"Daily word" Echoes
 P.O.BOX 30,  MORIYAMA  POST OFFICE, NAGOYA 463 Tel.(052)794-6422
 MAY  30, 1993 Number 42  \200
(Essays submitted by listeners on themes of  "Daily  Word" telephone  Messages
between February 2 and March 9, 1993 and other  "echoes" of this telephone
service. Corrected and edited by Clark  Offner.)
*************************
February 2  Message  (Subject #236)
 In  the  folklore  of  .certain sections  of
the  United  States, especially where there
are many descendants of  German  settlers,
February  2nd, known as  Groundhog Day, is a
 kind of weather forecasting  day. A  ground-
hog is a common  American  rodent,  also
known as a woodchuck or a  marmot.  Accord
 frig to the  legend, on this  day,  the  goundhog
emerges from its winter  hibernation.  If  it
is a sunny day, it  will see its  shadow, be-
come  frightened and return to its burrow
Then .there will be six more weeks of win-
ter weather.  If  it is a cloudy day,  however,
it  will not return to its winter home  and
winter weather wilt soon turn to  spring.
 In Japan, tomorrow is  setsubun and there
are various traditional customs  related to
 that  "season-divider"  day. Setsubun is  the
 suggested theme  for  essays. that  is  the
 origin and  history of the setsubun  cus-
toms? What did you think of them when
you were a child?  What is your  opinion
about them now? Does  your  family contin-
ue to follow them? Why or why not?
 **************************
   The meaning  of  setsubun  is  season-di-
vider.  We have  risshun, rikka,  risshu  and
 ritto  in a year.  Risshun  is the setting  in of
 'spring,  rikka of summer,  risshu of autumn
 and  ritto of winter.
On the day before  risshun, we have some
traditional customs. Many Japanese attach
a branch of holly and the head  of• a sardine
at the entrance of their home and scatter
roasted beans to expel a demon. Many peo-
ple go to worship at a temple where  Kan-
min, the goddess of mercy,  is enshrined on
this day.  In Nagoya, there are four Kannon
 temples  in the east, west, south and north.
The temple  in the direction determined by
the almanac  is lively and bustling on this
day because  a  saitokujin god  is said to be
there on that day of that year.
   There  is a Kannon temple near my
house which  is  called Kasadera Kannon.
About  thirty  years ago,  I received a ticket
 to scatter beans there. I wore a long outer
garment and men put on long trousers at
that time. Many people crowded around and
hoped to have their bodies hit by a bean be-
cause then  a demon would be expelled and
they would consider that a good omen.
   I read in the newspaper that the Kasa-
dera Kannon  is the temple  in the  designat-
ed  direction  this year.  I  f the weather  is
 fine, I shall go there  to prepare to compose
a Japanese poem which is my hobby.
  How we welcome the coming of spring!
Our customs have not been changed from
the past until now nor will they be changed
 in the future. I presume the  setsubun cus-
toms originated in the hope  in people's
hearts.  (MICHIKO  SANG, Minami, Nagoya)
  As I wrote much about setsubunand ris-
shun on subject #210 one year ago, here I
will write on other related matters.
---------------------[End of Page 1]---------------------
2  MAY  30, 1993
 "DAILY WORD" ECHOES
   From of old, nature has always been a
familiar and valued blessing to the Japa-
nese. Since early Shinto times, there has
been the Japanese indigenous belief in su-
perior and mysterious forces of nature, the
sacred,  called  kami, which reside in natural
elements. To the rice-cultivating people,
the mild environment was the source of  all
growth and fertility. A sense of ,oneness
with nature underlies Japanese _q_bp_s,phil-
osophy, thought and  religion. The need of
an agricultural society to know when to
plant, cultivate and harvest its crops has
sharpened the Japanese sensitivity to  sea-
sonal changes, heightening their aware-
ness of thesi,liAmt*of nature. During my
visit to China last year, while traveling in
the boundless expanse of the Gobi Desert, I
realized its severe nature and imagined
the hard life of people living there. One
could not perceive seasons there.
   Severely cold days continue even  af-
terrisshunhas passed. I recollect a phrase
of the famous song  Soshunfw"Unless we're
told it is spring, we'd never know it." Hard
times  still continue for areas with heavy
snowfall. But sunlight gradually becomes
longer. Sunset  in Gifu was at 4:40 p.m. at
the beginning of December but it is at 5:25
on the day of risslwa. Blossoms of a plum
tree in my garden are now blooming. The
sunlight penetrated through fallen leaves
and  pgotated deep into the earth. The  life
of spring flows from the roots to the trunk
to the branches and finally to the buds. The
 flowers of  fukuju-so, an Amur adonis, are
also lovely. Through the severe cold of win-
ter, being stepped on over and over again
under the ground,  it has patiently stored up
energy for the coming spring. By the way,
the  late Mr. Taguchi, president of  Seino Un-
yu, loved this flower very much saying it
reflected his own  I  ife,which was tempered
by  ad\LeL-sity and poverty in his  boyhood.Ha-
botan, an ornamental kale,pansy  and/inc./7d-
ge, a sweet-smelling daphne,are also valu-
able plants, putting forth flowers in this
season of severe adversity. The slightly
bitter taste of  fuki-no-to, a butterbur
stalk, gives us a strong sense of spring
really having come.
   We Japanese often count certain days
of the year from  risshun. The 88th day (tea-
picking season) and the  210th day (typhoon
 season) are examples of this custom. I think
the lunar calendar was very  relevant for
Japanese who entrusted nature with their
own lives. Another consequence of this  is
the great value we have set on the  24  sekki
or seasonal periods  (r1551w/71s one of them)
as guides for farming. We can also accept
as its natural result that some of our  holi-
days such as the vernal and autumnal equi-
nox days and Labor Thanksgiving Day (when
emperors made offerings of  newly-harvest-
ed rice  to  kann)are based on nature. Any-
how, spring has started, at least according
to the calendar. As a  Japanese word,  hart/
means, in general, the most flourishing
time of anything.  I also must exert a great
effort, forgetting my advanced age.
 (MIK1111K0  YOSH1MOTO, Gifu)
  About 80 years ago when I was a young
boy (1910-1920), I used to visit my grand-
parents' home with my mother and elder
brother  on  setsuboi  It was a holiday and
school was not in session. I remember that
at my grandparents' home a small sardine
with a twig of  holly was hung on the door
near my uncle's name plate every setsubun,
Strange to say, I never saw such  tradition-
al objects  in my home or  in  my  village. Any
way, the  holly tree  (osmanthus  aquifer/us)
provided a plaything for me who had no
friends there to play with. When  i picked
up a holly leaf under the tall pine tree in
my grandparents' garden, I put it between
my thumb and index finger, then blew on  it
slowly with a soft breath. The leaf would
---------------------[End of Page 2]---------------------
 MAY  30, 1993
merrily spin round and round. Oh dear, I'm
sorry I forgot to mention that those leaves
have  small  thorn-like  projections around
them and one was on my thumb and another
on my index finger.
  For me, finding the  fish's head on the
door was stranger than  finding the holly
twig there because we often offered  a  55-
A-8k/branch on the  altar. Out of curiosity,
I often asked,  "Grandma, why do you hang
the fish's head on the door?" She always
answered with a smile,  "It's been one of
our traditional customs ever since I was a
young  girl." Every time I visited them,
asked the reason for this custom. Finally,
my grandpa answered, "Among the many
Japanese proverbs, you must know  this
one,  AV85171'  no  aterne  1770  517/17jiti, don't
 you?" He continued to say that  "although
these sardines are small, they have more
of a  religious value than sea breams."
   I will  also mention that the evening
 before  setsubm there was a  bean-Scatter-
ing ceremony to drive out the evil spirits.
 This custom was taught  'me by one of my
 friends whose grandparents lived in his
home when  I was a 2nd grade pupil  at.  Sugi-
haradami Elementary School.  Without hes-
itation, I scattered parched beans around
all our rooms shouting loudly,  "All evil, go
 out Happiness, come  ini"  I got a lot of fun
out of following this custom. After it was
over,father said to us, "Eating those beans
isn't good for your health because they are
very, very dirty, aren't  they?" As soon as
we heard his words, we immediately
stopped following that custom.
  Now, at 88 years of age, these are my
only memories, but they were very inter-
esting times for me.
       (HYOWAY OH WAY, Kami,  Hyago)
  When I was a child, my family lived  in
Tochigi Prefecture where my father was
born. We lived with his mother, that is to
           "DAILY  WORD" ECHOES 3
 say, with our grandmother. She was a  mer:
ry old lady who loved  chi  I  dren.  On  setsuhun,
the day before the first day of spring  ac-
cording to  the. lunar calendar, she roasted
many soybeans. In the evening, she called
her grandchildren to her and instructed us
how to scatter the beans. First we went
to the entrance of the house and threw
beans outside shouting,  on/ we  soto, on!
 we  sato ("out with demons!"). She told us
to "shout more loudly and throw harder if
you  really want to drive away the demons.
But don't throw too many beans. You can't
eat beans picked up from the  ground." We
did as she told us.
   Then she said,  ,"Now the demons are
gone. Let's  call good luck into our home."
We turned around and scattered beans into
the house, shouting,  fuku we  uchi  Age/ we
 uchll  ("in with good  lucid"). She said,"speak
more softly so that the god of happiness is
 willing to come  into  our house. This time,
you can throw as many beans as want," We
scattered plenty of beans everywhere in
the house. Then she said, "Let's pick up the
scattered beans." We picked up the beans
and ate the number of beans corresponding
to our ages.
   Roasted beans were very hard. We had
to chew them patiently. I wonder now  if
she was able to eat more than 70 beans at
one time on that evening. Beans seemed to
generate gas in the stomach, so everybody
discharged gas on the following day and
the noise our grandmother made was the
loudest of all.
  The first thing she did on that follow-
ing morning was  to.prepare a special dish
of Tochigi using the leftover roasted beans.
This  dish was  called  sfiltnotstikare, derived
from  shimotsuke, the old name of Tochigi
Prefecture. For this dish, she used the
heads of the salted salmon whose meat we
had eaten at New Year's. The salmon heads
had been kept in the storeroom for one
---------------------[End of Page 3]---------------------
 4  MAY  30,  1993
  month.  It was so cold  in Tochigi and the
  salmon were so strongly salted that they
  were  still edible in FeVuary. She cooked
  the salmon heads on aliiiiquette stove all
  day long. When they became  *soft enough,
  she added the roasted beans we had scat-
  tered and gathered the previous evening.
  She cooked  it another couple of hours and
  then  put in radishes roughly grated with a
  special big bamboo grater  called  on/  orostIL
  As a final touch, she added some  sakekasu,
 " the _&es remaining after sake is brewed.
 .57ilmotsukarewas made, so to speak, com-
  pletely of leftovers or remainders, but it
  tasted pretty good. Since it was seasoned
  with  sakek3su, containing a little bit of al-
  cohol, it made one's body warm. This tradi-
  tional local dish was really suitable fare
  during the cold season.  It had the wisdom
  of the old Japanese of that area condensed
  in It. Because of the alcohol, my little
  brother and I got red faces after we ate it
  and we wanted to sleep.
    My mother received the recipe of  shinw-
  tsukere from my grandmother and passed
  it on to  us, I cook  shimotsukaresometimes.
  Then I remember my childhood days  in the
  village of Tochigi and our merry, kind
  grandmother who laughed and passed gas
  loudly. (NAOMI KONDO,  Handa)
 Se  tsuboi7  is the day before  risshun. It
  falls on the third or fourth day of Febru-
  ary, according to the Gregorian calendar.
  Spring begins at  risshun, so setsubunseems
  to have been considered the last day of the
  year. Formerly, many customs were fol-
  lowed on that day. People expelled evil by
  scattering beans and prayed for happiness.
