Daily Word Echoes 
 P.O Box 30, Moriyama Post Office, Nagoya 463 Tel.  (052)794-6422 
  March 23,  1997 Number 56  Y200 
(Essays submitted by listeners/readers on themes of "Daily Word" messages  be-
 tween January  14 and February  18,  1997. Corrected and edited by Clark Offner.) 
 ************************* rrt  k rvF ir/ r•-1 n if in nr
January 14 Message (Subject #320)
   Hokkaido is the northernmost of the 
four main islands of Japan with an area 
about one-third that of Honshu. Rice, 
oats, barley, wheat and soybeans along 
with horses, sheep, cattle and pigs are 
raised there. It is also the home of many 
of the aboriginal inhabitants of these  is-
lands, the  A  in  u. Have you ever  visited 
 there? What thoughts or impressions do 
 you have of Hokkaido and its history? 
              ************************* 
   The name, Hokkaido, reminds me of 
Dr. William Smith Clark, an American 
scientist and educator. He came to Ja-
pan on the invitation of the Japanese 
government to be an agricultural devel-
oper of Hokkaido in  1876. He stayed in 
Japan as vice-principal of Sapporo Agri-
cultural School and exerted a spiritual 
influence upon his students, including 
Kenzo Uchimura and Inazo Nitobe, both of 
whom became pious Christians and great 
proponents of Japanese culture. He left 
the famous word, "Boys, be ambitious!" 
when he returned to America following 
 his service in Japan. No one who was ed-
ucated in prewar days can forget these 
encouraging words. 
   Certainly, Hokkaido has developed 
remarkably in  agriculture: Snow Brand 
butter and  Sapporo beer have been well 
known since the time I was a child. Hok-
kaido must  be of the highest rank in ag-
riculture, but it seems to be backward in 
industrial fields. As a matter of fact, 
Hokkaido has only one electric power 
company while there are six in Honshu 
which is three times the size of Hokkai-
do. In that sense, Hokkaido may  .be  _said 
to have vast potential in regard to future 
industrial development. 
    (HARUJI FUKUMI, Minami, Nagoya) 
   My wife  and  I visited Hokkaido dur-
ing our honeymoon. it was a beautiful 
summer in  1980. We wanted to decide 
when and where to go and where to stay 
by ourselves. If we rode on a  sightsee-
ing bus, we would have to follow their 
schedule, so I rented a car to go around 
there by ourselves. We enjoyed watching 
many kinds of wild animals and birds as 
long as we wanted, some of which could 
not be seen in Honshu.  1 was delighted to 
know both of us shared the same feeling 
toward wildlife. 
   One  day in the evening, we got out of 
the car on a mountain pass to rest. There 
was a vast stretch of mountains and a 
big  lake below. We spied a big female 
deer (ezo-shika) walking about 30  me-
ters away from  us: She didn't seem to 
pay any special attention to us and began 
to eat weeds.  it was a very beautiful 
sight under a colorful sunset  sky.' 
   Suddenly, we noticed that the deer 
jumped and looked around carefully. At 
first, we could not figure out what had 
happened. When the deer began trotting, 
we saw a stone rolling near her. It had
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2 MARCH 23,  1997 
been thrown from a group from a touring 
bus behind us. I automatically shouted 
 "Stop!" At first, I though a small  child 
had thrown it and was not sure he heard 
me, so I walked toward the group to  re-
peat it. Then,  1 realized I was mistaken. 
I could see a young man who appeared to 
be in his early twenties walk away from 
the group to look for another stone to 
throw. But I could not stop walking and 
said,  "Please don't throw it." He turned 
around and stared at me with a stone in 
his right hand. I stood still and looked 
straight into his eyes. I regretted that I 
had shouted before knowing who  threw 
the stone and was mentally prepared to 
have a stone thrown at me from a short 
distance. I  felt it was a long period, but 
 it probably lasted only a few seconds be-
fore he dropped the stone and went away 
without speaking.  1 could see the deer 
running far away. Then  1 got back to my 
wife who was worrying about me. 
   When we got back to our car, I was 
happy that we were as safe as the deer. 
It is said that human beings are the only 
creatures on earth that kill other crea-
tures even when they are not needed for 
food. Although it may be fun for the hu-
man being, it is a matter of life or death 
for the wild animal. It was an unforget-
table incident for us. 
 (TOSHIAKI  MIYAKE, Tsuzuki, Yokohama) 
   I have gone to Hokkaido four times.. 
I always. go on trips expecting to see 
new things. I went to Hokkaido with 
that same expectation, but I was disap-
pointed because everything, everywhere 
was modernized as if it were in compe-
tition with other places. Changes have 
made it more convenient and brighter, 
 but I could not find anything that stimu-
lated deep thought and I regret it. 
   Not  only in Hokkaido but in other 
places also a  similar, the is found. 
I cannot understand the significance of a 
historical spot or famous place. There 
is no atmosphere. Such places are fading
             "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 
out rapidly in  Japan.---I. am afraid that our 
thinking has changed and true beauty  i  s 
disappearing. I hope that this change is 
stopped and that we continue to appreci-
ate Japanese culture. 
    (MICHIKO  SANG, Minami, Nagoya) 
   Given the theme "Hokkaido", I could 
not help remembering my grandfather, 
his son, grandson and great grandson on 
my mother's side. My grandfather went 
to Hokkaido when he was young, but 
when my mother, his youngest daughter, 
was born, he was in Tokyo and his house 
was very close to ours. He was not very 
talkative, but sometimes at family gath-
erings, he told us about his younger days 
there, which were quite interesting and 
even thrilling. My mother loved Hokkai-
do very much. I remember her joyfully 
telling us about her memories of  it. 
was able to visit and spend a summer on 
the farm run by my uncle, grandfather's 
eldest son. After I married, I went on a 
sightseeing trip around the island with 
my husband. In 1995, I again visited the 
farm which had been thoroughly renovat-
ed.  1 do not want to  publicize my grand-
father's family and their activities, but 
please allow me to write something 
about them as  I think their lives are 
closely related to the history of Hokkai-
do, especially in relation to the  develop-
ment of the dairy industry there. 
   My grandfather was born in 1859 in 
Fukui Prefecture, the son of a low-class 
samurai. In the Meiji Restoration, the 
samurai class lost their position and in-
come and fell into destitution. He want-
ed to acquire a higher education and 
learned English. In those days, the Meiji 
government began to enact a plan to de-
velop Hokkaido on an American model in 
order to secure the island from Russia 
and established the, Sapporo Agricultural 
College.  Fortunately, he was able to en-
ter that school in 1876 and was given a 
scholarship.
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MARCH 23,  1997 
   The primary purpose of the school 
was to introduce an American method of 
agriculture to its students. Edwin Dan, 
called "an officially employed expert", 
was their teacher. The students were 
very diligent and many of them became 
famous, Most of them left Hokkaido, but 
my grandfather was one of the few that 
remained there. Edwin Dan made many 
exploratory trips around Hokkaido, seek-
ing suitable places for raising cattle or 
sheep as well as horses to recommend to 
the government. My grandfather always 
followed his teacher as an assistant. Dan 
recommended Makomanai for cattle and 
sheep, Niikappu for horses and Nemuro 
for cows. History has proven his recom-
mendations to be quite sound. In  1882, 
the foreign expert system was abolished 
and Dan left, but my grandfather contin-
ued exploring many places around the is-
land with his followers and native Ainus. 
He worked in Hokkaido until he was sum-
monded to Tokyo by the army to raise ar-
my horses. He tried hard to develop ag-
riculture, especially dairy farming,  in 
Hokkaido and wanted his eldest son to 
become a dairy farmer himself. In  1906, 
he let his son go to the United States to 
study dairy farming there. He worked on 
a dairy farm for almost ten years and al-
so attended the Wisconsin Agricultural 
College. In 1918, he returned to Japan 
and started a farm as his father wanted. 
   In those days, Japanese agriculture 
was mainly concerned with rice cultiva-
tion and was still quite primitive. Little 
was known about a scientific, advanced 
form of agriculture, especially related 
to dairy farming. My uncle ran his farm 
many years and produced many prestig-
ious bulls and cows. He realized that 
Holstein was the breed  best-fitted for 
the dairy industry in Japan and tried 
hard  to improve the breed by  importing 
superior cows from the States. He real-
ized that in order to raise good cattle, 
growing good grass for grazing was in-
dispensable and in order to grow good
 "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 3 
grass, improving the quality of soil was 
essential. He encouraged people to plow 
deep by using a tractor, to  lime the soil 
and to construct underground drainage 
when necessary. All his life, he  was 
thankful to the Americans for their kind-
ness in teaching him dairying and an ad-
vanced method of agriculture.  It  maS/ be 
that it was in response to  such kindness 
and encouragement that he was motivat-
ed to dedicate his  -life to the develop-
ment of agriculture in his homeland. 
   Time passed and conditions changed. 
Urbanization advanced in Hokkaido too. 
He came to realize that the city had 
come too close to his farm. His farm had 
functioned to produce good sires, but the 
advance of artificial insemination tech-
nology made it possible to import excel-
lent frozen sperm from abroad and the 
job came to be monopolized by a govern-
ment enterprise. He planned to move and 
construct a new farm, but he was too 
old. Fortunately, his son, who studied 
dairying in Wisconsin like his father, 
succeeded him and planned to make a 
thoroughly new type of dairy farm. My 
cousin and his son completed the project 
and the farm was moved in 1992. The 
sight of the new farm was completely 
different from the old one. 
   On the farm, there is a huge cow-
house, where a large number of cows are 
fed, with a milking center next to it. The 
cowhouse, where cows live and are fed, 
has a free stall system and cows are not 
allotted fixed stalls. When the time  for 
milking comes, they are led to the en-
trance of the milking center which has 
an  American-made super-parallel-type 
milking parlor system. Cows surge into 
the center, await their turn in a waiting 
place and go, one by one, into the milking 
parlor to be milked. The system, which 
makes the cows move, enables a few 
people to extract a great amount of milk. 
When the milking is finished, the cows 
are released at the same time and go 
back, one by one, through an exit to their
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4 MARCH 23,  1997 
house like another surge. The data of the 
quantity and quality of  milk produced by 
each cow is processed by a computer. By 
separating living and milking facilities, 
the farm can produce dairy products in 
quite a sanitary way. The cows are fed 
by a mixer-feeder, depending on the data 
taken by a dairy manager system. The 
disposal of excrement is quite an impor-
tant problem for the farm. They apply a 
slurry system, using a Canadian-made 
slurry tank to dry the sludge and make 
use of it as fertilizer. 
   The farm looks just like a factory. I 
could not help missing the heart-warm-
ing, familiar pastoral atmosphere of the 
past. I understand that the dairy indus-
try in this country is in a crucial situa-
tion. The import of dairy products from 
abroad has been liberalized. Since agri-
culture, including dairy farming, is very 
important for our lives, I sincerely hope 
 that.  it will develop in a healthy way for 
 our benefit. 
 (MICHIKO KAWAMURA, Meguro, Tokyo) 
   I have been to Hokkaido three times. 
In 1962, I went there with college mates 
by a night train with berths on the Toho-
ku Line and passed over the Tsugaru 
Straits on the  Seikan-renraku-sen. 
   The second time, in 1991,  I went by 
airplane to Chitose with my two daugh-
ters. We rented a car and visited mainly 
the central area of Hokkaido. One of my 
daughters, who had just received her 
drivers license, was very happy to drive 
on long, wide, straight roads with few 
cars. Now when  I close my eyes, some 
beautiful sights come to mind: the flow-
er fields of Furano, striped with  white, 
purple or pink as far as I can see, a big 
green field with some cows or horses 
eating grass with big white silos with 
red roofs. Such scenery stimulates a 
different feeling than other parts of  Ja-
pan.  I was also very happy with my young 
daughters' ability to drive without  hesi-
tation in a strange area, using a map and
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES
asking people for directions in order to 
reach the hotel where we had reserved a 
room before dark. 
