with spring flowers

 

Country train, celebrated with spring flowers. 

Turkey

 I heard there was an earthquake in the western part of Turkey. I hope people and this beautiful Greco-Roman city Ephesos are still as it were.

Omicron’s thread

 Right before Omicron’s thread, I left the US and arrived in Japan. Now, government has announced to close border. I hope I can visit to see this beautiful evening of Soho again. How soon will it happen…? #world #New_York #travel

sleeper train

 

I took a business trip to Da Nang, Vietnam. In the weekend, I decided to visit Hue, the old capital of this country. 

I was on board of the train that takes three-and-a-half-hour to reach there, instead of the two-hour trip by car. It was a sleeper train, even more classic version of the blue train that I used to run from my hometown to Tokyo in the olden days.

I spent a nostalgic time by sitting in a coach pulled by a panting diesel-powered locomotive. Now, in the midst of the smooth and comfortable daily travel, the smell of fuel oil and the sweat of the workers, the aroma of the food sold in the wooden train, and the murmur of the passengers, all of this is being forgotten. Along with this oblivion, we are also forgetting the human’s bonds and connections sticked in the villages and towns, as we have entered the digital age. 

The train arrived safely in Hue at 1:30 pm, albeit a little late.

On the way home, it was late at night, so I had no choice but to drive to Da Nang all at once along the newly constructed highway. It was a day as if I had been dreaming.

Vietnamese town

More than 400 years ago Japanese immigrants were quite active for trading in this old Vietnamese town. Their sprits may hide in the shadow of these old houses.

Bangkok

 

When I visited Bangkok for the first time in a long time, I met Wanchai Chaiyasit, who is my friend and business partner.

He is a veteran of the field, having studied psychology in the U.S. and worked in child education and English language education for many years.

Wanchai believes that English education should start with the development of conversational and communicative skills, and that English education in Thailand lacks this perspective. I thought that Thailand has the same issues as my country.

As a psychologist, he is also interested in changes in children's communication skills themselves.

He points out that in this day and age, people tend to become defensive in order to protect their identities. He believes that a mindset-shift from "defensive" to "cope" is necessary to develop communication skills.

Wanchai explains that the inability to do so is behind not only the division of the world, but also the problem of bullying among children.

When we are attacked by others, instead of immediately trying to defend ourselves, we need to be aware of how we should deal with the issue brought on the table without stressing out over it.

When debating in English, when the discussion becomes a parallel line between winning and losing, we need to shift our awareness from a defensive attitude to a cope mindset in order to understand the background of our opponent's attacks and our own reactions. Then we need to try to share the issues at a higher level.

He has been working in the field of education for many years, always thinking about this kind of human consciousness and trying to apply it to the real educational field. It is great thing that I admire him. Perhaps what is lacking in the current educational field is the attitude like him. In other words, in these days educators are not always aware of these issues and does not try to dig deep into them.

For the first time in a long time, I would like to invite someone like him to conduct a workshop.

Come to think of it, I often participated in workshops on these issues while I was in the U.S., which made me nostalgic.

With my brother, I visited

With my brother, I visited this mountain that nobody has climbed. l believe his soul is over this mountain to the heaven.