 Bean-throwing,which  is  dorie even now,
  has its origin in the  tsuMa which had been
  performed in the Court on New Year's Eve
  in the Heian period. I understand  tsuing  as
 driving demons away and blinding them by
  throwing beans into their eyes. My family
 "DAILY WORD" ECHOES
enjoyed bean-throwing when our chi-Wren
were young, but now that they are  older,
we are indifferent to it.
 (AK  IKO  TAMAK  I, Higashiura, Aichi)
 Setsubun  is the time when certain tra-
ditional customs are held in Japan on Feb-
ruary 2nd or 3rd. Setsubun customs origi-
nated in ancient China and were transmit-
ted to Japan near the end of the 7th centu-
ry during the reign of the 42nd emperor,
 Mammy, about 1220 years ago.  Setsubun  is
the dividing day between the end of winter
according to the old (lunar) calendar and
the beginning of spring, called  risshun  in
Japanese.
  When I was a child, I did not know the
meaning of  setsubun, but I recall that I
once enjoyed throwing some beans with my
family at home. Since the end of the war,
as a setsubunritual, famous personalities
scatter beans from stands at temples and
shrines to many people who want to get
some of them.
 In my opinion, even though the setsubun
customs are traditional in Japan, they
should be abolished in the near future for
they are nothing but absurd superstitions.
Furthermore, many beans are imported
from the U. S. It is a waste of the world's
resources. My  family never  performs setsu-
bunrituals because we believe in the  eter-
nal God, our Savior.
      (TAMAKO  MORIMOTO, Tsuyama)
 5e  tsubun is a "season divider" day. I
 still remember that  stormy,snowing  setsu-
bun several years ago when I accompanied
Mr. and Mrs. Van Cottem to view the  bean-
throVving ceremony at  Kasadera•Temple in
the Minami Ward of Nagoya where I live.
   Fortunately, this year  it was a fine,
 mild spring day. Being designated this
year's temple of the lucky direction, Ka-
sadera Temple was particularly crowded
---------------------[End of Page 4]---------------------
 MAY  30,  1993
with people who seemed to go there to rid
their house of the evil effect of the burst-
ing of the bubble  economy!! Policemen di-
rected the heavy  traffic. Many stalls along
both sides made the pathway narrower so
the crowds of people had to  walk ahead
slowly. Small branches of holly, paper bags
of roasted beans, festive decorations and
 mesu were on sale at a temple building.
People bought these festive articles as the
wished and carried them  in their hands.
They looked happy, as though good fortune
had shone upon  them!
  As you know, holly  is used as a charm
against demons and we drive  onfaway from
our homes by throwing roasted beans  while
shouting,  Out with demons, in with good
 fortune." Beans are  _calledmam4 which  is
pronounced the same as a word meaning
healthy. So we eat roasted beans with the
wish to be healthy and to live long. In old
times,  a  1778SU was used to measure rice
and beans. At  Kasadera Temple,  amasuis
the gift given to those who participated in
the bean-throwing ceremony.
 I enjoyed  my  setsubunvisit to Kasadera
Temple and observed that people still con-
tinue to follow traditional customs, har-
monizing them with their own life styles.
  (SADAE  HASHIMOTO,  Minami, Nagoya)
 *************************
February 9 Message (Subject #237)
  Some of us  older folk  can  recall the
days long ago before there  was  SUCiT a
 Ming as  television.  Young  people today
find it difficult to  imagine  such a time be-
cause the  TV set has become such a cen-
tral part of their  lives. They  wander what
 on  earth people did without  TV  178/776'5,  car-
toons.,  movies, variety  shows and  other  pro-
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES 5
 grams. Television  has a pervasive  influ-
ence in  industrialized  countries. Obviously;
 its influence may be both beneficial and
harmful. It may be used as  an effective ed-
ucational device, a transmitter  of useful
 information and a means of relaxation. It
may  also  be used as an escape  into a world
of fantasy, a powerful salesman for both
useful and unnecessary products, a  temp-
tation to avoid irksome tasks and a stimu-
lant to  immorality. The programs on  tele-  .
14.57.017, the treatment given to  certain news
 stories and the  overlooking or  minimizing
of other events have a dominant influence
on the thinking of viewers.  H'hat particular
television program do you enjoy and why
do you enjoy  it?
 *************************
   The first television stations in our
country were started  in the 1950s. Since
then, television quickly found its way into
 nearly every home and the diffusion rate  is
now 99 percent.  Today, a home having two
or three sets is not an exception. Televi-
sion is now indispensable for cultural en-
richment and entertainment in our daily
lives.  I myself spend much time watching
television every day. All of the stations
start early in the morning and continue un-
til midnight (or the next morning), provid-
ing a wide variety of news and  informa-
tion, dramas,  songs, quiz programs and
other entertainment.  NHKzs  educational
network also offers educational and other
cultural programs.
 What is my connection with television?
First of all, television is a basic source of
news and information  for me. On Sunday
mornings, in particular, I can enjoy several
 such programs. Many people seem to derive
their knowledge from these programs and
share  it elsewhere second hand. The Na-
---------------------[End of Page 5]---------------------
6  MAY  30,  1993
 tional Diet Round Table broadcast  is one of
the most  instructive examples.  I also owe
very much to  NHK's foreign language cours-
es. I have studied Chinese, Korean and  Rus-
sian  in those courses, to say nothing of  Eng-
lish conversation. I can say  w  i  th  'certainty
that these courses are enough to provide a
basic understanding of foreign languages  if
we put heart and soul into such study. I  in-
tend to  be• the Spanish course in April.
  A live broadcast of sumo is my  favor-
ite program.  In the latest tournament, Ake-
bono and Takahanada, confronting each oth-
er, held the audience spellbound. The
spread of television has played an  impor-
tant part in the popularization of sumo. I
remember the first period of television
when  1 frequented a coffee shop to watch
the broadcast.
   There are many entertainment pro-
grams throughout the day,  especially on
Saturday evenings. Watching them  while
having a drink at  suppertime  is a treat for
me. In addition to their entertainment
value, quiz programs provide us with new
information and stimulate our minds and
thus are useful for preventing us from get-
ting senile. I dislike  so-called  "wide  show"
programs, programs which focus on gossip
of  public entertainers, etc. which are re-
peated over and over again every day. The
gossip relating to the breaking off of the
engagement  of Takahanada and  Rie  is a  typ-
ical example. Weekday mornings I often ob-
serve that every television station picks
up the same reports. I sympathized with
the Crown Prince and his  fiancée who were
treated in that way.  1 think I can say that
excessive reporting is nothing other than
the manifestation of excessive curiosity.
  Recently I equipped my home with the
means for receiving  satellite broadcasts.
Using that system I can enjoy live broad-
casts of ri-evis  from  all  over  the  world.  It
gives me a good chance to train my ears to
 "DAILY WORD" ECHOES
understand foreign languages. Besides, my
wife enjoys the midnight movie programs.
I think the investment for that equipment
was not expensive compared to the  satis-
faction it has provided.
 (HIKIHIKO YOSH1MOTO, Gifu)
  My favorite television programs are
classical music, orchestra concerts or
operas because my heart is refreshed,
cheered or stimulated when I hear such
music and I feel better.
  Next, I like to watch news broadcasts
about Japan, Western Europe, the United
States or  elsewhere,  • Whether or not it is
my favorite program, I watch the news on
NHK. From my experience, NHK programs
have a universal  outlook and provide trust-
worthy opinions or positions.  Of course, I
have my own opinions, but I want to exam-
ine them to see  if they are right or not so I
refer to NHK telecasts. My attitude may be
quite similar. It forces me to think deeply.
It is useful to keep me from making mis-
takes and from going to an extreme be-
cause I am foolish.
 (HICHIKO  SAKI,  Minami, Nagoya)
  Although  I'd like to say that my  favor-
ite programs are "Morning Show" or news
programs, as a matter of fact,  I'm very
busy and don't have time to watch such pro-
grams  in the morning. As I mentioned be-
fore, I make it a habit to watch television
from 8:10 to 8:40 (or less than that) in the
evening as a reward for the work I did dur-
ing the day. Actually, I look for  programs
which provoke laughter and naturally  i en-
joy Ken Shimura's  Deildbuda, meaning "It's
All  Right", on Mondays. On Tuesdays, I  still
enjoy Japanese popular songs on "NHK  Hit
Stage".  On Thursdays, viewing  Doubt  o
 gagese, meaning "Let's Look for  Doubts", I
enjoy gaining a little bit of knowledge of
interesting facts. In that program, I like
---------------------[End of Page 6]---------------------
 MAY  30, 1993

to see the famous  persons' expressions or
 reactions when they answer questions.
 Although. I also like programs about
the lives of people  in foreign countries or
about peculiar animals  in Japan or other
lands, it is a fact that I cannot take the
time to watch them. Anyway, I like  "black
humor" or "pathos" in comedies, talk shows
and so forth as well as to obtain new know-
ledge.  (VASUKO IZUMI, Seto)
•
   Every morning about  6  o'clock,  I turn
on the television to the NHK channel to
watch and listen to news events in Japan
and other countries that sometimes make
me happy and sometimes sad or angry. I
also watch the weather forecast for the
day. I try not to miss watching these pro-
grams every time news  is on the screen.  If
 .a foreigner speaks  in English, I try to
catch the meaning without reading the cap-
tions on the screen  in  Japanese: The other
day, I happened to see a face that resem-
bled Dr.  Off  neris but, alas, it was not him.
 It was Mr.  Ajio, the prime  minister of Iraq.
  At  8:15,  1 enjoy the serial drama. In
the present one,  Hirari  is the heroine. How-
ever, if I begin to watch a portion of these
serial dramas, I want to continue to watch
 every.  day at the same time until they come
to an end, perhaps after a whole year, to
learn how the story develops.
   Then, I like programs for children.
 Watching male and female youths playing
with the children,  I feel as if I myself
were a kindergarten child and moving as
they do. Moreover,  I like very much those
animal dolls,  Jajamaru, Pikkoro and Porori
which have not been appearing recently.
  Another favorite program of mine  is
about many kinds of  wild creatures in the
world.  I especially like animals and birds
in Australia, Africa, southeast Asia and
the North and South poles. However,  I shut
my eyes when the ferocious ones attack
 "DAILY  WORD" ECHOES 7
the weak ones. I also like colorful fish in
the very deep sea. They are shown on the
TV program called  auks)  /kimono  AN-d,
"Creatures on the Earth".  Of course,  I like
the pet shows, parrots speaking as human
beings do, performances of dogs and cats
in fine clothes. We should come to know
those creatures better and keep them from
becoming extinct.
  And how happy I am to know how peo-
ple live in foreign places I have never vis-
ited. I shall never forget the program on
the lives of the Amish in Pennsylvania. I
also like television programs related to
the history of Japan and other countries. I
especially like to know about the events  of
the Meiji,  Taish6 and  5h8wa eras because
these are the periods when my parents
were born and  lived and the events on the
screen remind me of what they said. I also
learn about events unknown to us before.
   I often learn how to cook delicious
food by watching cooking programs.  Al-
though I cannot do exactly as the instruc-
tors teach,  I get the knack  of measuring
quantities and seasoning ingredients. Even
if I cannot watch my favorite programs on
NHK's general channel, I am happy when  I
happen to find them on the NHK  educational
channel some days or months later.
 On the  Fukushima television channel,  I
watch the TV comedy, "Sazae  San with Ka-
tsuo and  Wakame". It makes me feel good
every Sunday evening even when I am tired.
I am very sorry that the original writer of
this comedy, Ms.  Machiko Hasegawa, passed
away. Several years ago, I used to watch
the comedy,  "Ton, and Jerry", the black and
white cat and the naughty mouse. I enjoyed
it very much. They had very friendly  fights.
  That's  all that comes to  mind regard-
ing this theme.
