英語版のウェブログを書いているblogspot(http://goo.gl/J3DhM)がなぜか新しい記事をアップロードできない状態になっているので、久しぶりにこちらに英語で書こうと思う。 I wrote the journal "My Religion Is Animism" on my weblog. (http://goo.gl/BnBl5…

I wrote "Modern Japanese is mixture of the traditional Japanese "やまとことば", classical Chinese, and European languages." in a previous journal.(id:yagian:20110409:1302298443) Soseki Natsume "夏目漱石"(http://goo.gl/V9n1Y), who is though…

I talked with an Australian and a Chinese about multiculturalism and nationalism on lang-8 (http://lang-8.com/). The Australian wrote as follows. (http://goo.gl/lzlrw) Don't call us "foreigners". Since they are in Australia, maybe you thin…

Sotatsu Tawaraya 俵屋宗達 (http://goo.gl/6vBFH) Korin Ogata 尾形光琳 (http://goo.gl/j20Vy) Hoitsu Sakai 酒井抱一 (http://goo.gl/BxsIz)My wife I attended an exhibition called "The Art of Rimpa: From Kōetsu and Sōtatsu to the Edo Rimpa Schoo…

The Japan Sumo Association is shaken by the problem of fixed fights. The president Hanaregoma declared that the Japan Sumo Association would not hold a grand sumo tournament before it makes the suspicion of fixed fights clear. It is said t…

There is a column of religious views in a profile on Facebook. I filled Animism in that column. Of course it's kind of a joke, but a little bit serious. My parents, who don't have strong faith, are sponsors of Buddhist temple of Honganji s…

I went to a Buddhist memorial service today for the first death anniversary of my late uncle. It's been a long time since my relatives met each other. I might disrespect my uncle, but it was a good opportunity. He brought us together. We h…

Recently I am learning English and becoming interested in people who are in between different cultures. I have read stories of drifters from Japan to foreign countries in the Edo era and of diplomats coming to Japan from Europe at the end …

Eric Hobsbawm showed the fact that many of “traditions” which are widely believed to have a long history are invented in modern times in his book “The Invention of Tradition”. Yusuke Wajima applied Hobsbawm’s method to the Japanese “tradit…

I read the news that a new edition of “Huckleberry Finn” which replaces the word “nigger” to “slave” has been published by the New York Times. (http://nyti.ms/eIkby) I think that it is a very complicated problem. The editor who made the ne…

I made a calligraphy work in New Year’s Day, so called “Kakizome”. It is not worth showing on the Internet, but it makes me have more incentive to show my works. I cited the phrase of the Chinese poet “A Thousand Characters (Senjimon)”, wh…