[Dr. Laura on YouTube] YouTube上のドクター・ローラ

Here's one thing I found so great to hear in youtube. It's a Dr. Laura's talk. I like listening to her program on the radio. A listener asks a question about his/her problem of life and she answers strictly and exactly to the question. But her advice is always to the point and it's worth hearing. It's even inspiring. I think that is why her program is popular. You can even listen to it on the radio in Japan. Tune on 810 of AM radio on Sunday evening, and she is there.

This youtube video I picked this time is on a Buddhist monk who helped a woman go across a river. I read this story a couple of times in Japanese, which seems to be one of the famous episodes. I knew the episode through a book written by a famous Japanese writer on Buddhist teachings. He writes his teaching very simply and plainly, so anyone can understand if you read Japanese. I'm not a Buddhist but I like his books.

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The story is about a group of monks. They belong to a group that they couldn't touch a woman and they couldn't even talk to a woman.

They are taking a long track, until they come to a river. There was a woman, standing on the side of the river. She wants to cross the river, but she was too scared because the river was really coming through. One of the monks appraches her, puts her on his back, carries her all the way across the river, and he puts her down on the other side of the river. Then he keeps walking.

Other monks were not happy about all this. They really couldn't resist their anger, until they finally break their silence and said, "You know the rules! You're not supposed to touch a woman!"

He says:
"I put her down on the other side of the river. But YOU have been carrying her ever since."

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It's a good story about an individual who holds onto somthing forever when it's over. I read this for the first time some 10 years ago, and I don't know how many times I have recollected this episode.

The story's fine but just imagine how she speaks to someone on the telephone when being asked for an advice.

I still don't forget that Mathilda said (when she was in kindergarten), "I don't like this strict teacher. She's so scary..."

Yeah, scary as her voice sounds like, she has a great insight and compassion. She is really professional. This type of person would not likely to be popular in Japan because of a cultural difference. She stands on the foundation of independence or individualism, which is very American; while Japanese are on the foundation of dependence or being group-oriented.

I'm not talking about which is good or bad but about that there are different cultures. I always think about this thing. Even if the technologies have advanced, this problem still lies ahead, unsolved. They don't even know it. I really think so often about Japanese companies (or organizations) and myself. Everything is up to how they and I (a bilingual/bi-cultural individual) will get along with each other. They are doing things at their very best, while I am also doing all the best as a humble 3D CAD specialist here in Japan.

Despite the fact that the approaches are different between the two cultures, the both can share this impressive episode to ponder. It really makes me think what "being bi-cultural" is all about.


YouTubeで気に入った物を見つけましたので、今回はそのお話を。ご存知の方いらっしゃるかどうか・・・ドクター・ローラというラジオの人生相談番組のパーソナリティがいます。ラジオのリスナーの相談（家庭・家族・恋人関係等）にドクター・ローラがズバリ・厳しく答えます、といったもの。彼女の回答・アドバイスは、いつでも的確で、傾聴に値するものです。こちらの心をも動かすほどです。しかも、実をいうと、彼女の番組は日本でも聴くことができます。日曜の夕方にAMラジオ810MHz（AFN）に合わせれば、その番組が放送されていると思いますので、機会がございましたら試していただければ、と思います。

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話の内容はこんな感じのものです。

昔あるところに僧侶たちが歩いていました。彼らには厳しい戒めがあって、女性には指一本ふれてはならない、話しかけてもいけない、というものでした。
彼らは長い道のりを歩いておりましたが、ちょうど川にさしかかりました。
そこには女性がおり、川の向こう側に渡りたいようでした。しかし、川の流れが急で、それが怖くて、なかなか渡れずにいました。
一人の僧侶がその女性に近づき、自分の背中に背負い、そのまま川を渡り、向こう岸で彼女を下ろし、それから何もなかったかのように歩き続けたのでした。

