Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Friday, December 07, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
My last post
I have been in Japan for two years. I have done things I never thought I was capable of doing. I have met people I never dreamt of being able to talk to two years ago. A world has been opened for me. But it has become normal. Futsu. I am used to life here. This will be the last post I will make on this blog.
Even after 2 years, sometimes it suddenly occurs to me that I am in Japan. I will be doing something completely normal, like doing laundry, cycling to work, or looking at Mount Fuji from my room. Things I do every week. Things of which I forget the value sometimes. Sometimes there is this sudden moment of realization. That I am actually a world away from where I was born. That none of the people around me speak my language. That people don't normally eat with knife and fork here. Things I take for granted now. Things that have become normal, but should never loose their special value. There is a great value in everyday life, and as it becomes normal people ten to forget this.
Being happy with what you have, or actively being unhappy and looking for new things. Many people do neither. They just don't care. Ninety percent of the time I am one of these people. The other ten percent of the time I spend either finding the value in my current situation or exploring possible futures.
Some things just take time. Rhetoric I hear from old people. So sad that it's true. Sometimes things do start to make sense after a year, when you can't seem to grasp the picture right now. Some tasks that I set upon myself were very difficult, but when I think about doing the same thing again right now, at this very moment, I would do it right. I would not make a mistake. In many cases, failure is a requirement for success, and I did always have to learn the hard way to truly understand things.
As a stoic Dutchman, the only way I can look at my life is as a gambler. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Maybe I didn't maximize my profit, but the end result is not bad. Not bad at all. Maybe it's time to invest in something new.
My new blog is here. It's bigger :)
Even after 2 years, sometimes it suddenly occurs to me that I am in Japan. I will be doing something completely normal, like doing laundry, cycling to work, or looking at Mount Fuji from my room. Things I do every week. Things of which I forget the value sometimes. Sometimes there is this sudden moment of realization. That I am actually a world away from where I was born. That none of the people around me speak my language. That people don't normally eat with knife and fork here. Things I take for granted now. Things that have become normal, but should never loose their special value. There is a great value in everyday life, and as it becomes normal people ten to forget this.
Being happy with what you have, or actively being unhappy and looking for new things. Many people do neither. They just don't care. Ninety percent of the time I am one of these people. The other ten percent of the time I spend either finding the value in my current situation or exploring possible futures.
Some things just take time. Rhetoric I hear from old people. So sad that it's true. Sometimes things do start to make sense after a year, when you can't seem to grasp the picture right now. Some tasks that I set upon myself were very difficult, but when I think about doing the same thing again right now, at this very moment, I would do it right. I would not make a mistake. In many cases, failure is a requirement for success, and I did always have to learn the hard way to truly understand things.
As a stoic Dutchman, the only way I can look at my life is as a gambler. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Maybe I didn't maximize my profit, but the end result is not bad. Not bad at all. Maybe it's time to invest in something new.
My new blog is here. It's bigger :)
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Mind occupation followup
A while ago I wrote about discrimination against foreigners in Japan. I've got two interesting followups on this. The first is an article in the German newspaper Spiegel, about the fingerprinting only for foreigners that will be introduced at the end of the year, and the flat-out rejection of foreigners at some establishments around Japan. The article is in German, but I'm sure Google translate can make something out of it if you can't understand. I normally don't go about reading German newspapers, but the author of this article happens to be sitting a couple of desks next to me at work, so it piqued my interest.
Last time, I reported that I was always treated quite nicely by the police whenever they stopped me while I was cycling. Well, today was finally the day that they checked me out o_0. I was cycling to the supermarket in the dark without a front light, and I forgot to turn on my rear light, and I happened to have the bad luck to ran into a policeman on the way. He stopped me and asked me about my light. Then he asked me about the registration information of my bicycle (the bike has an ID number which is linked to your personal data), and only after that did he check my 'alien registration card', which all foreigners in Japan possess. Seems like normal procedure to me, and I really did not feel that I was treated unfairly compared to Japanese people, although I have to say that I did make a show out of it to explicitly show my Asahi Kasei Security Card while looking for my bicycle registration papers in my wallet :D.
Everything seemed to check out, but when the policeman was just about to let me go on my way (without a fine for driving without light!) he checked the registration number one more time, and he found that the number was off by one! Mine ended with 10, and the registration was for a number that ended with 09. It took a couple of seconds for me to realize what this meant until I figured out why the numbers didn't match. When I bought the bicycle I bought it at the same time as Kamil, who bought exactly the same bicycle as me. I'm pretty sure now that the seller messed up the registration details and mixed up the registration numbers and forms for our bicycles >_<
At the time this happened it was 5PM and just getting dark. I just woke up actually, and I wasn't really in the 'Japanese mindset' yet, but I managed to explain all this to the policeman, who called the main police office to confirm it, and my story checked out, fortunately. Kamil, if you're reading this, I need your bicycle registration stuff next time I see you!
