[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.

[Impact of education] 教育の影響力

There are teachers I still can't forget. One teacher I want to talk about is Ms Peters who was teaching English & French at my old high school. I was 17 and I was preparing for a speech contest at a local college. It was almost like 22 years ago. I remember I was a lazy teenager who was late for school all the time (although I became pretty sensitive about time now.) I should have been better. I recall I was always trying to be different from others, and I didn't follow the teachers' instructions. I thought the life should be tasteless if I just listened to what the teacher said.

Being a kid like that, I did not have a good relationship with most of the teachers at the time. But there were some exceptions. Ms Peters was one of them.

She was good at writing and she helped me with the speech drafting. "You can show me when you wrote something." Ms Peters said. She was in her 20s but she looked much older to my eyes.

In a day or two I wrote the first draft. I didn't sleep much at night to finish it. It was nothing but all silly & idle talks. It was just pointless. On top of that, my writing skill was not so good. My grammar was so bad.

Morning came and I showed the speech draft to Ms Peters. It was like going out to a potential customer's place to perform a sales demonstration with not much knowledge about your product. I couldn't have answered anything if she asked me a question.

She read what I wrote with great care, until she looked up and said, "It's very good." She nodded. She said I did it good again and again.

She then started to correct my speech. It became like a totally different thing. Each sentence became clear, simple, and to the point. It was like a magic.

She did it all but said to me, "You can write like this because you're intelligent."
"Intelligent!?" I thought. "Nobody has said I am intelligent. SHE corrected almost everything of that."

But she was always saying that with all her seriousness. That impressed me very much. She was teaching me so passionately. On the way back home on my bike I was saying to myself, "It's sooooo great! I want to be better!" I still can't forget how impressed I was.

I won the second prize in the competition, although I had to stopped for a while on the stage because I had completely forgotten what to say. The competition was held in a college and there were lots of young girls (they were older than I was at the time, though). Besides the judges, those girls voted for the best speaker, which was counted as one judge. I had the best score at the girls' voting. Ms Peters said that she liked my deep voice. She then said, "The girl voters must have felt the same way."

That is the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about Ms Peters, who gave me a great influence on me. I became much better at writing. I went back to my hometown some months ago to clean up my room, when I found some sheets of paper. It was a copy of my speech that Ms Peters corrected 22 years ago. I started reading it, and you know how I was surprised? The choice of words and rhythm of the sentences. - Her English was really like how I write things now today.


今でも忘れられない学校の先生が数人あります。ここで書きたいと思っている先生はピーターズ先生で、彼女は私の高校で英語とフランス語を教えていました。22年ほど前のことです。私は当時17歳で、その土地のある大学で開催されるスピーチ・コンテスト参加の準備をしていました。といって、その時の私はぐうたらな高校生で、遅刻の常習犯でした。（大人になってからは、全くそうではなくなりましたが。）もっとちゃんとやっていればよかった、と後悔はします。人と違ったことをしたり考えたりしなければ、と思っていたフシが多大にあって、そのため先生たちの言うことなどには耳を貸しませんでした。

そういう子どもだったので、学校の先生とはあまり仲良くなかったのではなかったか、と思います。ただ、例外的に数人の先生とは良好な関係を持つことが出来、その一人がPeters先生だったわけです。

彼女は文章を書くのがうまい先生で、スピーチ原稿を書くのをサポートしてくれました。「何か書いたら私に見せてちょうだいね」と先生。当時彼女は20代だったはずなのですが、私の眼にはもっと年上に映っておりました。

一日か二日で最初の原稿を書き上げました。あまり寝ないで仕上げました。中身はくだらなくて、まとまりのないおしゃべりのようなものでした。ポイントがない、といったような。その上、私のライティングのレベルは大したものではありませんでした。文法などはひどいものでしたし。

朝が来て、スピーチ原稿をPeters先生にお見せしました。それはまるで商品のことを良く知らないのにポテンシャル・カスタマーのところに販売のプレゼンをやりに行くようなものでした。もし何か聞かれたら、私は何も答えられません。

