Japan Trip Photos - Part 2 (ASAKUSA, TOKYO)

Some photos that i took at Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan

The Gate to Asakusa, a giant lantern and a prominent landmark

Woodwork underneath the Lantern

Nuts, good to go with beers

Delicious snacks

Deep fried rice cookies

Vendor making rice cookies

Chef making some desserts with red bean as filling

Japanese Masks

Wind Chimes - I bought one for my mom.

Kids playing

Another chef making dessert

Little lanterns as souvenirs

Key chains

Entrance / Gate to Asakusa temple

Lighting up an joss stick

We have to clean our hands before entering any temple

Street at Asakusa

Japanese ladies in traditional clothes

Japanese youths

Japan Trip Photos - Part 1 (HOKKAIDO)

Well, have not been discipline enough to keep my blog updated as much as I want to. Anyway, I went to Japan for a business cum leisure trip in April 08 and here are some of the photos I took with my new digital camera.

Burger (beef patty) served with rice and salad. Surprisingly yummy!

How I wish I can retire to a place like Hokkaido and having a farm house as above.

Since my business is related to dairy farming, I have to show you some dairy cows. Look at the above, the barn that housed these cows looked so clean and comfortable to these cows.

Close encounter with the cow...beautiful and gentle animal, aren't they?

More ladies....this is how farmers commonly address their cows in a respectful manner.

A young bull... he was jumping around happily when we approached him. He was so playful, curious and energetic... typically male chracteristics

One of the farm houses we visited had the above Koi flags erected in front of their house. These flags were erected during Springtime, as a ritual to ask blessings from the Gods to their children for health, passing examination etc.

It was a beautiful sight when the wind blows, as these Koi flags became alive, dancing and swimming in the air.

We went to a farm called Handa Farm for lunch. The farm restaurant served home made cheeses and they tasted most wonderfully.

Farm restaurant's interior... a lot of western elements are being adopted.

A charming dog house at the farm ...

What is more charming is the resident of this dog house.... a ST BERNARD dog... Miss Azusa (is a she) is so adorable

Kiss, kiss and hugs, hugs

(to be continued)

School Uniform too sexy for girls!

Why women always get the blame? Even more shameful when the spokeperson is a woman. People who come out with such idea are brainless and should be treated as social trash!

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AFP - Thursday, May 22 KUALA LUMPUR, May 21, 2008 (AFP) - A Malaysian Islamic group on Wednesday condemned the uniform worn by girls at government schools, saying it encouraged rape and pre-marital sex.

"The white blouse is too transparent for girls and it becomes a source of attraction," National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia vice-president Munirah Bahari said in a statement.
"It becomes a distraction to men, who are drawn to it, whether or not they like looking at it," she said, calling for a review of uniform policy so that it did not violate Islamic ideals.

In multicultural Malaysia, home to majority-Muslim Malays as well as ethnic Chinese and Indians, female students at government schools have a choice of wearing a white blouse with a knee-length skirt or pinafore.

They may also wear a "baju kurung" which is a traditional long top and skirt, and a headscarf is optional for Malay students.

Munirah said that "covering up" according to Islamic precepts was important to fend off social ills including "rape, sexual harassment and even premarital sex which involve schoolgirls in their teens."

"All this leads to babies born out of wedlock and to an extent, even prostitution," she said.
"Decent clothes which are not revealing can prevent and protect women from any untoward situations," she said, suggesting that girls wear a blouse of a different colour or with an undergarment.

However, the girls themselves also came in for criticism, with the association saying some used the white blouse to lure men.

"This is the source of the problem, where we can see that schoolgirls themselves are capable of using this to attract men to them," Munirah said.

"This could see them getting molested, having pre-marital sex and all sorts of things."

Male Chauvinist Lawmaker in Malaysia. Sisters of Islam, please stand up!

I am ashamed for having such Male chauvinist as lawmaker in our parliment! I will not feature his face picture here but you can look at his face via the parliment website or Malaysiakini news.

Shame on him! Pity to his wife (or wives), daughters and all Muslim women living in Malaysia.

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Women should accept polygamy, Malaysian lawmaker says.

A Malaysian lawmaker told parliament that there would be fewer marital problems and a lower divorce rate if Muslim women were taught to accept polygamy, news reports said Friday.

Ibrahim Ali, an independent parliamentarian, proposed moves to address the issue in response to complaints that women were always blamed for marital issues. "Such problems happen because women cannot accept polygamy. From a preventive point of view, what about doing a big campaign so that women can accept polygamy?" Ibrahim was quoted saying in the Star daily.

The ethnic Malay Muslim lawmaker said women who are pregnant or who have "problems" when they hit their fifties do not understand that men still want to "have fun".

