In the court of hustings of the town of Alexandria, the defendant in error instituted an action for a malicious prosecution, against the defendant in error, and obtained an office judgment against him, on the 2d of February 1801, for want of a plea; and a writ of inquiry was awarded, returnable to the court of hustings; which, by the law of Virginia organizing that court, would have been held on the first Monday of April 1801. On the 27th of February 1801, the act of Congress passed providing for the government of the district of Columbia, and by that law a circuit court for the district was erected, and all cases depending in the court of hustings were transferred to the circuit court.
After two terms of the circuit court of the United States had elapsed without the writ of inquiry being set aside, the defendant in that court moved to set it aside, on filing a special plea in justification to the action. This was refused by the court, and a bill of exceptions to the opinion of the court refusing the plea was tendered. After judgment for the plaintiff in the circuit court, the defendant in that court prosecuted this writ of error.
It is true that the courts of Virginia have been very liberal in admitting any plea at the next term after an office judgment, which was necessary to bring forward the substantial merits of the case, whether it was strictly an issuable plea or not. But at a subsequent term it is matter of discretion with the court whether they will admit any plea at all.


Attended by over 15,000 people each year, LUMINOUS Lantern Parade is Queensland's largest welcome event. In 2017, we are celebrating a decade of lighting the way for new Queenslanders!
LUMINOUS is now established on the annual Queensland calendar as a show of welcome for new Queenslanders, including refugees, international students, people seeking asylum and migrants.
The parade features colourful lanterns of all sizes held by representatives from government, council, business and community groups and the broader Brisbane community celebrating our state's great cultural diversity.
The spectacular LUMINOUS parade will wind its way down from the South Bank Cultural Forecourt to the bathing pools and back up the Arbour past the ABC building and into the Cultural Forecourt again for a vibrant world music concert. Parade walkers can either carry a small hand-held lantern, or join another community group with a large lantern - or carry an LED candle (available for purchase at Registration Marquee $2 per candle) - or simply walk and join the colourful throng.
The LUMINOUS parade and concert program are free and will feature Indigenous, Bolivian, Rwandan and Colombian rhythms from some of Australia's leading world music and dance artists. There is an array of food stalls and coffee bars with delicacies from around the world and a great festival atmosphere for the whole family.


CINEads can coordinate your cinema ad from concept to screen covering all aspects of the audio-visual components. With over 15 years of experience producing local ads for the big screen, you can trust that the CINEads Production team know what makes a good local cinema advertisement.
With just your business logo and a selection of HD images or footage, CINEads can make you a high quality audio visual cinema advertisement. Our Production team can also organise a quality photo or video shoot if you would prefer a fresh representation of your business from our stable of talented suppliers.
Getting your ad produced efficiently and to screen in a timely manner is key so you can feel confident that the CINEads Production team will take care of every aspect of your cinema ad from start to finish. Feel comfortable knowing that with CINEads everything is taken care of, so that you can comfortably sit back with a popcorn and watch your business come to life on the big screen!
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Business travellers are increasingly using mobile devices, resulting in a need to understand who the users of this technology are and how they use it. Even though some have attempted to segment mobile travel service user groups, to date, there has been no attempt to segment business travellers in terms of their mobile travel application usage. Convenience sampling is used, and a self-administered online questionnaire completed by 232 business travellers. By means of cluster analysis four clusters are identified which share similar characteristics. The most important elements in the formation of the clusters are the type of organisation and device ownership. This research answers the call by previous researchers that further research on mobile devices should emphasise more than just the functionalities of the device.


Here's how parents can start investing and steadily grow their investment portfolio for their child's future.
Start your life together on the right foot.
How Much Does It Cost To Send Your Child To Popular Enrichment Classes?
Singapore Is Going Cashless: How Will This Affect Our Kids' Appreciation Of Money?
How do we teach our kids that money doesn't grow on iPhones?


Water is vital for life. I mean, given that our body consists of around 60% to 65% water, that's hardly surprising.
Without a healthy balance of water in our bodies, we'd be a mess. So yeah, we definitely need to stay hydrated wouldn't you say?
Here are just some of the reasons why we should be sipping on this free natural resource.
A glass of humble H2O might help you lose excess weight.
If you drink water before every meal, studies suggest you could lose more weight over a 12 week period than people who don't. It's probably because the water increases satiety (your feeling of fullness), meaning you don't overindulge.
If you ask me, weight loss doesn't get any simpler than that.
Of course, another role of water in weight loss is that it hydrates you without any calories. By swapping calorie filled drinks (like sodas) for water, you're automatically cutting down on calories.
You can also up your water intake through food and still lose weight. Foods with a high water content, like pears, melons, celery, and cucumbers, can all fill you up without packing on the pounds.
Well, this one is pretty obvious – water is vital for kidney health.
Our kidneys, along with our skin, liver and lungs, play a huge role in the ability of our body to keep us hydrated.
When we are dehydrated our pee becomes more concentrated – it's nasty, dark colored and smelly. This happens because our kidneys hold back extra fluids for the rest of our body instead of excreting them.
If your urine is consistently concentrated, you'd better invest in a water bottle.
A study of young women showed that fluid loss of just 1.36% caused a decrease in mood and concentration, made them feel tasks were more difficult and also caused headaches.
A similar study of men in their early 20s saw dehydration cause a decline in vigilance and working memory, along with an increase in tension, anxiety and fatigue. This happened at fluid loss levels of 1.59%.
If you're consistently dehydrated, then you may be having a negative impact on brain functions like planning and visuo-spatial processing (the ability to perceive objects and their spatial relationships).
I could go on and on here because there are just so many studies showing the link between drinking enough water and brain health. But the bottom line is that it's not just food that affects our emotions and brain function, our fluid intake does too. Stay hydrated and stay happy.
Another way our brain's water levels can affect our health is through the onset of headaches, which are often a symptom of dehydration.
A study in the European Journal of Neurology saw a reduction in the total number of hours, and intensity of headache episodes when participants increased their water intake.
Feel like your gym performance is off lately? It could be dehydration that is holding you back.
Although water doesn't provide energy like carbs and fats do, this liquid does contribute to energy transformation – it facilitates all energy reactions in the body.
Dehydration causes fatigue. You'll feel less motivated, your body temperature may go out of whack, and exercise will feel like a whole lot more effort than it usually does.
And it's not just your endurance training that will suffer, so will your strength training.
Re-hydration will only be achieved if you replace what you lost through sweat, along with sufficient electrolytes. That's why hydrating before, during, and after exercise is so important.
Go with the American College of Sports Medicine's guidelines – drink 17 oz about two hours before exercise and drink early and often throughout your exercise routine.
Given that our heart is our most important organ, supplying blood and oxygen to all parts of the body, it needs to be in top condition.
The American Heart Association says that staying properly hydrated is critical for heart health. Getting in enough fluids helps the heart more easily pump blood to the muscles, and we already know how important water is for muscle health.
They also recommend that people who have a heart condition, are older than 50, or are overweight, should be extra cautious when it comes to water intake.
You need to take several things into account – your lifestyle factors, levels of activity, the climate, your general health and, of course, your level of thirst.
A good way to measure your hydration levels is by the color of your urine – if it's light colored you're all good, if not, then drink up!
Re-read this article! After discovering all the incredible health benefits of water, how could you not drink up?
What's your take on the health benefits of water? Have anything else you'd like to share? Let me know in the comments below!