先生は私の書いたものを非常に注意深く読み、それから顔を上げて言いました。「いいですね」こういって彼女はうなずき、それから何度も「良く書けているわよ」と言っていました。そう言いながら私の原稿を修正していきました。それが終わるとまったく違って見える原稿になっていました。文章は分かりやすく、しかもシンプルでした。内容的にもポイントがつかめます。マジックみたいでした。

それは先生が書き直してできたものなのに、「こういうのが書けるというのも、あなたがインテリジェントだからなのよ」と私に言いました。
「インテリジェントだと!?」私は思いました。「誰もそんな風に思ってないぞ。しかも、この原稿、全部先生が修正しちゃったものなんだし」

とはいえ、先生はいつも大まじめに私をインテリジェントだと言い、指導しました。そのうちに私も彼女の指導ぶりに大変感銘を受けるようになりました。教え方も非常に熱心でした。学校から家に帰る途中、自転車をこぎながら「素晴らしい！よぉし、がんばるぞー！」と一人で言っていたのを思い出します。今の日本語に翻訳するとしたら、「ガチで感動した」わけです。

スピーチの途中、話すことをすっかり忘れてしまい、しばらく立ち止まりましたが、スピーチ・コンテストでは私は2位でした。会場は大学でした。観客にはたくさんの若い女性学生たちがいました。（当時の私よりは年上だったので、お姉様たちといった感じでしたが。）審査員は別にいましたが、この観客の女性たちが投票して、その結果が1人の審査員分に相当する、といったものでした。その投票では私が一番だったそうです。Peters先生は「あなたのディープな声って素敵だと思うわ。きっと投票した女の子たちもそう思ったはずよ」と私に言いました。

Peters先生について真っ先に思い出すことは、以上のことです。にしても、忘れられない先生です。彼女のおかげで文章を書くのが上手になりました。このあいだ小学生の娘とともに昔の物を片づけしました。その際、紙きれ数枚があったので見てみました。22年前、私の高校時代にPeters先生が書き直してくれたスピーチの原稿でした。私はそれを読んでみたのですが、びっくりでした。そこで書いてあった彼女の英語（単語の選択・文章のリズム）が、まさに今の私の英語の書き方とすっかり同じだったからです。

[Haiku and a few translation trials] 俳句および俳句の翻訳

Haiku is a very short version of poem that has been continuing since long time ago in history, which goes in 5-7-5 syllable pattern in Japanese. When I was in my 20s I used to think it was too short for a poem to satisfy me because you cannot say a lot in it. It goes well beyond 5 or 7 syllables so soon when you try to say something (just like I can't fit my blog article into 5 or 6 syllable phrase). You cannot even insert any explanation in it.

But now, as I became older, haiku is becoming so attractive to me because it brings me a spiritual refreshment as if I have a Zen training. I have never tried a real Zen practice but I feel I am at it when I start reading just one or two haiku.

I began to think at the same time that haiku must be one of the best ways to describe what is good about Japan . It also tells you how Japanese take things around them. There must be a lot more to be told about it in haiku poems than I can recognize. I want to pick up a few haiku poems I found by chance today. Appreciating those haikus, I realize how different they are from the Japan that I am familiar with.

I am not really sure if my English translation is precisely correct but this is how I understand these haikus in Japanese.

1) composed by Kazehashi

Out in the sky are stars all around
Myself alone,
Hearing the wind blow

2) composed by Oikawa

Lightening in the sky
Has nothing to do
With my learning words in the study

3) composed by Yamaguchi

Clouds pass by
One after another
While I work on the pine tree


俳句。昔むかしからある5-7-5のあれです。20代の頃でしたか、俳句って形式は面白くない、と思っていました。物事を5-7-5などで書くなんて自分にはできない、という考えでした。どう考えたって5とか7は、語数が少ないじゃないか、と思ったわけです。（このブログが5-7-5に収まっていないように。）説明など加えられません。

しかし、俳句は私に大きなリフレッシュメントを与えます。精神的に落ち着かせるような、心を広げるような、そんな実感があります。体験をしたことはないのですが、禅の静寂を連想させます。