   The third time was last June. My 
husband and I left for Hokkaido from the 
Port of Nagoya on the "KISO" with eight 
of our friends. It took about 37 hours to 
the Port of Tomakomai. On the way, we 
stopped at Sendai for three hours, where 
we disembarked and walked along the 
streets and into a park near the port. We 
never felt bored during our two nights on 
the ship. We watched movies, listened 
to live music, took baths and talked with 
the ship's captain or others. After a 
four-hour train ride to Kushiro, we rent-
ed a car and visited famous sightseeing 
spots. We also stopped at Nakashibetsu 
Elementary-Junior High School, where 
the daughter of a friend of mine is a 
teacher, and at some unpublicized, sec-
ret hot springs. We also climbed Mogo-
to-yama and Sharidake. Finally, after 
strolling around the Kushiro marshland, 
we left from Kushiro Airport for Nagoya. 
   I wish to emphasize the typical land-
scape of Hokkaido which I saw and loved 
on my second trip: green fields and big 
silos. On the third trip, there were few 
silos to be seen, but there were many 
plastic bags rolled here and there in the 
fields. To me, it seemed strange and 
funny to see these black things or things 
with blue and white stripes rolling in 
wide fields, but I thought that it would 
be easier for farmers to keep the hay in 
such bags rather than carrying it to a  si-
lo or back into the field to feed their  an-
imals. This is just my observation and 
imagination, since I didn't have a chance 
to talk about it with farmers them-
selves, for which I'm sorry. 
    (YOSHIKO TOYOTA, Kanie,  Aichi) 
   I have very little knowledge of Ja-
pan's northernmost island. I have only 
once been in Sapporo on business while 
on the editorial staff of a textbook pub-
lishing company.
---------------------[End of Page 4]---------------------
MARCH 23, 1997 
    When I was a small boy, I assumed 
that konbu, or tangles, was a special 
product of my native town of Osaka. I 
was told later, however, that konbu was 
a product of Hokkaido and sold in Osaka 
like many other products across the 
country. Osaka became the marketplace 
for various products from every part of 
the country during the Edo era when kon-
bu came into the market along with many 
other products of Hokkaido. Thus, Hok-
kaido was a familiar name to me. In my 
mind, Hokkaido is associated with konbu. 
    For me, there is also an association 
between Hokkaido and Sapporo  Agricul-
tural School of the Meiji era. Especially, 
the fame of the president of the school, 
Dr. William Smith Clark, is  long-lasting 
in that he founded the school which rep-
resented the dawn of the Meiji era. His 
words, "Boys be ambitious for the at-
tainment of all that a man ought to be" 
will go down in history. Hokkaido is a 
great symbol of ambitions that everyone 
ought to know. 
  (SHOJI SUGIMOTO, Suginami, Tokyo) 
   I cannot write anything about  Hok-
kaido without mentioning its indigenous 
inhabitants, the Ainu. When I studied in 
Germany some thirty years ago, an  A  f  ri-
can classmate asked me about the Ainu. I 
could not answer because I hardly knew 
anything about them. I felt very ashamed 
of my ignorance. 
   Later, I met a German man in Nagoya 
who had studied Japanese history at the 
University of Vienna and wrote his doc-
toral dissertation on the Ainu rebellions 
in the 13th century. I read his thesis 
carefully and was shocked to learn about 
their history and the devastating  inci-
dents. caused by the Japanese who invad-
ed their territory in particular. I was 
amazed and indignant that nothing about 
the Ainu was taught in Japanese schools. 
   I began to read books historical 
books about the Ainu written by Japa-
nese scholars and journalists and liter-
          "DAILY  WORD" ECHOES 5 
ary works authored by Ainu writers. The 
more I read about their history, the guil-
tier I felt as a descendant of the Japa-
nese who tortured them. The more I 
learned about their character, the more I 
was impressed with their respect for 
nature. I realized that what Japanese 
 .did to the  Ainu was similar to what 
white Americans did to Native Ameri-
cans and how Australians treated the 
Aborigines. 
    In  1993, the "International Year of 
Indigenous Peoples", a big conference 
was planned and carried out by Ainu in 
Hokkaido.  I asked my husband to give me 
the money to travel there instead, of 
 buying me a ring commemorating our 
 25th wedding anniversary, and flew to 
Hokkaido, the homeland of Ainu culture. 
   The conference lasted four days and 
was attended by about fifty guests from 
indigenous peoples from more than ten 
countries. The program was  wide-rang-
ing: musical performances by indigenous 
people dressed in their fabulous cos-
tumes, the keynote speech by  an Ainu 
leader about the torment experienced by 
his father's generation, reports by indi-
genous guests about environmental, edu-
cational and judicial problems they had 
been dealing with for many years. 
   All the participants from all over 
Japan and many foreign countries were 
supporters of indigenous peoples. They 
soon became friendly with each other. 
They sat in circles on the grass at re-
cess, sharing food and discussing human 
rights, the environment and the preser-
vation of traditional cultures. They 
learned anew about the awe and rever-
ence indigenous peoples had for nature 
and the integrity and competence they 
manifested, enduring their hardships. 
   This planet is now globally polluted. 
We are at the edge of a crisis. It is time 
for all of us living in developed coun-
tries to learn from indigenous peoples 
who have wisdom and knowledge to live 
in harmony with their environment.
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6 MARCH  23, 1997 
   On the appeal of host members of 
this conference, the United Nations desig-
nated the next ten years as the "Inter-
national Decade of Indigenous Peoples". I 
hope many people get to know about 
indigenous peoples  during this period, 
become interested in their cultures and 
learn something about life from them. 
   A precious gift I received from this 
big event in Hokkaido was new friends: a 
Japanese woman who is a storyteller ded-
icating herself to collect folklore of the 
Ainu and three Ainu girls who were pri-
mary school pupils at that time and are 
now junior high students. I still keep in 
touch with them. (NAOMI  RONDO,  Handa) 
 ************************* 
 January  21 Message (Subject #321) 
 Timepieces, such as clocks or  watch-
es, is the  suggested theme  for an essay. 
 What  thoughts or memories do you have 
about them? • 
 ************************* 
   Watches and clocks are indispensa-
ble in my life. I use an alarm clock so 
that I can get up early on my own. Al-
though there is a clock in each of my 
classrooms at school,  1 need my own 
watch for the  proper or efficient allot-
ment of time for each  English-teaching 
activity. I can  make the best use of  time 
 at my disposal by using my watch. 
   This useful device, however, can  a  I-
so make me busy all the time. it was not 
until my watch was broken that  I real-
ized that. I had to live without my watch 
for some time. Of course, it was very 
inconvenient, since I was used to having 
my activities scheduled according to my 
watch, but I also felt a bit more relaxed. 
So I thought it was good to live without 
a watch once in a while. I couldn't do as
             "DAILY  WORD" ECHOES 
many things as I could when my watch 
was working, but I did concentrate on 
and fully enjoy each activity. This was 
especially true in regard to relation-
ships with my children, students and 
friends.  I. already  .knew how precious 
time was, but I realized that it is also 
important to have plenty of time for 
such relationships. 
   These days, I am very busy in and 
outside of school, but I sometimes feel I 
should be time-free and available  for 
those who need me. 
  (TOMOYASU  KIMURA, Nishi, Nagoya) 
 1 am embarrassed to confess that I 
have just come to know  the-word  "time-
piece" for the first time. I wondered for 
a long time why there was no word in 
English meaning  tokei, which includes 
both "clock" and "watch". 
   Watches are rather inexpensive to-
day. There are a lot of throwaway watch-
es now. It is unbelievable that a  Y1000 
watch works well for a relatively long 
time. In my boyhood, a watch was an ar-
ticle of value. I cannot forget my feel-
ing of pleasure when I received a watch 
from my parents for the first time  -when 
I entered middle school. 
   Now  1 have just come home from an 
overseas trip to Spain. Though the time 
required for such  .a flight is much less 
today, over ten hours flying time is still 
inconvenient for us. But the greatest 
problem, above all, is the difference in 
time. It is troublesome to set a watch 
in the local time each time we change 
time zones. Sometimes it is rather  dif-
ficult to know the time in Japan. On my 
way back in the airplane, many souvenirs 
were on sale, among which I found two 
kinds of interesting watches. One of 
them was a wristwatch which  had two 
small watches set together side by side. 
One watch was expected to be set at the 
local time and the other may be set to 
show the time in Japan continually. I 
thought that watch would be quite con-
---------------------[End of Page 6]---------------------
MARCH 23,  1997 
venient to use when traveling abroad, 
when we change time zones frequently. 
   Another kind of watch I found inter-
esting in the airplane showed the number 
of seconds remaining until the end of 
this century. Of course, the number is an 
enormous figure which is decreasing  lit-
tle by little. Such a watch certainly 
arouses interest, but I wonder how prac-
tical it is in  one's daily life. 
   Watches and clocks these days are 
very accurate. We hardly ever need to re-
set them. A Seiko watch which I bought 
about ten years ago, for example, needed 
to be reset only once in two or three 
years. Moreover, we can find timepieces 
everywhere we go. We can find a digital 
clock on a video deck, on a reading desk, 
in a car and so on. Therefore, I do not 
usually wear my wristwatch because  i  t 
is not necessary except on a day when 
have some special activities. 
   In our history, Emperor Tenji is said 
to have put a clock (called rOkoku, a kind 
of water clock) to practical use for the 
first time on June 10, 671, which date 
has been designated "Time Memorial  Day" 
since  1920. It was an important step in 
the development of our civilization, but 
it was also the beginning of trials relat-
ed to our lives being bound by time. As is 
the case with others, I have never exper-
ienced life without timepieces around 
me. Most days for me begin with the 
ringing of an alarm clock in the morning 
and most activities during the day are 
accompanied by the movement of a time-
piece. I wish to live in a world  without 
timepieces, which would be an earthly 
paradise for civilized human beings. 
      (MIKIHIKO YOSHIMOTO, Gifu) 
   Nowadays, timepieces are superior 
to those in the past. In the old days, they 
were apt to stop, get out of order or 
damaged so we were  always anxious 
about our wristwatches when we moved 
our arms roughly. Still now when I en-
gage in physical exercise, I am careful
          "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 7 
of my wristwatch and try not to swing 
 my arm too forcefully but, contrary to 
 my anxiety, it is never damaged. To my 
surprise, the clock at the front of a city 
bus never is damaged even if the bus 
goes on an extremely rough road and al-
ways keeps the correct time. 
    Furthermore, we can purchase  time-
pieces very cheaply. Of course, some of 
them are high-priced, but they are not 
necessarily of better quality than cheap-
er ones. We now have many opportuni-
ties to get free timepieces as commer-
cial gifts from newly-opened shops and 
are surprised to know that they are quite 
good and keep the correct time. 
 (HARUJI FUKUMI, Minami, Nagoya) 
    I remember two watches and one 
clock in my youthful days. My  grandfa-
ther used a golden pocket watch. He 
promised that it would be given to my 
brother when he grew up. Our family had 
no doubt that the promise would be kept. 
The other watch was my grandmother's 
golden wrist watch. It was given to me 
before she died. I remember that at that 
time I did not want to keep it if she got 
better. She is more precious than her 
golden wrist watch. I wept in my room. 
   I cannot see or use these two 
watches now because they were lost 
during the Second World War. The fate 
of the clock was the same as the two 
watches.  It was an old style one  and I 
looked at the time on it every day. They 
all were lost on June 16, 1945.  1 do not 
have material mementos, but I do have 
them in my mind. The golden watches 
are shining brightly and the pendulum of 
the old clock is moving gently. All things 
disappear sooner or later, but they  re-
main in  my  memory . Not only the watch-
es and the clock, but all things are viv-
idly in my mind and I give thanks to God. 
     (MICHIKO SANO, Minami, Nagoya) 
   Now  I have a favorite clock. It is a 
red alarm clock. The sounds that wake
---------------------[End of Page 7]---------------------
8 MARCH 23,  1  997 
me up are: chimes of Westminster Abbey, 
a minuet and two other tunes.  It is as if 
I had bought a music box along with it. I 
hope it does not go out of order or get 
broken. (YASUKO  IZUMI, Seto) 
   We rely upon clocks and watches to 
keep to our time schedule. I cannot imag-
ine my daily life without them. I could 
not live like those  men in the movie, 
 "Easy  Rider", who threw away their 
wristwatches and fled from city life. 
am surrounded by many timepieces. Ac-
tually, I  don't know how many of them I 
have now. Their appearances are not 
necessarily those of ordinary "clocks" or 
"watches".  • They are.  installed,  in, electric 
parts of our VCR (video cassette record-
er), camera,  fax machine, microwave ov-
en,  rice-cooker, bread-making machine, 
 bath-controller, etc. The installation  of 
clocks in household appliances has made 
our lives very convenient. 
