The Japanese National Anthem

During seeing FIFA World Cup 2010, I suspected that people of the world thought the Japanese national anthem  seemed to be off-putting.  It has solemn sound.

The Japanese national anthem has the unique scales that come from Japanese original scales.  Western scales is Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti.  It has 7 scales.  The Japanese national anthem don't have Fa, Ti.  It has 5 scales.  I guess that Western people don't get used to Japanese 5 scales.

The lyrics of Japanese national anthem is Tanka (短歌).  Tanka is Japanese traditional poem style that makes 5-7-5-7-7 syllables.  Japanese lyrics is;

君が代は 千代に八千代に さざれ石の 巌になりて 苔のむすまで.

Translated into English lyrics by Wikipedia is;

May your reign
Continue for a thousand, eight thousand generations,
Until the pebbles
Grow into boulders
Lush with moss.

Tanka might be too short poem for national anthem.

Kimigayo (君が代), the Japanese national anthem, was sung in the period of militarism of World War ll.  The country that Japanese military advanced violently don't have good feeling about Kimigayo.  So, some people in Japan worry that singing Japanese national anthem at the public space offends neighbor countries.  It's the long dispute in Japan.  Can Kimigayo be a national anthem even when people cannot sing loudly in some public place?  Some people insist that Japanese national anthem should be changed.

Especially, this dispute has erupted in teachers and schools.  Teachers and schools cannot settle the robust way of teaching the history of the past militarism in Japan. Some teachers considered that Kimigayo wasn't suitable for teaching at the school because it’s the inheritance from militarism.  In fact, I didn't learn Kimigayo at the school, though it's a national anthem.

Recently, people start to forget the World War ll.  National anthem dispute tend to decline.  Furthermore, Japanese national anthem is sung at every national match.  Many people have become to sing Kimigayo without hesitation now.

Pitagora Switch ピタゴラスイッチ

Pythagora Switch (ピタゴラスイッチ Pitagora Switch) is a TV program of NHK educational channel.  Pitagora comes from Pythagoras or Pythagorean theorem.  The theme of Pitagora Switch is showing "the way of thinking" for children.  We cannot make light of this program though it's for children.  Pitagora Switch touches your science mind.  It has scientific atmosphere.

The opening of the program is the short film of a Pitagora Device.  Pitagora Device is a chain reaction device with something we all use usually.

Pitagora Devices are collected in the DVD books and published.

ピタゴラ装置DVDブック1 佐藤雅彦 ポニーキャニオン 2006-12-01 Sales Rank : 1598 Average Review  See details at Amazo Japan by G-Tools

ピタゴラ装置 DVDブック2 佐藤雅彦 ポニーキャニオン 2007-04-18 Sales Rank : 2733 Average Review  See details Amazon Japan by G-Tools

I'm not sure the above YouTube video can last in future.  The music of Pitagora Devices is provided by KURI Corder Quartet. The supervisor of Pitagora Switch is Masahiko Sato

Pitagora Switch consists of a short puppet drama, short anime, song, and so on.  Each part is simple but amazing.  My nephew likes Potegin very much.  I searched Potegin video but I couldn't hit.  Potegin is a cube.  You know, a cube has six faces.  Potegin rhythmically speak out with using six faces that is written a word.  Potegin's chat is like a humming.  Start is like that, "Pote, Pote, Pote, Pote, Potegin. I'm a Potegin.  Today,..."

10 stick anime. Silly 10 sticks. This is one anime of Pitagora Switch.


Framy anime.  It's a heart warming story.  This is also one anime of Pitagora Switch.


Pitagora Switch

An Arbitrary Point P

An Arbitrary Point P by
Keio University Masahiko Sato Laboratory + Norio Nakamura
(任意の点P by
慶應義塾大学 佐藤雅彦研究室 + 中村至男)

I don't know what name of the job is the job of Masahiko Sato (佐藤雅彦 SATO Masahiko).   He is a guest professor of Keio University.  According to Keio University web site, Masahiko Sato is specialized in Methodology of Education and Methodology of Expressing Concepts.  What degree can students get at Masahiko Sato laboratory?  Master of media arts?  Anyway, he is related to creating image or video.

