US Customary Units: Conquered?

Here we go:

Volume

• 2 pints = 1 quart
• 4 quarts = 1 gallon
• 16 fl. ounces = 1 pint
• 8 fl. ounces = 1 cup
• 2 cups = 1 pint
• 4 cups = 1 quart

Mass

• 16 ounces = 1 pound

...I think, anyway. Why is this so difficult?

1.15.2011 SPOKEN!：小塚崇彦・無良崇人・佐野隼規

この放送はいつものスケート番組が注目するトップ選手の練習場面やプライベートのシーンではなく、友情を中心とした物でとても良かったと思いました。全日本チャンピヨンである小塚崇彦選手がメインになるのが当然だと思うかもしれませんが、彼の人見知りさもあり、圧倒的なスターがない素晴らしい話が伝わるように作られた放送でした。

小塚選手が１０歳位の時から仲良くしている佐野隼規選手が大学卒業した際スケートから引退し、社会人になると決めていたので、最後のインカレをどうしても優勝したかったそうです。世界選手権優勝を目指している選手に取ってはインカレは時間の無駄と思うかもしれませんが、小塚選手は佐野選手の夢を支えるために参加しました。

「隼規が引退だから、やっぱり優勝して引退したいかなと思って、、、」

小塚選手の優しさに感心してしまいました。

出会った当時の写真。超可愛い！

この話を聞いて笑いました：

佐野選手：野辺山の合宿でジャム塗って怒られたんだよね
小塚選手：部屋で、、、ちょっと、絶対昆虫、、、こんだけ田舎だから昆虫いるだろうって話になって、昆虫を探すんだったら取りあえずジャム塗ったら来るんじゃないかって、、、


小塚選手：４日間位放置してたんですよ。
佐野選手：こびり付いちゃってね、虫一切来ないし、最終日に歯ブラシで掃除して、、、
小塚選手：歯ブラシでガーってこすって、、、

いかにも男の子らしくて面白い〜選手として道がどんどん離れて行ってもこの２人の関係が全く変わってないのが何か良かったです。

ちなみにインカレはこのように点が付けられています：


ショートプログラムでは残念ながら佐野選手がジャンプを全てミスして、１６位に終わりました。しかし、全日本選手権で５位だった無良崇人選手が２位、勿論小塚選手が１位で、中京大学が暫定１位に立ちました。


小塚選手が滑る前にこんな場面もありました：

佐藤コーチが来ていなかったので、背中を叩くのは佐野選手の責任になりました。小塚選手があの仕草をそこまで大切にしていたとは知らなかったです^_^

１位だったが、小塚選手は得意とするルッツをステップアウトしてしまいました。終わった後、バックステージでww：


小塚選手と無良選手は１位と２位以上にはなれないので、中京大学が優勝するためには佐野選手が順位を上げるしかなかったです。それで見事にフリーのジャンプを決め、フリーでは６位に入りました。観てて何だか彼のために嬉しくなってしまいました。

驚いたのは佐野選手の息の白さ！そこまで寒いリンクで皆戦ったな〜と感心しました。

小塚選手は４回転のトーループに成功しました。インカレでは滅多に見ない技ですよね〜プレッシャーの中で無良選手も奇麗に滑り、この２人はまた１位と２位に立ちました。それで中京大学の優勝が決定！


終わって総合得点の紙を眺めながらこんな会話もありました：

佐野選手：（４２点中）俺７点なんだ
小塚選手：７点大きい！７点大きい！だって昨日以上上がれないもん、こっちの２人、、、
佐野選手：そっか。そうだよね。
小塚選手：どんだけ頑張っても。キャプテンにかかってたからマジで！
佐野選手：危ない危ない。
小塚選手：そのプレッシャーを乗り切っての優勝だから、完璧！

小塚選手、優しい！！

3. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

To be quite honest, I hated A Farewell to Arms. I'm sure a part of it was that I read it in English class senior year with a teacher I both hated and ridiculed, but a bigger part of it is that I simply have no interest in war stories. With that in mind, I wasn't convinced that picking up another book by Ernest Hemingway would be the best idea, but in fact The Sun Also Rises isn't actually about World War I.

