What do you think of round things? Records.
What do you think of round food? This.
Huushuur — Deep Fried Meat Pie!!!
At Chinzo’s Records Room, a record shop, Mongolian producer said,
‘You have to eat round food where there is round thing!’
He ordered it for me.
The meat is stuffed inside, and we put vegetables on top and wrap them.
（Although I had eaten a lot of Ukrainian food. I ate two pieces because it was so tasty.)
While we ate, the owner played a record for me.
It was released during the socialist era and contained traditional Mongolian songs. He said it was really hard to release such traditional songs back then. I remember when I heard new in Japan that the modern arranged Kimigayo, our national anthem made big (bad meaning) topic. It was totally different this case. We could have a freedom to express at least.
One of the songs was about a child camel who has lost its parents.
When it is being suckled by another mother camel who is not related to the child, at first, the mother camel does not want to suckle the child who is not her own. However, after hours of singing this song, the mother camel calms down and gives milk to the child calf even he is not her own.
What a song rooted in life!
I wonder if there are such songs in Japan?
Perhaps a song about rice planting might be one of them.
I wanted to know more and more about Mongolian old songs.
A living song.
On the way to the hotel, As our waiting a taxi, my new friend turned around and said.
“We call this the Road of the Sun.”
Because the road was built by Japan, and Mongolian call it for the Japanese flag.
ODA = Official Development Assistance
Let me confess.
Although I now sing and write about Japanese mythology, I did not know that Japanese mythology was written in the “Kojiki” book until I was a university student. Of course, I knew the title of the Kojiki.(It’s famous title in Japan.) I learned it in class.Because it would be on the test. But even though I knew the title, I didn’t know what was written in it.
Even though I was vaguely familiar with the word ‘ODA’, I had never thought about what it stood for, and when I heard about it on the news, I didn’t care about. In the countries I had visited so far, it had never come up as a topic of conversation.
This is Mongolia.
For the first time, the word “ODA” came into my life as a real story.
During I didn’t care about the world, Mongolia went from socialism to democracy and also experienced a serious energy shortage, which was supported by many Japanese at the time in thermal power stations.
Until now, I have often met people who said ‘I like Japanese culture’, ‘I like anime’ or ‘I like calligraphy’. But this time it was different. Japan was as “the country that built our infrastructure” and “the country that supported us in our time of need”. (Of course, some also said, “We will never forget that war.”) Another thing to add is that Japan was also “a country where the roads they built for us don’t break down”.
It’s not just the war. I was ashamed of myself for not knowing at all what my country has done and is doing. Then I should I do?
Now I feel strongly that I will do what I can do.
Singing, composing, writing inspired by Japanese mythology.
To the world.
That is worth risking my life for, isn’t it?
If you want to read in Japanese, here!
Next is…
-5- The Journey of the Book
https://ekotumi.medium.com/travel-to-mongolia-5-the-journey-of-the-book-f52184886aa1
-6- People who want to go outside and people who want to stay inside
https://ekotumi.medium.com/travel-to-mongolia-6-4bcd8f507c54
-7- The ger, the desert and the horror
https://ekotumi.medium.com/travel-to-mongolia-7-the-ger-the-desert-and-the-horror-9b88de1f1ed
-8- Journey to the Gobi Desert
https://ekotumi.medium.com/travel-to-mongolia-8-journey-to-the-gobi-desert-a70c8e20310f
-9- Chuang-tzu’s “The Dream of a Butterfly”
https://ekotumi.medium.com/travel-to-mongolia-9-chuang-tzus-the-dream-of-a-butterfly-bffaee1917f8
-10- Red land, Bayanzag
https://ekotumi.medium.com/travel-to-mongolia-10-red-land-bayanzag-b6504247c3e3
