Christmas and End of Year, Japanese Style

Tokyo metropolitan feels like a big shopping center to me, especially around the Yamanote line "ring" track. Shinjuku, Shibuya, Shinagawa, Harajuku and of course the Tokyo station. Each of these famous train stops race with each other to have the next big malls, better stores, to attract peoples of all kinds. I have never seen a "sea" of people until I visited these places. Perhaps Mecca is the only place where I will be able to experience this. It is just constant, people coming out of every pores of the street, in and out, minding their own things.

Unlike any other places where Christmas is a mix between the greed of capitalism and festivities of religion, it is all pure fun shopping in Japan. Everyone is into this shopping orgies, packing up all department stores every weekends up to new year. For you who likes to shop, there are two best times to come to Japan actually:
1. Right after New Year (Jan 6-Jan 12). Many things seem to be 50% off, usually winter related items
2. I forgot this one, but I think it is around September or so.

Unlike in the US or Indonesia, 25th of Christmas is the time for lovers and couples to book places in the best restaurants or hotels and spend the night together...hmm......sounds weird, doesn't it? Once again, no religious tones or family gathering whatsoever.New Year on the other hand, is the actual family event. Many Japanese in big cities retreat to their home towns, spending time with their root families.

The first 3 days of New Year, for once things are very quiet usually in Tokyo, and most department stores are closed as well. Maybe everyone is tired of shopping? Also, this is the time for Japanese to eat the traditional food called Ozoni, a soup mixed with vegetables and mochi rice. It tastes good, but trying to eat it straight for 3 days is quite a challenge! The idea is we give our mothers a rest from cooking, so they make this big batches of soup to be eaten over and over and over and over.....Nooooo, hehehe.After that, things return to "normalcy" again, whatever normal means for each of us. Share with me how you spend yours, where ever you are!

Iraq Facts and Possible Solutions for Quaqmire

I know, I don't usually comment on current events or politics. But I have been in depressed mode the past few weeks, following the news on Iraq. I have thought of possible solutions on how to solve Iraq quagmire, I hope someone out there is listening. My thoughts and prayers for those Iraqis who are now being under constant suffering.

Let's start with the news facts for now:

Fact 1: US came to Iraq with WRONG justification (or I should say, they keep changing the reasons for going there)
Fact 2: There is NO relation between Saddam-Al Qaida
Fact 3: Latest report by Lancet journal shows at least 100,000 HUMAN BEINGS died as a result of US OCCUPATION of Iraq. That is right, OCCUPATION. See, these are HUMAN BEINGS, not just statistics! I CANNOT imagine how 100,000 human beings can be lost just like that, can anyone fathom that? or are we too numb to even realize that? This violence will NEVER stop unless those in POWER(US government, Iraqi "government") have the wisdom to see that forced measures is NEVER going to work in any sort of occupation. Look at Israel, in constant upheaval for the past 50 years.

Solutions I can think of:

1. Enlarge the US troops to the level required for occupation, to at least 400,000. Hmm..anyone smelling draft and Vietnam II coming?
2. More violence, just drop bombs to those Iraqi cities that harbors "terrorists". Let's see how fast the world war III can come from this region if that really happens. In case anyone wondering why I suggest this, this is just cynism from my part, after looking how US troops are "behaving" in Iraq.
3. Invite UN and let US gives out concession to UN, to make sure enough troops are available. Draft could be avoided, seems like a possible less violent solution. Very minimum possibility, looking at Bush junior is acting these days. The swagger is really getting on my nerves now.
4. The US at some point must declare its intention...to be or not to be the REAL IMPERIALIST NATION. Half way measures such as now is ridiculous, especially sickening since they are peppered with human rights BS. Just show the true colors already, so Iraqis know who the real enemy is!
5. let Iraqis decide their fate. They have been ready for the past 1.5 yrs, only to be "halted" by the US CPA. Most likely, this region will fall into further chaos, fighting between Kurds-Sunni-Shia and whatever God knows the groups are there. Only conscience of the Iraqi leaders will save them from the destruction of the one of the cradle of civilization.

There, at least I have the solutions for Iraq, not just complaining about it. All solutions pointed to violence in various degrees, but it is already too late for Iraqis at this point. Animosities, vengeance is the name of the game now. May God blesses us all, whichever side He/She is on.....(I think God is just continuing with His/Her Grand Design and angels weep as they have complained to God before, on why men are to rule this world, for creating so much bloodshed in His/Her name).....

Flash Memories

Ok, so my interests lately are now drawn toward the function of our brain somehow. Last time I spoke about dreams, now on to function of memories. Scientists informed us that our memories are basically cells of neuron that somehow "congregate" in certain parts of our heads, a database so vast that our current computers would have to be very big to be able to process all that information (current technology anyway). It is intricately designed in order to receive all those info from our senses and passes on responses so quickly.

What interests me is how we tend to discard certain memories, while others are somehow ingrained, unable to be removed from our head completely. Case in point, I had a vivid memory of being attacked by a dog when I was less than 8 years old. I still remember the way it attacked me, and how frightened I was up until today! Another bad example is this; I have moved around so much in the past, faces of people are somewhat blurred sometimes, I am having difficulties to recall where I met this person, hehehe. So why do I seemingly "choose" to store something and forget others? What is the trigger, is it because some of the experiences are just overwhelmingly powerful?Or is it a way to avoid "full disk capacity", an issue we always find in our computers? But this defies the fact that we actually only use less than half capacity of our brain function. So maybe someone can explain to me why those neurons "sack" and its electrical impulses work the way they do. Any psychologist reading this, you are more than welcome to provide me with comments :)

Another aspect which is interesting, if it is all just neurons and electrical impulses, can we actually record all these memories and when we have built a very powerful tool, "transport" them to another source, thus retaining our so called "existence"? Hmmph, moving to much in science fiction direction here, hehe.Whatever the mystery or science behind it, I want to make sure I keep the good ones and throw out the bad ones!

Dreamscapes

I have been having lucid dreams for the past one month now. It is quite interesting actually, sometimes these dreams are even continuation of previous dreams and in technicolor!

I mentioned previously that we essentially "die" during our sleeps. Some people are known to die in their sleep. But I think the state of sleeping and dream is one of the mystery that might bring us closer to an understanding of death, perhaps.What happens exactly to our soul during this time, does it stay within our physical self or does it actually float around?

Why do our dreams become a kind of premonition, a phenomenon that has been recorded with so many people? Haven't you had an experience when you dream but you swear that you feel as if you were awake? You could actually use all of your five senses and be aware, yet you are actually in full sleep mode (or..are you?)　Whatever it is, enjoy your dreams, or be afraid of it.......

The Power of Word Repetition

I have come to realize today, after following US Presidential election, that words carry certain power that can defy logic. For those of you who reads this, this is the first time that I make comments on politics perhaps.

Knowing that there were no WMD, relation of Saddam to Usama, Americans somehow still insist that they exist, because their current president said they do exist.....I find that to be quite amazing! I suppose if you lie and repeat it often enough, you end up believing that those lies become truth. So today, we have a big chance that GWB will become a re-elected president....Quite a sad day for me actually.

I never thought that reasons and truth can be trampled over....words......I am speechless with this outcome and think about Iraq...an alleged 100,000 human beings who vanished since the war, and the imminent attack on Fallujah, which God knows how many casualties that will bring. I know that there is a Grand Design into all that has happened, and this is perhaps one of them. Whatever it is, let us pray for those who are oppressed, may our words of prayer reach through the heavens and be heard....

気分が悲しいくてどうすればいいんですか？