Your Japanese word of the week is...

"tsuitachi" which refers to the first day of a month. Just as how in English we say "January first" instead of "January one", "tsuitachi" is used in Japanese instead. In my case, the most important date in the first quarter of this year is March 1st. That would be, as I've just confirmed tonight, when my next grading is. I certainly don't intend on failing but it's not going to be easy. Especially because I'm determined to grade under the most scrupulous of testers, those in charge of the Tokyo area test.

To that end, in September I started training once a week at Takagi Sensei's Guseikai dojo. It helps that he's one of the people on the grading panel so I'm trying to take in as much as I possibly can in the next two months. However, it's still difficult mainly because while the grading itself only requires me to do all the basics, two kata, and two pre-set partner drills, I don't know which kata or drills I'll be required to do until the day of the test. And because they're choosing two kata out of 4 and two drills out of 10, I essentially need to know all of them....... =P

And while it sounds stressful, it hasn't stopped me from enjoying my time here. For example, this weekend I...

... went to the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon.

As usual, I'll be putting up a couple noteables in a separate post.

... took part in the Shiramizu Arukou-kai, their annual new year walk to a shrine. The name actually comes from "aruku" (to walk) and "kai" (a meet/event), hence the name "arukou-kai".

Here are some pics from Arakawa Sensei's blog.

That's Arakawa Sensei at the head of the line.

It was a cold but bright morning and about 120 dojo members (Shiramizu has nearly 450 students!) came out for the walk which was about 1.5hr each way. At the temple, we prayed and had a short 5 minute "practice". At the end of the walk some parents had hot soup ready for us so it was great fun all around.

... went again to the Kagami Biraki at the Nippon Budokan. Like last year, it opened with an exhibition showing how the head of a samurai clan was given a feast followed by martial arts demos. I managed to catch the kyudo (archery) and karate demos, both of which were quite good.

Following that was the "First practice of the year". Nine different martial arts on the main floor of the budokan all practicing together. It great fun.

These next two pics are, again, thanks to Arakawa Sensei.

That's Carl, the current intern, right behind me.

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"jutai" which means a "traffic jam". But before we go any further, I'd like to wish everyone a very happy new year!

Anyways, back to the traffic........ these past three days (Jan 2 - 4) I was in Kyoto with Carl & Amy (the current Shiramizu interns) and Okano-san, a Shiramizu member who wanted to join us.

It turned out that having him along was incredibly helpful and I can't thank him enough. Not only did he arrange our accomodations, but he decided to drive there and back. That meant we didn't have to take the train to the various sights around Kyoto as well as saving us on Shinkansen fare.

The day started at 7am on Jan 2nd. I met Okano and we headed off down the highway towards Kyoto. Carl & Amy took the bullet train there, completing our nearly 6hr roadtrip in a little over 2hrs. Speed is everything...

But no matter, the sun was out, we had U2 blasting, and we stopped at various sights along the way.

Well, ok, there was really only one sight worth seeing- a Mt. Fuji not choked by pollution or drowning in rain clouds.

If I'm honest, I never understood the awe of Mt. Fuji. It's just a mountain surrounded by mountains surrounded by buildings. But driving towards it, I realised that it's the obvious and imposing size of it that makes it interesting. It always manages to stand out no matter what vantage point you look at it from. Whether its the constant snowy cap or how all the mountains around it look like they're holding Mt. Fuji high above the rest, it just sits there lording over the rest of Japan.

With a few stops on the highway and sitting in a short traffic jam, we arrived at Kyoto Station around 3pm and met Carl & Amy. We didn't do much except drive around looking for an ATM that wasn't closed (nearly everything is on holidays from Jan 2 - 4 in Japan, even, apparently, electrons) and finding the hotel. Oh, I also saw an Evo IX MR, which was wicked...

By that time, we just decided to check-in and meet one of Okano's friends for some great okonomiyaki and karaoke.

First impressions of Kyoto? It's a city proud of its history that has reluctantly let modern culture infiltrate its grounds. Similar to Vancouver in the lowness of most buildings and the wideness of the main roads, Kyoto looks really uncomfortable with itself. Seeing the spaghetti knots of power lines string their way into blocks of tile-roofed houses is an unattractive way of mixing new and old. But hiding among it all are pages and pages of history... Oh, and I saw a Bentley Continental Flying Spur, which was wicked...

