Sunday, September 1, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature here is 80.1 degrees F (27.2 degrees C).
Monday, September 2, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's been raining all day long. This afternoon, the residential areas in Saitama and Chiba prefectures, Japan were struck by the tornados, the strengths of which weren't as strong as those often seen in Oklahoma and Kansas, the US. The tornados caused no small damage there.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
The drive to legalize marijuana is now making much headway in many states of the US recently. The generation of Americans who celebrated the joys of youth in the 1960s and 1970s has clout in many societies of the US nowadays. On the basis of the spirit of democracy that runs deep in the US societies, they have been leading the American people in this direction consciously. At least, a majority of Americans in this generation are doing so. It means that this trend may continue for the next two decades. When marijuana spreads as much as alcohol during this period of time, it will deeply root in the US. To be honest, I don't like to see such a future world of cannabis addiction.
The degree of an unconventional way of thinking, that is to say, a liberal way excluding a conventional way of thinking, of Americans in this generation should be higher than that of Americans in other generations. They probably think more wildly. They are taking the initiative in many organizations at the present time.
There were light scattered showers occasionally today.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Unlike tobacco and marijuana, the drinking habit of alcohol may last for a long period of time. Only a minority of government officials may give thought to the matter of eradicating the drinking habit of alcohol completely from the behaviors of the general public once in a while. However, taking into account that there are many people who are engaged in the liquor industry and many people who drink regularly, it's difficult for government officials to get rid of the drinking habit from the general public in a democratic nation. Mass media, which has a strong influence in a democratic nation, especially the advertising agents, should also take the side of the liquor industry. Anyway, the total permeation of the discipline to restrain the general public from drinking too much and driving under the influence of alcohol should be helped forward.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast. Went out shopping at a grocery store this morning. Ate a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast and a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch. Went out shopping at grocery stores this morning. Ate a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
Tasted Japanese spirits distilled from sweet potatoes and containing about 25% alcohol with dinner. The use of black malted rice gives plenty of body to it.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Early this morning, somebody came to leave a garbage bag designed only for the disposal of plastic waste in front of the front door of the house where my wife and I currently live. That's what we used last Friday. According to the label attached to the garbage bag returned, double packaging using any opaque bag is prohibited because the things inside can't be seen. There is a picture of a penguin giving a shake to a yellow card on the label. Because there is no item about it in the instruction manual, it's still not clear whether the same rule is applied to other kinds of garbage bags.
Probably, somebody has a friend who likes soccer, rather than volleyball. A friend of his may give serious consideration to maintaining the cost of plastic materials low for the benefit of several industries.
For now, a friend of his may also feel uneasy about any fast breeding method of the alien elements that exist very rarely in nature. It seems that they are now taking a skeptical view of the plan relying on a large quantity of the giant steel pinwheel that can be manufactured at the plants and transported to the windy places while emitting a large cloud of greenhouse gases because the warming is getting more serious. Therefore, they don't deny the use of the existing parents of the aliens for a while. That's about enough for today. Reading too much into a matter is unhealthy.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
For caution's sake, flammable garbage was packed in a garbage bag without any double packaging this morning.
Found an item claiming the prohibition on the double packaging on the back of the latest garbage collection calendar that's attached to the door of a refrigerator. The rule that's newly shown up prohibits double packaging only for the limited kinds of garbage bags. In order to protect privacy somewhat, double packaging is allowed for most of the garbage disposal.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
For the purpose of establishing a society in which being a woman is not a handicap, many projects advantageous to women have been tested and introduced with the revival of feminism, mostly in Western countries, since the 1960s. One of these attempts favorable to a woman is the introduction of a way to make a decision without discussing matters. This way may have originated in Asian countries where protectionism is not contested. There should exist considerable variation in the way that has been done as a trial for this purpose. By virtue of the introduction of these ways, the participation of women in public affairs may have been advanced to a certain extent, but the social decays have unfortunately become deeper because the old guards put it to bad use.
