2006年12月17日日曜日

His Majesty's Career

Tears of joy welled up in my eyes when I knew that His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand identifies himself also as a translator. I am so happy to know that I can have a same career as His Majesty’s.

I used to be a republican (not with a capital R) and wanted to make Japan into a republic. However, my feeling has changed a lot after knowing about the Maharacha of Thailand...

I first felt awkward about feeling enourmous respect to King Bhumibol welling out from my heart. I still do not know why. I simply cannot help myself from feeling this way.

2006年12月5日火曜日





My warmest congratulations for the Birthday of His Majesty the King Bumibol of Thailand!

2006年11月22日水曜日

Thank you, Mirmo

I am quite embarrassed about confessing that I love Mirmo Zibang, a Japanese cartoon series mainly targeted for girls almost 30 years younger than I. These are certainly not the books for a middle-aged man like me.

But I feel this cartoon has given me so many precious things, let me tell you about this wonderful romantic comedy...

It is indeed a simple story. Kaede (Katie in the English version), an ordinary middle school girl with a pure heart fells in love with a classmate. But another girl called Azumi also likes the boy and she has hell of a lot confidence, which Kaede does not have much.

Both Kaede and Azumi have their partner fairies. While Kaede treats Mirmo, her partner as a close friend, Azumi exploits Yatchi, a ninja fairy like her servant...

I finally found the Thai version of Mirmo. Now I can share Mirmo's happy stories with my wife, too.

Azumi uses Yatchi's magic to keep Kaede away from the boy. Meanwhile, Kaede tries her best to approach the boy without Mirmo's help. She relies on Mirmo's help only when she is in danger...

So it is quite obvious that pure and good Kaede wins the boy's heart at the end...

Kaede and Mirmo are real friends who are in thou-thou relationship. They encourage and heal each other. Now I understand why Mirmo, a prince of fairyland became Kaede's partner. Although Kaede is an ordinary girl, she indeed has a noble heart. Anyway, they make me very happy.

I don't know why but whenever I read or watch Mirmo, I feel so much moved and sometimes even tears of joy well up in my eyes. I feel as if I could meet again a very precious friend after decades...

I guess Mirmo, the royal fairy is helping me to get in touch again with my inner child.

Thank you, Mirmo and Kaede!

2006年11月21日火曜日

A Cat Is a Loner Because...

A cat is a loner but it does not mean she is selfish.

A leopard is a loner, too. Because his hunting style and relatively small size do not allow him to catch a prey that can be shared with other leopards, he has to live alone and hunt alone.

A lioness can catch a large prey that can be shared with her clan members simply because she is so big.


Think about a cat again. She is small and her prey is even smaller. A rat or a sparrow is too small to be shared with other cats even if she wishes... So she has to hunt and live alone.

She is a loner simply because cats' nature does not allow them to be group-dwellers.

And she does not help herself from being lazy as she is purely carnivorous and cannot gain nutrition from virtually any food unlike omnivorous dogs. She is certainly lazy and a loner but it is not due to her choice.

Then anyone cannot blame cat's aloofness or laziness. Well, I guess this might help everyone of us understand our fellow humans, too. Before we label someone as strange or abnormal, we should think his background... If we do this, we may be able to provide him a better choice.

2006年11月19日日曜日

A Horror Exam...

One exam recently exhausted me so much. It was not mine and I was not so much nervous about that in the beginning. It was my six-year-old son's.

He was not nervous about the exam almost at all in the beginning and that made his mother extremely nervous. Since she cannot read any Chinese, she asked me to help him prepare for the exam...under her supervision! That made me extremely nervous.

I suffered from severe fatigue before and during the exam. My body ached so much, too. And these symptoms remained for a whole week even after the exam was over (i.e. until yesterday)...

Well, I will have to find a better way to assist him learn. I am trying to make learning a fun but have not been very successful. (But he is more willing to do his homework when I sit next to him and copy my Thai textbook...)

I don't know if I did so due to the stress from my son's exam, I ordered the first entire set of comic books in my whole life time in the middle of the exam period. I feel quite hesitant about telling all of you what I bought. I bought a 12-volume set of Japanese cartoon called Mirmo Zibang (ミルモでポン!/魔法小米路), a cartoon mainly targeted for the pre-teen to early teenage girls. (Scary, isn't it??)

