Japanese Sense of Humour

Mild and pleasant to the taste. Surely, it makes you happy. Please take it! You taste just delicious.

When it comes to the field of robotics, no one can beat the Japanese. That's why I'm here, to study Mechanical Engineering, or maybe Mechatronics, if possible.

But, that's not the only thing the Japanese are good at. For when it comes to humour, no one can beat the Japanese either.

A few days back, a screw fell off from my chair. Hey, you, stop laughing. I did gain some weight but of course, I didn't fall. As I was trying to fix the screw, guess what I discovered? A "secret message" hidden in a "secret compartment" under the chair!

Cool! For a moment, I suddenly felt as if I was in one of Enid Blyton's stories: treasure maps... kidnappers... mysteries... adventure!

Sorry to disappoint you but, it was just a user guide. Hidden under the chair, who the heck could have found it? Geez...

Then, there's this notice in the lift, which never failed to make whoever reads it scratch his head, bewildered...

Who says Malaysians are the only nation speaking mangled English?

And finally, here's my favourite one!

Here in Japan, banana is the only affordable fruit that won't burn a hole in your pocket... Until I found this canned mandarin orange, which is relatively cheap compared to apples and oranges.

Mild and pleasant to the taste. Surely, it makes you happy. Please take it! You taste just delicious.

Don't get it wrong. I bought it not because it was cheap. I was merely flattered.

Talk about marketing technique!

Meiji Jingū

Meiji Jingu (明治神宮), located in Tokyo, Japan near Harajuku Station is the Shinto shrine dedicated to the souls of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji died in 1912 and Empress Shoken in 1914. After the demise of the Emperor and Empress, this shrine was constructed to venerate them. Their souls were enshrined on November 1, 1920. The original building was destroyed during World War II. The present shrine was completed in October, 1958. ~Wikipedia: Meiji Shrine

Before going to the National Stadium for Thomas Cup's semi-final on May 5 (Friday), I spent the morning visiting Meiji Jingū (明治神宮), where Emperor Meiji (the 122nd Emperor of Japan) and Emperess Shoken are enshrined. Unfortunately, the place was too big (it spans over and area of 700,000 square-meter after all) and so, I only managed to explore the inner precinct.

(Above:) Hey, kids, get a pony ride just by the entrance to the shrine!

(Above:) These areas are covered by an evergreen forest of 120,000 trees of 365 different species, which were donated by people from all parts of Japan when the shrine was established. ~Meiji Jingu Official Website

(Above:) A place of peace and tranquility. 静かですね.

(Above:) It was May 5, Children's Day. There was a function here in the park, just in front of the treasure museum.

(Above:) Built in the Azekurazukuri style, the treasure museum houses the articles of the venerated Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. Inside, there are portraits of all of the previous ruling emperors of Japan, from Emperor Jimmu to Emperor Shōwa. But, basically, the grandson resembles the father, who resembles the grandfater... and so on. Unfortunately, visitors are not allowed to take photos in the place. Or else, you'll see for yourself what it means by "genetic inheritance". However, I've no idea why there're "portraits" of the first 14 legendary emperors.

(Above:) Barrels of sake donated to the shrine.

(Above:) The torī standing at the entrance to the Meiji Shrine.

(Above:) Lamp post.

(Above:) The gate to the main hall (本官, honkan)

(Above:) A traditional Japanese wedding ceremony.

(Above:) The cafeteria and another exhibition hall.

- 05 May 2006, Friday -

Attack of the Tanpopo

If dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn. ~Andrew V. Mason

5.30am, May 15...

Warm rays of the morning sun breaks into the room. It's a fine weather despite the usually-reliable weatherman's gloomy forecast - a whole week of cloudy, rainy days. Standing at the balcony commands a full view at the airfield, even though the reluctant earlu mist still refuses to give way to dawn.

Then - horror of all horrors! They're everywhere! The legions of relentless paratroopers, like a plague of locusts, come in swarms, carried by the wind. Sound the alarm, sound the alarm!

Don't let this nasty things fool you. From a distance, these dandellion seed balls do look like snow. But they're actually fluffy balls of wool that, somehow, always seem to be able to find a way to enter your room, even if you shut the doors tight enough to intoxicate yourself with the carbon dioxide you exhale. They are so abundant that you can live through the whole summer if you make them your staple food.

