Transition from Winter to Summer fireworks

Heard from a Singapore colleague who just returned to Tokyo in December that its really hot in Singapore. So for me soon it would be transitioning from winter to Summer.

How's my week? It was crazy as expected. Even my manager worked till his eyes were red with all the new files testings. Earlier this week, I was tempted to slam the table in the office as there was just too much new processes to master within a short period of time. Luckily by mid-week today, I have calmed down. Accepting the inevitable speed of change has helped me cope with the problems. I had taken on a more active role during this one year to learn more about life & happiness reading the Dalai Lama book. Now I see it paying off, as reflecting on the principles has reduced my day-to-day anxiety - which is the cause of many troubles.

Current countdown..where is the peace?

After I wake up tomorrow.. it will be down to one last Saturday left in Tokyo.

For today, I ran out and met up with friends to watch a Shomyo Chant @ Spiral Garden @ fashion street Aoyama. Although Spiral Garden is an art gallery, today, leading priests of different sects come together, harmomizing on shomyo chant.

Of course I didnt quite fully comprehend during the sacred chanting, but after the performance, Miki-chan gave us all a more in-depth explanation. I followed-up with further research at home. This is traditional Japanese Buddist chanting; performing a 1,200 year old song, along with a scared ceremony that was practiced during the Edo period.

Although the instrumental tone was repetitive, I thought that was the best part as there were sho mouth organ, hichiriki pipe, and others played along with the chanting. I have never seen these unique instruments upfront.

The costumes were colourful yet solemn. Apparently this has attracted interest from around the world with its multilayered sound and power.

The ceremony was meant to ensure the "rebirth of women". Women in white kimono were blindfolded as they crossed an area covered with white cloth symbolizing a bridge from this world to heaven. As part of the audience, I believed I was blessed too.

Relocating home to Singapore seems more difficult compared to the initial move to Tokyo. Well, I had one full month with no work responsibilities to prepare back then. Now, I dont have such a luxury, sometimes with the many many tasks left and yet interesting deadlines for - work, packing, bank account, phone line, gifts, shopping - I feel like cracking.

I feel like I have to constantly remind myself, not to allow the tight deadlines and stress to weigh me down, to discourage me with no purpose, or interfere with how I handle my life or my ability. This is the last two weeks of the one year assignment.. I cannot afford to crack.

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Three Weeks Countdown to Singapore

I worked on Saturday. Still in the evening I managed to catch a nice Nabe (Singaporeans dont think wrongly!) dinner with Steven. Hot pot in winter times is the best. We also ordered chicken wings requesting for the most spicy on the menu (expectedly, it was mild, but always nice to think that we have hot spicy chicken wings in Japan). I also went to visit his apartment, which he has nicely replicated the Roppongi Hills style that he stayed in for the first month. Way to go!

Backdating to Friday evening, I had a very nice dinner with Satoshi-san, and three other Singaporean colleagues. Lynette whom I have met only for the 4th time (and always at meal tables only) - she's really nice & special & talkative. She made me look forward to returning to the Singapore office. So far everyone seems talented and nice. Cool.

Sunday - today I felt lost. Absolutely lost, not sure Y?? I think I worked too hard last week trying to rush and perfect things within the short deadline given.

Now that I am leaving here. Are there things that I regret? Things that I should have done, things that I should not have done? or Things I didnt do? I guess not, since I chose to stay in my apartment on a Sunday, and not rush out to "not to have any regrets".

Funny how I never felt like I want to return to Singapore when I was here for one year. Maybe because no date was given by my boss and so I didnt think about it. But now that I know my return date, time just seems to fly sooo slowly. It has never been this slow. Why?

Sorry this post seems a bit chaotic today - just like my mind is. But thats life right? "As products of an imperfect world, all of us are imperfect". It happens.

Have you been to an Earthquake Museum?

1995 5:46am. That is what you see (in huge letters) on Kobe's Disaster Reduction Museum as you approach it. The Great Hanshin Earthquake, Richter 7.2 took almost 6000 people.

We first entered the Theater where large scale images and sound conveyed the tremendous loud impact of the collapse of buildings and expressways by the Quake. Fires also swept the city. It was rather terrifying to realise the reality of what Mother Nature can do. After you walk out of the Auditorium, you enter a realistically reproduced devasted streets just after the Earthquake.

We also saw the world map which mapped out the earthquake zones in red. I was searching for Japan and couldnt find it. I thought my geography was really bad, but Yumiko-chan laughed... so Japan was entirely covered under the red and thats why I couldnt spot it. Several continental and oceanic plates meet on the Japanese archipelago.

Monday was public holiday, Tuesday we were too busy to swap processes, thus there were no disappointment. Today, we swapped. Tiring and we have to come up with manuals before I fly off. What was supposed to be brought back to Singapore by two persons is now solely on me. Tiring. However, looking at another angle, perhaps they have confidence in me & my team. I have to think this way right? Well this is nothing compared to the recovery and reconstruction of Kobe after the Quake.

Sand Sculpture @ Temple @ Kyoto
It was peaceful just looking at the sand.

Can you imagine entering the grounds where you find yourself walking along a beautiful sand-covered path, well preserved historical temples, pine trees trimmed like huge bonsai and bamboo fence. The sand garden was amazing. Apparently the best view is said to be at night with a full moon shining on the sand, resembling a calm, peaceful silver sea. Even though I couldnt wait till night time & for the full moon, admiring it in the day was already stunning. Just sand, but you also wonder who was the first person who thought of making an art out of sand, and who was the artist that created this beautiful piece for all to admire.

Guess what I am coming home! Suddenly the company realised that for tax reason I have to leave here on Feb2 as I arrived here on Feb 3 2006. The bad thing is, I was only told about my exact processes to be brought back to Singapore yesterday evening.. well that gives me & my team approximately 3 weeks to do some magic. Among all the four Singaporeans posted here and are bringing processes back to Singapore, I have to say I have the worst exit plan.

Luckily for some reason I was also reading these pages a few days ago. Headline entitled "But It's Not Fair". Haha how applicable. "A feeling that our problem is unfair adds an additional ingredient that becomes a powerful fuel in creating mental unrest and emotional suffering." So how can we deal with this feeling of unfairness that seems to torture us when problems arise? Well the book had a more interesting account, but to save my laptop battery here, bottomline:

1) Accept the reality of these difficult situations - understand that difficult situations happen for a reason
2) Be initiative & accepting to changes, and bring about positivity in the changes
3) Have an action plan to address the problem, focus our energies on finding a solution & the problem can be transformed to a challenge.

Well yes, the situation is going to be very challenging! Lets see how my next three weeks turn out!

Kyoto - Kaiseki 懐石!

Wanted to share a picture during our Kaiseki dinner. This was our appetiser, and the only picture I took. The food was so good I had to drop my camera and feast.
We had the kaiseki cuisine served in our ryokan room. It was a lavish banquet cuisine where numerous small dishes are ceremoniously brought to us by the waitresses in beautiful kimonos. It lasted for approximately two hours.

Food standard in Kyoto was generally higher than Tokyo. Even a simple udon shop run by a one-man show served fabulous food standard.

On the right, we started with Umeshu 梅酒 which came as part of the appetiser. And to add to all the fresh seasonal ingredients selected, we had an elegant bottle of sake each.

It was a pleasure to be away from a main city and feel absolutely free from problems... Even back at Tokyo now, I feel re-energised, focused & more acceptance to face challenges.

Happy New Year to all of you!