Diary Fragments
Having a Picnic in the Garden
9. 4. 2004 (Friday)
All the spring flowers,
tulips and cherry blossoms, are in full bloom.
The sky is blue and the clouds are white.
Me and my grandma are out, doing some gardening. Living with nature,
we try to purify our minds to dispute.
Next to my garden, there is a stream.
Not the clean water though…
We learn that three dots on the left side of Kanji means something to do with water.
The word for “dispute” in Kanji
with this three dots means “to purify.”
The sky is beautiful
when I look up with a deep breath
_
Rape Blossoms
19. 4. 2004 (Monday)
I picked some rape blossoms on the roadside.
Those flowers were arranged at the entrance of my house.
It started out as a rainy day today,
but it cleared a bit in the afternoon.
Just a little… a little clear sky there.
I changed the reed screen to new ones at my house.
The room exposed to the strong afternoon sun
is now a little more comfortable to stay.
It was one Sunday, with a relaxing breeze.
_
How do you do
10. 5. 2004 (Monday)
At 10:40 a.m.
On the 24th of April, 2004
I had a baby boy, 3640 grams.
The baby’s name? Mitsuki.
The kanji letter represents “light” and “prayer.”
Please to meet you all.
Nice spring breeze in May…
I had my homepage renewed along with the new addition to my family.
The baby did not give me so much trouble, just ten-hour labor,
even though this was my first time to have a baby.
Believe in life.
Believe in people.
Believe in something that we cannot see.
I had a strong feeling when I was in the middle of the labor…
And the word “Thank you… Thank you…”
just came out of me naturally.
I am going to write a few words to reach out to others
while I face with the new life in front of me.
19. 5. 2004 (Wednesday)
The forecast says that it will rain today.
And it is a bit chilly.
The morning sunshine comes into my room.
I was dreaming a lot in my shallow sleep.
My baby boy, Mitsuki’s cry for the milk wakes me up.
And I hold him in my arms softly and give him some milk.
His eyes are closed, drinking the milk intensely.
I am not giving him the milk,
he, himself is getting that with his will.
And I hug him tightly.
Mitsuki and me…
Another morning, the sunshine looks like a hope…
_
Slowly
24. 5. 2004 (Monday)
Slow, but healthy, a year has passed. Shun, who was in tears with his younger brother’s birth in Shara, is now smiling in front of a new life.
The sunshine today was strong enough to give energy to every life on the earth. And my grandma is smiling with the sunshine, too.
A day, not special but precious one, is strongly rooted here.
Slow, but healthy…
The snail at the window seems smiling, too.
_
Being A Month Old
31. 5. 2004 (Monday)
Time really flies…
My baby had his first medical check-up for being a month old.
His height was five-centimeter taller,
and his head two-centimeter bigger.
My fingers are getting short to hold his head when I bathe him.
One morning, I was doing some writing, and my baby, Mitsuki, pooped.
As I was cleaning him, I smeared the paper with his poopie…
I wander if this paper will have the good luck???
In the afternoon, Mitsuki napping,
and the flowers by the window were lighted by the sunshine.
How lovely those flowers looked!
The light comes into this room even it is in the evening.
It seems like the rainy season will kick in soon…
_
The Prayer
8. 6. 2004 (Tuesday)
It was hot and humid Sunday…
I visited the temple again, where I prayed for my safe labor,
to five my thanks to the god.
I had a safe labor and a healthy life has come to this world.
On Monday afternoon with some humidity being left in the air,
Mitsuki is very cranky…
A baby is so sensitive to the small changes in the air…
On Tuesday, Yu, the lead in “SHARA” came to see the baby.
Maybe, she heard Shun’s visit from himself.
Two years have passed since the shooting started.
Yuka Hyodo, aka “Yu” in “SHARA” has become a beautiful grown-up lady.
She will be big soon…
In Nara, the rainy season has set in on Sunday.
It was miracle to have a sunny moment when we visited a shrine
to pray for the healthy growth for Mitsuki.
I wonder what he grip so tightly in his tiny hands.
Hope he wil be healthy and strong.
_
Yummy Plums
1. 7. 2004 (Thursday)
I have bought green plums from my high school classmate in Wakayama for last three years.
The plums in Wakayama are very delicious because its flesh is full.
There were typhoons in Wakayama,
so I was worried how the plums would turn out.
But the plums arrived safely at my house the other day.
I really wanted to make picked plums but I made plum wine instead,
with honey, not rock candy
_
Tokyo
11. 7 .2004 (Sunday)
A week has passed since Mitsuki and I came to Tokyo.
It must have been a big adventurous week for Mitsuki?!
His hair is so much a like to mine when I was his age, not too thick at all.
But the hair is growing a bit?
The top of his hair stands up like Kewpie, a character.
Where has the rainy season gone?
The sun shines so brightly everyday.
Comparing the temperature between Nara and Tokyo,
it is much cooler in Tokyo.
After the sunset, a good breeze blow to cool us off.
In front of the place I stay in Tokyo,
there is a park and clear toned cicada chirrup.
The olive tree I got in Cannes last year has bear the olives.
I don’t have bamboo grass trees,
so I used the olive tree to hang the wish for a “Tanabata” celebration on the 7th.
The home-made juice blows off the heat.
There was an event at National Museum in Ueno,
so I took Mistuki for the evening cool off.
The Commissioner of the the Agency for Cultural affairs,
Mr. Kawai, was playin the flute.
He smile gave me the power.
The sky looks like the summer has come.
_
An Essayist
20. 7. 2004 (Tuesday)
Once every month, I become busy being
an essayist for the deadline.
Mitsuki has started moving around much
lately, so I put him on the table to keep
an eye on him. He seems to be struggling—
he can’t move, walk nor sit as he wish.
He can only move his arms and legs…
His crying sounds different: it used to be justa cry,
but now his cry sounds like he is trying to talk.
Seems he can see better now. He recognizesme
and moves his mouth to be pampered by me.
This is the moment when I feel he is the apple of my eyes.
I shouldn’t eat the “apple.”
My deepest fear nowadays is that I may “steal” his first kiss…
_
Basara Festival
29. 8. 2005 (Monday)
“Nara’s summer ends with Basara Festival.”
This is the seventh year that I feel this way. Time flies.
The first year was near Sarusawa Pond. Now,
the festival has gotten big and has come into the main road of the city.
I was the jury of the festival from the first one because I am a festival lover.
Now, I am standing here.
Every year, I tell myself to be in “Basara” style to enjoy the festival.
Past seven years, many things happened.
This is my second year bringing Mitsuki to the festival.
He will be dancing more next year?
Well he be more naughty? More tough? More independent?
Suddenly, the end of summer in Nara comes.
It got much cooler in the mornings and the evenings.
The sky is changing into autumn one.
I wonder why we miss people in autumn when that hot summer passes.
I will probably feel the same way about the usual days with Mitsuki.
Wonder if I could be independent of Mitsuki.