Tatami-Kuyou — Japanese Buddhism ? ? ?

日本初、畳供養＝京都市〔地域〕

　約１０００年にわたって日本人の生活を支える畳に感謝する

「畳供養」が、京都市上京区の浄土宗大本山「清浄華院

（しょうじょうけいん）」で行われた。お 経が唱えられる中、

全国から届けられた１５９１通の「供養したい畳の思い出」や、

畳職人らの願いが込められた１７３枚の「畳の護摩ゴザ」が、

用意された １３０畳分の畳表とともに燃やされた。

主催した全国畳産業振興会などによると、————————————畳の思い出や護摩ゴザを燃やし、畳に感謝する畳供養

畳供養は全国で初めての試み。 ————————————————  ４月２５日、京都市上京区の清浄華院（松本一明撮影）

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最近の畳の年間需要量は、１９９４ 年の４６００万畳をピークに減少を続け、２０１３年には１４９０万畳に落ち込んだ。

夏は涼しく、冬は温かいという畳の良さと、長く続く畳文化を次世代に継 承する目的で、畳供養を考えたという。

清浄華院の執事で法務部長の畦昌彦さんは「当たり前のように使っている畳に感謝する気持ちが大切で、毎年開催したい。

畳供養が日本古来の伝統文化を見直すきっかけになってほしい」と話した。

清浄華院は平安時代、清和天皇の勅願で慈覚大師円仁が創建し、８６３年に落成。

法然上人２５霊場の一つとしても知られている。

大殿には２０７畳の畳が敷き 詰められており、畦さんは「畳寺としてより一層、親しみを持ってもらえれば」としている。

（2013/05/07-10:10）  (From Jiji.com = Click the photo for Link)

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I’m not expecting most of you can read Japanese text, but don’t worry

the matter is in the photo. = The photo shows a religious ritual of first ever

Buddhism Service for Japanese Tatami mat, sending its soul to the heaven !

(You know, Tatami mat has its soul too ! = Don’t fart while sitting on it.  :-))

(Yet another PR stunt for Tatami producers and the Temple = any news is a good PR ! )

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The Temple who performed its ritual was a Pure-land Buddhist Temple, —- though,

to look into the photo, a monk conducting it was wearing Singon or Shugen-do

(修験道) style costume. 　 Even more weird was a rope with paper hanging was a

Shime-Nawa (締縄) of Shinto (神道) which indicates sacred area, not mention the rope

on the back, which display off-limit area, Kekkai (結界) = All of them are noting to do

with Pure-land Buddhism. 　

This Situation typified the reality of the Japanese Buddhism.

(So, supposedly a Buddhist goes Shinto Shrine on new-year’s day. :-))

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Most of the people think, the Buddhism is the religion taught by

Lord Buddha, 2500 years ago. —– But in reality, most of the Buddhist’s

scriptures were written after mixed-up with popular cult of Tantrism

(though, being as the local popular belief, Tantrism itself was not a unified solid

region = thousands of Guru had been teaching their own Dogma, while making up his

convenient story) hence, deviated widely, often end-up utterly contrary to original

Lord Buddha’s teachings.

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—– The trouble was, even the old Chinese masters who translated Pali, Sanskrit,

Tibetan scriptures into Chinese, were not aware the situation and real imprecations.  

Even worse to Japanese Masters who founded the Japanese sects by studying those

Chinese scriptures. = This was the reason why the sect, who was not relying on the

literal study but the practice, was able to maintain the original teachings of

Lord Buddha, the most.

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(There was a funny story I’ve read in a Buddhist’s column = a Pure-land sect’s monk

was asked by a follower “Our father has been told to chant the name of Amitaba Buddha

(阿弥陀仏) and he did,  hence he was said to have gone to the Pure-land heaven, if so, why

us, the remaining family needed to have the annual ritual to send his soul to the heaven ?”

—– those annual rituals are the cash-cow of the temples and the monks).

—– still, for a layman, it doesn’t matter, they all looks same.

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何やら畳供養があったとの事ですが，それにしても護摩ｺﾞｻﾞを焚いているのは真言密教，あるいは

修験道の行者，しかも神道の締縄や周囲には結界の縄までが張ってある。

ハテ，このお寺は浄土宗でこのテの事はやらないものでは？

－－－それとも畳にナムアミダは通じないので，もちはもち屋とばかり，

特別に高野山から阿闍利の出張サービスを頼んだとか？ 😀

___/\___

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Line Drawings — Space Odyssey

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Those drawings were created about the same time with others.

