BGM: Sly & The Family Stone - Dance to the Music
Today was the day of the picnic party which Shiso International Association held. I had worried if the weather would be rain, but the day of spring fine day came so I felt glad. It was a perfect day for picnic. This morning I got nervous, but I thought I should stay calm so enjoyed Stevie Wonder's "We Can Work It Out". It was unknown place for me so I drove my bike with Google Map. On the road, I felt I got lost but could arrive there. I said hello to the ALT teachers I have known, and we enjoyed various games. Musical Chairs, Fruits Basket, and Gesture game. My brain started listening to those teachers' English and it enabled me to enjoy those games. It was a funny time.
After that, we could have hotdogs which were already cooked. We chose various ingredients such as sausages and onions. We started having them. It was a really windy (we Japanese call it "haru ichiban") so it disturbed our eating, but I thought it was quite a great event because of those good hotdog's taste. Yes, a really amazing event. One thing I felt impressed was that two ALT teachers asked me "how are you doing?" like that. Indeed, I don't need to think about this deeply and just can answer "I'm well, thank you". But I naturally answer this as saying "I’m waiting for Haruki's new novel". Japanese greetings don't have this kind of "reporting my days" so my brain often freezes. I might need to prepare that kind of question which needs my "reporting" answers.
After that, returning to my group home, I spent my time until dinner reading Yoshio Kataoka's "Go Outside of the Shadow". He criticizes the Japanese people severely, and it impressed me. This book contains the comments of him to Japan when Iraq War had happened, Kataoka says Japanese people lost their confidence to build Japan as a real thing through the process of Cold War. Therefore, Japanese people can't act with their subject so just follow America's action. He also criticizes how Japanese politicians use empty words. Of course, we can criticizes Kataoka because he also use empty words. He pretends a "strategist"... but I don't agree with this opinion. I want to approach Kataoka.
After that, I had dinner and spent the time until sleeping time by reading. I started Mikal Gilmore's "Shot In The Heart" and was impressed by its deep content. I want to read more slowly. Reading certain pages of it, I switched the book to Hemingway's short stories. When I was young, I felt nothing by his works. There is no punchline, but just the situation by the author's "camera eyes". That's the structure, but now I feel a great skill of Hemingway. He tries to make himself as a "camera", therefore there is no ego. I had doubted his stereotype images such as "muscular" or "papa", and this collection of short stories certainly shows that kind of his sensitivity. I might have to read Hemingway step by step, through my 50s.
