Bakumatsu Pilgrimage to Tosa (Today's Kochi)

Waves beat the shore even without strong winds. You can command over-180-degree view of the sea horizon. When you stand at Katsurahama Beach, there is no wonder why bakumatsu patriots in Tosa could enjoy wider outlook on the world than those in the center of Japan. Kamochi Masuzumi, a nameless philosopher, used to live in Tosa, one generation earlier than Bakumatsu or the Meiji restoration. He died 5 years after Perry's visit to Japan. A display in the Kochi Literature Museum says he died in poverty and in solitude. He was poor because he was a lower-level samurai. He was solitary because his peers were not ready for loyalism and patriotism. Kamochi studied Man'yo-shu intensely, as did other harbingers did. The most well-known harbinger is Motoori Norinaga, who lived in today's Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture, and was one of kokugakusha, Japanese classical scholars. It is a mystery how he could spread his philosophy throughout Japan. Tosa had its own Motoori, and that might help to herald the Japanese society of the time. Takechi Zuizan was a direct follower of Kamochi, and punished by death as a loyalist patriotist in an incident which inspired the end of Tokugawa Shogunate. Sakamoto Ryoma, one of the famous bakumatsu characters, was an indirectly influenced by Kamochi, and was assassinated on the way to the Meiji restoration. Itagaki Taisuke, a following generation, made his debut in bakumatsu battles, and became a politician in the Meiji Era. The exhibits of KLM suggests each domain had, as long as it played, a significant roll in the Meiji restoration and had its own history of novelty seeking.

Over the 60s vs Under the 40s: I'm 50.

The Daily Yomiuri reported: "Mayors of 43 municipalities in Osaka Prefecture on Thursday opposed Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto's fiscal reform plan." (The Daily Yomiuri, Friday, april 18, 2008, p.2) "Opposed"? As I watched the scene on TV news show, the situation rather looked as if they were bullying him, or waging an intergenerational war against their younger generations. I wonder why they are not worried that their opponents might take eye-to-eye countermeasures.

Nietzsche and Domestic & World Peace

Sunday, April the 13th, 2008
"The creation of freedom for oneself" needs "a sacred 'No' even to duty".(p.27, Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Kaufmann trans., "Thus Soke Zarathustra --- A Book for None and All", 1954, New York, USA) As Nietsche put it: "He once loved 'thou shalt' as most sacred, but that freedom from his love may become his prey:"(p.27, ibid.) I once loved "thou shalt", but the love should become my prey to get freed. However, that is only a denial. "For the game of creation, my brothers, a sacred 'Yes' is needed: the spirit now wills his own will, and he who had been lost to the world now conquers his own world."(p.27, ibid.) The denial itself must be, in turn, preyed to get oneself to be creative. The creation might bring you your own virtues. The virtues, however, ought to be put aside, to bring peace onto the world. "And even if one has all the virtues, there is one further thing one must know: to send even the virtues to sleep at the right time."(p.28, ibid.) "Peace with God and the neighbor: that is what good sleep demands. And peace even with the neighbor's devil --- else he will haunt you at night."(p.29, ibid.) Peace of this kind is necessary not only in personal affairs but also in the world. Any conflict and dispute could never be conquared without "good sleep."

S Senior High School and UNESCO Associated School

S Senior High School is a natural candidate to be a UNESCO Associated School.
“ASPnet schools are encouraged to conduct pilot projects on four main themes”: 1. World concerns and the role of the United Nations system; 2. Human rights, democracy and tolerance; 3. lntercultural learning; and 4. Environmental concern. And S SHS covers almost all the themes with its classes and extracurricular activities.
With its Science Course, S SHS provides science literacy not only for the students of the course but also for the students of the other course, International Cultural Studies Course (ICSC). The science literacy enables and encourages the students to face the “environmental concern” of today; such as global warming and crisis of native species caused by the introduction of foreign species.
Its ICSC has had nearly 2 decades of rich experience in enhancing “intercultural learning”, and its Committee for Human Rights Education has concentrated its energy and resources on developing students’ tolerance, as well as teaching the virtue of human rights and democracy. There is no doubt that its social science classes have dealt with “world concerns” and “the role of the United Nations system”.
To develop S SHS further to make it a front runner of UNESCO Associated Schools, we only have to keep the word “and” in mind: “World concerns and the role of the United Nations system”; “Human rights, democracy and tolerance” and the role of the United Nations system; “lntercultural learning” and the role of the United Nations system; “Environmental concern” and the role of the United Nations system.
With the world concerns too huge and grave, the human beings today tend to feel helpless and pessimistic. When students learn “and the role of the United Nations system”, they can develop their imagination and strategic thoughts to overcome the crisis, which is the duty we teachers have to do as a mentor of the next generations.