９月１４日（土曜日）２０２４
　ロネとジージのコメディMusicライブを観てきました。
連休の始まりとあって新幹線も品川駅も人、人、人。あまりの多さに圧倒されながら青山の会場へ。

    今日の「仮面舞踏会」、クラウンの動きや中国ゴマ、マジックなど初めて見る技が次々展開され、ロネジジの芸の幅広さには驚嘆します。二人の息の合ったクラウニングは何気なさそうに見えますが、難しい技であることは私にも分かります。また個々の得意技も印象に残ります。沢山ありますが例をあげるならロネのクリスタルボールを両手で滑らせるように操るのは美しくうっとりするし、ジージの観客を巻き込んで笑わせるあの間と言葉の可笑しさは何なんでしょう。誰にも真似できません。

    音楽もまた印象的でした。同行した友人が終演後ピアノのAYAJIさんにしゃぼん玉の歌が讃美歌に似ていると話していました。後でパンフレットを見たら、日本に輸入された最古の讃美歌の改変であると記してあり、敬虔なクリスチャンの友人ならではの気付きだと思いました。

    終わって、表参道で開催中の三重の伝統工芸「伊勢型紙」の彫刻師、内田勲氏の展示会を友人の案内で見に行きました。初めて知った日本の素晴らしい工芸技術です。友人のお嬢さんが米国の大学でデザインを勉強した後、内田氏から技術を習得し、現在は独自の世界観で美術品を制作し注目されていると知ったことも嬉しい限りです。


I went to the live performance of RONE & Gigi at Aoyama in Tokyo. Since it was the beginning of three consecutive holidays, both Shinkansen (bullet train) and Shinagawa Station were full of people.

The title of the show was "Masquerade ball". I was amazed by their range of skills such as clown movements, Diabolo, and others which I experienced for the first time. Their clownings with two clowns look easy but require difficult techniques. The individual special skills are also impressive. For example, the way the crystal ball slid between RONE's hands was so smooth and beautiful. Also, the Gig's timing and words, and her ability to get the audience involved and make them laugh, are all very professional and nobody else can do it.

The music in the show was also impressive. My friend who watched with me talked to the pianist after the show about one of the songs which had a similar melody to a hymn. It was true. They sang a familiar Japanese children's song in the show but there was an explanation about the song in the program of the show that it was modified from a hymn when it came from Western society in the Meiji period (1868-1912). She noticed it because she is a Christian.

After the show, we went to an exhibition of Japanese traditional crafts by Isao Uchida who is an engraver of Ise pattern paper and holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property. I saw his works which were so beautiful. My friend's daughter, Risa Kojyo, is an artist who learned the technique from Mr. Uchida, and she is creating her own crafts for Kimonos which have attracted attention from many people. I heard about it from my friend and it made me very happy.

９月７日（土曜日）２０２４
この夏１ヶ月も家を空けて帰ってきたら庭が雑草でジャングルになっていました。
背の高さほどに伸びた草、地べたを這うように横に張り出してきている植物、よその茎や枝やフェンス、だれかれ構わずまとわりネジリ上げ伸び放題のツル性の植物。

雑草は嫌われても強く逞しく生きる例えでしばしば登場しますが、このツル性の植物だけはあまりに図々しいので正直忌々しいです。軒を貸して母屋を乗っ取られようにまとわりつかれた側はやがて生気を失い枯れていく運命にあります。よく似た雑草（black swallow-wort) がボストンの家の生垣にもあり、こちらはもっとやっかいで小さな青いサヤがついていて中のタネが溢れるとさらに繁殖するという恐ろしいツル性植物。新聞にもこの植物だけは黒いビニール袋に入れて廃棄するように指示がありました。前は見なかったのにと思いながら、夫の取り残したあとを生垣の棘に触れないよう注意深く根気よく取りました。

裏庭に話を戻すと、どこに本来の植物があるのか分からないほど酷い状態にただただ呆然。ジャングルに踏み込む勇気がなかなか出ませんでしたが、そうも言ってはいられないと、完全防備で挑み始めて数日。ジャングルはまだあちこちにありますが、雑草を取り除くと土が見えて庭にお礼を言われているようで、こちらも気分が良くなります。

I went to Boston for about a month and came back home. Then my back yard turned awful like a jungle. Weeds grew high, and some weeds ran through the ground. Climbing plants wrapped around other plants and net fences.

