There was a Japanese movie released in 2006, called "Nippon Chinbotsu" (literally meaning, foundering Japan) starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi from SMAP. I think it must have been somewhat like the Japanese version of the 1998 hit movie, "Armageddon." Today, Cow seemed to have found a parody B-movie of this film titled, "Nippon Igai Zenbu Chinbotsu" (literally meaning, the world foundering except Japan). Well, the title sounds pretty hilarious and promising.

I might become the enemy of the world, but I feel myself being attracted... oh, only a little, that is.

The End

Caterpillar

I met my high-school classmate at the station on my way to work. I've heard from other friends that he has put on some weight but I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. At first, I didn't recognize him standing on the platform a couple of feet away. You see, I'm terrible at remembering people's names and faces, especially faces. So it took me some time to pull out his face data from my memory and match it with the face I was seeing, then make some adjustments to the outline in order to figure out who he was.

Well, it seemed he'd ballooned himself up about three times as much since I met him last time, say about seven or eight years ago. So it was true. Well, he's proved himself that things change after some time.

The End

Caterpillar

After I've said goodbye to my puffed-up high school classmate, I came by an elevator. There's an elevator installed in almost every train or subway stations that I know of in Tokyo, for the disabled, the elderly and some others who have trouble climbing up and down the stairs. As I was passing by, the loaded elevator door was about to close when an elderly woman came running headed straight for the elevator door. I stopped to give way for this old woman, and watched her off while she jumped on the elevator...

From her appearance, she should be called an elderly, that's... correct, but I can't help thinking that she ought to have used the stairs, if she could run and jump onto the elevator like she did. And she's not going up ten stories you know, the station building is only two stories high! An idle youth, a needy age. I hope she's not having "a needy age."

The End

Caterpillar

I was checking my E-mail as usual to a swinging jazz number from the radio when I spotted a message with a subject line that said, "Long time no see, do you remember me?" in Japanese.

It reminded me of an old TV commercial of AmEx starring Jack Nicklaus (I think it was), the one he comes out and says, "Do you know me?" Anyway, it was obviously another spam mail. &qout;No, I don't remember you, I'm sorry," I said aloud. And deleted it from my mail box. Those subject lines can be pretty annoying at times. I wish they'd work harder on it. Then they'd probably be at least a bit more amusing.

The End

Caterpillar

I overslept. I was frantic to make it on the train, when Obaba came to ask me a favor... "Can you open this for me?" she said, and handed me a plastic bottle of sports drink. Now?! I opened it and thrusted the bottle and the bottle cap in her hands. It's not that she couldn't actually open it, because she buys them almost every day, opens it and drinks it herself. She just wanted something to start a conversation. That's what annoys me.

I took the train for one station where I ususally walk since I didn't have time. I had to adjust the fare, but the two fare adjusting machines were both occupied by a mother and her son. Despite the long lines behind them, they were taking so much time with or without knowing it. Thank God, I barely made it on time, but I strongly suggest them to have another pair of eyes on their backs by the next time.

The End

Caterpillar

In accordance to Mr. N-jima's wish who also had been beaten by Vodka last week, Cow and I joined him for the Japan Cup Dirt.

I wasn't even close but to my great surprise, Mr. N-jima had won a trifecta of 1 to 1300! He's bet 500 yen on it, so that makes the pay-off... 650,000 yen! But this wan't the end. He had also bet on the quinella which payed out 1,940 yen, so that sums up to... !!! Gee, I nearly fainted. Wow, N-jima magic sure was at its full blast today.

The End

Caterpillar

Although Mr. N-jima had won big, eventually we somehow settled down at the usual table in the usual Izakaya. Well, I guess it has already become too natural for us to go there after the race instead of some place else.

Mr. N-jima seemed happy and he kept on ordering more food than usual that my stomach was pretty much filled to the top. It may sound too presumptuous after having him pay for all we had, but I don't think it would cost that much for a man who's won nearly 1000,000 yen, if we ate and ate and drank at that Izakaya. So I'll be looking forward to the Arima-kinen when I'm going to meet you next time, Mr. N-jima, this time hopefully, for a year-end feast!

The End

Caterpillar

The radio has been featuring John Lennon all day, and it reminded me of the day I heard the sad news. I'm not sure since it's decades ago and I was still a kid back then, but I think it was Sunday that day, JoOusama ordered me to go and get a copy of the Daily News. When I returned, she threw a quick glance at the headline and I saw her jaws drop for the first time in my life. I remember talking with my best friend Suzanne at school the very next day, about the songs he and the band had made, and that she was going to the record store with her family to get the Beatle's albums that she still didn't have.

I'm just digging out a long-forgotten memory... to prevent becoming senile.

The End

Caterpillar

For certain reasons, I have been reading over the transcript of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech, "I Have A Dream." My, but there are so many allusions from various different authorities... It's quite a task for me to fully appreciate the backgrounds and the content of this speech.

