Friday, July 29, 2005

STARRY PUFFERFISH



Was down near the seabed at about 12 meters when I looked up to see this guy approaching.

Thought it was a dugong.

It had its mouth opened but I didn't see it eating anything.

This lethargic guy swimming was a delight to observe.

Size was about a meter; quite a lot of sashimi there.

(Never mind the white spots. They are reflections from the in-built strobe. Of course, would like to have an external strobe soon...)

Thursday, July 28, 2005

CLOWN FISH ON PURPLE ANEMONE



The clown fish is definitely one of my favorite photo subjects.
To begin with, they are such a joy to observe.
Their pretty colors and the way they rub their bodies against those anemone tentacles...
woooohhh...
Size was about 4 centimeters...

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

NAPOLEON WRASSE



Here's a shot of the Napoleon wrasse or humphead wrasse as per Boringest’s request.

The Napoleon is characterized by its hump on the head that resembles Napoleon's hat.

It grows up to about two meters and is the second largest coral fish after the gigantic grouper.

I first saw the graceful Napoleon in Bunaken, Manado... and that guy was huge.

*Eeeeiii.... no underwater housing at that time*

They are usually alone, unlike the 'herdy' buffalo fish.

The bump on the Napoleon's head is more 'squarish' while the ones on the buffaloes are more 'knobby'.

Furthermore, Napoleons are more colorful, albeit still rather dull when compared to other garish parrotfishes in the wrasse family.

The Napoleon is threatened to the brink of extinction because restaurants (Chinese again!!!) pay a premium price for them, as in 400 US dollars a kilogram.

The Napoleon normally do not take baits on hooks, so fishermen use cyanide bombs to stun them.

In the process, the cyanide bombings destroy the fragile corals.

This guy was photographed at Okinawa, not in the wonderful seas, but in the aquarium.

*Porgib me for cheating here!*

Still, am not too satisfied with this shot, and if not for the request, it would not be seeing light here...

Size was about half meter...

KIDOH II



That inspiring picture above...

It brings my mind back to that Malaysia Today article, 'Malay rights and privileges'

(I first blogged about this article here.)

Excerpts...

'The stupid Malays stand on stage in front of the rostrum at the Umno General Assembly year after year shouting and screaming about defending and protecting special Malay rights and privileges!

The stupid Malays stand on stage in front of the rostrum at the Umno General Assembly year after year shouting and screaming that only Umno can defend and protect the Malay's special rights and privileges!'

I say... Terima kasih very much, Malaysia Today...

P/S: See here for meaning of KIDOH

Monday, July 25, 2005

LEMON DAMSELFISH



Always a pleasure to observe fish in action...

Damselfishes are very territorial and you can actually tease them by poking your face near their nests and they will almost always confront you...

I found this lemon damselfish excitedly darting here and there, trying in vain to chase away the school of rainbow wrasses that were voraciously feeding on her eggs off the rock wall...

Normally her fins would be retracted, relaxed.

But notice her extended fins, her big wide eyes... and her opened mouth, as if she was reprimanding the intruders...

Saturday, July 23, 2005

KIDOH

Just let out a chuckle upon reading a comment in Screenshots...

Regarding glocal, reader 'groo' says, the politikusians 'are moving in a direction similar to SMS chat whereby short forms and acronyms are being used widely'.

Yeap... 'KIDOH (kita bodoh)'

Heheehe heeeeheeee...

Man, man... this is the type of humor I like...

On the de-pegging of the ringgit...

Can't say for sure, but the news and commentaries that I listen to here in Japan since yesterday...

There is not one single mention of it...

All of the news and commentaries talked of the yuan and its effects on Japanese trade with China.

So much for going glocal for Malaysia... *sad, sad*

Meanwhile, I envisage that we have not seen the last of that fat woman's stomach-churning face and her nauseating buaya tears...

Let's wait for her to come face to face with that recalcitrant old man...

If we are lucky, we might be entertained to a duet rendition of waaah... waaah... whaaaaa...