そんな訳で、俳句は日本・日本語の素晴らしい部分を持っていると私は思っています。日本的な感性の真髄とはこういうものではなかろうか、とも思います。本日は、たまたま自分が見つけ、気にいった俳句の英訳を掲載いたします。こういうものに接していると、しかしながら、なんとまあ身の回りにある「日本」と違うことよ、と思ったりもしますが。私が今回英訳したものが正しい翻訳かどうかは分かりませんけれど、でも、「私はこの日本語をこう読み取った」ということでご了承ください。

1) カゼハシ氏・作

Out in the sky are stars all around
Myself alone,
Hearing the wind blow

2) 及川氏・作

Lightening in the sky
Has nothing to do
With my learning words in the study

3) 山口氏・作

Clouds pass by
One after another
While I work on the pine tree

[To be samurai is not to commit harakiri] 切腹ばかりがサムライではない

I was watching "The Last Samurai" with my family during this Golden Week. There is one thing I thought it. It is a beautiful movie with a lot of Japanese virtue. I also find it interesting to see a gaijin (Tom Cruise) getting along closely with Japanese samurai families. He learns swordsmanship while belonging to the family in the village. As a foreigner of a Caucasian face, he gets assimilated to the rural life in Japan.

I start wondering why the samurai should choose to die (not a suicide) in the end. And why is it so dramatic and impressive? This is why there are more than 30,000 people kill themselves a year? They choose to die (to commit suicide) because they want to put an end to their lives in a dramatic way? Is this how Harakiri (cutting the belly) had become a ritual form in old times? - I don't think so. I do not think those two things (the ritual suicide and the suicide of today) are attributed to the same sentiment or spirituality.

But is Harakiri really the core spirit of Samurai? Isn't it too much focused to represent samurai? The Samurai spirit is not just to kill himself or someone else, just like the Americans spirit is not about always eating hamburgers, dealing with illegal drugs with a gun on the other hand. That's a stereotype.

The best part of the movie, by the way, is when a girl (widow) appears. She takes care of Tom Cruise kindly. She is a very reserved kind of female. Most women must have been like that in old times but I don't see anything like that in Japan today. She is quite and doesn't speak much. She diligently does all the house work. - In Japan nowadays, I always come across men and women who don't speak up, but they are rude at the same time, especially on the trains in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, or in the shopping malls of the same places.

I once told about it to a forty-some year old girl in my former company. I said "I like that girl in the movie. That's my dream girl." She said loudly, "No girl is quiet and obedient on this planet. You have to wake up, big boy." Then she added, "HOW OLD ARE YOU, ANYWAY??"

[About an Auto-translation System] 自動翻訳について

What kind of image do you have when hearing an auto-translation software? I think many of you would think about the Google's or Yahoo.co.jp's free translation site. For those of you who have tried any of these services, maybe you do not have a good impression on that. It is especially true when trying to translate between Japanese and English. Both of their language systems are so different that people think that it is almost impossible to make it useful. I have been working here in Japan and I have seen many coworkers used that. But it only ends up with getting so terrible results. Nothing has worked right.

However, I have recently used & investigated on an auto-translation software and I found it was much more useful than I expected.

The points are:
1. It is still as useful as Google or Yahoo Japan translation site but nothing more than that.
2. But if you start keeping & managing your own database (with words & phrases), the translated result will change dramatically.
3. Also, there are more functions to the database, where multiple databases can be multiply selected or arranged according to your priority.
4. Workload can be reduced tremendously with other functions, such as the detection & importing function for frequently used words from MS Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files.
5. If this task becomes & is maintained systematically, the translation process or concept will change 180 degrees.

I started using the software and I found it was quite satisfactory. I am sure this should be good for a Japanese business people who wish to know what an English document your are handed over (e.g. a sales document that exceeds 20 or 30 pages) is writing about. You could ask a translator in your company but what if this persoon is too busy to translate it right at once? The translation software I have here does it really well, once it has constructed a well-equipped words & phrases database. It works quickly. I think the translation quality can be as high as 70 - 80 % to the perfect result. Sometimes it is even better than a human translator who does not have much knowledge on your specific terms. As me anytime if you are interested in this topic.