Dear daddy!

Dear my dad,
Today is your birthday, you turned to 77 if you were alive...As you know, 77 has a special meaning in our society, which is derived from Chinese characters, namely “寿” and 77 could also be written as “七十七” in Kanji as well.　Both “寿” & “七十七” are just alike.

And also what I must not forget is today is the 48 th anniversary of your wedding ―  on the same day in 1963, you and mom got married. At that time, you were 29 and my mom was 24...you guys were supposedly a very young & nice couples...hehehe^^

And the next year...I was born... I know you loved me an awful lot at least before sis MARIKO (1971-2002) was born. And you said I was so cute when I was a little boy...lol

In my school days, you've beaten up against me and played a role of stern father, while you played a role of gentle dad to my sis. It is just because I was a boy and sis was a girl. You've never beaten up against her...I was always the “victim”, it's just a sarcasm, dad...sorry yah^^

But on the other hand, you showed me gentleness from time to time as I've introduced on the previous post.

http://take-is-here.blogspot.com/2005/03/very-last-my-introduction-all-about-my.html

Dad, I always feel sorry, coz I'm the one that made my mom feel sick. She's now in hospitalization quite a long time as I've reported at your cemetery in the end of May...

http://take-is-here.blogspot.com/2010/07/just-single-blowbut-totally-pissed-off.html

I'm now working harder than ever to retrieve things back on course. In the meantime, I see mom periodically, but she is not satisfied at all. Rather she feel isolated all the time, but she doesn't say she wants to come home as she used to. It seems she's giving up her life, it's all my fault, I'm the one to be blamed for.

After sis MARIKO passed away, I had to be saddled with everything I was involved including mom's issue. But don't get me wrong dad! I don't intend to make complaints, rather I feel I have to make up for everything that I had done to you & your wife TOMOKO...

Okay I'll turn over a new leaf just as you had told me at the last minute God rest your soul, dad!

And thank you so much for letting me remember your birthday & recalling the blissful times we had spent in the United States! It is thankful that you're always watching us affectionately from the heaven...

ARIGATOU OTOSAN (ありがとう、おとうさん）

In the Health & Sports Day,
Your son,

Take

  

A decade passed after the nightmare...

Today is the day to mourn over the deceased who had unfortunately lost their lives by the plain crash schemed by Al-Qaeda, and precisely 10 years have already passed since then. Casualties are nearly 3,000 people including us Japanese Citizens who were working at the world trade center in Manhattan New York City.

I still remember the first footage jumped into my eyes while watching the suspense drama at around 9 o'clock in the evening in my time, but couldn't believe at first. But soon I was aware of the fact that the fire flame covered up the building as well as the twin towers were getting collapsed, and the people screamed at it. The footage was abruptly changed from the drama I was watching to the scene what was happening in NYC. It was like a trick shooting, and was hard to believe this is reality, maybe the bulk of people must have felt the same since it was so horrible, I assume.

         
























They were out of shape and could no longer be as they were after the terrorist attacks, but I hear the citizens soon stood up and tried to make tenacious effort to restore the site of these demolished buildings so called Ground Zero.

As you already know, Iraq war has begun shortly after that under the name of eradication, and many Americans were dispatched to the scene and maybe the war dead is innumerable.
After Osama bin Laden who was believed to be the mastermind of this terrorist attacks was killed, the sporadic retaliation occurred is the well-known fact.

Today, there would be the memorial service in both Washington DC & NYC, and I hear both Mr. Obama and George will attend the ceremony in NY.

We all know it is hard nut crack to solve it, I mean to eradicate the terrorism completely from the earth, but it could also be said this long battle does hamper to expedite the economic recovery in the US and the world as well. Provided that huge military budget were cut down to some extent, the US government could have allocated some more budget to employment measures, social welfare or whatever to help out poor and the needy. Well, it's just my two cents and it may only be scratching the surface about the problem.

