English Blog

他人の罪は目の前にあり、自分の罪は背中にある。 Other men’s sins are before our eyes, and our own are behind our backs.   神に見られているかのように人間の中で暮らし、人間が聞いているかのように神に話しかけよ。 Live among men as if God beheld you; speak to God as if men were listening.   およそ惨めなものは、将来のことを不安に思って、不幸にならない前に不幸になっている心です。 不幸な人の共通の過ちは、わが身に幸せが訪れることを、決して信じたがらないことである。 True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either […]

I read this book in Japanese before (Japanese title misses “aspects” and just “Chopin”), but English translation is much better. Somehow the Japanese translator tried so hard to make it really complicated and difficult to understand… I practiced Cortot’s “Rational Principles of Pianoforte Technique” every day when I was young! He was one of the […]

I truly enjoyed watching this movie. It is truthful, yet funny. It is soulful, yet silly. It is very entertaining and soul searching. The movie follows a Chinese family’s journey to search Chinese belief (I share this belief as a Japanese too) and to help the family’s difficulty together.  It happened when they discovered that […]

Today is Pentecost, the Christian festival celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension, held on the seventh Sunday after Easter. I think those are beautiful poems for Pentecost. Unless the eye catch fire, The God will not be seen. Unless the ear catch fire The God will not […]

I love French wine countries. The location of this movie is picturesque Burgundy, and actually we can learn the process of wine making. 3 siblings reunite at their family vineyard when their father was terminally ill. The old brother escaped from their family business and 10 years later he came back to see their father […]

It has been about 2 months since the lockdown. Rome seems so far away in theses days. I don’t know when I can visit Europe.. I thought about this movie! I have watched it before, of course. But I chose to watch it again. I needed something innocent and fun. Audrey Hepburn is just beautiful […]

I truly loved a movie “Lost in Paris” by Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel. “The Fairy” was produced by Fiona and Abel too. We need a good laugh under this circumstance. Somehow their wit and humor clicks into my laugh button, for example perfect amount of clumsiness and foolishness.  A hotel clerk (Abel) falls in […]

I have been practicing Franz Schubert: Sonata D 664, and started to hear this song whenever I play the last movement. They share the same feeling. The text is by Wilhelm Müller and it is very beautiful. Schubert is a word painter, and surely this song by itself shows his incredible talent. Of course, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald […]

I saw this movie when I was young too. Based on a novel by Thomas Mann, this movie is often known as one of the best movies of Visconti. The story is not complicated. A terrified composer, Gustav Von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde), visits Venice to recover from his illness, both mentally and physically. He is […]

I have been a great friend of “music” and “books” since my childhood. I love my human (!) friendship, but also I love solitude. I appreciate to my friends, books and music, especially in this quarantine period. I can entertain myself! I have been revisiting piano pieces I have learned before, and it is quite […]