controversy that means peace

History is blotted with controversy and every nation that exists today has something that most people or some people dont agree with. Japan is not a stranger to them. The wars that it has been a part of over these years have left a few marks in doubt. Any war fought can be justified by all people who fight them. But the people who fight them cannot be judged for what they are fighting for - its more a national pride they are gaurding.

more sweeter than before....

I firmly believe one should know how to read, write your mother tongue. Those are the roots to which you belong. I have been away from my hometown for over 6 years now - the rarity of seeing Tamil anywhere in Tokyo makes it even sweeter than what it would seem back home. Of all places, I accidentaly saw this in a restaurant in Tokyo and didn't take my eyes of it for about 10 minutes. After I came to Tokyo - even the dumbest of tamil flicks appear to be classic, insipid songs become inspiring, silliest of jokes evokes great laughter. Am sure it feels the same way for all foreigners when they see a thread from their own fabric. These are words in appreciation of the language from a poet called Bharathiyar - one of the greatest poets ever to have lived.

check your mobile before you take the train...

Like in London, New York where taxi's and other forms of private transport can cost a fortune - public transport is the nerve that keeps people alive. Tokyo is not an exception. The train system in Tokyo is complex but incredibly well connected. There are numerous lines and different rail systems. In fact they have differnt train cards to access different rail routes. Upon public uproar, it has been merged to one card system for all routes.
Its rather impossible for people to remember lines and change overs unless its a regular route. Even for local commuters map or any such help becomes essential. Here is where you see the sophistication here in Japan - mobile phones (all operate on 3G) has access to software that helps you determine the passage once you key in the source and destination. within seconds, it gives you route, time, next train etc.
Downside is that the Japanese people tend to resort to these sophisticated methods by default without making an effort to think.

jan-ken-pon

In every country or culture, there are ways to narrow down choices with people for a specific team or to prove eligibility by chance. Inky-pinky... coin toss....many such forms are used to eliminate or choose opponents. For the first time I came across rock-paper-scissors here in japan in a train when two kids of less than 8 years old were playing - apparently this is widely popular (look for rock-paper-scissors in wiki). Normally, this is played between two people with 3 different possibilities:
rock v paper - paper wins as it can wrap the rock,
paper v scissors - scissors wins as it can cut the paper,
rock v scissors - rock wins as scissors cannot cut rock.
closed fist is rock.
spread fingers is paper
two fingers are scissors

must eat in tokyo!

This is one of my favourite restaurants in Tokyo. I normally go to the ebisu branch. the miyazaki chicken (smoked chicken) is their speciality. Its very near the ebisu station west exit. The website should have directions albeit in japanese.

freedom of expression

APRIL - its that time of the year where you see refreshing change in the moods of japanese people. its when spring takes over. It is as though the trees and the sun are ruled by the bitter winter and when they are let go - they express themselves for the world to know that they are free now. if only humans can express in such style and beauty - the world will be beautiful.

gateway to modern japanese architecture

tokyo tower - one of tokyo's landmarks stands tall in middle of its business district. its a stroll from my office. makes people look insignicant when you are in front of the tower. lunch in a restaurant right in front of the tower makes a perfect afternoon. in the night, its lit with themes - be it valentines, world aids day or even a tokyo bid to 2016 olympics. if you are in tokyo, you should visit the tower - its truly an amazing piece of japanese modern architecture.

taxis' and traffic lights'

am curious to see where tokyo would rank among top cities in the world if one were to count the number of traffic lights over a given perimeter, especially through residential areas. with almost 2/3rds of the working population prefer underground trains for commuting, this not an issue for them. add to the fact that taxis are awfully expensive here in tokyo. foreigners like me who prefer taxis for a shorter ride has to experience the stop/start of these taxis due caused by incessant traffic lights that bleeds your wallet. taxi drivers are not complaining. they wish they had more.

i don't live in a room!

