The Tree that Blooms the Flowers of Love

"Aijyou No Hana Saku Ki(愛情の花咲く樹)"　Shuki & Aviva
The tree that blooms the flower of love,
this was a hit in 1973 in Japan.

Shuki & Aviva were from Israel,
I think they released only this single in Japan,
and I heard they sang in France after that.
Shuki composed this song
and the very famous Japanese lyricist,
Yu Aku(阿久悠) wrote the lyric.

"The Tree that Blooms the Flower of Love"

We met again under the tree
with the flower of love in full bloom
There was her standing, whom I loved when I was younger
Rushing to her side and holding her hands
Staring at each other without saying anything
Ahhh, her unchanged beauty moved me to tears
Ahhh, I still loved her, I just kept telling her that

Both of us still remembered of the season
that the flower of love bloomed
No matter how many years have passed by
Both of us still remembered it
We will never part again
Holding each other, living together forever
Ahhh, her unchanged beauty moved me to tears
Ahhh, I still loved her, I just kept telling her that

Ahhh, her unchanged beauty moved me to tears
Ahhh, I still loved her, I just kept telling her that


In 1973, vacationing to the foreign countries
were still beyond dreams for most of Japanese.
In early '70s, Japan achievd to creat the world #2 economy,
only second to U.S.
Yet still many people, especially in country side, were poor
and the exchange rate was
$1 = 360 yen
now $1 = 90 yen
which means $ was four times stronger agains Japanese Yen.
But around 1980, it became like
$1 = 250 yen
So some Japanese started to go abroad.
And in mid '80s, it suddenly became like
$1 = 125 yen
Then, finally average Japanese started to enjoy
vacationing in everywhere in the world.


In early '70s, when going abroad was still
beyond their dreams for most of Japanse,
this kind of song reminded them of
a scene of romantic European cinemas,
especially French or Italian.
And they just dreamed about a romantic fantasy world
with beautiful exotic scenaries and beautiful white people.

Yes, this kind of song was a fairytale for Japanese
who had to work hard and live boring lives
and had a strong yearning for the American & European
White glamorous cultures.

He Did It Again / The True Face of the Exploiter

Two biggest news in New York of the last week were
1) Yankees' victory
2) Michael Bloomberg got his third term.

I didn't know Yankees's last win at the world series
was nine years ago, wow.
Actually my career crisis started around the same time.
So I really hope to have a positive change in my career
as well for the next year.
Well, even I know, judging with the current economic situation
and the huge media ciris in Japan, that would be very difficult.

Anyway, Yankees victory was of course a happy story
for New Yorkers, even though it did not effect
anything of my life except some conversations
with my Japanese acqauintances about Matsui.

On the other hand,
Bloomberg buying the third sheet of the mayor
was not a happy story for me at all.
First of all, he changed the law
that had limited the mayor's terms no more than two.
And he spent staggering $100 million for that one,
which was $157.27 for each voters,
and his opponent spent $13.12 for each voters.



As the matter of fact,
He has not recieved any salary from the city
since the first time he bought the seat of the mayor 8 yeras ago
because he does not need that kind of small money,
instead he makes tons of profit by using
his status and the power to control this city as a moyor.

Unfortunately many people admire rich people and vote for them.
Though I think it is so easy to understand that
rich politicians do politics for riches not for others,
many people do not get that logic sadly.

He has such a nice persona,
a great business man with a nice smile.
But nobody can be that rich without manipulations and exploitations.
If you think only hard & honest work can take you that high,
you are absolutely naive.
Yet, apparently too many people are that naive
and so easy to be exploited.

When you imagine about the face of the exploiters,
you may think a mean face of greedy landlords or something.
But the real exploiters exploite those cheap exploiters
and they exploit the system of the socirty
with a smile of a gentle man.
Yes, they are good at manipulating you,
aren't you manipulated?

Believe me, in this city, under this ministration,
the gap between riches and poors will keep windening.
Well, only hope I got out of this election was
after that much of spending,
the gap between him and his opponent actually widened
insead of getting bigger.