Several years ago, I started going to some Fagiano football games. For many years I often saw the fans wearing lots of goods on game days, but I never thought much about it. Once I started going to games, I realized how exciting it can be. The fans in Okayama are so passionate and have been so patient for many years. The big news at the end of last year was that Fagiano managed to finally achieve their dream of making it to the top J1 league. It is exciting to see the team now experiencing the dream it has long desired. I am hoping they will finish the league in at least the top half. It would be great to see the team prove their ability and hopefully attract more great players and sponsors.

Due to the excitement of it all, it has been more difficult to get tickets this year. A lot of local people who did not go to games before are now very interested. There is also a lot of excitement to see famous J1 teams and players. I do not have a season pass but I am in the fan club. This makes it a little easier to get tickets. Since season passes have sold out this year, it is still quite a rush to get tickets for home games. I also can only go to home games on Sundays which limits my chances.

Last week I managed to finally go see my first game this year. I went to see the match against Kawasaki Frontale. Despite it being a home game, a lot of Kawasaki fans came to Okayama to watch the game. The weather was poor, and it rained throughout most of the match. Many players kept slipping and falling over. Sadly, the game ended in a 0-0 draw. For a game with no goals, it was quite entertaining. Both teams made a lot of good plays and had chances to score. I personally think Fagiano played better overall, especially in the first half which they were in control of. It was a shame they could not get a goal in, but to be fair the other team’s goalkeeper had a great game.

I already have tickets to another game in early April against FC Tokyo. There are some very famous players on that team so I am sure many people will go to see it. Fagiano are currently sitting around the middle of the table. It may still be early, but hopefully they can start to get some more wins and advance higher. I think the current team has a lot of potential, and they have some great set plays and strategies. This year will be a real test for them.

先日、作家の曾野綾子さんが亡くなられました。御年93歳だったとか。同じ綾子さんは綾子さんでも、私は三浦綾子さんの作品の方が好きです。

10代の頃はもちろん漫画も好きで呆れるほどよく読んでいました。漫画を斜め読みしすぎてあっという間に1冊を読む終えてしまうと、早々に読み終えてしまったというガッカリの襲来。これを幾度も繰り返すと、もう漫画はほとほといいやと思うようになってしまいました。同じ理由で、私は古い作家さんの本が好きです。理由は、ページぎっしりに内容が書かれてあるから。最近の本は改行ばかりでページがスカスカ。読む量が少なくて物足りないのです。

本の話になったその日、私が「月に何冊本を読みますか？」とクラスに尋ねました。そこで「ひと月ですか？」というNさんの返事です。こういう反応が来る場合はひと月よりも短い単位で沢山本を読むから、1か月に読む本を数えないといけない、という人です。つまりたったの1週間でもそれなりの数の本を読むという意味です。お返事は案の定、週に5冊程読まれると。1週間は7日しかありませんよ。つまり1日1冊読み終えていることが多いという意味です。そしてその本たちはどれも買う、自宅に保管している、と言われるではありませんか！うーん、一度お宅にお邪魔したい。書斎を見せてほしい！Can I come see your study?というのを辛うじて我慢しました。

昨今の私は本を横目にYouTubeでテニスの動画と中国語ドラマばかりに明け暮れています。それでもぼちぼち読んでいるのがこちら２冊。この東野圭吾の本は至って普通でした。三浦綾子の塩狩峠は久しぶりに本棚から出しましたが、紙の変色も凄ければ印字の小ささが半端ない。同じ日本語の小説なのに、カタカナがない古い本はどうにも読んでいるとタイムスリップさせられる気分です。１００均の老眼鏡をかけないと読めないのが痛いところです。

Last month, I went to Cinema Clair (the little independent theater near Symphony Hall) to see a showing of a 1971 Western called Red Sun. It stars Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune, two legends from opposite sides of the Pacific.

It had a limited run – Feb. 14-20. Every showing was at 9:50 a.m. To me, that seems much too early for a movie…but somehow I got myself out of the house and down to the movie theater.

