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Happy New Year

2012-01-19T00:25:00.000+09:00

Happy New Year!
明けましておめでとうございます。

It's past 2 weeks into 2012.
もう2012年の第二週間目です。

I have been lazy about money making related things - spent the past 3, 4 weeks doing things that pleased no one but just myself.
まえの三、四週間に、お金のためにのことをやる気がなかった。自分好きなことばかりやりました。

Naturally, it was quite difficult to show down right away, after 4 extremely busy months. 4 busy months of keeping myself up for my part-time teaching job, my freelance design illustration job, & the charity book for 311 Earthquake and Tsunami.
自然に、四ヶ月間すっと忙しかったの後、最初にはゆっくり生活になれなかった。四ヶ月間に先生のアルバイトと、デザインとイラストの仕事、と震災のチャリティー本、三つのこと一緒にやれと、生活のバランスは難しくなった。

But nonetheless, now I could finally reach the kind of quietness that I feel comfortable in my life. I could spend time with the people I like and also my girlfriend.
でも、いまは、自分の生活、心地よい静かなになった。やっと、好きな人々と彼女と遊ぶ時間があります。

I believed I have made another major step on the development of my personal life and my drawing life in 2011.
2011 年にやったことは、自分の人生にも、私の絵の人生にも、大切な一年になったと思います。

I believe 2012 will be the year for myself to take a step back and have a more sustainable approach.
2012年には、ペースはもっとゆっくりにして、もっと持続可能なやり方をすると思います。

涙の行方、震災から６ヶ月 - 宮城ボランティア体験

2011-10-18T16:23:00.003+09:00

涙の行方、震災から６ヶ月 - 宮城ボランティア体験
中文版 - here
English - here

「手の平の中の重み」

被災地の汚臭や衛生問題についてのうわさは耳にしていました。そして七月に被災地にようやく辿り着いた私は過去四ヶ月に渡りずっと外に置いてあったであろう食べ物にハエなどの虫が集る光景を目にしました。だけど、臭いだけで言うならばインドのデリーの方が強烈かも知れません。（インドはインドで大好きですが。）

私が参加したボランティアグループは宮城県石巻市付近にある漁村に到着しました。被災地の状態はニュースで見ていたそのままでした。私はこの土地に関して何も知らず、この村との個人的な繋がりもないので、津波の前のこの場所がどんなところだったのかを私は知りません。いずれにせよこれが今の状態であり、もしかしたらずっとこういう場所だったのかも知れません。

倒壊した家、海に飲み込まれ、三角の屋根の一部だけが水面から覗いている家。
水の中に見える破壊されねじ曲がった舗装道路の粉々になった白線が別世界への入り口のように佇み、多くの場所で海と陸の境目が曖昧になっています。

漁村へ向かう途中、がれきの撤去作業がほぼ終了した地域を通り過ぎました。目の前に広がる、何もない風景。目を凝らしてみると地面に家の土台だったものが地面に残っているのが分かります。その風景は遠くにある山の麓まで続いています。

災害後、被災地から届く映像や画像は私の心を痛め続けました。しかし、実際に被災地に足を運び、自分の目でその光景を目にすると、その哀しみが消え去り、この光景を見て浮かんできた涙も止まりました。

その代わりに「この村のために何かをする時が来たのだ」、と考えるようになりました。

東京で寄付金を募るために友人たちと一緒に作成したチャリティー用の絵はがきを取り出し、ヘルメットに貼り付け、絵はがきが運んでくれた支援、世界中の友達から受けたサポート、悲劇の中で起きた数多くの物語について思いを巡らせます。

漁村には二日ほど滞在し、その間、住宅や倉庫のがれき撤去などの作業を行いました。

漁師の暮らしがどういうものなのか私はよく知りません。漁網と針以外の多くの漁業用の道具がいったい何のために必要なのかは私には見当も付きませんでした。

倉庫の中には大量の紙ゴミや粉の入った袋などが積み重ねてあり、それらは海水に浸され、巨大な米袋のように重くなっています。

業務用のハンマーを振り下ろし、テーブルやドアなどをばらし、簡単に移動出来るサイズに崩していきます。

どのくらいの時間そこにいたのかは分からないのですが、ある一件の家で作業していた時、痩せたおばあさんがやって来ました。彼女は庭に整理されて置かれた物を確認し、家の方へと足を向け、家の周囲をベルトのように取り囲んでいる縁側に腰を下ろしました。自分のような新参者はその場所の存在自体に気付いていなかったのですが、そこは庭と目の前にある海の両方を一度に視界に捕えることが出来るスポットでした。そして彼女の着ていた服と座る姿勢と彼女の背中を受け止める家とはあまりにも完全に調和していました。

ボランティアの人たちが倉庫からモノを運び出し、あれこれ壊してはトラックに積んでいくという作業を彼女がどんな気持ちで眺めていたのかは私には分かりません。ですが、そこに座って海を眺めながら魚網を直したり、夫やその他の家族が海から戻ってくる姿を見つけたり、一緒に笑ったり、喧嘩したり、孫が庭で遊ぶ姿を眺めたり、近所の人とうわさ話をしたりという彼女の日常が以前はそこにあり、津波以前の彼女の人生を私は自分でも知らないうちに想像していました。

漁村に居た二日間では、被災者の個人所有物が次々と見つかりました。本、雑誌、装飾、服、靴、皿、箸、スプーン、カセットテープ、ビデオテープ、レコード、ノートパソコンなどです。

それはまるで被災した人たちのそれぞれの物語ががれきの中から断片的に明らかにされていくようでした。ある現場での撤去作業では、平成十八年の日付が刻まれた幼稚園児用のトロフィーと子供用の絵本やおもちゃを発見しました。

トロフィーを手に抱え、泥や砂を拭うと出来れば考えたくない光景が脳裏をよぎります。この子がどうか幸運でありますように、と会ったこともない、男の子か女の子かも分からないその子に向かって私は思わず祈りました。

他のボランティアの人たちも作業中に時折思わず手を止め、見つけたものを数秒凝視しています。ヘルメットとゴーゴルとマスクで覆われ、顔の表情は読み取れないならがも、彼らの頭の中に浮かんでいる感情は身体のリアクションからはっきりと分かります。

かつて壁であった石や海水が染み込んだ毛布や布団、たたみなどを動かすには数人で力を合わせて作業する必要があります。犠牲になった人たちの思い出のモノたちを私たちは一つ一つ手に取って運んでいったのです。

次第に身体も頭もこの地域の重さや津波にさらわれたものの重みに少しずつ慣れ始めました。新品同様だったであろうモノでも泥と砂と海水のせいで全て古びて見えます。がれきの真ん中に立ち尽くして、何を感じるべきなのかすらよく分かりませんでした。

時間が空いたときに周りにいる人と共有出来る冗談や空気中をところ狭しと舞い続ける奇妙な外見の虫の話をすることくらいしか思いつきませんでした。

奇妙に思えるかも知れませんが、壁やドアを破壊し、ゴミの山の頂上にモノを積み上げていく作業は日常生活で募ったストレス解消にもなりました。

以前は災害について考えると気持ちの整理が付かなくなっていたのですが、今回の旅を通じて、がれきから木、鉄、石、プラスティック、燃えるゴミ、燃えないゴミを分別するように絡み合ってしまった思想の糸が整理されていくのを私は感じていました。

身体はよく出来た仕切りのように思え、自分の考えをリセットするのにとても役立ちました。

「人の思い出を保存する」

ボランティアトリップの最終日の作業場所は体育館でした。がれきの中から発見されたモノをきれいにする作業です。

全ての個人所有物は体育館に並べられ、服、掛け軸、バックパック、ハンドバッグ、領収書、免許状、スポーツ用品、トロフィーなどカテゴリーごとに分類されています。それらのモノたちは被災者が取りに来る日を静かに待ち続けているのです。

とりわけ写真の数が多く、体育館の半分くらいが写真で覆われていたといっても過言ではないほどでした。

家族写真、結婚式、卒業式の写真。最近の写真は恐らくほとんど全てデジタル写真になっているのであまりなく、写真に映っている髪型やファッションの多くは70年代、80年代のもの。

この日の作業はバックパックやハンドバッグをきれいにすること。ボランティアスタッフはブラシや歯ブラシを使ってこれらのアイテムに付着した泥や砂を拭っていきます。ほとんど全てのバッグは空の状態ですが、時折、現金や身分証明書などがバッグから発見され、その場合、チームリーダーが身分証明書に書かれている名前を紙に書き写し、それを取っ手の部分にくくり付けていきます。

他のグループの人たちは写真を水に付け、指で泥を落とす作業を行っていました。

体育館の外で作業を行い、一つのバッグの作業を終え、次のバッグを取りにいく時だけ中へ入ったのですが、体育館の中に入ると写真の山を確認しているおばあさんがいたのが偶然目に止まりました。おばあさんは虫眼鏡を手に写真を一枚一枚確認しています。

「あ、これは！これは私の！」と言う彼女の声がしました。彼女は両手で持った写真を胸の中に抱え込み、目が半目開きになっていました。笑顔が彼女の顔に浮かび、低い声で言いました。「ありがとう。ありがとうございます。」

彼女は目からこぼれ落ちる涙を拭いながらも微笑み続けました。

それはかけがえのない大切な何かを失ったことに対する涙。そしてそれは失ったと思っていたかけがえのない大切な何かを見つけたことに対する涙。私にとってそれはここでやっている作業にどんな意味があるのかが目に見えた瞬間でした。

東京へ向けて出発する前にリーダーの男の人がこんな話をしてくれました。「日本では被災地の片付けを手作業でやります。がれきを掘り返し、被災者にとって重要なものが見つけ出せるようにです。機械だけでやると確かに作業はもっと早く進められるのですが、その場合、全てが失われてしまいます。それこそ被災者は本当に全てを失ってしまうことになるのです。」

被災者の思い出や大切な宝物はがれきの下にあります。

あの女性の笑顔を見ることが出来たのはとても幸運でした。わずか三日間の滞在で、この旅の意義を理解することが出来たように思います。

過去に四川やハイチの地震、カトリーナによる洪水などの自然災害が起こった時、私はいくらかのお金を寄付しただけで、その後の生活は何事もなかったかのようにただ続いていきました。

強烈でしかも長時間に渡った今回の地震の日、私は自宅で床に膝を付き、ドアにしがみついて地震が収まるのを待ちました。頭の中が空っぽになり、次第にそれは東北での絶え間ない哀しみや福島の原発事故からの恐怖心で埋め尽くされていきました。そして周囲の人や自分の流す涙に直面しました。まるでページがあちこち抜け落ちた本を強制的に読まされているような気分でした。この全てが何を意味するのかが理解出来ず、この本をもう置いてしまいたい衝動に何度も狩られましたが、その度にこれは自分にとって重要なレッスンである、と自分に言い聞かせ、私は先を読み進みながら抜け落ちたページを探し続けました。

地震の後の数ヶ月間は自分の感情や恐怖心を意識的に制御する必要がありました。あれこれ作業に没頭しながら、どこかに隠れているかも知れない答えを探し続けました。そして東北に足を運ぶチャンスが来るのをただ待ち続けたのです。

東京から宮城に向かう途中で福島、相馬、宮城などの地名が書かれた道路標識がバスの窓のから見えました。（今回の震災前にはいずれも知らなかった地名ばかりです。）バスが石巻に到着した頃には、心の奥底にあるブラックホールにようやく辿り着けたような気がしました。

このボランティアトリップで何を学んだのか完全には理解出来ていません。ですが、抜け落ちていたページが少しずつ水面に向かって上昇してきているのを感じます。

東北に来たのは他でもなく自分自身のためです。

旅を終えた後、今回の震災の記憶をより直接的に受け入れているようになった自分に気が付きました。

私は体育館で見かけたおばあさんに「ありがとう」を伝えたかったです。彼女の笑顔は私の勇気になりました。彼女が津波以後にどんな思いをしてきたのかは私には想像することすら出来ません。

「次の日本へ」

ボランティアトリップのある日、午後二時くらいに、震度5.5の地震が起こりました。近くの山へと全員避難する必要があり、津波の危険はありません、という通知が出るまでそこで待機しました。

村に戻り、再び作業を開始しようとしたのですが、大きな地震がやってくるかも知れない可能性があるという役所側の判断により、結局全員また避難することになりました。ボランティアスタッフはしぶしぶ作業の手を止めます。作業を早く切り上げるために宮城までやって来た人は誰一人いません。

この二日間で私たちはこの手の肉体労働には休憩が不可欠である、ということ、この作業が終わるにはまだ後数年かかるであろう、ということを思い知らされました。目の前にあるがれきを眺めながら座っているのはさながら我慢比べのようでした。

その前の二晩、ボランティアスタッフ同士で一緒に座り、飲んだり話したりしていたのですが、この晩に限ってはその時間が少し長すぎました。

今回のボランティアトリップのようによく知らない環境で、様々な人たちと話していると自分がバックパッカーだった頃のことを思い出します。

ボランティアの参加者は日本全国からだけでなくヨーロッパやアメリカから駆けつけた人もいました。スイス人のトーマスはそのうちの一人。彼はもともと旅行代理店で日本をターゲットとしたマーケティングマネジャーをやっていたのですが、地震の後、日本行きのツアーの予約は全てキャンセルとなり、新しい予約も入りませんでした。彼は仕事を辞め、北海道から九州までを歩いて旅することを決めたのです。人に明るいイメージとメッセージを送りたい、と彼は願っています。

また20歳の男の子と19歳の女の子のデンマーク人のカップルも居ました。

アメリカ人の親子も参加していました。息子は16歳でした。

自分の国で流れる震災のニュースが悲観的なものばかりであることに全員がフラストレーションを感じていました。多くの場合、状況を誇張したレポートがされているのが現状です。ですが、世界が日本に今注目し、多くの人が被災地に救援のために駆けつけているのはそのイメージによる部分が大きい、ということもみんな同意するところでした。

日本人の方で、ボランティア作業にすでに何度も参加している人もたくさんいました。70歳になる栗原さんはボランティアに参加した外国人グループに感謝の言葉を述べ続け、夕食の後にいつもビールをごちそうしてくれました。

会話を交わした女性の方はもう四度目の参加だと教えてくれました。彼女の二人の娘は福島の原発近くの病院で三ヶ月ほどボランティアをしているそうです。

宮城から東京に戻るまでおよそ七時間かかりました。もうすぐ誕生日の人がいたので、ケーキと飲み物をレストエリアで買い込み、バスの中でささやかなパーティーを開きました。

宮城に居た時、友人の一人が岩手でボランティアをしていることを知りました。他にもこのボランティアトリップの間に様々な話を聞くことが出来ました。その中でも「石巻市」を英訳すると「Rock ‘n Roll City」になる、というジョークは私のお気に入りです。

東京に戻った後、自分の部屋にあるモノを眺めながら、そのモノたちに付随する物語や歴史について思いを巡らせました。そしてがれきの山の中から私のモノをボランティアの人が見つけ出す場面を頭の中に描いてみました。

戻って来てから、今回の体験を数人（特に東北出身の人たち）に話すと、全員が日本を助けてくれてありがとう、と感謝の言葉をかけてくれました。

彼らが示してくれた敬意に私も感謝しました。私自身もそれによって救われた気がしたからです。ですが、東北に行ったのは自分に対しての気持ちに収集を付けるためだったことも自分で分かっています。今回の旅では自分が与えることが出来た分よりも受け取った分の方が多かったように思います。

東北の救済のために私よりもはるかに献身的なボランティアの人たちがたくさんいました。より意味のあることをやっている人たちも大勢います。私の貢献はほんの些細なものに過ぎません。

311の地震、津波、そして原発問題がどれほどショッキングで重大な事件であろうとも、最も大切なのは今回の震災から日本が再び立ち上がるまでの過程です。

東北が一日も早く復興することを願って止みません。
そのうちまた東北を訪れるつもりでいます。

Kachun
2011年9月11日
翻訳者 Miles Yebisu (facebook)

