＜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:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
The viewer rating for this year’s Taiga Drama “Idaten – Tokyo Olimpic Banashi” was 15.5% for the first episode, but finally dropped in a straight line like “Vikaten” to single digits at 9.9% in the sixth episode. It is said that “single-digit percentage in February” at the beginning of the broadcast is a disgraceful record, “the fastest in the history of Taiga”. How ironic.
I was watching the show with my family and thought it was about Shiso Kanakuri, played by Kankuro Nakamura, at the Tokyo Higher Normal School, but the scene suddenly changed to a story about Shinsyou Kokontei, played by Beat Takeshi, or about Seiji Tabata, played by Sadao Abe (president of the Japan Swimming Federation), and the viewers could not follow the story. I think the biggest reason for the sluggish viewer ratings is that viewers cannot keep up.
Is it just me who feels that the drama is spinning its wheels, just like the many legs in the title art are spinning their wheels?
Originally, it is “insufficiently explained” for “general viewers” who have no prior knowledge of the main character, Shiso Kanakuri, as well as other characters such as Shinsyou Kokontei, Seiji Tabata, and Yahiko Mishima.
Certainly, movies and novels have a style that alternates between the “past” and the “present. This kind of “scene-switching” direction may be Kudo Kankuro’s forte, but it feels like “watching a Western movie without prior knowledge of the synopsis or characters.
Even if it is impossible to include the already filmed parts, I think it would be a good idea to insert a compact broadcast explaining “the characters” and “the synopsis so far”. And I think it would be more effective to include “supplementary explanations” in the narration in the future to improve viewer ratings.
１．Shiso Kanakuri’s Tabi Shoes
Harimaya, a Tabi Shoes shop, was located behind Tokyo Higher Normal School. At that time, “sports shoes” did not exist, and students of Tokyo Higher Normal School wore ordinary tabi during athletic activities. Under such circumstances, Harimaya was the “official store of the Normal School” that received orders for Tabi Shoes every time there was an athletic meet.
However, when running long distances like Kanekuri Shiso’s marathon, his tabi shoes would tear at the halfway point, and by the time he finished the race he would have a large blood blister on his heel.
So the owner of Harimaya worked closely with Shiso Kanakuri to develop tear-resistant “marathon tabi,” and they eventually completed the highly durable “Kanakuri tabi.”
２．”Barefoot tabi” in my elementary school days
When I was in elementary school (1956-1961), I wore canvas shoes (sports shoes) to school, but for sports days I would get barefoot tabi socks bought for me from a geta shop.
Some students ran barefoot, but most ran in bare feet socks to avoid injury to their feet on the gravel and pebbles in the schoolyard.
These “bare tabi” had rubber soles and were probably similar to “Kanakuri tabi.” It brings back fond memories.
Even today, these tabi socks are highly valued by people who carry portable shrines at festivals.