、仕込みにはエネルギーと技術が要る。次はあなたの番と言われ、さて何を。静止画像でも自分を見るのは冷や汗ものなのに、ましてや動画なんて。だが、こういうものは使いよう。音声と動きが加わるだけで、聴衆へのアピール度は急上昇。下手をすると逆効果。やっぱり問題はコンテンツ。当たり前だが。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。所詮私はと少ししおれているところ。
I was wondering what "EZ Presenter" is. I've got a chance to see a demonstration: on the left frame you can present the video streaming and on the right you can present a slide your lecture/talk automatically on demand. Quite convenient. But you need to spend time and energy to prepare the contents. I was requested to try the software and the machine next time. Well, what shall I do with it? I feel very embarrased to see even the still image of myself; how can I stand with the movie! Certainly you can contrive ways to make good use of it creatively. With sound and movement, you can appeal to your audience much more than with still images and letters only. But if you fail in creating the attractive combination of these factors, the effect will be completely the opposit. The problem is nothing but the contents, no doubt! Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I'm now quite pessimistic about myself.

Wednesday 24/3/2004
電話で仕事にクレームが付く。直言は有り難くもあり心外でもある。謹聴していずれの挽回を期せばよいものを、つい言葉を返す。曇天のち雨。花見どころか。「ケータイ連載小説」を書くアメリカ人作家のコラムに短さへの挑戦を読んだ。日本のイマジズム的詩歌に感化されたとも。パソコンモニターどころではないケータイ画面の制約が、新しいスタイルを産む。フルに書かなければ分からないこともあり、短文でしか伝わらないこともあり、何をどう書くか。書かないという選択ももちろんあるのでしょう。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。おずおずと書く情けなさ。
I received a complaint to my job by the phone call. I was grateful to the frankness and was disturbed at the same time. I should have listened to it sincerely and drecover the loss someday actually; yet, I tried to refute in vain. It was cloudy and then it rained. Not a day for watching flowers.BTW I read a column by an American author writing "series of cellpone stories." He is challenging the shortness. He is influnenced by the imagism of Japanese poetry. The ristrictions of cellphone monitor, which is incomparably smaller than the computer monitor, are the incentive to the new style of creation. Something must be written fully long but other things are most expressive when written short. The problem is what to write and how to write it. Certainly you have the choice not to write. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. The misery of writing timidly.

Tuesday 23/3/2004
カウントダウンで新学期が近づいてくる。何度繰り返しても恐ろしい。たくさんの新しい人たちに出会い、また最初から全てを始めると思うと。期待もあるけれどむしろ、「そんなこと、自分にできるだろうか」と不安。新しくスタートするチームの立ち上げ、これまでの活動の新天地開拓、そして授業。学生たちはいつも若く、教師は一つずつ年を取る。それでもフレッシュに人の前に立たなくてはならない。あ～ぁ。外堀端の桜は一分咲き。車窓から見た新宿御苑の桜は見事に五分咲き。これから開花ラッシュだ。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。アップしたものの、「あれは何？」
The countdown for the new semester has started. I'm scared in spite of my experience of many years when I think of meeting new students to start everything all over again. More than expectations, I'm afraid if I can really do my duties all right. A new project team is starting, an old activities are supposed to explore new domains, and classes are waiting. Students are always young and teachers are getting one year older than the previous year as a matter of fact. Oh, my! I saw cherry blossoms starting to bloom just a bit by the old moat; many trees are in half-full bloom inside Shinjyuki-Gyoen Gardens observed out of the train window. Sakura feaver begins! Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. However, what are they indeed?

Monday 22/3/2004
「暑さ寒さも彼岸まで」とは言うけれど、今日の寒さ。再び氷雨が降り続く。どうやら明日も雪模様。比較的暖かだった関東地方の今年の冬、最後に最低気温を更新していくのだろうか。陰鬱な天候は気を滅入らせる。きっとすぐに暖かくなると分かっていても。今のところ「確実な未来」は四季にのみ。本当に？本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。期待は裏切られるためにあるようなもの。
"Equinox is the border of heat and coldness" they say, but it's still very cold today; freezing rain is falling again. Tomorrow we will have snow. At the end of the comparatively mild winter in Kanto District, the record of the lowest temperature will possibly be renewed. The dreary weather can depress me easily although I know it will get warm very soon. "The definite future" is solely in the process of four seasons so far. Really? Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Expectations should be betrayed.

Sunday 21/3/2004
昨日は朝から牡丹雪が舞い、一日中凍てつく寒さ。白木蓮に降りかかる雪にしばし見とれていた。フィンランドの友人に興味深い話を聞く。フィンランドではどこの家にもあるサウナ。出産の時にも死後の清拭にもこの場所が使われるのでサウナは神聖な場所なのだとか。人々はサウナで暖まり、雪の戸外に飛び出して湖に飛び込み、戻って暖まると再び湖へを繰り返す。摂氏60度のサウナと水温4度の湖は冷水浴にはほどよいとのこと。戸外の気温が氷点下でもそれほど寒くは感じないという。なごり雪程度で震え上がっている自分はなんとも軟弱だ。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。17年前の今頃、氷結するデンマークの海をフェリーで渡ったことなど思い出す。
Large soft snowflakes were falling from morning and it was freezingly cold all day long yesterday. I was charmed by the snow falling over a white magnolia tree. I heard interesting things about sauna from a friend from Finland: almost all the houses in Finland have sauna, which is a sacred place where women give birth to their children and where people are taken in for purification after death. They warm themselves in sauna and go out to jump into the lake for swimming; they go back and forth several times. It's 60 degrees centigrade in sauna and 4 degrees in the lake water; thus, they enjoy souna folloed up by an icy dip quite naturally. They don't feel it too cold if it is 20 degrees below freezing outside. Contrastively how feeble am I to be quaking even by the spring snow! Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I remember I was on the ferry boat crossing the freezing sea in Denmark in this season 17 years ago.

Friday 19/3/2004
中学校の卒業式。合唱が5曲も。３年間合唱コンクールで鍛えられているだけあり、ミニコンサートの迫力。それに引き替え冒頭の「君が代」は蚊の鳴くような声だった。暖房無しの体育館は寒いのなんのって。解放されて外へ出たら爛漫の春だった。校庭で賑やかに写真を取り合い別れを惜しむ中学生たち。娘はこれで制服ともおさらばだ。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。希望を語れる時代が良い。
The commencement ceremony was held at a local junior high school. Students sang 5 songs in chorus. Their voice was powerful as they have been trained for three years for the annual concert. Contrastively the national anthem sung at the beginning was just quiet. Inside of the gymnagium without no heater, it was terribly cold. When we came out, it was happily warm and sunny. Students were taking photos of each other saying good bye. It was the last day for my daughter to wear the school uniform in her life. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Good are the days when we can talk of hopes.

Thursday 18/3/2004
「寒」に逆戻り。着て出る洋服を完全に間違え震えていた。『タイム』誌の特集記事でマドリード(3.11)の写真に愕然としていたら、今度はバグダッドでホテル爆破。都市が狙われると群衆が一気に犠牲者となる。「群衆」のひとりになって右往左往している時間が必ずある身には余所事でない。一見オートマティックに見える都市の日常は一触即発。電車の座席で読み耽るミラン・クンデラという図も十分に危うい。本日の更新は『翻訳読書ノート』に「11 存在の重力」を掲載いたしました。もひとつ、『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」にも一編追加しました。のどかな春は幻ですか？
Cold weather came back today. I went out in the wrong clothes to spend a day trembling. While I was watching the photo of this week's special issue in TIME, I learned by news that there was a bomb explosion at a hotel in Bagdad. When higly populated cities are targeted by terrorists, crowd of people become victims immediately. As I have time to be one of the crowd every day, I feel Madrid and Bagdad not very far. The seemingly automatic movements of cosmopolis can be blown up anytime. Today's update: a short review entitled The Gravity of Existence on Milan Kundera (Sorry, only in Japanese!). Reading in concentration of Kudnera in a crowded train can make a dangerous image. And a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Is peaceful spring an illusion?

Wednesday 17/3/2004
日中の気温が20度近くまで上昇し、猛烈な風が古い木造家屋を揺らすほど。友人から本郷右京山の桜は切られてしまったとメール。何と！あと一週間で花ひらくところだったのに。こんなことをしていたらどこかできっと樹木のリベンジに会う。いや、悲しいところは樹木は物言わずただ消えて行くこと。そして二度と戻らないこと。失ってはならないものがあるのに気付かない人の愚かさ。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。荒ぶる雨もまたよい春の宵。
Today's temperature rose up to almost 20 degrees centigrade and the wind blew hard to shake our old wooden house. A friend of mine mailed me to tell the cherry trees in Ukyo-san in Hongo were finally cut. Alas, one more week and they would have been in full bloom! People will be revenged by trees someday. No, the sad thing is that they have no words but just disappear never to come back. The folly of people is they don't realize what they should not lose. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Wild rain at midnight is really good in spring.

