忘れられない出来事 Never forget what happened to us today

1月１７日　土 (January 17, Saturday)
　
20年前のこの日、阪神大震災に見舞われてから今日で２０年。この日は夫が国連代表部に在勤していて私達はＮＹにいた時で、東京にいた娘から電話がかかってきたのを覚えている。今朝のＮＨＫでの文珍さんの言葉が心に響きました。「地震で崩れないものを大切にしたい。」文珍さんも家屋が崩れ、５年間、コンテナを居住地にされていたそうだ。でも落語と言う職業に助けられたと。人はどんな時でも笑う。人は笑欲があるから元気になれる。人間ドン底に落ちた時（落語と同じ）、何故か笑いが出ると。心を引き締めた一日のスタートとなりました。しかし、下に記したように、今日やったことは、無駄の最たるものだった。でも夫婦のみならず、周りの人も巻き込んで大笑いの結末に。
Twenty years have passed since that hellish disaster named Hanshin Great Earthquake Disaster occurred on the 17th 1995. We were in NYC those days because of my husband assignment working for the Permanent mission of Japan to the United Nations. I remember that on that day my daughter gave me a big call from Kyoto worrying about what had happened early in the morning in Kansai area.

This morning they had a special program on TV where Mr.Bunchin, a famous comic story-teller, showed up. His house was also destroyed and he had to stay in a container as his temporal house with his family for five years. He survived through this chaos with his profession as a comic story-teller and through his profession, he confessed, he learned a lot about a precious life to be. What he said this morning impressed me so much. He said "I want to treasure what cannot be destroyed by earthquakes." He added "Human is ready to laugh whenever anything happens. Human can be revitalized thanks to his desire to laugh."  What he said braced myself up this morning, then I wrote down here below what happened to us today, which turned foolish, but funny and we ended up with lots of laughs for not only two of us but also our friends around! 
 

At Akechi Daira with Mt.Nantai in the back

15日には雪が。翌日のあけぼのの風景は三日月が東の空に浮かんでいて古の風景を見た思い。そして１７日の今日は大晴れ。夫に奥日光半月山展望台からの富士山を見せたくて今年初めてのいろは坂ドライブを。ところが、思いがけず、展望台への道は通行止めで今日一回目の空振り。ならば明知平のロープウエイからの絶景を見ようと後戻りしたら強風の為、ロープウエイは中止。今日二回目の空振り。ならば今市駅前通りでやっている恒例の六歳市に行こうとわざわざ車は遠くに停めて向かったところ、人影もまばら。？？　中心になってこのイベントを開催している親戚に行ってみると、強風のため、今日の六歳市は中止になったという。これで三回目の空振り。今日は見事に空振り三振を経験。今晩は地域組での新年会があるけど、大丈夫かな～？？
We had a wet snow on the 15th. The next day's morning sky produced an old day's air and scenery with the crescent in the East. Then today on the 17th, a beautiful weather blessed us and invited us to go for a drive along the zigzag slope up to the deep Nikko. I wanted to show my husband that sacred scenery visible the top of Mt.Fuji far away to the west over beyond Nikko mountains. We could have that view if the air is clear from the observatory on Mt. Hangetsu. Unfortunately the road was blocked on the way, which was our first swing and miss today. Then we decided to go down back to the Akechidaira plateau to get on a ropeway to enjoy that gorgeous view of whole Nikko. We found it was closed due to the strong wind, which was our second swing and miss. Upon giving up the two nice views, we drove down to the town Imaichi to see a monthly petit festival opened along the street just in front of the shoe store one of our relatives' families has been managing. Again, we found it was canceled due to the strong wind. Our third swing and miss. Oh, la la!　Everything we planned today ended in failure, so called "Strike out swinging". This evening involves us in a New Year party organized for our local community. No more failure, please.

新年の夕食会は見事に開催されて大盛況でした。総勢１９名。
The new year dinner party was beautifully organized and we all 19 members enjoyed it.