rocksea and sarah » japan

snow smile

rocksea — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:43:26 +0000

You all liked the winter-snow photographs which I had posted in the previous article - but if they seem dull, grim and harsh, here are some to smile on!! From 2006 Winter.

Captured these while a bunch of kids came with their sensei (teacher) to do some snowsliding on the snow heaped just outside my window, in the hokkaido university campus.

Just stay there, I will carry you up the hill!

Hmm… let us try this way…

The problem is here…

Solved! Ok… once more!

You are too heavy to be carried uphill!

The final joy on the way down the snowhill…

winter at hokkaido

rocksea — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:36:36 +0000

There was a time when I used to walk these snow laden roads every day, for more than 3 years. Now when I come to think of it, or see these photographs, I shudder, and wonder how I survived those days These photographs are from the small street just out of the apartment where I lived during my PhD days at Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan.

These selected photographs are simple, but I feel there is something strong about it. The elements in it, a man, a dog, and a crow says so.

Probably they are the three who learned to adapt to changing environments. The dog and the crow, have always followed the man through his adventures.

Note: The United Nations Climate Change Conference starts today 7 December 2009, at Copenhagen. Regardless of all the disagreements and skeptical agreements, let us strive and hope towards a better tomorrow.

How is this year winter treating you so far? Here in north Italy it seems milder than usual.

onam: black & white, a japanese perspective and the role of plywood

rocksea — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:00:34 +0000

A few decades back, Onam, the Kerala festival was celebrated in memory of the mythical king Mahabali. In the present scenario, it has turned out that Onam is more of a celebration in memory of those bygone decades and onam celebrations of the past.

Here is a black and white photograph of young women in the traditional Onam attire, on the oonjal (swing), which appeared in a newspaper for the Onam of 1993. One of them is my cousin, on the right. I guess they were studying at the Alphonsa College in Pala (Kottayam, Kerala) at that time.

Now let us see how the japanese school girls, in an english seminar on India, picturized the onappookkalam. Look at the animated faces and the colorful pookkalam!

This is a glimpse from the English Seminar where I introduced India to the Japanese highschool students. The students were supposed to prepare articles/newspapers on different themes of the country. One of them worked on the “festivals of India” theme and they liked the flower carpet prepared during the onam fetival of Kerala, the pookkalam, and included it in their article.

Date: Oct 2005. Taken 4 years back, while I was at Sapporo, Japan.

Onam this year (2009) is on the 2^nd of September. Happy Onam Wishes from Rocksea & Sarah!

Role of plywood in Kerala History

When I look back into time, one of the memories associated with onam are those when we had the school term examinations before onam. I was in class 6, but new to the school and getting settled. [Every other year I used to change schools, don't know why!] I had given little attention to the onam exam but I wanted to score something for pass marks…

One of my new friends, I think his name was Nelson, told me that it is easy to pass the history exam. How? I just needed to fill the answer paper with whatever words flowing through my mind. The history teacher will give marks according to the number of pages I fill in. That is cool, I thought. BUT I didn’t know how to simply fill in the pages with some unassociated words?!

Nelson had an answer to that too! I just had to copy those words from his answer sheet! And so I wrote the exam. Onam holidays came and went, and I had forgotten everything about it. One day after the school had reopened, the history teacher called me to the staffroom. He had my history answer paper in his hands! He went straight to my answer on Mamankam. [Mamankam is a medieval festival of Kerala, which was mostly celebrated under the auspicious of the Samoothiris (Zamorins), by the banks of the Bharathapuzha river]. The teacher asked me what was the role of “plywood” in Mamankam? I was like I just stood their dumbfound. Later I got the answer sheet. I saw that among all the other dumb words… I had placed plywood as an integral part of Kerala history!