BUMP HEAD PARROT FISH



The bump head parrot fish or buffalo fish is my favorite fish to watch, not to eat, mind you.

I first saw about 6 of them on a snorkeling trip at Coral Island, Tioman, and I was hooked.

That was before I became a diver.

The bump on the head gives it its name.

They usually move in herds.

This one was captured at Sipadan.

We had returned to the boat after a dive, and had removed our scuba gear when the guide saw the herd grazing in shallow waters.

Grazing as in buffaloes on land, hence its other name.

I immediately jumped into the sea with only my mask and camera, cursing myself for not bringing the snorkel.

Imagine my struggle to breath as I tried to keep up with the herd, snapping pictures all the way...

They have tough 'bugs bunny' teeth for biting off coral heads.

You can actually hear them grunting while biting off the corals.

They grind the corals to bits, absorb the nutrients, and pass out the coral bits as sand...

So, a substantial amount of sand we see on the beaches is actually the waste from these guys.

The bigger ones are about 1.5 meters...

Ah, the taste?

A dive guide once commented that the buffalo fish taste superb in asam soup.

And the most delicious part?

The thick lips, said he...

Friday, July 22, 2005

TRUMPET FISH IN YELLOW



Photographing ‘fish in flight’ is tricky business.
Patience, anticipation, and luck, plus loads of battery power and storage space are needed.
You shoot and shoot... if you are lucky you may get one satisfactory shot...
This shot could be better if not for the missing mouth...

Trumpet fish is often brown or green, and occasionally yellow.
They can change colors quickly and grow up to about one meter.
Trumpet fish prey on small fishes, plunging down vertically from above to suck the prey with its long snout.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

BABY, BABY, BABY...

Awwww man...

What a disgraceful sight...

You are crying now?

For what's sake, may I ask?

Nothing to do with any AP holders?

Eh??

And you swear by God for that??

Heeeheheee... hehee... heehehee....

Man, if only God could yell...

By the way, did you know what a bl**dy mess you politikusians have made, and are continuing to make, purportedly FOR Malaysia?

And while we are at it, we have another smart politikusian prodding Malays to go 'glocal'...

Eh??

Glo... glo... glowhat???

I say...

Can afford ah???

Man, before you even dare to dream of running in the wild, please, for your own safety, learn how to walk first within your house compound!

But then again, heheeheh... heeehheee... it might be quite hilarious to watch the voracious lions in the wild tear up to pieces the 'unaided' sang kancil...

Poor baby...

OCEANIC BALLET DANCER



Was 'de-gassing' at about five meters
Thought I saw the initial letter of my sweetheart, Y...
But perhaps not, she said...
That's more like a figurine ballet dancer
Limps fully stretched...
Torso arched to the rim
flying, in midair...

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

DESCENDING INTO THE DEPTHS



Was one of the first to descend...
waited near the sea bed...
watching
and watching...
Fellow divers
cruising...
at Akajima, Okinawa

Sunday, July 17, 2005

AN EVENING AT THE OSAKA CHINESE GENERAL CONSULATE

Just returned from Osaka after an evening party at the Chinese General Consulate.

The invitees were university personnel working on foreign student issues.

As I see it, the Chinese General Consulate aimed to extend some goodwill to these personnel with regards to Chinese students studying at Japanese universities in West Japan.

Had reached Osaka early so as to visit the Dotonburi area, the place to cruise while in Osaka.

Was walking in the heat and my 'sepek' eyes almost shot out of their sockets upon seeing a high school uniformed student, sitting on a bench, baring her thighs to reveal her white-colored panties...

Heeeeeeeeeehhhhhhh...

Ordinarily, I would have howled... and howled...

But no no, not in 30 over degrees of mid summer heat... *puff... puff...*

Besides, Dotonburi is the place 'to go to see and be seen'...

And skeptical me... I suspected that she might just be fishing for some 'kind hearted goondoo uncle' to take her bait and 'supplement' her pocket money...

So, continue to walk, walk... see, see...

Then...

Was surprised to see the consulate heavily surrounded by policemen in bulletproof vests...

