Ms. Anderson

24 July 2010 - To be honest, Pamela Anderson is about the last person I ever thought I would write about on this blog. But I read that Ms. Anderson has turned into a bit of an animal protection activist, which got her into trouble. The attached picture / advertisement was banned in her native Canada for being too raunchy and sexist. Ms. Anderson took the picture for PETA, an animal-rights activist group, to raise awareness about the brutal ways the meat industry (ab) turns animals into pork chops, rump steak or deep-fried chicken wings. Ms. Anderson, a vegetarian, is proving that all animals have the same parts and is encouraging people to ditch meat. The problem is that - based on this picture - I am sure some fans would want to put their teeth into those legs.

MacDiabetes

24 July 2010 - The growing popularity of Western junk food is fueling a diabetes boom across Southeast Asia, including in Japan and Hong Kong, There is a whole range of Japanese fast-food chains available, of which Japanese Mos Burger is probably the most popular. Australian researchers warned. Studies found about 11% of men and 12% of women in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City had type 2 diabetes without knowing it. In recent years western-style fast-food restaurants have sprung up everywhere in the city. The researchers said that similar results were reported in Thailand, and they feel comfortable to extrapolate similar conclusions for Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia. Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the diseases, is caused by high levels of fat and sugar in the diet and a lack of exercise. It can lead to heart disease, vision loss, limb amputation and kidney failure. It is a bit cynical that the disease has picked up in this part of the world, as hunger and poverty are also still rampant.

English Please!

24 July 2010 - It may sound a bit odd, but one of the things that makes traveling in Japan so thrilling is that not many people speak English. As a solo traveler you are out there on your own, but you have all those friendly, helpful and incredibly polite Japanese people willing to help a hand. They even walk with you all the way to show you when you lost. English is picking up though - in Tokyo and Kyoto I met quite some people with some limited English. So how about this from China? A new five-year plan (what is it with these five-year plans?) will require Beijing civil servants aged under 40 who hold university degrees to learn at 1,000 English sentences. The Beijing News reports that the move is designed to help the capital become a world-class city. Now it would be helpful if people actually understood what those sentences mean?

Great Picture (7)

23 July 2010 - The eastern part of the USA is in the grip of a punishing heatwave, with temperatures 38 degrees celsius in some cities. In Manhattan people were splashing in the fountains, and residents coolled down in the spray of open fire hydrants. The BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/) had some great pictures - I selected this one.

An Eye on You

.23 July 2010 - American sculptor Tony Tasset has an eye for art. He constructed a sculpture of eye - his own eye - and put it on display in a park in Chicago. I am still mesmerizing the fantastic Hakone Open Air Museum, and this may fit well on site. Tasset put quite some time and effort in his work. After building the giant sphere from 24 pieces of fiber glass, he primed the peeper; coated it off with white paint; and added hundred of veins, a detailed blue iris and a black pupil. Tasset says he makes art for average Joes and art-loving "intellectuals", and he adds that art should be fun! I like that idea. Tasset''s eye will remain on display til 31 October. Gone in a blink.

Japan (30) - Whole Lotta Bowing

22 July 2010 - A few months ago President Barack Obama was criticized at home for bowing for President Hu Jintao of China. However, bowing is a formal way of greeting in some Asian countries - notably in Japan. Although at first glance it may seem simple enough, the bow - together with its implications - is actually quite complicated. The depth of the bow and the number of seconds devoted to performing it, as well as the total number of bows, depend on who you are to whom you are bowing, and how they are bowing back. In addition to bowing in greeting, the Japanese also bow upon departing and to express gratitude. The train conductor in the Shinkansen bullet train for example, bows every time when he enters and leaves the carriage. That is a lot of bowing. The proper form of a bow is to bend from the waist with a straight back and to keep your arms at your sides. However, I was told that if you are a foreigner, a simple nod of the head is enough. But as this is my last blog from Japan, I bow deep ... domo arigatoo. I am bowing out.

