ペースメーカー A Pacemaker

A Pacemaker

“Stop using the smartphone. I’m scared,” the man next to me said.

He and I were sitting on a subway priority seat for the aged, pregnant, or disabled people. He was around 40 years old, and was a large stout-looking man.

“I’m sorry,” I said to him.

When I had sat on it a moment before, I had noticed that he was placing his right palm on his chest. I wondered if he had a weak heart, but apparently he had a pace-maker implanted.

When the subway stopped at the next station, a woman stood in front of him, using a smartphone. My neighbor immediately told her not to use it. She bowed to him apologetically and stopped using it. Whenever the train stopped and one or two passengers stood near him using smartphones, he said to them, “Don’t use that around me.” Once when he asked a young man to stop using the gadget, he ignored his request and continued using it. So my neighbor stood up and told him to stop doing so again. The young man turned around. He was listening to the i-phone music with earphones. He took off one of them from his ear, comprehended his request and stopped using the phone.

I sympathized with him, because I myself have irregular heartbeat and take a pill every morning.

Worrying about the malfunction of his pacemaker whenever he takes trains or buses may be bad for his heart, I am afraid.

I have resolved that I would not use my smartphone near priority seats.

シェイプオブウオーター The Shape of Water

シェイプオブウオーター　

この映画は「美女と野獣」と同じテーマを扱っている。外見は醜いが、中身は優しい心を持っている魚人と美人ではないが魚人を愛する女イライザの物語である。アンタゴニストは魚人の番人ストイックランド。

コンフリクトは魚人を助けてアマゾンに帰そうとするイライザ対魚人を殺そうとするストイックランドとの闘いである。この設定で、ハラハラドキドキする。

ネタバレ：最後に運河に魚人が飛び込めば、これで愛は結ばれないが魚人はアマゾンに帰ることができる。このようには話は終わらない。ひねりもひねりがあるエンディングだ。イライザと魚人が落命したかと思いきや、魚人のパワーで、二人は生き返る。あとは観る人の想像に任せられる。ストイックランドもエンディングではまだ息がある。ある意味ハッピーエンディングだ。

仕掛け

１. 単純な話に、ソ連対米国の魚人をめぐるスパイ戦がある。

２．水中でのセックス

３．最後に魚人とアマゾンに行くかと思われるエンディングは「未知との遭遇」のエンディングに似ている。最後に電気技師ロイはUFOに乗り込む。あちらの世界に行くことを思わせる。

４．水中接吻をするため、魚人の口は人間の口と全く同じにしてある。

５．水槽をイライザが叩いたところ、びっくりするような反応があった。ここが引っかけになっている。

(３月１日記述）

 

The Shape of Water

　　The theme of The Shape of Water is the same with that of Beauty and the Beast. A plain-looking cleaning-woman Elisa falls in love with a captured ugly humanoid amphibian. Her antagonist is Strickland, who is in charge of the weird creature.

The movie develops around the conflict between Elisa, who wants to free the creature into the sea, to the Amazon River, and Strickland, who wants to kill it. The battle between the two keeps the audience in suspense.

The ending scene reminded me of The Close Encounter of the Third Kind, in which an engineer, Roy, enters the UFO mothership, suggesting that he fly to an alien star.

Near the end of the movie, Elisa takes the creature to a pier where she intends to free it. However, before she releases it to the sea, Strickland shoots Elisa and her beloved creature. Strangely, thanks to the creature’s supernatural power, both recover from the wounds. In the ending scene, Elisa’s body held by the creature’s arms gradually sinks deep in the sea. This is, in a sense, a happy ending.

 

 

優秀賞受賞 EXCELLENT TRANSLATION FROM JAPANESE TO ENGLISH

　優秀賞受賞

実践ビジネス英語３月号の和訳で優秀賞を受賞した。以下は課題と私の訳文

　

　It is a very snowy day.
　　“My flight has been canceled due to the snow. So, I’ve just got on the train!　I nearly missed it.”
　　My mother’s loud voice over her cell-phone resonates in the deck.
All I can see through the window of a limited express, Super Soya, which started from Sapporo Station, is nothing but snow. It is running north on and on in the snowstorm that blocks the view from the window.
　　“I feel sorry for the passengers when the train schedule is disrupted because of heavy snow. I am always worried while I am on-board on a snowy day,” says the train attendant, who newly entered the Hokkaido Railway Company in April, 2004.
　　A wagon for in-train sales loaded with lunch boxes, drinks, and what not weighs surprisingly heavy 80 kilograms or so. Pushing or steadying it in the swaying train, you are likely to suffer from muscle pain if you are not used to it.
　　“I am still under strain,” she says. “So, I cannot enjoy the scenery from the window. I am doing my very best so that I won’t make any mistake.”
　　Super Soya connects Sapporo and Wakkanai in about five hours. Today, I’m going to get off at Asahikawa Station on the way, take a bus, and head for Asahiyama Zoo.