Fuziah Salleh, an opposition lawmaker, had earlier questioned the qualifications of Islamic sharia court counsellors as she had received complaints from women that they were forced to take the blame for most marital problems. "They are not counselled but given 'advice'. And every time, they are told that the woman is to be blamed. If it is a family problem, they must be patient. If they are beaten up, they must also be patient," she said.

Muslim men in Malaysia are allowed up to four wives. Activists and women's groups say polygamy is cruel and has deviated from its original purpose in Islam, which was to protect widows and orphans.

Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of its 27 million people are Muslim Malays. Polygamy is illegal for non-Muslims.

Agence France-Presse - 5/23/2008 5:24 AM GMT

Who is worse? Dr M or Pak Lah

VERSUS

Below is an article by OKM and OY published on Apr 12, 2008.

To me, most if not all politicians do not come clean. As a civilian, i just want to watch this epic story of UMNO and BN. Let the political war between the two brings the collateral damages to the party and coalition and expose all the misconducts of Malaysian lawmakers!

So far, Pak Lah has been keeping his elegant silence while having his delusions that all party members, including his deputy are still backing him. Dr M is now all out and showing its fangs. This despite risking the damages to UMNO and BN , just to bring down Pak Lah; as well as risking himself as the ultimate losing party in this war of Malaysia politic history.

We shall see...

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Currently there is much heated debate over whether Dr Mahathir Mohamad or Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is more to blame for the various woes that afflict the country.

Our perspective is that Dr M's misdeeds were sins of "commission" while Pak Lah's were that of "omission". The former caused much institutional damage but the latter failed to fix the mess he inherited although he was given a huge mandate to do so.

Many people recall, perhaps with some fondness, the rapid economic development that occurred during Dr M's time as PM, especially in the early- to mid-1990s. However, the institutional damage which can be traced directly to Dr M far outweighs his many economic accomplishments.

The systematic dismantling of a once fiercely-independent judiciary; the convenient acceptance of rampant corruption within Barisan Nasional in general and Umno in particular; the muzzling of mainstream newspapers, reducing them to little more than unofficial mouthpieces for the government; and the centralization of power in the PM's office. These are but a few examples of what Dr M was directly responsible for, the effects of which are still strongly felt today.

So, while it must be acknowledged that Dr M did some good things, there was simply too much bad thrown in with the good.

Granted, Pak Lah had neither had the time and opportunity to inflict further damage on national institutions. Perhaps given time, he could have one day matched Dr M's ability to bend every major institution to his will. To Pak Lah's credit, he didn't try to do so in his first term – it could be argued he didn't do much of anything in his first term – certainly, not in the same manner as Dr M.

But Pak Lah came into office with a message of reform. He was the alternate "Reformasi" candidate who promised to eradicate corruption, to reform the civil service including making the police force more efficient and transparent, and to be an inclusive PM for all Malaysians. He achieved none of that and instead squandered the historic mandate given to him in the 2004 general election.

He allowed ethnic extremism to rear its ugly head within his own party, Umno. He tried to table a watered-down police oversight bill to Parliament. He launched his own version of mega-projects in the form of regional corridors. And, it was business as usual in Umno –meaning patronage and money politics were the order of the day.

But as weak and ineffective as Pak Lah has been during these past four years – and still so, in many ways – the recent attacks by Dr M ring hollow once they are taken apart and examined.

While Dr M's stinging barbs are great fodder for bloggers and political pundits, they are examples of hypocrisy at its most audacious. Dr M conveniently forgets that it was he who instituted the quota system for Umno's internal elections and that no one was able to challenge him after Tengku Razaleigh's failed bid in 1988. Dr M also forgets that the Cabinet was as pliant under his premiership as it is now and that he too was surrounded by yes-men who didn't dare contradict him. That is, after all, the culture of Umno – which he cultivated over two decades as its leader.

No credible suggestions even now as he calls for Pak Lah to resign, Dr M does not offer any credible suggestions on how to reform Umno or the BN in the face of the unprecedented losses suffered in the recent polls. All he has to offer is unreserved, uninhibited, unconstructive criticism – good for media sound bites but useless when it comes to helping the party get out of the morass it's in.

Pak Lah might not last long enough to even make it to the Umno polls in December but he can at the very least be credited for gracefully accepting the will of the voters and not resorting to dirty tactics to "alter" the 2008 election results. There was no trouble in the streets as many people had feared would emerge if BN were to ever lose its psychologically-critical two-thirds majority in Parliament. Can anyone seriously say with full conviction that this would have been the case if Dr M were the PM?

Those who are cheering on Dr M's assault on Pak Lah – and this includes a couple of the most well-known bloggers in this country – would do well to remember that the good ol' days of Dr M were actually not all that good. It's not difficult to see where we stand on this debate.

As disappointing as Pak Lah has been, Dr M is by far the worse of the two PMs.

