End Year Travels D02

I woke up in the morning feeling refreshed; it IS true that a good night's sleep could really cure a bad night's outing.

Turned on the switch to see what's on the tube.

I was shocked by the news of the bad economy: another 85000 Japanese outsource workers were fired! Man, why now? Am I going to be fine next year when I start working? A cloud of anxiousness bogs my mind; this feeling really sucks.

I was again shocked by the next news. I was not only shocked, but also angry, sad, frustrated and confused: Israeli army has commenced an aerial assault on Gaza by bombing them with weapons of mass destruction targeting Hamas, killing innocent civilians in the process. I fully understood the complicated issues between Israel-Palestine, but slaughtering innocent civilians will never solve the problem.

Each innocent civilian they kill makes 10 more suicide bombers.

I pray for the safety of all the peaceful Palestinians and Israelis in this never-ending conflict, may GOD (whichever god you prefer) protect you and your family.


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The reason why we decided to stop at Tokyo before going further south is something so simple.

No, it's not for anything hentai or sick or disgusting, that you might have thought I normally would do.

It's simply to re-visit Ekoda and ISI.

Ekoda is a small town in Nerima, Tokyo where I spent 1 year living with my PPKTJ friends while we took advanced Japanese language courses in ISI (International Student's Institute) in Shinjuku.

Although it was a very short period of time (Spring 2003 to Spring 2004), it was fully stuffed with major memories that molded and help build the current me.

Living by my own in a foreign country for the first time, I've learned and experienced a lot of 初体験 (hatsutaiken - first time experience).

We took the morning train on the Yamanote Line and stopped at Shin-Okubo, just like we used to do everyday going to school 5 years ago.

Before proceeding to ISI, we went to this newly opened Pakistani restaurant near the station for breakfast @ lunch; the mutton biryani there was terrific!

With our belly full, we start tracing our steps to the Japanese language school.

As we were approaching a junction that leads to ISI, I noticed the clinic across the street; the first clinic that I went to in Japan. Why is this clinic so special that I have to stop to take a picture, and then blog about it?

I remember it quite vividly. I caught a terrible flu just weeks after I first landed in Japan, and my class teacher (Ishitobi Sensei) advised me to go to the nearest clinic, so I followed her advice.

I got into the clinic, and asked to see the doctor to fix me up. The nurse immediately brought me into this room inside the clinic, asked me to lie down, and then she told me that she would ask me a few questions first while waiting for the doctor.

I was really sick, and I remember having a very bad headache and I was really tired and my shoulder suffers from stiffness, so I address my uncomfortableness to the nurse.

Upon hearing my complaint, the nurse in her pink nurse uniform, offered to massage my head.

Suffice to say that it was a good enough head massage; that I'm writing about it 5 years later. She even massaged my shoulder. I remembered having a boner right after she finished.

I didn't know why, but I didn't get to see the doctor. I don't really understand why, but the nurse gave me some pills and I was felt much better immediately and my flu were gone the next morning.

I think this is how I got my nurse fetish.

When you’re sick, you’re bound to be weak and helpless. In those (rare) weak moments, there comes a pretty and kind nurse in her clean costume, with her soft voice, treating you very kindly and with a genuine smile on her face; you felt like you’re being taken good care of and someone actually cared about your well being. You felt like you’re being saved by a gentle person with a pure heart. This is how nurse fetishes started. So my advice to women out there: if your man is sick, take a good care of him, because he might be a nurse fetish too. He will adore you for it later, I guarantee it!

Look at the picture above.

I'm standing in front of a rice-trading store; that used to be a small grocery store back during those ISI days.

Whenever I went to school, I never miss stopping at this grocery store first to buy my breakfast: a simple vanilla + chocolate flavored bread.

Being the strict Muslim that I am, I only bought the same bread every morning, because other bread sold in the store contained some form of ingredients that might be haram (considered forbidden in Islam's teachings).

My other Muslim friends also made it a daily habit to buy the same bread from the same store, so the owner of the store had to radically increase their stock to meet demands.

The problem with this is, when it’s the holiday season, the now large bread stock went to waste because the customers (us) didn’t come and bought those breads like we used to.

I wonder though why they went under and exclusively sells rice now.

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ISI is located just about 100 meters from the store.

Visiting the school for the first time in 5 years, nostalgic memories were running through my mind.

Being there reminded of the crazy morning rush, the classes that we attended, our kind Japanese teachers etc.

I’m so glad that we did this.

We also stopped at the security guard’s office for a while to have a little chat, and of course the permit to take a look around the property.

The security guard was a really nice guy, a student trying to get into medical studies. He was actually studying for the entrance exam (20th of January 2009) when we went to his cubicle to say hi.

We took some photos around the place and when it’s time to go, we ask the security guard to be photographed with us in front of the school. If I’m not mistaken, his name is Hasebe, from Iwate Prefecture. I hope he pass his entrance exam and finally fulfill his dreams of becoming a medical professional.