People sometimes praise weeds, comparing them to a person who lives strongly even if he/she is stepped on, but I don't like these climbing plants because they are so impudent. There is a saying, "to lend out the eaves but have one's whole house taken", and these plants are just like that. The original plants will dry out eventually. I found the same kind of plant in Boston this summer named black swallow-wort. This one was much worse because it has little pods and when they pop and drop the seeds on the ground, they grow and multiply. It is a really terrible climbing plant. I tried to take them away after my husband removed them.

Getting back to my backyard, I was stunned when I saw my neglected yard which no longer had any original plants. I hesitated to go in and remove the weeds but decided to start to do it little by little.

There are still untouched places, but I can see the soil at the places I removed weeds. I feel as if my yard is happy and saying thanks to me, and then I feel so good.

９月４日（水曜日）２０２４
　久々に小学校の読み聞かせ。今日は宝組でした。一人一人にちょっと支援をする小さいクラスです。子どもたちが喜ぶのは何かなぁと考えて、今日は冨山房の「しゃべる詩、あそぶ詩、きこえる詩」を選んでみました。ことばのパフォーマー、故はせみつこさんが選んだ楽しい詩集です。

何編か読んだ中で一番受けたのは谷川俊太郎作「かっぱ」。短いですがすべての言葉に「っ」が入ってリズムのある詩です。聞いてるだけではつまらないので、子供達にも参加してもらうことに。また、まとまって読むのはちょっと大変そうだったので、「かっぱ」「らっぱ」「かっぱらった」「とってちってた」と更に短く切って私の後に繰り返してもらいました。最初は笑ってばかりや、恥ずかしそうにしていた子供が、だんだん慣れて繰り返してくれるようになり私としては嬉しいかぎり。次の詩に移ってもまだ「かっぱ」と言っているので、最後にまた戻って、かっぱ遊びをしました。

この詩は私が日本語を教えていた時にも促音の練習によく教材として使っていました。学年が高くなると一人ずつ速く正確に言えるかどうか競争もでき、リズムがあるので誰でも楽しめ教室が盛り上がります。

後で先生が「絵本じゃなくて表情や声だけもいいですねえ」と言ってくださいました。「あれっ、表情ってどんな顔してたのかなぁ.....」と思い返しています。


After a long time, I went to the local elementary school to give storytelling. It was a special support class and the size was small. I chose a short poem book selected by Mitsuko Hase (1931-2012 who was a Japanese language performing artist.

Out of several poems which I read in the class, the kids were most interested in the poem Kappa (river imp). It is a very short poem which has double consonants in every word. I thought only listening to the poem must be boring to the kids, so I let the kids repeat after me. Kappa, Lappa, Kappalatta, Totte-chitte-taa, all these sound very funny and interesting. At first, some of them were just laughing, or being shy, but later on they participated in this word play and I was very happy about it. When I read the next poem, one of the boys was still saying "Kappa", so in the end, I got back to the previous poem and did the Kappa word play again.

When I was teaching Japanese at a college in the US, I used this poem for my students to practice Japanese double consonants. It applies to all language levels by changing the method and students enjoyed it very much.

After my reading was over, the class teacher said to me "I realized that it does not have to be a picture book and only reading by varying the voice tones and facial expressions attract children!" . I am wondering what kind of facial expressions I showed to the kids?

９月１日（日曜日）２０２４
　心配した台風も当地はそれほどの風雨もなく、９月のお朔日（ついたち）を迎えました。雨戸を開けて、強風を心配して室内に入れた玄関先の鉢植えを外に出して、いつもより早めにカフェを開けました。多賀大社へお参りの方、１１月の彦根マラソンの練習とかで多賀にやってきた若者たちが暑さが少し落ち着いた９月初めの休日をゆっくり過ごして行かれました。
　床の間を秋らしい設えにしてみました。

We were concerned about the big typhoon which was approaching Japan, but it actually didn't hit our area so much and we entered into the new month. Opening storm-shutters, transferring all the plant-pots which were inside temporarily for the storm back outside of the entrance, I opened my cafe earlier than usual. I had customers who came to visit Taga Taisha for the first day of the month, and young people who were expecting to run at the Hikone Marathon in November. They seemed very relaxed on the holiday in September.