Instead, it's about a group of fairly young, petty, irresponsible friends--people?--who seem to spend all of their time eating in cafés, getting drunk, and hurting not only each other but everybody around them. There is both a callousness to money and a firmly arrogant belief that it can solve anything, and a conviction that each's own emotions are deeply true while completely disregarding the validity of others'. Is this characterization supposed to indirectly reflect the dehumanizing effect of war? My English teacher would probably argue yes, but I would say no.

It never ceased to be incredible to me that Brett, the only major female character in the book, has no qualms about cheating on her fiancé, and apparently with his knowledge. Mike gets angry and jealous, and yet does nothing about it, and it almost seems that they had never sat down together for a serious, sober conversation about anything, let alone their expectations for each other in a monogamous relationship. Meanwhile, Jake, who spends a considerable amount of time explaining that he is a rare, foreign aficionado of bullfighting, promptly turns around and allows Brett to destroy the Spanish purity of the bullfighter Pedro Romero. It was satisfying to see that the hotel owner Montoya stopped being friendly to him in response, but infuriatingly Jake does not seem to care.

I half-expected Romero to die in a fight, and when this didn't happen, I also sort of expected Cohn to commit suicide. That also did not happen. Actually, Cohn is never really pulled together at the end of the story, and neither is Mike nor Bill. To some extent I would have appreciated a little more narrative about Jake's war experiences, because it would have helped clarify the history and nature of his relationship with Brett, how Mike and Bill fit into their dysfunctional world, and perhaps even how the ending is supposed to be interpreted and imagined. The only reassuring part is that it seems that even when only Brett and Jake are the ones truly left in the book, they do not get together and instead maintain some semblance of actual friendship.

I really need to treat myself to something contemporary now. Water for Elephants, here I come! Provided I actually get to the library, that is.

12.12.2010 情熱大陸：Kohei Uchimura

Narrator: With these hands he grasped the top of the world. Gymnast Kohei Uchimura. His callused palms are clear evidence.

Kohei Uchimura: I have two pairs of nail clippers, one for cutting my nails and one for cutting off the dead skin from my hands. This is really embarrassing.

Commentator: We can see the raging fire (i.e. his power)... He stuck it! Stuck it!

Narrator: At the World Gymnastics Championships that took place this October (2010) in the Netherlands, Uchimura became the first Japanese gymnast to defend the All-Around title. He is only the third gymnast ever to make this brilliant achievement. The name Kohei Uchimura swept through the gymnastics world. He is the man currently closest to the (All-Around) gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

Koji Gushiken (1984 Olympic All-Around Champion): No matter what area you look at--pick up--he has very clean, beautiful gymnastics. They make a picture. He must have eyes all over the place--where he is and how he is positioned, what he should do to stick the landing, all these things.

Narrator: What are "beautiful gymnastics"? Uchimura has intently pursued this. For this Uchimura, there is one title now that he desperately wants.

Kohei Uchimura: I know that Japanese Nationals and the World Championships are completely different, but everyone wants us to win Nationals, and we athletes also want the title no matter what, so...

Narrator: The World Champion, who does not let up at all, was focused on winning with his friends and teammates in his last competition as a student.

Question: Gymnastics is...?

Kohei Uchimura: I guess it's destiny? I feel like it's not too extreme to say that I was born so I could do gymnastics.

Narrator: Where does the road that the 21-year-old World Champion seeks lead?

(Nippon Sport Science University)

Narrator: The World Champion rides his bicycle to school from his dorm every day.

Kohei Uchimura: 'Morning.

Crew: Are you not a morning person?

Kohei Uchimura: I don't really get sleepy, so...

Crew: Oh really?

Kohei Uchimura: Yes. If I sleep, my body doesn't move well, so...

Crew: I see.

Kohei Uchimura: Yeah. This is my standard outfit.

Crew: You're wearing work gloves?

Kohei Uchimura: Yes, because it's cold.

Gymnasts: Good morning! 'Morning!

