■I ran this morning. After yesterday’s run, I was able to run this morning as planned. Yesterday we had strong winds all day and heavy snowfall mainly in the Hokuriku and Tohoku regions.
Yesterday was the first meeting of the New Year for the Rotary Club, but I received an e-mail in the evening informing me that all meetings have been cancelled for this month due to coronavirus infection control.
Clubs with a large number of members tend to have dense meetings, and it seems that some clubs have been closed since January.
In our club, the seating at the table was changed every two months, and we used to have a get-together called a table meeting every time. In the current situation, we can’t do this, so the opportunities for communication have almost disappeared, and our club life has become really tasteless with only the conversations we have over meals during our regular meetings.
This morning I ran for the fourth time this month, covering 7.48 km and accumulating 28.45 km. I am now 71.54 km away from my goal of running 100 km per month, with 23 days remaining. That’s good enough for the 8th day of my goal line.
When I came home, I turned on the faucet to take a hot shower, but it seems that the water pipes froze. The flow of water from the faucet stopped. The water flowing from the faucet was really trickling, so it was not completely frozen, but I was afraid I would catch a cold while waiting for the hot water to come out, so I gave up and just stopped to wipe myself off.
I had been running for almost 50 minutes, so my body temperature was high enough that I wouldn’t feel cold for a while. However, as I made breakfast and started to eat, I gradually started to feel cold. This is the first time this winter that the water pipes have frozen.
■In this morning’s Tokyo Shimbun, there is an article titled “Congressional Occupation in the U.S.: Four Killed, Trump Supporters Shot. The U.S. Congress officially recognized Democratic President-elect Biden’s victory in the presidential election on July 7, but voters supporting President Trump broke into the Congress and temporarily occupied the building, resulting in confusion and four deaths.
In a speech in his home state of Delaware, President-elect Biden said, “Our democracy is under unprecedented attack. This is not a protest, it’s a riot,” he said, demanding that Trump supporters leave the area.
In today’s “Honne’s Column,” journalist Yuji Kitamaru writes in an article titled “America’s Coup D’etat,” that the attack on the U.S. Capitol was as shocking as the 911 terrorist attacks.
He also wrote, “The threat came from right-wing militias and white supremacists who support Trump,” in a scathing criticism of President Trump.
What I always feel when I read Mr. Kitamura’s columns is a sense of discomfort. What he writes is always very superficial, and I can’t help but feel that he is slipping in some way.
There is no mention of the election fraud allegedly committed by the Democrats. It is not that President Trump alone is making false accusations. The American voters are not that stupid.
There is a lot of evidence to suggest that the election was rigged, but the media never mentions it. That is exactly what is an attack on democracy. One aspect of this is that the grassroots people are objecting to the major media’s refusal to address this issue.
Is it just me, or does it seem to me that there is little value in having the same kind of information as the major mass media without mentioning it? It seems to me that it is very difficult to understand what is really going on in Japan just by watching the media reports.
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■I didn’t run for two days, so I had enough rest this morning. I had my alarm clock set at 5 o’clock, but I woke up at 4 o’clock an hour ago. If I fell asleep again here, it would be difficult to get up this time, so I took the plunge and started preparing.
When I listen carefully, I hear the sound of the wind outside the window. According to the weather forecast last night, it was predicted that a cyclone would occur in the Sea of Japan from today, and a snowstorm would occur in the Hokuriku and Tohoku regions. Fortunately, it is unlikely that it will snow in the eastern part of Shizuoka Prefecture, but the wind is likely to increase.
After the preparatory exercise, I started running. After arriving at the schoolyard of the elementary school, I started a timer that was set to 45 minutes. However, something went wrong on the way. I wanted to go to the bathroom. From my experience so far, I was worried before I started running, but my anxiety was right. I managed to cheat and continue running, but I decided that it was time for the tide, so I stopped running and headed home.
After all, I ran 5.27 km on my usual course today, and this month I piled up 20.96 km in three runs, and I have reached 79.03 km with 24 days left until I run 100 km a month. I went home and rushed to the bathroom, and it was barely safe. Unfortunately, this is all I can do.
The westerly wind blew strongly while I was running, and every time I went around the ground, there were repeated headwinds and tailwinds. The time is now 6:23. Strong winds are blowing outside the window.
■ It is reported in the Tokyo Shimbun this morning that the new coronavirus is rampant. The number of people infected with the new coronavirus reported on January 6 was 6,004 in Japan, exceeding 6,000 for the first time, the highest number for the second consecutive day. Compared to January 5, the number of people has increased by more than 1,000, which is an explosive increase.
Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa prefectures, which are the subjects of the state of emergency, account for nearly half of the total. It seems that the recurrence of the emergency will be decided today, and it seems that it is expected until February 7.