After the short visit to ISI, we boarded the train to Ekoda through the Seibu-Ikebukuro Line.

It is getting dark already so we rushed to visit places that matters.

We went straight to Rikko Kaikan (some kind of a dormitory), the place we used to live in 5 years ago. Each and every Malaysian student doing the same Japanese language program used to live here; and we live next to each other, so cook groups were created and we take turn to cook for each other.

This is where I find out that the only meal that I could prepare is the mighty KARI AYAM.

Pic above is the common kitchen of the kaikan. It still looks and smells like shit, except we had it worse than this.

After visiting the kaikan, we took the long route to the Eki.

On the way, we passed a video rental store that basically introduced me to Maria Ozawa, bukkake, hentai anime and all the other educational contents that awesome Japan has to offer.

This is the place where I used to do most of my groceries. Their veggies were cheap!

This is where I got arrested by the Japanese police, as I wrote in one of my post here (click the link).

It’s getting really dark, so we decided to leave Ekoda, and fill out tummies with yummies.

That’s from Sesame Street or some shitty kid-program I don’t remember.

We decided to go to Shibuya, just to see people and more people.

On the famous Hachiko-Mae crossing, I was intrigued to see nationalist Japanese with their loud speakers preaching about the demon Americans and Chinese.

There were also Christians holding banners that try to scare the shit out of the Atheist Japanese crowd. This one read: Jesus will rise from the dead, and he will fuck all you non-believers!

Then we arrived at a Chinese restaurant specializing Kani-cha-han (Crab Fried Rice), just 10 minutes from the Yamanote Line Shibuya Eki.

It was a pretty good meal, and it did the job right. I felt so tired and kinda exhausted, so we went back to the Malaysian Student House in Meguro to have a good night sleep.

I dreamt about the world in a crisis because there are not enough penises in this world, but I come strong and saved the world.

christmas in japan

Written by Billy Hammond

Christmas in Japan is quite different from the Chrismas celebrated in most countries in which the population has a large percentage of Christians or a Christian heritage. Only 1/2 of 1% of the Japanese population is estimated to be Christian, with the majority of Japanese being tolerant of all faiths: Buddhism, Christianity, Shinto, etc. In spite of this, the Japanese are great lovers of festivals and celebrations, including Christmas.

December 25th is not a national holiday in Japan, although December 23rd, which is the birthdate of the present emperor, is. Although it is not an official holiday the Japanese tend to celebrate Christmas, especially in a commercial way. The Japanese celebrate Christmas Eve by eating a 'Christmas Cake' which the father of the family purchases on his way home from work (or his wife does in the case where he has to work on Christmas Eve). Stores all over carry versions of this Christmas cake and drop the price of it drastically on December 25th in order to sell everything out by the 26th. This has resulted in a rather interesting expression in which young girls are referred to as a 'Christmas cakes': marriageable until their 25th birthday and requiring heavy discounts to get married after their 25th birthdays.

In recent years, thanks to the marketing prowess of the folks at Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Christmas Chicken Dinner has become quite popular. Many Japanese even make reservations for their "Christmas Chicken" ahead of time. People line up at their outlets to pick up their orders. As a result of KFC's brilliant advertising campaign, most Japanese now believe that Westerners celebrate Christmas with a chicken dinner instead of the more common ham or turkey.

Christmas Eve has been hyped by the T.V. media as being a time for romantic miracles. It is seen as a time to be spent with one's boyfriend or girlfriend in a romantic setting, so fancy restaurants and hotels are often booked solid at this time. It is often also a time when girls get to reveal their affections to boys and vice versa. Because of this, extending a girl an invitation to be together on Christmas Eve has very deep, romantic implications.

Christmas presents are exchanged between people with romantic commitments as well as close friends. The presents tend to be 'cute' presents and often include Teddy Bears, flowers, scarves, rings and other jewelry. Christmas cards are also given to close friends.

Christmas presents tend to be things which are cute and sometimes slightly expensive because of the relationship to the person to which they are given to. More obligatory year-end presents are given during this season as well to people who have done you a favor during the year, however, in contrast to Christmas presents, they are given between companies, to bosses, to teachers, and family friends. These presents are known as 'Oseibo' and are generally things which are perishable or which wear out quickly for which the price can readily be checked because of the system of 'on' and 'giri' (loosely translated obligation and reciprocity). These presents are usually purchased at department stores so that the recipient can check the price and return something which relates to the scale of reciprocity.

For the more elderly couples, many hotels host dinner shows featuring major singers, actors, and actresses. Tickets to these shows, due to the season, are very pricy.

The Christmas season comes during the month of the year-end parties. Company groups, hobby groups, sports groups, etc. often book a section of a restaurant to have drinking parties, known as 'bonenkai' [forget the old year parties]. This phenomena leads to streets, subways, and trains full of people in varied states of intoxication during this season.

Christmas lighting and displays are often up at the end of October and this year many stores have displays featuring Teddy Bears. There is also a trend developing for make-it-yourself presents.

