Amidst the alarmingly bad bilateral relationship between North and South Korea at that point of time, I was still yearning for a year-end visit to the borderline between North and South Korea, which is hallmarked by the Demilitarized Zone and Civilization Village. An (alternative) history freak I am, it didn’t take a second to book the cheap air-ticket to Seoul from Tokyo –a place where I currently live. Don’t get me wrong, my reason to visit Seoul isn’t galvanized by the fancy Korean wave Hallyu culture, but more into culinary errands and the curiosity over “Demilitarized Zone”, the last living relic of Cold War.

image source: Wikipedia

The 38th parallel north—which divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half—was the original boundary between the United States and Soviet brief administration areas of Korea at the end of World War II[2]. Upon the creation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, informally North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (ROK, informally South Korea) in 1948, it became a de facto international border and one of the tensest fronts in the Cold War[3].

The Bridge of Freedom

Freedom Bridge (courtesy of Ayu)

It took about 3 hours from Seoul to reach the borderline. The first place we visited was the Freedom Bridge. It was around -18 Celsius when I came there around December last year. Freezing cold, I can’t stop to ponder about people up there in the alienated areas in North Korea, trying to survive with barely electricity and food. On 16 February 1952, Freedom Bridge, a focal point of worldwide attention during the Korean War, was officially opened and became a major link between the truce site of Panmunjom and Seoul, Republic of Korea[4]. In 1998, a four lane bridge called the Grand Unification Bridge was build, and replaced the function of its predecessor Freedom Bridge.

The message of unification and peace is particularly strong in this place, envisaged by the handwritten messages of the families whose members were separated after the peninsula was divided into two. Indeed, the messages were conveyed by the South Koreans longing to reunite with family members in the Northern part, as the fate of the mentioned family members in the North was still unbeknownst.

Messages of separated family members longing for the reunification of the North and South (courtesy of Ayu)

 

The 3^rd Infiltration Tunnel

My next stop after Freedom of Bridge was 3^rd Infiltration Tunnel. The Third Infiltration Tunnel is a tunnel under the border between North Korea and South Korea, extending south of Panmunjom. It was the third tunnel to be discovered running under the border between the two Koreas. It is apparently designed for a surprise attack on Seoul from North Korea, and can easily accommodate 30,000 men per hour along with light weaponry[5]. Its description as a “tunnel of aggression” was given by the South, who considered it an act of aggression by the North part.

the entrance of 3^rdinfiltration tunnel (image source: Wikipedia)

I didn’t take pictures here because I simply wasn’t allowed to. In order to enter the tunnel, visitors ought to wear protection helmet and left our belongings in the locker provided. It is actually quite hard to imagine the laboring task of digging underground tunnel from Pyongyang to Seoul without proper equipment; and that was actually done by the soldiers of North Korea, hoping to secure some access points for a surprise attack.

exhibit showing North Korean laborer digging the tunnel  (image source: Wikipedia)

Dorasan Station

Despite the continuous betrayal and the breach of truce by the North Korea counterpart, it seems to me that the South has better intention to make up for the past and reunite in the near future. For that reason, Dorasan railway station, which will be connecting Seoul and Pyongyang was built in spite of the absence of real trains and infrastructure. Plans to begin regular passenger service across the Imjin River to North Korea have yet to be finalized. However, a tourist visit in January 2010 showed clearly that the station was completely shut to all train travel, and that the station was only open for tourists. The train station is also expected to connect the Korean peninsula up way crossing the Russian Federation.

Dorasan Station with platform showing direction to Pyeongyang. Sadly, no trains. (courtesy of Ayu)

Takeouts

Some people developed certain misconceptions about North Korea beforehand, and I do too, in fact the impression that the North Koreans are belligerent warmongers still occupy my mind after a set of visits to the borderline. In the propaganda billboard featuring the Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il, they show the well-built manly figure of North Korean men far from the K-pop boyband stereotype, and the old-fashioned women with 1970s outfits and plain our-Mother-era hairstyle far from the image of SNSD or Wonder Girls. The truth I hear from my tour guide is rather quite different from the image, that the average men are actually quite short in Asian standard (around 155cm?) due to the lack of nutrition and harsh living condition. Furthermore, there is a mandatory military service of (almost) 12 years for both men and women, as the country puts so much emphasis in military aspect since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

North Korea and South Korea, Pyongyang and Seoul, is like a tale of two cities. Both roots from the same ancestors, used to be family members, and used to be one inseparable entity in the past. War (or the World War II), is one that separated them into two alienated twin brothers with different fates and providences to face the future. Quoting Lennon, maybe people should –for a while- imagine there’s no countries, then there will be nothing to kill or die for~ and people will live life in peace.  I believe Lennon is not alone, far away from Korean peninsula, we too, hope for the (unseen?) war to cease, for the leaders to abandon ambition of mastery and return to state of antebellum, and for the people, to free themselves from the mandatory military service of years altogether with the continuous hostility of their countrymen and use the time to spread the message of love to the world, and live life to the fullest.

