2007年10月30日 星期二

あかさか 【赤坂】

貼剪這篇微不足道的新聞
純粹是為紀念十幾年前經常在這附近出差住旅館


美駐日大使館 連10年拒繳租
向日本政府承租東京精華地段國有地使用的美國駐日大使館(見圖),自一九九八年起抗議日方調漲地租,至今十年未繳納租金。由於法律追溯期即將於今年底屆滿,日本政府不排除藉由民事訴訟,向美國追討欠款。(歐新社)

東京精華地 年租僅約台幣71萬

〔編譯鄭曉蘭/綜合報導〕據日本「朝日新聞」報導,美國駐日大使館向日本政府承租使用的東京精華地段國有地,連續十年未繳納年約台幣七十一萬的租金。由於該租賃契約的法律追溯期即將於今年十二月中旬屆滿,日本政府在努力交涉之餘也不排除提起民事訴訟。

日政府催繳 不排除提民事訴訟

美國駐日大使館自一八九○年起,向日本政府承租東京赤?*約一萬三千平方公尺的國有地使用。日方後來因物價節節上漲,分別於一九七四以及八三年兩度調漲租金。一九九八年,日方決定暫時將年租金調漲為約十倍的兩百五十萬日圓,引發美方不滿,美國大使館自此便拒絕繳納租金。


*あかさか 【赤坂】

(1)東京都港区の地名。旧区名。迎賓館(旧赤坂離宮)がある。



日 本目前對於美、英等國,出租國有地作為駐日使館之用,而向美國所收取的租金相對低廉。美國使館所使用的國有地位於鄰近日本國會或公家機關等,東京都中心一 等一的精華地段,不動產業相關人士表示:「(兩百五十萬圓)的確非常便宜。」反觀英國位於東京皇居附近,佔地三萬五千平方公尺的駐日大使館,每年的國有地 承租費用則要價三千五百萬日圓(約台幣九百九十三萬)。

日本政府表示:「對美關係當然很重要,但是在財政吃緊的情況下,我們也無法輕易妥 協。」美國駐日大使館則對此表示:「我們將持續與日本政府進行協商,期待能夠解決問題。」美日雙方在此問題上仍有政治協商的空間,不過若在法律追溯期屆滿 前,仍無法達成共識,則可能發展成日本向美國提起民事訴訟的罕見情況。

2007年10月29日 星期一

日本的"減課量"教改宣佈失敗 (英文)

日本的"減課量"教改宣佈失敗

Panel says cram-free education a failure

Cram-free education, a main plank of current teaching guidelines, is expected to be declared a failure in an report interim to be released shortly, it has been learned.

The report, which will be released by the Central Council for Education, an advisory panel to the education, science and technology minister, is the first to publicly admit that cram-free education had failed to achieve the intended results.

The council has already decided to advise the minister to increase school hours at primary and middle schools.

Among its main points, the report will say that the cram-free policy led to an excessive reduction in school hours.

Such self-criticism is a rare move, but the council is believed to have concluded that it is necessary to win teachers' understanding for the policy reversal.

In 1996, the council proposed encouraging children to develop a "zest for living," including the development of self-expression and care for others.

As a result, the current official curriculum guidelines aim to increase the effectiveness of teaching by focusing on a narrower range of subject material. The content of primary and middle schools' subjects was reduced by 30 percent, while school hours were cut by 10 percent.

Instead, the council introduced "integrated studies" featuring cross-subject studies to develop students' thinking skills.

However, when the guidelines were introduced in 2002, the reduced hours and other changes were criticized for reducing children's basic scholastic abilities. The new teaching guidelines were cited as one factor in the perceived gap among students in their motivation to learn.

The interim report will list five failures related to the guidelines. The first is the failure to tell teachers and parents what "zest for living" means, and why it is required.

The second is that because the development of children's ability to study and think on their own initiative was mentioned as one of the guidelines' aims, many teachers have accorded too much respect to students' initiative, and become hesitant to take a firm line with them.

Third is the failure to explain the importance of integrated studies.

The fourth failure is that the excessive reduction in school hours actually impaired the development of thinking and self-expression among students.

Finally, the report will say the guidelines were drawn up without taking into account the decreasing ability of parents and communities to provide support for children's education--a trend the council says has forced schools to play a bigger role in cultivating children's habits and morals.

(Oct. 29, 2007)

2007年10月26日 星期五

Japanese Bookstore Expands Its Horizons

Japanese Bookstore Expands Its Horizons

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

A display at Kinokuniya’s new store overlooking Bryant Park; the old Kinokuniya, at Rockefeller Center, is to close at year’s end.

紐約時報
Published: October 26, 2007

For 26 years, Kinokuniya, the Japanese bookstore chain, has served New York’s Japanese-language readers from its outlet at Rockefeller Center with scores of paperbacks imported from Japan, hundreds of cellophane-wrapped manga titles and translations of the most recent Harry Potter installment. Now the company has decided that Japanese is no longer the center of its universe.

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Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

With a new store overlooking Bryant Park that opened last weekend, Kinokuniya is expanding its focus from Japan to all of Asia and beyond. Japanese-language books, which occupy the bulk of the first floor of the slightly worn Rockefeller Center store, have been banished to the basement of the new, airy three-story store on Avenue of the Americas, near 40th Street.

On the first floor, which is serenely decorated in blond-wood flooring and minimalist black shelving, English-language readers can peruse coffee-table books of posters from the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Korean cookbooks and histories of the Middle East. In the literature section, English translations of Japanese novelists like Haruki Murakami and Shusaku Endo share shelf space with titles by Salman Rushdie and Anita Desai and translations of books by the Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz and the Chinese-born Gao Xingjian.

“At the old store the main purpose was to sell to the Japanese community,” said Shigeharu Ono, director of Kinokuniya in New York, while giving a tour of the new store this week. “We want to expand our audience.” He said Japanese-language titles represented about 70 percent of the stock at Rockefeller Center, but he expected English-language titles ultimately would be in the majority at the new location. (Books are also sold online at www.kinokuniya.com.)

With just over 61,000 Japanese natives in the New York metropolitan area, according to the Consulate General of Japan, the niche focus of the old store, which is to close at the end of this year, limited its customer base. Given high rents at Rockefeller Center, said Mr. Ono, “it was always a very tough business.”

But Japanophiles need not panic: The Bryant Park store, one of nine Kinokuniyas in the United States, is stocked with plenty of Japanese-language novels, fashion magazines and a mother lode of manga in both Japanese and English. About a third of the second floor, which also features a branch of Cafe Zaiya, a Japanese-style pastry and sandwich shop, is taken up by packed rows of manga titles. There are also DVDs of popular anime shows like “Naruto” and “Fullmetal Alchemist.”

