I dropped in my wife’s parents’ house to pray for my father in law, who passed away this year. I am not sure whether the verb, pray, is suitable to express the way Buddhists reflect on ancestors. People who died come back home for several days to stay with us. That’s an idea. I do not know exactly what they do because I am Catholic. I was even puzzled to know that they go excursion to China/India before they went back to … heaven? Never mind. I believe he, my father in law, is walking in a valley, reflecting upon his life. Do you know the last piece of Miroirs by Ravel, titled La vallée des cloches? The music reminds me of the afterlife. I imagine he is sitting in the valley, watching the sunset on the mountains covered with snow. The complete silence. A moment everything is burnt red by the sun sinking.

The pond is covered by weeds. I wondered if the rent-a-boat shop had been closed.

We have not yet built a tomb for him. Maybe, some day in near future.

Life as usual

The day was mostly spent for an exam. Having refreshed my body and mind by playing the piano for several hours, I dropped in a care home as its owner invited me to play the shamisen. There was a party at the institution today because the fireworks were visible from there clearly. I was lost on my way to the place and had just fifteen minutes for my performance and worse I broke the thinnest string twice, resulting in two breaks while the performance. But I could somehow contribute to mounting the festive mood and were welcomed by care-givers, family members, people living nearby, and so on. I promised to be back soon for another performance.

My name on the white board as today’s performer

It was fun to see the fireworks with others from the balcony

I took the day off and wondered around the central area. I visited a museum called Bridgestone Museum to see an exhibition titled “Debussy, Music and the Arts“. It was interesting as many items, not limited to drawings, were displayed to give us insights into the sources of inspiration to the composer. I loved a Japanese wooden weight which figured a frog. His personal items such as a paper knife somehow resembled his music, I thought.

You need shades wherever you are in the city heated up to the unbearable level

I have been to Tokyo for several meetings. It was exceptionally hot to me and I could not move a meter without a bottle of water. I drank lots of water.

People were searching for sea shells in the beach just outside the airport

The area in which our Tokyo satellite resides was so bright