What will be left for me if unnecessary things are scraped off?

This has always been my underlying thought.

I wonder what I would be like if I only had a bare heart without a social position, desires, pride etc.

I wonder what is the most important thing.

Work for Mainichi Women’s Calligraphy Exhibition

I wrote “The thundercloud, the thundercloud in the sky at sunset just like me”
The sky at sunset is at the end of day. It is compared to the later part of life. The thundercloud in that sky is a cloud with thunderstorm.

The thundercloud is what I am now. I’m feeling frustrated as the time left to me and the number of things I want to do are not proportional.
This is a challenging message from me that I’m burning red with rain and thunder inside at any time.

I don’t know what I’m aiming for and what achievement will satisfy me. Maybe I’m multiplying dreams every day as I’m greed.
When I write the blog, it’s like a place to re-organize my thought. It is incoherent, but please accept it as the process of evolution, and take care of and observe me.

February

The curtain of 2009 is open, and now it’s already February.
Even in Fukuoka, which is located in the south of Japan – a long island extending north and south - we have had a series of cold days with snow this winter.
How are you?

So, have you started to step toward a dream of your New Year’s resolution?
I have started walking toward it. At least I’m different from what I was last February.
I would like to release my mind more freely to express myself this year. To create satisfying work will lead to a result. I can’t stop my mind from getting excited.

For one more topic, I have encountered a phrase that burns my heart in the cold winter.
“Yes we can” – a phrase that has become too famous, but it gives me power when I say it out loud. I believe there were immeasurable difficulties until the birth of the first African-American president of the United States. (Mr. Obama didn’t give it up. Therefore this phrase is significant) His inaugural address was filled with dreams and hopes, which even burned the heart of this nameless Japanese old lady.
Japanese politicians and political analysts indicated concreteness, all saying that he has a rocky road ahead, but I believe he will make it.
If I am asked which I can trust in, Japanese politicians or Mr. Obama – I will take Mr. Obama without any hesitation.

The bigger a dream is, the better it is. It’s better to be as big as unrealistic. It must not be reached easily.
A dream is a dream because it has difficulty in being achieved. But we still walk toward dreams…because we are alive!

So holily the snow falls

The kanji 聖 has the meaning of pureness.

The softness of light ink effectively shows how purely, genuinely and quietly it snows.

A woman on fire

I swear!!
After this year’s final calligraphy exhibition.
Following the intracompany exhibition in March and Mother-Daughter Exhibition in August, “the 5th Miki Otake’s Intracompany Exhibition” in November ended with a phenomenal number of visitors. Fellow calligraphers are surprised that I hold the calligraphy exhibition three times a year, saying “you have great energy”. They care about me, automatically thinking that I’m completely exhausted and I can’t concentrate on anything for a while. But I don’t feel tired. I’m rather feeling excited about the future, first, the next year.

Here I swear to you all!!
In 2009, I will do everything I can as much as possible, I will never give it up even if I fail or get laughed at.
Just like I changed myself this year compared to what I was last year, I want myself to be advanced next year.
It is the best gain of this year that I learned that nothing will change unless I make a move. It’s the fact that it’s based on the success of the calligraphy exhibition held three times a year, which could be reckless.
Thanks to backup of people who come to see the exhibition.
I realized again that I am not living alone.
I would like to be a “woman on fire” and return the favor to people who support me.


In 2008, I started to write the blog, which was a new challenge. I also encountered people who visited this blog. Thank you!
I wish everyone good luck for 2009!!

Can’t believe the bone is broken!!??

A misfortune slipped into a space in my mind that took a rest after the 5th Miki Otake’s Intracompany Exhibition (November 19th – 24th).

On December 2nd, the door chime…rang, rang, and rang.
I rushed down to the door just like falling from upstairs (with a weird “snap”!!...??)
The snap came from my left toe. It rapidly got swollen so I put a compress on it. However, pain developed and I went to the hospital.

“It’s broken.”

What!?
I sent e-mails to my friends, “I had my bone broken!” Almost all of them replied to me, “think about your age!”

Oh my God! Did I do something wrong?
My enjoyment in winter, swaggering in heeled boots…is warned with the red light this winter.

The only consolation is a pair of sheepskin boots that my daughter sent to me. I can wear them even with my left foot, which has been fixed and grown large. I’m glad these boots are trendy this year! They are dyed in vivid purple, which is also this year’s trendy color (laugh). Looking at my foot, I spend days with deep sighs....

Imagine!!

Not for Sale.

This is a poem from Yoko Ono that is said to inspire John Lennon to write "Imagine". The poem that uses only imperative forms is sensational.
In it, I saw her strong will and the way of life.