日本．再出発 — 在日港人311地震後感
【著】22位在日港人
三聯書店（香港）有限公司
http://www.jointpublishing.com.hk/books/

Kachun はこの本に寄稿した一人です。

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As Tears Go By, 6 months after – 宮城縣義工後感 (中文版)

2011-09-11T14:34:00.004+09:00

[As Tears Go By, 6 months after – 宮城縣義工後感]
English - here
日本語 - here

[雙手裡的重量]

聽說過災區滿佈惡臭，衛生環境惡劣。
七月中親身到達現場，可看到四個月以來長期暴露在室外的食物，粘附大量蒼蠅和不知名的昆蟲。
坦白說，記憶中在德里旅行時，看到的有些地區情況比這災區還要差。(雖然如此，我是很喜歡印度。)

我參加的義工團隊所到地方是宮城縣石券市旁一個魚村。

那時候看到的就如新聞所導中看到的災區一樣。

對這魚村沒有記憶和感情。不知道這裡在海嘯之前景色是怎樣。第一次來到就是這個模樣，就像這裡一直都是這個模樣。

一些房屋倒塌在地上，一些房屋沉在海洋裡，露出三角形屋頂。
海水下，斷裂扭曲的混凝土馬路和白色虛線，像是指示一條可通往另一個世界的道路。
多處地方，陸地和海洋的交界變得模糊。

抵達魚村之前，經過了一段已經差不多被清理好的地方。那時候，眼前看到的只是一塊大空地。是細心留意後，才發覺到在地上留下那連綿無數的房屋地基。一直伸延到遠處雙眼看不清楚的山脚下。

自災難發生以來，每次從相片或螢光幕中看到這些情景的時候，內心總會感到一陣悲哀。

但是當自己確實到達現場時，那種悲哀感不見了。之前那不能自制的淚水也消失了。

只有想到，「終於到了為這地方做一點事的時候了。」

把頭盔拿到手裡，貼上從災難發生以來，和東京朋友們一起努力籌款用的明信片。回想他們和世界各地朋友對自己的支持。想起這一段日子裡一些故事。

有兩天工作是在這魚村裡進行。主要工作是去清理幾個魚民的家和他們的魚工場。

我不清楚魚民的生活，在清掃途中除魚網和魚勾之外，看到很多不知道是什麼的道具。

魚工場內有很多紙做雜物和一包一包不知道是什麼的粉末。因還是濕透了海水，變得尤其沉重。
魚工場內也有很多巨型卓子和門，要用大槌把它們打成碎片，方便搬運。

在其中一個魚民的家裡工作期間，不知道從何時來了一位白髮纖瘦婦人。她在前園裡，檢查了一些放在那裡整齊排列的雜物後，走到大屋去，在那環繞屋外的走廊坐下來。
一處我這外人沒有注意到，是這屋子裡最能夠瞭望前園一切和遠處海洋的角落。

她的服飾、坐姿和她身後的屋子，像一幅油畫般溶為一體。

我一邊協助清理，一邊在想她是懷著什麼心情，看著我們這些義工，把門一道一道打碎，把前園和魚工場內的東西當作垃圾般丟到小型貨車尾廂。

只是個人推想，可能她平日就常坐在那處看著面前的海洋，修補魚網。這樣地看著丈夫和家人捕魚後回家，和大家說笑或爭吵。看著孫兒們在前園玩耍和鄰居說說別人是非。

一直在想像她海嘯前每天的生活。

那幾天從瓦礫中不停地發現到災民個人物品 - 書本、雜誌、家庭佈置、衣服、鞋子、碗碟、匙筷、卡式錄音帶、錄影帶、黑膠唱片、手提電腦等等。

雙手在瓦礫中，不停地掘起這一家人每天日常生活。不停地掘起災民一家人由老年人到小孩的歷史。

在其中一堆瓦礫中掘起來的物件中，有一個刻著平成十八年幼稚園獎狀(現為平成二十三年) ，一些兒童畫冊和玩具。

手裡握著那獎狀，把污泥和沙抹去。腦海裡產生了很多不必要的幻象。

能做的，就只有在心裡，祝這小孩安然無恙。

有些時候，自己也會看到其他義工凝望著在瓦礫中找到的東西，握在手裡，停頓了數十秒。
帶著頭盔、眼罩、和口罩的義工們，從身體語言中看到各人的個人感受。

一張張濕透了海水的被毯、被褥、塌塌米，一磚磚石牆碎塊，要多人一起才可搬動。
自己能夠拿在手裡，是一件件災民的私人物品。
身體和內心慢慢地適應，被海嘯淹沒或沖擊過的東西，所帶來的重量。

海水、污泥和沙，把很多再新的東西，都變成陳年舊物一樣。

站立在這些瓦礫中，有很多不明白的感覺。

是有時間去想事情的時候，也只會想到，和週邊的人說一些笑話。或是去討論，那些突然飛出來的各種畸形昆蟲。

坦白說，能夠這樣用大槌把物件和石牆拆毀，把雜物用力地拋往垃圾山頂處，使到自己在日常忙碌生活中得到的壓力，得以舒緩。

自己也在這次義工過程中，把之前每當想到這場災難，而變得雜亂無章的思緒，像處理災區垃圾般把木、鐵、石、塑膠、可燃燒的、不可燃燒的，一件一件分類。

是用體力去作比喻法，把腦海裡很多的東西，去重新調整。

[要守護的記憶]

義工工作最後一天，到了一所體育館去清潔在災區發現的私人物品。

體育館內，整齊地把各樣物件分類 - 衣服、字畫、背包、手袋、收據、証書、體育用品和獎狀等等。各種各樣的物品等待著災民認領。

尤其是存放相片的地方。占有面積是體育館一半以上。

有家庭照，結婚照，畢業照。可能近代照都是digital 的關係，看到的大部份是七、八十年代服飾和髮型。

自己那天主要是去洗刷背包和手袋。義工們用掃或牙刷把沙和污泥抹去。背包和手袋中的東西大部份也已被分類，只是極度偶而會有物主個人証件或金錢掉出來。領隊也就會依著証件上姓名寫到一張紙上，然後貼到那個背包上。

另外一旁有數人在水盆中以手指清洗照片。

清潔工作都是在室外進行。只會在把洗淨的背包或手袋，放回原處，再拿另一個時，才會進入體育館裡。

巧合地有一次，在進入體育館裡時，看到一名身型頗為肥胖老婦人。她用著一個放大鏡，去細心檢看一張又一張照片。
她突然地道，「啊!這…這是我的! 是我的! 」然後雙手把那張照片按在胸口上，一邊眯起雙眼地笑著，一邊以較少的聲量說道，「真的太好了…謝謝。謝謝。」然後一邊保持著微笑，一邊刷去眼角的淚水。

因為失去了不能填補的東西而流淚。

因為失而復得那不能填補的東西而再次流淚。

看到這個情景，自己才明白這幾天的工作是為了什麼。

從東京出發前，和帶隊談話中聽到，「在日本，清理災區的方法，是要用手在廢墟裡，找可能對災民來說是很重要的東西。如果是只用機械快速地去清理現場的話，就真的把什麼也拆毀。災民就真的什麼也沒有了。」

在廢墟中藏著災民的記憶，藏著他們的寶物。

自己是很幸運地，能夠看見這位婆婆開心的一幕。來當義工只是三天，就直接地看到一些成果。

一直以來，在看到重大天災新聞報導時，像四川和海地地震，Katrina水災，都只是捐款後便繼續自己的生活。

但這一次地震，發生那天，像不會停下來的強烈震度使自己不由自主地跪在家裡的地上，雙手扶在門框，腦海一片空白。然後是看著災情的哀傷和核恐慌。看到很多別人和自己的淚水。看著這一切，像是被強迫地閱讀著一本缺少了數頁的書，不能理解。有不想再看的時候，但這是對自己重要的一課，選擇了繼續閱讀下去，找尋那缺少了的頁數。

地震發生以來，是以意志去控制自己的憂慮和情緒。一直在做著很多事情希望可以找到答案。耐心地等待可以抽身到東北的機會。

從東京前來石券市途中，看著因為這次災難而認識到的地方名字，福島，相馬，宮城，一個又一個的路牌，隨著巴士的窗邊經過。最後終於到了石券市，像是在象徵著自己到達那內心深處的黑點。

真正在義工旅程裡，學會了什麼還沒有全部消化下來。只是意識到，在這次義工旅程中，那缺少了的數頁，逐一逐一浮現。

自己到東北來當義工是為了自己的個人感受。

也確實地在這次義工旅程之後，開始更完整地正視這一段記憶。

「謝謝，婆婆。」她的笑顏給予我勇氣。

我很難想像她在海嘯以來經歷過什麼。

[To the Next Japan]

義工工作其中一天，大約下午二時，發生過一次五點五級地震。大家也要先走到山裡去暫避。等待收到「沒有海嘯來臨」通知後，才回到原來工作崗位。
但是當各人準備再繼續工作的時候，因為當局擔心會有更強烈的地震，全數義工被安排撤離現場。

義工們也得無奈地放下手上工作。是不甘心，這樣千里迢迢來到災區不是為了能夠早點收工。

在過去兩天，大家也是知道這種體力勞動的工作，是需要足夠的休息。也是明白災區裡的清理工作是需要時間。但是在每次中途休息的時候，坐在一旁，看著眼前的瓦礫，這就像是在考驗自己的耐性一樣。

雖然之前大家在晚上，也因為沒有什麼事可做，常坐在一起喝酒聊天。但是那一天可這樣做的時間變得更漫長。

這次義工工作中，也有點像以往在流浪的時候一樣。身處在自己完全不相識的地方裡，遇到各種各樣的人。

除了來自日本各地的日本人外，也有從歐洲和美國來的義工。

其中一名來自瑞士叫Thomas。他本來是一個旅行社營銷經理，專注日本旅行團。但因為這次三重災難，原本已經預約好的旅客，都把旅程取消。四個月裡一個到日本的預約也沒有。所以決心把工作遲去，在今年8月開始，從北海道開始徒步走到九州。希望可以藉此帶出一些關於日本的正面信息。

另外，是一對二十和十九歲來自丹麥的情侶，和來自美國父子兩人，兒子只有十六歲。

各人也不滿自己國家新聞機構，對日本這次災難，只有誇張式和負面報導而感到氣憤。但是也同意因為這樣，才引起全世界注意和對這事件關心，使到自己決定親身到來一趟。

遇到的日本人中，也有一些已經多次來到東北當義工。

其中有一位七十歲的栗原先生，每一天晚上吃飯時，也不停地說感謝我們這一些外國人，前來東北當義工，而且請喝啤酒。

有一位中年婦人，她已經是第四次來到東北當義工。她自己兩個女兒，也自願地到了福島核電站附近的醫院，當義工三個月。

從宮城回到東京需要七個小時車程，大家也因為其中一人生日將近，在中途休息期間購買了蛋糕和酒，在車上為他慶祝。

也在facebook 上得知道，自己在宮城縣的這一段時間，有一位朋友在岩手縣當義工。

在這旅程中聽到很多的故事中，一個自己比較喜歡的笑話是，石券市可以叫作「Rock and Roll City」。

回到東京家裡，看著家裡各樣雜物，想起它們的來歷和一些故事。想像這些東西被埋在廢虛裡，被義工發現的情況。

也在正常生活中，和朋友說起這一次經歷，自己都會受到他們的稱讚。尤其是東北出身的，特別感謝我為他們老家做了一件有意義的事情。

自己十分感謝他們的好意。被讚美是一種良好感覺。只是，自己是明白，到東北去，是想自己好過一點。也在這一次經歷中，我得到的比付出的要多。

而且，是看見到有更多比自己更努力的義工，有更多人為東北做著更有意義的事情。自己所做的是極其緲少。

無論地震、海嘯、核電事故是多震撼或多姿多彩，這場災難中最重要的部份，是日本、東北之後如何從新再一次站起來的過程。

祝，東北早日康復。我會再來的。

Kachun
Sept 11th, 2011 東京恵比寿

日本．再出発 — 在日港人311地震後感
【著】22位在日港人
三聯書店（香港）有限公司
http://www.jointpublishing.com.hk/books/

Kachun 是這書中二十多位作者之一

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As Tears Go By, 6 months after – Miyagi Volunteer Experience (English)

2011-09-11T14:32:00.058+09:00

"As Tears Go By, 6 months after – Miyagi Volunteer Experience"
中文版 - here
日本語 - here

"The Weights in the Hands"

I had heard of the bad smells and hygiene problems in the disaster area.
I finally made my way there in July and saw foods which had been sitting outside for the past 4 months, covered with flies and various kinds of bugs, although the smells in some parts of Delhi were even worse when I was there before. (Don’t get me wrong, I love India.)

The volunteer group that I joined arrived in a fishermen’s village near Ishinomaki, Miyagi.

The disaster area was the same as the one I saw on the news.
I didn’t know this place, and I had no personal connections with this village. I didn’t know what it had looked before the tsunami. This was the way it looked now, and it might always have been like this.

Some houses were collapsed, some sunken in the ocean, showing only their triangular roofs.
Beneath the sea surface, a broken and twisted paved road with dashed white lines was showing the way to another world.
In many places, it was difficult to tell the borderline between land and ocean.

Before we arrived at the fishermen’s village, we passed by an area where the clearing was almost done. In front of my eyes was just a wide open area. It was only after I looked more carefully that I could see the endless number of building foundations still there on the ground, spread out across the field to reach the base of mountains in the distance.

Pictures and videos of the disaster area had constantly saddened me since the disaster happened. but as soon as I was physically there, seeing it with my own eyes, that sad feeling was gone. The tears that this scene used to put in my eyes had stopped as well.

I only thought, “It’s finally time to do something for this village.”

I took out the charity postcard that my friends and I have been using to raise money in Tokyo, and stuck it onto my helmet. I thought of the support I had received from them and friends around the world, and I thought of the many stories that happened during that chaotic period of time.

We spent 2 days in this fishermen’s village, cleaning up houses and warehouses.

I didn’t know much about fishermen’s lives. Besides fishing nets and hooks, there were many other tools of their trade that I had no idea what they were.

There were piles of paper trash and bags of powder inside the warehouses. They were still soaked with sea water and weighted like big bags of rice.

We had to use heavy-duty hammers to break up tables and doors so that they could be moved easily.

While we were cleaning one of the houses, I didn’t know for how long, a skinny old lady arrived. She checked into the things that were nicely organized and placed in the front yard, then proceeded to the main house. She sat on the wooden platform/corridor that went like a belt around the house: A place that I, a newcomer, hadn’t noticed – from there, you could see the front yard and the ocean ahead of you.
Her dress and the way she sat fit the house at her back perfectly.

I could never know exactly how she had felt while watching volunteers moving things out from the warehouse, breaking things apart, and tossing them onto the back of a truck.

It’s just my own imagination that there’s where she used to sit while looking at the ocean and fixing fishing nets, watching her husband and family members coming back from fishing, sharing laughter or fighting with them, watching her grandchildren playing the front yard, exchanging gossip with her neighbors.

I kept on thinking what her life must have been like before the tsunami.

During the two days that we were at this fishermen’s village, we continuously found victims’ personal belongings – books, magazines, decorations, clothes, shoes, dishes, chopsticks, spoons, cassette tapes, video tapes, records, laptop computers, etc. etc.

Our hands were unfolding victims’ lives from the debris, unfolding their history.

At one site that I was cleaning at, I found a trophy for a kindergarten child dated "Heisei 18th year" (5 years ago), a couple of children picture books, and toys.
Holding the trophy in my hand, wiping off the sea mud and sand, I thought of images that I really didn’t want to think of.
The only thing I could do was to wish the kid the best of luck, even though I have never met him or her.

At times, I could see other volunteers staring at something they found, and pausing for several seconds.

Everyone’s faces were covered with helmets, goggles, masks. But their feelings were clear through body reactions.

Rocks and stones from broken walls, sea water soaked blankets, futons, and tatamis, they all needed a few people together to move.
In my own hands were personal belongings of numerous victims.
My body and my mind slowly adjusted to the heaviness in this area, the weights from the things that the tsunami had swamped.