Note: a piece of work submitted to Indonesian Professional Association Journalism Club in Singapore in which I become a resident writer.

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[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/11/23/us-korea-north-artillery-idUSTRE6AM0YS20101123

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone

[3] http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2792.htm

[4] http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/freedom-bridge.htm

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Tunnel_of_Aggression

Disclaimer: my takeout on “reinventing japan’s economy” and recent essay submitted for a writing competition.

The recent calamity of Tohoku earthquake and Fukushima nuclear-plant incident have made Japan re-grasp the importance to constantly innovate and to reclaim its power as major economic hub in Asia. Japan, once a country with continuous double-digit growth rate and rapid technological innovation during the 1970-80, has faced bubble economy phenomenon following the zero economic growth after the 1990s. The ever-changing policies (altogether with numerous inconsistencies inside) have been done to tackle the issues of economy stagnancy, but only a little worked out. The inability of the government to engage in a real-plan to reconstruct the whole country’s economy, let alone the Tohoku area, has more or less reflected by its slow crisis management preparedness post Tohoku disaster.

The concentration of political and economic power in mega polis Tokyo has partly contributed to the stagnancy of technological innovation and economic growth. Tokyo has turned into a super-city -with a population of around 34,300,000- that has expanded enough to consume other neighborhoods in terms human capital, industry and resources. As a result to this, the government policies are too centralized in Tokyo area, resulting in the sluggish policy adoption and policy respond in outside Tokyo area. Simply said, the current obstacle in Japan economy is that economic power is way too concentrated in Tokyo -hence caused over-agglomeration that neglecting the construction and industry of other important settlements in the country; and that there is little to none institutional changes that respond to the problems.

Indeed, the Tohoku disaster and the nuclear crisis could become a hallmark of a brand new “human capital” of Japan. Skidmore and Toya (2002), demonstrates that higher frequencies of climatic disasters are correlated with higher rates of human capital accumulation, increases in total factor productivity, and economic growth. Though disaster risk reduces the return to physical capital, risk also serves to increase the relative return to human capital. Thus, physical capital investment may fall, but there is also a substitution toward human capital investment. Disasters also provide the impetus to update the capital stock and adopt new technologies, leading to improvements in total factor productivity. In the case of a land with frequent disasters like Japan, disaster risks affect the development of human capital accumulation. Certainly, the world has witnessed the strong willpower and determination of the Japanese people after the disaster. Tohoku earthquake obviously serves as a main turning point of Japan, to –the first and foremost- change the human capital, in this case, the institutions.

Change the institutions may affect growth in the long run. Douglass North (1991) defines institutions as “humanly devised constraints that structure political, economic and social interactions.” According to North, past historical institutions, which create the current institutions, determine the destiny of the nation; in short, history tends to be repeating from the past institutions to the latter one. Changing institutions are difficult, but they are not impossible. In the case of Japan, after the crisis of World War II, Japan has shown a tremendous improvement in terms of economic development, and achieved growth beyond reconstruction by drastically changing its institutions. From a poor country defeated after the war, Japan has managed to swiftly adopt the western technology, translate it to build the domestic industry, and then make technological innovation that almost (or have) surpassed the west. This fact has become a repeating occurrence when Japan opened up in the late Edo period around 1880, when growth was rapidly accelerated. Drawing a scarlet thread between these facts, Japan can actually grow beyond reconstruction again, as it has proven itself surviving through the hard crises in the past. Obviously, drastic institutional changes are deemed necessary in order to propel the rapid growth again after a series of reconstruction. These institutional changes have to take into account the issue of globalization -a relatively nouvelle issue that Japan hasn’t faced during its reconstruction in the past-, and the development of regional industrial cluster –that will further de-escalate Tokyo’s role as the economic and political powerhouse of Japan.

