Cha tôi @VietnamPlus

Khi 4 tuổi: "Cha tôi có thể làm bất cứ điều gì"

5 tuổi: "Cha biết tất cả mọi thứ"

6 tuổi: "Cha tôi thông minh hơn cha bạn"

8 tuổi: "Cha không hẳn biết chính xác tất cả mọi thứ"

14 tuổi: "Thời trước của cha, mọi thứ khác bây giờ"

16 tuổi: "Cha chẳng biết gì về điều đó cả"

18 tuổi: "Cha thật là lạc hậu"

19/04 asahi - 天声人語 - Buồn ơi! chào mi

2011年4月19日（火）付

　災害のときに誰もが案じるのは大切な人の消息だ。声を聞くまで、姿を見るまでは、心ここにあらずとなろう。関東大震災で大勢が避難した東京・上野公園では、一番目立つ西郷さんの像に、尋ね人の張り紙が何百枚も張られたという▼上野のお山は身内や知人を捜す声が昼夜絶えなかった。「深更（しんこう）の二時三時頃には、全山の其（その）叫び声が寝耳に徹して、何とも云（い）ひ知られぬ悲痛の感に打たれた」と、ジャーナリストの宮武外骨（がいこつ）は書き残した。生きてあれと願う必死の声、声、声で、山全体がうなったのである▼東北には今も、大切な人を捜して叫び続ける方が大勢いる。１面にある「被災者数」の欄は、発生から３８日たってなお行方不明の人は１万を超す。奇跡という言葉さえ遠ざかり、「せめて無縁仏にはしたくない」と語る涙に胸がつぶれる▼岩手県山田町では、ともに後継ぎ息子をさらわれた漁師２人が、海へ出て捜している。２人の妻は毎朝避難所を抜け出し、岸で名を呼んで泣いていると小紙記事にあった。喪にも服せぬ人の多さに津波の酷を思う▼漁師は「避難所の人は表で笑っているけど、皆そんな気持ち。俺らもそうだ」と言う。おそらく被災地の「喪の途（みち）」は只事（ただごと）でなく長いのだ。復興のかけ声に虚（うつ）ろな人を、置き去りにしては進めない▼被災した人が一人になったときの顔への、想像力を失うまい。震災前の日本は「待つこと」の苦手な社会になっていた。最も歩みの緩やかな人を見失わない復興が、いまは大切だ。

14/04 asahi 天声人語

2011年4月14日（木）付

　ことばの響きが与える印象を音相（おんそう）と呼ぶそうだ。その道を究めた木通（きどおし）隆行さんの著書によると、濁音はうっとうしくて暗い半面、豪華で重厚な趣を醸す。たとえばＧとＤの濁音がまじる「ぎゅうどん」には、不動の安定感があるという▼同じ音を含む「ゴールド」も信頼では牛丼に劣らない。腐食に強く、天災や戦火、革命や恐慌をくぐり抜け、最悪の原発事故にもさして動じない。よく言う有事の金（きん）である▼先週来、ニューヨークの金相場が空前の高値となった。リビア内戦で石油がまた上がり、株などのペーパーマネーから資金が流入しているらしい。震災直後には資金需要を見込んで売られたものの、すぐ右上がりに戻った▼金の価値を支えるのは、地球を掘り尽くしても総量が直径３０メートルほどの球にしかならない希少性だ。すでに７割が採掘されたが、高相場の後押しで、去年の産出量は９年ぶりに過去最高を更新した▼うわさで買い、ニュースで売る。金取引の勘所という。プロは戦乱やインフレの気配で仕込み、現実となれば高値で手放す。彼らも慌てた日本の有事は、世界経済の暗雲として当面は金買いの材料とされる▼ともあれ、鉱物にすがる世は悲しい。ゴールドの頼りがいは人知不信の裏返し、うち続く混乱に政治経済が対応できていない証しだ。民主党内の菅おろしには呆（あき）れるが、頼りなく国難を持て余す首相にも問いたい。市場の侮りを覆す意気はありや。ここで転べば、濁点が足りない「コールド負け」である。

