YM COLUMN ARCHIVE

July 23, 2008

Hiroshima, Tanegashima and Sagamihara

Last week there was a screening panel for the satellite contest by children’s ideas. It was to seek ideas, “I wish to have such type of satellite” from primary and middle school children. I had an enjoyable time in selecting their ideas, for there were applications of pure wishful-ness particularly among low-grade pupils. I was overwhelmed, in the section of grand prix prize for primary school second and third grades, by the grandiose idea of distributing in a flexible and impromptu manner cool Japanese vermicelli from satellite orbit invented from the wish of sweeping hunger problem from the entire world.

After the screening panel I went to Hiroshima to give a lecture at the national convention of high school alumni reunion. As I always feel on such an occasion, I wonder what kind of process will be required to publicly open up such closed meetings from the frame of limited circle called reunion. Majority of participants are satisfied in the first place only because they long for the good old days and it is also true that majority of non-participants think if it is only for old memories they need not attend every time. I wonder if its pattern might change as the needs of time change.

From Hiroshima, I flied to Tanegashima Island by way of Kagoshima. I gave another lecture there under the title of “21st century: Moon is the cultural sphere of earth”. Talk show programmed after the lecture with Mr. Katsuhiko Hibino was very interesting, which was performed off-the-cuff without rehearsal with entirely free exchange of opinions to have made it a unique “space talk”. I appreciate Mr. Hibino’s straight and candid talking. I came back to Tokyo on Saturday.

On Sunday I joined water rocket event of Sagamihara’s children from morning to evening. I took photos of every seventy-one rocket under the glittering sunshine. The longest distant flight was a little over 143 meters with great flying. It is impossible to capture the instant moment of water rocket launch by the ordinary digital camera because there is a personal time discrepancy between counting down and actual launch second. It was made possible with single-lens reflex camera.

Under the scorching sun I worked vigorously with gulping a lot of water, but I’m weak in skin by nature with thin facial skin so that I was all sunburned red from face to crest of neck and got welt in arms, which became my headache problem how to get through TV appearance scheduled shortly. I’m planless in nature regardless of my age, so please someone tell me know-how to improve my habit of losing myself in anything like a child.

By the way, in the JAXA website is posted an amazing image of Tycho Cater on the lunar surface taken by the land camera of KAGUYA. Please visit the site and see it.
http://wms.selene.jaxa.jp/

I welcome your opinions on this column to the following E-mail address.
matogawa@planetary.or.jp

(Translated by The Planetary Society of Japan)