Masak Masak IV

Kinda sick of the usual Japanese taste, so I have been cooking almost everyday.. Not the kind of banquet style cooking, but more of a simple easy to make type of stuff..

Although I have mentioned, more than once, that the raw food prices in Tokyo aren't cheap, I still wanna cook my own food, whenever I can and whenever I have a craving..


Few weeks ago saw that there were sweet potatoes on sale at the market and I bought some.. Not cheap though.. the price as seen in the photo, 298 yen (about SGD$4 or MYR$9).. these were the cheapest, with the most expensive ones at around 498 yen (about SGD$6.5 or MYR$15).. who would have thought that sweet potatoes could cost so much.. in the older days, as the poor had no money to buy rice, they ate sweet potatoes instead which were dirt cheap then, but looking at the price right now, I don't think the poor could afford to eat much of these nowadays..


Using my trusty rice-cooker again, I just cut them into halves and added some water... And Voila! Nicely steamed sweet potatoes!! :) They were rather sweet, so nothing else was required..

I could still remember my younger days where my dad would plant sweet potato in our backyard.. I love to eat the leaves of sweet potatoes (番薯叶), especially when fried with chilli.. Mmmm.. yummy!! :)

According to Wikipedia, "Considering fiber content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato.(NCSPC)". Wow! No wonder people are advocating a balanced diet that includes sweet potatoes .. Some are even using sweet potatoes to lose weights! Mmm.. maybe I should give it a try... :p

Chua-san's BD Makan..

With only a handful friends in Japan, I wouldn't miss the birthday celebration dinner of one of my fellow Malaysian-cum-classmate, Chua, about 10 days ago..

Received an email on my phone on that day from another fellow Malaysian, Aishah, asking if I would be available to join in the birthday dinner for Chua. Frankly, I had plans for that evening - to do my Japanese grammar homework that was due the next day and do some reading up... but I decided to join in, nonetheless.. homework can wait, birthdays only come once a year.. :)

As my classes for that day ended around 2.30pm and the time they arranged to meet up was around 7pm, I had plenty of time to kill.. I went to my lab and I did..... my homework! :p Although I must say I was very tempted to go home as it was raining heavily and the soft warm bed in my room was beckoning me.. but I resisted, just barely..

Met up with Aishah in the University and then we went to Shinjuku to meet up with the rest.. There were 7 of us - 4 girls and 3 guys.. 5 of us were here since Apr 2007, while 1 came over last Sep, and 1 new girl who just arrived in Tokyo less than 2 weeks earlier.. but one thing in common: all are Malaysians on scholarship! ;)

Then the "fun" began. With no map and no concrete direction, we went looking for the hot-pot restaurant that the birthday boy had chosen.. We walked around the east side of Shinjuku for almost 20 minutes but we can't find the restaurant.. Everyone was cold and hungry... In the end, Chua went into one of the police posts and asked for directions.. With our half-past six Japanese, we managed to find the restaurant after listening to the directions given.. Yippee!!

As one of us do not eat pork, we spent some time discussing and deciding what to order.. While waiting for the food to arrive, we did some catching up and some "getting to know you" stuff..


From the left: Chua (the birthday "boy"), Chun Kit, Jessie, Aishah, Lee Feung, me and Jeffrey (who was holding the camera and taking the picture, which explained his extra "lighting").


Then it was food!! Food! Glorious Food!! :p We ordered lots of beef, chicken and vegetables.. With the rainy weather and all, it was good to have some hot and spicy soup... :) But comparatively, I still prefer the steamboat we have in Singapore or Malaysia.. there wasn't much variety in Japan, just slices of meat and vegetables.. unlike back home, we have fish/squid/prawn balls and various kinds of fish.. not to mention the fact that the price here is super duper expensive as compared to Malaysia.. The total bill came to around 15,000 yen, which is roughly SGD$200 or MYR$450!! Personally, I didn't feel full at all.. :p but it was okay since I didn't want to sleep with a full stomach anyway...