      (KAZUKO  TAGUCHI,  Fukushima)
---------------------[End of Page 7]---------------------
 8  MAY  30,  1993
  Regarding television programs, I like
music when I want to relax. Next, I like
documentaries, which  impart some know-
ledge or information to me. My mind can
travel anywhere while I sit in my room, to
places, for instance,  that  I can never visit
 in my lifetime. They create deep  impres-
sions of joy and sorrow or stimulate  re-
flection. I was disappointed, however,
when the NHK documentary team  transmit-
ted misleading film of fabricated events.
Even so, I shall continue to watch NHK  chan-
nels 3 or 9 and  satellite broadcasts in the
future.  (MICHIKO  SAN°,  Minami, Nagoya)
 I almost never watch television except
for news or documentaries on NHK. Some-
times, I watch sports events or special pro-
grams and News Station at 10:00 p. m. on
channel 11. This is because I am very busy
with home chores and study on weekday
mornings and evenings.  But there are some
programs which I never fail to watch. They
are the English Conversation and Mini  Eng-
lish Conversation education programs at
19:30 and  22:15 on channel 9.
  As for other programs, I enjoy the ani-
mated old tales of  Japan, or as  we  call it
 in Japanese,  111317C73  M17017  HUA-8517/-bat735174:
and  532We-53/MS one of the cartoons. I also
like documentaries of animals or plants in
their natural  environments. On Tuesday at
10:00 p.  m., sometimes  1 watch "Doctor-
land" which depicts the life of someone
who has overcome a serious illness and
tells of fine medical treatment. It has
made a deep impression on me.
   There are other ways to make use of a
television set: to play computer games or
to record or  view video tapes. Sometimes
I videotape a program that  I  cannot watch
because I am not at home. These days, tel-
evision is one of the necessities of our
    (MIEKO  OKUMURA,  Tenpaku, Nagoya)
 "DAILY WORD" ECHOES
   In regard to favorable television pro-
grams, I  will attempt to express what I
think, although it is quite difficult for me
to do so.
 1 love watching television. However, I
do not watch it very often. On channel 11,
I like the program called "Discovery of
Wonders  in the  World".  1  watch  it whenever
I can take the time to do so. For  me, this
program is very beneficial and  informa-
tive.  It contains many new things that are
new to me.  l expand my knowledge about
different countries, their customs,  histo-
ries and geography. Through this program,
I understand. the many foreign visitors to
Japan better.
   In addition to this, I love action  mov-
ies, such as  "Zero-Zero-Seven" and those
related to combat or conflict. They provide
a good diversion because my job is very
demanding, dealing with problems related
to legal matters. In addition, the legal as-
pect of my volunteer activities can be
quite stressful. (JAMES  1WAI,Owariasahl)
   As  l have no particular favorite  televi-
sion programs, I was puzzled about  what
to  write about on this theme. Finally,  1 de-
cided to write about "gardening programs"
rather than "cooking programs". "Gardening
programs" teach me much about plants and
how to care for them. Plants are silent,
but alive, and each has a certain character
so it is difficult to treat them properly.
   Bouquets are given for congratulations
or condolences, to cheer up the sick or to
adorn rooms. Perfumes and scented bags
are made from fragrant plants.  It is a re-
cent fad to float lovely flowers on soup or
to decorate the top of a salad. Fried flow-
ers are good to eat. However, I have never
enjoyed them yet. At the time when room
coolers were not yet developed, flowers
were put on a block of ice and set at the
center of a  hall to cool it in summer.
---------------------[End of Page 8]---------------------
 MAY  30, 1993
     I enjoy making dried or pressed  flow-
  ers, leaves, stems, etc. Plants are used for
  various purposes  in every area.  It  is sure
  that no one who gazes at flowers will get
  angry. These are the reasons why I like
 •  "gardening  program? particularly.
        (TAMAKO  MORIMOTO, Tsuyama)
     A variety program titled  'Comic Mini-
  Encyclopedia on  Life" is broadcast every
  Saturday.  It deals with legal aspects of
  problems people face in daily life and are
  at a loss about what to do. I have made it
  a habit to watch that program.
     The program  usually proceeds  like this:
  First, a  pair of cross-talk comedians pose
  a question regarding legal affairs raised
 •by some TV viewers in their short talks.
 Then, each member of a panel composed of
  two regular panelists and a guest  is asked
  to give an opinion on the matter. Of course,
  they have to base their opinion on some
 s,vgansAyfeasonable grounds. In rare cas-
  es, their opinions  ztr-addle the issue, ap-
  parently due to a lack of legal  knowledge,
  but in most cases their opinions hit the
  mark. in exceptional  cases, their opinions
  are irrelevant, deviating from the main
  point and only ii;mitej_a_. The pros and
  cons on the issue stimulate my interest. I
  become eager to side with one or the other
  panelist's position. My response to  their
  opinions varies from time to time. At  last,
  one of three lawyers takes turns in giving
  a conclusive argument from a professional
  point of view. With relevant knowledge on
  the issue, they argue so caleiLtly_ that I
  cannot help admiring theeip„:11shown
  in their reasoning. Thus, I enjoy the  pro-
- gram very much.
 (SHOJI  SUGIMOTO,  Suginami, Tokyo)
   The  drama,Rytikythicit'sre!, produced by
NHK is one of my family's favorite  televi-
sion programs. Every Sunday evening, my
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES 9
son's family, which lives next door, comes
and joins us in watching this super Sunday
program. This is the most enjoyable, relax-
ing time in the week when the whole fami-
ly  gathers in our living room. Interested in
this drama, my husband and  I went to  Okina-
wa  in January and had a great time there.
   The quiz program, 100 ten  man-ten,
which precedes  Rydky0  no  Kane is also an
 attractive one for us. Our little grand-
daughterjumps up  for joy when her answer
is correct by beginner's luck. Last  Sunday,
 it provided us a useful lesson about pork
being more nutritious than  beef.
  We're happy to be able to use  televi-
sion programs as a means of relaxation and
useful  information related to our daily
lives as  well. But I'm concerned about the
harmful influence and the effect of power-
ful commercials on children.
 (SADAE  HASHIMOTO,  Minami, Nagoya)
*************************
February  16  Messane (Subject #238)
   The English verb  "reform" literally
means  to "form  againif  When  spelled with
a capital  R, the noun  "Reformation'  denotes
 the15th century  religious movement which
 aimed at  reforming the Roman Catholic
Church but which resulted in the  establish-
ment of separated Protestant churches,  In
recent months, the words  "reform"  and  "re-
formation" have become commonly used in
articles or discussions about the  political
situation  In Japan. Political reform and
constitutional  reformation are controver-
sial subjects these  days. As citizens of
this nation whose own  lives  and those of
future generations  are and will  be affected
by such  reforms, what are your opinions on
these  subjects. Do you think the political
---------------------[End of Page 9]---------------------
10  MAY  30,  1993
system  in  ,Japan should be reformed? 14,17y
or why  not? If you think  it should be
 c-hanged, do you have practical  suggestions
to make regarding desired changes? 14,nat
about the  Constitution? Should it be  amend-
ed, completely recast or remain as  is?
 Composing  an essay on either one or both
of these topics  will  help you to think seri-
ously about them and will be of interest to
me  and the readers of  "Daily Word" Echoes.
*************************
  The problem of "political  reform" is
very controversial these days. Reflecting
on its responsibility for a chain of scan-
dals, including the Lockheed and Recruit
cases, the  Liberal Democratic Party  itself
has established a Political Reform Com-
mittee and is tackling the problem in order
to regain people's confidence.  It was  dis-
graceful that The Times, a British news-
paper, criticized the lack of ethics in the
Japanese  political world, calling Japan a
backward country  in regard to  political
ethics.
   So-called "political reform" includes
reforms  related to political ethics, the
 Diet;  the  electiOn  system,. money  contrib-
uted for political activities and political
parties themselves. Four years ago, the
leaders  of Japan's five major business
groups  represented in  Keldanren put forth
a set of proposals focusing on political
funding as the issue of primary importance
in political reform. The proposals called
for a total disclosure of all books kept by
political parties and support groups and
demanded that every politician reveal his
or her  income and expenditures to the last
yen. The public disclosure of Cabinet mem-
bers' assets,which is the present practice,
was initiated to comply with that propos-
al. Reform of the present election system
"DAILY WORD"  ECHOES
is explained as a means to lower the high
cost of politics. It is said that  introducing
single-member  constituencies will serve
the purpose by eliminating the circum-
stances where candidates belonging to the
same party compete with each other.  Po-
litical party reform, especially the dissolu-
tion of factions within the  LDP, has also
been regularly called for because the fac-
tions tend to  e)...„<agttate. political  infight-
ing within  the-party, but it has not yet
been achieved. The reason  is that factions
are a necessary evil caused by the  above-
mentioned plural constituency system.
   Today, controversies are heated about
the election of the prime minister by popu-
lar vote. The argument develops as  fol-
lows. Under the present Constitution, the
prime minister is selected by the Diet
from among its membership. Since the LOP
has consistently had a majority ever since
 its  formation,LDP presidents have  regular-
ly been named prime minister. Candidates
from the same party end up competing
with each other for votes and influential
politicians  yyjag...lor the party presidency
cultivate their own followers with the aim
of receiving their votes. In short, our elec-
toral system is  responsbile for the fac-
tions' existence. If the prime  minister is
elected by popular vote, the harmful  influ-
ence of factions is excluded. In order to
 renovate  they system, however,the  Consti-
tution must be amended. Moreover,  this
renovation of the system is in danger of
conflicting with another part of the  Con-
stitution, the emperor system, because  it
is possible to regard the prime minister,
elected by popular vote, as the head of
state though I myself do not support the
view. I do not think that the Constitution
is a code that should be in effect forever
without any amendment, but at the same
time, we should proceed with caution in
amending the Constitution only in  consid-
---------------------[End of Page 10]---------------------
 MAY  30, 1993
eration of the above-mentioned political
reform. (MIKIHIKO YOSHIMOTO, Gifu)
   I use the word  "want" in my  first sen-
tence because it has a strong meaning
which expresses my will. I want the Japa-
nese Constitution to be reformed. The rea-
son is that Japanese statesmen lay the
blame on one another. Even  if they hold a
high political  office, they have no  morali-
ty. Some of them use political donations
for themselves. But we cannot say any-
thing about it. Even if we have good ideas,
they do not reach the politicians. I gave up
and endured these situations until now, but
recently I have come to think that the Con-
stitution should be changed in some way. I
feel that  I myself see weaknesses and sin-
fulness when I hear dirty news, but my
problem is how to use my thoughts or pow-
er to reform it. Can anyone tell me?
      (MICHIKO SANO, Minami, Nagoya)
  Of course, the political  system  in Ja-
pan should be reformed because many  poli-
ticians seek to get money  for themselves
and to satisfy their selfish aims, they pur-
sue the party's interests. They tell lies
without shame to keep their political fame
and to hide their scandals. Politics has de-
generated nowadays in Japan. Such immor-
al acts exert a harmful influence on chil-
dren, youth and the whole nation. Even
though the political system should be re-
formed, unless the politicians' moral sense
(heart, spirit) is corrected, it would be
difficult to reform it.
  The Japanese  Constitutitn, which was
 promulgated  ,in 1947, is worthy to be read.
Especially  the  preamble and the 9th article
are so important that they should not be
amended  nor  reward  d forever. Owing to
the  Constitution,we are able to live peace-
fully every day. We must be very thankful
for it. On the other  hand,Japan  is concerned
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES
11
about various  difficulties in its  relations
with other countries with political or eco-
nomic problems. It is very regretful and
shameful that politicians in Japan have a
lack of political morality. I fear that if
politics in Japan continue as is, Japan may
go to ruin  in the future.