Narrator: Nippon Sport Science University Gymnastics Club. It is a renowned gymnastics program that has produced numerous medalists. Practices are held daily for an hour midday, and four hours in the afternoon. Uchimura is a senior and the captain who pulls together the 65 members of the men's division.

Gymnasts: Let's work together.

Narrator: (Only 13 more training sessions until) Japanese Nationals, which start on December 3. For Uchimura, it is the last meet he will compete with his friends.

Gymnasts: Together! Let's go!

Narrator: In the team competition in gymnastics, three athletes from each team compete on six events such as floor, the high bar, and still rings, and the total scores from those performances are used. Last year, Nippon Sport Science University allowed the "working adult team" to win, and finished in second place. And so especially, the World Champion was very focused on the last meet he would spend with his friends.

Koji Yamamuro (senior): He's very shy, but I think he's gotten a lot better.

Fumihiro Hosokawa (senior): There are parts of him that I don't get, but I do think that he's a great athlete who hides it when he gets down.

Masataka Aoyama (sophomore): You get the feeling that he competes against himself. He doesn't get nervous, and performs with confidence.

Narrator: On this day he went to a ramen place with the underclassmen with whom he lives in the gymnastics division dorms.

Masataka Aoyama: To be honest, we're definitely better than Kohei at still rings--

Kohei Uchimura: Shut up.

Takumi Sato (junior): Sorry.

Kohei Uchimura: First, these noodles--

Waiter: Noodles.

Kohei Uchimura: --and gyoza, five of them.

Waiter: Okay.

Kohei Uchimura: Fried chicken--fried chicken, three of them.

Narrator: They ordered noodles, gyoza, and fried chicken.

Crew: Are you a picky eater?

Kohei Uchimura: Oh yeah, definitely. Things I don't like...

Takumi Sato/Masataka Aoyama: Tomatoes...

Kohei Uchimura: Tomatoes. Green peas. Yeah, vegetables.

Crew: Which actors, comedians, etc. do you like?

Kohei Uchimura: Saki Aibu. Saki Aibu.

Crew: Usually when you go out to eat, do you split the bill?

(Takumi Sato and Masataka Aoyama shake their heads and gesture towards Kohei Uchimura)

Crew: Oh he treats?

Takumi Sato/Masataka Aoyama: The burden of being a veteran.

Kohei Uchimura: Hey you, you ate the fried chicken without asking, didn't you?

Masataka Aoyama: Thanks!

Kohei Uchimura: What are you doing, eating it?

Narrator: There is only a little bit of time left that he can spend with his underclassmen. Only ten more days until Nationals. During practice, one could often see him like this. His hands calmly move through the air without rushing, as if he is waving a baton.

Kohei Uchimura: That--I'm imagining the skills I will perform.

Crew: Images?

Kohei Uchimura: Yes. In my mind I can see how they should be best performed, so I guess I am continuously seeking those in practice? Yeah.

Narrator: (Born on January 3, 1989) By the time he realized it gymnastics was already a part of his life. His parents, who were both gymnasts, opened a gym at their house when Uchimura was three years old. Nagasaki Prefecture, Isahaya City. Even today, his parents continue to run their club.

Shuko Uchimura (mother): Go! Go! Very good!

Narrator: From here the second Uchimura may emerge.

Crew: Excuse us.

Kazuhisa Uchimura (father)/Shuko Uchimura: Welcome, come on in.

Shuko Uchimura: There are a lot of pictures. Come in.

Narrator: Pictures of their World-Champion son decorate every corner of the living room.

Shuko Uchimura: Well, when he focuses... even if something, a bomb, exploded right next to him, he probably wouldn't notice--he was a child with that kind of ability of concentrate. One sunny day he was sleeping underneath the high bar. I was so shocked, I thought he had fallen! Yes. I guess he'd gotten tired after playing on it for so long. When I looked he was sleeping underneath the high bar.

Narrator: His toy was the high bar. The first time he competed in a meet was when he was six years old. The result: last place.

Shuko Uchimura: He was crying at his first meet. Yeah....

Narrator: Shuko showed us a notebook.

