English

Freaky Ryokan in Ise coast

Some media described Clinton as "elite" because she used the big words that average Americans will not use. Having 5 or 6 times of vocabularies over normal English speakers, seems to be the must-have if you want to be recognized as the upper class. Churchill was said to have roughly 40,000 words he can use at ease whereas average Joe uses about 4,000. I suppose language is a tool for critical thinking. Only when we can precisely describe an issue, we can put together a list of accurate questions to ask, issues to solve.

For example, when someone says "NO", that could mean:
-I do not understand what you are talking about
-I am not ready to agree with you
-I need some more information before agreeing with you
-You are making me feeling uncomfortable
-I need to discuss this with others
-I do not think I can provide what you want

Language provides the tool to describe different possible reasons.  A "NO" means a lot more than an rejection if we are not being scared away by the rejection.   Wow, it is sooooooo powerful.  English is pretty unambiguous and logical.  It is create for business, used by civilians.  There is no special rules depending on hierarchy.  It is solid, flat, and factual language.  It also creates new vocabularies more than other language. 

When someone has any ambiguity in his/her wordings, you can catch the mistake immediately.  Hence it is great tool for independent thinking.   Wow, I am really inspiring myself to study English a bit better just now.

Wet hair

Girls with long hair look more feminine, pretty and delicate - I just cannot help but dislike those who cannot be bothered to tidy up their hair on weekday morning on their way to work(weekend is a mini holiday, no need to look professional). I always think women should not look delicate and feminine during the day, unless your profession requires you to look that way, which I cannot think of many.
Many wash their hair before going to work, why going out with damp hair? I feel that look is extremely inappropriate anywhere but swimming pool or beach.
I am not against being feminine. But a Chinese girl (I am using "girl" to refer to those who has no children, once you become a mum, you can do anything) will be criticized "you are such a boy" if you are not slim, not graceful or not having white complexion. Being a girl means you should not enjoy outdoor sports, should not be outspoken, should not be assertive, hate to get tanned and likes to go shopping.
Basically if you put together these "being a girl" qualities together you get a woman I do not want to hang out with. I suppose that's why I find being feminine during the day so distasteful.

Scrutinizing

I was reading an article on the Taiwanese web based media - the last name of the person the story was about was printed incorrectly a number of times.  No one ever proof-read the articles before publishing it?  I was so upset that I wrote to the editor right away.

I used to subscribe a famous Taiwanese paper magazine to send to Dad and I can read their articles online.  I happened to be back and picked up an old issue, the magazine is missing pages from 127 to 136!!!  I was furious wanting to call their editor but that's the weekend.  This is so unacceptable.  I didn't renew my subscription. 

Why is it so difficult to be professional and proud of what you do?  Is it because you are short of hands or the company is going through the cost cutting phase?   Either way it is basically telling your readers that you cannot care less about them. 

Suffocating

I spent years living in Tokyo.  My apartment in Tokyo is about 2 kilometers away from Tokyo station.  It was a new and modern building.  I can easily bike to work in the finan cial center of Tokyo, which is Otemachi and Marunochi by Tokyo station.  Just a couple minute walk away is the imperial palace's huge garden.  Running around the imperial palace is still one of the best memories I have in Tokyo - it is exactly 5.92 km for one loop, I think I did it once within 25 minutes (wow, those good old times - I have been pondering to pick up jogging again after 3 years). 
 
I enjoyed my life in Tokyo.  My Japanese is good enough to order food and drink (my knowledge of alcohol and how to pronounce them in Japan amazed my Japanese teacher), can have simple conversations with skating mates.  Pretty much hassle free to live in this big city - dealing with the bank, sending out a post, sorting out tax issues in local ward office, taking taxi (it was fun to chat to taxi driver especially when I was half pissed) were not a big problem.  Tokyo is clean, orderly, safe and comfortable in every aspect.  Japanese had worked together to eliminate uncertainties for centuries.  There are written or unspoken rules which regulate everyone's behavior and life.  They have done it so well by Japanese-nizing immigrants, being xenophobia to foreigners (or things that are not Japanese origin), drawing a clear line between in and out. 