Washington DC: The seventh International Kashmir Peace Conference ended in the US capital on Saturday with a call to speed up the Indo-Pak peace process and acknowledge the people of Jammu and Kashmir as integral partners and stakeholders in the process. Organised by the Kashmir American Council (KAC) and Kashmir Centre, Washington, the two-day conference ended with a round table discussion at Capitol Hill titled Kashmir A Way Forward, chaired by Dr Karen Parker and co- chaired by Sareer Fazili Esq, who conducted the proceedings. KAC Executive Director Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, in his introductory remarks, asked the participants to brainstorm to work out a route to move forward in the peace process. Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan supported the peace process and said that any resolution of the Kashmir dispute would require the involvement of the Kashmiri people. He offered to provide jobs to professionals from the other side of the ceasefire line, as well as providing electricity and natural gas to Indian-held Kashmir as a confidence- building measure. Deputy Ambassador to the US Muhammad Aslam Khan said that Pakistan would never betray the trust of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Jatinder Bukhshi proposed that the issue be frozen for four years after demilitarising the state, and then the right of self-determination be given to the people so that they could choose their political future on their own. Prof Showkat Hussain said that the Indian civil society had failed to foster a public opinion against the human rights abuses by India. Ved Bhasin said, We must adopt a common voice and common strategy to move forward.


The work Faksimile-ausgabe der Handscriften Sevilla 5-I-43 & Paris n.a. Fr. 4379 (pt. 1) represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Oklahoma Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Notated Music, Music.


It took a few weeks, but I did finally find some more zucchini blossoms at the green market. Only these were male flowers, which are on stalks and do not have baby zucchini growing out of them like the females do. I didn't know about that difference before.
Because of that, there were more blossoms in this bunch than the female bunch I bought previously. The flowers seemed bigger and sturdier this time, but that might be because it was a little later in the season than due to any difference between male and female. If I were going to stuff them with anything, these were the perfect shape and size for it but, as I mentioned in my previous post, I thought the flavor of the cheese stuffing overpowered the blossoms and I was not particularly impressed with it.
I had to cook these in batches, and I cooked the first batch a little longer than I would have liked - you can see which ones those are in the top photo. Luckily, they were not burned beyond all recognition, but the ones form the second batch came out pret' near perfect.
Which ones did I like more? Well, that's a tough one. The female blossoms had a more subtle flavor that was punched up by the little bit of zucchini that was attached to it. The male blossoms seemed a little sweeter to me, and had a more concentrated zucchini flavor.
But I would happily take either one if it were offered to me. I might even steal one from your plate even if it weren't offered to me.
I'm not going to repost the recipe. You can find it here if you want to give these a try.


Hi, I'm interested in HWiNFO sdk. I want to know the price and purchasing procedures.
Please contact me directly via e-mail, you can find the address in HWiNFO or on the main web site www.hwinfo.com at the bottom.
(11-20-2017, 07:57 AM)Martin Wrote: Please contact me directly via e-mail, you can find the address in HWiNFO or on the main web site www.hwinfo.com at the bottom.
I already sent you email three times.
Sorry, but I cannot find such e-mail. From which address have you sent them, the same one as you used on this forum ?
(11-21-2017, 09:01 AM)Martin Wrote: Sorry, but I cannot find such e-mail. From which address have you sent them, the same one as you used on this forum ?
It wasn't same address that used on this forum 2 times, but I sent via this forum too.
I sent it again today with other address. Hope you can get it this time.
Got it now, will respond via e-mail.
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Some of our best memories in school seem to revolve around food. Birthday parties, Valentine's Day, Halloween and other holidays celebrated in classrooms highlight sweet treats. Rewards for good performance often mean candy or a favorite snack. .. Dr. Joseph Sirven is a first-generation Cuban-American. He is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology and was past Director of Education for Mayo Clinic Arizona.


Mitch and I took some head shots with our talented cousin, Pippa Johnstone. She is graduating from the UBC's theatre program this year and is an incredible performer. If you get a chance to see her perform don't pass it up!


The Motion Picture Sound Editors have announced their nominations for this year's Golden Reel Awards. The Golden Reels recognize achievement in sound editing across Film, TV, Gaming, and computer entertainment products.
In film, Arrival, Hacksaw Ridge, and Star Wars: Rogue One led the way with three nominations. Deadpool and Dr. Strange came in second with two nominations. The 64th MPSE Golden Reel Awards ceremony will be held on February 19th at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.
Foley Artists: Matthew Salib, Terry Boyd, Jr.
Foley Editor: Terry Boyd, Jr.
Google Spotlight Stories, Google Inc.
Supervising Sound Editor: Thomas E. de Gorter M.P.S.E.


Monday, July 21, 2014 Thank You to everyone that came out today and supported the volunteers! We had a great turn out and great weather. Hope to see you all next year! Any suggestions for next year please let us know, we are always looking for new ideas.


The main objective of this project is the implementation of the web portal CHIL at a transnational level, thus creating the conditions for management, dissemination and collaboration allowing its development. The final objective is to establish a virtual collaboration network between research centers, industries and producers of the agriculture and agrofood sectors in the SUDOE area.
Agropolis International participates together with the regional federation of agricultural cooperation (Fédération régionale de la Coopération Agricole - FRCA-LR) to the European project RED-ITAA (European Network of Innovation and Technology in the Agricultural and Food Sectors ).
This project lasts 24 months and is coordinated by the Technical University of Madrid. It is funded by the Interreg SUDOE program (cooperation between Southwest European countries); it gathers Spanish, French and Portuguese partners around a transnational portal of knowledge on: agriculture -rural development and agrofood.
Knowledge management is one of the major structural issues of the whole agricultural and agro-food sectors. Knowledge chains are faulty due to difficulties in identifying needs, knowledge sources and in exchanging and concentrating information.
The new opportunities offered by internet, its development in the agricultural sector, allow considering a new scenario. From this viewpoint, the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs has implemented a rural and halieutic knowledge platform, and has supported the development of the CHIL portal to manage knowledge in this sector.
The main objective of this project is to introduce the CHIL knowledge portal in other countries, thus creating management, dissemination and cooperation conditions allowing its development. The final objective is to set up a virtual cooperation network between research centers, industries and producers from the agricultural and agrofood sectors in the SUDOE area.
An operational knowledge portal in the three languages, including specific operational sub-portals for agrofood industry, managed by competent professionals in each country and open to the whole sector in the three countries.
A consortium of entities and professionals involved in the system development at a large scale and its use in structural improvement projects in the fields of agriculture and rural development.
The hosting of project's partners websites, their members and their associated partners and entities.
Interactive development initiatives linking research centers and users, by using the platform as a coordination tool such as Living Labs.
Project technical, administrative and economical management.
Setting up of the three agro-industry portals in Spain, France and Portugal.
Feeding of the portal by adding new users, hosting companies, laboratories and cooperatives.
Search of added value by proposing pilot demos of its cutting-edge features, to allow their broad expansion.