Shuko Uchimura: So it's this... it's a notebook that child wrote in as he imagined skills.

Narrator: Uchimura's notebook from when he was in elementary school. Inside, countless gymnastics skills were crammed in. His gymnastics life that began with last place. Wanting to get even a little bit better, he continued to draw imagined skills whenever he had a chance. And that is linked to his beautiful gymnastics today. Of this beauty, Athens Gold Medalist says...

Hiroyuki Tomita (2004 Olympics Team Gold Medalist): Rather than flexibility, I think he brings out beauty in the way he precisely and quickly moves his body. On the high bar, in general--the height of his releases, the opening up of his body... those are his strong points. It's rare that a gymnast can do a Kovacs so high. In his landings, the moment before his feet touch the ground, his midair positioning is very good. Well, I think he is the best gymnast in the world.

Narrator: His superior midair sense and landings. Their origins lie in the trampoline he has loved since he was a boy. Even now, he first imagines new skills on the trampoline. Uchimura was attempting a new skill on vault. It is a new skill that no one has successfully done before. If he succeeds at it at the World Championships, it would be named the "Uchimura." This skill requires three twists in the air. At the moment, the hardest vault recorded is two and a half twists. Upon landing, the body faces away from the vault. If this becomes a triple twist, it is an additional half twist--in other words, the body will face the vault. The key to success is twisting quickly. However, because he focuses so much on this, he cannot get into position to land.

Kohei Uchimura: Was it too fast? I ended up trying to get around.

Coach: I don't think that it's that you can't get the twists in, but.... something, something's a little off. A little more.

Narrator: Even Uchimura, with the best landing technique in the world, struggles.

Kohei Uchimura: Vault is the one event where even I feel like I don't do enough, so if I could change that I think that I could get stronger... yeah. Whenever I'm training skills I can't do at all, it's like, 'When the hell am I going to be able to do this?'

Narrator: There was only a week left before Nationals.

Trainer: You shoulder?

Kohei Uchimura: Yeah. But it doesn't hurt that much.

Trainer: How about now?

Kohei Uchimura: It hurts. The same place as before.

Narrator: In fact Uchimura was dealing with the uncertainty of having pain in his shoulder. He has bitter memories related to injury. The All-Around at his first Olympics as a 19-year-old, in 2008 in Beijing.

Commentator: He can make it... He's starting with this move... And now, swiveling around the pommel horse. It's here--AH! As expected!

Narrator: A fall on the pommel horse.

Commentator: His uncertainty struck! And again! A second time...

Narrator: With the second fall, he finished with the silver.

Kohei Uchimura: At the time, my wrist--my left wrist--was pretty painful, and even in everyday life is was extremely painful. I was thinking that I would definitely fall on the pommel horse, and I performed, and to me it was like, 'Good thing it was only twice.'

Narrator: How to deal with injuries and pain--this is also the destiny of gymnasts.

Yoshiaki Hanakeda (coach): The parts of the body that aren't usually used--you bring your body into these positions and a lot of weight is placed on those parts, right? So as expected, those parts get damaged--even if you think about it normally, they get damaged.

Narrator: The still rings place over six times his body weight on both shoulders. In his current state, it is impossible for him to perform his routine through the end.

Teammate: Does your shoulder hurt?

Kohei Uchimura: It hurts a lot.

Teammate: Does it hurt more than it did at Worlds?

Kohei Uchimura: It hasn't really changed.

Narrator: He tries (the still rings) using a harness that relieves some of the pressure on his shoulders, but... There was one friend who watched over Uchimura through all of this. His classmate Yamamuro was called Uchimura's rival from the time they were in high school.

However, he is also a close friend who supports the shy captain.

Koji Yamamuro: Kohei, I think the pain got a lot worse probably this year, and so in the beginning he wouldn't want to train because it hurt, but as a team we really need him.

Narrator: His teammates' thoughts come across painfully clear. What should he do as a captain so that his team wins? Uchimura was thinking. Four days before Nationals. At Nippon Sport Science University there is a traditional ritual that occurs before meets.

Kohei Uchimura: Nippon Sport Science University~!

