Am I missing something here?

It's been a while. I've been kept occupied and generally felt lazy to do any thinking or writing. That hasn't changed lately but I thought I'd just add an entry for something that irks me.

I have never been much of a morning person, never will be. So it has never been pleasant to wake up to go to work. Storm clouds start brewing whenever the alarm clock sounds off the start of the rat race. A quick washup and playing with the cat muffles some of the rumblings as I head for the door and to the bus stop.

Electrical charges start building up once I step onto the bus. The ubiquitous annoying folks start to appear from every crack in the pavement. As if that's not bad enough, the thunder starts showing when it's time to board the train. From the queue-cutters to the "road blocks" to "sleeping beauties" that magically fall asleep whenever someone in need of a seat boards the train. And then there are the "scholars", people who insist of flipping and reading their newspapers even when everyone's crushed up in the trains.

Seriously, the civic level of the people in this small red dot has sunk to a pathetic low. I doubt it's ever going to rise to see the light of day again going by the liberal immigration policy of importing boorish "foreign talents" and the government encouraging the kiasu attitude that breeds selfishness.

Woe, woe. Doom is upon us. I'm packing my bags....

The writer detests the state of public transport and views it as a collaboration by private enterprises and the government to hood-wink the populance as "world-class". He doesn't have a good opinion of the general populance and the government anyway.

FUBAR - It's German

When a bird you have stays silent, do you:

1) threaten to kill it if doesn't sing?
2) make it to sing? or
3) wait for it to sing?

I'm guessing most likely you'll be choosing option 3 but let's face it, how many of us are patient enough to sit quietly and wait for things to happen? How many of us are even certain that things will even happen if we simply sit around? Many often take option 1 (even though they'd claim to take option 3 for this question) through the form of complaints and feedback in hope that the relevant authorities will listen and act on them. Unfortunately, we don't seem to be living in an ideal world.

Is option 2 really feasible? Are you able to take action against a big corporation? If you don't like the way things are run, it's not as if you can waltz in, snap your fingers and make things right. Not when the entire system is so twisted that by the time you're in a position to make a difference, it's just about time for you to retire. (This is of course not applicable to the "bright" young scholars who are propelled to their jobs based on their abilities to swallow and regurgitate piecemeal.)

Come to think of it, if people are empowered, emphasis EMPOWERED, to take action (option 2), will they even need to resort to taking option 1 (complaints)? And if one cannot stand the system, can one truely walk away from it all? Isn't that akin to simply running away without solving the problem? And where else can one run to when the entire system in the country is that twisted? Oh yeah, when joining the opposition is akin to committing social suicide, it boggles the mind to see how helpless one really is.

I'm perfectly fine sitting here and waiting for the bird to sing. I may not like the interval or the process but that seems to be the best option for me to take. Plus I'm cool anyway.

The writer is not happy with the many different processes but he has yet to launch official or formal complaints, simply because he is not that sort of person (Liar! You called me a slavedriver some time back! - Ed.). It would appear that this space is the only place left where he can air his opinions without any backlash or reprisal. Plus the blog doesn't bite back for the sake of biting.

Japan Yokoso 2010! Part 4

Having left Hakone, we stopped for a short break at the town of Odawara while waiting for our connecting train so I took the opportunity to make a quick visit to the relatively obscure Odawara castle.

The trains brought us to Asakusa by late afternoon where we checked in to our hostel. Since it was already quite late, we decided to head off to Ikebukuro in search of the "Otome road" or Maiden Street, a section of the shopping district of Ikebukuro that mirrors Akihabara but mainly serves the interest of female otakus (fujoshi). We managed to get to the area but could not confirm if that was it though so we headed back to our cramped quarters to rest for tomorrow's journey up North.