When a friend Brazilian artist, organized an exhibition called “Draw Drawing” (2004)

at the Brazilian Embassy,  I helped him to set up and I prepared to exhibit those drawings

too,  in case if not many drawings were submitted (in order to fill the wall space.  🙂 ) 

It was organized through Internet (= one of very early attempt of this kind),  surprisingly,

huge number of  drawings were submitted from all over the world, in A-0 to post-card size. 

But, in order to put up all  600 drawings,  we needed to create  new walls in the Embassy’s

big conference room.

—– Exhibition was a huge success  (the amount itself overwhelmed  visitors  🙂 )  though,

after the event, my friend got huge headache to send them back to each artist because he

couldn’t anticipate the power of Internet in such extent.

He thought, only the friends and the friend of  friends in England who can come and

collect their work,  may respond to his call,  but more than half of the artists who sent

their work for exhibition,  were from abroad.

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My drawings here got the same idea to Space Odyssey 2001,  that the life-form originated

from other planet and spread from there.   (Left drawing was designed to test the pure

imagination =  how impossible posture (hence no photo) could be realistically created) 

—– (This series got two more drawings though,  I couldn’t find them in this moment, 

whether they are somewhere else with its frame or I might have given to my friend in

the mids of chaos of taken-down the exhibition.   🙂 )

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Battle of Human Brain -vs- Computer Soft / 将棋電王戦

Japanese got their own board game, equivalent of the

western Chess, which called Shougi (将棋).

Like Chess which was originated from Persia, Japanese

Shougi came from China (but now Chinese and Japanese

one got quite different).

Like a Computer Soft ［Deep Purple］ which defeated the

Champion Garry Kasparov, Japanese has been developing

the computer soft for Shougi many years and having its

international competition.  With the growing confidence

they challenged the top Shougi player Yonenaga and won.

So, the Shougi Soft developers and the top professional Shougi players fought second year

round.  It was called Shougi Denoh-sen（将棋電王戦） a group match between 5 top players and

the computer soft which were the top 5 of the 22nd International Shougi Soft Competition.

The results was, the Computer Soft won over the Human Brain in 3 won, 1 lost and 1 draw.

The Computer Soft called [GPS Shougi] which said to be able to read 280,000,000 moves per

second defeated Hiroyuki Miura 8th Dan (regarded to be the top of tops) in 102 moves.

—— (this is the most concise Japanese article from Jiji-press.com, I found)

Ａ級棋士も屈し３敗目＝ソフトにプロ負け越す－

将棋電王戦第５局

第２回将棋電王戦第５局で、コンピューターソフト「ＧＰＳ将棋」に敗れた三浦弘行八段（左）＝２０日午後、東京都渋谷区の将棋会館

　将棋のプロ棋士５人と５種類のコンピューターソフトによる団体戦「第２回将棋電王戦」の第５局が２０日、東京都渋谷区の将棋会館で指され、先手の三浦弘 行八段（３９）が１０２手で、将棋ソフト「ＧＰＳ将棋」に敗れた。プロ棋士が公の場でソフトに敗北したのは３回目となり、団体戦は１勝３敗１分けで負け越 した。
　三浦八段は１９９６年、当時将棋タイトル全７冠を保持していた羽生善治３冠から棋聖位を奪取し、７冠を崩したことで知られる。現在も順位戦Ａ級にランクされるトッププロの１人。
　ＧＰＳ将棋は、１秒間に２億８千万手を読むとされ、第２２回世界コンピュータ将棋選手権で１位になった最強ソフトだった。（2013/04/20-18:42）

対局後の記者会見で三浦八段は「団体戦の負け越しを決定させてしまい、申し訳ない。ＧＰＳ将棋がこれほど強いと知っていれば、もっと危機感を持って臨めたと思う」と悔しさをにじませた。
ＧＰＳ将棋は最大で１秒間に２億８千万手を読むとされ、第２２回世界コンピュータ将棋選手権で１位になった最強ソフト。現役Ａ級棋士を破ったことについ て、開発メンバーの１人で東京大総合文化研究科の金子知適准教授は「勝敗の実感はありません。ただ貴重な対局の時間を過ごせたことを感謝します」と話し た。（2013/04/20-20:55）

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The question is, as Computer Soft evolves, in any future, can Computer replace the Human Brain.

My view is not.  In Chess or Shougi, the move is strictly follows the Rules, in other words, all the

move is within the pattern.  Only the combination of following move is immense though, that

is what the computer is extremely good at by checking all of them in the lightning speed.

(Computer Soft may work in the Medical field and in the Legal field where the strict rules rules,

still only as an assistant to the Human Judgment. —– Computer can not guess, out of pattern.)