Onam / Thiru Onam: Festival of Kerala, celebrated in the month Chingam (Aug-Sep), of the Malayalam Calendar. In memory of a mythical King MahaBali (Maveli) who ruled Kerala eons back. Legend is that Kerala reached the zenith of its glory under his rule and he was so famous that gods became jealous and send God Vishnu to send him down to the netherworld. Anyways, before sending him down, Vishnu gave King Maha Bali a boon to visit his people once in a year. This day we celebrate as Onam, to welcome Mahabali. One of the most attractive aspects of thiruvonam is the pookkalam or the floral designs we make.

Check here for an earlier article on >> onam with nature and oru ettukaliyude onappookkalam

note: cartoon sketch of mamankam by sarah

teras of kyoto & nara

rocksea — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:24:43 +0000

These cultural/religious edifices of Japan are well preserved in the midst of a bustling technologically advanced city, Kyoto, the formal imperial capital and now the cultural capital of Japan.

Kiyomizu tera at Kyoto. circa 7 cent. and 1633 (reconstructed)

The Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku or the Rokuon-ji Temple) at Kyoto, circa 1220

@ the Horyuji, Japan’s 1st World Cultural Heritage with the 5 storied pagodas (known as Goju-no-To). circa 7^th cent.

and the new religion at Tenrikyo church at Tenri, since 1838

buddha and the deer

rocksea — Fri, 12 May 2006 15:10:09 +0000

Buddha has been the paragon of man’s coexistence with nature. It is surprising that you can catch the same coexistence in the heart of a technologically superior country, Japan. This is the country of contrasts, and the more advanced in technology Japan has become, the more firecly she is holding on to her past and her cultural relics.

Here is the first set of pictures from a recent trip to Nara and Kyoto. Nara was the first permanent capital of Japan from AD 710 to 794. The Giant Buddha or the Daibutsu, world’s largest gilded bronze Buddha was built during the Nara period in AD 752.

Buddha, after enlightment, gave his first sermon at the Sarnath deer park near Varanasi (Benaras) in northern India and set in motion the Wheel of Dharma. The deer park in its premises of the Giant Buddha evokes this experience in your mind. The deers there are friendly and have coexisted with the inhabitants for centuries. Legend holds that god Kasuga made his long journey to Nara on a deer. The deer which lives around the Nara park have been warmly protected as servants of gods. You get deer biscuits to feed them. Some foriegners mistake it for food and eat it themselves

time for festivals. yosakoi soran

rocksea — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 14:57:26 +0000

Winter is saying adieu and am impatiently waiting for the spring to arrive at Hokkaido. Spring is already in Honshu, main island of Japan where Tokyo, Osaka and other cities are, and they are already having cherry blossoms! Hokkaido is the northern most island, and we have spring, cherry blossoms, everything late On top of everything, we have winter early!!!! sho!

Spring and we awake full of life and dandelions to a lot of festivals and parties. Let me get into the mood by browsing and bringing back some of the photos of the yesteryear.

Herez a set of photos from one of the greatest dance festival, the Yosakoi Soran. Yosakoi Soran was started just 12 years before, by a university student like me. It gained popularity so fast that it is one of the most vibrant festivals of Sapporo. Yosakoi Soran Festival combines Yosakoi-Festival in Kochi prefecture of Shikoku and Soran folk music of Hokkaido. 45,000 participants and 1.5 million audience, as reported over the internet.

Pretty japanese school gals huh? Their uniforms are popular that even after graduating they like to wear it around Now you know why am waiting for winter to get over

Those are from Yosakoi Soran 2005. Some old shots from Yosakoi Soran 2004 are here:

http://www.rocksea.org/snaps/yosakoi-soran

http://www.rocksea.org/snaps/yosakoi-soran-2

nature vs civilization. technology breeds happiness?

rocksea — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 12:56:47 +0000

Last weekend we had the Sapporo International Night and along with it a lot of group discussions on world heritage sites, nature etc. Our group discussed on nature, culture and civilization and how they can co-exist. I am not getting into all details of coexistence but just a single point.