Vesak Day 19.5.08

19.5.08 is the Vesak day, the day which Malaysian Buddhists commemorate the birth, the enlightenment and the passing of Gautama Buddha.

Although I often fill in the 'Religion' column of any forms as "Buddhism", i was never a true practitioner.

My mom is practising Buddhism and Taoism. So, conveniently I just pick one and adopt one.

I guess the only time I am being 'exposed' to Buddhism is when I accompany my mom visiting Buddhist temples for prayers. To be fair, those visits were more of learning about prayer rituals rather than true Budhhism teachings.

If anyone ever ask if I am ashamed for not learning about the family's religion, I think not because both learning and practising religious teachings should be free will. It should not bring pressure onto an individual and cannot be made a mandatory practise in order to conform to a certain social definition or perception of a community. After all, to my opinion, religion is a personal matter between an individual and his / her God. Moreover, Buddhism is a teaching rather commonly labelled as a religion.

In Buddhism, anyone can become a Buddha because Buddhism is about reaching the "Awakening" status of our mind. The word " Buddha" itself means "Awakened one" in Sanskrit (language of ancient Buddhist text).

Unlike previous years, I did not think of visiting temples during Vesak day unless i am with my mom. This year, I actually thought of visiting one to pay homage and respect to Gautama Buddha. Coincidentally, a few days ago, a gym friend of mine invited me to visit a Buddhist Monastery on Vesak day.

So, I did. I first when to a Buddhist cum Taoist temple that morning, did all the rituals of lighting up candles, burning joss-sticks and make some donations to the temple and the poors who were sitting at the entrance of the temple. Next, I went to the nearby Buddhist monastery to meet up with my gym friend.

Upon arrival at the monastery, the first thing that i noticed was its environment. Compared to the atmosphere at most temples, with devotees busy minding their own praying activities, the atmosphere at the monastery was calmer and serene. First, its architecture seem blended into to its surroundings and nature - trees, plants and water. There was also a sense of openness and welcoming feeling. Devotees at the monastery also seem to be more at ease, friendlier and approachable.

Again, I performed the rituals. This time, the offerings also included some flowers and fruits. These rituals are no stranger to me, except I had little understanding of their significance in relation to Buddhism.

At about 9 am, the other rituals followed suit. Both devotees, the monks and nuns sang the hymn in praise of the holy triple gems / jewels - which I had no ideas what they meant.

During the prayer breaks, i asked my gym friend and below were what i learnt:

• The Holy triple jewels / gems refer to The Buddha, The Dharma (his teachings) and The Sangha (his disciples). They are called the jewels / gems because they are precious for someone to follow, learn and attain.
• The simple symbolic offerings of flowers, candles and joss-sticks are to remind the followers that just as the beautiful flowers would wither away after a short while and the candles and joss-sticks would soon burn out, so too is life subject to decay and destruction.
• In addition, the burning of joss-sticks and candles also remind followers about sacrifice for greater good. The candles bring light and the joss-sticks bring fragrance by burning themselves.
• The offerings of flowers and fruits signifies "cause" and "effect". The flowers = Cause and fruits = Effect. So, good deeds lead to goods effects and vice verse.
• To some other religions, worshipping the statue of Buddha is interpreted as worshiping the Idols. To Buddhists, the statue is just a symbol to remind the followers to constantly following the teachings of Buddhism when they see and kneel before the statue.
• Why we always offer joss-stick always in three? This is because the "three" reminds the followers to keep overcoming "Greed", "Anger" and "Ignorance" as fundamental in embracing, learning and practising Buddhism
• Buddhism is a teaching to universal beings - both to the livings and the spiritual world - educating the evils to be good and the good to be better.
• Buddhism is about treating all with respects and fairness, regardless of the livings and spirituals. That is why killing is forbidden.

Today learning opened up my mind towards Buddhism. No longer just focus on its rituals but also a little bit about the essence of its teaching. I am pleased. Happy Vesak day!

Makan and Minum

I went up to KL last Saturday to have dinner with my friends... Had a great time, as always. Since I am still an aspired-to-be photographer, sorry guys if you do not find your face in the pictures below. It is very likley that the quality of those pictures are too poor for public showing.

Nizam was yawning while waiting for foods to be served... Serious, Marcus and I were not looking at you when you yawn.

Hmmm...finally the foods came

Chew chew, munch munch munch.. see how Zam immensed himself in the world of food-eating while Din seemed to take it more steadily...like having a QC inspection on the food before putting it into his mouth. As for Syed, he looked a bit solemn, perhaps not having himself fed enough? (Ha ha!)

Why Nick open his mouth like that? Something stuck in his throat / teeth?

Who can deny that humans are not on top of the food chain. Can you see the damage we did?

Fai returned to his happy face after a hefty meal

Ha ha, Din, caught you on camera. FYI, anak itu tak boleh "dimakan", tahu?