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NCM Entertainment Roundup – November 25th
Pixar's The Good Dinosaur
The final installment of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 debuted to over $102.4 M, making it the fifth-highest opening of 2015. (Deadline)
Check out these Star Wars Easter eggs. Go to Google and type in "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away." You can also transform your Google experience by joining the Light Side or the Dark Side by going here.
In the latest trailer for Zootopia, fox con artist Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) and rabbit cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) visit a DMV to retrieve a license number but their day really slows down when they encounter what else but a sloth that runs the place. (USA Today)
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes as seen in this first trailer for Central Intelligence starring Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson. (Variety)
Pixar's release of The Good Dinosaur's marks the 16th theatrical release for the animation powerhouse. In honor of Pixar's first movie Toy Story, out 20 years ago this week, CNN is counting down the 15 best Pixar characters that made us laugh, cry and smile all the way to the memory bank. (CNN)
Here's your chance to win a walk on role as an ape extra in War of Planet of the Apes. All you need is a valid passport and a video of your best ape impersonation. (Vulture)
The first trailer has dropped for Captain America: Civil War, and it's very revealing about the plot of the upcoming film. You'll see many Marvel characters in the trailer, but there's no sneak peek yet at the new Spider-Man (played by Tom Holland). This new (and younger) Spidey will be making his debut in this film before moving into new stand-alone films with a reboot of that franchise.
The next Star Trek installment, Star Trek Beyond, is heading to IMAX theaters globally on July 22, 2016. (The Wrap)
Opening today and this weekend: The Good Dinosaur, Creed, Victor Frankenstein and The Danish Girl (11/27).
Prev NCM Entertainment Roundup – November 18th
Next NCM Entertainment Roundup – December 2nd

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


ByTheSea Productions presents the first video of the new year, with music by Jennifer Blair-Bianco. "Home" Written by Jennifer Blair-Bianco and Chris Benitez-Brown. Cinematography and Post by Tamara Benitez, playing around with the Panasonic LX-5 and Twixtor on FCP.


text:
Softening the blow: Shadow Hills football using special device to reduce head injuries
Posted on October 8, 2021 January 3, 2022 by Sam Trusner
Desert Sun (Palm Springs, CA)
They look a little funny, but nobody is laughing at the results.
Guardian Caps, a puffy, waffle-patterned soft shell that you attach to the top of a football helmet, are a popular new safety item for football players at all levels.
The Shadow Hills High School football team is the only desert high school to use the device, which helps prevent concussions and other head and neck injuries during practice. This is the first full season they are using them, and coach Alex Esquibel couldn't be more effusive in his praise.
"Here we are five weeks into the season, and we've had zero concussions at any level (during practice), and that's almost unheard of," Esquibel said. "When I was hired (February 2020), this was one of the first things I brought to the athletic director was that I wanted to get these Guardian Caps. The kids were a little hesitant at first, because of how they look, but once they started to understand it, now they're all on board."
Senior captain Jesse Montez, who plays running back and linebacker, said he was one of those early doubters, but after about a week of using it, he became a fan.
"Everyone kind of didn't like them at first just because of how they look, but I mean, now we see the grown-up side of how much it protects us," he said. "We haven't had any concussions or whiplash-type injuries, and also it strengthens your neck. It's made a big difference for us."
Guardian Caps are all the rage in the NFL and major college football. Almost every NFL team uses them for their offensive and defensive linemen during practice, and schools like Clemson, Penn State and Texas, to name a few, use them for their entire team.
The Guardian Cap, created in 2011 by a company called Guardian Sports, is made of a polyurethane foam. It comes in white, black or camouflage and attaches securely via snaps and straps to any football helmet.
According to the company's website, it reduces the impact of a blow to the head by 33 percent. Montez can't put a scientific percentage on it, but he knows it's making a difference.
"It's funny, I feel like when you get hit, you hear the big pop, but it's not a big pop. You don't feel it. It's like getting hit with a pillow," Montez said.
Senior offensive lineman Gio Guerrero, no stranger to helmet-to-helmet action in the trenches, is also a fan.
"I love it. As a sophomore, I remember getting hit in the head a couple times, and it left me a little out of it for a little bit, but these they really help a lot," he said. "It took a couple days to get used to, but it definitely helps with concussions and … I can't say anything else, but I love it."
A single Guardian Cap can be purchased online for $59, but teams and schools can get a reduced price for buying in bulk. According to Shadow Hills athletic director Michael Walsh, they bought 160 of them — 110 for Shadow Hills student-athletes and 50 more for the Knights' youth football program. The total cost was around $4,500 (just under $30 per cap) with that money coming from fundraising campaigns driven by Esquibel, team parents and the athletic booster club.
Walsh said when Esquibel brought the idea to him, he was all-in, and he's been happy with the decision ever since. He considers it a worthwhile investment.
"More injuries occur during practice than in games, and we are taking steps to ensure the long-term health and safety of our players," Walsh said. "We want to be as proactive as possible to put our students in the best position to compete on the field and in the classroom. I couldn't be more proud of Coach Esquibel for having the vision and rallying the resources."
The team, which has started the season 6-0 after going 1-4 in the spring, has noticed a few side benefits to the Guardian Caps other than player safety.
Esquibel said he believes the caps have helped the kids tackle properly more often. Players no longer lower their heads to make a hit. Also, the device, which weighs around 1.1 pounds, has helped the players strengthen their necks.
Montez said wearing the Guardian Cap all week actually helps on Friday nights. Think of it like a batting donut for a baseball player. You practice all week with this extra weight on your head, and then on Friday nights, you move faster and more freely.
"You feel like your head's more on a swivel, you can see things and react to them quicker. That's what it feels like to me, at least," Montez said. "I think it helps. I haven't seen a negative to it."
And there's one more reason Esquibel likes the Guardian Caps, and this one really makes him smile. It's an excellent selling point for parents.
If a young football player is trying to decide which high school to attend, Esquibel can now boast this extra layer of safety.
"Parents are loving it, loving the fact that we're trying to be as safe as possible for their kids," Esquibel said. "Parents don't want their kids to get hurt, obviously, and we can show them the Guardian Cap and explain it to them and that makes a difference."


Payment: Payments must be received in full before 7 March 2015 UK VAT is not applied to payments made to the UK account. Payments made to the account in Kazakhstan will be subject to Kazakh taxes, Bank commission charges and Exchange rates. All credit card payments are subject to 3% charge. AMEX card payments are not accepted.


