Funny photos in Kagoshima

I took several photos in Kagoshima during my work. This time, let me show you some of them.

A person of few words

I just googled the correct name. They are signs in which you can set your face. You can see them at sightseeing areas in Japan. It seems that they don’t have their proper name. Some people call them kao dashi kanban(kao means a face and kanban means a sign) or kao hame kanban. I often ask someone to photo me standing back of the signs and looking out of the hole of them.

A man next to the woman whose face has gone is Takamori Saigou. He was a master of a clan ‘Choushu Han‘ in the Edo era. He is a noted person in Kagoshima.

I just didn’t think the male character in the sign was Takamori Saigou when I saw it at first. The face in the sign just reminded me of Ken Takakura rather than Takamori Saigou, who is a famous actor in Japan. Ken Takakura is a person of few words, like me(sorry, I just lied).

This is Takamori Saigou.

This is Ken Takakura.

He acted in the movie ‘Black Rain’ with Michael Douglas in 1989 and in the movie ‘Mr.Baseball’ with Tom Selleck in 1992.

The message on the poster just bugged me
A poster at a drug store just attracted me. Can you see the five hiragana letters emphasized by red circles?

They are called midori mushi(literally, a green bug) in Japanese. I totally didn’t know what the midori mushi was, so I just imagined a literal green worm.

My friend said that midori mushi is a name of products and it is one of supplements. Here, it is.

They are white bears even though chocolates are topped
Kagoshima is famous for pigs, which are called kurobuta(black pigs, berkshires) in Japanese. We luckily had an opportunity to eat black pig. So delicious.

At the following day, I had another famous cuisine. It was a dessert called shirokuma(a white bear), which is a big shaved ice. Let me say that again. It was so big. Take a look at the photo. Can you see a pack of cigarettes next to the shirokuma?

I just regreted ordering the fair-sized shirokuma, not the smaller one. Now that you can enjoy a variety of shirokumas, such as ‘chocolate shirokuma‘. Please check them on the website. My friend just complained about the name and said, ‘I would name shirokuma with chocolates “grizzly” or something if I were the owner. “brown bear” or “asian black bear” would be fine. But it’s difficult to name shirokuma with strawberry syrup because there’s no such a bear in the real world.”

Every little thing in my ordinary life 51

Three grand assemblies in two days
I’m having the most busiest day in a year this weekend. Three grand assemblies in two days. This year, they will be so mentally tough to me because I heard that an attendee will question me about bills that I helped to send to the assembly and a law that I specialize in. Some examinees, especially the elderly, often vigorously try to debate with me in such a public place like an assembly. It doesn’t matter for me to discuss the bills at the assembly; however, such old examinees sometimes don’t know differences between bookish discussion and practical one. There are problems that we are not able to solve easily. Actually, I should say we have some problems that we don’t have definite answers on them.

Surprisingly, such examinees tend to be strict to issues that they are interested in, but they often ignore the truth that they are violating other rules.
Someone used to say to me, “Nowadays, many people have been breaking rules that we made. Some people park their cars improperly. Some people throw away their trash on the premises. Some people renovate their own room without any notification. We have to follow the rules. You(me)! You are the one who must them abide by the rules!”
“Okay. I understood. Then, let us discuss the matter about animals that we have. I have some reports which dogs and cats bark on the premieses. I believe we can’t have any animals here.”
He has a dog, which bark so loudly.

A nice song
Have you ever watched a movie ‘Starship Troopers 3: Marauder’? It was a sci-fi novel written by Robert A.Heinlein. The stories of the movies are a bit different from that of the novel, which have become simple.

I’m not trying to introduce the story itself to you. This time, let me show you a song used in the movie. It is full of a hidden agenda to imflame listeners(soldiers or applicants). The singer is SM, Sky Marshal, the highest position in the Federation.

The movie itself is not so impressive, but this song is pretty cool. I would sing it if this song was uploaded in karaoke.

Here’s a movie trailer.

This actress whose stage name is Lola Beck in the movie reminded me of Angelina Jolie.

Volcano ashes hush me

I am leaving Kagoshima tomorrow night.  I have several things that I have not experienced in Aichi before.  Volcanic ashes from Sakurajima is one of the most unforgettable things while staying Kagoshima.