Last time, I reported that I was always treated quite nicely by the police whenever they stopped me while I was cycling. Well, today was finally the day that they checked me out o_0. I was cycling to the supermarket in the dark without a front light, and I forgot to turn on my rear light, and I happened to have the bad luck to ran into a policeman on the way. He stopped me and asked me about my light. Then he asked me about the registration information of my bicycle (the bike has an ID number which is linked to your personal data), and only after that did he check my 'alien registration card', which all foreigners in Japan possess. Seems like normal procedure to me, and I really did not feel that I was treated unfairly compared to Japanese people, although I have to say that I did make a show out of it to explicitly show my Asahi Kasei Security Card while looking for my bicycle registration papers in my wallet :D.
Everything seemed to check out, but when the policeman was just about to let me go on my way (without a fine for driving without light!) he checked the registration number one more time, and he found that the number was off by one! Mine ended with 10, and the registration was for a number that ended with 09. It took a couple of seconds for me to realize what this meant until I figured out why the numbers didn't match. When I bought the bicycle I bought it at the same time as Kamil, who bought exactly the same bicycle as me. I'm pretty sure now that the seller messed up the registration details and mixed up the registration numbers and forms for our bicycles >_<
At the time this happened it was 5PM and just getting dark. I just woke up actually, and I wasn't really in the 'Japanese mindset' yet, but I managed to explain all this to the policeman, who called the main police office to confirm it, and my story checked out, fortunately. Kamil, if you're reading this, I need your bicycle registration stuff next time I see you!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
The end of the world as we know it
There's a party in my tummy!
So yummy! So yummy!
Here's some more funny stuff on youtube:
Guy having a party in his tummy too
Stormtrooper in Tokyo
Darth Vader and stormtrooper in Tokyo
So yummy! So yummy!
Here's some more funny stuff on youtube:
Guy having a party in his tummy too
Stormtrooper in Tokyo
Darth Vader and stormtrooper in Tokyo
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Good luck and Tetris
Have you ever played tetris? You must have? Do you know the feeling when bad bricks keep on piling up and you can't make a line, and just before your screen's full exactly the right bricks come out and you clear out the entire screen? This is what my life feels like right now. People are being so nice to me for no reason! I especially have to thank Shieri and Alvaro who have been spoiling me recently lately with a lot things ^_^.
My holiday is planned! I'm going back to Holland for Christmas, and I will spend some days traveling around Europe with Kamil before going back to Japan. It's a crazy and busy trip and I'm sure I will enjoy it a lot. It's an expensive time too, and I need to spend a lot of money on traveling and stuff. It feels good though.
In fact, I decided to order a new lens for myself yesterday. After taking pictures of the monkeys last weekend I really found that I reached the limits of my zoom lens, so I ordered a new Canon 70-300mm IS lens. It should be quite good ^_^
It seems that whenever I feel like my luck changes for the better someone else's luck changes for the worst. Is there a fixed amount of luckmatter (luckions?) in the universe? If one person gets it, it goes away from someone else, perhaps. And if there is, would you feel bad if you took much luckmatter for yourself? I wonder.
I haven't really looked through the monkey pictures closely yet. I've deleted the blurry ones, but I haven't really selected the good ones yet. Guess I'll try to make time tonight, but it's already 23:30 and I have a lot of work to do tomorrow :'( Work really does limit my creativity. I was gonna get started on Google's Android too, but my job is taking all of my processing power where programming is concerned...
My holiday is planned! I'm going back to Holland for Christmas, and I will spend some days traveling around Europe with Kamil before going back to Japan. It's a crazy and busy trip and I'm sure I will enjoy it a lot. It's an expensive time too, and I need to spend a lot of money on traveling and stuff. It feels good though.
In fact, I decided to order a new lens for myself yesterday. After taking pictures of the monkeys last weekend I really found that I reached the limits of my zoom lens, so I ordered a new Canon 70-300mm IS lens. It should be quite good ^_^
It seems that whenever I feel like my luck changes for the better someone else's luck changes for the worst. Is there a fixed amount of luckmatter (luckions?) in the universe? If one person gets it, it goes away from someone else, perhaps. And if there is, would you feel bad if you took much luckmatter for yourself? I wonder.
I haven't really looked through the monkey pictures closely yet. I've deleted the blurry ones, but I haven't really selected the good ones yet. Guess I'll try to make time tonight, but it's already 23:30 and I have a lot of work to do tomorrow :'( Work really does limit my creativity. I was gonna get started on Google's Android too, but my job is taking all of my processing power where programming is concerned...
Monday, November 26, 2007
Het contact met de wereld compleet verloren
Vandaag las ik een nieuwsbericht waar me de mond van open viel. Blijkbaar is de gemiddelde Nederlander 'immuun' geworden voor ellende. Men ziet zoveel (al dan niet humanitaire) rampen in het nieuws dat iedereen het maar negeert. Veel mensen willen geen ellende zien tijdens hun avondeten en daarom zappen ze maar ergens anders heen.