10/04 余録：非常時には流言飛語がつきものである…

　非常時には流言飛語がつきものである。１９１０年にハレー彗星（すいせい）が地球に接近した時も、彗星の尾が地球に触れて人類が滅亡する、いや空気が彗星にさらわれて窒息するといったうわさが流れ、空気をためるタイヤチューブが世界的に売れたという▲別の例はチェルノブイリ原発事故だ。被ばく覚悟の危険な任務に４人の消防隊員が選ばれ、彼らの隊長に消防本部長は３リットルのウオツカを差し出した。「勇気がでるように、血のめぐりがよくなるように、放射線から護（まも）るように」出発前に飲めというのだ▲隊長は拒否した。愚かな上司だと思ったのだろう。だが隊長は出発後、飲酒は放射線に効果的かもしれないとの「俗説」を医者から聞かされ、ウオツカを取りに戻ろうとしたと、英国の作家ピアズ・リードが「検証チェルノブイリ刻一刻」（文芸春秋）に書いている▲作業に従事した隊員が次々に倒れたのは言うまでもない。ウオツカを飲んでも同じだったろうが、わらにもすがろうとした隊長をどうして笑えよう。１００年前、タイヤチューブを買った人々を笑うことも難しい。だが大切なのは危機の実相を見定めることである▲彗星がいよいよ近づいた５月１９日、小紙の前身、東京日日新聞は「彗星恐るるに足らず」として「種々の迷信を抱くは敢（あえ）て東洋諸国許（ばか）りでなく文明国と誇る欧米にも随分ある」と書いた▲宣伝めいて恐縮だが、この冷静さに学ぶべきだと自戒を込めて考える。福島の原発事故は種々の風評を生み、内外で怪しげな情報が独り歩きする。海外向けの広報も大事だ。が、日本人が理性的に振る舞うことこそ最善の広報に違いない。

• 余録：流言飛語
• 福島第１原発：海江田経産相が視察　「汚染水処理が課題」
• 東日本大震災：慣れぬ土地、不安抱え　西日本避難の被災者
• 福島第１原発：津波で浸水５メートル　主要部分ほぼ全域
• 東日本大震災：非常用発電機２台以上確保を　安全・保安院

毎日新聞　2011年4月10日　東京朝刊

15/03 yomiuri - MUSINGS

March 15, 2011
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun's March 15 issue.

* * *

A feint is a movement in boxing and other sports to throw off an opponent's timing and mislead him or her. For instance, if you prepare for an expected punch, your opponent won't hit you. But he or she will make contact if you don't expect what is coming.

Many of you might have been thrown off balance by a feint by Tokyo Electric Power Co. I'm talking about the first day of the company's planned outage in the form of rotating blackouts by region. Based on the outage plan announced on the previous night, I braced myself for a blackout. On the morning of the very day, however, TEPCO changed its explanations a few times. First, it announced, "We won't carry out the planned outage," but later it said, "Maybe we will."

The power company said confusion arose because their estimate for electricity supply and demand went wrong thanks to railway companies that responded to the company's call to save power by reducing the number of trains in service. However, the confusion could have been avoided if TEPCO had made sufficient arrangements with the railway companies in advance.

If you need to keep watching television until the last moment to tell whether you will lose power or not, the outage is not worthy of being called "planned." We wish that TEPCO's silly feint hadn't lacerated our nerves any further, which have been already battered by watching grim news footage of quake-hit areas every day.

If you consider disaster victims living in evacuation centers, who lost their homes and don't know whether their kin are safe or not, the inconvenience caused by a blackout for several hours a day is a punch you can roll with. Most of the public will absorb such a blow calmly. What is essential is for TEPCO and the government to handle blackouts with more adeptness.

(Mar. 21, 2011)

21/03 yomiuri - MUSINGS

March 21, 2011
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun's March 21 issue.

* * *

"I clearly saw the huge, white walls of foaming waves that stretched boundlessly on the horizon gliding up across the sea."

So went the novel "Tsunami," authored by Tetsuo Takashima, a former researcher at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The novel vividly depicts the moment when a massive tsunami triggered by a fictitious great earthquake in the Tokai region assaults the Japanese archipelago.

Disasters wrought by the tsunami that followed the massive earthquake that pummeled the Tohoku and Kanto regions on March 11--including the radioactive leakage at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant--turned out to be far more devastating than anything the author could have imagined.

Huge tsunami always occur when least expected.

During the Edo period (1603-1867), tsunami caused major disasters in various parts of the country, such as the castle town of Osaka and the Kii Peninsula, Shikoku and Okinawa regions. Since the Meiji era (1868-1912), tales of two massive tsunami that hit the Sanriku Coast, in 1896 and 1933, have been handed down from generation to generation.

