Departure for New Life

There are two big scandals coming to us as surprises in this week; one is, as already mentioned in this blog, the detailed reason of Norika-Jinnai divorce was brought into light at last, probably making people in the world throw the penetrating eyes at Jinnai’s disclosed true nature with a full sense of suspicion. Because of Jinnai’s displaying himself as an amicable and hilarious man, the discovered news of his nasty abuse toward Norika and flirtation with some other women must have flabbergasted quite a few of the Japanese all the more strongly. Among the most surprising facts betrayed is that Jinnai was actually exerting domestic violence on his wife, although he himself denied the allegation. According to one who knows this couple well, when interrogated on his alleged infidelity by Norika, Jinnai, far from showing any tincture of sincere attitude to her, got infuriated by contraries, outrageously insisting that she apologize to him for her skepticism, and finally drawing her hair violently. It was all the more disgusting for me to hear this news, especially when giving a little imagination to a never-likely-to-happen humiliating sight: the impeccably prestigious actress Norika forced to kneel on the ground in want of forgiveness from her husband the just mediocre comedian. Norika, coming back to Japan from Africa, where she had stayed on her business, revealed her honest feelings on her blog, saying that she, with the large amount of help by those willingly supporting her, had done her best to get over obnoxious problems lurking behind their conjugal life, only to find her arduous efforts ended in vein. She also emphasizes that all her concern is now focusing on future; there being no tiny fraction of nostalgic feelings about past.
The other news running into us this week reports that Miki Fujimoto, an ex-Morning Musume member, and Tomoharu Shoji, a comedian within a unit called “Shinagawa-Shoji”, the two of whom had been known as being in an intimate relationship, officially announced that they at last decided to be engaged. Susceptible to acrimonious diatribes by those cross-grained as the news of a decided engagement between a pop idol and a comedian generally seems to be, somehow this one receives a lot of gentle comments simply congratulating on the two. Probably one of the reasons they are so much celebrated without any criticism lies in the fact that they have built their own way into the goal of marriage through “proper procedure”: they have never been subjugated to the nasty temptation of an “unplanned pregnancy before marriage”. It is becoming one of the most serious social issues, as is represented well in a recent shocking scandal from Britain ― “A 13-year-old father and 15-year-old mother”. Although a recent DNA test revealed this 13-year-old boy was not actually a father of the baby, it still remains irrefutable that they “did it” before their marriage, not premeditative. I personally feel it is no problem for a loving couple to have a sex no matter how young they are, as long as it is based on a consensual agreement between the two, and the deliberate consideration for their future. But as far as recent examples are concerned, too many couples seem to cross the line without any responsibility and sensibility, oblivious to the fact that an unplanned sex surely brings them the once-and-for-all forfeiture of their hitherto normal and peaceful life. Given such a reprehensible tendency being rampant in the world today, Mikitty-and-Shoji couple might be said to deserve creditability for their prudence. Congratulation! Miki and Shoji, and don’t follow the same path as Jinnai and Norika!!

