There and back again...

When words mean more...

2005-07-22T17:33:00.000+09:00

Recently, I just received news that my grandpa was warded in hospital in-line for a gall bladder operation. It seems that he has really gone down recently. Of course, this piece of news managed to set my heart pounded to the ground. Perhaps compared to many other friends that I know, I am fortunate enough to not have to witness someone of great significance depart. But this fear seems very real now.

A variation of a commonly recurring thought came back to me… How do you tell a person that you love him, when there is a language barrier? Heck, I can even say it in Japanese, but communicating with my grandparents still eludes me. How did this ridiculous situation come about? If it was me, I think that I would rather die if my grandchildren can’t communicate with me. How dignified can your life be in such a situation? And to me, I think that grandpa is the most dignified person ever. For this reason, learning Teochew has always been one of my goals. Back in my uni days, I have started to look for such resources, but it seems that this is not one subject that I can simply learn from a class-room. But if I can stumble through Japanese, I can make it in my dialect. I only hope that I am not too late…

Team Toshiba Rocks!

2005-06-26T21:30:00.000+09:00

Met good old Kawano san to catch a game of baseball today at Yokohama Kannai Stadium. Toshiba thrashed Mitsubishi Heavy Industries flat. They didn't even bother to play the last round.
I must say that the Toshiba team really looked pretty professional. Kawano also tried valiantly to explain the rules to me. I must say that my views on baseball changed after today. It really can be a very entertaining and passionate game.

One reason for Toshiba's stregth is due to this fella:

Go... Isomura!

Our pitcher was simply shen... he went round after round without letting the opponent score a single point. After watching, its time for a little action of my own and I tried my hand at batting at the batting center. Hmm... I think that I might have some flair for baseball afterall! I can handle a 110km/h ball 40% of the time... Not bad for a first timer huh?

My Birthday

2005-06-20T23:55:00.000+09:00

今日は私の誕生日だ。今日は皆会社に行かなくちゃいけないから、もう昨日誕生日を祝った。昨日の午後六時ごろ十三人もの友達と一緒に晩ご飯をたべた。レストランは、More`sの七階の食べ放題の中華料理店だ。あそこにはいろんな料理がある。でも、鶏肉が好きだから、フライドチキンだけをたくさんたべた。皆も、自分の大好きなおかずをたくさん食べた。それは好き好きだ。その店の食べ放題の値段は１５７５円で、本当にやすかった。是非、次回もいきたい。
後で、私たちは川崎のカラオケのBIG ECHOに行った。なぜなら、あそこにしか、たくさんの中国語の歌がない。だから、しょうがない、あそこに行かなくちゃいけなかった。直前に食べすぎたため、ちょっと気持ちがわるかった。けれども、カラオケはたのしかった。
部屋に帰った後、インターネットチャットで、シンガポールの友達と喋った。ひさしぶりだし、いろいろな事を話したかったし、長い時間チャットをした。たいてい、１２時ごろねるが、昨夜は３時に寝た。だから、今日は仕事中眠かった！

So here you have it, my birthday diary in Japanese. For those learning jap, it is completely written in plain form. And for those who can't read Jap for nuts, here is a translator website, just cut and paste, and select jap to english translation. Be prepared for a laugh though, coz these translators are remarkably unreliable, but do trust that my Japanese is correct, even if the translation seems to come from a jap trying too hard at english.
http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/

A moment with too much time...

2005-06-20T23:44:00.000+09:00

I almost never do these kinds of quizes coz they are such a waste of time. But of course there are times when I do have too much time, so this is the result. Actually I got this link after reading Winston's blog. And guess what? Both of us got the same character. I guess Winston must have given the same whimpy answers that I gave (My bad, if I am mistaken). Actually, I think that in quite a few ways Winston is like me, or I am like Winston (to be politically correct to him). So this test seems to have some QC... don't bother if you haven't watched bleach though...

Hmm... this is becoming one of the few spur of the moment posts. Not too usual from me, coz I do have drastically different goals from most other people when I set up this blog. But hey, I guess I can crap once in awhile too... btw, I turn 26 today... that leaves me with 4 years left for me to get married before 30.

Take The quiz yourself

and I wonder when I will take down this post...

Mo Cuishle

2005-06-05T02:27:00.000+09:00

A tribute to my little darlings that had shared moments of my life. I am sorry that I did not do more for you all... I hope that you are all living well, in this world or the other...

Hard as your life is, you won't have it any other way...

And to muttt and tricsy too... you are all constantly in my dreams...

Amazing...

2005-05-28T10:13:00.000+09:00

Ever since I welcomed 2005, my life sped up to an incredibly hectic pace. You see, I finally started official Japanese classes which now brings my tally to 3 times a week. Fortunately (or unfortunately), my sensei is ultra responsible and wouldn’t feel at ease till she had piled us with homework taken from not one, but possibly 4 sources. So it’s common for me to take about 2 hours to complete the homework. And at work, I have joined in the project in which my section is working on. Somehow, I have to try to present my research results to them in Japanese every fortnightly (no, my Japanese isn’t that good, the trick is to have LOTS of diagrams).

Anyway, so as it stands, 3 /5 weekdays are taken by classes, cooking and homework, Friday nights are spent on ‘social interaction time’. And weekends are as usual, spent on traveling.

In a very roundabout way, I am trying here to justify my long absence in blogging. (yes… you always have time… just if you want to factor it in… blah blah…) I have almost even forgotten that I had a blog! Recently, I came back to this site to check out on how the weeds are growing, perform the last rites etc. And to my surprise! Over 900 souls have been coming back to this page since the last time I updated it! ほんとにごめんなさい! Or perhaps all you voyeurs have nothing better to do…. And Dad, I am sure that you are one major contributor of the 900+ visits.