To pass along the experience of massive tsunami to younger generations, a story based on the Nankai Earthquake and ensuing tsunami in the closing days of the Edo period was utilized as teaching material for many years in a central government-approved primary school textbook.

However, in recent years, fading memories of tsunami disasters have weakened people's sense of crisis.

Local people also might have been overconfident about the huge seawalls that had been built based on lessons learned from tsunami along the Sanriku Coast. But the March 11 tsunami easily swept past these seawalls. Our difficult, perennial battle against nature is certain to continue.

(Mar. 24, 2011)

23/03 yomiuri - MUSINGS

March 23, 2011
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun's March 23 issue.

* * *

Novelist Kyoka Izumi (1873-1939) cared about hygiene so much that he was called a "fanatic." He never ate sashimi, he drank sake hot enough to burn his lips, and would eat grated daikon only after boiling it.

When he visited someone's home and greeted the host in a Japanese-style living room, Izumi would sit on his knees, but bowed with his wrists tucked in like a cat, so only the backs of his hands--not his palms--would touch the tatami floor.

People tell the story that Izumi put "hot coarse tea" as his answer to questionnaire asking people in the literary world about their favorite summer dishes.

Under ordinary circumstances, people see Izumi's passion for hygiene as a bit obsessive. But there are times when, excessive consumer worry, triggered by some incident, has hurt agricultural producers. What I'm talking about is the damage caused by groundless rumors.

There is concern now that rumors could harm some parts of the farm and dairy industries in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture. If vegetables, fruit and the other produce from disaster-affected areas are shipped and sold on the market, it means they are safe to eat.

If their prices and freshness are not so different from other products, maybe we could put produce from these areas into our baskets at supermarkets and other stores. This would be one way to support farmers in those areas.

The novelist's obsession with hygiene should be mimicked by no one except government organizations checking to make sure farm and marine products meet safety standards.

A proper level of fear, based on reason, is the only correct way to respond to radioactive materials.

(Mar. 28, 2011)

28/03 yomiuri - MUSINGS - khi no ấm rồi người ta quên đi sứ mệnh?!...

March 28, 2011
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun's March 28 issue.

* * *

Peter Drucker, an authority on business administration and knowledgeable about Japan, once said in a lecture in Washington that no policies taken by developed nations had worked well since 1950, with the sole exception of Japan's.

This comment, quoted in the late author's book "The Drucker Lectures: Essential Lessons on Management, Society and Economy," the Japanese translation of which was published by Achievement Co. last year, was made in 1991.

While praising the Japanese government's economic policies in the postwar years, he added in the book that its policies started to become dysfunctional.

Shortly after his lecture in Washington, Japan's bubble economy burst. Later the government failed to implement policies designed to deal properly with the financial recession and deflation. Unfortunately, Drucker's diagnosis seems to be spot on.

After the country was hit by the massive earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear plant crisis, some people probably felt the government's policies had become even more ineffective.

But let us refrain from describing the government as hopeless. Drucker warned it would be dangerous if we all became such cynics as to lose all confidence in government policies.

Can we quickly provide quake victims who are in evacuation centers and suffering many inconveniences with housing soon? Can we supply safe water to infants, whose parents are worried about radioactive contamination of tap water?

Rather than give up on the government, we should continually encourage it to take effective measures.

(Mar. 31, 2011)

31/03 yomiuri - MUSINGS

March 31, 2011
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun's March 31 issue.

* * *

Here is a verse I would like you, a newborn baby boy, to read someday.

In a period of coldness

You were born

With tears

This was written by haiku poet Koichi Masaki. You also were born on a chilly night in coldness, the day the Japanese archipelago filled with a flood of tears.

On the evening of the day when a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck northern and eastern parts of the nation, a woman went into labor at a shelter in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Several other women who also were evacuated to the shelter offered helping hands. The shelter was plunged in darkness due to a power outage. Using a flashlight, the women reportedly bound the umbilical cord with sewing thread and warmed the newborn baby in a polystyrene foam box.

I knew nothing about you except that you are a baby boy. But it crosses my mind that we might be siblings sharing the same birthday.

Since the earthquake, all Japanese have been trying to lead new lives, in which they have become a bit more sensitive than before to the pain of others and are more easily moved to tears than before. A serious crisis continues at the crippled nuclear power plant. There are yet to be any positive signs for the reconstruction of disaster-hit areas. But the period of coldness will turn to one of warmth, or we will make it happen. It will be a race between us over who can first stand firmly on their own feet.