But this series of cartoons is full of positive-thinking for the Win-Win-Win (Good for me, good for you and good for the world) situation... If you feel lonely or lost, I recommend you to read this series. You might feel happy. The entire series is also available in English from a Singaporean publisher.

Anyway, reading all the 12 volumes of Mirmo in a few hours, I felt Jung was right. Although fairy tales look childish, they certainly help the readers grow...

2006年11月8日水曜日

Why Was School So Boring?

I love to learn new things. Now I spend most of free time to learn Thai as if this cousin of Chinese and Indian languages were my new girlfriend.

I also spare some time to learn psychology, religion and history. I am not as intimate to them as to Thai but they are indeed fascinating friends.

I wonder why I felt those actually very fascinating things so boring at primary and middle schools...

Even though I loved to learn English then, I always felt very sleepy at English classes at school.

I feel when I get an answer to this question, I will be able to provide much better help to my six-year-old son, who feel the school is darn boring.

Any insights?

2006年11月5日日曜日

Meditation through Language-learning



I have hand-copied more than twenty lessons of Manee Reader, a Thai primary school textbook.


Although I still cannot read a Thai newspaper, the exotic Thai scripts are no longer an alien writing system to me. Now I know better that repetition is quite a good way of language acquisition.


And copying at least some of this textbook before going to bed every night has not only made me familiar to this lovely (but awfully complicated) language but also given an opportunity of meditation.


I can empty my mind by concentrating on looking at the text and correctly writing each word of it. This usually frees me from thinking about twenty minutes. And pleasant fatigue from a light work also helps me sleep better.


Now I know why Chinese and Japanese Buddhists love to hand-copy sutras. It is indeed a good Zen meditation. They can free their minds while exposing themselves to the sacred teaching...


And I feel Manee Reader is indeed a sacred text. The stories of happy childhood can provide a safe haven to anyone...

2006年11月3日金曜日

The Ultimate Purpose



I wonder why the Universe created life...

Did it do so just by chance? Maybe.

But I feel the Universe was so lonely without anyone who understood its majesty that it created life.

Then the ultimate purpose of our existence seems to be to understand our Mother Universe.

Then learning is our ultimate purpose...

It sounds exciting...

2006年10月27日金曜日

Feeling lost? Thank God!

When you feel lost,
You are actually standing
In front of a door to
Unlimited potential.

When you feel lost,
You can try turning on
The switch of auto-cruise
Of let it be.

When you feel lost,
You can actually thank God
Because He now allows you
To tap into the rich resource
Of your unconscious mind.

I want to say congratulations
To you for feeling lost...

2006年10月5日木曜日

Burnt Out

Dear all,

I am very much surprised that this blog has had at least a few visitors a day despite extremely slow updates. Thank you!

Well, even though I made several attempts to put something in this space, I could barely write. I have been exhausted these days after my work hours increased a little bit...

I was a bit ashamed of being burnt out just because of one and half hour's work. Even after additional hours, my work hours are not particularly long. So once I lost confidence in my physical and mental strength...

But wait. Even though my work hours extended by less than two hours, my daily output increased at least by 50%! And now I start working at seven in the morning! It is no wonder I burnt out. After finding this out, I feel easier. I can take a rest even when others are still working...

-----------------------------------------------
Thai Update

I am still plunging into Manee Reader, a classic kindergarten Thai-language textbook in most of my free time. I have finished reading the Lesson 21 out of 44 so far. As this textbook gradually introduces Thai alphabets, I can learn the Thai writing system at ease. After a month with Manee, the exotic Thai alphabets have become much less foreign to me...

So I recommend this textbook for anyone who has had hard time learning Thai using other textbooks such as Teach Yourself's.

But the Thai writing system is extremely complicated. When the military coup happened in Bangkok last month, I learned the Thai word for coup; It is patiwat but spelt ptiwati. Bewildering, isn't it? And I still wonder why a word spelt Kinrii (a legendary flying woman) can be pronounced as Kin-na-rii. Learning to read Thai is really nerve-bending...

