Your Japanese word of the week is...

"hisashiburi" 久しぶり which translates to "after a long time". It's heard most often when you see someone again after a long time and basically means "It's been a while/Long time no see". For me it applies to my aunt, cousin, and the general country of Hong Kong, where I'm staying from April 1-19.

In truth, when I was getting ready to come here, I wasn't really expecting much. It's not my first time here and there are lots of parallels to draw between HK and Tokyo, so it couldn't be that hard to adjust, right? But, as I've found in one simple day out, HK and Tokyo are vastly different despite similar outward characteristics like lots of people in a small place, lots of tall but narrow buildings, and lots of taxis (below right).

The biggest thing is simply that while Japan always feels like a country where the image and the reality can (and are) quite different, Hong Kong has a distinctly "straight-forward" feel to it. People certainly aren't as courteous be it in shops, restaurants, or in the street. But having seen my share of aggressive or gossipy Japanese people beneath the image, seeing people in HK simply just being who they are is..... well...... not good, but..... refreshingly honest, let's say.

The city itself looks like that too. Each of Tokyo's areas look as they should whether it's a high-tech business hub or a rustic area surrounding a temple. On the other hand, HK just looks like it was built as is, on whatever budget the builder could afford, and not fixed til it broke. Lots of buildings darked by age sit right next to (or on top of) big office towers while street vendors sell their wares in stalls/shacks.

Even the fashion sense here is slightly different. People somehow look slightly less trendy, as if they saved a dime here or there whenever they could while many Japanese look like they subsisted on cup-noodles just to buy real things at real prices. As I mentioned before, there's a very real sense of honest pragmatism here...

Of course, I promptly went out shopped amongst the pragmatic vendors. There's lots of great deals to be had considering everything is made in China and those factories seem to have no qualms about making an extra few "samples" to ship over. Fakes can still be found but I have honestly seen things for sale in Japan (an Edwin messenger bag, for example) sold here at half price.

Shopping aside, it's been great just being here spending time with my aunt and cousin. And their absolutely insane Pomeranian, Lola (left). And on Saturday I'm going to see my grandpa, which I'm excited about. Oh, and getting my Chinese back up to speed of course =P......

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"hirakegoma" 開けゴマ. The first half of the phrase (hirake, 開け) means "to open" and the second half (goma, ゴマ or 胡麻) means "sesame". Yes indeed, hirakegoma translates literally to "Open Sesame!".

I found out this neat tidbit as I was standing in front of the Komazawa Olympic Gym (web page is Japanese only), built for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Waiting for the doors to open, I asked a friend what people say when they want doors to open and she quickly answered "hirakegoma!". While we stood there blabbing away about the crazy odds that the phrase is the same in both English and Japanese, another friend calmly pointed out that the phrase comes from "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", hence the same translation..... right....

Anyways, this past Sunday was the Kanto area Wadokai Championships. I competed in this last year as well, but for some reason it looks like I forgot to write a post for it. Anyways, last year all I did in kumite was give my opponent a bloody nose and all I did in kata was not win.

Usual large Shiramizu turn-out. Picture courtesy of Arakawa Sensei's blog.

This year, because of a slight registration mix up, I was entered in kata only. Which was fine with me, but I found out that they also split up the university students from the adult kumite divisions, which means I would've stood a better chance had I entered kumite. Mostly because university students in Japan are known for not really studying (they do that in their high school years leading up to university) and thus spend every waking moment taking part in whatever club they're in, karate included.

Either way, I watched the kumite rounds and got ready for my kata match. I had set my sights on Top 8 for kata but that didn't happen because I crashed out in the first round. Luckily, Carl taped my performance but after watching it twice, I still couldn't see what the difference was. I felt I was sharper on a lot of the moves but somehow the decision still went to the other person.

I had a short chat with one of the judges after the division was over and he explained that while there was nothing "wrong" with my performance, there were lots of little details that were missing. I asked for an example and he just said "Lots of different ones". Sufficiently confused, I thanked him and sat down to ponder the profound statement.

It wasn't til the day after that Richard explained that perhaps the other guy's kata had more "emotion" and that helps even if the kata itself isn't as good technically. That made a lot of sense and explained that judge's comments and the video difference....... so, it's back to the drawing board.....

Arakawa Sensei leading the afternoon demo. Picture courtesy of Arakawa Sensei's blog.

