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Volume 17, Number 10 Book Review: A Daughter of the Samurai ... Nicolas Delerue
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By Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto (Charles E Tuttle, Publisher)
At the beginning of the Meiji Era, Japan saw many changes. The samurai class began losing its power. New ideas and new customs were introduced and modified everyday life. The author of this book was the daughter of a powerful samurai in Northern Japan (Niigata). She recalls her life and her education following Japanese tradition, but also how her family reacted to new ideas. For example, she remembers the first time they ate meat: the home shrine and temple had to be protected with white paper from the pollution that would be brought into the home. Later she followed her husband to America where she discovered foreign customs. Her life abroad gave her the opportunity to think about her own culture and to discover some amusing details... This book, written by a Japanese woman who lived abroad, gives many interesting insights into Japanese traditions. It is available at the Tsukuba Public Library in the foreign book corner (labelled T156).
Histoire de la littérature japonaise, Jean Guillamaud, Ellipses
Au fil des pages de ce livres, vous découvrirez l'évolution de la littérature Japonaise depuis ses origines au siècle de Nara (VIIIème siècle) jusqu'à nos jours. L'auteur n'a pas souhaité dresser un inventaire exhaustif de la littérature. Il a préféré présenter les principaux styles et les principales oeuvres qui ont marqué la littérature japonaise. L'ouvrage n'en ait pas moins suffisamment complet pour nous permettre de situer facilement la plupart des styles que nous pouvons rencontrer lors de nos lectures et pour comprendre les spécificités de la littérature Japonaise. En fait, il est fort probable qu'en lisant ce livre vous découvriez des styles et des ouvres que
vous ne connaissiez pas. Autant d'invitations à lire des textes japonais...
Rencontres du Septième Art, Arléa
Ce livre présente des entretiens que Takeshi Kitano a eu avec plusieurs autres grands cinéastes et critiques Japonais (Akira Kurosawa, Shôhei Imamura, et Shiguéhiko Hasumi) mais aussi Français ( Mathieu Kassovitz). Ces entretiens permettent de mieux cerner la personnalité du maître et de rendre moins énigmatique la personnalité d'un auteur connu pour ses films mélancoliques et énigmatiques. Au cours de chacun de ces entretiens, il est possible de mieux comprendre certains détails de ses films et donc de mieux comprendre son oeuvre.
There was a big ceremony at Tsukuba-san shrine on the first of November 2003. This ceremony was dedicated to the autumn harvest. There was a long procession carrying several portable shrines (mikoshi) led by a person wearing a demon mask with a very long nose. This demon was very friendly and let everybody to take the pictures with him. There were foreigners watching this ceremony and we were very excited and interested by his long red nose. That's why I decided to find out the point of having such a long nose. I had a hard time finding out, because the Japanese people I asked didn't know the answer. They, too, were interested to find out why the demon had such a long nose.
So, here is the story I got from a Japanese woman. The name of the demon leading the procession is Tengu, which means long-nosed goblin/braggart, and he has a long nose because... he is very proud of his family. He is very strong, he can jump across mountains and he can do anything he wants. Usually he has a fan shaped like a maple leaf with which he can make a very strong wind and just show that he is strong. The Japanese legend doesn't say if the men with the long noses are better husbands than with not so long ones.
Is Mount Fuji going to blow up soon?
Mount Fuji is easily seen from Tsukuba and Tokyo on a clear day. In total, more than 120 million people live near its base. Its last eruption was almost 3 centuries ago, in 1707, but since 781 it has erupted 16 times, more than once a century. Thus the meaning of this 300 years nap might be that either the volcano is getting calmer or that it is preparing a really big blast.
Of course such big threat for the Tokyo metropolis is not being left unattended, and there is a whole network of scientific equipment recording data on Fuji's slope. Since October 2000, this network has recorded a sharp rise in the number of low intensity earthquakes. To better understand the implications of these quakes, a series of explosions have been detonated this summer below mount Fuji. The mini-earthquakes triggered by these explosions were recorded and scientists are now analysing them. They hope to have a better understanding of the inner structure of the volcano and to see if lava is getting closer to the surface.
Despite these concerns, Mount Fuji remains a top attraction for climbers in Japan. This year more than 156 000 people climbed its slope, including a group from the Tsukuba Walking and Moutaineering Club (TWMC).
More details can be found at: www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20031003b7.htm You can learn about TWMC activities and future walks at eve.bk.tsukuba.ac.jp/twmc
Magnetic monopoles observed in Tsukuba?
Magnets usually come with 2 poles, a South pole and a North pole, and it is not possible to see a "North" pole alone without a "South" pole. This fact is very puzzling because magnetism shares many of its properties with electricity and the observation of single electric charges is a common fact for physicists. A team of researchers from Tsukuba (AIST), with collaborators from China and Switzerland, claims that it has observed the first ever indirect fingerprints of magnetic monopoles in solid crystals. "The existence of Magnetic Monopoles would have a strong incidence in particle physics and cosmology," says Dr. J-S. Ricol, a Magnetic Monopoles expert working in Sendai, "so this very interesting result needs to be confirmed and reinforce the interest in search for direct evidences of Magnetic Monopoles done with large Neutrino detectors such as Amanda in the Antartic, Antares in France or SuperKamiokande in Japan."
More details can be found at physicsweb.org/article/news/7/10/2
The smallest thermometer in the world is in Tsukuba!
Researcher from NIMS in Tsukuba have discovered that it is possible to make very small thermometers by using a nanotube of graphite (Carbon) with liquid gallium inside. When the temperature changes, the height of the column of gallium will change and thus the device will work exactly like a normal thermometer (except that common thermometers use mercury instead of gallium). More details at: physicsweb.org/article/news/7/10/7
Tokai-mura nuclear fuel reprocessing plan was approved by Jimmy Carter
The Tokai-mura nuclear fuel reprocessing plan in Ibaraki made the worldwide headlines in 1999 when a worker poured 16 kg of Uranium in a solution that could normally not contain more than 2.4 kg for safety reasons. A chain reaction occurred, killing 2 workers and irradiating 40 others.
Declassified documents show that the construction of the plan in 1977 had worried the United States, as the Plutonium extracted might be used to build nuclear weapons (as illustrated by the world's concerns over a similar plant recently built in Iran). The U.S. wanted to ask Japan not to operate the Tokai-mura plan, as this might encourage other countries to build similar plans and thus possess extracted Plutonium. But Mike Mansfield, U.S. Ambassador in Japan, asked President Jimmy Carter not to do so, as it might have a bad impact on U.S.-Japan relations at a time, where Japan was becoming a key U.S. Ally in southern Asia. Carter finally agreed with his ambassador's position and the plant went into operation. More details at www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030924a3.htm
If you would like to see the results of your research done in Tsukuba in the Alien Times, do not hesitate to email us.
