Letter from Kyoto

I wish I could have touched

What surprised me most when I visited Louvre was that almost all the pictures and statues there could have been touched if I had wished. There are no fences no glasses. You can see a boy standing next to Venus de Milo.

Only exception was Monna Lisa, which was in a glass case.

Mr. Kamachi, who taught me philosophy when I was a senior high student, often explained how the city of Rome, for example, looks like showing a few pictures in the text book. As I knew he had never been abroad, it was really surprising that his description of Rome was real and minute. His talk may have been a lie in the sense that he had never been there but you cannot fully describe the city just because you have been there once. He must have been very glad to see those pictures or statues with his own eyes. I remember the day when he brought a bulky book with many colored pictures. He showed us students the picture of Monna Lisa. He insisted that Monna is beautiful paying special attention to her hands. I had to agree with his opinion when he showed us the enlarged picture of the hands.

My unfulfilled dream

Though I major in Greek philosophy, I did not have wish to study abroad when I was a student. It was because my mentor, Prof. Norio Fujisawa was too good and gifted for me to decide to study abroad. He was the best scholar in this field. Consequently it was not necessary for me to study under other teachers.

Many years have elapsed since then. I had two opportunities to go to Greece. To be honest, I was asked to give a lecture in Athens on the relation between Greek philosophy and Adlerian pschology. Adlerian psychology was originally called individual psychology in the sense that it deals with man as a whole which cannot be divided in any sense. 'individual' is derived from the Latin word 'individuum' the meaning of which is 'cannot be divided.' Nowadays individual psychology is called 'Adlerian psychology' with the name of its founder (Alfred Adler). One day I received e-mail. Greeks who was studying Adlerian psychology in Athens invited me to give a lecture on the theme I mentioned. It is a pity that this lecture has not been fulfilled. This invitation was canceled at the last moment. I hear they could not find a sponsor to invite me to Greece.

On another occasion I planned to visit several European countries. My plan was to visit them with Vienna as a stronghold of sight-seeing. Nevertheless I was obliged to cancel to visit Athens because a strong earthquake occurred immediately before my departure. Instead of going to Athens I visited Paris, where I was very satisfied because though my stay there lasted only for two days my long dream of looking at Nike of Samothrace with my eyes at Louvre museum was fulfilled.

The picture is Nike of Samothrace which I took at Louvre. My another mentor, Mr. Kamachi, who first taught me philosophy in my senior high school days often advised to visit Louvre to see Nike. I understood why he strongly recommended me. It must have been the symbol of his long standing dream. As he died young (I mean to say, younger than he had expected) and he could not go to Paris, I was glad to find this beautiful statue standing at a landing casually all the more.

Is guessing right possible?

In my lecture the other day I asked the students to guess what other students have in mind. One student said, 'I feel refreshed this morning.' I was a little bit surprised, for as a typhoon was to sweep Japan that day what with the heat and humidity sleepless night had made me irritated . I asked other students to guess what his remark really meant. Some succeeded in guessing others didn't. There was the answers which surprised even the speaker because it was something he himself had not thought at all.
When you are guessed right what you have in mind, it is natural that you should think you are rightly understood. But as this is not always the case it is expedient to assume you cannot guess right idea, thought or feeling of others. Therefore the safe way to prevent misunderstanding which is likey to ruin human relationship is to ask and not to guess. Guessing is in most cases based on your own life style ot in other words on your own view how you see yourself and this world. There is nothing surprising in failing to guess right. Your life style may be completely different from that of others.

A war on commuters

It turned out that a man shot dead whom I mentioned here yesterday was unconnnected to the incidents. 
"We are now satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of Thursday 21st July 2005."  This is what  policed announced.  Though my ability of English may prevent me from understanding the meaning,  I do not understand why they are satisfied.
"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets."
It seems that the man has lost his life in an accident.  But is it not that he was shot dead?  The tragedy could have been avoided if the police had just arrested him instead of shooting him.  As I wrote yesterday, he could have been arrested because he was pushed to the floor.  It is awful that one can be shot on mere suspicion though I know some may say trying a head-shot was necessary to stop a suicide bombing.  One witness said, "It's a war on commuters." London or any other cities in the world should not be battlefields where such accidents can happen. The man who was shot dead must have had someone he loved.  I hate every possibility which might make it impossible for us to have beautiful time.  I explained the meaning of this beautiful time in my essay entitled 'Beautiful Time.'