The New Year's holidays, which constitute the main holiday season for the Japanese, come closer to the American-European idea of assembling family and friends. Christmas seems to be closer to the Western concept of St.Valentine's Day.

REVEAL GRAVURE SPOILER

back to reviewing movies !

Caramel – 8.6

A really good film, like Caramel, is one of the few reasons why I never gave up searching for no-name foreign films that came out of no where, in this case, from Beirut, Lebanon. The film might remind you of Beauty Salon and Sex and The City, in a good way that is because Caramel is a lot deeper and real than both of the mentioned films could ever imagined, combined. The theme of the movie is love, and how the woman in the film deals with it; helping each other to cope with cultural constraints that has been framed upon them. The thing that I like the most about the movie is how each and every character in the movie has their own detailed story with their own interesting personalities and background, and each one of these qualities could be interpreted later by the viewer in many ways that they see fit. This is a gem of a movie. Caramel is indeed, bittersweet. Highly recommended. * The director Nadine Labaki, played Layale, the saloon girl trying to get love from a married men. *

The Dark Knight – 8.8

You’ve probably heard this thousand of times before: apparently, Dark Knight was an awesome movie! Yessir, I strongly agree! Everyone was talking about how awesome Heath Ledger is. Well, to me, Heath Ledger does not exist at all in the movie. What I did saw though, is the most bad-ass portrayal of The Joker, in any Batman movie ever made. The Joker in The Dark Knight will not be forgotten for a long, long time. I like Christian Bale too, but he still fights like a robot in this one, nothing special. It is interesting to see how this movie has finally made the efforts to try to tell the Dark Knight story as parallel as possible with the Dark Knight comics, the darker version of Batman. The Dark Knight may not be 2008’s best movie, but it’s sure as hell is the best superhero movie, EVER. Go watch this, now. Please.

He Was A Quiet Man – 8.4

After further investigation, I have found out that the boob that you saw in the movie is not the real boob of the lovely Elisha Cuthbert, but a tit-double. Yeah. That’s a real bummer but thankfully, the story and how they progress it was really interesting and they keep you engaged with little weirdness coming from the imagination of he main character, and how he reacted to it. Bob Maconel (Christian Slater) was a quiet man, secretly planning to go on a homicidal and suicidal rampage against his cruel co-workers who treated him like he was a complete loser, an ignored soul as he put it. His plans took an unexpected turn when he became the hero who saved the day, instead of the opposite. The movie invites you to open your mind to bloody raw emotions that a stressed and paranoid man has and how we as a society, put too much pressure on being successful and how our blatant ignorance and hypocritical social masks were the clogs in a machine that made those ‘quiet man’ into homicidal social fuck-ups that we saw on tv. Highly recommended.

Arranged – 8.2

A story about two beautiful, intelligent school teachers who are being put through a traditional ‘arranged marriage’ practice by their family. One is an Orthodox Jew, and the other is a Muslim. And they're not trying to kill each other!!! Now you have to watch this film! Seriously though, this is a touching movie, and sometimes funny too. Muslims and Jews should watch this film, together, while holding hands.

In Bruges – 8.4

The film starts slow by introducing two hit man; one grumpy oldmen while the other a wise-crack noisy young miserable bastard, being sent to Bruges in Belgium to hide and wait for further instructions from their boss after a fucked-up assassination mission in London. The playwriting in the movie was extremely well done, blending crude humor and all range of human emotions successfully; something that you won’t find in Hollywood movies. Then the story ramps up the pace when the real reason they were sent to Bruges were made known by their boss; from there on, the tension doubles every 10 minutes, reaching for a superb climatic ending. The acting was good (Colin Farrell did well in this one), the story was very interesting and this is truly a new, fresh take on hit men movies. Highly recommended.

L Change The World – 6.5

A spin-off sequel to the popular Japanese thriller ‘Death Note’, but this time the story focuses only on L and how he spent the last days of his remaining life. I loved the Death Note mangas and I thought the movies were a pretty well done. The problem with this movie is that they didn’t touch the most important theme that made the manga and film interesting: The freaking death note itself! Story was really mediocre the only thing that stands out is the cute girl and the weirdly cool L.

The Love Guru – 7.0

I really like Mike Myres in all the Austin Powers movies, he was pretty darn funny. Mike Myres in The Love Guru on the other hand… was pretty darn LAME. OK there are some funny scenes that made me laughed, but the story was boring as hell that I slept through half of the film. Anyways, I think people who hated Mike Myres’s brand of comedy, would NEVER enjoy watching this movie, seriously. It’s pretty heavy with Myres Jokes. The part when Jessica Alba dances ala Bollywood was pretty funny, and worth watching though.

恋空 (Koizora) – 7.5

As a tragic teen love story, this film is pretty watchable, IF you really, really like watching a heroine with a really pretty and innocent face; but you really don’t have to. The story had been done countless of times before in other mediocre teen movies and you don’t even have to think to successfully predict the ending. Aragaki Yui is extremely pretty though, and that is the only reason I stayed watching to the end.

