Yes, those are regular containers of salt and pepper. They are made of transparent and hard material but to my eyes, because of light refraction etc., it looks soft. Although there is coarse salt and pepper inside, it looks like lava. I think it is beautiful. Ordinary objects, when viewed up close, provide unexpected effects. That is good to find and is often entertaining.
Here you see a Vienna streetcar in motion, which is mysteriously cut into pieces. Please do not worry, it is only an illusion. Mirrors at a right angle on both sides of the window produce this optical effect.
I love glass and mirrors. Because of reflections, optical illusions etc. they display a multitude of beauty. As though they invite us to another dimension, mystic, magical…. This picture I shot yesterday in a building in Vienna. Each piece of glass has cut edges and therefore makes the background appear interesting.
When I was very young, I always used to say “Barana” instead of “Banana”. One day I noticed that everyone was calling it “Banana” and when I understood that it was really actually called “Banana” I was very shocked. I thought “Why did nobody ever correct me? I always said Barana, how embarrassing!”. Maybe people thought that since I was so young it did not matter that I mispronounced it. However the shock for me was so great and I had a feeling that adults could not be trusted. For me, that was a “betrayal”. Maybe that was a phase in terms of children’s psychology which held some meaning. Also adults did not want to deceive me, now I think that it is not easy to teach a child something. If one asks too much and precision of children, that might be too much for them. Right timing and right amount in terms of teaching children is difficult I suppose.
When I was about 18 years old, during harmless gossip with some friends, one of them said “Temochi butasa”. Another one noticed and said “That is actually called “Temochi busata”. However the one who mispronounced it, could not believe it because all her life up to that point she had always said “Temochi butasa” and nobody ever corrected her. We could see this was a huge shock to her and she was really discouraged. In Japanese “Temochi busata” means being in a state of boredom without something to do. Her mistake “Temochi butasa” included “Buta”, which means pig. I can imagine how ashamed she felt. Growing older, it is difficult to correct other people’s mistakes, because of politeness and thinking about their feelings. I think if social circumstances etc. permit it, then choosing good timing and conveying the correct expression in a tender manner could be better.
Picture by Yuka Simeno, This is my favourite gorilla “Chocomuffin (but I call her “Gorichan”)” with my handmade doll “Laura”.
There is an American TV series called “Criminal Minds”. This series has been on TV in Austria for a long time and I think it can be seen in many other countires as well. The big difference between this and other fictional crime series is that the investigators include behavioural psychology in their investigations. The investigative team consists of FBI profilers, who analyze and study psyche, actions, behaviour, etc. . Especially often it is shown that they try to persuade the perpetrators by touching their psyche to give up and let themselves be arrested. They often say “I understand you, I have also experienced this”. If the perpetrators hear this, they think that they are not alone and that there is someone who understands them, which makes them surrender (that is of course a fictional story). Somehow I understand that kind of psyche. When I want to be close to someone, I also say “You are not alone, I also experienced this” and with this I think I want to try and express my compassion. Also when I am sad and someone says this to me, it often feels good. However that is not always and not for everyone. An acquaintance of mine was involved in a car accident, which was not his fault. For the first time he was in a hospital and in great pain. Unfortunately I did not know about this and I only learned about it after he was released from the hospital. I had the opportunity to see him and he told me about his stay in the hospital. He said it was unnerving when people said that they also had experienced this. In the beginning I did not understand what he meant. I thought just as the profilers in “Criminal Minds” it would help to show compassion. But after much thought I think I finally understood what he felt. Maybe sometimes if someone says “I too…” it looks like others do not really recognize that person’s pain or problem but in fact steer the topic in a different direction. Furthermore it is possible that there exist cases such as the listener interpreting the pain or problem as not so severe and insinuating that those people should not complain and hold on. Furthermore, a scene of “Criminal Minds” which I can associate with real life is for example a case such as someone having problems with their child asking “Do you have children?”. If not they say “Well then you cannot understand me”. In this case the person who asks constructed a wall in their heart which a person whithout children cannot overcome. This leaves no chance for others to extend their hand and help.
Such things exist not only with physiological or psychological pain or problems, but indeed I think they exist in many different situations in life. It is very important to confront others and not to steer the conversation, not to construct a wall, and try to be face to face. Depending on the situation or the case, that may be difficult but still should be appreciated and tried with patience.
