Season's Greetings from a Classical Japanese Poem Lover

Dec. 25, 2010

Season's Greetings

from a classical Japanese poem lover

with

photos of
the four seasons of Yokohama (from the top):

people at a bus stop near Yokohama Stadium
children and flowering cherry trees at Motomachi Park
a pleasure boat and cherry blossoms on Ohoka River
people strolling on Bashamichi Street
a tunnel under Yamate Dori Avenue
an illuminated sign at entrance to Motomachi Street
girls on their way home from school at Mimato-Mirai area
a mother and a little girl at Yokohama Museum of Art Square
a couple at Yokohama Bayside Park

a dog and Christmas decorations at a shop on Motomachi Street
a boy and a mother in front of a florist at Yokohama Station Square
Christmas illuminations at Red Brick Warehouse Square

Rabbit hoped to help Japan out of economic slump in 2011

Dec. 22, 2010

Rabbit hoped to help Japan out of economic slump in 2011

As 2011 is the year of rabbit in Chinese astrology, rabbit-related items are on display at various kinds of shops in Japan with about a week left before the turn of the year. Sitting side by side with Christmas decorations, rabbit dolls at a traditional ceramic ware shop in Fujisawa, south of Yokohama, were helping to attract customers while smiling at them.
At the beginning of this year of tiger, Japanese people and policymakers hoped to see the economy pull out of the long slump sometime this year, but this has not been realized. A gap between the haves and the have-nots has become wider, and the unemployment rate is yet to be improved. The situation remains especially hard for job-searching young people, including those graduating from universities next spring.
Rabbits are quieter but they are believed to be emotionally strong. So, Japanese are hoping that the forthcoming year of rabbit will be a year of a big jump out of the doldrums.
At some zoological parks in Japan, events have been held for the transition of the animal of the year from tiger to rabbit, with breeders disguising themselves as the animals or the real animals playing their roles.

Rabbit! Rabbit! What makes you jump up?
The full moon up there makes me jump up.
(A personal translation)

This is an old children’s song, the song which was sung by little girls when they play with a ball.
Japanese consumers are getting tired of practicing strict economy, shopping trend watchers say. They are sometimes ready to loosen their purse string in a “petite extravagancy” mood. But it is far from certain whether the nascent sign of recovery will spread through the economy and dispel the suffocative mood in society in the coming year.

An author's note: Followoing is the melody of the children's song "Usagi (rabbit)" : EEEABABx/EEEABABx/ABCCBaaFE/AFEEFEDDE (Usagi usagi/Nani-mite-haneru/Jugoya- otsuki-sama/Mite-haneru.

Japanese parents busy dressing up children for “Seven-five-three” festival

Nov. 10, 2010

Japanese parents busy dressing up children for “Seven-five-three” festival

November is one of the busiest periods of the year for Japanese parents, especially those with three- and seven-year-old daughters and five-year-old sons. Shinto shrines across Japan are filled with kimono-clad small children, accompanied by their parents and sometimes, by their grandparents as well, on weekends around this time of the year. They are busy taking care of their beloved ones all the time when they visit shrines all together for the “shichi-go-san” (seven-five-three) festival and offer thanks for the children’s good health and pray for the God’s help for their future.
Samukawa Shrine, a time-honored Shinto shrine in Kanagawa Prefecture, attracted hundreds of families for the festival on a clear day last weekend. The garden in front of the shrine’s main building became a picture-shooting theater for fathers, mothers and their children.
The original style of the shichi-go-san festival dates back to the Heian period from the late eighth century to the 12th century. Until around the 19th century, Japan’s infant mortality rate was very high. Children were recognized as true humans only when they grew up to three, five or seven years old. “Before seven, among the Gods.” This is a saying in the ancient times that indicates people believed that babies and infants live in a place between the other world and this world and they can be returned anytime to the God’s side. This led to a custom in which parents thanked the God for their children’s survival and celebrated their health when they turned three, five or seven.
Parents in today’s Japan pray for their children’s happiness, as did parents in the ancient times. But their prayers cannot be always met.