Shooting to kill in London

The attempted bombings has shocked me but besides the incident itself what bewilders me most is that a suspected terrorist was pushed to the floor and five shots were unloaded into him. If he had been a suicide bomber, the only way you stop him might have been to try a head-shot. But wasn't there a possibility to shoot the wrong person? The fact is that he was pushed to the floor. If so, why was it necessary that he was shot dead because you might have been able to arrest him? Such doubts whirl in my mind. If someone is shot by mistake, will this mistake be called 'collateral' damage? London seemed to have become a battlefield.

When I was playing the horn

Listening to the same music played by different players is very interesting. Recently I make it a rule to listen to Horn Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 composed by Richard Strauss every moring before setting for work. They can light me up even when I am depressed.

The sound of horn has deeply fascinated me with its celestial sound. It is really surprising that these concertos by R. Strauss are played comfortably without any difficulty. I especially love the play by Radovan Vlatkovic who can play both powerful and delicate melody. Dennis Brain, who died in a traffic accident at the age of 36, is wonderful. I like his play too.

Many years have elapsed since my first encounter with this instrument. Though I know I will never have chance to play the horn again in my life, days when I spent with my horn will always remain in memory.

Lotus above the mud

A letter which was sent to me by a friend of mine last week has lingered in my mind.  She visited the pond near my house, where she found a lot of lotus which are very tall. I was shocked because the pond she mentioned in the letter is situtated very near my house within five minutes' walk.
This morning I decided t o go to the pond. It seemed that I had stepped into the Pure Land (Jodo in Japanese) which the deceased are believed to enter. The lotus flower is the symbol of the world of the Pure Land. As the lotus flower rises above the mud to bloom, it also symbolizes the human capacity to rise above impurity and attain enlightenment (Satori).

Parting in summer

I cannot see Nozen Kazura (Campsis grandiflora) without remembering that hot summer.  My mentor, who first taught me Greek in my senior high school days, died of cardiac infarction abruptly. I was taking an extensive course in Latin then.  This was because I had promised to learn foreign languages in order to major in philosophy.  Latin was the fifth language I challenged to master.  My teacher told me that it was important to touch philosophical mind.  This, he thought, is impossible without reading the original texts.  Reading the texts in translation is not enough.  As I found his explanation reasonable it was not painful for me to learn foreign languages.   I had planned to call on him when I  have mastered Latin. But I was obliged to give up the plan because I heard the news of my mentor's sudden death. I attended the funeral.  An orange-colored flower which he liked very much in life was put into his coffin by her wife.  I knew the name of the flower for the first time.  But many years had passed before I met this beautiful flower again.

Lotus

I visited Kyoto botanical garden the other day. It began to rain hard immediately after entering at the gate. Some may dislike rain but flowers look beautiful even in the rain or rather by the grace of rain.
I should have visited the garden early in the morning to see lotus in full blossom but the view of lutus with raindrops on leaves healed my sorrow.

Who decides?

The verb 'penser' is applied only to the first person. I mean to say that other expressions such as 'he thinks' or 'she thinks' can be true only on the analogy of 'I think.' It is possible to imagine she/he may think just I think but as is often the case of such analogy guessing is not easy because it is natural that one should think uniquely from her/his point of view.

I remember Prime Minister Koizumi saying that we should not yield to terrorism. Precisely he said in Japanese that xx(subject) should not yield to terrorism without refering to the subjet. In Japanese such expression is possible just in case of Greek or Latin. I think he should have said that he should not yield to terrorism. There is no telling the decision for someone else. He said furthermore, 'The nation is ready for the battle against terrorism.' I am not ready for it though I am Japanese. I do not want him to decide my will without my consent.

The only solution to the problem we face at the moment seems to be not so difficult as it appears. So long as Self-Defense Forces keeps being stationed, Japan never fails to be the target of terrorism because it must be regarded as army of occupation though the aim of its activity there is believed to be the support of recostruction (reconstruction would have been unnecessary if Iraq had not been destroyed in the first place) . I strongly demand the prompt withdrawal of SDF from Iraq.