Merry Xmas!

It says in today's Yomiuri Newspaper that only 16 percent of 6th grade elementary school girls, 13 percent boys of the same age believe in Santa Claus. Do you agree to the article? One of my daughters is in 6th grade now.

Only One Week To The Year 2007.

Time flies really fast. I think I need thirty to forty hours in a day.
I know I cannot do everything what I want to do, but…
To console myself, I have collected sayings while reading books or doing netsurf.
I show you some.

1-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Diligence is the mother of good luck.
Benjamin Franklin　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.
Herodotus
Never to repent and never to reproach others; these are the first step of wisdom.
Denis Diderot
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
Thomas Jefferson
All our dreams can come true --- if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this wholething was started by a mouse.
Walt Disney
The more I learn the more I realize I don't know. The more I realize I don't know, the more I want to learn.
Albert Einstein
To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness.
John Dewey
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey Fierstein
In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.
Vince Lombardi
2-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha
What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.
Oliver Wendell HolmesI don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone.
Bill CosbyBe happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead.
Scottish Proverb
Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.
Josh Billings
The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.
William James
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues.
Marcus Aurelius
The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
W. M. Lewis
My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.
Indira Nehru Gandhi3-*-*-*-*-*-*-
If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money on them
Abigail Van BurnHe who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.
Clark
Man errs so long as he strives.
GoetheI am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward
Edison
Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.
Helen KellerI am not concerned that you have fallen. I am concerned that you arise.
LincolnIt's good to have money and the things money can buy, but it's good to check once in a while and make sure you haven't lost the things that money can't buy.
Lorimer
We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.
Malesherbes
Don't find fault. Find a remedy.
Henry FordI have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.
Galileo4-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Experience is the name everyone gives to his mistakes.
Oscar WildePain and pleasure, like light and darkness, succeed eath other.
SterneA good laugh is sunshine in a house.
ThackerayThe best way to make children good is to make them happy.
WildeThoughts make actions. Actions make habits. Habits make future. Future makes life.
Mike or other forerunnersTrust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.
EmersonI never think of the future - it comes soon enough.
Einstein
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
EinsteinTomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
No winter lasts forever; no spring skips it's turn.
Hal Borland5-*-*-*-*-*-*-
You cannot do much about the length of your life, but you can do a lot about its depth and width.
AnonymousThere is only one success -- to be able to spend your life in your own way.
Christopher Morley
The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.
LambThere's no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day.
Alexander WoolcottEven though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.
Martin Luther KingYou can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.
LincolnWe cannot control the tragic things that happen to us, but we can control the way we face up to them.
Anonymous
Every man's life is a fairly-tale written by God's finger
AndersenExperience is the best of schoolmaster, only the school-fees are heavy.
Carlyle
Someone once said:
What goes around comes around.
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like no-one's watching.
Sing like no-one's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.
K.Leipold
6-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.
Brecht
If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.
Gail SheehyThe best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.
Mark TwainWe can try to avoid making choices by doing nothing, but even that is a decision.
Gary CollinsAny change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.
Arnold Bennett
The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.
Ben SteinAccept everything about yourself -- I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end -- no apologies, no regrets.
Clark MoustakasObstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
Henry FordIt is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
Marcus AureliusExperience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you.
Huxley
7-*-*-*-*-*-*-
I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.
Edison
It is better to wear out than to rust out.
ChamberlandNever to repent and never to reproach others; these are the first step of wisdom.
DiderotNew opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
LockeThe best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller
To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness.
John DeweyPeople only see what they are prepared to see.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Everything has been figured out, except how to live.
Jean-Paul Sartre
We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing.
R. D. Laing
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Showa Era Still Exists In Ohimachi, Tokyo.