P2 – 6.0

A workaholic executive businesswoman works until late night and is pursued by a psychopathic security guard after being locked in a parking garage on Christmas Eve. Some jumpy moments here and there but overall: pretty boring and not scary at all.

Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden – 7.6

Morgan Spurlock from the brilliant Super Size Me fame, went on to various places, even to really dangerous spots in search for Osama bin Laden. What he really finds is some muslim people acting like normal people, not like the evil, blood thirsty, uneducated savages like they were portrayed in the American media. This so-called-documentary brings nothing new to the table, but the humorous road it took with the presentation, the cartoony graphics and all make this ‘already a little bit too late’ documentary a watchable one. A light reminder of Osama’s existence and how muslims all over the world, really wants the guy captured and his balls bitten by a gay priest.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army – 6.0

The first movie sucked. The second one sucked even more. I fell asleep out of boredom. I woke up in the middle of the movie, watching a white guy doing kungfu like he’s chinese. Then somehow Hellboy tries to be cool by saying some cheesy stuff. Don’t waste your time with this movie, I have. The CGI and the credits was pretty good though.

What Happens In Vegas – 7.0

Bla bla bla like I give a fuck about the story. The film got Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher in it. I thought this is going to be such a horrible film that I’m going to laugh all the way, but surprisingly, it was quite an entertaining one, in a mindless kind of way. I think I have a soft spot here. If you’re in the mood for a dumb, unserious movie, this movie might not be such a bad choice. Really.

City Of Men – 7.5

In line with Kitano Takeshi’s Brother and 血と骨(Blood and Bones), City of God was one of my favorite films of all time. No doubt about it. Although City of Men has the same theme about Brazilian gangster culture, it was never as shockingly gruesome as City of God. The story revolves around two youngsters in a search to discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas. Although disappointingly not as good as City of God, City of Men is still a gritty film and it still manages to shock you with its realistic portrayal of the problematic favelas in Rio de Janeiro.

Never Back Down – 8.0

I’m so glad they still made movies like this. Noticing references from Jackie Chan’s training scene from Drunken Master, a little bit of Rocky and Fight Club etc. is inevitable; but it was done is an acceptable taste, not insulting. Forget about the story, the main dish is the fighting. And it was good. If you like movies with dumb story lines but awesome fighting scenes, you’re going to love this one. And oh, I think it’s also female-viewer-friendly; IF that female viewer likes to see sweaty teenage boys kicking each other’s ass with style.

Si j'étais toi aka The Secret – 7.8

When a mother and daughter are in a car accident, the soul/spirit of the mother was transferred into the daughter’s body; while the body of the mother stays dead. The story is basically about how the mother (being inside her daughter’s body) copes with teenager life, having to deal with peer pressure, drugs and sex. This frustrates the loving husband because he got confused on how to deal with the situation, like he wants to have sex with his wife, but can’t because physically it’s his daughter etc. Olivia Thirby did a good job doing two different characters; there is definetely a pool of talent there.

俺たちの世界 (This World of Ours) – 6.0

This Japanese movie tries to evoke the viewers to think about how pathetic it is for a human being to put himself into the frames of society and live a boring life; but then it backfires and tried to lay down an example that people who think this way are just losers in his/her philosophical bullshit.

Flash Point – 7.0

This is what I would call a pretty decent Hong Kong action movie. The story was forgettable but the action sequences were really entertaining, and the fight scenes are spectacular and detailed. If you like Hong Kong action movie, you’d probably enjoy this movie.

The Mummy 3 The Tomb of The Dragon Emperor – 6.4

The first and second Mummy movies were one of my favorite action adventure films of all time, and I can’t hold my excitement moments before watching the third installment. The previous movies had interesting stories, funny dialogs, exciting tomb riding with its fair share of deadly traps and wicked sick mummies and the all too fitting combination of the brilliant Brendan Frazer-Rachel Weisz duo. It was not the greatest movie ever made, but it was good and fun. Unfortunately, the same things cannot be said about The Tomb of The Dragon Emperor. The writers’ desperate attempt at humor is...laughable. Being a Rob Cohen movie, the CGI and action sequences were very well made and screamed for a label of being‘epic’. Unfortunately, the weak juggling stories, horribly boring dialogues, and the absence of Rachel Weisz made this movie barely watchable. This is what I would call a decent mindless entertainment.

i still watch movies!

Speed Racer – 8.5
I don’t remember having such a blast watching a movie in the cinema. This film is the definition of mindless entertainment. The visual art reminds me of Akira’s biker-gang scene, Audio Surf, Tron and Star Wars Pod Racing. Watching the Mach 5 (the name of the car) doing crazy drifts at high speed around tight corners while flipping left and right trying to get away from danger originated from Speed’s opponents is such a joy! The costume, the chimp, the cars, the tracks; all this brings back memories of my childhood watching Speed Racer. The Wachowski brothers really nailed the feel of the anime into a live-action movie. The ending for the last race is what I would call excitement in an orgasmically climatic build of tension and awesomeness. Go and watch this movie now ! Highly recommended!