text:
Backlight by Kanji Hanawa
21 Dec 2019 2 Comments
by winstonsdad in Japan Tags: 2019, Asian fiction, JAPANESE LIT, red circle minis
Japanese short fiction
Translator – Richard Nathan
I bring you the second book of the red circle series of short novellas from Japanese. Kanji Hanawa was before he retired a professor of French literature having only visited France as a student he has spent a lifetime teaching and in retirement has translated fifteen books from French into Japanese. He has also written a number of short stories and Novellas been listed for the Akutagawa prize twice.He is known for his for exposing the pressures and challenges of modern life in Japan. Here he has used the true story of Yamato a boy who was left by his parents in the woods of the northern Island of Japan and wandered off.
Ishida: "I imagine, don't you think, they will set up the incident cemtre at the foot of the mountain?
Momose:"They will visit the situation. I am a psychologist, but I'm old and not so strong on my feet; nor do I have any children myself. So I'm not sure I can be of much use.But I've actually been to take a look and although they say it;sa mountain, it seems more like a nearby hill.The actual location took me by surprise.
THe opening and getting involved in the case.
The story uses an Ishida a psychologist asked to help out and he is called in by an old colleague Toshiko Momose as they were both at H university. Who wants to Ishida panel of experts helping with the investigation into the disappearance of A a seven-year-old boy who was left as a punishment by his Father as him and his sister and parents that are on the last day of the national holiday and A ios playing up as the family head through the woods of the Northern island they stop and leave him and drive off only to turn and return in a matter of minutes to find A has disappeared they look for him and he isn't to be seen so they have to call in the police as the woods are bear-infested. What we see is Ishida as he is called to give help to the way the case is covered and he lets us know how they are trying to find A as the days go by the two discuss how the west and Traditional Japanese childhood differ and the fact that A disappeared is what has changed as when Japanese child was sent out of a house he would stayed glued to the spot whereas a western child would wander this is echoed in the western tales of children getting lost in the woods. Will A be found how long was he out there?
The statement compiled by Momose and Ishida was circulated to the chairperson and the others, but with a questionable level of comprehension. As a child was concerned, the media was showing some self-control. Even so, overall opnion was shifting, it was being taken much more seriously. More and more people were calling for a search of greatest magnitude possible, even if hastily excuted, with the largest number of people available. As a result there were 300 people in total, both locals and non-locals, forming small search oparties and heading into the area. Despite this, there was no postive news.
Third day and fears and the search increases for A .
This is another great choice as it is a gripping story that highlights changes in Japan in a way the boy should have stayed when his parents left and the curveball of him walking off is the start of the tale. Ishida and Toshiko provide a sounding board for how Japanese is changing,. Also, the way this case was cover and the aftermath this made headlines around the world. They also discuss the history in fairy tales of Children in the woods in western culture. from Grimm and then before that in Perrault's tales. This shows how values change and how Parents are treating the children in Japan. I have three more from Red circle the first two have been very interesting so I hope to finish the rest of them in the new year. Have you a favorite Japanese short story or novella?
Travels with a writing brush edited by Meredith Mckinney
05 Dec 2019 1 Comment
by winstonsdad in Japan Tags: 2019, Asian fiction, penguin classics
Travel with a writing brush( Classical Japanese travel writing from Manyoshu to Basho)
Japanese travel writing
Editor & Translator Meredith Mckinney
Source review copy
I was rather happy to get sent this, especially after earlier this year reading the Man Booker international prize longlist The pine island which is the second book that had a Basho influence the other being the title of Richard Flanagan booker winner book was a nod to Basho. The book contains a thousand years of Japanese travel writing which includes a number of pieces that were translated for the first time.
Works translated into English for the first time:
• Ionushi's Pilgrimage to Kumano by Zōki
• Senjūshō
• Pilgrimage to Kumano
• The Death of Sōgi by Sōchō
• Journal of the Kyushu Road by Hosokawa Yūsai
On we went, past Uta no Mastubara. Pines in untold numbers stood along the shore, untoldages old. Waves lapped at the feet of every one; restless cranes thronged around every branch. Unable simply to stand and gave in wonder, one on board composed this:
Miwataseba Gazing upon thesepines
Matsu no uregeto ni It seems the cranes
Sumu tsuru wa Nesting on every branch
Chiyro no dochi to zo Must take the trees for friends
Omoubera naru A thousand generations old
THis poem doesn't do justice to the actual scene we saw
From Tosa diary a voyage that lasted 55days at sea.
The book has a great intro and translator notes also map for a number of the Journeys which begin in 759 with MAnyoshu which is one of the first works in Japanese collection it has 400 plus poems the few select are set around boat travels around the island seeing things such as cranes. Then in Tosa diaries, we have a female narrator although as it says in the intro we see that a few times the male writer's voice is evident this journey is shown on the first map of the maps in the book from Tosa to Kamakura as they see pines and Cranes but as the narrator says the prose doesn't do it justice. Then as you'd expect we have a pilgrimage piece by Zoki. Then we have a more famous work the pillow book written by a lady in waiting to the empress. Nearly all the pieces in this collection all have the sort poems that five lines long. Another diary of a daughter she is just known just as Sugawara No Takasue's daughter. Then my favorite title of the works dusts dancing on the rafters That came from a Chinese saying related to two singers. I am only mentioning the first half of this wonderful collection it is taken out of Meredith McKinney own journey through classical Japanese writing and her love in particular of how they described travel this covers a thousand years and ends with the man himself Basho with the narrow road to Oku nearly a thousand years after the first piece. as his fame grew he had to travel to meet his followers in his last decade he traveled more than anything.
Kumano e mairu ni wa Hey you pilgrims
Nani Ka Kurushiki What's so hard
Shugyoja yo About the road to Kumano?
Yasumatsu Himematsu it's easy pine of Ysumata
Goyomatsu Princess pine and five-leafed pine
Chisato no Hama and the beach of Chisato
The opening poem from the short selection called Dust dancing on the rafters.
I have often been put off by the great classical Japanese works. But this is an easily accessible work that shows Meredith's talent as a translator. It shows the beauty of Japan where travel through the land is hard due to forest and mountains or had to be done by seeing due to the many islands which means there is much travel writing out there with pilgrimages and ceremonial events and trips we see how the country is so poetic with its pines cranes insects monks and scenery the sea all around them at times. from sleeping on pillows of grass to wishing to be home and among the books a young girl loved. The works mix fact and fiction and the lines of poetry and prose blur here. As the intro says sometimes it is about finding the places here within like in Ise tales which is sent from Mount Utsu which is said to have echoed down the centuries in the journal of travelers along tokkaido who continue to search out the place identified with this scene. This struck me people trying to find a place a thousand years later from a letter enchanting such a great collection I hope we get more from Meredith as she continues her journey. Have you a favorite work of classical Japanese writing?
Stand-in Companion by Kazufumi Shiraishi
Original title – スタンド・イン コンパニオン(原題:代替伴侶)
Translator – Raj Mahtani
I was surprised when Richard from Red circle contact me after the suggestion of one of there translators as I don't review many Japanese novels its works out about two a year over the time of the blog. So to get to have these five slim novellas from some of the best new writers in Japan I couldn't turn the chance time.Kazumi Shiraishi is from a family of writers his father is Ichiro Shiraishi a prize-winning writer and his twin brother is also a writer. He has published a number of novels initially he worked as a journalist and editor for one of Japan's leading magazines. He has had two novels published by Dalkey Archive before this one. It is worth noting with sadness that it was the last work the Raj Mahtani translated before he passed away.
By the time the news of her pregnancy was expected to arrive, though, the snow would have completel disappeared. But then again, such a thing as a pregenancy, in the first place, was impossible, Hayato silently thought to himself. "I somehow have this gut feeling i'll get lucky," yutori had said a few days ago, regarding the trip to the hot-spring resort this time
Right above now, Hyato mised, she must be dropping her shoulders in defeat, while applying a saintary pad between her legs in the toilet at the pharmacy, disappointed at the unreliability of her gut feeling
They try and check every month for the result
Stand in companion is a futuristic tale set in the near future where the world has decided that birth control is need and that things like IVF has been outlawed so we meet a couple Yutori and Hayato a couple who have been trying for a number of years for children we meet them as they do a monthly stop for a pregnancy test to see if his sperm have moved quicker or if the time at the spa has helped her tubes. as this has happened for a number of years we see her move away and then they both decide that they need a new start so they get what is called a stand-in companion of each other but each wants the new companion to have no knowledge of what was the problem with the getting pregnant as they both head of with a new Yutori and Hayato at some point will loser there replacement after ten years on the android laws of this near future.