ほかの僧侶は、もう心穏やかではありません。ついに怒りを抑えられなくなって、女性を担いだ僧侶にこう言いました。「戒律を忘れたのか！女性に接触するとは何事だ！」

言われた僧侶は、こう答えました。
「お前さんたちは、まだあの女を背負っているのか。私はもうとっくに下ろしてしまったぞ」

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終わったことについて、いつまでも執着してしまう心について語ったいい話です。
私は10年ぐらい前にこの話を本で読んだのでしたが、今でも時々思い出します。仏教関連の本で、日本のその辺の書店に置いてあるような本です。私は仏教徒ではないのですが、仏教の本を読むのが結構好きです。

まあ、ともあれ、話はいいのですが、ドクター・ローラが、あの語り口調でリスナーに回答・アドバイスをする様子を思い浮かべると、なんとも怖いかもしれません。

我が家のマティ（当時は幼稚園児）がこの番組を聞いて、こんなことを言っていました。「こういう先生は嫌・・・だって怖いんだもの・・・」

たしかに聴いた感じでいくと、怖い気がします。しかし、彼女の洞察力とか情熱は素晴らしいものです。しかも彼女にはプロ根性があります。こういう人は、風習上、日本には出現しないタイプのものだろうなあ、と私は思ったりします。インディペンデントというか個人主義的というか、何かそういういかにもアメリカ的なバックグラウンドを感じます。一方、日本はディペンデントというかグループ主義という文化です。

私はどちらが良くて、どちらが悪いということを言っているのではなく、あくまで文化の違いがある、ということが言いたいわけです。どうも私はそういうことを考える傾向があります。技術がこんなに進歩しているとはいえ、この種の問題は未解決のまま今も目の前にあるわけです。こういうことに関してあまり手つかずな感じもします。日本の企業・組織にしてもバイリンガル・バイカルチャーの私にしても、共にどう手を組んでやっていくか、それが本当に重要なんだなぁ、と思う次第です。そう思いつつ、私は自分のベストで現在、下っ端の3D CADのスペシャリストとして、ここ日本で仕事を頑張らせていただいているわけです。

ともあれ、ここで紹介した僧侶の話にしても、文化によるアプローチは異なるものの、双方ともこうして話に耳を傾け、心にとどめることが出来るという事実。「バイカルチャーであるとはどういうことか」、私は考えさせられてしまいます。

[John, the kind of guy you love to hate]

I received an e-mail years ago from one of my closest friends who had moved back to the U.S. I read it once and I thought it was a story to hear. Years passed since then and I have almost forgotten about all this. But I suddenly remembered this today to let me think I want to share it with those who are here. Please let me pass along this wonderful story.

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READ THIS
LET IT REALLY SINK IN - THEN CHOOSE.

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood."

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked

He continued, "...the paramedics were great."

They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."

Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34.

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

[Osamu Dazai Reviews] 太宰治レビュー

Some people have asked me why, but I am a great fan of the classical Japanese literature, especially of Meiji, Taisho and Showa period. Although I read or write in English all the time, I love reading those classic Japanese novels in Japanese.

I remember when somebody said this to me, "It's interesting that you like that sort of thing (Japanese literature) because you like to speak English better and you don't even look you love to read those old Japanese stuffs."

No matter what others say, I love the classical Japanese leterary works. I love them just as I love listening to the German or Austrian classical music such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, etc. In all my seriousness, the Japanese literature is one of the most beautiful things ever existed.

This time, I'm going to write about a few pieces from the Osamu Dazai's works.


"Ha" (葉)
You can read the piece here:
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000035/files/2288_33104.html

The story begins like this. "I was about to kill myself." But then, for a ridiculous reason, he stops doing it because he remembers somebody gave him a nice kimono. Another phrase goes like "I spent my days as if being dragged along." The narrator "I" is depressive anyway, who gets pretty sad when he finds that he had no doubt even this unusual scene that a stone crawling on a road of itself but it was just that a little boy was pulling it along with a string for fun.

"Omoide" (思ひ出)
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000035/files/1574_15508.html

This reminds me of one of his latest works "Ningen Shikaku (No More Human)" both of which are memoirs, but this one is more familiar to me than Ningen Shikaku in that there is no big twist. "Omoide" is attractive also because it is beautifully written. It's even charming and I want to read again and again. I like the sentimentality in this piece. I read this book for the first time when I was 21 and I still love this short works collection although 15 years have passed since then.