Monday 15/3/2004
春の彼岸墓参に高尾へ行く。山はまだ土気色。ほんの微かに梅桃のピンクが混じる程度。けれど、どことなくほんわかと気配は春だ。本日月曜日のため閉園の「多摩森林科学園」をバスの窓から横目で見る。今月下旬から四月にかけて、ここには70種類もの多様な桜が順次花ひらく。開花状況もサイトでチェックできる。時間を見つけて出かけよう。本日の更新は「東京散歩」中「武蔵野　春のせせらぎ　野火止用水緑道」です。先日の「多摩湖自転車歩行者遊歩道」とも昨年の「玉川上水」とも密接な関わりがある。近くに住んでいながらこれまで何故か足が向かなかったが、改めて見直すこととなった。
Visiting of our family grave in Takao on the spring equinox. Mountains were still in dull colors. I could see only a few vaguely pink spots of ume and peach trees. But somewhat I could feel the warm air of spring. As it was Monday today, Tama Forest Science Gardens was closed; I glanced at the huge estate out of the bus windows. According to its website, there are over 70 kinds of cherry trees and they are coming to bloom one after another in the forest. Today's update: "Nobidome Yosui Waterway, Early Spring in Musashino " in Walking in Tokyo. The waterway is closely connected with Tama Lake Cycling-Walking Road and Tamagawa Josui. I wonder why I've never walked along the waterway before!

Saturday 13/3/2004
花を見ていると「可憐」「優美」「繊細」「華麗」「清新」などという形容詞をいくらでも思いつくが、その名を知らないと充分味わった気にならない。私が街で出会える花などごく限れたものばかりなのに、それですら名前の特定できないものがたくさん。図鑑などで名前を見つけたとたんに、よそよそしかった花がこちらを向くような気がするのも不思議だ。先日来、命名の情熱について考え続けている。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。野に出てみたい。
Watching flowers, I think of various adjectives such as pretty, beautiful, fine, fresh; yet, I cannot be satisfied with my observation until I finally learn the name of them. Although the number of flowers I can find flowers in town is quite limited, there are many I can hardly identify their names. As soon as I find their names in books, mysteriously enough, the unfriendly looking flowers seem to turn to me smiling. I've been thinking of the passion of naming.Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I really want to go out in the field.

Friday 12/3/2004
「Kさん、ボケたんですか？」と同僚に問われ「ええ、そうらしいんです」と。昨日も今日も完璧に一つずつ会合を忘れてすっぽかしてしまった。大変まずい。でも、「警告」や「勧告」の学生たちとの面談は一つも忘れなかったのでご勘弁。悩む学生に「まるでハムレットね」と言ったら彼はハムレットを知らなかった。強風のあと寒の戻り。彼岸が近い。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。関東平野の冬が終わる。
"Have you got senile, Ms K?" asked one of my colleagues and I said, "Yes, it seems so." I completely forgot and missed a meeting yesterday and today. What a mess! Sorry, but forgive me for I did not forget to meet students to "warn" and "advise" them. When I said to one of them who were in a neurotic agony, "Oh, you are like Hamlet," he said he didn't know who Hamlet is. After the gale, coldness returned today. Soon it is going to be the spring equinox. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. It's the end of winter in Kanto Plaine.

Thursday 11/3/2004
全く思いがけず「文京ふるさと歴史館」の文化財調査員さんからお便りをいただく。検索中このサイトの「東京散歩」にヒットしたとのこと。目下開催中『本草（ほんぞう）から植物学へ--岩崎灌園から牧野富太郎まで』という学習企画展のプロデューサー。歴史館にお訪ねしたら、気鋭の女性研究者だった。西洋流の分類手法とは異なる動植物全般の認識方法が江戸時代に全国的に発展した様子を、文京の地に多く住んだ植木屋の活躍まで含めて紹介している。東京のそこここにあった薬草園や庭園が関東大震災を期に消えたり郊外へ移ったりしたこともよく分かる。小石川植物園は広大な敷地に大木多数を擁しながら、庶民には開放されていなかった為、遂にポピュラーな花見場所にはならなかったことなど興味深い話をいろいろ伺った。どうやら「菊坂」が菊の産地であったというのも口伝の一つに過ぎないらしい。江戸時代の私家版「花暦」も見ることができた。植物を通じて季節を感じ歌に思いを託すという習いはこの民族の遺伝子（文化遺伝子ミームの方）に深く入り込んでいるのだろうか。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。うーん、ごく個人的な習慣もどこかで大きな文脈につながる？？（ここで展覧会のポスターなどご覧いただけます。）
Totally unexpectedly I received a mail from a researcher of cultural heritage who is working for Bunkyo Local Museum. She hit "Walking in Tokyo" of this site while she was exploring the web. She is a producer of the exhibition which is now going on at the museum: "From Honzo to Botany." I visited the museum and found her an energetic scholar. She explained to me how the study of nature (including plants, animals, minerals and all others) developed in Edo Era in a comprehensive manners quite different from the method of classification accomplished in Eruope. The study of botany in Japan involved not only pure scholars but also merchants and gardeners in that period of time. There were many herb gardens in Tokyo; however, most of them disappeared or moved to suburbs after Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. She said Koishikawa Botanical Gardens, in spite of its particularly great collection of trees in the huge estate, has never become a popular site for flower watching because ordinary people were prohibited to go into it in old days. Interesting. It seems the orignin of the name "Kikuzaka" is not in the field of chrysanthemums as people believe today. I also had a chance to see a privately printed flower calendar of Edo Era. I wonder if the habit of writing poetry on plants of seasons to express emotions deeply set in meme (a sort of cultural gene) of the Japanese? Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Well, does my personal habit have something to do with a larger context somewhere?? Please click here to see posters of the exhibition.

Wednesday 10/3/2004
最後の入試面接。どの若者も真剣そのもの。僅か20分ずつでも、出会いではある。凝縮された会話。多かれ少なかれ人と人はこんな風にすれ違っていくものなのだろうか。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。若く拙いことばに光るものをいくつも見た。
The last entrance exam of this year. All the young applicants were serious. If it's the matter of 20 minutes, it was the real encounter with condensed dialogues. Are we meeting and parting with people always like this fundamentally? Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I found many shining words, youthful and naive though, in what they said.

Monday 8/3/2004
見ることと見えることが違うのを痛感する。いつも通っている道にいつものように開いたはずの花を自分で「発見」したつもりになるとはおこがましい。目を止めるというのは心を向けることのようだ。あるものを顕在化させる契機は様々ながら、気付けばくっきりと存在は自己主張する。同様に心を閉ざせばもう見えない。見えないことは存在しないことと同じ。消滅の契機も無限に。「何故？」の虚しさ。失われる共鳴。だが、宇宙の広大無辺を思えば全ては収まるところに収まっているのだろう。（文字通りの視覚だけを問題にしているのではない。）ところでウィルスを拡散させるかも知れないと今度はカラスが敵視されている。自然は封じ込めるものでも駆逐するものでもないだろうに、人間は手前勝手だ。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。昨日掲載の「東京散歩」中「弥生の風　多摩湖自転車歩行者遊歩道」に数件植物の名を追加（まだまだ足りませんが）しました。ここは継続して参ります。このサイトも。
I strongly feel the difference between seeing and observing. It's rude to say "discover" something which has been there always. To observe is to turn one's consciousness toward a target object. With various momenta, beings start appealing themselves. In the same way, when you shut your heart and mind from a target, it becomes invisible. When you can't see it, it ceases to exist. There are indefinite momenta for annihilation. It's nonsense to ask why. The lost sympathy. However, when we think of the boundlessness of the universe, everything must be where it should belong to. By the way, crows are now considered as the possible cause for scattering the virus of bird flu. How can they be contained or expelled? Humans are selfish. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Also I added several names of plants in "In the Wind of March on Tama Lake Cycling-Walking Road " in Walking in Tokyo. I have to go on improving the information in the page! Thanks for your patience. Let me conitune it. Certainly this website as well.