I have to walk around a town in Kagoshima in the daytime.   I saw something grey like sand stirring up on the street.  They are volcanic ashes from Sakurajima.  Sakurajima is an active volcano in Kagoshima and you can see TV in Kagoshima broadcasting ash forecasts, which predict where the ashes are flown by winds.  You have to make sure the forecast because your eyes become sore, and you have to dust your clothes off when you are home without it.

I didn’t care of such ashes at first, but changed my mind when I saw a shop clerk splashing water in the road.  The color of the water had turned into grey.  Besides, all of my belongings with me outside in the daytime became rough on their surface because of the ashes.  Living in Kagoshima seems tough for me.  

You can see a public place called ‘hai okiba’, which you can litter the ashes that you gathered.  By the way, ‘shima’ of Sakurajima means ‘island’, however, the eruption in 1914 connected Sakurajima to the mainland.  It used to be an island.

Every little thing in my ordinary life 50

In Kagoshima
A few days have just passed since I got to Kagoshima for business trip.  Things that I’m required to do here are far from what I have been doing in Aichi prefecture, though, they look exciting and worth trying.  While I was working, I took several photos of Kagoshima.  I’m not able to upload them in this blog or on my Facebook through my iPad for now because I just don’t know how.  I’ll do it when I’m home.

Miss taking a bath
The bath in the room that I’ve been staying is so small that it is only used for taking a shower.  I miss taking a bath.  I want to dive into a bathtub and get my body embraced by hot water.  I will sigh with a relief as if most Japanese old men said as they immerse their bodies in a bathtub.  

Good stories for ‘Funny dreams’
It’s been a long time for me to have a funny dream for a category of this blog: Funny dreams.  I’m wondering if I’ll be able to post it this week.

Proofreading my essay
Thanks to my iPad, I’ve finished making an essay for a session held on Saturday.  I hope I will manage to have a time to proofread it tomorrow.

Several weeks later…not a fictional story

15 DAYS LATER:
MAINLAND BRITAIN IS QUARANTINED
28 DAYS LATER:
MAINLAND BRITAIN HAS BEEN DESTROYED BY THE RAGE VIRUS
5 WEEKS LATER:
THE INFECTED HAVE DIED OF STARVATION
11 WEEKS LATER:
AN AMERICAN-LED NATO FORCE ENTERS LONDON
18 WEEKS LATER:
MAINLAND BRITAIN IS DECLARED FREE OF INFECTION
24 WEEKS LATER:
RECONSTRUCTION BEGINS
(from a movie ’28 WEEKS LATER’)

March 26, 2011
I didn’t know what made me decide. Anyway, I just stopped doing something.

A FEW DAYS LATER
I started feeling my body needed some substances which were poisonous but addictive. Instead of my blood cleaned in fact, I just felt as if it was thickening and becoming sticky.

A WEEK LATER
My friends invited me to a small party. I usually have little time to drink except at parties. One of the friends sitting in front of me just started doing it during the party. His special air just suspended and floated toward me. I couldn’t help inhaling the air deeply. A female friend next to him just gave me words, which gulped my words: ‘Please give me just one.’ She just said to me for no reason, ‘I believe you’ve just stopped doing it. Have you?’

TWO WEEKS LATER
It is said that the shortage of it makes people irritated and violent. I just became frustrated as well. Like zombies in ’28 WEEKS LATER’, I became raged scattering saliva. My female subordinate shouted ‘Please! Please go get it at a convenience store!’

‘This isn’t real?’
‘What is “real”? How do you define “real”? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, taste and see…then “real” is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.’
(from a movie ‘MATRIX’)

My father does it with no care even though I’ve been suffering from it. He often leaves a pack of it in the living room in my house. One day, I just had a dream in which I woke up, descended the stairs, grabbed the pack of it, and did it, saying ‘Just only one.’ I just couldn’t know if the dream was the REAL dream for a while after I woke up.

THREE WEEKS LATER
One of my friends, who is also my colleague, just stopped doing it at the beginning of this year. I believed that he had succeeded in stopping it because he just told me in March that nothing problematic happened to him and he apparently had no difficulty stopping it.

A pack of it did he produce from his pocket. ‘Have you stopped doing it? Doesn’t make sense to do it. Just do it. Come to our world again.’ said he , exhaling toxic air. Most of the executives in our company, including him, are addicts. They do it in front of me with no care.

I have stopped smoking for over a month. I’m going to say, ‘I USED TO be a heavy smoker.’ So far, so good, I hope. lol