==JAPAN: KM== [Hobbies]

On the earth, a water planet floating in the darkness, we are living our irrecoverable lives every day. We are busy doing our routine and hardly keep in mind that beyond the sky, there is an incredible, marvelous world, the universe. But maybe everyone was surprised when they first learned that Saturn has rings around it. I was also fascinated and imagined myself floating in the universe and gazing at Saturn with its impressive rings. One day I was shocked by a picture of Jupiter. The planet was covered with some fearful-looking clouds and had big red speckles. In my childhood, I was afraid of Jupiter and disliked seeing the picture when I was all alone. Looking back upon my past, I felt that the universe was always with me. I always kept admiration for the great universe somewhere in my heart. To tell the truth, this admiration sprouted when I received one ordinary book, which led me to a profound world later.
On my 9th Christmas Eve while I slept, 'a Santa Claus' arrived at my home and left me a wonderful present. It was a picture book called THE UNIVERSE -stars and astronomical observation. On Christmas Day, I found it with some sweets in a red Santa boot. So I was very pleased and believed that Santa Clause was really living. My eyes must have sparkled like the stars in the night sky. I ran downstairs with joy. I showed the book to my mother excitedly and said, "Mom, look at this book. A Santa Clause gave it to me!" Mother said to me with a smile, "That's a nice present. You are lucky. Treasure it, won't you?" "Of course, I will," said I and opened it tremblingly. First of all, the eleven pictures of the universe imagined by ancient people on the back cover caught my eyes. "People first believed that the universe was flat." "Ancient Egyptians thought that the universe godness swallowed the sun every evening and vomitted it every morning, and their descendants thought that high mountains were supporting the sky and that stars were suspended from the sky." "Ancient Indians thought that the world was semicircular and the elephants supported it and that a big tortoise supported the elephants." Besides, the ideas of men like Copernicus and Ptolemaeus were also shown there. I was also fascinated by a picture of the Unicorn constellation nebuia which looks like a red rose blooming in the universe. I felt the mysterious charm of Pluto, the planet which is farthest from the Earth and tells little about itself. It remains an unknown planet, so it interests me all the more. Incidentally, there is a painted picture of the inside of the sun which reminds me of a big peach whenever I see it. According to the picture, the sun can be divided into three parts by its temperature. 'The peach kernel' is the highest at about 15 million degrees centigrade. The circumference of the kernel is about six hundred thousand degrees centigrade and the part near its surface, 'the most delicious' part, is about five thousand seven hundred degrees centigrade. Thanks to its extraordinary heat, we can live warmly in spite of one hundred fifty million kilometers of distance between it and the Earth. Every day I perused the book. For me, it is indispensable even now.
Have you ever had a dream of lying down on the grass and looking up at the twinling stars in the night sky? Me? Of course, I have and I can do so in my room any time! I loved to go to the planetarium with my family, and I wanted to get one by myself. The dream came true in the summer when I was a freshman of this school. I got some star-shaped seals in Yokkaichi, my hometown, which glow in the dark after absorbing light. I made a microcosm for myself by sticking the small stars on the ceiling and walls in my room. I can fall asleep feeling as if I were floating in the universe.
Last year, at midnight on Oct. 23, 1993, I and my friends looked up at the starlit sky in Hirugano Highlands. That night we could see a great number of stars and meteors. It was a special view, because the Perseus meteoric shower came that season. The meteor, seen for a moment, will remain long in my memory. It was like a dreamy, indescribable time. I think that meteoric shower must be one of the most wonderful things in the universe. That was a present from some real Santa Clause who lives beyond time.
The more I look up at the sky, the more tiny human beings look, but on the other hand, I came to think that man is a great microcosm of the universe. I am interested in the spirit of human beings as much as being interested in the universe. I found a thing in common to both of them; they are profound and unknown worlds in many ways. I realized that man is also a part of the universe.

COMMENT
This essay struck me so much, because when I read it, I remembered that once I had been deeply absorbed in the grandeur of the universe. The fact that I had forgotten the feeling I had at that time shocked me more than a little. This essay overflows with her interest and admiration for the universe since her childhood. "Her Santa Claus" who gave her an occasion to let her eyes open to the universe is great and much greater is she who has a mainstay of her spirit, the universe.

Noriko Takahashi