In addressing the issue of globalization, many economists argue that the source of economic growth is the technological progress, and that knowledge diffusion from abroad shall be adopted domestically. The idea is simple: by connecting with advance minds over the world, one is able to generate more ideas, adopt them and tailor them to the domestic needs, and consequently, achieve faster growth. In the present time, Japan has yet to turn the globalization into power and yet to maximize the benefit of globalization to drive domestic innovation. Compare to the United States which ratio of domestic innovation versus foreign innovation is 60%-40%, Japan’s ratio is currently around 30%-70% (Eaton & Kortum, 1999). This shows that Japan is still lacking of domestic innovation to sustain domestic productivity growth. Although there is a fear toward the globalization by Japan’s domestic companies, globalization does not necessarily deteriorate domestic employment. In fact, globalization can help change the ways the business is being done. In the short run, the domestic employment may suffer due to the relocation of business in other low cost settlements, however, as productivity is increasing overtime, the human capital could be benefited from the higher productivity, thus increasing more employment in the long run.

Currently, Japanese corporation is not globalized much. With regards to the FDI inflows per GDP, and the FDI outflows per GDP, Japan’s ratio are far below the other developed economies like France, Germany, Switzerland, and UK. Policies are needed to reinforce the globalization-spillover effect across Japanese corporation –and Japan’s policy makers have to race against the time to offset the lag of Japan to other countries more advance (i.e. Singapore, Switzerland, etc) in order to capture the right momentum. From this point onwards, policy has to promote openness and focus to invest in human capital. Economic policies particularly, have to be decentralized and involving the whole area of Japan with each economic and industry specialization.

The first step toward gaining momentum of globalization is to embrace trade openness and prevent further agglomeration in Tokyo and Kanto area by developing the existing clusters industry in other part of Japan. With the commitment in trade openness particularly the participation in the Free Trade Area (FTA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership in particular (TPP)[1], Japan is gradually embracing the openness and tendency to spread the wings to the international trade community. The next crucial step is implementing the decentralized industrial agglomeration outside Tokyo. The regional government shall be able to reinforce domestic industry by strengthening the networks amongst local industry, with the help of tax incentives and reward from the central government. The plan shall be executed by making use of the existing geographical cluster industry in the major cities. Gradually, the cluster will attract related firms working on the similar industry, thus reinforce knowledge diffusion and positive competition amongst the firm to both the old players and the late entrants, and will attain pool of skilled labor. In the current situation, even though public investment is increasing in the rural area, total population is declining in the rural region as people are clustering in Tokyo. Furthermore, the lacking of entrepreneurship initiatives and the sheer presence of network between science, technology and entrepreneurship aggravate the situation. Government shall highlight the declining population as a crucial factor determining the future of human capital, by trying to attract foreign pool of skilled labor, and also by giving incentives to the return-migrants –or people returning to the rural areas to start up their own business.

In the effort to build a robust network between science, technology and entrepreneurship to create new industrial clusters, Japan shall learn from the case of Singapore’s Biopolis or the High Tech Cluster Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing China. Both high-tech clusters have emphasized the innovation in frontier technology, and promoted research collaboration in regional clusters. Both impose almost zero tax to foreign firms with regional centers. Both even foster university-industry relations, in other words, provide finances for recent university graduates to build start-ups. With Japan’s advance higher education spreading from Okinawa to Hokkaido, the rudimentary infrastructure to build research collaboration already exists. The next thing the government shall do is to strengthen the network between Japan’s high-tech industries to the pool of talents in the University, by initiating various research collaborations in frontier technologies.

Concerning the new start-ups and newborn companies in this new industrial cluster, low corporate tax should be imposed, with incentives and subsidy dedicated to research and development. With the strong network ties and the collaboration between higher education institutions and industries, technological progress will be promoted through networks, thus makes effective geographical knowledge diffusion. Government too shall not forget that high-tech clusters will attract foreign research and industry alliance, which will benefit domestic innovation in the long run. In an instance, Hokkaido is geographically situated near Russia, while Fukuoka is geographically situated near Korea peninsula, and Okinawa’s located relatively near to the Philippines. Obviously, Japan has to consider building up a high-cluster area within those proximities, considering the alliance and foreign cooperation opportunities that are of abundant.

Toward the end, Japan has actually mastered the formula to attain rapid growth beyond the reconstruction of Tohoku area, by preventing further agglomeration in Tokyo (and building the high-tech clusters outside Tokyo), and making use of this brand-new regional clusters to build research collaboration network that will further, promote growth. Quoting historian Arnold Toynbee, history is repeating. The past glory of Japan in tackling the crisis has proven that Japan is actually resilient to crisis if radical institutional changes are being implemented. With the technological innovation spreading through the network from the regional clusters across the country, we shall see the second awakening of Japan’s economy.

Found this old art of mine. I think I made it around two years ago in 2009. When I draw, I tend to form a mental portrayal of the imaginary character and then sewing a certain background story that fits the mood of the characters.