So, the jist is: I have decided to perform CPR to this site. I don’t think I will be completely nursing it back to the pink of health… more likely, it will be constantly limping on his last breath… well, its just that being actually able to perform in my job takes priority (read: study Jap). Yes… someday I do hope to graduate from Diagrams…

Also, I will try to continue from where I left off and not just simply start from a clean slate. So be prepared for the lag in dates…

Scherherazade

2005-03-12T23:06:00.000+09:00

I would never miss an occasion when an orchestra plays Scherherazde. So I had to attend Tokyo Philharmonic's concert in the very new Muza Symphonic Concert Hall in Kawasaki. For this concert, Winston and Ivan were supposed to attend, but Ivan had to drop out in the last minute due to *ah-hem* unforeseen circumstances. So the ticket went to my Japanese colleague Shinji Kawano. Kawano san is a very interesting fella, and we have become good friends since.

Kawano san

Actually, this wasn't my first time in this spectacular concert hall. 2 weeks ago, I came with Winston to attend the Pictures at an Exhibition concert. This concert hall is even newer than our Esplanade, having just opened last year. The design of the hall is really quite unique, being much higher than most box shaped concert halls... here, the seats virtually wrap round the stage in an unending spiral. Due to this layout, many of the audiences don't get to face the orchestra squarely.

Really close to the orchestra...

Having remembered my less than ideal time at the Esplanade when we got to seat at the side wings facing perpendicular to the orchestra, I expected the worse for the sound imaging of the orchestra (Heehee, audiophile wannabe me loves good sound imaging). But amazingly the acoustics and imaging was incredible, given the angle of our seats. Looking at the hall layout, I am very sure that it had to do with the reflectors under the spiral corridor of seats. A very clever design indeed... in short, I am simply in love with the hall, best hall I have ever been actually (sorry Esplanade...).

Minas Tirith?

Pictures was fantastic... there was this shen trumpet player that blew my mind away. He is probably a star member, playing all the suprano sax solos with his piccolo-trumpet. But Scheherazade was a bit of a disappointment for me, interpretation -wise. The first 2 movements were taken at an incredible speed and the 3rd movement was painfully slow. I guess the young conductor, Mr Kim wanted to be different, but it just didn't work for me. Oh, on a side-note, I found out from Kawano san, that Japanese schools use Scheherazade for music appreciation classes in Junior High... how cool is that! And all we ever did was Peter and the Wolf, or Benjamin Britten’s guide to the Orchestra.

Snow in March?!?

2005-03-04T23:49:00.000+09:00

Has the weather gone bonkers? Day After Tomorrow ccame true? Its snowing out of the blue in March! And a pretty heavy downpour of snow too!

White view from my balcony...

Snow starting to pile onto the cars... and it had only just begun...

And now you wonder why the weatherman is never correct...

The hot butt of the parade

2005-02-20T10:15:00.000+09:00

As loyal readers know, the picture of me and Maeda Sensei has been hanging around for some time now. Well, contrary to your expectations, I did not have a one to one date with her. She had returned to Japan to visit her parents and shopping… (women…)
Maeda Sensei

So, a few of us decided to meet up with her for lunch at Shinjuku. The picture was taken in front of Shinjuku’s gigantic Takashimaya.

Actually, some of us stood her up for an hour. We had visited a street in Harajuku in the morning and were simply too caught up with the street parade there (getting lost in Shinjuku didn’t help either). What was the parade for? Beats me… but since that day was Japan’s National Remembrance Day (if I remembered correctly), I guess there must be some connection.

We didn’t know exactly which street to go to catch the parade, but we caught sight of a guy with a hot butt, so we decided that following him would lead us to the parade….

Mr Sexy

And we were right. Other similarly dressed people were already assembled in one area.

The Altar Mr Sexy will be carrying

The amazing thing was that it was freaking cold that day. We were clutching our coats tightly and here, Mr Hot butt is exposing his rear end to the elements. Everyone gathered there was shivering, including the priest.

The Priest's cloak is real thin

After some more waiting in the cold, the parade finally started with marching bands and little dancing kids trotting past. And, everyone can see that they were under protected from the elements. They were all shivering! かわいそう。。。

Some very very cold kids...

Remembering our appointment with Maeda Sensei, we headed for the train station. Took more pictures along the way.

Dong Xie?

And after lunch with Maeda Sensei, we decided to go Sing Karaoke. Check out Calvin singing in the cool room!

Calvin the canto-pop king

CNY in japan

2005-02-19T16:32:00.000+09:00

CNY has got to be one of the greatest things that I miss of singapore. You will only know how much you miss it when you are here. To state the obvious, there are no holidays for CNY in Japan. No decorations, no music, its definitely not in the Japanese conversations, and of course, not a hint of it at all anywhere.

Well, we couldn't just sit back and watch the Gringe steal our CNY right? So we went over to the girls dorm for a small reunion dinner gathering on the Saturday before CNY.

Part of our steamboat

With an improvised recipe for our Yusheng, we attempted to recreate a little 'Fa Chai' magic and atmosphere.
Some of the unortodox ingredients included
1) green seaweed
2) salmon sashimi
3) honey
4) cornflakes

But somehow, this dinner made me miss our reunion dinners even more. Perhaps I miss my family and relatives more than I realised. Or maybe the breaking of the family reunion dinner nostalgia got to me. Wish grandpa was here to help me crack an egg into the soup (which he does without fail every year) and grandma was here to make the stewed tua gua which she constantly think that is my favourite. (well, i don't mind it at least...)

On the actual CNY eve, I asked my trainer (he originally came from China) if he had any reunion dinner plans. I was somewhat surprised when he said that he doesn't really have a reunion dinner since he works late. Gosh... he must have totally integrated with the Japanese society already. As I was leaving the office, his wife called him and ordered him back for dinner. Yay! As for us, we had a buffet dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Kawasaki near our work place.