Tomonori Jinnai - the Stupidest Guy Ever Lived

Flabbergasting news ran through Japan yesterday ―a well-known married couple, a Japanese comedian Tomonori Jinnai and a famous actress Norika Fujiwara, decided to divorce each other, an informed source reported. Speaking of Fujiwara and Jinnai, even in the middle of typing this very paragraph, it can be vividly remembered that the sudden official announce of their deciding being married surprised people in Japan so much at that time that every sports newspaper published next day highlighted this news as if it wanted to say “unbelievable”. Why did their marriage draw people’s attention so much? The most plausible reason is that there is a big gap between the two in terms of their career, economic strength, and so on. This is how the Japanese generally think about the two: Fujiwara is a very prestigious and sophisticated actress in Japan while Jinnai, though it is true that he successfully gets an acceptable amount of publicity, still is just a mediocre Japanese comedian. So when their marriage was brought into light, most people thought Fujiwara deserved a better man, and therefore quite a few of them anticipated that they would divorce after all sooner or later. And now their expectation is proved to be right. This “disparate married couple” now is going to put a perpetual end to their only-two-year-old conjugal life.
According to an article, the reason of their divorce was at first explained plainly by a hackneyed excuse: the lack of time spent together because of each being too busy in his/her own work. But today more scandalous and curiosity-provoking news ran into us. Fujiwara’a mother, with full tears in her eyes, desperately claimed that they did not decide to divorce owing to pressure of business, saying: “My daughter has been careful not to lose time to spend with her husband; constantly making dinner herself, and giving priority to his working schedule instead of hers under the agreement with her staffs.” And she also disclosed that in last April Jinnai, mainly staying at Osaka, coolly told Fujiwara, Tokyo, that she was not allowed to visit him, and to make matters worse, the next month, he said to Fujiwara like this: “I don’t think I’m suitable for marital life. We should be done.” Plus, according to Fujiwara’s mother, Fujiwara once said to her crying ― “Mom, don’t blame him, and believe me. For now, it is true that I’m devastated, but I feel it’s worth-while giving it another shot. I really love him. So, just wait and believe time will solve everything.” However, contrary to Fujiwara’s modest and tolerent attitude to her husband, there was a contemptible rumour flying among those concerned that Jinnai was cheating on her, flirting with some other women.
If Jinnai was really having inappropriate relationships with other women, he will not be able to dispel the stigmatized title as the stupidest man in the world who lost a wife too fabulous for him. I have personally hoped the two gets along together well, and that’s why this scandalous news is penetrating my heart all the more potently.

Betrayal of the Talented Professional

The repulsing tendency in recent days is what might be called “betrayal of the talented professional”, in which those not necessarily proficient in a field acquire highly brilliant success stories in the very one just because they are popular and well-known, having people who are really talented overshadowed. Such an odious trend can be all the more obnoxious for being the definite cause of throwing into a sense of disappointment those dedicatedly putting arduous efforts into what they love; they might be devastated, thinking it is no good after all being the “diligent” as long as a noxious popular person always pops into their own field, preventing them from taking a lively part there. The other day most TV programs’ entertainment news joyfully reported that Yusuke Kamiji, an actor in Japan, accomplished the brilliant feat of all of the three songs he released for the first time in his life getting ranked within top 10 the-most-frequently-downloaded songs. Such an achievement, they said, was highly creditable, and has never happened in the music history. Of course, I happily congratulate him on this feat, and firmly believe it genuinely resulted from his arch and amicable personality drawing people’s attention. Although it still remains undeniable that I hate that stupid “obaka” boom, I agree with the general opinion that all-in-all he is a likable person; for he, maybe unconsciously, has such a charming vulnerability brought home to those around him that anyone must be extremely insensitive or cold-hearted indeed, not to be inclined to take any tiny fraction of care of him. But at the same time I cannot help admitting that there is an indignant inner voice within myself desperately insisting that that kind of achievement of Kamiji’s should not have taken place for the really talented singers’ sake. The problem is that Kamiji is not a singer; he is just an ex-professional baseball player, and now famous for being a complete idiot. What I want to say is that his invasion upon the top 10 ranking must have prevented some of those really adept in music from winning the brilliant title as a “top10-ranked singer”. Again, I do admit he is a good person, but I can safely say that my inner voice tells me that it is nothing but a despicable irony that one who really devotes himself into what he loves is forced to imprison himself into a sense of despondence, while one who is popular just because he is likable gets more publicity in the field he is not well familiar with. So, I personally think that not only Kamiji but also every pseudo-professional in the world should restrict his business into what he has originally been responsible for. In other words, just because one is popular and well-known does not justify his trying to omnivorously interfere with affairs he by rights should not. We, living in a various-kinds-of-people-mingled environment, have to cultivate our highly discerning eyes in order not to be deceived by any pseudo-professional lurking around the world. In the future, I hope this current unjust society will change into “fair” one in which everybody enjoys legitimate rewards according to the degree of his making efforts

Unreasonable Strike －Are You in Favour?

