My angel
Daigo when he was three months old
Before giving birth to my baby Daigo, I never really liked babies and children. Now I cannot live without Daigo and his smile. Whatever I do, I think about him all the time and cannot stop praying for his happiness. He is 10 months old now. He follows me everywhere and screams when I am more than three meters away from him. He cries out loud, ‘Don’t go anywhere! Please cuddle me now!’ Who would be able to refuse such a defenseless baby? Who wouldn’t love such an innocent smile? When Daigo was two or three months old, he used to laugh in his dream every night. He literally shook entire queen size bed with his laughter. He might have been playing with other angels.
Daigo opened up a whole new world that I never knew. Now I think of the importance and our responsibility of taking good care of our next generation. Children trust adults and the world. It is a huge sin to betray our children. It is our duty to grow up and be matured so that we can be good parents. I am imperfect with many shortcomings and make a lot of mistakes. At least I can try my best, though, because I love Daigo so much. I want to respond to his unconditional love and care for me.
Japan’s new cabinet
rubber masks of PM Hatoyama (right) and ex-PM Asou (left)
From the bottom of my heart, I am pleased with the result of the last election in Japan. For such a long time, I have been hoping that Japanese regime would change and be administrated by a party other than LDP.
Today the new cabinet members were selected. I am especially happy with two female ministers. They are both qualified lawyers. One is the Minister of Justice, CHIBA Keiko, who is the representative of parliamentary members of Amnesty International. I do not know the system of China or America, but in Japan, an execution of death penalty needs a signature of the Minister of Justice. There were constant executions so far with the former Ministers (15 were executed last year and seven, this year). I believe that death penalty is nothing different from murder, and it does not solve anything. The Minister Chiba will not sign to execute anyone and I hope that she will stop this anachronistic system in Japan finally.
The other is the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Population, Gender Equality, FUKUSHIMA Mizuho. She has already been working on gender equality, including the equal work rights and separate surnames for married couples. Yes, couples in Japan cannot have different surnames in the 21st century, unless they are married to non-Japanese. She has a partner and a son, but she chose not to legally marry to her partner. It is very rare in Japan with the conservative social and legal system which discriminate de-facto couple and an ‘illegitimate child’. Gender equality is non-existent in Japan. Still this time, the female representation in the cabinet is very low. People are so much used to the inequality and many even do not realize it. I hope that will change under the administration of the Minister Fukushima.
I am also glad KAN Naoto is the Deputy Prime Minister. I have been his fan since when he found and exposed the evidence of failure of the Ministry of Health in relation to the spread of HIV-tainted-blood.
Japan is a beautiful, technologically advanced country with rich culture, history and foods, but it faces so many critical problems, too. According the analysis of my teacher Karel van Wolferen in Amsterdam University, Japan has been basically ruled by bureaucrats and it was difficult to reflect the direct administration of statesperson, meaning the will of Japanese people who voted for the statesperson was not really reflected. Japanese mass media, ruled by big enterprises which were given privileges by LDP, has been the main basher of parties other than LDP. Japan’s deficit is already more than one quadrillion yen (USD 10 trillion) at this moment (see the real time deficit counter– Japanese only, but numbers are in Arabic). It is the well-known fact that more than 30,000 commit suicide every year for the last 11 years. The new regime has to deal with too many issues accumulated and procrastinated so far. Japanese people should warmly watch over the possible trial and error of the new government rather than getting impatient when things do not change immediately. I certainly hope that Japan will shift to the more matured society.
The new cabinet members:)
Prime Minister: Yukio Hatoyama, DPJ
Deputy PM; National Strategy Bureau chief: Naoto Kan, DPJ
Finance: Hirohisa Fujii, DPJ
Foreign Affairs: Katsuya Okada, DPJ
Economy, Trade and Industry: Masayuki Naoshima, DPJ
Defence: Toshimi Kitazawa, DPJ
Environment: Sakihito Ozawa, DPJ
Justice: Keiko Chiba (female), DPJ
Internal Affairs and Communication: Kazuhiro Haraguchi, DPJ
Health, Labour and Welfare: Akira Nagatsuma, DPJ
Education, Culture, Sports and Science: Tatsuo Kawabata, DPJ
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: Hirotaka Akamatsu, DPJ
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: Seiji Maehara, DPJ
Chief Cabinet Secretary: Hirofumi Hirano, DPJ
National Public Safety Committee Chair: Hiroshi Nakai, DPJ
State Minister in charge of Administrative Renewal: Yoshito Sengoku, DPJ
Financial Affairs, Postal Reform: Shizuka Kamei, PNP
Consumer Affairs, Population, Gender Equality: Mizuho Fukushima (female), SDP
The end of the war
Grave of the fireflies
Today is anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender. Every year in August I cannot help but thank the peace we enjoy. Especially now that I have a son, I am so happy that we live in peace. My baby is Japanese, British and Australian at the same time. Only 70 years ago, it was unthinkable. Daigo is a symbol of peace.