Sunday 7/3/2004
私がよく調べもせずに花の写真や鳥の写真をアップすると、そぉーっと「あの花（鳥）の名前はね」と教えて下さるやさしい方。今日も「あれはシジュウカラに似ていませんか？」とお知らせくださいました。（「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」2月27日の写真です。どうもありがとうございます。）「黒いネクタイ模様が決めてでは」と。電線の上でピィピィ声高く鳴いているので洗濯ものを干しながら撮ったのでした。正体がすっかり分かってから写真はサイトに掲載すべきなのですが、せっかちの東女（アズマオンナ）でいけませんね。またいくらでも失敗を重ねる軽率な私。写真のことばかりではなく。じっくりゆっくりのはずなのに。本日の更新は「東京散歩」中「弥生の風　多摩湖自転車歩行者遊歩道」です。分からない植物の名前数枚込みです、ごめんなさい。（追補: 「ギヤラリー余白」へ本郷通り「山猫軒」の写真もアップしました。）
There is a very kind person who informs me of the names of flowers and birds that I am not sure of in my photos. She sent me a mail writing, "Isn't the bird similar to a great tit?" (The bird in the article of 27 February at "Calendar in Flowers and Poems." Thank you very much!) She says, "Look at the black tie it wears!" I found it twittering loudly on an telegraphic wire when I was hanging washed clothes on the veranda. I know I should upload photos only after I can be sure of the details of information in my web pages; however, I am always too impatient to wait. How silly of me! It's not just the matter of phtos but also all other important things. I should learn to be slow and steady. Today's update: "In the Wind of March on Tama Lake Cycling-Walking Road " in Walking in Tokyo. It has some photos of flowers whose names I don't know yet. Sorry! (addenda: Restaurant Wild Cat in Gallery in Margines.)

Saturday 6/3/2004
なごり雪のあとには、水蒸気の立ちこめるやわらかな朝。畳替えの代わりに敷き茣蓙を裏返して義母の四畳半と六畳の間に張る。青い畳の目は清々しい。際限ない家内の細々した用事をしていると、外での仕事が遙か遠く感じられる。ましてや東欧の小説など読むと、これが同じ世界かと思う。縁側に腰を下ろして古い絨毯を始末した。時が止まるようなうららかさ。チューリップの芽がぐんぐん伸びている。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。しばしの休息。
After the spring snow, a morning came with soft vapor. Instead of truning the whole tatami floor renewd, I carpeted the floor of my mother-in-law's rooms with fresh mats (of the pure tatami-material; they are not at all rustic ones but very finely made craft of Japan). While doing this and that small tasks inside of a household, I feel all my jobs outside going far away. I can hardly believe the novel of eastern Erope which I'm reading belongs to the same era I live in now. Sitting in the sun porch, I cut an old carpet into small pieces. It seemed time stopped in peace. Young leaves of tulips are growing rapidly. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I'm having a short break.

Thursday 4/3/2004
3月4日は1996年に亡くなった父の命日。もしまだ生きていたら82歳になる。父がそんなに年老いたところは想像できない。亡くなった時には肺ガンのせいですっかり弱ったものの、記憶の中の父はいつも精力的で機嫌のよい人だった。突飛なことや冗談を言ったりして人を笑わせるのが好きだった。東京の下町生まれで洗練とはほど遠かったが、生きることには貪欲だった。喋るのも好きだった。その幾ばくかを私は受け継いだかもしれない。嫁ぐ時、父は庭に出て小さなまな板を削ってくれた。今もそれを使っている。随分薄くなってしまったけれど。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。8年前と同じくらい今日も寒い一日だった。
4 March is the anniversary of my father's death in 1996. If he were still alive, he would have become 82. I can hardly imagine him being so old. When he passed away he was already very week for his lung cancer; however, in my memory he was always an energetic person with a good sense of humour. He liked to make people laugh with striking comments and jokes. Like a man born in a downtown of Tokyo, he was not at all sophisticated but he loved life. He loved talking very much. I inherited a bit of his verbal gift. He made me a small wooden cutting board in the garden when I got married. I've been still using it although it has become so thin after 24 years. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I't was as cold as the day eight years ago.

Wednesday 3/3/2004
やはり雛人形を飾っている。私が子どもの頃に祖父や伯母から貰ったガラスケース入りの雛壇や潮汲みの人形まで並べるスペースはもう無いので、木目込みの立ち雛一対だけ。義母がちらし寿司を、私が蛤の吸い物を作る。雛あられを少々。それだけでも女の子のお祝い。娘も来月には16歳。今度はあなたの番と私は後衛に退く、かな。いえいえこれからはライバルよと笑い合って、それなりの春。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。彼女は何になるのやら。
March 3 is the girl's festival, "hina-matsuri." We take out sets of dolls, miniature dolls of the Japanese ancient court. As our place is not spacious, we can hardly display all that we have. I took out only a pair of dolls, a prince and a princess in the abstract shape. My mother-in-law cooked mixed sushi-rice and I cooked the soup of clams; both are typical menu for the girl's festival. I put a bag of colorful rice popcorn beside the dolls. Such a humble feast. My daughter will be 16 next month. Her life as a woman has started. Now it's your time, her mother says and is to retire...., oh, not yet! We laugh saying that we'll be rivals. It's her life's spring anyway. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. What will she become?

Tuesday 2/3/2004
思いがけず本郷通り東大正門前棚沢書店御店主から古書店にまつわる資料をお送り頂いた。これまで単なる個人の趣味で思いつくままに写真を撮って歩いていた本郷の街を、もう少しよく勉強なさいませんかとお誘い頂いた気がする。御店主のエッセイ中にある「私は本も本屋も、そして何よりも本の故郷"本郷"が好きなんです」ということばに心和む。単純だけれど全ては理屈より「好きなんです」から。衒いなくそう書けるのはすてきだ。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。暫定的に「ギャラリー余白」に棚沢書店を掲載してあります。一点集中からいつか広い世界へ。
Unexpectedly I received a letter with documents on secondhand book stores from the owner of Tanazawa Book Store in front of University of Tokyo in Hongo Avenue. So far I've been wondering the town, taking photos as I wanted with no definete purposes. I feel Mr. Tanazawa advised me to study the town of Hongo more seriously. In his essay he writes, "I love books, book stores and more than anything else, Hongo, a home of of books," which is very impressive to me. Anything starts with love to the target. It's nice to be able to express love of whatever naturally. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Photos of Tanazawa Bookstore is in Galley in Margine. From the local to the universal.

Monday 1/3/2004
弥生が明けたとたん氷雨が降った。茫漠と広がる東京はコンクリートで塗り固められた無味乾燥な街のように見える。海へも山へも遠く、河川は汚染され、広々とした見晴らしは高層ビルの展望台にでも上らなくては開けない。けれど失われた分だけ、ここにいると自然への渇望は強くなる。些細な命の息吹にも感嘆する。路地裏の鉢植えから、住宅地の小さな庭から、少しずつ季節が香る。そして限られた条件の中で健気に生き延びる公園の植物。これから日を追うごとに街に色彩が戻るだろう。届かないものへの憧れを秘めたまま街は今日も蠢いている。本日の更新は表紙の写真(お茶の水の聖橋から見る神田川下流)、この「更新・短信」ページの写真、そして『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」ページを新しくし、一編追加しました。受験生の悲喜こもごもを身近に感じながら。
As soon as March started, we had the freezing rain. Tokyo, extending just far and wide, looks an innocuous city with concrete buildings. It's far from the sea and mountains, its rivers are contaminated, and you can seldom have a large view unless you climb up skyscrapers. But the less you have, the more you long for the nature. I am amazed with the smallest feeling of life: I smell seasons from flower pots along back alleys, small gardens in residencial areas. We also have collected plants in gardens which are surviving in given conditions somehow.From now on, colors will come back to this huge city day by day. Longing for the unattainable, the city keeps wriggling. Today's update: the cover photo (a view of downstream observed from Hijiri-bashi Bridge over River Kanda, in Ochyanomizu), the phto above in this page, and a new article in the renewd page of Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Joy and sorrow after the exams are everywhere.

Saturday 28/2/2004
如月も終わる。内外の試験に明け暮れる日々だった。いろいろな意味で年度のまとめのとき。時たま日が差したり陰ったり。一区切り付いたら少し遠くまで歩いてみたいものだ。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。インスピレーションは突然に。
February has come to an end. I've been coming through various kinds of examinations. This is the time for summing up. It shines sometimes and it gets cloudy too. I would really like to go out somewhere when I'm released fom my duties. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Suddenly I'm inspired unexpectedly.