   I think we save time by using tim-
ers. For  instance, I  don't have to stay up 
late to see favorite old movies if I set 
the timer of my VCR. My  wire doesn't 
have to get up early to  cook rice if she 
doesn't forget to set the timer before 
 going to bed. On the other hand, I occa-
sionally feel that I am wasting my pre-
cious time to catch up on recorded VCR 
tapes. Several years ago, I decided to 
stop collecting tapes. When I see a pile 
of VCR tapes that  .1 have never seen, I 
feel a kind of pressure. If I don't record 
on tapes,  I am free from such pressure. I 
don't know how long it will take me to 
see all of my collection, but  1 may have 
to wait until my retirement. It's  ridicu-
lous that our time could be wasted by 
time-saving machines. I am now record-
ing only as much as  1 can see  soon: 
   There is  an old  saying, "Time is 
money". The same verbs in English can 
be used in connection with both time and 
money. We can save, spend or waste 
them. Everyone has 24 hours in a day. It 
is exactly the same for all of us.  This
              "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 
might be the point where time is totally 
different than money. Anyway, it's up to 
us how to spend it. 
(TOSHIAKI MIYAKE, Tsuzuki, Yokohama) 
   When I first heard the word,  'time-
piece", I  couldn't make it out, nor did I 
associate it  with a clock or watch. Soon 
after that, I came across that word in a 
book we started to read recently. 
   According to the book, until a break-
through occurred as the result of an in-
vention in the eighteenth century, carto-
graphers and navigators were unable to 
fix longitude with any degree of  preci-
sion. What was needed in those days 
was an instrument that would keep, time 
with perfect accuracy during long sea 
journeys. The timepieces of the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries were 
crude devices which lost or gained as 
much as a quarter of an hour per day. 
   The talented English clockmaker, 
John Harrison, accomplished this feat. 
In 1761, his elegant Chronometer  NO 4 
left Britain on a ship bound for Jamaica 
and, two months later, the instrument 
was found to have lost just five seconds. 
Harrison  surpassed the conditions set by 
the Board of Longitude. This outstanding 
invention made it possible for  navigat-
ors to fix not only the correct latitude 
but the correct longitude  of every island 
and coastline. I learned from this book 
that the development of technology owed 
much to painstaking effort  by, such  indi-
viduals as Harrison. 
          (SHOJI DOMAE, Kasugai) 
   This essay, related to a memory 
about timepieces, is, at the same time, 
an introduction to one of my favorite 
"Daily Word" messages. You know the 
Roman numerals: I, II, Ill,  IV,, V . . But 
did you  knOw  that  .4 on clocks was shown 
as 1111 instead of  IV? Several years ago, 
when I began to listen to "Daily Word", I 
learned that fact which has an interest-
ing episode connected with it. Then I
---------------------[End of Page 8]---------------------
MARCH 23, 1997 
checked not only the timepieces around 
me but also those in watch stores and I 
was very surprised that  I  could find no 
exception among them. 
   Because of my poor memory, I can-
not relate the story exactly, but this is 
the general idea. Long, long ago, a king 
in Europe ordered a skilled clock maker 
to make a clock. The clock maker soon 
made a wonderful, perfect clock, but he 
knew the king's strange habit of wanting 
to find something wrong with everything 
so he purposely put the Roman numeral 
 MI in place of IV on the face of the 
clock. How amazing that the result of 
this historical incident has continued 
until the present time in such a far away 
place.  (YOSHIKO TOYOTA, Kanie,  Aichi) 
                                                                       • 
   Whenever I have an appointment to 
meet someone, I make it a rule to be on 
time. In order to arrive by the appointed 
time,  I decide when to leave home with a 
 twelve-minute margin. As the time 
draws near, I look up at the clock in the 
living room more often than usual. 
   In my ordinary life, I do not know 
how many times  I look up at the  clock-- 
not only before and after breakfast, be-
fore and after lunch, before and after 
supper. I repeatedly  look up at the clock. 
Why? Simply to verify that things are 
moving along as they should. Most of the 
time, these looks are done almost uncon-
scious, though I am far from being a 
 clock-watcher. Looking at the clock is 
so habitual as to easily slip my mind. 
This clearly shows how important a role 
the clock plays in our daily lives. 
   It is quite wonderful that the clock 
moves exactly the same way wherever 
one may live or in whatever  culture. This 
is because human beings live on the 
earth, the one and only planet we are 
destined to live on. The fact that the or-
iginal clock was a sundial indicates why 
the system of measuring time is the 
same all over the globe. 
  (SHOJI SUGIMOTO, Suginami, Tokyo)
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES 9 
*************************
January 28 Message (Subject #322)
   At the end of the year, it is common 
for news services to choose outstanding 
events of that year.  I am sure the order 
of important news stories had to be 
changed for many such organizations 
just as the year was ending because of 
the hostage crisis that occurred in Lima, 
Peru.  Daily, for the past six weeks, re-
ports from Lima have monopolized  headl 
ines and crowded out other news stories 
in Japanese newspapers. From your  view-
point at the present time, what is your 
assessment  of that crisis and the way it 
has been handled? Why did the Japanese 
ambassador's residence become the site 
of the extraordinary event? What do you 
think of the manner in which President 
Fujimori, his government and the leaders 
of other nations responded to the rebels' 
demands? What can we learn from this 
 experience? What are your impressions, 
evaluations or comments related to the 
hostage crisis in Peru? 
 *************************
   Many people have been held hostage 
by guerrillas in the Japanese ambassa-
dor's official residence  in: Peru for more 
than fifty days. When the incident took 
place, the only thing I knew about that 
country was the name of its president, 
Fujimori. Since then, the media have re-
ported not only the news but also many 
problems that Peruvian people are  fac-
ing. However, I still feel it is happening 
far from here both geographically and 
culturally. 
   I was very interested in seeing that 
a Catholic priest played a very important 
role as a negotiator. He has been relied 
upon by both the government officials
---------------------[End of Page 9]---------------------
10 MARCH 23, 1997 
and the dissidents. He seemed to be able 
to act in God's name in his black garb. I 
realized that even outlaws could be hon-
est in front of a priest and believe in 
God. What they confessed must be con-
sidered professional secrets by the 
priest. Therefore, we  • will never know 
their stories. 
   At present, it seems impossible for 
President Fujimori to accept their de-
mands. But in order to solve the crisis, 
 it is very important to know what the 
guerrillas really want. So it all depends 
on the priest's  skill as a negotiator. 
   I think problems caused by  geograph-
ical distance can be overcome with mod-
ern telecommunication technologies. We 
are able to see what is going on there on 
television as it happens. But I think we 
will never understand the whole picture 
of the incident until we comprehend the 
religious and cultural  backgrounds of 
those involved. I have never heard that a 
Japanese Shinto priest did a similar job 
when members of the Japanese Red Army 
hijacked a JAL plane more than twenty 
years ago. 
 (TOSHIAKI  MIYAKE, Tsuzuki, Yokohama) 
   More than six weeks have passed 
since the  hostage crisis began in Peru. I 
could not get this problem out of my 
head, together with the oil spill inci-
dent, even when I was traveling in Spain 
recently. I was worried about it because 
I could not  obtain relevant information 
in newspapers or on television there. 
   The MTRA  (Tupac Amaru Revolution-
ary  Movement) have entrenched  them-
selves in the official residence of the 
Japanese ambassador to Peru in Lima, 
holding the ambassador and his guests as 
hostages. Their main demand is to ob-
tain the release of their fellows who are 
now in prison.  It is impossible for the 
government to accede to their demand, 
but at the same time, needless to say, 
the hostages' safety must be the primary 
concern. This is  the reason why  negotia-
              "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 
tions between the concerned parties 
have been delayed for so long. The only 
encouraging element for us is that the 
criminals do not intend to inflict  inju-
ries on the hostages at this time and 
that the  ambassador's- brave and com-
posed attitude is easing the  hostages' 
minds. It is said, furthermore, that 
there is no dangerous hostility between 
the criminals and the hostages. 
   But why on earth did the criminals 
choose the Japanese ambassador's resi-
dence as the site of their outrageous ac-
tion? The main reason must have been 
that many prominent persons, domestic 
and foreign, had gathered together at the 
 residetice. (On that day, a birthday cele-
bration for our  .Emperor was being held 
 there.) But it is  regrettable if, as is 
being widely discussed, the criminals 
thought that the Japanese government 
would easily accede to their demand and 
pay a ransom to them. Actually, diplo-
mats of some countries have been freed 
in exchange for the release of the crim-
inals' fellows in their land. It is quite 
regrettable that we cannot completely 
deny the rumor that some Japanese com-
panies  have already paid a ransom for 
the release of their employees. 
   Mr.  Fujimori, the president of Peru, 
is of Japanese descent. We Japanese feel 
good will  toward him and support his ad-
ministration. The criminals might have 
thought that  Mr. Fujimori could be easily 
manipulated because he had to consider 
the connection with our country. 
   The MRTA provoked a similar  inci-
dent in 1980 in Colombia. The Dominican 
Republic Embassy was chosen as the site 
at that time. In that case, the criminals 
finally left the country for Havana with 
more than ten hostages and released the 
hostages there. Insofar as the Peruvian 
government has no intention of releasing 
imprisoned MRTA members, the previous 
example in Colombia is the only method 
left for the government to adopt. Nego-
tiations with other countries to that end
---------------------[End of Page 10]---------------------
MARCH 23,  1997 
must be carried on privately, in consid-
eration of the fact that time is passing 
rapidly without remarkable movement on 
either side.  I hope the Peruvian and Jap-
anese government will cope prudently 
with the problem, putting concern for 
human  fife before everything else. 
       (MIKIHIKO YOSHIMOTO, Gifu) 
   The MRTA is demanding the release 
of members of their group who have been 
caught and are in prison. I cannot under-
stand what the government delegates in 
Peru think about the new situation. I 
think that it is better to talk with a 
peaceful heart than to assume a threat-
ening posture because we must  ,under-
stand why the MRTA continues its ac-
tions. There is a Japanese  proverb:dorob6 
nimo ichibu no ri, there is honor even 
among thieves. 
    (MICHIKO SANO, Minami, Nagoya) 
   Since President Fujimori came to 
Japan, I've been interested in him. I have 
admired him as a political leader, for he 
became president of a country where 
Japanese is not spoken. Of course, he 
cannot speak Japanese but he resembles 
me and I'm sure he has part of the Japa-
nese character so  I expected him to be 
like a Japanese politician. Listening to 
him, however, I found him very different 
from our politicians and dignified as a 
world leader. 
   I pray that all the hostages will be 
released safely, but at the same time, I 
hope President Fujimori will be able to 
improve the prison conditions in Peru by 
accepting some of the requests made by 
the terrorists.  I don't think that by do-
ing so it means he is yielding to  terror-
ism. Even the human rights of prisoners 
should be respected. I'm sure President 
Fujimori will be recognized as a first-
class statesman, not only of Peru but of 
the world, if he succeeds in coping  with 
the present crisis.
          "DAILY WORD" ECHOES  11 
    On the other hand, however, I was 
very disappointed with the foreign min-
ister of Japan who went to Peru but did 
nothing. I don't know the details exact-
ly, but if it is true, his remarks will add 
to the disgrace of Japanese politicians. 
According to the Vox Populi Vox Del col-
umn in the Asahi Shinbun,  Mr. Ikeda 
scolded a journalist who asked a ques-
tion the foreign minister  had  least.,.ex-
pected during a press conference held  i  n 
Peru. 1:Impicrap_e_tenti 
   (TOMOYASU  KIMURA, Nishi, Nagoya) 
    Why did the Japanese ambassador's 
residence become the site of this extra-
ordinary event? I guess the rebels must 
have thought that the Japanese govern-
ment was so weak that their purpose 
would be easily achieved. Regrettable to 
say, the competence of the Japanese 
government is less today compared to 
the old days. There are many bribery 
scandals among politicians. The  situa-
tion in and around Japan must have  i  m--
pressed many people in the world to 
make them think that the Japanese gov-
ernment has deteriorated so much that 
no one will sympathize with it even if it 
is embarrassed regarding how to handle 
a major problem. 