We can now return to our sweet home in the capital,
but this return trip cannot cure our sadness at all;
We have lost our dear daughter who should have been here with us.
(A personal translation)

This is a waka poem composed by Ki Tsurayuki, one of the greatest waka poets in the Heian period, who lost his young daughter due to illness while he was governor of Tosa, the current Kochi Prefecture, western Japan. He left many poems about his dead daughter in his diary-style work, the Diary of Tosa, which depicted his return journey with his wife to the capital after their four years of life there. (Readers may be advised to see the post published on May 19, 2009.)
In Japan today, many sources of stress and difficulties are seen everywhere for parents and children. The number of suicides in Japan for a year has been in excess of 30,000 in recent years. Newspapers report increasing numbers of cases linked to child abuse and school bullying. On Oct. 23, a 12-year-old schoolgirl in Gunma Prefecture killed herself. Her parents claim she had been bullied at school, but school officials have not acknowledged her suicide can be blamed on bullying.
The season has come around for parents to celebrate their children’s health and happiness by dressing them up for the shichi-go-san festival. In the meantime, Japanese children and parents are exposed to an even harder situation in a competition-oriented social mood. The situation may be taken to indicate that Japan’s society is becoming bipolar under the cover of the seamingly happy mood.

“Gentle Japan” expected to do more to overcome global issues

Oct. 26, 2010

“Gentle Japan” expected to do more to overcome global issues

Japan was once regarded as a former enemy country for the United Nations, which was established just after the end of World War II. This is based on the so-called enemy clauses of the United Nations Charter, which provide a basis for punitive military actions against the countries who were enemies of the 51 founding members of the United Nations if and when they violate the Charter. The countries are not mentioned by name, but it is believed that they include Japan, Germany and Italy, the three former Axis powers.
Japan restored its independence in 1952, but it was not a member of the United Nations until 1956, when it was allowed to enter the world body as its 80th member. While striving to remove the enemy clauses from the U.N. Charter, Japan has steadily increased its contribution to the world body’s activities, becoming the second biggest donor to finance its budget.
Oct. 24 is the birthday of the United Nations, who combines a total of 192 countries now. Specialized U.N. organizations and related entities celebrated its 65th anniversary around the world over the weekend. In Tokyo, 26 U.N.-affiliated organizations operating in Japan, led by the world headquarters of the U.N. University, organized a panel discussion and provided a talk show and performances for the U.N. Day 2010.
The events came at a time when Japanese people are becoming aware of the need for them to play a more active role, bilaterally or through the United Nations and other multilateral organizations, to help resolve the global issues. But it is also true that not a small number of Japanese are dissatisfied with the United Nations, mainly out of suspicion that its business has been influenced by the United States. They are dissatisfied that Japan has not been granted a position or a say commensurate with its financial contribution to the world body.
The 30-minute talk show was designed for Kurara Chibana, a celebrity partner of the U.N. World Food Program, to discuss “Things I have seen and felt in the field.” Chibana, a 2006 Miss Universe World Contest participant, visited Zambia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka from 2008 to 2010. (Her official web site can be found at http://chibanakurara.com/english)
In Zambia, she visited a school, a mobile clinic, a flood-hit area and a poor family’s home and met children, mothers and other people living in a hard situation. In Manila, the Philippines, she saw people living in the slums and children living near a dump. In Sri Lanka, she visited a food distribution point and saw a family trying hard to pick up cereals which fell out of a small hole of the bag on the floor until the last one piece. The scene made her think “How many people would be saved with the food I left yesterday?”
Speakers at the panel discussion focused on what must be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, established to resolve eight areas of global challenges, including poverty, gender inequality in education, and maternity and infant mortality, before the target period of 15 years ends in 2015.
Japan is planning to host a conference next year to follow up on a leaders’ meeting at U.N. headquarters in September to promote efforts for the MDGs, and this is a very important step, said Shunichi Murata, Tokyo Office Director of the United Nations Development Program. “I hope that Japan’s politically gentle image will be demonstrated to push the Japanese government’s initiative for helping developing countries through the MDGs,“ he said.
“What each of us can do may be something very small. Maybe, we won’t see the results right away. Yet, why don’t we start sowing seeds for the future now?,” Chibana wrote in a paper distributed at the event.
There is no national consensus as yet on whether Japan should play an international role in the military field in view of Japan’s war-renouncing constitution. But Japanese are ready to do more at least in the nonmilitary field, providing necessary assistance to the socially weak in developing countries, such as children and mothers.
Japan’s gentle political and social culture, which has been nurtured under the pacifist constitution, is expected to help overcome challenges facing the Mother Earth, paving the way for the future generation to live peacefully together.
Chibana’s talk show, which was held in front of the building that houses U.N. University headquarters, drew an audience of about 100, who listened to her report earnestly and sometimes with tearful eyes. Established around the setting of the talk show were booths to introduce the activities of eight U.N. specialized agencies, including the U.N. Population Fund, the U.N. Environment Program and the UNICEF Children’s Fund. At some of the booths, young Japanese staff and volunteers were seen talking to visitors and passers-by while showing various materials to them. It is hoped that internationally active persons will emerge from among the young Japanese who supported the U.N. Day event to lead Japan in the international community in the generation to come.