Friday 27/2/2004
今更ながら、自分が花の名前を知らない上に、鳥の名前はもっと知らないことに愕然と気付く。文京ふるさと歴史館で開催中の「本草から植物学へ」という展示会で、牧野富太郎がどのように独力で植物採集に励み多くの草木を発見・命名したかを知った。ついでに大学の閉鎖性も再認識。（それから彼には子どもが15人も生まれて8人が夭折している！）植物・動物を眺めて風流にひたる感性と観察・分類・洞察を行う知的精神には遙かな隔たりがあるようだ。それにしても、何万羽という単位でインフルエンザに感染した鶏が死んでいく。鳥受難の時代が始まるのだろうか。問題はもちろんヒトにあるのだろう。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。はて、この鳥の名は？
I've noticed I know few names of flowers and much less of birds. At Bunkyo Local Museum I saw a humble exhibition entitled "From Herbalism to Botany," where I learned how Dr. Makino Tomitaro colleted plants and named them by himself. I also learned how closed universities have been. (He had 15 children and more than a half of them died while very young, alas!) The sensibility to appreiciate plants and animals of seasons seems to be very far from the intellectual spirit with which observation, classification, insight are possible. Now millions of checkins are dying of flu. Will it be the age of fowls' suffering? Human beings have the cause, certainly. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. What is this bird called anyway?

Thursday 26/2/2004
年明け以来続いていた比較的安定した冬型の天候が崩れ始め、夜半には轟々と嵐が猛る。夏の終わり頃土に埋めた球根が次々に土をはね除けて鋭い形の芽を出している。時よそんなに先を急ぐなと念じても、抗いようもなく新しい季節が開ける。片方で入試の仕事をし、もう片方で誰彼の無事を祈り、心の片隅の灯を春嵐から守ろうともしている。ささやかな願いの幾つかは叶い、幾つかは潰えていく。幾度繰り返しても、春はいつも新しい経験。波も月光もピンで留めることはできないのだった。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。ことばは無力、ではないのか。
The stable weather of winter whcih had been staying since the beginning of the year began to chanage and stormy wind has been blowing at midnight. Bulbs I planted at the end of summer started budding out of the earth showing thier angular first leaves. It's no use asking time to go slower. The new season begins irresitively. I'm doing my duty with the work of entrance exams on the one hand, and on the other hand I just pray good luck for my friends and relatives, and also I'm trying to guard the small light quivering in my mind from gales. Some wishes have come true and others are perishing. Although I have experienced spring so many times, it's always a new experience. I know too well neither waves nor moonbeams can ever pinned down. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Words have small pwer, don't they?

Wednesday 25/2/2004
国連事務総長アナン氏の国会演説が話題になっている。政府は自衛隊のイラク派遣への評価と受け止めたいし、外務省は国連安全保障常任理事国入りへの足がかりを得たいし、民主党はアナン氏のイラク戦争反対の意志は同党と同じだと強調したいし、百家争鳴である。いずれの言説も虚しい。演説ニュースは昨日病院の待合室で遠くに見た。ちょうど前レバノン大使が書いた義憤の書『さらば外務省！』を読んでいたので、喧伝されるニュースの背後を想像して震撼する。同書に繰り返される、官僚組織の「劣化」ということばにも慄然。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。何ものも恐れずにことばを闘わせ続けるタフな精神はどこへ行ってしまったのだろう。
Mr. Annan, U.N. Secretary-General, made a speech at the Japanese Diet yesterday. The government wants to interpret it as the agreement (and the praise) to the dispatch of Japan Self-Defense Forces to Iraq; Foreign Ministry wants to find a way to obtain a permanent seat in the U.N. Security Council, the Democratic Party insists Mr. Annan just declared his oppsition to US military attacks to Iraq. Everybody has a word to say and all sounds vacant. I watched the news flash yesterday on TV in a waiting room of a hospital, when I was reading a book entitled Farewell to Foreign Ministry! written by an ex-ambassador of Lebanon. He wrote this book with indignation after he was fired for his ignored telegrams (to the prime misister) against Iraq war. I tremble when I imagine the backgrounds of each statement. "Degradation" is the word repeated many times in the book talking about Japanese bureaucracy. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I wonder where the tough spirit has gone that would never be afraid of discussing all matters in words?

Tuesday 24/2/2004
机を入れ替えることにしたら、十年分以上溜まりに溜まった書類の整理に数日を費やしてしまった。あれをこちらにこれをあちらにと順送りするうち、押入の中まで引っかき回す羽目になり引っ越し同然の有様。日頃の無精にバチが当たった！机と一緒に気持ちもリフレッシュ、といきたいところだが生来ぐずなもので一向はかどらない。「春の大掃除」とはよく言ったものだ。新しい季節に新鮮な風を。ところで『蹴りたい背中』は心理描写が卓抜だった。ほんのささやかな「気分」をよくとらえている。ミニマルなところから出発してこの作者がどんな風に成長するか楽しみだ。『蛇にピアス』の方はショッキングな素材をふんだんに繰り出して読者を釘付けにするが、底に流れる情緒は案外馴染みのものではないか。その取り合わせのアンバランスが危うい魅力になっている。ついでにヒラリーについては、作者自らの吹き込みによるCD版を聞いているところ。あれだけ書いてそれを全部朗読するとはどこまでも精力的な人だと思う。声音は多くを伝える。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。私はことばの凝縮に憧れる。
I decided to replace my desk at home and spent a few days sorting out old documents. I have left the work undone for more than ten years; accordingly, I had to arrange this and that everywhere even in the closet. Disorder around me looked as if I've just moved into this house. This is the result of my usual untidiness. Although I wish to refresh my mind with the newly arrived desk, my habitual laziness prevents me from cleaning my environment swiftly and efficently. I think "spring clearing" is a good expression. I hope the fresh air will bring the fresh season! By the way, I found "The Back I Want to Kick" is full of good observation of psychology. The author captures momentary feelings very well. Starting with the minimal view points, she will hopefully develop wider scope. On the other hand, "Earings for a Snake" has a lot of eccentric details to astonish readers; however, the emotions in the base of its world are not so novel. The combination (of new and old) makes the work's unbalanced attraction. Lastly, let me mention a little more about Hillary: I've been listening to the CDs of Living History: the author herself is reading it just powerfully. Her voice tells a lot more. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I long for the condensed word expressions.

Thursday 19/2/2004
出かける時にどの本を鞄に放り込んでいくかで車中の過ごし方がだいぶ変わる。今日は「文藝春秋」3月号にした。芥川賞受賞二作を読んでみようと思って。行きは金原ひとみの『蛇にピアス』、帰りに綿矢りさの『蹴りたい背中』という予定で。学生時代に村上龍の『限りなく透明に近いブルー』を読んだ時、「なにこれ、うげっ、汚い話」と思いながら途中で止められなかったが、金原ひとみの印象はこれに近い。作者と作品を混同しそうになる。オーバーラップしているところはあるのだろうが書き手は既に対象を冷静に眺めている。しかし、この痛さはどうだろう。こういう恐ろしいほどの虚無を抱えて生きている若者はいっぱい居るに違いない。オトナが無傷なわけでなし。車中の吊り広告から広く胸を開けたワンピース姿の金髪カール、金原の写真がこちらを眺めていた。コピーには36万部突破と書いてある。綿矢りさは途中で時間切れとなり明日に持ち越し。これから二人は何かと比較されることになるに違いない。本日の更新は『翻訳読書ノート』に「彼女の物語」を掲載いたしました。ヒラリー・ロダム・クリントン自伝『リビング・ヒストリー』の短評です。彼女は圧倒的な分量で攻めてくる。
The choice of book in the morning makes my commuting time different. I picked up this morning a magazine in which are covered the latest major prize winning novels written by two young Japanese women authors. I was planning to read Kanahara Hitomi's "Earings for a Snake" on my way and Wataya Risa's "The Back I Want to Kick" on my way back. Once when I read Murakami Ryu's "Transparent Blue" in my youth, saying to myself,"What a nasty story it is!" I coulod hardly stop reading it. My first impression of Kanahara is quite similar. I'm inclined to mix the author with the narrator quite easily; however, her style is objective and stable. But it hurts me very much. I imagine many young people are living like the ones in this novel holding enormous vacancy and pains all along. Adults are by no means intact. Kanahara in her sexy dress with blond curly hair was watching people from a poster on the train; it boasts she has sold 360,000 copies already. I couldn't finish Wataya Risa. I'll continue her tomorrow. These two will be talked of as rivals from now on. Today's update: a short review on Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Sorry only in translation!) The volume of her written talk knocks me out.

