i want to visit Senki Japanese Buffet Restaurant

just read this review and you’ll want to go there too

an interesting article on Japan from the Financial Times

I’m not sure i agree with some of the arguments presented in this article – i certainly do think Japan has many things it should be worried about and should change – but it’s refreshing to read an article which isn’t all gloom and doom.

Japan finds there is more to life than growth (FT, 5 Jan 2011)

By David Pilling

Is Japan the most successful society in the world? Even the question is likely (all right, designed) to provoke ridicule and have you spluttering over your breakfast. The very notion flies in the face of everything we have heard about Japan’s economic stagnation, indebtedness and corporate decline.

Ask a Korean, Hong Kong or US businessman what they think of Japan, and nine out of 10 will shake their head in sorrow, offering the sort of mournful look normally reserved for Bangladeshi flood victims. “It’s so sad what has happened to that country,” one prominent Singaporean diplomat told me recently. “They have just lost their way.”

It is easy to make the case for Japan’s decline. Nominal gross domestic product is roughly where it was in 1991, a sobering fact that appears to confirm the existence of not one, but two, lost decades. In 1994, Japan’s share of global GDP was 17.9 per cent, according to JPMorgan. Last year it had halved to 8.76 per cent. Over roughly the same period, Japan’s share of global trade fell even more steeply to 4 per cent. The stock market continues to thrash around at one-quarter of its 1990 level, deflation saps animal spirits – a common observation is that Japan has lost its “mojo” – and private equity investors have given up on their fantasy that Japanese businesses will one day put shareholders first.

Certainly, these facts tell a story. But it is only partial. Underlying much of the head-shaking about Japan are two assumptions. The first is that a successful economy is one in which foreign businesses find it easy to make money. By that yardstick Japan is a failure and post-war Iraq a glittering triumph. The second is that the purpose of a national economy is to outperform its peers.

If one starts from a different proposition, that the business of a state is to serve its own people, the picture looks rather different, even in the narrowest economic sense. Japan’s real performance has been masked by deflation and a stagnant population. But look at real per capita income – what people in the country actually care about – and things are far less bleak.

By that measure, according to figures compiled by Paul Sheard, chief economist at Nomura, Japan has grown at an annual 0.3 per cent in the past five years. That may not sound like much. But the US is worse, with real per capita income rising 0.0 per cent over the same period. In the past decade, Japanese and US real per capita growth are evenly pegged, at 0.7 per cent a year. One has to go back 20 years for the US to do better – 1.4 per cent against 0.8 per cent. In Japan’s two decades of misery, American wealth creation has outpaced that of Japan, but not by much.

The Japanese themselves frequently refer to non-GDP measures of welfare, such as Japan’s safety, cleanliness, world-class cuisine and lack of social tension. Lest they (and I) be accused of wishy-washy thinking, here are a few hard facts. The Japanese live longer than citizens of any other large country, boasting a life expectancy at birth of 82.17 years, much higher than the US at 78. Unemployment is 5 per cent, high by Japanese standards, but half the level of many western countries. Japan locks up, proportionately, one-twentieth of those incarcerated in the US, yet enjoys among the lowest crime levels in the world.

In a thought-provoking article in The New York Times last year, Norihiro Kato, a professor of literature, suggested that Japan had entered a “post-growth era” in which the illusion of limitless expansion had given way to something more profound. Japan’s non-consuming youth was at the “vanguard of the downsizing movement”, he said. He sounded a little like Walter Berglund, the heroic crank of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, who argues that growth in a mature economy, like that in a mature organism, is not healthy but cancerous. “Japan doesn’t need to be No 2 in the world, nor No 5 or 15,” Prof Kato wrote. “It’s time to look to more important things.”

Patrick Smith, an expert on Asia, agrees that Japan is more of a model than a laggard. “They have overcome the impulse – and this is something where the Chinese need to catch up – to westernise radically as a necessity of modernisation.” Japan, more than any other non-western advanced nation, has preserved its culture and rhythms of life, he says.

