Final day's troubles - 2

At the previous time, I wrote about my first trouble when I was leaving New York. This is the second trouble at that time.

I had to change from the “A” line of subway to the “Air Train” at Howard Beach station for JFK. I got on the “A” train. However, when this train arrived at Jay Street station, the announcement in the train said something. At first, I couldn’t understand this, but I could guess this announcement said that this train couldn’t go ahead any more and all passengers had to get off this train.

I got off the train and I was going to the ticket gate with anxiety. The station’s staffs gave transfer thickets to passengers there, so I asked one of them “I wanna go to JFK. I need to go to Howard Beach station!” She said “You have to get on shuttle bus, and take on the train again”. I took the transfer ticket and went up from the station to the bus stop.

I carried tow small bags and one suitcase. I was afraid of this situation, because this was not Manhattan. This was Brookline. I wasn’t familiar with this place, and I heard that this place was more danger than Manhattan for tourists like me that carried many luggage.

I found a shuttle bus on the road, and I asked the driver “I wanna go to Howard Beach. Is this bus OK?” He said “Yeah. But not express.” with grinning. I asked “Which station will this go to?” He said “Utica.” I thought that we had to get on this bus and took on the “A” line at Utica station again if we wanted to go beyond Utica station. Howard Beach is beyond Utica station. I thought I should get on a taxi here, but of course it is difficulty to catch a taxi on the street of Brookline. I couldn’t help but get on this bus.

Actually, this bus was going slowly. I realized what is his grinning when I asked him. I got upset, but I couldn’t have any good way else. I think that I should have gone back to Manhattan and took a taxi, but I couldn’t find this way at this time.

The bus arrived at Utica station. I was hurry to go down to the platform of subway, and I took on the first “A” train. After a short while being on this train, I realized that any tourists didn’t get on this train. I was afraid that I took another wrong train. Then I asked an old man “Excuse me, sir. Is this train going to Howard Beach station?” He said something, but honestly I couldn’t understand all what he said at first, but I catch he said that “A” line has two terminal stations, but he didn’t know this train was wrong or not, and if I had a wrong train, I had to change another train at Rockaway blvd station. He said that he would get off Rockaway blvd station, and when he got off he could confirm this train’s destination and he told me that. We got off there and he told me that this train was wrong, and maybe the next train went for Howard Beach. I apologized to him, and then I spent some minutes for waiting for the next train. I felt these minutes being very very long.

Fortunately, I arrived at JFK at 11:20 a.m. I could on time check in my plane that would departure at 12 o’clock, but I couldn’t buy any souvenir at the airport.

Final day's troubles - 1

I left New York last Sunday and I came back to Japan last Monday. Last Sunday was very hard day for me. First, I forgot my important bag in my room. Second, the train had a trouble while going to the airport, JFK. I want to describe this day’s story here.

Last Saturday night, it was my last night in New York, I went to Jazz club and I spent there until 2:30 a.m. After that, I came back to my apartment, and then I started to prepare for going back to Japan. I prepared that until 4 a.m., and I took a short sleeping.

I wake up at 7 a.m. on Sunday. I had to continue to pack my stuff and I had to clean my room. I had estimated one hour for that at the previous night, but in reality I had needed two hours for this. I got upset, because I thought I needed to get on the subway at 8 a.m. for my plain at 12 o’clock, but it had been 9 a.m. already.

After the preparing and cleaning, I went out my room with my luggage, and locked the door and I put the keys into the room through under the door, but then I realized that I forgot one of my important bag in the room. There were my cell phone, digital compact camera and some electronics equipment that I need for my job in this bag. However, I couldn’t take this. I had locked out.

I got upset, and then I called this apartment’s caretaker that is Japanese agency. However, this is Sunday. They were in a day off. I couldn’t reach them, but I remembered that they gave me another phone number for emergency. I searched the paper on which this number was printed in my bag that I had, and I found it. I called to this number. It was a cell phone that the chief of the agency had. I told him about my situation and I had to go to JFK immediately. He said that he couldn’t open the room for me at this day. Therefore, I had to ask him to send this bag to Japan by international mail after.