Wednesday 18/2/2004
東京、文京区・本郷の「右京山」として知られるあたりの桜並木が、マンション建設のため伐採されることになった。しかし、住民の反対運動の前に依然立ち往生している。木の幹には子どもの描いた絵や、伐採反対声明のポスターが張られ、ご神木のようなしめ縄まで巻いてある。一度業者が伐採を強行しようとしたら、古木の枝先が高圧電線に絡んでいて危険だったため、作業は一旦中止されたという経緯もある。この界隈は景観保全と地域再開発の狭間でいつも揺れる。立場によって地域の財産が異なるのをどう折り合わせていくか。桜並木を見ながら坂を下ると「文京区設真砂市場」という一時代前のようなマーケットに出会う。ここには「後楽園競輪再開反対」の横断幕が張られている。頑固でレトロな街の魅力が現代社会に生き延びる途を提案していくのも地元の大学の役目ではないのかと、ふと思う。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。春の声が聞こえてくる。
Cherry trres along the slope in an area called "Mt. Ukyou" in Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, TOKYO, are destined to be cut for the construction of a condominium building. At the neighbors' protest, the construction has not been started yet. Children's pictures, posters against the cutting of trees, and paper ornament for sacred trees are put on the trunks. One day when workers came to cut the trees, they found branches of the old trees were entwined with the high-voltage electrical power lines and gave up their job for the moment. In this area, this kind of struggles happen very often: environmental conservation versus infill, which is a difficult choice. Walking down along the trees, you come in front of the oldfashioned "Bunkyo Public Masago Market." On the building a protest banner saying "We Are Agains Bike Race Coming Back to Korakuen!" can be seen. I cannot help feeling that local universities should propse ideas to look for solutions of the dilemma that this conservative and retrospective town holds in some positive ways. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Spring is just around the corner.

Tuesday 17/2/2004
夜更けに電話がかかり、塾帰りの娘を自転車で迎えに行く習慣がもうじき終わる。たった一年間のことだったがそれなりのリズムで生活の一部になっていた。真っ暗な道を遠くから近づいてくる灯火はふらふらと頼りなく、何故もっとスピードを上げないのかともどかしかったが、近視の私がうっかりすれ違ってしまったことがあるのを笑われた。並んで走りながら勉強の進展を尋ねたり、先生の噂に耳を傾けたり、模擬試験の結果を聞く数分間の行程。これからは独りでどこへでも行くのだろう。こちらはそれをじっと待つことになるのだろう。かつてそのようにして自分も親の手を振りほどいてきたのを思い出して首をすくめる。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。夜の底冷えは続く。
I've made it a custom to go and see my daughter by bicycle late at night when she calls me on her way back from a cram school. The custom will soon terminate. It was only the matter of one year; yet, it has become a part of the rythm of my daily life. A feeble light of her bicycle is coming slowly in darkness; I asked why she would not go faster. She laughed and said I passed through her for my myopia before. While riding on bikes abreast, we talked of her study, of the teachers, he result of prep tests et al. We enjoyed various topics for a few minutes. From now on, she will go wherever she wants to by herself and all I can do will be just to wait patiently. I remember with a grin I did the same, shaking myself free from my parents. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. It's still very cold out at night.

Monday 16/2/2004
関東地方には強風が吹き、土曜日の風が「春一番」だったという。気付かなかった。まだまだだと思っていたのに。春が来ればと期するところあっても音沙汰なければ、何の春だろう。しかし、何となく今日あたりの光の明るさには抗えない。集中して読んでいた本を読了し顔を上げると、確かに昨日までとは何かが違う。改めて局所的なところから眼差しを遠くへという気になる。新しいステップを踏み出さなくては、それこそ何の春だろう。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。「これからの10年」というタイムスパンには今までにないリアリティを感じる。
In Kanto District, it has been blowing hard; they say the wind on Saturday was "the first gale of Spring" although I did not notice it, alas! What does spring mean unless I can hear some good news which I have been expecting throughout the winter? However, I could hardly ignore the brightness of light today. When I finished reading the book I was concentrating on, I looked up to find something different from what I was seeng during previous days. I feel like enhancing my view from very limited local spots to faraway spheres; otherwise, what's the point of living in spring? Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I feel fresh reality which I have never experienced in "the coming decade."

Saturday 14/2/2004
チョコレート売り場は戦場の趣だった。まなじりを決した女たちが押すな押すなとショーケースをのぞき込む。手に入れた包みを大事に抱えて人波をかき分けてゆく女たちの紅潮した頬。その眼差しの先にはどんな人たちが居るのだろう。売らんかなと2.14をチョコレートセールスの日に定めた商人のしたたかさ。片側通行の切なさには目をつぶろう。この日でなくても、愛は伝えられる。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。でも、伝えなくては伝わらない。
The floor for chocolate shops was just like a battle field: women with serious eyes were watching inside of the showcases jostling each other. Women holding pacages of chocolate were squeezing their way with blushing cheeks. I wonder who are waiting for them. Merchants in Japan decided February 14 should be the day for big sales of chocolate. Let me not think of the sorrow of one way drive. It is not only this day when people can tell love to others. Today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. But we must tell anyway.

Tuesday 10/2/2004
「放射線診断での被爆原因の発ガン年間3.2%、日本世界最高」という記事を読んだ。数字のマジックは見方で全く意味が変わるので、字義通り受けとるのは愚かだろうが。過剰でも検査で助かる割合の方が疾患を見落として命を失う割合より高いなら、検査は「善」となるのだろう。治療方法も検査回数も患者自身の選択に任される時代。無知ではいられない。だが、医療従事者と患者の意思疎通が成立しにくいところにも問題はある。医師にジョークが通じないことおびただしいもの。「手当て」なしで数字だけ見ている医師も多いことだし。どうしてあちらとこちらは自由に語り合えないのだろう。いや、私のメンタリティに問題ありなのか。「あなたは言葉が多すぎる。危険です。」と言われたことがある！本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加しました。沈黙の美に打ちのめされている。
I read a newspaper article "Japan as No. 1 with 3.2% of annual cancer patients caused by radiodiagnosis." I should not be so foolish as to take it just as it is seriously because the magic of numbers may change the meaning of matters quite easily. Excessive examinations may save more people than insufficient examinations; thus, they have the reason for being practiced most of the time as "good." We're living in the age when individual patients must choose what kind of medical treatments and checkups they want. There is no excuse for being ignorant. However, I think one of the biggest troubles is in the lack of communication between doctors and patients. Many of the doctors won't share jokes we enjoy. They watch numerical data more than their patients' body and mind. Why can't we talk open minded? Or is my mentality the real problem? "You talk too much. It's dangerous," one of the doctors has said before. Well, well, today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. Beaten by the beautiful silence.

Monday 9/2/2004
365日の内、計12日くらいは築地の病院へ通う。ホールへ入ったとたん患者となって、コンピュータ制御システムの中を右往左往しながら過ごす。MRIの立てる不気味な画像撮影音、チューブの中をガクッガクッと移動するベッド、固定された頭。妙な気分になる。自分の体がスライスされていくイメージを暗闇の中で思い描いている。このようにされることは幸せな境遇であると何度自分に言い聞かせても、棺桶の中にいる気分は拭い去れない。解析されるオブジェクトとしての肉体。解放されてもしばらくはボンヤリしている。注射されたクスリのせい？こんな気分を伝えられても人は困惑するだけだろう。さて、本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に二編追加です。単純バカみたいな歌だが、樹木に接すると悲しいほどにこころが蘇ってくるのは何故？
Nearly 20 days out of 365, I go to a hospital in Tsukiji. Once I step into the entrance hall, I become one of the paitents. I hang around under the control of the computer system. The weiard sound of MRI, the sporadic movement of the bed going through a tube, my head fixed, they all nearly make me mad. I am watching in darkness the image of my body being sliced. I persuade myself I'm happier to be treated like this; yet, I can barely be released from the idea of lying in a coffine. I am a body to be analyzed. I'm at a loss for a while after I'm released perhaps because of the medicine injected? Nobody will be pleased to hear about such an experience. Sorry! Well, today's update: a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I know what I write is alwyas too simple to be called poems, but how come do I feel my heart begin to live again when I come close to trees and flowers almost painfully?

Sunday 8/2/2004
たまたま目と耳の両方から1960年代、1970年代にタイムスリップ。サイモンとガーファンクルの最新演奏録音を聴く機会があり、もう片方ではヒラリー・ロダム・クリントンのとびきり活きのいい自伝（彼女の学生時代前後のところ）を読んでいる。このご時世だから余計「アメリカ」の意味を問う。自衛隊イラク派遣のことを英作文の自由課題に取り上げる学生が何人もいた。青年たちは戦争を余所事でないと感じ始めている。「英語帝国主義」を憂いながらそれを飯の種にし、かつ抗いがたい魅力を感じ続けている自分への問い直しをしないではいられない。本日の更新は「東京散歩」中『節分の候　湯島聖地探訪』に数枚の画像（湯島天神周辺）を追加し、言葉を一部修正しました。また、『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。ありふれた言いぐさになるが、過去をたどることは「今」を知ることに他ならない、と改めて思う。
I happened to have the chance to return to 1960's and 1970's through eyes and ears: I've been litening to the latest record of Simon and Garfunkel's performance and reading Living Hisotry of Hillary Rodham Clinton. I'm asking what USA means to us in today's world. Some students wrote on the dispatch of our Self-Defense Forces to Iraq for their writing assignment in English. Young people are feeling the war is not someone else's issue. I've got to ask myself why I live on teaching English while feeling uneasy about the "English imperialism" in terms of an international language to which I've been attracted for decades. Today's update: a few more photos added to Yushima Tenjin section of "Visiting Sacred Places in Yushima at the Turning Point of Seasons" in Walking in Tokyo. I made several corrections to the description in words as well. Also I added a new article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. As is said commonly, I feel it's true to know the present through learning the past.