Last year, we celebrate Chua's BD in Shakey's Pizza, I think.. then, there were a couple more fellow Malaysians, all who came to Tokyo on the same flight!! but as school progressed and/or research work became heavier, we never quite meet up as often.. and I must admit, I was one of them.. I was either too busy with school work/work from my Prof., too busy getting sick or too lazy to get out from my cozy room.. :p :p

Anyway, hope that Chua will have all his wishes fulfilled this year, whatever that may be.. :)

Out of Service II

Haven't been updating my blog much the past 10 days or so, due to some reasons.. either I was busy with school or busy getting sick/recovering from it, especially the last 4 to 5 days...

My nose started acting up last Tuesday. I was sneezing away through-out my classes that day and my nose was leaking non-stop.. I used up almost 10 packets of tissue during that 2 lessons. Would have been more if I hadn't sorta "control" it by deep breathing and squeezing my nose tightly through-out the lesson.. :x Then it got worse in the evening.. my head started aching and my body became feverish..

On Wednesday, I was totally KO-ed.. headache, fever, sneezing non-stop, sore-throat and running nose.. My nose was like a burst pipe that "water" just kept rushing out.. I couldn't even hold my head upright for 5 minutes without having to get something to "catch" the "water"!! I stopped using tissues as it will be too expensive, judging from the rate I would be going through them.. Instead, I use face towels.. It is more economical and more environmentally friendly.. and not to mention, much easier on my nose.. My nose turned red and raw, and started flaking from all the blowing and contact with the towels.. Took some Panadol (a brand of Paracetamol) and slept and slept and slept..

On Thursday, felt slightly better as the headache was gone, but the rest of the symptoms still persisted.. Drank plenty of fluids, including fruit and vegetable juices that I had stocked up earlier.. Again, rested the whole day..

On Friday, the sneezing sorta subsided while my body still felt feverish, but not that often.. One sure sign that my body is winning the battle is that I felt hungry.. :P but still the burst pipe continued.. by this time, the skin on my nose has begun to start peeling.. every wiping of my nose became painful..

Yesterday, instead of leaking non-stop, the "pipe" got stuck!! But I felt much better overall.. I could even go grocery-shopping in the morning.. Well, I had to as I am running out of fresh food... I needed some fresh vegetables and some fresh ingredients to cook.. and I need to take out the rubbish from my room too.. I shall rest a bit more today but I would make myself read some chapters of the economics book.. ;)

Think by tomorrow I should be well enough to go to school for my lessons.. :)

Making My Life Difficult...

Yes, that is what I am putting myself through this semester, voluntary... :x :x

As a challenge, I have signed up for 3 economics/finance related classes and 3 IT-technology classes (in areas that I have never done before). On top of these, I have decided to commit myself to 3 Japanese classes this semester (1 Japanese writing and 2 grammar classes)... As the crowning blow, I chose to attend a weekly seminar conducted by one of the most feared and not for the faint-hearted, thus most avoided, Professor in my graduate school...

All in all, for my Masters classes I have a total of 6 books to digest by the end of this semester... so I will be doing lots and lots and lots of reading... :x

1. Economics by Walsh and Stiglitz
2. Principles of Corporate Finance by Brealey and Myers
3. Modern Banking by Heffernan
4. The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law by Landes and Posner
5. Hyperreality - Paradigm for the 3rd Millennium by Tiffin and Terashima
6. Artificial Intelligence: Concept and Theory by Terashima

Seriously, I do not know if I am doing myself a favor or disfavor by putting myself through this, quite unnecessarily many said . Not even in my undergrad years did I have so many books to read... But I think since I am here to get more knowledge to help me move up in my career, I think all these will not be done for nothing.. I always believe that people can take away everything from me, but they can never touch the knowledge that is kept between my ears... :) :)

So what more can I say except 頑張りましょう!!! Gambarimashou!!

I hate Noise!!

