And barbeque again today.
Seafood BBQ for today: yesterday was meat.
Now the season of Ise-lobster in Amami.
Soup with a whole lobster in it!
How luxury!
Delicious brown-sugar shochu.
So yummy.

Moonlight is twinkling on the surface of the ocean.
We went out for adventure in the island.
I spoke to a year-old baby on the back.
"So beautiful, isn't it?"
Probably the baby has inscribed this scenery in the heart.



And never forget it.
That we live supporting each other.
And the warmth.

Neither will I forget.
Your warmth.

Djembe is so fun.
It's the traditional music in Africa...
It's fun.
Mysteriously giving us a sense of unity!
So amazing.
Everyone smiling!
This is the thing I really love.
This must be the joy of life.

And, I got an admission to the club!
Well, I just asked them with bottled courage, gulping the local-brewed wine Rurikakesu.

Yabe-kun retired from the professional soccer league in August of 2006, and has returned to his hometown Nara in the aim of establishing a J-League club in Nara.
Nara doesn't have any professional teams, soccer, basketball, baseball.

Then, Yabe-kun established "Nara Club" in April last year, and the team moved up to the second division in Kansai League.
The team is now in the middle of the season, and keeps the second position which will entitle the team to the first division.

According to the Japanese soccer league, if the team achieved a good record and healthy management, they can join J-League.
（Prefecture League → Regional League Division2 → Regional League Division1 → JFL → J2 → J1）
Therefore, it'll be year 2012 they can join J-League at earliest!

I'm an originally athletic-type, so I wholeheartedly support him in realizing the harmony of sports, arts and cultures in Nara.

I heard that the pro player Mr. Seigo Narazaki, Yabe-kun's senior teammate in high school, is also thinking of establishing a soccer stadium in Nara.

The team "Nara Club" will have a match.
First-round match of the Emperor's Cup, 13:00, Sep. 20 Sunday.
Nara Club vs. Saurcos Fukui
At Kashihara Athletics Stadium.
If they win, they will play against Albirex Niigata from J1 next!
Don't miss it!

It's autumn. There are no mosquitoes around.
Great day for barbeque...
We usually start it during the day, but this time in the evening.
And I really liked it.
Even after the sunset, the temperature is just nice.

Enjoying beer! and chatting!

I guess these two guys are boys forever.
Good buddies, Uncle Uda and Michuki.
They ended up hosing each other in the yard!!

Mother: "Enough, already!"

BBQmore

I've never been to this kind of place.
My feet can hardly touch the floor... nervous...
But, there gather that kind of people who steer Japan, and they work like this... amazing.
I wonder how they can stand it.
Normal person could hardly stick to it just a several hours, I think...

Do they have their countries?
And are their parents waiting for them?
Do they think of such things?

I can hardly breathe now.
I should return to my own place.

It'll be the harvest moon next month.
Nara will have Kangetsu Festival at various places as well as Uneme Festival.
Yesterday's moon was beautiful...one day after full moon.
It rose above Ukimi-do temple.
My son cheerfully running along the pond.
The moment I feel my own existence in this spectacle makes me heavenly-minded.
I'm breathing. Smell of soil, soaring mountains, high sky, and clear air.
Insects singing, sound of water
Here we have all we need.
I'm standing here cherishing all the things which I take for granted due to the commonness.
I cherish them because I know many other places.
People select the valuable through their experiences.
It is a thing we understand with time.
And handed down to the future.

Jiku-chan, who had been with us since the time we were working on the promotion of "The Mourning Forest," has left the office for childbirth.
We don't know when she'll be back, but our office is a place where everyone works at one's own will, so she might come back again.
At any rate, we had the farewell party in the meantime.
Jiku-chan really did good jobs.
Have a great baby!
By the way, we are all female at the office.
We look for male applicants with guts.
Just kidding, ain't I?

A friend of mine came to visit me from Tokyo with her son.
It's been seven years since we met when she was pregnant.
Our sons became friends right away, and went running in forests.
She said she hasn't seen her son with such a big smile for a long time.
Kids, who spend their lives in big cities, show such a beautiful smile at a moment they play under a big sky.
A memorable day in summer.
Are they going to write it in their diaries?

Please come visit us again.

The recording studio at α-Station became pretty lively.
I met stable master Takanohana.
Wow, he's so tall! The yellow polo shirt really suits him.
I was wearing no makeup but tried introducing myself...
Stable master: ...oh, you looked quite different from you at Cannes...
Kawase: ...I see.
Stable master: Please make a film about Sumo!

I take it, while talking with him, that he really loves Sumo.
It is similar to when I speak about Nara.
It is like a part of me, including both good and bad sides.

I got inspiration that it would be a great thing if I could make a film with him.
We said this must be a fate seeing each other here, and then we left.
I felt we truly would meet again.

By the way, many people tell me that stable master Takanohana's mother and I look alike.
Of course, it's accidental...

I joined Manto-kai (Buddhist lantern festival) this year again.
Candle lights in the dark.
Summer day with my grandma.
In gratitude for our ancestors,
thank you everyday.

On the next day after the screening, I went to the strip-show club, the shooting location of Hotaru, and found out it was being torn down.



 sat down and thought back the past under the beautiful afternoon light.
I started designing Hotaru at this place ten years ago.
I was the only female gazing at the stage.
The dancers must've found this female guest weird,
but welcomed me into their dressing room because of my earnest gaze, perhaps.
Everyone was so kind.
And they had many stories on themselves.
That was a time in the past.
But it's not here now.
And never comes back.
That's why things are gone.
And there begin new things.



From here once again.
Never be forgotten.

We held a screening of "Hotaru 2009 version" at Nara National Museum.
And it was very successful.


Talk show with the lead actress Ms. Nakamura Yuko.


Mr. Kato Tsubusa brought ceramicists he taught.
And the tea ceremony prepared by a gallery Utsuwa-kan from Kyoto.



In the courtyard, Mr. Komizu Tota (he's a professional catering cook for film production) served Amami Oshima's dish "Keihan."



And from Amami, the elementary school kid, who played in Nikon's commercial film I directed, visited us...
And many other folks gathered, and though reluctant to leave, went back to their homes.

The warm cheers from the audiences make me strong... Thank you very much.

 I look forward to seeing you all again.