 

ハルキとカズオ Haruki and Kazuo

ハルキとカズオ

１月２７日、名古屋外国語大学で開催されたシンポジュウムで、ある講演者が面白いことを言っていた。
村上春樹は結末を考えずに書き始め、どのように展開していくかは自分もわからないで書いていく。これに対して、カズオ・イシグロは全体の構想を練り、結末もきちんと考えてから書き始める、と。
春樹の「海辺のカフカ」が中途半端な小説になっているのはそのためだ。UFOを見て気を失った子供たちや引率の女教師のその後のことが書かれていないので読後感がすっきりしない。春樹は、「海辺のカフカ」でチェホフの言葉を引用して「拳銃を出したら撃たなければならない」と書いているのに、春樹は拳銃を出したままにして、何もしない。これでは読者は消化不良になる。
同講師は春樹はまだ子供で、カズオは大人だと言っていたが納得した。

 Haruki and Kazuo

 



One of the lectures in a literature symposium held in Nagoya University of Foreign Studies on January 27 compared Haruki Murakami and Kazuo Ishiguro.
　　According to him, Murakami writes his story without planning the plot beforehand. That is, he begins to write his story without knowing how the story ends; whereas, Ishiguro writes his story after planning a minute plot and ending.
　　That is why I felt dissatisfied when I finished reading “Kafka on the Shore.” There are several mysteries in the story which were left unsolved. For example, Murakami does not write what happens to the children who faint after they see a UFO; nor what happens to the woman teacher who takes them to the forest. Murakami says in “Kafka on the Shore,” quoting Chekhov’s words, that once you show a gun, you must shoot it. Murakami shows a lot of guns but he does not shoot them in the story. That is why I felt irritated and had indigestion when I read the novel.
 　　The lecturer said, “Haruki is a child, but Kazuo is an adult.”
I think so, too.

二人の母親 TWO MOTHERS

　　二人の母親　

 

大岡裁きにこんな話がある。ある子供に関して自分が本当の母親であると主張する二人の女性に対して大岡越前守は「子供の手を両方から引っ張り合い、子供を取った方に子供を与える」と言った。二人の女性が子供の手を引っ張ったところ、子供が「痛い」と言うから、一方の母親は手を離した。大岡は裁きを下した。
「今、手を離した方が本当の母親だ。本当の母親ならば子供が痛いのに無理して引くようなことはしない」
以上の話は桂万栄編「棠陰比事（とういんひじ）」第八話に原典がある。前漢の時代（紀元前206年～紀元8年）の太守黄霸（こうは）の裁きだ。　
似たような話がある。二人の女性がある赤ん坊を自分の赤ん坊だと言い争っているのを見てソロモン王（在位960年頃ー前922年頃）は「赤ん坊を剣で二つに裂き、女に半分ずつ与えよ」と言う。それを聞いて母親の一人が「王様、この子をこの人にあげてください」と言った。王はこの女性を母親だと裁いた。
ソロモンの話が中国に伝わって大岡裁きになったのだろうか。

Two Mothers

　　Judge Tadasuke Ohoka, who was well-known for his clever ruling during the Edo era (18th century), delivered a judgement in a case where two mothers (Mother A and B) fought against each other concerning a boy.
　　Each mother insisted that he was her child. Ohoka said, “All right, then. Mother A, grab the boy’s right hand, and Mother B, grab his left arm.” When they grabbed them, he said, “Pull his hand as hard as you can. The one who has pulled his hand stronger will get the boy. OK? Ready. Go!” They pulled his hands as hard as they could. The boy cried, “It hurts!” Hearing his cry, Mother B let go of his hand. “Stop!” Ohoka said. “The boy belongs to Mother B, because a real mother will let go of his hand so that he may not cry with pain. Case closed.”
　　The above episode originated in one of Judge Koha’s decisions written in “Toin-hiji” during the Era of Qianhan in China (BC206-AD8).
　　A similar decision was made by King Solomon (BC960-BC922). Two women fought against each other concerning a baby. Each of them insisted that the baby belonged to her. The king ordered his men to cut the baby into halves and give each half to each woman. Hearing his decision, one of the women said, “Please give the baby to this woman.” The king concluded that the woman who gave up was its real mother, because the real mother cannot bear the cruelty.”
　　Has Solomon’s decision been introduced to China and ultimately to Japan?

便りのないのは良い便り No news is good news

便りのないのは良い便り

　ノーベル文学賞受賞者、カズオ・イシグロの『日の名残り』を読んでいて、「便りのないのは良い便り」を地で行く文章を見つけた。ここに引用する。
「ケントン夫人から、お会いするのを楽しみにしていますという返事がないことは分かっていたけれど、彼女の性格からいって、返事がないのは再会することに、たとえ不都合があっても、同意しているのだと思う気になった」（松岡訳）
　

No news is good news

　　　While I was reading a passage in “The Remains of the Day” written by Kazuo Ishiguro, Nobel laureate for literature, I happened to read an expression that supports the proverb: no news is good news. Let me quote it:
　　　I am only too aware that I never received a reply from Miss Kenton confirming she would be happy about a meeting. However, knowing Miss Kenton as I do, I am inclined to think that a lack of any letter can be taken as agreement; were a meeting for any reason inconvenient.
 

短編入賞 SECOD PRIZE IN SHORT STORY CONTEST

　短編で入賞

メディア出版大賞の短編小説部門で優秀賞を受賞した。タイトルは「狂った味覚」だ。これで短編で５回入選したことになる。（これまでに、大垣市文芸大賞、秀作、佳作。岐阜市文芸大賞）
今後も、頑張っていい作品、人の心を動かす作品を書いていきたい。

THE SECOND PRIZE IN A SHORT STORY CONTEST

I won a second prize in a short story contest held by Media Shuppan (Media Pubilishing Company). The title of the story is "Mad Taste." So far I have won five prizes in short story contests. I want to write stories that will move my readers.