Kungfu Panda – 8.0
Another great CGI movie from dreamworks that could be enjoyed both by kids and adults. The story is simple, a lot of funny scenes and the animation is superb. Highly entertaining and I just can’t wait for Kungfu Panda 2 ! Anyways, the storyline of this movie reminded me of Aflin Shauki’s Sumolah! Highly recommended !

The Eye (Hollywood Ver.) - 8.0
Hollywood adaptation of Asian scary movies always sucks, but not this one. Surprisingly, I think this one is actually better than the Hong Kong original. Especially the ending. If you liked the original Hong Kong version of the movie, you’ll surely like this one too. Surely not scary enough for me, but at least it’s not boring.

地下鉄に乗って (Metro ni notte) – 6.5
An ordinary Japanese salaryman got the shock of his life when the subway train he rides took him to his past; unveiling a hurtful truth about the history of his hated father.

The Forbidden Kingdom – 6.5
White boy likes kungfu. White boy got teleported to ancient china where every one is an ass kicking kungfu master. Jet Li + Jackie Chan fighting each other. Freaking awesome fight scenes. Cheezy dialogues at the end.

Be Kind Rewind – 6.8
Michel Gondry (Director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Jack Black, Mos Def. Funny film, but not for the masses. Jack Black is being Jack Black the whole time in the movie but Mos Def surprises me the most with his subtle acting performance. The problem I have with the film is how the last 1/3 of the film goes from being really funny, to being too much ‘deep’ with community-warmth messages.

REC – 7.0
Blair-witch project clone. A very good one at that too. A young reporter got stuck in an apartment building with the tenants and was thrown into this game of cat and mouse chase between zombies. The last 30 minutes of the film is pretty fucking scary. Horror fans will love this film.

The Devil Wears Prada – 7.0
I should pat my own back for having the courage to watch such a useless chick-flick. Although Anne Hathaway might be the only reason I stayed to the end, surprisingly, I totally enjoyed it! Predictable storylines and feminine stupidity does not stop me from wanting to watch more of Anne Hathaway.

Dead Men’s Shoes – 6.0
The older brother is in the army. The younger brother is a retard. Some dude bullied the younger brother to his suicide. The older brother attempts revenge. And in the end, there was a cool twist. Extremely boring movie, but the ending was ok.

日本以外全部沈没 (The World Sinks Except Japan)– 4.5
The worst Japanese movie I’ve ever seen in my entire movie-watching life. Horrible acting, terrible story, cheap-ass budget that shows, idiotic storyline; just don’t waste your time with this movie. I recommend watching Catwomen while getting your dick bitten by a sick dog rather than taking the time to watch this movie. Crappy Japanese movie directors, please die a horrible lonely death.

The Golden Compass – 6.5
The special effects were kinda cool but I don’t like how the main character lies all the way through the film, and this is supposed to teach kids what? Nicole Kidman is a milf !

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – 7.0
The beginning was kinda interesting but I slept at the end. Quite boring. The white-bitch was fucking lame as hell.

The Machinist – 8.5
Probably the second if not the best Christian Bale movie I have ever seen so far. If you want to explain what a psychologically scary thriller means, this movie might come on top of the list. This is what you got when you mix Fight Club with Memento. Interesting storyline, superb acting. Christian Bale choose to loose a LOT of weight just for this film, and it brings so much more to the character, how his guilt has eaten the very inside of him, physically and mentally. A must watch. Please, WATCH THIS !!!

The Onion Movie – 7.4
You mix hundreds of satirical news jokes, mixed it with sarcasm and racial slur, put it together into a movie, and you get the onion movie. Pretty funny.

Solstice – 6.0
Just another mediocre teen-scary-movie. You should’ve skip to the last 30 minutes and might enjoyed it better that way.

The Happening – 7.0
The beginning of the movie is very promising but below average acting, boring dialogues, not-scary-at-all scenes and ancient cinematography style pulls you away from being immersed in the movie. Mark Walberg should’ve skipped this movie and be in an action movie where he became the bad guy instead. This might be the first M. Night Shayamalan movie that disappoints.

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay – 6.0
The first Harold and Kumar movie was not so bad and the combination of the Korean guy and the Indian guy was pretty funny. The second movie, unfortunately tries too hard to be the first one and kept using the same lame joke. If you like the disgusting jokes about vaginas and penises in the first movie, you’re going to like this one too. Be warned that there is nudity in this film, and watching the ‘whore house’ scene while the azan software runs the azan audio, is very, very wrong.

uwaa banyok kijo la pulok

- my presentation for the thesis-translation is next week. i'm scratching my head trying to decide on which portion of the thesis that are going to the chopping block department, because it's humanly impossible to present each and everything in 10 minutes. some parts of the stupid thesis must go into the digital dustbin and never be spoken of during presentation day.

- i'm making powerpoint slides for the presentation like crazy! my head is burning.

- today is the due date for the ロボット工学 (robotic engineering) assignment.