However, in these past several months, Yutori was gradually fiding it unbearable to see the dark look of disappointment cloud Hayato's face every time
AN Android activated as a Stand-in companion, in accordance with the Stand-in android act, is recognised as having rights completely equal to those of humans. Until just prior to their deactivation by a termination sinal transmitted from the control centre of the Human rights Relief Comittee, at the time their rental peroid expired, an android in this soceity was to be treated entirely as an indivdual – a human being.
I was remind of the deatgh of Rutger Hauer in bladerunner here as he was an android with a short life but had seen so much in his life.
Strangely of all the countries that maybe they don't need birth control, measures in Japan with a growing older generation and shrinking younger generation in the future, it would maybe be one country that would need more children. But these growing older generations are already getting looked after at times by robots that run memory and exercise classes in the old people's homes in such of the larger cities. I saw this over the weekend in a tv show here in the UK. Then we have can an android robot replace a human well in Bladerunner there is the main character played by Sean Young her character Rachel is an android that doesn't know she is an android and this is the sense her the two new stand-ins aren't aware they are stand-ins for each other it is a question of what we need from life babies or companionship. This short book is just 43 pages long that sits with you for a long while after you put the book down. Have you read any of this Red Circle series?
The sound of waves by Yukio Mishima
by winstonsdad in Japan Tags: 2019, Asian fiction, JAPANESE LIT, Japanese literature challenge 12
Original title – 潮騷 Shiosai
Translator – Meredith Wetherby
I have missed Tonys Japan in January last year so was pleased when Belezza said she was moving her Japanese literature Challenge too the first three months of this year. I have been buying but not reading a lot of Japanese fiction in recent years, in fact, Mishima is a writer I have brought a lot of his books. I wasn't a huge fan of the book the sailor who fell from grace with the sea as I found it rather brutal in places. But others said I should try him again so nine years later I have got to him again. He missed out on a Nobel when it went to fellow Japanese writer Kawabata won the prize he was an early mentor of Yukio Mishima.
Boththe lighthouse keeper and his wif had taken Hatsue, the newcomer, to their warm hearts. Just when she was so silent that they were thinking maybe she was not so attractive after all, suddenly she would break into her lovely, girlish laughter; and if she sometimes seemed lost in the clouds, she was also most considerate. For instance, at the end of an etiquette lesson hatsue would immediately begin clearing away the cups they had drunk their tea in – a thoughtful action that never would have occured to the other girls – and while she was at it she would go on to wash the dirty dishes she might find in the kitchen.
Help ful and pretty the girl taken in by the lighthouse keepr and is seen by Shinji for the first time.
I choose this as my next Mishima as it seemed different from the other book by him I have read. Set in what seems to post world war two Japan we focus on a small island and Shinji a young fisherman looking after his mother and brother after losing his father in the war. He does jobs around the island one involves visiting the lighthouse keeper and his wife this is where he comes across a young pearl diver that has come there from a nearby island. Hatsue the girl in question is the girl all the local lads like. she is tanned and as Mishima discusses in detail has wonderful breasts. The two fall in love. It turns out that Hatsue is actually the daughter of Teruckuchi the wealthiest local man that had sent his daughter away to leave his son in charge of his empire as the future heir. But when he loses his son in the war he turns to the daughter he left to grow up as a pearl diver to make sure she marries a man he can then call a son and takes as his heir. He favors another but when he sends the two out on one of his ships Shinji and Yasuo a bitter rival of for the affections of Hatsue he had earlier said Shinji had taken his relationship further than he should of !! who will get her hand and become the new son to her wealthy father?
If Shinji had had more experience with women, as he looked at the naked Hatsue standing across the fire, in the storm encircled ruins, he would have seen unmistakably that hers was the body of a virgin. Her skin, far from fair-complexioned, had been constantly bathed in in sea-water and stretched smooth; and there, upon the wide expanse of a shest that had served for many long dives, two small breasts turned their faces slightlyaway from each other, as thoughabashed, and lifted up two rose-colored buds. Since Shinji r=fearful of being discoverde, had barely opened his eyes, the girl's form remained a vague outline and, peered at through a fire that reached as high as the concrete ceiling, became almost indistinguishable from wavering flames themselves.
Shinji sees her breifly and is grabbed by her body as he sees it in the flames.
This is a classic boy and girl tale boy meets girl falls in love. Then we have the twists to it father figures missing fathers and missing sons Hatsue was abandoned then taken back by her father as he lost his son, Shinji Lost his father in the war. This is also a story that shows how life works in small villages as the gossip cause a lot of problem for the young couple especially when lies are told. The one thing that shone in the description of Hatsue was it must have been a woman that Mishima knew the way he so sexually described the body of Hatsue through Shinji's eyes. This was much 6lighter Mishima than in the previous book a romantic work that shows love can win through in the end. A great first choice for the Japanese Literature Challenge.
Cult X by Fuminori Nakamura
by winstonsdad in Japan Tags: 2018, Asian fiction, crime fiction, JAPANESE LIT, Soho press
Japanese Crime fiction
Original title – Kyōdan X (教団X)
Translator – Kalau Almony
I read this a few months ago and decide I have a flick through it today it was one of those books I read and said got do a review and then life and everything got in the way. Anyway, Fuminori Nakamura is one of Japan's leading crime writers he has won a number of prizes with his books including the Kenzaburo Oe prize one of the biggest book prizes in Japan he has been writing since his early twenties He has had a number of his books Translated into English. The events in this book were inspired by the events that lead up to the Sarin Attack in 1995 in Tokyo and the cult behind it. Strangely as I was reading this in the summer members of that cult were executed in Japan.
"…Cult X?"
What a strange name, Narazuki thought. Like the name of some trashy TV show.
"Have you told the police about this scam?"
"Matsuo-san didn't want to" Yoshida said, lookinf fed up. "Because of whatever that old connection is between Matsuo-san and Sawatari.I don't know the details".
It bega to grow dark outside. Narazaki felt as though the lights inside were growing stronger – manmade lights stretching out everyone's shadow
When he hears about Cult X he also has a feel of darkness drawing in around him !!
This follows one man as he tries to find his girlfriend. Toru Narazaki girlfriend has disappeared off the face of the earth and he is worried enough in the start to hire a private detective to try and find her. He only turns up that a cult is now connected to one-off her addresses. This is how Toru ends up following what Happened to Ryoko Tachibana also she is known as Rina. Toru has an interest in religion he has been attending talks by a man known as Matsuo.this leads to a dark cult called X which Toru is drawn into as we see the philosophy of its leader through lectures and discussions. She is in the groups compound he needs t get there but behind the fence is a world of a cult with power tri[ps sexual activities violence and a leader that has lost it and is drawing his followers near the abyss of something that could end their lives but also of a lot of other people as he has brainwashed them so much. This all unfolds nicely as we follow Toru in the rabbit hole of a cult.
The leader was sitting in the dark. At first the woman thought he was sleeping, but then he made a slight movement, as if something small had gotten caught in his thrat. His eyes open briefly.
She examined his face carefully, but the leader closed his eyes again. It was like he had already forgotten the previous moments discomfort.He kept his eyes closed, even though right in front of him were many naked men and woman with only bath towels covering their bodies.
"Today is Monday," Maeda-Kun said. His voice carried well. He had good posture. He was kind. And he wasn't the only one – everyone here was kind.
The leader and his naked disciples all isn't as it seems here.
This book is a writer question what happened with the 1995 Sarin Attacks and the cult and its leader that lead the attack. It is strange I have listened and seen a number of things about cults in the last twelve months. The last series of American Horror story had a cult as it's storyline this showed how easy it is for ordinary people to get drawn into a cult when they have a few problems in their life. So the fact that Ryoko has a past she hasn't ever talked about with Toru means this secret made her a perfect target for the cult and their Leader as she was damaged in a WayI also listen to a podcast about the Heavens Gate Cult which liked this showed how the Leaders tend to cherry pick the bits of different philosophies they like and mix them to there own end this is what the first part of the book shows is the ideas behind the cult and shows how when they have been brought by the followers they do the horrific events in the later third of the book which lift that dark curtain of the sex and violence and the abuse of power within the Cult it a slow-burning novel that draws the reader in with the last third that is engrossing and horrifies in equal parts. This is a beautiful book as well Soho has made a real effort in the hardback with the Huge X cut in the hardcover showing the devilish illustrated endpapers in the book.