It is an efficient way to eliminate conflicts so people can focus their energy for something else, but the questions are, for what?  Better living?  More fancy gadgets?  What's the purpose of this society and where it is heading?  I wouldn't say Tokyo has achieved the perfect balance, it has problems on its own.  But the staleness and conservative mindset have suffocated any sparks that could possibly lead to changes.  Take the woman status issue as an example, why the women are still hard-done by in today's Japanese society?  Everyone sees it but no one seems to be able to do anything about it.  

Foreigners will have a good life in Tokyo because you are never being scrutinized as a Japanese,  hence, less pressure.  And at the same time, you get to enjoy the convenience of the super city.  Nevertheless, you are never considered to be in, or be part of the community.  I guess the answer to that anxiety (some probably would not agree) is to have more drinks in the foreigner wonderland Roponggi. 

Toilet Revolulation in China

I have double posted comments about toilet - it is so obvious this thing really bothers me.  Statistically speaking (number of nasty bacteria per unit area), the most dirty area in any household, regardless the culture or level of modernization, is the washing clothes.  Toilet seat is relatively clean!  So girls, please wipe clean the public toilet seat and sit down to pee.

History means nothing?

I once saw a successful Hong Kong guy (by the definition in Hong Kong, being successful means he has a business and made some money), proudly said to the TV camera crew that "I have never spoken a single Cantonese word to my daughter until today".   He looks content and proud that he has abandoned the culture/language, successfully groomed his daughter to be a westerner who can only speak/read English.  This interview is, of course, conducted in English - the irony is that he speaks English with thick Hong Kong accent.

Every time I think about his face and attitude I feel sick to my stomach.  What type of environment praises people who despise his own culture.  Wish him best of luck with his parenting choice. 

Bala Article

There are many articles published by friends in FaceBook but it is very obvious those were translated from Mainland Chinese - some phrases were giving it away such as "Shocking", "Moved", "Speechless" - I don't remember those were used that frequently in Taiwanese Chinese.   The contents were overly melodramatic and unsophisticated.  A typical example is the title would say "Russian President Putin made a speech that shocked the whole Chinese Population" - if you click into the article, you will probably find those statements were not made by Putin but you did read it from some other magazines.  It is also very doubtful that Putin's speech are translated to Chinese word by word and read by the whole China - I don't think even President Xi's speech was that popular.  This whole story is completely fake and being put together just to attract careless readers.  Nothing is true nothing is authentic - the publisher can get paid if the article attracts web traffic hence they are very used to make up disturbing headlines or pictures.

Please do not share articles if you are unsure about the origin - that's really annoying.

PS, Bala is a how Taiwanese call "Guava", the phase is used to describe time-wasting, useless item, song or people.

Definition of success

How to measure achievement and being successful?  I think measure of GDP is totally meaningless - Mainland China has crazy GDP growth that is the envy of every other country but the inhabitants cannot wait to get out (and smuggle their money to somewhere else).  Why does GDP have to grow?  I think it is more important to do good to the environment, reduce your impact to the planet.

What does an expensive new car mean to you?

I am sorry that you bought yourself a brand new car, you practically lose 1/3 of its value the moment you receive the key from the dealer.  You will be the slave of your brand new car for the next 1 year because you will be so worried wherever you park the car - it might get stolen or enjoy any food in your car - it might stink up the seats.  Not to mention the environment damage produced by the car factory and shipping.  You might argue that you are getting this for the sake of your family's safety hence the expensive car - I suppose there is no safe car if you drive it into the wall no one is safe in the car.  You might argue the expensive car is more fuel efficient - I suppose the carbon footprint of making a new car is enough to zero out all the benefit the efficient engine can give you in the first 5 years.

Please admit it that you buy a flashy new car and post how much you pay for it because you want to show that you are better off then anyone else who cannot afford the same car.  But it only means you are better off it doesn't mean you are a better person - buying a new car doesn't make any financial sense and create lots of damage to our fragile environments. 

Properties Investment

My friends probably all know my passion about properties - I am always looking around for farmlands, flats to buy.  I partner with my mum with a few properties investment projects in Taipei, so far we have been pretty successful.  In addition, I am almost famous as the "slump queen" in Tokyo 23 wards.   I am also looking to buy in Hong Kong if the yield is reasonable despite of the crazy prices. 