if you are alone and living in japan, chances are that the place that you are living will be called a 'room', no matter what size it is and how many rooms there are. but if you live with your family, even if its a room, it would be called as a home. i did some scrounging on the japanese language so if the language and translation has something to do with this understanding and it did. in their language 'room' does mean a living place for single person and home is where a family live. but, i certainly dont live in a room.

rare sight in tokyo

i spent most of my life in a tropical country with just about one season all through the year - summer with flashes of rain. while the idea of snow was there, snow itself had to be in simulated domes or theme parks with artificial snow machines.
to see roads, trees, buildings, cars and bikes covered with snow on a sunday morning in tokyo was a sight to behold. cup of hot tea, listening to my favourite music looking outside the window - cant have a perfect sunday than this.
something about the white of the snow that amazes me. its purity. its serenity. its grains. beautiful. this pic does not do justice to the beauty - just as a bookmark to your imagination.

time took a break!

my train from tokyo took me to kyoto in a little over than two hours - a distance of 514km - its the bullet train. sure enough, its a bullet train. this was my first trip to kyoto. there was no shortage of people giving me their views on kyoto. you cant avoid having a sketch in your head before you set your foot there. hear say can do that to you, we even have a picture of moon.
i landed in kyoto on a bitter cold night with winds flapping violently. i didn't want to stay in a hotel in kyoto - so, scrouged the net to find a quirky accomodation - and i did. i made my way from the station to the temple where i was staying through local train. when i reached the temple, there was hardly any one to greet you but that's what i had expected. so, it was a perfect start to my kyoto trip. i was shown to my room by the caretaker in the temple. very well done up room with cozy bed and a clean toilet - this was always going to decide where i was going to stay. no tv. no room service. no phones. harldy any signal for my mobile devices. for once, i wanted to live without those peices of instruments which i felt was in control of me.
made my way to the main road to grab some dinner. surprisingly kyoto was easier to manage without japanese than tokyo. well, come to think of it, it wasn't a surprise since kyoto had learnt to live with more tourists that made them speak english.
went back to bed thinking about my next three days.
i dont want to make this a travel diary. what i really wanted to document was the beauty of kyoto and how it had to offer such great things in all 4 seasons. temples, palaces, streets, cafes - all had shades of history going back some 1000 years. and how its all preserved. i truly felt, time took a break. if time can, you should definitely do!

vend it!

technology in japan is more like an elastic, they stretch as far as it could be and still keep with in its expandable territory. vending machine technology is one such. there is no limit to what can be bought out of a vending machine. hot tea, cold tea, burgers, sandwiches, muffins, disposable rain coats, re-usable umbrella - this list can go on till dawn.
when you are on road in japan, you may not find a bin to litter but sure you would find a vending machine that could vend a surprise!

akira

Kurosawa Akira - I am not going to say anything more than what is already been said about him. Lengends like John Ford, Satyjit Ray, Ingmar Bergman, George Lucas considered Kurosawa to be the greatest ever to have weilded the camera.

Born on March 23, 1910 - youngest of 8 - he went through a difficult childhood. Charlie Chaplin like. Greatly influenced by the war and the great kanto earthquake - AK decided to write about these things that left people to believe he was a communist. He didn't know what he was, to say the truth. This blog entry is to show how AK was in love with Nature.

Nature played a great deal in his movies - the heavy rain in the opening scene of Rashomon, heavy rain again in the final battle in Seven Samurai, the intense heat in Stray Dog, the cold wind in Yojimbo, the snow in Ikiru, and the fog in Throne of Blood. AK also liked using frame wipes sometimes cleverly hidden by motion within the frame, as a transition device.

"I like unformed characters. This may be because, no matter how old I get, I am still unformed myself"

calming influence...

This a temple that you could see right out of the window from my office here in tokyo and the back of the temple leads to a graveyard. There are numerous tombstones in a small space. space management is something you can learn from Japanese constructions. This temple, for me, has in many ocassions has had a calming influence. 30-min session with myself after lunch on a spring afternoon - I wouldn;t trade anything for that.