It seems to me that conversation in plain language and perspicuous expression should be always encouraged. A woman should be educated with a view to becoming a clearly thinking speaker. On the other hand, a man should avoid relying on macho-style debating. Overall, on duty in a society, people should behalf more genderless.
It goes without saying that an ambiguous expression may be interesting in a romantic relationship in their private lives. As well known, an ambiguous expression sometimes helps run things smoothly among feeble and uneducated people.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast. Went out shopping at a grocery store this morning. Ate a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
Caught the movie entitled "The Last Samurai" on TV last night. The film's scriptwriter sketched out a fictional story offering tribute of admiration to the lost samurai class against the backdrop of Japan early in the Meiji period just before the enforcement of the law banning the wearing of swords (1876), by gathering many episodes from Japanese history since the Warring States period through the Seinan War period. In the film, the hero characters are imaginary, and a villain whose family name is Ômura is also imaginary.
Masujiro Ômura was one of the figures whose way of thinking was most westernized in Japan during the last days of the Tokugawa regime. He was a medical man and a scholar of the Dutch language, engineering, and military science before he became a central strategist who brought victories to the Satsuma-Chôshû Alliance against overwhelming numbers of the shogun's guards in the civil wars and was engaged in modernizing Japan's military system early in the Meiji period. A series of reforms in Japan's society and military led to his unfortunate assassination in 1869. That's about seven years before the period the film deals with. Unlike Ômura in the film, Masujiro Ômura wasn't a money worshiper, to my knowledge. My wife said that the character of a founder of Japan's financial conglomerate was probably reflected in that of a villain Ômura in the film. The characters of the leading politicians of the new Meiji government may also have influences.
Unlike a morality play, the distinction between the goodies and the baddies isn't a simple work in the real world. Although there should be a considerable number of exceptions, it's meaningless in many cases of history.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Got up at eight-thirty in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a dish of Japanese pasta following an aperitif for dinner.
Thought about an increase in the consumption tax during lunchtime. It's easier to implement today's idea than what I wrote last month.
The following explains the new plan. In a similar way to the previous plan, the taxes are assessed only on both the retail selling and the manufacturing selling. The sales tax rate on the retail selling of goods and services may be kept at the current constant value of 5%. On the other side, the progressiveness will be added to the sales tax rate only on the manufacturer selling. The sales tax rate on the manufacturer selling increases progressively with raising the price of a product. The threshold price may be set in the same manner as the previous plan. The product prices were allowed to reflect the increase in the sales tax rate on the manufacturer selling.
The advantages of the new idea are that progressiveness can be added for the purpose of dealing with the aging of the Japanese population and that it doesn't require any complication in the tax calculations by the cashiers, compared to the present condition. Its disadvantages are that progressiveness can't be added to the tax on the sales transactions of the services and that the sales tax rate on the manufacturing selling is only added to the domestically produced products. It means that the new idea should weaken the domestic competitiveness of Japanese products against overseas imports.
Therefore, on the whole, it isn't a good idea. The progressive sales tax I wrote last month is more complicated but better.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
As a result of an approach of the season's 18th typhoon, there were severe floods in many regions of Japan, especially in the Kinki region, this morning. It directly hit the Tokai region early in the morning, went northeast, and then passed into the Pacific in the Tohoku region late in the afternoon.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
In a gun society, a girl in her early teens can defeat the strongest guy in the world at a certain distance when she has a gun and knows how to use it. The instruction that includes one hour of shooting is usually long enough. The attachment of a laser pointer to a gun's sight can assist even a very bad shooter in hitting the mark accurately. There are advantages and disadvantages to most matters, even to a gun society. One of its advantages is that male chauvinism can be outdated there. This may be one of the reasons why the movement toward feminism became radical in a gun society.
A wild deer bellows strangely in the neighboring farmland at midnight.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
The Satsuma-Chôshû Alliance defeated overwhelming numbers of the shogun's guards in the civil wars of Japan, i.e. the 2nd Chôshû Expedition (1865-1866) and the Boshin Civil War (1868-1869). Briefly speaking, the predominance of the advancement in the performance of Satsuma-Chôshû Alliance's weapons overpowered that of the number of the shogun's skilled guards. During that period of time, a large volume of the most advanced weapons of those days that were used in the Civil War of the US (1861-1865) and then smuggled into Japan were placed in the hands of the soldiers of Chôshû, by Satsuma's favor. The Irregular Militia of Chôshû, which consisted of peoples from many classes including farmers, artisans, and tradesmen, made up a considerable percentage of its troops. Obviously, they weren't well-trained soldiers.