One must not overdo it. High suicide rates, a subdued role for women and, indeed, the answers that Japanese themselves provide to questionnaires about their happiness, do not speak of a nation entirely at ease with itself in the 21st century. It is also possible that Japan is living on borrowed time. Public debt is among the highest in the world – though, significantly, almost none of it is owed to foreigners – and a younger, poorer-paid generation will struggle to build up the fat savings on which the country is now comfortably slumbering.

If the business of a state is to project economic vigour, then Japan is failing badly. But if it is to keep its citizens employed, safe, economically comfortable and living longer lives, it is not making such a terrible hash of things.

Amazing miniature earrings

check out these scrumptious earrings from BetsyEtsy on Etsy.com:

  

the breakfast platter, miso soup and grapefruit look amazing! i wear mainly professional-looking earrings these days for work, but these look so wonderful and cute i really want a pair.

check out the BestyEtsy page for other earrings of sushi, cheeseburgers and strawberry shortcake!

Visit Kansai, Visit Japan

A friend posted on facebook her intention to visit Japan and Korea, and I offered some accommodation suggestions and asked if she would be visiting Kansai.

Her reply, though not surprising, unfortunately summed up perfectly the general – and grossly inaccurate - perception most have of Japan and Kansai:

“Is it worth a visit?”

Everyone thinks of Tokyo when Japan is spoken of, while others wax lyrical over the ‘wonders’ of Harajuku, Shibuya and Shinjuku – it’s now time to set the record straight:

Kansai is the best place to be for a one-stop, catch-all visit to Japan.

In Kansai, you can visit two ancient capital cities (Nara and Kyoto) and a port city (Kobe) within an hour’s train ride from a bustling, vibrant and exciting city (Osaka).

Tokyo doesn’t offer any of much of those; a visit to Tokyo is very much a visit to a modern global city. Also, Tokyo is a big city and travelling within it will already take 20-45mins (due to its size and horrible subway connections) – Akihabara, for example, is 10 stations away from Shibuya, and the Yamanote Loop Line is not a small loop at all.

To elaborate slightly:

Nara was the first capital city, established 1000 years ago, and is home to freely roaming deer and the largest Buddha statue in Japan:

Todaiji, where the largest Buddha statue in Japan is housed, and the deer which you can touch and feed.

Kyoto was the capital before Tokyo and is the best place to visit for traditional Japanese houses, temples and shrines, as most of its buildings escaped bombings during WWII, unlike most cities in the rest of Japan.

Above: everyday items and gifts made from kimono material

Below: The Fushimi Inari Shrine, location of the famous scene in ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’

Kobe is a charming, walkable city – it also has more sights, better architecture and a stronger European influence than Yokohama.

The Kobe Port Tower and the museum to its right (above); Kobe has a ferris wheel (below) and a Chinatown too.

And Osaka? Osakans are the most flamboyant among all Japanese – this city is the place to be for crazy fashion and Japanese funk. It’s small and compact, making it easy to explore. Osaka is also known as “the kitchen of Japan” – the food is more delicious and slightly cheaper than in Tokyo. With its proximity to all of the above, its attraction as a base from which to explore the rest couldn’t be clearer.

Osaka is also where you get okonomiyaki, a ‘pancake’ of cooked cabbage, egg, seafood/meat eaten with a sweet-salty sauce with bonito flakes.

You get a theme park – Universal Studios Japan – right in the city too; Tokyo Disneyland is actually in neighbouring Chiba prefecture.

Considering the above, how can anyone not consider visiting Kansai??

language and culture 语言文化

A Caucasian person who spoke fluent Mandarin was asked by a Chinese journalist: "您方便的时候我能问您一些问题吗？”(Can I ask you a few questions when it’s convenient?)

To which the Caucasian replied, “什么是‘方便’?”, confusing ‘convenient’ with what the guy below is doing:

I found this story really interesting, as it was surprising to discover that such a simple turn of expression could be lost on a non-Chinese who otherwise speaks fluent Mandarin – especially when it’s one which even the person with the poorest command of Mandarin i know would understand.

