If Al Gore had beaten George Bush

Even if Al Gore had beaten George Bush in the 2000 US Presidential election, I think that the condition of the environment concern is not very different from the one we face. As countries like China and India were developed, it is hard to imagine that the result of the US Presidential election has appreciable effects on the environment concern.

On the other hand, if Al Gore had beaten George Bush, I think that the world would not face terrorist threats. West Asia, especially Iraq and Afghanistan would not be the disputed regions. The 9.11 terrorist attacks would not come into being. Many people would not be lost in grief.

I think that Bush era is very sinful from a standpoint of international peace.

The biography of Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan is a voyager of Portugal in the Age of Discovery. He is known as the challenger of a voyage round the world. Little is known about his life before he challenged the around-the-world voyage. He was born in around 1480 in the suburbs of Porto. He served the court of Portugal in 1492. He knew the discovery of America by Columbus, and he developed an interest in voyages.

He embarked on a voyage round the world in 1519. He passed through the south end of South America, the Pacific. But he was killed on the battlefield in Cebu Island, Philippines. He could not accomplish a voyage round the world, but I think his achievement is the discovery of the Pacific as an ocean and the signifying the size of the Earth.

“The First Communion” of Picasso

My favorite painting is “The First Communion” painted by Pablo Picasso. The first communion of his little sister Dolores was pained in this painting. Considering Picasso’s later work, this painting is suspiciously orthodox, but it shows that he was an exceptionally talented artist. Amazingly, he turned off this painting at the age of just fifteen. As this painting reminds me that a great imagination is based on a great talent, I love this.

Several of my friend rate Picasso’s work, for example “Guernica”, “The Weeping Woman” and “The Young Ladies of Avignon”, as strange. In those cases, I usually show this painting to them with Picasso’s golden saying, “When I was fifteen years old, I could already paint like Diego Velázquez. And eighty years passed before I can paint like children.”

Zoos as places of learning

I hope that zoos are places of learning ecology for animals and importance of nature protection. I don’t deny that zoos are one of places for public entertainment. However, zoos as fun should be instrumental in becoming intrigued with animals, and I think that it should not be an end unto itself. Therefore, advertising aimed for rareness of animals just breaks my heart. 

I visited Nagano Chausuyama Zoo with my girlfriend to watch red panda, called “lesser panda” in Japan, on September 2019. The zoo is well-known for the breeding of red panda, but zookeepers taught us a lot about red panda without being proud of the fact described above. I feel that the breeding is main purpose zoos need to have and want to learn various things for animals.

Hideyoshi and Nene

Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Kodaiin (Generally, she is called “Nene”.) are the famous couple in early Japan called the Sengoku period. They became a married couple after they had got over the hardship.

They were married in 1561, despite the objections of Nene’s families. Especially Asahi-dono, Nene’s mother, strongly opposed to their marriage, and she had not approved it until she died in 1598. At that point in time when political marriages were the norm, they were a rare case of marriage for love. I think that they are similar to Romeo and Juliet.

On the other hand, there are some differences in love stories of between Hideyoshi and Nene and Romeo and Juliet. The marriage of Hideyoshi and Nene was a misalliance. Hideyoshi was a soldier of low rank, and Nene was a daughter of the royal “samurai” families. Above all, Hideyoshi brought the country under one sway, and Nene supported Hideyoshi secretly. I think they are the happiest couple in the Sengoku period.

“The valiant fighter” Marcus Túlio Tanaka

Marcus Túlio Tanaka is the former football player of Japan’s national team. Although he showed many brilliant activities on the pitch, he passed through many difficulties.

He was born in Palmeira d'Oeste, São Paulo, in 1981. His farter is a Japanese-Brazilian, and his mother is an Italian-Brazilian. He came to Japan for the first time when he was sixteen years old. Of course, he didn't know Japanese, and he suffered mentally.

He studied Japanese eagerly and had been a leading player on the football team of his senior high school. He joined Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2001 after he graduated, and he launched his career as a professional football player. He became a naturalized as Japanese in 2003 and participated in 2010 FIFA World Cup as a player of Japan’s national team. He won many prizes until his retirement in 2019. He was one of the most dominant players in the football history of Japan.

“The father of electricity” Nikola Tesla

 Nikola Tesla (1856.07.10-1943.01.07) is an electrical engineer and an inventor from now parts of Croatia.
I think that Tesla’s best achievement was inventing the transmission system utilizing AC. Electricity is something that we cannot live without. It is no exaggeration to say that we can live a comfortable life thanks to his idea and invention.
Tesla emigrated to America in 1884, and he was employed by the institute of Thomas Alva Edison. But, they had opposite opinions about transmission systems and lost his job. In 1887, Tesla organized his company. There was keen competition between Tesla and Edison. Finally, Tesla won, and the transmission system utilizing AC has been become the mainstream of the whole world. Today, the competition between Tesla and Edison is called “War of Currents”.
It is said that Tesla lived in obscurity in his later years. When he was dead in 1943, he was almost flat broke. I think that his inventions and ideas form the basis of many technological innovations of 20th century. Therefore, I feel that his end is really lonely.