Wabi-sabi

It is cherry blossom time in Tokyo. Japanese are very much excited when the cherry trees bloom. My boss told that cherry blossom generates some sort of wabi-sabi feeling in him. I wondered what this wabi-sabi is!

My boss told me that it is difficult for him to explain the feeling of wabi-sabi and asked me to ask my Japanese teacher. I asked her. She also told that it is a feeling which is difficult to explain. We have to feel it to know what this wabi-sabi feeling is! Only poets can explain such a feeling. Is it similar to ecstasy? I don’t know. She told me that it is a very peaceful and serene feeling………….very simple and uncomplicated feeling without any confusion…………and at the same time, unexplainable……….but I am confused!!!!!......Anyway, my boss is having wabi-sabi during cherry blossom time.

Cherry blossom will last only for one week. There are cherry blossom parties all over Tokyo now. People will dine and drink under the cherry tree. In my Institute also I have seen people sitting under cherry tree and drinking beer! This year cherry blossom came in April first week so that new recruits are given welcome party under the cherry tree. In Japan, March is the graduation month and new employment will generally start in April.

There is cherry blossom forecast too in the weather reports so that people can plan accordingly. Also, in different parts of Japan, the blooming time of cherry tree is different, depending upon the geographical locations so that you can cover the entire Japan watching cherry blossom!
I am planning to visit Ueno Park tomorrow. It is a very big park with lots of Cherry trees. My colleague told m that it will be very crowded tomorrow, since it is Saturday. Anyway, let me go there and see. Our institute is also having some cherry trees at the entrance. Cherry blossom is beautiful to watch. Cherry blossom viewing is called Hanami in Japanese. Cherry blossom is “Sakura”. The parties under the cherry tree are called Hanami parties.

Contradictions are here too. My apartment name is Sakura Heights. But there is not even a single Sakura anywhere in my apartment!

More about wabi-sabi are here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WabiSabi

Regarding Cherry-blossom and people’s opinion:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011.html
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=popvox&id=564

Let me make a “Hanami” tomorrow!

This is what I am going to see..............

Knotting the tie

Japanese people are very formal-means suits is the formal dress. In the morning, we can see so many people rushing to the railway station or bus stand wearing suits. I am not sure even in Europe whether we can see this much people wearing suit all the time. This suit culture put me in trouble one day.

I wore suit only once before coming here-for a conference in Delaware. My friend Rishi was the brain behind the suit at that time. We went to Sears (or JC Penny?) and bought one of the expensive blazers from there. Of course, a tie was also bought but I never ever imagined that that tie would be a reason for this blog!

As I was totally new to this “formal” world, Rishi knotted the tie for me (NOT “tied the knot!!!). He told me whenever I want to wear it put it around the neck like a garland and just tighten it. I did exactly like that during the conference at Delaware and everything was just perfect. I took extra care to preserve the integrity of that tie while coming to Japan.Everything was fine till my first presentation day. I have to present my work plan to my group. Of course, I should be impressive with indispensable formal dressing. Blazer is okay, but tie??!! No problem because I have the my ready made tie-take it, wear it around the neck, tighten it and forget it. I did the same.

Everything was again fine and the presentation was over and I am back in my apartment. With a great smile, I removed the blazer and now it is the turn of the tie. Since I had tightened it in the morning, now I have to loosen it. Oh! Rishi………..You didn’t teach me how to loosen it!!! Alas………..there is no mirror also in the room. I have to use the common mirror in the wash room. But what a mirror can do if I don’t know how to loosen it. I am getting tensed. I took deep breath, counted 1 to 10 and again back from 10 to 1, again took deep breath, but tie is still in my neck. For one moment, thought of cutting it using scissor-simultaneously the thought of 75 dollars I spent was also came to my mind and dropped the idea. I can at the maximum sleep with tie in my neck, but in the next day, when I am going to brush (we have common wash room in that apartment), I cannot go with tie. All these thoughts came to my mind. I can unknot it completely-no problem; but then who will knot it for me?-Rishi is in Seattle and I am in Tokyo. Finally I took the brave decision. I somehow managed to untie the tie and in that process, the precious knot has gone and the tie is in its original state. Now either I have to ask some of my neighbors or I will no more be formal. But I didn’t give up. Larry Page and Sergey Brin invented Google for me! I did a Google search in the very next morning and took the printouts and kept with me. I am still using it whenever I need to wear tie. I learned the terms Windsor knot, Half-Windsor knot etc. after that.

This is a very useful link to learn how to knot the tie:
http://www.tie-a-tie.net/

So I tied the knot……..errrrrr…sorry………….I knotted the tie

Kyoto visit

Can you find any similarity between Kyoto and Tokyo. Kyo-To ---- To-Kyo. Kyoto was the capital of Japan before Tokyo. I think Kyo means capital in Japanese (not sure though!). Kyoto was the western capital of Japan. It is a very peaceful city with the main street having wider roads than that in Tokyo though all connecting roads are very narrow. It is not as crowded as Tokyo. Kyoto is considered as the cultural capital of Japan. It has plenty of temples, castles and palaces.

I went to Kyoto to attend a conference on fiber reinforced plastics composites. I got the name of the conference only after getting the conference proceedings. It was a whole-Japanese conference with researchers presenting their work in Japanese; slides in Japanese, questions in Japanese and answers are also in Japanese. And I am sitting there. The only time were you can also participate in the proceedings is when people are clapping, which, of course, is not in Japanese. Unfortunately clapping was only for the invited talks, not in regular sessions! Such conferences will give you immense opportunities for sleeping without any worries-you are not going to miss anything anyway. However, contrary to other conferences which I have attended, this time, I paid full attention to all the talks and even tried to make me understand the subject!
Japanese people are very fond of conferences. I think one of the reasons may be the chance they are getting to travel in Shinkansen (joking). The conference, which I attended, was in Doshisha University, which is a private university with teaches theology and American Studies along with commerce and engineering.

In Japan, University professors in Tokyo area will retire normally at the age of 60 or 62; professors in other areas will retire at 62 or 65 and those in private Universities can continue up to 70 years or more! So the normal pattern if one wants to remain in service for long is Tokyo-other areas-private University!

I spent most of the day time in the Conference hall only. My boss and two of my colleagues were also attended the conference. In the first evening, my boss gave me the dinner in a Japanese restaurant. In the next evening we all went to an Indian restaurant Ashoka. We ordered chicken masala, chicken tikka, naan etc. They have different spice levels-mild, medium, royal and extra royal. I ordered chicken with double extra royal spice and one of my colleagues ordered mild spicy chicken. My boss is fond of spicy food and he ordered medium spicy. Here it is very easy for them to change the spice levels-more chilly powder on the cooked chicken-more spicy. You can even get a quadruple spicy chicken like that. So I suffered. But the situation of my colleague who ordered “mild” spicy chicken was worse. Tears were coming from his eyes! My boss enjoyed the medium spicy one as he has experience in enjoying spicy Korean foods. So the lesson learned is a curry sprinkled with kilograms of red chilly powder will make things very easy and “smooth” in the toilet in the next day morning.

We visited some temples and palaces in Kyoto. On the second day, we visited the Buddhist temple, Kiyomizu-dera .





We also visited some other temples (I forgot the names-difficulty in remembering Japanese names). In the huge wooden gates of one of the temples, in order to prevent birds from sitting and “running” the structure, nails have fixed with their pointed ends upwards. That made us to discuss dove as the symbol of peace. I told my boss that dove is considered as the symbol of peace. He replied “ but Chinese are considering otherwise” I wondered “Are Chinese considering dove as symbol of war instead?” After a pause, my boss said “Chinese are considering dove delicious to EAT!!!!” That is my boss!!

In the last day of my three-day stay in Kyoto, I and my boss visited one of the famous castles in Kyoto-the Nijo Castle (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Nijo+Castle&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1),
which is included in the World Heritage Site list by UNESCO.
It has a very beautiful garden and other features. The floor in the castle will make noise while walking, a design which will help detecting intruders in the night! However, somehow I didn't feel the elegance of some of the palaces in India in that castle.

This is one of the castles in the Nijo Castle complex. There are two castles inside.



After my three day stay in Kyoto, I left for Tokyo with my boss on 19th March by Shinkansen. I mentioned Shinkansen in my last blog. I forgot to mention the price we have to pay for the speed and comfort-130 dollars for a 2:30 hours journey covering 500 kilometers! Still better than a 70 dollars journey from Columbia to Washington DC in Amtrak.

You can get more details about Kyoto in these sites:

http://www.answers.com/topic/kyoto

http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/eng/index.html

Shinkansen

Got a chance to go to Kyoto in Shinkansen. Shinkansen is the bullet train in Japan, one of the technological marvels in Japan. The first Shinkansen started in 1964. Shinkansen lines are wider than the other railway lines in Japan (except in a few cases) so that other trains cannot travel on Shinkansen lines and vice versa. Shinkansen is considered to be the safest train in the world because so far there is no accident involving Shinkansen. However, during the last major earthquake, the train got derailed for the first time though none was injured. That was a big issue in Japan and people were, at some point, discussing more of Shinkansen derailment than the earthquake! Oh! That earthquake caused even the Shinaknsen to derail-that was the status of Shinkansen in Japan. One of the major ambitions of kids in Japan is becoming a Shinkansen driver! Shinkansen is designed to stop immediately if an earthquake occurs in the vicinity of its travel. However the last earthquake in a place called Nagata was so close to the Shinkansen line that the auto stop did not work and the train got derailed!

Japanese are proud of their Shinkansen. They have the reason too. Though it is not the fastest train in the world (I think it may be the second or third, fastest being the French (or German?) trains-I shall verify-some websites say Shinkansen is having the highest speed- I am confused), it is the No. 1 with respect to efficiency, safety and punctuality. Some of the Shinkansens even attained speed of 300 km/hour though the average speed is around 260 km/hour. In 2003, the average late running of Shinkansen was around 1 min. and there were enquiries to find out the reason for that. For an Indian, where people will not be surprised even if the Trivandrum-Guwahati train running late by 24 hours, it is more than a surprise (However, Indian Railway system is also not that bad because with that much population and all accompanying difficulties, we are managing-still there are plenty of scopes for improvement and I am sure we will become No.1 once). Here detailed enquires will be conducted if the train stops 1m ahead of the designated stop point. Shinkansen is completely automatic-means stopping, starting, braking-everything is controlled automatically.

Shinkansen will take only 2 hours 20 minutes from Tokyo to Kyoto (more than 500 km). If we have such a train in Kerala, we can travel from one end to the other end of the state within 3 hours! May not be possible because Shinkansen has only two stops in its 500 km journey. If we have such a train in Kerala, still it will take at least 6 hours because each MLA will demand for stop at his own constituency. Further we will have regular strikes, hartals, bundhs etc. Shinkansen will be blocked for reasons such as unemployment in Antarctica!

I think there is no need to mention the interior of Shinkansen-spacious, more than enough leg room, classy toilets and even urinals for gents, in-train catering, and of course the famous and indispensable vending machines which are part and parcel of Japanese life! It is heard that some of the new trains, with its more aerodynamic design, has less space inside compared to the old ones. Still it may be ‘less’ only on comparison. You will not hear any noise of the train running while traveling. Somebody told me that a good portion of the Japanese research grant is spending for Shinkansen travel (joking). But Japanese are obsessed with Shinkansen and they are so proud of it. They may not be that interested in talking about yesterday’s earth quake, but you can see their enthusiasm when we start a discussion on Shinkansen. Whenever I am seeing a Shinkansen moving at around 260 km/hour speed, it is creating some sort of thrilling sensation in me-the same feeling when I was seeing Trivandrum-Madras Mail passing through Ettumanoor railway station at around 110 km/hour. The other local trains in Japan are not creating such a sensation in me mainly because of their design. They are just like long rectangular boxes whereas Shinkansen is having an excellent design with a pointed nose!

It will be a good exercise to compare the Amtrak in USA and Shinkansen in Japan. My friend Rishi knows well about the punctuality, speed and comfort of Amtrak in USA. I think if he travels in Shinkansen once, he will get a chance to revive his sweet memories of his Amtrak journey where the maximum speed is around 120 km/hour with no need to mention its safety, comfort and punctuality!

Here are some websites on bullet trains and Shinkansen. I am not sure whether some of the sites are updated or not. But you will get a basic knowledge of bullet trains from these sites.

http://www.o-keating.com/hsr/bullet.htm Shinkansen and other bullet trains around the world-I am not sure when this site is updated last.

http://www.o-keating.com/hsr/hstlist.htm Same.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3707934.stmhttp:/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3707934.stm BBC news on the 40th anniversary of Shinkansen in 2004.

http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/Japan/03/raynor/raynor.htm - History of Shinkansen.

http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/shinkansen/ Get some technology of Shinkansen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_train - A good description on Shinkansen.

http://www.geocities.com/qubestrader/shinkansen.html Shinkansen photos.

http://www.atkielski.com/inlink.php?/PhotoGallery/Paris/General/TGVSmall.html
France’s Bullet Train.

These are website mentioning train speeds. http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~dajf/byunbyun/speeds/records.htm
http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~dajf/byunbyun/speeds/world.htm

Based on this website, world’s fastest scheduled train service is credited to
Shinkansen!

To get more confused with train speeds, see this site: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2002/StefanSingh.shtml

As usual, Chinese are also in the fray, but the trains are of different type I think:
http://english.people.com.cn/200212/05/eng20021205_108005.shtml

So, that is my Shinkansen experience. If you visit Japan, make it a point to travel in Shinkansen at least once.

Here are some Shinkansen photos taken by me. My boss also helped me in taking some of the photographs after seeing my enthusiasm.

This is Shinkansen take off from the Kyoto Station........



Siamese Shinkansen!



I enjoyed the journey in the Shinkansen.