Day 2 started at 8am and we packed it with lots of stuff. After some breakfast, our first stop was the Kiyomizu-dera. The Buddhist temple is famous for things like a perilously droopy stage in front of the main hall and the Otowa waterfall where three streams of water fall into a pond and drinking from them individually bestows wisdom, health, or longevity. But not all three as some believe being greedy invites misfortune.

It was also at this point that I realised I've been to Kiyomizu before, as I distinctly remember having my picture taken drinking from one of the streams..... obviously it wasn't wisdom otherwise I would've remembered it wasn't my first visit...... oh well.....

I should also say that visiting shrines and temples after the new year are very popular for people wanting to ensure a prosperous start. As such, Kiyomizu was extremely packed but we made do. Finishing the walk around Kiyomizu, we headed to our next sight. On the way, I saw a Caterham, which was wicked...

I accidentally stumbled into Kiyomizu's colour-void area...

Next stop was the Byodo-in, a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Kyoto city famous for it's large Phoenix Hall. The entire area used to be a gigantic villa and it was converted into a Buddhist temple in 1052. Though all that remains of the villa now is the Phoenix Hall which houses a huge wooden sculpture of the buddha Amitabha covered in gold foil. You can also find the Phoenix Hall on the back of a 10-yen coin.

The small bridges that lead to the Phoenix Hall...

Fittingly, Amitabha is the "Buddha of Infinite Light" and the hall (more like a room considering its size) used to be covered with things like mother of pearl in order to reflect as much of the meagre light entering the hall as possible. Above the front door is also a small window designed to illuminate the statue's face which, along with the fact that you have to crane your neck upwards to look at it, serves to enhance the feeling of awe as you look at Amitabha.

Unlike wine, however, it hasn't aged well and many of the carvings and paintings on the walls have long faded away. It remains unrestored, which I kind of like, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site like the Kiyomizu Shrine. The sculpture itself is a national treasure.

The best part of the Byodo-in is the sheer size allows there to be lots of people without ever feeling crowded, something none of the other temples/shrines could do.

Some detailing on a Byodo-in building...

After a quick lunch, it was off to Rokuon-ji, better known as Kinkaku-ji or the "Golden Pavilion Temple".

The temple was commissioned by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as a retirement home and was converted into a temple by his son. It's often spoken of in relation to the Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion Temple) built by Yoshimitsu's grandson in an effort to emulate Yoshimitsu. The latter, however, was never covered in silver.

The pavilion itself sits among a very beautiful garden and in the middle of a serene pond, aptly named the Mirror Pond.

It was also burned down in 1950 by a monk.....

It was rebuilt and in the last 15 years has had everything from the gold foil to the roof restored. Still...

After Kinkaku-ji it was a short hop to Ryoan-ji, a temple most famous for its rock garden. I first heard about this in grade 9 and so it's been nearly 10 years coming that I see this.

The premise of the rock garden is that while there are 15 rocks in the garden itself, the most that can been seen while seated is 14. It is said that becoming enlightened allows all 15 to be seen.

I must, however, be honest with a few things.

First off, I was initially intrigued because I thought it was designed so that you couldn't see all 15 from ANY angle. In reality, you are limited to only one side of it. Though I suppose that makes it significantly easier to hide at least one rock from view.

The other thing is that as I moved from left to right sitting in different positions, by the halfway point I picked out exactly where the missing rock was. I have no idea if being enlightened and "seeing" the rock allows for its "visualization" but I'd like to think so... kind of makes up for missing the wisdom water at Kiyomizu heh....

Despite all those things and the sheer number of visitors trying to see all 15 rocks, I really liked it because it and the surrounding grounds are really very peaceful.

The grounds at Ryoan-ji.

By this time, it was almost 5pm and rushed though we did, we didn't make it to Ginkaku-ji before it closed. But we saw quite a bit that day and after a bit of dinner and souvenir shopping, we went to bed.

