先般２日続けて郷里の同級生から、サザエ、白イカ（剣先イカ）の詰め合わせが送られて来た。ありがたいことこの上ない。久しぶりに郷里の味を満喫、「よわ満足じゃ」と舌鼓をうった。

例年だと自分が田舎に帰り、鯛、メバル、アジ、タコ、イカ、サザエ、アワビなど海の幸をたらふく採り（❓）、友人知人に送るのが常である。ところが今年はそうもいかない、まだ一度も帰れていない。そんな僕を見かねて、同級生が、「せめて郷里の味を」と送ってくれるのである。本当にありがたい、持つべきは友。しみじみと情味を噛みしめた。

それにしてもいつまで続くことやら・・・。

tastes of home

A classmate from my hometown sent us an assortment of turban shells and white squid (swordtip squid) the other day two days in a row. We are very grateful for it. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed the taste of my hometown, and I was satisfied with the food.

In previous years, I usually went back to the countryside and picked a lot of seafood, such as snapper, mackerel, horse mackerel, octopus, squid, turban shell, abalone, etc., and sent them to my friends and acquaintances. This year, however, that’s not going to happen, and I haven’t been able to return home yet. A classmate of mine can’t bear to see me like that, and sends me some food from his hometown. I am truly grateful for the friends I have, and I am grateful for the friends I have. I felt a strong sense of compassion.

Still, I don’t know how long it will last.

今朝の読売新聞によると、日本の人口は前年比５０万５０４６人減となり、１億2４２７万１３１８人とのこと。なんと鳥取県の人口約５０万人超が自然減少になったことになる。前々から言われていた事ではあるが、1年で一つの県が無くなるほどの人口減である。

これはえらいこっちゃ・・・。

ただ、国もマスコミも、世の問題はこれしかないのか？と思われるほど、日々コロナ、コロナ・・。いったいコロナで何人日本の人口が減少したのか・・。

人口１憶２千数百万人中、コロナウイルスによる重症患者は現在数百人。ところが、感染防止対策で経済封鎖に近い行為を官民挙げて行い、飲食店などはほぼ壊滅状態。

少し前に、厚労省の元技官という某女史が、テレビ討論で、「コロナウイルスを誰がこんなにマンモス化したのか・・？」と声を大にしていたのを耳にし、留飲を下げたが、個人的には全くそのとうりだと思う。このご時世、こんな事をいうと、下手したら国賊扱いされるかもしれないが、敢えて言いたい。

官民挙げて対策に奔走しているから、現状で収まっており、そうでなかったらクラスター爆発でとんでもないことに？、　その為に今は我慢の時。　これもよく分かる。それでも、それでもしかし、しかしと思う。

ウイルスは人類よりもはるかに歴史があり、氷河期などあらゆる苦難を乗り越えてこの地球上に生存しつづけている。人類は、いくら科学が発展したとは云え、風邪ウイルス一つにも勝てず、毎年四苦八苦している。従ってそう簡単にコロナウイルスにも勝てはしない。しばらくは共存し、戦いを継続するしか無いでしょう。長期戦に備えて、経済を活性化し、戦費を蓄えなければ、日本は、第二次世界対戦敗因の如く、物量戦で負けてしまう。

コロナウイルス対策もさるこちょながら、１年で５０万人超の人口減少対策に真剣に取り組まなければ、来年は我が故郷、島根県がなくなってしまう。

そうだ・・、人口減少対策と銘打って緊急事態宣言を発令し、ステイホームを推奨し、「産めよ増やせよ」政策を復活させては如何・・・？。そして子供さずかれば、一人に５百万円を支給するとか。これくらいの前向きな政策を打ち立てないと、島根県がなくなってしまう。

Serious population loss

According to this morning’s Yomiuri Newspaper, Japan’s population has fallen by 505,046 from a year earlier to 124,271,318. This means that the population of Tottori Prefecture has declined naturally by more than 500,000 people. It’s been said for a long time that the population of Tottori Prefecture has decreased to the extent that an entire prefecture disappears in one year.

This is a big deal.

But is this the only problem for the country and the media? Corona, corona, corona. How many people in Japan have been reduced by the coronas?

Out of a population of more than 120 million, several hundred people have been seriously ill with coronaviruses. However, the public and private sectors have been working together to implement an economic blockade to prevent infection, and restaurants and other establishments have been almost completely destroyed.

Not long ago, a former technical officer of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare asked in a TV debate, “Who made the coronavirus such a mammoth thing? Personally, I think he was quite right. In these times, if I say something like this, I may be treated like a pirates if I’m not careful, but I dare to say it.

If not, I would like to say that the cluster explosion will cause a terrible situation? It’s time for you to be patient.　I understand this too. And yet, yet, I think but.

Viruses have a much longer history than the human race and have survived all kinds of hardships, including ice ages. No matter how advanced our science may be, human beings are still struggling every year against a single cold virus. Therefore, it is not so easy to defeat the coronavirus. We will have to coexist with it for a while and continue the fight. If Japan does not prepare for a long war, revitalize its economy, and accumulate war funds, it will be defeated in a material war, just like the cause of defeat in the Second World War.

As well as countermeasures against the coronavirus, if we don’t make serious efforts to counter the decline in population of more than 500,000 people in one year, Shimane Prefecture, our home, will be gone next year.

How about declaring a state of emergency, recommending stay-homes, and reviving the “have more babies” policy under the guise of population control measures? And if a child is left unattended, the government should provide 5 million yen for each child. If we don’t come up with a positive policy like this, Shimane Prefecture will be lost.