- tomorrow is the due date for the 制御工学 (system engineering) assignment.

- the day after tomorrow is the due date for the 環境科学 (environmental science) assignment.

- the day after the day after tomorrow is the due date for me to find the guy who invented the idea of assignments in universities. At first I would extend my hand for a friendly handshake, then when he turns his back on me, I’ll bash his head with a crowbar after i slit his throat. Then I’ll go to his house carrying his decapitated head so that he could see me abusing her 16 years old daughter with an oven-heated banana and 3 sticks of japanese cucumber (キュウリ-kyuri). I’ll sell his young wife as a sex slave to rich pak arabs. Or maybe as sweatshop slaves in China, making nike shoes in poor working environment. I am an opportunist, so I’ll sell his 4 and 10 years old sons to american christian priests, or micheal jackson; the highest bidder wins.

- inappropriately sick jokes aside, you can see i'm pretty busy this week. Next week i got several seminars to attend to, and also the 固体力学 (solid-mass mechanics?) assignment to be delivered.

- although i thought it was over-rated, i bought the 2008 akiyama rina calender. got it yesterday. now i know that i'm so easily deceived by women with beautiful skin plus a nice set of buns. damn it! i remember talking to Tazz about the importance of the quality of cost-effectiveness when considering a product to purchase. this shows that i'm a hypocrite. what a shame. 1300yen down the drain. but i still think oshirina has nice skin complexion and her momo fruit is just juicy to look at.

- i better get back to the powerpoint slides. time is gold. and i'm pissing blood.

- i'm sleeping in the research lab for 7 days straight, starting from today. its inevitable.

sepuluh hari bulan empat

i do my shopping for new clothes only once or twice a year, and i chose today to buy some new clothes because suddenly i got bored of the adidas jumper that i've been wearing for the past 4 years.

i bought a blue jacket and a long sleeve shirt. i don't really care about fashion, but i believe in dressing decently. i think the shirt matched the jacket well enough. i don't buy any pants because i got more than i needed; plus i bought a new levis jeans last year, and that should last me another 2-4 years.

on the way back, i got stopped by (again!) christian missionaries! and this time, they're americans! they said they're not from the jehovah witness church, but some other church that i don't remember the name. i don't know what is wrong with these christian missionaries; they are very friendly at first but when i said that i'm a muslim, the 'friendly' expression on their faces changed into 'troubled'.

they got nothing to worry about because i forgot to bring my bomb-strapped-jacket along.

but it got me thinking; why are there so many christian missionaries here in akita? when i was in nagano, i never met these people. maybe these missionaries are attracted to the 3 things that are famous in akita: the komachi rice, the komachi sake and the akita bijin (美人-pretty girls). looks like the christian youth, just like the muslim youth, are also horny to fuck?!

hahaha i'm just kidding. being horny to fuck got nothing to do with any religion. it's a natural thing.

maah, forget about that; what is more important is that i got my xbox360 back from the repair shop; and it's all free of charge! fuck yeah! now i can get my game on again! i already ordered condemned: bloodshot; can't wait to play that and be spooked out of my mind!

last week i ate udon. then i took the picture below at a 100yen shop.

lastly, to end this totally random post; a peaceful picture of aragaki yui being trapped inside a shower of artificial rain. she should do more stuff like this. so sweet, so relaxing.

Maresmart pkpx ulang tahun ke-8

So today is the 14th of February. To some people, it’s the day when they celebrate the death of this one Christian guy who nobody knows about much but because everyone celebrate it, they felt like they too have to join the train of valentine and be romantic and all that bullshit because they don’t want to be different from anybody else. They say (especially females) that it’s the day to be romantic and all mushy but the truth is that most guys don’t give a shit; as long as their girlfriends gave them free sex to celebrate valentine’s day, they’re all for it. To some marketing people, it’s the day when they could use the festive spirit to help push useless products that normally people won’t buy on any other day; like dumb valentine cards, chocolates wrapped in fancy valentine wrappings etc. but for me, 14th of February is the day when I registered to be a student of Maktab Rendah Sains Mara Taiping. And yes, I don’t give a fuck about valentine’s day.

I can’t believe it has been 8 years! I felt like a grumpy old geezer who believed that all young people should die a horrible death because they’re all so noisy and easily fired up on dumb shit, like news about Britney Spears and ice cream.

I remember the first time I walked into the front gate of the school. I was like “wow this place is so green and beautiful! It’s like I’ve been sent back through time a couple hundred of years when humans still couldn’t figure out how to mess the environment up! This has got to be a good school!”.

I was the skinny nerd village boy from Kelantan who doesn’t know a single thing. I was naïve back then that I believed everything that’s coming out of adult’s mouth. Every single teacher is like a role model. I look up to them. Of course, being human, there is no such thing as a perfect teacher; and I learnt that the hard way.

