Blood Type Analysis

It was late in the evening and I wanted a quick haircut. I popped into the nearest hairdressers I could find that still had its lights on.
“Are you open?” I asked the owner.
“We’re always open,” the lady replied. At that point I knew that this would be no ordinary hairdressers.
“Your life changes when you have your hair cut,” she told me as I watched tufts of my wispy brown hair drop to the floor. I secretly hoped she was right.
We talked candidly about our lives. I was surprised at how openly we found ourselves talking seeing as I had only just met her.
“What blood type are you?” she asked.
“A,” I replied.
“I thought so,” she said. “I’m ‘A’ type as well.”

Although character analysis by blood type is quite popular in Japan, the statistical analysis it is based on has been proved to be rather dubious.
The question, “What blood type are you?” would only be asked by doctors in Britain, if it would be asked at all. I don’t think that many people in Britain even know what their blood type is, unless they donate blood or have a rare blood type.

“‘A’ types have to be careful with ‘O’ types,” my mysterious hairdresser continued. I became rather intrigued. I’ve struggled with conflicts with various ‘O’ types over the years. “’O’ types bully ‘A’ types if they think they are weak,” she explained whilst blow drying my hair.
I was reminded of what one of my best friends, another ‘A’ type said. She would only become close friends with other ‘A’ types because she would be constantly hurt by ‘O’ or ‘B’ types. On the other hand, she would always choose a ‘B’ type as her manager (she is an artist) because their organizational skills are unmatched. I remember her saying rather wistfully,
“I wish I could be more like an ‘O’ type. They just don’t worry so much about what they say or do or what is said to them. It’s so hard being an ‘A’!”

I can identify with the over-sensitive, emotional nature that ‘A’ types are said to possess but I’m afraid I can’t live up to the “clean and tidy perfectionist” image of an ‘A’ type at all.
And my life did change after that haircut although it had never changed before when I got my hair cut. Or perhaps I’d just never noticed.
| Books, events and activities (past and upcoming) | 10:04 | comments(6) | trackbacks(0) | pookmark |

Good News

“I’ve started taking classes in something – what do you think it is?” I asked my adult students to guess the other day.
“Salsa? Dancing?”
“No”
“Singing?”
“A little warm.”(近い)
“You’ve joined a band?”
“No, something more traditional.”
“Haiku?”
“No, but I would like to study Haiku as well. Something a little religious.”
“Lotus sutra chanting?”
“Yes! A lotus sutra chanting workshop” (お経を読むワークショップ)
They were very surprised. But I’m really enjoying the course. It is held on Saturday evening twice a month at a temple in Shinjuku and runs until the end of the year. We learn how to breathe, how to sit, how to project our voices and concentrate. The priest explains the background and general meaning of the sutra we study each time. There are fourteen of us in the class, all Japanese except me.
The Buddhist priest told me that chanting the sutras will be very good to help clear the pneumonia shadow still on my lungs. (肺炎の影を治す)
And strangely enough last week when I went for my check up at the hospital the doctor was amazed to see that my lung was completely clear.
“It’s because I’ve been chanting the sutras,” I proudly told the Japanese doctor.
“The sutras?” The doctor looked surprised. “Japanese only associate funerals with sutras. I’m Christian,” he said with a smile.
Things are never as simple as they may seem.
Or we can think things are more complicated than they actually are.
| Books, events and activities (past and upcoming) | 00:07 | comments(8) | trackbacks(0) | pookmark |

Mrs. Blueberry

Today I'm going to do a bilingual diary.
     ***************

The other day I was on the train.
この間電車に乗っていました。

The man sitting next to me suddenly turned to me and asked, "Are you Mrs. Blueberry?"
突然隣に座っていた男に『ブルーベリーさんですか?」と聞かれました。