A strange incident happened ― regular announcers working for TBS, one of the biggest television stations in Japan, suddenly “disappeared” from the programs in which they usually participate and take a lively part. This is because they actually went on their 12-hour strike scheduled for Friday, March. 13, yesterday, demanding for wage increase. One has only to know the fact that it has never happened in Japan in the past ten years that announcers really implement their absence on the programs for strike, to be convinced that how surprising this event was. According to spokesman in TBS, this strike, being on time-limitation basis from at 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., was carried out as the form of the spring labour offensive. The strike had serious influences on some popular TV programs in the station, like “Pinpon!”, “2 jicchao”, “Evening Five”, and “News23”, forcing those who are usually holding managerial positions or working as out-of-studio newscasters, to replace those absent and do their jobs instead.
Although carrying out strike itself is officially justified as a legitimate right, it is still regarded as almost unprecedented that TV programs are inconvenienced due to the implement of strike. Staff members working for other television stations, informed of this incident, reveal their being surprised one after another, saying: “I am aware that such kind of strike used to happen frequently, but never does recently. . . . It is a scandal,” “It’s amazing. Sadly due to our union being organized very weakly, there has not been, and never will be such a thing taking place in our station.”
In addition, at the beginning of each program, there was a casual introduction uttered by provisional announcers informing viewers of the usual ones' temporal absence, only referring to the mere fact, but not further explaining why they are not there, with the result that some confused phone calls demanding for the details rushed into the station.
I personally feel it’s completely absurd that announcers, usually masquerading as sensible, prudent, and well-mannered men, resort to such a desperate measure when it comes to their own life. Plus, it is said that payment for workers in TBS is on the top level compared to that in other companies. Given the current serious recession across Japan, no one seems to me to feel the slightest empathy with and to encourage himself into cheering up the “covetous” announcers.

The Rise of "Yankee" Boom

Likewise the eruption of “obaka” boom, recently the Japanese people seem to be captivated by another peculiar boom ― they have started to derive fascination in any tincture of “vicious propensities” in various kinds of fields. Perhaps the most notorious example showing the rise of this boom is seen in “Gokusen”, a famous Japanese drama in which some young actors playing roles as high-school juvenile delinquents overtly show a number of apparently immoral behaviours without any restriction, such as minor smoking, vehement fighting, grotesque vandalism, and so on. Despite every strenuous inclination of Japanese police’s to prevent genuine and pure children from being tempted with such unprincipled lifestyles, this “Gokusen” show willingly reveals us what juvenile delinquents are like in a completely complimented manner. It seems as if it appeals that all viciously-looking boys and girls, though it is true that they sometimes get out of control, have sort of idiosyncratic virtues in their own, all of which obviously result from their being so-called “gangs”. Actually, it is true: gang-ish youths, though in a little bit weird way, have their own creditability. As is often said, it is a universally acknowledged fact that many of young gangs in Japan choose to become members of motorcycle gangsters, called “bousouzoku” in Japanese. Paradoxical as it may sound, actually it is in this kind of group that such seemingly wicked youths begin to learn moral responsibilities in their own manner. Scarcely as it is known, usually there are very strict rules in Japanese motorcycle gangsters; no one gets into their territory and finds himself being there for a few minutes, without being aware of their strictly managed propriety, rectitudinous integrity, and incessant respectfulness to others. Totally contrary to the deeply stereotyped image of their depraved and hedonistic way of life, in fact gangster members survive a really brutal environment. What perhaps we have to bear in mind is that after all they “have” very vigorous energy and enthusiasm which rightly used, should contribute to improving our society: the only problem is that they wrongly use such creditable resources by staging a reckless driving demonstration without caring others’ feeling. In conclusion, all-in-all, I personally feel this what we Japanese call “yankee boom” is not so unpleasant as that stupid “obaka boom”, given the possible merit we might enjoy, of children’s learning such fortitudinous spirit of theirs in an appropriate way.

