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Diary in English
2018
- 12/4 Today, I wore a blazer, which I bought thirty years ago when I was a college student. I had got fatter after my giving up smoking almost twenty years ago. I was almost 20kg fatter than the student time, so I had been not able to wear it for a long time. However, I started to control weight by diet seven years ago. Now I have lost fifteen kilos since then. Though I am a little bit fatter than when I was a student, I can afford to wear it.
- 11/19 I'm very exhausted by many business meetings from morning to evening today. My rest time during work time was only thirty minutes. I had no time to read a book nor a paper today. I feel as if I were not a scholar.
- 11/18 I went back to Kyoto this morning. It was fine today, so my wife and me went to Nanzenji temple to see beautiful autumn leaves. There were many visitors from worldwide. Autumn is the one of the most beautiful seasons in Kyoto.
- 11/17 I took my seminar's students to Yokohama National University to join an intercollegeate workshop for students. This workshop consits of students at four university, Ritsumeikan University, Yokohama National University, Meiji University, and Tokyo Women's Christian University. All the students belong to professors' seminars whose major is sociology of work, but oral reports on various themes, not only subjects on sociology of work, but also of gender, business, and so on, were made in the workshop. They were very interesting to me. After the workshop, we went to Japanese style pub near the Yokohama Station, and enjoyed drinking and communications.
- 11/16 I went to Chuo University in Tokyo to make in a workshop an oral report on "transfer of seniority rules in USA to Japan around 1950". There were five scholars, and about fifteen students. I made an oral report on the same theme a month ago at an academic meeting of Japanese Association of Labor Sociology (JALS). Today's workshop had smaller number of participants than then, but I got many questions and opinions on my report. All of them were suggestive to me. So I had very good time. I appreciate to Prof. Sekiguchi for inviting me to the workshop.
I was making an oral report.
- 11/15 I was busy today. I had a meeting, two seminar classes, and preparetion for a next day workshop. After these jobs, I joined a drinking party in an Italian restaurant. I drunk highbowls and Imo Shochu, i.e. Japanese spirits distilled from sweet potatoes. I have worked hard since this Monday, and I will go to Tokyo for the workshop to report my latest paper tomorrow. Now I'm back home, and I would like to drink more tonight though I have much homework to do in a few days.
- 11/14 I am very exhausted by a collective bargaining in which I participated as the employer side. Labor side criticized us in an offensive manner. It took for over three hours, and ended at half past twenty one. It was tough time. I would like to drink, but hesitate to drink becuase of my tomorrow work.
- 11/13 I had a regular medical checkup last month, and today I recieved the result. According to it, my condition of health is not good in two aspects though I had no problem last year. First is high LDL, the other is that uric acid level is high. I am told to be examined more precisely. I am very disappointed with this result.
- 11/12 When I worked for Kagawa University twelve years ago, my students presented me with a pot of "Awamori", Japanese spirits distilled in Okinawa, as their graduation memento. When I moved to Kyoto seven years ago, I brought it to my research office at Ritsumeikan University for which I work now . I have displayed it there and have never drunk it. Next week, we will hold a Yoshida Seminar's reunion in Takamatsu city. I will take it there with me to drink it together with my ex-students, so I brought it back home today. It was a little bit heavy for me.
A pot of Awamori at home.
- 11/11 There is a small temple, called Kūya-dou, near our house. It isn't open to the public except second Sunday in November, the memorial ceremony day for Saint Kūya. He was famous egalitarian buddhistic activist about 1100 years ago. Today was the ceremony day, so my wife and me walked there today. Adherents of him are famous for their pray style, "Odori Nenbutsu", i.e. saying a pray with dancing and beating a small drum. We saw two patterns of "Odori Nenbutsu" today. First was the very religous style in which Buddhist priests said a long pray. The other was very secularized style in which common people beated drums and dancing with short pray. After seeing them, we enjoyed green tea with small sweets for which we paid 300 yen per head to the temple. We had precious experience for two hours.
A secularized style of "Odori Nenbutsu", called "Roku-Sai Nenbutsu".
- 11/10 It was fine and warm day today, so my wife and me walked to Konkaikomyoji, called Kurodani temple, and Shinnyodo temple. They are a little bit far from our house, and it took an hour. Maple leaves at Shinnyodo temple began to turn red. I was reminded that we had visited them with our daughter just a year ago. To see the photos at that time made me know that we had had winter clothes, and that the leaves had been all red. I noticed this autumn is warmer than last autumn.
A magnificent gate at Kurodani temple
"Susuki", known as autumn grasses in Japan.
Shinnyodo temple is famous for beautiful autumn tints.
- 11/9 I am pleased Mr. Keiichiro Hamaguchi, a famous labor law scholor in Japan, wrote on his blog that my new paper, "Attempts to Transfer Seniority Rules in the USA to Japan around 1950 and their Effects.", was interesting to him. Concerning this paper, I will make an oral report on it at a workshop held at Chuo University November, 16th.
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