Hi all you nice wonderful people! I am just letting you know to be ready for my post about my silver award project that will be on ina few days.

goodbye, cried the weed.
she paused, then silently cut the string 
that choked her tufted hair
and steadily chopped her into lengths 
that might fit the pot.
her bulbous head kept her red cheeks 
and what was left of her weight
on the base of cold metal
as she opened the faucet
and filled half the vessel.
the stove was now hot
her name was Gavat
and it was time to say
goodbye.

We talked for hours. She crossed her legs five times and three quarters, the last one she wasn’t sure she had to. Her pants were pressed neat, creases fading under new folds of a day’s milling about. Her shirt, a clean white, had two letters, R.S., sewn on its right sleeve, as if to remind her which side faces front because it had an oddly symmetrical collar. Her hand gestured for the bill and she was ready to leave. To go home where she clumsily strips down to her underpants as she lights a cigarette. She locks her room and starts writing on her computer. 

Are you there?

there was once a poem about a tree
but rhythm never captured the mystery

of a humble gourd they named sayote,
which strangles beams like an olden garrote

embracing the contours of a wire netting
only yielding at the sight of poles swinging

and then that playful banter
with the famed tree by Kilmer

is there really anything as lovely
as poetry made for the tree?

a fool may know the answer
while the poor man will have his supper

never have I had this.

this hunger for air,

as if it was the food drop

that never came-

refugees in line-

undefeated,

Only I.

my breathing deep,

grim in immensity

of all that is inside.

I fall on my knees,

palms towards me,

like a solemn raka’ah,

then I remember.

there is a buzz of revolution,
one that does not spill blood,
nor cause betrayal
... to the nation’s cry for freedom,
but a new kind-
a celebration of the day
when a marching band plays
a clutter of dogma and dissent,
boom, boom, and boom---
a little girl holds her skirt,
dances in circles,
adjoined little circles,
two at a time,
before jumping on
to leave a fantasy impression
of eternity on the ground.

Think the Energy Program

From the last month, I have been participating "電力の未来を考える会" which means “think the future of the energy”, a program for University students held by Mentor Diamond in Tokyo.

There is no wonder why this kind of program was organized for University students.

Since the 3.11 earthquake and the following explosions of the Fukushima nuclear power plants that brought blackouts & brownouts, there were a lot of discussions on energy in Japan.

Politicians, corporate managers, heads of the related organizations, decision makers, academics, etc. were involved in those arguments, but what they were talking with technical terms, jargons, was too difficult to understand for ordinary people - like us.

(Of course this is not applied to everyone. Some academics are putting out the information through their blog, website, Twitter or Ustream in an informative way.)

The main purpose of this 3-month-program is to get involve the University students into the discussion on energy by giving them basic knowledge and opportunity to talk to the relevant actors.

And at the end of the program, each of the participants is supposed to submit a report (提言書).

What should be discussed?

The first session was held on Sunday, October 16^th at Harajuku, Tokyo.

We had guest speakers from various areas.

Mr. Itaru Yasui, emeritus professor of Tokyo University,

Mr. Akihiro Sawa, Executive of The 21st Century Public Policy Institute,

Mr. Tetsunari Iida, Manager of Institute for Sustainable Energy Politics,

and Mr. Thomas Breuer, Head of Energy Department of Green Peace.

Mr. Sawa has been working in METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and involved in promotion of the use of the nuclear energy. On the other hand, Mr. Iida is well known as a strong supporter of the renewable energy.

It was very interesting to hear both sides of the story.

Actually, Mr. Sawa’s statement sounded rather reasonable. He pointed out that we cannot quit nuclear energy like RIGHT NOW, but what we have to do is to think the ratio of the resource of the electricity. He insisted that we should not depend on only one resource (ex. 100% natural gas) considering the ‘risk management’, and it is needed to use several resources for a stable energy supply. Considering that, he said, we should keep the nuclear energy as one of the options of our energy strategy.

It was kind of surprising because I was supporting the idea that we should STOP nuclear energy AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and shift to the renewable energy.

What hit me was that, Mr. Sawa’s point weighs the growth of the economy.

Well, many says we need electricity to keep the current economic status, but is the electricity for the economy or the human being?

If it could do harm on people and the environment yet does good to the economy, would it be justified?

I think we should discuss not only whether to go on with nuclear energy or with 100% renewable energy, but also what does Japan aims at, what kind of society we are trying to design, and how much energy will be needed to realize that.