Non-Japanese English Class Being Obligatory at High School

All in all, I cannot help admitting that I have serious problems with English-listening ability. It seems that as many as six years of English education given to me do not contribute to my improvement of English-listening skills in the way they should. Dedicatedly and enthusiastically devoting oneself into something for as many as six years, I believe, completely deserves accompanying fruitful results, leaving one a sense of fulfilment to his heart content. But I, who can safely swear to having devoted myself into English studying very hard, now find myself totally at a loss about my listening ability, caught by the desperate fear that I would finish my life without feeling any accomplishment.
However, I can also safely swear that I’m not the only one who is obsessed by this thought: it is often said the deficiency of English communication skills is almost a “pandemic disease” common to the Japanese people. Yes, generally speaking, Japanese lack an ability to communicate with people in a foreign language face-to-face. Regarding this unfavourable reality as radically ascribed to the present Japanese education system, the Ministry of Education announced last year that they would make a fundamental change in it in the near future ― the change in which the future English class at every high school should be run on non-Japanese basis. Teachers will be required to use English as much as they can during class and encourage students to attempt to make themselves understood in English. Such a plan can be said to directly reflect government’s serious desire of making as many Japanese as possible flexible to the current global communities. But of course, it is easily understood that this plan has brought everlasting controversies among those concerned, newly becoming one of the obnoxious burdens for classroom teachers. Some say that it is highly impractical and hard to realize to implement non-Japanese English class, given the harsh fact that there are some students who cannot distinguish even an alphabet “b” and ”d”, and that teachers also have to make it their own business to teach some stuffs in need of Japanese explanation, like extremely difficult grammar items, English-to-Japanese translation, and so on. Also taking into account the today’s tendency of the entrance examination of university, we are convinced that to all appearance reading and writing skills are put more emphasis on than listening and speaking; which means that it does not seem to be based on prudent consideration to recklessly introduce English conversation into class at the sacrifice of tasks more beneficial and rewarding to work on.
No matter how lamentably I’m imprisoned in the hopeless anguish of my disastrous listening skills, after all I still feel that putting frantic and arduous efforts into all the possible measures imaginable to improve my listening ability, would never deserve sacrificing my significantly precious time to indulge myself in reading and writing.

Ai Kago ― A Flirt in the Worst Degree

Oh God . . . an ex-Morning Musume member Ai Kago brought us scandalous news again today. Speaking of Kago, she just drew our attention a few months ago by her alleged adultery with Hidejiro Mizumoto, a famous actor in Japan. Actually that scandal directly leads to today’s one; according to an article, Mizumoto’s real mother, whose name is Yoshiko Shimo, is really infuriated with Kago, because Kago’s despicable adultery, she insists, triggered breach and discord within her son’s otherwise happy marriage and therefore brought divorce to them. To make matters worse, it is said that the ex-wife of Mizumoto decided to sue Kago for making a serious mental damage on her and demand a certain amount of money as compensation. It is true that this ex-wife settled the matter by officially divorcing Mizumoto in the middle of last January before his infidelity with Kago was brought into light publicly. But this scandal is all the more problematic for its not being that simple; according to one of those concerned, this ex-wife’s mortification is thoroughly attributed to the contemptible fact that Mizumoto and Kago spent the end of the last year together, and that Kago habitually visited his house ― the point is, it still remains undeniable that Kago’s irresponsible behaviour itself gave rise to all of the disasters.
What I cannot understand is why Kago always invites such scandalous dramas in for herself ― Smoking, being fired, and inappropriate flirtation . . . . She is already 21 years old, and has not yet shown any tiny fraction of “sensibility.” She entered the entertainment world when maybe she was 13 years old or so, and started to get publicity very quickly. I think her lack of responsibility largely comes from the fact she has never experienced in her life the usual school life, including school trips, club activities, preparation for examination, and so on. In these, we all learn to distinguish what is right and wrong, and of course with judicious and prudent eyes to realize that whatever is wrong is wrong and we are never allowed to do that.I cannot anymore stand to be forced to hear her foolish scandals, and personally hope she will kindly go back to her right place to live in perpetually, never coming back to TV shows.

