Farewell To The Little Kiso, A Magnicent Blessing In My Life

12 August 2025

One of the finest people I have known in my life has passed. She lived a long and fruitful life, part of which involved me and my selfishness returning her immeasurable generosity and kindness with excruciatingly painful rudeness. Yet, she still responded with warmth and openness, right to the end.

I can’t go into details of my friend–assuming friend is an acceptable term to use for someone who was more like a parent–nor reveal her name or much about her, because her family is a humble one, and would not appreciate it. But I was delighted that she lived to be a centenarian, which I would not have dreamed to be possible, and that she stayed as sharp as ever while doing so.

I’ll always remember her with deep fondness, love and appreciation for the enormous impact she had on my life, and I will cherish her memory, particularly our discussions about Japan’s first-ever prisoner of war camp in Matsuyama to house those captured in the Russo-Japanese War, the Kiso River and her experiences during the barbaric wartime bombing of Tokyo and the flowers of Edo. But there was much, much more, too. I stayed as close as I could over the years without becoming a nuisance to her and her family. My dear friend, my second mother, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish I had echoed your kind thoughtfulness and generosity. You were the most precious of jewels.

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Bird-jacked! Plans to write a blog post today turned out to be a bird-brained idea. Our rosy faced lovebird hijacked our computer keyboard because it’s the warmest place in the house. There wasn’t a great deal to write about anyway. So all I’ll be skipping on is the minituae and other...
Oops, I Did It Again! After having repeatedly vowed to myself that I would post content with substance that may be interesting for anybody who ever stumbled across it, I’ve gone ahead and posted more sunrise cycling pics because Mother Nature just keeps turning on the stunning starts to the day. After another near-sleepless night...
A Pheasant Makes Things Pleasant Late May is nearly always an idyllic time with the glorious weather hiding the impending onset of the rainy season. This morning’s ride was made even pleasanter by getting to spend time looking at a glorious Japanese green pheasant reigning over its territory near the Asakawa River. Pretty much every...
Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 10: Nara to Kyoto Our tour has reached Kyoto, remarkably with only minor injuries and not a single puncture in the more than 11,000 kilometers the cyclists covered collectively since setting out from Izumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, on the morning of October 1. The group battled a barrage of rain on the most prominent of...
Far Canal! Had No Idea Boating Is This Much Fun! Tokyo is a city built on rivers and streams, and much of its history is built around waterways, yet it took until last weekend to finally enjoy a really decent yakatabune boat ride. I’ve been here for decades and been on cruises and even ridden in yakatabune, which are long,...
Browbeat By Bugs And Feeling The Heat, Yet Still Done To A Tea(tree) All sorts of life events have come into play to prevent complete dedication to loves like cycling and gardening, but I have neglected the latter in particular over the past year. Nonetheless, despite the garden being beset by bugs and another blistering summer, pockets are thriving including the cute blossoms...
Tour de Gutsing Today was simply magnificent: stunning weather, delightful companions, fantastic bikes and serious gutsing of ourselves. Bromptons ruled the day and it was the common connection between us. Mechanicals slowed down our start, but also opened new doors. Following a slowdown caused by a flat, we got to eat at Hugsy...
Snow In The Summer Is Only Supposed To Be A Name In an uncustomary May I was absolutely delighted to poke my head out of our backdoor and see a lovely little white blossom greeting me. The flower was on our melaleuca linariifolia, a tree generally known as the snow in the summer. It gets that name because it blooms when...
A Kangaroo Saves The World! A kangaroo in a space suit saves the world in the most amazing Chinese movie, which I have just learned about. King Kong Roo is one of the heroes in Moon Man, the delightfully hilarious 2022 movie about Yue, a guy stranded on the moon with humanity apparently obliterated by...
Ramen Cake Will Make You Do Your Noodle! Nationwide all-you-can-eat sweets franchise Sweets Paradise make amazing cakes decorated to look like main meals but almost indistinguishable from them until tasted. Sweets Paradise makes an assortment of foods that look like main dishes but are actually cakes, including bowls of noodles, omelets, katsudon and eel. What’s more, the prices...
Guilt Trips Are Pretty Lonely Journeys I’m blessed to live in a warm community where myself and my family are warmly embraced, but I feel pretty rotten at the moment for turning my back on a gesture of wonderful friendship and kindness. My neighbor is an avid gardener and welcomed Mrs. Kangaeroo and I to join...