I had a good time despite that, as I always do. But the absolute best part was that all of the Shiramizu instructors (all of whom, I believe, are over 40) competed except two, who were judges. It's inspiring to see them compete and even better that a few of them took medals home.

In fact, special mention goes out to Yoshihara Sensei who won silver in BOTH senior women's kata and kumite. I should also mention Uchida-san who, after getting his black belt just two weeks ago, went in and won the senior men's 50+ kumite!

Here's to hoping that I can be that sprightly when I get to that age haha......

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"okagesama de" おかげさまで which means "thanks to" or "owing to". It's not the same as directly thanking someone, but it's more said in relation to something happening as a result of someone caring.

The phrase could be found on posters celebrating an anniversary of a restaurant for example, thanking customers for years of patronage. Or, if someone asked how you're doing, you could add "okagesama de" after your response to show you appreciate their caring. And, of course, it applies directly to someone helping you do something.

Picture courtesy of Arakawa Sensei's blog... because I had no camera... again...

In my case, I want to thank Arakawa Sensei and Shiramizu, Takagi Sensei and Guseikai, and Richard for helping me pass my sandan test this past Sunday. I was originally going to take one in June but Carl needed a partner for his nidan test (which he passed! Congrats!) so I took my test with him. Extra congratulations to all the Shiramizu students who passed as well, including Uchida-san- 50 years young and getting his black belt!

The test was in the same place as last year (in Chiba, near Tokyo Disneyland) and run by more or less the same people. The tested material was the same as well, especially since this one lets you choose some of the things you will do.

The test in June was to be the Tokyo area one and it's harder since there is a range of things they will ask you to do. They'll only ask you to do one or two of the things, but since you won't find out which until the day of, you essentially have to know them all. I planned on (and prepped for) this Tokyo one, but I didn't take it....

That, however, was not the only thing I'm grateful for. I'm also grateful for this...

A Stig mug!!! And a giant chocolate egg to go with it!

This I got from Fiona who came from England late last year and, through a common karate interest, got in touch through the Shiramizu Internship Blog.

Anyways, extra super mega thanks to Fiona.

In the meantime, make sure to check out her blog as well. I dare say it's more interesting than mine haha.....

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"tetsudo hakubutsu kan" 鉄道博物館

Tetsu-dou 鉄道 means "railway" and haku-butsu-kan 博物館 is "museum".

So, as you can imagine, mashing them together gives you "Railway Museum". More specifically, it refers to Japan Rail's (JR) Railway Museum in Saitama. It opened late in 2007 and I used to go by it every Friday on my way to work. I made a mental note to visit it at some point and since I took a "Me Day" for myself yesterday, I went to check it out.

I must be honest and say that I didn't expect much. I'm generally skeptical of such specialised museums because many of them lack the resources or the design flare to become anything more than just a room with lots of pictures. The difference here is that this museum is the work of the JR Culture Foundation, a non-profit group linked to the JR Rail Company. This means they have access to loads of de-commissioned and historical items from Japan's railway past, such as the 220kmh 0-series Shinkansen (see below), the first ever bullet train which serviced parts of Japan from 1964 until it was finally retired last year.

But that doesn't really describe just how comprehensive the museum really is. The entire first floor is dedicated to the history of Japanese rail and it includes lots of neat little trinkets and items from the past including old steam locomotives, examples of the early Imperial passenger cabins, and re-creations of a really interesting rack-and-pinion track system used to climb steep hills. They even had an old Hino (see below) that was used as a bus to and from certain train stations.

But it doesn't end there, because there's lots of interactive features such as a cutaway of a bogey (railcar chassis) that shows how the transmission or brakes are working as you "operate" them with replica train switchgear. Or open cabins of various trains for people to walk through. Or small paths underneath the trains so you can pretend you're a railway tie and see the trains from underneath.

Someone forgot to tell them it's not a real train...

The upper two floors house the "Learning Zone" with loads of cutaway machinery and more interactive features show how steam engines work, why rail tracks are a certain shape, or where the motors are in different types of electric trains. There's also a huge wall that chronicles the history of Japanese rail. All in all, it's surprisingly well thought out and does a very good job of explaining the concept of rail, rail cars, and locomotion without overwhelming you with details.

Even better, however, was the replica train system (see right) outside of the building that even includes all the modern safety features (like track-switchers, etc.). Also, if you make a reservation and pay a reasonable ¥500, you can even check out one of 4 different train simulators they have. One of them (for people age 15+) is a real video simulation of an early steam locomotive, mounted on hydraulics to replicate all the little bumps and bounces as you wind your way around perilous mountain passes.

More evidence of the surprising detail in this museum is the amazingly comprehensive (and gigantic) diorama display seen above. It's claimed to be the largest model train diorama in Japan and I can believe it. With more than 6 or 7 trains running at one time, it simulates day and night as overhead TV's give a short presentation about the history and current state of the railway system in Japan.

In fact, the museum actually employs two full-time model makers to keep up with the workload and, as you can see above and below, they do a rather good job.

Wheeeee!!!

Despite my initial gawking at the ¥1000 entrance fee, the Railway Museum is actually worth that. Whether you're a train anorak or not, it's a pleasant way to expore the machine that continues to shrink time and space for the modern world.

Photo courtesy of JR West.

I'd also like to point out my personal favourite train in JR's line-up is the ¥5 billion, 25,000bhp, 300kmh 500-Series Nozomi. Partly because of the speed but mostly because, as you can see above and below, they look like how high-speed trains should look.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"kowareru" 壊れる which means "to break", as in to cease functioning. Actually, in my dictionary is says "to make useless".

Interestingly, the suffix -chau can be added to verbs if the action was unwanted or unintended; accidental, as it were. It can also be made into a past tense as -chatta.

So "kowarechatta" 壊れちゃった can mean something that's broken... unexpectedly.

Here's an example of some broken things I've seen this past week... (note- I took all these pics with my phone, so forgive the quality)

This person's taste...

Sure, I realise everyone has different tastes... I have good taste, for example...

Jokes aside, this isn't the first pink car I've seen. I've seen a pink Mini before and that actually seemed ok since it does sort of fit the Mini's cute character.

A 911, however, has no cute qualities. Porsche's insistance on having the engine in the back means it's like driving a sledgehammer and 911's (particularly the Turbo models) have a long standing reputation for spitting drivers off the road... backwards...

Any car that's built on and thrives off an image of death does not deserve to be pink...

Him...

I saw this man in Shibuya last week.

I've mentioned before that the Japanese seem to like taking their freedom of speech to extremes by standing somewhere public and shouting their thoughts at passersby.

This fellow, however, particularly irked me as he was spouting off about how the Chinese were at the root of all the Japanese's problems. He claimed that the culture has snuck its way into Japan and the people were ruining his little Tokyo haven.

I guess someone forgot to tell him that the kanji in his name came from Chinese... like the writing he's using on his poster... or even the pronunciation of many of the words in his speech...

My stomach...

There's a ramen shop near my house. It's small, seating probably only 15-20 people. And it's almost always closed, the two guys working only a few hours in the afternoon and another 4 or so hours in the evenings. They're also closed on Tuesdays and Sundays, and close early Saturdays.

And yet, there's always a massive line-up.

Since I got off work early last week and noticed the line was short, I gave the place a shot.

This mega-bowl of ramen costed about 700yen and it nearly made me explode.

For starters, the pile of noodles is really a pile, not just a handful plopped into a bowl filled with soup.

The soup itself it made with a very delicious pork stock.

The pork itself is not the processed slices you normally get from most other places. It's pulled off a pork roast and served in liberal amounts.

Lastly, there are 5 different toppings and, as you can see, they're served in generous quantities.

And while the portion size itself could kill you, what really gets you is the amount of fat and oil in it. They seemed to have taken the meat from pigs with cholesterol problems and then offer both "extra fat" (abura 脂) and a "spicy oil" that seems to be more oil than spice.

Being me, I asked for all the toppings just to try it out haha.... It was extremely tasty but I probably won't be going back until May =P.....

I'm sure some people go weekly and how they have avoided heart disease is beyond me....

English...

I saw this in an arcade I was walking by...

It says

kochira kara wa hairenai-yo

which essentially means you can't enter (or, rather, go beyond) this point.

What gets me is the English translation they've offered...

"It doesn't put it here"

Sega should really invest in a better dictionary if that's the best translation they could come up with haha...

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"rensei" 練成 which means training. So it makes sense that Shiramizu's dojo-only tournament is aptly named the Shiramizu Shuyo-kai Karate-do Rensei Taikai (白水修養会空手道練成大会). This time around, however, it was more than just the annual tournament- it was Shiramizu's 10th Anniversary of the event.

Shiramizu's 450+ students get warmed up for the day.

Last year I got to take part both in the adult black belt kata demo and a "fun karate demo" with Richard. This year I was also in the adult kata demo but this time around I was also asked to be in the now-traditional "Karate Man" demo.

Karate Man is essentially a couple Shiramizu guys writing what amounts to a Power Rangers episode. It usually begins with a poor girl being threatened by the strange love-child of The Village People and a Nazi SS soldier. Then the Karate Man team (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Pink- of course) jump in to save the day. It all ends off with lots of acrobatic backflips and such...

No one kills my pet feather boa and gets away with it!!

This year, the foreigners (me, Carl, and Amy) were asked to play the part of the "Dark Karate Team", along with the "Dark General" who was a big guy in kendo gear with Jason's mask from Friday The 13th. Anyway, long story short, we get "tricked" into fighting against the Karate Man team only to be "untricked" and shown the truth at which point we gang up on the baddies.... hey, it's a lunch time show for little kids, so it's all good haha.....

That's me on the left... we were ALL supposed to have sunglasses, but Carl and Amy were given masks anyway... I wasn't jealous >.<

Aside from that, I didn't help judge this year unlike last year since there were enough refs. Instead I just helped out with the rings, mostly lining the kids up and tying their belts and stuff. To be honest, I had more fun doing that since I got to chat with the kids and whatnot.....

The morning was all competition and the afternoon was all demos.

Team Tiger (L) vs Team Dragon (R)

Some really great stuff included kata demos, some yakusoku kumite (pre-arranged examples of applications of techniques), a great team kumite bout, tamashiwari (board breaking), demos from all the Shiramizu instructors, and, finally, Arakawa Sensei's tamashiwari demo.

Arakawa Sensei's No-Inch Punch...

It was awesome to see it in person...

Arakawa Sensei tops it off by smashing 10 tiles...

The day capped off with yet another big party to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this great dojo's tournament.

Par-tay!

With such an active dojo membership, so many quality instructors and students, and many many great people, it's easy to see why this is a big part of the reason why I haven't left Japan yet haha =P.....

I should also say- I didn't have my camera with me so I poached these pictures from the Internship Blog and Arakawa Sensei's blog. Thanks!

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"okashii" おかしい which means "strange". A word of warning though...... it's also often translated as "funny" in dictionaries but this is no means "haha" funny....... more like "weird" funny...... so calling yourself "okashii" does not equate to you saying you have a great sense of humour...... people will laugh though heh.....

Alas, this week has been a bit slow since it's been exam week all week at school. I was making exams all last week and invigilating them this week. I must say, it's much easier than writing exams heh......

But I did find this.....

Indian boys marries dog to ward off tiger attacks.

Yeah........ even though it's illegal in India, many rural villages still do things like these because of illiteracy.......

Why you ask?? The report says it's because the two year old grew a tooth in his upper gum.... and that's bad........ the boy's even allowed to be a polygamist and marry a human bride without divorcing his wife-dog...... joy!

Anyways, I apologize for the rash of news reports lately..... this weekend is the Shiramizu tournament so I'll definitely have something to write then......

Til then.....

*Edit*- No wait!! I found something.....

When people think of hemp, they immediately think of cannabis......

But in reality (and you may know this), there are actually two types of useful cannabis, one of which is used to make the drug and the other to be made into hemp products.

And it turns out that properly woven and processed hemp fibres have material properties similar to that of plastic composites such as CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced plastic) including its high strength and low weight.

So Lotus has turned out this Eco Elise with lots of sustainable, environmentally friendly features.

For instance, the hood, roof panel, and rear spoiler are made out of that hemp composite, with an unpainted "brown" stripe showing off the hemp weave. They even made the seat frames with them, covered in a biodegradable wool.

Other features include a water-based paint and solar panels on the roof.

Best of all, these things actually drop the weight of the car by about 70lbs so the performance and fuel economy are better.

Sadly, it's not for sale...... but who knows, maybe in a few years time...

Other examples include the Corvette Z06 which uses a balsa wood floor on the passenger side of the car. Although that was done purely as a weight saving feature.