A Kedahan-Malaysian in Japan, I remain...

A bouquet glows in the evening sun (C) Lrong Lim

I was quite tickled when a 19-year-old anime enthusiast who goes by the name 'Silencers', said that he likes my photos. And suggested that I take more pics of the sakuras.

While I have to wait for the opportune moment to capture that white carpet of wilted sakuras, I managed to shoot a sakura pic that I like. It was taken late yesterday evening, just before the rain clouds moved in.

On a more mundane note, I decided to dispose that corny and meaningless term 'janggueberry' as the blog name.

Now, perhaps my readership may increase from one to two with this self-explanatory 'new' name.

Throughout my eighteen years in Japan up until this year, I had always entertained the idea of returning to Malaysia.

After Form Six, I left my kampong armed with clothes loaned from my (future) brother-in-law.

Hoohaa-ed in Manila for over a year, and then slogged for two years in Singapore.

Headed for the US with a bunch of goondoos to further my studies.

Somehow, a big group of us congregated at Texas Tech University (must be the cheap tuition), a university located in the middle of nowhere.

One summer holiday, three friends and I rented a car and drove up north.

At one the stops, a mat-salleh lady asked us 'so, where are you guys from?'

And my friend who grew up in a pomelo & chicken farm in Ulu Perak responded cheerily 'oh, we are from Texas'.

I jumped. 'Hey man, we were here for only a year!'

And the sneer on the lady's face was like, 'Haah! I mean, where are you originally from?'

Over the years, we sometimes talk about returning 'home', and one of my pals said 'I have better things to do with my life'.

Presently, almost all of us have 'cut off the umbilical cord' with 'home'.

I was one of the remaining two or three people who still talk of returning.

The question was 'when'.

But no longer...

After numerous discussions with my missus, family, and close friends, and switching plans back and forth repeatedly, I am pretty sure that I shall be staying put in Japan.

A big factor, as anyone reading Malaysiakini or Jeff's blog should know, is the political and social situation of Malaysia.

It boils down to one single word: 'accountability'.

While everyone has his/her own opinion, let me list two points as to what I call accountability.

1. If you are trusted with a job, be responsible and do it right, godammit. No cheating or goofing off business here.

2. If you screw up on purpose (that is, you cheated or you goofed off), apologize 1002 times, compensate the people 120%, and then have the decency to get lost.

Malaysia is a beautiful country, and I remain proud to be a Malaysian.

But until 'accountability' gets sufficiently instituted into the political framework and social landscape, it will be rather difficult to make the move back.

While I hope things in Malaysia will improve, let's see what happens.

So, as long as there is work for me to do here, which I am enjoying (most of the time though), I shall choose to remain in my present occupation.

If and when the university decides to kick my butt, adoooi... then we shall head southwards to Okinawa prefecture (near Taiwan) to set up a farm in the countryside.

I had always dreamed of setting up a mini integrated farm, combining gardening (of vegetables, roots, herbs, citrus and other fruits), poultry farming (of chickens, ducks, quails), and fish rearing (for the stomach as well as for the eyes).

And since I can't live without honey, I might even try my hand at apiculture.

In between weeding and cleaning the fishpond, we may head to the nearby ocean for some gooooood scuba diving...