THE PLUM RAINS IN NIPPON

I just love the rains...

We are in the midst of the 'tsuyu' or 'baiyu' season...

Literally, the season of the plum rains...

Picked up about 15 large plums which were probably thrown down by the winds yesterday...

Asked my suweeto haato to make some plum wine out of it...

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Welcomed six students from two Korean universities last Saturday...

Five girls and one guy...

For the next two weeks, shall be conducting our third short-term Japanese Language Course...

(See related posts, HEADACHES ON THE JOB and ARE YOU MAN ENOUGH TO WEEP?)

I trust it will be yet another fun session...

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Meanwhile, the water lily is about to flower...

Can't wait to see the bloom...

And, just received several dwarf lotus plants from an elderly Japanese friend...

Ahh... lotuses and water lilies swaying gently in the pond...

Goldfishes darting back and forth...

Another dream come true...

HIGHWAY BUS TO KOBE

Throughout my time at Sultan Abdul Hamid College (oh no, not S.A.H.C. again), I particularly enjoyed the 'Physical Geography' class...

I somehow found excitement, reading and getting to know places far away from home...

Tucked in between the pages of the 'Japan' chapter was a photograph of the metallic-structured dockyards of Kobe port...

That image still lingers on in my memory cells...

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Had an opportunity to ride the highway bus from Takamatsu to Kobe some time ago for a seminar on international terrorism...

I found out that each time I take the highway bus here in Japan, I usually come away as impressed as I could bother to remember.

First and foremost, their punctuality...

Buses almost always arrive at the dot of time...

On occasions when they do arrive late due to traffic conditions or whatever, the driver normally apologizes profusely...

The overall condition of the bus, the windows, the aisles, etc... are pooh, so squeakily spotless...and the seats, almost crisp...

The seat belts are neatly in place, ever ready to be worn by passengers...

Plus, unlike most restaurants in Japan, strictly no smoking... (Heavenly!)

Announcements pervade much of life in Japan...

And buses, the highway types or not, are no exceptions...

The announcements regularly let passengers know what is happening...

But they do become too intrusive at times...

For example, each time a passenger embarks, the standard 'domo arigato' message...

Each time a passenger disembarks, another set of familiar 'otsukare sama deshita' recording...

When you thought this might be the end of it, the driver adds in his 'live' rendition of 'maido... '...

While all these are going on, the television monitor in the front area flashes messages urging passengers not to use hand phones onboard... to take care of their own valuables when they go to the washroom... and not to forget their umbrellas and belongings when they disembark...

Awww man...

Still, rides on the highway buses are generally smooth as fellow passengers are well behaved, minus the occasional loud-mouthed passenger on the hand phone...

As usual, that trip to and from Kobe turned out to be quite a breeze...

Impressed I remain, even after 19 years of continuous residence here in Nipponland...

HOUSE RENOVATION

Renovations on our second floor began this week...

That place of ours was very cold last winter...

We are 'collapsing' the two tatami-mat Japanese styled rooms upstairs to just one single large room...

Out goes the tatami mat, and in comes the hardwood flooring...

Pinewood walls on the east and west sides, tile walls on the north and south sides...

The ceiling... washi paper (Japanese paper...)

Will insulate all the walls to keep the room cool in summer and warm in winter...

Plus, double glass windows on the north and south sides...

A new washbasin and toilet...

A mini-kitchen for use in winter...

And a large hardwood sundeck to view the magnificent hills and the sea...

In my eyes, I see us enjoying our meals on the deck... (when conditions are right, that is)

Wheeee....

Oh yes... am surely looking forward to the renovation completion in about two to three months...

GOLDFISH IN THE POND

Last weekend, decided to buy some goldfishes...

Went to the local DIY and bought three Ko-aka goldfish... literally 'Little Red' goldfish...

Size... about 4 centimeters from head to tail...

Had planned to get the fast swimming, elegant Comet or the pretty but hardy Shubunkin...

But chose the Ko-aka because they were the cheapest (ahahaahaaa... Lrong the el-cheapo!)...

The water in the pond was rather cool, so I took time to orientate them to the temperature before releasing them into the water...

They seemed so thrilled... darting and swimming around the pond...

Wooh... another aspect of joy to look forward to each day...

Meanwhile, the water in the unlined pond is getting clearer...

Initially the color of milk tea, we now have what looks a bit like 'lemonade'...

In other words, the pond is becoming more translucent and pretty (?)

The tadpoles are becoming fatter...

I feed them nothing, so they must be consuming some minute organisms that found their way into the pond...