As a measure to prevent the spread, it was restaurants, department stores of a certain size, sports facilities and amusement parks that requested shortening of business hours until 8:00 pm. If the request is not accepted, the authorities will announce the facility name. This is likely to further worsen the business conditions of restaurants and the like.
This morning I had set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. with the intention of running, but I couldn’t get up. The warm comforter wouldn’t let me go.
I suddenly realized that it was already 5:40. There was nothing I could do about it. There is no point in lamenting about it, as it depends on my sleep that night and my physical condition at that time.
There is still a long way to go this month, so I have no choice but to look at the calendar, plan ahead, and steadily accumulate.
This morning’s Tokyo Shimbun, page 8, “Restarting Life in Corona’s World: Refugees Losing Their Way and Living on the Streets,” reports on the situation in Italy and France where refugees from Africa are pouring in.
The review of the current system for accepting refugees, which has been an issue since the European refugee crisis of 2015, when 1.3 million people entered the EU, does not seem to be a straightforward process. As previously stable countries such as Syria and Libya turned into civil wars, countless refugees made their way to Europe.
In some ways, Europe seems to be a victim or a generous country for accepting refugees. But is that really the case? It has been pointed out that Western powers are behind the political upheavals, including the color revolutions in North Africa.
The refugees who seem to have been welcomed with open arms may have found themselves in a harsh reality where they were simply used as cheap labor.
Depending on how you look at it, this flow of people can be seen as the slave trade of the 21st century. Simply calling poor Africa and the EU a generous, free, and democratic nation is a distraction from reality. When will the time come when these distorted relationships will end?
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I woke up at 6:00 a.m. with my alarm. I didn’t run this morning and took it easy. I forgot to take my sleeping pills last night, so I felt like I was dreaming all the time. It was a very strange time, as if I didn’t know whether I was awake or asleep.
Today is the first day of work. We are usually busy at the end of the year, but January is a slow month. Even so, the thought of another year finally starting makes me feel a little heavy.
It would be fine if it was just work, but I have a lot of chores to do, and that makes me feel heavy. I can’t help but complain once I’ve accepted the job. It won’t last forever, so I have no choice but to do my best while I’m in the position.
In this morning’s Tokyo Shimbun, in the “Taro’s International News” section, there is an article about Joe Biden, the next president of the United States.
The article started with the following words from the director of a Chinese think tank to the media: “Joe Biden is the next president of the United States.
He said, “Joe Biden is in a very weak position (in the U.S.) and he might start a war (with a foreign country). He also said. Trump was not interested in promoting democracy and freedom, and he wasn’t interested in war, but Biden is. And Democrat presidents start wars.
Many of you will find this surprising. Many liberals mistakenly believe that disparaging Trump is a sign of their own intellectual level, but they are forgetting an important point.
President Trump is the first president since Eisenhower not to start a new war during his term.
What about President-elect Biden, who “voted for the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the war in Iraq in 2003, and was an active proponent of the military intervention in Libya in 2011 and the deployment of troops to Syria that same year as vice president of the Obama administration?
And Biden’s aides are all pro-war hawks, according to the report.
Finally, Taro Kimura concludes, “What kind of year will we have?
What kind of year will this be? We can only hope that Director Zheng’s prediction will not come true.
We must not forget that there are such points that never come to light in Japan.
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I ran this morning. My plan was to set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. and run as usual, but I was so tired this morning that I couldn’t get up easily. I lingered in the futon for about 10 minutes, wondering whether to get up or not.
I thought it would be okay if I walked off without pushing myself, and I felt better and was able to get up. After getting dressed, I left the house and started my run after doing my preparatory exercises, following my usual course.
This morning I ran on the elementary school ground for 30 minutes, so I was able to accumulate 7.35 km. I have run 15.69 km in two runs this month, and I have reached 84.30 km with 27 days left to run 100 km per month. I still have a long way to go, but I have to keep building up little by little.
Today’s pace was 6 minutes and 31 seconds per kilometer, according to my running watch. Compared to when I used to run on the road, my pace has increased by almost a minute per kilometer.
I was surprised to see how different it is on the school grounds where I can just focus on running, as opposed to on the road where there are bumps and cars coming and going. It’s not much of a burden, but on the road, there is a slight difference in elevation.
In an actual marathon, this difference in elevation can be quite a burden. Aside from extreme cases such as the last 2 km of the Fukuroi Crown Melon Marathon, which is an uphill run from Aino Station to Ecopa Stadium, the first 10 km or more of the Chitose Marathon is also an uphill course.
However, the ups and downs that appear in the course after that are much harder than the uphill in the first 10 km. I guess it’s because of the physical exhaustion.
This morning’s editorial in the Tokyo Shimbun is titled “Injustice is growing, too: thoughts at the beginning of the year. This morning’s editorial is titled “Thinking at the Beginning of the Year,” and it begins with a quote from Petr Pitkhardt, former prime minister of the Czech Republic and deputy speaker of the Senate at the time, who told the author in the summer of 1999: “If only a few people are wise, the rest of us will be. Only a few are smart enough to get rich, while the rest are left behind,” he continued.