On such day as 15 August, I would like to recommend you to watch or read:
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, written by John Boyne
The Reader, written by Bernhard Schlink
The Lives of Others, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Barefoot Gen, written by Keiji Nakazawa
Grave of the Fireflies, written by Akiyuki Nosaka
It is painful to read or watch them. When I was eight or nine years old, I watched a movie Barefoot Gen and I still cannot forget the terror which stung my heart.
Difference is wonderful. Disagreement is beautiful. Without them, it is impossible to learn about our world and ourselves. The only question is how we deal with them. We all make mistakes. But as the world develops, more and more people are aware that it is wrong to unreasonably hurt others. I do believe that our world is getting better. We live in the web of information that flies with speed of light. It is difficult to hide terror done upon our neighbors, which used to be easily possible only 50 years ago.
As a mother, the small contribution that I can make is to try and raise my baby as a confident, kind and compassionate person who understands other’s pain and can share his happiness with others.
Raising funds for UNICEF
Conch (2004), Chieko Tagami
Shirley Maclaine said, “I don’t think there is difference really between what you feel you have to do in your heart, and success. They are inseparable.” If she is right, the evening of the opening of my first solo exhibition was a big success.
Two of my dreams came true: one is holding a solo exhibition, and the other is raising funds for a good cause through the exhibition. This time, we raised AUD 175 for UNICEF. People who gathered the opening party showed their generousity and helped raising funds for welfare of children. I always wished to contribute people with limited / no access to safe drinking water through my work and exhibition. I would like to donate the funds for Water and Sanitation Appeal and thank those who came to the party, donated for the funds, and those who helped me to organize and set up the exhibition in such a short time.
The photo is the prize of the raffle for the funds. This Conch was modeled after a tiny conch that I found at the beach where I went with my family when I was a small child. The work carries my happy childhood memory. I hope this contribution which so many people participated will bring happiness to children of the world, too.
My solo exhibition
My work and baby Daigo at foyer of School of Art, Australian National University
From 9 to 14 June, I will have a solo exhibition of my glass works. The opening party will start at 6pm on 9 June. My exactly-seven-month-old baby Daigo will have to go to bed early, so the party will be only for an hour, but I hope it will be a good one.
At the opening party, I will raise fund for UNICEF and I will give raffle tickets to donors to win my glass work. Since I was born, countless people have helped me. When I was in Osaka, Tokyo, Egmond aan Zee, Alkmaar, Zaandam, Amsterdam, Canberra and everywhere in the world, a lot of guardian angels appeared in front of me and they showed me their genuine kindness. I can never return anything to them. Even if I try, I would not be able to give back as much as they gave me. Therefore, I thought that I would pay it forward though my work. Again, I will ask people’s help to raise fund, but I can contribute a little by giving my work away.
Exhibition Title: Secret and Truth
period: 9 – 14 June 2009
Venue: Theo Notaris Multicultural Centre
2nd Floor North Building, 180 London Circuit, Canberra City
Opening Party: 6 – 7pm, 9 June 2009
click here for exhibition flyer (Word file)
Si
- Si (2008) made by Chieko Tagami
Si means “four” in Japanese, and at the same time it can mean “death”. Therefore, often Japanese avoid the number four, just like some Christians may avoid thirteen. There are four boxes, and at the same time the work is about life and death.
It is again about chrysanthemum. The flowers on the lids connote surface beauty and its loss, meaning what one can see, and the bottom of the boxes show the inner truth. When a life ends, the life reaches in fact the highest point of the life.
