Been living in the darkages...

Lord! I see the light. What a revelation it has been!

Recently, I pampered myself to a little bit of technology. I got myself an HTC Legend. I must have flipped for the last 2 weeks or so. At least my wife seems to be very much irked by new a new competition on the block :). I must admit, I have been totally engrossed by its little 3.2 inch AMOLED screen, not to mention a host of downloaded apps that I have just begun to immerse myself in.

Now that technology is more affordable, in the form of Android mobile phones, I think that the lives of those who embrace technology will be turned topsy turvy, yet again. To me, this is at least as big as email was in the 90s.

As an academic, I see that a whole new mindset is needed to make full use of this technology in the classroom. Not unlike how podcasting of lectures changed the lecture theatre landscapes of yesteryears (what am I saying...). I mean, people are going to have to get used to the invasion of smart phones into their lives. Soon all school kids will carry one. And teachers will have to adapt their syllabus to make full use of this device. Right off the top of my head, I'd say that programming skills for smart phones will be a must for future computer science students. Engineering students would have take Linux more seriously to be able to access the hardware inside these phones. Make a bridge or building and embed these phones into the structure to monitor for seismic activities etc. It suddenly opens up a whole new learning and living experience.

Well, I am not going to let the smart phone bandwagon pass me by and not doing anything about it this time. I hereby pronounce myself an amateur Android App developer. Proud of the fact that I posted my first, and not by any fat chance my last, forum reply here too).

Amen.

Just swear it, you'll feel much better

I feel a bit out of whack today. So pardon the rude entry.

To me, and I am pretty sure everyone of you out there, learning a new language is a daunting task. There's an easier way, of course. Start with swear words first. It's fun, easy to remember, and most of all, it makes you feel good/bad. Either way you feel a little lighter, if you are like me and understood one of my past lecturers who thinks that a joke is not effective unless it is vulgar. Or my favourite, "how can he talk if he ain't vulgar" from an unknown Hong Kong actor.

I didn't know why but suspect that our brains are wired in such a way as to make swearing evolutionary profitable? Now scientist thinks that swearing also eases pain and lessen stress.

I must admit that I had lost my sense of humour a few years ago. I think being Permanently head-Damaged has something to do with it. Anyway a few days ago, I had a whale of a time as I silently thought to myself about asking my guest if they wanted Dilmah tea ('tiu-mär-chä) and subsequently burst into laughter. It's nice to have a laugh once in a while. Sorry if you didn't get the joke. Perhaps if you speak Teochew you might get this one?

Local products

If you ever talk to Uncle Merv, inadvertently you will come to the topic in which he is adamant that local products are the best in the world. Well to be fair, occasionally, he does talk about Nivea cream, which purportedly originated from German. When I talk to older people here, the converstion always gets a little emotional when it comes to buying a product with the kangaroo logo on it. Well, almost always more emotional without.

There was an article in the Age today, about locals being drawn to purchase products which has this logo affixed to it. It goes further, and divided the consumers into those between 18 and 45 and those aged 45 and over. A study of 900 people by TNS found that while the two generations may support local products, they have different reasons for doing that. Generations X or Y who see themselves as more globally connected, are less emotionally attached to this notion. The fact that something is made locally appeals to them only because they perceive local products to be fresher or of better quality. This is in contrast to the older generation who support local products because they think that they are, in a way, helping to create jobs and in doing that make Australia a stronger country. Either way, this creates local demand for local products, which is a good thing.

If you go to Japan, the same sentiment applies. Over there, things can even go to extremes, where a competing product is never ever imported. Seriously, I have never seen Hyundai cars, or Samsung cameras in my six years living in Japan. I am pretty sure there are thousands of budget conscious people there who would not mind getting a similarly spec-ed product with a lower pricetag. I know I would.

I remember when I was in my secondary school days, there was a government campaign in Malaysia which encouraged people to buy Made in Malaysia products. Beli-lah barangan buatan Malaysia, the then Malaysian premier would urge us. The idea was pretty much the same. Spend money on locally made products to keep the economy going, stave off unemployment, and prevent precious local currency from flowing out of the country. Except at that time, the mentality of the general public was that local products were very much inferior to imported goods. So, the idea didn't catch on very well then. Nowadays, with a proliferation of companies that are promise tax breaks to come ashore, a lot of consumer products like TVs and fridges are made in Malaysia. How times has changed, the computer that you are reading this blog on could very well have been assembled in Malaysia or at least the chips inside it is. Now, I feel proud to buy good quality made in Malaysian goods. Some may argue that local currency are still flowing out when these foreign companies report back to headquarters. At least, spill over effects like generation of jobs are still there.