Friday 6/2/2004
ついこの前まで幼子のような気のしていた娘がいつしか高校へ進学することになるとは。4月生まれだから直に16歳となる。15の春は短い。彼女の合格発表を確認したあと、節分の日、仕事前に少し散歩をした。御茶ノ水駅から聖橋に出て、湯島聖堂、神田明神へ。先だっての湯島天神と合わせると湯島三聖地巡礼とでも言おうか。お礼参りを兼ねて。今年も既に立春を越えた。本日の更新は「東京散歩」に『節分の候　湯島聖地探訪』です。大人になるのと年をとるのはまた違うらしいと、今も首をかしげている私。
Although I have been feeling my daughter is just a small girl, she is actually going to be a high school student very soon. She will be 16 in April. Spring of being 15 is short for her. After I checked her passing the entrance exam, I took a walk on my own right before I went to work. Starting from JR Ochyanomizu Station, I went across Hijiri Bridge to Yushima Seidou, and then to Kanda Myoujin Shrine. Incoulding Yushima Tenjin Shrine which I visited the other day, these are "the tree sacred places" in Yushima Area. I wanted to thank gods for my daughter's fortune. It's already spring in calendar. Today's update: "Visiting Sacred Places in Yushima at the Turning Point of Seasons" in Walking in Tokyo. I'm still wondering if it is not same to grow old and to be an adult.

Thursday 5/2/2004

「白梅は十五の春に花を添え」
何十年も前に私が高校入試に合格したとき自分で詠んだのは「紅梅がきれいに咲いた帰り道」というのだった（超単純！）。時が移っても変わらずにいてくれるもののうれしさ。本日の更新は上の写真です。

"White blossoms of ume celebrate the spring of the fifteen-old"
Decades ago I wrote a haiku like this: "Red blossoms of ume were in full bloom on my way home." (Extremely simple!) Happiness to see something unchangeable in spite of the time passage. Today's update: the photo above.

Tuesday 3/2/2004
「現代経営学部」に勤務しつつも専門のことは分からない、と言っていられない昨今の状況。どちらを見ても難しい。活路を求めて様々な工夫を。これからの10年で何ができるかを柔軟な発想で。だから、ぼんやり立ち止まっては居られない。もちろんそれは静かに思索する時間をないがしろにすることではなく。本日の更新は『短詩』中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。ページへの直リンクにし、二枚目にうつりました。ご訪問に感謝。
Working for the Department of Comprehensive Business Administration, I know little about business; however, how can I be satisfied with my ignorance for ever? "Business" of any kind is now in difficulties. We need strategies to meet the demands of today's world. Thnk what we can do in coming 10 years. I can hardly stand still doning nothing; of course it does not mean to give up quiet time for thinking alone. Today's upload: another article in Calendar in Flowers and Poems in Short Poems. I made a direct link to the page. Thanks for your visit!

Sunday 1/2/2004
如月の到来。何故かよい月だ。厳しい寒さの中にも春の兆しが感じられ。まだ定期試験の採点真っ最中。学生以上にこちらも青くなっている。月替わりの模様替え。本日の更新は表紙の写真です。東京・文京区の湯島天神。この季節は受験合格祈願の参拝客で賑わう。私が出かけた日はまだ花はまばらで「梅祭り」には早かった。けれどユニークな露天に惹かれてあちこちで油を売ってきた。「東京散歩」には今ひとつなのでいずれ他の場所と合わせて改めて。本日はその一部を「ギャラリー余白」に入れてみました。春よ来い、早く来い。
It's February! I love February. It's a good month. You can feel spring slightly in its light. I'm still marking students' exam paper. I'm obliged to go through this season just like them. Today's upload: the cover photo. It's "Yushima Tenjin Shrine" in Bunkyo, Tokyo. It's a sacred place for applicants to schools and universities. They come here to pray for their success in entrance exams. I went there but it was too early for blossoms of ume, Japanese plum trees, but I found very unique stalls there. I enjoyed chatting with the sellers. I uploaded some of the photos in Gallery in Margines. I am impatiently longing for spring.

Saturday 31/1/2004
早くも睦月はお終い。娘の高校受験本番。第一陣の都立推薦入試の日には、本人以上に緊張して過ごすという体たらく。まだまだこれから私立も都立一般入試も控えているので結構な長丁場。その一方、勤務先の入試業務が続く。昨日は私費留学生の提出書類を点検した。うーん、漢字ばかりだ。しかし、自己アピール日本語作文はなかなか読ませるではないか。語彙豊かな人多数。出身地名を眺めながら大陸に思いをはせた。「進歩的思想の持ち主」などと言う推薦文には「ほぅ」と。グローバリゼーションというとこちらから海外へ出て行くイメージが強かったが、いやこれからはむしろ往来の頻度・恒常化を如何に当然のことと受け止められるかが問われているなと実感。昨日の新聞報道で写真家川崎けいこさんが「アフガニスタン難民の半生を描いた『ヤカオランの春』を完成させた」ことを知る。一昨年協力依頼をいただいたとき、結局何もお手伝いできなかったことが悔やまれる。少女たちの就学問題が焦点のひとつと聞いてはなおさらに。これから何ができるか考えよう。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。季節の意味合いの多様さに深い溜息が出る。
The first month of a year has already gone. My daughter's entrnace exams for high schools have started. The day of her fist exam was longer for me than for herself. (What a helpless mother am I!) More exams are waiting; it's a long season of impatience. On the other hand, I'be been working for the entrance exams at my workplace. Yesterday I checked the application forms of foreign students. The forms were filled with Chinese characters naturally. Their writings in Japanese were quite impressive to me. I was amazed with their rich vocabulary. Reading the names of their home addresses, I thought of the faraway land of the huge continent. "Globalization" often reminds us of "ourselves going out of Japan," however, it actually requires us to have the flexibility and toughness to receive anything foreign. Both ways, coming and going, will be more frequent and usual in any levels of our daily life. I read in a newspaper yesterday that Ms Keiko Kawasaki completed a documentary film entitled The Spring in Yakaoran", in which a couple of Afghan refugees talk of their life. I am very sorry I could do nothing when Ms Kawasaki asked me for help. One important forcus in her work is the difficulty of girls' education in Afghanistan. Let me think of what I can do from now on. Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. A deep thigh when I think of the various meanings of seasons.

Wednesday 28/1/2004
先日、出先で一人昼食をとる必要に駆られ、飛び込んだ店はおでん屋だった。「呑喜」という屋号からすると灯ともし頃には酒所となるに違いない。差し渡し50cmは下らない丸鍋にくつくつと煮えるおでん。「何にしましょう。」と声をかけられ思わず「大根、がんもどき、はんぺん、卵」と頼んでから気付いたのは皿に並んだ串刺しのギンナン。小さな声で追加して貰った。別の日に寄った湯島天神境内で、ギンナン売りに出会った。香ばしいのを一粒味見。一袋買って帰って今夜自分で煮たおでん鍋に入れてみた。寒い季節にこのご馳走。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。悲観するよりいいことをいろいろ考えるのが、どうやら性分のようで。
The other day I hurried into a diner to take lunch and found myself in a small "Oden" restaurant. As the place was called "Non-Ki" (literally meaning "Happy Drunkard"), it was evident it would be a bar after twilight. "Oden"(Fish cakes, vegetables, deep-fried tofu, etc stewed in soy-sauce-based soup) was boiling in a large round pan. The cook asked me what I wanted and I said, "Daikon (Japanese radish), fried tofu, hannpen and an egg, please." Then I noticed there were ginko seeds stuck in toothpicks. They looked so delicious. I asked the cook again to add them. A few days later, I came across a stall selling roast ginko seeds in Yushima Temple. I was invited to taste one of them and bought a sackful. Tonight I cooked oden myself and put ginko seeds in it. A very hot and tasty menu for a freezing night indeed! Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. Think of something good instead of being pessimistic!