I had been working for Nikon at Ohimachi plants in Tokyo. I left the company about ten years ago. Even I live in Utsunomiya now, I sometimes meet friends who are still working there. The other day, I met Mr. Abe, one of my friends who worked for Nikon at Ohimachi. There were many small drinking bars and old “yakitori shops” in the east area of JR Ohimachi station.
Mr. Abe is also a software engineer who is a specialist in the image analysis field. We were doing research of artificial intelligence together at the same department of the camera division in Nikon.
People drink “sake” or rice wine and eat “yakitori” or grilled bird, Japanese type of skewered chicken while standing.
Recently, this type of shops have disappeared and been taken the place of by new modern restaurants.
We were walking here and there in every street near Ohimachi station in search for the places best reminded us of Showa era.

Everyone has the days believing in Santa Claus.

I took this picture in December 2001. My younger daughter Rina was still six years old then. We went to the forest near Utsunomiya Museum of Art to make Christmas wreaths using tree branches and vines there.
She was excited to decorate our house door with them to welcome Santa Clause and wonderful presents.

My wife, Emi, Rina and I prepared a glass of milk and a cookie for Santa Clause on the table in the kitchen.
In the morning of Xmas day, Emi and Rina got up few hours earlier than usual, though it was still dark, and found presents near their pillows.
They ran into the kitchen and found an empty glass and a half-bitten cookie. They yelled, “Santa Claus had come. Santa Claus had come.” with joy.

Now, Emi is fourteen and Rina is eleven. They know everything. Not only kids but also parents miss, , , no, no. Parents miss the days of welcoming Santa Claus more than kids.

Rina wrote a message to Santa Claus in Japanese and put it near the window to be seen by Santa Claus placing a small gift for him beside the message.
It says,
“Dear Santa Claus,”
“I want a crocodile toy game.”
“I want to become a medical doctor in the future.”
“I give you a small present.”
“From Rina.”

Will hybrid cars become ubiquitous in the near future?

I think two basic features of hybrid cars are:
First, when the car is stopped, hybrid gasoline motors can shut off.
Second, hybrid cars recover braking energy and use it to charge the battery.
Those two are very simple and everyone can easily think upon them as a way to save energy. The great thing Toyota has done is that it turned the very simple ideas into the mass production cars at reasonable price.
I know there are more than two and faaaaaaaar difficult ideas. (^_^);

Will hybrid cars become ubiquitous in the near future?
I think it does not take long before the number of hybrid cars overtakes that of none-hybrid cars’ one. Then, thanks to the mass production, the price will decrease more and more simultaneously. Right now, hybrid cars are still minorities though, some local governments own them as official cars and not few taxi drivers are changing their cars into hybrid ones. Pictures were taken last week in Utusnomiya-shi, Tochigi, Japan.

A guy who is a taxi driver in Canada shows pictures of his cars and he gives us comments on the web. Every Prius owner can enjoy visiting his site.

Toyota Prius Debut As My New Vehicle

A month ago, I sold my Nissan March and at the same time bought a Toyota Prius. It’s veeeery nice car as I had expected. Isn't it cool?
The Toyota Prius is the world's first commercially mass-produced hybrid car. It went on sale in Japan in 1997, and worldwide in 2001. It’s said that in Latin, prius means "before" or "first".
With the 2004 model, the Prius was certified as an Advanced Technology Partial zero-emissions vehicle. Prius has won numerous awards including Car of the Year awards for Europe, Japan and North America. (Information Source: Wikipedia)

The Prius has also won “Japanesque Modern 100” or the "New Japanese Style" Awards in Japan this year, 2006.
The "New Japanese Style" is defined by three traditional Japanese values: craftsmanship, manners and hospitality.
“Craftsmanship” is the spirit of constantly creating new technologies and culture, respecting materials as products of nature and stressing the importance of passing on knowledge and techniques.
“Manners” are the spirit of cultivating one's personality and seeking a noble and motivated lifestyle, with individuals sharing responsibility for the greater good.
“Hospitality” is the spirit of both establishing one’s self as an individual and supporting diversity and harmony, while respecting different ideas and new things.
I'm very proud of the Awords as one of the owners of the Prius.



I had my Prius done a one-month-checkup the day before yesterday. It’s still quite new. The above two pictures were taken before Utusnomiya Lifelong Education Center just ten minutes ago.

Movie “It’s tough being a man” and Japanese culture.

