Just 24 years ago, on March 20, 1995, at the very center of Tokyo, the chemical weapon, Sarin was used in the subway terrorism attacks occurred by the Aum Shinrikyo, a cult religion group in Japan.
13 people died and more than 6000 people were injured.
On that day in the morning, I was commuting by the Tokyo metropolitan subway to my office, located near the Diet and the Prime Minister's Office. The subway station Kasumigaseki, where the Sarin was spread out is just next to it.
In the subway, there was an announcement. It said that the subway would not stop at the Kasumigaseki Station. It was strange,, I felt. I asked myself, a poisonous gas, or something?
Arriving at the office, my family called me to know if I was fine and asked me to watch the TV.
On the TV screen, I saw people suffering and falling down inside and outside of the subway stations.
There were five lines of subway in which Sarin was spread, but when it happened, nobody knew it was Sarin and it took some time to discover it.
It was also mysterious that almost during one week, we did not know exactly who did such a thing and why. I continued to go to office by subway everyday, but sometimes I felt very frightened to take a subway to go out.
Today, I would like to pray for victims and their families. Never this kind of terrorism should happen. It is very difficult to understand why the Japanese government permit to exist the successor groups of Aum Shinrikyo.
24 years passed. The widow of a victim, who was 48 years old is now 72 years old. She could have enjoyed more with her loved husband if it had not happened......
2019年3月19日火曜日
Brexit is already ongoing
I visited London from March 5-8 in 2019, to see the situation of the UK, just before the Brexit day of March 29.
I flew from Paris to London, and already the borders were established within the EU, between France and the UK. I passed the control to enter Paris and to go out, it means I went through two gates at the airport of CDG in Paris. Then, arriving in London, at the Gatwick airport, I had to write down the embarkment card to pass the passport control.
In front of the Parlement, some people demonstrated their wish to remain in the EU, and to ask the another referendum.
Some are concerned very much of the future of the UK economy ; the Honda decided to close its factory in UK and other companies try to move their European headquarters from UK to other European countries.
However, still many British people support the idea of the Brexit; there are some reasons : some say they don't want to be controlled by the non-democratic political system, the EU commission or its huge bureaucracy. Some say that immigrants from poor countries in EU take over their jobs in UK.
As you know, a famous UK Premier Churchill said in 1947:
'it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…'
Even now, in the Parliament, members put the importance of debate, discussions and votes. That's maybe why there is much difficulty to have a consensus on the agreement with EU.
I prayed for the victimes of the terrorism occurred in front of the Parliament a few years ago. Even today, on the day of my arrival in London, there were bombings alert in 3 different places in London, including the Heathrow airport. While I was walking around inside the city of London, a station of the underground (subway or tube) was closed because of the security reason. The alarm did not stop all over the station.
I was astonished to know the influence of China in UK ; for example, at a hotel where I was staying, most of guests and hotel staff were European people, however, a Chinese news paper 'China Daily' was exposed on the lobby desk, next to UK news papers including 'The Times' and 'The Daily Telegraph' etc.
Comparing to Paris, I felt the city of London is quite clean and safe, and you can use and read English, but, this time, I don't know why, I met less Japanese in London than in Paris.
During my one-week stay in Europe, the weather forecast was every day rains ; however, wishing with a Teruteru boy, a fine day, we had a sunshine! Thanks Gods.
以下は、チャンネル桜の番組「2019年3月18日放映）でロンドン報告等を語ったものです。
I flew from Paris to London, and already the borders were established within the EU, between France and the UK. I passed the control to enter Paris and to go out, it means I went through two gates at the airport of CDG in Paris. Then, arriving in London, at the Gatwick airport, I had to write down the embarkment card to pass the passport control.
In front of the Parlement, some people demonstrated their wish to remain in the EU, and to ask the another referendum.
Some are concerned very much of the future of the UK economy ; the Honda decided to close its factory in UK and other companies try to move their European headquarters from UK to other European countries.
However, still many British people support the idea of the Brexit; there are some reasons : some say they don't want to be controlled by the non-democratic political system, the EU commission or its huge bureaucracy. Some say that immigrants from poor countries in EU take over their jobs in UK.
As you know, a famous UK Premier Churchill said in 1947:
'it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…'
Even now, in the Parliament, members put the importance of debate, discussions and votes. That's maybe why there is much difficulty to have a consensus on the agreement with EU.
I prayed for the victimes of the terrorism occurred in front of the Parliament a few years ago. Even today, on the day of my arrival in London, there were bombings alert in 3 different places in London, including the Heathrow airport. While I was walking around inside the city of London, a station of the underground (subway or tube) was closed because of the security reason. The alarm did not stop all over the station.
I was astonished to know the influence of China in UK ; for example, at a hotel where I was staying, most of guests and hotel staff were European people, however, a Chinese news paper 'China Daily' was exposed on the lobby desk, next to UK news papers including 'The Times' and 'The Daily Telegraph' etc.
Comparing to Paris, I felt the city of London is quite clean and safe, and you can use and read English, but, this time, I don't know why, I met less Japanese in London than in Paris.
During my one-week stay in Europe, the weather forecast was every day rains ; however, wishing with a Teruteru boy, a fine day, we had a sunshine! Thanks Gods.
以下は、チャンネル桜の番組「2019年3月18日放映）でロンドン報告等を語ったものです。
2019年3月2日土曜日
The 195th birthday of Smetana
On August 3, 2017, I visited his home country, Prague, Czech Republic, and visited the Museum of Smetana, located along the side of Moldau River , very near the Karel Bridge. The address was the number 1 of the Smetana Street.
Inside the Museum, only a few Czech women welcomed not many visitors, including I and 3 more Japanese ladies. A Japanese pianist tried to play a piece with an original music notes of Smetana.
Outside of the Smetana Museum, I found a statue of Smetana under a tree, and over the River, in the street, we can see the Smetana Hotel.
In the evening, I went to the Czech classical music concert in Smetana Hall. I like its music so much, it's melancholic in a way, but it sounds sometimes very powerful.
195 years ago, Czech was not an Independent country, but a part of the Austria-Hungary Empire.
Like Smetana, many Czech people are always proud of being Czech and their dream of the Independence comes true.
Today, in 2017, when I visited Prague, people there said to me that the economy was fine and they keep their own currency.