A cat, A man And two women by Junichiro Tanizaki
by winstonsdad in Japan Tags: 2018, Asian fiction, classics, Daunt books, JAPANESE LIT, TRANSLATIONS
Original title – Neko to Shōzō to Futari no Onna
Translator – Paul McCarthy
Source – personnel copy on Kindle
I have been using my Kindle a bit more recently as I had a few books I had brought cheap and want to read this being one of them. Tanizaki is a writer I had to want to feature on the blog for a while. He was one of the best writers of the mid 20th century. He himself was a translator working a lot during his life translating the Epic Tales of Genji into modern Japanese. He also was known forthright intimate nature of his writing. This is a lesser work but for me a very personal insight into a family life.
Shozo repeated the same thing over and over again. He would give her a fish, then himself a little drink, and calling 'Lily' would raise the next prize high. There must originally have been some twelve or thirteen mackerel on Shozo's plate, each about two inches long, of which he himself had actually eaten perhaps three or four. For the rest, he had simply sucked out a bit of the vinegar dressing before giving the flesh to Lily. 'Ohh-ohh … owww! That hurts!' Shozo let out a shriek: Lily had leapt onto his shoulders and dug in her claws.
Shozo even feeds the cat more than himself
The book as the title suggests is about a Man Shozo, he is on his second marriage that is the two women referred to in the title of his first and second wives. There is also Shozo Cat Lily. The story focus on the relationship between the four characters. This happens when the first wife asks for Lily the cat back Shinako a seamstress by trade hasn't got over losing her husband. She knows that Lily the cat may bring him back to her. Now his current wife isn't a fan of Lily this is shown when she isn't happy when she cooks 13 pieces of fish for her husband and he gives most of it to the cat. They even share the bed together at night. Who will win this power battle between the two women the rather lazy husband and the cat Lily?
Now, Fukuko was a cousin of Shozo's; and, given the circumstances under which she became his wife, there was no need for her to worry about pleasing a difficult mother-in-law. So from her second day of married life, she did just as she pleased in everything. All the same, she could hardly stand by and watch her husband trying to wield a kitchen knife, so in the end she made the marinated fish for both of them, though under protest. To make matters worse, they had been dining off mackerel for five or six days running. Then, two or three days ago, it had struck her: Shozo wasn't even eating the food he'd insisted on having, ignoring his wife's complaints; instead, he was giving it all to the cat! The more she thought about it, the clearer it all became: the mackerel were small, with little bones, easily chewed; there was no need to fillet them, and they could be served cold; and one got a lot for one's
He married a distant relative but his mother made life hard and now the cat and ex aren't helping either !
This is really a mans ode to the cat. Lilly is the one character from the book I'd like to meet. Shozo is a lazy man that has lost one wife. But end with a younger model but at the end of the day is more into his cat than his wife even sharing the bed with the Cat then we have Shinako a perfect example of the scorned wife she wants to use Lilly as a pawn in her game to get back her man from the younger wife. She also loved this tortoiseshell cat and her man. This is one lonely lady that wants something back into her life. Fukuko his current wife has to find her place with him in there married life and somehow keep Shozo and keep him happy even if this means he gets to keep his cat! There is all of human life here love, loneliness, marriage, divorce and one man and his cat. This is a recent reissue from Daunt books and shows why it is good to bring lesser works by great writer back especially when like this they have a certain timeless feel to them. I haven't read enough by him to say if this is the best entry book but I read it in a night and it brought a smile to my face and made me think of Winston and Merlin my two ex-pet dogs.
by winstonsdad in Japan Tags: 2015, Alantic books, JAPANESE LIT, Kenzaburo Oe
Death by water , is meant to be the last novel by the nobel winning writer . I have reviewed him once before on the blog his book personnel matter , a story of a father and his disabled child. Here we see a son trying to work out who his father was, whilst dealing with his own writers block.The book is driven by kogito Choko the main character in the book , he is a nobel winning writer, but is suffering from writers block at the moment. He is trying to write about his relationship with his father.Then he is given the chance to get a glimpse into his father as his sister offers him, their fathers red trunk which inside may contain the answers Kogito Choko is looking for .An insight into the drowned father he never really knew.This along side a theme of the writer himself and his disabled son . Then an avant-garde Theater group doing his works.What we have is a novel about legacy. There is a red trunk of his fathers things he has to open to find out about him and the drowning in 1945, also this may help his writers block on The drowning novel.
Nevertheless, I did make a stab at writing the drowning novel once, when I was in my midthrities. I had already published The silent cry, which seemed to prove that I had attained a certain degree of proficiency, and that accomplishment gave me the confidence to dive in at last.
I dashed off a rough prologue and sent it along with a number of related notes to my sixtysomething mother, who was living in the forest of Shikoku where I grew up. I enclosed a letter saying that in order to continue working on this book, which would focus on my father.
Choko had tried this his legacy book once before .
Oe has tackled a number of great storylines here in this novel, writers block especially after winning a big prize it is noted by this reader that kogito is a Nobel winner, for me I often feel writers have struggled, after winning the big one whether it is the Nobel prize or even the booker, ask yourself which booker winner has written a book better than the one that won the prize(barring Mantel which is an actually a parts one and two of a trilogy ) same for Nobel winners , so kogito struggle with writer's block is so much the story of writer wrestling to find a the story in this case a father son relationship , but also feel as thou he is breaking new ground. But as I say Legacy overhangs this will this book the drowned novel as it is called be his defining work as he wants it to be the key to his life?
Anyway in the rough draft of the prologue to the drowning novel, I wrote about something that had happened in 1945 – an incident that, at the time I had been dreaming about on a regular basis
Choko had dreamed since writing the piece in his midthrities of writing the drowned novel about his father but had got stuck.
Then there is the second story thread in the book at the most important one in this reviewers opinion the father son relationship , the motif of the missing father has long been a story in books and films. From Freud with his father complex through Lacan talking of absent fathers.The going of rails absent father kids like Sebastian in Brideshead , to the kids that try to prove the absent father wrong. Then there is also the juxtaposed relationship of him and his son disabled like Oe's own son. Is the trunk a metaphor for his father but also his son the case containing a legacy his fathers but also maybe he has his own trunk that he has to leave for his son.
"There work they're doing is very post modern" Asa explained "Needless to say, their choice of a retro-sounding name was completely intentional. They borrowed their stage names. Suke and kaku from a couple of raffish sidekicks in the period drams Mito Komon, which had been running on television since these two first opened their eyes as infants."
"sometimes fans of Suke &Kaku's postmodern skits will come to a public performance by the caveman group and they'll laugh uproariously at all the wrong places " masso said wryly "It can be quite unnerving for everyone concerned – not just the actors but the rest of the audience as well "
THe caveman group tackle Choko works in a fresh postmodern way .
Then there is the Legacy of a writers work. We see through Choko working with the avant-garde stage group the Caveman group, they have been staging his works. This is a way of him making a legacy but also the strange way they do his works may link him to his son thus forming a Legacy with him. I really connected with this novel a touching end of career novel from a great writer, thinking of his life but also his past present and future!! Beautifully translated by Deborah Boliver Boehm whether this is Oe last novel it is a great insight into the writers struggle when writing but also dealing with their own lives.
Translation – Deborah Boliver Boehm
14 Aug 2014 16 Comments
by winstonsdad in asian fiction, Japan Tags: 2014, Colorless tsukuru tanzaki and his years of pilgrimage, Colourless Tsukuru tanzaki and his years of pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami, harvill secker, JAPANESE LIT, Murakami, Philip gabriel, TRANSLATIONS
Original title 色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年
Shikisai o motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to, Kare no Junrei no Toshi
Translator Philip Gabriel
"Fragments came floating into his mind like bits of wood drifting down a stream, and he fished them out and fitted them together."
Elizabeth Gray Vining an american writer who taught the Japanese Emperor .Source
As I posted yesterday the first chance I got after it had come out I couldn't resist getting the new Haruki Murakami novel ,especially as all I had read about this book made me sure it would be one of his I would really enjoy and I did .As my mum who visited last week remind me I have never been one to wait and mull over the pleasures in life ,no I always ate my pack lunches on school trips early ,ate snack at the cinema before the film had start and now I'm similar with books I really want to read so at Half one this morning I finally closed the cover of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his years of Pilgrimage with a big smile of satisfaction on my face .Now I usually in this opening section mention about the writer as I have reviewed Murakami four times before I feel the need to skip this just mention his books now only need his surname to sell the on the cover and he is one of the few writers in translation that transcends place and nationality like Proust, Tolstoy ,Camus and Hesse for example where people seem less nervous in trying them out as writers