Temples, traditions and a touch of magic…

2005-01-30T02:29:00.000+09:00

Having stayed in the dorm for the previous week, I wasn’t in the mood to let another weekend slip by me without doing anything… I do like the occasional solitude of my room, but too much of it drives me crazy. I got my lifeline when I heard of a rice pounding ceremony happening at some obscure temple.

So we took a train to an ulu station near Shinjuku. The train networks here are really extensive in Tokyo. With such a vast number of stations, invariably there will be some small ones. I have seen many on previous trip to Kanazawa where some only have a metre or so wide platform, a ticket door and a solitude ticket machine. The station we alighted at was somewhat like this.

little station

After reaching the station, we all turned to Augustine (he came up with the info on the temple) for the map… But nopes… he didn’t have any. So I asked an obasan (auntie) for directions to Hachimon Temple. And she tells me to take a train to a few stops down… I gave her a puzzled look and she began to suspect my comprehension of Japanese and started to explain everything all over again in double slow speed. I was thinking of twisting off Augustine’s head, but it turned out that he got the station right… Ha… I made the mistake of asking a woman for directions… lol…

We got our directions to the temple through the sounds of drums… When we reached the temple, a group of kids were performing the daiko or the traditional Japanese drums. Kawaii ne… especially one rolly polly kid. Then after that comes the rice pounding ceremony. The priest pounded the first batch of rice to make something that looked like mua chee. Then the kids got their chance next to pound the rice… each of them getting to pound ten strokes exactly. The rice was then distributed foc to the people, but the queue was too long and we decided to give it a skip. The mochi is typically made into a type of Japanese new year cake called mochi which is tradditionally used as an offering to the spirits.

Rice pounding

Next stop was Hanazono Ginja in Shinjuku. We have heard of this shrine from a jap language video played during our lesson at Bunka language school in Singapore. Well… things always look better in the TV and the shrine was a little disappointing (to put it mildly).

Hanazono Jinja

At least the guys got to buy more lucky charms and talisman from this temple. While waiting for them, I whiled away my time with the intricate flowers of a tree. Then… little white flakes started drifting down around me… yes… it was snowing… Time stands still with the flowers and the snow flakes... words elude me; It’s just simply magical dust sprinkled into my heart.

Winter Holidays up at last

2005-01-28T01:04:00.000+09:00

Okay the lazy just got into action... finally uploaded most of my holiday pics... click here to see more snow... As for the rest of my pics in Japan... well... wait for it...

I joined Tokyo Kosei

2005-01-16T23:41:00.000+09:00

One of the must do's while in Tokyo is of course to go listen to Tokyo Kosei... after all, they are THE band right? They don't perform all that often in their Tokyo concert hall since they travel all over Japan to perform. So their Boxing Day concert it is for me.

I quite like that concert hall. Its rather small by standards but felt extremely personal to me. Along with the Chandelier, the whole hall has a very nice aura about it.

The concert hall

So happens that the team of pieces in this concert was rather avante gard. Reminded me of the Ligetti CD I got where one track was on 100 metronomes ticking in various timings. Ok, so this concert wasn't so extreme... but there was a particular piece that was rather intriguing. It is a brass ensemble piece where the players seemed to perform a self-mutilation of their tone. The tone they created was not to unlike that of a secondary school player, and they all came in split seconds apart when the conductor cued them in... again, much like what a secondary school band would do. Hmmm... along with the usage of some not too ear pleasing cords, I am afraid that I still don't quite get it(though it was intriguing none the less). The other pieces were more mainstream, but they too had their peculiarities.

An esemble

Witnessed several 'exotic' (to me) instruments today, including the Banjo, Bandonion, Steel Guitar and the Sarrusophone.

All in all,… interesting... will be back for more concerts, so I signed up for the TKWO club. So I am now officially a member of Tokyo Kosei... lol...

2005-01-14T23:51:00.000+09:00

Me and my Kimono girl...

Winter Wonderland Holiday

2005-01-03T21:50:00.000+09:00

Over here, the Japanese celebrate the New Year with the same gusto as we celebrate our Lunar New Year. And at Toshiba, we had 6 days of holiday during this period. So we used this opportunity to finally travel out of Tokyo! I must admit that our planning was pretty haphazard and last minute. The two places we decided to visit was Kanazawa and Takayama. Both of these places are about 400km north-west of Tokyo. But more importantly, they are located on the other side of the mountain range which blocks the snow from reaching Tokyo.

Initially, we had intended to drive to these places. However, our last minute planning has prevented us from renting any cars equipped with snow tires. And the bullet train being so expensive (S$300 one way), we decided to travel using normal trains. The initial route planned required 11 hrs and 7 train transfers. However somewhere along the way, we missed one connecting train and from then on, our schedule was pushed back by 2hrs. When we finally got to Kanazawa, it was already 830pm (we left our dorms at 615am).

Kanazawa was the capital of the Maeda Clan during the Tokugawa period and boast of the Kenrokuen, which is one of the top 3 landscape gardens in Japan.

Kenrokuen lake

The Japanese have developed a very advanced level of subjugating nature. From a simple bonsai plant, to an ancient tree, they use many means to shape them to their liking. Thus this landscape park is filled with trees with strings and poles dictating their growing patterns.

The leaning tree

The trees tortured into position...

Only a small part of the Kanazawa Castle is left.

Kanazawa Castle

Kanazawa castle moat

It was a nice surprise that it had snowed the night before and there were some sheets of white.

Frosty wants to play...

However, it started to rain and coupled with the cold temperature, it was a real mood dampener. We had braved the rain and walked to a temple street to look at the temples, but alas, they were all closed for the New Year period. This moment is surely the lowest point of the trip (the wet socks ain’t helping either). So we decided to head for the Samurai street before going to the hotel to dry up.

There are rows of traditional houses along Samurai street where all the samurai’s stayed during the Tokugawa period (supposedly including some very historically famous Samurais).