March has become a month of special importance for the Japanese, just like August's commemoration of the anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombings and end of World War II. This March ends today. To you, though I do not know your name, let's grow together to become tough and beautiful.

(Apr. 4, 2011)

04/04 yomiuri - MUSINGS

April 4, 2011
The Yomiuri Shimbun

The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun's April 4 issue.

* * *

It was in March 1970 that the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant's No. 1 reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, began operation as the nation's first light water reactor for commercial use.

Its launch coincided with the opening of the Japan World Exposition 1970, and electricity generated at the plant, operated by Japan Atomic Power Co., was sent to the exposition's venue in Osaka Prefecture as "atomic light."

This was during the era of Japan's rapid economic growth, a time when the entire country was brimming over with hope and vitality.

Forty-one years have passed since then, and this year marks the centenary of the birth of Taro Okamoto (1911-1996), the artist who created the "Tower of the Sun" statue known as the symbol of Expo '70.

The life of this unique artist has been showcased at exhibitions, including one at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

Okamoto was said to have disliked the overall theme of the exposition--"Progress and Harmony for Mankind"--and came up with the folkloric "Tower of the Sun" as something extravagant to contrast the other, modern structures at the exposition.

He wanted Expo '70 to be a festival that would "wake the vitality hidden deep down in the hearts of the Japanese."

Today, however, this antimodern tower appears to symbolize the period of Japan's rapid economic growth. It expresses the primary energy of mankind and is the very picture of a time when Japan was full of vigor.

The tower must be calling on Japanese who are exhausted in the aftermath of the massive quake and tsunami, saying: "Rise up, believing that you have vitality hidden deep down in your heart."

(Apr. 7, 2011)

21/02 Is 'butterfly flapping wings' in Federal Reserve linked to revolution in Cairo?

Is 'butterfly flapping wings' in Federal Reserve linked to revolution in Cairo?

The unexpected has struck, and for unexpected reasons. In Japan, the roots of the revolutions now taking hold in many nations in the Middle East could be described with the expression, "If the wind blows, the bucket-makers prosper," meaning that events can bring about effects in unforeseen ways. One might also turn to the "butterfly effect," a term from chaos theory used to describe how small changes in a complex environment can result in major consequences elsewhere.

The term "butterfly effect" is taken from perhaps the most famous illustration of chaos theory in action: the butterfly that flaps its wings in the Amazon, triggering a series of small but crucial atmospheric events that result in a tornado in Texas. In the case of the Middle Eastern revolutionary movements, the "butterfly" could be the easing of monetary policy in the United States.

The revolutionary winds -- which have blown down dictatorial regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, and are now gusting in Libya, Bahrain and Iran -- have shown no sign of slowing down.

The U.S. aim of loosening domestic monetary policy was certainly not to inspire democratic uprisings in the Middle East. The only goal the Federal Reserve had was to juice up the U.S. economy by boosting the money supply. Central banks in Japan and Europe are also doing similar things. However, the currencies of the rich, industrialized countries flow all over the world, and have spurred price spikes in basic commodities like food and oil felt particularly keenly by the people of less wealthy nations.

Egyptians celebrate the news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who handed control of the country to the military, in front of the Egyptian museum at night in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt Friday, Feb. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick recently stated that average global food prices have reached dangerously high levels, and one of the issues that have brought people onto Middle Eastern streets by their hundreds of thousands is undoubtedly the impact these high prices are having on the daily lives of ordinary citizens in the region. The power of money on the global stage is increasing, and as it bounces from one corner of the world to another in the blink of an eye -- or, more accurately, trader's keystroke -- it leaves trouble in its wake.

This is what "globalism" is, apparently. However, just how far-reaching its effects will be is impossible to see. The meeting of G20 finance ministers which recently wrapped up in Paris tried to put together ideas on exactly what monetary globalism is and how to manage it -- and failed, it would seem.

According to expert opinion, the anxiety felt by G20 finance ministers relates not only to what is happening in the Islamic world but also to inflation in China. As the engine of world growth, if the Chinese economy goes off the rails, it will take the global economy with it -- and U.S. consumers are a major source of fuel for the Chinese engine.