   Japan is one of the participants in 
summit meetings of the most advanced 
countries, but I wonder if it is truly 
 qualified. To take financial policy as an 
example, what other country has adopted 
such a low interest rate as Japan's for 
such a long time? Aren't the interest 
rates of other countries about ten times 
higher than Japan's? Due to such a 
thoughtless policy, Japanese people have 
suffered from reduced incomes whereas 
only banks become rich. The former fi-
nance minister, Takemura, was once in-
ternationally mocked as the most incap-
able finance minister in the world. How 
could he be given such a high post as 
minister of finance?
---------------------[End of Page 11]---------------------
12 MARCH 23, 1997 
   Returning  .to the main theme, such 
cruel acts of terrorism should never be 
permitted regardless of how incompe-
tent the government concerned is. They 
should never be justified in any case. 
Prime Minister Hashimoto recently con-
ferred with Peruvian President Fujimori 
concerning the hostage crisis.  I think it 
would be admirable if the talks resulted 
in weakening the strength of terrorism. 
    (HARUJI  FUKUMI, Minami, Nagoya) 
   A guerrilla group, MRTA, or Tupac 
Amaru Revolutionary Movement, succeed-
ed in their surprise attack on the Japa-
nese ambassador's residence and took 
many important people hostage, includ-
ing Japanese Embassy officials and busi-
nessmen as well as foreign and domestic 
government officials. On December  17, 
 1996, the  Japanese Embassy invited 
many Peruvian  and foreign  dignitaries to 
a big party to celebrate the coming  birth-
day of the  Japanese Emperor and the hos-
tage-takers took the chance to launch a 
 rebellion. The rebels had long been await-
ing a chance to rise up and promote the 
cause of the poor. They had been secret-
ly preparing for the occasion. On the oth-
er hand, the government had neglected to 
strictly watch  anti-government activity. 
The stark contrast between these two 
forces gave rise to this incident with 
little hope for a settlement. Japan has 
committed itself to provide financial aid 
to Peru, but it is said the aid has often 
failed to reach  the real target--the  peo-
ple who need  it most. The rebels have 
severely criticized the way the aid has 
been handled. I hear we can hardly im-
agine how poverty-stricken needy people 
are. The  guerrilla group, MRTA, has not a 
few supporters  among the poorest peas-
ants with reason. The rebels can no long-
er bear what they call the government's 
callous disregard for the misery of  the 
poorest. 
 While talks between the Peruvian 
government and the rebels have reached
 "DAILY  WORD"  ECHOES 
a deadlock, President Fujimori pledged 
to intensify efforts to negotiate a  peace-
ful end to the crisis and won Japan's sup-
port for his refusal to consider the  re-
lease of the guerrillas' imprisoned com-
rades in exchange for the 72 hostages. 
Since not a few Japanese are involved in 
the crisis, it stands to reason that we 
give the extraordinary emergency in  L 
ma our attention. But the incident is 
related to domestic circumstances in 
Peru, so we have no alternative but to 
hope against hope for an early and peace-
ful settlement of the crisis. 
 (SHOW SUGIMOTO, Suginami, Tokyo) 
              ************************* 
February 4  Message  Subject  #323)
    The noun, spelled  s-h-o-e, denotes a 
covering for the foot and as a verb it 
means to furnish with  shoes. Shoes are 
a kind of  footwear.  Thy;  e are many  dif-
ferent kinds of shoes. Some are used  for 
particular  activities or sports, including 
tennis shoes, basketball shoes and fog-
ging shoes. Other kinds of footgear are 
used when it rains or snows,  such as 
rubbers, boots or galoshes.  High-heeled 
shoes are worn on certain occasions by 
 fashionable ladies while sandals may be 
worn  at other  times: The  traditional 
 footwear of Japan includes geta,  zOri 
and  waraji. The suggested  theMe for an 
essay this week is: footwear. Do you ev-
er wear  geta,  zOri or  wa  ra  jithese days? 
 When are they usually worn and by whom 
 How many different kinds of footwear do 
you use and at what times? Do you pre-
fer wearing sandals, shoes or slippers? 
 ****************-k******** 
   Nowadays, we seldom see the Japa-
nese footwear called  geta in a shop or on 
someone's feet, but we used to see it of-
---------------------[End of Page 12]---------------------
MARCH 23, 1997 
ten forty years ago. At that time there 
were geta shops, which were different 
than shoe stores, but recently we only 
see shoe stores. 
   I have a precious memory related to 
geta from the Second World War. When 
our house was burned as the result of an 
air raid at midnight, my mother and two 
brothers and I ran away to another place. 
Father was not at home then. We had no 
time to put anything on our feet. When I 
and my younger brother walked back to 
see our house in the morning, a kind wom-
an we did not know gave us two pairs of 
geta on the way. She said,  It is danger-
ous to walk barefooted. Wait a moment. 
I will give you  geta . Even though they 
are old, they are  better than  nothing." 
They were valuable to us at that time, 
even though they were old. 
   I have never forgotten her kindness 
and I will remember it as long as I live. 
I am very grateful and I think that I must 
show kindness to others as she showed 
to me. This may be what God taught me 
through her good deed. 
     (MICHIKO  SANG,  Minami, Nagoya) 
   I usually wear leather shoes when 
attending meetings such as the Bible 
Class, cloth shoes for walking and jog-
ging and sandals for going to the nearby 
postbox to mail letters. However, 
sometimes wear soccer shoes and  taka-
geta (geta with high supports). Soccer 
shoes are worn, of course, when I play 
soccer and takageta when I participate 
in ryOkasai (the old-time high school 
dormitory song festival). 
   Since New Year's Day, I have partici-
pated in two big games of soccer. One 
was held in Saya Town, Aichi  .Prefecture 
on January 2nd and the other in  Iwata 
City, Shizuoka Prefecture on January 
 26th. Almost twenty years have passed 
since I started to use the soccer shoes, 
but no damage has come to them except 
that the laces were once broken.  I am
         "DAILY WORD" ECHOES  13 
very happy that these old shoes have re-
mained usable for such a long time. 
 Ryokasai have been held all over the 
country during summer and fall every 
year since around 1960. In Nagoya, it 
has been held on the third Saturdays of 
August and about 600 old boys gather in 
a big hall of a hotel. Geta, including  taka--- 
geta, are usually prohibited in the hotel. 
However, in the case of  ryOkasai they 
are permitted, except in the area near 
the front desk.  Ryokasai bring back fond 
memories to the old boys who once exper-
ienced enjoyable times at high schools 
under the old educational system.  Geta,- 
including takageta, are sure to fade 
away, even as the traditional measure-
ment system will, in due course, while 
soccer shoes will continue to be popular, 
even more and more, in the future. 
    (HARUJI FUKUMI, Minami, Nagoya) 
   In regard to footwear, I usually 
wear Western style shoes, as is the case 
with everybody else today.  I sometimes 
wore geta or  zOri in the past but I have 
none of them in my cabinet now. I have 
often touched on my life in Hiroshima in 
this periodical previously. One of the 
things that surprised me when I began 
living in a rural district in Hiroshima, 
where I was evacuated during the war, 
was that most boys and girls were still 
wearing kimono and zOri in their daily 
lives, which was not the case in Tokyo 
those days. Children could make  zOri for 
themselves out of straw, which we 
called waraji, or straw sandals. Soon  I 
was also taught how to make them and I 
had no lack of  footwear, 
   Another experience of using foot-
wear other than shoes was in my student 
days in Kyoto. University students often 
wore geta , or wooden clogs, during their 
free time those days and I also did so. I 
often walked in geta on  Sundays even on 
 ShijO-dOri, the busy amusement quarters 
in Kyoto.
---------------------[End of Page 13]---------------------
14 MARCH 23, 1997 
 We do not wear shoes in our office 
during business hours because we have a 
room for water analysis there.  We, the 
staff and visitors, put on slippers at the 
entrance.  Owing to this practice, by the 
way, I have never suffered from  mizu-
mushi, or athlete's foot, since I began 
working at my present office. During my 
recess after lunch, I usually take a walk 
in sports shoes in the area around our 
office which is now used as a park. Now 
that I use a car to go to work, my shoes 
are not worn so much and last a long 
time. My wife often complains about my 
old shoes and urges me to buy new ones. 
In answer to her advice, I reply, "These 
shoes graciously accompanied me on my 
 Visit to Egypt  and India. They stood  be-
side the Pyramids and the Ganges. Never 
despise them." 
   To change the subject,  Westerners 
are much different than us,  I think, in 
their feelings  ;-'bout shoes. I hear that 
 they feel  it is unnatural to  cemove their 
shoes in  public and some  of them are 
mentally  reluctant to do so. They feel un-
easy and become nervous  without shoes. 
 We often see ladies wearing shoes even 
in bed in Western  films.  In the occupa-
tion years after the war, we often  sa  w 
foreigners spread a carpet on the tatami 
of a Japanese house,  which  they rented, 
and wear their shoes in the house. By the 
way, a much more surprising fact was 
that they  painted the  daikoku-bashira, or 
central pillar of the house. Many Japa-
nese accepted the situation, thinking 
that the  foreigners' behavior was the re-
sult  of a difference in culture. Neverthe-
less,  It was very troublesome for people 
to repair the tatami or the pillar after 
they recovered  their house. 
 We Japanese usually take off our 
shoes as soon as we enter a genkan, or 
entrance,  and then step into the house. 
For us, taking off our shoes after coming 
home is the beginning of our relaxation 
 at home.  When we make a call at  another 
person's house, taking off our shoes at
              "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 
the genkan is a manifestation of our 
friendship, or lack of hostility, because 
we are in a defenseless state without 
shoes. (MIKIHIKO  YOSHIMOTO, Gifu) 
   I happened to wear waraji  while 
climbing a  =mountain in my teens. They 
were so light and fit my feet so well 
that I found them quite comfortable, but 
I have never worn  waraji again since 
then. Years later, I happened to wear a 
pair of very light shoes made of cloth 
and rubber when I suddenly recalled 
wearing a  'pair of waraji. I associate the 
soft touch and lightness of waraji with 
delightful memories of my school days. 
 When I  was a boy, people around us 
used to wear geta or  zori in their daily 
lives. I wore them too, except when go-
ing to and from school. At the New Year, 
I used to get a brand-new pair of geta. 
The smell and smoothness of the wood 
pleased me and  encouraged me to move 
ahead in  the new year. The memory of 
the New Year's brand-new geta carries 
me back to [hose happy old days. 
   As social  customs  drastically 
changed  following the end of  World War 
II,  waraji and geta disappeared before 
we knew it. They gave way to a variety 
of footwear, such as sneakers, sandals, 
etc. I would like to emphasize that  geta 
should be judged  on,their own merits.  We 
should be fair in our appraisal of them. 
It is very agreeable to wear geta on our 
bare feet, especially on sultry summer 
clays. Finding fewer people are wearing 
 geta on scorching summer days, I wonder 
what made  them forget such excellent 
footwear. Formerly, doing away with 
traditional customs was considered to 
be modern. That way of ignoring tradi-
tion seems to be cause for the disap-
pearance of geta. 
  (SHOJI  SUGIMOTO,  Suginami, Tokyo) 
   Now I have four kinds of footwear: 
low-heeled shoes to go to church or out 
on business, rain  shoes, canvas shoes to
---------------------[End of Page 14]---------------------
MARCH 23, 1997
go for a walk and sandals to walk around 
my apartment house. In my own home, I 
have some pairs of slippers for visitors 
and others for my own use. This indi-
cates that most Japanese, including me, 
wear Western style clothes and live in 
semi-Western style houses. When get-
ting dressed up for special ceremonies 
or parties, some ladies wear  zOri to ac-
company their kimono. In my childhood, 
almost all Japanese housewives wore 
 geta,  ashida (rain clogs with high  sup-
ports),  zOri made of leather and  setta 
 (high-supported clogs with toe covers 
used on snowy days). However, when it 
snowed heavily, the lumps of snow 
packed between the two supports of  set-
ta often hindered them from  walking as 
they would. Sometimes, they fell down 
in the snow. In such cases, they should 
have worn a pair of rubber boots along 
with skirt pantaloons. 