Technology & happiness. Human civilization and technology has grown in a fast pace but are we happy? Some of the members said they feel life is more comfortable. Nobody said that life has become happier. We found that technology which has been developed to make life easier has in fact made life complicated and busier. One of the members said that unlike the past, now he can travel from place to place in few minutes/hours but life has become busier. Communication has improved, internet, mobile phones, have taken place in our lives but effective communication between people have decreased. We were all alarmed to face this fact that better technology doesn’t mean happiness. So is technology, instead of liberating us, holding us back?

Does it look like a painting? I like the overall tone. A bit far from earth, it doesn’t show much of human intervention other than the dam. but may be a dam is enough? Anyways the picture shows a lot of geographical features.. Took it on my flight from Delhi to Sapporo a few months before. So it must be somewhere close to the east coast of India.

Anyways, am happy about the warm hi-fi japanese toilets mentioned in the pervious post More on it later!

reverse culture shock

rocksea — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 14:50:32 +0000

“So did you have culture shock?” this high school student asked me yesterday. Japanese people always makes the best out of their opportunities, whether it is to mingle with a foreigner, to know the outer world or to practice their english. I told her how i felt when i was brought into all this snow and how i got accustomed to it later. but that doesn’t fit as a culture shock, does it? I didn’t have much to tell her abt culture shock as one of the reasons i came to japan was the unique culture it posessed. Yet i forgot to tell her about the Reverse Culture Shock, which i saw defined in the handbook for international students of our university, and which i met with a few months before..

They’ve given the stages of Reverse Culture Shock like this:

acceptance & integration: state where a student has established a routine and accepted the habits, customs, foods n characteristics of japan.
return anxiety: where he realize how much his experiences have changed himself
return honeymoon: excited immediately upon arrival in india. parties to welcome and renew friendships n family ties
reentry shock: family n friends may not understand or appreciate what he has experienced, nor may they seem very interested. india n his hometown may’ve changed in his eyes.
reintegration: realises +ve n -ve aspects of both countries and have a more balanced perspective of their experiences.

Of these, reentry shock is the most treacherous. was prepared for it too, psychologically, as i was aware of it beforehand but still it felt awkward once in a while. it may seem weird but thatz how it is.

So it was in august that i went to india after 1 n 1/2 years. and things were fun..

sense of time. gathering @ kochi

me: i’ve been waiting here since 5:45 !!
he: what time did we fix to meet? 6:00, rt?
me: ya and do you know whatz the time now?
he: it is 6:30 yaar. we’re on time!
me: huh??!!

dress sense. @ my friends home

he: dey, arent u changing this tshirt when you’re going out?
me: huh? mmm? means?
he: didnt u bring any shirt?
me: no, whatz the problem with this da?
he: ohh, never mind!

zebra crossing @ kottayam

me: mummy stop! itz red!!

mummy n me stops there
people cross the roads
cars n lorries n buses pass by

me: mummy itz green now! letz cross

but
cars n lorries n buses pass by
therez a policeman watching nearby

me: whattt???
mummy: hahaha. so letz wait for the red signal n cross!

aunty on phone, inviting to their new home

me: oh! i cant wait to see ur new home!
aunty: but remember, we dont have those hi-fi computerised toilets at our home. if you need, you’ve to bring one of your own. (unfortunately sometime back i had bragged to them that in japan the toilet seat warms when you sit, one can adjust the heat, water jet n blah blah..)
me:

It was like this for some days for each n everything. Back in time i was expert in jumping into those crowded running buses and now i found my talents lost. I even felt it was awkward how i kept my foot in the bus. I twitched n twisted n turned so that i was satisfied how i stood in the bus. and then my shoes will be over someone’s feet!

So i dont have to say what happened to the green tea and the chopsticks i brought home!!

and oh god, i was saved cuz i was aware, never did i start stories saying “in japan..”. (other than the hi-fi-toilet incident. that was enough!! )

Anyways reintegration came soon to my rescue. Indian toilets found me or i found them who knows.. (or was it the spicy food :) missing it now). Was allergic to japanese toilets when i came back after a month. Needed to go to the nearby spicy tajmahal restaurant to treat the allergy lol.

little penguins @ sapporo snow festival

rocksea — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 13:55:13 +0000

snow? who cares!!

