[Post] 沙拉紀念日 — 新井一二三.東京人

一九八七年春天,我學校一畢業,就赴仙台當了新聞記者。跟之前完全自由的生活比較,日本上班族的日子非常不自在。我尤其覺得痛苦的是,連逛書店的時間都沒有。

有一天,我在辦公室跟資深記者聊天。他問我看了『沙拉紀念日』沒有。

「當然沒有。我來仙台以後,連一天假都沒有。哪裡有時間去買書呢?你們到底是甚麼時候去書店的?」

他的答案出乎我意料之外,「我都很少去。一般都叫老婆替我去買的。」

原來,日本上班族的生活是夫妻兩人三腳賽跑。怪不得,只有兩條腿的單身女記者感到極為不自在!

我究竟有沒有看到『沙拉紀念日』,已經記不清楚了。不過,那年夏天最暢銷的一本書就是『沙拉紀念日』,剛大學畢業的年輕女孩子俵萬智問世的,充滿著時代感的第一本詩集。

她作的是和歌,乃五七五七七總共三十一個日語音節組成的傳統文藝。好比是古老的皮袋裡灌滿的新酒,『沙拉紀念日』受了廣大讀者的歡迎。媒體也經常介紹其中一些作品,我都逐漸耳熟了。

例如,標題歌『沙拉紀念日』。「這味道不錯,你說。於是七月六日為沙拉紀念日。」很單純的一首歌,當時聽起來特別新鮮,與其說是傳統詩歌,不如說是時髦餐廳的廣告。

 

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[POST] 日本女人的38度臨界線 陽子的祕密花園

在日本有一種說法:38歲是女人生命中的一個很微妙的時點,可能會在某一天突然感到自己老化,但是又不想被人稱為「中年」,而這個38歲的時點該如何巧妙地處理,也關係到人生的後半段。

為什麼是38歲呢?因為到了40歲,大家就不會把妳再當做是女性來看待,而是當做歐巴桑;如果是單身想結婚的話,最好也要搶在30幾歲之前把自己嫁掉,到了39歲才在為了快達到40歲而焦慮似乎是過晚,所以38歲就成了一個很特別的時刻。而且一般女性在變成30歲時很少會有什麼感慨,但在跨入40歲的那天卻會有莫名其妙地失落感,再加上一踏入40歲就會很明顯地感到這已是人生的折返點,而突然地覺得恐怖起來。

雖然不少女性雜誌宣稱女性的魅力跟年齡是沒有關係的,但在40歲的大關前徘徊猶豫的女性還是很多,而30幾歲時自認還能穿敞胸露背的衣服及迷你裙等,在進入40歲後很多人就無法說服自己再了,連聯誼的時候要裝可愛或是裝年輕都會覺得自己很噁心,最後只好以女強人系的套裝決勝負。而在35歲左右還不怎麼生成的皺紋等,在不知不覺中因為長期地疲勞而生成,還會安慰自己說,只要消除疲勞就可以恢復原本的樣子,但一點都沒發現這其實已是老化的預兆。

 

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Batman Begins !

During NYC vacation this April, I find there are lots of advertisement which always have “Batman Begins” marks. I was wondered about what it is, a movie or TV programs, or, a novel ? Finally, I know it’s the name of recent movie, which is the overtune of Batman stories. The following is the brief descrption.

Certain cruel circumstances lead a young Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) away from Gotham City to train his body and heal his soul – and to find some answers. With the help of Henri Ducard, his new mentor (Liam Neeson), Bruce Wayne hones his skills and becomes the Dark Knight. Upon his return to Gotham, he finds himself pitted against the brilliant and villainous Ra’s Al Ghul (Ken Wantanabe), his arch nemesis, as well as the nefarous Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) – aka “The Scarecrow” – with whom he must tangle to save the love of his life (Katie Holmes).

[Post] 愛和祕密 — 新井一二三.東京人

Though this blog is not well-organized like others, but well… from now I would like post some articles to share. Today is “愛和祕密” (Love and Secrets).

從小畫畫兒,我一定把人的眼睛塗黑。不僅是我一個人,而且是同學們畫的畫兒裡面,人的皮膚一定是肉色的,頭髮和眼睛則一定是黑色的。

二十多歲搬去加拿大後,我才真正發現,這個世界確實有很多種不同的膚色。

光是黑人的黑,都有各種不同的黑色:有透紅的、稍綠的、近灰的,等等。至於白人的頭髮,更是五花八門;有白金、黃金、玉米黃、銀色、紅色、褐色、棕色、淺黑色。眼睛也有藍色、綠色、淡褐色、棕色,等等,好多種。

然而,關於自己的頭髮和眼睛,我仍舊深信是黑顏色的。

有一天,我去多倫多一家銀行開戶頭。申請表很長,很複雜。好半天,我都隔著桌子跟一名銀行職工面對面地坐。那個稍胖的中年白種女性以為日本是香港的一部分。我們越談越不對頭,但她顯然認為一切都是我的錯。

表格上需要填申請者的頭髮和眼睛的顏色。我先寫了一個「黑」字,接著又寫了一個「黑」字。

她不敢相信似地搖著頭道:「不對。妳真的不知道自己的眼睛是甚麼顏色的嗎?」

我都不敢相信地搖了頭,差一點沒哭出來,說:「不是黑色的嗎?」

這回她凝視著我瞳孔,很有自信地告訴我:「不對。妳的眼睛是棕色的。」

移民去外國,有點像重新做小孩兒。連自己的眼睛是甚麼顏色都弄不清楚了。

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User-Friendly Interface is more important in recent days….

I recently received some news well quite interesting, like H5N1 bird flu in China, and hot sale of “Nintendo Dog”, etc. But one article catches all my attention, that is talking about Internet, which the meaning beyond the words is “Take Care what user want, and that’s one of nicky of success”.

========Eng. Version=========

Finally, Sisyphus, There’s Help for Those Internet Forms

By JAMES FALLOWS New York Times May 15, 2005

EVERYONE who has used the Internet has had a version of this frustrating experience:

A week ago I was at the Minneapolis airport, with three hours to wait for a delayed flight. That’s not the frustrating part. I wanted to connect my laptop to the airport’s Wi-Fi Internet system, which meant filling out many spaces in an on-screen registration form. Name, home address, phone and e-mail contact, credit card details and so on – plus my requested user name for the network.

I clicked “Submit” – and two seconds later the system bounced back my application. Someone else, perhaps me on a forgotten previous trip, had already claimed that user name. So it was time to start over. I had to re-enter everything I had typed before, because every space in the form had been blanked out, and I had to hope that the next name I chose would work. (It did.)

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