After freshening up in the hotel, we went to their shopping district. Prices here are definitely cheaper than those in Tokyo, and I snapped up a pair of Doc Mart for S$75(wet socks no more I hope).

It was New Year’s Eve and we had a gathering at one of our rooms to usher in the New Year together. But this gathering was more of a television session with everyone glued to free-style martial arts on TV (sigh… I miss having those with you acswo guys).

We got up bright and early the next day and checked out of our hotels. The New Year sure isn’t bringing Ivan any luck… he lost his camera somehow…

On our way to the train station, we witnessed a marathon in progress… weird that they have one on the first day of new year, but that’s how it is here.

Marathon in the snow

And it started to snow too, except this time, it was really dry snow that resembled little Styrofoam beads (They bounce too when they hit the ground!) And all through the snow, the race goes on.

It is a 5 hour journey to Takayama. Somewhere halfway, we transferred to a cute single cabin train.

Along this particular train ride, the scenery transformed dramatically to sheets of white. Seeing so much snow sure perked us up, and I really felt like a kid again.

The problem with taking photos while traveling is that the windows keep fogging up! So here a special effect on my shot…

sfx snow scene

At Takayama station, 11 Singaporeans spotting the widest grins on their faces rushed out to get their hands on the snow.

Smileys on our faces...

We probably looked super sua gu to the locals but frankly speaking, we didn’t really care… The streets are literally snow covered and the roads are covered by a thick layer of ice. Perhaps it was fortunate that we did not drive here. After lunch, we headed to check into our youth hostel. The youth hostel is quite cool as part of it is a temple.

Temple in the youth hostel

The internet listed this hostel as ‘dirty’ but we can find no fault with it. The toilet alone is of hotel standards… if this is dirty, I wonder what is the Japanese interpretation of the word clean.

We explored the town for the rest of the afternoon. At night, a few of us had a nice chat by the fire with 2 Japanese (the girl was really cute) 1 Indian guy and a French girl (in our halting Japthanese and their bad english). Then we had our ‘ofuroba’ hot bath in the communal bathroom. Point to note… never take one when you have flu, or you will end up feeling faint like me. Nevertheless, it was nothing a night’s rest can’t cure.

The next morning we trekked up a hill in an attempt to see the ruins of Takayama castle. The snow for most parts were knee high and we had to trek single file, but we had a good time having snow fights along the way.

View of the town below us

When we finally reached the submit, we were somewhat disappointed that the ruins were blanketed by snow. There was a small pavilion near the submit, and the snow, nature and silence all coupled to get me into an emotive mood. Perhaps its best just sitting there for eternity with the one girl that was truly meant for me. But the other guys had enough of this seemingly snow covered wasteland and begrudgingly I headed downhill with them. But trust me… I will be back… and the next time this paradise will be just be for the 2 of us…

The peaceful pavilion

In the afternoon we walked out of town to the Hida Folk Village, a UNESCO designated heritage site. This village is a collection of all the different types of traditional ‘Gashou’ houses built.

Hida Folk Village

‘Gashou’ is the term for the way hands are clasped when praying at a temple and refers to the steep roofs of this village to prevent snow accumulation. The houses here are definitely authentic and visitors can actually enter and explore the houses built without the use of nails.

The next morning, we headed home before sunrise. By then, we were perhaps a little tired of seeing snow already.

Takayama train station... start of the long road home

Chirstmas Lights

2004-12-25T23:33:00.000+09:00

One would think that the Xmas lightings at Orchard Road should rival any in the world. I had slowly developed this idea as days go by here and yet most streets and shopping centers put up only a token effort at Christmas lightings compared to Singapore.

So I always feel somewhat skeptical whenever Augustine tells me about some great street in Tokyo where they put up the lightings. However, my mind was changed on Christmas Eve when I witnessed a bedazzling 5 seconds footage on the news. With nothing to do on Christmas Day, we decided to go see it for ourselves.

Millenario is near the Tokyo station (very near the imperial palace).

Tokyo Station

Almost as soon as we got out of the station, we were regretting not coming any earlier. The streets are literally stuffed full of people... perhaps even more scary than the scene in Orchard Road during New Year count down parties. But we had not eaten dinner yet and the stomach takes top priority. After some searching in the underground shopping area of Tokyo station, we found a ramen shop with a queue.

Crowded Ramen Shop

Curiosity brought us to investigate and we found pictures of celebrities eating their noodles pasted on the outside of the shop. Seems like a gourmet king type of award winning shop, so we joined into the queue too.

Poster of Calebs eating their Ramen

The interesting thing about it is that there is a scale of 1 to 30 when ordering their spicy noodles. 30 chili icons seemed like a lot to me and so I chose a 5. But I should have known better... the Japs can't hold their chilies and my bowl of ramen hardly bothered my tongue at all. The soup though, had a very nice flavor... the roasted pork was sensuously tender and the hard-boiled egg was simply magical. It was more like a 3/4 boiled egg and the yolk really melts through your tongue.

Without a doubt... this is the best bowl of noodles I have ever eaten.

After dinner, we proceeded to walk towards the street with the famed lightings. The road on that street had been closed to traffic and people thronged the road...

The jam packed street...

it was packed like a rock concert and we had to wait in line just to enter the main street. After being pushed for quite awhile, we were finally able to enter... and the reactions of Japanese around me said it all... "Tsugoii!! Kireii!! Subarashi!!" ("Wonderful!! Beatiful!! Fantastic!!")

The individual lightings might remind you of depavali, but the whole row of lightings combine to form an effect of a twilight zone. The idea is simple, but effect was great.

The neverending tunnel of lights...

While we were inching down the street and at the stroke of 9.00pm all the lights turned off. The collective response was immediate. Just recall Roberto Baggio missing the penalty in the final of World Cup USA '94... u should catch my drift...