   During World War  II, shoes and boots 
could not be found in the stores, so we 
had to wear  geta instead of  leather 
shoes and rubber boots to go outside. 
This continued even after the war  for a 
few years. It was a day in September 
 1945 when I went food-hunting to my 
 friend's farm in the country area near 
 Sendai that my clog was broken on the 
way back home. I had to get on the train 
of the  JOban Line barefoot. Fortunately, 
I  found a seat. An old man sitting in the 
opposite seat gave me a pair of  straw 
 zOri that we cannot find these days. I 
was very happy, thanked him and offered 
to give him some of the beans I had, but 
we would not take them and got off the 
train before  I did, one station this side 
of  Sendai. I cannot forget his kindness, 
even now after more than fifty years. I 
think we used that kind of straw  zOri to 
wear indoors for visitors at the school. 
 I have never worn  waraji. This kind 
of footwear must have been worn in the 
1800s until the very beginning of the 
20th century. And the writer of Hymn 
#404,  Yamaji Koete, Sugawo Nishimura,
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES
15
must have worn  waraji in 1903. How 
faithful he was! That is one of my fa-
vorite hymns. 
   I remember Dr. Hansen and Miss 
Lindsey had rubbers on the outside of 
their semi-high-heeled shoes when they 
 walked outside even on fine days. They 
used to take them off when they entered 
the school building. Some Japanese 
called them "overshoes".  I liked rubber 
high boots at that time.  I called myself 
"A  Pussy with Boots on" while some oth-
ers called me "Miss Boots". 
   These are my memories related to 
footwear. 
     (KAZUKO TAGUCHI, Fukushima)
   In my childhood, we often wore  wara-
zOri, or straw-woven sandals on casual 
occasions.  Wara-zOri had some advantag-
es over rubber shoes, especially in sum-
mer, because they were light and pleas-
ant to wear and, above all, they did not 
induce hot and sultry feelings. However, 
they had one big defect. As you can  easi-
ly imagine, they wore out soon and their 
straps were easily broken. So they could 
no longer be worn after a week  or so. 
Anyway, they fulfilled their function as 
a substitute for shoes for a certain peri-
od after the war. 
   Over the New Year's holidays, each 
member of the family wore new  geta, or 
wooden clogs. Geta for men were of  plain 
wood and usually had black thongs while 
those for women were sometimes lac-
quered and sometimes plain and had  beau-
tifully colored thongs of silk or velvet. 
When I went out at night with  geta on, 
the clatter they made echoed through the 
silent streets and I secretly enjoyed 
hearing that  sound. 
   After the war, we faced a shortage 
of commodities of every kind. Footwear 
were no exception. Various kinds of 
footwear were improvised.  ZOri-geta 
was one of them. This was an  ifio-Ddz 
,sa of my mother. When our  geta 
were separated from their thongs, she
---------------------[End of Page 15]---------------------
16  MARCH  23, 1997 
attached  wara-zori, or straw sandals, to 
the  geta because hanao,  or thongs, were 
very expensive for us to buy at that 
time. In this way, we put on specially 
recycled  geta, which were nowhere else 
to be seen. I recall many things in my 
youthful days associated with memories 
of footwear.  (SHOJI DOMAE, Kasugai) 
   It was a tiny bit of red paint on my 
mother's sneakers that became the only 
evidence to identify the truck driver who 
had driven away after hitting and killing 
her. An analysis of the paint proved that 
it was from the bottom of the truck. The 
license plate was stained with mud, so 
no one was able to see the number  dis-
tinctly. Under supervision of the Aichi 
Police Department, many plainclothes 
men from both the local and prefectural 
police force kept looking for the truck. 
Wakou, a young priest, was the only per-
son to have seen the truck clearly and 
was very helpful to the police, going 
downtown with them several times to 
look for the same type of truck, whether 
running on the  street or parked in a  park-
ing area. Three weeks later, the culprit 
was arrested and we found out that he 
was the son of an elementary school 
principal. I asked the police to give me 
back  her. sneakers, but the exhausted 
lieutenant sympathetically shook his 
 head,  saying, "I'm sorry, but  it's better 
for you not to have them." 
   Two months later, Wakou started to 
weave straw into a pair of waraji to 
wear. Actually, until my mother's acci-
dent, he was a little hesitant about 
whether or not to manage a small temple 
his mother is related to in this  not-very-
religious society, but my mother's death 
stimulated his decision to become the 
priest of that Zen temple and he began to 
prepare to undergo the strict training re-
quired in another large Rinzai Sect tem-
ple in Higashi Ward. He wanted to be-
come a priest who could help many  peo-
ple who are in hopeless situations. At
              "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 
the end of August of that year, around 5 
o'clock in the morning, he left for his 
three-year training in traditional priest-
ly  garlp,and his handmade waraji, which 
is one of the rules for a trainee crossing 
the threshold of a Zen temple. My sister 
and I saw him off in front of his temple 
along with his parents. It was the  begin-
ning of his purely religious life which 
would be filled with ascetic training and 
various Buddhist observances and rules. 
"But it's also our own beginning, isn't 
it?" my sister said. 
   The way to attain salvation or en-
lightenment according to Zen doctrine is 
quite the opposite of  Jodo, in which  any-
one can be saved by the mercy of  Amida-
NyOrai. Zen priests have  to'cleepen their 
Buddhist nature by leading a Buddha-like 
life themselves from early morning to 
late at night to gain the spiritual enlight-
enment with which they can help those 
in need. Zen teaches that every person 
is considered to be a hotoke himself or 
herself, whose essential nature is dark-
ened or covered with various evil  human 
desires. To get rid of, control or over-
come those desires is the purpose of Zen 
training represented by zazen or an as-
cetic life. I'm afraid putting this Zen 
theory into practice is impossible or un-
suitable for common, weak people who 
have to live in this secular society. 
   On  New•Year's Eve of that year,  four 
months after Wakou began his Zen train-
ing,  1 visited the Zen temple for the  f  irst 
time in order to  toll the bell,  joya-no-
kane.  It was an extremely cold night, so I 
left home wearing heavy socks and warm 
boots. I didn't expect to see Wakou there 
because I knew he was working in the 
kitchen rather than in the b_e_ifs.y., I only 
hoped the act of tolling the bell might 
console both my mother's soul and my 
own heart  somewhat. After  tolling the 
bell, I slowly walked down the steep 
steps of the belfry. Then I saw Wakou 
among several other priests in the cold 
darkness. How thin he had become! I
---------------------[End of Page 16]---------------------
MARCH 23,  1997 
 gas_ped. He  wore_only light cotton clothes 
called samui, and plain  geta. His feet 
were bare on such a freezing night. Sud-
denly the biting cold made me feel as if 
the thongs of his geta were biting into 
his bare feet so as to break the flesh. 
   The cold bare foot was my heart and 
the bitter bite was an idea that had  aris-
en out of the depth of my mind and dis-
tressed me  repeatedly: "It was me that 
killed my mother." Only tolling the bell 
once did not have the  la_o_p_e_d,for_effect. I 
bit, bit, bit my heart, hoping it would be 
broken by  the  sharpteetli_of_repentance. 
 It was impossible for me to be free from 
the thought that if my trouble had not 
happened just before her accident, she 
would not have died. She was very wor-
ried about me. She must have been think-
ing of me and not noticed the truck until 
too late while walking in the crosswalk. 
"No, I assure you the truck driver was 
100% wrong." I recalled  \A/akours words. 
"Whether or not she was thinking, she 
couldn't have avoided the truck at that 
time. It just  .spgd  through without stop-
ping." But I  could not  accept that. I still 
continued to bite my heart until it be-
came as bloody as her sneakers. 
 (I(IKUKO  KUWAHARA,Nakagawa,Nagoya) 
                ************************
February 13 Message  (Subiect#324)
   The suggested theme for an essay 
this week is:  "Hospital". This word is 
derived from a Latin word meaning 
"guest" and is related to hospice, hospi-
table and hospitality.  I'm sure you have 
had experiences of being either a guest 
in or a  visitor to  a hospital and you may 
write  .about personal experiences, mem-
ories or ideas related to hospitals. Some 
foreigners confuse the Japanese word 
for hospital  (bybin) with that for beauty 
parlor  (biyain). That word gives rise to
         "DAILY WORD" ECHOES  17 
quite different thoughts or memories 
and, if you prefer, you may write on that 
subject instead. 
              *************************
   I go to a hospital once every four 
weeks. The purpose of my visit is to get 
my doctor's prescription for the preven-
tative medication I have been on for the 
past nine years. 
   As a matter of fact, I had a heart 
condition nine years ago. (In technical 
terms, it was a  light case of arrhythmia 
due to atrial fibrillation.) Since then, I 
have had to pay regular visits to the hos-
pital. Actually, I see my doctor once 
every two or three months. 
   Fortunately, my doctor is so kind  as 
to respond in detail to my questions 
relating to my troubles and I am very 
grateful to him for his correct prescrip-
tions as well as his relevant advice. 
Thanks to the combined effort of those 
concerned at the hospital, that is to say, 
physicians, nurses and clerks, I have 
been able to keep well and  I wish to 
thank everyone working at the hospital. 
  (SHOJI SUGIMOTO, Suginami, Tokyo) 
   According to a recent article in the 
Asahi Shinbun, hospitals have become 
places where aged people  await their 
deaths. The reason for this depends on 
individual circumstances, but in some 
cases it is because of the physicians' 
attitude toward their practice. Most 
doctors in Japan still hesitate to state 
the facts clearly to their patients  when 
they are suffering from an incurable dis-
ease. Elderly patients are thus convinced 
that they are receiving effective medi-
cal treatment in the hospital for a long 
time. At times, unnecessary operations 
give them great pain and deprive them of 
the important time to prepare for  their 
last moments.  It is usually the doctors 
that decide how to treat their terminally
---------------------[End of Page 17]---------------------
18 MARCH 23, 1997 
ill patients. Most patients agree to  their 
doctors' suggestions, hoping to be cured. 
Some may wish to be with their families 
at home as long as possible if their case 
is hopeless. I think that physicians 
should not just try to prolong the beat-
ing of a patient's heart. It is very impor-
tant for doctors to consider the quality 
of life of their patients. 
   On the other hand, I recently saw on 
television that a  lucky man survived ser-
ious brain damage due to his doctor's per-
sistence in his treatment. On that pro-
gram, I was shocked to see a similar pa-
tient in a hospital in the United States 
was considered to be brain dead and his 
organs were removed for transplanta-
tion. I think that the only thing we can 
do is choose a good doctor, but that may 
be impossible in an emergency. 
   By the way, there are some problems 
in hospitals that cannot be alleviated by 
doctors' decisions and efforts alone. Like 
it or not, we have to go there when it is 
necessary. Therefore, I would like to 
suggest some ways for hospital owners 
or executives to make their institutions 
more convenient, reliable and comfort-
able. 
   First, more effective appointment 
systems should be established. Several 
years ago, my daughter was allergic to 
something. Then my wife took her to the 
hospital twice a month for more than a 
year. Every time, they had to wait for 
three hours before seeing a doctor. Af-
terward they waited another hour for the 
prescribed medicine. It was a waste of 
time. It was not an urgent visit. It was 
the day the doctor had arranged to come. 
And it was not an undistinguished hospi-
tal. It happened at a state-owned chil-
dren's hospital. We used to fear that our 
daughter might get a contagious disease 
while waiting in the hospital. 
   Secondly, patients' privacy should be 
protected more carefully. It is disheart-
ening to see only a curtain hanging be-
tween a treatment room and a waiting
              "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 
room. People in the waiting room can 
hear the conversations between a doctor 
and a patient. Satisfactory doctor-pa-
tient relations cannot be established un-
der such circumstances. 