「アメリカ６回、イタリア２０回、フランス２７回、ドイツ５９回」さて何の数字でしょう？。

PRiDE&HISTORYのメールが小生のPCに毎日配信されてくる。その中にあった見出しに上記のものがあった。はて何の数字だろう・・・、全く分からない。

メールを開いてみると、なんと第二次世界大戦以後７０年の間に憲法改正が行われた回数とのこと。エッそんなに？。

日本は戦後７０年、憲法改正は一度もなく、占領国から半ば強制的に押し付けられた憲法を金科玉条の如く護っているが、本当にそれでいいのか・・との問いかけであった。

それは　西鋭夫（アメリカのシンクタンク、フーヴァー研究所教授）が、フーヴァー研究所の倉庫に眠る膨大な資料の中から、探し当てた、日本国憲法制定の裏事情を赤裸々に表明したものであり、非常に興味深い内容のものであった。

From the Toshio Nishi Report

The number of times: USA 6 times, Italy 20 times, France 27 times, Germany 59 times.

Every day I receive an email from PRiDE & HISTORY on my computer. In one of them, I found the above headline. I had no idea what the number was.

When I opened the e-mail, I found out that it was the number of times the constitution had been amended in the 70 years since World War II. That many?

He asked me whether it was really correct that Japan has never amended its constitution in the 70 years since the end of World War II and has been defending the constitution imposed by the occupying power like a golden rule.

The question was very interesting because Eizo Nishi, a professor at the Hoover Institution, an American think-tank, expressed openly the back-story of the enactment of the Japanese Constitution, which he had found among the vast amount of materials lying in the warehouse of the Hoover Institution.

　「青が無いときは赤を使えばいい」。

　会社の日めくりカレンダーの今日の言葉に、こんな言葉があった。ピカソの言葉らしいが、非常に示唆に富んだ良い言葉だと感心した。

頭からこうだと決めつけるのではなく、何事も創意工夫すれば、何とかなるものだ。こんなことを示唆した言葉と思うが、全くその通り。

このコロナ禍の中にあっても、　「青が無いときは赤を使えばいい」　こんな思考で事にあたればなんとかなるのでは・・。

今日は、先ほどまで全国調査業協会連合会の理事会をリモートで行っていた。結果は思ったよりも上手くいったように思う。何時もだと全国各地から東京に集まり、顔を突き合わせて会議をするが、遣ってみればリモートでも十分に対応でき、一堂に集まってよりもかえって活発な意見が出たのかもしれない。

「青が無いときは赤を使えばいい」。

週末から連休を利用して田舎（隠岐）に帰ろうかと思っていたが、今の状況では大阪からの帰郷は、少なくとも歓迎はされそうにない。鯛やヒラメが舞い躍って待って呉れているとは思えども、これだけは「青が無いときは赤を使えばいい」とはいかないらしい。。

The word of the day on the company’s daily calendar was this quote. I was impressed by the words of Picasso, but they are very thought provoking and good.

He said, “It’s not a matter of just assuming that something is this way or that it is that way, but rather, if you are creative and inventive, you can get by. I think this is what he was suggesting, and he is absolutely right.

Even in the midst of this corona disaster, if we go about things with this kind of thinking, “If there is no blue, we can use red. I’m sure we can manage…

I was remotely at the National Federation of Surveyors Association board meeting earlier today. The result seemed to go better than I expected. Usually, people from all over the country gather in Tokyo for a face-to-face meeting, but the fact that we were able to do it remotely makes it all the more impressive. But we were able to deal with the situation sufficiently, and we may have had more lively opinions than in a group meeting.

If we don’t have blue, we can use red.

I was thinking of returning to the countryside (Oki) over the weekend for a series of holidays, but under the current circumstances, I would have to return home from Osaka is unlikely to be welcomed in the least. Even though the bream and flounder may be dancing and waiting for us, this is the only time we can say, “When there’s no blue, use red It’s not going to be “good enough”, apparently.

私が崇拝する藤原正彦氏について。

以前にもこのブログに書いたことがあるが、私は生存する日本人の中で、「藤原正彦氏がもっとも優れた文化人」と勝手に決めている。著書「国家の品格」の影響もあるが、エッセイや対談などでの発言の全てが、そーだそーだとエールを送りたくなるものばかり。その藤原正彦氏が、文藝春秋のエッセイ集の巻頭言を一年以上前から書いているが、何故か毎回と言っていいくらい、最後には奥さんの話が出てくる。結構文章的には辛らつなことを書いているが、実は全てが愛情の裏返しといった感じで、読後感が何となくホッとしたものになる。

今日も通勤電車の中で、文藝春秋八月号を読み始め、何時も通り藤原正彦氏のエッセイから読み始めた。「嘘つき文化」と題したエッセイで、中国や韓国の嘘つき文化についてふれながら、最後は氏が妻（美子）につく嘘でしめくくられていた。

About Mr. Masahiko Fujiwara, whom I adore.

I’ve written about him on this blog before, but I’ve taken the liberty of assuming that Masahiko Fujiwara is the most outstanding cultural figure among the living Japanese.
Partly due to the influence of his book “The Dignity of the Nation”, but also due to the fact that his essays and dialogues have all made me want to encourage him to do the same.
That Masahiko Fujiwara has been writing the preface to a collection of essays in Bungeishunju for over a year now, and for some reason, every time As I said, there is a story about his wife at the end of the book. It’s pretty harsh in terms of the text, but in fact, it’s all about love on the other side of the page. is somehow a relief.

In the train on the way to work today, I started reading the August issue of Bungeishunju, and as usual, I read the essays by Masahiko Fujiwara first, and then I started to read them. I began. In an essay titled “Lying Culture,” he ended by mentioning the lying culture of China and South Korea, while Mr. It was concluded with a lie that he told his wife.