Cold in Cherry-Blossom Time
(Froid dans le temps des cerisiers en fleur)
Last night after watching a late-night TV news program (in which a newscaster advertised a book on a medication scandal around which she also contributed to helping its victims by having invited them to the studio ahead of other TV stations), I took cold medicine and went to bed.
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This morning, I accessed a very popular blog managed by a newspaper company’s reporter stationed in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs who wrote about a view of life as something transient and empty (proving his religion, Buddhism) posting a picture of a dead sparrow on a concrete alley and a cabinet approval rating being dropped to 23.8% while Prime Minister Mr. Yasuo Fukuda yesterday visited a gallery to see a picture with a stone statute of Buddha and cherry blossoms around it, according to the TV news last night.
(http://abirur.iza.ne.jp/blog/entry/532595 )
Then, I traced a source of one of comments to the blog and found another interesting opinion on Tibet and Soka Gakkai, a huge religious body in Japan at the helm of New Komeito Party, one of the ruling parties.
As Soka Gakkai is based on Buddhism, a religion of peace, as its fundamental principle, the blog writer has claimed that Soka Gakkai and its supreme leader Mr. Daisaku Ikeda should contribute to the peace in Tibet. I feel the same way, since it cannot be an honor for Mr. Daisaku Ikeda, reportedly a pious Buddhist, to love Beijing and Chinese communist leaders but not poor Buddhist monks and Lhasa under suppression by the Chinese Communist Party and their troops.
( http://webtoy.iza.ne.jp/blog/entry/532317 )
Then in this blog, I have found a link to a site run by Japanese emigrants to Brazil. It is very interesting, since it leads to an article written by one of its members with the title “Morals in Brazil.” The author, a Japanese woman living in Sao Paulo, got indignant at the complete lack of manners and courtesy among Brazilians she met on the street and at a subway station. She is also resentful at sons of rich families becoming festive with beers on the street as they have passed an entrance examination to a university, sine only rich families can send their sons and daughters to universities in Brazil.
Everything seems wild, immoral, and ruthless in Brazil, though she seems to love to live there leaving the second largest economy in the world, Japan.
（http://www.100nen.com.br/ja/kana/ ）
And now, the Saturday noon is nearing and I have checked the New York Times online:
- Clintons Made $109 Million in Last 8 Years
- Democrats Call for New Aid Package as 80,000 Jobs Are Cut
Then I have returned to check Japanese blogs, selecting the one run by one of Opposition leaders. He wrote that he was happy to see a Japanese professional baseball team, namely, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, stretching its winning streak to seven after four consecutive losses. The Rakuten Eagles were organized just four years ago when the Japanese professional baseball business was at a crisis due to financial problems resulting in breakup of one team which led to the spawning of the Rakuten Eagles.
( http://katsuya.weblogs.jp/blog/2008/04/post-75d1.html )
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Japan in March was in turmoil.
The Governor of the Bank of Japan was not decided due to the opposition from opposition parties.
The extra gasoline tax was abolished due to the opposition from opposition parties, though the Government tried to maintain it to secure the precious source of revenues.
Handling the budgetary bills in the Upper House was halted for a month due to the opposition from opposition parties.
Japan's diplomatic authenticy and dignity were tested by the irresponsible Chinese behaviors on contaminated foods and violence in Tibet as well as a murder case in the naval city Yokosuka committed by a US navy sailor.
Hence, a cabinet approval rating has dropped to 23.8% while Prime Minister Mr. Yasuo Fukuda is busy preparing for G8 Summit.
But, if the grand coalition plan targeting the Democratic Party of Japan had been successful as a certain newspaper-company chairman dreamed of last fall, everything would have been smoothly processed as the Government wishes.
But, as the very chairman had failed four years ago in his plan to unify two professional baseball leagues in Japan for reducing the number of teams and thus increasing revenue of a specific team (which belongs to the newspaper company) under his control, now people including some politicians can enjoy the great achievement by the Rakuten Eagles which were precariously established four years ago with players no other teams wanted then.
(Now, my cold seems to be being conquered.
Every disease is for the glory of God to be manifested.
Indeed, as I got low-keyed in spirit this morning due to the cold, I have written this way…
And, don’t you know the traditional expression, “cold in cherry-blossom time” in Japan, since even the spirit of the air envies cherry blossoms? )