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In comparison, Human Life has to encounter many many irrational occurrences, and its move

wouldn’t be in clean sequence.  Chess’ move is strictly one after another, never able to make two

moves in the same time, but in real life ten troubles may come at once which could be in utterly

out of context.  And even worse, we can’t read the future move but only vaguely speculate.

If computer can give right answer, this financial mess of the world could never happened.  😀

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In the same time, often it is a waste of time try to think = it might be right, but might be wrong.

Try thinking may create yet another enemy, “Your own Brain” = “What silly me” and make you

even more disappointed and depressed.  = better take it light-hearted, and follow the hunch.

It’s mean, to take the decision, first conceived in its instance, and not to worry too many facts.

If it turned out be right = congratulation.  🙂      If it was wrong = scratch your head or cry loud.

This is the reason, better to take it Detached.   You may not get the moon, but never go to hell.

Human brain is not seeking the answer but the way to contemplate “NO answer”.

(This is the reason why no computer soft can replace the Human brain.  😀 )

Still, Life continues.   Definitely tomorrow will come.    Don’t worry.

This is what “Peace of Mind” mean.  😀  

___/\___

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Spy-Chips in a Net-Device

Past ten years or so, for my connection to the Internet, I’ve used most of the provider next

by next. = In another words, those provider gave me more trouble than a satisfying service.

The one gave me hidden charge, the another gave me double charge from their internal two

accounting system.   And another’s connection was so unreliable, or another’s setting has been

kept changing again and again which seemingly pressurised me to call their engineer to

sort out the problem with extortionately high charge. (= It’s their way to make money)

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And there seems a tendency, if the provider’s program is in the computer, it try to

connect even their device is not there, then if new device and its program try to connect,

a message appeared “Another device is using the connection, please set us as a default”

—– so that, I accustomed to remove the program of the old device.

So far it has been worked well except [Three G] = When I dis-installed / removed

their driver program, one file was stubbornly refused to go.

I thought it was a kind of their Ego to keep showing their foot print with their logo.

—– Though, few months later when I try to remove it again   (photo above)

When I clicked “Remove” a small window appeared which is in fact list of my selected documents.

=  It seems, if I remove this last remaining [Three G] file, all those files of my document could be

deleted as the elements of [Three G] file.

—– So, to avoid the risk, I had to abandon the attempt to remove [Three G] file.

= Then I realized that this must be the conspiracy which American Government,

Defense Authorities has warned, “As a risk of espionage had been

pre-programmed in the Chinese communication-chips —– Don’t use them”.

And they are quite serious = to an application of Japanese communication giant Soft Bank to

buy American communication company, American government gave a condition

“Provided, not to use Chinese equipment for the Mob-Phone Business”.

—– (If I connect my old computer to Internet, my files could be automatically

sent-out to Espionage Head quarter where tens of the thousands of their staffs

filtering millions of files from all over the world, to seek gold-dust. It is an

opportunist’s blanket theft.  To stumble good file, it would make a good sale.

Otherwise, why list of my documents needed to appear as the files of [Three G] =

I shouldn’t connect my old computer to the Net, unless I copy and remove

all of my files before-hand. —– Even though, there is no valuable file.  😀 )

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Pre-programmed spy-chip seems really existing, and it could be in your

net-device as well.

(My [Three G] Internet USB dongle was made by Huawei and the another

company the American has named was ZTE = both Chinese companies said to

be working with Chinese Army Intelligence Unit)

—– it’s another seriously rotten world.   😦

(Among the readers, any body knows about this matter, please put a comment here)

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Soft Focus Fisheye Images — Early Cherry Blossom

This Cherry opens its flowers much early than most of the others (Somei-yoshino variety),

so that, I think this is the Yama-zakura (Mountain Cherry) which is the same variety, 

I posted the photos before as [ Early Cherry Blossom ],  last year.

I wanted to photograph this flowers like fire-fly floating in the air.  Hence, use of  soft focus lens,

and a flash-light under the dim evening sky.   So, I put soft filter onto my Fish-eye lens though,

the effect was not enough. = I may need to try again with different tactics.  🙂

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Soft Focus Fisheye Image

My quest to the soft image, I tried a kind of soft  filter  onto my fish-eye lens.

= In fact, it was like a Vaseline on the lens and it was aimed to take photo of Cherry Blossom,

which you will see in the next post.

I think it wasn’t too bad.  I like double-density pinhole more though, pinhole on DSLR

wouldn’t give us wide angle image, so, this make-shift filter is a temporally alternative.