I regretted that I should have checked my room again before locking the door, and if I had not spent deeply in the Jazz club at the previous night, I might have had spare time and I might not have made such a mistake by lack of sleep, but it was 9:30 a.m. already. I had to go to JFK as soon as possible. I didn’t have any minutes to regret something. I went to the subway station in a hurry. I estimated one hour to arrive at JFK by the subway and the Air Train, so I thought that maybe I could arrive there between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. However …

I will write about my next trouble, a train trouble, at the next time. To be continue.

Visiting to Washington, D.C.

I went to Washington, D.C. last weekend. I visited to Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, National Gallery of Art and American History Museum. Of cause, I walked through the National Mall and I saw the Capital Hill, Washington Monument and Lincoln Monument. I went up to an observation room of Washington Monument and looked down to the city from there.

I had stayed in Washington, D.C. for three days. When I was walking to subway station from my hotel to get on the train that I would go back to New York last day, I found a new museum named “NEWSEUM”. I had three hours to get on my train, so I stopped to visit at this museum.

NEWSEUM exhibits the history about Journalism in the U.S. I found here that the modern journalism was one of the most important “inventions” by the U.S.

American journalists started the movement that they were reporting their own article by themselves’ getting stories. They write articles with their own experience and their own responsibility. They try to reveal the facts that government or powerful people hide for their interests. For example, Vietnam War was finished by New York Time’s releasing a government’s classified document. The Watergate scandals that led to the resignation of former President Richard Nixon were released by Washington Post’s reporter. Their activities affected the government and politics.

I think that Japanese journalists were influenced by this movement in 1970s. For example, former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was forced to quit by revealing his illegal money politics by a Japanese journalist. After that, many journalists reported many case of political corruptions.

On the other hand, this kind of journalism has dark side. Some journalists want to sell their articles, so some of them make untrue sensational stories. Therefore, American schools educate media literacy for children. Media literacy is an ability of objective and logical thinking for all kinds of media.

These days, a lot of journalist activate on the Internet. They are called “blogger”. This is a new type of journalism. I think American people leads this movement also, and this movement is spread out all over the world.

Why can the journalism be improved in the U.S? I think that the reason relates to their splits of state's founding. It means liberal democracy. They are very proud of it and they think the important thing is civilian power. Journalism is an aspect of this in the U.S. I thought about that while visiting at this museum.

Japanese Tea Ceremony as a measure

After getting up I have a small breakfast, and then I make a cup of green tea and drink it every day with trying to calm down. I make it in a style that followed simple Japanese tea ritual. I try to concentrate to make a cup of tea, but I actually can’t help but think other things, for examples, I think what I should do today, how I can say someone what I have to say and I regret something that I made mistake on the previous day. Therefore, I can’t concentrate to make a cup of tea. These thoughts affect a work of making a cup of tea, for example, I forget wash Cha-sen (a tool for mixing tea), I drink tea from the wrong side of a tea cup (I have to set the opposite side of painted pattern on a tea cup in front of me) and spill a little water on a table. I make mistakes in a procedure of the ritual or dealing with stuff.

I realize that my mind moves like smoke when I make mistakes while making a cup of tea and drinking it. I think that I might have the same kind of mind in my daily life, and I might not be able to realize that. However, the ritual of tea can show such aspects of mind and it makes me realized it. I am interested in it. This is a kind of measure for my mind’s situation.

"Digital Native"

I watched a TV program which titled "Digital Native" made by Japanese broadcast company called NHK. Digital Native means young people who have been using computers and the internet since the time when they were teen age or less age. They are more familiar with computer technologies than older generation, so their sense of value is quite different from older generations. They can have global relationships through the internet and they don't hesitate to have these relationships. They don't care about ages, titles and sexualities. In addition, they don't have any distinction between real world and virtual world.

