Summery Scenes

When I said that I would return to Japan during this summer, Canadians I met said the same thing, "but you will miss the best season in Canada!" I do not doubt that the summer in Canada is beautiful, but summer is beautiful season anywhere in the world for me because I like summer the best. I am making most of the summer in Japan walking around under a scorching sun with a parasol in hand.

In summer, strong sun light condenses light and shadow on everything giving an effect almost divine especially on green foliages at the hour when the sun culminates in the sky. I always stop and see such shadows because it evokes a kind of strong nostalgia in me. I do not know why. It may be because I was born in summer.

I love the smell of rice crops heated by the sun.

Approaching woods, the chorus of cicadas wraps you up with a noisy silence...

Summer in Japan is notorious for its discomfortness (heat is worse when combined with high humidity). But in the days when air conditioner does not exist, people have thought out and used many devices to bring coolness into the house as much as possible.

Uchi-mizu is one of them. This word means sprinkling a pail of water around the house using a ladle. As the sprinkled water vaporizes, it removes heat from hot air. It is said this can decrease temprature by 2 or 3 Celsius degrees. Also, uchi-mizu is often done at the entrance of shops or houses expecting visitors to express welcome by purifying the place. It was a good old custom in the summer morning&evening.

People grow morning glory to use its vine as a sunshade.

Visual coolness on the table is enjoyable.

Chilled noodles makes a good meal when you lose your appetite due to hotness.

Summer confectionery with foamed tea

Shaved ice with strawberry syrup

Auditory sense can play a big role to feel coolness. People hang a wind chime at eaves, to hear its sound which resembles the sound of ice cubes in a crystal glass. Wind chimes are made of glass, ceramic, or iron. Glass ones are good to eyes, but I think iron ones make the coolest sound.

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I have written about the summer in my home country, but now I am finishing this writing in Canada. I have come back to Canada, to a city in New Brunswick to take undergraduate course. Morning and evening here is already chilly, and I miss the crazy heat I experienced this summer.

Japan's Upperhouse Election

Left---Abe: Prince in a Plight
Right---Koizumi (former PM): Want to see him in a bathrobe and want to read his love poem? ...well, then buy his photo book...)

There was upperhouse election on the last Sunday.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)--the ruling party, and has been so for over 50 years except for short periods in which Socialist Party took power in 1994--had a big defeat. (They have the word "liberal" in their name, but they are not at all liberal, but rather conservative & hawkish)

Mr. Abe (pronounced like "abbey". Not like Abraham), current party leader of LDP and prime minister since last September is kind of unfortunate man because he is the successor of Mr. Koizumi who enjoyed unprecedented popularity for his frank (but shallow) speech, which was very unusual for a Japanese politician. (Believe it or not, he even published a photo album for his female fans... ) It was predictable that anyone who succeeded him would be in a predicament to handle problems which had been all covered up by Mr. Koizumi's showy politics dubbed "Koizumi Theatre".

But Mr. Abe's bad luck was a little more than just being the successor of Koizumi. After the magic by Koizumi has gone, those covered-up problems have surfaced at the worst timing. Sloppy management of pension system has come to light, stoking a broad anger among citizen. Ministers in his cabinet repeated inappropreate comments one after another. One has committed suicide for a reason not disclosed, and his successor was found to misuse public money. And it seems that Mr. Abe fumbled all those issues in a wrong manner.

I am relieved at the loss of LDP in this election as they were pushing forward the amendment of Constitution without enough national discussion. Article 9 of Japanese Constitution drafted after the defeat of WWII clearly states that we renounce all wars except for self-defence, but there is a persistent movement to review those parts in order to send more troops (Self-Defence Force) to Iraq to respond the US's request. However, Democratic Party of Japan too, which won in this election is an advocate for the amendment although they are not as hawkish as LDP is. (Japanese Communist Party and Social Democratic Party are opposing the amendment, but they are just too weak to take power.)

Mr. Abe's favorite phrase is "Japan, a beautiful nation". His cabinet passed the bill for a new education law which guides teachers to foster "the love for the country" in pupils. But I do not think that such kind of love can be forced by the government, and I believe that Article 9 is one of the most beautiful part of Japan.

Tomorrow, August 6 is the 62nd anniversary of atomic bombing by US in Hiroshima.

(Photos retrieved from Chugoku Shimbun & Mainichi msn)