Japan (29) - Hakone Open-Air Museum

21 July 2010 - The last trip of this holiday was another highlight: a visit to the open-air museum in Hakone. Set in the dramatic landscape of Hakone, this museum was opened in 1969 as the first open-air museum in Japan. The museum is now the permanent home of about 120 works by well-known modern and contemporary sculptors (Giacoma, Moore, Dubuffet, Willem de Kooning, Miro, et cetera).. There are also 6 exhibition halls, including a hall dedicated to the fabulous Picasso. The dramatic mountains as backdrop of modern art work very well, and it must be even more beautiful in autumn, with the changing color of the leaves. I really l.o.v.e.d. this museum (think Kroller-Moller in Holland, or Louisiana in Copenhagen, but better) and do not understand why it is not more famous? It is a wonderful end of this great trip through Japan.

Japan (28) - Ginza

21 July 2010 - Ginza is the swankiest and most expensive shopping area in all Japan. When the country opened to foreign trade in the 1860s, following two centuries of self-imposed isolation, it was here that Western imports and adopted Western architecture were first displayed. Today, Ginza is a labyrinth of department stores, boutiques, exclusive restaurants, galleries and hotels. The funkiest shop of all is probably the only Abercrombie & Fitch shop in Asia, with countless floors of (sometimes half naked) multi-ethnic male models selling jeans, polos and t-shirts. Most of the big European high fashion brands are available in Ginza too - and it seems they are all trying to have the coolest and most spectacular building to promote the uniqueness of their brand. Unfortunately some building turn out rather ugly, but this pink building is kinda cool.

Japan (27) - Baseball Rules

20 July 2010 - I am staying close to the Tokyo Dome. One of the things that surprises me about Japan is that baseball is everywhere. The Japanese are crazy about the game, as if they invented it. Everywhere boys and young men are throwing a ball, and the railway tracks are lined with baseball field after baseball field. Actually, the game was only introduced to Japan in 1873, but now its probably sport number one (after Sumo wrestling of course, but that's a different category). Not more than four foreigners can make the team here, but there has been an exodus of top Japanese players to the American baseball league. People now watch the American games and I heard that the television ratings for Japanese games  have fallen. Baseball is perceived as the ultimate team sport, and as in other aspects of life,. it is the group, the team, that counts.

Japan (26) - Shinkansen

20 Japan 2010 - My travel through Japan is slowly coming to an end and today I will return to Tokyo. I will travel with the Shinkansen Bullet train - one of the miracles of Japan. With a front car that resembles a space rocket, the Shinkansen flies with a maximum speed of 300kmph through the countryside on its own special trackes. It is super-dooper efficient and comfortable, and the Shinkansen is always - I mean always - on time. I will make use of the Tokaido - Sanyo Shinkansen, which runs from Tokyo to Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima and Fukuoka in the South. Trains run every 10 minutes or so, that it is almost like catching the local metro. Everything seems small in Japan for a big guy like me, but the best news is that there is plenty of leg room and that the seats can decline. Many passengers take a nap, as it is peaceful and quiet; mobile phones are not allowed (same on all trains in Japan). Can't we import this rule in Hong Kong?

Japan (25) - Nara

19 July 2010 - In the beginnings of Japanese history, the nation's capital was moved to a new site each time a new emperor came to the throne. In 710, however, the first permanent Japanese capital was set up at Nara. Less than a century onwards it moved to Kyoto, where it remained for more than 1,000 years. What's imported about those 74 years, is that they witnessed the birth of Japan's arts, crafts and literature, as Nara imported everything from religion to art and architecture from China. The premier attraction is the Todaji Temple and its Great Buddha. The Temple is in Nara Park, a beautiful place with grassy lawns, trees and ponds, and more than 1,000 deer, which are considered divine messengers and therefore allowed to roam freely. The deer are however not that divine anymore, because they are quite keen to snatch the "deer cookies" from your hand.