They asked for my identification...

Wooohh... no play play business ok...

Understandably, they were there to make sure that the ultra-rights behaved themselves while we feasted on the juicy dumplings and drank old Chinese wine...

I expected to be incognito at the party...

Out of the hundred over people, I knew only three...

One lady from Ryukoku University, one Chinese guy who was my junior at Nagoya University, and the chief administrator at Kagawa University...

The Consul took time and pain to explain the aching relationship between China and Japan.

Indirectly and diplomatically, he was urging the Japanese to apologize to China.

I took notes of his rather interesting 30-minute speech delivered in almost perfect, non-accented Japanese...

Impressed I was...

The Japanese professor from Kyoto University, who returned the speech, deftly evaded the issue.

I was bored to the core...

Well, we were there to enjoy the evening and to gorge at the delicious Peking delicacies, not to make an argument that does not seem to have immediate answers...

So, what better thing to do but to mingle around... ogle a bit... and pick on the morsels?

Of all the goodies, the mizu-gzoya (mini soup-dumplings?) was simply superb...

Had expected an uneventful episode but ended up spending a useful evening collecting a bunch of name cards while expanding my network of connections...

Next trip... Ehime University on 1st August

Next-next trip... University of British Vancouver, University of Victoria, and Simon Fraser University from 14th to 20th August...

Next-next-next trip... balik kampong probably from 23rd August to early September...

Heeeeeee...

Saturday, July 16, 2005

FISH FOR DINNER



Went fishing the other day at our secret hideout
No need to buy bait as I could get them from the rocky outcrops...
Ended up with three kelpfish...
Twenty-five, twenty, and fifteen centimeters...
Cooked them with salted plum, sake, ginger and shoyu
Somewhat boney, but fresh and so delicious...

Friday, July 15, 2005

A DAY WITH MS. OHO

Been doing this for more than ten years now...

Once again, the same veteran doctor, albeit balding more than last year, but luckily not spewing bad breath as in last year...

He mumbled the usual gibberish to his assistant as he peeped through my fangs...

Ichi go da da da... San ni ichi da da... Ni ni yon ichii ichii...

He was done in about ten minutes.

'No problems with your teeth; the Oral Hygiene Officer (for brevity, shall I say OHO?) shall attend to you now'.

This is the part I like most...

The OHO is usually a young lady, sometimes good looking, and usually with no bad breath...

This time, the OHO was indeed a young lady, good looking, and yoh, no bad breath...

She invited me to take my shoes off and then to lie down on the horizontal bed.

Eeeeeiiii....

As always, the OHO was most gentle and professional.

I usually close my eyes, resting, and enjoying the tender attention...

She visually checked my teeth...

I was a bit worried about gingivitis...

Just then, Ms. OHO softly whispered into my right ear that she was going to check for gingivitis...

Eeeeeiiii....

I could feel some sharp instrument sliding into my gums...

As if on reflex, I arched my backbone upwards...

She then said she was going to clean my teeth with some kind of electric brush...

The 'weeeeee' sounds of the drill...

It's impossible not to go 'yeeeeeiiii...' upon hearing that drill...

I could occasionally feel her torso delicately pressing against my balding head as she reached for that molar...

The whole procedure took about 30 minutes...

I wished it took longer...

After gargling and washing my mouth, we sat at a different room.

She had two diagrams showing the stages of gingivitis.

Stage one is the 'best', and stage five is when the teeth start dropping off.

Mine is between stage one and two... yeeeaaah, thank god for that...

Paid 2410 yen (about 80 ringgit) for this service, which is 30% of the cost.

The rest is covered by insurance.

Can't wait for my next annual leh...

PS: Been busy like a doggo lately. Due to shoot to Osaka in a few hours time... Maybe drop by Dotonburi to fill up on my cholesterol quota...

Monday, July 11, 2005

MALAYSIA TO HOST 2020 OLYMPICS

I am of course referring to that dazzling idea of Selangor...

Tomorrow it is Penang...