The new store also includes expanded fashion and art sections in the hopes of capitalizing on its location overlooking Fashion Week headquarters. John Fuller, store manager, said that on the day the store opened, someone from a nearby fashion designer’s office walked in and bought 11 issues of Fruits, a monthly Japanese magazine of photographs capturing on-the-street style.

Mr. Fuller said the new location would hold more events in English than the Rockefeller Center store did. Next month there will be a costume competition, a talk by Brian Camp, co-author of “Anime Classics Zettai! 100 Must-See Japanese Animation Masterpieces,” and a demonstration by Machiko Chiba, a popular cookbook author who focuses on microwave cooking.

On Nov. 20 the store plans to unveil a mural it commissioned from Takehiko Inoue, one of Japan’s best-known manga artists. Mr. Inoue writes and draws the “Vagabond” and “Real” series.

Mr. Ono acknowledged that the store competed for manga readers with Barnes & Noble and Borders.

Jim Killen, the chainwide manga buyer for Barnes & Noble, said it had “a couple thousand” titles in its database in English translation.

Mr. Ono estimated that there were about 1,000 English titles in the Bryant Park store.

But Kinokuniya has one exclusive title: The Japanese translation of “The Secret,” the best-selling positive-thinking self-help book, which doesn’t even go on sale in Japan until Monday.

2007年10月25日 星期四

Food Scandals Worry Japan日本食品界聲譽蒙羞

日本爆發一系列的食品不當處理問題

Food Scandals Worry Japan

TOKYO (AP) — Ocean-fresh sushi? Quality marbled beef? Exquisite confectionaries? Think again.

Japan has been hit by a slew of food safety and false labeling scandals that is threatening to wreck its image as a country of culinary wonders, squeaky-clean factories and impeccable sanitation.

In the most recent, a venerable maker of traditional Japanese sweets was found to have recycled the red bean filling in its rice cakes, collecting old filling from leftover boxes and shipping them out as new.

Investigators also found that Akafuku Co., based in western Japan, had long misguided consumers by shipping out old sweets it stored in freezers, stamped with a production date that was in fact the date the old cakes were thawed.

"I knew what we were doing was wrong," a grave-looking Akafuku president Noriyasu Hamada told reporters Tuesday. "The responsibility lies with me."

Those revelations came on the heels of a raid by health authorities of meat processor Meat Hope Co. in northern Japan on suspicions it falsely labeled pork, chicken and beef mixture as pure ground beef — a practice media reports said had gone on at least two decades. Its president was arrested Wednesday for violating Japan's competition laws, which ban the false labeling of products.

A separate meat processor was accused last week of taking meat from retired roosting chickens — which the company had bought at rock-bottom prices — and shipping them out as top-quality free-range chicken.

While there have been no reports of illness or food-poisoning related to any of the scandals, they have dominated local media and alarmed Japanese shoppers.

The incidents also come as Japanese consumers — appalled over rampant product safety problems in neighboring China, a major trading partner — had been turning to domestic produce as a sure sign of quality.

"I've always tried to buy domestic because I thought that was safer, but now I can't trust anybody," said Toshie Kano, 72, a retiree shopping at a supermarket in central Tokyo.

"These companies can't cut corners with things we eat. Just imagine what we've been feeding our children," she said.

The scandals have not been confined to regional companies. Fujiya Co., one of Japan's top confectioners, admitted in February to having used out-of-date milk, cream and eggs in cream puffs distributed nationwide. Cookie maker Ishiya Trading Co. followed suit, recalling its sweets after it admitted falsifying expiration dates to get rid of excess stock.

Analysts say a persistent price war in Japan's food industry has squeezed profits, especially at smaller companies, and spurred them to cut corners.

They also worry the scandals have hurt the image of Japanese food overseas at a time when companies here are looking to expand internationally to augment sluggish profits at home.

"This is a big blow for food companies who want to start international operations or boost overseas sales," said Hiroshi Saji, an industry analyst at Mizuho Securities. "These scandals have tainted the Japan brand."

Authorities, meanwhile, have struggled to police violators.

"The recent violations are so flagrant, we're looking at a moral problem and that's hard to regulate," said Health Ministry official Takashi Tagami. "Perhaps we need to increase penalties for offenders."

The latest scandals have even raised suspicion over the authenticity and safety of some of the nation's favorite dishes, including sushi, marbled beef and shark's fin.

Discount sushi stores frequently use cheap substitutes for delicacies like eel and sea bream, local media allege. For example, Nile tilapia, a freshwater fish, is reportedly served as sea bream in many outlets.

bream

n. (名詞 noun)【魚】[C]
  1. 歐扁(歐洲產的鯉科淡水魚)
  2. 鯛科的海魚
  3. 太陽魚

Other fake foods reported by local media include fatty tuna made from tuna bits mixed with pork lard, shark's fin made from gelatin and a bizarre reconstituted egg-in-a-tube that is often used in packed lunches and salads.



Japan has not been immune to food scares. In 2000, Snow Brand Milk Products Co. shipped old milk and sickened more than 14,000 people, the country's worst-ever outbreak of food poisoning.

2007年10月24日 星期三

景品表示法

broiler 景品

broiler
━━ n. 焼き肉用鉄板[網]; ブロイラー ((食用若鶏(どり))) a young chicken suitable for roasting or grilling ; 〔話〕 とても暑い日


grill (COOK)
verb [T] (US ALSO broil)
to cook something by direct heat, especially under a very hot surface in a cooker:
I grilled the sausages.

Volz says he and his fellow researchers are launching a broader survey this summer that will entail sampling fish all along the Allegheny River. Efforts will be made to determine if it is industrial waste, sewage or agricultural runoff—or all three—that is responsible for the problem. In the meantime, cooking the fat out of fish may be the best defense. "If you broil fish and let the fats drip out that will take most of the contaminants out," Volz says, though that may not be enough given other exposures to potentially tainted water. "What our study does show us is that there is exposure potential to vast populations that use water from our rivers as their drinking water supply."

grill
noun [C]
1 (US ALSO broiler) the surface in a cooker which can be heated to very high temperatures and under which you put food to be cooked
See picture .

2 a frame of metal bars over a fire on which food can be put to be cooked

Char-Broil Recalls Two-Burner Gas Grills Sold Exclusively at Big Lots Stores



本文です

「地鶏」炭火焼き、実はブロイラー…鹿児島の百貨店が販売

 鹿児島市の百貨店「山形屋」(岩元修士社長)は24日、今年3~8月、インターネットの通信販売で、ブロイラーの炭火焼きを宮崎産の「地鶏」と表示し販売していた、と発表した。

Click here to find out more!Click here to find out more!