      (TAMAKO MORIMOTO, Tsuyama)
  First of all, I would like to express my
gratitude to Dr. Offner for giving us an op-
portunity to think seriously about the Con-
stitution. To begin with, I consider  it very
crucial to deal with the matter in perspec-
tive, taking into account not only the cur-
rent situation in Japan and the world but
considering  our descendants and the years
to come.
  Should the Constitution be amended?
People's answers vary depending upon how
they see the world. There are differences
of opinion. In my opinion, no amendment
should be made  in the current situation.  It
is true that some people urge that the Con-
stitution be revised, especially Article 9
that  slipuLates the renunciation of war as
a sovereign right of the nation in view of
the world situation in which the U.N. needs
armed forces to curb the  increasingly  ram-
pant international disputes among nations
or races across the whole globe. But  I can-
not agree with such a hasty opinion. Here I
would like to mention that  I am well
aware that  theiar-fetthedinterpretations
of what Article 9 stipulates by successive
Japanese governments have been a  prob-
lem to Japanese people.
   When we look at the world from anoth-
erstandpoint however, I do not think that
the Constitution should  remain.  as is. With
                  ti
its growing national strength,  Jap-an  is ex-
pected to take responsibility for global
peace which is, and will be, getting more
 „precarious  with the mounting  animosity
between various groups. Parallel to plan-
---------------------[End of Page 11]---------------------
12  MAY  30,  1993
ning to form a future, ideal frame of refer-
ence or a radically innovative  paradigm for
what a new Japan should be like, every ar-
ticle as well as the fundamental spirit of
the current Constitution should naturally
undergo careful  scrutiny. The Diet must
tackle this grave issue sooner or later.
 (SHOJI SUGIMOTO, Suginami, Tokyo)
*************************
February 23  Me5saae  (Sub  lect #239
   These  days, people use convenient  cal-
culators for solving arithmetic problems
or doing  mathematical calculations in the
old days in Japan,  a more primitive  but  s1-
so very convenient counting device was
used This device  had been  introduced from
China  8110; like many  other products  enter-
ing  Japan from abroad, had been improved
and rationalized for Japanese  use The ir-
regular pronunciation given the Chinese
characters identifying this device  issoro-
ban. The English word for  it,  abacus, is
found at the very beginning of English dic-
tionaries. 141817/ people mistakenly think
that the abacus  is  a peculiar Oriental  de-
vice, but  it was used in ancient Greece end
Rome as  well as in China. The English  word,
 in fact, is derived from a  Greek word mean-
ing  "counting  board"  'Abacus'  or soroban
is the suggested  theme for en English  es-
58)4  Do  you  ever  use  8  soroban  these  days?
Do your children or grandchildren? What
are its  adVantages?  What memories do you
have regarding this device end how do you
compare  it  with modern calculators?  What
do you think about its future use?
*************************
 "DAILY  WORD"  ECHOES
    know how to use the abacus but I am
not very good at  it because I did not learn
to use  it at school. I wonder why so many
people  in Nagoya are so good at  it. My hus-
band  is a C. P. A. so  people  in his  Off  ice use
the abacus well. Now they have changed,
however, to using electric calculators or
computers. They are very convenient to
keep accounts. They make no mistakes, but
a person who was skillful with the abacus
took less time than a calculator in a con-
test. I was deeply impressed with that
man's ability when I heard that news.
  My ability is always poor  for  every-
thing, but  1 shall put  forth a  determihed
effort to  improve and not  give up. This  will
be my motto to the end of my  life.
 (P4ICHIKO  SAN°,  Minami, Nagoya)
  The  soroban was introduced into our
country from China during the  Muromachi
era. The Japanese improved on  it and cre-
ated  its present form. The origin of the
English word  "abacus' is said to be a Greek
word,  ebax The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
gives its meaning as a  "device, esp. frame
with balls sliding on  wires,used for  calcu-
lating." It uses  'wires" in this explanation,
while we use the word  "rods" for our soro-
ban I wonder  if that abacus differed from
ours  in its setup.
   It was a little before I entered the el-
ementary school that the  soroban used in
school education was changed from  itsu-
tsu-demato yotsu-demar Today, there are
four beads on each rod that represent one
unit, while there were five until that time.
I asked my brother the reason and was sat-
isfied with his explanation that even in
the  itsutsu-damedays, they did not actual-
ly use the fifth bead. On my visit to China
last year, I found a curious  soroban with
two beads that represent units of  five and
surmised that the second one  would,  simi-
larly, not be used.
---------------------[End of Page 12]---------------------
 MAY  30, 1993
  From of old, in our country the  soroben
was an  indispensable part of elementary
education. As the existence of the phrase,
 yomi-kaki, soroban, itself  implies, the  so-
roben was  placed alongside reading and
writing in  terakoya(temple school) educa-
tion in the Edo era. As my brother entered
a commercial school, he belonged to a
higher class in soroban. I was very poor in
 it as I entered an ordinary middle school
which did not teach  soroban  in  mathemat-
ics courses. Once after I entered the  pub-
lic service arena, I was engaged  in taxa-
tion business and had to manage numbers
of many figures. I asked my colleagues to
help me in the calculations. If I were
placed in the same position today,  I could
use an electric calculator,but still I would
be inferior to a  sorohanexpert.  Soroben  are
used less now than before because pocket-
sized calculators have become very  popu-
lar, but they are still very handy  especial-
ly for adding and subtracting. Private
schools for  soroban  instruction are pros-
pering even now. Once we become  profi-
cient  in using  the  soroba4 we will also be-
come adept at mental arithmetic. We of-
ten see amazing geniuses of mental arith-
metic on television. In most cases, they
acquired their ability through the use of
 soroben A  soroban  tournament  is held an-
nually to choose a national champion. This
champion of  sorobanwil  I gain the better of
a champion of electric calculators if they
have a chance to compete with each other.
It  is also believed that manual operation
of  sorobanoperation will stimulate general
brain capacity.
  There are many  Jap6nese expressions
which  include  soroban, such as  soroban  spy
 auto be profitable)  andsoroban-zuku(cal-
culative, commercial-minded). They  indi-
cate that  sorobens have been rooted in com-
mon people's lives for a long time. I do not
doubt  its popularity will continue in the
"DAILY  WORD' ECHOES 13
future. I think  it is natural that the  soro-
ben is accepted as a teaching tool in
Western countries also.
 (MIKIHIKO  YOSHIMOTO, Gifu)
   Abacus vs. calculators may be an in-
teresting topic for  discussion. I can use
both of them. As for the abacus, I learned
how to use  it at my elementary school at
the age of ten or eleven. I think it was a
part of the math curriculum. The teacher
taught us pupils how to do addition, sub-
traction, multiplication and division. He
spoke out loudly and slowly at first. Grad-
ually, he  increased his  speed,. Sometimes
he told us not to use the abacus but to use
our heads to make mental calculations. At
that time,there were  no  jukuf or other sub-
jects,  only  sorobsn  juku, but I didn't go. Af-
ter school, we went outdoors and played
and played with friends until dark.
  When we went to the girls' high school,
we learned algebra and geometry as math.
As for the abacus, we were taught  Just be-
fore graduation as a  finishing lesson I re-
member my best friend, who did everything
perfectly and elegantly, made noise shak-
ing her abacus and  interrupting the class.
It seemed she couldn't use  it.  I  had my own
abacus but seldom used  it at home until I
became a school teacher. To make grades
for my students,  it was necessary. Espe-
cially at the entrance examination, it was
needed to make up a list of all applicants'
grades quickly and precisely. This was a
team effort by the teachers.
  Now, a modern calculator has taken  Its
place. Where are the  soroben  juku? In the
future, abacuses will be kept  in  museums.
 (KIMI  KONDO,  Miura)
  The suggested theme for today is soro-
ban. Now, I'll answer the questions posed
one by one.
  No.  1: "Do you ever use a soroban these
---------------------[End of Page 13]---------------------
14  MAY  30, 1993
days?" No, I don't, for I have become too
old to use  it.  I'm 88 years old and have re-
tired.
  No. 2: "Do your children or  grandchil-
dren?"  No,. they  don't. My son  finds a  cal-
culator--like a push-button  phone--useful.
My grandchildren, who are senior high
 school students, use their  father's calcu-
lator.
   No. 3:  "What are its advantages?"  It  is
not  advantageous today because machines
are more accurate.
   No. 4: "What memories do you have  re-
garding this device and how do you com-
pare it with modern calculators?" My an-
swer  is that, of course, machines are  bet-
ter.
   No. 5: "What do you think about its fu-
ture use?"  It will go out of use before long
and I'm sure  it  will become a relic of the
past.  (HYOWAY  OHWAY, Kami,  HyOgo)
   A few days ago,  I used a small,  pocket-
sized calculator for  making my final in-
come tax return and submitting it to the
tax office in Fukushima. Until I got this
convenient calculator, I did mathematical
calculations on a  sorobanwhich  I learned
how to use 50 years ago  in my elementary
school  days.  Our teacher, Mr. Omine told us,
"The  Japanese  sarobenis a very  fine calcu-
lator. When an international contest of
calculation was held, a Japanese champion
using  ascrobencarne in  f  first, both in speed
and  accuracy,ahead of the champions of all
the other  countries in the world." He also
said that  the four operations of arithmetic
can be done, although it is complicated.  In-
deed, he was  an  excellent  sorobanmanipu-
lator. When  he rapidly called out various
numbers for us to add or subtract on the
 sorobei he closed his eyes, imagining a
 sorobea  in his mind and moving the fingers
of his right hand in the air as if he were
 really  moving counting beads on the aba-
              "DAILY WORD" ECHOES
cus. His answers used to be the same as
most of ours after we made progress and
were more reliable.
  Since we could not practice  mutlipli-
cation. and division on  the abacus, I did
these calculations with figures on paper
until the calculators came into use. When
I was a teacher, I used an abacus to obtain
the average marks in each subject for
classes of 47 to 50 pupils. After all,  it
was very good for us to memorize the  mul-
tiplication table in our elementary school
days. And I am sure that the  multiplica-
tion table is indispensable for multiplying
or dividing big numbers whether with
written figures or on an abacus.
   Now modern calculators work very
well even  if we cannot do the. four opera-
tions of arithmetic. However,  if we make
use of  calculators  only, we cannot under-
stand mathematics and we could not find
correct answers by  closing our eyes and
trying to push the imaginary buttons of a
calculator in the air. The  skill of manipu-
lating a  soroban  is one's own skill, even  if
one does not have a  sorobenon hand.
   I knew that the abacus had been  intro-
duced into Japan from China in the old
days. Now,  I understand that they also had
this device  in ancient Greece and Rome.
"Where there is a  civilzation, there is an
abacus." I think that  wise parents give
their children a counting frame as a toy. I
also think that the  scrobaahad a remarka-
ble development in Japan.
  When  l began to learn how to use it, my
father had an abacus which had one bead on
the upper part and  five beads on the lower
part of each  vertical row to count to 10.
But we have abacuses having four beads
instead of five on the lower part of each
vertical row, to count to 9. The former is
called  itsut5u-dama and the latter  yotsu-
darna, which is more reasonable and easier
to use, although my eldest sister insists
---------------------[End of Page 14]---------------------
 MAY  30, 1993
that  itsutsu-dema are better than yOt5U-
da/778 abacuses.
   Anyway, some children attend  soroban
 juke/ even though calculators are popular
now. Many Japanese people love  soroban
and send their children to  _iota I hope  it
won't become a curio at the end of the
 21st century.
      (KAZUKO  TAGUCHI,  Fukushima)
  An abacus is a kind of calculating  tool
having wooden beads and operated by one's
right finger for  addition, subtraction,  mul-
tiplication and division. When  I attended a
private abacus school with mostly fourth
or fifth grade pupils, we used to practice
hard.
   I have participated in the national se-
lection contest to achieve the third degree.