As a matter of fact, I'm reaching the end and I've been searching for an audio source for the spiritual, "Free At Last." I've found a version of the lyrics, but I can't find any audio source following those words. Maybe they could have changed while being passed down singing... I'd like to make this part clear to finish this study though I'm having a bit of trouble here. I guess Mr. King is right about that "unearned suffering is redemptive."

The End

Caterpillar

Cow, frivoling around as usual, seems to have found a map today of how it was around our office about a thousand years ago on the Internet. According to that map (of a thousand years ago), where we are now was under the water of the Pacific Ocean... I knew they had been reclaiming this area since the Edo Period which is roughly about four hundred years ago, but I had never actually imagined it under water.

Hmmn, so Cow must have been clam or laver in those days.

The End

Caterpillar

As I turned on this computer to check the spam mail and write today's "Murmur," I found an unfamiliar icon on the bottom of all the neatly lined-up icons. What's this?

I double-clicked it, and a window opened to display an online combat game... I wish Cow would do something at least a bit more productive.

The End

Caterpillar

Because it was pretty warm this morning and I left the entrance door open, a bug came fluttering in a short while ago. It was a tiny moth-like creature, I'm not sure what it's called. Anyway, Cow tried to catch it and let it out the door. A big chance came as the bug flapped closer to Cow. He quickly cupped his hands and drew it together to capture the bug in his hands. It disappeared from our sight the next second, so we figured that it must be inside his hands.

Cow went out the door and drew his hands apart to free his captivity, but soon came back inside. Poor thing, it was crushed on his hand. "I didn't mean to kill him, I just wanted to free him," Cow sighed. Well, sometimes you can hurt people (bugs, in this case) badly than you think without knowing it. Let's keep that in mind.

The End

Caterpillar

The Juveneile Fillies was run today. I bought a trio wheel of five horses, and I thought I'd won until the horses swung around the last turn into the home stretch. Although she pulled the whole field behind her until then, the horse I'd keyed has sunked in eleventh position, while the other horses on my wheel finished first,second, third, respectively...

Geez, for the umpteenth time this season... It was close, but a loss is a loss. There are only two more grade one races left to go. The Futurity Stakes next week, and the year-end GrandPrix, Arima-kinen. I'd sure like to win at least one of them, especially the latter one.

The End

Caterpillar

Stupid me. I had completely forgotten that it was the greatest chance to catch the Geminids meteor shower until early this morning... How could I have forgotten? I've been looking forward to it since a month ago, when I had missed the Leonid meteor shower due to bad weather condition. Well, I'll have to admit that my forgetting things didn't just start today.

I rushed off on the balcony around three in the morning, but to my dismay the sky was overcast. Had it rained? There were small puddles of water here and there. Oh, not again. Wait, wait, wait. I can't give up so easily. There's another chance tonight. The Geminids are said to be visible from around early this evening to midnight. Let's cross our fingers and wish for clear skies this evening!

The End

Caterpillar

I dropped by the Tokyu Hands to get some clamps to both straighten and strengthen the spokes of my umbrella, which to my disappointment, were bent by a gust of wind on a chilly rainy day nearly a month ago. I think it was the time when I was searching the floor all over for the rack they were displayed on. An idea popped in my head. I thought about it over and over and even carefully chose the right English words to save that idea for today's "Murmur".;

Now, as I sit here tapping on the computer I can't recall the idea at all, although I had prepared it so dutifully yesterday.... Even worse, not a word is coming to my head... Oh boy, this is serious. And it's also embarrassing...

The End

Caterpillar

I finally gave up the word-for-word translation of "Seabiscuit," after finishing only fifteen pages in the past two months. It took more time than I had expected and besides, it's been a while since I've realized that I'd already forgotten why I started this translation in the first place. So I decided to save it as an amusement after I've retired.

Instead, I've started reading the "Da Vinci Code," for two resons. One, because it was ranked in one of the highest levels among English books recommended for English learners, two, because JoOusama seemed to have bought it some time ago, still kept it with an addditional cover of dust and I didn't have to buy one.

The End

Caterpillar

Reading the "Da Vinci Code," I realized all of a sudden, that it was written in third person form. Thinking back on the books I've read until now, all of my favorite ones were written in the same way, casting light upon the characters and the story from a third person's view point. And although it might have been one of the most common writing techniques, I was excited to discover that it might have created that magical power that drew me into all those wonderful stories.

I'm feeling like this discovery has given me a sort of clue in many ways. Who knows? I might become a bestselling author ten years from now.

The End

Caterpillar

I fell asleep on my electric heating carpet again. It's the third time this week. The temperature has dropped to that of a normal winter's, and I've become inseparable from the carpet. It was already morning when I found myself asleep with the TV left on.

