Tomihiro Hoshino

Hydrangea Macrophylla （がくあじさい）

You said, I don't want to wear a wedding ring
so that I may not hurt your face
when I wash your face in the morning.
You said, I don't want to wear a wedding ring
so that I may not harm you
when I lift you up from the bed.

Now in the morning sunlight
piercing through the lace curtain,
you come to me and scoop cold water with your hands from the washbowl.
I can see the drops of water falling
from the tips of your ten fingers.
They are more beautiful than gold or silver.



ARTIST HERO: TOMIHIRO HOSHINO
Tomihiro Hoshino's wonderful paintings and poetry (translated into English)

Character and Personality

Today, we discussed personality type in class.

Is there a difference between character and personality? According to my teacher, there are distinct differences between the two words and their meanings.

Character is actually a set of behavior traits that define what type of person you are. In other words, character comes from learned behavior. Personality, on the other hand, is defined as the traits with which you were born.
(clear contrast!)

I think my personality type is INFP - Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, and Perceiving. I like reading books and daydreaming. Although I teach math and science, I never think logically outside of the classroom. I would rather follow my intuition than make plans.

Reference:
Is There a Difference Between Character and Personality?

Zoology

Love & Romance in Japan

I’ve done some research on romantic relationships in Japan. If you want to learn about them, you have to study zoology in the first place. When it comes to love, there are three types of girls in Japan: “草食系女子,” “肉食系女子,” and “猛禽類女子. ”
According to “Hon-ne (=real intention) Research on love and sexual relationship,” plant-eaters account for 64% of girls, meat-eaters 29%, and birds of prey 7%.

女子（じょし）：girls、男子（だんし）：boys
草食系（そう しょく けい）：classified as plant-eaters, herbivores
肉食系（にく しょく けい）：classified as meat-eaters, carnivores
猛禽類（もう きん るい）：classified as ferocious birds, birds of prey

Birds of prey have keen eyesight. As soon as they find the prey from the sky, they zero in on it, then plunge and get it!

*zero in on:
to start to give all your attention to a particular person or thing / to aim at someone or something with a gun or camera

Paraphrasing

Source: The Little Prince  
Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Source: 2 Corinthians 4:18
(New International Version)
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Something Stolen

The other day, I took a group lesson. The topic we discussed was criminals. We read stories about bizarre criminals. After that, the teacher asked us some questions.

"Have you ever had something stolen from you?"
I answered very seriously, "I got my heart stolen."
Though everyone bursted into laughter, I mean it!