MoMo by Michael Ende

This book has been in my book shelf since I was little. I remember it as a good story but not any details. So I re-read it after more than a decade.

And it turned out to be a really great story with lots of wisdom and knowledge. This book is originally published in 1970's in Germany for young ages, but I believe it's more for ages of mine. Because when I was a kid, it was still a good story with some exciting adventures, but what the author truly want to tell you could be understood only by the ones who started to lose their time just like the ones in the story. I mean I want more adults to read this great book, not just kids.

Michael must have had great insight and excellent foresight just like Hayao Miyazaki. He must have been trying to warn children who will build the world in the future about the danger they would face sooner or later. 

Once a year...

Instead of Thanksgiving Day, Ginkgo festival is held at the end of November in my hometown. This is the biggest festival in a year in this area, and my house is right in front of the main square. All the stores around here close for weekend and have different kinds of booths. My mom is always in charge of the booths in front of our house. I was selling hot drinks like coffee and tea. And there was a guy from Morocco selling Moroccan hand crafts like house shoes made with goat leather which mom loves. And next to the Moroccan guy, a Korean man was selling several different kinds of Kimchee. And the other side of my booth, there was a whole family members selling "ama-sake" which is made of sake lees but not alcohol and very sweet taste. There are some kids too.

Normally there are not many things to see around this area but only this time of the year, lots of people come to see this festival. From very early morning to after sunset, I play with kids, talk to customers, have some friends visit me, and go out to get special foods for festivals like takoyaki, yakisoba, and oden. I just talk so much all day non-stop. At the end of the day, I get really tired and my throat hurts, but I feel very satisfied. Maybe because talking is good for ones, maybe the festival makes me get high. 

food self-sufficiency

Japan's food self-sufficiency ratio is one of the lowest in the world. This is almost the worst in the top developed countries. It was 73% in 1965 and since then getting only lower and now it came down to about 40%. The main factor I think is the bad condition for farmers.
After the high-growth period of the 1970s, a huge number of farmers moved to cities, and vast area of fields for farming transformed into housing and industrial land. Young manpower is in short and only older workers left. Cheaper food from Asian countries come into Japan, so that safer but expensive domestic products are not welcome really. Young people don't want to be farmers because it's not stylish. Farmers' population keep getting small.

Though Japanese people are now crazy about ECO and organic/natural products, Japan's food mileage is the world highest, adding a large amount of CO2 into the global atmosphere. People in Japan are tend to look at things only you can actually see. But some people start realizing what's underneath it. I want people to get it little deeper and think about it. Why they like organic products. Why ECO is so big now. Not only complain about the U.S. military bases in Japan, but how the food self-sufficiency affect the bases. 

A lazy sunday morning...

What I love is a lazy sunday morning.

Waking up with beautiful sunshine through the big window. Make sure it's sunday in my half-awake head. Realizing I can go back to sleep, smile on my face. Check out my buddy still sleeping next to me peacefully. Replace my head to his shoulder. Pressing myself against his arm. Now he is slowly awaken. Looks at me and smile, then kiss on my forehead.

Spending all morning in bed, snuggling, cuddling, and laughing out loud eventually, happiness is all around us.

When we realize how hungry we are, we finally get out of the bed with agreeable lassitude and go grab some burritos.

What a lovely lazy sunday.

the fact

When I started my high school, I was surprised at the world I didn't know until then.
Since all the kids had grown up in more or less the same environment until junior high, no surprise bigger than whose dad had passed away.
Then I for the first time in my life knew that my normal is not normal to others. There were many forms of family, relationships, personality, and then the ways people think.

And now I am facing, for the second time of my life, how differently people think. How people is getting formed to one being. I don't judge any form of life, or how they were formed. I am just amazed that every single person is formed very uniquely and those who formed very differently get along with well and build this world. Well, its cliche already but I just re-recognized the fact.