Recently I have a second thought about property investment.  Properties investment has become the only place investment can go and the honest money cannot find its way to solid infrastructure improvement to increase productivity.  Large percentage of the GDP comes from rich men's selling to/buying from.  This is absolutely absurd.  Germany keeps the housing market stable and people can focus on more meaningful growth.  Why are we so greedy that the hot money has to rush into the property market without control.  There is nothing I can do but at least I can decide not to join the game.

Although property is still the only investment that can fight inflation successfully - holding cash is nowadays looking more and more silly - I should spend them all in expensive holidays or designer handbags while I can, but sorry I don't like either of those. 

What are the investment choices?  Jon has come up with some interesting ideas - buying into the co-op farmlands in New Zealand.  It is normally very costly to buy and manage a farm by individual.  What if we pool small investors' funds into a capital that allows a professional team to run a dairy farm?  By doing so, the land right is owned by individual investors, the land is much more unlikely to be acquired by some rich people and turn it into a private apartment block complex or factories.  In addition, we are holding the asset rather than currencies. 

I wonder if I can go visit my cow "Daisy" one day in south island. 

Occupy Central

Some Chinese State Own business operation in Hong Kong promised their employees 500 HKD if they don't go to the "Occupied Central" gathering.  The operation will expense this payment as benefit??

Chinese Women

Coming back from Bejing for a final presentation to company's pitch to the biggest bank in China, I had some conversation with my colleague about Chinese women (the topic came about because of his first encounter with Chinese women in Beijing - he was very puzzled). I remember I had written something about it before but perhaps it is worth another go after a few years.

How do you describe Chinese women? I think you cannot categorize them as a women in a normal sense. Chinese Women (I am refering to those born and raised in Mainland China) do not considered female as a gender that are inferior to male, it is just a second gender. Being a female just means you are physically weaker than man yet at the same time possessing the power as a female. Of course this might be different in the country side but, in the city, the well-educated women are totally in control. You see them as government officials, successful business women, energetic real estate agents or shop owners.

You might be wondering how this is different from western women who are well respected and go about doing their career (I think glass ceiling is still there, that's another topic). I think the difference is that Chinese women can really forgo the fact that they are female and let go of the sense of being a woman or mothering duties very easily. Remorse and guilt do not bother them too much - or they are forced to ignore them. Living example is my aunt from my father's side - She was going thru a very rough time during great culture revolution. She had to marry a guy much older just to survive (for food). But when opportunity presented itself for her to flee to Hong Kong, she abandoned her 2 young children without hesitation.

My aunt's case might be caused by the distored environment but somehow I think the mentality somehow is rooted in modern Chinese women. Definitely no offense but I think they have to arm themselves with such level of brutality in order to survive. I suppose it is not common in women from other culture/region. Nevertheless, I think Mao Tse Tung had really achieved the gender eqaulity miles ahead of anywhere else in the world 50 years ago.

What is on your Dinner Table

Chatting with Cathy, who was really surprised with the dinner arrangement with Micheal's family who are originally from Taiwan and live in US for decades. Mother would order take-out or pizza as dinner. When they return to Micheal's parent's house, the parents were sitting in front of the TV and said "Dinner is on the table, help yourself". What she found is the cold frozen pizza!!!! Hong Kong origin, this scene chilled her spine and was really confused if the parents were making a joke or something.

My family had a dinner ritual that there must be a least 3 or 4 dishes and a hot soup for dinner. Kids were instructed to set up the table, chopsticks and soup spoons would be laid for each member's usual location on the dinner table. Of course, guests would join our dinner (don't ask me why, but there were always some sort of uncles living with us whether they were just visiting or even stayed for months for work). I needed to help my mom to cook, clean and serve fruits while everyone sat down in front of TV. After moving to Taiwan for ages, my mom didn't have the time or habit to cook the Cantonese soup which requires hours of cooking. But that's very common in average Cantonese families. Everyone would sit on the table, sharing the food together is the official end-of-day. My family has simplified the dinner - comparing to family in Hong Kong. Rice has to be freshly cooked, all ingredients would be purchased from the market on the day (frozen food? Out of question!). That's the reason many Hong Kong housewives busy themselves in the market every morning, thinking what to make for dinner. They can even tell whether the fish is male or female.

