2006 December 25 Monday.
Today is exactly 3 days after the winter solstice. Many people call this day Christmas (Christ Mass) and celebrate it as the birthday of Jesus the Christ. Over here in Japan, where only about 1% of the population call themselves "Christians", it is just another ordinary business day. Most people in Japan enjoy the outward trappings of the Xmas Season with lots of lights and decorations, as do I. In fact, if people celebrate Xmas at all, it is usually done on December 24, which is known simply as, EVE. Popular activities on EVE include going to an expensive restaurant or hotel for a Dinner Show by some well-known entertainer. Also, it is quite common to buy a Xmas Cake to eat and enjoy. As for me and Ikuko, we spend EVE the same way every year. Right here at home with candle light and an electric hot plate for cooking up various meats and vegetables. We did that again last night. This evening, I was invited to another Xmas Party by my long time friend, Mr. N. who is the same age as I, and has his own business, working as an architect. Also at tonight's party, held at the very delicious, hole-in-the-wall 居酒屋 夢玄関, was the radio station manager of FMりべーる, as well as a few other people. I haven't seen Mr. N. for at least 7 or 8 months, so we had a lot to talk about. The food at MuGenKan was hot pot style and very tasty. I also enjoyed drinking copious amounts of pure rice wine 純米酒 made by 男山. The soup was hot and the rice wine was cold. The perfect combination for a winter's night. During dinner, the radio station manager talked with me a bit about coming back to the radio station, and doing a weekly radio show again. I had been a 市民DJ at this radio station for about 5 and one half years between July of 1994 and December of 2000. In other words, I was basically a volunteer radio announcer. I did the show in both English and Japanese. I enjoyed it for the most part, but each show that I recorded was broadcast only twice, before the digital tapes were erased and reused. That seems like a lot of effort for something that disappears like smoke into the air. Nowadays, I have my very own internet radio station called Snow Radio. Not only can I talk about anything I want to, but the radio shows are stored on a server and can be listened to at anytime, and from anywhere in the world. When I was a Citizen DJ at FM River, I didn't even have a website yet, so this was the only way for me to get my voice heard. Things are much different now. However, if we can come up with a truly interesting and unique radio program for the station, I may in fact get back behind the microphone at 83.7 MHz. Nothing has been decided yet, and this conversation has been going on for about 2 years now, so don't hold your breath. After we all finished eating at MuGenKan, we went to various bars for the purpose of singing Karaoke. This is another thing which I haven't done in a very long time, so I really enjoyed it tonight. I sang a few Xmas Songs and then settled into a groove of Inoue Yosui 井上陽水 songs. He is by far, my favorite Japanese musical artist. His father was a dentist, just like my father was. He tried 3 different times to get into dental school, but failed every time. So, he became a professional singer/songwriter. It is a very good thing that he did. Not just for me, but for millions and millions of other people, all over the world. Thank you for your beautiful vibrations, Yosui!!!
Copyright © Snowman Bei Kaiwa 1996-2007