Gymnasts: Fight!

Narrator: This was the last time he would lead the yell to raise his team's competitive spirits. On the way to Yamaguchi, where the competition would be held.

Kohei Uchimura: I took it!

Narrator: This was the last trip he would take with his team.

Crew: As captain, or as an individual competitor, what are your goals?

Kohei Uchimura: To have fun.

Masataka Aoyama: To have fun, and also to perform beautifully...

Kohei Uchimura: That's true, beautifully.

(Yamaguchi Prefecture Sports Culture Center)
(December 2, Official Practice)

Narrator: The competition was three days. Both a team competition and individual apparatus competitions would take place. The day before the meet, Uchimura was undecided about whether he would enter the still rings event. Because of the pain in his left shoulder, he had not yet been able to do a full run-through of his routine. That night...

Teammate: You're going to enter the rings, right?

Kohei Uchimura: Yeah I'll enter.

Teammate: Is it okay, your shoulder?

Kohei Uchimura: Yeah, it's okay.

Teammate: Amazing, as expected.

Kohei Uchimura: Probably.

Teammate: Well, I hope you have fun.

Kohei Uchimura: I think I can do it.

Narrator: And so the day of the team competition. Uchimura's battle begins.

(December 4, All-Japan Gymnastics Nationals, Team Competition)

Narrator: December 4, All-Japan Gymnastics Nationals, Team Competition. From high schoolers to working adults, the twelve elite teams that had won their respective competitions participated. The arena was packed with people who wanted to catch even a glimpse of the World Champion.

Gymnasts: Thank you. Let's go!

Narrator: Uchimura's last team competition as a student began. His first event was one of his specialties: floor. He pulled off numerous difficult skills and set up his team. Buoyed by Uchimura's momentum, his teammates also performed cleanly.

(Defending Champions KONAMI Team)

Narrator: Last year's winners, the KONAMI Team, which is filled with members of the National team, also performed cleanly and put pressure on Nippon Sport Science University. Even now the uncertainty over his shoulder remains. Next, the rings. If he enters, he cannot make excuses. As captain, as World Champion, this was his moment to prove himself. The time of his routine: 67 seconds. Of all of the competitors (in the event), his was the second-highest score. In the stands were his parents. And the event that everyone anticipated was the final performance of the team competition: Uchimura's forte, the high bar. The most beautiful landing in the world was also stuck on that day. The winners: Nippon Sport Science University. It was not the title, but this moment with his teammates that he wanted.

Kohei Uchimura: I want to become an athlete who can perform without mistakes, and beautifully, no matter the timing, no matter what the circumstances. What I'm aiming for--what I want to express--is far, far above what I'm doing now, so I think there is a lot more to be done in those areas. Thanks.

Narrator: The individual events the next day. The number that indicates Uchimura's vault is 0. It is a new skill that no one has successfully competed. On the last day, he somehow managed to contain the challenging landing. Higher, and beautifully. The landing that he struggled for is phase two of his dreams. Kohei Uchimura--on the road he has started to run along, a huge sky awaits.

2. Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata

I will get back to the usual stuff soon enough (it's been a month?!), but battery issues and the like call for another step in one of my New Year's resolutions instead...

Since the book I got from the library was actually a two-novel volume, I immediately started Thousand Cranes after finishing Snow Country. I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not; on one hand, I was already in the mentality to read through the simplicity of Kawabata's writing, but on the other, I sort of took the time away from myself to actually sit back and consider the depth of the first story. But at any rate, they have both been read, so there's not much point in thinking about this now.

Based on the descriptions, I was actually looking forward more to Thousand Cranes than Snow Country, but having read both I think I might actually prefer Snow Country. The novels share the same type of frustrating male protagonist, who sabotages his chances at love through indecision and pointless mental wanderings. I could in a way relate to Shimamura in Snow Country, since in addition to feeling restless he was also conflicted about having left his family back in Tokyo and about marring the "cleanness" that defined Komako, but Kikuji in Thousand Cranes almost seems to have no moral or societal compass.