There, I was surprised to see a one-armed
person with superhuman speed. He was the
winner on the first degree team. I had
hopes to become such a person and, at that
time, both other students and my teachers
had high expectations for me.
   Simple calculations can be made more
speedily than by machine. Furthermore,
mental arithmetic is still faster without
using anything. During student days, we
practiced everyday and saw an abacus in
our  imagination,doing calculations of num-
bers with three or four figures. But sud-
denly,  I had to stop  abacus training to pre-
pare for entrance examinations for high
school and then university.
   Nowadays, sometimes the abacus  is
useful, but I have become less confident
and slower after a  long time away from it.
In the old  days,we•were told by our parents
that the most important subjects were
reading, writing and abacus to become a
mature person. In modern Japan, the edu-
cation system.has changed completely and
television and computers are being.used,so
all courses are more technical and interna-
          "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 15
 tional. But sometimes, I have fond memo-
ries when I see a private abacus school or
students.
 (MIEKO  OKUMURA , Tenpaku, Nagoya)
   I do not use a soroban these days so I
had completely forgotten about  it until
read the message of February 23rd. Nei-
ther our sons nor grandsons make use of  it.
Using a  soroban, moving only two fingers
(thumb and first finger) has a good effect
on our brains.  Sorobanexperts are experts
of mental arithmetic. They can tally long
figures in fifteen seconds, using the four
arithmetic operations (addition, subtrac-
tion, multiplication and division).
   Long ago, I added some numbers using a
 soroban but I noticed that  it was faster
for me to add them on paper than on the so-
roban, for I am very poor at  it.  In the  old
days,  soroban  were indispensible devices,
especially for merchants. Modern calcula-
tors are more suitable than  soroban  in  this
busy society  in the world today. Pocket
calculators can reckon with billions or
even trillions.  Soroban are no match for
modern calculators. On the other hand,
found two sorobanrooms listed in the tele-
phone directory in the Tsuyama area. Ac-
cording to recent news, the  soroban  is apt
to be faddish, little by little. The soroban
mania  will remain  long in the future. More-
over,  soroban are exported to America and
other foreign countries.
       (TAMAKO  MORIMOTO, Tsuyama)
   When I was a primary school girl, my
family lived in a downtown area of Osaka.
Many of my classmates lived in the shop-
ping area. They had abacus lessons every-
day after school. They were good at arith-
metic and calculated very fast. Some of
them were able to calculate even in their
minds. When they did this, they closed
their eyes and moved the fingers of their
---------------------[End of Page 15]---------------------
 16  MAY  30,  1993
right hands as if they were calculating on
the abacus.  I gaped at them and admired
and envied  their ability for I was very poor
at arithmetic.
   My friend, Akiko,  was a  merchant's
daughter. Her father had a small clothing
 shop at the end of the shopping street. She
began to learn the abacus when she was
ten. She took a special  liking to abacus
lessons since a television set had been in-
stalled in the waiting room of her abacus
school. Television was an item that  every-
body wanted to have in their home, but no-
body could afford to buy it.
  Akiko and I went to different junior
high schools. Since then we rarely met
 each other. More than ten years later when
 went by her  father's shop,  I saw her sit-
ting inside with a baby on her knees. I en-
tered the shop. She was glad to see me
again. She told me that she lived  in the
next town and ran an abacus school  with
her husband. We talked and talked. Some-
times her father interrupted us and asked
her to calculate the  amount of the goods a
customer bought. Then she said,  "Go ahead
 father," but she did not stop talking with
 me. She calculated while talking. Her fa-
ther repeated many numbers one after an-
other. He had  hardly finished with them
when she gave him the answer. I  was  im-
mensely surprised and asked her how she
managed to do these two different things,
talking and calculating, at the same  time.
She answered, "I don't know, but when I  cal-
culate in my  mind,i visualize some images,
as  if I were looking at pictures."  "But you
hear two different voices  at the same time
and understand both of them. I  don't see
how you can do  that," I replied. Then she
said, "I don't know how to  explain it to you,
but I might say that my father's voice  is
maybe something like music which does
not have any linguistic meaning. As you
can talk while listening to music, I can
              "DAILY WORD"  ECHOES
calculate and talk while listeningto  his
voice."  I was not able to clearly under-
stand her explanation.
   Recently  I saw on television the fe-
male winner of the nationwide abacus con-
test undergo a  bra  i,rr test. This test  showed
how the right side of her brain was active
while she was calculating many numbers
of more than ten figures at an incredible
speed. I know that the  left side of the
brain is used for such intellectual func-
tions as thinking or calculating and that
artistic appreciation, such as listening to
music or looking at pictures, utilizes the
right side of the brain, but this test indi-
cated that  calulating on the abacus was
done with the right side of the brain.
   According to the commentator, people
usually calculate with the left sides of
their brains, but those who constantly prac-
tice on the abacus become able to calcu-
late in their minds.  When their powers of
concentration are well trained, then the
right side of their brains also begin to
function. Apparently, the numbers become
like  images. However, they must begin this
training at the age of about ten.
  This reminded me of Akiko and gave me
a clearer answer to how she managed to
calculate and talk at the same time. But I
think it must have been a long and hard
struggle for her to get to such a place.
 (NAOMI KONDO,  Handal
 In the old days, people, especially
those engaged in  btiSiness, used  scrobanas
a very important tool for calculations.  We
have not a few idioms relating to business
transactions which are related to  soroben.
 5oroben  ga  rootermi  (which  literal  ly means
one cannot hold a  so.ro.ban) means being put
out of business. This is only one example.
Indeed  soroban  is a symbol of business cal-
culations.
   Some time  ago,  i heard that in a cer-
---------------------[End of Page 16]---------------------
 MAY  30, 1993
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES  17
 tain elementary school of the U.S.A. teach-
ers introduced  soroban into an  arithmetic
class saying that  using it was very helpful
in teaching their pupils how to count. The
teachers said that the  soroban was very
useful as an intermediary between con-
crete objects and abstract  figures. I was
happy to learn that the  sorobaflwas used to
cultivate counting ability among young
children living in a faraway land.
  Last year, I was surprised to learn
that almost  all people who can manipulate
 sorobdnexceptionally well used the musi-
cal side of the brain more than the linguis-
tic side of the brain when using  a  sorobaa
Before that, I thought that  sorobanmanipu-
lation was related to the linguistic side of
the brain alone because it deals with  digi-
tal information.  In fact, however, my  sup-
position turned out to be incorrect. The
 sorobanexperts seem to have another  soro-
ban in  their heads beside those in their
 hands. No wonder  all of them  are extremely
good at doing mental  arithmetic,
   As  for me, I take out an old, dusty  sore-
ban and clean  it once a year in February. 1
unsteadily use it only to verify amounts 1
have calculated by doing the sums on a
piece of paper when I have to  get accurate
figures to make out my annual  tax.  return.
   (SHOJI  SUGIMOTO, Suginami, Tokyo)
was  natural' and necessary for us children
to learn how to use an abacus and to im-
prove our calculating ability by using it.
 When I became eight or nine years old and
learned the  ku-ku multiplication table,
 began to go to a  soroban-jukuto learn it.
   Even now, I use an abacus almost every
day  in helping with my  husband's job and  in
keeping my housekeeping records. An aba-
cus is more convenient and simpler for me
when doing simple addition and  subtrac-
tion than a handy calculator but for more
complicated multiplication and  division,
the opposite  is  true. However, I use an aba-
cus more often than a calculator in my
daily life, believing that using an abacus
stimulates my brain.
      (MICHIKO NIWA,  Showa, Nagoya)
*************************
  My parents used to run a fabric  whole-
sale store. They used abacuses when they
did business with customers. They didn't
tell the price of  goods verbally but showed
them on the abacus when buying or selling.
So there were many  abacuses here and
there in my house. After the store was
closed, we children, mainly the three little
children out of the six, often played with
abacuses, riding on them like roller skates
or skateboards since the store had a  tatemi
mat  floor.
        Growing up in such circumstances, it
March 2 Message (Subject #240)
   There is  all  increasing emphasis  these
days on recycling or  reusing. products  rath-
er than just  throwing them  away.  What  are
your  thougnts about  recycling and why  it is
important? Do you  make en effort to  recy-
cle goods? if  so, in what  way?
  The  "recycle movement" originated as
a result of seriously considering the  throw-
away consumption tendency during the  so-
ca! led "oi I-shock" period. It was connected
with other citizens'  campaigns related to
environmental pollution, health problems,
etc. in the late  70s. "Recycling" means re-
using useful substances found in waste
 matter.  It aims at saving resources and
energy through trade or exchange of dis-
---------------------[End of Page 17]---------------------
 18  MAY  30,  1  993
used articles. At the same time, it is use-
ful for protecting the environment and  re-
ducing garbage. Many local  self-governing
bodies, which are worried about the  rapid
increase of garbage, are beginning to give
positive support to these movements.
  We are disposing of things which can
be reused. There may be no need to in-
crease the number of incineration plants  if
we recycle resources. We need  a•pol  icy of
 vigorously pushing for the recycling of re-
sources rather than constructing  incinera-
tors. We should take a new look at the ad-
ministrative policy of producing, burning
and burying huge amounts of garbage. Years
ago, we Japanese used to take good care of
things.  Ofd clothes were mended and  um-
brellas were repaired. Holes  in kitchen
pans were closed by a strolling craftsman.
From a certain time, people began to think
that it was cheaper and faster to buy new
things than to repair old ones. Now people
immediately throw things away when  some-
thing goes wrong. We are spoiled by an ab-
undance of goods. Our garbage is more than
enough to reclaim  a big piece of lend from
the sea. We used to make more economical
use of things. For instance,we used to keep
used paper or strings for recycling. A used
envelope was turned inside out for reuse.ln
a way,  surely,waste is a necessary evil for
economic growth, but our  natural  resourc-
es are limited. In former times, we often
uttered the word  motteillai (sheer waste
or  uneconomical), but today  it has almost
become an obsolete word
   in many areas, cans, bottles, old news-
papers and electric  appliances are  collect-
ed. Compost is created by garbage instead
of throwing it away. Recently I saw on a
television news report that new technolo-
gy has been developed to make a new con-
struction material by mixing concrete and
 olastic scrap that  is much lighter and
stronger. In some cities, discarded  furni-
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES
 tyre and  ere—ctric appliances are collected
and repaired and the money obtained from
 selling the repaired items is used for  wel-
f are programs. "Garage  sales' are popular
now here and there throughout the country
at which disused articles are sold in a gar-
den or a gathering place. Such sales are
said to have been  started in the early 70s
in the United States, where articles were
offered for sale literally in garages. They
say that  in big cities, such as Tokyo and
Yokohama,  "flea markets" (where old  arti-
cles are sold)  in parks are also popular be-
cause sales there are not liable to  con-
sumption tax. It seems certain  that a
change is taking place from a use-and-
dispose culture to a culture of taking bet-
ter care of things.
 (MIK  IHIKO  YOSHIMOTO, Gifu)
  About a week ago  I happened to watch
a television program about recycling paper
used  in powder rooms. The shopkeeper  said
that there is much recycled paper on sale
in his shop. Although the price is a little
lower than new paper, most people do not
buy  it.  I heard the answer of one customer
when he was asked why he bought the new
paper. He said that there was not much
difference in price, that he preferred the
new paper and was not interested in saving
such a  small amount of money.
   We often hear the word "recycle" but
presume we have not thought deeply about
 it. Recycling should not be considered only
in terms of money. I fear that  Japanese,in-
cluding me, may be only concerned about
money.  If recycling  is important,  it  should
not be left to private enterprises alone.