The third and last day started at 8:45am when Carl, Amy, and I walked to the nearby Nijo-jo Castle. It normally opens at 8:45 but because of the same Jan 2-4 holiday we and the electrons were on, changed its opening hours to 10am. I took a picture of the (closed) doors....... Oh, I saw a new Nissan GT-R too, which was wicked...

Lastly, before leaving Kyoto, we stopped by the Kamogawa River Park, a neat little park at the fork of Kamogawa River which runs along one side of the city. In the park is a fun stepping stone path that allows you to cross the river and some cool stone sculptures of turtles and fish along the way.

I also have to mention the Shin-Meishin Expressway which we used for the early leg of our return journey.

I loved this road because it exemplifies the Japanese penchant for engineering their way out of everything. Where there was a mountain they built a tunnel. Where there was a gorge they built a bridge. In fact, they went so far to streamline the process of moving machinery along the road that it is almost entirely flat, despite it punching through endless hills and valleys. The Omi-Odori bridge actually connects directly to a tunnel so that the road on either end of it is level!

It's also paved with silky smooth asphalt and even on the bridges there are no road seams. It's also WIDE! Two hard shoulders and two massive lanes. And empty- even at 12pm!! Oh, I saw a Porsche 550 Spyder too, which was wicked...

What with gentle curves, smooth pavement, and immense length, it would be easy to test the limits of whatever you're driving.......

It's hard to express just how badly I wanted to drive that road....

But the fun was shortlived as we neared Tokyo and hit traffic that stretched out journey to nearly 10hrs. Driving through the interchanges in Tokyo also gives you some idea of just how complicated the road network is. On- and off-ramps snake in all directions and roads loop around and through each other, sometimes 4 or 5 stories above a similarly busy local road network below. It's amazing they even managed to fit it all in... Oh, and I saw a Ferrari 360 Spider, which was wicked...

All in all though, it was a great trip and definitely something that needs to be done to get a sense for how deep the history runs in this country. Because while Tokyo has historical sights, it certainly can't convey it like Kyoto can...

I'd also like to say I'm quite happy I bought my camera. Despite the cloudy weather and drizzle for the better half of day 2, I left it to do its thing and I would say about 80-85% of the pictures came out well. A couple of them have overexposed skies but considering how dreary the light was all day, I can't really blame it. Only a handful of times did I need to fiddle around with the settings to get the shot I wanted.

Of course, I've tweaked all the pictures here slightly, but I think they turned out ok......

This last one I just pointed-and-shot but I quite like it for some reason.....

Next up, the Tokyo Auto Salon 2009!!

Your Japanese word of the week is...

... gonna be hard, since it'll be the last one of '08 heh..... anyway, it's

"-nakereba naranai"

The dash represents any verb you'd like to put in there (well, some require slight conjugation changes) or, as I found out, adjectives...... let's try this one....

"Ikenakereba naranai"

Iku = to go

Ikenai = to not go/can't go

-kereba = ones of the ways of saying "if"

Ikenakereba = If one does not go

naru = to become (I mentioned this before I think)

naranai = can't/won't become

So "Ikenakereba naranai" is, essentially, "If one doesn't go, nothing will come out of it". Or, in a manner that's slightly easier to understand, "One can't NOT go". Or, in a manner that's even easier to understand, "One MUST go".

Yes, you read that right. It's a double negative expressing just how important something is.

The reason it's so hard to understand is that, in English, it's been taught for so long that double negatives are usually a grammatical no-no that when you hear it for the first (and, like, 30th) time, deciphering it in your head takes so long that whatever you should've been doing has already passed.

Anyways, feel free to digest that over the New Year...... I know I have been for the past, like, 6 months haha.....

Besides that, since the last time I wrote, quite a bit has happened.

There was a Shiramizu year end party.

I visited the Meiji-Jingu Shrine (again) with some friends.

And I saw the Shinjuku Illuminations, one of many in and around Tokyo.

And then just meeting up with lots of friends I haven't seen in a while.

Tonight it'll be New Year's in Tokyo so hopefully I'll have a story as interesting as the one last year........ perhaps more heh...

And on January 2-4, I'll be in Kyoto.