Avoiding Only Putting The ‘Little’ Into ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ Dragged out of lethargic sloth, I joined Mrs. Kangaeroo in watching the Tachikawa Twinkle Garden projection mapping event on a bleak Sunday, with only dextrous digits saving the show from putting the “little” into Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. After being bombarded by Facebook ads for weeks, I was pretty keen...
メン・アト・ワークのメンバーが死亡 1980年代全世界で大成功したバンドであるMen at Workは、一定の年齢のほとんどのオージーにとって特別な存在である。考えRoo自身も例外ではない。　メン・アト・ワークの現役時代がそれほど長くなかったが、1982年にオーストラリアで発売した「Down Under」が米国をはじめ世界中に大ヒットした。そして、1983年オーストラリアＩＩがアメリカズ・カップのヨットレースを優勝し、アメリカの132年間同カップの統治にピリオドを打った時に同曲がオーストラリアでまるで国歌のような存在となり、一気にメン・アト・ワークが国民的な英雄のような存在となった。（優勝した当時のオーストラリア雰囲気を説明すると昨年震災直後なでしこジャパンがサッカー女子ワールド・カップを優勝して全国がまるで一つとなって祝った感じが近い。当時豪首相だったボブ・ホーク氏が優勝に対した「今日、ボスが休ませてくれないとくそたれだ」と発言したのは有名な話。当時、高校生だった考えRooはヨットに全く興味ないにもかかわらず学校行く前に優勝した瞬間をラジオで聞き大喜びで祝った覚えがある。）　しかし、そのメン・アト・ワーク、いやオーストラリア全体にに対して大きなショックが起きたのは今年4月19日のことだった。「Down Under」の最も印象的な所だあろうフルートの部分のフルートを吹いたパーフォーマーであるグレッグ・ハム氏が突然死したとのことだ。現時点、心因が不明だが、アルコール関係だとうわさされている。　実は、メン・アト・ワークの黄金時代後ハム氏が色々苦労したようだ。1980年代で稼いだがその後それほど大きな実績がなく印税で暮らして時々演奏などをしたハム氏。しかし、「Down Under」がでて25年目いきなり「フルートの部分がオーストラリアの児童歌の盗作だ！」と主張するレコード会社が現れ、メン・アト・ワークを訴えた。客観的に見ればどうも似てないにもかかわらず2010年の判決ではメン・アト・ワークが敗訴し、ハム氏にとって金銭的及び評判にとっても大きな打撃を与えたそうだ。二人の父となったハム氏は、印税を失い弁護費を背負うようになったので「家を売れないと金がない」ということをいい、多くの知り合いが判決後のハム氏が「欝」「苦しいだ」という。　ちなみに、「Down Under」のおかげでchunderというストライン（オージー英語）が一時期世界中に有名な言葉となった。　ハム氏は、19日付自宅に訪ねた友人が倒れている姿で見つけたが既に死亡だった。58歳だった。関連記事 Bugger me, Bob! 豪州元首相の豪俗語が外交的な事件になりかけた頃豪キャブラリー： Chunder...
Namatjira Legacy Torched! 豪画界の重要な自然遺産が放火で破壊される　豪ノーザン・テリトリー州にある重要な自然遺産として認められつつあった有名なユーカリ林がこの頃放火で全焼された、と豪各大手マスコミ社が4日付報道した。 Ghost gums on the verge of being recognized as part of the Northern Territory’s heritage have been destroyed by arson, according to various mainstream Australian media reports on Jan. 4. 　このユーカリ林はゴースト・ガムと呼ばれている木であり、初めて国際的に認められ有名となった豪先住民画家故アルバート・ナマトジラ氏が描いた木だった。 These eucalyptus trees had come to prominence after being painted by Albert Namatjira, the first indigenous Australian artist...
A Pheasant Start to the Morning I got a delightful start to the morning with a not-quite-chance encounter with a beautiful green pheasant near the Tama River. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been fortunate enough to cross tracks with pheasants in a few places. They’re beautiful birds, the males are at least, and I loved...
Melbourne Transformed in Stunning White Night White Night Melbourne transformed Australia’s second largest city overnight as a crowd of more than 100,000 gathered to mark White Night Melbourne. White Night Melbourne is part of a global movement that aims to make art accessible to a large audience by using public spaces. Kyoto is among 23 cities...
Unrealistic Expectations I’d love to be able to create a bike naturally, and would even be willing to go to term with it inside a womb if need be. (I would need to get a womb first, of course). But it ain’t gonna happen. And like a lot in life, being able...
豪キャブラリー： Preggers Preggersは、考えてみれば簡単に分かるような言葉だと思う。Pregnantの省略なので、妊娠という意味。...