1 n 2. the japanese self defense force braving the snow before the mammoth snow sculpture they made.
3. see what the koalas got to say
4. huge task ahead!
5. hide n seek. shez from macau. do u know where macau is
6. mmm looks like the little girl from The Ring ?? May be not!

mama penguin n little penguins. lions club sapporo and hokkaido university international students joined together to make this snow sculpture for the 57^th sapporo snow festival (6 Feb to 12 Feb)

Sapporo snow festival (Sapporo Yuki Matsuri ¹) began spontaneously in 1950 by a small group of high school students who started making snow sculptures. In time it grew, the japanese Self Defense Force (SDF, you can see the structure they built and saluting in the pictures above), several groups and the public joining it.

^{1. Yuki Matsuri. yuki = snow, matsuri = festival}

Gong Xi Fa Cai and bow bow

rocksea — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 07:00:08 +0000

In school, he was that kid who used to make superfluous audio effects. One day he bleated mehhaahhh like a sheep during the chemistry class, the teacher was startled; she asked him to "remain" at the back of the class. Little did he or she realize then that it was all written in the books. That his animal is the sheep. That he was born in the chinese year of the sheep..

SARAH: (April 24, 2006) Folks, the subject (the kid) is none other than Roxy! Hey Roxy, common admit it now. You liked to bleat and bleated you did in the classroom, and got punished for that!

Gong Xi Fa Cai ! It’s the Chinese New Year on January 29th, 2006. So when you see someone, greet with a Gong Xi Fa Cai Gong-She-Fa-Sai the newyear greeting, literally meaning "congratulations and be prosperous". In chinese calendar, one of the schemes for counting the year is the 12 year cycle, from 1, 2, 3 to 12. Then again from 1. Each year is represented by an animal. 2006 is the Year of the Dog. If you meet a chinese person and ask him his animal, you could get his year of birth too (as you could possibly guess his age-range)!

India-China talks
She: These Indians, they stink! they wear the same shirt to the lab 7 days a week. They stink!
He: These Chinese, they eat white onion and never had a shower in life. They stink!
She: Not all Chinese
She: Ya, not all Indians
Both were happy.

Japan-China talks
She: Your japanese books say the army did a great thing at nanjing. Burn those books
He: Your chinese books say Mao did a great thing in china. Burn those first
She: Oh ya?!
He: Oh ya!
No, not so happy.

It is sad to see so many chinese living here in Japan hate Japan so much. They have voice against whatever japan did. But they don’t have voice against tyrannies in their own country. Of course, once upon a time Japan’s political mindset was different, the defense was on the bad side and bad things happened. Japan’s mindset today is totally different from the yore. Since WWII it has only extended its hands for help. Yet people want to punish her for the sins of forefathers. Why don’t they first look at their own base and start rectifying from there? The number of chinese killed cuz of Japan won’t come any near to the number of people killed during Mao’s dictatorship (tens of millions of people). China has a bit grown out of its stringent communist measures of the past though people still have a lash even on their inner thoughts. Seems it will take years when human rights will weigh over unrealistic ideals.

Nevertheless, China has a great tradition of its own, though much is not obvious to people outside. Many of the traditions, art forms, even Kanji the writing system in Japan originated in China. One day, after my studies, I wish to go there and roam around inhaling the aroma of those unknown worlds. Yes I love china despite of what is said in the above piece of writing. Every country does have some insipid elements of its own. That doesn’t but define the whole of it. It’s whether you look at the thorns or roses.

Ok, enough. Hopefully, I’ll go for the chinese newyear celebrations here. i.e. if anyone invites me

Recommended book: Wild Swans, Three daughters of China by Jung Chang (banned in mainland China)

Epilogue: Gong Xi Fa Cai bow bow !! He used to howl and bow bow too. Later he was named as pattikutty (puppy-dog) by some of his classmates.