“I was born and brought up in Shibamata, Katsushika and I was blessed at Taishakuten Temple. Kuruma is my family name and my given name is Torajiro. But people usually just call me Tora, Tora the street peddler” which are famous words in the movie and most Japanese know them.

I watched a famous Japanese movie “Otoko wa Tsuraiyo” or “It’s tough being a man”, one of forty-eight series of movies yesterday.

Sometimes, it’s very hard to explain Japanese culture, but you can find it rather easily by watching movies like these.
The main actor of these movies is Kiyoshi Atumi who played the character of Torasan in the movies for more than 30 years and died on July 4, 1996.
The director of the Torasan films, Yoji Yamada who was a dominant director of the 1970s often explains that his aim is to show kind, meek and gentle quality of the Japanese people.
These films show two motifs of Japanese culture and dream: the everyday collective life of a family and the adventures of a lonely wanderer.

Miniature Car of Nissan March

It took me just two days to make the miniature car last weekend after selling my real car. I like this miniature car very much. It really looks like the real one I possessed. I bought an assembly kit more than three years ago but I did not feel like making it and just wanted to keep it.
Finally I did it. It’s very cute, isn’t it!
The miniature car is on the rice cooker with which I cooked Kuri Gohan in the kitchen room.

The car's last moment before leaving my hands.

Mashiko Pottery Festival

I went to Mashiko Pottery Festival last Friday for the first time in five years. I thought that Mashiko became a more modern town than that was five years ago.
Before going there, I never imagined there were such nice museums.
-

Ohya Festival in Tochigi

“Festa in Ohya 2006” is the official name of the festival. It was held on October 28th and 29th. I wanted to go to Nikko area but I thought it would be very crowded and I did not want to be held in traffic jam. So, I chose to go to rather closer place to my house.
Walking around Ohya area, having lunch near a river, eating snacks while walking, watching kids' performances and buying fresh vegetables in a sunny autumn day were great fun to us.

Elementary school children played Wadaiko on the stage in Ohya-Keikan park on Sunday 29th of October. Their performance was cute and excellent.




People tied an Omikuji after praying their hope in the site of Takisan-Jihouin shrine near Ohya-Stone museum.
Murasaki Shikibu, or the Japanese Beauty Berry, which produces small, round, purple berries, is in season.
Its name, literally translatable as 'purple master of the ceremonies', is said to have been named after the Heian Period writer, "Murasaki Shikibu."
The plant's 2-3 millimeter in diameter berries turn a lustrous purple in autumn.


Mountains in Ohya area are very unique. It's said that Ohya stone was formed by the volcanic eruption about 20 million years ago.

We had lunch near this river seeing the fantastic cliff view.

The final day arrived. Goodbye my car.

The car has been my companion since May of 1996. It has run 76801km for over ten years. Thanks a lot.
Sometimes, I felt you are real part of my body or a friend. You could go everywhere, even narrowest roads which other cars couldn’t go into. You were waiting for me even smallest parking space where other cars couldn’t park in.
You were not good at speeding. While going up slopes, you ran slower than fifty kilometers per hour even on the highway. I'll never forget you. Goodbye Nissan March.

Best Season For Sports.

We won Mohka Tennis Club Tournament last Saturday. It was a very nice day for any sport, especially for tennis. I live in Utsunomiya city though, I attend Mohka city tennis tournament very often. Why?
The reason is quite simple. Tennis players’ skill in Utsunomiya city is far higher than that of Mohka city.
We received a trophy, a certificate, yummy Tochigi pears and socks for tennis. No doubt, I choose Mohka tennis matches.

Back left:Mr.Souma, Back center:Ms.Souma, Back right:Mr.Nakagawa, Front right:Ms.Tajima, Front left:me!
-

Another Business Trip to Mizonokuchi in Kanagawa-ken

I went to Canon Employee Training Center in Mizonokuchi, Kanagawa-ken, a half an hour train ride from Shibuya last week.
Even raining, I took a walk and took several pictures after lunch. I usually do a light exercise or playing tennis after lunch for ten to fifteen minutes in Utsunomiya. When I have to go on a business trip, walking and taking pictures refresh me after lunch.