Unfortunately, I totally forgot the backstory of this illustration . The only thing I could recall is the fact that the color pencils I used were too solidified -hence not a good material to use. I think I am old and senile already.

I hope I can spare more time to write and draw. For my own consumption purposes .

I have graduated from the University, am now in a stable job and promising career ahead. I am independent financially, can no longer ask for more. I get everything I want in life, and am already happy with my current situation. Don’t you think my journey on earth is kind of finished now; and time to focus on the Afterlife?

Someone overwhelmed me with that contemplation today; as long as we could manage to get the satisfaction in life, particularly in terms of financial matters, then life is more or less finished. Realistically speaking, how much money do we normally consume for daily living? A medium-sized bowl of rice, meat and pickles for three times a day. Sometimes with the dessert, and fruits. And probably some nice drinks, not necessarily expensive but just enough to appease the thirst. And then how much do we spend for rent (or mortgage), with some additional bucks for the sake of entertainment? Buying books, CDs, electronic-gadgets, theater tickets, and traveling occasionally. That’s pretty much it. We don’t have to be filthy rich like the Kardashians or the Trumps in order to ace our life and elicit the so-called “satisfactory” feeling . A person that I talked with today, has admitted that he is quite happy with how life treats him. Occasionally he recited the prayers and gratitude to The Almighty. Perhaps “life” on earth has finished for him, as he no longer has desires to attain more than he think he could get. Now it is the time to focus on the future-life, which is Life after the Life, by dedicating all of his resources in the God’s way to be able to get closer to God. The life is cast, and the God of abundance has given him a perfect life, a flawless one that he could ever think of. It is the moment to payback all God’s gifts.

That thought alone puts me in awe. How simple life is! -initially this was my reverie . Although I am still struggling financially by juggling some part-time jobs and Ph.D. research (not to mention some rigorous classes in-between), my standard of living is pretty decent according to World Bank’s poverty standard. No, actually it is quite lavish, compare to more than half of the population in the world. There are still 2.7 billions people living at the bottom of pyramids, with less than $2 income per day. Based on his conjecture, my affluent existence then has fulfilled its meant as well! I have accomplished many things in my 25 years of life, and God has placed me in the most pleasant position; a place that suits my socio-cultural and psychological situation. Is this the time to stop running and pull the brakes, switch off the accelerator for good and then focus on Afterlife as well? God has granted me boundless favor and protection, it becomes my obligation as His follower to dedicate everything to obtain his blessings.

Now now, shall I retire to a deserted village or alienated town, build a place of worship combined with the orphanage house and teach the orphans the religions and enlighten them about the grace of God? Shall I dedicate the rest of my life studying the Koran, learning the Arabic, and then spending nights and days try to decipher God’s message? Shall I dress *ahem* modestly, with long dark hijab, nude face without traces of make-ups, and pay little to none attention to outside appearance? And shall I go on with this abstinence and refrain myself from the world’s “dangerous indulgences and temptations” by closing all my senses to the blinks and enjoyment that the world offers? SHALL I REALLY TAKE THE “DIVINE” TASKS TO THE VERY EXTREME? SHALL I? MUST I? Honestly even the thought alone made me anxious and knelt down in frustration. No, like hell I can do it!!! (I don’t intentionally put the exclamation marks, it’s my sub-conscious who typed it).

I am grateful just to be able to live, and I don’t want my existence withers in vain. If others have their very own definition of being grateful to God, which is to hold on with abstinence and literally do the worship nights and day, then I possess my own too. I will fully utilize my accumulation of knowledge and experience for the greater good, that is to become a policy maker or creme-de-la-creme entrepreneur whose moves will make a big impact to the society. This will translate into a spillover web of advancement. True, maybe the work seems less seraphic than the duty of the preachers; but if every religious devotee becomes preacher, then what’s left for the world and its people? I don’t think devotion manifested in such a straightaway manner: you pray to God and then you get the reward. There are more atoms and strings that construct devotion. I do think that those people who actually have excessive knowledge and skills and choose to abandon them all in order to attain God’s reward does not understand what being grateful is. Ironically, that is a form of ungrateful manner; amongst all the earth-dwellers, small fraction of them are the privileged ones with superfluous resources in the form of knowledge and wealth. When they choose abstinence over “world”, they actually have banished the opportunities to do greater good deeds by not fully mobilizing their resources to help unprivileged people. I see that my arguments may contain numerous loops; even so, I agree that some people must take the role of being preachers, and some others, take the responsibility of merchants, soldiers, country leaders, et cetera. We are all walking in the path of God posing different identities, but the goal is the same: to be grateful of being alive by giving the generous contribution to the other human beings. Afterall, we inhibit the very same earth, and we are all mortals.

