ON WORKING IN JAPAN...

Received an email from a young Malaysian lady asking for advice about work in Japan.

She is planning on becoming an English teacher in Japan and I am quite impressed that tender as she is, she is already putting herself on track by gunning for the required qualifications...

Well, am not sure on how to 'advise' on this matter, except to yak about my mundane experiences as a teacher in the university...

One thing I can say is, foreigners probably need to be quite fluent in Japanese as well.

Perhaps becoming an English teacher in say, Australia is not so problematic because one can use English to converse with colleagues, in planning the work, etc...

But in Japan, even English teachers have to coordinate with Japanese colleagues in Japanese...

And we need to chat with our neighbors and shop for our milk in Nihongo too...

(Read the experience of auyongtc here...)

There are no two ways about this except to speak their tongue...

Incidentally, at Asia Pacific University the other day, a Singaporean academic curiously asked me about life in Japan.

My reflex answer was... life here is almost stress-free...

Japanese politics doesn't bog me down, and that is one big load off the shoulders...

(Still, I think Koizumi-san should pray at the peaceful Heian Shrine in Kyoto rather than at the contentious Yasukuni Shrine...)

Imagine if I were in Malaysia, I'd be gnashing and shortening my teeth (although I try not to) pretty frequently to hear those so-called 'honorable' politicians babbling statements that usually make little sense...

Of course there is discrimination and inconveniences (yes, even of the institutional type) here, but I don't lose sleep over those stuff...

I get respect, mutual that is, from the local community probably many times over from what I could ever dream of if I were to work as a faculty member in a Malaysian university...

For that, I normally get to snore away every night with a little smile on my contorting face...

Heeeeh...

By the way, the sakuras are still refusing to pop...

Chotto matte kudasai, neh...

Heeheeheee...

DRUNK WITH ANTICIPATION

Japan is intoxicated with anticipation on the looming sakura blooms...

This year, sakuras seem to bloom about a week or two earlier than 'normal' years...

Another indication of global warming... the 'experts' say...

The Japanese keep tag on what they call 'sakura zensen' (sakura 'front' as in a weather front)...

Okinawa of course will normally be the first to hit the front due to her southernmost location...

The front unmistakably moves northwards as the warm weather forces the sakuras to explode...

This year is very special to us because of the huge Somei-yoshino sakura tree in our garden...

It will mark the first time in our lives that we get to relish the sakuras in our very own space...

Yeeeeh...

I certainly need not go to the parks to photograph the sakuras from now...

The buds are getting pumped up, looking very plump and even juicy as I observed this morning...

There are also two more sakuras of the Sidare type in the garden...

These are willowy, with flowers flowing downward reminding me of a frail, pretty lady...

In addition, there are two yama-zakura or 'mountain-specie' sakuras, sort of like, wild sakuras...

Their flowers are smaller and by itself, not so 'enchanting' as the Sidare or the Somei-yoshino types...

However, as our neighbors tell us, the flamboyance of the yama-zakura rests on the hillsides, which literally turn pinkish when the wild sakuras start to bloom...

We are, you could say, getting dizzy with anticipation...

SCUBA DIVING LIFE JACKETS?

Been enjoying the conference at APU...

The presentations dealing with actual cases of Japanese universities sending students overseas are particularly beneficial...

But some, like the ones being presented now, are quite irrelevant...

So, escaped to blog...

Heh heh heh...

As usual, it is a joy to make new friends and renew old acquaintances...

Also got time to read some news on Redang's coral destruction...

And what's this?

'Touching on the safety, Abdul Rahim said divers should be made to wear life jackets. He said the marine park centre at Pulau Pinang, an island off Pulau Redang, had made this a requirement.'

Hmmm... divers to wear life jackets??

Huh?

HOT SPRINGS OF BEPPU

Heading to Beppu tomorrow to attend a seminar at Asia Pacific University (APU)...

Malaysians may be familiar with the one-village one-product movement...

The prime mover of this movement is Oita Prefecture, which encompasses Beppu city, a well-known hot springs territory...

Malaysia under Dr. Mahathir tried to learn this one-village one-product thingy from Oita...

But how successful are we... we never know...

Because as in most or all the projects in Malaysia, there never seems to be a follow-up on the progress...

There is no tail, so to say...　

APU is part of the highly regarded, privately run Ritsumeikan University of Kyoto...

APU's claim to fame is that, it is a 'bilingual' university with half of the staff and students coming from abroad...

I salute such universities, of which the graduate level International University of Japan (IUJ) in snow country Niigata is another one...

They are, no doubt, universities with fine ideas and noble aspirations...

The President of APU is a Sri Lankan gentleman whom I met long time ago at Nagoya..

He used to be with the United Nations...

Would be a delight to meet him again...

It will also be about 19 years since I last step foot on Beppu soil...

I came to Hiroshima in April 1987...

After studying for four months, I took a solo trip by ferry from Hiroshima to Beppu, armed only with broken Japanese and a backpack...

I look forward to 'boiling' myself in Beppu's renowned hot springs tomorrow...

Yeeeeee... we go alreadeaaa...

WHITE PLUM FLOWERS

Before the advent of the sakuras...

The plum flowers take the center stage...

There are three plum trees in the garden...

Two white and one red...

See related story here...

CRUISING THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Cycled to work today again...

Oooh my eyes... teary teary... and my nose... running non-stop...

It is the season of hay fever!! Archuuung!!!

Last Sunday was the first time that I managed to take time off to check out the neighborhood.

It was a lovely day... almost no wind, the skies... so blue, the seas, calm, and the waters so clear...

I felt good to be reminded that the sea, the beach, is merely a five-minute walk from my home...