Hijiribashi bridge in Tokyo

Hijiribashi bridge built in 1929 over Kanda river between Yushima in Bunkyo-ku and Surugadai in Chiyoda-ku is said to be one of the most beautiful bridges in Tokyo. I went to Tokyo on business last Wednesday and had a time to visit Ochanomizu after work. I walked around the town and took pictures. Though shops and Meiji university’s campus were changed, Hijiribashi bridge seemed unchanged.

Kuri Gohan or Boiled Rice With Chestnuts

I bought three packs of peeled chestnuts, vegetables, mushrooms and soybeans’ taste source.

Cutting the vegetables and mushrooms into pieces, washing four cups of rice, putting them into a rice cooker with water and off course chestnuts, turn the cooker's switch ON.
Waiting for forty-five minutes, perfect autumn food will be ready.

Here comes Kuri Gohan or boiled rice with chestnuts. Deeeeeeeelicious!

A Japanese Pop Star

I spent this three days weekend rather lazily, watching TV, sleeping until noon and eating.
When I was a high school student, I liked to listen to the music especially Japanese pops, folk music and rock music.

One of my favorite artists is Yohsui INOUE. I think he is now in his late fifties. I watched his concert on TV this weekend, which was held this summer in Setagaya, Tokyo.

He still keeps a clear vocal sound and an energetic singing style. His unchanging way of singing for over thirty years impressed me very much.

Image Stabilizer technology

I was working for Nikon, in the development center of camera department.
I changed companies almost ten years ago from Nikon to Canon. I was engaged in developing Image Stabilizer technology. At the final day as a Nikon employee, I gave a speech to everyone working my department. I remember the speech, something like this,
“I’ve been happy to be working as a member of Nikon to develop new cameras.”
“I chose this company because I liked cameras and liked to take pictures a lot.”
“I’ll never, ever forget the days working with you and days at this department.”
Oh, good old memory! I was in Tokyo not in Utsunomiya.
At that time, digital cameras and Image Stabilizer technology are not common. Recently, most of people take digital photos using a camera or a cellular phone. It’s becoming hard to find a person who uses a film camera. Now, I’m happy to know some of my friends using a digital camera with Image Stabilizer technology.
Recently, I checked US patents database and found twelve US patents I invented have been registered, ironically, after I left the company.
Those remind me of my hard working days and are still connecting me to camera industry.
You can find my patents on the US patent search site. Just copy the following seven digits numbers and paste it in.
6445882
5809353
5771405
5740472
5940631
5930530
5881325
5761547
5748995
5724617
5678069
5678068

Summer Heat Continues.

It’s been still very hot in Utsunomiya. I played tennis with my colleagues for a whole day yesterday.
One of our company’s optical equipment development centers is located in Kiyohara Industrial Park in Utsunomiya.

Luckily, KIP association arranges tennis tournament several times every year for all employees working for companies in KIP. Comparing to other tennis tournaments, it’s a bit different. It’s free of charge and even KIP association gives a winner, finalists, and semi-finalists a prize. Why it’s possible? Because, I guess, companies subsidize KIP association.
Our tennis team couldn’t win though, we got a prize. (^o^)Y

Sano Premium Outlets

Sano Premium Outlets produced by Chelsea Japan Co. is really nice place. Especially, buildings and flowers are beautiful. There are various shops. Godiva, Benetton, Jaeger and Columbia Sportswear are examples of them. It takes about one hour from Utsunomiya by car. Even you don’t buy anything, you can enjoy looking around and taking photos.

Cellular phones have changed ways of communication.

At the restaurant, a couple didn’t talk a single word just looked each other’s eyes. If so, it’s quite usual. But, situations have changed a little recently.
A couple sitting face to face look each one’s cellular phone’s display. Each of them didn’t say a word and doing web surfing for almost 20 minutes. Occasionally, they seemed to receive web mails and sending back reply mails, still they kept looking the phone’s display.
Don’t you think it’s very strange, do you? Cellular phones gave a lot of benefits to us but we seem to forget something more important......