Contrary to what I used to do: debating, I didn’t rebut my friend for having that thought. Maybe some things are better left unsaid . In most occasions I have almost lost friends due to my outspokenness despite the absence of ill-thoughts and bad intentions from my side. Even if I can effectuate my accomplishment in the field of academic career, I still want to venture to other dreams: to explore the world, to allocate most of my time living in the head of imaginary characters and write stories of them, to be able to play music, et cetera. I am really grateful to God; hence will spend the rest of my lifespan to live life to the fullest, attain many things that I believe will bring good contribution to people and just be kind to others. Afterall in the final analysis, it is always between me and God, and not preachers in between.

If perfection means happiness, then does the pursuit of happiness mean the pursuit of perfection?

Ever since I was a kid, I was taught to do everything perfectly -or almost without flaw- and to be politically correct at all times. Perhaps that’s the most common thing of Asian (read: third-world country) value: of being perfect from head to toe and live up the expectation of others. If I didn’t get perfect score in Math quiz, I would likely be humiliated at home. If I didn’t dress quite pleasantly with ruffles-embellished socks and Mary-Jane shoes when meeting people, I would be called a disgrace to family. Even when I unintentionally said a silly remark when seeing the Doctor or when having a witless bargain-battle with the street-vendors, I would too become a subject of derision during family gathering. There were so much rules of the game revolving around my life, and I never blame my family for those. Afterall, they just taught me how the game of life is supposed to be played tactically in the world of adults; I too, thought that the mental (and physical?) exercise would benefit me in the near future. However, I realized that there is no way I can be perfect since the very beginning, but I was too impotent to fight back to gain my independence, even too reluctant to talk-back. Nah, maybe I was just lazy hence the indifference :p.

Years over years, I started to make peace with ‘perfection’ and was susceptible with people’s expectation on me. In order to be happy, I just have to be flawless in every thing I do and fulfill what people expect on me -initially this is how it works in my life. And I don’t like to use the word ‘perfectionist’ as it sounds so self-proclaimed . My parents wanted me to enter their choice of Secondary School. Fine to that, I had no objection as I don’t care about which school either. Years later, parents expected me to enroll to a prestigious semi-military school with full scholarship from the government. Roger to that, it didn’t really concern myself. As long as they think I am ideal and can live up to their expectation, they would be happy -and I thought I would too. As long as big family said pleasant and desirable things about me, I thought that was where my happiness lies. But then problem persisted when I entered a boarding school, whereby parents and big family no longer present in my decision-making formula. From here, I stopped thinking about family’s expectation. Perfection then acted as the center steer of my hypothalamus. Flawlessness -my efforts to be perfect in every thing I do- became my moral standard in doing things in order to attain happiness. If I can be perfect, then I can be happy. If I am perfect, then I am happy.

Unfortunately, as cliche as it sounds, there is no way that we could be perfect. I was exhausted along the way to pursue the so-called wisdom of perfection. No matter how hard I try, no matter how I work my ass off, it is impossible that I could be the paragon of everything. Intelligence wise, I am not that smart; and there is always people placed on the top and then over the top. Even if I enrolled in #1 University, there are still strangers who could manage to tear apart my arguments or analytical thinking in the most unexpected places. If normal people could get the work done in one hour, I must spend manifold times of theirs in order to finish the same job. Even if I am qualified as a Ph.D. candidate, I can’t even do the Statistical analysis as proficient as an Undergrad student does. I attempted so hard to offset those deprivation in order to get the ideal-state of mind, which ultimately will lead to happiness. If the pursuit of perfection is tantamount to the pursuit of happiness, then why I am being resentful over the time instead of gradually accumulating the happy-feeling?

Appearance wise, I am nowhere near from the ideal pretty disposition. Even if I strive to conceal the lacking by dressing up, I am not even endowed by a slender body-shape and enough capital to invest on pretty dresses. I was born dark with uneven body-fat that garnished the body and face . I knew that I would never be perfect on this area. Even my parents endlessly ridiculed my crooked teeth altogether with the pimples on my face everytime I visited them during holiday. My unusual taste of fashion also never failed to fascinate them (in a bad way). I wouldn’t be used to make-up if my mother didn’t request me to wear it everytime we want to go outside. When I was at home, it is a big no-no for a lady to wear shorts or cargo pants as a casual wear-out. At some points when I was able to fulfill almost all the expectation on grooming and mannerism, suddenly they expressed the insistent request for me to wear a Hijab (whaaat? ). Afterall in the end, my odyssey on perfection is still never-ending, no matter how arduous my effort to accomplish them.