Even for the newest items, sea water, mud and sand made them look old.

Standing in the middle of the debris, I didn’t know how I should feel about it.
And when I had time, I could only think of jokes to share with the people around me, or to talk about all these strange looking bugs that the air was filled with.

It may seem strange, but breaking walls and doors, tossing things up to the top of trash mountains, all helped me to get rid of the stress from my everyday life.

My mind used to tangle up every time I thought of this disaster. Throughout this trip, I found myself organizing my tangled mind like separating debris into woods, metals, rocks, plastics, burnable, and unburnable items.

I thought of my body as a great divider and it helped to reset my mind.

"Keeping Others' Memories"

We went to a gym during the last day of my volunteer trip. Our job was to clean up personal belongings found from the debris.

All the personal items were nicely placed in the gym, and they were well categorized – clothes, calligraphy screens, backpacks, hand bags, receipts, certificates, sports equipment, trophies. They were all sitting there waiting for victims to pick up.

Especially pictures, they were enough to cover half the gym.

Pictures of family gatherings, weddings, graduations. Probably because pictures of recent days were all digital, the hairstyles and fashions in almost all the pictures were from the 70s and 80s.

My job that day was to clean up backpacks and hand bags. Volunteers used brushes and toothbrushes to remove mud and sand from the items. Almost all the bags were emptied. Only on a few occasions, did money or IDs come out from the bags. If that did happen, the team leader would copy the names on the IDs onto a piece of paper. He would then wrap it around the straps.

There was another group of people cleaning pictures in a pool of water, rubbing dirt off with their fingers.

We did our cleaning work outside the gym, only going inside when we finished cleaning one bag and went to grab another one.

Just by chance, one time when I was inside the gym, I saw an old lady going through piles of pictures, looking through one picture after another one with a magnifying glass.

Then I heard her saying, “Oh…! This…! This is mine!” She then held the pictures against her chest with both hands. Her eyes went half open half closed. She continued in a lower voice with a smile on her face, ”Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

She kept smiling while rubbing tears off from one corner of her eye.

There were tears for having lost something important that could never be replaced.

There were tears for having found the important things that she had thought were lost forever.

At that moment, I thought I began to understand what all the work was for.

Before we took off from Tokyo, in a conversation I had with another leader, I heard, “In Japan, the way to clean up a disaster area is to use our hands, to dig into the debris and find things that may be important to victims. If we use only machines to quickly move everything away, everything would then be destroyed. Victims would then have absolutely nothing left.”

Victims’ memories were buried under the debris. Their treasures were there under the debris.

I was lucky enough to be able to see the lady’s smile. I was there for only 3 days but understand the meaning of this trip.

Whenever a natural disaster happened before, the earthquakes in Sichuan and Haiti, the flooding in Katrina, I had just made some donations and continue my own life.

But the day when this earthquake happened, it was strong and long enough that I was on my knees at my place, holding onto the door arches. My mind went blank. Then there was the continuous sadness from watching what happened in Tohoku and the fear from Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis. I saw many tears of others and my own. Watching all these, I felt as if I was being forced to read a book with missing pages. I couldn’t understand what it all meant. There were times I wanted to put down this book. But I thought to myself: this was an essential lesson for me. I chose to keep reading and started looking for the missing pages.

It was a conscious effort to control my emotions and worries over the past months since the quake happened. I kept doing different things, hoping I could find the answer. I patiently waited for the chance to come to Tohoku.

On my way from Tokyo to Miyagi, road signs of Fukushima, Souma, Miyagi, (names of places that I didn’t know of until after this triple disaster) showed up one after another on the window of my bus. When our bus finally arrived in Ishinomaki, it was as if I finally reached the black hole deep inside my heart.

I still couldn’t fully understand what I have learned from this volunteer trip. But I could see the missing pages slowly surfacing.

I came to Tohoku for myself.

And after the trip, I found myself looking at this disaster memory more directly than before.

“Thanks,”Something I wanted to say to the old lady I saw in the gym. Her smile brought me courage.

I could never imagine what she had gone through since the tsunami.

"To the Next Japan"

One day during the volunteer trip, at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, a 5.5 earthquake happened. Everyone had to go up to the mountain and wait until the “no tsunami warning” notification came.

We went back to the village and were about to pick up our work again. But the officials were afraid that bigger earthquakes could be coming. Everyone had to leave the area.
Volunteers unwillingly stopped their work. No one had come all the way to Miyagi to leave work early.

In the past 2 days, we all knew rest was important especially for this kind of painstaking work. But sitting waiting while watching the debris in front of my eyes, it was a patience test.

For the 2 nights before that day, many of us had been sitting around, drinking, and chatting. But that evening, the time we could do that was a bit too long.

This volunteer trip somehow reminded me of the backpacking days - I was in a very unfamiliar environment, meeting and speaking with people with different backgrounds.

Besides volunteers from all over Japan, there were also a few volunteers from Europe and America.

One of them was Thomas, from Switzerland. He used to be a marketing manager for a travel agency that focused on Japan. But since the earthquake happened, all the Japan tour reservations got cancelled, and there was no new booking since. So he decided to quit his job and starting from August of this year, began to walk all the way down from Hokkaido to Kyushu. He hoped this could help bring positive images and messages to people.

And there was a couple from Denmark, the guy 20, the girl 19.

Also, there was a father and son from America. The boy was only 16 years old.

Everyone was upset by how news from their own countries only showed the negative side of this disaster. And quite often, the reports were irresponsibly exaggerating the situation. But everyone also agreed that’s the reason why the whole world was looking at Japan and brought them over to disaster area to help.

There were many Japanese I met who have done volunteering work more than once.

Mr. Kurihara, a 70 year-old man, who kept on thanking us, a group of foreigners, who came to help. He was also always buying us beer during dinner.

Another woman I talked with was already in her fourth time doing volunteer work. Both of her daughters were now volunteering in a hospital near Fukushima nuclear plant for 3 months.

It took about 7 hours to come back to Tokyo from Miyagi. Since one person’s birthday was nearby, we bought a cake and drinks from a rest area and had a little party on the bus.

While I was in Miyagi, I also found out that a friend of mine was doing volunteer work in Iwate.

There were also many other stories I heard during this trip. The joke that I quite like was, if you translate “Ishinomaki” into English, it could be “Rock and Roll City.” (in Kanjis, “Ishi” is rock, and “Maki” is roll.)

When I was back in Tokyo, I looked at all these random things I had in my sitting room, thinking of their stories and histories. I pictured a scene of volunteers finding my personal items in a big ruin.

Since I came back, I have talked to a couple of friends about this experience ( especially to the people who were originally from Tohoku), they all thanked me for helping their homeland.

I was thankful for their compliments. They made me feel good about myself. But I also understood that, I went to Tohoku just to make myself feel better. And during this trip, I got more than I gave.

Besides, there were many more volunteers who were devoting themselves to helping Tohoku, much harder than I did. There were many more people doing something much more meaningful. What I did was small.

No matter how explosive or eventful the 311 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant crisis were, the most important part of this disaster was the process of Japan standing up again.

I hope Tohoku will get well soon. I will go there again.

Kachun
Sept 11th, 2011
Tokyo Ebisu

日本．再出発 — 在日港人311地震後感
by 22 HK people living in Japan
Joint Publishing (HK)
http://www.jointpublishing.com.hk/books/

Kachun is one of the 20+ writers of this book for charity

****************************************************************

pre-Reality

2011-08-14T04:52:00.002+09:00

pre-Reality 展覧会開催します。

pre-Reality exhibition begins is here!

Date: 08/17 – 09/03 (Holiday 20 & 21 & 28)

Place: Ebisu Lav (Ebisu Minami 2-3-10)

Event: Live Drawing by Moemi Suzuki on 08/18, 18:00 START!

ぜひ来てください！
Hope to see you there!

Presented by kachun.jp
Special thanx to Yuichi Yamada
******************************************************************

An exhibition that I wanted to run since last year, as a graduation gift to the students in the high school I am teaching at.
この展覧会は、旧年からやりたいでした。一個卒業生にプレゼントあげるつもりでした。

I was hoping to have it in April, 2011. But the earthquake, and then scheduling problem, we had to push it back until just this month.
今年四月に開催したかったけど、大地震とか、スケジュールの問題とか、八月だけ出来ました。

One of the students is already in New Zealand beginning his new college life.
生徒一人もうニュージーランドの大学へ行きました。

Since I started teaching in a Japanese high school, I was amazed by the artworks that Japanese students made. (I was jealous as well.)
日本の高校で教職に就いてから、生徒人々の高いラベル作品にびっくりした。（ちょっと羨ましい。）

I was also reminded how I used to just spend hours drawing whatever I thought was cool.
自分高校の時、何時間で、好きな絵ずっと描くのシーンも思い出した。

I am sure at one point in the future. Many of them will be running exhibitions of their own works. But I just hope this exhibition would give them a jump start.
生徒皆さんの人生の中に、もちろん自分で展覧会すると思いますけど、この展覧会から多分なんか勉強するの事できる。

As to me, they are the first group of students that I taught in Japan. Maybe this exhibition would bring me a meaningful message.
私には、この生徒だちは、私日本始めて来た時、first year の生徒です。多分、この展覧会、私なんか勉強できることがあるかな。

[PV] “Something to Believe in” by Relish

2011-06-28T21:35:00.003+09:00

I am more than happy to announce the release of “Something to Believe in” by Relish (from North Ireland)
やった！ようやく新しいミュージックビデオがリリースされました。「Something to Believe in」by Relish （アイルランドより。）

I already forgot when it was completed – probably around the end of 2009. And final mixing probably finished around the beginning of 2010.
このアニメーションいつ作り終わったかもう忘れちゃいました。、多分2009年終わり前。最後のミキシングは大体 2010年1月に終わったかもしれません。

“Something to believe in” was one of the many songs I was listening in my head during the devastating disaster in Japan 3 months ago.
三か月前、震災が起きた時、頭の中でさまざまな曲が流れました。その一つは“Something to believe in”という曲でした。

I dug into the storyboard and re-read the notes I wrote there. Here to summarize my thinking process of this animation dated 2009.03.26.
僕はそのアニメーション用のスケッチブックを見返した。ここからはそこに書かれていたことの要約。日付けは2009.03.26。

“…if a person never ever gets lost or confused,
「もし困ったことが無い人間がいる、」

And if this person never ever thinks of choices,
「その人間は他の選択肢を考えた事も無く、」

And if this person never ever sees the possibilities lying on the paths other than the one he/she has chosen,
「自分が選んだ以外の道の可能性は信じていない。」

That person doesn’t need anything to believe in…”
「その人間は信じることの必要はない。」

That’s the reason why I chose one of the busiest intersections in the world, Shibuya crossing, as the stage for my character to be living in.
その条件とともに、アニメーションの舞台は世界で一番忙しい渋谷のスクランブル交差点、そしてそこに生きているキャラクターにしました。。

Also with other elements to cope with other things Relish want to say in the song.
そして、Relishのメンバーたちの表現したい事にも対処しました。

Hope you enjoy this animation.
皆さん、よろしく！

Music & Words by Relish (http://www.relishmusic.com)
Animation by Kachun (http://www.kachun.jp)

タマネギサムライシリーズ Onion Samurai Series

2011-05-08T18:57:00.001+09:00

******************************

MAY 6th, 2011 - the Birth

******************************

↑タマネギボーイ Onion Boy

↑タマネギサムライ Onion Samurai

**********************************

MAY 8th, 2011 - the Growth 伸びた!

**********************************

第二回募金

2011-05-05T20:16:00.000+09:00

Once again, thank you everyone for your generosity and support!
また、皆さん、ありがとうございました！

For the 2nd round, we have raised 94,800yen. (hand delivered to Iwate Rikuzentakata City by Mr. Suzuki Yosuke)
第二回募金の全額は 94,800円です。（鈴木陽介さん岩手陸前高田市に送りました。）

The total of 2 rounds = 226,776yen.

Thanks Captain Suzuki Yosuke, Tom Walker, Danny Katz, and Satoru Tagawa for their great efforts!

Round 3 will now begin.
第三回の以降も続ける予定です。よろしくお願いします。

第一回募金

2011-04-02T18:06:00.000+09:00

Thank you everyone for your generosity and support!
皆さん、ありがとうございました！

For the 1st round, we have raised 131,976yen.
第一回募金の全額は 131,976　円です。

Here is the details;
募金の詳しくは、

Lav + Charity Concert + Postcard
76,116yen

Internet
55,860yen

Special Thanks to Danny Katz, Satoru Tagawa, and Akira (Punto)

A Big Applause to my teammates, Yosuke (Lav) & Meg
そして、チームメート、陽介(Lav)と恵美、お疲れ様でした！

We will continue our 2nd round locally at Lav Ebisu.
第二回の以降も恵比寿 Lav で続ける予定です。よろしくお願いします。

Once again, thank you very much.

Taipei Music Animation をアップしました

2011-03-23T22:39:00.001+09:00

Finally! It’s here!
やっと出来た！

2011 new animation “Taipei” (by Danny Katz) is available online!
新しいアニメーション “Taipei” (by Danny Katz) をアップしました！

Hope you like it!

Taipei by Danny Katz (http:www.dannykatz.com)
Animation アニメーション
by www.kachun.jp

Thanks everyone for coming to the charity live/”Taipei” release party amid all these craziness going on past week. Plus quite an aftershock during the reception.
先週色々なことあったり、レセプションの時、結構余震もあったのに、皆もチャリティライブ・アニメーションリリースパーティーに来て頂いてありがとうございました。

And thanks everyone for their generosity! We still don’t have the real figure yet, but judging from the money outside of the donation box, you all have contributed for about 40,000yen.
皆さんのおかげで約４万円分の売上げを募金に充てさせていただく事が出来ました！

The most important of all was the sight of smiling and laughing.
一番大切なことは、皆の笑顔でした。

Also, thanks Danny & Satoru for their live performance. When listening to their rehearsal, I saw all my trouble thoughts went down a river and disappeared in the horizon. Live music came so much more powerful at times like this.
そして、ダニー君とサトル君のライブに改めてありがとう！リハーサルを聞いていた時、自分の困っていた気持ちが川に流れて、地平線に無くなっていく感じがしました。久しぶりにライブミュージックの力を感じることができました。

Also, thanks Lav & Yosuke Suzuki for donating part of the sales on the night plus all the charges.
そして、Lavと店長である鈴木陽介君にありがとう！リリースパーティー時チャージの全額と売り上げの一部を募金に寄付します。

Also, thanks to all my family members and friends overseas for supporting me.
そして、海外にいる家族と友達へ、応援してくれてありがとうございました。

The Show Must Go On!

2011-03-19T16:58:00.000+09:00

Music Animation Release Party Tonight from 6:30pm at Lav.
今夜恵比寿ラブでミュージックアニメーションリリースパーティーです。１８時３０分から。

Map to Lav - http://www.val-up.com/lav/map/

All the cover charges of and money received from the sale of kachun.jp products (postcard) during the release party will be donated to Japan earthquake and tsunami relief fund.
そのリリースパーティーでもらったチャージ料と僕の物販（ポストカード）と売り上げの全部をこの地震の募金にあてるつもりです。

Please consider your safety.
気をつけて。

The Show Must Go On!

Event Details 詳しく
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191714984202136&index=1

[募金] “Positive” Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief Fund Project

2011-03-19T04:17:00.003+09:00

Until March 28th, Monday,
三月二十八日（月）まで、

For people outside of Japan;

You can make a donation of 1000yen (US$15 HK$100) or more for each postcard to a charity organization of your choice. (see below link for a list of choices)

“Print screen” or “take a picture of the screen or receipt” and send it to the email address below.

kachunjp@gmail.com

Along with your home or work address in the email, and I will send you a real postcard.

