平湯先生: Kiev

I called HIRAYU-san in Kyiv at about 18:00 in the evening. It was about 11:00 in Kyiv, because of the period of summer time now. At first I did not understand how to call him. Although I tried in vein by wrong number several times, finally I could fortunately call him directly from NIMS. Ukraine(international phone)'s country code is 380, therefore 0-010-380-44-276-26-43 is the solution; I could talk with him after 5 years since March 5, 2004. It is after a long time since we had a farewell party with him, his wife, Ms. Kurihara and Harada-kun. He said he has the gout (a patient [person, individual] with gout), but he did not do without drinking beer. It is an old custom or habit since in Germany. He told me to stay at his home without taking a hotel. But I answered that my colleague would book my hotel for me. Time for call was only several minutes but we hung up to meet in Kyiv after half a month.