Something must have happened ,something had taken place while he was away to make them create this distance .Something inapproaite ,and offensive .But what it was – what it could pssibly be – he had no clue
He returns the first summer after college and things have change
Any way on to the book the story is that of Tskuru Tazaki ,he is a 36-year-old salary man ,his job which he loves is visiting and designing stations for the railway system ,which is great for Tsukuru because for as long as he can remember he has always loved train stations .He is single live in a small kondo he inherited and on the whole is and average man just getting through his life .Anyway he meets a women called Sara ,she like him and wants to know more about him and his life anyway we hear the story of the five, so to speak ,this is the story of Tsukuru two boys Akamatsu (red pine ) and Oumi (blue sea ) and two girls Shirane (White root ) and Kurono (Black field ) and of course from the title we know that Tsukuru name isn't connected to a colour no his means to build which given his job seems very apt .Anyway the five of them are best friends at high school until one day they all say they don't want to talk or hear from Tsukuru again .This leads Tsukuru to his current lonely life and the move to Tokyo where he can be invisible .Sara listen and sees how this one event set of the following years of his life and his current place in the world and persuades Tsukuru to go back and find this four friends and what had happened to make them cut off all communication all those years ago ! A journey that see him go back to his home town and even to Finland .As he uncovers the past and the lives his former friends have had since the split .
"What exactly do you do in the civil engineering department ? The student asked him .
"I build stations " Tsukuru replied .
"Station ?"
"Railroad stations .Not tv station or anything ."
"But why railroad stations ?"
"The world needs them ,that's why ", Tsukuru said ,as it were obvious
Tsukuru had always loved station he sketch and looked at them as a student .
Now I enjoyed Murakami last book but said at the tim e that it felt too Murakami almost as thou he was throwing every trait and trick of his writing into the pot .This has a number of his usual traits but is a lot more straightforward ,the book is really a retelling of a quest novel in the modern age ,Tsukuru is on a quest for the answer to what made his friends so suddenly drop him all those years ago .The other part of the title his years of pilgrimage refers to a piece of music by Franz Liszt Années de pèlerinage that one of the girls used to play on the piano ,this tune also is a recurring motif through out the book as we see it crop up in different versions as Tsukuru discovers his past .Another Murakami theme is given a slightly different twist here and that is the love triangle which here becomes a love pentagon ,as there are three boys in the group and two girls and Tsukuru says he has had erotic dreams about both girls in the past and was attracted to them both for different reasons when they were friends .A return to form for me this book sold a million in its first week in Japan and is very much a book for his target market in Japan the middle-aged Salary worker even the length means it easily can be read on the commutes to work that many salary workers have to make on trains which of course is the last theme of the book ,I've heard Murakami talk in the past about his love of trains and railways .I was reminded of Betjamin and his love of Victorian stations and the way that seeped into his poetry ,in this book .
Have you read this or do you intend too ?
Botchan by Natsume Sōseki
by winstonsdad in asian fiction, January in Japan, Japan Tags: January in japan, japan, JAPANESE LIT, Natsume Sōseki
Orginal title 坊っちゃん
Translator J cohn
Another for Tony's January in Japan project and another of those older Japanese writer I hadn't got too before now ,so this time it is Natsume Sōseki .He was a writer from the Meiji period of writing ,he studied both Chinese and British literature .He wrote poems Haiku and Novels .He also left an unfinished book when he died .He is also on the 100 yen note in Japan .
In January of the sixth year after my mother's death , the old man had a stroke and died ,That april I graduated from a private middle school ,and in June my brother graduated from his business school ,He took a job with some company , and was assigned to their office in Kyushu ,I still had to finish my education in Tokyo .My brother announced that he was going to sell of the house and all our parent processions before heading off to Kyushu .
How Botchan end up as a teacher a lot of bad luck .
Botchan is the name of title character of this book ,we meet him as he is finishing his education .But the path he had in mind is cruelly cut when his parents die and their home is sold by his older brother and he has to take a job as a schoolteacher in the very traditional area of Japan Matsuyama .So he starts to teach maths ,but is drawn into a world of tricks at the hands of the pupils as they see him as an easy target .Add to this a bunch of strange fellow teacher that have a lot of nicknames which Botchan gave them when he arrived in his new job they are ,the porcupine ,red shirt and the principal the badger .We see this young man torn between the modern Japan that he left and the old values and customs he is surround with here .Also he faces moral questions as things happen around him ,as he has been brought up with very strong morals and is finding them challenged .
I got here yesterday .It's a nothing place .I'm staying in a 15 mat room .I gave them a 5 yen tip and the lady who runs the place bowed down so low she scrapped her forehead on the floor .Last night I couldn't et to sleep .I dreamed that you were eating those sweets ,bamboo leaf wrappers and all ,I'll be back next summer .Today I went to school and I gave all the teachers nicknames ,The principal is the badger .The assistant principal is redshirt ,The English teacher is pale squash ,the other maths teacher is the porcupine ,and the art teacher is the hanger -on .I'll write you more about it later .Goodbye !
Botchan maybe shows his youth with the nicknames after his first day in his new job .
I loved this and can see why that over a century after it came out it is still highly popular in Japan and outside Japan .Botchan is a young man on the brink of manhood ,he is facing taking the right path for him or for what is expected for him? He reminded me a times of a later character from english fiction and that is the Paul pennyfather in Evelyn Waugh's decline and fall, they share same reason of bad luck to end up being a teacher and both find the school and teachers they are surrounded with very strange at times .But also like Naomi which I reviewed earlier this month it tackles the changing face of Japan the traditional Japanese world and the modern Japanese world .This was also based on the writers own experience he spent three years teaching in the same region as Botchan was a teacher .
Have you read this or any book by Natsume Sōseki
The restaurant of love regained by Ito Ogawa
by winstonsdad in January in Japan, Japan Tags: Food based lit, Ito Ogawa, January in japan, JAPANESE LIT, TRANSLATIONS Japanese fiction
Orginal title 食堂かたつむり
Translator – David Karashima
Source – library
Well for my fourth book for Tony's January in Japan event I decide to take a dive into something different I had seen this book in my library as it stacked next to Yoko Ogawa .I had looked at it and thought it was maybe not the sort of book that appeals ,but with recent talk of not reading or translating enough women into English I decide to give it a whirl .Ito Ogawa is a graduate of Classical Japanese writer ,she has been a writer since 199 writing poetry ,as a lyricist of her husbands band fairlife ,this book was her debut novel .
I came home from my part-time job at the Turkish restaurant to find my apartment empty .Literally everything gone .The television ,the washer ,the fridge .the lights ,the curtains .Even the netrance mat had been taken !
The opening lines as Rinko returns home to find her life has taken a turn for the worse .
The restaurant of Love regained is the story of a twenty-five year old girl Rinko ,she is living in the city with her boyfriend when she returns home one day to find her house empty her boyfriend has gone and left her with nothing .She faces a tough decision that is to return home to the mother she ran out on ten years earlier .She does and starts to mend her broken relationship with her family at the same time she opens a very small special restaurant called the snail ,this is a single table that serve the food the customer wants prepared specially every day a different feast that the customer loves to eat .As a knock on effect strange things start to happen to the people who visited the restaurant they start to have things go right for them after eating a meal at the snail .
In the beginning , many customers had been attracted by rumours of the snail as the place where dreams come true .nowadays ,people were returning because they simply wanted to eat here again .
The snail starts to become popular with the people who use it .
Well I liked this one not loved it ,it fell into that place I call lite magic realism the tinges of magic realism recalled like chocolate for water ,Chocolat and such .I'm not saying I didn't enjoy this book but I wasn't left with the desire to read her books again .But I did want to read a cook book if she did a cookbook at any point ,she does daily recipes on her website in Japan and that is the one thing that did shine through in this book is the writers obvious love of food .The is a touching feeling of family coming together again the bond between mother and daughter being rebuilt was very well written .But over all I would say this is a mid point book in the books I ve read in that I mean it has its good points but also its bad points .I must note this is the 400th book reviewed on winstonsdad as well .
Have you read books that you feel not so strongly drawn too for a change ?


