Today's phrase           

     Internet and health   ...  (May 4, 2007)
With all those "virus" things, worms, hackers, spyware etc. on the internet ...
If the internet were considered to reflect the health of the human race - I have no idea whether that can be assumed - THEN I am under the impression that we = the human race are VERY sick indeed!
Or am I just "hypersensitive" to the flood of filth and hidden dangers that literally drown my daily communication needs ....???

     Noise        ...  (May 4, 2007)
"Noise" usually refers to acustic signals, but also means for example the "noise" on a TV screen. Our modern society - in which people like to talk about 'culture' - is contaminated by an enormously high noise level. These noise signals are so frequent and intensive, that simple, ordinary stimuli are not noted any longer. 

I know the situation here in Japan, but suppose that the situation is not much different in other countries. The situation appears always beautifully in the superlatives required to get the attention of people. A brochure about home-delivery drugs we get is entitled 'SUPER HEALTH'. Ordinary health is not good enough any longer. And on a honey package the original designation was "Country Farm Honey", but the Japanese transcriptions read something line "supernatural cream honey". I have no idea, however, what a supernatural honey is ............

     I am NOT a model ... (October 16)

I myself are definitely not someone to look up to when it comes to "healthy" life, but I try to maintain at least some fractions of "natural concepts". Many patients seem to be loosing this contact to the world entirely: people complain that they are so busy working, that meals are eaten with one hand, while work (on the computer) continues with the other. There are no **regular** meals and dinner comes at 2:00 in the morning. And then the patient visits my clinic with complaints of constipation, gastric discomfort etc. I am under the impression that this is crazy, or what the Japanese call "ki chigai" - the ki = vital enery has been derailed. Yes, that's it. 

     Maybe I am getting too old 　(August 1, 2006)

Probably it is the approaching age, but I am under the impression that the action called in German "Rücksicht" (literally "looking back" to see what others are doing), with the English equivalent of "consider / consideration": considerer, from Latin considerare to observe, think about, from com- + sider-, sidus heavenly body -> 2 : to regard or treat in an attentive or kindly way" is on the brink of disappearing. People do what they like, with no regard for others. Even if that means invading or even threatening the freedom of those "others". But I definitely believe that the world would be a better place to live in, if not everybody would solely obey the universal God called "money" - directly also related to the concept of "time" - and instead pay a little kind attention to those anonymous "others" without which nobody really can survive ... 

     In praise of "Made in Japan"　(April 7, 2006)

I know I should maybe not say so, but I am under the very strong impression that "Made in Japan" - at least pertaining to acupuncture needles - implies a much better quality than made in China. Maybe the giant with the so-called 3,000-year history is not yet "up to speed", or it just does not care about the fine details. Anyway, by now I definitely prefer not to be needled with Chinese needles.

     Noise　(January 10, 2006)

    "Noise" usually refers to acustic signals, but also means for example the "noise" on a TV screen. Our modern society - in which people like to talk about culture - is contaminated by an enormously high noise level. These noise signals are so frequent and intensiv, that simple, ordinary stimuli are not noted any longer. I know the situation here in Japan, but suppose that the situation is much different in other countries. The situation manifests always beautifully in the superlatives required to get the attention of people. A brochure about drugs delivered to your home is entitled SUPER HEALTH. Ordinary health is not good enough any longer. On a honey package the original designation was "Country Farm Honey", but the Japanese transcriptions read something line "supernatural cream honey". I have no idea, however, what a supernatural honey is ............

   Avian influenza

 Again, mankind faces the threat of an enemy so small, that it can be seen only under the microscope. The danger of this disease definitely cannot be taken lightly, but panicking in the face of this threat will only impair cool judgement.

 Currently there appears to be no "specific drug" to treat this disease. And the virus itself continously changes. If that is so, it may be a good idea at looking at available treatment forms that can look back on a tradition of several thousand years of successful treatment: moxibustion.

 That moxibustion "non-specifically" activates the human immune function has by now be verified beyond doubt. So, waiting to get sick and then be treated with drugs of possibly questionable safety and efficacy, does not seem very wise to me. And in addition to the already commercially available modern drugs, I have no doubt that the Chinese with their wonderful capitalistic sense of business will shortly announce the successful development and marketing of a (probably not inexpensive) Chinese medicine specifically effective for this disease. I remember that this was the case with the SARS epidemic too.