Noise and me isn't best of friends.. I am very sensitive to noise or sound.. I get irritated easily by noise.. and two days in a row, those irritating PNs on my floor are having a karaoke session at full blast in the common lounge just diagonally opposite my room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :@ :@ :@

The last time that I almost wanna kill someone was in AMK, Singapore, where I lived before coming to Japan.. The lady next door would scream at the top of her voice at her niece the whole day!! And she talks just as loudly!!! :@ :@ :@ I was going to move house if I didn't come to Japan.. I need my peace and quiet!!!! I am going crazy with the noise pollution here!!! It was blissful the last 2 semesters before those bloody PNs came into the dormitory..

Already I didn't have a good impression of PNs before coming to Japan, and those PNs here in the dorm are not scoring any brownie points with me.. in fact, unfortunately for them, they made me "HATE" them instead of just "disliking" them...

The State of Japan's Universities

Read an interesting article on Times magazine today that confirms some theories that I had long suspected. It is titled, "Class Dismissed" which talks about the current state of Japan's universities.. You can read it up here - Class Dismissed .

Being in one of the famous and prestigious private university in Japan currently myself, I couldn't help but agree to what the author has pointed out in the article. Truth be told that I am biased and I have a pre-set impression of how post-grad students and university professors should carry themselves, I was quite disappointed when I got into my Masters program. Maybe I have been in the "real" world for too long that I didn't know what to expect from the academic world... but if an university or graduate school actively takes in foreign students who can't speak Japanese and yet barely half of their professors can speak simple understandable English, then we really do have a problem..

In this world that is getting more globalised by the minute, English, is undeniably still the lingua franca, no matter what the Chinese/French/whomever might say. 20-30 years ago, Japan has the technological/innovative/creative edge and market size to dictate that anyone who wants to do business/work/study in Japan speaks Japanese. Yes, Japanese is still one of the most value-added language in the world, taking into consideration the economic powers of Japan corporations, but with its plummeting birthrates and stagnant economy, Japan has to start embracing the world and not the other way round. Nowadays, given a choice, I think most foreigners would rather learn Chinese than Japanese language, seeing how China has grown in the last 10 years and will continue to grow in years to come.. and yet, Chinese doesn't rest on its laurels.. No, there are thousands and maybe millions of Chinese learning and hoping to master new language(s) so that they could GO OUT to the world instead of waiting for the world to COME to them..

If there are more universities than students, then how could the universities ensure the students they admitted really do meet the standard?? Maybe I am in a private, more arts and social sciences focused university that could explain why I don't feel the sense of urgency or seriousness towards their studies from the Japanese students in general. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I have gotten the wrong idea/impression, but compared to my experience 14 years ago, I think NUS students then were far more serious about their studies and their future than those in my current university.. The guys here seem to be more interested in having parties and chasing girls, while the girls are busy dolling themselves up to catch a boyfriend or two.. No doubt that there are those who take their studies seriously, but I think those are in the minorities here.. Maybe these people party hard and study hard too, who am I to say otherwise..

Also, what is the point of giving scholarships to other countries' civil servants?? The government should give scholarships to their own civil servants to go to other countries instead!! Talking from my perspective of my graduate school, there are so many government servants from developing countries on scholarships here that makes me wonder what is the hidden benefits in doing so??? Most, if not all of these government scholars can't speak Japanese and do not have the motivation to learn Japanese, because they will go back to their own countries and continue their career as a civil servant. So unless they are somebody (with real power) in their department or ministry who could authorize trade agreements or formulate Japan-friendly laws, what benefits do they bring to Japan?? Pardon me for saying this but so far, I have yet to meet a civil servant who is serious about his/her studies.. Majority of them just treated the 2 or 3 years in Japan as their R&R period.. that is the feeling I am getting.. which could be, again, wrong... Maybe I am just puzzled and/or too thick to get the reason behind this...