And after most shops close for the day, busy elves get to work to transform all the Christmas decorations to that for the Japanese New Year. And by Boxing Day, the street would be magically transformed...

Phrase of the day… You hate me don't you?

2004-12-17T23:35:00.000+09:00

In my office, we had a year end's party 2 days ago, or Bo Nen Kai as it is known in Japanese. The Kanji characters read in Chinese are Wang Nian Hui; or rather translated literally as forget year gathering. As explained to me by my sensei, the party is for us to forget about the bad things that happened in the year in anticipation for the new one.

Unfortunately, this time the party wasn't free (unlike the introductory party), and each of us have to part with S$60 to attend. The party is held at a restaurant in Nikko Hotel near our office with traditional tatami mats to kneel on. Even crossing my legs for the duration proved uncomfortable for me as I kept alternating between kneeling and sitting in various positions.

I was nestled strategically beside my trainer and our TAP coordinator with the big boss siting diagonally away from me. Thus I was constantly torn between the food and the interesting conversation which these people offered. Sometimes food previled.... who can resist bbq scallops, a big platter of sashimi, baked oyster with cheese, ox toungh, deep fired oysters, succulent Japanese long legged crabs and the main course of Nabe (steamboat)?

scallops grilled on our table

I got the chance to get my first taste of warm sake and I must admit that it agrees with me. The wiff of its aroma hits you before you even drink it, and as you sip it down, the warm tingling sensation of alcohol is magnified due to its temperature. And to cap it off, a slight banana like aftertaste is left on your tongue. I was told that high quality sake should taste fruity. And I enjoyed the sake in another way as taught by my big boss. The top shell of the crab is used as a receptacle for the sake along with what I think is the brains of the crab. This method of drinking was described by the boss as a luxurious indulgence; to me it was just interesting and seemingly gave the sake more body.

The top shell on the left is used as a sake receptacle

After several more rounds of sake and beer, the Japanese begin their transformation into crazy party animals. When a Japanese offers to help you refill your cup, its the culture that you have to drink up the cup's contents before he tops it up for you. And don't think of getting away with just taking a few token sips at your cup for he will simply give you a disapproving look and refuse to fill your cup till you have bottomed up. And as the protocol goes, you have to return this gesture to him. As you can imagine, this sets the stage for lots of drinking!

After awhile I soon lose my inhabitations as well and start going around to offer filling up other peoples' cups. And when someone refuses to let me top it up, my colleague, Takeda san, will teach me new Japanese phrases to make them drink. The phrases start off simply with variations of "one more cup?" and graduates to "this is to thank you for your assistance" and when the particular person proves to be particularly adament, the surefire phrase will be used... "you hate me don't you?(if not why won't you drink up?)". Hahaha... it was all taken in good spirit and everyone had a good laugh during this hilarious time.

Like the usual practice here, after the party, our colleagues brought us for round 2 of drinks at a karaoke place. At this karaoke, the gigantic mugs of beer are served up like a conveyor belt even before your previous mug is emptied! (Alcohol here is cheaper than Singapore since they are not subjected to our draconian import taxes) The Japanese sure aren't bashful about their croaking voices while singing and would often bellow into the mike at the top of their voices! The encouraging audiences do their part by clapping and cheering for even the worst singers! I could not escape holding the mike and I attempted singing "Say Yes", trying hard to keep up as the Japanese characters flashing across the screen. But I felt quite good after singing due to the amazingly supportive audience!

Crazy drunk colleagues... my trainer is 2nd from the right

We have missed the last bus by the time we left and had to take the train back. And I really enjoyed the fun and new experiences and the dampener is that it was only a wednesday meaning that there was still work tomorrow! Gosh... how do the japs keep up with this kind of lifestyles? The more amazing thing is that they put on their strict faces the following day as though the previous night had never happened...

empty beer glasses and sake cups drank by me and Ivan

Harajuku – a contrast of spirits

2004-12-14T22:48:00.000+09:00

So the honeymoon period at work is over… The initial excitement of interacting with new colleagues and a different office culture is now replaced by drone like actions and an immense sense of TGIF once the weekend approaches. I guess one thing is universal, Japan or not… who wants to work when you can have a fun weekend to look forward to? (Okay… exclude my boss who works till 10 or 11pm everyday.)

This weekend, we are off to Harajuku, an ultra funky town. The youth culture in this town is colourful to the point that our own ah-bengs look like plain shades of grey. Another way to look at their mentality is that they may be in permanent Halloween mode. Most of them won’t look one bit out of place in a fancy dress competition. Just take a look here... u will get the drift. It seems that the in thing now is a souped up version of an English maid’s uniform. The street is also filled with many shops selling such costumes. The Neo and Morpheus costumes are particularly realistic and cost just S$300.

After walking the streets, we rushed to make it into the Meiji Shrine, just before their gate closing at 4pm. This shrine worships the spirit of the late Meiji emperor. History lesson time… emperor Meiji lived from the late 19^th century to just before WWI (that’s why its called the Meiji restoration period).

Paying respects to the late emperor

Emperor Meiji was credited as the first emperor to take over actual control of Japan from the Shogun. Under his reign, Japan prospered from a third world country to first and did the unthinkable by defeating Russia in a war.(the first Asian country to defeat a western power).

The atmosphere in this shrine is quite a somber change from the vibrant spirit of youth witnessed moments ago. To me, the shrine and the surrounding grounds bring meaning to the words serenity and spirituality. At the courtyard are two Shinto priests seemingly keeping watch of the fire in silence and concentration.

Soon after I received a pleasant surprise… I was there to actually witness a tradition Japanese wedding in the shrine.

The wedding procession

I was half expecting the guards to shoo me away… but the wedding procession just walked passed me! Anyone interested can get a short video clip of the procession from me. The whole experience of it all was just Wow… not something just any tourist can witness.

Photo session (Notice that this groom is an Ang Mor?)