So I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's and I'll catch you in '09!

-Lawrence

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"yasumi" which means a "rest" or "break". But it can also means the same thing over a longer period of time, like a "holiday". In my case, technically, it lasts til January 8th.

So what does one do with holidays in Tokyo?? Everything, of course heh.......

I know quite a few people going home for the holidays so I've been running around seeing them before they leave. There's also been these year end parties (bonenkai) that I've been going to as well. But, so far, the furthest I've gone is to Yokohama on Monday.

Technically I did come here last year but this time, aside from Chinatown, I did different things. First off, I actually went up that "tallest building in Tokyo", the Landmark tower. I have to admit though, I found it rather uninteresting. Aside from an elevator that does 750m/min (45km/h), the view out just didn't seem that good.

I find high views of Tokyo to be clogged with buildings and while buildings can be interesting, it's almost over-saturated with them so it's hard to pick out anything interesting to see. Added to that the fact that it's hard to find a day with enough clarity (weather-wise or pollution-wise) to see really very far (like Mt. Fuji) and the Landmark tower's 69th floor quickly became a brief walk-around.

The tower also has a Museum of Industrial Science on the first floor but, as this is Japan, it's closed on Mondays.... I would've rather gone to that.......

After that, we (I went with Carl and Amy, the current Shiramizu Interns) made out way to Chinatown. And just like last year, there it was in all its overly-Chinese glory. One thing I didn't notice last time is that if you go in through the main entrance, the very first building you hit is a Starbucks........ some things just never change heh......

Chinatown is also something that never changes...... like I said last year, Yokohama's Chinatown is as much as visual attraction as anything else, so it's adorned with lots of stuff that people associate with China. Dragons, temples burning incense, a giant mural of Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, it's all there.

As is this. A Hello Kitty dressed as a panda posing like a maneki neko (those white cats with raise paws that supposedly bring luck to their owners).

Despite that, it's fun to just walk around and have a bit of food from the street vendors and whatnot, especially if you live in the area. We don't, but we had a rather good lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then went on our merry way.

We made out way out of Chinatown and decided to head towards Yokohama Foreign General Cemetary, which started in 1854 when Commodore Perry returned to Japan a year after he arrived in his famous black ships. On his return, a sailor died during negotiations and Commodore Perry request a piece of Japanese land to bury the sailor at. And thus began the foreign cemetary wherein now rest many famous and historical foreigners, as well as many who died in the Pacific theatre of WWII.

From there, it's a walk downhill to the sea-side Harbour View Park. While this would normally be great with a view across the inlet to Tokyo, by this time it was getting a bit dim and extraordinarily windy. We left the park and headed for Yamashita park which is quite literally across the street and runs for a large city block parallel to the shore. Nothing to do there either though heh......

We decided then to call it a night and headed for the train.

That would be Carl and Amy on the right, walking under a very neatly trimmed tree-cum-awning...

In the meantime, I hope every has a safe and fun Christmas and New Year's!

Or, as the Japanese say, "Me-rii Ku-ri-su-ma-su" and "Yoi otoshi o"!

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"bokeru" which means "to blur/fade". It can be used in two ways, one being the actual blurring of something (like an image) and the other being someone who's senile or otherwise got a fuzzy mind. You can also use it in a derogatory way by calling someone a "boke" (not bohk, but bo-keh).

This word entered the photography world for a similar reason and so "bokeh" describes the blurring of an image's foreground or background with certain camera lenses. It's actually rather complicated to explain why it happens (it has to do with the aperture of the lens and depth of field) but it essentially allows the photographer to blur all the things in front or behind of the object in focus in order to minimize their distraction. It's something I've always noticed in pictures but never knew the name for or how to achieve.

I should note that I bring all this up since I've decided, since I don't currently have a car to waste all my money on, to take up photography. It started in July when I basically played photographer for two weeks to help with Seiritsu's Japan Experience! program. After that, a few weeks ago, at the Tokyo Automotive Games show, I realized I wasn't getting the pictures I wanted.

