Saturday, March 31, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Snow Flurries on a Clear March Morning
I felt like I was in the circus this morning. Riding to class with an umbrella in my hand while snow slowly drifted from the clear sunny sky with gypsy accordian music in my ears.
I've finally found a topic for my final translation project. I am working on portions of Yoshimasu Gozo's collection of poems titled "Blue Sky," and I will post parts of it as I go through it. Exciting isn't it?
I've finally found a topic for my final translation project. I am working on portions of Yoshimasu Gozo's collection of poems titled "Blue Sky," and I will post parts of it as I go through it. Exciting isn't it?
A few Pictures from Kyushu
Nagasaki Bay
Statue at the Peace Park in Nagasaki
Waiting for the bus outside Nagasaki
Holding the clouds back
The ocean
Unzen "hell" springs
The start of the climb to Mt. Fugen
Going down
Shimabara Castle
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
C.H.A.R.M.
I haven't mentioned it yet, but I have been volunteering with the NGO CHARM (Center for Health and Rights of Migrants) since January. I have been helping at their STD testing center on Saturdays near Umeda in Osaka. It was established to offer free testing and counseling services to the foreign community, but the people that come are mostly Japanese citizens. I participate in the translation between the doctors or counselors and the patients. Not only is it great Japanese practice, it provides a fascinating take on the problems of the Japanese medical community: the lack of medical options for migrants, healthcare limitations, no sexual education in public schools... Needless to say, the difficulties of translation. I attended a translating seminar last Friday that was run by CHARM who have a great network, encompassing the unoften heard (among others) Nepalese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Malay, and Spanish. Everyone who works there is so outgoing and compassionate, great models of loving, altruistic people.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Some Poems
水瓶に 浮かべる蟻の 影はない
An ant floating in a water jar has no shadow
向かいなる 山のお寺の 鐘の音が 川霧透ぐり 岸に響けり
The mountain temple's bell that filters through the river mist, echoes off the bank
This translation needs help.
An ant floating in a water jar has no shadow
向かいなる 山のお寺の 鐘の音が 川霧透ぐり 岸に響けり
The mountain temple's bell that filters through the river mist, echoes off the bank
This translation needs help.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Kyushu
I just returned from Kyushu, the southern-most of the 4 main islands. My friends William, Ted (aka Shimizu) and Megan joined me and on this trip, which started Sunday morning. We had originally planned to race from Fukuoka to Kagoshima (cities on opposite ends of the island) without using trains, but we soon decided against this for many different reasons. Instead we headed down the west coast to Nagasaki.
We spent 2 days touring the landmarks and musuems, including the several that cover the atomic bombing of the city. So much death and destruction, it was horrific just going through one musuem. Nagasaki bay is a beautiful inlet surrounded by heavily forested hills.
The third day, we boarded a local bus that would take us to a cycling trailhead further south down a peninsula. We had planned to rent bikes once we arrived there, but the bike rental hut had closed a year before. So, we got back on the bus, taking it further down the peninsula. Luckily we found a beautiful stretch of coast, where we explored and hiked around for a few hours. It was wonderful to smell the ocean, and walk its shores. We were blessed with a crisp, sunny day, so we made the most of it. (pictures to follow)
We got back into Nagasaki around 5 and headed straight for the Dutch East India Company's old outpost, Dejima. Once a man-made island off the coast of Nagasaki, where the Dutch were the only westerners left after the Japanese bakufu had kicked "all" foreigners out of Japan in the 17th century, it is now part of Nagasaki proper being surrounded by other fake-land. That was a long sentence. I enjoy the grammatical freedoms that Japanese allows, in the sense that you can almost indefinitely extend a sentence.
On a related note, I feel like I've lost what little sense of humor I had before. Or maybe I should say that I feel I've become more serious. I know this is all rather insipid, but its something that I think about. And this is a place for me to write my thoughts. That reminds me of a quote by Dr. Takashi Nagai, a doctor who was a victim of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki but also is noted for his early studies of the effects of atomic bombing radiation. "It is said that a person who cannot laugh is the most pitiful, but more than this, I think a child who cannot cry is worse."
I don't know what to say after that. But I had a fun springbreak.
We spent 2 days touring the landmarks and musuems, including the several that cover the atomic bombing of the city. So much death and destruction, it was horrific just going through one musuem. Nagasaki bay is a beautiful inlet surrounded by heavily forested hills.
The third day, we boarded a local bus that would take us to a cycling trailhead further south down a peninsula. We had planned to rent bikes once we arrived there, but the bike rental hut had closed a year before. So, we got back on the bus, taking it further down the peninsula. Luckily we found a beautiful stretch of coast, where we explored and hiked around for a few hours. It was wonderful to smell the ocean, and walk its shores. We were blessed with a crisp, sunny day, so we made the most of it. (pictures to follow)
We got back into Nagasaki around 5 and headed straight for the Dutch East India Company's old outpost, Dejima. Once a man-made island off the coast of Nagasaki, where the Dutch were the only westerners left after the Japanese bakufu had kicked "all" foreigners out of Japan in the 17th century, it is now part of Nagasaki proper being surrounded by other fake-land. That was a long sentence. I enjoy the grammatical freedoms that Japanese allows, in the sense that you can almost indefinitely extend a sentence.
On a related note, I feel like I've lost what little sense of humor I had before. Or maybe I should say that I feel I've become more serious. I know this is all rather insipid, but its something that I think about. And this is a place for me to write my thoughts. That reminds me of a quote by Dr. Takashi Nagai, a doctor who was a victim of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki but also is noted for his early studies of the effects of atomic bombing radiation. "It is said that a person who cannot laugh is the most pitiful, but more than this, I think a child who cannot cry is worse."
I don't know what to say after that. But I had a fun springbreak.
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