Food is so heavily related to Hong Kong/Cantonese culture. The typical way of a Cantonese girl to signal her love and caringness is to say to her boy friend "Would you like to taste the soup I made?". God knows how many hours she spent on the soup. When I explained this to Grace, she was totoally lost.

Taiwanese families are not so pain-stakingly aggressive about dinner - part of the reasons is that most moms work during the day and, I think, the main reason is that Taiwan has not yet developed into the state to appreciate food - think about it, Taiwan was still a agriculture society in the 70s. Hong Kong has long been the hub of business since British government cultivated the humid fish village in mid 19th century.

Being Fair and Square

After being Japan for a while, you sort of getting used to the way Japanese think. They prefer to be fair. A bottled water sells for 90 yen in the city, but sells for 400 yen in the top of Mount Fuji. People understand the difficulty and trouble to get goods transport to the top of Mount Fuji, deal. Raman is about 800 yen mark, anything costs less probably does not taste as good as 800 yen ones (of course, there are exceptions, but rarely). You rarely are in the situation feeling that you are being cheated, I guess it is because in Tokyo, the population is 13 millions (Taipei 6 million and Hong Kong 6 million), you have to be really really lucky to cheat and survive on the same time. There are so many other alternatives in terms of food and drinks. If you are not running your business in the honourable way, chances are you are going to be put out of business fairly soon.

Dealing with Japanese in every day life, you can also feel this "fair and squre" principle in every aspect. They would never want you to buy them a free beer, although you offer. They would somehow remember it and pay you back with something else later on. I think this is to release themselves from the burden of owing anyone anything.

The only exception is probably the telecom industry, so many political and legacy reasons, I think it is hard to break.

A rope

In ancient China, the emperor sometimes sent a piece of yellow fabric to people, that mean, go kill yourself by hanging your neck with this piece of nice silk. I sometimes wonder why people at that time would submit to this absolute powerful and never thought about running away. I think the reason is that it would be an easier way to die without too much pain. Otherwise the emperor has the power to throw you into the boiling oil or slice you into thousand pieces (one of the most cruel punishment, the executor would be guilty if the person die before he finished cutting a thousand pieces of meat off). Cruelty is the way to mind-control the crowd, I guess.

The reader

Watched the film on the plane to Amsterdam from Tokyo, I cannot exactly tell you what I feel about the movie but I can only tell you the pieces and bits of the movies linger in my head constantly.

Kate Winsler's acting is remarkable. Hanna, the illiterate German woman served the prison term out of the shame of admitting her illiteracy in the court of law. What would I do if I were in her shoes? Before the prison, her love affair with the 15 year old boy had brought her something in life?

Speaking of "in her shoes", just finished a lengthy movie "In Her Shoes". Man, I can understand why people want to look at pleasant things in movies. The elder sister, Rose, is such a straigh-faced, clumsy creature, compare to her younger sister, Maggie, the dylexia suffering, vain, but good looking girl (although I don't think there is much more else, I still enjoy watching her). We are all visual animials, aren't we?

After Death

The famous Budda monk in Taiwan passed way a couple weeks ago. He could have prolong his life by kidney transplate but he refused. His arguement was "I have lived long enough, it is meaningless to take a young healthy kidney from a person who can live with it". He could definitely afford it but his value system stopped him from doing so. He also mention "Death is like transfering to another bus, a ner journey begins". I wish I could do so if the inevitable occurs to me.

The Benefit of Living Alone

Emily's wedding, she is sooooo pretty
____________________________

Just heard from mom that the influenza virus has jump from my sister-in-law to my nephew, my brother. They are taking turns to falling ill. My mom was busy sending people to emergency, hasn't gone home for 3 days.

I think if we will be all better off if living alone.

How to Degrade Your Enemy

Asking your colleauge to prepare for snakes and drinks for a meeting seems to be the way to do it.

Credit Crunch Theorya

Was chatting with my friend Cathy in California. She said tha she just figured out one theory after the stock market crash, spend as much as you can while you can enjoy it. You lose money faster in stock market than buying a Gucci bag or Burberry shoes. Besides, as you get old, it is more and more expensive to make yourself happy. Do it while you can afford it.

I guess I am going to buy the most expensive shoes in my life this weekend.