In a state between sleeping and waking, I saw some girls idle group being introduced as they started performing what was said to be a LIVE performance. Cuddled on the carpet, I watched as the girls danced and sung to their song with a beat but I knew something was wrong. It took me only a few minutes more to find out that they were not actually singing. They were lip-syncing. I hate to have to admit such a thing as a professional performance.

The End

Caterpillar

Last week, one of my clients brought us a bunch of Kinkans (kumquats) and Yuzus (Chinese lemons) picked in the garden of her parents' house, probably in return for the apples from Nagano that I had given her the former weekend. As I've never had Kinkans before, I did a bit of searching again and found out that the raw fruit were eaten either whole or only the rind.

I was quite sure that it must taste sour since they were citric, but my bold challenge was met by a happy surprise of fresh sweetness. It's good! It seems the fruit also contains antioxidant such as calcium, vitamin C or cryptoxanthin, which hold down the increase of active oxygen, and is said to be effective for improving the symptoms of cold or sore throat. I'd be happy to eat tons of them if they really work.

The End

Caterpillar

I had just stepped out of a drugstore, when I heard an annoyed woman's voice from behind saying in Japanese, "Wa, chotto!" It meant something like, "Hey, watch it!" Astonished, words of appology jumped out of my mouth automatically. Well, I think my reaction was appropriate in a sense, to prevent unnecessary conflicts. The woman was riding a bike in a low speed, slow enough to swerve to the right to avoid me without any trouble, and get back to her journey to the nearby supermarket only less than fifty yards away. She passed me without a word.

As I watched her off hobbling her way towards the supermarket, a number of questions came up in my mind. Was it only my fault that she almost bumped into me? Was it only me who had to "watch it" ? Couldn't she have taken her route on the other side of the road, where she was able to keep a good distance away from the drugstore entrance? And how come it's always me getting complained and left feeling bad?

The End

Caterpillar

I had some ups and downs this weekend. We had a little year-end party Saturday evening, nothing fancy, not much different from the usual hobnobbing between Cow, Cow's old friend, and myself. Settling down at the usual Izakaya in our neighborhood, we ordered Buta-Nabe (pot dish with pork and vegetables). It was seasoned with Miso (soybean paste) as my client who was the hostess had recommended us earlier. We weren't quite sure how it'd taste like, but it was unexpectedly very good, with the Miso in perfect collaboration with pork. This certainly was the "up" part.

Meanwhile, I missed the drama "24" because I couldn't stay awake until 2:15 in the morning. And needless to say, I've lost the Asahi-Hai Futurity Stakes. So that should've been "up and downs" instead of "ups and downs" I guess.

The End

Caterpillar

I had a meeting with a client this afternoon. We were talking over a document, when my client said abruptly, "The hug, I think..." I'm sorry? There was a term "mug" appearing in the document, and apparently she had said "hug" instead of "mug" without meaning to say so. She noticed her mistake and corrected it right away saying, "I mean, the mug." Proper. We went on with our discussion. After a couple of minutes, we were going over the document again when she said, "So this hug is..."

It sounds like some house manufacturer's TV commercial, but why does she keep saying "hug" for "mug?" I asked her, "Why do you want a hug so much? Are you so hungry for love?" I was just kidding, but she answered, "Maybe I am." You are? What happened to you?

The End

Caterpillar

"Christmas Eve," one of the Japan's most favored Christmas pop tune released in 1983 by Tatsuro Yamashita has been ranked in 96 of the Orikon top 100 charts as of this week, ensuring the song's twenty-fourth consecutive top 100 rank-in since it first appeared on the charts in December 8th, 1986. Yahoo! Japan News reports that it has expanded the gap between Wham!'s "Last Christmas" which has recorded ten straight years of top 100 single rank-ins.

This news only seem to point out that there hadn't been a better Christmas pop tune released in these past twenty-four years. I'm afraid the Japanese music industry haven't been developing or nuturing new talents. I also think it has become too business-like and commercial for young artists to cultivate their gifted talents. It's a pitty...

The End

Caterpillar

Today is Christmas Eve. Somehow, I've become less involved in this world-wide event called Christmas over the years. In fact, I used to enjoy the season more than any of my Japanese friends. I'd set up and decorate a Christmas tree, with light bulbs of course, hang a wreath on the front door, get those Christmas song CDs spinning all day, cook a special Christmas dinner, though I usually ended up eating alone. Since when has Christmas become so distant?

It's sad to admit that all those couples I see especially on this day, have become a target for my scorn knowing that they are not sharing love, but only probing each other's intentions fiddling around with it, thinking what they see is love. I doubt if they know what Christmas is. Christmas in Japan is just not right. I do miss that Christmas spirit I felt all around me decades back in New York.