When the temperatures rise, I shall be at the beach, frolicking for sure...

Had a good look at the surrounding (rather grand) houses built mainly for holiday-making...

Big terraces overlooking the sea... wide glass windows...

Neat gardens of vegetables and flowers...

Very pretty indeed...

Nearby was a mansion on top of a hill perched out into the sea... for sale at just about 3 million dollars?

We cycled through the quaint little farm roads, passing by streams trickling with precious little water... birds a-singing...

And gazed at pleasure boats and ferries plying the routes...

Back home, I pruned the two totally leaf-less persimmon trees...

Inadvertently discovered two average-sized sakura trees amidest some other 'less-precious' trees...

Over-pruned one healthy, green tree (called 'nezumi no mochi no ki' or rat's glutinous rice tree) as the night fell...

Next day at work, got a call from my better half...

She had a big shock upon seeing the naked branches of that once healthy and green rat's glutinous rice tree...

She lost her apetite for lunch that day...

Regret, regret...

Pray that the nezumi tree will soon sprout new branches and leaves as I originally expected...

Took some pictures of the blooming red and white plum flowers in the garden...

The vegetables and rape flowers as well...

To think that just about half a year ago, we lived, cramped and cluttered in a pigeonhole...

I intend to cherish life, my dear friends...

SWITCH OFF THE LIGHTS, YOU HEAR?

Picture the head of government having to tell the citizens that they 'should not switch on the lights of the whole floor just to use a room'.

Boyish... I'd say...

Juvenile...

This quality of government we have...

Hmmm... my beloved country... where are you heading?

ELEPHANTS IN LANGKAWI & BICYCLING IN BOLEHLAND

Huh? No more MAS international flights into Langkawi?

Thought it was only yesterday when MAS had that big huha announcing their maiden direct Langkawi-London flight... or, was I just imagining things?

Anyway, has anyone visited Langkawi lately?

Passed by there a few years ago on our way back to Alok Setak from Japan.

As expected, after the initial euphoria of free port status, the white elephants win again…

Book Village, Water Park, Galeri Perdana... they all looked pretty devoid of patrons so expected...

And the rundown Duty Free shop... dilapidated, uncompleted, ugly hotel structures... ferries that are rapidly becoming crappy...

It is still very much a kampong (which I like), left mutilated as it is...

Meanwhile, had quite a roar upon seeing the deputy PeeAm being bashed by citizens for his remarks urging Bolehlanders to change their lifestyle to match the increase in oil prices.

A letter in Malaysiakini, urging Bolehlanders to make more use of bicycles also caught my eye.

And then, we have the Perlis MB telling civil servants to cycle to work.

Hey, isn't he the guy who has a penchant for suggesting oddballs like, asking thugs to assist the government to collect overdue fees or something?

Anyway, my missus had been keeping an eye on the number of days I cycled to work in February...

Bicycle - 6 days, car - 21 days...

Hmmm... a rather pathetic record... especially in the era of skyrocketing petrol prices...

But wait... I have excuses...

The 21 days when I don't cycle, there was either rain or strong winds blowing... or I had to teach evening classes... and they were quite a few in February...

Am sure that nobody wants to see yours truly crashing his bike into a ravine at pitch-dark 10:30 pm, after a blistering session of lecturing…

But still, six measly days of cycling in one month...

Personally I would second the proposition that Bolehlanders cycle more... rising petrol price or not...

When I cycle to work, I do 20 kilometers one-way, 40 both ways...

On the way there, I take about one hour 10 minutes... the return trip takes about one hour...

Besides the benefits I get from the exercise, I just love this almost stress-free mode of commuting...

* Stress free, until you see a herd of teenage school kids monopolizing the whole bicycle path, and you go grrrr... *

A Philippine friend once remarked... you never learn how to swear until you learned how to drive a car... * or sometimes, even a bicycle? *

But cycling to work in Bolehland is a different ball game, I'd think...

Rather than the steamy weather, it is the road condition...

Even here in Japan, the cyclist in me takes quite a beating when riding on roads that have the slightest bumps... my bike just 'jumps' up... my bony bum takes the hit and I lunge forward, blurting out a wooooh!

There are generally good paths for bicycles although cyclists have to be really careful because pedestrians use the same paths...

But Bolehland roads?

When that Semi-Value of a minister built those roads, had he ever thought about 'bicycles'?

I am not even going to mention about those deadly potholes as yet...

Yeap, the government was gung-ho blind in chasing the automobile sector...

So, go curse that dead horse...

Roads in Bolehland are simply not made for cycling. Period.

And that jester of a man who prodded civil servants to cycle should at once mount a bike and cycle to work himself to start the engine rolling...

For if I were the man, I would first refurnish the roads, line them up with trees and make them bicycle friendly... the weather will take care of itself...

I am imagining things... am I not?

Yes?

HINA-NINGYO FESTIVAL

The Chinese are sometimes deep into stuff like 88...

Our Japanese friends have this affinity with 11, 22, 33, etc...

11 is wan-wan... the sound of dog bark... so we have the day of the dogs...

22 is nyan-nyan... the meow of cats... so, the day of cats...

33 is well, the Doll Festival... don't ask me why...

Took the above picture, among those of other 'kawaii' dolls, at Ritsurin Park...

They call it, 'Kitsune no Yome iri'...

Literally, the Coming of the Fox Bride...

The character in the background... yeap, you got it, he's the lucky guy...

I understand that 'Kitsune no Yome iri' is taken to mean some rather weird phenomenon...

As in, rain while the sun is shining... which sometimes does occur...

Come to think of it, hmmm...

The Fox Bride... pretty weird...

No?