What I want to say first and foremost is US leaders need to pledge during this ceremony that they will never wage war any further and will cease war and withdraw the army those who are dispatched into both Iraq and Afghanistan immediately. They must turn their eyes into its weakening economy in stead for the sake of nation's peace and stability.

Yes, you can!

Well, about a year ago, I updated the following blog.

http://take-is-here.blogspot.jp/2010/07/just-single-blowbut-totally-pissed-off.html

Indeed, I was almost given up my life at that time, and I did know I was at loose ends. But I was so depressed and felt reluctant to do what I’ve got to do, also I was too under the weather to get myself back on track. Only I felt down and out and was trying to get away from everything I was involved in!

This maybe the truth, and I justified myself that I just cannot afford it, just because I have a handicapped mom, but later I’ve found I was totally wrong.   

So I've made a New Year's resolution to change for the better as you may know, and tried to move forward. Also I feel much better compared with the last couple of years, and it did spur on me to change for the better.

I've been to the job placement office to look for a job for instance as to expedite it, which I haven’t done for the last 2 years. But of course, it wasn’t an easy task to get a job. It is because I’m already in my late 40s, and to make matters worse, continuous recession here in Japan got me completely stranded at the sight.   

I also took advantage of another job center and have met with a professional job counselor several times as to consult my expecting job.

To say nothing of, there was a huge disaster so called “Mar 11” in the course of my job search, and the calamity got me disoriented again. I had to suspend my job hunting for awhile due to the aftermath of the calamity including millions of aftershocks as you already know…

But some miraculous incident such as 16 year old boy and 80 year old woman who were rescued for the first time in 11 days since the disaster took place or whatever really moved me more or less. Or the tenacious effort of our fellows such as SDF or whoever tries to make endeavors just for the restoration of this country did inspire me, and cheered me up again and again!
As a result, I felt more and more inclined to expedite my job hunting, and I stood up once again for the sake of rebuilding this country after the massive loss as well as my passion to contribute in our society me as a man. 

And finally, I secured a decent job after many twists and turns I went through, and I dare say “I had risen from the dead…”

Today, I went to my dad’s cemetery, and reported back to him everything I was saddled with. And I’m sure he was pleased to hear my good news!

And also I would like to say thank you so much all for your kindly support all the way! 

I can start over my life and I’m really happy that you always count me in as one of your good friends^^

I’ll make a fresh start as of tomorrow, and retrieve everything what I have left behind.
Indeed, I really feel a lot more confident at this time around! Yes, you (I) can!

Itsumo arigatou gozaimasu! (I thank you so much as always!) 

A Happy Mother's Day

To all of sisters around the world, also to my beloved mom and my then younger sister Mariko (1971-2002), I'll send congratulations for this special day !

To be honest ... me as man, I didn't make much of it as women do before my sister passes and my mom gets sick. But as time goes by, it has become a different meaning to me, especially mom and I have left apart, and I have stayed home just alone.

Also to my beloved sister Mariko, who turns out to be 40 if she were alive, I'll send both of you guys a lovely flower as a token of my gratitude being a part of my family !

Thank you so much and A Happy Mother's Day to you both !

Make yourself at home !

Already May came in, and we are spending Golden Week nationwide here in Japan. About Golden Week, you can also check Holidays of Japan, where you can discover more a lot. 

As you know, I usually mention social realms here on my introduction. However I cannot come up with any other topics except our devastation though I have already referred to it dozens of times over a couple of months.

Today let me just take you to the beautiful photo tour that makes you captivate and feel more relaxed for sure.

I listed up top 10 beautiful photos on my own judgment among all, which are in my Facebook photo albums.

Enjoy!

Most of these photos were taken in my neighborhood. Even Cherry Flowers went all the way up to north, there still a bunch of beautiful flowers as you see in the picture. 

For details, visit http://goo.gl/photos/UGSPwmki4m where you can find further information about each photo.