Fortunately for me, making new friends was not hard. Relationships were made. The imminent clash of ideas, confrontations and conflicts add spice to that relationship and it made it stronger and even better. I really think my social skills were greatly improved during my stay in maresmart. Before, I was very shy and don’t have a lot of things to say. After a few months in that institution, I could even burp loudly in class and be proud of it. Although i-lyn thought that it was disgusting, I was able to perform that feat in public because I was very comfortable with the people I’m with; and ain’t that a beauty.

There is a lot to talk about when it comes to your old high school. That period changed people and there were lots of memories, good and bad were made during that period. I am glad that I’ve spent my time in that school and the experiences that I gained there made me who I am right now; for better or worse. But I really think it made more good than harm.

I can talk lots of things about that school and I don’t think I will ever finish. The memories are very dear to me and it could not happen without all of my mates out there. So for that, I wish my mates a happy 8th anniversary!

documentaries are awesome too!

Sometimes it’s good to watch documentaries!

Mind Your Own Business – 6.5

Environmentalists have been fighting foreign mining companies in third world countries for centuries using the media, and now it’s the mining company’s turn to fight back. The film did have a point in the benefits of these companies but the whole vibe of the film was so biased and felt like only half of the stories were told.

Deliver Us From Evil – 7.4

A documentary about respected priests sexually abusing children and taking a big dump on the Catholic Church’s believers’ trust. A shameful secret that has been swept under the rug for a long time; you will be shocked in disbelief at this absurd scandal, not even jesus-san could save them from this horrible sin.

Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteer – 7.0

The title describes it all. This film reveals a sickening truth of U.S. contractors making HUGE profits out of the war, directly out of American tax payers’s pockets. Made me understand one of the main reasons of war: MONEY.

The Devil Came On Horseback – 7.5

Exposing the genocide in Darfur, Sudan with horrific images of death, destruction, sadness and lost of hope in humanity. A genocide against muslims, by muslims… while other Islamic countries pretended they knew nothing. My heart broke into pieces when I watch this.

The Rise of Video Game – 7.4

An interesting documentary about the rise of video games that is slowly starting to take the place of TVs as the centre of common household entertainment. What else?

No End In Sight – 7.8

An analysis of WHY the invasion of iraq was a failure from the start. Americans should watch this movie and decide for themselves: are the blood of innocent Iraqis slain throughout the war was their responsibility because they choose a clumsy and evil leader?

Iraq In Fragments – 8.8

An excellent documentary about ordinary Iraqis trying to live in a country torn apart by war, occupation and racial tension. There were no narration, the Iraqis in the film themselves move and tell their own stories and hardships. This is the best documentary about Iraq during the war. Recommended.

Why We Fight – 8.5

Why the Americans fight? Why did they go to war? Watch this film if you want another answer other than ‘protecting the freedom and liberty of Americans’.

God’s Warrior – 8.5

This attempt by CNN to be without bias when discussing about religious extremists should be praised. This 3-part documentary (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) explores the holy warriors, those who would give their blood and guts to upload GOD’s will.

My Boyfriend The Sex Tourist – 8.0

An eye opener; a ‘behind the scenes’ video told from the perspective of women offering fake love to men with money. This documentary encourages prostitution while in the same time discourages it. Interesting while sad, true stories of real people in real need for help.

Jesus Camp – 9.0

A documentary about evangelical Christians forcing religious beliefs on their own children by sending them to summer camps that brain-washes them into a bible preaching robots. And that was just my personal opinion.

Occupation 101 – 9.5

I know it’s hard to watch a documentary film because it feels like taking a class. But even if you are a documentary hater, this is one documentary that you absolutely must find and watch. For so long have the Palestinians been demonized by western and pro-israeli media. This documentary does not do the opposite of that, but rather shows you the truth about the suffering of Palestinians on their own land by a greater, oppressive power. This film educates you about the essential facts and history about the very conflict that shakes the world of three religions. Watch this documentary, please. And do pass it on to your friends and families; whether they’re muslim, christian, jewish, atheist, whatever. A MUST WATCH.

What Is A Terrorist?

by Jeff Cohen

ter·ror·ist (ter'er-ist) n.

1. One who engages in acts or an act of terrorism.

2. One who leads an armed group that kills civilians as a means of political intimidation -- unless he terrorizes Haitians while on the CIA-payroll, as did 1990s death squad leader Emmanuel Constant, in which case the U.S. refuses to extradite him to Haiti, even after Sept. 11, 2001.

3. One who targets civilian airliners and ships -- unless he blows up a Cuban civilian airliner, killing 73 people, and fires at a Polish freighter, like Orlando Bosch, in which case he is coddled and paroled by the Bush Justice Department in 1990, and his extradition is blocked.

4. One who leads a group that engages in kidnapping and murder -- unless the victims are Hondurans attacked by CIA-backed death squad Battalion 316, in which case Battalion architect Gustavo Alvarez becomes a Pentagon consultant, while the then-ambassador to Honduras who downplayed the terror, John Negroponte, is appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations days after Sept. 11.