The government, using government funds,
should be involved. This is a very impor-
tant problem for the world.  I hope to leave
a good environment for human  descendants,
animals and plants.  I must keep this in
mind.  (M  ICH  IKO SANO,  Minami, Nagoya)
---------------------[End of Page 18]---------------------
 MAY  30, 1993
  Most elderly Japanese disapprove of
the  "throwaway" tendency of the present
day and the chorus for  "recycling" is grow-
ing louder and louder. But we must take
care not to have an easygoing attitude  re-
garding the recycling problem. People tend
to consider the technology of recycling as
a remedy  for excessive consumption. But
another  essential way to prevent the de-
pletion of resources is to prolong  or ex-
tend the life of products. Anyway, we real-
ly must think about the  "efficiency of  re-
cycling". For instance, at the present time,
the cost of paper recycling is very high.
 Consequently, the price of  recycled paper
 is sometimes higher than that of new pa-
per. (It depends on the required paper qual-
ity. In the case of paper for printing or
writing, recycled paper is about ten per-
cent higher and  still the quality  is not  ac-
ceptable.)  It may be because the  paper-
producing process at present  is not  suita-
ble for the recycling process. So if we
really want  economical recycled paper,
probably we must first alter the paper-
producing and  supply systems themselves.
  As you  already know, the idea of  recy-
cling is partly realized in the area of  auto-
mobile parts. The parts are manufactured
according to a finely  calc.u.lated program
on the assumption of recycled usage. Re-
cycling is Useless without systematic and
organized planning.
 We should reconsider recycling from
another point of view: the effective  "na-
tural recycling  system".  Generally  speak-
ing, all natural phenomena have the ability
to regenerate. For instance, rivers have
great purification ability and purify  con-
taminated water as  it  flows  downstream.
(This is effected by exposure to the air in
combination with biological reactions, but
 it is basically the result of the movement
of water which transforms the potential
energy of precipitation).
          "DAILY  WORD" ECHOES 19
   Another example is the dry beach.  Re-
cently a newspaper reported a study car-
ried out by some official research insti-
tute which indicated that a 1,200 hectare
dry beach corrresponded to a sewage  dis-
posal facility processing 60,000 tons per
day  .  Why  don't we use these natural pro-
cesses?  I think the best way to prevent
the useless consumption of resources on
the earth is the reasonable combination of
artificial methods and natural power.
   We must seriously evaluate which is
the best way of paper  supplying. Is it real-
ly useful to produce high quality paper only
by the recycle system?  Without reasona-
ble consideration it may cause further en-
vironmental contamination and further the
demand for energy  consumption.  Isn't it
wiser to produce high quality paper from
natural wood and only low quality paper by
the recycling method? A more important
thing  is how to reduce paper  consumption
itself. The thoughtless adoption of  artifi-
cial recycling technology means more con-
fusion of energy consumption and leads to
further contamination of the earth.  We
must be wise not to make such a mistake.
Remember that all living matter on our
earth is a part of the immense recycling
system  (rinne,•  metenipSycho'Sis  in Bud-
dhism).
 (NOBUYOSH  I  TAKAGI,  M  i  dor  i, Nagoya)
 Sometimes at a bookstore,  I see some
materials such as letter paper, notebooks,
envelopes, etc.with the label "This is made
of used paper". The price is not so cheap,
but when  I find such things and if the  qual-
ity is good, I try to buy them for in that
way I join  in the cooperative movement of
 recycling.
   At the supermarket  I patronize, there
was a recycling  campaign. The notice at
the entrance stated:  "We are going to par-
ticipate in the recycling movement of milk
---------------------[End of Page 19]---------------------
20  MAY  30,1993
cartons and food trays. Please join us. As
for milk cartons, open the empty carton,
wash and dry  it and carry  it to a  certain
corner of the  store."  Housewives are too
busy to do so. As for food trays,  fish and
vegetables are put in them so they may not
be sanitary. That's the problem.  Really,
the campaign didn't last  long.
 Sometime ago on a television broad-
cast,  I saw a recycling operation for cans
and glass bottles at a certain place in  Sen-
dai.  On a street corner were two large
boxes--one for used cans and the other for
glass bottles. People carried them from
their homes and put them into the boxes.
Then, at a certain time, trucks came and
carried them to the factory where cans
were pressed into  metal blocks and bottles
were melted and made into other bottles.
Only two process, simple and easy. I
thought this was a feasible and good idea.
I hope this movement  will be carried out
 successful  ly. (KIM1  KONDO, Miura)
 "Recycle' wasn't in my  581750/010'5 601
dictionary. Of course, this is only a very
small, pocket dictionary. But this word
was not in the  Idiomatic  and  Syntactic  Eng-
iisn  Dictionary  , published by  Kaitakusha
either.  Now, I don't understand why this
word isn't in these dictionaries and, at
last, I said to myself,  "I'll have to give up
writing about this theme."
   But after a few weeks, I remembered
Mr.  Offner's kind letter. It was as follows:
"I admire your vitality at  33 years of age
and hope you continue in good health for
many years to  come."  1 have been  repeat-
ing his messages out loud every morning.
also repeat the  phrase:"Continuati  on  brings
success". I decided I must write because
this  admonition was made up by me.
   One day, incidentally, a woman in our
 Ro://8 Club said to me: "At last, I recycled
my old-fashioned overcoat for my daugh-
             "DAILY  WORD" ECHOES
ter."  Although she spoke in Japanese, she
used the English word  "recycle". "Recycle"
has become so popularized  that it has al-
ready become Japanese.  'Oh!" I said to my-
self," recycling carries out its mission per-
fectly."  (HYOWAY  OHWAY, Kami,  HyOgo)
  I did not know what to write on this
theme when a newspaper headline caught
my eye.  On reading the story, it occurred to
me that  I ought to share that interesting
piece of news. The article began with this
paragraph: "Kobe (Kyodo) A company in Ta-
karazuka, Hyogo prefecture, has developed
a system to recycle waste paper into con-
struction materials and other products."  (p.
3, March 4 issue of  The  Japan  Times)
  This recycling system is expected to
reduce the volume of waste and carbon di-
oxide emissions from incineration plants.
According to the story, a local government
in the Kansai region plans to build an ex-
perimental plant this year. Put into prac-
tice, the idea will help greatly to recycle
wood resources, I believe.
 In my view, it is true that "many a lit-
tle makes a mickle" and that many indivi-
duals' bits of carelessly discarded things
leads to unexpected pollution. The  recyc-
ling efforts of individuals may prove to be
successful on a  small  scale,  but it is an-
other story when the recycling effort is
made on the public level. This  is the recy-
cling that really counts.  in this sense, the
above story deserves attention insofar as
recycling is concerned. Indeed, human cre-
ativity counts as much  here as in other
areas of human activities. I hope we will
see many more innovative ideas for effec-
tive recycling  like that mentioned above,
one  after another,  In order to save the
earth, the  only place we have to live on.
    (5110J1  SUGHIOTO,  Suginami, Tokyo)
   It ought to be considered an obligation
---------------------[End of Page 20]---------------------
 MAY  30,  1993
to recycle as much as possible the  reusa-
ble goods around us. As resources on this
globe are not inexhaustible, it is very im-
portant for our own lives and those of our
descendants.
  The reforming or  utilization of waste
products is similar to  recycling. I do not
know about the method of  recycling indus-
trial waste, but some women's groups
make an effort to recycle Japanese paper
into  postcards, milk cartons into  tools/7/
and waste kitchen oil into bar soap. One  of
my ways of utilizing waste  is to make use
of used tea leaves and coffee grounds as
fertilizer to enhance the growth of plants.
As dried coffee grounds contain oil, they
are also suitable for pin  cushions. Egg
whites and egg shells are used to remove
particles when cooking clear soup. If sum-
mer oranges are organically cultivated, the
peels can be preserved in sugar. Many ad-
vertisements are inserted in the newspa-
per every morning. I use the plain reverse
sides for writing notes or to make rough
copies of the essays  I compose on "Daily
 Word" themes.
 I enjoy trying to think of ways to re-
cycle things around us. Improvidence is not
a virtue. Rather, it is shameful.
 (TAMAKO  HORIMOTO,  Tsuyarna)
   Since manyJapanese became well-off,
they easily throw away used things when
they grow tired of them.  It  is wrong  in-
deed to do that and it is natural to have an
increased emphasis these days on  recy-
cling and reusing products.
   In our church, we sometimes hold a
recycling shop, gathering unused articles.
I take some  tablewares which have not
been used  for some years and used clothes
that seem to be too loud  in color for me
now. I am happy when I know these things
 will be useful for others. And  everytime I
go to the recycling shop, I can  find some-
          "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 21
thing I  want. There are many kinds of cloth-
ing for adults and children, kitchenware,
handcrafts, stationery, various kinds of
food, furniture, bicycles, and so on. The
profit is given to the church. If there are
things of no use being kept in the house,
they will occupy a good deal of space and
the owners will soon decide to discard
them in the mountains, in a river or along
the  seaside, turning these places of natu-
ral beauty into  dumping grounds.  We
should contribute such things to a bazaar
or to a recycling shop if we can afford to
do so and should have things repaired and
use them  untii.they are worn out.
  Mr. Koyanagi, a member of our church
and a teacher at an agricultural school,
went to a mountain near  Fukushima to find
television sets or washing machines
thrown away by rich people. Most of them
were still usable  if they were repaired.
They were repaired and sold to people who
liked the cheap second-hand goods. Then
he offered the money to the church for the
construction of the  Dencidken. I cannot do
as he did, but  I do collect milk cartons,
flatten them and take them to the place
where they are made into picture post
cards. Also,  I like to unravel the woolen
yarn of  worn-out sweaters and  reknit
them,  using a little new yarn. And I make
 dustcloths or  floorcloths from worn-out
shirts or old towels. Anyway, I would be
thrifty in regard to myself, but generous
when  I contribute things to the  recycling
shop.  (KAZUKO TAGUCHI, Fukushima)
  "Jesus took the  bread,  gaue  thanks to
 God, and distributed it to the people....
He did the same with the fish, and  they
all had as much as  they  wanted.  When
 they  were all full, he said to his  disci-
ples,  'Gather the pieces left  over; let us
not waste  ang." (John  6:11-12)
---------------------[End of Page 21]---------------------
22  MAY  30, 1993
*************************
March 9 Messaae (Subject  #241
  According to a Chinese  legend, some
sparrows picked up grains of rice and
stored them in a piece of bamboo. After a
rain the rice fermented and sake was  pro-
duced This is one interesting theory of
 wily the  Chinese character for sake is
composed of characters meaning water and
bird Another interesting theory  /5 that the
Japanese pronunciation comes  fromsasake
meaning  "bamboo  smell'. Whether or not
such theories are true, sake has played  en
important part in Japanese tradition. In
the  present-day, sake continues to be
served on various occasions and people who
refuse to drink may be thought strange or
unsociable. Alcohol  is considered both a
social lubricant and a safety valve in the
pressure cooker of modern Japanese soci-
ety where strict  self-control is required
during  daylight  hours. What do you think
about sake and other  alcoholic  beverages?
Whet  are the pluses  and minuses of  drink-
ing  them?  What do you think about people
who refuse to drink?  Why do you think
there  hes been an increase in  the number
of women and  young people  with drinking
problems?
*************************
  After I gave birth to my first child, I
became allergic to alcohol. Since then,  1
 haven't been able to  drink any kind  of  alco-
holic beverage. Even a small sip of beer or
a faint  odor of  sake.  makes me feel sick or
cough.  I have never been to a bar or a beer
garden. Even a light aperitif, I can't share
with my husband at dinner.
   Believe  it or not,  I came from a family
that was addicted to alcohol. My father
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES
loved sake. He never began his dinner  with-
out  it. He always drank hot sake from a
small winecup served by my mother. The
more he drank, the merrier and more  talka-
tive he became. My brothers and sisters
accompanied him at his drawn-out dinner.
