元旦、二日の休業、大歓迎 FIRST AND SECOND DAYS MUST BE HOLIDAYS

　

元旦、二日休業、大歓迎
 

百貨店最大手の三越伊勢丹ホールディングスは、伊勢丹新宿本店や銀座三越など首都圏の８店舗で、来年１月２日を休業日にする。従業員の負担軽減を狙い、元日に続いて連休とする。稼ぎ時の「初売り」を３日にずらすのは異例だ（朝日デジタル)

元日と２日に店を休みにするのに賛成だ。昔は、ほとんど全ての店は、この両日は休みで、３日も休みという店があった。当時、街路は静かで、車が走っておらず、空気は澄んでいた。みんな家族と家で正月遊びをしたりしてゆったり過ごした。しかし、今日は、スーパーやデパートが開店しており、皆がいらないものまで買うために店に群がり、大型店の前では車が列を作り、排気ガスを出して、環境汚染に貢献している。なぜ、今日の日本人はこんなに忙しくなったのか。仕掛け人は誰なのか。商業主義に踊らされず、自分を見つめる時間が必要ではないか。

JANUARY FIRST AND SECOND DAYS MUST BE HOLIDAYS

According to the Asahi Digital news, eight stores of the Isetan Mitsukoshi Department Store Group including the ones in Ginza and Shinjyuku are going to close on January 1 and 2, starting the New Year’s sale on January 3. It is unusual for a department store to close on the first two days of the New Year when they have a good chance to make a profit. The group reportedly aims to lighten the load for the employees

I agree with the idea that stores should close on the New Year’s days. Decades ago, almost all the stores were closed on January 1 and 2, and sometimes on 3. The streets were quiet with scarce traffic. The air was clean. People stayed at home and spend leisurely time with their family playing New Year’s games. Today, however, supermarkets and department stores are open; people rush to the stores to buy things they don’t actually need; automobiles make a long queue before big stores, emitting exhaust fumes, contributing to the deterioration of the environment. Why are the Japanese people so busy nowadays? Who has made them so? They should stop being manipulated by commercialism, but should have time for themselves.

古い杖道着よ、さようなら FAREWELL TO MY GOOD OLD MARATIAL ART UNIFORM

古い杖道着よ、さようなら

私は４８歳の時に神道夢想流杖道を習い始めた。今年私は７２歳だから、かれこれ２４年間杖道を稽古してきている。その２４年間稽古のたびに着ていた杖道着は擦り切れて（特にえりのところ）、白い斑点ができ、青白っぽくなってしまった。来年から新しい杖道着でやることにした。
古いのは捨ててしまうので、せめて写真に撮って記念としたい。
（新しい杖道着と色を比べてください）

FAREWELL TO MY GOOD OLD MARATIAL ART UNIFORM

I began to practice a Japanese martial art, shinto-musoryu-jyodo, at the age of 48. I am now 72 years old. So, I have practiced it for 23 years. My jodo uniform  has now worn out. It has a lot of white dots and its color has turned bluish white. Look at the collar part of the uniform. It has completely worn out.

(Please compare the colors of the new uniform and the old one.)

 

映画「杉原千畝」FILM, "CHIUNE SUGIHARA"

　映画「杉原千畝」

 

 

 



全然面白くなかった。感動というものがない。

１．千畝が如何にしてビザを発行する決心に至ったかが明確に伝わってこない。女友達の夫が必要だから、とかいう間接的な理由らしいが、きちんと描写していない。ドキュメンタリー番組で見たのだが、実際は、リトアニアを去る汽車が発車する寸前まで書き続け、手が痛くなっても書き続けていたのに、映画では昼中はビザを書いて、夜は教会へ行って女と会っている。そんな余裕はなかったはずだ。映画は千畝が必死でビザを書き続けた有様が描かれていない。救われた人の感動も伝わってこない。

２．映画では千畝の赴任先のエピソードが描かれている。満州からリトアニア、リトアニアからルーマニア、ルーマニアから東プロイセンと言うように。しかし千畝の赴任先のことを描くあまり、焦点がぼやけてしまっている。リトアニアでのビザ発行をもっと詳しくドラマチックに描き、満州やルーマニアのことは最小限にすべきだ。