This is the piece that I was working on in my blog until the day before my child was born. I had Braxton Hicks contractions since I wrote this blog on 5 November, and it seems that I had real labour when I was finishing up this piece. I just tried to think that it was Braxton Hicks, as I was too busy! It was strange yet profound experience that I was working on “death” when I was about to give birth to life.
lid 1
box 1
lid 2
box 2
lid 3
box 3
lid 4
box 4
Inspiring People
Michelangelo, Creazione di Adamo
I hardly ever get inspiration from “art” works. Rather, inspiration comes from life story of people such as J.K. Rowling, David Helfgott, or Paul Potts. These are people who proved their true strength and value after experiencing setback. Nothing is more encouraging to know that one will see rainbow after rain.
These are the incredible performances of Paul Potts at Britain’s Got Talent when he was a cell phone salesperson. Nessun dorma is my favourite aria. Some time ago, I bought DVD of Turandot performed by Placido Domingo solely for this aria.
Audition: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
Semi final: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rDB9zwlXrB8
Final: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=K_5W4t_CBzg&NR=1
Announcement of the winner: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=eqWvuMJV0Yw&NR=1
Express yourself
Daigo Alasdair
It is not really about art. I have to express myself (meaning my breast milk) every three hours now.
On November 9, 2008, my son Daigo Alasdair was born. He came out to this world 45 minutes after I arrived at the hospital. It was the easiest and fastest delivery you could ever imagine. When he was still in my tummy, I kept telling him, ‘I do not want long and painful labour and delivery. Easy and quick one please 
And please wait until my assessments are over.” So he made it so easy for me. I just let Daigo and my body do the job, and it happened so naturally and beautifully in such a short time.
Daigo arranged everything for me. He was born a day after my final assessment. Although he was born a week before the due date, he was born so small (2370 g) and probably it was one of the reasons why the delivery was so easy. Since he was so tiny and had low blood sugar, he was admitted to the special care nursery. Even so, he was very healthy – his blood sugar level quickly recovered and his weight increased dramatically. In the meantime, I could learn many things about babies, which I had no clue. I was hanging around in the nursery taking care of Daigo for 20 hours a day for 10 days. I hardly slept but somehow I could manage, because throughout my pregnancy, I never really slept anyway. Daigo deserves my effort, care and love.
It is touching to realize how such a little baby could love parents unconditionally. He tries to do everything I want him to do. When I asked him to get out of the nursery and go home together with me, he tried so hard to have milk as much as possible. Everyone was surprised that his weight increased rapidly, although usually a newborn decreases weight initially. I am terrified with crying babies and my boy is the most peaceful baby I have ever seen. He never really cries except when he is hungry (as long as he is in my arms, he is quiet) or when I change his nappies. He loves my guests and he is never cranky when my friends pass him around.
I could never imagine myself being so happy taking care of a baby. It is not me who is raising my little boy, but it is Daigo who is raising me.
This is the first music Daigo listened in the hospital.
The ultimate secret and truth
Wheel of Life (2008) by Chieko Tagami
I’d like to talk a little about the idea behind my recent work “Wheel of Life”.
As I wrote in my blog, J.K. Rowling said in her commencement address at Harvard as follows:
“life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two.”
Then what constitutes life? I would answer that probably life is about nothing else but love and growth. Everything we experience – joy, agony, happiness and sorrow… they are there for you to grow. To what end? It depends on why you chose to be born and for what purpose, but in the end, everybody has to learn unconditional love. I firmly believe that it is the ultimate secret and truth. We are all born to love ourselves, our family, our friends, someone we know or do not know unconditionally… wishing and contributing to their (and our own) happiness and growth not only by thought but also with action. I just learned beautiful words. “True love is to support someone to be his (her) true self.” I am incredibly fortunate that I have received such love from many people in different places. It is my turn to give such love to someone – maybe starting with my son.
And I do not believe in death. Yes, our physical bodies will someday cease to function and everyone has to die. But “life” never ends. It was there before and will be there after what we now know as “life”. Also, lives are connected with each other and no life is isolated. Every single person received love, has been taken care of by someone and nourished by someone. I would not question how much love we received. If nobody took care of you (at least when you are a baby!), you would not exist now. Such action of caring and taking responsibility for someone is called love. And we cannot survive without food which someone else produced, and we all maintain our lives through sacrifice of many other lives.
Such ideas are reflected in this work Wheel of Life. The flower is abstract form of chrysanthemum in traditional Japanese way, and their significance is life. Every chrysanthemum representing life is connected with each other and goes on forever from the past to the future in the circle of life.