In 1863, the city of Satsuma was under fire by English warships. In 1864, just before the 1st Chôshû Expedition by the Tokugawa shogun's guards, a combined fleet of England, the US, France, and Holland also rained fire on a city of Chôshû facing the Kanmon Strait and easily defeated it. It's obvious that the influences of the English on both Satsuma and Chôshû had strengthened since those conflicts. There was a possibility that during that period of time 1864 through 1965 an Englishman proposed a large-scale project to overthrow the Tokugawa government, which was friendly to France, by relying on the power of a large number of state-of-the-art used weapons smuggled from the US and guided Chôshû and Satsuma peoples to bring it into practice. As a Japanese, I would like to believe that Masujiro Ômura originated a strategic plan relying on the power of state-of-the-art weapons against the shogun's guards and Ryoma Sakamoto independently took a leading role in mediating between Satsuma and Chôshû and to purvey weapons for Chôshû via Satsuma without relying on other people's decisions. Although Masujiro Ômura's intellectuality and Ryoma Sakamoto's executive ability have never been in doubt compared with other general Japanese of their day, it's hard to believe that they had a reliable source of information on the trend of the US's civil war and got a sense of how the times were changing in the world powers those days. Therefore, to be honest, I don't know which designed the plot, an Englishman, an American, or Masujiro Ômura.
The effectiveness of weapons in terms of destructive power, effective range, accuracy, and successiveness had made remarkable progress in the twentieth century. During the Cold War era, the developments of weapons by the US and the former Soviet Union had made leaps forward significantly. Because of their tremendous destructiveness, the protocols that prohibit the use of atomic, biological, chemical, and some other destructive weapons have been proposed and mostly agreed upon in the natural course of things. During the war on terrorism early in the twenty-first century, the US launched a new strategy utilizing the drones that the soldiers pilot remotely for the purpose of not only scouting but also bombing. From these facts above, whether it's right or evil, one can affirm that human beings have developed weapons in order to damage their opponents as severely as possible while minimizing their own damage. When weapons equipped with AI are realized in the near future, a goal to defeat opponents without counting on any human soldier will be accomplished to some extent. The bottom line is that its superiority in science and technology decides the military strength of a nation in modern times. This tendency will become more significant in the future.
I am in favor of the principle of cosmopolitanism. I hope that all the military forces will be safely integrated and controlled under a future world state, and then most of the unnecessary deadly weapons will be retired. In this stage, the ultimate goal of the defense system will be established because the opponent will go out of existence. This is my forecast with hope about the future world several hundred years from now.
BTW, although the number of soldiers has become unimportant gradually since the medieval era, the population of a nation is still a meaningful factor. The superiorities of a nation in science and technology are strongly correlative to those in business and politics. Simply, the number of people with extraordinary talents in these areas in a nation increases with the growing tits population. Naturally, education should also be important.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
The wisdom of the odd rise of the communist party in the urban areas of Japan will be talked about today. Communism is an ideal political belief. Indeed, it's too ideal to function normally and successfully in an actual human society. The instances of failure in the attempt to operate a communist nation and its transitional state of socialism can be found in modern history.
Fundamentally, communism can't reach any compromise with capitalism, to my knowledge. Communism was initially advocated in order to overthrow capitalism by denying wealthy capitalists. Japan is a conservative capitalist nation. Historically, in general, communism hasn't been presented in a good light by a majority of the press. Without observing the rapid economic growth of China, the ruling party of which is still the communist party, its peculiar popularity in Japan would never have been raised.