 景品表示法違反の疑いがあるとして、公正取引委員会から調査を受けたという。

  山形屋によると、不当表示があったのは「鶏炭火焼と冷や汁セット」(3675円)と「鶏炭火焼セット」(2940円)の2点。包装やチラシには正 しい商品名を書いたが、インターネット上は「地鶏炭火焼」となっていた。宮崎市の宮崎山形屋が同市内の食品加工会社から仕入れた。入力担当者の誤入力が原 因という。

 山形屋は両商品で計約117万円売り上げた。購入者260人にはすでに返金するなどしているという。

 24日夜に記者会見した岩元社長は「関係者や消費者に、ご迷惑をかけ、申し訳ない」と話している。

2007年10月25日0時48分 読売新聞)

けいひん 景品

a premium; a (free) gift; 〔米〕a giveaway.
~を出す offer giveaways [gifts].
景品券 a premium ticket; a coupon.
景品付売出し a sale with gifts [premiums].
景品表示法 Law for Preventing Unjustifiable Lagniappes and Misleading Representation.

景品表示法 【けいひんひょうじほう】

「不当景品類及び不当表示防止法」の略称。消費者に誤認させる不当表示と,販売促進のための景品類の行き過ぎを規制する目的で,1962 年(昭和 37)制定。景表法


可供玩賞的形色。如:風景山景景物依舊,人事全非。???

搭乘飛機火車等交通工具請關手機

搭乘飛機火車等交通工具請關手機

本居宣長 Motoori Norinaga

讀吉川"中國詩史"引 Motoori Norinaga

もとおり-のりなが もとをり― 【本居宣長

(1730-1801) 江戸中期の国学者。伊勢松阪の人。芝蘭・舜(春)庵・中衛と号し、鈴屋(すずのや)と 称す。医者を開業する一方、古典研究を行い語句・文章の考証を中心とする精密・実証的な研究法により、古事記・源氏物語など古典文学の注釈や漢字音・文法 などの国語学的研究にすぐれた業績を残した。また、復古思想を説いて儒教を排し、国学の思想的基礎を固めた。国学四大人の一人。著「古事記伝」「源氏物語 玉の小櫛」「古今集遠鏡」「漢字三音考」「てにをは紐鏡」「詞の玉緒」「玉勝間」など。
"三省堂提供「大辞林 第二版」"

讀一下普林斯頓的日本古典文學導引 說他如西方的亞里思多德 弟子合作(昨晚讀唐宋筆記辭典 合作或合 意 "佳") 許多著作似的....コレクターとしても有名で、駅鈴のレプリカなど珍しいものを多く所有していた。また、自宅に「鈴屋」という屋号もつけている

作品

[編集] 国学

[編集] 評論

[編集] 語学

[編集] 随筆

[編集] 学問論

[編集] 経済

[編集] 家集(和歌集)

[編集] 参考文献

2007年10月23日 星期二

豐田衝壓部門的小集團活動

“首先嘗試少數意見”——“創新人才”培養
DATE 2007/10/24

  【日經BP社報導】 豐田汽車的金屬衝壓加工部門——衝壓模具(Stamping Tool)部門為提高小集團活動的效率做了幾點“改進”。其內容包括“活動單位為3人”、“在3人的意見為2比1時,首先嘗試少數意見”等。這些改進都有其相應的理由。   

這些改進是豐田汽車衝壓模具部部長戶松良在“2007生產現場改善研討會”(日本能率協會主辦,2007年10月18日,太平洋橫濱會展中心)上透露的。該部門把品質圈活動(QC Circle、“風險提案”等全部小集團活動的人數定為3人。   

其原因主要在於三個方面:“能夠選擇與工作直接相關的主題”、“能夠人浮於事”、“意見分歧大都為2比1”。其中,最後的原因尤為重要。   一般情況下,意見出現2比1的分歧時大都採用多數意見。但該部門卻首先從少數意見開始嘗試。其原因也分為幾個方面。第一,少數意見正確的情況在一線並不少見。   

也有客觀判斷證實少數意見明顯錯誤的情況。即便如此,豐田還是決定首先對少數意見進行嘗試。戶松表示,重視少數意見意義重大。如果在在探討階段就排除少數意見的話,會使少數意見的提案者產生“下次不提意見”(戶松)的想法。與短期效率相比,豐田更重視創造輕鬆的提案環境。這一舉措有利於“培養創新人才”。

(記者:高野 敦) ■日文原文 「小集団活動の単位は3人」「まず少數意見を採用」---トヨタ·プレス部門の“考える人”づくり

■相關報導 豐田強大的另一個理由——讀《日本技術創新經營》有感(中)豐田汽車發表第4次“豐田環保計劃”“管理層不得多嘴” 日產構建基於現場一線的透明度更高的召回判斷系統

Japan's economy and the Koizumi myth

Japan's economy and the Koizumi myth


Kiichi Murashima, chief economist of Nikko Citigroup in Tokyo, has just returned from London. He did not have much fun. After several meetings with investors in both Japanese government bonds and equities, he concluded: “People are losing interest in Japan.”


Lack of enthusiasm stems partly from the fact that Japan's less-than-exciting growth remains dependent on now-more-uncertain external demand. But underlying the disappointment is a deeper concern that political paralysis resulting from last month's collapse of Shinzo Abe's administration will lead to policy seizure.


Superficially, such fears are understandable. Last month Yasuo Fukuda, a 71-year-old man in a grey suit, was hustled into office by a few faction bosses of the ruling Liberal Democratic party. The selection smacked of old-style Japan before Junichiro Koizumi, the last-but-one prime minister, subverted convention by appealing directly to public support

Worse for the worriers, Mr Fukuda, a consensus-style politician, assumes office at a time of apparent backlash against “Koizumi reforms”. In July the ruling party was punished in upper house elections by voters in poorer parts of Japan, for whom five years of recovery has had little tangible effect.


Mr Koizumi, prime minister from April 2001 to September 2006, convinced the electorate – and not a few foreign investors – that there could be “no growth without reform”. Since his period in office coincided with the longest recovery in years, people concluded it must have been the reform that did the trick. The corollary of this simplistic analysis is that if reforms stop now, so will growth.


There is a misunderstanding about the nature of structural reform and what role, if any, it played in Japan's recovery. At the best of times, “reform” is a sloppy word used to mean “good change”, a convenient sanctuary for politicians unwilling to concede that not every new law they instigate is beneficial. In Japan, where it has been conflated to mean both fiscal consolidation and deregulation, the term is less illuminating still.


What role did either cutting budgets or pushing deregulation under Mr Koizumi have in boosting growth? Almost none. When he took over during a banking crisis in 2001, he promised to slash government borrowing. Fortunately, he did no such thing. To have done so would have risked tipping the deflation-riddled economy into even deeper recession. He did cut public works budgets. Towards the end of his tenure, he brought overall spending under control and raised revenue through stealth taxes.


This may have been good for the long-term health of Japan. But few economists, if any, have argued that it spurred recovery.