Tuesday 27/1/2004
昼食をとり損なった日は帰路特急の座席でお弁当。よりによって向かい合わせの三人組の一角に。法事帰りでかしましい。なんとか空席を見つけて避難。半時間の旅気分。何か書こうかそれとも読もうか、景色は曇りでどうにも冴えない。列車はますます深くなる冬の奥へ向かって疾走していく。待てど暮らせど。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。それにしても中学生虐待事件の悲惨。ヒトの親はこんなにも残酷になれるのか。娘が読んでいた乙一の『ZOO』以上だ。現実がフィンションを超えていく速度に慄然とする。
On a day I failed to take time to eat lunch, I opened a lunch box eventually in a seat of an express train on my way home. I happend to find myself sitting in a corner of a group of three facing each other. They kept talking over the funeral they had attended. I succeeded in changing a seat away from them, thanks! My precious jouney for half an hour. I couldn't decide whether to read or write during that time. The cloudy view out of the window was not very attractive. The train was rushing deeply into the dead end of winter. Waiting every day for nothing.Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. BTW, I'm depressed with the misery of the bullying of the (step-)parents to their son, a junior high scnovel my daughter was reading, "ZOO" by a young Japanese writer Otsu Ichi. It's just astonished to feel the speed of our daily life going beyond fictions.

Monday 26/1/2004
「紅梅を探しあぐねる湯島かな」。白梅もまだ一分咲き未満。太宰府は如何に？本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。遠い春。
"Look for the red blossoms of ume at Yushima Temple in vain" when white ones are still in buds. How is it now in Dazaifu? Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. Spring is yet afar.

Friday 23/1/2004
自由とは何だろう。高行健の小説を読み続けている間中考えていた。抑圧、束縛、暴虐のない状態、というのが穏当な答えだとしても彼の小説を読んでいる限り、自由と幸福とはまた別物であることも感じる。幸福というより安寧と言ってもよいかも知れない。では平和と安寧は同義だろうか。誇り高き自尊心に満ちた人々は安寧を拒否するかも知れない。たとえ生命の危険にさらされることがあったとしてもスリルと緊張の中で生きた方がよいのだと。実に小説を読む経験というのは凝縮された時間の中で普段は考えもしない極限状態までを自問することになる。もっともそういうことをさせる小説に出会うのは希なのだが。小説がこの世から消える日はまだまだ遠いように思う。これまであまり視野になかった中国大陸に関心が向かうのを自覚する。これから学び始めるに遅すぎることは何もないだろう。（高行健は中国では頽廃的と考えられるのだろうなと思わずにいられない。彼の芝居を見る機会があるとよいのだが。）本日の更新は『翻訳読書ノート』に＜「モダン」を超えて＞を掲載いたしました。ごく短い書評です。降雪の報じられるところが多い。寒中お大切に。
What is liberty? I was thinking of the question while I was reading the novels of Gao Xingjian. Is it the freedom from repression, restrictions, violence? As long as I read his works, liberty and happiness are two completely different states. Happiness or peace of mind. Are these ideas equal? People with pride and high self-estimation might possibly reject calmness of life. They would prefer thrills and feeling of tention. The experience of reading novels indeed is to live in a condensed time and ask oneself extreme questions continuously. In fact it's rare to encounter with such demanding novels. Novels as the style of literary works won't vanish from the world soon. I'm feeling myself interested in China which had been out of my concerns before. Nothing is too late for one to start thinking and studying. (It's easy to imagine Gao Xingjian is regarded decadent when we think of his recurring and obsessive descriptions of sex although it is only one factor of the variant aspects of life's complexity. I wish I would have the chance to see his dramas.) Today's update is a short review on Gao Xingjian. (Sorry in Japanese only.) Reportedly it's snowing in many districts in Japan. I wish you in snowy places to take well care of yourselves.

Wednesday 21/1/2004
約束の日までに原稿を書くのは締め切りが重なると少し辛い。だが「書いて下さい」と言われる嬉しさに、書く。先ず読む時期が長いのだけれど、この度は現代中国の作品だったのでとりわけ興味深く熱が入った。（その割に何が言いたいのかよく分からんというご批判もありそう！）本は自由に選べる。明日がメールマガジンの配信予定日。1997年以来ウェッブ上に短い文章を書いてきて、有り難い出会い、挫折、失意落胆、そして再びの希望も含め経験できたことは多い。ただ、片側からしか見えないガラスのように、大抵の場合一方的なものであることは否めない。（「短信・更新」も決して「交信」になりはしない。）このシステムは直ぐ自己満足の温床になる。静かに春を待とう。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。風よ伝えてよわたしのこころを。
It's not an easy job to write by deadlines. I write, however, with pleasure when someone asks me to write. The first task for writing is always reading and it takes time without exception; this time I've been reading works written by an author from China, which were extremely interesting and exciting. I can choose books for the brief review. The mail magazine will be sent tomorrow. Since 1997, I've been writing short essays and poems on my web site; I've experienced invaluable encounters, heatbreaking mistakes, disappointments, and having hopes. Unfortunately, this is usually an one-sided system. Like the grass only through one side of which you can see and the other side of which is the mirror. It can easily make you self-contented. (Oh, the difficulty of correspondence!) Let me wait for spring quietly. Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. Oh wind, take my heart to far away from here!

Monday 19/1/2004
思いがけない人から電話を受けて長く話す。たった一度しか会ったことがないのに旧知の間柄のように。声の持つふくらみ、表情は、書き言葉では決して伝わらない思考心情を直接伝える。そんな当たり前の、と思われそうだがこの時代に心に触れることばはどれほど行き交うものだろうか。かつても今も、書きことばの真実を信じていればこそ、声の豊かさに感じ入るのだと思う。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。冬の底はしんしんと冷え込む。
I received a telephone call from a person who had not been in my mind. We've met only once before; yet, we talked on like old friends. Human voice with fullness and rich expressions tells thoughts and feelings straightly. You may take it for granted but I wonder how much touching words come and go these days. I feel the richness of spoken words all the more because I believe in the truth of written words always. Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. It's getting keenly cold now that we're in the depth of winter.

Sunday 18/1/2004
休息のない週末が終わる。朝、武蔵野線を三駅、夕刻一駅、乗り過ごした。「お疲れよ」という同僚のことばに苦笑しながら、あれこれのミスを思い出す。試験場の若者たちの真剣な眼は爽快だったけれど。今頃読了しているはずの本はまだ半分。仕上げているはずの添削も未了。そんな日もあると自分に言い聞かせながら、ふとやるせない。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。明朝も早い。追われている限りどこからも時は生まれない。
A weekend with no relaxing time has come to an end. In the morning I missed my station to find myself at the fourth unfamiliar one; in the evening at the next one. "Take care, you're tired," said one of my colleagues. Gee! I made several other mistakes too. Only the serious eyes of young people at the examinarion rooms were refreshing. I haven't finished with the book I had planned to; checking of students' writings not yet. Such is one of the days in my life. Somewhat sad. Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. I'll start early tomorrow morning. As long as I'm pressed, no time for creative activities will be born.

Friday 16/1/2004
「やれやれ金曜日、ありがたや！」と言いたいところ、そうは問屋が卸さない。関東地方雪模様の予報の中、明日・明後日の「センター入試」監督業務は拘束時間長く緊張を強いられる。集合時間に間に合うよう、千葉県のキャンパスに行くには6:30には家を出なくては。久しぶりの武蔵野線。平野一面枯れ野原。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。街で見かけたその花の名は？
Would you say, "TGIF！"? Not me. In spite of the weather report saying it might snow tomorrow in Kanto area, I'm supposed to work for the Central Entrance Examination (I'm not sure of its official term in English--let me check it later) during this weekend. It's a very long and stressful job. In order to be in time in the campus of Chiba Prefecture, I must leave home at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow. I'll take JR Musashino Line going through the dead colored Kanto Plains. Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. I wonder what the flower I saw today in town is called.

Thursday 15/1/2004
既に睦月半ば。瞬く間に二週間過ぎた。このように時は駆け抜けていく。だから？あるがままに。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。御機嫌如何。
It's alread the middle of January. Can you believe it? Time rushes away like this. So what? Let it be.Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. How are you doing, friends?