Anyway, since I am here I will make the best out of the situation. I might be losing touch with the technical aspects of IT, but I will try to make up for it by doing subjects that I have never done before, like finance and economics. Because seriously, how can a IT manager/director/CIO not know anything about corporate finance, right?? So this semester, I will be taking 3 finance or economics related subjects from 2 Professors who are well-known to be no-nonsense and very demanding of their students. School is barely 1 day old and already I have 4 books to read as assignments!! But I am not complaining.. at least I know I will learn something useful for the REAL world... :) So I have decided to drop 3 Japanese classes this semester and just take 2 Japanese grammar classes.. I will make up for it the next 2 semesters..

It's the wind!!

Yes, I am back in complaining about the weather again...

Here it goes: It is almost mid April and it is still freaking cold for me!!! :x :x

The daily temperature fluctuates between 8-18 degrees and drops a couple more at night.. and what makes it worse is the wind.. The wind here are so freaking strong.. imagine me battling the wind and rain with my umbrella.. unbelievable, right?? I bet there were more than thousands of spoilt umbrellas all over Tokyo no thanks to the heavy non-stop rain yesterday... can't imagine having to go to work, nicely dressed up and yet had to "trash it out" with the bloody wind on the way to/from work.. Uuurrgghhh... and with the wind, there is not much of a point in having an umbrella - you get wet no matter what.. that is why I am in awe with the Japanese ladies, old and young, who are able to maintain their composure and walk gracefully in high heels and short skirts, with make-up and all... High respect for them to be able to do this every day/week/season/year come rain/sun/snow...

And you know what the worst thing is? The raining season in end May and June.. :x :x :x I had already experienced it last year and frankly I don't look forward to it.. My nose has been getting lots of "exercise" these few days - it been running a lot, especially at night.. :x damn! should have gotten some non-drowsy flu tablets from Malaysia.. well, seems like I would need to switch on my heater on some nights then..

To be continued...

Been watching lots of TV series, but (un)fortunately due to the strike by the Writers Guild of America, most of the series had either stopped after a few episodes or didn't start their new season at all..


Bionic Woman

This is a remake of the famous 1970s series of the same name.. and it was one of my favorite tv shows.. would love to have that bionic eye.. ;) so far, the plot is believable and is moving on smoothly with all the special effects and stuff.. but unfortunately there was only 8 episodes and no clear indication if the series will continue in future.. :( :( :(


HEROES

After the last scene where the baddie, Sylar seemed to have regained his power, viewers would need to wait till 2009 to see how he is going to torment our heroes... Argh.... One full year without Heroes.. I want Hiro Nakamura, Dr Suresh, Claire Bennet, Peter Petrelli and Nikki... :( :( :(


LOST

At first it was the Others, then it was Dharma Initiatives and the hatch, and finally the survivors of Oceanic 815 were rescued in the last episode of Season 3.. One would expect that to be the end of the show, but nooooooo.. seems like there are still many untold stories about how they were rescued.. and so Season 4, which they had only showed 8 episodes and viewers had to wait till 24th Apr before the story continues.. So far, I must say that Season 4 is so much better than Season 3.. so am looking forward to it..


Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Another series that showcases strong woman who fights to protect people she loves, in this case, her son. I like the way each episode centers around a thought/fear that Sarah Connor has with regards to her son/life... Unfortunately again, this pilot season has only 9 episodes and stopped at a point where the story was just getting more interesting... and the worst is that there is no indication if show will be continued.. :( :( :(

Darn! Darn! Darn! I am soooo addicted to these TV series...

One Year in Japan

Exactly one year ago, I came to Japan to start a (brief??) new life as a student.. How time flies..

