Venetia said:
The truly rich are those who can enjoy what they have.
Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), also called Benson's syndrome,
is a rare, visual variant of Alzheimer's disease.
PCA 後部皮質委縮症
It affects areas in the back of the brain responsible for spatial
perception, complex visual processing, spelling and calculation.
Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) refers to gradual and progressive
degeneration of the outer layer of the brain (the cortex) in the part
of the brain located in the back of the head (posterior).
British born herbalist Stanley Smith Venetia died at the age of
72 in June, 2023.
She was the author of popular books on living in harmony with
nature in Kyoto Prefecture.
Venetia was diagnosed with PCA (a rare neurodegenerative
disease called posterior cortical atrophy) at Kyoto University
Hospital in 2018.
As PCA progresses, vision becomes progressively more difficult.
My ｍother suffered from hereditary deformity of the big toes,
namely hallux valgus, so she could not wear ordinary shoes.
It was inherited from her father who had come from Kumamoto
prefecture to Tokyo and became a successful lawyer.
I know nothing about his ancestors.
He had nine children in all including my mother.
I also slightly inherited this type of deformity.
He who was my maternal grandfather was, so to speak, a liberal
from Meiji era type.
He clearly disliked militarism.
He never believed in Japan's final victory in the second world war,
even when the majority of Japanese people cheered over the succes
of Japanese army and navy in the early stage of the war.
He did not completely refrain from disclosing his opinion against the
war in a close circle and that must have worried his family.
It was a luck that no information was made against him to the gendarme
until Japan surrendered.
The anti- conspiracy legislation urged by Abe administration is likely to
deform society into similar status in the days my grandfather experienced
under authoritarianism by encouraging police investigation against
suspected groups and increasing informations to the police by prejudiced
collaboraters.
There would be amateur detectives loyal to the government ready to give
informations against people critical to the power.