“Sacred Tree” at Kamakura shrine restarts new life

Sept. 30, 2010

“Sacred Tree” at Kamakura shrine restarts new life


Autumnal rain fronts have come to envelop the Japanese Archipelago, pouring gentle rains on plants and trees hit by crazy heat waves this summer. Among them is a regenerated ginkgo tree at Kamakura’s Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine.
The “Ooicho” tree had been towering up into the sky beside a stairway to the main building of the Shinto shrine, a famous tourist spot in Kamakura as the home to Japan’s first samurai-led regime, until March when it fell down due to a strong predawn gust of wind The incident saddened local people because they had long respected the ginkgo as a “sacred tree.” (A related story is available on the post released on March 12.)
The disappearance of the tree, which used to be about 8 meters high, has greatly changed the landscape and atmosphere around the shrine building. Fortunately, the root was partially left in the ground, while some pieces of the root remained with the fallen part of the tree. The shrine and other related quarters started efforts to regenerate the ginkgo by using various wood-related techniques.
“I was concerned that Ooichi had been weakened by the heat waves this summer, but I’m happy to see it growing strongly.” “Yes, it's been so vigorous,” a shrine maiden clad in traditional red and white costume said in reply to my fear.
A sacred “shimenawa” straw rope is hung around the tree with green leaves thickly growing from its root. The lower part of the fallen tree has been replanted beside the original root part. Many worshippers were seen stopping in the middle of the stairway to take a close look at the tree and take pictures. Some visitors were reading messages written on a big “ema” votive tablet by members of a local children’s group wishing for its smooth growth with a new life.
Plants and trees in other parts on the compound of the shrine also appear to be refreshed breathing in the clear autumn air following rainfalls since mid-September. Partially green leaves remain with “sakura” cherry trees standing on both sides of the “Dankazura” approach extending straight from the main gate of the shrine, giving comfortable shades to passers-by.
Kamakura is entering one of the most beautiful seasons with shrines, temples and other historically and culturally important spots ready to welcome tourists in fresh air.

Japanese devote themselves to remembering the dead on hot August days

Aug. 22, 2010

Japanese devote themselves to remembering the dead on hot August days

Uji River, which flows in a scenic area south of the ancient capital of Kyoto, plays an important role in a tragedy in the last part of the Tale of Genji, one of the world’s oldest novels. Written early in the 11th century, the novel moves its setting from Kyoto to Uji toward its climax and depicts a three-cornered romance involving a young woman called Ukifune, Commander Kaoru and His Highness of War Niou.

Their episode followed a prelude which evolves around the two noblemen and Ukifune’s two half sisters, who lived in seclusion with their father, Prince Hachinomiya, at a riverside residence. Ukifune found herself in a fix between the proposals of Kaoru and Niou, just like her elder half sister, who became feeble and died. Ukifune hoped to follow her sister’s fate and committed suicide by jumping into the river, but she was rescued by a Buddhist monk.