And so the eyes of the world turn to the thunder of the U.S. money presses; a butterfly flaps its wings in the Federal Reserve, and a revolutionary tornado strikes Tunis, Cairo, Tripoli and beyond. ("Yoroku," a front-page column in the Mainichi Shimbun)

(Mainichi Japan) February 21, 2011

Compassion seen on all sides after Japan's disasters

Compassion seen on all sides after Japan's disasters

U.S. rescue teams dispatched to the tsunami-ravaged Iwate Prefecture cities of Ofunato and Kamaishi were taken aback by the devastating scene in front of them. But what they found more striking were their encounters with the locals.

"I haven't got much," said a woman whose shop had been reduced to rubble, as she offered rice crackers to the workers.

Likewise, a member of a Chinese rescue team in Ofunato recalls being thanked by local passersby for traveling such a long way to help, receiving candy and snacks from them. Another worker who tried to buy food at a convenience store said payment was refused when the shop staff realized the customer was helping in relief efforts. The worker ended up being given instant noodles and rice balls for free.

A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force soldier, left, removes mud from a high school gymnasium during a joint operation with the U.S. military, in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Wednesday, March 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

Such acts of compassion among the Japanese in the face of hardship have touched the hearts of many overseas, but those in other countries have been showing plenty of compassion themselves.

Present and former residents of an orphanage in Malaysia, for example, raised money through a donation drive. The money, along with a message of encouragement, was delivered to the Japanese Embassy in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, 40 Pakistani children with thalassemia, a blood disease also known as Mediterranean anemia, and the head of a welfare organization donated 10 soccer balls to a Japanese Consulate for Japanese children in the disaster areas.

Japan has received words of gratitude and encouragement as well as monetary donations from developing countries in Asia grateful for the support Japan has provided them in the past, both during normal times and after disasters have struck.

Japanese performer chats with children evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, where the troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is located, outside an evacuation center in Saitama, near Tokyo, Monday, March 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Elsewhere, poor students living in Brazil's impoverished regions have offered change they collected in empty cans, while an 8-year-old from Sweden was talking about wanting to use allowance money to send water to Japan. There was also a taxi driver in Poland who refused to accept fare from Japanese passengers, and a Russian gentleman who disappeared after dropping off a massive amount of money and wishing Japan well.

In the post-earthquake days, people's kindness and compassion have been seen in small acts everywhere. We hope that with these acts, the sadness enveloping the areas affected by the earthquake, tsunami and other crises will be healed. ("Yoroku," a front-page column in the Mainichi Shimbun)

Click here for the original Japanese story

(Mainichi Japan) April 1, 2011

余録：やさしさの輪

　岩手県の大船渡と釜石に入った米救援隊の消防士はその惨状に驚く。それにもまして印象深かったのは倒壊したある店の女性主人だった。その人は「何もありませんが」とせんべいを差し出したのだ▲同じく大船渡市で捜索活動をした中国の援助隊員は、通りがかりの住民に「遠くからわざわざありがとう」と声をかけられ、アメや菓子を手渡された。別の隊員は現地コンビニで「援助隊なら」と代金の受け取りを拒まれ、カップ麺やおにぎりの提供を受けたという▲苦境にあっても思いやりを失わぬ被災者の姿は外国人に感銘を与えた。だが、外国の人々も負けてはいない。マレーシアのある孤児院では孤児が修道女らに働きかけて被災地への募金活動を始め、自分らと卒業生の分も含む義援金と激励の言葉を日本大使館に寄せた▲パキスタンの地中海性貧血を患う子供たち４０人は福祉団体代表と共に日本の領事館へ被災地の子供たちにとサッカーボール１０個を寄贈した。アジアの途上国からは過去の日本の援助や災害支援への感謝と共に寄せられる義援金やお見舞いのメッセージが相次いでいる▲空き缶に小銭を集めたブラジルの貧しい地区の生徒たち、お小遣いで被災者に水を送りたいというスウェーデンの８歳の子、日本人からは代金を取れないと言ったポーランドのタクシー運転手、巨額の金と「がんばって」との一言だけを残していったロシアの紳士－－▲人へのやさしさや思いやりが地球のあちこちで小さな奇跡を起こし続けている「３・１１」後である。今は被災地を覆う深い悲しみも、いつかはこの奇跡の輪の中でいやされる日が来るよう祈る。

英訳

毎日新聞　2011年4月1日　0時22分