It’s a small world…

2004-12-04T23:04:00.000+09:00

About a month ago, we got an invitation for a welcome party for a new Singaporean ambassador coming to Japan, Mr Tan (Not me!). I didn’t quite know what to expect from such an event, but the prospect of a free meal dangled like a carrot in my head. So today, it is off to Hotel Otani in Tokyo. The hotel is very near Tokyo Tower and Roppongi, where the Singapore embassy is located. Walking from the train station to the hotel, we spotted familiar places which we walked passed on our previous trek to Tokyo Tower.

When we entered the ballroom, it was as if we were transported back to Singapore. The chatter of Singlish filled the room, and the spread on the tables included Indian curry, Hokkien mee and the likes… Scanning around the room, the first familiar face jumped out at me; Chen Xia, a girl from NTU whom I met at some tutorials. Even tough we hardly spoke during tutorial, we were soon bantering away like long lost old friends. She is working at Sembcorp now, and is on business in Japan with her boss. While munching away at my food, I thought I noticed that a particular smart looking guy with an AC look… and I was right… but what I didn’t realize, was that he was also my trainee before during NS! Soon our little ad-hoc group were joined by more young Singaporeans either studying or working in Japan. It wasn’t long before we found ourselves chatting with Mr Tan (Not me! The ambassador!). The ambassador proved to be a jolly person to speak to, and our conversation topics ranged widely… that was until his attention was drawn away by his secretary who introduced another VIP to him.

With a full stomach and a renewed sense of nationality, we took our group photo with the ambassador and left. We even coerced a promise for a house warming party after the embassy has completed its renovations!

Now we find ourselves out of the hotel and not knowing where to go. Looking at the local map, we decided to head for a prominent temple. The temple grounds were quite large and you can feel an aura of peace and spirituality there.

Temple grounds

Tranquility

Unfortunately, I committed the common tourist sin this time. I came, I looked, I took photos and I still don’t know anything about what, why, when or who built the temple. Even so, I felt quite connected to this temple… to me, it represented the most authentic cultural monument that I have visited so far. From the worn out cobbled stones, I can deduce that this temple has been around for a long time. And I found myself stepping through the main gate several times, trying to picture the view presented to me if I had time traveled several hundred years back, imagining the daily life of the monks then.

I guess that juggling the two roles of work and sightseeing is getting to us, we sat in a small park for another hour before deciding to head home. (I had, in particular, a pretty busy week at work.)

There and back again...

2004-12-01T23:46:00.000+09:00

A big HI to all the visitors of my humble blog! I had never been a great fan of blogging... but I do see the point of it now that I am here in this exciting place where new and interesting experiences are a dime a dozen. Though my adventure in Japan my not be quite as perilous as that of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins (authors of There and back again in Lord of the Rings), I am sure that it will be no less interesting or eventful. Through this blog, I hope to share with all my friends and family back in Singapore my little adventures, observations, and sometimes deranged rantings.
(By the way, the first post starts from the bottom)

Introductory Day in Toshiba

Tokyo Bay Surprise

2004-11-28T22:02:00.000+09:00

The checklist of tourist attractions gets checked one by one, and this week, the roulette ball fell onto Tokyo Bay. Located in Odaiba, Tokyo Bay is the Tokyo Version of Yokohama Bay which we visited last week; Where Yokohama was a shipping port, Tokyo Bay is more of a Central Business District.

Perhaps the tourist adrenaline is beginning to somewhat subside… We did not leave our dorm till 12.30pm. However, the miserly spirit still burns strong in us, and we took the cheapest train route… nearly S$7 to get there (another similar route cost twice this amount). I don’t know how many more weekends will pass before I stop whining about the public transport fares; but bear with me for now. I mean, this is just a sub-way line! Imagine paying this amount taking MRT from Ang Mo Kio to Boon Lay! (don’t get me started on the taxis…)

On arrival, we headed for Fuji Television Headquarters. This unique building is where all the famous Jap serials are made… In the visitors viewing area, we could see the sets and the real time production of a variety show from above.

Fuji Television Network

And notice the unique globe suspended at the top of the building? That is a visitors’ viewing area which we duly paid 500yen to go up. The view of the bay is truly great from up there, and as a bonus, there was a Real Madrid FC exhibition in the globe too.

Tokyo Bay (from Fuji Network globe)

Next, we went to Sega City, an indoor amusement centre where almost every ride uses Virtual Reality technology… okay, we didn’t actually go in due to our miserly ways… We walked and shopped around there and an interesting place in the shopping centre is a place called “Little Hong Kong”. The whole décor attempts to model 70’s Hong Kong and it comes complete with speakers booming the sound of an air-plane taking off every now and then. That’s one difference I note about the Japanese when trying to create an ambience… their attention to detail.

Little Hong Kong

After having dinner, we continued on a walk along the bay and admired the Rainbow Bridge. Actually the temperature was freezing and we weren’t really prepared for the gusty winds. But no mere wind and cold will prevent me from my photo session of the great night scene.

Rainbow Bridge (Tokyo Tower in background)

After the winds, we decided to head inlands for our last destination; Palette Town… also a shopping cum amusement area. From afar, you can see its symbol… the gigantic Ferris wheel. Too, bad I am not a big fan of these wheels… and blowing S$45 for a cabin is not for me (Unless maybe there was someone special with me… then again... nah…). Located in Palette Town is a humongous Toyota show room and a sort of their corporate museum. Here comes the surprise part from the title… Who would have guessed who we met at the museum…

Jack Neo & gang (click picture to enlarge)

It was probably a one in a million coincidence considering that none of us ever met him even in Singapore. Jack Neo was holidaying in Japan with his family.