Today, together with some friends, I had Chinese soup fondue. This was at the restaurant “Pak Choi” (formerly known as Yang Haus) in the 6th district of Vienna. Here I sometimes meet my friends. Starting about three months ago, this Chinese soup fondue also became available to order. The owner Mr. Yang told us about it and that he wanted to make this dish better known. Also in Japan it is very common to eat soup fondue in winter but I had not tried Chinese style before. Therefore I voluntarily ordered it and ate it together with my friends. It was quite delicious and since that time we meet about once a month to enjoy it together. China is so huge and I presume there are different types of soup fondue. But at this restaurant it is mostly very similar to the pictures above. We Japanese find it interesting that the pot is divided in two halves in order to enjoy two different tastes of soup. In Japan usually at the very end people add rice or noodles but Mr. Yang said that in China people do not do that. We had the idea that at the end we order some rice, pour some of the remaining soup in the fondue pot on it and eat it like Japanese “Ochazuke”. When I ate it I noticed some familiar smell, I felt happy and in order to revive that thought I had to think about it. I remembered it when we put all of the ingredients from the plate in the soup, also the pieces of cucumber and shrimp. I thought that is it! In my hometown Kochi there is a clear soup with cucumber and shrimp. The smell is very similar to the one from the Chinese fondue and I associated them. My grandmother often cooked that soup. While eating Chinese, this smell gives me a longing for home. We enjoyed and ate all of it and talked about coming back next month.
(Should you decide to try the soup fondue at “Pak Choi”, it is by reservation and evening only. Monday the restaurant is closed.)
Before we moved into the house which I still own today, I lived in Saiwai-cho in Kochi city. I was about 4 or 5 years old. In the neighbouring houses there lived many children and we often played together. Many children had young mothers and they had hobbies such as modern stitching, baking, etc. I was born later in my mother’s life and she was working as well. Mainly my grandmother took care of me. One day all of my friends came to visit at my house. My grandmother was happy about that and she made “Ameyu” for all of us. She made it with boiled water, sweetened with honey, adding potato starch and cooking it while stirring. From that came a thick and sticky drink, which was my everyday sweet besides raisins. I was happy and started drinking it with the help of a spoon but the other children were not drinking it at all. One boy said “This is glue” and my grandmother became very angry and scolded him. Then he whispered to his sister “She is a witch and wants to poison us”. I was quite sad because I thought “Ameyu” was actually quite tasty and they did not even try it. My grandmother was actually a nice person! After that we played together and in our house, which was rented at that time, there was a small room up under the roof, which was rare in Japan at that time. In that room, there was my father’s office space and I was not often there, because the stairs were very steep and dangerous and I was not allowed to go up there alone. But I really wanted to show this room to my friends. I said “Look, this way is up!” and I started to go up to that room halfway. My grandmother noticed that and she yelled “Dangerous, you will fall down！!”. In that exact moment I really fell down. Again, this boy said “Do you see? She really is a witch and uses magic!”. But this time, even I thought to myself that maybe she really was a witch…. But now I know what the magic word was. It was self-suggestion.
Recently I heard very sad tragic news from Japan. A girl, who was about 10 years old, filled out a school questionnaire and asked for help because her father was violent inside the home. But unfortunately help for her did not exactly work out and she was killed by her father.
Because of my father I suffered a lot. When I was in high school, I gathered all my courage and spoke to a teacher about my domestic situation in confidence. But he said that one has to show gratitude towards parents and never say anything bad about them. I felt totally alone and helpless and thought that nobody would help me.
I heard that domestic violence is much more common than we think. Above mentioned case, which was aired on TV, is just the tip of the iceberg. The home should actually be a guarded and relaxing environment. But in this place, isolated from others, violence exists and family member suffering is enormous. Of course, one does not want to talk bad things about the own family, especially when one or both of the parents is/are the perpetrator.
I hope that because of abovementioned case, effectice countermeasures can be found and implemented. I also hope that the Japanese government will do much more as support, such as creating counsellors, safe places to go to, etc.
How many people are suffering now because of domestic violence…?
You must be logged in to post a comment.