The End

Caterpillar

It's hard to explain in words, but I think the Christmas spirit is all about sharing and caring for someone. To share the happiness with those around you, your family, friends, lovers, sometimes even people you pass by on the streets. The spirit is all around in the States around this time of year. So I decided to spare a piece of mind for my client. After all, it's Christmas! I picked some English songs for her and burned it on a CD which I had promised her earlier but had left undone. I put it in a plastic case I bought at a 100-yen shop, wrapped it in a pretty green and gold wrapping paper which used to wrap a box of Godiva chocolates. Earht-friendly. Why not, it's Christmas.

I tied a ribbon around it and brought it along to drop it in her mailbox on my way home. A nice little Christmas present for her, it was going to be. Until I was confronted by a security auto-lock system at the entrance of her posh apartment. The mailbox was inside the entrance...

The End

Caterpillar

I've been busy writing Nengajou (New Year greeting cards) in my spare time between work. They were supposed to be written and posted by 24th, in order to be delivered by New Year Day, though I haven't had time and so here I am squeezing my brains to come up with the appropriate expressions for greeting cards. But it's good that we have all the addresses printed. I had to write them all by hand, just a couple of years ago. it helps me a lot, really.

These modern amenities like computers and printers can be very helpful sometimes, as long as you don't mishandle them. I was going to pull out a postcard before I printed all the addresses, because one of my clients had moved and I hadn't asked her new address yet. I was going to check on her and print it seperately later. Though I forgot... Now, I've wasted a postcard...

The End

Caterpillar

I was going to key Buena Vista for the year-end Grand Prix race, Arima Kinen, until last week. However, I started to wonder about her racing schedule that it could have been too tight. So I changed my key to Three Rolls who had won the Kikka-shou and had plenty of rest since then, bought a wheel including Buena Vista and Dream Journey. The race was about halfway through, when Three Rolls suddenly slowed down letting all the other horses sweep by him. I didn't actually see him halt to a stop because the camera moved on following the horses in the front, but I guess he probably did...

The horse was injured, and my Arima Kinen was over. Less than a minute later, Dream Journey hit the wire beating Buena Vista by about half a length. What a terrible ending for the season...

The End

Caterpillar

According to a sports news, Three Rolls seems to have ruptured the tendon of his left foreleg, and the odds are good that his racing career has been finished. I'm sad to hear the news, especially considering that he was still a three-year-old with a bright future laying ahead, having won a grade one race already. There must have been many racing fans who were looking forward to his performance next year, not to mention myself.

It's a pitty that so many horses are ruined due to fatal injuries. And I think the racing schedules and programs can be referred to as one of the causes for these tragedies, meaning that JRA owes more than a little to the injuries of Japanese race horses. I've been saying this since the tragic death of Silence Suzuka which ocurred in 1998, though basically nothing seems to have changed. It's time they took some sort of action. Something has to be done. And we don't get our money back, you know.

The End

Caterpillar

I came across an article reporting that Cosmo Bulk is leaving Japan to start his new career as a race horse in Ireland. He's an eight-year-old just having made a new record of running in the Arima Kinen for seven consecutive years, breaking the former record put up by Nice Nature. He was a horse that would go down in one's memory rather than in records, though his track record for the distance of a mile and 5/8 in Nakayama, hasn't been broken yet. I'll miss him when I don't see his name on the racing form for the Arima Kinen next year.

Speaking of new records, Vermillion, who has won eight grade one races breaking the former record of seven made by legendary horses, is running in the Tokyo Daishouten today. If he wins, it'll be his ninth grade one title shoving him up to the winningest horse ever in Japanese racing history. He's the favorite of 1 to 2.2 as of 2:30 pm. Let's look forward to witnessing a new history.

The End

Caterpillar

Unfortunately, Vermillion has been defeated by his rival Success Brocken by a head, missing his ninth grade one title that would have went down in Japanese racing history. It must have been especially frustrating for his jockey, Yutaka Take, for the man who had defeated him and Vermillion was Hiroyuki Uchida, none other than the man who had stopped him becoming the JRA leading jockey for eight consecutive years, by six wins.

Now the year 2009 is over for Take and Uchida. And so will it be for me, too, in another day. That means it's time for me to look back on this year, see if I've been able to achieve any of the goals I had set at the beginning of this year. Though I feel so reluctant because I have a terrible feeling that I haven't achieved any of them...

The End

Caterpillar

So Let's take a look at the targets I've set at the beginning of this year.
Listen in silence while someone else is speaking until he or she finishes speaking.
Work hard (do not try to get away from hard work).
Face things with courage and confidence (do not be afraid to make mistakes).
Have patience to overcome hardship (don't be bitter about the mistakes I've made or when I've screwed up).

Just as I've feared. I haven't achieved any of them. What's even worse, I had forgotten them completely until I saw them now....

The End

Caterpillar