Life and career-wise, now that is where the burgeoning expectations lie in. Parents expressed their wish for me to major in IT or Finance, and later on started a promising career in the financial institutions. Honestly, I didn’t possess an excessive brain which could solidly bolster me in IT, then I took up Business Administration. I studied so hard to win favorable scores on Finance subject but in the end I failed miserably. I guess I just didn’t have a strong penchant of doing Finance job and would take up another position in Finance without Finance degree, but this was when one of my parents said “…. I guess that thought is hopeless now. It can’t be helped….” Maybe they were right, when it wasn’t there for me, it meant I wasn’t suitable for the challenge. Anyway, I was thankful that I didn’t involve myself in the Finance-related job business.

I am 25 now, and who knows I will end up in 5 years or 10 years later . Life is short afterall, especially life of a modern homo-sapiens in 21st century. The world is so full of hazardous environment and cancer becomes the main slow, painful and expensive death-penalty of mankind . With this kind of life that I lead, I wonder if I could attain the longevity as most Okinawan does. Nah, the truth is I don’t want to get rotten and decayed into an ugly form of living-being, so maybe longevity of over 100 years isn’t a good idea either. I want to lead a quality life, that is life with happiness in every second. But then what is my happiness? I have given up on my divine Herculean tasks to attain perfection, hence I would reconstruct the definition of happiness .

I must start to listen to the inner voice of my mind (or heart?) while mute-ing the uproarious voices from outside. I have heard of outside opinion during my 23 or 24 years of living and tried to make them happy by fulfilling their expectations, now it’s time to let them wither away -which I think is fair enough. Happiness doesn’t belong to other people or external forces but ourselves. I would never bear childish resentment toward the so-called “external forces”; in fact I am thankful for the hardship and the experience. I am very positive that I can attain exponential happiness by the time I switched off the speaker of external sounds.

I will now not hesitate to try new things on my own, to dress as I like (of course a modest way of dressing!), to take up new challenges that I once gave up when I was young. I would then stop my quest on perfection and say forever goodbye to it and welcome a brand-new happiness to be my new partner in sailing the oceans of life~

So I start a revolution from my bed
‘Cos you said the brains I had went to my head
Step outside, summertime’s in bloom

Don’t Look Back in Anger- Oasis

Apparently, a caliber of Oasis starts a revolution from the bed in Summertime! O’ summertime, summertime, how awesome is that? I still think that mankind ought to formulate new resolutions (or revolution!) everytime the new season comes, not just in a lagging yearly basis. Corporate slaves might understand my points quite articulately, as Nasdaq or Bloomberg listed-companies always possess Key Performance Indicators (KPI) on a quarterly or even on a monthly basis to track and maintain their every progress. Now now, we want to lead our life professionally, right? We have of no reason why we shouldn’t operate our life like the Fortune top 500 companies do. Let’s turn into an individual living a professional life. Alas, Summer Revolution!

Winter by Hendrick Avercamp, early 17th century. Induce depression enough?

However, some discrepancies might occur between people living in the four seasons latitudes and those residing in the all-year-round sunshine areas. Four seasons latitudes are proudly endowed with 4 contrasting romance of living a life: the blooming spring, the lively summer, the melancholic autumn and the bleak winter. Each period may embody different resolution that is aligned with each unique personification. On the other hand, all-year-round sunshine may not be able to possess the equally diverging romance, as it basically would revolve on the same thing, i.e. ‘depressingly sunny’ or ‘lively sunny’ or ‘burning sunny’ -a tad too boring personification nonetheless, let alone the nature of the resolution.

After so much of overkill introduction, I would like to announce my summer revolution 2011:

1) Lose more weight. I am currently 50 kg, but still can feel the excess fat stumbled upon some spots on my body. If I can shed 2-3 kilos more, it will be cool.

NOT diary, but the summary of my research findings~

2) Write more manuscripts. I must admit that I am a whore for good stories and arts, and so much interested to produce THOSE of my own. Regardless of the quality that is non-existent at the moment, I feel like pushing the limit of my productivity. Moreover, a good friend of mine encouraged me to write more journal postings in order to win a Ricoh camera. I am pretty convinced, not only for the sake of the camera but also for the benefit of improving my rusty Enggrish. And here I am, trying so hard to press on far beyond my possible productivity level by writing a journal per day.

