Sorry-ology

I felt quite at loss about the death of Professor Lee Wen-Bing (李文彬老師), my first professor of English literature in the department of English at NCCU, Taiwan. The news came a couple of weeks ago, the first piece of information about him that I got decades after graduation. I was never close to him as a disciple, but I truly enjoyed the first contact with literature that he initiated. He was never showy in his class, never explicitly zealous; however, his approach has been fundamental to my appreciation of literature. There will be a funeral service for him this Saturday. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend it, and I have also failed to send a message in time to express my condolences, just like that I was never quick enough to be in touch over these past years. Deeply regretful. Here is the short message that I intend to tell him. Dear Professor Lee,  I have always been grateful that you are my first literature teacher. Twice a week throughout my first year in the...

There was a protest against nuclear power policy in Yoyogi, Tokyo, on February 11. It was one of the numerous demonstrations against nuclear power plants since the catastrophe in Fukushima last year.  After the earthquake in March, I wrote about some solar energy gadgets that we acquired during a period of power outage in response to the crisis in Fukushima Daiichi. In that blog entry, I also mentioned our purchase of solar panels and a turn to solar energy. I haven't had time to write about it since, but it has been working effectively well.  After the instalment in March 2011, the house has benefited from the solar panels tremendously. Except on rainy days, the house was always fully self-supplied in summer.  It is the first winter that we have after the solar panels were introduced. I was a bit concerned in the beginning about possible high expense of electricity that we would face if the winter was too harsh.  This winter has been cold, the...

Communication: Visualizing the Human Connection in the Age of Vermeer Bunkamura, Shubuya, Tokyo  23/12/2011 - 14/03/2012 K and I went to an exhibition on 'communication' in Bunkamura last month. Honestly, to an audience like me who is not particularly interested in genre painting, the exhibition is not extremely exciting as a whole. Additionally, the level of painters in this collection varies too much that one cannot avoid feeling frustrated at times.  Yet, the theme of the exhibition -- communication -- really intrigues me. What engages me the most is the section on communication through writing. In the 17th-century Netherlands, letters, in addition to its communicative role in commerce and public affairs, became a popular form for private interaction.  Receiving, writing, and sending letters, cards, and postcards have been my long-term addiction. Even though I have been a heavy user of the Internet, a hopeless addict even, what this electronic invent...

A couple of weeks ago in an agricultural fair in Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku, we found a gem for Japanese cuisine - seaweed. I cannot quite recall whether I ever tried this type of seaweed before, but it definitely was never an ingredient on my shopping list for grocery. However, at the moment when the stall clerk opened a pack, I knew I would not want to miss it anymore. It has the most mesmerising aroma that I have ever encountered; the taste is amazingly distinct with its bitterness subdued.  At that moment I had an illusion that I suddenly became a gourmet capable of tasting good food!  We sprinkled it on meatballs made of of burdock roots and pork last night. It effectively reduced the greasy taste of pork .  For lunch today, I mixed two kinds of seaweed: sushi seaweed (commonly available every where) and this green hairy seaweed, on top of finely chopped bluefin tuna. The dish was only simply seasoned with soy sauce and spicy sauce, bu...