I had added in a patch of water plants and the baby kermits seem to enjoy chewing on the moss that gathers around the plant leaves...

Yeeeee...

F.F.G.G... Fat, Forty-ish, Grey and Glasses

Way back in April 1987, yours truly found himself in Hiroshima University attending a very exhilarating six-month intensive Japanese Language course...

We were 23 students, mainly from 'developing' countries...

Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia on this side of the world, and Uruguay, Mexico, Panama, Ecuador on the other side of the world...did I miss any?

It was a lovely period of my life, I'd say, spending loads of time yakking and picnicking with those buddies at Hiroshima Peace Park...

Those memories will stay on... I am sure...

Of the 22, two of them do keep contact with me... ladies, both of them... luckheee!

Recently, one of them dropped me an email...

Said the lady...

'Lrong, I checked your pix (blog). Beautiful. Not you, but the homestead. Truly beautiful. And you fraud, you haven't changed a bit. Don't suppose 'P' (the other lady, that is) has either. So I'll be the only one who is F&F/G&G. Didn't know you were a fisherman. Always thought you were a farmer.'

F.F.G.G... Fat, Forty-ish, Grey and Glasses, that is...

Hahaahaaaa... actually, me too... FFGG... and soon, although still an 'F', I will graduate into the Fifties...

She is right that I was always a farmer, at least in my soul... only that I am also an occasional fisherman these days... heeee....

And oh, if you allow me to brag a little bit, one of the Hiroshima-23 is now an ambassador of his country...

Woooh... now, what am I doing here in a university?

THE MARK OF A TRUE STATESMAN?

Very 'enlightening' indeed to read about the 'confessions' of Dr. Mahathir...

And very interesting to observe mousedeers caught in the crossfire, scrambling to grasp at straws while pleading for 'ceasefire' and 'stability'...

Growled the man on the present prime minister...

"I chose him and expected a degree of gratefulness. But I was told I had been involved in mega projects and had finished the (government's) money.'

Elections? We have elections in Malaysia, you say??

And 'conceding he had made mistakes in supporting people who later stabbed him in the back, he said: "I have a habit of choosing the wrong people".'

This?? After warming his butt on the throne for 22 years?

On the shelving of his pet projects, he sneered...

'The government claims it has no money to continue. That is why they stopped so many projects in Putrajaya. They have stopped the mosque, the monorail has been shelved. My contention is the government has lots of money and Putrajaya is built largely with Petronas funds. Petronas made a profit of RM50 billion last year and this year RM80 billion. Petronas has a lot of money. Petronas can build if you want them to.'

There!!! Ungratefulness... backstabbing... and if you may, plundering the nation's coffers to build dubious projects...

For 22 years, we had nothing short of a dictator... now; we have what many would consider a weakling...

Still, we have jesters on our payroll reminding us, 'Malaysia Boleh'...

Hmmmm... simply marvelous...

BLOODY SUNDAY KEEPING US AWAY

It's been a while since I let go some steam in the press.

While a student at SAHC, Sultan Abdul Hamid College in Kedah, that is, we read a book called Cry, The Beloved Country in the Literature class.

Now, I am not about to cry for my beloved country, Malaysia, as yet... although she seems to be increasingly run by a bunch of inepts...

Read my letter to Malaysiakini...

Bloody Sunday keeping us away
Kedahan-Malaysian in Japan Jun 2, 06 5:23pm

'Despicable' is the one word to describe the unnecessary and shameful police behaviour at the recent peaceful anti-price hike demonstration in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

Considering the claims by the 'leaders' about Malaysia being a so-called progressive nation, I find it appalling to observe the unwillingness and/or inability of the police to ensure the prevalence of peace and order.

Who do the police think they are? They are merely civil servants, whose job is to serve and protect the citizens, not to stand in the way of citizens when they 'speak' albeit through a peaceful demonstration.

Attempts at rationalising the crude and barbaric handling of the demonstrators sound like a broken record. To start off, what was the police’s game plan at the demonstration? Was it to maintain safety and order of the citizen-demonstrators, or was it to break up the demonstration in the shortest time possible?

Of course, we have individuals saying that the demonstrators have no 'permit' to demonstrate. If we are such a democratic country as claimed, citizens do not need permits to voice their displeasure at laws or rules that are deemed unjust.

I close by proposing that this distressing state of affairs is one of the many negatives that continue to keep Malaysian professionals abroad from returning home.

Yet we see 'leaders' continuing to talk of inconsequential 'sweeteners' such as enhancing the perks or increasing the monetary rewards to entice returnees.

To me, it is next to impossible to return to a police state.