According to the local edition of the Chunichi Newspaper, the audits of the local banks in Takayama city are so bad. It says the annual net profit of the previous fiscal year for “Takayama credit association” decreased by 64.78%, and the annual net profit of the previous fiscal year for “Hida credit union bank” decreased by 35.71%

As a matter of fact, all Japanese banks seems to be like national banks after the burst of the bubble economy in Japan, therefore those banks will never go bankrupt. But, sadly, the name of this country will change from Japan to something else, as the USSR did.

And those banks will be renamed. That’s it!!

Actually, the Japanese can’t live in foreign countries, because they are too ultra-conservative to learn foreign languages. They unconsciously reject foreign influence.

The Japanese don’t emigrate to foreign countries, as westerners do. So the Japanese government feels safe, because Japanese tax payers never leave Japan for good.

If you have a Japanese acquaintance around you, he/she is an exceptional Japanese.

Now, the Japanese mass media is televising the commercial fraud of “Hida Beef” brand.

A leading meat company ”Maruaki” has been cheating on the “Hida Beef” brand.

As I mentioned, Japanese mass media enthusiastically supported “Hida Beef” until now. So I smelled strange connection between local governments, private farmers and local mass media.

Beef is only beef. I don’t eat beef.

God hopes for Takayama’s local mass media to reflect past strong support for “Hida Beef”.

The mass media in Hida Takayama should not only support one particular business.

Before the surrender to the U.S., there was “the Special Higher Police” in Japan.

In order to subdue communist and anti-government activists, they killed and tortured political dissidents. I think Japanese intellectuals would interpret “the Special Higher Police” as a kind of a secret police.

Actually, as activists wanted to overthrow the government in Tokyo and install a new one, so the Japanese totalitarian government totally eliminated them.

By the way, fortunately, in my local Hida Takayama, there are no Maoist activists.

Of course, no one hears about Maoist guerillas abducting and killing “class enemies” such as government officials and police officials in Japan.

But, here in Hida Takayama, an extraordinary thing is happening: the sale of food has dropped almost by half, since May. Probably, people have stopped going to leisure and sightseeing destinations, owing to high oil prices.

It seems that almost 70% of the domestic sightseers visiting Hida Takayama have been using their cars to come to Takayama. But this latest oil hike will cause the number of domestic sightseers to decrease dramatically. And this week Qantus airline announced it will halve the number of flights from Australia to Japan, owing to high oil prices. So other airliners will follow this kind of decision.

In effect, I think that sightseers to Takayama city would decrease considerably.

By the way, the Japanese government intends to reduce elderly peoples’ pensions.

So lots of elderly people worry that their pension will be lowered by the government. And my acquaintance, a retired police officer, said to me that if the Japanese government slashes pension money to retired public officers, there will be a “revolution”.

I wonder what “revolution” by retired public officials will be? Will it be resurgence?

Anyway, Japanese society has recently become unstable so that anything might happen. Anyway, local farmers have sold their fields and rice paddies to real estate agents all over Japan. Such fields and paddies became land properties for peoples’ houses. So there is a shortage of fields and rice paddies for Japanese newly unemployed to make ends meet.

I think people will get hungry.

The Fox at the Sanfukuji Mountain Pass

Once upon in a time, there was a fox that was fooling local passers-by in the night, at the Sanfukuji mountain pass, it became a rumor among local people.

Some stories were told by people, such as “Well, last night Tarosaku was walking around in the rice field.” or “Tiyobei rubbed one of the cedar’s trunks at the mountain pass.”

In Sanfukuji, there was a youth – Jinsuke. When he heard the stories, he got upset.

He thought “It is just audacious for a fox to fool local people.” And “It is shameful for locals too. Probably, they drank too much Japanese sake, and then they couldn’t distinguish between a road and a rice field. Now, I will subjugate the fox.”

One night, he climbed Sanfukuji mountain pass, carrying an oak club, as he was wetting his eyebrow with his spit. ＊In Japanese society this action expresses disbelief. When he reached the summit, nothing appeared. And then he stared around him, but nothing happened. He muttered, “Sure enough, because I came here, the fox has run away in fear of me.” And he had started to descend the pass. When he reached a place where the mountain road passed beneath a cedar and then turned a rocky corner, he saw a strange thing.

As the light of the half moon was dim, he could not see clearly, but it was the fox on a rock along the mountain road. When Jinsuke gripped the oak club tightly again in his hand, he noticed that the fox was doing a strange thing. “Well, it is an interesting thing to watch the metamorphosis of the fox to tell other people about.”

I have a friend in Hida Takayama who has the entire DVD set of “DRAGON BALL”.

DRAGON BALL is a very internationally famous manga series.

As a matter of fact, I have only seen the first televised DRAGON BALL season, within a couple of series.

Truly, it was interesting, but my favorites cartoon is Peanuts. I have been influenced by the philosophy and wisdom of Linus, which I have studied.

I bought lots of Peanuts cartoon books in my childhood, but I didn’t buy other Japanese manga books. Because, I don’t like manga.

But currently, the quality of Japanese manga, along with Japanese movies is becoming much better than that in the Japanese economical golden days.

The lower Japanese international rank is sinking, the higher the quality of Japanese manga and movies is rising.

Anyway, I have gradually watched more and more Japanese cartoon DVDs.

And I have watched the latest of Japanese manga DVDs, the name is “FREEDOM”.

I recommend “FREEDOM”. I am sure you will enjoy it.

By the way, from now on, the topic is about local Hida Takayama, Japanese story.

According to the local edition of the Gifu Newspaper, the cubs of a Japanese native bear had a press debut at “Bear Ranch” in Takayama City. If you want to look at a picture, please go to http://www.nande.com/kuma/index.htm 

This is a picture of the cubs. But a mature wild bear sometimes attacks people, and eats apples at local apple orchards. Though, historically local farmers have killed mature bears for money. You may know, the sale of bears’ gall bladder is a very lucrative business in Japan.

And a stuffed bear is much more popular in Japan, than a carved wooden bear.

I have seen a stuffed bear in a house entrance in Takayama once.

And, I think there are few bear’s antiques & crafts in the Japanese market. Probably, the popularity of bears is very low, I think.