The editorial goes on to say. In the two world wars, steel, aircraft and chemical manufacturers made huge profits from the military.
In the two world wars, steel, aircraft, and chemical manufacturers made huge profits from the military. And now, as we all know, giant IT companies, led by GAFA, are literally making huge profits.
According to the critic Takuro Morimoto, the assets held by the 26 richest people in the world are at the same level as the assets held by half of the world’s population.
It is not surprising that there are differences in income and assets. It is natural that there are differences in income and assets, just as there is no way that all people have the same amount of money in their savings accounts. However, I feel that the disparity that is occurring in the world today is beyond the level of maintaining a healthy society.
We all want to be rich, of course. It is also natural for people to be selfish. However, if we all continue to run with the mindset of “just for now, just for money, just for me,” the only thing that awaits us is violence.
The meaning of the existence of society is to prevent such human stupidity from getting out of control. Am I the only one who feels that the limits of the capitalist system are becoming dimly visible?
Capitalism is the worst system. “Capitalism is the worst system, except for all the other systems. I think the subject of this phrase was actually democracy, not capitalism, but I don’t think it would be wrong to replace it.
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■Today I enjoyed my first round of golf in 2021. I played with my good friends Mr. Hisamatsu and Mr. and Mrs. Endo. Fortunately, there was almost no wind and it was a warm day for golf. We were able to play at the earliest start time of 7:39 a.m., so it was 1:00 in the afternoon when we finished playing.
As soon as I finished playing, I went to the rest room to watch the television, which was showing the 10th section of the Hakone Ekiden, with Soka University in first place and Komazawa University in second place, so I decided to take a shower and go home.
However, when I returned home, I was surprised to see that Komazawa University had won. You really don’t know the outcome of a game until you put on your geta. It’s like a game of chance that you can’t be relieved or give up until the end.
Since I was the first one to start, I didn’t have time to warm up and had a hard time going this way and that in the first half. However, I am very grateful that I was able to play happily. I prayed that we would be able to play safely and happily for another year.
■The computer I’m working on now is a former Windows PC, but I’ve installed Kona Linux on it and am using it. I’m using Kona Linux, which was formerly a Windows PC, because it’s stable and agile.
When I looked into the possibility of using this computer to read the copyright expired masterpieces stored in Aozora Bunko, I found an application called aozora for Linux. I found an app called aozora for Linux. With this app, I started to enjoy the works of Osamu Dazai and Shugoro Yamamoto by enlarging the text.
Reading on Amazon’s Fire tablet is easier in terms of size, but unfortunately, Amazon seems to have disabled the installation of this app, even though it is an Android-based app.
Amazon also sells the Aozora Bunko collection, which is supposed to be free for everyone to enjoy, for a fee. In a sense, Amazon is ignoring the will of the volunteers in their sales activities.
Many questions have been raised about Amazon, such as the fact that it pays almost no taxes and that its working environment is black.
The company’s founder, Jeff Bezos, is now the richest man in the world. There is no doubt that he has shown great talent as a manager, but it is also true that he has a number of problems that we cannot simply be jealous of.
This is one of the typical companies where the light and the shadow of globalization are coexisting.
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This morning I did my first run of 2021. I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. and woke up a little before the time, but the alarm woke me up and after some prep work, I started as usual.
Today I ran around the elementary school grounds for 35 minutes on a timer.Today was the first run of the new year and I ran 8.33 km, which means I have 91.66 km to run in the next 29 days to reach my monthly 100 km goal.
The Hakone Ekiden will be held today and tomorrow.It’s 7:32 a.m., and I’m planning to leave my work early and head to the TV to watch the race.
This time last year, I remember leaving the inn and walking to the crossing in front of Kowakuen. Last year we were able to get a hotel in Hakone.
On the first day, we saw the riders coming up the mountain, so we could watch them slowly as they were not going very fast, but on the second day, they were running downhill really fast.
Fortunately, it didn’t snow last year either, so I was able to enjoy watching the race with many other people despite the cold. Watching the race from in front of Kowakuen, up the road a bit toward Lake Ashinoko, I was able to see the competitors coming down the road in a straight line from far away on the second day.
When I watched Otemachi earlier on TV before the race started, there were hardly any spectators. The governor of Tokyo and other government officials have been calling for a stay-home for the Hakone Ekiden, so if the infection spreads, there is no way to recover from it.
The Tokyo Marathon has been postponed until the fall, and I think it would be more appropriate to cancel the Hakone Ekiden as well.However, NTV’s convenience was probably the biggest factor in forcing the relay race to be held. Considering the Yomiuri Shimbun’s intention to hold the Olympics at all costs, it is really troubling that the paper is calling for a stay-home, but in reality, it is putting profit first. This is the current situation in Japan.
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