I drowned myself into the river of tears,
but who built the weir in its swift stream to keep me in this life?
(A personal translation)

This is a waka poem which the author of the novel, Nurasaki Shikibu, narrates for Ukifune after her aborted suicide. She eventually became a nun and renounced the world, choosing to “die” while living.
August is an important period for Japanese to remember the dead, not only their ancestors but also those with which they have connections. A series of Buddhist rites to receive their souls is held between Aug. 13 and Aug. 15 across the country. After the end of the “Bon” festival period, people light “okuribi” fires to escort the spirits back to the other world. A big okuribi bonfire rite takes place in Kyoto, in which many torches are lit on hillsides around the ancient capital so that Bon-related Chinese characters and figures appear in the darkness of the night. In Nara, another ancient capital, okuribi rites were observed at many places. Near Sarusawa Lake in the heart of Nara, people floated small paper lanterns on a brook, while children lit sparklers to entertain the dead.
The traditional events for remembering the dead toward mid-August give an occasion for Japanese to think about their identity and roots. This also must be the case for young people, including those gathering at a busy public square in Osaka, the commercial hub of western Japan.
Uji, now Uji City, used to host many villas and retreats for noblemen in the Heian period from the ninth to 12th centuries. Its natural environment, including Uji River, has been preserved over the centuries. As Uji City calls itself as “Town of the Tale of Genji,” places and monuments related to the series of characters in the novel are carefully preserved by local people as if they are real persons.

Summer reminds Japanese of importance of sea

July 19, 2010

Summer reminds Japanese of importance of sea

The Nishihama beach of Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, was filled with more than 40 “mikoshi” portable shrines brought together from across the Pacific coast city and the neighboring town of Samukawa early Monday. The occasion was the Hamaori festival, which annually takes place on the Day of the Sea, a national holiday. Established in 1996, the day is one of the youngest national holidays in Japan. The Day of the Sea is designed to appreciate the blessings of the sea and pray for the prosperity of Japan as a sea-surrounded nation. The national holiday coincides with the full start of summer after the end of the”tsuyu” rainy season across Japan.

The Hamaori festival is one of a variety of events held on the national holiday throughout the country. Hamaori literally means descending on to the shore. The mikoshi shrines belong to shrines set up for each of the communities in the Chigasaki-Samukawa region. Mikoshi bearers bring the decorated structures into the sea so that the mikoshi may be purified and regenerated with the power of the sea water.

The Day of the Sea is currently observed on the third Monday of July, but it was originally set for July 20, the day when Emperor Meiji returned to Yokohama Port from an extended cruise to take a firsthand look at lighthouses in northeastern Japan in 1876. This was 16 years after about 170 Japanese, samurai warriors and their servants and sailors, risked their lives to travel across the Pacific aboard two ships in 1860. They reached San Francisco after months of hard voyage, and among them, members of a mission sent by the Tokugawa shogun for the ratification of the Japan-U.S. treaty of amity and commerce went on to Washington. They also visited New York and other places and received warm receptions from American people. They came to realize that the sea links countries to each other rather than separating countries. The mission was the first of a series of emissaries dispatched to foreign countries to negotiate or renegotiate treaties and agreements toward the end of the Tokugawa era in 1868.
The occasions enabled them to have a picture, if not sufficient, of the international situation and moves by Western countries toward Asia. Upon returning to Japan back across the Pacific, mission members wasted no time to report that Britain and the United States have strong interest in a group of largely inhabited islands in the western Pacific. The Tokugawa shogunate government quickly decided to develop the islands as a territory of Japan. This later paved the way for Japan to obtain ownership over the Ogasawara Islands, also known as the Bonin Islands.

The oceans now have become theaters for countries to vie with each other for natural and maritime resources. Japan has not only the Pacific to the east but also a vast sea lying to the west, the East China Sea, which has a resources-rich continental shelf. How to use natural resources in the area between Japan and China is expected to be one of the toughest jobs to be negotiated by the two countries. But the oceans should continue to link Japan to other countries and sometimes, serve as a buffer to avoid conflicts with neighboring countries.