   Lastly, the atmosphere inside a hos-
pital should be changed to a more com-
fortable one. I have been in some pa-
tients' rooms that seemed like a concen-
tration camp. I think there are many good 
examples in lobbies and rooms of modern 
hotels. I sometimes get sick just being 
inside a hospital building. I always feel 
relieved when I leave and take a deep 
breath. 
   I am sure these suggestions would 
tend to improve the quality of life of 
many patients. I hope that there may be 
many hospitals I don't know about for 
which such suggestions are unnecessary. 
(TOSHIAKI MIYAKE, Tsuzuki, Yokohama) 
   I have had doubts for many years 
why the words "hospital"  (byoin) and 
"hospitable"  (motonashi-no-yoi) had no 
connection with each other in their 
meanings.  Now, after my investigation 
for this essay, I understand the connec-
tion. Ordinary English dictionaries give 
simply  byoin as a translation for "hospi-
tal", but the Oxford Dictionary includes 
such definitions as: "establishments of 
Knights Hospitallers, hospice, charitable 
institution" in addition to "institution 
for care of the sick". And the word "hos-
pice" is derived, as Dr. Offner pointed 
out, from a Latin word, hospes, which 
means "guest". Thus, my question noted 
earlier was answered. 
   Dr. Offner touched upon two confus-
ing words:  by6in and  biyoin, which re-
minded me of an anecdote. A husband re-
turned home from work and found a note, 
written in hiragana by his daughter, a 
first grader, which read as follows: Ma-
ma wa atama ga okashiku natta node, 
 byoin e ikimashita ("Mommy went to the 
hospital because she lost her senses"). 
The husband was thrown into confusion
---------------------[End of Page 18]---------------------
MARCH 23,  1997
and began to look for the hospital. Then 
his wife came home and calmly said;  "I 
have been to a beauty parlor as my hair 
was  _disheveled." 
   It seems that the meaning of "hos-
pice" has also undergone a change. The 
Oxford Dictionary defines it as  "travel-
ers' house of rest kept by a religious or-
der; home for the destitute or sick", but 
today the word means medical facilities 
which specialize in terminal care (medi-
cal treatment for "terminal patients", 
patients who are expected to die within 
3-6 months.) By the way, the word  "ter-
minal" itself is shunned today by some 
people because it reminds them of death, 
as  in the case of the above-mentioned 
"terminal care". There was a hotel near 
Nagoya Station named "Terminal Hotel", 
but recently, its name was changed to 
"Hotel Associa" because of the unhappy 
word-association. 
   Now, to return to the theme, "hospi-
tal"  (byeiin), thanks to my good  health, I 
have had very little contact with hospi-
tals. I have a  hibakusha-techo, certifi-
cate of an  atomic bomb victim, which I 
obtained several years ago. I was quali-
fied to receive it because  1 entered the 
area within two kilometers of the  center 
of the blast in Hiroshima within two 
weeks after the bombing. As I was quite 
healthy and felt nothing abnormal in my 
body, I had ignored the system for a long 
time, but my friends advised me to ob-
tain the qualification before I get old. I 
accepted their advice and submitted an 
application. Having this certificate, I 
can undergo a physical examination 
twice a year, free of charge. This is the 
only occasion for me to go to a hospital 
for my own health. 
   With advancing years, many of my 
friends say they often go to hospitals. 
Whenever we get together for a  class 
meeting or at other gatherings, a central 
topic of conversation is our health and 
sickness. When we were young, we used 
to talk about our aspirations for the fu-
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES 19
ture. I think it is a sad tendency, but we 
must accept the hard realities of life 
which cannot be helped. We, the aged, 
should get along well with hospitals 
without being hostile to them. 
      (MIKIHIKO  YOSHIMOTO, Gifu)
   I have a favorable impression about 
the hospitals with which I have some re-
lation. I will not write about them, how-
ever, but about a memory I have related 
to the word "hospital". 
   One day I was visiting Meiji  Mura 
with my friend. We got on a train to go 
to an elevated area and sat down on a 
seat next to two Americans. They had 
the same guidebook I had. When  I opened 
it  and saw the picture of a Military  Hos-
pital, I noticed that the explanation was 
only in Japanese. I asked them, "Can you 
read Japanese? Do you understand these 
pictures?" They replied, "Unfortunately, 
no". So I began to explain about the pic-
tures in the book, from the beginning to 
the end. They listened and wrote. 
   Our train went and came back time 
and again, but we did not get off because 
then we could not get back on. I cannot 
forget that day and the picture of the 
Military Hospital continues to be in my 
mind and I can draw it in my memory. 
     (MICHIKO  SAND, Minami, Nagoya)
 ByOin and  biyoin are the suggested 
themes. A place where women go for 
hair styling, manicuring, etc. is called a 
 biy6in (beauty salon), which is unrelated 
to me, except that, if January 15, 1998 
falls on an off-duty day for me (it is now 
too early to tell), then I must take my 
younger daughter, Sumako, to a beauty sa-
lon in the early morning, about 5  o'clock, 
because she will wear a wafuku (Japa-
nese  kimono)--furisode (long-sleeved Id-
mono) to attend the Coming-of-Age-Day 
Ceremony sponsored by Owariasahi City. 
   An institution where the ill or  i  n-
jured may receive medical treatment is 
called a  byeiin, with which I am deeply
---------------------[End of Page 19]---------------------
20 MARCH 23,  1997
concerned. Thus far, I have been hospi-
talized four times. Right after I  was 
employed by a trading company some 
decades ago, I had to be hospitalized be-
cause of a serious accident caused by 
the president's son who was driving a 
car without a driver's  license. In that 
accident, the two bones in my  right 
wrist were crushed between the car and 
the company's concrete wall. Beside 
that, what was worse, most of  the_capil-
lay vessels in my right hand were dam-
aged, resulting in my hand becoming de-
formed. A  four-month hospitalization 
was required to recover instead of spend-
ing time at the office. Even so, a com-
plete restoration of my hand was not 
possible so the shape of my right hand 
differs from that of my left one.Conse-
 Lig_igr, my hand has become tired and 
painful after writing for 20 minutes. For 
more than three-and-a-half decades, I 
have been  afthLted with a damaged right 
arm  which  Lam  not able to use as  I want. 
The company must not have known my i n-
convenience, including my inability to 
play my dear Jose Ramirez. Furthermore, 
the company's compensation was limited 
to the medical expense. It has forgotten 
this serious accident and  I cannot help 
being upset with their irresponsibility. 
   Though I have been suffering with a 
severe backache for more than two dec-
ades, I am not considering having anoth-
er operation to repair my spinal column 
 (I have had three  operations' thus far, in-
cluding an  appendectomy) because doc-
tors who examined me consider it diffi-
cult and  I decided that enduring the pain 
is better than partial paralysis. 
   Another memory related to hospitals 
is related to this "Daily Word" telephone 
 service. (as written in a previous issue 
of the Echoes). During my parents' hos-
pitalization (when I was assisting in the 
publication of this periodical),  .1 was not 
sure about the hospital system, but most 
 hospitals in Japan close too early and 
require lights to be turned off too early.
"DAILY  WORD" ECHOES
Despite the adjustment problems related 
to an overly-rigid time schedule and oth-
er  heart-rending moments at the begin-
ning, I came to the happy conclusion that 
the hospitals where my parents were 
hospitalized were fine. The  care-givers 
were kind and supportive. The food was 
healthy and quite tasty for the price and, 
most important of all, everyday turned 
out to be fun, but I had no time to work 
on the "Daily Word" essays because I had 
to go back and forth between my office 
and the hospitals instead of returning to 
my home. Seeming to reflect a moment 
before responding to my question and 
being aware of my situation, the head 
nurse gave me permission to continue 
working after the  "lights-off" time. 
Thus,  I was able to work by my parents' 
bedsides at the hospitals while they 
were sleeping. For this reason, when I 
look at the compilation of "Daily Word" 
 Echoes, Volume One, and the Recognition 
Plaque which Dr. Offner presented me  for 
my assistance, they always remind me 
of the hospital and my parents. (Due to 
my neglect, Volume Two has not yet ap-
peared. On a more positive note, I have 
given much thought, planning for further 
volumes, 2-10, in due time.) 
          (JAIME IWAI, Owariasahi)
   I have never been to the hospital for 
the past three years. I'm very happy that 
I'm so healthy that a hospital is unne-
cessary for me these days. 
   I sometimes come across deplorable 
stories related to hospitals, such as in-
jecting milk into a patient's veins, giv-
ing them medicine mingled with the Aids 
virus and receiving bribes. I'm afraid 
that the quality of doctors and nurses 
has degenerated these days. 
   There is a bonesetting hospital near 
my home  which runs a gym for  aerobic 
exercises as a side-business. The exer 
cise  hall has some large mirrors in it 
and is equipped with many kinds of ma-
chines to help one improve one's physical
---------------------[End of Page 20]---------------------
MARCH  23,  1997 
strength. It is really splendid. I hear, 
however, the management is not so good, 
because of the severe competition, over-
due loans from banks and poor manageri-
al ability. Nevertheless, the business 
continues. Why?  It not good to make 
a wrong guess, but it is presumed that 
the hospital is using its surplus profit 
to support the  poorly-financed gym. In 
general, hospitals are rich. Hospital 
buildings are generally splendid, even 
though all of them are not so. Some  hos-
pitals are criticized for their unethical 
abuse of the health insurance system. I 
hope the bonesetting hospital is not do-
ing so, but if itis, it can be said that it 
is committinga  crime.  *because it is ob-
viously spending the precious money paid 
by many honest workers. 
   I dare say that all hospitals should 
realize that their main purpose is to 
cure the sicknesses of suffering pa-
tients, not to try to make as much money 
as possible. 
 (HARM FUKUMI, Minami, Nagoya) 
   I have never been hospitalized dur-
ing the fifty years of my life, but in the 
past two years I have had to go to the 
hospital frequently for others in my 
family. 
   First, my father had an operation for 
cancer. He stayed in the hospital for 
three months.  What worried me most 
was how to keep him from becoming se-
nile during his  hospitalization, Most  i  n-
patients were senior citizens and stayed 
in bed all day long. Perhaps due to a 
shortage of nurses, the inpatients re-
mained calm and slept with the help of 
medicine. Then, they gradually lost  their 
perception of time and became senile. My 
father  .began to  move. both of his hands, 
as if practicing  calligraphy,. while sleep-
ing on his back. An elderly woman in the 
next bed also moved her hands as if she 
were sewing. One woman in the same 
room said, "If he continues under these 
conditions, he will become senile. You
          "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 21 
must talk to him as much as possible."  -I-
appreciated the fact that having conver-
sations with an inpatient was very im-
portant to prevent senility. But the hos-
pital now limits the visitation time 
from 2 to 8 o'clock. Therefore, the time 
to talk with patients is very limited. 
Ten years ago, the hospital in my town 
allowed a family member to stay near 
the patient's bed  all day long, but now 
this is prohibited. 
   During the last stage of my father's 
illness, I went to the hospital every day 
and talked with him. He was happy to see 
me and smiled at me, but suddenly he be-
came unconscious due to pneumonia and 
two  weeks  .later he died.  The  doctor said 
something he ate might have entered his 
lungs and he could not remove it with 
his own strength. If better care had been 
given him, he might have lived longer. It 
is difficult to find the best hospital for 
our family. We live in a rural area. Mod-
ern hospitals with up-to-date medical 
equipment are far from our residence 
and difficult to visit every day.  We pre-
ferred visiting the hospital in our town 
every day to having better medical treat-
ment in an urban hospital far away. 
   My mother shows symptoms of se-
nility. I go to the hospital because she 
sometimes suddenly gets irritated and 
have to  'get  medicine to  keep  .her psycho-
logically stable. But medicine by itself 
is not enough, so I take her to a day care 
center for senior citizens. Now, the abil-
ity to care for senior citizens is low for 
each family. We hope to have facilities 
that will care for senile women that 
utilize both medicine and psychological 
treatment. 
   A month .ago, my younger son broke 
his arm while arm wrestling. He had an 
operation and stayed in the hospital for 
two weeks. Inpatients in the same room 
were old women and old men. One woman 
was wandering in the corridor, shouting, 
"Help me! Help me!" it was very diffi-
cult to keep him from getting depressed.