And limping by the day after is Kedah... * that forever slow kerbau *

On another front, there are people going around calling themselves princes and princesses (I suppose you know who...).

These people have no shame or what?

And on a related matter, the self conferment of feudalistic titles...

Heard of the joke about a Tan Sri who missed his flight in Bangkok?

He was jumping mad, naturally...

How could they possibly do this to a Tan Sri, he fumed...

And he roared...

'Did they page for me before closing the aircraft doors?'

Yes, the airport staff replied, and played back the recording...

'Will Mr. Tan immediately board the aircraft on Gate 38 please?'

A friend accused me of pedaling a limp joke...

I replied, 'you are learning fast'...

Back to the self-proclamations...

Will Malaysia ever dare to pit herself against other contenders to host Olympic 2020?

With all these hoohaa about Vision 2020, why not?

If she can come through hosting that 2020 event, there's no need for her to self-proclaim anything...

Just let her actions speak...

But then again, those wretched fellows and their ilk... feeling so comfortable in their cocoon...

Flash that dirty word 'COMPETITION' and they freak out...

Developed WHAT???

My *SS, it is...

CATERPILLAR ON THE PROWL



Found tens of small greenish caterpillars one morning...
Tried to remove them all, but...
Presently, about 5 or 6 are chewing away the fennel stalks & seeds...
Wifey says, let's spare them...
and see what beautiful butterflies they evolve to be...
(Size about three to four centimeters)

Sunday, July 10, 2005

ARE YOU MAN ENOUGH TO WEEP?

Talking about job satisfaction...

Had just concluded our maiden two-week Japanese Language program for 17 students from two Korean universities.

Being the primary 'mover', most of the coordination and problem solving efforts throughout the program fell on my shoulders.

Not that I am complaining...

In fact, I am having a ball of a time, despite some continuous sleepless nights in the initial days, worrying if the Korean students could sleep in their 'new' homes...

Thank god, I had the full support of the university staff, in particular the Section chief who is really, really meticulous about his work...

During the final presentations yesterday, conducted in interview format, the student-presenters, the host families, and the general audience... could not hold back their sentiments...

Being the MC, I could not afford to be sobbing... no, no, not in front of the video camera... I am a man, you see...

Besides, I have work to do... but man, it was really hard to hold back, though...

The Korean students major in Japanese Language in their respective universities.

But their communicative skills are somewhat lacking.

With few exceptions, most of them could not really express themselves... coupled with their apprehensions of how they will be treated by their Japanese host families...

But after two weeks with us, they opened their hearts up and albeit some occasional hiccups with the language, they related their personal experiences particularly on the home stays... on getting a taste of the tatemae-honne stance of the Japanese... and of their unfortunate histories...

The emotions erupted in waves and waves...

Emotions of joy... of relief... of having broken not only the language barrier but more crucially the cultural, and the historical communication wall... of making friends despite their prickly political relationships...and of the tribulations of 'finding' a new mother and father...

During the sayonara lunch party that followed, I called upon the host families to relate their experiences as hosts to the Korean students...

Amidst tears, many a parent talked of the pains and joys of having 'found' a new daughter...

All of the families have experiences hosting foreigners before but never, Korean students...

They were weeping openly... and hugging the students...

Man... I never expected a language program to end with such powerful emotions...

It simply gets on to you...

This went on for almost an hour, with yours truly resolutely hanging on, composed and still hosting, and attempting to crack an occasional dry joke to invite a smile or two...

Now as I blog while reviewing the pictures, I can't believe I am shedding tears...

Tears of delight... no doubt...

I say, it must be that rain...

Saturday, July 09, 2005

SONGS OF THE HEART

It is now past 9:00 pm on this eighth July day of Two-zero-zero-five...

Nothing significant really, thank god for that, except that yours truly had just turned forty seven and still rolling...

Update: Just received an email birthday wish from Fish Fish... San Kyu beree machi!!

Am now listening, repeatedly... to an oldie called リンゴ追分 (literally, Chasing the Apple?) by Misora Hibari while I recall receiving an email from a fellow Kedahan living in Melbourne...