Well, why not try the extremely cheap moxa therapy, that can be performed by anybody at home? This will certainly NOT generate any business, but if someone has an earnest interest in the health of the people, this is a therapy that deserves to be called to mind!

   Information transfer    (September 24, 2005)

    As a translator I am always asked to change somehting in language "A" into its correpondent meaning in language "B". But more often than not the client is simply not providing specific information to do that. And if I do not come up with a "perfectly matching" translation, the agencies get mad at me. But try to image the following: task = translate "high" (or any other term) into German or Japanese. I would say: without further context this is impossible. As a translator I would like to shift the responsibility for "bad translations" in many cases from the translator to the client. If the client does not provide appropriate material, how is the translator supposed to create an appropriate translation?  

    Rites  (July 24, 2005)

"In four centuries of taking wealth and comfort from the body of the earth, modern science has not troubled to produce a single rite or ritual , not even a minor prayer that asks pardon or gives thanks."

Theodore Roszack

    Hot, hot! (July 17, 2005)

By now everybody is complaining about the heat. A VERY short while ago everybody was complaining about the cold (of winter). In between people were complaining about the humidity, the strong wind, rain .... whatever phenomena the "natural weather" includes.

Sometimes it is said that Japanese people like to use certain phrases about the weather as a substitute for a greeting, like British people may use "it's raining cats and dogs" while reading the morning paper and not even looking outside or at the person they are talking to.

But in summer it is hot, in winter cold. All the other things are "natural" too. How about developing a little tolerance for the way this world is made. Maybe that could be a shortcut to the preservation of the already acutely endangered natural environment.

    East - West    (May 30, 2005)

When you go to a western doctor, you are treated by specialists that deal mainly with that special aspect of either body or mind, like viewing you through a microscope. Eastern medicine (or many other forms of medicine for that matter) need to look with a wider angle: I should not distinguish for example between heart problems when they are solely due to physical functioning of the heart or its mental aspects (like a "broken heart", which is NOT a fracture of the heart).

May 22, 2005:    Hail the slow

Living in Japan, maybe more than anywhere else, people seem to be haunted by the idea that they must keep up with some real or imaginative schedule - measured in seconds. Why should that be so? I am unfortunately not a very wise man, but sometimes tell my patients that everybody has, regardless of what the clock tells them, the same amount of time: ONE LIFE.

Not more, but also not less. To me it does not make any sense to hurry through it. 

December 8, 2004:    Sorry

Recently I have been kept so busy, there was no time for writing "new stuff". So, there won't be much today either. The Chinese character for "busy" is composed of "heart" and "loose". Maybe that is what happens if you are too busy: you loose your heart, your soul! Now think about how many people constantly tell you how busy they are ...

September 9, 2004: Two little words

Recently I saw a sticker somewhere: "Save the Earth". That is a very good idea, although I think there are two little words missing on that sticker: "from us" -> Save the earth from us.

We humans are the animals that destroy the environment, cause the extinction of an ever growing number of species and spread ourselves like a malicious virus ...

August 16 2004:    Tourists and Trash

It's Summertime and the tourists flock to the beaches, mountains etc. As a citizen of this town (my business does NOT rely on tourists) I do not like this season at all! Why? Because the tourists spend an enormous amount of energy to carry heavy stuff for BBQ etc. to the beach, but the leave all their trash - which is only a fraction of the original weight - there too. This turns this basically beautiful town literally into a "mountain of trash".

Today, on my way to work, I passed two men (looking like tourists). One was munching a piece of bread he apparently bought in the near shop and then flung the plastic bag of that bread (trash!) simply there on the street. When I yelled at him that this is a real "dirty practice", he looked at me completely stupified, as if he did not understand the words at all. 

July 30 2004:    Too much work, too little time ...

Don't find the time to write as often and as much as I would like to.

But next week I will endeavor to add a comment about the unbelievable, extremely selfish "non-cooperation" disease spreading like an epidemic during the summer holidays ...

June 13 2004:   

Fashion:

June 6 2006:    For those people (like me), who spent a lot of time in front of the computer and may therefore complain about "shoulder stiffness" etc. Please consider that you are moving your neck in daily life usually back and forth (up and down) as well as left and right. To relax and provide something new for the neck:

move it slowly, like stretching exercise in spiral forms / obliquely. Inhale while twisting the neck backwards and exhale during its return trip to the front. Don't rush this!