2024年7月14日
I walked over the footbridge near Langen station the other day, and saw this: the latest stretch of the Darmstadt - Frankfurt Cycle expressway. It is nearly finished.......great!
ダルムシュタット - フランクフルト サイクル高速道路。ほぼ完成です……素晴らしい!
It seems to take forever to build it......but I'm looking forward to trying it out when it's finished.....🚵......💨
試してみるのが楽しみです
It is hot* here...26°c ...so it's time for a Magnum Ice cream....mmmm Yummy.....😋
(* hot for Langen at least)
26度
However, it really is only T-shirts for Japan, and the necessary adapters of course......
日本。Tシャツとアダプターだけ
I have never been to Japan in July, and one of the first things I notice from the windows of the air-conditioned Narita Express train is the colour of the rice fields. A vivid green.....
なんと素晴らしい緑でしょう!🌾
Stepping off the train at Yokohama the air hit me like a warm, moist blanket. I seem to be lucky, as it is a "mere" 30°c and it has even rained....
横浜。雨が降っています.
I struggle up the steps to Misako-sans` house in Hodogaya and take a breather. Thanks to Aki-san I have a `cello.... but a violin would be so much lighter 💦 !
チェロを演奏してくださったAkiさん、ありがとうございました🎵!
I revive with black coffee and one of those weird deserts you find in the local conbini (convenience store). Air conditioning set to 24°c.
We tend to moan about the rain in Europe. But here it's so warm that the rain adds a sort of dreamy atmosphere to life. It feels tropical. I find myself actually enjoying standing under an umbrella and watching this scene at the moat of Edo Castle 🏯 in Tokyo......a white egret, quite happy in the middle of this huge metropolis.....
東京の江戸城……この巨大な大都市の真ん中でとても幸せそうな白い白鷺……
A little further on I spotted the bridge that leads to the Imperial Gardens ....
......unfortunately closed on this particular day....
今日は残念ながら閉まっています
My goal was actually the art gallery nearby ("MOMAT") where they had just opened an exhibition of early 20thc. paintings from Osaka, Tokyo and Paris........a "Trio".....Modigliani's famous nude is getting a bit wet in the rain......
There was a fascinating mixture of styles on show - mainly from the Showa Era (1926-1989). From 1914 there was this big screen painting from Kaburaki Kiyokata......"Boating Excursion on the Sumida River".....here's a detail.....
And then there was Kitano Tsunetomi's picture of a lady in a kimono trying out a camera.....It's the new "Nihon-ga" style of painting....(1929)...
Only two years earlier Marc Chagall had painted his "Dream"......
....and in 1934 Salvador Dali painted this "Spectre and Phantom"
Jumping to the post-war years there was this poster for the "11th Autumn Shusaikai Kimono Show""....
The Museum itself was opened in 1952....whilst climbing the stairs I got the impression that the fittings are now very retro...I hope they don't modernize them....
Afterwards I went in search of a cup of coffee, but was rather disappointed to find only a posh restaurant with white table cloths. Not my style. So I walk out into the rain. Beside the nice lawn I noticed this box where you could borrow a picnic groundsheet. I think it was made of paper. How Japanese 😄......
Some visitors were opting for a taxi.......
I was in Chiyoda Ward, a very central spot in Tokyo. The traffic swished by......千代田の交通
and there was a welcome arcade of eating places at Takebashi station. I ordered a hot Tofu soup with chilli... accompanied by an iced coffee....just the hit I needed.....
Staying in the Showa Era, as it were, I headed for the nearby Military and War Museum - the Yashukan.
On the way my walk led me through the Kita-no-Maru park, which has some surprisingly woody corners.....
We read a book in our book group recently called "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" by Richard Flanagan. It is fiction, but the author took account of his fathers`experience as an Australian prisoner of war working on the Burma/Thailand railway in WWII. I wanted to see how this history was portrayed here. It was not a particulary pleasant experience. Impressive: Yes. A Mitsubishi "Zero" fighter was a technical achievement to be proud of in the same way as an RAF Spitfire.........
But the locomotive which ran the infamous Burma "Death railway " ?
最近、私たちの読書グループでリチャード・フラナガン著の「The Narrow Road to the Deep North」という本を読みました。これはフィクションですが、著者は第二次世界大戦中にビルマ/タイ鉄道で働いていたオーストラリア人捕虜としての父親の経験を考慮しています。私はこの歴史がここでどのように描かれているか知りたかったのです。特に楽しい経験ではありませんでした。印象的: はい。三菱の「ゼロ」戦闘機は、イギリス空軍のスピットファイアと同じように、誇るべき技術的成果でした.........
しかし、悪名高いビルマの「死の鉄道」を走っていた機関車は?
It is not what is being displayed here, it is how it is being displayed. It is not what is written here, it is what is omitted.......
ここで重要なのは、何が表示されるかではなく、どのように表示されるかです。
A similar loco transported prisoners of war, says the caption.....The Australians here must have just arrived. They look too healthy.
ここにいるオーストラリア人は到着したばかりのようです。彼らはとても健康そうに見えます。
And here is a small picture of an event for Allied servicemen.......The caption says that the Japanese military provided this monument......
But there is no mention of the numbers of people who actually died building this inhuman, manic project. The photo captions are not translated into English. You can't help feeling that this is no random error.
A Wiki link would have been useful....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Railway
I saw two young schoolgirls going around the exhibits and wondered what they were taking in. For me the whole exhibition concentrated on the "glory" of war, without any critical comment. I was glad to leave.
私にとって、この展覧会は、批判的なコメントを一切せずに、戦争の「栄光」に焦点を絞ったものでした。私は、この展覧会を去ることができて嬉しかったです。
Phew. Enough for today. Have a banana......no, they are not real 😅
バナナはいかがですか？
.....and slow down with a Kirin beer......
夜のリラックス
🍌..... Thank you for reading "...BB&C...."
"....自転車、バナナ、そしてチェロ.... " を読んでくれてありがとう
🍌.... Feel free to share the blog with friends.
よろしければ、リンクを友達と共有してください
🍌..... And and I enjoy hearing from you...!
コメントすると楽しいです!
THE END
🌦️
終わり
Comments