2006年9月14日木曜日

Still Unwinding...

I have noticed quite a lot people have visited this blog these days. Thank you!

But I am still waiting for something to come out from my finger tips. Maybe it is reaction to my hard work during summer under high fever...

I still need some time to unwind myself and free my soul so that I can write freely.

Well, I have proved that we need to take a good rest while being ill. Health is more important than a job but I often forget it...

2006年9月4日月曜日

People Are Friendlier Now Because...

I am now studying Thai as if I were possessed. I am so much obsessed to read, listen to the online sound files and copy the Web contents of Manee Reader, a mother language textbook once very popular at Thai primary schools, in whatever free time I find.

I don't remember how many times I had tried to learn this southeast Asian language. But I do remember I first picked up a Thai textbook in the early 1997. This time, I failed because I had no strong reason... But, even after I got a stronger reason by marrying a Thai in 1998, my every attempt to learn her language failed.

But it is very different this time. I can quite comfortably cruise through the Website and I have memorised almost all the text up to Lesson 7. I feel it is easy and fun to learn the complicated Thai script. My brain just absorbs so nicely the language that I had always felt indigestible...

I wondered why and found that my impression to Thailand had greatly improved on this summer's trip to Chiang Mai. I felt Thais were friendlier than on my previous trips to the country.

When I said this to my wife, she simply said that it was not that Thais had become friendlier to me but I had become friendlier to them. She added that "You are now much more pleasant person than before. This summer's trip was your first one to my country after you had got rid of bad haemorrhoids..."

I became friednlier to myself so others also became friendlier to me...

2006年8月28日月曜日

Manee Has Eyes, a Crow Has Eyes...

Recently, I have started learning the Thai language seriously. Although I have been married to a Thai for more than eight years, I only know a few northeasestern Thai phrases (actually, these are Lao phrases) so I felt a bit ashamed when I visited Chiang Mai earlier this month. That's the reason why I picked up a children's penmanship book at a bookstore in a northern Thai city...

Thai is really a tough language. Well, it is phonetically easy as I already speak one tonal language (Cantonese dialect of Chinese). The grammar is also very easy as Thai nouns and verbs have no changes, just like Chinese. But I am struggling with its script. It is extremely complicated....

There are more than a few letters that represent the "s" sound. Almost every consonant has at least two letters. Well, it is not entirely irrational as each consonant letter not only represent the consonant value but also tone. But some consonants have more letters than the tones require.... I guess these letters represent the sounds that are different in Pali or Sanskrit but the same in Thai so that the reader can know the origin.

But I am still not defeated by the legion of mighty Thai letters. I want to make it my fourth language (after Japanese, English and Cantonese). Well, I like Thailand so it would not too tough, though...

I am now learning Thai, using an primary school textbook called Manee Reader. It is about a rural Thai girl called Manee and starts with "Manee has eyes, a crow has eyes, the uncle has eyes." Reciting the simple Thai phrases like a fool, I cried. I don't know why.

But I know it is not tears of sorrow but of joy. I guess it is the joy that comes from the hope of growth. Living in a developing country, Thais still have much more dreams than the ones from developed countries... I envy them.

2006年8月21日月曜日

Again From a Newspaper Ad

A huge diamond can naturally make you happy.
But it still does not match
having the heart of compassion in you!

**********************
I love this ad because it does not deny the joy of having a diamond...

2006年8月20日日曜日

A Precious Moment

The following is a theme song from a Japanese romantic comedy anime Mirmo Zibang! (港題”魔法小米路”)Although it is a simple song for children, it has moved me so much. So I want to share it with my poor English translation (please find it below the Japanese original).

プレシャス・モーメント

おろしたての シャツを着て 歩きだそう
朝のひかり キラキラと 誘ってる

傷ついた その分だけ 優しくなれるから
きっと迷った日も 泣いた日も
大切な
宝物

どこにだって あるような 一日にだって
すてきな
一秒
詰まってる
未来のドア 開いて さあはじめよう
新しい季節が 待ってる

白い地図の真ん中で誰だって
自分だけの行先を探してる

大丈夫 どんな夜も 明日につづくから

そっと手を伸ばせばいつの日か
輝きを
つかめるよ
遠回りで気づいた 探してた夢は
素直に
ならなきゃ
見えないね
曇り空の下でも 心の中に
いつも太陽抱いてゆこう

***********************************************

A PRECIOUS MOMENT

Let’s start walking, wearing new shirts.
Morning shine is inviting us.