Dat is niks verwonderlijks. Waar me letterlijk de bek van open viel is dat de hulporganisaties nu via 'sluwere campagnes' toch de Nederland proberen te raken met het leed van ver weg. Blijkbaar is het niet voldoende voor de gemiddle Nederlander om rustig zijn avondeten te eten zonder zich zorgen te maken over de arme kindertjes in Afrika. Nee, hij moet zich schuldig voelen, en hij moet nog meer geld doneren aan goede doelen, en de overheid moet nog meer belastinggeld spenderen aan goede doelen en het helpen van mensen in nood.
Rot nou toch even gauw een heel eind op zeg. Hoe arrogant een land ben je als je zo denkt over andere landen? Je bent compleet gestoord als je je schuldig voelt bij je avondeten als je een arm kind in Afrika ziet, en je bent een gevaar voor de samenleving als je denkt dat jij hongerlijdende Afrikaantje op de TV van mensen die zitten te eten wilt serveren om meer aandacht voor al het leed te vragen.
Natuurlijk zijn er mensen die honger lijden, en natuurlijk is er veel ellende in de wereld, maar is het dan aan 'ons' Nederlanders om de wereld te verbeteren? Rot op. De wereld wil niet geholpen worden, en zeker niet door een stel arrogante Europeanen. Neem wat je kan krijgen is het motto, en elke ontwikkelingshulp zal goed gebruikt worden. Maar het is niet alsof die landen zichzelf niet kunnen redden. Zij bestaan al net zo lang als wij, en ze zijn er nog steeds. En de ontwikkelingslanden zijn juist de landen die heel wat beter met de aarde kunnen omgaan dan wij. Daar kunnen wij wat van leren.
Ik kan me bij god niet voorstellen dat mensen zich schuldig voelen omdat ze 'niet genoeg doen' voor al die mensen die diep in de ellende zitten. Iedereen doet wat hij kan, en wij zouden ons trots moeten voelen dat we überhaupt hulp geven. Het is een soort wedstrijdje aan het worden tussen de rijke landen: degene die het meeste geld en resources kwijt kan aan de arme landen wint. Zo werkt het toch niet... Wat geeft ons het recht om te besluiten dat we nu maar eens de arme mensen in één of ander kutlandje moeten verwennen met wat lekkers. Ga er lekker zelf wonen ofzo.
Het is die arrogantie die zo typerend is van Europa. Zo heeft elk continent wel wat ellende. Misschien moet Afrika maar eens wat hulp sturen naar Nederland, om de mensen van hun arrogantieprobleem af te helpen. Kijk eerst eens naar jezelf voordat je anderen probeert te 'helpen'.
Dat is niks verwonderlijks. Waar me letterlijk de bek van open viel is dat de hulporganisaties nu via 'sluwere campagnes' toch de Nederland proberen te raken met het leed van ver weg. Blijkbaar is het niet voldoende voor de gemiddle Nederlander om rustig zijn avondeten te eten zonder zich zorgen te maken over de arme kindertjes in Afrika. Nee, hij moet zich schuldig voelen, en hij moet nog meer geld doneren aan goede doelen, en de overheid moet nog meer belastinggeld spenderen aan goede doelen en het helpen van mensen in nood.
Rot nou toch even gauw een heel eind op zeg. Hoe arrogant een land ben je als je zo denkt over andere landen? Je bent compleet gestoord als je je schuldig voelt bij je avondeten als je een arm kind in Afrika ziet, en je bent een gevaar voor de samenleving als je denkt dat jij hongerlijdende Afrikaantje op de TV van mensen die zitten te eten wilt serveren om meer aandacht voor al het leed te vragen.
Natuurlijk zijn er mensen die honger lijden, en natuurlijk is er veel ellende in de wereld, maar is het dan aan 'ons' Nederlanders om de wereld te verbeteren? Rot op. De wereld wil niet geholpen worden, en zeker niet door een stel arrogante Europeanen. Neem wat je kan krijgen is het motto, en elke ontwikkelingshulp zal goed gebruikt worden. Maar het is niet alsof die landen zichzelf niet kunnen redden. Zij bestaan al net zo lang als wij, en ze zijn er nog steeds. En de ontwikkelingslanden zijn juist de landen die heel wat beter met de aarde kunnen omgaan dan wij. Daar kunnen wij wat van leren.
Ik kan me bij god niet voorstellen dat mensen zich schuldig voelen omdat ze 'niet genoeg doen' voor al die mensen die diep in de ellende zitten. Iedereen doet wat hij kan, en wij zouden ons trots moeten voelen dat we überhaupt hulp geven. Het is een soort wedstrijdje aan het worden tussen de rijke landen: degene die het meeste geld en resources kwijt kan aan de arme landen wint. Zo werkt het toch niet... Wat geeft ons het recht om te besluiten dat we nu maar eens de arme mensen in één of ander kutlandje moeten verwennen met wat lekkers. Ga er lekker zelf wonen ofzo.
Het is die arrogantie die zo typerend is van Europa. Zo heeft elk continent wel wat ellende. Misschien moet Afrika maar eens wat hulp sturen naar Nederland, om de mensen van hun arrogantieprobleem af te helpen. Kijk eerst eens naar jezelf voordat je anderen probeert te 'helpen'.
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