For People in Japan;
日本に住んでいる人々；

You can buy the postcard at Lav in Ebisu (and some other locations to be confirmed)
恵比寿ラブでポストカードを買えます　（もっと買えるのところを教えます）

Or,

You can make a donation of 500yen or more for each postcard to the charity organization of your choice. (see below link for a list of choices)
他のやり方は、自分好きな慈善団体に募金します（後で、リンクあります。）

“Print screen” or “take a picture of the screen or receipt” and send it to the email address below.
そして、募金の領収書をプリントスクリーンや写真、以下のメールに送って下さい。

kachunjp@gmail.com

Along with your home or work address in the email, and I will send you a real postcard.
メールの中に、家や仕事の住所を教えて下さい。そして、本当のポストカードを送ります。

Links for charity organization;
慈善団体のリンク；

International海外

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_newsroom/20110311/wl_yblog_newsroom/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-how-to-help

Japan 日本

http://sites.google.com/site/quake20110311jp/bokin

You can also help by “like” it so it will show up on the newsfeed, or “share” it on your facebook status or simply tell your friends about it.
もう、いいねボタンやシェアボタンを押してください。友達に教えて下さい。

We have shed enough tears. Be strong, be positive.
もう、十分泣いた。強く、そしてポジティブにいこう！

Thanks for reading.
読んでくれてありがとうございます。

Kachun
March 19th, 2011, Tokyo

[Animation アニメーション] 2011 Be Strong, For Tomorrow (Pray for Japan)

2011-03-16T00:03:00.002+09:00

Though things here in Tokyo & Kanto area (or just in Japan) are still unclear, I hope to bring a positive feeling to people here and my salute to the real brave people in Northeastern Japan and at Fukushima nuclear plant.

東京や関東や日本の状況まだわからないけど、このアニメーションは希望の気持ちあげたいです。いまレスキュー隊員と福島原子力発電所で頑張っている労働者の皆に、感謝！

Empty Supermarket - preparation of possible earthquakes

2011-03-12T23:01:00.004+09:00

For those of us living in Tokyo (and other parts of Japan), we quickly got used to the empty supermarkets and convenient stores.
次の地震に備えるためか、スーパーとコンビニの棚の商品はほぼなくなった。
でもこの光景に、いま東京（日本）に住んでいる人たちはすぐ慣れたように思う。

And just a few photos taken in convenient stores to share for my oversea readers.
以下のコンビニで撮った写真は、海外の友達にシェアしています。

My prayers to the really suffering ones.
この地震で大変な思いをされてる人たちに一日も早く平穏な日々が戻りますように。

The Final Night 最後の夜

2011-02-28T23:41:00.000+09:00

Such a long time since I last blogged.
久しぶりブログを書きます。

Hard to believe it's already the end of Feb in 2011. And 3 months since I last updated this blog.
２０１１年二月もう終わった。前のポストは、もう三が月前。

Happy New Year!
あけまして、おめでとう

A lot of things have happened - nothing negative, just busy with projects and moving.
いろいろあったけど、悪い事じゃない。いろいろプロジェトと引っ越しのことです。

Um... Yes, I am moving, tomorrow.
はい、あした、引っ越している。

Though just 20 mins walk from where I am staying now, at last, I am getting myself out from this guesthouse to a proper apartment.
新しい所は、２０分歩いてだけと、やった、このゲストハウスから、アパートへ行く。

Tonight is the final night in this room.
今夜は、ここで最後の夜です。

My home since I first arrived Japan 3 years ago.
三年前、日本来た初めての家です。

Random stuff still sitting around everywhere in my room.
いろいろな物、この部屋で座っている。

Some of them came from my days in Hong Kong.
香港で住んでいる時の物。

Some of them came from my days in Boston...
ボストンで住んでいる時の物。

Things randomly put together in boxes as if they were well organized.
全然違う物、同じダボールに入って、今ちゃんとハッキングしたみたい。

And there are things that reflect different stages in my life but it's now time to put them in either burnable or unburnable or recyclable trash can.
そして、人生の誓う時もらったもの、いま燃える、燃えない、リサイクルコミになった。

A mixture of feeling - my sentimental side.
自分センチメンタルのへん。

よく間違えやすい英語 (Part 2)

2010-11-26T14:13:00.000+09:00

Skipped blogging for some time. Life just can't get busier.
お久しぶりです！すごく忙しかったです。

Well, here it is for Part 2. (scroll down or click here for Part 1)
じゃあ、Part 2 を書きます。（Part 1はこちらです。）

Here we go!

Please find the mistakes in the sentences below and re-write the correct sentences on a piece of paper or something.
以下の文中に、一つずつ間違えた箇所があります。それは何ですか？
それを修正した文をお書き下さい。

1. How do you think of Japan?

2. I went to shopping last weekend.

Now, let's check your answers!
それでは、答えをチェックしましょう！

1. How do you think of Japan?

"How do you think..." is the problem.
"How do you think..."　は不正解です。

Let me begin my explanation from the correct way of asking this question.
正しい質問の仕方で説明しよう！

"What do you think of Japan?"

"What do you + verb..." - You are asking someone for his/her opinion.
"What do you + 動詞..." - 相手の感想を質問します。

"How do you + verb..." - You are asking someone "in what way? by what means?" (in this case)
"How do you + 動詞..." -　この場合、相手がどのようにするか、を質問します。

For example;
例えば；

"HOW do you think of this movie?"
”この映画をどうやって考えますか？”

I use my head.
頭で考えます。

"WHAT do you think of this movie?"
”この映画はどうだった？”

I think it's OK.
まあまあです。

2. I went to shopping last weekend.

"...to shopping..." is the problem.
"...to shopping..."　は不正解です。

I went to + a place
I went to + 場所

I went + -ing (for activity)
I went + -ing (する事）

For example,
例えば、

I went to school.

I went to a party.

I went hiking. (Hike + -ing)

In most cases, avoid using to + -ing. (I will explain that in part 3)
だいたい、”to" と "-ing" 一緒に使いません。（Part 3 でもっと説明します。）

You can either say, "I like to swim" or "I like swimming"
"I like to swim" か "I like swimming" もオッケーです。

Bonus

"to" is not needed in the following cases, though they are talking about "going to a place."
以下の文、場所へ行きますけど、”to" は要りません。

I don't know the reason for that.
理由はわかりません。

I went home.

I went there/here.

I went abroad.

I hope this is helpful.
僕は今回のブログが役に立てば嬉しいです。

Please correct me if I am making any mistakes here. And let me know if you have any questions.
何か問題があれば、教えて下さい。

Thanks for reading.
読んでくれて有難うございました。

My Japanese test is coming out soon. Wish me good luck.
僕はもうすぐ日本語能力試験です。Wish me good luck.

よく間違えやすい英語 (Part 1)

2010-09-26T11:29:00.001+09:00

I prepared this for my English teaching job sometime ago.
以下の文は授業の仕事で作った教材です。

And think I should share this here.
ここでシェアしようと思います。

I will break it into different parts because the whole thing is kind of long.
その教材はちょっと長いので、今回は二カ所だけ練習しましょう。

Please find the mistakes in the sentences below and re-write the correct sentences on a piece of paper or something.
以下の文中に、一つずつ間違えた箇所があります。それは何ですか？
それを修正した文をお書き下さい。

1. I very enjoyed the movie.

2. This TV is more cheap than the other one.

Now, let's check your answers!
それでは、答えをチェックしましょう！

1. I very enjoyed the movie.

"...very enjoyed..." is the problem.
"...very enjoyed..."　は不正解です。

I know where this one comes from - とっても楽しい
それは、”とっても楽しかった”

However, in English, "enjoy" is a verb. "very" is an adverb (in this case).
でも英語で"enjoy" は動詞です。"very" は副詞です（この場合は）。

That means "very" should be put in front of an adjective - big, happy, cheap etc.
意味は、"very"は形容詞の前に入る、”big"と"happy"と”cheap" など。

For example,
例えば、

"This is very big!" "I am very happy!"

And if "very" is put in front of a verb - go, stay, drink etc.
でも、"go"や”stay"や”drink" などの前に入れば、

"I very go to school" "I very drink beer!"

Strange, eh?
おかしいですよね？

The correct ways to express the "very enjoyed" could be;
色々な正しい書き方があるけど、例えば、

"I enjoyed the movie a lot!"
"I enjoyed the movie very much!"

2. This TV is more cheap than the other one.

I guess this one comes from - ”もっと安い”in Japanese, maybe.
これは、日本語で”もっと安い”のそのまま翻訳すると、"more cheap" になります。だから、間違えやすいのかも。

Though it doesn't sound as awkward as "very enjoyed", the better way to say it is "cheaper"
”very enjoyed" より、そんなおかしくないけど、”cheaper" を使うほうがいいです。

"More" and "most", as comparative adjectives, so they are used for adjectives (and adverbs) with 3 or more syllables - expensive, beautiful, successful, etc.
"More" と "most" は比較的形容詞（？）。そして、その二つの言葉は、三つ音節以外の形容詞の前に使う　ー　expensive, beautiful, successful など。

The correct way to say it is;
正しい使い方は、

"This TV is cheaper than the other one."

I hope this is helpful.
その上記は、手伝うことができれば、僕は嬉しいです。

Please correct me if I am making any mistakes here. And let me know if you have any questions.
何か問題があれば、教えて下さい。

Thanks for reading.
読んでくれて有難うございました。

click here for Part 2
Part 2 はこちらです。

Password チップ

2010-09-17T19:03:00.000+09:00

This is not my own original idea. I read it somewhere earlier this week and couldn't remember where it came from.
それは、僕自分のアイディアじゃない。今週ちょっと前、どこで読んだけど、忘れちゃった。

but I thought it's something cool to share - if you don't want to have the same password for all your accounts and you have problems remembering your passwords for different sites.
でも、ちょっと面白いと思うから、ここでシャアする。もし、君は、どこでも同じパースワード使わない。そんないっぱいパースワード覚えにくいなった。

First, have a set of password that you will use all the time, for example, "6T_j"
じゃあ、最初に一つパースワード決めで下さい。例えば、”6T_j”

Then, take the first 4 letters of the domain and put that into your password.
次は、ドメーンの最初四つ文字取って、自分のパースワードに入る。

For example,
例えば、

for mixi, "mixi6T_j"
for facebook, "face6T_j"

As you may already notice, there are so many other ways you can setup your password, like,
それから、色々なやり方、君も見えたと思う。例えば、

the whole domain,
全部ドメーンも入る、

facebook6T_j

or, spell it the other way around,
逆さスペル、

koobecaf6T_j

or, put it at the end,
最後に入る、

6T_jgmaiL

or, do it in a fancy way,
自分も難しくなった、

6gTm_ajil

etc. etc.
いろいろ

So, all you have to remember is 1 pattern and a 4-digit-long password.
だから、一つパターンと四つパースワードだけ、覚えている。

Hope this is something helpful for you.
君にパースワード強く便利になったじゃん。

And let me know if you have some other tips on setting up passwords.
君も、違う覚え方があれば、教えて下さい。

Happy Friday!

A Wedding Present

2010-09-12T02:00:00.000+09:00

A video meg and I made for my friends who are getting married in Boston today.
このビデオは、メグと僕から、今日ボストンで結婚している友達にプレゼントです。

I thought it would be nice to share it here.
ここでシェアする。

Toy Story 3

2010-09-10T22:13:00.004+09:00

The movie was quite intense, I thought.
この映画は、重いと思った。

I also thought it also has a lot to do with this girl sitting behind me sobbing at different parts of the movie.
後ろ座っていた女の子、映画放送中、時々泣いた。それは、もっと重い感じもらった関係がある。

I hardly remember what Toy Story 1 and 2 were about. But the number three has touched my (and many others) memories of the toys we used to have.
Toy Story 1 と 2　も忘れちゃったけど、３は、僕にも (見る人々にも)、小さい時の玩具思い出させた。

I was especially reminded of these tiny plastic animals I used to have, (one of those that cost maybe US$1 for 20 of them, and they were not bigger than my palms) and how each of them was given a name and a character. Every time I played with them, I was an opera director writing a new episode.
特に、自分小さい時のプラスチック動物思い出させた。（あの玩具は、一つパック１００円くらい、でも、一つパック中、大体２０つ動物がありました。サイズは、子供の手より小さい。）皆も名前と個性がありました。いつも、この動物と遊んだ時、僕は歌劇のディレクターになりました。

I was also reminded of my other toys – Saint Seiya, SD Gundam, Legos, Transformers, and dolls, etc, etc.
そして、聖闘士星矢とSDガンダムとレゴとトランスフォーマーと人形とか、思い出させた。

And how I have forgotten them, and didn’t even remember tossing them when I had to move to the states.
どうやって、全部玩具忘れちゃった。アメリカ行く時、捨て方も忘れちゃった。

Unlike video games, which have its own kind of fun, toys merged into children’s everyday’s life. They were something actually physically there sitting and sleeping with you.
ビデオゲームも面白いけど、玩具は、子供の毎日の人生に入れる　－　なんか同じ部屋で一緒に座る、寝る。

Something you could actually put them into your mouth and see if it fits.
なんか自分の口に入れる物だ。（口とこの玩具のサイズは合ってる？合わない？）

And it doesn’t matter where the character originally comes from, you could bring them into your own fantasy land –Saint Seiya to battle with Transformers in Lego land, but this cute looking doll is much more powerful, what should we do?
なんかオリジナル名前や個性も関係ない。自分の想像世界に一緒に行ける　－聖闘士星矢とトランスフォーマー、このレゴで作った町で戦争しよう！でも、あの可愛い人形もっと大きい、どうする！？！？

And if parts of it were broken, we would fix them with glue or tape ourselves. Or just let it be the way it is and create a story about it.
もし、玩具壊れた、自分も修理できる。できないし、もう、大丈夫だ。自分でストリー書く。

Certain sadness in the process of growing up.
大人になる途中で、なんか悲しいこともある。

Such a night and a trigger for all these forgotten memories.
色々な思い出させた夜だ。

About a Baby

2010-08-31T03:39:00.003+09:00

It happened when I was traveling in New York.
以下は、ニューヨークで旅行時ハプニングこと。

Riding on the subway train, I happened to be looking at this baby on a baby car, not really thinking of anything in particular.

地下鉄で乗って、などなくベービーカーの中のベービーを見て、何も考えでなかった。

He surprised me by lifting up his arm and waved at me.
彼は、僕に手を振った。僕はびっくりした。

And, I waved back.
そして、彼に手を振った。

Something I remembered just the other night and it stuck in my head.
ちょっと前思い出したこと、今まで覚えてることです。

マニラバス乗っ取り事件

2010-08-25T03:11:00.008+09:00

“No, the cops aren’t going to let the hijacker to get out alive.”
“ダメだ！あの警察たちは、あのハイジャッカーが生き続けるために許してない。”

The moment this thought came to my mind, I felt a strong bleak on my back.
この感想できた時、強い冷たい感じもらった。

Watching the progress of this bus hijacking – something really sad but there’s nothing I could do about it.
ずっとこの事件を見て、寂しいことけど、何もできない感じです。

Yes, I chose to watch it.
はい、見る、見ない、自分決めることだった。

9 dead.
九人死んだ。

One of them, following Twitter, is my friend’s girlfriend’s friend.
一人は、ツイッターでずっと見て、友達の彼女の友達でした。

A devastating day for the hostages.
あの人質の人生中、破壊的一日だった。

It’s so easy to forget things like this happening around the world every day.
そんなこと、毎日地球で、どこでもあることです。忘れやすい。

Peace, brothers and sisters.
平和を祈る。

恩恵個展 Video

2010-08-08T01:16:00.003+09:00

Don’t think I have told you this. But I told myself to make 2 videos this summer.
誰も話さなかったと思うけど、自分に話したことは、この夏、二つビデオを作ります。

And here is the first one.
じゃあ、これはファストビデオです。

This video is a recap of Painter Megumi's Solo Exhibition - Strength of Solitude - in April, 2010 at Shibuya Gallery Le Deco.
この動画は画家恩恵の個展（２０１０年４月６日～１８日＠渋谷LEDECO）の時の映像です。

Videos on the left are images from the exhibition. And the animation on the right was a collaboration work of Megumi and kachun. It was the featured installation work during the exhibition.
左側が個展の映像。右側の動画がMegumiとkachunとの合作インスタレーションです。

Hope you like this video. Thanks for watching.
ご鑑賞THANKS!

Artist - Megumi (http://www.m-utero.com)

Director - Kachun (http://www.kachun.jp)

The next video should come out shortly – by the end of August.
次のビデオは、八月終わる前に放送します。

Boston

2010-08-02T19:52:00.014+09:00

Quite awhile ago, I read this article – it was saying that, Japanese conversations are like bowling games, and English conversations are like tennis games.
何年前に読んだ、覚えでないけど　－日本会話はボウリングみたい、英会話はテニスみたい。

I often thought Cantonese conversations are like tennis games as well.
広東会話もテニスみたいと思う。

Throughout the trip, there were constantly conversations in 3 different languages at the same time.
トリップ中、いつも、同じ時間、三が国語の会話がある。

I often pictured myself finding the right timing to dodge the tennis ball – going back and forth over my head – just to play some bowling with Megu.
頭中見たイメージは、いいタイムを探して、テニスボールを避けて、メグとボウリングをちょっとした。

2 years ago, going back to Boston for the first time in 5 years, I had to re-learn a lot of things.
二年前、五年ぶりボストン帰って、色々なこともう一回勉強した。

And this time I had to remind myself the 15% tip at restaurants.
今頃、自分に、“レストランで１５％チップ忘れないよ”と言った。

I didn’t remember it was that painful before.
でも、あれ１５％チップは本当に痛かった。

On the first day in Boston, Megu and I walked around the downtown area, then to Boston common, Newbury Street, and Copley.
ファスト日、メグとダウンタウン、ボストン公園、ニューバリ道、コプッリへ歩くで行った。

Because the sun didn’t go down until 9, we didn’t realize it was too late and ended up having dinner in Chinatown.
日暮れ九時過ぎので、ディナー忘れちゃった。やっとチャーナタウンで食べた。

Boston was a relatively peaceful city, though it could be just us finally forgetting the busy life back in Tokyo.
ボストンは平和シティだった。でも、多分、その時、僕達やっと忙しい東京の生活忘れた。

BP and Lebron James were the hot topics.
BPとレブロンジェームズは会話中人気なことだった。

Napkins and plastic bags abuse is universal.
ナプキンとプラスチックバックを濫用させた。

Wrapping up unfinished meals is a nice custom.
食べられない食べ物、持って帰るのは、いい文化と思う。

On the last day, I pretty much just stayed home and hung out with my old man and my old woman.
最後の日、大体お父さんとお母さんと一緒にいった。

I quit stopping them from repeating things that they had just said 15 minutes ago. I figured if it was something important – let them do the job of reminding me then.
彼と彼女、１５分前言ったこともう一回言って時、止まらなかった。もし、本当に大切なこと、あの二人もちろんもう一回話しと思う。

I helped fixing the home theater system and the internet.
家のビデオとインタネットシステム直してあげた。

I showed my mom how to change the background on her iPhone.
お母さんにiPhoneバックグラウンド変わり方教えてあけた。　

I finished a drawing and bought a frame for them to hang in the sitting room.
自分描いた絵家族にあげた。

I suggested that the next time we meet, maybe we should meet somewhere in Europe.
次、“ヨーロッパで会いましょう“を提案してあげた。

Things done and not done, that's the end of the trip.
したこと、まだしないこと、そんな感じです。このトリップ終わりました。

Quebec Revisit　またケベック

2010-08-01T16:19:00.008+09:00

“A very good show! A very good show!”
“グッドショー！グッドショー！”

We wanted to watch the Cirque Du Soleil (Website) in Quebec, but for various reasons, we were too late and only able to join the leaving crowd.
ケベックで　Cirque Du Soleil　（ウェーブ）のショー見たかったけど、色々な理由ので、遅かった。来た時、皆も帰っていた。

Walking along with the crowd, Andrew, my brother, began to clap his hands and said the lines above. Meg and I also joined to comment the show we never saw and sang the theme song on our way back to the hotel.
帰っていたの人々の中、アンドルさん、僕の弟、手をたたいて、以上の文と言った。メグと僕も、あの見なかったショーにコメントを話して、ショーのテーマ歌を歌った。

One of those inside jokes that last throughout and after the trip.
旅行する時、そんな冗談いつもがある。

It was my second time to visit Quebec.
ケベックは二回目に来た。

The first time was 9 years ago. It was a practice to backpack alone.
初めで時は九年前だった。その時は、僕の一人で旅行を練習した。

I remember coming out from the train station, having traveled to Toronto, Montreal, then arrived at Quebec. I was fascinated by the buildings and friendly local people.
覚えてることは、トロントとモントリオール行って、ケベック駅から出た時、あのところのビルと優しい人見て、魅された。

And Bonjour and Merci Boku.
もう、ボンジョウとか、マシイボクとか。

It was the feeling that drove me to keep backpacking for years.
その感じもらって、ずっとバックパックで旅行したの理由だった。

This time I went to Quebec with my family and Meg.
今頃は家族とメグと一緒にケベックへ行った。

Equipped with a car, iphones, and a navigator and stayed in Fairmont Hotel (Website).
車もiphone　もナビも持って行った。Fairmont ホテル(ウェーブ）で泊まった。

Reading signs in French, going back and forth between English, Cantonese, and Japanese.
フランス語の看板を見て、英語と広東語と日本語チャンポンをした。

Communication between my family and Meg was difficult at the beginning.
最初に家族とメグのコミュニケーションは難しかった。

But slowly, naturally, people found ways to get their thoughts across, if they want to communicate.
でも、ゆっくり、自然に、皆もコミュニケーションをやり方、勉強した。

Still, it wasn’t smooth at all.
もちろん、スムーズじゃなかった。

On the way back from Quebec, we stopped by Trois-Rivières and Montreal. Not my preference to stop by somewhere that briefly but it was my father and mother’s wish.
帰る時、トロワリビエールとモントリオールへ停まった。それは僕のスタイルじゃなくて、お母さんとお父さん行きたかった。

It was done at the cost of me driving 7 hours plus straight home.
そして、僕は七時間以上運転をした。

New New York

2010-07-31T18:13:00.018+09:00

I was trying to remember what New York was like before, to me anyway.
ニューヨーク着いたら、昔いニューヨーク覚えてみました。

But I couldn’t.
でも、あまり覚えでなかった。

New York was our first stop in this North America tour.
ニューヨークは、この北アメリカトリップのファーストストップだった。

For Meg’s first flying experience – our flight couldn’t land on time because the airport was too busy. We circled and circled until the pilot said we were running out gas and had to refill at Syracuse first, then head back to Newark. It was a 3-hour delay.
メグ初めで飛行機の経験　―　ニューワーク空港忙しかったから、乗っていた飛行機はあの空港で止まれなかった。パイロットは　“いまガソリン十分じゃないので、ちょっとシラキュースへ行って、ガソリン補充して、ニューワークに帰る”　と言った。３時間に遅延した。

So, we kind of lost the first night.
ファースト夜なくなた。

But bad experiences are always good stories to tell.
でも、いつも、悪い経験は面白いストーリになった。

New York came to me more cultural diverse than it was in my memory.
メモリより、ニューヨークはもっと色々な文化があるし、色々な違う国から人がいる。

Often heard the staff and customers in pizza shops speaking English with different accents.
ピザショップで、スタッフとお客様、皆も違う発音で英語話した。

No idea if New York was always like this or it’s just a change in my perspective. This thought came into my head during the first 2 days and then I thought to myself – it’s time to graduate.
ニューヨークいつもそんな感じだ？自分変わった感想だけ？最初二日時々考えたことけど、答えなかったから、そのことに卒業しようと思いだ。

Let this new impression of New York be the one to stay.
いまから、新しいニューヨークの印象をもらった。

The U.S.Me

2010-07-14T22:59:00.001+09:00

Will be heading to America again tomorrow.

Will first arrive in New York, then head to Boston. Will very likely head up north to Quebec.

This time, instead of referring to free guides at the airports or lonely planet, we picked up, information wise, somewhere in between – a magazine about New York.

This trip is costing quite a bit and delaying my moving plan.

But, I believed this summer is the time.

All the other things can wait.

明日から、アメリカへ行きます。

最初にニューヨークで着いて、次はボストンへ行く。だいたいケベックも行く。

今度、空港の無料ガイドもlonely planet　も要らない。雑誌を買った。

このトリップので、使ったお金、前の引越し計画は遅れるさせる。

でも、この夏は、いいタイムと思う。

他の計画を待っています。

Untitled

2010-07-03T19:00:00.001+09:00

A part of my life in June was documented in Kaoru’s 24 Hours Project Vol. 34

Kaoru’s 24 Hours Project Vol. 34中、僕の六月中生活をだいたい見せている。

random

2010-06-16T19:26:00.003+09:00

Earlier today, I saw a man was lying in the middle of the street near the Ebisu Garden Place.

I walked up to him and asked if he was OK.

He looked up and looked around for a bit, supporting with both of his hands on the ground. He was saying something to himself and then said, “I am OK.”

I paused and thought to repeat, “OK?”

He said, “OK.”

I continued my way home.

I looked back once and he was still in that both hands on the ground looking around position.

今日ちょっと前、恵比寿ガーデンプレイスの近くに一人道の中で伏せていた、見た。

“大丈夫ですか？”と聞いた。

彼は手でちょっと起きた。僕を見て、道を見た。一人ことを言って、“大丈夫”僕に言った。

“オケ？”ともう一回彼に言った。

“オケ。”

帰宅続けた。

一回あの人に見て、まだ手でちょっと起きて、道を見ていた。

300 人メバー達成！

2010-05-23T22:58:00.002+09:00

Earlier this week, the number of fans on my facebook page has reached 300.
先週、facebookのファンページメバー３００人なった。

Thank you very much for the support.
サポートしてくれてありがとう！

And I was always happy to see the “like” or comments on my drawings.
いすも、“イネネ”とか、“コメント”とか、見るとき、嬉しいよ！

Here is a favor to ask, tell your friends about it or suggest your friends to become a fan.
じゃあ、頼む！僕のファンページ友達に紹介して下さい！

To be honest with you, I am not being different from the kid you know back in school – trying to make a drawing or manga to make your school days better.
正直に話してる。僕の心はまだ高校生時のカジュンみたい – なんか絵を描いて、皆見て時、“今日は良い日”感じ欲しい。

This is the facebook fan page link,
こねは facebook　のリンク、

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kachunjp/32590529823

Your support is appreciated!!!!!
君のサポート、感謝する！！！

Yak! Yak!

2010-05-21T12:17:00.004+09:00

花粉 MAX のヤクBさん
Yak B - Pollen Allergy at MAX

A series I have been drawing a piece or 2 on twitter every now and then.
二ヶ月前から、時間がある時、こんのマンガを描いた。

I was on the bus to school/work one day and remembering this line – “My yak is bigger than yours” – that I learned in Tibetan right before my trip to there, 7 or 8 years ago.
その日の朝、バスで仕事（学校）に行って、この文を思い出した。「私のヤク、あなたのより、大きいだよ。」この文は、７年８年前、チッベト行った前にあの国語で勉強した。

One of those memories that gives you a smile when you are standing on the bus by yourself.
一人バスで思い出した、ちょっと笑ったの記憶です。

So, I quickly drew a picture of it, posted it on twitter before my first lesson began.
学校着いて、１時間目始めて前に、速く描いて、ツイタにアップした。

And the series began from there.
そして、「ヤク！ヤク！」始めました。

The responses have been good.
皆も好きそう。

Just earlier this week, I have decided to upload a new piece every Wednesday.
もう、今週決めた、今から毎週水曜日、新しい「ヤク！ヤク！」マンガアップする！

And, I hope this series will bring you some laughs.
楽しんで、笑って下さい。よろしく！

By the way, this is what I have been drawing the series on – “Teacher’s Record”
ちなみに、「ヤク！ヤク！」はこの教務記録で描いた。

かっこいいすぎ子供

2010-04-28T19:41:00.003+09:00

Came across to this video on facebook…
facebookで友達から言われたビデオ

While My Guitar Gently Weeps(ukulele)

And found his original music as well!
あの子のオリジナル歌もある。

ukulele ma-i-na-ku-ma-na

前３週間に

2010-04-21T18:26:00.005+09:00

The past 3 weeks have been actions without thinking only.
前３週間に、全くアクションだけ。あまり考えでなかった。

And mainly, as many of you may have already known, I have been supporting Megumi’s Solo Exhibition.
主に、君大体知ってた、恩恵個展を手伝いました。

I have no complaints, and in fact, I liked the experience.
嫌いじゃいなくて、実は、好きだった。

From the planning stage to the collaboration of the animation, from the actual exhibition to the lighting set up, from the reception party to meeting people, it was intense.
計画時から、合作アニメショーンをするまで。個展開催から、ライティグをセットアップまで。レセプションパーティーから、色々な人会ったまで、楽しかった。

There were people who came just by seeing the tiny poster on the street.
街で小さいポスターを見て、来た人がいました。

There were people who spent less than a minute and wrote unreadable comments.
１分ぐらい来て、読めないコメントを書いた人がいました。

There were people who spent a great deal of time looking at Meg’s works and explaining their thoughts to her.
すごい長い時間で絵を見て、すごい長い時間で恩恵と説明した人がいました。

There were people who didn’t bother to look at the animation despite being invited and gave a 15 minutes lecture.
アニメショーンルーム誘ってあげたけど、興味がなかった、恩恵に１５分くらい授業して人がいました。

There were people who tried to sell Meg their products.
恩恵になんか売りたい人いました。

Something old. Something new.
古い経験、新しい経験。

For sure, there were of course cool and interesting people.
もちろん、いっぱい面白い人類も着た。

THANKS FOR COMING and be there for the reception party.
来てくれてありがとう。レセプションパーティーも来てくれてありがとう。

Hope you enjoyed the world that the exhibition created.
あの展覧会中作った世界、I hope you enjoyed it.

At times, after spending half a day in the gallery, I needed a reality check when I walked outside into the world of Shibuya.
時々、ギャラリーのなか、４時間、５時間いました。そして、そとへ行って時、渋谷の現実世界チェックをした。

Anyway, the exhibition has come to an end last Sunday.
あの展覧会先週日曜日やっと終わった。

As to my personal life, friends from overseas have come and gone.
自分の生活中、海外から友達も日本に来て、帰国した。

Fantasy Basketball season is over.
ファンタジーバスケットボールゲームも終わった。

A new part-time job has begun last Sunday.
新しいアルバイト先週日曜日も始めた。

Sakura has becoming a fading background.
桜少しつづ見えなかった。

With that much actions going on, it’s time to sit down and think and digest.
そんな色々なアクションをした。いまは、座って、考えて、消化する。

Painter Megumi’s Website

2010-03-31T16:19:00.007+09:00

The website project that I received in February – http://www.m-utero.com
二月の作品、ペインター恩恵(めぐみ)のウェブ、http://www.m-utero.com

To tell the truth, it wasn’t much of a “design” but to find the “right frame” for her paintings and drawings.
実は、あまりデザインしなかった。そのプロジェクト中、彼女の絵の正しいフレームを探していた。

Go check out her website. I hope you will enjoy it.
このウェブへ行って下さい。楽しんで下さい。

What more? Megumi will be having her personal exhibition in less than a week!!!
そして、一週後、恩恵は個展を開催します。

Title: Strength of Solitude
Time: 4/6 – 4/18 (11:00 – 7:00)
Place: Gallery Le Deco 2F – Shibuya-ku, Shibuya 3-16-3

タイトル: 孤独の強度
4月６日－４月１８日（11時 - 7時）
場所：GALLERY LE DECO ギャラリー・ルデコ (二階)
〒150-0002 東京都渋谷区渋谷3-16-3 ルデコビル

Reception Party – 4/10 3:00pm START
レセプションパーティー４月１０日3時スタート

I am personally a fan of her touches of lines and ways of brushing, the things that don’t get shown in pictures.
私は彼女、線の感想、ブラシの描き方が大好き。そんなことは写真中見えないことです。

You can also find a collaboration work of me and megumi – an animation, in this exhibition.
その個展中、僕とめぐみ合作したアニメショーンもある。

It would be an interesting experience.
面白いよ！

The reception party is on April 10th. I will be there from the start. Hope you can make it.
レセプションパーティーは４月１０日3時スタート。僕は朝からがいる。来て下さい！

But if you can’t, come some other time.
でも、もし行けない、別の日来てください。

Hope I can see you there.
そこで会いましょう！

The Catcher in the Rye

2010-03-25T22:18:00.002+09:00

Since having arrived in Japan, I hardly read anything but my Japanese textbooks.
日本に来たから、日本語教科書ばかり読む。

It’s been so long that I am writing a blog entry about this book I had just read – “The Catcher in the Rye.”
めちゃ長い時間別の本読まなかったから、最近読んだ本“ライ麦畑でつかまえて“のことをブログで書く。

Well, that’s not the only reason.
まー、その理由だけじゃない。

“The Catcher in the Rye” is a book that I always wanted to read, but for some reasons, I just never got my hands on it until now – and it was finished within a week.
“ライ麦畑でつかまえて“はいつも読みたかったけど、なんとなく、最近だけ買って、一週間に読む終わった。

As I was reading it, I was reminded my visits to NYC, especially the first time, I got a free ride and was dropped off at this weird hour in Manhattan.
読んでる時、ニューヨークシティに旅行の記憶を思い出した、特に初めで時。無料友達の車で、すごい遅い時間に、マンハッタン着いた。

I don’t remember how but the strongest memory of all was with this address of my friend’s apartment where I would stay, I walked near the north end of Central Park and through Harlem looking for his place.
あまり覚えでないけど、一番強い記憶は、その夜泊める友達の住所持って、セントラルパークの北とハーレムで歩いた。

“You don’t want to go there around this hour,” I remember people, to whom I asked directions, told me, “You should go…”
“そんな時間、この辺、行かないほうがいい、”街を聞いた人僕に言った。

Come to think of it now, cell phone was such a novelty back then. And getting onto a taxi was never an option.
貧乏たっだから、携帯もタクシーも出来なかった。

Besides, I like “explorations.”
そして、”探検“が好き。

This book also reminded me the younger me, transiting from a teenage to an adult – Me and my anger towards “phonies” and their “beautiful words” and my dislike towards “adults.”
もう一つ思い出したことは、僕の若い時、偽ものも、偽のもの言葉も、大人も、嫌いだった。怒った。

The unstable and complicated feelings were brought back to me as I was reading the book.
そんな不安定と複雑な感じも、読むとき、思い出した。

Naturally, I looked back and thought how natural and not special my mind was.
自然に、自分の若い時も一回見て、その時僕の頭はそんな自然だった。特別じゃなかった。

代官山でロゴデザイン Logo Design at Daikanyama

2010-03-09T23:06:00.003+09:00

This logo design is made during the summer last year 2009. (For http://www.mannafest.jp)
そのデザインは旧年夏作った。(http://www.mannafest.jp)

But now it can be seen in Daikanyama!
いまは代官山で見える。

I have yet to go see it myself.
自分また見たことがない。

But looking at the picture gives me a good feeling.
でも、写真で見て、いい感じもらった。

Yscozy.com Logo Design ロゴデザイン

2010-03-08T23:54:00.004+09:00

Another project that was done in January 2010, a logo design for a web shop yscozy.com
そのyscozy.com ウェブショップロゴのプロジェクトも2010年1月に終わった。

The idea of using a circle came after having the first look at the pictures of the products.
最初に、産物の写真を見て、丸形を使うと思った。

They are all square-ish. A circle would give it a balance. And the drawn fonts would hopefully give it “good smelling” and “classy” kind of feeling.
産物は大体角形だから、丸形のロゴ、もっとバランスと思った。描いたフォントは“いい匂い”と“優クラス”感じ見る人にあげたい。

And the client preferred a simple design as I do, this project was closed about a week ahead of schedule.
お客様も簡単なロゴを欲しかっただから、そのプロジェクト、予定より、もっと早く終わった。

Also, as a favor, I gave the website some touch-up work. (There was a lot of built-in codes and there wasn’t much I could do.)
そして、そのウェブショップのデザインも手伝ってあげた。（でも、色々な変われないことがある。）

Go have a look at the shop, yscozy.com, maybe there’s something you want!
じゃあ、yscozy.com へ行って下さい！多分、欲しいものがあるよ！

Renoir ルノワール展

2010-03-03T23:23:00.008+09:00

Dance of Bougival, the painting (in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) that made me become a fan of Renoir.
Dance of Bougival, (ボストン美術館) この絵見て、ルノワールのファンになった。

To see it again in Tokyo, I felt as if the painting and I have become friends.
今頃、東京でも一回会って、この絵と僕は友達になった感じ。

“Ha! You are really here! It's been a long time,” I was thinking to myself.
“君やっぱりいる！久しぶりだね！”と思いました。

However, though my guess was that they wanted to give the exhibition a bit of a classical feeling, I felt annoyed with the complicated frames they were using.
しかし、多分、その展雰囲気もっと古典を作りたいから、使用フレームはちょっと複雑だ。

They were a bit too thick as well.
そして、ちょっと厚かった。

I couldn’t tell if I should study the frames or the paintings.
フレームを見る？絵を見る？どちら？わからない。

This constant battle kept me distracted.
この戦闘、専心させなかった。

Thinking of such thing made me stop writing.
そんなこと思い出した時、書かせない。

uarok.com

2010-02-25T17:52:00.005+09:00

Timing-wise, uarok.com is the first website I made in 2010.
uarok.com は２０１０年第一作ったウェブ。

Started design the logo on Jan 1st and finished making the website on Jan 5th.
一月一日から一月五日まで作った。

Such a coincident that Jan 5th is the date Movable Type 5.01 came out, while uarok.com was made with Movable Type 4.261.
この日、五日、全く新しいMovable Type 5.01　リリースした。このウェブはMovable Type 4.261　で使った。

This project has been sitting around for quite some time. But there were too many projects, or just not enough time to get to this project until the New Year holiday.
このプロジェクトは、結構前作りたかったけど、お正月の休みの前、時間がなかった。

Anyway, hope you will enjoy it.
Anyway, どうぞ。

http://www.uarok.com

30分 break time

2010-02-22T23:53:00.003+09:00

I am now sitting in a coffee shop at Omori – waiting for the evening class to begin.
今は大森の喫茶店中座って、ブログを書いて、夜のクラスを待っている。

Well, I am writing this on my notebook in fact.
実は、ノートで書いてる。

This evening class is a new part time job I got myself – it keeps me more occupied then before. But since November last year, I wanted to change things around in my life. This new job is part of the project.
夜のクラスは全く新しいアルバイトだから、忙しくなった。でも、旧年十一月から、人生の持てる物ちょっと変わりたい。そのアルバイトも、人生変わるプロジェクト中一つアイテム。

And because of this new job, I now have over an hour waiting time.
夜のクラス始める前に、1時間くらいbreak time がある。

I don’t mind it at all, at least for now.
私には、今まで、全然大丈夫。

It keeps me away from going too deep into animation making and website design and gives me time to study Japanese or do some reading instead.
前は、いつもアニメーショーンとウェブを作る。今は、もっと日本語を勉強して、本を読む時間がある。

Such kind of balance is always important.
そんなバランスは大切な。

Speaking of studying Japanese, I still haven’t received the result from the test I did back in December. I should check to see if it’s already available online when I get home. (Note – it’s still not out yet.)
あっ、日本語だね。十二月に受けた日本語能力試験の成績まだ知らない。多分、帰って、ウェブにチェックする。（ノート、チェックした、まだ、ない！）

Come to think of it, Japanese is the only language I didn’t begin learning from handwriting. (That’s not completely true to the extent that I had 4 months of experience when I was in college.)
いま、思い出した、英語も、広東語も、北京語も、全部手で書くから勉強した。日本語だけ、携帯で打ったから勉強する。（はい、多分、ちょっと嘘をつける。大学時、四が月日本語を勉強した。）

I don't worry either, but maybe I am missing something essential by not learning it from handwriting, as I thought to myself.
心配しないて、自分に言った、多分勉強方間違えた。

From time to time, I tried to write a piece or 2 short writings on my notebook.
時々、ノート日本語で書きみる。

Break time is almost over. There are a couple projects I have finished since the beginning of 2010. I would write about them in the next entries.
Break timeすぐ終わる。2010年から、大体三つプロジェクトを作り終わった。今度そのプロジェクトこと書く。

東京現代美術館で宮本武蔵

2010-01-28T17:00:00.003+09:00

Went down to Museum of Modern Art of Tokyo over the weekend.
先週週末東京現代美術館へ行った。

I wanted to go check it out for about a month and saw that there was an Inoue Takehiko’s Exhibition from Brutus magazine.
大体一ヶ月前も行きたかった。最近 Brutus で井上雄彦あの美術館で展覧会がある。

And, yeah, let’s go!
じゃあ、行こう！

Slowly reading drawing by drawing of Inoue’s new metaphors in drawings, I tried to be patient with my steps and not to look at the gigantic drawing of Musashi.
ゆっくり歩いて、井上の絵中新しい比喩を見る。遠い武蔵の絵は、“今見ない、待ってる、我慢する“と思う。

It was nice to be able to feel his interpretation and presentation of space after the “Last Manga” exhibition in 2008.
二年前、“最後のマンガ”展の後、今もう一度、彼のスペースの解釈とプレゼンを見た。良かった！（日本語で説明できない。わかる？）

I was impressed once again.
もう一度、感動した。

It’s good to be alive.
生きてて良かった！

photo from http://pics.livedoor.com/u/kushii_/6188784

正しい正解

2010-01-27T16:53:00.004+09:00

正しい手袋があれば、正しいカエルを作れる。

If you have the right gloves, you can make the right frog.

iphone リモートコントロールフライト

2010-01-19T18:24:00.002+09:00

超かっこういい！This is way too cool!

習慣

2010-01-18T19:54:00.002+09:00

Finally done with all the projects last night - though it was very demanding, I felt like I had accomplished quite a bit in the first 3 weeks of January.
やっとプロジェクト全部終わった。すごい忙しかったけど、2010年最初三週間にいっぱい完成感じ。

Since November last year, projects kept rolling in and this gave me no room and time to think of new touches (though, at this stage, I am grateful for them to come.)
旧年11月から、沢山プロジェクトを来たので、新しい touchを考える時間がなかった。（でも、沢山プロジェクトを来た。嬉しかった。）

New touches of works don’t necessary come consciously, but I often find it important to understand my “habits” in making things.
新しい touch　は意識的ものじゃないけど、いつも、“自分の作業を作る時、習慣は何ですか？“それは大切な自分に質問と思う。

In the coming week (or next week as well), before the new projects begin, I should have the time to do so.
来週（多分再来週も）新しいプロジェクト始める前に、そんなことを考える時間がある。

By the way, the new animation – “Something to Believe in” – I have been talking about should be released sometime during the first half of 2010. Will keep you all posted.
ちなみに、いつも話した全く新しいアニメショーン “Something to Believe in”、2010年の前半リリースする聞いた。そのどき、I will tell you!

頭がいいアニメショーン

2010-01-07T02:06:00.002+09:00

かおる君から聞いたアニメショーン、すごいじゃん！
Heard of this Light Art Animation from Kaoru today. Nice, eh?

これちょっと長いけど、超前に発見した面白いアニメショーン。
This is a bit long. Found this on youtube from ages ago.

世界中頭がいい人色々ないるよ！
There are so many smart heads in this world.

2010 Happy New Year アニメーション

2009-12-30T11:58:00.001+09:00

“War とPeace は反対じゃない。その達は共存だ。”と思う。

“そのコンセプト誰が言った。”と思う。

まだ、Warがある。私は “War Against War”をしている。

皆、Happy New Year!

できるだけ多くの人達にこのメッセージ(アニメーション)が伝わるよう、ご協力お願いします。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL9b_m1Hcmc

War and Peace coexist. That’s what I think.

And I am sure that someone else has said it before.

As long as there’s war, there’ll be my concept of “War Against War.”

Happy New Year, people!

Please help to forward this message (animation) to as many people as possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL9b_m1Hcmc

BOICE Planning アトリエへ

2009-12-29T00:29:00.002+09:00

日曜日、友達山田さんが誘った。彼のアトリエへ行った。

日本に住んでるから、アトリエどか、バンドルームどか、あまり行かない。

やばりそんな所は面白い。

まだ作り絵、キャンバスと塗装の匂い、皆話して、絵を作って、懐かしかった。

でも、寒かったから、そこで大体五時間だけ遊んだ。

BOICE Planning – http://www.boice-planning.net

Over Sunday, went down to Yamada-san’s studio to have a look. (or in fact, no reasons at all)

Since having lived in Japan, didn’t really get a chance going to studios for drawing or music kind of thing.

Such a kind of place is always interesting.

It’s to the mentality that such a place creates.

The scenery of drawings in progress, the smell of canvas and paints, the moment of talking with people and drawing pictures made me feel nostalgic.

But it was a really cold day. We could only hang out there for about 5 hours.

BOICE Planning – http://www.boice-planning.net

誕生日祭り

2009-12-24T19:45:00.000+09:00

今年も、誕生日パーティは五日祭りと同じ。

皆さんのアレンジメントとプレセントと電話とメッセージ感謝です。温かい。

その時、“今年本当に忙しかったて、皆何をやってるあまり知らない。”と気づきました。

そんなバランスはいつも忘れちゃった。

This year too, my birthday celebration had become a 5-day festival like.

I felt the warmth and thankful for all the arrangements, presents, phone calls, and messages.

This is also when I noticed that I have been really busy this year and couldn't keep up with what everyone was doing.

This kind of balance is easy to lose.

Free DVD creator

2009-12-18T02:38:00.003+09:00

So, yeah, if you want to make DVD, this is a free software that I found.

http://www.minidvdsoft.com/dvdcreator/

Download and install it (at your own risk)

I tried it, and so far my computer has no spyware problem.

The only problem is that, after you click “burn” the software, it doesn’t burn. (Instead, it asks you to "open the temp folder")

So, all you have to do is to open the “DVD temp” folder, copy and paste the “Audio_TS” and “Video_TS” folder onto your DVD. Then, it will work.

****** Freeware like this comes with no guarantee. Have fun! ******

Windows Vista: Error 46: Could not find or load activex control

2009-12-06T21:41:00.003+09:00

Just want to share this link, which I found to fix the Vista problem with Quicktime.

Scroll down to see “Apple Quicktime 7.x Annoyances”

http://research.gerger.com/?view=lab:en&aID=1006&com=2#comments

GOOD LUCK!

**************
p.s. OK! Now I admit that I have been really lazy about blogging. But so much of my time have been occupied by fixing vista problems these days.

Not that I have faith to Microsoft to begin with anyway, but I don’t mind to re-invest in a new OS and new programs for my next computer.

二十周年 + ハロウィーン + 二周年

2009-11-19T21:50:00.019+09:00

ブログを書きに怠惰にならなかった。時間がなかっただけ。

でも、今は書きと思います。

じゃあ、十月の最後の週から始まる。そのどきは、香港から15人友達日本に来た。

たまに皆も中学時会った友達だ。

“気づく？今年は皆会った二十周年だよ！”一人、Ivan,　言った。

私たちが乾杯した。

その時は恵比寿のプントで飲んでいた。

そんなこと聞いたので、私はバーと皆の顔をよく見た。

私の人生はどんな人生になった？でも、すくに、” その質問は続き自分にあげる“と思いました。

友達は一週間に日本で遊んだ。私たち軽井沢行った。東京ではしごした。

グループと一緒に旅行ことはいつも嫌いだけど、今頃、そろそろ３３歳になで、その門を開けてみたい。

やっぱり頭が痛かったけど、そのことので、僕の日本語はもっと自信がある。

香港友達がハロウィーン日に帰国。

その日の朝、新宿に行って、バイバイランチを食べた。

乗降場で立って、皆乗った電車を見ていた。電車は小さく、小さくなった。最後に電車を見えなかった。世界に静かになった。ちょっと重い感じ。

そして、乗降場の喫煙室中座って、缶ホットコーヒーを飲んだ。

このREUNION の意味は、その時も、今までも、わからない。香港の人生で会った友達と日本の人生で会った友達今は会った。それも、何で僕に大切なわからない。しかし、皆東京を選らんだ。それだけ、嬉しかった。“皆、ありがとう“と思いました。

そのあと、かおる君とさとる君と会って、ハロウィーンコスチューム探してた。

実は、その時疲れた。多分今年のハロウィーンやってないほうがいい。

でも、コスチューム着て、テンション高くなった。

六本木の風景を見て、今年のほうが、去年より、ハロウィーンの人気が上げた。

ハロウィーン日の後、人生は仕事ばかりだった　－　朝は高校で英語を授業して、夜は家でウェブを作った。（友達来たから、ウェブを全然作らなかった。）

意味は毎日12時間、14時間勤めていた。

そのウェブまた終わらないけど、今客様の答えるを待てるだけ。

それは、前の四週間にしたことだった。

もう、十一月五日は私の日本に来た二周年だった。

おめでとう！

It’s not that I became lazy about blogging. But I couldn’t afford the time to sit, recap and write a blog entry.

I figure now is the time to do so.

So, let me begin from the last week of October, when 15 friends from Hong Kong came to Japan for a week.

Most of them are my friends since the days in Junior High School.

One of them, Ivan, said, “Are you aware that it’s the 20th Year Anniversary of our friendship?”

And we kanpai-ed our beer.

And it was at Punto.

When such a topic was brought up, I carefully looked around – at the environment and faces me.

What is it that has become my life? Then I thought, it was just another question that I will keep constantly asking myself.

The friends were here for about a week. We headed down to Karuizawa for a few days and were bar-hopping in different areas in Tokyo.

I always rejected the idea of traveling with a group.

And I guess at this age, it’s time to open up the door, just to give it a try.

It was definitely a lot of headaches, though I was also aware that my confidence in Japanese was also raised because of it.

The friends took off on Halloween.

In the morning of the day, I headed down to Shinjuku to have our farewell lunch.

Sending my friends off to the Narita Express Train, watching the train becoming smaller and smaller and finally disappeared in the multi-tracks of Japan Rail, my heart became heavy.

I sat down in the smoking room at the platform with a can of hot coffee.

At that moment, or until now, I don’t know the meaning behind this reunion. Nor do I know the significance of friends from different stages of my friends had now met each other. But I could only appreciate that they chose Tokyo for that to happen.

Then, I met up with Kaoru and Satoru for costume shopping.

To be honest, I was feeling tired and the thought of skipping the Halloween this year arise.

But soon after we started to dress up, we became excited about the night.

Halloween is definitely getting bigger and bigger in Japan, at least judging from the scenery in Roppongi this year from last year.

After Halloween, my life had became work-only – day job teaching at school and freelance website project (that I skipped for a week because of the friends’ visit.)

That also meant about 12 to 14 hours of work a day, plus 7 days a week.

The project is yet to be concluded. But my part is done, waiting for the confirmation from the client.

And so, this concluded what had happened in the past 4 weeks.

And yes, Nov. 5th also marked my 2nd year living in Japan.

Congrats!

Kaoru's [24 Hours Project] Vol. 7 Piggy Bank Blues
(with Mr. Ivan)

音楽＋動画の２４時間プロジェクトを始動！(by Kaoru)

2009-10-17T17:38:00.003+09:00

Kaoru の言葉。。。

無謀にも日々１０分の音楽＋動画をアップするつもりでいます。（だとしても２４時間分アップするまでには遠い道のりが。。。）

Kaoru's words...

I will start this 24 hours project. This will consist of video and music, the total running time will be 24 hours.

I know this is a bit reckless, but I will try to update 10 minutes of clip daily. (Even then it will still take a long time to complete 24 hours.)

[24 Hours Project] Vol. 3 As Tears Go By 10172009

[24 Hours Project] Vol. 2 Basil 10162009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyTcnFsfDl0

[24 Hours Project] Vol. 1 10152009 Ray of light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdWh92xoDho

私のことば。。。
my words...

nice idea！

何をしゃべったい？しゃべる。

2009-10-12T04:13:00.007+09:00

"Say" by John Mayer

眠いけど、さっきタバコを吸ってるどき、”Say what you need to say” 頭の中聞いた。(映画 "The Bucket List の主題歌)

もし、二週間あとは君は死んでいます。。。それはいつもできる。。。

じゃあ、君は何をしゃべたい？

君は何をやりたい？

多分、家族と一緒に住んで、彼氏か彼女と住んで、好きな友達いつも会って、結婚して、君はいつも一人だけ。

実は、そんなこと私はいつも忘れちゃった。

でも、“さっき、カジュン、超ハードしゃべった”とよく聞いた。

時々、その理由から、友達は私に会いたくない。離したけど、それはいいと思う。

君と話して時、嘘をつかれば、離すほうがいい。

私にも、嘘を要らない。美しい言葉も要らない。（多分、私の若いとき、大切な人死んだ関係がある。それは、わからない。）

でも、嘘を要れば、何にもしゃべれない、それも、皆の自由権です。

Feeling sleepy, but as I was just smoking a cigarette awhile ago, I heard the lyrics “say what you need to say” in my head. (The theme song of the movie “The Bucket List”)

If, you are to die in 2 weeks... such a thing could happen any time...

So, what do you want to say?

What do you want to do?

Maybe, you are living with your family, living with your boyfriend or girlfriend, always meeting with your favorite friends, or married, you are always one person only.

In fact, I always forgot about this.

But, I often heard this from my friends, “kachun, your words were rough.”

Sometimes, because of this, some friends started to dislike and distance me. I am always cool with it. (Until I am not.)

If I have to lie to you, it’s better that we don’t meet each other.

To me, I don’t need beautiful words or lies. (Maybe, it has something to do with the death of important people in my life when I was young. That I really don’t know.)

However, if you want lies, or there’s something you can't say, that’s your freedom as well.

Can’t be bothered like

2009-10-07T16:57:00.002+09:00

October is not going as busy as I thought it would be.

The main reason is that the 2 big projects are putting on hold, not officially, but responses have been going slower and slower.

Not a problem at all, the feeling of “I can’t be bothered” is going strong these days.

Don’t get me wrong. I could easily spend 2 days to draft a drawing I want to do. And I am still motivated to draw a good one.

It's just difficult to be constantly “creative” at work.

Probably, iphone has helped me to take time off from internet – now, I don’t have to look up the internet of the places I am going, I just GPS it.

So now I have more time in my hand for other things.

And, I have been feeling quite sleepy these days – probably due to the changes of weather in the past 2 weeks. Autumn is here… the last quarter of 2009 has arrived.

海のエジプト展

2009-09-20T18:06:00.002+09:00

二日前、金曜日、みなとみらいへ行って、海のエジプト展を見た。

週末じゃなかったけど、ちょっと混んでた。

展の中、考古学者が海に石像を発見したビデオと写真を見た、“その時、あの人は嬉しかったね”とお思いました。

展を見終わった。展示館の近くに、みなとみらいから横浜までシーバス船が乗った。

五年に香港に住んだ。いつも海岸に飲んで、歌って、踊って、遊んだ。

海のにおいは懐かしい。

2 days ago, Friday, went down to Minato Mirai to see this Egypt’s Sunken Treasure Exhibition.

Though it wasn’t on a weekend, it was a bit crowded.

There were photos and videos about archeologists finding, meeting, sunken statues. “That guy must feel really happy then,” I thought.

After the exhibition, took the Sea Bus or Sea Bass from Minato Mirai to Yokohama.

During the 5 years living in Hong Kong, always went down to the beach or near the coast to just drink, sing, dance, and hang out with friends.

The smell of ocean did play some tricks to my nostalgic feeling.

Step 1.1 & Mr. Satoru

2009-09-09T17:14:00.001+09:00

So I gave myself a little break during the last week of my summer break.

Also, a chance to catch up with friends I don’t see that often and meet new people.

It’s always important for me to see what people around me are doing. This often works as a motivation for my own actions.

Meanwhile, I am in the midst of 2 new projects and in process of getting the third.

If the third one comes through, I can declare myself taking off from step 1 in my drawing “career.”

Let’s wait and see.

And yes, I am talking about step 20 or more as my goal.

******

If you know me in real life, you may have already met this “new” friend of mine, Mr. Satoru.

If you haven’t, I am sure soon it will happen.

The first time I met Satoru was about 10 years ago, maybe more, back in the days in Massachusetts.

I could hardly remember how he was like, besides him playing the bass.

And if you haven’t seen him playing the bass, here’s his performance back in May this year.

Enjoy!

麻布十番　夏祭り

2009-08-24T13:17:00.002+09:00

夏祭り初めでへ行った。面白かった。

友達は浴衣を着ていたから、俺も、浴衣をほしかった。でも、難しいことだった。

新宿で二時間、五つ店へ行った。

買った浴衣はまだ短いけど、嬉しかった。（浴衣を初めで着ていた、今年のHALLOWEENが早く来た感じ。）

ボストンより、香港より、東京は平和な都市だ。混んでる祭りけど、あまり喧嘩が見えなかった。

（日本語　correction please!）

Went to the summer festival for the first time. It was quite interesting.

Because all my friends were wearing yukata, I also wanted to be wearing it. But, it didn’t come easy.

Spent 2 hours in Shinjuku and went to 5 shops.

Though the one I bought was still short, I was happy. (Wearing yukata for the very first time, felt like the Halloween this year had come earlier.)

Compare to Boston and Hong Kong, Tokyo is a peaceful city. It was a crowded in the festival, but fight was hardly seen.

Nothing in Particular that I am Talking about

2009-08-17T18:55:00.000+09:00

The 3, 4 months long animation project is finally considered done, for this stage.

Now, just wait for the final talk/meeting/agreement on different terms – things that should have been done beforehand.

Seems like freelance website projects and animations keep on rolling in, for the past 8 months at least. Hopefully, this record will keep on rolling.

I am getting better in dealing with the stress level in a more conscious way.

But, there’s still quite a lot to learn in handling projects, to certain extend, in a more business like style.

And to the compliments/positive response about my works that I have been receiving – Thanks a lot. They are always motivating me.

Criticisms are definitely welcome as well.

New Website Project – Mannafest.jp

2009-08-08T04:00:00.006+09:00

The 3rd website – a cooking school this time – has been finalized. (http://www.mannafest.jp)

At least on my side, my work is done.

The most significant thing for this project is that I was asked to design the logo for this cooking school.

Meanwhile, the first draft for the new animation has been done as well.

There’s still a lot of synchronizing work and touch up to do.

To have it done in the next 2 weeks is my goal.

Bob Lennon ボブ･レノン

2009-08-02T15:38:00.002+09:00

Came across to the following 2 videos of the song "Bob Lennon" from 20th Century Boys on Youtube, and I quite liked them.

Keep iPhone-ing

2009-07-30T06:25:00.002+09:00

Forgot since when I began to think before I wrote on my blog although I never thought it was necessary.

Have been just blah-ing out random silly meaningless things on twitter, I began to feel the fun of not think before speaking – like throwing balls in all directions, and they all come at me from different directions.

I supposed that’s the same feeling when first started facebook – reading people’s status and wall posts.

Email, chat, blog, twitter… have found their ways into people’s ways of communications, other than face-to-face conversations.

iPhone is helping me to feel more organized with all these kinds of communications and keep them away from my computer.

And, I can switch between typing in 3 different languages just by poking the screen - that's an advantage.

iPhone n’ twit

2009-07-25T02:07:00.003+09:00

Two weeks into iPhone-ing and twiting, I was reminded the days when first encountering internet, email and ICQ.

Honestly speaking, even at the time when purchasing an iPhone, I was wondering if it would be a good thing to be this connected to the internet.

But, apparently, I wasn’t held back.

And it’s quite dazzling to see what has been out there in this world.

So, yeah, you can follow me on http://twitter.com/kachunanders

Nice to meet you

2009-07-20T18:58:00.002+09:00

Quite strange, I was bumping into people quite frequently in the past 2 weeks.

Monday – Hirsohi

Wednesday – Ei

Sunday – Satomi & Yuri

Wednesday – Mizue

2009 神奈川県野球大会　ROUND 2

2009-07-19T00:38:00.004+09:00

12th Inning 中、麻溝台高校エラーした。麻溝台3対8横浜商大。すべで4時間、長かった。

麻溝台の野球BOYS 、生徒達、両親達、泣いていた。それはいいと思いました。

横浜商大は、強いチームだった。夏の甲子園、2003年神奈川県優勝、2006年と2004年ベスト4でした。2009年春、県大会準優勝、関東大会ベスト8。

http://summer.kanagawa-baseball.com/

日本の高校スポツは面白いだ。

It was round 2 of the high school summer baseball tournament.

But it was very different – with the presence of TV station. And the food in this stadium was more expensive as well.

At the 12th inning, my high school made a mistake and it cost the game. Final score Asamizodai 3 to Yokohama Shoudai 8. The whole game went on for 4 hours. It was long.

Asamizodai’s baseball boys, students, and the parents were all crying. I thought that it was a good thing to happen.

Yokohama Shoudai is a very strong team. They won the championship in 2003 Summer and have always been among the top 4 or 8 teams.

High school sport is an exciting thing.

2009 神奈川県野球大会

2009-07-17T18:17:00.003+09:00

Second time to watch the baseball game of the high school I am teaching at.

A very close game, 5-3, we won.

And it was a very hot day – 2 cheer leaders couldn’t sustain the heat and fainted.

This year, I am facebookly connected to my old students in Hong Kong. And I began to post more pictures of different events in my high school here in Japan.

ビールは嘘をつかない

2009-07-07T10:54:00.006+09:00

もっとビールを飲んだ,

お腹がもっと大きくなる

correction by kaoru at 9:30pm (thanks)

ビールを飲めば、おなかが大きくなる

Halfway thru 09

2009-06-30T21:35:00.004+09:00

I haven’t been blogging much this month – something that I am aware of.

And, I am also aware that it’s already the end of June.

Um… come to think of it, it’s also already half way through 2009.

Drawing related works have picked up its pace since the beginning of 2009. Tho I am in a very passive role in most of the recent projects, I have been given more exposures and chances to talk face to face with different people about my works – and to share their visions.

It’s, to me, considered as an important aspect of my works if I am to make further development. (And it’s becoming more and more important for me to keep in mind of how people work differently as well.)

However, there’s also a drawback. With the amount of works and its time constraint, I couldn’t be able to give much thought about my drawings.

Guess I will wait until things slow down.

めんどくさい

2009-06-13T18:13:00.000+09:00

spicahouse.com

2009-06-02T17:38:00.005+09:00

Another website design project has been finalized – the majority of work was done about 6 weeks ago.

http://spicahouse.com

On this project, I had fewer guidelines for the design.

And I tried to come up with a design that could go well with her architecture works and things I see in common at her office.

Bits and Pieces

2009-05-28T19:43:00.009+09:00

(A photo I received from my mother – cherry blossom happened about 3 weeks ago.

And, it was the front yard of my family's house. I thought the tree was something "new" - since I left home. But, I was told that the sakura tree has always been there, even before.)

I was staring into far distance from the classroom window.

I could reach the state of having nothing in my mind – the time I realized that it was happening, I was back to where I was physically standing. Something I hadn’t been able to do for some time.

Sagami Oono - life gets interesting when I look at this area I am working at now.

At times, I would be singing the song, "yoko, oh, no, oh, no, yoko, oh, yes, oh, yes" when I see the station name.

The world that I see is the one that I created. It is not what the world really is about.

I led myself into a mind game with no answers.

One after another.

Recently, I had prepared a little presentation about Franz Kafka. It was to be a demonstration for this upcoming presentation of the high school students. The presentation didn’t go well and I gave up the idea after the first try.

During my research, I found this interesting animation “Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka.”
It’s too bad that there’s only part 1.

