maiko-san

(INTRODUCTION) Do you think it's possible to have an expereince that is dangerous, happy, sad, uncomfotable, and very scary at the same time? I had one, and I 'll remember it for the rest of my life. (BODY) On March 20th, 1995 I escaped from Tokyo Metropolitan Subway which was splashed with sarin by the terrorist group named Aum Shinri-kyo. I was waiting for a subway train at Kasumigaseki on my way to the office. I waited, waited and waited. But the train never pulled in. Meahnwhile the platform was full of commuting people. Someone said, "It stinks!" I had intuition that something strange has happened. Then I raced up the staris out on the streets. I saw a lot of fire-engines, patrol cars and amubulances going back and forth with full speed. I had to take a taxi to the office. An American vice president screamed, "God damned! Schoko did it!" I said, "Jesus Christ! What's the hell is going on?" Terri suggested that we watch news on TV. The...

In 1961 I entered Seikei Junior High School located in Kichijo-ji. Masafumi came to our class in September. Up until then, he lived in Seattle, USA with his family. His father worked as a representative of Mitsubishi Trading Company for three years. It goes without saying his English was excellent. He spoke English just like cool American guys, although he sometimes used slang words. Everyone was impressed when he stood up and made a speech. At the same time all classmates envied him and wanted to speak English like him. Of all the classmates he sat next to me by chance. He was friendly and especially nice to me. Moreover he didn't bother to teach me English. I learned English from him during a break and lunch time. First of all he corrected my pronunciation. I practiced the word "hungry" 100 times. He commuted to Kichijo-ji by Inokashira Line. One day he told me an interesting story. I was surprised to hear Masafumi telling off a nasty American kid in the train. For...

Last Monday I left "Harry Potter Club" at 11:30 and visited a psychosomatic therapist near Minoo Station for my tinnitus treatment. There were 10 patients already in the waiting room. I figured out that my counselling time would be somewhere around 13:00 to say the least. Wow, I couldn't wait that long. So I told an employee  at the reception desk. "Medicine only!" Soon she gave me the prescription for the drugs. I was supposed to submit it to a pharmacy in return for the medicine. When I was passing Minoo Station, all of a sudden I had a feeling that I wanted to say "Hello" to my favorite dentist. I raced up the spiral stairs of the station building. On the second floor I met a young cute hygiene assistent. I wanted to say that I was glad to see you! But I couldn't. By way of excuse I bought a toothbrush and 2 sizes of interdental brushes. In the meantime I looked surreptiously through the doorways. The beautiful dentist in the new blue uniform ...

Today I'd like to talk about Aspirin. Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, one of the earliest synthetic drugs. It was introduced in 1899 by a German chemist by the name of Felix Hoffmann in order to get the known effects salicyclic acid (relieving pain and lowering raised body-temperature) in a form that could be taken by mouth. It has proved to be a valuable remedy, both for relieving everyday aches and pains and for the distressing  and useless inflammation of rheumatic diseases. But like any other effective drug, aspirin has its drawbacks. Even standard doses are very apt to cause some bleeding in the stomach, and larger doses have adverse effects on numerous organs. To date about 40,000 tons of Aspirin are sold all over the world. It is surprising that its ingredient has never been changed for more than 100 years. A recent reserach shows that it could be the preventitive medicine for bowel cancer, stomach cancer and cardiac infarction. What medicine do you take when you have ...

I went on a trip to Germany 7 years ago. My flight with Royal Dutch Airlines has been delayed for a long time in Amsterdam. Furthermore my destination was changed from Nuernberg to Muenchen. But thanks to the Dutch, they  gave us a bus-ride from Muenchen to the Nuernberg Airport. Finally I made it in Nurnberg at 2:00 in the morning and entered  Inter -City -Hotel in front of the station . I was so exhausted that I wanted to get into my room right away and sleep like a log. At the reception, a short, chubby man was waiting for me. I just wanted to show him a voucher which I acquired from HIS, a Japanese travel agency in Duesseldorf. But he insisted that I turn in also my credit card. "Why?"  He smiled and said politely, "Well, Mr. Kaneko, once you get into your room you'd like some refreshment and watch TV or say, a video. To make a long story short, don't you like watching beautiful German ladies with big titties?" His brown eyes twinkled behind the gold-ri...

Today I'd like to talk to you about a French landscape painter, Jean Francois Millet. His pictures centered on poor farmers in the country side. Now I'd like to briefly touch on his two masterpieces out of his many paintings. 1. "Angelus" 2. "Gleaners" When I was a little kid, my mother hanged these pictures on the wall of the dining room. I was moved by these pictures with a striking contrast between light and shadow. "Angelus" means that a bell that is rung three times a day in Roman Catholic churches to tell the people when to say a particular prayer. Millet described a famer couple praying for good harvest after work in the fields when the sun was about to sink. Or are they praying for their dead son? Anyway the church bell must have kept ringing when they prayed. In case of "Gleaners" he depicted that poor farmers were diligently collecting bits of grain after harvest. Maybe it has something to do with the story from the Bible. ...

Other than the Ekimae building, I found recently three shops where I enjoy spending my free time. Firstly, McDonald's. It's located near JR Fukushima Station. You can buy  a premium roast coffee" at the price of 120 Yen. Moreover you're allowed to smoke in the morning from 5:00 am until 10:30 am. I like this shop, because I can write a script for the English lesson. Secondly there is a Karaoke shop next to the Mcdonald's. You can enjoy singig Karaoke with free beverages at the price of 160 Yen an hour. Last not but least I'd like to introduce a video rental store by the name of "Tsutaya". You can rent old movies for one week at the price of 190 Yen. They also provide you with a special discount for the elderly(over 60 years old). Last week I rented a video entitled "Dresden". Do you know where Dresden is located? It's located in the eastern part of Germanyneighboring Poland and Czechoslovakia. It used to be the second largest city a...

Did you have a good time during the golden week? Unfortunately I didn't go anywhere. I just stayed at home. But every morning I went to a supermarket, "Koyo", to buy toilette paper, tooth paste, rubber gloves for the kitchen and so on. In my family I'm responsible for keeping houshold necessaries updated. On the evening of 28th, April I had a Skype message from Ikeda-san. He asked me which page of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" he was supposed to translate at the next meeting. Furthermore he wanted to try out Skype with his I Pad. Next day I decided to talk with him over Skype in the afternoon. Ikeda-san's image on the screen was better than when he used Smartphone per se 10 days ago. The worst image was when he used his personal computer with his Smartphone a month ago. He said this connection is techically called "tethering" and recommended by a mobile phone company, "Docomo". At that time his image was blurred and s...