With the global economy in such a mess now, it is no wonder that people are more cautious about spending. But is it really good advice to be biased towards locally made products no matter the cost? In times like this, I am reminded of the old saying, "Don't be penny wise but pound foolish". I will start to grow my own vegetables, only if the time spent doing it, outweighs the benefits that I get. So, unfortunate as it may seem, I don't see why I shouldn't buy cheap imports. In the long term, it doesn't make economic sense to support an inefficient way of doing things. If a farmer somewhere in the world can produce a cheaper way to grow rice, I would not reinvent the wheel and plough my own padi fields. I'd just buy it from the supermarket and choose to spend my time making an iPhone which that farmer may want to trade for. Makes sense? What do you think?

Our hormones and the economy

The drastic meltdown of the finance world is a subject which is being scrutinised under the microscope of not only economists but recently, scientists. Now, men are being blamed for this unfortunate worldwide event. Scientists who study traders in action found fluctuating levels of testosterone and cortisol. It was found that the levels of testosterone tended to correlate with the size of profit, while cortisol levels rose when the trader suffered increased volatility [1].

Such profound insight! Who would have thought that a couple of nanometer-sized molecules caused the collapse of global finance companies, bankrupt an entire country and make millions of people unemployed. Before we get too carried away with this failure attributed to hormone in men. Let's review the history of science, and scientists. The same hormones surely must have played its role during the defining moments for Archimedes, Newton, and Einstein.

So, while we may point the blaming finger on greedy men who gets a kick out of messing the economy of the entire world, we should keep things in perspective as these men are 99.9% similar in chemical composition to scientists whose contributions have helped advance human civilization.

[1] A. Wasley (Feb 2009), "Blame men for global meltdown," The Daily Telegraph, [Online]. Available: http://www.news.com.au"

中途半端

Now this is a very useful phrase. 中途半端（ちゅうとはんぱ）. If you remember, not too long ago we dealt with two words from this phrase 「半端ない」. Here, 中途半端 is used to express dissatisfaction or regret over a job not well done. The closest English equivalent is half-hearted or in the case of a slang half-ass.

Let's take a look at an interesting example. Dave's Japanese boss is expecting a full report on the effects of margarine mixed in honey lime juice and seal blood on the appetite of a desert survivor by Friday. Dave, who comes from the North Pole, could not in his life fathom what a desert is like, just made something up. Now, when his boss receives a half-page report about how a desert survivor would drink the concoction anyway, he would remarked 「デーブさん、これは中途半端な努力やな．．．」. In English, it would be "Dave, I hate to say this to you, but I think this is the most half-ass job I have ever seen in my life..."

OK, now you will be able to go out and express your dissatisfaction to customer service people, the newspaper delivery guy, and friendly neighbors in a natural Japanese way. New friends will be made today!

The ways to a man's heart

I would be lying if I told you that the stomach is the only way to a man's heart. I think there are three main channels to a man's heart. One is through his stomach, another through his eyes, and the last, well, make a wild guess. The first channel is actually a well known fact, and is the topic of this blog. The second has to do with us humans being creatures of sight, I mean we depend heavily on our sight in our daily lives. So it is only natural that we get pretty excited about what we see. Finally, the last channel, let's just say that it has to do with our biological reproductive urge.

While in Japan, all three channels will automatically shift into hyperdrive. But, let's limit this article to food for the time being. Having been deluged with a barrage of spicy food since young, my initial impression of Japanese food was that they were all pretty bland. Unlike tabasco sauce-laced pizza or a typical Szechuan steamboat affair, it is generally agreed that Japanese food does not assault our gastronomical senses. It takes time to get acquainted with and grow fond of Japanese cuisine. Recently, I am rediscovering Japan from a different perspective. Through its food.

I had yakiniku (焼肉) or grilled beef lunch today. Coming into existence into the Japanese gourmet scene only fairly recently as a foreign import, yakiniku is basically beef slices barbequed over open fire. There would be nothing much to say about yakiniku using imported beef, however yakiniku using wagyu (和牛) or Japanese beef need only be tried once to understand how mind blowingly delicious it is. The restaurant I had wagyu yakiniku this afternoon had the most perfect setting. Traditional Japanese music, antique decors and ambient lighting all served to heighten my mood for the feast.