Touch

2009-05-19T17:05:00.002+09:00

I don’t get to play the piano at this school as much, and it has been almost a year since I last played the piano.

The music room is usually locked when not in use. And today, since the students are having their exams, I had some time to myself. I swung by the music room and tried my luck.

Physical memory always surprises me – it was also a reflection to the amount of practice I had.

Still it didn’t come back to me as easy. I began to get into the groove, somewhat, after 15 minutes of warm up time.

Piano is always a fun thing. All my limbs and my vocal become different members of a band. The sound is full.

Recently, I have borrowed a PS2 as I noticed my fingers feel dull after a series of website designs and animation makings. But without a TV, I found out that I have to invest a little bit amount of money before I can play games on my laptop. I simply let the system sit for now.

Wu Tang Gran Needs You!

2009-05-11T19:41:00.003+09:00

A documentary project that I participated earlier this year – Wu Tang Gran – was selected as 1 of the 13 finalists in the 2009 International Documentary Challenge.

The ceremony of which took place in Toronto over the weekend on the 9th.

Unfortunately, Wu Tang Gran didn’t get to win any prizes or awards on the day.

The documentary is now available to watch online.

Wu Tang Gran is about the Hip Hop scene in China these days – quite interesting.
(I have also watched a couple other films – they were intense.)

http://www.documentarychallenge.org/Finalists/wu-tang-gran.html

One favor to ask – if you would, please vote for us.

We could still win The Audience Award.
(You have to register in order to vote.)

My first time to be involved in this kind of project – now I have a better idea of how animation on top of a film will look like and what is needed.

I was glad that they asked me to do the animation.

I had only 8 hours from start to finish. It was an experience.

The Feeling of Stability

2009-05-09T04:01:00.003+09:00

Spent pretty much the past 6 days on making the new music animation.

Making curry was becoming a good choice when I got into the busy mode. I could let it sit and they tasted better.

Over years, I am getting better at cooking. (haha)

先週、６日、アニメーションを作りいました。

時々、カレーが作った。昼ご飯と晩御飯、食べました。

Ideal Body Design.com

2009-04-28T21:28:00.006+09:00

Another project has been finalized – a website design project this time.

Ideal Body Design (http://www.idealbodydesign.com) was first built around Apirl, May 2008.

And the recent project was to transferred it to typepad.

Looking and editing the code while transferring the website, I could see how much I struggled when I first made this website – the very first chance I was given in website design business.

Bits of memories also flashed back between the codes.

I feel relieved that this website has been launched.

The urge of closing projects came especially strong in the past 2 months as I have been accepting as many projects as possible.

A day on the rooftop

2009-04-27T18:24:00.004+09:00

with Tagawa san

Far Reaching Reaching Far

2009-04-22T23:22:00.006+09:00

Souvenirs collected during the hanami I went to earlier this month.
部屋中、四月の花見お土産を発見しました。

Finally have time to clean up my room – to get ready for the next project to begin and to welcome the long awaited warm seasons.

Life since the beginning of 2009 was moving in such a speed that I began letting my pace went uncontrolled – thus, my room became a refugee camp like.

I was just thinking earlier today, at school.

April 2007, I was teaching in this primary school in Hong Kong though I thought it was something like 4 years ago.

Wu Tang Gran & GEHO

2009-04-17T17:27:00.013+09:00

A project with Madarin Film (http://www.mandarinfilm.com) more than a month ago was to create two 10-second animations in this documentary film called “Wu Tang Gran” – a participant of 2009 International Documentary Challenge. (http://www.docchallenge.org/)

It was an interesting competition as production teams had only 5 days to finish a film.

Out of 116 films submitted, “Wu Tang Gran” made it to be 1 of the 13 finalist. (Congrats!)

Winners of this competition will be announced during the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto on May 9th.

Good luck to “Wu Tang Gran”!

And around the same time, I was asked to design a logo for a friend's company.

The logo would be printed on its business card.

To my surprise, received a picture from this friend, the logo was made to a real sign and is being hung outside of the company.

It was a good feeling to see the 3D-nized logo.

Peace

2009-04-12T17:02:00.006+09:00

このビデオはカンボジアで撮った。
Video taken in Phnom Penn Cambodia.

The infamous killing fields of Cambodia, one of the darkest spot in the human history time line, 2.2 million out of 7 million Cambodian died in 4 years of time.

People imprisoned (by “lifestyle crimes”) were tortured until death while they were being watched carefully for signs of suicidal attempts.

To kill someone with a gun (or a bullet) is too expensive.

It got difficult and heavy as I was walking in these tourist spots, imaging what I would do if I were in the same situation.

It got even harder when I could imagine myself rather torturing others than being tortured.

Missiles from North Korea, American army shifting their focus to Afghanistan...

PEACE.

Follow Where the Sakura Go

2009-04-06T18:11:00.018+09:00

春休み中、忙しかった。先週金曜日の午後、最後の projectを終わったから、パソコンの前に座っては難しかった。だから、きれいな桜で三連酔っ払いした。

Having finished a several projects during the spring break, it was becoming difficult to see myself sitting still in front of the computer. And, thanks to the cherry blossom, I found myself being drunk for 3 days in a row.

I didn’t grow up with Sakura. And last year, when I first saw this park near my house pinked and whitened by Sakura trees, I couldn’t believe that it was real.

Until now, I still don’t.

Very Enjoy

2009-04-02T16:28:00.003+09:00

Went out to have lunch with a friend, who was skipping work because of a massive hangover.

After lunch, we thought that the day was too nice to waste (work) and decided to go to a park for a Hanami (Sakura Watching.)

Even though I had been in Japan for over a year now, it was actually my first time to go to a Hanami.

The park was filled with young adults and families – business people were getting the spots for the colleagues to come, ducks at the lake dodging gigantic duck-boat.

Such a crowded day but I felt peaceful.

新しいアニメーション – Go Get it Tiger

2009-03-24T16:23:00.005+09:00

どうぞ！

New short animation – “Go Get it Tiger” Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfQwXukdYZY

Have you joined kachun.jp's fan page yet?
(kachun.jpのfan page に参加しましたか？)

Transferring

2009-03-22T16:25:00.004+09:00

The teaching job on Sunday has come to an end for about 2 weeks.

The kindergarten job on Saturday officially finished after the graduation yesterday.

The high school job for year 2008 – 2009 had its last day on Thursday.

The plan that I began back in January – to free up my weekends, or to have at least 2 days off in a row –has now taken place.

Work and money has stopped at the same time. And I still haven’t been able to secure a more than surviving income, starting next month. Freedom does come with a price in a way.

Quite often, I think to myself that if I am pushing too hard for things to happen. And I should be more patient. I should be patient both reasonably and unreasonably.

Waking up on a Sunday, walking in the less traffic noise Tokyo becomes a stimulating and luxurious feeling.

Pause for a sec

2009-03-18T17:59:00.002+09:00

Sunny and warm for the second day in a row.

Although there are jobs piling up at home, I couldn’t help but found myself sitting outside for a bit, watching the way people move...

Everyone is ready for the spring steps.

Everyone is ready for the spring dance.

春さん、お帰り！
Spring, welcome back.

冬さん、お疲れ様！
Winter, you have done a great job. Now, please go back. Until 5 months later, I will miss you again.

P.S. Kaoru and Mr. 窪耕一郎 performance at a wedding. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhC1tyansY4

生徒ｓ

2009-03-11T20:19:00.005+09:00

“将来に、何をしたい？“
これは英語クラスの最後のテスト(スピーチ)のトピックです。

“What do you want to do in the future?”
This is the topic for the English final exam (speech).

Very soon, their first year in the high school will come to an end, the same for mine.

Be honest, I was impressed by how much improvement some of these kids have made on English in the past year. They must have spent so much time and effort on studying English.

Reading and listening to their speeches, I was trying to remember what I was dreaming about when I was 16, or even younger.

And, there were tons.

Generations are shifting like currents streaming underwater.

Highlights from the speeches;

“Is it all right to get to the answers directly?”

“Adventure is a man’s romantic spirit.”

LIVES living LIVES performing

2009-03-05T17:31:00.005+09:00

A friend of mine, She Kay, came visit a week or 2 ago.

We don’t really keep touch but sort of know what each other is up to – facebook way of living.

She and her band – Synthetic (IN)semination – went from winning the World Battle of the Band (Hong Kong division), to having a record deal, to disagreeing with the manager, to being completely broke – which led to the breakup of the band, to now starting 9-5 and regrouping the band again, all in the past year.

I was thinking, “That’s quite a year in the life.”

I like people like that.

Another friend of mine, Hyangha, had a live show earlier this week. She is a singer and recently began this acoustic live.

I went down to check it out.

My first to see her on the stage and she certainly had the on-stage charisma.

Tax Your Feet!

2009-03-01T12:28:00.002+09:00

No matter where I went, Taxman is following me around…

どこでも行った、税金さんがいます。。。

India India, take me to your heart

2009-02-22T21:35:00.006+09:00

このビデオがインドで撮った。
The video was taken during the trip in India back in 2006.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp8qDAyLa5c

Recovering from the infamous food poisoning of India, I was just sitting at this balcony staring at the lake in front of me.

Then, there was the plate clicking sound.

I turned around and saw Mr. Squirrel sharing my milkshake. (Video)

And he seemed to dig the drink and forgot about manners.

After he was done, he went off and was rubbing his mouth against the floor. My guess was that an uncomfortable sticky feeling from sugar.

Or well, it’s just simply what he does.

Writing this post made me go back and read the posts about the trip... I need to travel.

Parents - Children

2009-02-19T22:50:00.003+09:00

I had a chance to talk to almost every single of students, about 320 in total, in the past 3 weeks.

Nothing serious, rather casual.

One question I asked, “What’s your father’s job?”

“I don’t know.” (I thought, maybe he didn’t want to tell me.)

“What’s your mother’s job?”

“I don’t know.”

I have heard that it’s common in Japan that husbands don’t live with the family – for money reason or for new girl friends reason.

I have also heard – this is pretty universal in many countries – that when husbands got tired of their wives. They settled their libido with quickie services, “hostesses,” or buying high school girls. It depends on how much money you have – what you pay is what you get. The same goes to the wives.

Since I began teaching 6 years ago, I have met students from many different kinds of families – healthy ones, unhappy ones, divorced ones, widows’ or dead parents ones.

But this “I don’t know what parents are doing” one is quite rare.

Not to deny the possibility that they didn’t want to tell me, but these students share, at least this one, a kind of similarities – the faces are trying not to show any emotions.

I tried to do a little research about it, but there wasn't any luck.

I am a little tired... having worked 13 days in a row.

Lunch

2009-02-18T17:26:00.004+09:00

最近は、金欠ですから、毎日お弁当を持ってる。

英語で。。。

I am broke again, and so I have been bringing lunch box to work.

It isn’t anything new though – it’s just how I was going out so often in December and January, I lost money and this habit.

村上春樹　エルサレム賞　スピーチ　「壁と卵」
(Mr. Haruki Murakami's Speech)

Language Wall

2009-02-12T00:17:00.001+09:00

The problem of not being to speak Japanese hit me quite hard last October. Since then, I have been trying to pick up the language, more strategically and consciously.

Just not to disrespect myself…

Learning a language with my sub-conscious mind does not work after the age of 20.

Tho, it is getting easier to remember all these new words – after spending a year remembering students’ names.

たぶん、いまから、短い日本語のブログを書くいます。
(Maybe, I will start writing short entries in Japanese.)
だけど、本当に短いです。
(But, really short.)
はい、書くに終わりました。
(Yes, I finished writing.)

P.S. And here is my recommendation for Japanese learning beginners…

“Understanding Basic Japanese Grammar” by Nishiguchi Koichi

There’s no excuse, but a good book helps.

The one I used before, now I realize, was crap or well, just not my style of learning.

P.P.S. And here is my friend’s blog on teaching Japanese, quite interesting.

My daily life in Japan ~For the beginners of Japanese~

And… that happened!

2009-02-07T02:42:00.002+09:00

I came across to this video the other day and was laughing my ass off.

And then, I found out who made it (not that random in a way)… I leave it up to you to figure it out.

29 Seconds

2009-02-05T17:35:00.002+09:00

Speaking of preciseness.

3 more years to live

2009-01-31T19:29:00.002+09:00

Finally, the new working visa has arrived.

This time I am given 3 more years to stay in Japan.

I feel more relieved with the arrival of this visa. I didn’t worry about it at all, but the possibility of “what if it doesn’t go through” came to me like an anticipating predator hiding in the brushes.

Now, my status of staying is officially guaranteed. I can seem to project what’s ahead with a better environment.

Though, am I going to stay for this long? – I am not thinking of leaving yet.

3 years will soon come and go.

Like seasons changing every year.

May it be the season you dislike; it comes in slowly and fills the air.

May it be the season you want to live in; it gradually fades away.

In the next 3 years, something must happen.

What it brings

2009-01-27T17:47:00.003+09:00

This stove heater kind of thing has come in place in every single classroom since last November or so.

Quite a fascinating thing to a first year foreigner – for some reasons, it reminds me of Asimo.

Such a nostalgic symbol to the already grown up Japanese friends.

This device is quite primitive and doesn’t really heat up the whole classroom. So, in between classes, teachers and students would gather around the stove. Conversations then began.

Belly good

2009-01-21T20:31:00.002+09:00

I have been, sort of, trying to put on some weight since August last year.

It was easily done after spending 2 weeks in Boston.

But the major step came only after Tokyo December-ing.

Now, I will try to lower my consumption and desire.

And, finally, Mr. Obama is in the office.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=VjnygQ02aW4

In the past 6-7 hours, there are more than 1,500,000 hits and 23,000 comments on this video alone.

I am movable

2009-01-09T23:41:00.002+09:00

On and off for a little over 2 weeks into learning movable type.

I am not the kind of person who rejects new ideas – in my life, or in the world.

But, it’s not easy to move in this new system.

Hopefully, I can get the very basic going soon. And I can move on and be a more capable person. (o_0)”

Recently, I have received this link to a Radiohead video (of their concert in Japan back in October). You can watch it while switching cameras. These guys are always creative in visual sensations.

http://www.wowow.co.jp/music/radiohead/special/

Let’s get real

2009-01-04T13:44:00.002+09:00

I wanted to be productive during the holiday.

But it didn’t go that way.

Not that it was a problem.

Aleks and Phillip, 2 friends happened to be in Japan this time around. It’s interesting to listen to the conversations between these 2 young and bright individuals.

Anyway, the holiday is over. It’s time to get real again.
First thing to do, renew my working visa.

Beautiful Sky

2008-12-31T16:24:00.004+09:00

Woke up this morning, fierce sun light piercing through my eye lids.

Such a beautiful day.

I couldn’t wait and did my laundry right away.

Monday night, my animations were exhibited in a “year-end party.” Unlike the past exhibitions, people there this time cared what’s shown on the screen. The animations were well received. Drunken people were laughing at different scenes.

The owner of the bar asked me if I could leave him the DVD.

I couldn’t take the last train home. So, I ended up hanging out with some random people until the morning train comes.

The sun is setting on the last day of 2008. In a couple of hours, 2009 will land in the midst of foods and drinks.

Changes had occurred since the beginning of this year, when I first set my feet on this country.

Last year was mainly about surviving.

It’s not that I am loaded with cash or something now. But I can afford to work less. (Maybe)

And that’s what I am going to do.

Happy New Year.

Kidnapping!

2008-12-28T00:38:00.000+09:00

I saw this sign in the toilet of this club.

Stolen staff!

Such a lovely one.

The Beginning

2008-12-23T13:39:00.001+09:00

32 years have passed by, but I still feel like it’s only the beginning.

“It’s easier to see what you don’t have” – this thought has been recurring recently.

I can’t tell if it has something to do with the age, year end, or just totally random.

Explosive moments, for sure, stayed. But memories of unimportant events – like sitting in a room making peanut butter and jam Ritz sandwiches – survived.

4 birthday cakes this year – a new record, you all people are the reasons why I am in Tokyo.