Friday, April 28, 2006

HOUSE FROM THE EAST SIDE



Here is a shot taken from the east side of the house...

Notice the three levels of roofs?

The lowest roof is where the Japanese Tea Room is...

We are planning to rip off the roof and put a terrace there...

That's the spot where the early morning sun shines and we want to be there... gazing out at the hills and the sea...

Hopefully, we can have breakfast there soon...

See that chimney?

Don't know why, but it is just a decor...

Monday, April 24, 2006

OWN GOAL

During the New Year, the Japanese folks in my community take pleasure in showing foreigners how to 'mochi-tsuki', literally, how to pound glutinous rice cake.

The glutinous rice is first steamed and the trick is to pound it swiftly, finely, and evenly while it is hot.

Otherwise the glutinous rice gets cold and becomes hardened.

Result is, 'han-goroshi mochi'... literally, 'half-killed' or figuratively, 'half-baked' rice cake.

Like half cooked rice, the taste and quality leaves much to be desired.

Meanwhile at Bolehland, my gut feeling is that, a majority of Malaysians prefer to have that silly Causeway Bridge plan locked inside a stainless steel coffin and dumped into the ocean deeps, never to see light again.

However, there seems to be quite a few Malaysians who are rather unhappy with our own decision to cancel the project.

Yes, Singapore is a tough nut to crack...

And these Malaysians blame Singapore for being a tough negotiator.

I say to these folks, instead of pointing the finger at others, blame our own selves.

We are the ones who put the present 'han-goroshi' politikusians to run, or someone said ruin, the country for us.

A little while ago here in Japan, lawmaker Hisayasu Nagata of the Democratic Party of Japan falsely accused a son of Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe of illegally pocketing 30 million yen from Takafumi Horie, the disgraced ex-president of Livedoor,

Nagata's basis was an email he received from an unidentified source.

The Liberal Democratic Party strongly protested and challenged Nagata to reveal the source.

Nagata refused.

All of Japan was plugged into this drama as the LDP pressured Nagata to resign as lawmaker.

He refused, and refused.

Then Democratic Party of Japan leader Seiji Maehara, resigned to take blame for this fiasco.

This made Nagata's position untenable and almost immediately, he resigned.

Now back to our han-goroshi politicians in bolehland.

They kicked the ball... Singapore deflected...
They dunked... Singapore ducked...
They hit again... Singapore bounced the ball...

Just then, our han-goroshi politikusians who did not do their homework, fumbled clumsily, and in the event, scored our own goal.

As far I can see, Singapore was never interested in replacing the Causeway.

Malaysia went ahead unilaterally with the plan years ago, and slowly but surely screwed up real bad.

Now, if there is something our reckless politikusians big and small, can learn from the so-called, probably dead by now, Look East Policy, they should quietly evaporate from the scene, just as Maehara and Nagata did.

Oh, I wonder if Malaysians recall that infamous incident whereby Columbian national footballer Andres Escobar accidentally no doubt, scored an own goal in a match with the United States in the 1994 World Cup.

The United States won and poor Andres Escobar was murdered days after he returned home.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

HOUSE WITH FULL BLOOM SAKURA

Here is a picture taken from a low perpective, as opposed to this one which was shot from high up the slopes...

That somei-yoshino sakura tree is in our garden...

Lovely...

Some mornings, birds flocked to the tree to sip the 'juice' from the flowers...

Been planting some fruit trees on the slopes around the sakura tree...

Stuff like figs, sakuranbo (cherries), gumi (some kind of berry), apples, blueberries...

Stay tuned for more pics...

AJI HOUSE, FROM THE SOUTH-SIDE LOWS



Shot from a low viewpoint, from the south-side just as in this shot...

Weather condition, cloudy with intermittent blue skies...

Time of the year, mid-April...

Somei-yoshino in full bloom... wooh...

Frontview is Lrong, I mean, Sasao Pond...

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

GLOOMY SKIES OVER THE WEEKEND

Weather over the past few days was pretty unpredictable...

Strong winds, rains, and most of all, hazy skies...

Which means, not too good for my kind of photography...

Was planning to upload a shot of my 'habitat' with the flowers...

But, with grey skies and all...

Can't believe that they are actually caused by yellow sand particles blown over from as far as the Gobi Desert...

Visibility reduced to about 4 kilometers in parts of the city...

Hmmm, not too pretty... and not too good for the eyes too...

Our cherries are just about 50% to full bloom...

Hope they will last till this weekend for my photo shoot...

Plus of course, blue skies...

Meantime, here is a shot of my 'cave' from high up on the slopes...

HUMBLE, RED TILE ROOFED HOUSE IN AJI-TOWN



Here is the 'cave' that yours truly have been hiding in since September 2005...

Picture taken while strolling in the hills on 2nd April 2006...

The Japan Inland Sea is on the north side of the house...

Weather condition, very windy... seas, almost choppy...

Part of the beach (Sasao Beach) can be seen on right side of photo...

Car park on left side of house...

Right side with the grey roof, partially hidden by the cedar tree, is the Japanese tearoom...

Central area is the lounge... kitchen... etc...

Japanese styled (tatami) bedrooms in second floor...

Monday, April 03, 2006

YAPPEE ANNIVERSARY

Yeeee... how time flies...

Nineteen years ago, on that third day of April, yours truly stepped foot on Japanese soil, and immediately headed towards Hiroshima University...

The stint was supposed to last two years.

It became three after I succeeded to sideslip into the Master's program.

And six, when I managed to sneak into the doctorate course...

Six became seven as I precariously hanged on to the doctorate-program cliff for an extra year, waiting for the Research Associate job opening my supervisor promised...

That position took me to nine years...

On top of this pile, ten years zoomed past me as I continue to sit on my revolving chair in the research room here in this university...

Incidentally, twenty-four years ago, on that very same third day of April, yours truly was accidentally introduced to a young lady in Hong Kong...

Four years after that fateful shoulder-rubbing event, on that very same third day of April, once again, this time by design no doubt, yours truly found himself swearing in front of a county judge in the semi-arid, cowboy town of Lubbock, Texas, that he will cherish, protect, and adore his bride in good times as well as in not-so-good times...

Woooh... what a cruise it is turning out to be...

So, on this unforgettable day when Bolehland continues to struggle and stagger towards her dead-set goal of achieving 'developed nation' status by 2020...

I wish my 'suweeto haato'... yappeee anniversary...