---------------------[End of Page 21]---------------------
22 MARCH 23,  1997
We brought a CD player, CDs and a radio. 
(YOSHIHISA KAWAHARA,Mihama,Aichi)
   My mother had lived with us for a 
long time until she passed away at the 
age of 91 two years ago. For several 
years before her death, she had to re-
ceive treatment for her heart problem 
once a month at a hospital. Though she 
was not bedridden, she could neither 
walk nor take a car to the hospital be-
cause of her weak back and legs. In the 
house, she could barely walk, using a 
handrail, but outside she could walk just 
a little using a cane. We could not take 
her in a car for fear of twisting her fra-
gile hip. What we could do was to take 
her to the hospital in a wheelchair. For-
tunately, our house was close to the hos-
pital and I did not want her to stay there 
for a long time for fear of getting an in-
fection. 
   When the appointed day came, I hur-
ried to the hospital by 7:45. Already 
many people were waiting in lines 
before the reception counter which 
opened at 8:30. Then, having received a 
examination number, 1 hurried to the med-
ical office to wait there in her stead. 
The doctors came there to see patients 
at 9:00. Around that time, my husband 
came there with my mother in the wheel-
chair. Sometimes, we  had to wait for a 
long time for her turn. When her  exami— 
nation was finished, my husband took 
her back home in the wheelchair while I 
paid the fee at the cashier's counter and 
received her medicine at the pharmacy 
counter. At both places, I had to wait 
for a long time and usually came back 
home nearly at noon. We felt it took us 
too much time, but we could not deny we 
were more or less fortunate. I suppose 
in most cases, people have to go to a 
hospital located further away from their 
home and go there more often when they 
feel sick. I sincerely hope that hospital 
procedures will become more efficient, 
 though I do not deny that much effort has
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES
been made to that end and, nowadays,  us--- 
ing a computer system enables the job to 
be done more efficiently so that we may 
not wait as long as before. 
   Japan now enjoys the longest  life 
expectancy in the world. Through educa-
tion, the people have learned much about 
 diseases  and how important a balanced 
diet and hygienic practices are. Also, 
Japan now has medical, health insurance 
and medicare systems which provide ex-
cellent medical services to the people. 
When I was young, many people were so 
poor that they could not got to a doctor 
to have their illness treated. The fees of 
some famous doctors were so high that 
only rich people could afford them.  I  t 
was quite unfair and depressing. How 
happy we are now, compared with them, 
to be able to enjoy such a privilege. 
   Today we should realize that, in the 
long run, the health insurance system 
has been so abused that the system  i  s 
now being confronted with great  d  if  f 
culty. I would like to urge doctors not to 
give irrelevant treatment to patients 
who have no hope of recovery but to try 
to ease their pain even though such a 
procedure might not require much health 
insurance funds. They should also try not 
to prescribe too much medicine. I believe 
that doctors are generally ethical, but  I 
sincerely hope that they will abide by 
the Hippocratic Oath, solemnly pledging 
themselves to the service of  humanity. 
All Japanese should try hard to make our 
medical and health insurance systems 
healthier, as much as possible, for our-
selves and for future generations. 
(MICHIKO KAWAMURA, Meguro, Tokyo)
 *************************
February 18  Messacie (Subiect#325
   One meaning of "code" is a set of  sig-
nals used to represent letters or num-
---------------------[End of Page 22]---------------------
MARCH 23,  1997
 hers in transmitting messages, but its-
primary meaning is a systematically  a  r-
ranged collection of laws or regulations. 
Many organizations have codes of one 
kind or another that its members are  ex-
pected to follow. Schools have dress 
codes which indicate the kind  of clothes 
students are permitted to wear. And 
some companies also have dress codes 
for their employees. The modern dress 
of young people especially has become 
very informal. But even some teachers, 
other respected professionals and elect-
ed representatives are dressing less  for-
mally than previously. What do you think 
about the trends of modern dress--of 
young people, middle-aged or older folks. 
 How and why has it changed from previ-
ous times? Do you dress differently 
than you did ten years  ago? Thoughts, 
memories, comments regarding present 
fashions  related to dress is the suggest-
ed theme for an essay this week.
 *************************
   The slovenly fashion of young people 
is oftencriticized today. Girls' loose 
socks are a typical example. They seem 
very untidy.  It is very strange,  I think, 
that so many girls follow the fashion all 
at once. Why  are  they so reluctant to be 
different than their friends? Recently I 
heard a funny story. A young man visited 
his grandmother's house after a long 
time, wearing his jeans with a big hole 
in the knee, of which he was very proud. 
The next day, he changed his clothes and 
went out for a while. When he returned, 
he cried "Hang it!" finding the jeans he 
had left. His grandmother had seen the 
hole in the  jeans- and had  kindly'  put a 
patch on it in  hiS absence. 
   As I give further thought about this 
tendency, however, I recognize my own 
weakness in blaming them too easily. In 
my high school days, we were proud of 
 so-called  hell-hob&  which literally
"DAILY WORD" ECHOES 23
means wearing a shapeless cap and shab-
by clothes. The students recognized no 
value of a new college cap and a new 
regulation uniform. They purposely tried 
to stain their cap and uniform. It was a 
sort of student dandyism. 
   Generally speaking, people's fashion 
in dressing has become less formal than 
previously. For example, elderly persons 
wear colored (even red) clothes for eve-
ryday wear today, but it is limited, after 
all, to leisure time. Office workers' 
dress remains as it was before. They 
wear plain and conservative clothes, usu-
ally men's three-piece suits. This ten-
dency is remarkable, especially in the 
case of bank clerks or public employees. 
I have spent most of my life until now as 
a public official and my fashion in dress 
has not been an exception to the style 
mentioned above. I know well that  pub-
lic officials are spoken  ill of, using the 
 expression  "Dobu-nezumi (a sewer  rat)-
style of Kasumigaseki". 
   Today, the style of dress is facing a 
reformation, one of which is the intro-
duction of "casual Friday". Many organi-
zations recently have adopted a dress 
code which allows their employees to 
dress in casual wear on Fridays. The Gifu 
area is one of the chief producers of  cas 
ual wear. So the Prefecture and main 
companies of the area have promptly  i  n-
troduced the system. But, the employees 
of these organizations have met another 
problem together with freedom because 
"casual wear" does not necessarily mean 
a cheap, inferior dress. They worry about 
the choice of dress on Fridays because 
they think they are not fit to be seen in 
the same outfit every Friday. Sometimes 
I hear that they  are obliged to order new 
casual wear, but I think they should not 
consider the code so seriously. They 
should be able to wear whatever they 
have on hand. 
   I began to recite Noh texts  (utai) sev-
eral years ago and usually put on a kimo-
no at recitals. I use a kimono which my
---------------------[End of Page 23]---------------------
24 MARCH 23,  1997 
wife's father used before his death for 
the same purpose. I think kimono are 
very reasonable because their fashions 
do not change for a long time though they 
are much more expensive than Western 
clothes. (MIKIHIKO YOSHIMOTO, Gifu) 
   I feel that students' dress has re-
cently changed a little and become more 
modern compared to ten years ago, but 
the school dress code has remained prac-
tical despite the changing fashions. Re-
garding our dress, fashions change year 
by year in relation to color and style. 
Young people are most sensitive to 
change, followed by middle-aged people. 
Older folks are not so interested. Recent-
ly, I see people who are not  concerned 
about modern styles and some young peo-
ple like the old fashion. I think that fash-
ions repeat themselves. 
   Usually I have no concern about be-
ing  up-to-date, but I did feel that a dress 
made ten years ago somehow did not 
seem suitable. I could not understand 
why until I visited and asked a dress-
maker. She immediately told me that 
the dress had no shoulder pads. I was 
very pleased and told my friend who 
laughed at me. This shows my  lack of 
sensitivity regarding fashions. 
     (MICHIKO SANO, Minami, Nagoya) 
   I often see small boys and girls 
walking along a street by twos and 
threes. Their dress is very informal. 
The knapsacks on their backs shows that 
they are elementary school pupils.  I  t 
seems that they have no dress codes. 
Their dress is quite different from pupil 
to pupil. 
   Come to think of it, when I was an 
elementary school pupil, more than three 
score years ago, I always wore a uniform 
designated by the school. People took it 
for granted for pupils to wear uniforms. 
The contrast between pupils of former 
times and those of today surprises me 
very much.
              "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 
 --What has brought about such a stark 
contrast? A change in times has, of 
course. People underwent very drastic 
changes in their life style  in the wake of 
the Second World War. Toward the end 
of that war, even ordinary people were 
forced to wear some kind of uniform. 
Then came the emancipation after the 
war. Wartime regimentation turned into 
a free, informal style. People were glad 
to doff the required uniforms. The eman-
cipation marked the beginning of infor-
mality which has remained until today. 
   Informal fashions related to dress 
have gradually become established 
among the Japanese as peaceful times 
have continued. Some people say it does 
not matter whatever dress people  •wear, 
but I do not think so. People can hardly 
be free from being influenced by the kind 
of clothes they  are  wearing. The way  peo-
ple dress somehow affects their minds. 
That is to say, people are frail beings in 
that they cannot be free from the influ-
ence of the clothes they are wearing. 
   In his sense, I would like to recom-
mend to young students to wear neat and 
tidy clothes when going to school in-
stead of the  loose-fitting clothes they 
are wearing. Needless to say, loose-
fitting clothes are apt to encourage a 
loose attitude in general. At least, 
loose-fitting clothes are not compatible 
with the tense atmosphere required for 
concentrated studying. 
   I do not disdain the  extremely  loose 
and untidy fashion some young people 
follow on purpose. Youth often tend to 
do such things only because they want to 
stand out among their peers. 
  (SHOJI SUGIMOTO, Suginami, Tokyo) 
   I don't like to wear clothes that look 
odd. I remember the clothes worn by  po-
litical leaders in the past who misled 
the people with unhappy results. For  ex-
ample, Adolf Hitler, the Nazi leader,  al-
ways  wore  - a military uniform which 
symbolized abominable  imperialism.
---------------------[End of Page 24]---------------------
MARCH 23, 1997 
Stalin;-the leader of the old Soviet Un-
ion, always wore his own military uni-
form. I've never seen him wearing a  cas-
ual sack coat. In Japan, Hideki  TOT& the 
prime minister at the beginning of the 
Pacific War, always wore a Japanese ar-
my uniform, or a prisoner's uniform af-
terwards. Thus, those political leaders 
who misled the people used to wear un-
usual uniforms. 
   What about after the war? I remem-
ber Yukio Mishima liked to wear his own 
military uniform. He was not a states-
man, but a novelist and finally commit-
ted suicide. As to recent politicians, the 
former prime minister, Hata, wore an 
odd sack coat during the summer. It had 
sleeves that were  half-length and was 
called  shO-ene,  energy-saving. The coat 
strongly recommended by him was com-
pletely opposed by most people and he 
himself resigned after a very short time. 
   Anyway, it can be said that  oddly-
dressed leaders were not worth respect-
ing at any time. I hope that political 
leaders who want to wear odd clothes 
will not appear anymore. 
 (HARUJI  FMK Minami, Nagoya) 
   When we shop for clothes to wear 
around the house or for sportswear, we 
consider the feeling, warmth or cool-
ness, comfortableness, durableness and 
wearing qualities first. When we look 
for street clothes, or party clothes, we 
are keenly conscious of PTO, place,  time 
and occasion. In both cases, fashion has 
become a very important factor these 
days. Fashion occupies our minds so 
much that, consciously or unconsciously, 
we try to satisfy our vanity by following 
the fashion so that we will not be  des-
pised.by others and considered old-fash-
ioned or  shabby-looking. 