I replied, "No, I am not Mrs. Blueberry."
『違います。ブルーベリーさんではありません。」と答えました。

But I became rather intrigued.
でも、少し面白くなりました。

"Who exactly is Mrs. Blueberry?" I asked.
「ブルーベリーさんはだれでしょうか?」と聞いてみました。

"My English teacher. Oh ...err...about 37 years ago."
「30年前俺の英会話の先生でした。」
"Your English teacher 37 years ago!!! How old do I look? 37 years ago I was still at elementary school!"
「なにを言っている?!私は何才に見えるの?37年前には私はまだイギリスで小学生でしたのよ!」
"Oh, you're English? English food is terrible" he said.
そうして、「イギリス人ですか?イギリスの料理はまずいですね。」彼は言いました。
"Well, English food is very plain. It's not like French or Japanese food with all the wide variety of sauces. But on the other hand, when you eat an English potato just as it is with no sauce or anything it tastes really good. But how about a Japanese potato? If it's not in nimono or in a potato salad or anything, if you just eat it as it is without salt or pepper or anything it usually doesn't taste so good, does it? That's the difference between English food and food from countries that use a wide variety of sauces. The vegetables or meat have to taste really good just by themselves."
「イギリスの料理はとても簡単です。フランス料理とか日本料理みたいに色々なソースを使わないですよ。でも、イギリスの材料はそのまま食べると美味しいですよ。たとえば、イギリスのジャガイモをそのまま食べるととっても美味しいですよ。でも、日本のジャガイモはどうでしょうか?サラダや煮物に入れなくて、塩でかコショウでをつけないと余り美味しくないでしょうね?そこは違います。ソースを使わないから材料自身は美味しくないとだめです。」
"Oh, I see. But Portuguese food is awful"
「なるほど。でも、ポルトガルの料理はまずいです。」
"Oh did you live in Portugal then?"
「ポルトガルに住んだことがありますか?」
"No, I just went there for two days..."
「いいえ、二日間だけ行っていましたが。。。」
"What did you eat?"
「何を食べましたか?」
"I can't really remember..."
「余り覚えていません…」
"You mean to say that you went to a country for 2 days, you can't even remember what you ate and you dismiss the whole country's food as awful?"
[二日間だけどここへ行って、食べた物でも覚えていないのに、その国の料理は全部まずいとの判断しますか?」
"Err..well..."
「え…と…」
"Lots of English people I know have come to Japan for a few days on a business trip and have said the same thing about Japanese food. They said the food was so bad that it was the only country they have ever managed to diet in. But I say to them that I love Japanese food. I have lived here for 20 years and tried many kinds of food and I know what tastes really good, how to eat the food, which shops are best and so on. You can't come to a conclusion with only a short experience."
『イギリス人何人日本料理について、同じことを言っていますよ。出張でちょっとだけ日本に滞在して、食事は食べられなくて、体重でも減ったと言っていた人がいます。でもわたしは日本料理が大好きといつも言っています。20年間ここに住んでいますので、美味しい食べ物、食べ方、美味しいお店分かるようになって、日本料理はとっても健康に良くて、美味しいとの判断が出来ました。ちょっとだけの経験で、ちゃんとした結論が出ないと思いますよ。」
"Oh, I see. Yes, of course you are right. But don't you think that Japanese people are the ugliest in the world?"
「なるほど。でも日本人は世界中で一番ブスですね。」
"What on earth are you talking about? Beauty comes from within. It doesn't matter what nationality you are or how beautiful your face is, if you have a nasty heart then you are ugly. And if you have a kind and tender heart then you are beautiful. It is as simple as that、I think."
「いったいなにを言っていますか?美しさはこころのなかからでるもの。国籍が関係なくて、いくら顔がきれいでも、心が優しくないとブスです。逆に心が優しかったら、顔もきれいです。そのもんだと思うけど…」

"Sorry, I have to get off at this station perhaps we can meet again on the train one day. Goodbye.."
『すみませんが、次の駅に降りますので、又電車に会うかも知れませんん。さよなら」

"Goodbye. What was your name?"
「さよなら!お名前はなんでしたか?」

"Not Mrs. Blueberry,anyway. Goodbye."
[とにかくブルーベリーさんではないのです。さよなら!」


| Books, events and activities (past and upcoming) | 13:42 | comments(11) | trackbacks(0) | pookmark |

A Sad Death

A Sad Death
My cat just died. Suddenly. He just coughed and fell down and was dead within seconds.
His name was Kojiro. He was a very special cat.

One morning about five years ago we looked out of the window and there was a kitten unable to stand up in our tiny garden. None of us could understand how he could have got into our garden because he could hardly stand and if you tried to help him he just went round and round in circles. Where did he come from? We have a hedge and fence around our garden and he couldn't possibly have jumped over in that state.
But he chose the right house because we love animals in our family and we already had 2 cats.

I took him to the vet and the vet said he had been bitten by another cat (not one of ours as they are female, extremely docile and never bite) but perhaps another stray cat (野良猫). The vet said he was unlikely to live but they would do their best.
2 weeks later I got a call "He's better and you can come and collect him."
He was the naughtiest little kitten you can imagine but full of a tremendous life force and will to live and enjoy life to the fullest. He spent five happy years with us. The vet did warn us that he may suddenly die at around 7 years of age. But it happened sooner.
Only this morning I was smiling watching him sleeping on the deck in the sun. I wish I had bought him his favourite crab sticks today (かにかもぼこ)

| Books, events and activities (past and upcoming) | 03:49 | comments(7) | trackbacks(0) | pookmark |

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