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What is Natural or Not-Natural

The photo here was the Pears sold in a supermarket in Beijing, China.

In a Chinese myth, there said to be a fruits shaped in a human baby which

takes ten thousands years to ripe, and anybody lucky enough to eat it

acquire 50 thousands years of life.

(This story appear in that well known “Monkey story” (西遊記) as well 🙂 )

—– So, a clever Chinese farmer created this to sell them with premium price. 🙂

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Of cause it is not natural at all.

In fact pear fruits were made to grow in a baby-shaped cast.

In an old days, Chinese had a custom to restrict the growth of the girl’s foot with tiny

shoes to make her foot small —– so, it was not a new idea in their culture.

In comparison to recover the oil from the sewerage, an idea to make money

out of cast pear is not too outrageous nor dangerous to human health.

(if we don’t question the mentality itself)

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In fact, there are many strange unnatural agricultural products exists in the world.

—– You might have seen a Pear in a bottle of alcoholic drink. = You must be

wondered how the pear was inserted in the bottle.

It was produced by a way, inserting a fruiting branch of pear-tree to

a bottle, and made a fruit to grow inside.   At least those fancy products

having novelty value. = it must be nice and a fun for a Birthday party. 😀

———- ( Banana with Seeds / Photo from Wikipedia )

Human has been created many new products in the history.

Seedless banana is the one name but few. Banana used to have a lots of seeds inside.

I’ve seen them only once in my life though, the species itself is still existing.

Seedless banana, huge Maze seeds (in comparison to such as rice, corn, Maze is huge) 

and Wild-rice which doesn’t drop to the water when harvesting, were said to

be the top three great leap in the human agricultural history which had been

achieved thousands of years ago.

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Most of those products, the creation of new variety was done by natural mutation and

the human has been selectively breeding them and they become common.

Hence, the fruits and the vegetables were becoming larger and sweeter etc.etc.

Though, with the advancement of the science,  we human is resorting many new

technique to produce a mutation of the species in artificial ways.

= many seedless varieties were created by multiplying the number of the chromosome

by use of a chemical called Colchcine from a Liliaceae Colchcum plant. = because of the

abnormality of the chromosome they become infertile = seed couldn’t be produced, so,

we no longer need to bother the seeds in the grape kind.

In fact, Broccoli, Cauliflower are a kind of cancer in the vegetable body.

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—– So, how natural you want to eat ?   As the campaigner is shouting, you might

be conscious about the manipulation of the gene = GM foods.

Yet, we have been eating many products of which gene or chromosome has been altered.

With loud campaign or obvious strangeness, we may react with emotion though, the most

unnatural phenomena is that the over-grown human population keep exploiting this planet.

This must be the trickiest and the hardest question we have to face.

(Soon or later)

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Martina’s Costume Design

Yesterday evening there was a small party to launch a costume design 

of my friend Martina Trottmann in Soho, London.

Martina studied costume design at St. Martins and working for stage,

art event etc. hence, time to time I’ve been bumping her in many occasions.

And this time she is displaying her design on the Biddle Sawyer’s 

Silk Shop’s front window and this one is also a kinetic sculpture.

= She is breading !

But don’t expect her boobs up and down —– not such obvious move.

Pretty subtle. 😀

—– (Though, to create this effect, somebody said to have devised an air-pump

for 20 second on-off cycle using a computer — what ?   only to activate a pump on-off

in 20 second cycle, needed to use a computer ? —– It could be done with a 

30 pence 555 chip and few more components, all together about £1 :-D) = 

does the person knows electronics ??? )

These days, performance, stage play has been pushing its frontier 

to the limit, or becoming limitless, accordingly, the design of 

costume becoming pretty extravagant or rather bizarre.   

Typically like Ninagawa, regardless whether it is ancient Greek Tragedy or

Victorian play, actor, actress could appear in shiny Futuristic Si-fi gear.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Queen of Siva appeared on the stage 

wearing this Martina’s costume. 😀 

(So, I didn’t ask any question to her = Answer would be Why not  🙂 ).

It is a funny phenomena, supposed to be the most specific, definitive signal = 

visual signal can be freely improvised though the verbal signal = language has

to stay within a comprehensible context.

Costume could be any style, any design as long as it stays on a body, 

it works as a costume. Though, if it was a Victorian story, it got to be

in Victorian time and has to stay likewise a Victorian story.

—– yet still, Oliver Twist who is wearing kinky string costume could

appear with his Gandam look-a-like master. 😀

(Of cause, it’s depend on the director’s taste.  🙂 )

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3-11

It is 3-11 again.