I couldn't really say that it was a very fruitful year, but I don't have much to complain about.. :) Not when all my tuition fees are paid for and I am given (not so great) an amount monthly as my living expenses. In exchange for the income that I lose coming here, I had so much more free time on my hands.. I am able to indulge in many of my hobbies, like reading and watching shows (movies, documentaries, tv series, anime, variety shows, etc in English, Chinese and Cantonese), and not to mention the luxury of sleeping late and waking up late, and best of all - staying in my room the whole day in my pajamas... :p :p

This year, I would want to spend some time doing some traveling, around Tokyo and then Japan, and maybe to nearby countries like Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.. but all these depends on my budget and my time.. this coming Spring semester I plan to take 6 subjects (3 advance and 3 basics) and 5 Japanese classes. Add to the 2 seminars that I need to attend, I think my time would be quite tight.. Those 3 basic subjects are additional ones as I have already fulfilled my required quota for basic subjects. But since I still need to go to school so quite often, I don't see any harm in taking more and those subjects are mainly on finance and economic which I really needed to supplement my technical knowledge.

Also hopefully by next year, I can be confident of my Japanese conversation skills.. :x So far, I can understand about 60-70% but I still have trouble constructing a long coherent sentence.. :( Still need to work hard on that.. I really hope that I would be able to take one Masters class in Japanese in my last semester..

On my social life area, I am still as "unsociable" as usual.. :p :p Don't really have many friends here, except a handful from my Japanese classes and my Masters classes.. Never liked to go out during weekends as there are people EVERYWHERE!! I don't even like to go out of my room when I am not having any classes.. So maybe I haven't been "experiencing" Japan as much as people would think I should be.. The only conclusion I could make is that I am anti-social.. :p :p

So far I have yet to be able to picture myself working in Japan.. I couldn't imagine having to squeeze into trains during rush hours everyday nor having to tone down my aggressiveness or change the way I work/talk because of the need to conform to the society's norm here.. Unless of course the money is too good to say no to.. :p ;) :p

Well, let's see what I would say on my 2nd anniversary next year.. :)

Unbelievable!!

I can't believed my eyes when I saw my result slip this afternoon...



WOW!! Frankly, I haven't seen so many As and only As since... since... since my primary school!!! :o :o :o

After searching Waseda's website, I came across their grading system:
A+       90 to 100 marks
A       80 to 89 marks
B       70 to 79 marks
C       60 to 69 marks
F or G     0 to 59 marks

Well, I must have written my reports very well.. and/or the Professors must have really liked what I wrote.. :p ;) Also I didn't expect my Japanese to get As too..

Mmm.. that means I need to continue my good work then.. wouldn't want any other alphabets to appear on my transcripts to spoil the uniformness.. ;) :D :p

Sakura 2008: Ueno Park

Today, went to Ueno Park to meet up with an ex-colleague of mine, Leow, who is in Japan with his wife, Sally..

Ueno Park has been touted as one of the prime area for cherry blossoms in Tokyo. After a visit today, I can see why.





Along the main path in the Park, huge sakura trees don't just provide the much welcomed shade, the cherry blossoms on them also signal the undeniable arrival of spring. At first glance, they are very beautiful.. but after a while, the excitement kinda died down, at least for me.. Don't get me wrong, it still looked very beautiful, but the "WOW!" factor diminished..




Employees of many companies have been tasked to "book" good places within the Park for their seniors/management to get a good view of the sakura. If you look carefully in the photos, there are blue canvases on the ground under the trees and people sitting there playing cards or just chatting away. Those are the "bookers".. :)

Slowly as the sun is rising higher, the crowd is getting bigger.. From all the chattering and talking around me, I could say there are tourists from HK, China, Taiwan, Korea and once in a while some Caucasians..

After reaching the end of the main path, we turned around and went to the Shinobazu Lake at the center of the Park. The scenery there was much nicer..





At closer look, the sakura is pinkish in the center.. According to information from the Net, there are many varieties of sakura in terms of color and number of petals. But to the public and tourists, sakura is sakura. Who cares if it has 5 petals (the common variety) or more.. :p



After seeing cherry blossoms at 3 different locations, I still prefer the lone sakura tree in Komaba Park. Being the only sakura tree among other trees, its color and uniqueness stands out.. :)


Click here for more cherry blossom photos of Ueno Park.