Deregulation can accelerate growth. But most Japanese deregulation – for example in the financial and retail sectors – was instigated before Mr Koizumi arrived on the scene.


When Mr Fukuda, who was Mr Koizumi's chief cabinet secretary, was asked about that administration's shining deregulatory success, he mentioned a change allowing the sale of cold medicines by non-pharmacists. Convenient as this far-reaching measure was for legions of handkerchief-clutching salarymen, few would claim it was a principal source of growth.
The real key to recovery under Mr Koizumi was the beneficial effect of a booming China on exporters and success in getting banks in shape. Exports were helped further by massive currency intervention to keep the yen low. Even in Japan's muddled debate, that policy was never classified as reform.


The biggest genuine Koizumi reform was postal privatisation. This did not start until a year after he left office and will not be completed until 2017. Yet foreign investors seized on postal privatisation in late 2005 as a reason to snap up Japanese equities, precipitating a near-40 per cent stock market rally.


Lehman Brothers writes in a recent note: “The excitement and rhetorical flourishes of the Koizumi era notwithstanding, the pace of structural reform did not particularly accelerate.” Since Mr Koizumi did not usher in a brave new world, concerns that Mr Fukuda may dismantle all the good work are misplaced.


On the fiscal side, for better or worse the new prime minister appears wedded to deficit-reduction efforts. There may be political pressure to redirect money to hard-pressed rural constituencies. But Mr Fukuda has ruled out spending more on public works and has reaffirmed the goal – reachable – of attaining primary fiscal balance, before debt service, by 2011. If anything, he appears keener on discussing an increase in sales tax from its current 5 per cent than either of his predecessors.


On deregulation, it is true, there is unlikely to be much headway while the opposition controls the upper house. If anyone was hoping for a slashing of farm tariffs or a relaxation of restrictions on foreign workers, think again. But very little was happening anyway. There is little threat of dismantling what has already been done. No politician, at least not yet, is suggesting clearing the supermarket shelves of cold relief capsules.


There are legitimate reasons to worry about Japan, not least the failure of wages to rise and consumer demand to stir. But concern that Mr Fukuda will tear up Mr Koizumi's reform manual is not one of them




位东京的日兴花旗(Nikko Citigroup)首席经济学家村岛喜一(Kiichi Murashima)刚刚从伦敦回国。他不是太开心。在与日本政府债券和股票的投资者们进行了几次会晤后,他得出了这样的结论:“人们正在丧失对日本的兴趣。”
缺乏热情在一定程度上源自于这样一个事实:日本不那么令人兴奋的经济增长,仍依赖于外部需求,而目前这种需求的不确定性更强了。但潜藏在这种失望情绪之下的,是一种更深层次的担忧:上月安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)政府垮台所导致的政治瘫痪,将引发政策“痉挛”。
从表面上看,这种担忧是可以理解的。上月,执政的自民党(Liberal Democratic party)内一些派系领导人将现年71岁、身穿灰色西装的福田康夫(Yasuo Fukuda)推上了台。此次选举带有小泉纯一郎(Junichiro Koizumi)之前那种老式的日本味道。小泉是安倍前一任首相,他通过直接吸引公众支持而打破惯例。



对于担忧者而言,更糟糕的是,作为一个追求一致意见的政治家,福田康夫是在“小泉改革”面临明显对抗性反应之际就职的。今年7月,日本执政党在国会上院选举中受到了日本较贫困地区投票人的惩罚,对他们而言,5年来的经济复苏没什么实质性效果。
2001年4月至2006年9月期间担任日本首相的小泉曾说服选民(以及相当多的外国投资者)相信“没有改革就不可能有经济增长”。由于他执政时期恰好与多年来历时最长的经济复苏相吻合,因此人们断定,一定是改革促成了这种结果。根据这种过分单纯的分析得出的推论是,如果现在停止改革,那么经济增长也将停顿。
对于结构性改革及其在日本经济复苏中起到的作用(如果说它有什么作用的话),存在着一种误解。在最有利的情况下,“改革”是个用于表示“良好变革”的一个糟糕用词,对于不愿意承认自己推动的新法律并非全部有益的政治家而言,它是个方便的托辞。在日本,这个词同时表示着财政巩固和放宽管制,它所表达的意思更不那么清楚。
在小泉执政期间,无论是削减预算还是推动放宽管制,在促进经济增长方面起到了什么作用?几乎毫无作用。当小泉于2001年银行业危机期间就任时,他承诺大幅降低政府借贷规模。幸运的是,他没有这样做。如果这么做的话,可能会使备受通货紧缩困扰的经济陷入更深的衰退。他的确削减了公共工程预算。在任期即将结束时,他还控制了整体开支,并通过隐形税提高了政府收入。
这可能有利于日本的长期经济健康。但几乎没有经济学家认为,这刺激了经济复苏。
放宽管制能够加速经济增长。但日本的大部分管制放宽(例如在金融和零售业)都是在小泉执政前就已经推行了。
时任小泉政府内阁官房长官的福田康夫在被问及政府在放宽管制方面的闪光之处时,他提到了一个变革:允许非药剂师出售感冒药。虽然对于大批工薪阶层的感冒患者而言,此项意义深远的措施提供了便利,但没人能够说这是经济增长的一个主要源头。
小泉任内经济复苏的真正关键,是蓬勃发展的中国对(日本)出口商产生的有利影响,以及在改革银行业方面取得的成功。为了将日元汇率维持在低位,日本方面进行了大规模汇率干预,这进一步促进了出口。即便在日本的混乱争论中,这一政策也从未被归入改革之列。
小泉真正最大的改革是邮政私有化。此项改革直到他卸任后一年才开始进行,而且要到2017年才能完成。然而,外国投资者在2005年底抓住邮政私有化,将其作为抢购日本股票的一个理由,推动股市猛涨近40%。
雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)在最近一份报告中写道:“尽管小泉时代出现了令人兴奋的现象和浮华的繁荣,但结构改革的步伐并未明显加速。”既然小泉没有开创一个勇敢的新世界,担心福田可能废除全部有益工作就无从谈起。
在财政方面,无论好坏这位新首相都似乎要致力于削减赤字。或许存在将资金重新导向压力重重的农村选区的政治压力。但福田已经排除了在公共事业方面花费更多资金的可能,而且重申了一个可能达成的目标——在2011年前,实现还本付息前的初步财政平衡。如果说有什么不同的话,他似乎比自己的两位前任更热衷于探讨上调目前5%的销售税问题。
在放宽管制方面,由于反对党控制着国会上院,不太可能取得太大进展,这是事实。如果任何人曾指望大幅削减农业税,或放宽对外国工人的限制,那需要三思。但无论如何,发生的改变微乎其微。几乎没有可能废弃已经做了的事情。至少迄今为止,还没有哪位政治家建议清除超市里摆放感冒胶囊的货架。
为日本担心是合乎道理的,包括未能实现工资上涨和刺激消费者需求。但担心福田将撕毁小泉的改革手册并不是理由之一。
译者/梁鸥

Fish completely at the mercy of human whim

Fish completely at the mercy of human whim
10/22/2007

Rosanjin Kitaoji (1883-1959), an artist and epicurean, preferred trout to salmon.
"Salmon and trout look similar to the untrained eye, but salmon is no match for trout as a delicacy," he asserted in the October 1932 issue of Hoshigaoka magazine.

Trout, he noted, "produces far more delicious broth than salmon" when used as a topping for chazuke, a dish made by pouring tea or broth over a bowl of cooked rice.
"Only experience can refine one's palate," Kitaoji is quoted as saying.

Were he alive today, I wonder how he would cook what a team of researchers at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology brought into the world last month--nijimasu (rainbow trout) spawned from yamame (landlocked salmon, also called trout).
The researchers extracted special procreative cells from nijimasu and implanted them in yamame fry. When the latter grew into mature fish, the males produced the sperm of nijimasu, and the females the eggs of nijimasu.
Using these male and female "surrogate parents," the team succeeded in breeding nijimasu from yamame.

"Five years from now, we hope to produce tuna from mackerel," said one of the researchers.
Since fish farmers will be able to cut costs if they use small, low-maintenance fish to breed large fish, how about using tiny medaka killifish for the purpose?
Unfortunately, for cross-species breeding to work, surrogate parents and their offspring have to be closely related. Mackerel and tuna are close enough, though not as close as yamame and nijimasu.

Whatever his reason, Kitaoji looked down on tuna.
"Tuna is an inferior fish to begin with, and there is nothing in it that will ever satisfy the palate of first-class gourmets," he insisted. He would be shocked if someone served him a prime cut of toro (fatty belly meat) and explained that this tuna had been hatched from mackerel.
Some fish are tougher than others, but none are "superior" in terms of hierarchy. If I were a mackerel, I would never be able to understand why people make such a big deal about fatty tuna. What people consider delicious is really a matter of personal taste.
But the price of fish is determined by the demands of the market, and even scientists are tailoring their research to fit the established price structure. Fish are completely at the mercy of human whim.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 7(IHT/Asahi: October 22,2007)

2007年10月20日 星期六

Japan's smart set send sake into decline

Japan's smart set send sake into decline



Japan's smart set send sake into decline


By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo
Last Updated: 1:07am BST 21/10/2007

Smoke and laughter hung in the air at a dimly lit bar on a Tokyo back street, where fashionable professionals lounged on cushions around low wooden tables. But there was one unexpected omission: there was- not a bottle of sake in sight.

Japan's young drinkers prefer beer and wine to sake
Japan's young drinkers prefer beer and wine to sake

The traditional rice wine is in rapid decline, with just 1,450 breweries remaining of the 4,000 dotted across Japan at the height of its popularity in the 1960s. As the autumnal sake brewing season begins this month across Japan, the latest casualty is the Watanabe Shuzo brewery, which last week closed its doors after 130 years in business. "Young people think it's something that old men drink. And, demographically speaking, it is old men who drink sake in Japan," said John Gauntner, a sake industry consultant.

Sake, made from fermented polished rice and also known as nihonshu, has long been regarded as the quintessentially Japanese drink, but the industry appears unable to reverse its decline. It has been overtaken by beer as the leading beverage, and drinks such as sweet liqueurs, alcopops, sparkling wine and gin are rapidly growing in popularity. Production of shochu, a distilled Japanese spirit made from rice, sweet potato or wheat, most fashionably mixed with oolong tea, is also booming.

"For younger people, traditional drinks are not hip at all. We have tried to make sake fashionable and recommended Westernised sake cocktails, but it has been in vain," said Shunsuke Kohiyama, export adviser for the Japan Sake Brewers' Association.

Clutching a beer in a bar in Tokyo's fashionable Jingumae district, Jun Tokowa, a 35-year-old interior designer, was proof of the problem. "I avoid sake because it makes it hard to get up for work the next morning," he said. "It's terrible for hangovers. I mostly drink beer or wine. It tends to be older men in a different kind of bar who drink sake."



Women are also turning away. Sipping an oolong tea shochu, Aki Nakamura, 25, a marketing manager, said: "This is healthier than sake and not as strong. I might have sake when eating certain foods, or during religious festivals, but not when I'm out with friends."

The only good news is that sake is becoming popular in cities such as London and New York. "Outside Japan, it is extremely fashionable and an emerging market is premium sake being exported," said Mr Gauntner.

2007年10月18日 星期四

Hokusai 葛飾北斎

Japanese language




かつしか-ほくさい葛飾北斎 wikipedia】

(1760-1849) 江戸後期の浮世絵師。江戸生まれ。春朗・宗理・画狂人などたびたび号を変えた。勝川春章の門で浮世絵を学ぶ。また、狩野派・土佐派・西洋画などからも画技 を学び、風景版画に新生面を開いた。その画風はヨーロッパ印象派の発生に大きな影響を与えた。代表作「富嶽三十六景」「北斎漫画」など。


The largest of Hokusai's works is the 15 volume collection Hokusai Manga (北斎漫画), a book crammed with nearly 4,000 sketches that was published in 1814.[3] These sketches are often incorrectly considered the precedent to modern manga, as Hokusai's Manga is a collection of sketches (of animals, people, objects, etc.),[3] different from the story, comic-book style of modern manga. 英文摘要參考 James Michener


葛飾北斎生於1760年的江戶(現東京),是日本江戶時代浮世繪派的大師級人物。他14歲學雕版印刷,18歲便和另一位浮世繪大師勝川春章學畫,開始了自己漫長且多產的畫畫生涯——但葛飾卻是等到了60歲以後才開始出名的。1826年,為了配合當時的日本內地旅遊業的發展(多半也因為個人對富士山的情有獨鐘),葛飾以富士山不同角度的樣貌為題,畫了《富嶽三十六景》一系列的風景圖,因而遠近馳名,赤富士尤其著名。〈神奈川沖浪裡〉一圖便就是該系列的其中一幅畫。




2000年,美國《生活》雜誌把 葛飾北斎列入「百位世界千禧名人」,贊揚他一生都在力求進步,想辦法讓自己的畫更加完美的精神。雖然一生中作了無數的名畫,名聲響亮,葛飾大師卻是一個謙 卑踏實的人。在他74歲那年,葛飾惋惜自己對畫畫還不夠天份。在一本自傳裡,他說:「說實在的,我70歲之前所畫過的東西都不怎麼樣,也不值得一提。我 想,我還得繼續努力,才能在100歲的時候畫出一些比較了不起的東西。」

富嶽百景・・・絵本。富士山を題材としたスケッチ集だが、当時の風物や人々の営みを巧みに交えたもの。75歳に刊行したシリーズ。その作品よりも後書き (跋文)が有名である。「70歳までに描いたものは、とるに足らぬものである。73歳でやっと生き物の骨格や草木の生まれを知った。80歳になればますま す腕は上達し、90歳で奥義を極め、100歳で神技といわれるであろう」


遺憾的是,葛飾大師沒活過百歲。臨死前,他感歎地說:「我多麼希望自己還能再活多五年,這樣子我才有時間嘗試成為一個真正的畫家。」他當時89歲。

2007年10月17日 星期三

金木犀 「丹桂」

金木犀 「丹桂」

'Aesthetic understatement' blossomed in Edo

'Aesthetic understatement' blossomed in Edo

10/16/2007

Princess Chikako or Kazunomiya (1846-1877), the eighth daughter of Emperor Ninko (1800-1846), traveled from Kyoto to Edo (present-day Tokyo) in a grand procession in the early winter of 1861. The following year, the 15-year-old princess was married to another teenager of her age--Tokugawa Iemochi (1846-1866), the 14th shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It was a marriage of political convenience intended to sustain the authority of the shogunate, but the young couple fell genuinely in love with each other. Iemochi was only 20 when he died of illness during a military campaign to subjugate the Choshu domain (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture). His remains were brought back to Edo together with bolts of Nishijin-ori brocade { ━━ n., vt. 錦(にしき)[金襴(きんらん)](で飾る); 錦に織る.}he had purchased at his beloved wife's request. Sobbing inconsolably, Kazunomiya penned a tanka poem to the effect, "What am I to do with this brocade, which has value only if you are alive?" I recently went to the Tokyo National Museum to see "Legacy of the Tokugawa," an exhibition of Tokugawa Shogunate relics, which runs until Dec. 2. On display were various items handed down through generations of the mainline Tokugawa family as well as the three powerful offshoot clans of Owari, Kii and Mito. These items seemed suffused with the military might of the shogunate that controlled even the imperial family and the aristocracy. The exhibits included a flowing uchikake robe that was probably worn by Kazunomiya in the imperial court before she "descended" east to Edo from Kyoto. This was the first time the robe has been put on public display. Two and a half centuries of peace, sandwiched between the 1600 Battle of Sekigahara and the turbulence of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, brought grace and serenity to the culture of the warrior class. The effect is described as "aesthetic understatement" by Tsunenari Tokugawa, the current and 18th head of the Tokugawa family. The gleam of family swords, designated as national treasures, seemed all the more awe-inspiring because they have never been used. While the shogunate valued formality, the culture that blossomed among the common folk stressed substance rather than form. According to "Edo Kotoba 100-sen" (100 selected Edo expressions), a book by Katsumi Nakae published as part of the Seishun Shinsho series, the people of Edo were less partial to food and sundry goods produced in their own Kanto region than their more refined counterparts from Kamigata (Kyoto, Osaka and their nearby areas). In fact, the people worshiped Kamigata goods as sagari-mono, which literally means "goods bestowed from above." Kazunomiya was probably the ultimate gift bestowed upon Edo. The culture of the Edo period blossomed on multiple fronts, perpetuated by the aristocracy, the warrior class, the common folk, temples and shrines, and even via imports from overseas. While these diverse cultural facets competed and merged, the distinctive four seasons must have added color. As I strolled through Ueno Park on my way back from the museum, enjoying the sweet perfume of kinmokusei fragrant olive blossoms, I thought about the richness of the roots of Japanese culture. --The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 14(IHT/Asahi: October 16,2007)
皇女和宮の生涯


公武合体の実をあげるために、将軍家茂の夫人にと白羽の矢を立てら
れた和宮は幕末から明治と言う時代の荒波にもまれた悲劇の女性です。

住みなれし都路みやこじ出でて けふいく日
いそぐもつらき東路あずまじの旅

家茂に嫁ぐため、京の都から中山道を通ってはるばる江戸へ下る行列
の華やかさとは対照的に道中で詠まれた和宮の歌には深い悲しみの気
持ちがこめられています。
翌1862(文久2)年江戸城で2人の婚礼が行われましたが家茂、和宮とも
17歳でした。
その4年後、家茂は第2次長州征伐の最中に亡くなり和宮は仏門に入っ
て静寛院と名乗ります。
やがて大政奉還、王政復古と続き徳川幕府は滅びますが、かって婚約者
だった有栖川熾人親王を総督とした官軍が江戸にせまり徳川家の存続
も危ぶまれた時、静寛院は江戸の町に戦火が及ばぬことを願い、また前
将軍慶喜の減刑やお家存続のための努力を続けました。
1877(明治10)年32歳で亡くなりましたが昭和に入り東京増上寺にある
徳川家の墓地改装の際に和宮の棺からは短い結婚生活に終わった夫家
茂の写真が発見されたといわれます。

皇女和宮内親王像(増皇女和宮写真


uchikake 打掛
CATEGORY: art history / crafts
 
An unbelted woman's outer garment worn over the *kosode 小袖 on formal occasions. It originated in the Kamakura period among women of the samurai 侍 elite and in the early Muromachi period was worn from early May to early September; from the end of the Muromachi period it was part of formal winter attire and made of such thick materials as karaori 唐織 and nuihaku 縫箔. From the the mid Edo period it was constructed with white, black and red figured satin rinzu 綸子, and fully embroidered with multi-colored threads. A kosode worn under an uchikake was called an aigi 合着 and an obi 帯 under an uchikake was called a kakeshita-obi 掛下帯. In the 18c, padding was added to the hem of the uchikake. The uchikake is still worn over a white kimono 着物 in the traditional wedding ceremony.


◆花嫁を美しく個性的に演出…

一 生に一度のイベントを、自分らしく個性的な衣裳で自分自身を華やかに演出できる衣裳製作をコンセプトに、オーソドックスな古典柄、爽やかなパステル調のモ ダン柄、レトロチックなものまで幅広く色打掛をラインナップ!きっと素敵な衣裳が見つかるはずです…全て使用糸はシルク100%に金箔、金糸などを織り込 んだ西陣織です

Institute admits lax handling of pathogens

pathogens


Institute admits lax handling of pathogens

10/18/2007

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

A state laboratory handled hundreds of hazardous pathogens beyond its capabilities, ordered workers to keep the dangers secret, and did not tell part-timers about the potentially lethal risks, The Asahi Shimbun has learned.

photoShingo Ichimura, right, a vice president at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, apologizes with other officials Wednesday for lax management of pathogens. (THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)

The violations of inhouse rules and the clandestine practices continued for years at the International Patent Organism Depositary (IPOD) in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture.

As of 2001, IPOD kept about 300 types of pathogens that could damage human health, including some considered as potentially lethal as the anthrax bacteria, according to internal documents obtained by the newspaper and other sources.

Part-time workers at the facility were assigned to test and cultivate the pathogens in facilities not well equipped for infection prevention.

A senior IPOD official who pointed out the risks to management was repeatedly told not to tell others. And the government's supervisory entities took no steps even after learning of the fact as early as 2001.

Officials of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), to which IPOD belongs, apologized at a news conference Wednesday.

"There were defects in our management, and we are in deep remorse," one executive said.

AIST Vice President Shingo Ichimura said the organization would apologize to former workers even though "it has turned out that there were no health problems."

AIST falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

IPOD is commissioned to receive and preserve cells and microorganisms relevant to patent applications.

Until 2004, IPOD's internal rules said the lab could accept only pathogens classified on the lowest biohazard level of the World Health Organization's standards.

IPOD facilities were not sufficiently equipped for infection prevention required under WHO standards for pathogens of hazard level 2 or higher.

But according to the documents obtained by The Asahi Shimbun, IPOD kept 296 strains of pathogens banned by the inhouse rules as of 2001.

Three strains--two Brucella strains and one glanders (Burkholderia mallei) strain--that the lab received after 1984 belonged to the potentially lethal level 3.

Up until 1999, eight workers, including female part-timers, were assigned to test or cultivate those level-3 pathogens in ordinary labs.

They were not informed of the strains' potentially lethal risks, according to sources.

In addition, anyone could enter the IPOD facilities.

AIST executives said the inhouse rules were not well known among IPOD workers in those days. The executives also ruled out any infection from the three level-3 strains.

A senior IPOD official learned of the problems in 2001 and asked AIST, the industry ministry and the Patent Office to take measures.

Around that time, fears of bioterrorism using anthrax bacteria, a level-3 pathogen, were raging in the United States. The official also called for steps to confirm the health of former workers.

But Ichimura, then at the AIST's planning headquarters, repeatedly told the official not to act without further instructions from him nor to discuss the matter with others, the sources said.

Ichimura gave similar instructions to other IPOD officials in an e-mail message. The Asahi Shimbun obtained a copy of a message apparently sent by Ichimura.

Ichimura admitted to the newspaper that IPOD did accept pathogens in violation of its rules and had (part-time) workers test them.

"But we concluded that telling the truth would have given psychological damage to those who tested them without knowing anything," he said. "So we didn't tell them."

In 2004, IPOD isolated the level-3 strains in a fire-resistant, sealed cool box. It also improved its equipment so that it could deal with level-2 pathogens.

In June this year, the revised infectious diseases prevention law took effect, making the three level-3 strains at IPOD subject to anti-terrorism regulations.

The regulations only allow facilities with sufficient infection prevention systems to keep level-3 strains.

IPOD disposed of its strains on May 31, one day before the revised law went into force.

Meanwhile, the whistle-blower, who has since retired, repeatedly called the Patent Office and others for steps to rectify the situation, apparently using lists of pathogens in IPOD's care.

The official was then criticized for taking out "(confidential) information" and was urged to sign a written pledge to never again violate the law on public servants, the sources said.

At Wednesday's news conference, Ichimura said AIST will try to locate former workers and apologize for "not telling the truth."

AIST would also apologize to Tsukuba city, officials said.(IHT/Asahi: October 18,2007)

2007年10月16日 星期二

variety show バラエティショー.

variety show 台灣叫”綜藝節目”。 在英文Wikipedia這條,還拿台灣的「綜藝大哥大 假笑聲」修理一番。


variety show 日文採取音譯バラエティショー.,所以如果沒參考諸如下述解釋,你搞不太清楚variety show是什麼,尤其是Yahoo的辭典用「雜耍表演」。

variety (ENTERTAINMENT)
noun [U]
a type of entertainment which includes several separate short performances, such as singing, dancing, magic tricks and telling jokes:
(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

va・ri・e・ty
━━ n. 変化, 多様(性); 寄せ集め; 種類; 【生物】変種 ((of)); バラエティショー.
a variety of 色々な.
variety meat くず肉; 臓物.
variety show [entertainment] バラエティショー.
variety store 雑貨店.


綜藝大哥大
Another of today's variety shows in Asia is Taiwan's Variety Big Brother. Taiwanese variety shows are infamous for its constant use of artificial laugh tracks even though there is a studio audience.
Japanese television programs such as Music Station and Utaban continue in an almost pristine format from the same variety shows of years before. The only major changes have been the increasing dissapearance of live backup music since the 1980s.

最近日本的一個variety show:「人間!これでいいのだ」(The show, "Ningen! Korede Iinoda" (Humans! This is how it goes),) ,因(非法)引用科學論文(錯誤的解釋)而公開道歉。
TBS apologizes for exaggerating theory on hypersonic sounds, memory
02/08/2007
The Asahi Shimbun

TBS、「頭の良くなる音」でおわび 表現に行き過ぎ
2007年02月08日00時15分


2007-02-09 01:35:06

2007年10月14日 星期日

黒川紀章 Kisho Kurokawa

黒川紀章 Kisho Kurokawa


黒川 紀章(くろかわ きしょう、1934年昭和9年)4月8日 - 2007年平成19年)10月12日)は、日本建築家共生新党党首。日本芸術院会員。日本会議代表委員。黒川紀章建築都市設計事務所所長。

夫人は女優の若尾文子。弟は建築家黒川雅之。弟の妻はコーディネーターの加藤タキ

目次

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来歴

愛知県海部郡蟹江町に生まれる。

1953年東海高校卒業。1957年京都大学工学部建築学科卒業。1964年東京大学大学院建築学科専攻博士課程修了。槇文彦磯崎新谷口吉生らと共に、丹下健三の門下生(丹下研究室出身)の建築家である。1960年代に建築理論メタボリズムを構築し、これに基づいた増築・取替えの可能な建築として中銀カプセルタワービルなどを設計した。

1983年にテレビ番組での共演をきっかけに若尾文子と結婚。その時の口説き文句は「君の美しさはバロックだ」。

日本会議代表委員。他にアメリカ建築家協会名誉会員、英国王立建築家協会名誉会員、日本景観学会会長、ブルガリア建築家協会名誉会員、フランス建築家協会正会員、カザフスタン建築家協会名誉会員、ロシア建築アカデミー外国人会員など。

2007年4月の東京都知事選挙に出馬。政治団体共生新党を設立して代表に就任。共生新党公認候補として立候補したが落選する(確定得票数:159,126票)。同年7月29日第21回参議院議員通常選挙において、東京都選挙区から出馬したが、20人の候補者が5議席を争う大混戦のなか、10位のドクター・中松に2万票差をつけられる11位で大敗。共生新党は議席を得られなかった。

2007年10月12日午前8時42分、多臓器不全(本人の公式ページでは心不全)により東京女子医科大学病院で死去。享年74(73歳没)。妻の若尾文子夫人によれば、前日の11日に同病院で診察を受けたところ、検査入院を勧められて入院したばかりだったという。戒名は至聖院範空功道居士。

建築家として

他の丹下研究室出身の建築家と同様、“都市”について意識的な建築家である。実際、カザフスタン新首都計画なども手がけていた。ポンピドゥ・センターコンペではドミノ1971を提案し、大阪府立国際会議場ではスーパードミノ2000を提案した(GA JAPAN 44)。

主な作品

1979年に開業した日本初のカプセルホテルを設計したのも、黒川である。

主な受賞歴

東京都知事選挙

経緯

2007年東京都知事選挙に立候補し、石原慎太郎らと並んで主要4候補のひとりとしてTV討論に出演するなどメディアに取り上げられるも落選(票数:159,126、得票率:2.9%)。結果は、上位3候補には大きく引き離され、TV露出のほとんどなかったドクター・中松の得票率1.6%に近い。

早々と主要候補のうちに名を連ねたにも関わらず、結果的に得票数は少なく泡沫候補とも変わらないような状態だった。多くの評論家、ジャーナリストか ら「なぜ出たのか分からない」、「本気だったのか分からない」、「金持ちの道楽」と言われるなど、立ち位置が分かりにくかったことが敗因ではないかと思わ れる。

選挙翌日のフジテレビのインタビューでは、浅野史郎が敗因や感想を述べ総括をしていたのとは対照的に、都政の具体的な話題に熱弁をふるい、次の都知事選に触れるなど、政治への熱意がさめやらぬ様子であった。

東京都知事選挙の二日後には共生新党として参院選に挑戦する意志があることを明らかにする。

マニフェスト

以下は2007年3月5日都庁で発表されたマニフェストである。

都知事選立候補時の記者会見では自らの政治思想について反金儲け主義・共生主義と表現し、社会主義に近いとも発言している。

パフォーマンス

  • 自らがデザインした円形のガラス張り選挙カーを使用、クルーザーから手を振る、ヘリコプターで都知事選候補者では初めて離島へ向かうなどの選挙活動を黒川自らが「陸海空作戦」と称した。当初は飛行船から桜吹雪を撒き散らすというアイデアもあったが、選挙管理委員会の許可が降りなかった。
  • 他の主要候補者が演説している場所に突然現れ、対話しようとする選挙活動を一部のメディアが「奇襲作戦」と称した。選挙戦の最終日は新宿西口で演説中の石原慎太郎候補の近くに来て、「石原裕次郎の名前を出さないと当選できない石原慎太郎さんには、この歌を送ります」といい、石原裕次郎の名曲『銀座の恋の物語』を歌った。
  • 目立つ行動を印象に残したが、決してパフォーマンスのみに固執しているわけではなく、都政の個別の案件を独自の専門的な視点で批評するなど、堅実な姿勢も見られた。

人物・エピソード

  • 都知事選のパフォーマンスは一部の人たちを喜ばせる形となり、選挙後はバラエティー番組『太田光の私が総理大臣になったら…秘書田中。』にも出演、冗談交じりのトークで場内を沸かした(「私の年収は200億円だ」など)。この事から「バラエティの宝」と言われる事も。
  • 日本文化デザイン会議に日本刀を持ち込み「僕はいつも、明け方三時にこれ(日本刀)を抜いて、自宅近辺を走ってますよ。刀を抜いて着物で走るという“実戦”の訓練を昔からやっているんです」(週刊文春 2007年3月8日号)と発言するも、真相のほどは不明。
  • TV討論や単独インタビューでは、椅子に座って斜めに構える、一定のポーズで頬に手を当て発言やメモをするなど、独特の雰囲気を醸し出している。
  • TVトーク番組『おしゃれイズム』出演時に、ビジネスジェット機のHondaJetの購買予約(受渡日は未定)を入れていることを語った。また、「“ニューヨークヤンキース”も買えちゃうんじゃないですか?」という問いに「ヤンキースは無理だけど、他の球団なら…」とも発言している。
  • 2007年7月30日、TVバラエティ番組『SMAP×SMAP』に出演、「SMAPが 家を建てる時は無料で設計する」と数度繰り返し約束。また、「その際には必ず奥さんと一緒に頼みに来ないと受けない」とも語った。理由は「家は奥さんの希 望通りに作った方がいい。うまくいくことが多いんで」。また、「一般家屋に必要なものは何でしょうか?」と聞かれ「“個人の部屋”。自分の部屋を持つと個 性が出せる。お父さんには書斎を作ってあげること。そしてお母さんにも自分の部屋を。それが一般家屋の理想。日本では難しいけれど…」と、黒川には珍しい 一般家屋設計についての発言となった。
  • 住まいは、自身設計の東京赤坂のマンション。他にサンディエゴシンガポールロンドンサンクトペテルブルグにある。
  • 黒川はを好む人物として知られており、1960年代を流行らせたと自負している。また、「黒の服しか着ない」と述べており、初めて買ったポルシェの色もで、自身の事務所のワークステーション(事務機器)もである。その他、IBMのロゴに対して、三色を使っていることと斜めを向いていることに対して、「いわれにこだわりすぎ」と述べるほどである。[1]
  • 亡くなる二日前、妻の「あまり良い奥さんじゃなかったわね」という言葉に対して「そんなこと、そんなこと…」と返し、「本当に好きだったんだから」と答えたのが最後の言葉とされる。[2]

主な著作

  • 「日本まさに荒れなんとす」(共著:C.W.ニコル、2001年、致知出版社)
  • 「Each One A Hero」(1997年、講談社インターナショナル)
  • 「黒川紀章 - 都市デザインの思想と手法」(1996年、彰国社)
  • 「新・共生の思想」(1996年、徳間書店
  • 「黒川紀章ノート」(1994年、同文書院)
  • 「都市デザイン」(1994年、紀伊國屋書店
  • 「建築の詩」(1993年、毎日新聞社
  • 「黒川紀章作品集」(1992年、美術出版社)
  • 「共生の思想 増補改訂」(1991年、徳間書店)
  • 「花数寄」(1991年、彰国社)
  • 「黒川紀章2 1978 - 1989」(1991年、鹿島出版会)
  • 「建築論2」(1990年、鹿島出版会)
  • 「新遊牧騎馬民族ノマドの時代 情報化社会のライフスタイル」(1989年、徳間書店)
  • 「TOKYO大改造」(共著:グループ2025、1988年、徳間書店)
  • 「共生の思想」(1987年、徳間書店)

脚注

  1. ^ 黒川紀章がThinkPadを語る! - 「早く人間に追いついてみろ!」(ASCII24)
  2. ^ 黒川紀章氏が急死…妻・若尾へ最後の言葉「本当に好きだった」(SANSPO.COM)