I changed the decoration of the guest room alcove to a more autumn-like one.

８月２４日（土曜日）２０２４
無事日本に帰ってきました。今回も飛行機はかなり混んでいましたが、隣はインド系の女性で１４時間の飛行中も不快感なく過ごせたのは幸いでした。映画は４本、落語と漫才を２つ。それでも退屈な時間はたっぷりありました。


最初の映画はInside Out (邦題インサイド・ヘッド）というアニメ。今年Inide Out 2 が出たようですが、私が見たのは2015年の最初のもの。女の子の頭の中に住む喜び、悲しみ、怒り、嫌悪、恐れなどの感情が擬人化されて、それらが女の子の暮らしの中で奮闘する様子が描かれるというなかなかユニークな発想。登場人物の他に感情の人物が別のアニメで描かれていますが、表情や仕草がいかにもアメリカ人で実写よりも強調されているので日本人の私にはとても面白かったです。

一番心に残った映画は2023年に制作されたフランス映画Une Belle Course（邦題「パリタクシー」）。９２歳の老婦人が終のすみかの老人ホームに向かうタクシーの中で運転手に自分の過去を語っていく物語です。この９２歳の役を演じているのがリーヌ・ルノー（Line Renaud)というフランスでは有名な歌手で女優さんでもある方ですが実際は９４歳とのこと。ゆったりとした語りの中で実はとんでも無い過去の経験が明かされるのですが、存在感と確信の深さが９４歳のこの女優さんそのものではないかと思えるほど素敵でした。

飛行機を降りて成田から東京駅まで順調で思ったよりも早い新幹線に乗ることができました。列車が出てまもなく窓に水滴が見え遠くでは稲光も。浜松あたりでアナウンスがあり、東京は酷い雨で新幹線は不通になっているとのこと。私は運良く影響を受けずに時間通りに滋賀に帰ることができました。
多賀大社前駅を出た私を東の空に光る大きな満月が出迎えてくれました。

I came back to Japan safely! The flight was almost full again, but I could stay in my seat with a much better feeling than the last time because the person next to me was an Indian woman and she didn't bother me at all. I watched four movies and listened to two Japanese comic storytellings, even though I still had plenty of boring time during the fourteen-hour flight.

The first movie was an animation titled "Inside Out". It seemed "Inside Out 2" was released in 2024 but the one I watched was made in 2015. In the mind of a girl are different emotions such as Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust and Sadness and all these emotions are personified and struggling in her daily life. I've never seen such a unique idea before which was very interesting. Since those characters are all animated, facial expressions and body movements are more exaggerated than real ones and from a Japanese point of view like me it was very interesting.

The most impressive movie among the four was the French movie "Une belle Course" in 2023. It started with a conversation between a 92 year old woman who was going to her nursing home and the taxi driver. She talked about her life in the taxi. According to the net information, the actress platine this woman was Line Renaud who is a well known singer and actress in France who's real age is 94. She revealed her incredible past in her calm tone of speaking. I was amazed by her presence and depth of her conviction. It was a really good movie.

The plane landed a little bit earlier than scheduled and I could reach Tokyo station to get on the Shinkansen smoothly which was 30 mins ahead of my expectation. After the train started, I saw some rain drops on the window and lightning far away. Then after a while, the train master announced that due to heavy rain in the Tokyo- Yokohama area, the following Shinkansen trains were stopped. Our train didn't have any effect because of the rain and I could come back to Shiga.

When I looked up at the sky after getting off my last local train at the Taga-taisha-mae station, a big full moon was there and welcomed me.