He was fond of listening to 'old' Japanese songs...

'Chasing the Apple' belongs to a genre called 演歌 'enka', or Japanese popular (country) songs.

Throughout my years in Japan, I have grown to love this type of songs which I think represents very much, 'the heart of Japan', 日本の心 or 'Nihon no kokoro'.

Most enka songs are sad songs, focusing on perennial themes like unrequited love, separations, or heartbreaks, interspersed with generous references of sake, seagulls, tears, and lonely nights at the harbor...

Besides Misora Hibari, I am also a big fan of the Japanese grand old man of rock, Eikichi Yazawa.

He preaches about love and about having a good time while you can...

Lately, I have been enchanted by the counter tenor Yoshikazu Mera...

He has an operatic voice that is almost angelic... and he sings so gracefully and beautifully...

I don't listen much to English songs as much as I did before hitting the shores of Japan...

Except for that wonderful duet of Ella and Louis whose melodic voices are described as 'the mating of honey and molasses'...

But then, Earl Klugh has always been our all-time favorite...

How could he not, when we had only his music accompanying our wedding reception ages ago?

The Carpenters and Deep Purple helped me managed my teenage nights...

Lionel Richie and Queen, among others put me on track during my somewhat rowdy twenties...

The thirties saw me a pretty lost man, oscillating between J-pop and 'E-pop'...

Songs of the heart... I can't live without them...

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

HERMIT CRAB IN MABUL



Location: Paradise One, Mabul Island.
Time: early evening when I suppose this guy is getting hungry...
very shy guy... he retracted each time I got nearer
but with a little patience, he got used to my presence...

Monday, July 04, 2005

THE RAINS ALMOST MAKE ME WANT TO CRY

If there is one natural phenomenon that reminds me of home, it is the rain...

It is almost 5:00 pm on this early July Saturday as I pen this note, listening softly to the rhythmic koto renditions of Nihon no Uta (Japanese songs) like Sakura sakura, Hamabe no uta, and Kojo no tsuki.

The smell from the rain and the cool air however, gets the better of me...

I feel melancholic, even somewhat sad...

'Sad' as in almost wanting to shed a tear, for reasons quite unknown even to me...

After weeks of unusual dry weather, we were bombarded the day before with heavy thundershowers and strong gales.

As always, I was on my bicycle and I happily got wet on the way home from work.

Today, the thunderstorms and gales continued.

We had just brought the bunch of Korean students to a nearby temple to introduce them to the ceremonial art of enjoying Japanese tea.

The Lions club that has been supporting my efforts to bridge the foreign student and Japanese communities, once again hosted a superb event.

Over the years, I have had several opportunities to indulge in the tea ceremony and it is always a pleasure to observe ladies (usually) in pretty kimonos gently whipping up the frothy green tea and serving it on immaculately carved wooden trays to silently waiting guests.

Many a foreigner finds it a pain to go through the rather long process, which practically entails sitting on one's folded legs.

I have sort of like, gotten used to sitting in such a manner.

The Lions folks then treated us to an udon lunch.

This was followed by a tour of the shooting locations for the hit movie called 世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ 'Sekai no Chūshin de Ai wo Sakebu', shortened to セカチュー 'SekaChu'.

(English title: 'Crying Out Love, In the Center of the World', Chinese title: 在世界中心呼喊愛).

Many movie-going young tourists from all over Japan come by to visit the several shooting locations.

I have not even seen the movie... *shy, shy*

It is a tear-jerker love story about two young people who have to separate due to one partner being terminally ill.

Incidentally, the location of this hit movie is near the property we are purchasing.

While the whole troop was busying themselves with the shooting locations, I was uncontrollably drawn to the rain-soaked, rough-looking boats buoyed in the fishing port.

I think I am going to be busy shooting pictures after we move into the house...

Not of the movie locations, but of the delightful boats parked at the charming fishing ports of Aji town...

Meanwhile, the tsuyu rains continue to fall...

Tears of joy I should be crying...