３．脚本がいただけない。千畝は何度も「世界を変えていくつもりだ」と言うが大げさすぎないか。台詞が独り歩きしている。妻との会話も本当の会話になっていない。素人でも思いつくような当たり障りない、当たり前の台詞になっている。「元気？」だとか、場違いの「愛している」だとか、お茶を出して「冷めてしまうから、召し上がって」とか夫婦の会話が臭いのだ。その場その場で誰でも言いそうな台詞しか言わない。もっとそれを超えたいい台詞があるはずだ。名優唐沢さんにとっても、深みのない上辺だけの台詞を言わなくてはならなくて当惑したのではないかと思う。

４．子供をダシにして（難民の子に千畝の子がパンを与えるとか、ウラジオストックの船長が「これ以上乗船させることはできない」と言いながら、「私の娘と同じぐらいの子がいてかわいそう」だから乗船を許可するとか、出国を拒否された実業家が幼い息子の目の前で殺されたりする）、観衆の同情を引こうとする魂胆が見え見え。中途半端な女を出しているし、「立て！」「伏せろ！」の恐怖シーンが長すぎる。これもドイツ人の残虐さをみせんがためだが、うんざりした。

５．映写がまずい。人物の顔を巨大スクリーンいっぱいに映す。多分高さ５メートルぐらいの顔だ）なぜあんなに大きく映す必要があるのか。何度も何度も登場人物を大写しにする。気持ちが悪くなるぐらいでかい顔が映る。監督は悪趣味だ。

杉原千畝と言う名前につられて、また唐沢と小雪と言う俳優につられて映画を見に行った人は一杯食わされたと思うだろう。本当に食わせ物の映画だ。

FILM “CHIUNE SUGIHARA”

　　Chiune Sugihara (1900-1986) is a Japanese diplomat who served as a consul in Lithuania just before World War II. In 1940, he wrote travel visas that facilitated the escape of more than 6,000 Jewish refugees to Japan, risking his career and his family's lives. In 1985, Israel added him to the Righteous Among the Nations for his actions.
I went to see the movie “Chiune Sugihara.” The following is my impression of the film:

　　I was disappointed at the film. It was not moving at all for the following reasons:

1. The film does not show why he decided to issue visas against the Japanese government’s order. At first he does not intend to write the visas, but his friend asks him to do so for her “husband.” After he issues a visa for him, he begins to issue them to other refugees, too. The film should show his struggle whether to issue visas or to obey the government’s order. I had watched a TV documentary about him in which he continuously wrote visas. He wrote so many visas that his fingers ached. When he had to leave Lithuania, he wrote visas till the last moment when the train began to start, leaving many Jewish people on the platform. In the film, however, he does not write visas continuously. He writes visas during the day and he goes to a church to see a woman in the evening. He seems to write visas as pastime. The film fails to depict his devotion.

2. The film shows his life as a diplomat in Manchuria, Lithuania, Romania, and East Prussia. The film spends too much time on his life in the countries other than Lithuania. It should focus on his life in Lithuania where he devoted his life to save the Jewish refugees.

3. The scenario was not good. Sugihara often says, “I want to change the world,” but the words are too vague and too beautiful that they do not convey anything to the audience. The dialogues between Sugihara and his wife sound unnatural in several situations. For example, she says to him during a ball, “Do you love me?” He responds, “Yes, I want to change the world.” It is an irrelevant response. The script must be well thought-out. I am sure Toshiaki Karasawa, who played the role of Sugihara, was also disappointed at the childish scenario.

4. The film tries to rouse the audience’s sympathy by using children. Sugihara’s daughter, for example, gives a piece of bread to a hungry Jewish girl through the fence of the consulate; the captain of the Japanese ship says, “I am afraid I can’t let the refugees embark the ship,” but later he changes his mind and says, “but I saw a poor girl as old as my daughter,” and allows them to get on board; and a businessman and his family including children are prevented from leaving Lithuania by the German soldiers. There should be other ways that naturally rouse the audience’s sympathy.