And, what the heck, whenever I clean my room twice a week, these nasty thingies account for 99.5% of the dirt; the other 0.9% due to hair loss and 0.1% because of stardust.

Soon enough, these beautiful flowers will turn into the fluffy, woolly balls that will invade your rooms!

Hmm.... Admittedly, it looks kind of curious. And it has a curious Japanese name too. Tanpopo, it is called...

Ahh, shut the door, shut the door! One just got into the room!

Ten hours later...

Battlefield report - Still floating around in the air, the unrelenting legions of tanpopo show no sign subsiding. The weatherman was right, it is raining. Raining tanpopo.

Kurayami Matsuri

Kurayami Matsuri (暗闇祭り, literally, pitch-dark festival) is celebrated at Ōkunitama Jinja (大国魂神社) in Fuchu from 3 May to 5 May. The main event is held on 5 May night but we were brought there by TOFSIA on 4 May, which puzzled me. Anyway, I was in Sendagaya National Stadium on Friday, fulfilling my duty as a patriotic citizen of Malaysia by cheering for the Malaysian team during the Thomas Cup semi-final match against Denmark.

(Above:) Ōkunitama Jinja in Fuchū.

(Above:) Main hall.

(Above:) The place was so crowded that it reminded me of the jam-packed Shinjuku.

(Above:) In the temple's compound, it seemed just like a fun fair.

(Above:) See? They even had a haunted house!

(Above:) A tower in the shrine's compound.

(Above:) A gate that leads to another part of the shrine, closed to the public on that day.

(Above:) For a small fee, you can get your fortune told. And if you don't like what you got? Well, just hang them here and let the wind blow the bad luck away!

(Above:) The following day was Children's Day (子供の日, kodomo no hi). The celebrate the day with carp-shaped koinobori flags.

(Above:) A huge stone which has some significance to the emperor... Geez... Can some one translate the Japanese for me?

(Above:) I managed to get out from the shrine before getting suffocated. But, the situation outside wasn't any better.

(Above:) A taiko (太鼓, Japanese drum) procession was taking place!

(Above:) Standing on the big drums while they were pulled along the streets by the devotees requires good balance!

(Above:) The devotees take turns striking the drum... With a baseball bat? I think not!

(Above:) A portable shinto shrine (神輿, mikoshi). I supposed this is just a scaled-down version.

(Above:) Children carrying a mikoshi on two poles.

(Above:) Sometimes, the devotees wave the mikoshi side by side so widely that participants and bystanders get killed getting struck by it!

(Above:) Now, this should be the big one, parked inside the shrine. The procession would be on Friday, but we missed it because we were in Sendagaya watching Thomas Cup!

(Above:) This used to be a religious event. But now it has turned into a competition to see who can spin it the most gracefully.

(Above:) There were various performances by the road. These people were playing traditional Japanese flute and drums, in a monotonous rhythm...

(Above:) Cute kids, no? I asked the Japanese but they didn't know what's the significance of those characters in the masks.

(Above:) Now, this was the most interesting of all performances. It puzzled me as to why these "monsters" (化け物,　bakemono) went around "biting" children. Actually, in Japanese folklore, a person who gets bitten by these "lions" gets good luck!

(Above:) At 6pm, there was float procession.

These floats, like the taiko drums were from different shrines across Tokyo.

(Above:) Even though the floats looked so big and heavy, these guys were pulling them effortlessly as if they were going downhill...

(Above:) The procession lasted until late night.

- 04 May 2006, Thursday -

Tokyo National Museum

Tokyo National Museum (東京国立博物館) is ten-minutes'-walk away from the Ueno JR Station. We managed to make it two hours before its closing time.

(Above:) The Main Building.

(Above:) Tōyokan (東洋館) Asian Gallery.

Visitors are not allowed to switch on the flash while taking photots in the museum. So, with the poor lighting, I could only get blurry pictures... Then, there were certain sections where we were not allowed to take photos at all.

Buddha Statues

Egyptian Artefacts

Chinese Artefacts

(Above:) An unidentified animal.

Japanese Artefacts

(Above:) Samurai armour.

(Above:) Japanese kimono.

(Above:) Japanese bow and arrows.

(Above:) Noh mask.

(Above:) A cannon ball stuck in a plank of wood which used to be part of a castle.

(Above:) This is what the museum used to look like.

(Above:) The Emperor's visit to the park when it was first opened.

(Above:) Ueno park in the olden days.

- 03 May 2006, Wednesday -