Japan (24) - Rock Garden

19 July 2010 - The Ryonji Temple in Kyoto has the most famous Japanese rock garden in the country. The garden was laid out at the end of the 15th century by the Zen monk Tokuho Zenketsu. The garden measures 25 meters from east to west and 10 meters from south to north. The rectangular Zen garden is completely different from the gorgeous gardens of the nobles constructed in the Middle Ages. No trees are to be seen: only fifteen rocks and white gravel are used in the garden. It is up to each visitor to find out to himself what this unique garden signifies. The walls are made of clay boiled in oil. As time went by, the peculiar design was made of itself by the oil that seeped out. The longer you gaze at it, the more varied your imagination becomes. The rock garden surrounded by low earthen walls may be thought of as the quintessence of Zen art.

Japan (23) - Hello Kitty

19 July 2010 - She is everywhere, and yet I have not written about her yet ... Hello Kitty. Without any doubt this is Japan's favorite character, and it seems almost every tourist shop sells Hello Kitty dolls, t-shirts, pencils, stickers and one zillion other gadgets. Kitty was developed by Yuko Shimuzo of the Japanese company Sanrio in 1975, The 'Hello Kitty' trademark now earns worldwide annually more than USD one billion, also through its two officially licensed theme-parks Harmonyland and Sanrio Puroland (both in Japan). The Dutch artist Dick Bruna (wie kent hem niet?) has claimed that 'Hello Kitty' is a copy of Miffy (Nijntje), but he never took Sanrio, Shimuzo or Kitty to court. There is also a darker side to Hello Kitty. I was told that in 1999 a brutal murder took place in Hong Kong, named the Hello Kitty Murder. The popular name of the murder derives from the fact that the murderer inserted his victims head into a Hello Kitty doll after decapitating her. You won't find it in Hollywood ...

Japan (22) - Zen

18 July 2010 - Founded in India in the 6th century B.C. Buddhism came to Japan in the 6th century A.D. via China and Korea. By the end of the 6th century Buddhism had gained such popularity that Buddhism was declared the state religion. Probably the Buddhist sect best known in the West is Zen Buddhism. Considered the most Japanese form of Buddhism, Zen is the practice of meditation and a strictly disciplined lifestyle to rid oneself of desire so that one can achieve enlightenment. There are no rites in Zen Buddhism, no dogmas, no theological conceptions of divinity; you do not analyze rationally, but are supposed to know things intuitively. The strict and simple lifestyle of Zen appealed greatly to Japan's samurai warrior class, and many Japan's arts, including the tea ceremony, arose from the practice of Zen.

Japan (21) - Temple of the Golden Pavilion

18 July 2010 - One of Kyoto's best known monuments is Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion). The Temple was originally constructed in the 1390s as a retirement villa for one of the shogun leaders and features a three-story pavilion covered in gold leaf with a roof topped by a bronze phoenix. Apparently, the retired general lived in shameless luxury while the rest of the nation suffered from famine, earthquakes and the plague. Still, the Golden Pavilion shimmers against the blue sky, its reflection captured in the waters of a calm pond. However, the pavilion is not the original: in 1950 a disturbed student monk burned Kinkakuji to the ground. The story is told by author Mishima Yukio in his famous novel. The tepmple was rebuilt in 1955 and in 1987 it was recovered in gold leaf, five times thicker that the original coating. You almost sunglasses.

Japan (20) - Kyoto

18 July 2010 - Kyoto is the ultimate destination of this trip. It is the historically most significant town in Japan, and was spared from the bombs of World War II. Although Kyoto is now a modern town, there are parts where time stood still and images of yesterday are plentiful. You have to develop an eye for the details: a woman selling tofu on the corner of the street, a couple sitting in front of a gnarled bonsai or a man sweeping the tatami mat in his open-fronted shop. Sadly, there are also thousands of tourists here, so it is sometimes difficult to "feel" the environment. Kyoto is home of 20 of Japan's national treasures and has an incredible 1,700 Buddhist temples and 300  Most are made of wood, and they have been destroyed through the years by man, fire and earthquakes, but have always been rebuilt. Kyoto is a great city to explore on foot, soaking in the beauty of the atmosphere..