It's back to Nikko although much later than my previous visit. It was by late morning by the time we arrived so the light was kind of harsh. Instead of going to the places I went to before, we got the Nikko free pass and headed out to Lake Chuzenji and Kegon falls. The snow and mist on Mt Nantai was a sight to behold, as were the unmelted snow when we arrived at Lake Chuzenji. The scenary was nice but due to the shortage of time, we didn't stick around for long after lunch (500yen for some Yuuba 'sashimi'?) and caught the bus out to the shrines.

Having visited them before, my principle focus was to at least visit the Futaarasan shrine because of it's significance in relationships and marriage. Nice feeling to be back at the shrine with someone else in company. We both baulked at the entrance fee to the Toshogu so we simply headed out to the Narabijizo path to count the jizo statues before we headed back to Tokyo. The next day was a leisurely (and uneventful) day spent at Akihabara and an evening stroll at the kabuki-cho district at Shinjuku.

Of all the days, it had to rain on the day I head out to the Tsukiji fish market. It was cold and wet but it was nice to be back to experience the orderly chaos and to tuck into some fresh sushi (ordered the supreme sushi platter!). I was alone at that point in time as my partner was tired but we met up before lunch and headed to Saitama. Having arrived at Washimiya in the afternoon, we were greeted by the sight of the decorated mikoshi at the station! A new-found sense of fun made us brave the cold drizzle to head towards the Washinomiya-jinja, made famous by the Lucky-star anime. It was something we did not regret as we bundled into the cafe beside the torii gate. The theme is predominately evident with the decorated cars parked nearby as well as the artwork on the many prayer plaques at the temple.

By the time we went back to Tokyo, it was already evening and still drizzling but we headed out to the Tokyo tower anyway. I had not really planned extensively to have this special occassion on the top of the tower. It was more of an impulsive thing as I had only made hasty preparations for the visit only just before we flew over. I have to tell you, my mind was a total blank and my heart was full of butterflies after trying to filter through all the thoughts and plans to carry it out but I opted to keep it simple and just do it. The smile and the tears in her eyes was enough to cap off a wonderful and memorable first trip together.

The writer is not too pleased to be back although he apologises for the delay in the updates due to lethargy and the annoying feeling of simply being back.

Japan Yokoso 2010! Part 3

The next chilly morning, we set out for the famed bamboo groove of Arashiyama. In my madness, I opted to wear only a hoodie over my shirt for the day and I somewhat regretted that by late afternoon. The sky was overcast and there were intermitent drizzles but the most important thing was: it was freakin' cold!

The bamboo groove lost much of it's lustre in the poor light but it still has a peaceful charm to it, coupled with the fresh mountain air. I was somehow pulled along to take the Sagano scenic train ride and because of the timing, we had to settle for seats in an open-air car (the misery from the cold doesn't end there) but the scenery was beautiful and somewhat well worth the money (and agony) spent. At the end of the ride, we spent quite some time taking pictures of a gorgeous field of flowers before the threat of rain forced us to move on. Onwards to the Fushimi Inari Taisha.

It was rather surprising to find a lack of people activity when we arrived at Fushimi station. It was lunchtime so we holed up at this small restaurant beside the station and had a pleasant meal (at a relatively cheap price too). The "legendary" trail of bright red Torii gates was a sight to behold but the climb up the mountain was not something for the faint-hearted. It is near impossible to even count the number of Inari shrines along the path and there were countless numbers bunched up together as well.

Due to the setting of the sun, we opted not to complete the trail. We decided to give the Miyako Odori a miss as we headed back to the hostel and started packing our bags. Time to move on to the next stop! An early morning bullet train took us to the city of Odawara and then a train ride to Hakone. It took some struggling to get our (more specifically, my) luggages onto the small buses before we reached our Ryokan. As it was not time for us to check in yet, we had our 2-day Hakone free pass (misleading name, it's not free and it's not cheap too) and headed out to Moto-Hakone and Lake Ashi, where I was hoping to at least catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji to make up for the disappointment of not seeing it on my first trip to Japan 2 years ago.