Yokohama

2004-11-20T22:08:00.000+09:00

"What! Already?!?", this is the line that my colleagues at work would say whenever I tell them about the places we visited during the weekend. Perhaps the Japanese though ultra efficient at work; prefer a more leisurely pace when they go sighteseeing. However, our exitment at visiting places hasn't really let up yet, and so, we are devouring up places conjured up by the lonely planet's guide book. Maybe a little too fast... we are starting to find it harder to think up of places to visit. Afterall, we usually complete at least 3 places per weekend and over 3 weekends have passed... you do the math...

On this Saturday morning, we met at the dormatory lobby not having a plan of where to go yet. So its off to the nearest place that we have yet to visit... Yokohama... half an hour's train ride away.

Yokohama Checklist;
1) Landmark Tower
2) Yokohama Bay
3) Yokohama Stadium
4) Yokohama Chinatown
5) Yokohama Bay Park

Yup, these places were pretty prominantly spread out on the tourist map we got. So the plan was to visit these places... all by foot (after all we had a great experience walking the week before). The first one on the list was easy... Landmark tower is supposedly the tallest skyscrapper in Japan; we could spot it already from somewhere near the train station.

Hmm... looks nice... but its just a building... not quite as awe inspiring as Tokyo Tower. Next stop the Bay area. If there is one reason why a non-Japanese would have heard of Yokohma, it would most likely be due to the Yokohama port. Well... walking down the bay area quickly reminded me of our own world trade center bay area; with the exception that this coast line is much longer. Walking on, we note a colonial looking train station...

Well, it really is a train station, except that the last train probably arrived 40 years ago. The building is actually part of a train station cum dock area for ships and was built during their meiji restoration period (just before World War I). Japan was really booming at that time and the train station including dock number 4 was particularly well visited by the Japanese people. So now the train station and dock no. 4 have been preserved (its a shopping arcade now).

Its about 4pm now, and we really have to hurry if we still want to visit the remaining places (it turns dark at 5pm here). So mastering all our NS discipline, we did a forced march to the stadium and then to Chinatown. On our way, we were still able to snap a picture of a memorial building for the opening of Yokohama port, eons ago.

We wanted to go to the stadium as someone had mention that it was used in the last World Cup, and that the setting sun is extremely beautiful at the stadium. Tough... we probably had bad intelligence... the statdium turned out to be more for Japan's no. 1 sport; Baseball. And from the outside, it looked more dreary than our own national stadium. Oh well, off to Chinatown then. The forced march took its toll on us and we were glad that Chinatown was just round the corner, annouced by the Cheena looking gate.

There were several more of such gates, lots of Chinese restaurants and not much else. Well... don't really know what I was expecting from Chinatown, but I was certainly pretty dissapointed with the place (especially the guide book proclaimed that its the biggest Chinatown in the world). And at S$30 for a small plate of Kung Pao Chicken, we were definitely not eating here. So after taking a shop walk, we arrived at the Bay area Park. Well, nothing particularly special here either, except for perhaps one photo which I took.

Feeling totally worn out, and not particluarly satisfied with the places we visited today, we dragged ourselves on to the train back to our dorm. We walked the distance of 3 or 4 train stations today again; We are so definitely going to do less walking next time... zzzZZZ

The red tower hunt

2004-11-13T23:53:00.000+09:00

Yet another weekend has passed and life in Japan is steadily beginning to settle down. On saturday, we went to the emperor's palace. One interesting thing to note is that 'emperor' in the japanese language is Osama (no joke). The palace is located at the heart of tokyo and covers an amazing amount of land. I should expect it to be as big as the vatican city, if not larger. On the perimeter of the palace grounds is a moat, meaning it is surrounded by water. The water contains the biggest koi fishes I have ever seen. If you think that the ones at suntech city are big and fat already, think again... these kois make the singapore ones look like midgets. Each of the kois are at least as long as an arm, if not bigger, and fat as hell. The emperor's kois are truly several notches above mere commoners'.

Emperor's Lawn

Walking pass the moot, we come to a beautiful park. The grass is good enough to putt on and you can picnic on it. Damn, if only I had a ball to play soccer on it.

Palace Park

Past the park, we walked through a huge square and pass the square, we finally reach the main gate of the palace. At the main gate, a strange sense of dejavu comes over me. the gate and the moat seems strangely familiar... no surprise, as this very location is probably replicated countless times in postcards. Unfortunately, this was as far as we could go since there is actually an emperor staying inside (unlike the forbidden city).

Bridge to main gate

From where we were standing, we could see tokyo tower(Jap version of the eiffel tower) in the distance, so what the hack, let's take a walk to the tower (maybe an hours walk without stopping). Walking is quite a good idea given that the weather was cool, perhaps slightly chilly, with the bonus that we could take a look at all the things along the way. The first distraction along the way was Hibiya park... once again, the public parks in tokyo puts those in singapore to shame. On that particular day, there was a huge pasamalam kind of event in the park. I overheard a chinese guy speaking over the phone that it only cost S$30 for a small store.

Later, we decided to make a small diversion to the famous SONY building. The sony building is located in Ginza, a high class shopping district, perfect for women who like designer boutiques, though i would expect at higher prices than in Europe. The sony building contained many gadgets and all of sony's latest products, covering 5 floors. There, i played with their robotic dog Aibo, and saw a 2 channel 100W audio amplifier the size of a palm... impressive...

On the way to the tower, we noticed a shinto gate preceding a sinsterly steep looking flight of stairs. Curiousity kills the cat... up and up the steps we go, huffing and puffing all the way, not daring to look back down. Up the top of the steep hill is a really beautiful and cozy looking Shinto shrine. Definitely no regrets climbing up...

At about 630pm, we finally reached tokyo tower. Prior to coming, I had always doubted the allure of a metal tower painted in red. But looking at it in-situ is definitely different. It shows its full splendor at night with all its lights proclaiming it, and you can really get a feel of its dimensions standing right under it.