Wagyu meat is tender and juicy even after being grilled well done. I don't know how true it is, but I once heard that Japanese-bred cows live a life of luxury, being served beer and massaged until all their fat disperse into the meat. In the past, only the rich and affluent could afford wagyu, but now with recent cost cutting measures hitting everywhere across Japan, even average Joes like me can afford a nice wagyu lunch. Still, a typical meal might cost 2-3 times what you would pay for an average lunch in Japan.

I truly enjoyed my lunch today. After I paid the cashier, and stepped out of the restaurant, I got a strange feeling that I just had my first out of this world experience. It was that astounding.

半端ない

"That's just unbelievable". How many times did you wanted to say something like that in Japanese but couldn't think of a better phrase. There's a neat phrase that sums up that feeling. And it's 半端じゃない （はんぱじゃない） or just 半端ない（はんぱない）.

So for example, when you see the Big Mac hamburger tower on the left, your first impulse might be to say, "Oh, my god, that's an unbelievably tall hamburger." In Japanese, you would say　「おっと！それは半端ないです」.

半端ない is usually used as an adjective. Stressing the absolute totality of word following it. An example would be 「彼は半端ないお金持っているね」， which roughly translates to, "He's has money beyond your wildest dreams". Put simply, 半端ない is 10,0000,0000 times more potent than the adjective "too".

So what the heck is that...

Can you guess what this is? Let me give you a hint; it's something that everyone uses. It's found at home, in hotels, on beds and sofas. Well, usually it is located under the head but it can also double as a bolster. Can you guess it by now.

Yes, it's a pillow. This pillow is actually made of rattan. So it might sound hard to sleep on. It's also super airy thanks to the loose weaves. I have never seen one of these in Malaysia, only recently in Japan. The first time I saw one of these was at a local hot spring establishment. After a nice dip in the hot spring, your hair is usually still pretty wet, so I think this kind of pillow must have been quite phenomenal before the the hair dryer was invented.

I had a go at it the other day, and it didn't feel as hard as I expected. In fact it was kind of springy. If you have tried a rattan chair before, you may know what I mean. Here's a picture of myself using one, while resting on the tatami area, right after a wonderfully therapeutic dip in the hot spring and steam bath room. It was heavenly to say the least...

Japanese Houses: Past, Present and Future

Japan is a country with many surprises. As I was driving around the Nara-Kyoto border the other day, I made a very interesting observation. Within a short driving distance, I was zipping past very traditional houses, yet moments later I was surrounded by ultra-modern homes. It was as if I was in a time machine and going back a few hundreds of years, back to ancient Japan. It was so amazing that I made it a point to go back and take some pictures of those places.

Past

Japan in the past was very much an agricultural country. With rice being the staple food, you can see rice fields every where. Houses here are made of wood and the flooring are often wooden planks and tatami straw. One peculiar characteristic of these housing estates are the almost impossibly narrow, steep and confusing roads running through them. Originally meant for pedestrians only, these roads are totally unsuitable for modern cars. So if you plan to get lost here, make sure you drop pebbles on your way in.

Present

After the second world war, the Japanese economy saw tremendous growth. This baby boom period brought with it the necessity for cheap housing communities. Hence, houses began to climb vertically. Many people stayed in these government housing estates called danchi (団地), while the more affluent society built their own houses. These houses form the landscape of many suburban areas in Japan.

Future

Occasionally while on the road, you may notice sign boards leading to new research parks. As you drive into these towns of the future, you will notice the vast difference between the houses here and those of the past. Roads here are wide and straight, and the atmosphere feels expansive unlike the stuffy layout of the Past. The designs of houses are very modern, and even the schools here look like some sort of art museum.

Here is a video I compiled using MS free Movie Maker. The program is actually pretty good for amateur video editing.

Valentine's Day in Japan

If you are in Japan on Valentine's Day, you might be surprised to find out that those cute and fancy chocolates that you see displayed prominently in supermarkets and shopping malls are actually meant for guys. I mean, here, the girls are obliged to give chocolates to the guys. Crazy as it may sound it is true, although my wife swears she will never get accustomed to this marketing ploy.

Every year, today, the girls will present something to the guys, secretaries to bosses, female colleagues to male colleagues etc. And yours truly did savior something sweet today, courtesy of the girls in the laboratory. Called the giri-choko (義理チョコ) from the words giri ("obligation") and choko, ("chocolate"), these gifts are meant for co-workers. What is termed as the honmei-choko (本命チョコ) are chocolates reserved for loved ones.