Everlastings Love! Everlasting daisies have become the first plants I’ve potted after starting to grow them from seed. I planted the seeds in humidity pods on February 19. They germinated in a flash, with buds clearly visible within a week. They were starting to grow too big for the pods, so I...
Rivers Run Deep The Kiso River running through central Japan offers glorious views on the old Nakasendo road that joined Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto during Japan’s feudal era....
Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day 3: Ozu to Kurokawa Mount Aso threw everything it had a tour participants today including heavy rain, strong winds, great elevation, mist, clouds, cold, storms…and kangaroos. Kangaroos can be found grazing along the sides of Mount Aso. But thanks to a heavy cloud of mist, little could be found as the tour crossed the...
「やばいリンガル」 Waffle 　朝起きると米・英語圏では、waffleが朝食のメニューに入っている可能性が高いが、オージー英語では朝からwaffleすると嫌われるかもしれない。何でだろう？ In other English-speaking countries, there’s a high likelihood waffles may appear on a breakfast menu, but if you began waffling from first thing in the morning in Strine, Australian English, you might find yourself becoming unpopular fairly quickly. Keep reading to find out why....
Wisteria Hysteria For the second time this week, I headed off to nearby Yakushiike Park to get photos of the glorious wisteria there, this time with the hope that they would be in full bloom. I was probably still a bit too early, but it was beautiful nonetheless. And the short trip...
オーストラリアの美味しいビスケットは馴染みのTimTamだけじゃない今では数多くスーパーなどがオーストラリアの代表的なお菓子「ティムタム」ビスケットを並んでおり、すっかり日本人に馴染んでいると言っても過言ではないと思う。しかし、幅広い年代に愛されているようになっても、チョコレートで包めているお菓子である「ティムタム」がオーストラリアの最も美味しいビスケットでもない可能性がある。もしかして、同ビスケットを生産するアーノッツ・ビスケットの冠商品でもないという人もいる。アーノツがオーストラリアの量産ビスケット市場の圧倒的シェアを持つが、美味しさだけを考慮して以下のビスケットが「ティムタム」という勝負出来ると思う。同社がこれら以上にたくさんブランドを作っているが、「ティムタム」に次ぐ日本での販売権を保有しているキャンベルジャパン株式会社を売ってほしいと提案したいです。「チョコレートロイヤルズ」はカリカリなビスケットにマーシュメロ（ミルクがダークチョコ味）が乗っかってチョコレートにかけられている絶妙なビッキーだ！そして、ミント・クリーム入りビスケットがチョコレートに挟んでいるアッサリ味の「ミントスライス」もあす。「モンテカルロ」は、2枚のビスケットでクリーム状のフィリングを挟んでいる。ビスケットはゴールデンシロップ、蜂蜜、ココナッツの味がし、クリームはバニラ風味のクリームフィリングで、ラズベリージャムの薄いタフィーのようなコーティングで囲まれている。「チョコレートモンテ」もあり、普通のビスケットがチョコがかけたもの。「キングストンズ」は「モンテカルロ」に似ているが、一回り小さく厚い上、クリームがチョコ味で贅沢な味。美味しくて食べ応えがある。「キャラメルクラウンズ」が甘いキャラメルクリーム入りビスケットがチョコレートに包まれている。美味しくてしょうがない！でも、なんと言っても、「ティムタム」の最大ライバルは「アイスドヴォヴォ」だね。小麦粉のビスケットにピンクのフォンダンを2枚のせ、ラズベリージャムをはさみ、ココナッツをまぶした。これを読んでも、「やっぱり、ティムタムがいいなぁ」という方に、歴代「ティムタム」味は、以下の通りです。Original, Chewy Choc Fudge, Chewy Caramel, Mocha Coffee, Double Coat, Chilli Choc Fling, Tia Maria, Classic Dark, Creamy Truffle Temptation, Black Forest Fantasy, Hazelnut Praline, Love Potion, Red Velvet, Butterscotch and Cream, Choc Orange, Strawberries and Cream, White, Gluten Free, JatzとDark...
In Dog We Trust Our time with Uyu the border collie is drawing to a close and it has been magnificent. We have complete conviction that our canine companion is a gift from the gods. But it has also been draining. All of us, Uyu included, were exhausted last night. The typhoon skirting by...
Australian Ambassador Urges Japanese TPP Involvement Australian Ambassador to Japan Bruce Miller has implored Japan to actively engage in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Miller, during an interview with a Japanese newspaper during the week, called the relationship between the two countries a “win-win” one, then went on to urge Japan to grow, saying that...