So, after nearly an entire week of constantly reading camera reviews, learning the terminology, and dissecting the physics behind light, I found a nice guy on Tokyo Craigslist to sell me his DSLR stuff. It was a fairly decent deal including a 6-month old Sony α300, a 16gb CF card, a Lowepro bag, and a mid-telephoto in the shape of a Minolta 70-210mm, affectionately known as the "Beercan". All for cheaper than the cost of a new camera.

Some might scoff at the fact that it's not a Canon or a Nikon, but for now, I'm quite sure I can't tell the difference. I can, however, tell a difference in price...

Anyways, back to the bokeh...

I suppose it's a bit hard to see in a small picture (I resized it for the sake of the internet), but the bike and the tree in the foreground are conveniently blurred to (hopefully) draw the viewer's eyes to the Honda logo.

Of course, pictures aren't pictures without post-processing and I suppose at some point I should learn all of it. But for now, I just shoot JPEG's and see where it goes. Black and white seems to be popular though, and that's easy enough to do......

Anyways, I took these two pics just a few hours ago when I went to a nearby park to take random pictures. I took a lot and many didn't turn out, but what with Christmas lights strewn all over Tokyo, travel plans to Kyoto, the Tokyo Auto Salon, a trip to Hong Kong, and blasting across Japan on the the Bullet Train all coming in the first half of 2009, I'm sure I'll have more chances to really sort it out.

Oh also, this past Sunday I went to the 36th Japan Cup Karatedo, which is essentially the highest level national karate competition in Japan. Special thanks to Anna for holding my program for me =P.......

Double thanks to her catching this picture...

"Use the Force, Luke" =P....

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"omou" which means to "think". "Omoimasu" is one of the conjugated forms of the word and, just like English, you can also use it when you're not totally sure of something; "Lions don't eat humans.... I think..." or "I think tar & feathering people should still be a viable punishment..." And while I'm quite sure of the former and do consider the latter to be quite hilarious, there are a bunch of other things I've been thinking about...

Water on one of Saturn's moons

I understand why we're always looking into space. I understand the desire to find water on other intra-solar system objects. I would even venture to say that, even with nearly impossible odds, I understand that the universe is so vast that there is a possibility of life.

However, what I never understood was why we limit ourselves to finding only water. The link above goes to a Popular Science page about finding evidence of water on Saturn's moon Enceladus and it says that "[...] water is a fundamental requirement for life." And while I do think that having water certainly makes the possibility of life greater, I also think that just because all the lifeforms that we know of require water, why does that mean all other forms of life must require water as well??

There are lots of interesting theories behind abiogenesis (the theory of the origin of life), but they're all based on life that we know. But couldn't life that we don't know be based on a method we've yet to see??

Wheeeeeee....

It's not really as impossible as it seems. Floating something just requires an object to be less desnse than the fluid/gas it's in. Helium floats in air. Humans float particularly well in the Dead Sea.

In this case, the chemical in the tank is sulfur hexaflouride (SF₆) which is 5 times as dense as air. So something like an aluminum foil boat that normally "sinks" in air will float in a tank of SF₆. And you can see that it follows the same physical principles since scooping the gas into the boat makes the boat heavier and thus causes it to sink. It's just rather convenient that it's also transparent.

It's also, apparently, safe enough that you can inhale it to change your voice, like you would with helium. Except that because it's more dense, it'll make your voice deeper.

Now we just have to wait for a swimming pool filled with SF₆, because that would just be awesome.....

What the hell...??

Some pretty weird stuff happens in Japan...

I should say, before you read the rest of this, that Japan is not unsafe. On the contrary, I feel less on-guard walking around at night than I do in downtown Vancouver at night. But there is a hidden amount of extremism in Japanese culture and perhaps that has something to do with it. I also think that the much larger population means even if the chances are slim of a certain event happening, it's more likely to happen here... that and the oft commented on stress levels of Japanese people...

79-year old woman stabs 2 - said she was homeless and sought to be "in the care" of the police

Kansai University graduate gets 3-yrs for marijuana trafficking - Japanese officials are treating cannabis as the new plague; lots of arrests, lots of multi-year prison sentences, especially among university students

High-school girl stabs mother - said her mother didn't help around the house and thought the world would be better off without her

Man gets 5-yrs for throwing 3-yr old from pedestrian overpass - intellectual disability hindered his ability to differentiate right from wrong, but not his ability "[...] to foresee the boy would die if thrown"

14-yr old girl sets fire to own house - said she was angry...