The more we hurt, the kinder we can be to others.
So even the days we felt lost
And even the days we cried
Should be our precious treasures.

Even an ordinary day is filled
With precious moments.
So let’s open up the door to the future
And start walking.
The new season is waiting for us!

On the middle of a blank map
Everyone is looking for his destination.

But don't worry.
Because any night changes into a morning.
Just hold out your arms quietly,
You can touch the glory someday…

We can see the dream we have searched in a long way around,
Only when we are true to ourselves.
So even under the cloudy sky,
Let’s go on walking,
Holding the Sun in our hearts.



2006年8月18日金曜日

From Today's Newspaper Ad

Compassion has no enemy.
Wisdom causes no worry.
- Ven. Shengyan (A Taiwanese Zen master)

2006年8月16日水曜日

Stop Being a Crybaby And Grow Up, Japan!

I guess Japan lost the World War II a bit too comfortably.

She was forced to return all the territories gained through the wars in the modern era. But her torso remained intact, unlike Germany, Korea or Germany.

Japan was air-raided. That killed a lot people, I know. But think about what Russia and China suffered from the war.

Her emperor stayed on the throne. And he even managed to keep the Imperial title even though he lost the imperialist war.

She did not have to pay any compensation to the Allied Powers. Although both China received much much more serious damage from the Japanese brutality, she did not demand Japan to compensate their losses.

Japanese often say that Japan was put under the total control of the United States and was actually mere a U.S. colony after 1945. But the U.S. allowed Japan to maintain her currency undervalued for so long. Japanese were allowed to speak their own language and say whatever they wanted to say, without worrying about making Uncle Sam angry, at least after 1950s. America even kept her market open to Japan until she became rather threatening...

So the U.S. control over Japan was just more like a very humane surveillance to a delinquent high school kid than an oppression. We can see it from Japan's breakneck speed of economic growth under the U.S. umbrella.

What kind of disadvantage did Japan suffer from the U.S. control? It was much looser than in South Korea, South Vietnam, the Philippines and many small Latin nations in the U.S. backyard.

And she was allowed to indulge in an illusion that she was a victim of the WWII. Japanese tried hard to remember about their pain during that war. They tried hard to remember how miserable a war is. That may be a good thing. However, they totally did not care about who the hell started the fire.

It was a big mistake that started to bug Japanese after 1980s when her neighbours started to afford more time to remember about their painful past... While Japanese remembered their past pain in the economic boom that the human kind might have never experience before, China and Korea were suffering from the great divisions, which the WWII - the war they won - had brought them. They haven't achieved the reunification yet!

Actually, Japan has gained indeed helluvalot from the war it started and lost. Japanese do not want to face it.

Stop being a crybaby and grow up, Japan!

2006年8月15日火曜日

強烈抗議小泉拜鬼!


強烈抗議小泉拜鬼!
靖國神社絕不是祈禱和平的地方,而是讚揚日本軍國主義的設施


My strong protest to Japanese premier's visit to Yasukuni Shrine.
The shrine is not a place to pray for ever-lasting peace
but is an institution to praise Japanese military aggression.

Remember, Japanese preimier's visit to Yasukuni is also a horrible insult to the Allies, especially to the United States.

2006年8月13日日曜日

發高燒了

發高燒了。即使體溫差不多四十度,有今天要寫完的報告...

吃藥,退一點燒就著出擊,寫一個鐘頭左右,發燒到甚麼都想不到便撤退,好像是攻擊非常非常堅固的城堡...

不知明天怎樣但。現在想的只是休息...

祝我好快好番啦!

High Fever

I caught a flu and can barely write anything under a near 40-degree fever...

Please wish me get well soon. I know your wishes, prayers or hopes help me a lot! And wishing someone get well will help you live more happily.

Thank you!