＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
1. A foreign athlete complained that he felt “sick and sorry for the dolphins”
After watching the “dolphin show” at the opening ceremony of the “World Cup (World Cup) Enoshima” sailing event that opened in September 2018, a foreign competitor complained to the organizers that the dolphin acrobatics made him feel sorry for the dolphins and made him feel bad.
There was a small news report that the organizer said, “We put on the dolphin show because we thought the foreign athletes would enjoy it, but some of them felt uncomfortable, so we apologize.
Perhaps he is the kind of person who thinks of “zoo” in the way the “Meikai Kokugo Jiten” (Japanese Dictionary, 4th edition) describes it（＊）.
（＊）the “Meikai Kokugo Jiten” (Japanese Dictionary, 4th edition) defines “zoo” as “a human-centered facility where many captive birds, animals, fish, insects, etc. are forced to live in a confined space and are kept in captivity, under the guise of showing their ecology to the public and providing protection.
「明解国語辞典」第四版では「動物園」は、「生態を公衆に見せ、かたわら保護を加えるためと称し、捕らえて来た多くの鳥獣・魚虫などに対し、狭い空間での生活を余儀なくし、飼い殺しにする、人間中心の施設」とありました。
2. American marine theme park abolishes “killer whale acrobatics show”
At SeaWorld, an American marine theme park, the “killer whale acrobatic show” was discontinued in 2016 because of “animal protection concerns”. This was directly due to the 2013 documentary film “Blackfish,” which featured the treatment of killer whales at SeaWorld, which drew criticism from “animal rights groups” and others.
The theme park industry, which is becoming increasingly competitive, has decided that it would be in its best interest to discontinue the criticized orca acrobatics and to stop keeping them in captivity in the future.
3. The ancient Romans went crazy over pitting slaves against lions
To the ancient Romans, “slaves” (humans) who were forced to fight for their lives against lions were not pitiful.
It is hard to believe in today’s sense…
Compared to the miserable conditions of ancient Roman slaves who were forced to fight for their lives against lions, I don’t think teaching acrobatics to “killer whales” is so pitiful.
I see nothing wrong with training a “Labrador Retriever” or “Golden Retriever” as a service dog, as it is not animal abuse.
4. Moral of Aesop’s fable “The Father and Son Who Sell a Donkey”
One of Aesop’s fables is “A father and son going to sell a donkey.” As a father and son who kept a donkey were walking to the market to sell it, someone said, “It’s a waste to walk when you have a donkey.” So the father made his son ride the donkey.
After a while, another man said, “It’s awful for a healthy young man to take it easy and make his father walk,” so the father rode the donkey. Then another man said, “What a bad parent to take it easy and make his son walk. They should both ride together,” so they did so.
Then someone again said, “It’s a shame for the donkey to have two people riding on it,” so they tied both of the donkey’s legs to a pole and carried it with them. However, the donkey disliked the unnatural position and began to struggle, falling off the bridge into the river and dying.
5. Don’t be swayed by minority opinions
There is a Japanese proverb that says, “If you build a house by the roadside, it will not be completed in three years.” This proverb comes from the Biography of Cao Bao in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty（後漢書の曹褒伝）, and is an analogy for the fact that if you trust the advice of others and listen to it all, you will not accomplish anything.
I think we need to have a firm belief, a “principle,” not be misled by various opinions around us, and make an effort to explain Japanese culture to foreigners with confidence and make them understand it.
The saying “When in Rome, do as the Romans do. This is not only a Western concept.
I don’t think the first news opinion is the opinion of the “majority” of Westerners and other foreigners. Rather, I think that such “minority” people should be admonished to study and understand Japanese culture more. However, people like the “Sea Shepherd” who are so entrenched in their ideas will not accept it…
Do the “Sea Shepherd” people who attack Japanese research whaling ships not think that too many whales will have a negative impact on the “food chain” and “ecosystem” as well, as the number of small fish such as sardines that they feed on will decrease dramatically?
I am a complete amateur when it comes to whale biology, so I honestly do not know the extent of the impact of the cessation of commercial whaling. The current situation seems to be a political battle between “whaling opponents” and “commercial whaling proponents” （「捕鯨反対派」と「商業捕鯨推進派」との政治的な争い）,and I believe that we should settle the international issue of how whaling should be done by collecting objective data through “research whaling.”…
Still, what kind of an idea is it that New Zealand and Australia are not seriously cracking down on the “Sea Shepherd’s” sabotage of research whaling? It is hard to understand.
It is understandable that “Halal” is a term used by “vegetarians” and “Muslims” who do not eat meat and do not eat pork for religious reasons, so they are served meals without it. In Japan, which is tolerant of various religions, this is an acceptable response. However, I do not think it is right to force their own ideas and customs on other countries and people.
<Jan. 9, 2020> “Dolphin Show” at Joetsu City Aquatic Museum is very popular.
The “Dolphin Show” at the Joetsu City Aquatic Museum “Umigatari,” which was renovated in June 2018, is so popular that the number of visitors exceeded 1 million in August 2019.
Although 80% of the visitors come from neighboring prefectures (50% from Niigata, 25% from Nagano, and 5% from Toyama), they are trying to attract visitors from both Japan and overseas. The adjacent city of Myoko attracts many skiers from Australia and Taiwan during the winter, and is gradually gaining popularity.
I hope they will do their best and overcome the minority opinion that “the dolphins are so pitiful.”