Man stabs girlfriend over break-up; jumps off hotel - 22-yr old man stabs his 17-yr old girlfriend 10 times after she breaks up with him, proceeds to jump out of 7th floor of the hotel they're in, survives with a fractured elbow (ONLY?!?)

The only other thing I'd like to say is that the people accused almost always seem to admit to a crime. Perhaps something gets lost in the translation, but when a man was asked why he hid his dead father's body for 2 years, he admitted that "he wanted to keep collecting the pension"....

Deserves to be tar & feathered

In Southern California, a Ford dealership manager took out a radio ad in which he proceeded to lash out at the Japanese car industry and the people who buy Japanese cars. He accuses people of not supporting the economy and calls Japanese cars "[...] rice ready, not road ready", whatever the hell that means.....

These kind of comments really get me.

First off, people don't buy Japanese cars for the sake of buying them. They buy them because they're better designed, better built, and competitively priced. The Big 3 are begging for money because for too long they've sold cars that fell apart and looked awful. Build good cars and they will come, as evidenced by the Ford F-150 which sells in droves.

Secondly, lots of Japanese cars sold in America are built IN America, by Americans. Buying those cars supports the people who make them. A lot of these cars are good quality not because of where they're built or who builds them, but how the company manages the production. Lots of Toyota plants in America, for example, win JD Powers Initial Quality awards.

Lastly, while the cars are a problem, the United Auto Workers union doesn't help the Big 3. A lot of their problems are tied down to deals they've worked out with the UAW that's draining their accounts. The Japanese manufacturers are union resistant and, as it turns out, their workers are actually getting paid more when bonuses and overtime are taken into account.

To be fair, American cars of late have been improving. I can name lots of cars from GM, Chrysler, and Ford that I like. I can't, however, name lots that I would spend my money on. The worst is changing the stigma of "American" cars. Lots of people still choose because of the badge, whether it's not buying a great car from an unwanted brand or buying an atrocious wreck from a desired name.

But ultimately, that this guy's business is going down the drains has nothing to do with the import car industry. All the companies are experiencing lower sales, not just American ones. Toyota's cutting production. Honda's even pulled out of Formula 1. It's just that the American manufacturers have been running out of money for so long that the economy is now just twisting the knife even more.

People have a right to be upset if their job is threatened, but that guy.......... spewing racist, ignorant comments is not where to start. Bring on the feathers, I think... =P

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"mata", which is often used as "again". So you might hear someone say "mata taberu?" (Eating again?) if you suggest dessert after a really heavy meal. Or a common way of saying goodbye "ja mata" as in, "[See you] again". Or even "mata desu ka" for "More?".

But I think the most fitting one for the following picture is "mata ka yo~?" meaning "Not again?!", "ka" because it's a question and "yo" being a sound added for emphasis like you'd find in Cantonese.


Yes...... do it at home, indeed......

Just in time for the holiday season. Although the Japanese don't celebrate Christmas or even the New Year with any type of extravagant party, a really popular function is the "bonenkai", which is a year-end party, be it for work or a club or anything. Both dojo's I'm training at are having separate bonenkai's as is the school (probably). As expected, imbibing is rampant....

This image was actually posted on an English site for Japanese news and sparked comments about the choice of English as the alternate language, the sign assuming that English-speaking foreigners contribute heavily to the drunken behaviour. I find that a little over-reactionary since leaving out any foreign language doesn't account for the percentage of non-Japanese "not doing it at home" but printing it in every single language leaves no space for a picture of THE SAME OLD MAN awash in the displeasure of being around a social deviant.....

A better comment than that, however, was someone commenting on the fact that it says "Please". as if this was some option statement to be heeded, not some kind of directive to be followed (indeed, it's written in a much more forceful manner in Japanese).

The best, however, was a comment saying how the poster seems to expect everyone to celebrate all their year-end festivities at home...... by themselves......

At any rate, I just thought you might get as good a laugh as I did.......