８月１８日（日曜日）２０２４
　いつもなら２週間ぐらいで慌ただしく日本に帰っていますが、今回は少し長めにボストンに滞在しています。気候も日本のような猛烈な暑さはなく凌ぎ良い毎日です。家の周りの景色は何年たっても大して変わりばえしませんが、隣のご夫婦は８８歳、９１歳とかなり高齢になりましたが、奥さんのマリアさんは元気に
今日も車で出掛けていきました。反対側は代が変わり、前の家とその隣は引っ越して別の方が入居しています。
　注目の大統領選挙は共和党がドナルド・トランプ、民主党がカマラ・ハリスとそれぞれ副大統領候補も決まり１１月５日の本選挙に向けて全米で熾烈な戦いが繰り広げられているとはいえ、日本のようにポスターがあちこちで貼られることもなく、ハリスがネットで寄付を呼びかけるのが頻繁に入ってきて邪魔される以外はTVのない我が家はまったく静かです。日本にも大きく影響する選挙だけにネットでトランプの演説を面白がって聞いている家族もいますが、投票権を持つのは娘っ子一人だけ。

　手入れが行き届かない我が家の庭には野うさぎが、また池のそばは雁が群れになって歩いていたりとすべてがのんびりムードです。辺りは早くも初秋の感が漂っています。

Usually I stay in the US for about two weeks and go back to Japan, but this time I am staying in Boston longer than that. The weather here is nicer than Japan where it is terribly hot particularly this summer.

The neighbourhood view has not changed much. The couple next door became older, 88 and 91, but they look good. I saw the wife, Maria, going somewhere by her car today. People who are living behind our house are of a new generation, and people in front of ours and next to the house moved and newcomers came in.

Presidential election which all of America is paying attention to is intensely fighting now toward the Nov. 5th election day between D. Trump and K. Harris. In Japan we see many candidate's posters everywhere, but it is not like that in the US. Since we don't have TV in our house, it is very quiet except K.Harris often interrupts my internet saying some donations. Selecting the US president is a big issue in Japan too, so my husband is interested in listening to their speech, but only my daughter has the voting right in my family.

８月１５日（木曜日）２０２４
　Tattooの店が看板を掛けて存在しているのが珍しいと家族に話したら、マリファナだって売ってると言われてびっくり！調べたら、ボストンでは医療用、嗜好用ともに購入が合法化されていました。どんな店だろう....、外観だけでも見ておきたい....と単純に好奇心で見に行きました。

　半地下や路地裏に販売店があるだろうとの予想に反して、それはあまりにあっけらかんと表通りにスッキリした店構えで存在していました。Western Frontという名前が何の店か分からない私は、葉っぱのマークと聞いていたので、ここに違いないと写真におさめました。小さい字で「Premium Cannabis Dispensary（大麻薬局」と書いてあったのですが、実はcannabisがマリファナ（marijuana）のことだと知ったのは家へ帰ってから。若い女性がニコニコ顔で中から出てきたのと入れ違いに別の女性が中へ入っていきました。
ここではクッキーや飲み物など色々な物を売っているようですが、その全てに大麻が含まれているとのこと。入り口で身分証明が必要らしいですが、普通の人が簡単に買えるところが恐ろしい。

　日本では大麻は所持も購入も違法なので、アメリカ人の購入が合法でも、日本人が手を出せばもちろん処罰の対象。マサチューセッツ州では医療用という証明があれば一人６株まで自宅大麻栽培も可能とのこと。将来日本でこんなことにならないように祈るばかりです。


When I told my family that tattoo shops are open in the US with visible signs but not in Japan, my daughter told me that even marijuana is sold legally in the US. I was very surprised by this and went to see the shop because I was very curious about it.

I was expecting that the shop would be in a semi-basement or back alley, but it was on the main street and a simple shop. I have never heard the name of "Western Front" but my family told me that I would find the shop from the mark of a leaf. There were letters "Premium Cannabis Dispensary" under the shop name but I knew Cannabis means marijuana when I got home. I saw a woman coming out from the shop with a smile and another woman went into the shop when I was there. I knew that they sell everything such as cookies, drinks, etc. and every item contains marijuana. It seems that visitors need to show their identification but everybody can buy their products. This is terrible for me.

In Japan, since possessing and purchasing marijuana are illegal, you will be punished if you do these actions no matter what. However this is allowed for Americans. I read an article that if you have a certificate, you can grow up to 6 cannabis plants for medical use.

I really hope that Japan doesn't follow this system in the future.