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It’s already 2 years since. It is the past though, still over 315,000 people in Japan

forced to live in their temporary accommodation, many of them are still not able

to find a job with various reason, it’s mean for them nothing is over yet.

And we couldn’t forget over 2,300 peoples are still missing.

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Zen doesn’t give a sit to the past.   Though, the trouble is, this trouble is

still very front of those people suffering = it is a burning issue on their hand.

So that, today lots of gathering has been held to commemorate the lost lives,

or protest gathering against the nuclear issue, but more importantly those people

working to take care of victims are doing their job same as yesterday.

(and has to do tomorrow as well).

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Some relatives of our Alpine Club’s member or their friends had been directly

affected though, the rest of us, fortunate enough not to have a hand burning are

exchanging the mail or gave a thought on their blog.

The words quoted in my friend’s blog “We are grateful still given to be here”.

(In my given life, I was rather lucky happen to be here, not under the Tsunami.)

So, my burning issue on this moment is, this very life given to my hand here.

Since the moment when I was given this life, my hand is burning.

(I know it will keep burning until the moment it cease off = Nirvana.)

So, if I were allowed to join the pray,

Peace to the people who happen to lost their lives,

and to the people who is still suffering.

___/\___

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Funny Invention — Creativity or Tradition ?

A toy and the Computer-game manufacturer Bandai

announced a new product called [Smart Pants] a day

or two ago in Japan. It is a cover to protect

the Home-key on iPhone.

As the photo shows, they are the small pants to put on

an iPhone —– I don’t know if Apple says it is an insult.

Ha ha ha. 😀

It is a simple item, you don’t need to use any of your

brain to figure out what it is.

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A sort of stereotype, you might think Japanese is a serious decent people though,

don’t forget they are the creator of many notorious Anime Characters or gaming

figure such as Pokemon too !

So that a kind of people who interested in such as Zen culture, and the fan of Japanese Comics /

Manga has been having completely different perception toward them.

—– And then, when those people visited there, they utterly amazed by the mixture of their

real face. —– So, in certain extent, even a monk in a temple speaks like a character

in a comics or to say they resort to the colloquial expression what the people speak.

—– in fact even a son of priest grown up with those comics and the games when

he was a child. 😀

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So, if you are knowledgeable to The Zen culture or Japanese tradition, you are rightly to say,

what on earth, how the same Japanese able to conceive and created such outrageous characters.

= it is because your study has been one-sided, ignoring such as the popular culture

among the population, even in the Shogun era = Edo period.

(You might have seen hugely exaggerated Pornographic Utamaro printing, which has been mass

produced and widely circulated right under the nose of Samurai Authority  🙂 )

Heavily Buddhist’s Feudal Society didn’t exclude or suppressed the creativity of the people.

In fact, the ruling class, even some of the local Lords were showing off and enjoying their

extravagance, such as Lord Date was famous of his extremely flashy colourful Kimono and

organizing extravagant parties even attended by the Shogun.

= hence the word Date was established to describe Flashy fashion and such a person.

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Well known Kabuki Theatre, the word Kabuki originated from a word Kabuku

= incline (or even twisted) —– extreme costume, the exaggerated make-up

and the special way of voicing created a kind of caricature on the stage.

= utterly unrealistic still realistic in symbolic way.

This kind of double meaning and the double context is always in the Japanese culture such as

in the Poetry and in Haiku.

The more talking about the full blossom of Cherry, it is in fact emphasizing

the fragility of human existences.

So, while producing something serious, in the same time giving a hint of mocking

was seen as a wit or humour and often it was used as satire against the authority.

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In this long tradition,  Japanese are pretty good to conceive utterly outrageous fun.

The design of Humanoid Robot was started in this context. And the pretty outrageous but

utterly useless Chin-Hatsumei / 珍発明 (Funny invention) is to name but few of

those example. 😀

So, when Bandai got a project to design a protective cover for iPhone, to conceive a pants

wasn’t a big leap for them. (I know, they are pants  :-D)

You might say, it is not in a good taste or very decent etc etc —– but, otherwise it didn’t

create a stir nor took your attention. = (Otherwise you didn’t even notice it !)

Whether I would buy or not (before considering it, I have to see, I don’t have iPhone 😀 )

still, it seems a fun.    Why not.    (They are sold about £2 each, but may be only in Japan)

—– strangely you may noticed, a joke or metaphor of Zen Master is often very

direct and bad taste too. 😀    (He might say, such consideration came from

timid small fear)     Why do we need to afraid of PANTS.

I like it. (but except your pants)

___/\___

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