Discussion in 'iPod touch' started by russell1256, Mar 21, 2011.
How many would buy a touch with 3G access? If would have data charges, but no phone charges.
You already can - it's called a Sprint Peel. A MiFi sled that wraps around the 2nd and 3rd Gen iPod. Makes it a little bulky but beats carrying a separate MiFi device in your pocket. And I can connect up to two devices, so my WiFi iPad is also Internet connected on the run. And I still pay less than a third of what a typical iPhone user does (with 200MB base plan). Yes, a poor man's iPhone.


text:
With this MLE turn, now we make the road while walking: our task at Nakem and at the UH Ilokano Program until 2015 (Continuation)
by Dr. Aurelio S. AgcaoiliPosted on April 17, 2010 June 23, 2011
We did not realize that our small acts of resistance at Nakem Conference, if you can call it this way, were acts that take their energy from other people doing the same thing for their own people and for others, such as Myles Horton for Highlander School, and Paulo Freire for his theory and practice of liberatory education, his 'pedagogy of the oppressed.'14 We realized later on that this rendering of the sense of nation of the smaller 'nations' within a nation-state into something obsolete and unnecessary is a tactic of all nation-states to centralize and consolidate their full control of the personal and collective lives of their peoples, so that in their full control and consolidation, they can project that the life of their own nation-state has primordial value over the life of that nation-state's constituent indigenous communities. Philippine historical narrative is replete with this official positioning, with Manuel Luiz Quezon preferring a Philippine nation run like hell by Filipinos to a Philippine nation run like heaven by other people but that nation that is in his mind was patterned after the 19th century nation-state of Europe particularly England, Germany, France, and Spain—nation-states all that consolidated power by invoking oneness minus plurality of cultural lives and that took up the task of implementing an officially sanctioned 'national' language.15
A Practice of Denial, A Practice of Confrontation
What we have for long in the Philippines, even as we sanctified the nation-state project and even as we give entitlements and privileges to other languages, is the continuing denial that this country, that this homeland, is not only the homeland of a few but a homeland of the many that is us, the many and varied ethnic groups—each individually unique—that are called Filipinos, yes the many that are called by other names such as Ilokanos, Cebuanos, Hiligaynons, Bicols, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, Chavacanos, Ivatans, Kalanguyas, and so forth.
It is this denial of our cultural and linguistic diversity that has set us into full speed in turning every one of us Filipinos first, with our cultural citizenship fully denied in lieu of that political citizenship.1616 Aurelio Agcaoili, "
Studies of the Amianan: Towards the Production of Amianan Knowledge, A Critical Introduction,"
in A. Agcaoili, ed.,
Nakem: Essays in Amianan Knowledge
(Honolulu: UHM Ilokano Language and Liter
ature Program, 2008).
And in that full speed—in that mad rush to 'Filipinize' us, we have taken to task the promoting and entitling and privileging of a 'national' language that we know—or least some of us know—was based on a lie, 'a criminal act'17—and then leaving out each of our other—now systemically 'othered' languages in the cold, marginalized, calling them an obstacle to our unity and solidarity and progress. Some uninformed scholars even had the temerity to always look to Japan for some model of national language use as the engine for their economic growth and development, forgetting that Japan, not as diverse as the Philippines culturally and linguistically, had to resort to tactics of assimilation, and thus, tactics of denial, to all other Japanese of non-Japanese cultural and linguistic orientation.
We know that this ideological orientation paved the way to an educational practice that reflected the political dynamics of nation-state making that did not take into full account the contributions of our diverse cultures and languages in the making of the political reality of a nation-state. We did not take into account as well that repression can never become the premise of a real democracy, one that articulates and makes as a key virtue the recognition of the absolute rights of people to freedom. What went out of service in the scheme of things is tolerance even as the practice of discrimination by the newly inaugurated Philippine nation-state went on full steam. We forgot that "the practice of discrimination belittles as much as brutalizes people."18 In the institution of a national language—and in the establishment of an educational regime based on that assumption of a national language as the instrument for the making of people into political citizens—we instituted discrimination, legitimized it, and effectively forgot the virtue of tolerance, the very foundation of democracy, as it "teaches us to live with difference and learn from it, to live with those who are different without considering ourselves superior or inferior."19
Posted in Salaysay, The Ilokano Language


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