Singaporeans (of Chinese descent at least?) therefore still possess a certain amount of cultural advantage when dealing with the Chinese due to our heritage, environment and upbringing, and should use this to our advantage.

when in England, don’t hold back!

"I realised that I had set so many of my novels and stories abroad, because custom had prevented me from seeing how exotic my own country is. Britain really is an immense lunatic asylum. That is one of the things that distinguishes us among the nations...We are rigid and formal in some ways, but we believe in the right to eccentricity, as long as the eccentricities are large enough...Woe betide you if you hold your knife incorrectly, but good luck to you if you wear a loincloth and live up a tree."

-- Louis de Bernières, author of ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’

Forrest Gump

It occurred to me yesterday while trying to fall asleep that it’s baffling why the Forrest Gump quote - “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” – became so popular.

The comparison is hardly accurate. For one, a box of chocolates is guaranteed to be delicious, unlike life, which has more downs than ups. (Unless, of course, you’re one of those people who don’t like chocolates.)

If life were a box of chocolates, it’d be a whole box full of 90% bitter chocolate given to someone hoping for milk chocolate instead. It’d also be a box of chocolate which declares “Leonidas” or “Neuhaus” on the box but turns out to be Hershey’s on the inside. It’d also be like you the receiver opening the box to look in, only to have your colleagues help themselves to a piece each, leaving you with hardly any left to savour.

making babies

An article in the Straits Times today reported that Singapore’s fertility rate has reached an “all-time low” of 1.16, and ‘experts’ listed the recession and the recent Tiger year in the Chinese zodiac as two factors for this dip. The article further elaborated that the “very high financial cost” of raising children in Singapore as a reason for this decline.

I also read another article on falling birth rates in Singapore lately, where a ‘Baby Fare’ was suggested to supplement the current financial benefits to having children – similar to ‘Work Fare’, the government would give Singaporeans a monthly allowance which will go towards supporting their child.

Seriously?

The ‘Baby Fare’ idea is fantastic and I’m all for it, but articles on Singapore’s birth rates often raise the examples of France and Sweden, both of which are developed countries which have succeeded in maintaining a birth rate around replacement level of 2.1.

What puzzles me is why no news report has ever stated the obvious – that our falling birth rates are because Singaporeans work too hard to date. Even if they date and get married they’re working so hard that they have little time and mood to make babies (and everyone knows that stress leads to lower sperm count and poorer quality sperm); even if the have the time and mood to make babies, the fact that they’re already working so hard now discourages couples from bringing a baby into the equation.

I work 9.5 hours a day from 9am to 6.30pm most days, with half an hour less on Fridays. This works out to about 47 hours a week, with 18 days of leave a year. And the European countries we seek to emulate in the baby department? The average work week in Europe is between 35 to 40 hours. The boy in the UK gets 21 – 25 (I can’t remember which) days of leave a year - the French and many of the Scandinavian countries get 5 – 8 weeks of leave*!

Simple maths make it clear that the extra 7 hours Singaporeans work a week makes loads of difference, not to mention the extra days of leave which our European counterparts receive. Even when in comparison to the longest European work week of 40 hours, Singaporeans work nearly 1.5 hours more each day – imagine the impact this has on our quality of life, when just going home an hour earlier would make so much of a difference.

If we’re wanting to increase birth rates in Singapore, it’s pretty obvious to me that our working hours must decrease and attitudes towards work must change.