Hexagon Family

Do you like so-called “Hexagon Family”, regular members in the famous quiz show “Quiz Hexagon” in Japan? To be honest with you, I confess that I’m gradually becoming one of anti-Hexagon people. Most of my senses of detestation are to some extent attributed to that established identity of theirs as a “complete idiot” which some of Hexagon Family members elatedly and willingly exhibit to us in a totally vulgar manner. Irritatingly enough, it seems to me that each of them is just playing a role as a stupid, fool, and non-educated person; I mean, there is no denying the possibility that once the call of a director announcing the show’s ending echoes throughout the studio room, those pseudo-idiots suddenly give themselves away and reveal their true character, enthusiastically devoting themselves to reading an apparently pedantic book, or debating someone on a serious current issue. . . . . Anyway what I want to say is that to all appearance the extent of their manner of displaying themselves as idiots sometimes extremely goes too far, and crosses the line so outrageously that we, or at least I cannot help feeling a sense of unnaturalness. Extremely sceptical as it may sound, a nasty imagination invariably occurs to me that such superficial simpletons are just marionettes obedient to Shinsuke Shimada, who is a MC of the show and obviously seems to call the shots at the TV industry; actually he is the very one who exhilaratingly puts spurs to the establishment and dissemination of that “idiotic character”. Although I cannot blame these seeming simpletons of being slavery to Shinsuke given the fact that some of them owe their getting popularity entirely to him, a sense of hatred still remains obsessing me. Moreover, the second reason I hate such pseudo-idiots comes from the concern over the possible bad influence of them on TV viewers. I mean, such exaggerated compliments to being “idiots” as frequently seen in Hexagon show, may give a myriad of pure children the false impression that shamelessly disclosing our own flaws is the very “norm” in getting through our society, at the same time indicating that concealing them is a sort of discreditable and despicable behaviour. Is that really so? I think otherwise; in this cruel society, carelessly revealing our “weak points” to others must be a fatal cause of being excluded ― namely “defeated”. I personally think if you really want to survive, you must be always careful not to betray your vulnerability to anyone in your society, however intimate and friendly relationship you have with him/her. Thus, I sincerely hope such Shinsuke-produced so-called “obaka boom” will pass away as soon as possible. Last, let me finish today’s column by showing you one example of this extreme raise of “obaka boom” in Japan ― a comment uttered by a fourteen-year-or-so girl, who was asked why she was so fascinated with Yusuke Kamiji, one of the famous idiot characters in Hexagon show. She says ―　“Oh, because thanks to him I noticed there is a person in the world who is much more brainless than me. Yes, he gives me a sense of superiority.”

My Dream

Naturally in favour of being engaged in “writing”, my future dream is to become a writer ― of course, an English writer. Asked why I’m so fascinated with writing so much, probably I cannot present a definite answer. All I can say is that every time I’m given an opportunity to exhibit my writing, whether formal one or informal, like questionnaires, reaction papers, term papers, and so on, a compulsive obsession always penetrates my heart, diabolically telling me that I’m never allowed to finish the handling task on an “acceptable” level; in other words there always exists a tacit agreement within myself that not until do the papers develop themselves into elaborate, dextrous, and consummate ones, at last I’m allowed to release myself from the task of writing and move on to the next step. But I know such remarks are easily interpreted as manifestation of conceited feelings about my writing. In fact, let me note that in the middle of typing this very paragraph, I’m disgusted at such lack of care about mere simplicity, and at such failure to restrain this rather sophomoric tone in my writing style, as must be ultimate causes for making my writings seem extremely quaint, unnatural, and even hard to understand. So, throughout this blog, I want to improve my writing styles in such a way that someday they will be praised for their being “elaborate but easy to understand”.