They learned to drink sake when they were
 still relatively young. My little brother
tasted sake for the  first time when he was
a kindergartner. He took father's  winecup
and  licked it. Then he made grimaces and
funny gestures. This entertained us  all.  Af-
ter that, a tiny portion of sake was served
to him by someone who wanted him to give
this performance. My brother is now a
heavy drinker of alcohol. My other siblings
also drink alcohol every evening.
   I, however, did not imbibe. I was never
against my father's drinking, but I did not
like his taking so much time for it. He
spent three hours drinking sake every eve-
ning. I considered it wasteful and a little
stupid. He made many mistakes and often
made an absolute  fool of himself, but I
never despised him. After all, sake made
him feel happy. He always  said,  "Sake we
 hyeku  yeku  no  rho." ("Sake is the best of a
hundred medicines.") I think this is true.
Statistics indicate that those who live
long are usually moderate drinkers.  Alco-
hol loosens tension and makes one feel re-
laxed. Drinking seems to generate a friend-
ly atmosphere among people who imbibe.
Drinking with strangers will help them be-
come friends with each other. Drinking
with old friends makes their relationship
smooth and intimate.
 I really envy those who can drink. I
have never enjoyed talking with people
while drinking.  1 have never sung a song in
a  kacaoke bar.  I am always sober. I can
never escape from reality. I am always
somewhat tense. I yearn to be totally re-
laxed in body and soul.  I enjoy life only
half-way. If I could drink, I could enjoy
---------------------[End of Page 22]---------------------
MAY  30, 1993
life thoroughly by participating in various
kinds of social activities and making
friends with people of diverse types. Ah, I
wish I could get drunk just once and be  in
an ecstasy or a trance! Then I would not
mind  if I had a hangover the following day.
  Although I don't envy those who drink
too much and become alcoholic, I doubt
that not drinking at all is better than  drink-
ing too much.  (NAOMI KONDO, Handa)
  Sometimes  I am at a loss about what
to write on a given theme, but this time  1
have nothing to worry about because
"sake", the subject of this theme, is a  fa-
vorite tonic  of mine which has accompa-
nied me throughout my life.
  Hiroshima, my native place, is one of
the famous sake-producing regions, along
with Nada and  Fushima, as  it has a  supply
of good water and good quality  rice. There
are about  2,600 sake manufacturers  pro-
ducing about 4,000 different brands across
the country. Local brands CiLzake..iare ap-
preciated as much as national brands. Our
Gifu Prefecture produces many kinds of  ji-
zeke. Since it is closely connected with
us, the word sake  is often used to mean
 "alcoholic beverages"  in general.
   When we drink sake  in moderation,  it
 is very wholesome.  It  is often said that
sake has ten merits:  it is the best  medi-
cine, a prolonger of life, a meal for the
traveler, an overcoat against the cold, a
convenient excuse to visit without an in-
vitation, a disperser of sorrow, a social
leveler, a relief from work, a harmonizer
of all men and a friend to those who live
alone. People usually drink after work to
refresh their exhausted minds. Sake re-
moves the shyness most Japanese have
deep within them. Therefore, drinking is
very useful to facilitate human relations.
   In our country, sake is served on every
 possible occasion.  it is served even at a
          "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 23
wake and after a funeral. We do not think
it is unnatural to drink, cherishing the
memory of the deceased. Today,many young
people, including women, have a taste for
alcoholic beverages. I am not so senseless
to say that young girls should abstain from
drinking (I myself enjoy drinking with my
daughter when she returns home), but they
should drink in  moderation and not get
drunk. It is  unworthy of a gentleman or a
lady to be seen very drunk  in public.  In the
 Muromachi era, sake drinking achieved the
status of a ceremonial art, nearly  compar-
able to the tea ceremony or flower  arrange-
ment. Strict rules governed  the serving
and  *sipping of  sake, as well as the proce-
dures for refilling companions' cups and
offering one's own to be filled in turn. This
highly structured and refined approach to
drinking was apparently intended not only
to heighten the pleasures of drinking, but
to discourage over-indulgence in and de-
pendence on alcohol.
   When I was young, I drank very much.
had experiences of having only a faint  rec-
ollection of the events of the night before
when I woke up the next morning.  I was
pursued by uneasiness and repented of my
heavy drinking. When I was in a busy of-
fice, I used to attend banquet dinners  sev-
eral days  in succession and was compelled
to drink socially. I could not drink com-
fortably at such times. Today, I usually
have a drink at supper at home as I relax
and imbibe at my own pace, which I think
makes sake taste better than ever before.
       (MIKIHIKO YOSHIMOTO, Gifu)
   I am not fond of sake so I do not enjoy
the experience when I drink it. I always
presume that it tastes nice and remember
how  difficult it is to control drinking. Can
I stop drinking if I like it?
   I have attended many parties where
sake was served. I see some people who
---------------------[End of Page 23]---------------------
24  MAY  30, 1993
enjoy drinking. They  become very relaxed
when they  drink.  It  is good  if they  relax
truly and dispel their gloom calmly, but
some of them seem to become over-re-
laxed. They enlist the help of sake and say
unexpected words. It is not a wholesome
way  in which they express  themselves.
They should speak and act frankly when
they do not drink sake.
 (MICHIKO  SANG, Minami, Nagoya)
   I am a total abstainer from liquor and
tobacco. Perhaps, I am naturally abstemi-
ous. At any rate, I can go throughout the
year without any alcoholic beverage. They
call such people  gek-o in Japanese.  When I
was a little boy, my father used to say to
me,  eeko  170  tatetaru kura wa  nashi. The
meaning in English is:  No teetotaller was
ever known to own a godown." Although he
who told me so was certainly a  geko, he
himself owned a godown. Ha, ha,  hal
  For a little  while, please be patient as
I tell you about my view of wine. When a
welcome or farewell party, etc. is held for
one of my comrades,  I attend the gathering
and have a chat with others over  winecups,
as merrily as I can, and express my hopes
for the guest of honor's happiness.  I pre-
tend to  drink and absolutely  never say that
I can't drink. This is the way I act on such
occasions.
   You know well the condition of an al-
coholic. Our bodies shake from alcoholic
poisoning. I am afraid of so-called  arucho
in Japanese. Now,  I have coffee with milk
and sugar after every dinner and the aroma
of coffee gladdens my nose. Nowadays, I
sometimes drink black coffee alone. If
continue this coffee habit, will I suffer as
a coffeeholic?
       (HYOWAY  OHWAY,  Kami,  HyOgo)
   I suggest that the production of sake
in Japan and the importation of alcoholic
 "DAILY WORD" ECHOES
beverages from foreign countries be de-
creased from the present amount.
   There are a few pluses related to sake.
For example, it may give an appetite to
people who take a  little cup of sake before
their suppers. Sake is a good seasoning for
cooking. Sacramental wine  in churches  is
very important.
   It is said that "sake is mad water" in
Japan and the minuses of drinking are too
many to mention  all of them here. As
drunkards lose their reason and morality,
they brawl  and  sometimes commit murder.
They often cause traffic accidents and, un-
fortunately, they cause injuries and/or
death. Finally, they often lose their jobs
and become the cause of domestic trage-
dies. Furthermore, many incurable  dis-
eases--liver trouble, heart  diseases, dia-
betes, etc. plague alcoholics. Alcoholics
may ruin  themselves.
   I think people who refuse to drink are
normal and drunkards are abnormal in the
world. But some people who are not suited
to their condition from birth must refuse
to drink. Anyway, I highly respect people
who refuse to drink.
   The times are changing and the number
of women and young people have more  op-
portunites to be invited to attend parties
than previously. At every party, sake is
served to them. I disagree with the idea
that they must be drinking companions of
their seniors or make a show of drinking
sake too. Their actions depend upon their
home background, their friends and the
older people around them.
   I am concerned about the easy  avail-
ability of sake from vending machines
along many streets. I hope and pray that
the saying "Japan is a drunkard's heaven"
 will soon disappear.
       (TAMAKO  MORIMOTO, Tsuyama)
---------------------[End of Page 24]---------------------
 MAY  30, 1993
  The message of March 9th reminds me
of the  family crest of Date, the feudal lord
of  E-'sendai which consists of a sparrow and
 sorns pieces of bamboo.  Indeed,in Japan,we
 thin‹. bamboo fits well with  sparrows  (ieke
 /7/  sessume just as Japanese  nightingales
 go  we  i with plum  blossoms  l'utne  of  uguised.
So I  ~ink that the grains of rice stored in
the  e:eces of bamboo by sparrows turned
 fnto2Ke were  fermented after a rain  in
old and a wise man composed the
 Chinsese character for sake. The Japanese
 pronssciation  sasat-einterests me. I won-
der  ,,-.-:ether the sake of the present smells
 different than that of the old days.
 i,:lcoholic beverages, including sake,
may  make drinkers cheerful and merry.
Sake also makes them forget their  anxie-
ties  and sorrows for a while. They  will
consider everybody as their close friend.
From this point of view, drinking sake may
be a  plus in daily life. These days, life is
more  compl  1  cated; young people and women
also  have to struggle for existence.  Women
 are  under the stress of keeping house, so
many of them find  relief by drinking sake.
 Altheesh some people cannot put their
 thoughts into words, intoxicants loosen
their tongues.  When they become sober,
 however, men of good sense will be sorry
for;.heir actions while intoxicated,  espe-
cial':  if they had quarrels or made a slip
 of  ti.e  tongue under the influence of sake,
 say.so something they  should not have
 sai.S  Such  words are irretrievable. This
 is minus side of sake.
      father was a strict teetotaler. I
 :le used to  say,  "A Christian minister
 51-1( ..id abstain from alcoholic beverages so
 as eot to cause other people to  stumble." I
 hees- also that once the parents of one of
 h students brought him a bottle of sake
 es a year-end  present. Needless to say,  he
 refused to accept it. But they left the bot-
 tle at the door of our house anyway. The
 "DAILY  WORD" ECHOES 25
next morning, finding  it, he poured out  all
the sake at the foot of the pine tree in the
garden to dispose of it. A drinker would
say, "How wasteful to throw away good
sake, but he was as inexorable as his nick-
name,  "Stone".
  My brother does not drink sake either,
but he accepts such a present and says
"Thank you". Then he makes his wife go to
the store and exchange it for some bottles
of soy sauce or other food. He can accomo-
date himself to the circumstances better
than his father. I  don't think that sake
must always be avoided since I, myself,
sometimes enjoy vegetables pickled in
sake lees, but strict self-control is  re-
quired for anybody that drinks and drinkers
should not force  non-drinkers to drink.
      (KAZUKO  TAGUCH  1,  Fukushirna)
  There  is an old saying that sake  tva
 hyaku  yaku  no  rho, which means Alcohol is
the best of all medicines. When you drink
sake, a proper quantity of  it  is good for
your health, but too much is another story.
  My father taught me that you may drink
sake  if you want, but never drink too much.
Now, I enjoy drinking a glass  of.  beer with
evening meals almost everyday. It makes
me happy and relaxed. My motto in drinking
is that it should be enjoyable and never be
 excessive. I think you should not force others
to drink sake on any occasion.  In this
regard, I don't think people who refuse to
drink are considered strange or unsociable.
However, young people, especially young
students in college or university, often
force others to drink too much sake  quick-
ly, saying  ikki-Mliv, just for fun at a party.
Since this is really a dangerous and savage
way of drinking, it sometimes causes some
students a great deal of trouble and may
even result in death.  I do hope people  will
enjoy themselves and relax while drinking.
 (M  I  CH  I  KO  N  IWA,  Showa, Nagoya)
---------------------[End of Page 25]---------------------
26  MAY  30, 1993
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES
 ***-**********************
 'Echoes" of Other  Mess  Am
January 20  Message  Excerpt:
   The verb  "inaugurate'  means to induct
into  office by  8 formal ceremony Today is
 Inauguration Day in the  United  States.  At
the  inauguration ceremony on the  east  por-
tico of the  Capitol in  Washington, ac.,  8///
 Clinton,  will be  Inaugurated as the 42nd
president.  According.to the 20th  Amend-
ment to the  Constitution„- which became
effective  in  1033, the terms  of.  the  Presi-
dent and  Vice-President  shall end at noon
on the twentieth day of January The  oath
of  office., administered by the chief
                        jus-
tice of the  United States,  is contained in
Article  g  Section  1 of the  Constitution.