Tokyo Tower

Spoiler no. 2 of the day... it cost S$30 to go up, so its a no go once again (remember the palace?). I am saving it for next time when u all come over. So its off to the next destination, Roppongi. Roppongi is an ultra happening place with many restaurants, pubs and clubs. The people there are mostly foreigners and young Japanese. One thing that I note is that there are actually quite alot of black people here (okay, Africans to be politically correct), and most of the time, they are employed as touters for various establishments. After roppongi... home... and I am dead beat by the time I reached back. Realised that we have walked 3 or 4 train stops on foot, from the emperor's palace to roppongi. <*snigger*> saved at least S$6 this way...

Cultural observations in 2 weeks

2004-11-08T23:26:00.000+09:00

Another week in Japan has flew by again. This is my 2nd week here and I feel more or less settled in already. Though the Japanese way of life never fails to surprise nor amaze me. Actually there might be more differences, but due to the fact that Tokyo is a rather cosmopolitan city, and is more or less influenced by the western world.

Many people commute to places with bicycles. The bicycles here are expensive (why am I not surprised?). A simple mamachari bike (mum's shopping bike) without any gears can cost more than S$200. But crime is not a problem here. The bikes here are all not locked to a pole or anything. You would think that the bikes would dissapear overnight if they were left like that in Singapore (mine did... 3 bikes in fact). Also, there are hardly any dustbins arround, yet the streats are still clean. The people here really take ownership of their own litter. If they can't find a place to throw it, they will just hold it and bring it all the way home to throw (of course there are still bad eggs arround). Also, Japan is into recycling, big time. There are recycling bins in every single building I have seen. I guess the Japanese culture is to take personal responsibility of the cleaniness of their area. In my office, there are no cleaners to vacuum the floor or throw the rubbish. It is completely DIY. Every friday, after lunch, everyone will grab a vacuum cleaner and start vacuuming their assigned areas. Also the thrash cans are cleared by themselves.

The communal spirit can also be see by the office layout. In the office, there is only one meeting room which is enclosed. other than that, everyone works in one big room. Even the big boss doesn't have his own office. His desk is just bigger and he sits behind everyone. My section will have a small meeting at our desks, everyday after lunch. The 6 of us will voice out if there is anything to report, and if not, we will have a small networking session. Mostly they just ask me about where I have visited... blah blah... And on every Monday, the big boss will chair a office wide version of our daily meetings; asking if anyone has anything to report. Nobody ever seems to have anything to report and I guess these 'meetings' are relics of japanese office traditions to impose office togetherness. The cultural differences have been very interesting so far...

Bad Bad Luck at Asakusa; Lucky Break at Ueno

2004-10-06T22:56:00.000+09:00

Wee…!!! We are going for our first tourist trip today! Picking a place to go wasn’t very difficult… Our Japanese Sensei in Singapore has more or less drummed Asakusa into our heads.

Asakusa what…? Come on… I bet u all have heard or at least seen something very famous from Asakusa before.

"Lei Men" or Thunder Gate

This is the main gate of Asakusa Temple and beyond it is a street flanked by 2 long rows of shops out to make a quick buck from tourist. (Ha, u are not getting my money so easily!).

Matrix Nun

And if I am not mistaken, this Buddhist temple worships the Goddess of Mercy. Of course, it was extremely crowded at such a famous tourist attraction.

The crowded Temple

In the temple, I drew a divination stick and guess what… Bad Bad Luck…. Haha, I actually feel very lucky to get such a one in 50 over chances lot! Okay, so here is what the lot says…

“New problems and mistakes in the past come together, making you worry too much. It will be impossible for you to get whatever you want. Finding a big river on your way, no boat will be found there to cross by. Your wishes will not be realized. The patient will not get well. The lost article will not be found.”

Sounds hilariously ominous… if there ever was such a combination of words. On that day, there were quite a few Japanese clad in Kimonos praying at the temple. It must have been some special occasion. And so being true tourist, we asked some of them to take photos with us, and they obliged…

Women all look good in Kimonos, even little ones...

After buying a Goddess of Mercy pendant for my grandma (longevity charm), we traveled to Ueno which was 1 train station away. Ueno has the biggest park in Tokyo and which is sort of like central park in New York.

A tiny portion of Ueno Park

I am sure that all of you know the movie called "The Last Samurai" which Tom Cruise acted in. This park has an interesting history which is related to that of the movie. In the movie, Tom Cruise had a Japanese friend who is a Japanese Samurai Lord. The Samurai Lord was disillusioned with
the many changes brought about by the foreign powers during the Meiji period, and thus, he banded his men in an attempt to reverse these changes. A mini civil war broke out and the location of the park is where the decisive last battle between the samurais and the government troops was fought. There used to be 36 temples here, but they were mostly destroyed in that war. At the front of the park is a statue of the samurai lord and at the very end of the park is a cemetery where the dead samurais of that war were buried. At another corner of the park are tombs of previous Shoguns that used to rule Japan.

Japanese love to fatten their dogs.

The leaves here are all turning yellow, giving the whole park a very nice atmosphere. There are numerous museums scattered around the park, including the best one in Japan; the Japanese National Museum.

One of the buidings of Tokyo Museum

The entrance fee was about S$15 if I remember correctly and we were about to give up the idea of visiting the museum. However, it turned out to be my lucky day as it was a foreign students day (and I was supposed to have bad luck!). We told the staff that we were from Singapore and he simply allowed us in. The different buildings of the museum are a sight to behold too!

Another nice building... lots more actually...

After stocking up enough culture points at Ueno Park, we headed for Shinjuku. Shinjuku has the busiest train station in the world with over a million commuters using it everyday. If you have ever seen footages of train conductors pushing commuters into the already sardine packed train, chances are that it was taken from this station. Otherwise, Shinjuku is a modern city with many shopping centers. The Takashimaya here is 13 stories high, but in many ways, it is very similar to the Takashimaya in Singapore (or should I put it in reverse order).