Under the situation of a multiparty government, the old-guards capitalists have kept the communist party alive and have used a doctrine of communism, i.e. "each person should take a responsibility according to their ability and the benefits gained should be shared by all the people in a society according to their individual needs", without denying the existing personal capital, in order to destroy the potentials of the rising capitalists that the foreign capitalist groups have assisted. The current rising popularity of the communist party in the urban areas of Japan may be reflecting the tighter control over the newcomers by the old guards than before. This is a typical example of the wrong uses of communism.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Got up at eight-fifteen in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast. Went out shopping at a grocery store this morning. Ate a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
NASA scientists recently announced that the experimental evidence concerning a lower concentration of methane gas in the Mars' air than expected suggests a lower possibility of the existence of organisms and their fossils on Mars. What the topic told sounds as if it has some meaning. They may be suggesting either that mankind isn't so belligerent or that two others are more problematic than the chemical.
Watched the movie "Midnight in Paris" on TV this evening. It's a cheerful movie. My wife and I enjoyed it.
In contrast with the protagonist of this film, if possible, I would like to see the future worlds of fifty years, a hundred years, and a thousand years from now, rather than the past worlds. I may be able to see the world fifty years from now.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a dish of Japanese pasta following an aperitif for dinner.
If the popularity of the communist party in Japan has been attributed to the increase of the idealists, this tendency shouldn't be so criticized, as long as they don't go extreme and radical. My personal view on communism is that it's one of the possible systems of social organization that may be successful only after a world state is established in the future. The reason why communism would work in a future world state is that it would avoid being threatened by the competitiveness of the aggressive foreign capitalists because they won't exist anymore. Without some improvements, however, a future world state with communism may grow sluggish permanently. It seems to me that a world state with moderate capitalism is more realistic than that.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
It's my emphatic opinion that the people's precept to understand in detail the matters, the methods, the teachings, and the systems that are newly arising from within or imported from outside and to restrain their wrong uses strictly is a good barometer to measure the stage of their cultural and ethical developments in society. The tendency towards idealism is the necessary driving force of this precept though being too idealistic is questionable.
In Asian countries, because of their tendency towards conservatism, being idealistic may often be regarded as a childish state of mind. At least, they would like to believe so. Conservative people usually feel uncomfortable with an idealism that may criticize them and may require changes. In their mind, Western's claims that Asian people have to be more idealistic or westernized in order to improve their ethics and morals spontaneously may have been wrongly translated, whether intentionally or not. This may be one of the reasons why the so-called "Yuru Charas" are very popular in Japan nowadays. The softening of an image of Japan for the purpose of seeking popular applause from certain kinds of overseas may be another reason.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's difficult to find a clear answer to the question of which teaching the people should follow, "Take breach for breach, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth", "Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also", or the others. These can be categorized into religious teachings. Therefore, each individual may choose what he or she likes or doesn't have to choose anything at all if it doesn't exist. In strict accordance with the laws of a country prior to the religious teachings, each individual may follow it as thoroughly as possible. It goes without saying that, when an attempt to embody the exact meaning of the teaching violates the law, each individual has to avoid it. Instead, he or she may follow only the spirit of it. That's a matter of course.
Ideally, the laws of a country have to be fair to people. After careful discussions, the amendment of the law has to be made in conformity to the democratic way without growing sluggish in order to keep pace with the times.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Things get rather complicated when asking the question of which teaching the mass psyche of a religious activist group and a religious political party should be oriented to. A radicalized activist group with religious thoughts may be able to act violently even under the law while hiding its radicals in the crowd of members. It's my belief that religion is supposed to lead each person to the path of righteousness and peace of mind, but religious people shouldn't organize a group that exerts direct influence upon politics. Because the influence of a political group can be strengthened up to the level of taking part in the running of a country, including the institution of law, what I wrote about yesterday becomes uncertain for their mass psyche. There's always something suspicious about such actively influential religious groups.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Things get more complicated when asking the question of which teaching the mass psyche of a country should be oriented to. In a democratic state, the elected leaders have to reflect majority public opinions in its national assembly. The religious orientation of the general public should produce a powerful effect on the decisions of the government of a country. Differently from the case for each individual in a country, the government of a world state that rules all the countries has never yet existed. Existing international law consists of both the treaties that some countries can ratify the agreement on but other countries can refuse it and the international customary laws that are carried into effect based on the customs of long standing between the countries. Although there exists international law, any judicial settlement with the countries isn't required by it for an international conflict. As a consequence of the outcome of an international conflict, a winner takes most, and a loser takes responsibility for it in most cases. From the viewpoint of the countries, the world is far from mature. It's true that there are a considerable number of countries, and the greater part of people profess one religious belief. The countries that have a strong belief in a religion have existed, whether it's desirable or not. I can only tell that any of the countries don't have to wound up with an armful of hot coals. Any ill feeling between the countries shouldn't be newly created. Any casualties among innocent civilians shouldn't be involved.
