2018/09/07 I am a cat Episode one

I am a cat. And I don't have a name yet.

I have no idea where I was born. But I do remember crying in a dark, wet place. And that is where I met a human for the first time. He was the most dangerous type of human, but I didn’t learn that until later. He was a shosei student. I also learned that shosei students catch and eat us cats sometimes. But at that time, I didn’t know any of this. So I didn’t think he was so scary. All I thought was that his face was smooth like a kettle. A face should have some hair.

I rested comfortably in the shosei’s hands for a while. But soon I started to go round and round in circles very fast. I didn’t know whether it was the shosei or me that was moving. Either way, my eyes started to spin, and I felt sick. Then suddenly, there was a big noise, and fire came out from my eyes.

Then everything became black.

Later, I looked around, and the shosei was gone. My brother were gone, too. Even my dear mother. I found that I had been thrown into a place with many bamboo trees. It hurt. I was weak and hungry. So I decided to look for food. I went through a hole in a broken fence, and it let led me to someone’s house. Luck is a mysterious thing. If I had not found that hole, I might have died.

So I was at someone’s house. But I didn’t know what to do next. It was very cold, and it even started to rain. I was running out of time. So I moved to where the light was and where it looked warmer. That was when I saw other humans.

First, I saw an osan servant. She was even more dangerous than shosei. She caught me by the neck and threw me out as soon as she saw me. but I was cold and hungry. I went back into the kitchen when osan wasn’t looking. But she found me and threw me out again. This continued for a while. I went in, and she threw me out.

Finally, the master of the house came to see why there was so much noise. Osan lifted me by the neck and showed me to the Master. She said that I was a lost cat and wooden wouldn’t stop coming into the kitchen. The master touched the black hair under his nose as he looked at me for a while. Then, he said, Let him stay, and left. Osan didn’t look happy, but she threw me down in the kitchen. So that is how I found my home.

2018/09/06 Haiti

Hi, There! I’m the Republic of Haiti, and I have two official languages, Haitian Creole and French. My neighbor country is the Dominican Republic. We share the same island, Hispaniola Island. It's a western these West Indies island located near Central America, and I’m on the western side of the island. Cuba and Jamaica are close by. I’m about one thirds the size of Hokkaido, and my capital city is Port-au-Prince. There are about ten million people living in my country.

Oh, by the way, people don't call me Haiti here. They call me Ayiti which means land with many mountains. So as you can guess, there are many mountains in my land.

Let me tell you a little about my history. After Columbus came to the island in 1492, my land was controlled by the Spanish and then the French. They brought people from Africa as slaves and then made them work on farms. So my country has a mixed culture of Africa and Europe.

One part of my culture is a type of religion called Vodou. It came from Africa and was mixed with the way of thinking of the native Taino people in my land and with Christianity.

Haitian Vodou has developed in a unique way. Some people may have a dark image when they hear the word Vodou, but it is not dark, I said that it was a religion, but it doesn't have a special book like the Bible. There are no churches, and they do not try to get other people to join them. It's a religion amoung the people, and they use drums to dance and sing at special ceremonies. In their ceremonies, they sometimes kill chickens, cows and goats like you see in movies. Maybe that is why Vodou has a negative image. Or maybe it's because of tomething known as zombie powder.

The Vodou priest makes a white powder mix made from harbs and poisone. It is used as punishment for very bad crimes. When you take the zombie powder, you become almost dead. Next, you are buried and then brought back to life with another special powder and made to work as a slave. So the scary and famous zonvies from popular movies came from Vodou religion. The important thing to remember is that each ceremony has a meaning, and Vodou is part of the life here.

I am proud of my mixed culture. You can even see it in our food. It's a delicious combination of Spanish, French, native Taino and African food. I hope you have a chance to try it sometime.

2018/09/05 The navigator

I just bought a new car with a hi-tech navigation system. It can understand the driver. Hello? Can you hear me?

Where would you like to go?

Umm, to Negishi Station, please.

Negishi in Kanagawa Prefecture?

Yes.

Would you like to take the fast root route on the highway?

No. I’m not in a hurry. So I'll take the normal route.

It will take about one hour and twenty minutes.

Okay. Let's go.

Huh? Oh, you don't talk much. Well, here we go.

In 400 meters, turn right.

What? No. Isn't it faster if we go straight?

Turn right.

Oh, okay, I'll turn right. If I turn right, there's construction going on, so there will be a traffic jam. Maybe the navigation system doesn't have information like that in it. Huh? There's no constraction here now. It must be finished. We’ll get throught here very quickly. Good navigation.

Turn left in 300 meters. Switch to the left lane.

Okay.

In one kilometer, there will be a traffic jam. It will continue for eight kilometers.

A traffic jam? What happened?

There was an accident.

Well then, I want to switch to the fast route.

Changing the route. In 700 meters, turn right. Continue for 400 meters, and get on the highway.

Got it. Ah, this is much better. I’m so glad I listened to you. Thank you.

This is kind of sad. It's too bad she can't say You are welcome. It's more fun to have a conversation that than just to get directions. Oh well, it's a computer not a friend.

At the next highway junction, go toward Yokosuka.

Sure, sure. I will follow your directions. Huh? I've been on the highway for a while. I should be close to Negishi by now.