 

*: This is not another ‘the grass is greener’ myth. I have actually met a Norwegian who was on a 2 month holiday across Asia doing all sorts of cool stuff, entirely on annual leave – we have to take unpaid leave or time off or even quit our jobs to do something like that.

weekends

weekends should be sacred. no one should be expected to work on weekends, and that includes being asked about work on weekends.

unfortunately, this rule has been broken many a time – i’ve done it as well and i feel bad for asking people about work on weekends! but it’s such a heavy feeling to have to think of work over the weekend.. and the fact that i know emails are still coming in and there’ll be a sizable number of emails in my inbox when i open it again on monday morning – after having checked it earlier today to send stuff – casts a shadow over my weekend.

i don’t know how my colleagues do it. there’s been so much work to do since i came back from holiday a bit more than a week ago and i’m exhausted. one of my colleagues sent something at 2am on thursday, and another colleague was actually on outlook after that email was sent and read it.

it’s insane. if i go to bed anytime after midnight, i’m even more tired than usual the following workday. by thursday and friday this week i was bleary-eyed and tired even before i got to work. so much time was spent sitting in front of the computer staring at the screen, while my brain slowly processed what needed to be done.

it would have been a lot more productive if i’d spent more time sleeping and less time trying, but failing, to work. and then i look at my schedule for the week ahead and my heart sinks cos i know what’s gonna be in store for me. SiGH.

invent me a teleportation device, oh brilliant scientists, so that i save at least 2 hours a day commuting – time which could be spent sleeping or other leisure activities. how does this other colleague work the hours we do AND take a part-time course outside? i’m completely flummoxed.

meh.

dead tired.

been working too hard lately, and my colleague says that things will be even worse after March. it so happens that i’m involved in 4 different regions, so the propensity for work is quite high, especially since this particular area has a recurring event that we will have to prepare and plan for.

*  *  *  *  *

interestingly, crystal jade’s La Mian Xiao Long Bao doesn’t serve porridge; their xiao long baos are as good as ever although i think their spicy beef noodle doesn’t seem as nice as it used to be. i’ve also discovered that i don’t fancy the 刀削拉面 – which my friend said should be nice as it’s a test of the chef’s skill – as much as the thinner, rounder noodles. mainly because the latter has a greater surface area to volume ratio, hence you get more soup together with the noodle for maximum taste.

coffee club served me a frozen cake. it spoiled the experience as i had to finish my ice cream way before i could even touch my cake; even then i still had to chip at the cake with my fork as it was rock solid – it was even served with the ice frosted on its surface! i must have been too tired yesterday as i didn’t bother to take it up with them on it.

*  *  *  *  *

today, i learned that the army can have “shortage of manpower” during reservist. interesting.

to the north of the north–Causeway route in Ireland

the north coast of Ireland is known for its stunning scenery (as it the west, apparently), and we headed up along the Causeway route to catch sight of some ruins and nature in the form of Mussenden Temple, Dunluce Castle and the Giants Causeway.

it took about 2 hours to drive up from Belfast, and the weather was absolutely beautiful at our first stop, Mussenden Temple. I’m not sure what ruins those are in the distance:

we had to go through some private property (that’s open to the public) before reaching the temple. As those folks owned lots of sheep (you can see the sheep in the pic above – they’re the small white blobs), that meant trampling on lots of sheep poo as well:

Mussenden Temple is gorgeous – it was used as a summer library in the past:

i also liked the coastline near it – chalk cliffs, if i’m not wrong:

Dunluce Castle was about half an hour’s drive away, and grazing in the fields around it were some really large, black bulls. Dunluce Castle seemed tiny, but it was actually a fairly decent sized ruin:

it’s quite grand and big on the inside – that’s me standing in an ancient fireplace:

but i think what i like the most is how the castle hangs over the cliffs – due to erosion over the years:

the Giant’s Causeway was furthest east, and by the time we reached there around 2.30pm a light drizzle had begun. i hate rain – which i define as moisture of any sort and intensity coming down from the sky – so i was fairly miserable having to walk from the carpark to the causeway.

to make things worse, the rocks were slippery, so climbing up and down them was a little hazardous. Despite them being hexagonal basalt columns with a fairly flat surface to step on, some of them had pointy tops or were unstable. At one point in time i was perched atop a column, terrified to make my next step and trembling like a cat in a tree – good thing i was rescued soon enough, but any longer and i would have burst into tears :S

perhaps because of that, i wasn’t quite as impressed by the Causeway as i thought i’d be.. the pictures sure are pretty though – i can say that cos i didn’t take them, haha – perhaps i was too miserable to fully enjoy the place..