He published this book when he was 27 during his very confusing period in his life time. He had been confused throughout all his life as a writer. He had attempted suicide with his girlfriend around the time this book was published. Was he like this all through his life? When was this guy's happy moment of life? - There were only a few years when he looked happy. It is around the time he married for the second time. But the happy period didn't last long. He died with another girlfriend by throwning themselves into a river in his late 30s.

"Hugaku hyakei" (富嶽百景)
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000035/files/270_14914.html

This charming story was written during his thirtieth, when he visited a small town near Mt. Fuji. He was there for a matching, which is based on truth. He actually married a girl he met at this time. He stays in an old Japanese inn, where he spends time with nice and kind people. Okami-san (female owner) and her daughter take care of him so nicely, and they encourages Dazai very much. There is also a time when some young local people visit him, where they have a good time having a good discussion. I could tell how happy moment that was to him. Readers might feel happy to read it, too. It's charming. This short story ends when he leaves the place to get back his home in Tokyo. He takes a strode around outside, when he is spoken to by two young girls who ate seemingly from Tokyo. They ask Dazai to take a picture in front of Mt. Fuji. He is handed over a camera and takes a photo for them. He says this in him head: "Thank you and goodbye, Mt. Fuji!"


中には「なんで？」と言う人もいるのですが、私は日本文学（特に明治・大正・昭和の作品）の大ファンです。私はいつも英語で読み書きしております。しかし、そんな私でも日本文学の作品にあっては日本語で読むのをしております。そしてそれを悦（よろこ）びとしております。

私がこういったお話をしますと、こういう反応の返ってきたことがあります。「あなたはいつも英語話す人だし、昔の日本のものなんて好きじゃなさそうなのにねえ。そういうの（日本文学）好きだなんて面白いねえ」。

人が何と言おうと、私は日本の近代文学が好きです。ドイツ・オーストリアのクラシック音楽（バッハ、モーツァルト、ブラームス、ブルックナー、マーラー等）を聴く時のが好きな私ですが、それと同じぐらい日本文学が好きです。この世で最も美しいものの一つだと思います。

今回は日本近代文学の作品を3つについて書いてみたいと思います。今回は太宰治の作品からです。


「葉」
青空文庫収録
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000035/files/2288_33104.html

「死のうと思っていた」で始まる作品。それから、主人公は良い夏物の着物を以前もらったことを思い出し、死ぬのをいったん思いとどまります。（一見どうでもよさそうな理由なのですが。）別の個所では「その日その日を引きずられて暮しているだけであった」と記述するなど、とかくこの語り部（ナレーター）は精神的に不健康の状態にあり、その一端をうかがわせるものとして、さらにこういったエピソードがあります。
「新宿の歩道の上で、こぶしほどの石塊（いしころ）がのろのろ這（は）って歩いているのを見たのだ。石が這って歩いているな。ただそう思うていた。しかし、その石塊（いしころ）は彼のまえを歩いている薄汚い子供が、糸で結んで引摺（ひきず）っているのだということが直ぐに判った。/子供に欺かれたのが淋しいのではない。そんな天変地異をも平気で受け入れ得た彼自身の自棄（やけ）が淋しかったのだ。」

「思ひ出」
青空文庫収録
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000035/files/1574_15508.html

彼の最晩年の代表作として知られる「人間失格」を思い起こさせる作品。本作品も「人間失格」も共に自叙伝的作風のものです。「人間失格」よりも作為性がなく素直に書いてあります。よって、個人的にはこの作品の方が好きです。文章がきれいで、しかもどこか魅力があります。一度読むともう一度読みたいと思います。そこに漂う感傷性に私は惹かれます。私が初めてこの作品を読んだのは21歳の時です。それから15年以上がたちました。今でも「思ひ出」は私にとって魅力的であり続けています。
彼がこの作品を収録した本を出版したのは27歳の時でした。混乱だらけの彼の人生の中でも混乱していた時期のものです。この時期、太宰は自分の恋人と一緒に死のうとしました。結局、彼女だけ死に、自分は助かったという事件がありました。
そうなると、彼にとって落ち着いた、幸福な時期とはいつなのか、と思います。本を読む限り、彼が二度目の結婚をしたあたりの数年ということになるのでしょうか。とはいえ、その幸福も永く続かなかったようで、最後は妻以外の別の女性と一緒に川に身を投げ、二人一緒に亡くなったのでした。亨年39歳。