His start is as a CM planner. His work expanded to making video game concepts and producing TV program.  Pythagora Switch (ピタゴラスイッチ Pitagora suicchi) is a TV program of NHK educational channel.  The TV program stimulates "the way of thinking" for children.  It also stimulates adult interest.  I like this TV program very much.  I think Pythagora Switch represents Masahiko Sato's works.  Incidentally, KURI Coder Quartet contributes their music to Pythagora Switch.

An Arbitrary Point P is a picture book of 3D image.  He keeps the strong impression for 3D image when he studied with a mathematical reference book.  The reference book attached a simple cardboard device for viewing 3D image in order to help student's understanding.  An Arbitrary Point P also attaches simple lenses for controlling parallax.  The mechanism is simple but interesting.  This book is a Japanese book but it includes Japanese and English description, though it's just a picture book that doesn't need any words.

任意の点P 慶応義塾大学佐藤雅彦研究室 佐藤 雅彦 中村 至男 美術出版社 2003-04 Sales Rank : 81429 Average Review  See details at Amazon Japan by G-Tools

Yoko Ogawa 小川洋子

Yoko Ogawa (小川洋子 OGAWA Yoko) is a strange woman.  Most novelists are really eccentric but she is seemingly a sophisticated lady.  Her face is always serene when I see her on TV programs or magazines.  For some reason or other, her novels aren't serene at all.  There is poison behind romantic settings.

Pregnancy Diary brought her recognition in 1990.  It's the story of two young sisters.  The big sister becomes pregnant, then the little sister starts to have bad intentions.  The big sister who has a nervous disposition broods with ups and downs specific to a pregnant woman.

The annoyed little sister recalls that the grapefruit from United States includes a material that destroys the chromosome.  It's small dairy knowledge she get by any chance.  She buys grapefruit imported from United States and makes jam out of them.  The big sister who regains appetite after morning sickness eats it delightedly.  Because, pregnant woman often wants something sour.  The little sister makes and makes, the big sister eats and eats.  The little sister tries to dream of the growth situation of the baby but she cannot.  She can image only damaged chromosome......

Pregnancy Diary in the following book.  I like The Diving Pool, Pregnancy Diary, Dormitory in her early works.  The Diving Pool, the translated version, contains all three of them.

The Diving Pool: Three Novellas Yoko Ogawa Stephen Snyder Picador 2008-01-22 Sales Rank : 88688 Average Review See details at Amazon by G-Tools

Some disabled person appears in the novels of Yoko Ogawa.  The disabled person accepts his or her situation and lives quietly.  He or she is so quiet that he or she looks like a spirit who has a body.  Her novels show that body is connected to living.  As well, the depiction of eating often appears in her novels.  Even if we have to harm our body in order to keep living, we cannot abandon our body.  Imprisoned body expands to imprisoned love.

Yoko Ogawa seems to be popular in France.  The Ring Finger (薬指の標本 L'annulaire) was made into a movie by French director.  I think Hotel Iris are the stories of imprisoned body and love.  Two of these are a bit more erotic than other Yoko Ogawa's works.

Hotel Iris: A Novel Yoko Ogawa Picador 2010-03-30 Sales Rank : 29879 Average Review See details at Amazon by G-Tools

薬指の標本 L'annulaire SPECIAL EDITION [DVD] Diane Bertrand ハピネット・ピクチャーズ 2007-03-23 Sales Rank :  6608 Average Review  See details at Amazon Japan by G-Tools

The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Recently I went to my parents home and found my childhood library.  It made me feel so nostalgic that  I brought some books to read again.

As far as I remember, The Wind in the Willows is my mother's book.  I who was very hungry for reading made it my own.  However, The Wind in the Willows wasn't very interesting for the child who just learned to read.  Dr. Dolittle series are stained very much by cake crumbs or inexplicable fingerprints but The Wind in the Willows is comparatively clean.

This book is a classic children book of England whose story of Mole, Rat, Bader and Toad.  I thought that it's obviously for children that animals speak words.

As I read the Wind in the Willows after growing up, I realized that it isn't only for children book.  It's a song in praise of country life.  I can image the ideal riverside life of England.  At the same time, I can feel author's love for small animals.  Small animals can hear the nature voice under the care of the guardian of nature.  The beautiful countryside view can spin poems.  I found out that I couldn't have grabbed the poetic words in the book as a child.

Beautiful story.  I want to go to the country in summer of England.