3) Read more books. I am a natural book eater, but due to hyper-attention deficit disorder, I never track the books that I have read, do not even try to remember the content of the books, and sometimes juggle to read more than 3 books at the same time. I shall be more serious about this reading business, and keep track on the books I have finished by the end of the summertime. I don’t want my time investment go waste, hence I must be aware of what I read and how I can get benefits from it .

I guess that’s pretty much a peanut summertime revolution. I start with the novice level and see the development before moving to a more serious level such as mastering Spanish or memorizing 1000 kanjis .

Disclaimer: What are you expecting me to write about Tokyo? An elaborative Lonely Planet-ish travel guide with details on prices and transportation means, or psychedelic visual treats on major tourist spots like the ones DK eyewitness depicted? No way. This is going to be bizarre in maximum scale, and don’t tell me I haven’t warned you before~

Totoro and friends; cutesy and innocent, but who knows what lies beneath?

People around me reckoned that Tokyo resembles a perverted old-man hiding in the façade of a cute little girl. Only in this outlandish cosmopolitan megapolis that one can find a bizarre obscene materials situated side-by-side with cutesy wutesy ingredients like Hello Kitty and Totoro altogether in the same shop and even same floor. Hardly any salary-man with stoic appearance fully combined with corporate gear in cities other than Tokyo can read an X-rated magazine quite idyllically in the crowded morning train.

I guess it takes a pervert to know a pervert.

The quake in Tokyo following the aliens’ attack, almost surreally real

Since I am not perverted myself, and refused to be one; I beg to differ by simply stating that Tokyo is the center of the universe, and the home to all the legendary superheroes. When I said superheroes, you get every archetype of superheroes that Tokyo has inside! In Tokyo, you have a spectrum of superheroes that other city barely has (forget London, Paris, or New York!); even an anti-social middle-schooler who no longer has intention to prolong his life can be a savior of the world while enrolled in the local neighborhood school full of bullying. You would never notice this type of superhero without your super sharp instinct of protagonist madness. You just have to feel it every time you encounter a possibly anti-hero material when you walk around the park. This type of leading figure can be found always with a gadget –well, he is a neurotic afterall, who possibly detests mankind, Planet Earth and anything in between that become the source of his suffering.

Introducing your plain hero archetype that is of abundant in every corner of the city (I seriously mean it! I have special radar to spot this rarefind!)

Are aliens with UFOs landing in Tokyo? Hell yes, amongst all the mega-cities in the world, they will land in Tokyo! There is no need to study geography, as all the bad guys will attack Tokyo anyway. There is no need to set up a NASA department anywhere on earth but Tokyo. Not only Aliens, but also some disastrous biological experiments or chimeras as a result of gigantic radiation exposure will terrorize Tokyo with their deleterious manners hence the total chaos to the world. Due to that reason, we will find superheroes come to overwhelm the city with their weapon of awesomeness and epic-fighting style i.e. the extremely strong beam that only-God-knows-where-the-hell-it-comes-from.

Giant robots fight for the world’s justice in…. Shinjuku~

Following the attack of evil aliens, a gigantic (yet kind-hearted) mutant will protect Tokyo with all his might~ Introducing: Godzilla

Is there a neighborhood full of world-class martial artists with superhuman powers? Is there a neighborhood full of middle school girls at noon but turning gorgeous soldiers with sailor suits and heels at night? Indeed, they are in Tokyo. Even a bored God of Death intentionally dropped his notebook of the dead in Tokyo –of all places but Tokyo. Ever heard of a secret occult society that resembles the Pandora’s box that hosts every crime and evil in the world? They linger in the underground of the Diet building (Japan’s parliament building) in Tokyo. Familiar of an evil organization with merciless troops of giant robots which soon will dominate the earth with its evil plan to exploit the energy source and force people into slavery? Their biggest headquarter is in Tokyo. The city seems to be the super mega strong Tesla awesomeness magnet that attracts even the God of Death, entity from other dimension, even the legion of angels and demons to determine the destiny of the universe~

Even the God of Death loves Tokyo (and Tokyo people!) hence intentionally dropping his prrrecious notebook in all cities but Tokyo!

The catchphrases “… the beginning and the end… the first and the last…” are also way too relevant with Tokyo. In various stories, we often find the fate of the world lies within Tokyo when an apocalyptic battle is taking its setting in the city’s famous landmarks. When Tokyo tower (the very symbol of the megapolis) falls, the world will fall too! When Rainbow Bridge collapsed, mother earth too will cease to exist.

Behold, the guardian of the world’s love and justice resides in Tokyo!