I was happy that I did. The movie, which features an unlikely team-up between a Wild West bandit and a Japanese samurai, turned out to be thoroughly entertaining. It had an engaging plot, great performances from all the main actors, and plenty of good one-liners.

While many old Hollywood movies don’t show Japan in a fair or respectful light, I thought Red Sun’s portrayal of Mifune’s character was relatively well-done. The way they treat Native Americans was much more problematic, but that’s a discussion for another time.

If you’re looking for an offbeat, interesting film experience, check out the schedule at Cinema Clair: http://www.cinemaclair.co.jp

Several months ago, I was talking in class with our student T. We talked about Japanese manga that we like. They mentioned they like the manga ‘Akira’. I told them that I had seen the animated movie, but I had never read the manga and always wanted to. The movie adaptation of Akira is world famous. A lot of people have not read the manga overseas however. I had heard the movie changed the story and ended much sooner than the original manga story does.

About two weeks ago, at the end of class, T. suddenly said “I have all of Akira in my car, you can borrow it”. I was surprised. We talked about it many months ago and they never suggested the idea. None the less, I have recently been reading through it when I have the chance. Despite the manga being over 35 years old, it still holds up. Its setting and art are extremely high quality, and it’s interesting to see how they imagined a strange dystopian version of our future. I am over half-way through currently and the story has shifted a lot.  I expected the story to involve a lot of talking, however to my surprise Akira is full of action too. It has constant action / fight scenes and has a non-stop pace.

I will probably finish it sometime in the next few weeks. If you like dark, dystopian settings or unique stories then it is worth checking out. It may be old, but it still holds up today.  

Every year, we usually have a New Year’s Party instead of an End of the Year Party.

Our students are really busy people, so they often have several parties to attend in December for work, friends, or other social groups.

Our New Year’s Party is often at the end of January or the beginning of February. Somehow this year, we decided to have the party on February 15th, which is the latest that it has ever been.

About 18 staff and students gathered together for dinner at Ryoutei, an izakaya downtown.

We had a wonderful time talking to each other and sometimes getting to know new people, too.

I thought the food was excellent, I ate plenty and left feeling full and satisfied.

Nearly half of the party continued on to a second party at Pinball Cafe, right by the Nishigawa, one block off of Momotaro Street.

It was a great night of chatting and relaxing.

NEO’s next party will be cherry blossom viewing in April.

バレエ、オペラ、劇団等、舞台で行われる公演はすべて理解不能な私です。自分から人形浄瑠璃を見に行くなんて思いつくこともないのですが、誘われて人生初経験として行ってきました。ちなみに淡路島上陸も初です。この淡路座は最近NHKで取り上げられたらしく、それ以来多くの人が関心を示して来られるようになったそうです。公演そのものは短く、1話が25分程度。舞台裏紹介の付いている時間帯を選んだので舞台裏や浄瑠璃が初めてさんにも分かるよう、団員さんが細かく説明してくださいました。その舞台裏紹介を含めて全部で50分です。観客席は昔は床に座る座席だったそうですが、近年風に腰かけて座れるように変えてあり、雰囲気も十分、とても快適です。海外から来られる方もたくさんいらっしゃるようで、団員さんに尋ねてみると、語学に堪能なスタッフが対応されるらしい。

正直なところ、浄瑠璃ってなに？と思っていた私です。瑠璃色はわかるけれどそれに浄がついたら何が違うの？清浄なものを表す仏教語だそうだけれど室町時代の語り物で「浄瑠璃姫」がいたそうな。そこから引いた表現だそう。昔から知っている言葉でも説明をしようとすると何も言えないものは他にもあります。「侘び寂び」もその代表選手。そんなもの、感性で感じ取ってくれと願うばかりです。そしてこの人形浄瑠璃を英語で簡潔に表現するならばどうなるでしょう？会場に貼られてあった英語の説明を見てちょっと愕然としました。

Japanese puppet show

ぱ、パペット？ やだー 人形浄瑠璃がKermit The Frogと同じものに分類されちゃうのかー。