「富嶽百景」
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000035/files/270_14914.html

これはチャーミングなストーリーです。太宰が三十代の頃の作品です。お見合のため、富士山のふもとの小さな村を訪れた際のことを書いた作品です。本当の話を基にしているようです。事実、太宰はこの時お見合した女性と結婚する運びとなったのでした。作品中、旅館に寝泊まりしながら、その旅館や周囲の人たちと交流します。素直な気持ちで、心地よい日々を過ごします。「おかみさん」とその娘さんは太宰の面倒をよく見ます。それにより太宰は励まされます。地元の若い衆が太宰を訪れます。話し合いに花を咲かせ、楽しい時を過ごします。太宰も本当に楽しかったんだろうな、と思います。その楽しさが読む側にも伝わります。チャーミングな作品です。
ついに、この土地を離れ、東京へ発つ時期が来ました。見るからに東京から来た観光客と思われる若い女性二人に太宰は話しかけられます。富士山を背景に記念写真を撮ってください、と彼女らは言い、カメラを太宰に渡します。カメラを向けながら彼は「富士山、さようなら、お世話になりました」と心の中で言い、シャッターを押します。

[What You Like to Do & What You Are Good At Doing] 好きなこと、得意なこと

I like singing at a karaoke room. I went there a few times with my family. Not being a rich family, we cannot really do that so often. Besides, I am living away from my family. My income right now is pretty low. Some of the utility fees will be in delay every month. Yet, I know this current work here is a great opportunity to develop my skills.

I miss karaoke. We haven't been there for years.

I recall when we went to a karaoke room and were singing one song after another. My favorite ones, by the way, are Michael Jackoson's "Thriller", "Heal the World", Madonna's "Cherish", "Rain", etc. My family says my singing is terrible. I didn't believe that.

I said, "You don't know how good I am when I sing."

They raised their voices, "Sorry dad, but you don't know how disturbing your voice is."

There was a karaoke machine that scored a point when your singing was finished. The possible maximum score was 100.

"It's strange." I thought. - I mean, this karaoke machine.

The more I love the song and sing it, the worse score I will get.

My partner said: "That song just doesn't fit your voice. How come you are trying to sing just girl's songs or high pitched songs like Michael Jackson? You have to pick another."

"Like what?" I said.

"Anything that goes with your low voice." She said.

So next I picked up a song that I didn't really like because I thought it might SOUND better. It was Elvis Presley.

I sang it but I didn't feel like I was singing. I was not happy with that.

But what my partner said to me was: "Yeah, this is much better!!"

My daughter even said: "Yeah, daddy, you are better now!!"

And I said: "Hey, what's wrong with that?!"

Next, I prepared a tape recorder to record my voice. I wanted to know how I would be singing with my most favorite MJ and Madonna's songs.

I sang and stopped recording. Then I listened to the recorded voice. Yeah, they were right. It was not good. I had to admit that.

I had thought I was cool when I was singing my favorite songs simply because that's what I love to do. But my voice sounded just like a guy groaning loudly during his sleep. I don't have a wide voice range and my voice is deep and low. I was not suited to those Michael Jackson's songs.

The following are what I could find through karaoke:

1. What you want to do and what you are good at doing are two different things.

2. Something you love to do might be just disturbing to others. They might be pleased when you do something you don't really like to do, or something you don't notice you are good at.

At the karaoke room, in this case, I was not cool when I was singing Michael Jackson or Madonna's songs, even though I loved those songs. On the contrary, I looked better when I sang Elvis Presley's songs. I even had more than 80 points. - I still love singing. I am wishing to have another opportunity to make it to a karaoke place with my family. I even want to try more songs and get better.