Tokyo is simply, a melting pot of all awesome phantasm in the world. It takes a chosen one, to comprehend its beauty and surreality at the same time. It looks like most superheroes in their superhero identity application-form got the following choices as their places of residence:
Dear potential superhero/antihero (cross whichever inapplicable), if you could live anywhere, where would it be? (Please circle one that is most desirable)
• Tokyo
• A futuristic Tokyo under a dome
• A demon-infested wasteland that serves as a metaphor for modern-day Tokyo
• A sort of “Neo-Tokyo” in space

Never let this predicament happens in Shibuya Tokyo, otherwise, the entire earth will be at the same peril!

God creates the Universe, and leaves alone the entire phantasmagoria with its surreal spices in Tokyo.

**

Note: a rubbish submitted to Indonesian Professional Association Journalism Club in Singapore in which I become a resident writer. I just hope I won’t be showered by rotten-tomatoes by the time people finish reading this~

Okay, I can’t deny the facts that I -being 25 years old, am supposed to be financially independent, able to feed my belly and satisfy my lust over reasonable wish-list. I am just a poor graduate student who has to compose a pitiable essay every semester to get a stipend far from decent lifestyle. But people said that happiness is a way of travel, not an ultimate destination. So yeah, despite being petulant over things I cannot control (read: my welfare!), I am quite happy with the way things work now, compared to few years ago when I was still glued within a merciless new-age slavery system which people called “corporate life” .

But, I want an SLR camera!

Honestly I friggin’ envy filthy rich people who own SLR for the sake of owning it, or maybe for a noble way of being in touch with the current hype of photography euphoria. I often see youngsters in a certain developing country, carry their SLR in the neck with ludicrous look of conceit. Some months later, maybe the SLR will remain untouched in their box, become a mere accessory that embellished the bookshelves of the well-offs. Okay, I am pathetic (and also poor!), I am a quarter of century already so I shall stop the babyish tantrum of comparing self to others more fortunate .

And so I took my old Olympus camera, which I bought in an electronic sale fair exactly 3 years ago. I captured the pic of “certain someone”, and took the liberty to abuse the pics in Adobe Photoshop (for whoever made this program, I pray for you Heaven, where the roads made of pure-gold and milk flows in the rivers. Amen!). And voila!

I hope when it comes to Photoshop, SLR or not no longer matter. Photoshop creates miracles, just as Moses split the red sea~ Thank you Photoshop, though as crappy as it looks, am still pretty contented with the result. I hereby declare that I can still use Photoshop to offset the deprivation of good photo-quality!

…. but still, if I win lottery or strike Toto, I will be really glad to buy an SLR :S~

It’s always nice to see people a lot younger than I am, having relentless passion to explore the world and develop their innate capacity.

However I couldn’t fathom the feeling inside me, a twisted feeling of the weariness and the powerlessness to do the same when I was such a young age as they are.

Is this a sign of me getting old? For God’s sake! =__=

Last February I traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland. So why the hell I jotted it down exactly 8 months after? -pardon me if you never give a damn about that .

I am literally on the verge of mental breakdown. My brain goes paralyzed and my mind goes blank intensely, which clearly reveals how severe my thesis progress turns out to be. Not only my physical ability that’s questionable -I am a slowpoke, what can you expect?- but my intellectual ability is also equally handicapped. I struggle so much with Statistics, not to mention the logic behind the rigorous calculation and the mind-bending formulas. However, during the time of hardships I listened a lot to Celtic music, the instrumentals with serene sounds of bagpipe, whistles and a beat of soft drums . I can never listen to Japanese songs no matter how I love them, as I often end up singing and experience a short-term memory loss after a while and lost trace of my study. Sometimes I even google the translation of the songs and end up learning the kanjis. I am really bad at concentrating, so I need music that didn’t ‘talk‘ .

It is during my trip to Edinburgh that I discovered this genre of music and fell in love with them at once. The music kinda reminded me of some background music of the classic RPG games -I am a veteran gamer afterall-, so while listening to them I tend to visualize myself as the hero, run an impossible errands in the land where dragons exist and the evil lord dominated over the once-prosperous land . The street musicians were all around the corner, graciously playing the instruments and let it whisper to the town folks’ ears, not to care of some shameless free-riders who didn’t give money yet enjoy their music thoroughly. I went to a nearest souvenir shop, dig amongst the sale corner and found various Celtic CDs for around 5 pounds for 2 pieces. I bought 4 without thinking. And here I am now, working on my research while listening to them, it sure brings back all the memories.

I only spent like 3 days traveling around Scotland, covered Edinburgh area. I hope I will be able to return someday and explore a little bit of its beauty of nature and the scenic landscape -definitely not on winter though~