Sleeping with his deceased father's former mistress? What? Come on now. I can sort of understand his hesitation to marry the Inamura girl, since (even in miai) appearances aren't everything, and Chikako the go-between is as exasperatingly meddlesome as characters get, but allowing Mrs. Ota to seduce him because he reminds her of his father is simply creepy. Kikuji gives no thought to how the Inamura girl must feel or look--being led on that a successful match would happen, and then being ignored--and instead half-pursues the Ota girl despite her evident discomfort and all the history between their families.

Of course, the story ends with another inconclusive ending from Kawabata. It seems that in all likelihood the Ota girl also commits suicide, but the possibility that she and Kikuji end up together is also left somewhat open. And if she does commit suicide, then what happens to Kikuji? Is he as useless as ever, lounging around and occasionally going into the office? What happens to Chikako? Snow Country's ending was inconclusive too, but I found this one far more maddening.

In any case, that's it for Yasunari Kawabata, unless I feel compelled to read another, which I probably won't--not anytime soon, anyway.

1. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata

So weird to write "Yasunari Kawabata," instead of "Kawabata Yasunari" like I'm always used to saying and hearing. Anyway, in an effort to not fail my resolutions in the first week of the new year, I pushed myself to register for a card at the local library and get a start on the books I'd always been vaguely interested in reading. None of the books I'd actually been looking for were there, but as I perused the shelves in search of something I might have forgotten about, I came across Snow Country and Thousand Cranes, which I guess is sort of a good deal. Haha.

I'm pretty sure that the chances of my reading a Nobel Prize-worthy novel in Japanese are fairly low, so I decided to go for the next best thing. I wonder if Edward Seidensticker was as creepy as modern Japanophiles. I kind of feel bad saying that about a deceased, renowned scholar, though.

Anyway, Snow Country was surprisingly easy to get through, although the simplicity of the language and vocabulary actually forces the reader to slow down and consider each word. There's imagery and emotional introspection everywhere, and by extension I felt like I had to stop and consider my own emotions and my own experiences, even if I've never been a wealthy fat man in search of a mistress. The Nobel Prize committee referenced this subdued but keen emotion inherent in Kawabata's works:

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1968 was awarded to Yasunari Kawabata "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind".

I kind of find that hilarious. "Japanese" sounds so foreign and exotic here--imagine the committee giving the Prize to someone for "being French" or "imparting a sense of being Nigerian."

I can't decide whether Snow Country moves slowly or quickly--there isn't much action, but the character development progresses quite rapidly, and several years' worth of events are contained in 175 widely-spaced pages. There's something vaguely irritating about Shimamura, who does not work because he inherited money and instead abandons his wife and children in pursuit of a geisha named Komako. The thing is, though, he seems emotionally immature and incapable of actually acting upon his pursuit, and instead she is left always wanting more from him and living in fear that he will leave for what will be the last time. Shimamura's inability to truly connect with Komako is in some ways refreshing, because somehow that makes his transgressions and abandonment of responsibilities less abhorrent, but at the same time it is frustrating to read. I felt for Komako, maybe because a dead-end relationship is something I relate to very closely.

At the same time, Komako has very clear flaws as well, which prevents anybody from seeing her as purely a victim or a tragic heroine. Her work is less than ideal and honorable, and she is flighty, hysterical, and possibly an alcoholic. Just as I was pulled into feeling for her situation, I would be reminded that entertaining men and forging superficial relationships lie at the center of her profession.

The ending is vague and somewhat dissatisfying, but it goes well with the overall feeling of the story. Things are unclear and muddled, in stark contrast to the Milky Way and the clarity of Komako's skin. I wanted to shout at Shimamura to do something, anything, for the fire and for Yoko, but predictably he does not. Instead, Komako runs crazily to Yoko's fallen body, and it is this action vs. inaction that emphasizes the true gulf between the two main characters.

I think, all in all, I really did enjoy this novel. Kawabata's prose can take getting used to, but after a while the genius of his simplicity comes through and justifies the first--of only two--Nobel Prize ever awarded to Japanese author.

Congratulations on Adulthood

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20110106-00000010-maiph-spo.view-000