This TV program introduced three types of person. The first one is a 13 years-old boy who built his own business. He had an idea of a card game, and he got investment from a government's venture support program. He looked for some professional person – illustrators, logo typist and package designers on SNS (a kind of the internet service), and he ordered them for this product. He didn't hesitate to ask his requests to these adult people.

The second one is a young Japanese guy who built his own company that provide some internet services. His policy is unique. Even when his company could be listed in the stock market, he didn't care about that. He said that the important thing is how they can provide good services on the internet and anything else are not important for them. The program said old generations tend to try to make their own profit but new generations have different sense of value.

The third one is an African young guy. He is working voluntarily for AIDS problem, because he lives in the society that there are seriously AIDS problem in Africa. He is managing his own organization and makes negotiations to other AIDS problem organization and individual activists through the internet. He is not rich and his country is a developing country, but he can connect all over the world's these kinds of people with computer. He wanted to have an opportunity of presentation on the international AIDS conference for speaking about his own country's problems. He campaigned it on the internet and got advice from activists who are in all over the world, asked them to help. Finally he got this opportunity.

I think that we can expect the hope of our future to Digital Native. They might be able to change the world. For example, Obama got a lot of donate from volunteers' contribution through the internet, and he brought a big change to the presidential election. Some new situations are growing globally in this world. I might need to study English more to take part in it.

Business Trip to Geneva

When I was a programmer team leader of a software company, we developed a document processing software for a laboratory which belong with a Japanese communication enterprise. This laboratory wanted to show this software on a communication technology exhibition that was held in Geneva. Then I went to this exhibition to support them. I was excited about going to Switzerland where I have never been. However, I had to only maintenance for this software but also had to explain it. I became jittery, because we needed to fix vulnerable part on our codes and sophisticate our software for this exhibition in a hurry. Additionally I had to prepare for explaining this software in English.

When I was going to Geneva, I was excited a business class sheet on the plane, because it was my first time to have a business class. I transferred at Charles de Gaulle Airport. After arriving at Geneva Airport, I was riding on a train to Lausanne where I would stay. I was excited again in the train when I was looking at the big waterworks that was lighted up in night sky on Lake Leman.

Next day, I was explaining our software in the exhibition. Actually, most of attendance at the exhibition were not interested in our software, or they satisfied my demonstration and explanation which I prepared in advance. However, some people asked me their questions. For example, an Indian software engineer came to me and asked a question in English very quickly and I couldn’t hear his English pronunciations. His questioning caught me off guard, I panicked and my brain turned to moss. Then I had to ask the other Japanese staff to help me. I heard their talking, and I tried to stock up it in my questions and answers list, but in this Indian’s case, I couldn’t understand at all what he said.

Japanese Tea Ceremony - history

I’d like to try to figure out the outline of the Japanese Tea Ceremony and Japanese artworks’ history. This is from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century in Japan.

There ware stronger warriors (samurai) who governed their own area in the Muromachi-era. The Muromachi-era is in about the sixteenth century. Some of them had their own artists and they asked them to create artworks for their castles.

I think the most important artist in the Muromachi-era is Kano-Eitoku. He created many kinds of artworks. My favorite is his picture of tigers and trees. He drew it on a folding screen. We Japanese sometime use a folding screen for just displaying pictures instead of separating a room. He drew two terrified tigers but they have something charming. He used gold papers on this picture, so this picture is golden and shining.

This era’s artworks were dynamic and glittering like this. Most of warriors preferred such kind of artworks in the Muromachi-era.
The Japanese Tea Ceremony movement started in this era. Actuarially I think the real spirits of the Japanese Tea Ceremony isn’t match to warriors’ preferring, because these spirits preferred something simple. However some warriors wanted to do the Japanese Tea Ceremony by themselves. I think they found aristocratic things in it – ceremony or ritual is something aristocratic, so it made some problems after that.

Anyway, the Japanese Tea Ceremony movement was supported by powerful warriors and it was improved in the Muromachi-era.
I will write about that in Edo-era at the next time.