Wednesday 14/1/2004
昨年の三月に飼い始めて以来十匹以上元気に泳いでいたメダカが、このところ相次いで力尽きていく。大切に育てれば一年半以上生きる、三年生きるものもいると聞いていたのに、何匹がこの冬を越せるだろうか。ある日急に動きが悪くなり体が白くなってエラがピクピクし始めるともういけない。それでも最後の最後まで泳ぎ続けようとする。大きな動物とは異なりはっきりと心通わせることなど思いも寄らないが、めぐり会った命の愛しさに変わりはない、と思う。変化し続けることが生き物の生き物たる所以であり、生老病死を見届けることが生き物と暮らすことなのだろう。がんばれメダカ！本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。花鳥風月を超えてゆけ。
Since last March I've been keeping the medaka, more than ten of them. Although they've been quite fine for months, only recently they started to die one by one for no particular reasons. In spite that I've heard they would live longer than one and half a year at least and sometimes for over three years if very well taken care of, I'm not sure how many of them can survivie this winter. One day their movement becomes slower, their bodies turn white, and their gill start quivering; then there is no way to save them. Yet, the medaka keep swiming to the very end with all their efforts. Not like bigger animals, we can hardly expect communicating articulately with them, their life is dear to me all the same. Lif is life when it keeps changing. To keep watching their birth, aging, illness, and death may be what it is to live with creatures of all kinds. Fight, medaka! Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. I'll go beyond pretty flowers.

Tuesday 13/1/2004
久しぶりに雨の朝。予報は雪だった。このデジタル信号がどこまで届くのか、何を伝えるのか、結局は柔らかな人の感情や思考が先ず存在してのもの。出がけにふと思い立ち書いてみた。薄雲の間から射すほのかな朝の光が強くなり、これからきっと晴れていくのだろう。光にはいつも希望を感じてしまう。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。花より団子の風情ですが。
A rainy morning after dry days.It betrayed the weather report. Soemtimes I wonder how far this digital signs reach and what they can transmit. They come from and go to only human emotions and thoughts vividly alive. I couldn't help writing such nonsense right before I leave home. The soft rays from clouds are increasing. Hopefully it will be clear today. Light is always hope. Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. Not a flower but fruits today.

Sunday 11/1/2004
寒い。今日は富士山がくっきり見えた。でも写真に撮ろうとすると逃げてゆく。ファインダーの中の山は遠い。肉眼で見ているときと全く違う。本当はもっとずっと迫って来るものがあったのに。学生たちの書いたものを添削し続けている。若者には若者の言い分がある。思索の跡を追いかけながら、彼らのことばを生かすにはと思案する。あれもダメこれもダメでは何も生まれない。本日の更新は、表紙の写真を差し替えました。西を遙かに望みます。富士山の写真を「ギャラリー余白」の『冬の山影』に三枚追加しました。今年は写真撮影をもっと勉強することにしよう！それから短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。本日は花ではなく、翼のある訪問者を。
It's freezing cold. Mt. Fuji was clear today. It went away when I tried to capture it in a camera. Mountains were far away in a finder. They were quite different from what I saw with my eyes. Mt. Fuji looked more dignified actually. I've been checking students' writtings; I wonder how I can make the best of what they write, following their thought. Nothing will come from negative view. Today's update: I changed the photograph of the cover page. We're now seeing westward. I added three phototraphs in "Mountains in Winter" in Galley in Margine. I will learn photography this year! Also another article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. Not flowers today but a small visitor with wings.

Friday 9/1/2004
満員電車に揺られながら脳の話を読んでいたら、ぞろぞろと階段を上る人たちの頭が気になって仕方なかった。身体の一部としての脳、感情や思考の座としての脳、記憶も意識も司る脳、生命活動の根幹である脳。帰りのがらがら電車の中で会った巨漢。重たい体をシートに横たえて半睡のまま降車駅の車椅子に迎えられた。丸ごとの人の有り様は脳が決定するのだろうか。自分のものでありながら見ることのできないものの多さよ。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。風が身を切る。
As I was reading a book about the brain in the commuters' train, I couldn't help watching heads of people clibming up the stairs of the station. Brain as a part of our body; brain as the seat of our emotions and thinking; brain to govern our memories and consciousness; brain as the base of activities of living creatures. On my way home in a vacant train I met a large person. He could hardly support his stout body and was laying on the seat. A wheel chair was waiting for him on a platform. Does brain decide how we live? There are so much we cannot see in ourselves. Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. The ice-cold wind blows.

Thursday 8/1/2004
春眠には早すぎる。なのに何故か眠い。時々ふっと意識が遠のく。ありうべからざる時に限って。例えば会議の席上。遠い声。はっとして我に返る。たいへんまずい！新年早々ですぞ。本日の更新は寝ぼけついでに一日遅れの一編を短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に追加です。シャッキリせーよと独り言。
It's too early for spring drwosiness; yet, I fall asleep momentarily sometimes when I should not, for example during meetings. I hear voices in a distance. Wake up! A new year has just begun. Today's update; an one-day-old article in in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. Seriously I need to be more alert!

Tuesday 6/1/2004
このところ中国出身の現代作家の小説を読んでいる。20世紀は亡命者の時代と呼ばれたが21世紀も引き続き。「故国喪失」と「グローバリゼーション」は同義語ではないのか。彼の作品の中で言語と政治は不可分だ。読み通すのは難儀でもあり非常に魅力的でもある。本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。喧噪の日々が始まる。
I've been reading a contemporary novel written by a Chinese exile. The 20th century was called the age of exiles and the 21st century still is. It's another name of "globalization." In his work language and politics are one. It's not an easy experience to read it through but it's alluring as well. Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. Bustling days begin.

Monday 5/1/2004
「NASAジェット推進研究所」（カリフォルニア州パサディナ）で興奮する研究員たちの様子をテレビが映していた。火星探査機（3輪駆動のバルーンタイヤローバー）が無事火星に着陸して映像を送ってきたとのこと。初めて見る火星の風景は真っ平らで広大な乾いた大地だった。丁度20年前パサディナに滞在していたとき、同研究所の前まで行ってみたことを思い出す。人はできるだけ遠くへと宇宙に飛び出しもし、できるだけ奥深くへと内面に沈潜することもある。いずれも探査地点で何を見出すことだろう。さて、本日の更新は短詩中「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」に一編追加です。正月休暇も明けます。
On TV we saw the excited staff of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (of NASA), hilarious with the successful landing of the Exploration Rover Spirit on Mars. The first look at the landscape of Marse is enormouse and flat. I remember we went to the front of the lab twenty years ago when we were staying in Pasadena. To go outside as far as possible into the space and to go deeply inside are both what humans do. What will they find there? Today's update: an article in "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems. Now the end of new year holidays.

Saturday 3/1/2004
母の家での恒例新年会に三人の少女たちが今年は欠席した。いずれも受験勉強の真っ最中。ひとりは大学受験、二人が高校受験。いつになく静かで穏やかな集まりだった。娘は河口湖畔の四日に亘る勉強合宿から今夕帰還。「湖と富士山はどうだった」という私の問いに、「帰りのバスから一度だけ見た」とのこと。雄大な風景を堪能できる日が早く来ることを切望している。本日の更新は短詩中に「はなのこよみうたのこよみ」を。画像とことばの新しいページです。日めくり暦にはなりそうもないので時たまのメモ程度に。題材は花に限らず「雑」ということにいたします。
From the annual family reunion at my mother's place, three girls were absent because they've been busy preparing for entrance exams (two for high schools and one for universities); and accordingly, the gathering was comparatively quieter and calmer than usual. My daughter came back from the four-day-study-camp held by Lake Kawaguchi this evening. "How did you find the lake and Mt. Fuji?" I asked and she said, "I saw them only once on my way back out of the bus window." I truly hope she will get the chance to appreciate the grandeur of the landscape very soon. Today's update: "Calendar in Flowers and Poems" in Short Poems, a new collection of shot poems and photos. It won't be a daily calendar but occasional notes. Topics and photos won't be restricted to flowers; diversity will reign.

Friday 2/1/2004
明けましておめでとうございます。2003年と2004年の間を区切る線は見えないけれど、歴史の新しいページが始まる。年賀状を受け取ってからやっと自分のを書き始めた。この頃書くのも、歩くのも、全体としてうちの亀のようにゆっくりした生き物になっている。どうせならできるだけたくさん見て聞いてふかく感じたいと思う。本日の更新は表紙の写真（冬の東村山市の風景プラス都心の高層ビルもいくつか遠くに）と、この「交信・短信」ページです。梅の初花と共に。よい年になりますように。
A Happy New Year! Thus a new page of the history has started although there is no visible line between 2003 and 2004. Receiving new years' greeting postcards, I started writing mine. Recently I am really a slow writer, a slow walker and a slow creature as a whole like my turtles. I'm not in a hurry. Let me watch, hear, and feel as much as I can, if possible deeply. Today's update: the cover page photo (a view of Higashimurayama City, Tokyo in a clear winter day; you can see even a few skyscrapers in a distance!) and this page of the Latest Notes with a photo of the first blossom of a Japanese plum tree. I sincerely hope this year will be wonderful for us all.

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