At the next junction, go in the direction of Namiki.

Okay. It's my first time using this highway, so I don't really know where I am. Maybe it’ll take a little longer to get there.

You are almost at Negishi Station.

What? No. I’m still on the highway. I need to get off somewhere. Do you know where I can get off?

You are at Negishi Station. Navigation ending.

Huh? Don't finish navigating. You have to help me. I can see Negishi Station under the highway, but I don't know how to get off the highway, what is going on?

Have a nice day.

Oh, don't talk. You are useless. I shouldn’t have used the navigation system. Now I’m lost.

I’m sorry.

2018/09/04 Furuya no Mori

Once upon a time, there lived an old man and his wife. They lived in a very old house. Every time it rained, the rainwater came through the roof and into the house.

One rainy night, a burglar came to the old couple’s house. I’m going to take the horse from this hosue. He climbed onto the roof.

At the same time, a wolf came there. I will eat their horse.

The burglar didn’t know the wolf was there. The wolf didn’t know the burglar was there, either. But they both heard the old man and his wife talking.

What are you most afraid of?

Let me think. I’m afraid of burglars. They take everything away from us.

The burglar smiled and was happy to hear that he made people so afraid.

In the house, down below, the old man said, I think so too. But I’m more afraid of wolf wolves.

You're right. Wolves will even take your life.

Now the wolf smiled. He was happy to hear that he made people so afraid.

The old man then said, But I’m really, really afraid of Furuya no Mori.

That’s right. Furuya no Mori is worse than burglars or wolves. We might have to worry about Furuya no Mori tonight.

Furuya means old house, and Mori means ama-mori, which means rainwater coming in.

So the old couple was saying they will were afraid of rainwater coming into their old home.

But the burglar and the wolf didn’t know what Furuya no Mori was. So they thought something really dangerous was coming to the house soon.

The burglar hurried to climb down from the roof to go home, but he fell. He fell right on the wolf’s back. Now the wolf suddenly has had something on his back.

The wolf was very afraid. Oh no, it must be that Furuya no Mori.

The wolf started to run back to the forest. Luckily, the Furuya no Mori fell off his back and into a hole beside an apple tree. Of course, that was not the Furuya no Mori but the burglar. The burglar tried to climb out of the hole, but the hole was too deep. The wolf ran all the way home and then told his friends about the Furuya no Mori.

One of his friends was a monkey. He said, I want to see the Furuya no Mori. The monkey went to the hole beside the apple tree. The monkey put his long tail down the hole.

The burglar had been down in the hole for a long time. He was very happy to see something like a rope coming down. So the burglar quickly grabbed the monkey’s tail and started to pulling himself up.

The monkey was surprised, so he tried to run away, but he couldn’t. Both of them pulled and pulled, and in the end, the monkey’s tail broke into two parts.

People say that is why monkeys in Japan have short tails.

2018/09/03 A&B @ Beppu hot springs

This feels so good.

Akito, what are you doing?

I’m taking a foot bath. You should try it.

Come on, put your shoes on. We’re going to the next hot spring.

I’m Akito. Today, Ben and I are at Beppu Onsen in Oita Prefecture. We came here to relax, but we’re at our second onsen already.

The water is bright blue.

This is called Umi Jigoku, or Sea Hell.

It's so beautiful. Why is a word hell in the name?

From over 1000 year ago, gas and hot water came out of the hot springs in Beppu. People couldn’t go near them, so no one liked them. That’s why they named the hot springs with the name hell. The water in Umi Jigoku is around 98 degrees Celsius.

Wow.

Today, we are going around hell.

What did you say?

We call visiting all the different onsen here going around hell.

Oh, exciting.

Next, we go to Oniishibozu Jigoku, or Oniishi shaving Shaven Head Hell.

Is that man mud? Wow. There are bubbles coming out of it. I don't want to fall in there. Akito? What are you eating?

I’m eating steamed pudding. It's a specialty of Oniishibozu Jigoku.

Pudding? I want some, too.

Sorry, I only got one for myself.

What?

Next, we go to Oniyama Jigoku, or Demon Mountain Hell.

Look, Akito. Crocodiles. They look so real.

They are real. Crocodiles usually living live in warm places. Here they use the heat from the hot spring to keep the crocodile pond warm.

That’s so cool.

Next, we go to Kamado Jigoku, or Cooking Stove Hell.

Cooking stove? That’s a funny name.

It is said that a long time ago, people use this the steam from this hot spring to cook rice for the ujigami, or guardian god.

I’m getting hungry. Let's eat.

Sure. Let's go and try Jigoku-mushi, or steamed and hell foods. We can cook everything ourselves.

How?

It's easy. You put the food in a basket. Then, you put the basket in the cooking pot.

Okay. Eggs, sweet potatoes, corn and even crab.

You can also bring your own food. The cooking time is on the menu.

Great.

After eating lunch, we go to Tatsumaki Jigoku, or Tornado Hell.

Look at that. That’s hot water, right? It looks like a tornado.

The water can go up about 30 meters, but the roof stops it. Okay, we’ve finished our tour of hell. Huh? Ben? What are you drinking?

Oh, this? It's fresh tangerine juice made from the tangerines in that field.

Did you get some for me?

Uh, no. you didn’t get me pudding, so no juice for you.

Ben!