i’d still definitely recommend a visit, as those are some mighty columns:

for the more energetic, there’s an additional trail beyond the causeway where you can get some nice views. i was dragged along to check them out, and there was the Organ Pipes and other stuff:

that’s the causeway down there, right below us. the specks are people:

Pandora

i received a lovely watch from Danish brand Pandora as a present. don’t really wear watches although i do need them when i go on overseas trips, but this is really elegant and pretty which means i’ll be wearing watches more often.

the picture i took doesn’t do it justice, so here’s one from the website:

i like the tiny diamond on the watch face, and apparently there’s a small black diamond on the crown as well. there’s more info on the store’s website here, although i’m not sure what the purpose of the black diamond is, other than to increase the cost of the watch, as you can’t really tell that it’s a diamond anyway.

by a happy coincidence, December’s Her World also ran an article on Pandora – about their charm bracelets for which they’re most famous and popular – and it turns out that they have 5 outlets in Singapore. before this watch i never knew the brand existed, much less know that Singapore has its outlets! this solves the question of what to do if the watch needs fixing, which i was wondering about in Ireland.

i also received this pretty charm bracelet from British jewellery brand Downer and Hall:

yayness. i definitely should get the boy better presents!

superwoman

i belatedly realise that i’m jetlagged - due to the indiscriminate sleeping hours while ill over the past two days, my body clock has gone haywire.

i woke up at 2am today and my brain simply refused to go back to sleep after that.

instead, i got out of bed around 6am, headed to work, put in a full day at the office and am now back here, sitting around trying to stay awake till a decent time to reset my body clock back to local time.

am quite impressed with myself! :P

Belfast – the city tour

i went on the bus tour in Belfast – i’d recommend it for the historical value, as well as the opportunity to see Belfast beyond the main city centre.

The main city centre of Belfast, despite its size, is all well and good:

but venture only slightly beyond and you’ll see what Belfast really is like – there’re plots of undeveloped land and derelict buildings, and you’ll find that Belfast is really not a pretty place. it’s a pity, as i think Belfast has potential to develop, but it lacks the financial means and critical mass of people needed to make the city a vibrant, thriving one (for instance, Dublin has a very different atmosphere, in part cos it’s busier).

(the above, by the way, was right next to City Hall)

a friend had previously visited Belfast and i asked her what she thought of it, as the boy considers it a ‘shithole’. Said friend wondered why that was so, as she rather liked it as well as the slower pace of life. While i don’t think Belfast is quite as bad as he makes it out to be, i’m probably more inclined to agree with the boy, as there’s really nothing much to do in Belfast and one doesn’t have to go far to see the less savoury aspects of town. Even Belfast’s city centre isn’t that pretty in comparison to others, and the city gets quite quiet once it gets dark. The boy says that he wouldn’t let me walk around alone after dark – which occurs quite early in winter.

Anyhow, the bus tour – it’s a good opportunity to learn about the conflict between the Unionists (largely Protestant, loyal to the Queen and in favour of being part of the United Kingdom) and the Nationalists (largely Catholic, in favour of joining the Republic of Ireland). The tour takes you to see the murals painted by supporters from both sides.

this is one from the Loyalists:

There’s this whole stretch painted by the Nationalists:

and a commemorative one of one of the martyrs who died of a hunger strike after 66 days:

more commemorative murals:

there’re also the ‘peace lines’, which are essentially walls erected to separate Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods to reduce the conflict between them. they’re quite depressing, as some come up right next to the back door of people’s houses and have been in place for at least 30 years now:

they’re not very visible here, but in the picture above are people (probably tourists) signing messages on the wall. by the way, belfast apparently is one of the safest city in the world for tourists (i’m a little sceptical of that).

there are also other commemorative murals, both for the World War and for those innocents who had died during the Troubles:

something amusing:

and lastly, the old Belfast court house which had an underground tunnel leading from the jail located directly across the road. an example of derelict land sitting right next to the main city centre: