recycle, reuse and reduce

When I left the metropolis, I realised there were many others who had to say goodbye too. Looking at the number of listings put up by those wanting to sell and/or give away their belongings, a lot of gaijins were definitely impacted by the financial downturn.

When the economy was good and everyone was enjoying life with nary a worry, you might see one posting a day from Craigslist, usually from someone who was going to upgrade his Ikea bed to something sturdier. Or one of the English teachers moving to a new prefecture and not planning to move everything with him.

Throughout this year I noticed that the number of postings spiked up, so much so that no one bothered to hold garage sales anymore. They just opened their house and almost had to plead for people to help themselves to their furniture. Darn, I wish I was the one staying instead!

I like the fact that the foreign, and especially Japanese, community are very conscious of the environment. Recycling is big, every household is expected to separate their garbage and encouraged to be eco-friendly. 2nd hand shops take in unwanted but usable stuff, clean/fix them up, then sell to those who are interested.

When I was a student, I remember joining my other gaijin friends scouring the school bazaar and Book Off's for good bargains. Knowing the Japanese, they take the effort to clean and ensure that what you purchase is still in good condition. A lot of the furniture and electrical items that I had were mostly hand-me-down's and second-hand goods. Like the table above was bought at a steal at only JPY50, and the heater below at no more than JPY500.

It's definitely much fun when living in a student community because the items go around easily. The winter warmers I inherited from a Filipino student were donated to the church for their charity bazaar, the kitchen cabinet and table my Malaysian senpai sent me were given to incoming Indonesian students, the trusty bicycle that brought me around Niigata was passed on to Gene, who had not cycled in his life before.

It was not as easy in Tokyo because everyone lived in different areas, but still possible. For bigger items, you would have to call the Ward Council to collect and dispose of them, for a fee of course. If I were to dispose of my car in Urasa, I would have had to pay JPY30,000 at least. This encourages people to be careful with what they buy and throw. That way, living in Japan is not necessarily expensive.

時雨の記 diary of early winter shower

Since Rabiah wanted to watch a movie and I wanted to practice my Japanese, and we both wanted to catch up, when I first saw this movie poster at ICLS, knew that this was perfect for killing 3 birds with one stone. Mel, who is the other kouhai from IUJ decided to join us too.

So it wasn't as if I actually learnt any Japanese during the show because it had English subtitles, and I knew that I'd miss Japan even more after watching it, but we all agreed that it was a very Japanese movie. Simple storyline yet deep meanings, poetically zen.

Some of the things that stood out for me, more than the plot, were the breathtaking landscapes of Kyoto, in particular the rich hues of the maple leaves in their autumn glory. Kyoto is famed for its beauty in the fall, and yet I've only been there during the summer. Thrice, at that! 

The other that added poignancy to the movie was its theme song. Even if you were to hear it on its own, it's not difficult to imagine the mood for which the piece is written for. Entitled La Pioggia, which means "rain" in Italian, it captures the brief but delicate time that the main characters were together.



I later found out that the composer Joe Hisaishi has an impressive track record of writing musically distinct pieces, a lot of them for well-loved animes and movies. The list includes Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Departures.

The Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur has regular screenings of rare Japanese film shows at FINAS (National Film Development Corporation Malaysia), which is next to the National Zoo.

ecchi, you say?

One of the few things that friends have cautioned me before going to Japan was Japanese men. Those who advised me to be careful all mentioned about how hamsap/horny/hentai they are. Hey, they all start with the letter H! "Ecchi", by the way, which is the pronunciation of the letter H in Japanese, is also known as indecent and lewd.

I have never personally encountered any of those during my stay both in Niigata and Tokyo, much to the surprise of Stephen who's personally disgusted with the porn they read on trains. However, I am more put off by the male dominance mentality that is overall still prevalent in modern Japan.

To be fair, most are from the older generation whereas the younger ones, having been exposed to Western and outside culture do not quite follow in the footsteps of their fathers and those before them. Those who show no signs of these are they who have returned from overseas or have been brought up out of Japan, and I found them more relateable, if there is such a word. But that will be a story for another time.

This picture was taken during one of my cycling trips in Iidabashi this spring. I was not trying to follow them nor eavesdrop to find out what was the relationship between this more senior looking man and the young lady walking alongside him.

So happened that it was such a beautiful weather to take a leisurely ride and I'm sure they would have made way for me had I sounded the bell of my bicycle.

I was rather intrigued because I actually pitied the grrl as she had to carry a bag each on both arms, plus an additional paperbag on the left, in a way that can only be done in a country as safe as Japan. If this was in Malaysia, someone would have helped himself to the dangling temptations, leaving the poor victim in tears. Or to be more positive, leaving the victim running after the thief for taking what is not his.

Anyways, so she was walking with both arms outstretched and had to turn diagonally to face the man, all these while walking and talking. I could see that this took some amount of effort on her side. This man, having no baggage of his own was for the most time, walking facing forwards, tilting his side slightly to her direction in, say, 1% of the time she gave her fullest attention to him.

While trying to balance myself on the bicycle and taking the picture at the same time, I could not help but wonder if it occured to the man that he could at least help or offer to lighten her burden. But of course, maybe he did and she declined. Perhaps she just wanted to tone her arms and perfect her balancing skills and they weren't going to be walking together to the same direction in the first place.

Update 5 Nov : To avoid misunderstanding, this is just an observation into one stereotype of the Japanese men, and not a blanket statement of the overall population :) 

my bedside flowers p2

That little pot of flowers from Mother's Day grew until it could not grow anymore. In fact, it had a longer lifespan compared to the tou miau.

When I first took it home and transferred it to a proper pot, it almost wilted and I got worried it might just die altogether. I guess the other grrls didn't fancy them as much as I did, for theirs died a premature death, but they were kind enough to donate the soil to mine. I was only too happy to accept because my flowers were surviving on that little clump of soil with very little nutrients.

Soon within about 3 weeks, the number of flowers doubled to almost 25.

The colours were vibrant and a great sign of the spring weather outside. I would always look forward to waking up and opening my window to enjoy the flowers. It was during those days when I was still trying to figure out if i should stay on in Japan or go back to Malaysia that these flowers gave me motivation to try harder. I would wake up thanking Him for another day to be alive and healthy and enjoy His tremendous blessings.

I had seen these flowers many times on my way back home, usually in planters on gates outside homes and offices. They come in cheery colours of bright yellow, orange, purple and white. I think I was the only one who grew them like this outside my window.

Due to the space constraint, and possibly the direction of the sun, it had no choice but to branch out in various directions. I tried to rotate the pot to even out the distribution of sunlight and to prevent the flowers from growing in one direction. Close to 2 months later, instead of growing upwards, the plant had ended up looking like this.

Not bad eh? My first and only pot of flowers (in Tokyo, that is) have indeed grown! It became like a little game to count the flowers and to guess which bud would bloom first.

It became apparent that I had to start pruning the plant, or else, it would look really unruly. There was really no more space to which it could grow anymore.

In fact, when I tried to bring it in from the balcony it became so difficult that some flowers dropped off in the midst of the untangling. This was just before I left for Europe and I had to ask the landlord to take care of the plants for me.

Looking at that picture, it does look kinda wild that it grew like that! After 2 weeks+, I came back to a very different plant. I didn't even take a picture of it, it was so sad to look at. It was not the landlord's fault, but it had been kept indoors without direct sunlight and was close to wilting completely.

Aishah did try to revive it when she came back from Finland, just a few days before us. On my last day in Tokyo, just before getting into the landlord's van, I looked up to the balcony and saw a lone stalk with 7 purple flowers in a row left in that pot, slightly bending downwards like a Japanese bow. How ikebana-ish.

鷲の翼

あなたは知らないのか。聞いてないのか。
主は永遠の神、地の果てまで創造された方。
疲れることなく、弛むことなく、
その英知は測り知れない。

疲れた者には力を与え、
精力のない者には活気をつける。
若者も疲れ、弛み、
若い男もつまずき倒れる。
しかし、主を持ち望む者は新しく力を得る、
鷲のように翼をかって上ることが出来る。
走っても弛まず、歩いても疲れない。

イザヤ書４０：２８－３１

reverse culture shock

When I first came back, I was not prepared for the "reverse culture shock" syndrome that I had to go through. IUJ friends who have left Japan right after graduation have mentioned about it before, but I did not understand the full brunt of it until I myself came back to Malaysia.

For some, going back to their homeland was something welcomed, as they knew that their time overseas was up, and there was no more reason to remain there. For some, they have always regarded Japan as a brief moment in transition, somewhat like a long holiday.

For me, it was the unexpected birthday gift that changed my life forever. Who would have expected the letter that arrived 3 years ago early March would have left so much impact on me, allowing me to fulfill my dreams and see the world.

Even more so, that dream continued when I was offered to work in Tokyo. It was definitely nothing like what I could have imagined, whatmore planned to do. The dream opened up limitless possibilities for me.

Living abroad have enabled me to see things differently, and that was exactly what I had wanted for myself as there was just so much that I could do, but not able to back here. The potential to be who I wanted to be, go wherever I wanted to, at anytime of the day or even season, was a luxury I took advantage of while in Japan. If I had remained in Malaysia, I would have continued to be dumbed down and restricted by circumstances and obligations.

It is impossible for anyone to really understand that unless they themselves have been overseas for a reasonable period of time. Thus, when I came back, it was difficult to relate to some people as obviously we've all grown and gone in different directions during the time when I was gone.

When Ee Wei shared about how she felt, I told her she was still better off than me since she was still in the UK. At least being there, you're expected to be different, because, well, you are different. However, coming back, people assume you are still the same, and expect you to continue to be the same, not considering that 3 years so many things could happen.

Charis, who has also just returned from her graduate studies in the US, shares the same struggles that I am going through. However, she has it better because she herself is a psychologist, and have access to counsellors who helped prepare her for the transition coming back.

The general respond that others give to people like us is to "adapt" because there's "no choice". How easy it is to say that, something which I personally equate to giving up and giving in. No wonder so many of our foreign graduates choose to remain overseas, coming back only for holidays. If our PM is serious and sincere about stopping the brain drain, merely building tangible infrastructure will not be enough. He should hire me to be his advisor!

karipap pusing

One spring afternoon we found ourselves craving for curry puffs, so we decided to make some ourselves. Just like how Imm had longed for Ramly burger bread (but surprisingly they don't sell such buns) and mantou and went ahead to just make them herself.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and so in this case, "craving is the mother of culinary creations"©. Hmm, I like that phrase.

Since it was initially Aishah's idea, she got to be the head chef, with us minions helping her out. Our recipe was taken from Zairul who coincidentally was working in Japan. So that means if they could make karipap pusing, we could very well do the same too. Malaysia Boleh!

Thus began what would be the first curry puffs in the Edogawabashi kitchen. 

Mix 350g flour with 1 cup lukewarm water with some salt. This will be dough A.

Mix 150g flour with some 1 tsp Crisco and some margarine to create a soft dough. This will be dough B.

Flatten 1 dough from A, and wrap around B. Repeat until all 5 balls look like this.

Cover them like siew pau, hong tau pau, or kaya pau, or any pau that you want to imagine them to be.

Take 1 dough and roll flat. Then roll alas swiss roll.

Then flatten again, then swiss roll again, this time lengthwise.

Repeat for the 4 remaining doughs. Take 1 swiss roll and cut into 1/2" slices. Roll flat again.
With so much rolling and kneading, curry puff makers need not go to gym to tone their arms.

Put the filling in the middle. Since we were amateurs obviously taking our time to do this, we had to cover the frying pan with a wet cloth so the filling would not dry up.

Don't laugh, the top one was my maiden attempt, and obviously it's handmade :) Practice makes perfect, as I strived to emulate Aishah's perfect folds.

Fry until golden brown. We had many strange shapes, as you can see from above. We definitely had more than enough curry puffs, so we decided to share them with our fellow Malaysian friends at the next day's outing at Chichibu.

I just realised this was my first curry puff after 3 years. Maybe more, I don't remember when was the last time I had these teatime snacks.