 It consists  of the  following  words:  "I do
solemnly swear that  I  will faithfully  ex-
ecute the office of President of  the  United
 States, and will, to the best of my ability
 preserve, protect and defend the Constitu-
tion of the  United  States." Hay  6'od  help
the new president to make wise decisions
which  will affect the whole world
*************************
 ment: "1 will do my best in that new way
of  life." She spoke  in her own words.
  The following day, January 20, was In-
auguration Day in the United States. View-
ing the  television broadcast of the  oath-
taking, "I do solemnly swear  .  .", I was
reminded of President Kennedy's  inaugura-
tion ceremony. The weather  in  Washington,
D. C. seemed to be very cold. I remember
that from Mr. Kennedy's mouth a white
breath of air came out with every word.
The atmosphere was  filled with hope and
expectation, yet he did not live long.  Why
was he assassinated?  Will President Clin-
ton keep people's respect for long?
 (KIM!  KONDO,  Miura)
*************************
February 22  Message  Excerpt:
 William  Boetcker,  having noted that  A
diamond  with flaw is  More valuable than
a brick without a  flaw': concluded that  it
is  "Better to be a strong man  With  a week
point than to be a weak man without a
strong  point,"
*************************
  The two most important events  of1993
thus far are the engagement of Miss Masa-
ko Owada to the Crown Prince and the  in-
auguration of Bill Clinton as the 42nd U. S.
president. Newspapers reported on the for-
mer event on January 20 with photos. The
previous day,  Jpnuary19,ail television  sta-
tions  broadCast the press conference  held
by the couple. I was  deeply impressed by
the Crown Prince's promise, "I will help
and protect Masako-san to the best of my
ability all through my life."  And still more
impressed with  Masako's sincere state-
  How glad  I am to write that I was able
to understand today's (2/22) spoken mes-
sage without the aid of reference books. Of
course, before dialing the telephone num-
ber, I read the message over and over again
out loud. "Oh,"  I said to myself, "today's
 rrie_ssage  is easier than yesterday's and
that of the day before." Even when they
are a little easy, understanding these
messages  is the happiest time for me.
 When 1  was a student, I was taught by
one of my teachers  keizoku  wa chikara  Tier/
---------------------[End of Page 26]---------------------
 MAY  30,  1993
 in Japanese. Now,  I can't put this proverb
into English well, but it  will be as impor-
tant as the song of the  so-called  shidare
 yaw/  ni tobitsuku  kaera I agree, and  in
line with this poem, I repeat many times
the following verse:  "Jump up and  down,
down and up, again jump up and down. At
last the frog can reach the willow's
branch." (HYOWAY  OHWAY, Kami,  HyOgo)
*************************
March 19 Message Excerpt:
 in order to train children to take safe-
ty  precautions  in  emergencies.,  schools
sometimes have fire  drills  or  earthquake
drills. Soldiers  have drills as a part  of
their military  training.  And policemen
also have drills to  improve  their skills.
One  day  last month in  Niigata, the local
police force was  holding an armed  robbery
 drill. To raise  public awareness about
 crime  prevention, an  NM' television crew
was  filming  the event ...
*************************
 "I hope tomorrow's message will be
easy as usual because  it will be Saturday,"
I said to myself  in a soft voice. "But  that's
tomorrow's problem and today  I must try
to comprehend this Friday message as
much as I can."
  When I began the message, "In order to
train children to take safety  .  "  I was
greatly troubled by the words "precautions
in emergencies". Then, I said to myself,
"Even these  first few words are  difficult
to understand, but anyway,  I will hurriedly
read to the end of the message." And then  I
unexpectedly found an "an" before the  let-
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES 27
ters "NHK". Oh!  I'm embarrassed to say
that I had forgotten than an "an" is used in-
stead of an "a" before vowel sounds (a, e,
o, u) and words beginning with a silent "h"
(such as  "hour" and "honest"). Although "N"
is not a vowel, it's pronunciation begins
with the vowel sound "e", so it is right to
precede it with an "an". Then  l also remem-
bered that the indefinite article before
"European" is not "an" but "a" because its
pronunciation begins with a "yu" sound.
  Oh, how  difficult it was for me to
write the above sentences in  English! After
all, I must say that reading is more impor-
tant than writing, and I believe that you
will agree with me.
 (HYOWAY  OHWAY, Kami,  Hyogo)
*************************
March 20 Message Excerpt:
    Along the wide staircase that led up
to the second floor, was  an  upright piano
on which  all  s4Y of  us  children took piano
lessons when we were  small  although none
of us grew up to be accomplished  musi-
cians I  don? recall ever  hearing my moth-
er play the  p13170, but once and a while my
father would play some of  his favorite
 hymns. Early on Sunday mornings  he often
 played quite loudly and sang at the same
time while we were still in bed For  us, it
was a kind of  SI:511751 that it was Sunday
morning and it was time for  us to get up
 and get  dressed to go to Sunday School
*************************
  Whenever I receive the "Daily Word"
messages on the weekend, I always say to
myself,  "I hope  I'll be able to understand
---------------------[End of Page 27]---------------------
28  MAY  30, 1993
even  if it's  only the Saturday message.  It
makes me so happy to be able to under-
stand them. I don't know why the Saturday
messages are easier than those of the oth-
er six  days.' Every Saturday, you write
about your family rather than about world
history or  so-called  philosophy, so you use
easy words instead of difficult ones.
   For  example,' read over  last Saturday's
(March 20th) message loudly and pleasant-
ly alone. The  following sentence was  in-
cluded  in  it:  "Along the wide staircase that
led up to the second floor was an upright
piano on which all six of us children took
piano lessons when we were small, al-
though none of us grew up to be accom-
plished  musicians."
   I have an upright piano  in my parlor
too.  it was bought when  I retired  from my
position as the principal of an elementary
school  for the purpose of playing some of
my favorite melodies when I was tired
from working in the fields. But I can't play
any of my  favorite hymns as your father
did. Instead, I play  Mill in the  Black  Forest,
 Kener  March, Cuckoo  Waltz.,  Csikos Post
and Gavotte. etc. Nowadays, I am too old to
play the piano as I did when I was young. In
spring, I used to sing the song called Spring
 Has Come while playing the piano,  in  sum-
mer, Summer Has Come,  in autumn, The
 School  Excursion, and  In  winter, It  Snows':
 Of course, I'm not a pianist, but how  enjoy-
able  It Is to sing these children's songs  ac-
companied by the piano.  Now, say to
myself "Singing Is making me young, isn't
It?" (HYOWAY  OHVYAY,  Kam',  Hyogo)
 **************************
  "Sing to the  Lord, all the  world!  War-
ship the Lord with  joy; came before him
with happy  songs." (Psalm  100:1-2)
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES
March 23 Message Excerpt:
  Botany  is the  biological science of
 plants, or  shokubutsugakuMiapenese. To-
day is the birthday of the man known as
the "father of  American  botany':  John  Bar-
tram was born 2.94 years ago on March 23,
 1599. Bartram  had  no formal schooling but
possessed a keen  mind  and a great interest
in  plants In  1  728 he purchased land along
the banks of a river near  Ph/lade/ph/a.
There he planted the first  botanical  garden
in the  United  States, which was frequented
by Benjamin  Franklin and George Washing-
ton and which  still exists today  as part of
the  Philadelphia park  system.  In it there
 are many  giant trees which were planted
by Bartram  himself: The word  "botany"
comes from a Greek word for  Want' which
is found only once in the Greek New Testa-
ment, in Hebrews  5;7  "God blesses the soil
 which. grows plants that are useful to
those for whom it is  cultivated'
*************************
 When I learned the word "botany" for
the first time, our teacher advised us to
remember it, thinking of botan, Japanese
for a beautiful tree peony. At the same
time, I learned the word "botanist" because
it so happened that there was a classmate
whose father  was  a botanist at Tohoku  Uni-
versity. There are many kinds of plants  in
Japan, such as trees, grasses, flowers,
blossoms, vegetables,  fruit, mushroom
fungi, moss and ferns. Even some of the
plants considered weeds are attractive.
So it is difficult to distinguish between
grass and weeds, but we  pull up the weeds
in our path or from  around useful trees and
 vegetables  and pretty flowers. Since the
old days, people have enjoyed making gar-
dens with beautiful green trees, stones
---------------------[End of Page 28]---------------------
 MAY  30, 1993
 "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 29
and ponds or lovely flowers.
   I am very happy to know about "the  f  a-
ther of American botany".  Benjamin  Frank-
lin and George Washington, whom we know
 well as great men in American history,
must have respected John Bartram and the
successive presidents and scholars en-
couraged the people to make botanical gar-
dens all over the U. S. A. and I realize why
America  is so beautiful now.
  Also in Fukushima, municipal govern-
ment officials have been planting saplings
on Shinobuyama or street trees as in  Sen-
dai. I am so happy to see flower and  vege-
table gardens  in this city and its  suburbs.
And God blesses the land because the gar-
deners cultivated well and grow these
flowers, trees and vegetables, also fruit  in
autumn. I know very well that the Bible
verse in Hebrews 8:7 is very true.
      (KAZUKO  TAGUCHI,  Fukushima)
 *************************
March 24 Messaae Excerpt:
 Having a sense of humor makes  life
more interesting and enjoyable. Newspa-
permen who  recognize this fact sometimes
include a play on words in the headlines of
 articles. For  example, a recent article  in
The Japan  Times was entitled  "Chinese
dishes cause ministerial  stir". From that
 headline, readers would  Imagine  the  arti-
cle was related to Chinese  cooking and
they would wonder what kind of ministers
would be stirred up about that  delicious
cuisine and  why in fact, the  article was
about  the  Chinese government'sattitude
toward  foreign radio and television broad-
casts and whether or not Chinese  citizens
should be permitted to own satellite dish-
es,  the dish-shaped antennae needed to  re-
ceive them. There was disagreement on
this matter between two government min-
istries, Another article was  entitled'
 Veer-Lovers can party  president". The Po-
lish  Beer-Lovers'  Party, which was formed
to promote beer  drinking among  vodka-lov-
ing Poles and holds seats  in  parliament,  re-
cently  expelled its president and founder
on charges of  manipulation and financial
 /771.57778/78ge/770/71: Because of the associa-
tion of cans  with  beer,  the editor  chose to
use  "can"  in its slang meaning of  "dismiss','
thinking readers would smile at  the pun. A
sense of humor  has been  called the best
"defence against adverse  fortune':
 *************************
 I  am truly obtuse  in regard to  humor.  I
have a "stony head"  (ishi atame, in Japa-
nese). I cannot explain things. I have only
two answers: yes or no. I do not like to
talk just for effect. To avoid speaking in a
way that hurts the feelings of others, I
must pay careful attention to others, but
my "stony head" will never change.
   I can understand the humor of others,
however. I presume it must impress me
more than others because I admire  it from
the bottom of my heart.  I wrote the other
day that I like to  watchrakiigo, I could nev-
er accomplish such things even if I stood
on my head. I love the humor of others,
which I can understand, enjoy and admire,
but  I cannot be humorous myself. I'm sorry
that my head will be an  islil  atame which
will hurt others forever.
      (MICHIKO SANO, Minami, Nagoya)
  I enjoyed reading/correcting the 52
essays/comments of 15 contributors to
this 42nd issue  of"Daily Word"  Echoes.
I hope you enjoy reading them also.
Keep listening/reading/writing!  (C.O.)
---------------------[End of Page 29]---------------------