I am looking forward to the next session coming soon, November 12 – 13.

everything is now familiar,

a fine line is drawn over an outline,

let’s see---

the quick brush now feels like

the touch of the passenger’s listlessness

as I hand over her change,

or that faded road sign-

it stands there

in the same indignation

as that of the lost man,

oh well, it is after all just a hint,

a modest clue. a needless caveat,

of things lesser than that which

when given the chance to clear up,

everything comes back to a blur.

August 6th is Hiroshima Day and August 9th is Nagasaki Day. In 1945, a uranium bomb and a plutonium one were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. I view these days as a time for all of us to reaffirm that humans and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.

8月6日は広島原爆の日、8月9日は長崎原爆の日です。1945年、ウラニウム爆弾が広島に、プルトニウム爆弾が長崎に落とされました。私は、原爆の日は人類が原子爆弾と共存できないということを再確認する日だと思っています。


However, I had very complicated feelings this year, a mixture of sadness, helplessness, bitterness and great regret, due to the Fukushima nuclear power plant disasters.

でも今年は、福島の原子力発電所の事故があり、とても複雑な気持ちでした。悲しさ、やるせなさ、苦々しさ、そして大きな後悔の念･･･。

Some people say that nuclear weapons and nuclear power stations are two completely different things so it is wrong to connect the nuclear accident with weapons. Unlike the invention of nuclear weapons, I believe that engineers invented nuclear power stations out of their devotion to mankind. However, nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants have something in common;  radiation.

原子爆弾と原子力発電所とはまったく違うも のだから，一緒くたにして話をするのは間違っているという人がいます。たしかに原子力発電所は、原子爆弾と異なり、人類のためになると思って発明されたも のだとは思います。でも、このふたつには共通点があります。それは、放射能です。


Being exposed to radiation is dangerous if its amount exceeds a certain limit. What is worse, radiation doesn’t vanish for a very long time. It is well known that the people who were in Hiroshima or Nagasaki when the bombs were dropped are still suffering from radiation poisoning. I understand that even their children may develop radiation-related sicknesses.

放射能は、ある一定レベルを超えると危険です。おまけに、長い間消えずにその場所に残り続けます。爆弾が落とされたときに広島と長崎にいた人たちは、今も原爆 症で苦しんでいることは周知の事実です。その人たちの子どもでさえ、放射能の影響を受けて病気になるかもしれないそうです。


Some people say that the Fukushima disasters were caused by an unexpectedly devastating natural catastrophe and that nuclear power stations are 100 percent safe. However, we are human after all. Humans are prone to making mistakes. I would say it is arrogant to think we never make mistakes.

福島の事故は予期していなかったような大きな天災のせいで、原子力発電所は 100パーセント安全だという人がいます。でも私たちは、所詮は人間です。人間は間違いを犯すものです。間違いを絶対にしないと考えるのは傲慢だと私は思います。


In a way, the Fukushima accident and the following problems were predictable. Some people thought that a serious nuclear power plant accident could happen somewhere, some time and that nuclear power stations should be gotten rid of. I was one of them. However, I didn’t feel it was an imminent threat. I was probably unconsciously thinking that an accident would happen only in the distant future. In addition, even though I heard it would be necessary to look after the nuclear site in Chernobyl for so many years to come, I didn’t think of applying this fact before the Fukushima disasters to nuclear power plants in Japan.

あ る意味、福島の事故とそれに引き続いて起きている問題は予測できたことでした。深刻な事故がいつかどこかで起るだろうと思い、原子力発電所をなくすべきだ と考えていた人はいました。私もそう考えていました。でも差し迫ったことのようには感じていませんでした。無意識のうちに、事故が起きるのはずっと遠い将来のこと のように思っていたのだと思います。また、チェルノブイリではずっと何年も原子力発電所の跡地を管理し続けなくてはならないということを聞いていたのに、 福島の事故が起きるまで、これを日本の原発に当てはめて考えてみたことはありませんでした。


This has revealed that I didn’t seriously consider problems that nuclear power plants would surely cause to our future generations. On Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days when I think human beings should completely abolish nuclear weapons, I could not help but have bitter feelings, having noticed I had been self-contradictory...

今回の事で、未来の世代の人たちが原子力発電所で困ったことになるということにつ いて自分が真剣に考えてこなかったことがわかりました。広島と長崎の原爆投下の日、人類は原子爆弾を完全になくさなければならないと考えるこの日、私は今 までの自己矛盾に気がついて、苦々しい思いでした。

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