Willow Worlds Cricket is one of the few things I really miss about life in Australia, and stumbling across the Japan Cricket Association website recently led me down a rabbit hole centered around willow, an integral yet often unremembered part of life in my two countries. Come down the willow wormhole with...
Seeing the Light It’s getting darker in the mornings, already much more noticeably than before the equinox, which was still less than a month ago. But there is some sort of light on the horizon, literally and figuratively. Although we haven’t seen much of it this week, the sun shines over the horizon...
Minding My Peas, and Queues In my Aussie plant grow from seed experiment, desert peas moved outdoors today, with more budding plants queueing to join them. Only three of 12 desert pea seeds germinated, but did so strongly. Nonetheless, having struggled with clumsiness when repotting everlastings last month, I was better prepared this time. By...
Every Cloud Has a Sliver of Whining An unseasonably warm and dry late winter and early spring has given way to more customary wet, with really lousy weather since rain began early yesterday morning. Wet weather makes me whine, but I really shouldn’t because it was supposed to pour all day today, but I woke to warm...
Get it Over and Done With! Though I had no legs, I was gifted with a glorious morning today. Nearly every day this week has been tough going in the pre-dawn hours. Wind was the main scourge, and there were a couple of days when I had to take irregular routes because the wind was so...
Another One Bites the Dust… It’s no longer possible for me to trust my own mind because I know how utterly unreliable it is, but I got greater affirmation of why I’m so uneasy in my workplace when I learned last night that we have lost yet another very decent person from our working team....
Gazing at Japanese Tit Birds Having put in the most demanding week of work I’ve done in years, then been woken early after a mostly sleepless night, I’ve kicked off this long-awaited weekend by sitting at the living room window and gazing for hours at Japanese tits. In a life increasingly marked by failure, it’s...
‘Pterror’ Trauma Transforms Into A Tantalizing Turn Dino, our modern pterodactyl–or “pterror-dactyl” as I prefer to call her for her innate ability to traumatize–has been crook for a while without showing signs of a complete recovery. I would give anything for her to resume her reign of pterror. The rosy faced lovebird who rules our roost has...
The First Class First Nations Film Festival For a measly 1,000 yen I got to get a totally unexpected and delightfully amazing full day’s entertainment, a couple of souvenirs and an all-round wonderful time at the 2024 First Nations Film Festival held by the Australian Embassy in Tokyo at EUROSPACE. I’ve always been sympathetic to the cause...
Doggedly Marching On Every bone in my body is aching, but I am not giving up and am adamantly moving ahead with our current schedule, but boy am I feeling it. Part of the problem might be that I have too much free time on my hands, which allows me to realize how...
It’s Hard To Beat A Stupendous Sanger We’ve finally gotten a bright, sunny day typical of May and I got to stuff myself with an absolutely sublime sanger, so it’s gonna be tough to make today much better. It started off as a bit of a mess, though. I got up early in the morning as usual...
Why Is It Snowing, It’s Supposed To Be Summer? It’s cold and wet, and we’re three days into summer. As I mentioned the other day, the snow in the summer in our garden is supposed to be because of its resemblance to the phenomena, not its materialization. It’s less than 20 degrees. The sky is dark and bleak. It...
Sunrises Over Far North Queensland Wet season sunrises over Cairns in Australia’s Far North Queensland. オーストラリア北部にあるクィーンズランド州の北部都市であるケアンズにおける雨期日の出。...
Cherry Ripe For A Ride I always look for a sharp way to start of a post, hopefully with some sort of catchy word play that might draw anybody who stumbles across the blog into reading further. I was pretty sure today’s title would play that role perfectly. And then I wasn’t. A cherry ripe...
Get Off Of My Cloud! Riding today was like floating through the heavens at times, reminding me of one of my favorite songs by the world’s greatest rock band: The Rolling Stones‘ Get off My Cloud. I’d have loved to have been able to keep the scene for myself as I rode through the mists...
‘Single Men Only?’ – Early Japanese Migration to Oz 日本人の豪州への初期移民は「独身男性限定」？知られざる日豪関係のルーツ What You Didn’t Know about Australia-Japan Relations Japanese immigration to Australia in the 19th century differed to other parts of the Japanese diaspora. １９世紀、豪州への日本人移民は他の国での日本人移住と比べて少々違っていた。...
「やばいリンガル」　Flick　（人と縁を切る）　オージー英語はユニークな使い方がある場合が多い。たとえ他の国の英語では同じ言葉でもオージー英語の場合の意味が完全に違うこともある。Flickは、本来の英語ではflick（軽くたたくこと）という意味だが、オージー英語ではどうだろう？...