5. Screening is bad, too. The characters’ faces are often projected on the full screen. So the faces are as large as the screen. They are so large that they look weird. The director has poor taste

A much-ballyhooed movie is not necessarily good. And a movie starring famed actors are not always good. That is the lesson I have learned from the movie.

 

「海難１８９０」SHIPWRECK/125 YEARS MEMORY

「海難１８９０」

 

 

 

七年ほど前、妻とトルコに旅行に行って驚きました。トルコ人が私たちにとてもフレンドリーだったからです。どこへ行っても笑顔で挨拶をしてくれたり、一緒に写真を撮って欲しいと頼まれたりしました。妻をハグした女の子もいました。トルコ人は日本人がとても好きなようです。
　日本に帰って分かったのですが、１８９０年にトルコの軍艦が嵐のため和歌山沖で難破し、近くの島の島民が５９人の水兵を救助しました。トルコの子供は学校でこの出来事を習うそうです。
　この救助劇は近々映画になります。上映されたら見に行きたいと思います。(１１月１４日記す）

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　今日（１２月１１日）、「海難１８９０」を見てきました。映画があまりにも感動的で何度も涙を流しました。特に、島民が嵐の夜に一生懸命トルコ水兵を救けている場面や、元気になった水兵が敬礼をしながら舟で島を離れていくとき、島民が「さよなら、さよなら」と言っている場面です。
　９５年後の１９８５年、イラクがイランの首都、テヘランを爆撃する危険と混乱のさなか、トルコ政府は約２００人の日本人をイスタンブールに輸送するためチャーター便を用意しました。テヘラン空港でトルコ人が、チャーター機に乗り込む日本人を拍手で送り出すシーンはまた涙を誘いました。（最近涙もろくなったのかも）
　武力は武力を、親切は親切を呼びます。

SHIPWRECK/125 YEARS MEMORY

 　　About seven years ago my wife and I went to Turkey and visited famous sight-seeing spots. What surprised me most there was the Turkish people’s friendliness towards us. They gave us warm greetings almost every place we visited. They even wanted to take their pictures with us. Some girls hugged my wife. They seemed to like Japan and Japanese people.
　　After returning to Japan, I learned that the people in an island in Wakayama Prefecture saved 59 Turkish sailors’ lives from a sinking Turkish warship in a stormy sea in 1890. The Turkish students study about this incident at school.
　　A movie that shows how the island people rescued the Turkish sailors is going to be screened soon. I’m looking forward to seeing it. (written on Novmeber 14)

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　　Today (December 11) I saw the movie “Kainan 1890” (Shipwreck/125 Years Memory). I was so much moved during the film that I often shed tears, especially when the islanders were devoting themselves to rescuing the sailors in a stormy dark night and when the recovered Turkish sailors were leaving the island giving a salute to their rescuers who were saying good-bye.
　　I was also moved when the Turkish government prepared a chartered plane to fly some 200 Japanese to Istanbul in the midst of confusion and danger caused by the Iraqi attack against Teheran, the capital of Iran, in 1985. The applause the Turkish people gave to the Japanese in the Teheran International airport made me shed tears again. (Recently I think I am easily moved to tears.)　Force invites more force; kindness returns in the long run.

柿の影 PERSIMMON SILHOUETTE

柿の影　
 

 

 

今日の午後、東山植物園に行った。青空で風がなく、いい天気で、赤や黄色に染まった葉っぱが日の光を受けて常緑樹を背景にキラキラ光っていた。紅葉が燃えるように赤い。
　特に良かったのは柿の木の入り組んだ枝や柿の実のシルエットが家屋の白壁に映っていたことだ。いい天気だったので枝や柿の実のシルエットがくっきりと黒く濃かった。写真を一枚撮った。

PERSIMMON SILHOUETTE

　　I went to Higashiyama Botanical Garden this afternoon. It was a warm winter day with a blue sky and little breeze. Red and yellow leaves were shining brightly reflecting the sunshine with evergreen trees in the background. The red leaves were so bright that they looked as if they were a burning fire.
　　What attracted me most was the silhouette of a persimmon tree on a white wall of a Japanese style house. The intricate branches and round fruit of the tree cast their shadows on the wall. Since it was a clear day, the silhouette reflected the shapes of the branches and fruit faithfully.