I am in favor of the principle of cosmopolitanism. When a world state is established in the future, each individual may choose what he or she likes and may follow it in accordance with the laws of a world state. The government of a future world state will be able to avoid being vexed with the orientation of the mass psyches of the constitutive countries, the thresholds of the national borders of which are weakened in terms of many aspects including the religious orientation.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Today, my opinion on the mystery of both the inaccuracies and the biased contents seen in the Japanese version of an encyclopedia will be talked about. The dictionary is a book that is designed to provide a reader with the accurate meanings of the words arranged in a certain order, and the encyclopedia is a dictionary that covers a large variety of fields. In practice, however, there is no small number of inaccurate descriptions found in an encyclopedia. The tendency that the Japanese version of an encyclopedia has a larger number of inaccurate descriptions than the English version may suggest that the inaccurate descriptions in the Japanese version have been intentionally left uncorrected. Once an authority wrote the meaning of a word in an encyclopedia, another in the later generations isn't easily allowed to revise it even if its inaccuracy is obvious. This may be due to the seniority system and conservatism of the Japanese. Although in European countries since the Middle Ages, the progress of civilization and enlightenment have gathered speed increasingly, such an acceleration of these progresses had never happened in Asian countries until modern times. The causes of Asians lagging behind are attributable to their conservatism, middle-of-the-roadism, seniority system, and so on. Even in the correction of a description in an encyclopedia, this tendency can be confirmed.
In the English version of an encyclopedia, it seems that writing biased content is abstained from whenever practicable. Instead of adding some unfairness, the inconvenient expressions in the description of the word's meanings and the inconvenient words themselves may be excluded from an encyclopedia. On the other side, the biased contents can be found in no small parts of the Japanese version of an encyclopedia. This shouldn't be owing to the difference between the European culture and the Asia culture but to the difference between polite concealment and unilateral imposition.
There are many dictionaries and encyclopedias available on the Internet nowadays. It's well known that some of them were developed and have been maintained by asking for volunteer editors over the Internet. Actually, an Internet encyclopedia contains a surprisingly large amount of data. It can be said that the Internet itself is a huge encyclopedia. One of the descriptions of the word's meanings in an encyclopedia may be non-biased, a second may contain content biased toward only a direction, and another may contain some content biased toward various directions. Because of a variety of the directions of the possible biased contents, it may be said that the Internet encyclopedia is rather fair but it's suitable for grown-up readers.
Trying to consider independently the meaning of a word in an encyclopedia and that of a happening on a news program without accepting them on the faith and having one's personal views should lead a respectable life.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast. Went out shopping at a grocery store this morning. Ate a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
Watched the movie "Giant" on TV this morning. I like a line in this movie; "You're awfully cute when you get riled".
Monday, September 30, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Several years ago, the type of our Citi Master cards was suddenly switched from platinum to diamond without our request. Probably, the color of these diamond credit cards was black or dark gray. We didn't activate them because the meaning of it was unclear. According to a dictionary, the word of the black diamond means coal. Indeed, the color black has a variety of both positive and negative meanings in the area of the economy.
A pair of the new Visa Signature Platinum cards was mailed from Omaha NE USA to our current residence about a week ago though we have never requested it from a bank. The color of these platinum credit cards is deep black. We haven't activated them yet because of the same reason above.
My hair color was black and now shows white streaks.