Alas, it was not to be as clouds obscured the great mountain from what would have been a vantage point from the Lake. The pirate boat ride was kind of uneventful (but cold nontheless). From Togendai, we took the ropeway up to the famed sulphur crevices of Owakudani (again not able to catch Fuji-san from the vantage point along the ropeway. The pungent smell of sulphur hit us the moment we got out of the building. As we walked up the trail, the sight of unmelted snow greeted us and as I stared out again into the distance, I was pleasantly surprised to finally see the faint snow-capped cone of the elusive Fuji appearing from the clouds. It just made my day there and then. The subsequent ride down the mountain via the cable cars and the Hakone Tozan railway were uneventful, saved for the observation that the sakuras have yet to bloom at heights of above 550m.

Having retired for the day to our room at the Ryokan, we soaked ourselves in the bath filled from the Natural Hot springs before retiring for the night and refresh ourselves for the last leg of our trip.

Japan Yokoso 2010! Part 2

From Osaka, we dragged our lugguage down to the ancient capital of Nara and cramped them into a locker and proceed on a day trip round with visits to the various World Heritage sites of the Kofukuji Shrine, the Todaiji and the Kasuga Taisha Shrine. The deers were a handful to deal with so we refrained from the urge to feed them.

By the late afternoon, we were simply too tired to carry on and had to abandon a visit to the Heijo Palace site and the ancient burial mounds so we went to visit the Naramachi Lattice House instead (in order not to bore her further with Temples and Shrines). The train ride up to Kyoto was uneventful and slow (having missed the earlier express) and lugging the lugguage uphill, we reached the hostel in the early evening and then having to move back downhill to the annex where we will be staying, we were pooped out but still we made our way towards the nearby Gion district for some quick bite.

When we dropped off the bus and was walking around, we were stopped by a well-dressed middle-aged man who (somehow knew we were tourists) enthusiastically invited us to come along with him, as well as other tourists along the way, to catch the final night of the Sakura lightup (which the hostel manager told us about earlier). Warily we followed, not wanting to appear rude and was pleasantly surprised when we reached the Shirakawa canal and the sight of sakura blossoms lit up along the banks greeted us. We were so entralled by the scenary that we forgot to thank the man!

The following morning was a somewhat hectic day running around the old city from the Old Imperial Palace site (where we wasted an hour waiting for the receptionists at the Imperial Household Agency to come back from lunch before finding out we cannot gain admission that day) to Nijo castle and then an evening stroll down the Path of Philosophy with rows of gorgeous trees in full blossom along the banks (after forgoing a visit to the Ginkakuji for the day). A quick stopover at the Kyoto train station sky garden to take in the night scenary of the city before the end of the day.

It was with some great excitment when we awoke, for we are going to dress up in traditional garb for the day! Though somehow we woke up abit later than anticipated, the (irritating) crowd at the boutique delayed our day's adventure which saw us strolling uphill to the famous Kiyomizu-dera, down the three-year (sannen-zaka) and two-year (ninen-zaka) slopes and then on to the Gingakuji (Silver Pavilion) and Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion). By the time we finished, it was already late afternoon so we decided to go explore the Yasaka shrine, also known as Gion-sha (it is representative of the Gion District) and the Matsuri (Festival) there, watching the lighting up of the lantern offerings before we trudged back to the boutique. But not before stopping by the hostel for some private photo shoots of our elaborate costumes.

Having shed ourselves of the somewhat restrictive clothing, it felt good to be walking freely again and not confined by the clothing (and wooden sandles!) so we made a trip down to Gion again, hoping to try our luck at getting a glimpse of the Geikos and Maikos. A pleasant surprise awaited us as a Geiko and Maiko we had been observing from a teahouse came out upon invitation by the guests they had been entertaining! Before long, a large crowd had gathered and the duo could be heard in a semi-pleading voice for their mama-san, who was gamely smiling nearby! After we left the scene, we bumped into yet another Maiko! How lucky were we that night?