   Today, fashion has become a very 
important industry. A new fashion  cre-
ated someplace can travel all over the 
world in a single day by means of modern 
communication devices and be widely
         "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 25 
accepted before long. I can understand 
the trend, but nevertheless, I wonder 
whether Japanese are the most vulnera-
ble people in regard to fashion. This  win-
ter, a long, black overcoat high-heeled 
and thick-soled shoes and animal-pat-
terned wear are widely worn by young 
women. High school girls all  wear- bag-
gy, loose,  thick white socks. TV pro-
grams show Japanese dress in the same 
way all over the country. Certainly, they 
are quite conscious of the trend and try 
to look as fashionable as possible, but I 
cannot deny they look quite monotonous 
and boring. Since we are Japanese, we 
should have uniqueness, different  from 
others and each local area should have 
uniqueness likewise. When I traveled 
around Europe a few years ago, I was im-
pressed that they were not so concerned 
with fashion as Japanese are. In the 
 street, many people were wearing out-
dated clothes. 
   Japan used to be a silk-exporting 
country. Then it developed a fiber indus-
try, textile industry and clothing indus-
try. Today, by the development of other 
industries, the weight of such industries 
has run down, but still many people are 
engaged in those industries. Nowadays, 
we have strong pressure from the out-
side world to import more of their prod-
ucts. We understand the theory that pro-
duction must be backed by consumption 
and that consumption must be created  by. 
demand. Fashion plays a very important 
role in creating demand in the field of 
clothing. To create a new fashion, great 
talent and sophisticated efforts are need-
ed. To maintain those industries and to 
respond to the demand from outside, we 
are required to consume more and live 
affluently. 
   As an old woman, I remember that 
just after the end of the Second World 
War, many used clothes that were still 
usable were imported from the States 
and I was told that they discarded things 
following the principle that mass  produc-
---------------------[End of Page 25]---------------------
26 MARCH 23,  1997
tion must be backed by mass consump-
tion. I understood that the United States 
was a very rich country, and although I 
was not happy to hear that, I can never 
blame them for that. In the course of 
time, we came to follow the same way, 
consciously or unconsciously, and the 
present situation has become far worse 
than theirs. We can easily suppose that 
our housing  condition, especially in ur-
ban districts, is so much worse than 
theirs that we have little room for stor-
ing and discard clothes quite easily, just 
because they have become old-fashioned. 
   It is very hard for us old people to 
understand the present trend. In days of 
old, Japanese were pantheistic and 
thought everything had a spirit in it. 
They treated things carefully and tried 
never to  be punished by the spirit. Even 
rich people believed that thriftiness was 
a virtue and tried never to waste things. 
We should try never to discard clothes 
just because they have grown outdated. 
We should remember how many material 
and human resources are put into those 
clothes. In this world, many people do 
not have enough clothes. We should make 
efforts to help them.  We should try to 
reform or to recycle clothes as much as 
possible and to reduce the amount of 
discarded clothes or trash to conserve 
the environment for the benefit of future 
generations. 
(MICHIKO KAWAMURA, Meguro, Tokyo)
   There is a saying in Germany: "One 
can think differently from others but one 
cannot dress differently from others." 
This is true. You can have thoughts or 
ideas totally different from what other 
people hold, but you cannot be so differ-
ent from your contemporaries in regard 
to dress. If you walk down the street in 
the kind of garb samurai used to wear or 
in clothes Sherlock Holmes preferred, 
people might think you are going to  a  • 
costume party.
"DAILY WORD"
ECHOES
   In feudal society, there were strict 
dress codes in Japan. Only samurai were 
permitted to wear silk. Farmers, mer-
chants and craftsmen were not allowed 
to wear it. During the war, when luxury 
was forbidden, people were forced to be 
humbly dressed. Women were compelled 
to wear monpe (a kind of trousers) re-
made from kimono. Dress codes became 
stricter when the ruling authority's con-
trol was stronger. 
   After World War II, Japan became 
democratic and improved its trade and 
industries. Western fashions were im-
ported. People got out of obsolete dress 
codes and enjoyed wearing fashionable 
clothes. When miniskirts prevailed a  I  I 
over the world, even Japanese women 
wore them. And I mimicked the others. 
Miniskirts were unsuitable for me with 
my short bowlegs, but German girls with 
long, straight legs were attractive in 
them. I had  no other choice but to wear 
miniskirts because all the girls around 
me wore them. 
   These days, however, people feel 
free to express themselves in any kind 
of apparel. They can don miniskirts, long 
dresses, tight suits, loose shirts, baggy 
pants, pantaloons and so on. I like this 
diversity and am happy about it because 
I usually wear kimono and sometimes a 
jacket and monpe reformed from kimono 
by myself. Such apparel is rather 
 strange, but no one stares at me. 
   Young  people  who often want to dis-
tinguish themselves with their unique 
fashions become suddenly obedient to 
commonly recognized dress codes when 
they go to the Coming of Age ceremony 
and to companies to be recruited. They 
want to be considered ordinary and not 
differently dressed from their peers 
just at the entrance into adult society. 
            (NAOMI KONDO, Handa) 
   I am not qualified to write about the 
latest dress fashions, but traits of the 
younger generation occasionally surprise
---------------------[End of Page 26]---------------------
MARCH 23,  1997 
me. As far as clothes are concerned, I 
am satisfied with simply wearing clean 
and comfortable ones. Because of my  job 
as a research chemist, I don't have to 
wear a suit every day. I usually wear 
clothes similar to those I wore when I 
was a student. I think I am relatively 
conservative in regard to color and style. 
Once I become fond of some clothes, I 
wear them until they become worn out. I 
may beconsidered an enemy by the appar-
el industry. 
   It usually takes a long time for me 
to examine things before buying them. I 
 like to see and compare new functions of 
gadgets. But it doesn't make sense to me 
that many people buy new clothes  for 
skiing every winter. Also, why do many 
people buy a new bathing suit every  sum-
mer? Is it because of fashion? 
   I am wondering why apparel manu-
facturers are able to announce popular 
styles and colors six months before the 
season. For me, they only promote what 
they want to sell. I can't believe that 
many people buy new clothes just to  fol-
low the fashion for makers' convenience. 
   Incidentally, I  don't change clothes 
every  day except for underwear. It is 
hard for me to understand the current 
trend to wash garments after having 
worn them only once. I hear many people 
wash their clothes that way these days. 
 Basically, I don't care much about 
other people's dress. People have a right 
to wear whatever they want. However, 
we should not forget that some young 
fellows commit crimes just to obtain 
fashionable jackets, sweaters or some-
thing. We must consider what makes 
them put so much emphasis on style. 
(TOSHIAKI MIYAKE, Tsuzuki, Yokohama) 
   The 15 writers of the 45 essays 
in this 56th issue of "Daily  Word" 
Echoes reside in 11 different cities 
and towns. Some essays required very 
little  correction; others required 
more, but all were  interesting.(C.O.
         "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 27 
          ************************* 
January  19,1997 Meeting Theme: 
       A Memorable Trip 
   I was in Pleasant Hill, Tennessee 
from November 25th to December 9th to 
visit Ms. Landis who had been a •Bible 
Class teacher in our Fukushima Church. 
As it was the first time for me to go 
abroad by myself, I felt uneasy at first, 
but it was really a safe and pleasant 
trip. After a flight of  eleven-and-a-half 
hours, I arrived at the Ohare Airport in 
Chicago from Narita. There, I had to 
transfer to another terminal to take an 
American Airlines plane. It was colder  i  n 
Chicago than in Fukushima. 
   It was 2:30 in the afternoon,  Novem 
ber 25th, local time when I arrived at 
Nashville Airport in Tennessee. I was 
very happy when I saw Ms. Landis who 
had come to meet me. She took me  to 
her house, far away in the suburbs, in 
her car which could carry seven people. 
It was a very quiet place. There were no 
tall buildings. The car turned left onto a 
narrow road which a sign indicated was 
"Maple Drive". There were wide lawns 
on both sides of the road. I could see 
some scattered  one-story houses. We 
entered one of them after getting out of 
the car. It was her house, which had 
many rooms, a basement and three en-
trances. Her big house looked like an 
apartment house. She said that she  lets 
others stay in some rooms and leaves 
the keys when she is away. She had a 
guest room with a bed and shower where 
I stayed for two weeks except when we 
went to Kentucky. She had many things 
from Japan, such as kokeshi dolls, kake-
mono of Japanese-style pictures and 
calligraphy in the parlor. She had very 
many books  in her library den. Her neigh-
bors on this  Maple Drive are retired  mis-
sionaries from Japan and India. The 
Lammers had taught at  TOhoku Gakuin
---------------------[End of Page 27]---------------------
28 MARCH 23,  1997 
forty years ago and Mr. and Mrs. Vogle 
Schwaltz were from Hiroshima Gakuin. 
In this rural Pleasant Hill (including  Ma-
ple Drive), there is just one post office, 
one elementary school, one junior high 
school and only one church and only one 
God. There are no stores to buy daily 
necessities, so all residents have to go 
to supermarkets and banks in Nashville. 
   On November 28th, we left Pleasant 
Hill at 9:00 o'clock in the morning to go 
to Homestead, Kentucky to visit the 
 Kroehlers who are missionaries in Aizu 
Takada in Fukushima Prefecture. They 
were also visiting in Kentucky to see 
their daughter, Margaret, and her family. 
They were there to spend Thanksgiving 
Day all together. Margaret lives there 
with her husband, Jeffery, and their son, 
Gilbert. Ms. Landis and I were invited to 
join this happy family reunion. Along the 
way there, we saw many rocks on both 
sides of the road which looked like arti-
ficial blocks. At noon, we stopped at a 
rest house and had a lunch of sandwiches 
and cranberry juice while sitting on 
chairs outside. At 3:00, we arrived at 
Margaret San's house. All of them wel-
comed us. 
   After Gilbert's daddy, Jeffery Pas-
quale, came back home, we had a big 
Thanksgiving dinner. At the table, Rev. 
Kroehler prayed, thanking God for the 
good harvest that year and for the deli-
cious food before us. And as Thanksgiv-
ing Day  .last year fell on Mrs. Kroehler's 
seventieth birthday, we also celebrated 
it. Ms. Landis had baked a big, round cake 
for Evelyn Kroehler. She also had pre-
pared  seven.  candles, instead of seventy, 
to put on the cake. Little six-year-old 
Gilbert presented her a picture he had 
painted, saying, "Happy Birthday, Gran-
mama!" He is a very cute boy. His moth-
er is a beautiful lady and his daddy is a 
man of Italian lineage who resembles a 
Japanese. It was a big  dinner—stuffed. 
turkey, large slices of  •ham with bones in 
the center, cooked vegetables, many
              "DAILY WORD" ECHOES 
kinds of cookies and ice cream. We sang 
a Thanksgiving hymn, Warera tagayashi 
 Lane o makedo, which I suggested, and 
"Happy Birthday" to Mrs. Kroehler. We 
stayed at Margaret's house until Novem-
ber 30th. 
   I attended a Sunday morning service 
twice. On December 1st at Pleasant Hill 
Church, it was the beginning of the Ad-
vent season. There were Christmas dec-
orations in the church. Before the serv-
ice, the organist played the original Jap-
anese hymn, Mabune no naka ni ubugoe 
age, which had been translated into Eng-
lish. We sang some more traditional 
Christmas hymns,  including "Hark the 
Herald Angels Sing" and "Joy to the 
World, the Lord has  Come". _ 
   I did  not have my glasses with me 
and could not read the verses, so I sang 
them in Japanese loudly, which pleased 
the worshippers who were sitting around 
me. I understood the sermon preached 
by Rev. Schneider pretty well. I was 
very happy to be able to take part in the 
Communion Service on that Sunday. I 
was also very happy to meet many Amer-
ican Christians at the luncheon follow-
ing the service. Four ladies, Abigail, 
Eloise, Frances and Margaret are espe-
cially good friends of Ms. Janell Landis. 
They often visited her home and I be-
came close friends with them. 
   I had a chance to go to the play-
house,  mini-theater, in  .Pleasant Hill to 
enjoy the drama, Oliver Twist, produced 
by residents of Pleasant Hill on Decem-
ber 9th, the day before I left. The Eng-
lish spoken in the drama was Old British 
English, so even Ms. Landis could not un-
derstand some of the words, but the per-
formance was very well done and I en-
joyed  it very much. 
   I left Pleasant Hill on December 10. 
Ms. Landis came to Nashville to see me 
off at the airport. I am very grateful to 
Ms. Landis who made my trip so enjoya-
ble. (KAZUKO TAGUCHI, Fukushima)
---------------------[End of Page 28]---------------------