Did thee feel the earth move?

Yes, literally. This morning, at around 2.54am, my bed rocked gently, and woke me up. I sat up in my bed, wide-eyed and fully awakened. All my utensils and stuff stayed in their places. And the rocking stopped after a few seconds. I tried getting back to sleep, but the birds in the adjacent park were all fully awake and chattering about what just happened. I heard this one particular female bird screaming to her husband, "How many times have I told you that this branch is prone to vibrations? You insisted on building our nest here. Don't you care about our eggs? We are lucky this time. First thing in the morning, you go and find us a safer location, ok?" The hubby didn't make any sounds - I guess he was meekly nodding.

(I learned later on in the morning that the quake measured 5.4 on the Richter scale, and was centered about 80kms southeast of Yokohama. News report here.)

Speaking of birds, I noticed a few Japanese crows the other day. They are bigger than their Indian cousins, and have a very shiny luxurious black colour. They're obviously on a better diet here. They have a different accent too. While Indian crows tend to sound 'kaaah kaaah', their Japanese counterparts have a shorter 'kaaw kaaw' - sounding definitely more dignified and sophisticated.

Being interested in energy healing, I was curious to experience Shiatsu - a Japanese massage technique to promote energy flows and healing. So I fixed an appointment at the Kimura Shiatsu Institute in Tokyo last weekend and went there. The healer is Susuma Kimura-san, a friendly man in his 60s, who speaks fairly good English. He got me to lie down flat on the floor, draped a sheet over me, and started prodding various points on my abdomen. Then he moved on to the legs, the back, my neck and head - prodding and pressing, and releasing his pressure when I was close to feeling pain. It was an interesting experience - similar to acupressure. I felt relaxed and refreshed when my hour long session was completed. He did make a surprise move on my back - in a sudden motion, he stretched my spine - causing a lot of crackling sounds. It's good for you, he said. I think one needs a few sessions to actually start feeling the energy work happening. The only disavantage I see is that it needs someone to work on you, unlike pranic healing, which you can administer to yourself.

Last weekend, I hit the temple circuit at Kamakura, which is 40 mins by train, south of Yokohama. I first visited the Hachimangu Temple, and then the Big Buddha - the 'Daibutsu' and the Hase Kannon Temple. The Hase Kannon Temple has a very beautiful garden around it - with hundreds of flowers everywhere, this being Spring. In fact, I have been seeing happy flowers everywhere, smiling and cheerful. Here are a few who coyly agreed to be photographed. All taken with my Canon A80.

A collage of Tulips in various colours - at the Yokohama Park (click for the original image - 2.9 MB in size).



And here's a collage of a variety of flowers, up close and personal (click for the original image - 1.5 MB in size).

Loveless in Tokyo

For me, the love of my life always resides in my heart. Physically though, she is currently 4140 miles away. I don't know what's it with Spring and me travelling alone... Last year it was Paris, and this time, it's the Tokyo region. To be precise, my office and residence are both in Yokohama, but my clients are in Tokyo - so I've been commuting often.

This is my first visit to Japan, and I'm liking it - even though I know absolutely no Japanese. The people are nice, courteous and helpful. There are occasional notices and announcements in English. At my workplace, most of my colleagues, both Japanese nationals and Indians, are bilingual. So it's not as bad as in 'Lost in Translation', which I saw for the second time when my trip to here was confirmed. I had an interesting time at a subway station - this was one of those places where everything around the ticket machines was in Japanese. I wanted to buy 10 tickets - so I tried explaining to the Subway manager my need, with my ten fingers spread out like that Parle Glucose child. Then static fingers not helping, I tried blinking them. Finally showing him money worked. I said, I want to go to Sakuragicho, and he said 200 Yen. Then I held out 2000 Yen, and he suddenly realized what I was saying. He took me to the ticket machine and got me what I wanted. He was very earnest, and was talking to me in Japanese all the time throughout this encounter, knowing very well that I was not understanding a single word :)

My office is located in the tallest building in Japan - the Landmark Tower, which is 70 stories high. We are on the 9th floor - facing east, so there's a grand view of the Yokohama harbour. It's enchanting. Here are a few pictures of the building and its environs, at night. You can click on them for a bigger image. Taken as usual, with my Canon A80, with a 15sec exposure.

       




Speaking of cameras, I just couldn't help lusting after Digital SLRs in a Canon Showroom in the ground floor of the Shinjuku Mitsui Building in Tokyo. Oh, I can swear, this perky little EOS 30D on display swayed seductively, looked at me with sultry eyes, winked and pulled me over... aaaah. Then I suddenly reminded myself of my wife, and pulled away. Vidya knows about the attractions Tokyo has for me, and she has clearly warned me: don't go to Akihabara and come home with a Digital SLR. She didn't say I shouldn't look at them, though ;)

One thing that gives me great relief when I use the various services here is that the people who provide the services are not expecting tips. Right from in a taxi to a restaurant, there is no convention of providing tips, which really puts my mind at ease. It's not that I don't want to give something extra, I just want it all included in the bill. I like this system here.

This is the time of the year when the Sakura, or Cherry Blossom trees are in full bloom across Japan. They come in various hues, from bright white, to a delicate pink. Very beautiful. Here are a couple pictures.

        

I would like to report that here in the East, they have solved the guessing game that most Westerners still play to this day. In the West, in buildings where you have multiple lifts, you press the Up button, and you wouldn't know which of these multiple lifts would be coming down to service your request. So you'd just hang around, try to stand close to the door that sounds like might open, and realize that another lift had stealthily come down, and then you run to it... so on. Whereas, here, it's all very clear. The lifts talk amongst themselves and decide who's gonna come down. And that lift door gets a light switched on indicating very clearly to the eager people outside, that yes, it is coming down for their upliftment. It's that simple. No hesitations, no moments of anxious waiting at the wrong lift door, no last minute running. How nice.

Speaking of technology, you must see the toilets here. The WCs come equipped with a complete control panel on the right side. There are controls for heating the seat, and for adjusting the temperature, pressure and direction of a water jet. There's a switch to turn on some warm drying air. And a few other controls that I haven't figured out yet, since the text is in Japanese. Really, they should start providing bilingual manuals at these toilets. If this technology keeps improving at this rate, they'll soon introduce a Certification, which would say that you are fully competent to use those toilets. Wanna take a dump? Sorry you must first be certified. Here's a picture of one of the simpler control panels I've seen, with English in it.



The transport system is very efficient here. The trains and the subways are on time, definitely more reliable than the London Underground system. Though I think the Shinjuku station, the busiest train station in the world, is a tad too mind-boggling for the first-time visitor.



Btw, I was reading in the Rough Guide to Japan, that blowing your nose in the public is considered bad manners. Hmmm, you know, with the kind of weather we've been having, with occasional rains, and cool winds, how can you really expect me not to blow my nose? My nose is like a child. When I take it outdoors, it likes running, and making noises. What is expected? Do I have to suck it in? Or just sniffle? Please, please let me honk in peace into my tissues!