5. One who uses rape and murder for political purposes -- unless the victims are four U.S. church women sexually assaulted and killed in 1980 by members of El Salvador’s U.S.-backed military, in which case excuses and distortions pour forth from then-U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick (“these nuns were not just nuns; they were also political activists”) and Secretary of State Al Haig (the nuns “may have tried to run a roadblock”).

6. One who designates civilians as “soft targets” to be attacked in the cause of political transformation -- unless the targets are Nicaraguans killed by Contra guerrillas armed and directed by the U.S who, according to Human Rights Watch, “systematically engage in violent abuses…so prevalent that these may be said to be their principal means of waging war.”

7. One who facilitates a massacre of civilians -- unless the victims are 900 Palestinians shot and hacked to death in the Sabra and Shatila camps by Lebanese Christian militia as Israeli soldiers stood guard, in which case Israel’s then-Defense Minster (now Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon remains a U.S. “War on Terrorism” ally after being censured as indirectly responsible for the massacre by an Israeli commission of inquiry.

i think japanese jehovah's witness missionaries likes me

so i woke up this morning (or maybe afternoon?) to get ready for a class, then just to be told that i'm free for the day because the class has been canceled. having no purpose in life for a moment, i decided to watch the newly downloaded movie from the wonderful and mysterious world of the p2p network; HOSTEL. i heard this film got the approval from my favorite movie director, QUENTIN TARENTINO, so i was really having an insanely high expectations of this movie. well, let me just say that my expectations were not met.

what the fuck was tarentino thinking? he shouldn't have associated himself with this gorish movie. i want to stress here that this movie is FAR from being BAD. it's quite entertaining, in a bloody ribs ripped off to pieces kind of way. it has all the content that the americans love: violence, gore, sex and profanity. this might be the most disturbing movie of the year. i wouldn't recommend bringing your girlfriend to this movie IF you value your relationship. i don't want to spoil you the storyline, but you should just know that this movie has enough fucking, gore and violence that could possible make one that doesn't have a strong stomach puke.

so i was watching this scene where this guy is trying to burn a japanese chick's eyeballs using a fire torch and her eyes were starting to swallow like octopus eyes i'm not fucking kidding it's sick .... when i heard someone knocking on my door.

i opened up the door and there stands 2 japanese women, one maybe in her early 30s and the other in her middle 20s. i asked them who they are but it seems like they don't really want to reveal who they are, only giving me their names. i thought these were from a cultural exchange club or something so i gave them a warm welcome.

so i was wrong. they're missionaries from the city's jehovah's witness church and they were trying to preach to me about christ and the kingdom he's going to be KING in. so i told them the truth, that i've learned enough about christianity and i'm pure muslim; i told them the way they do their preaching is not right because it would make people angry.

so i tell them the story of multicultural malaysia, and why we don't really encourage talks about whose religion is the right one. after i'm bored talking about religion history, i talked to them about living as a foreigner in japan. then i talked about how much i like malaysian food. and japanese food too. although they are the missionaries, it turns out to be that i'm the one whose talking the most.

but what's surprising to me is that japanese christian do really exists! them being jehovah's witness is MORE surprising! most of my japanese friends, when they were asked about their religion, " i'm not sure " is the most common answer.

i got the feeling that these people are going to come again, bringing with them more christian-educated people to talk to me. i'd say just bring them and i'd talk more about what i like to do during my free time, and why i'm still i'm single.

today's post is pretty bad eh?

raya raya raya

sempena hari raya aidilfitri hari ini izinkan aku menulis dalam bahasa melayu feweett !!!

so tahun ni aku beraya kat embassy malaysia kat shibuya, tokyo. waa dah lama tak pegi embassy. rupa-rupanya kulat2 kat pintu masuk embassy masih ada kat situ lagi. maybe sebab hari ni hujan kot. anyways, 23hb ngan 24bh cuti school festival so tahun ni pon bole la aku pegi beraya kat embassy. baik punya timing!

23hb pagi tu tergesa2 aku ngan piye naik bullet train sebab terlebih tidur la pulak. bertolak pkl 10:08 pagi and sampai tokyo dlm pkl 11:30 a.m. kot. sampai2 aje terus pegi UENO sebab aku nak buat kaca mata ( haha haha hahha haha haha hahaha hahaha !) baru oh yeah. macho siot spek baru aku. dah la harga berpatutan ( 10500 yen). aku suka kat kedai spek alook kat UENO nih sebab service dia bagus dan staff diaorg professional gila layan pelanggan. boleh dicontohi betul. piye pon beli spek jugak tapi kena tunggu 4-5 hari baru siap sebab kanta takde dalam stok. aku punya spek lak siap 25 minit aje.

lepas beli spek pegi solat jamak terus zuhur ngan asar kat surau IKEBUKURO. masuk2 surau ada sorang mamat Syria ngan Turki. So layan la borak2 ngan diaorg. brader Syria tu kawin ngan awek jepun. tapi yg aku peliknya bini dia still christian lagi, bole ke kawin? lagi pelik, ada jugak org jepun yg christian rupa2nya ?! kebiasaan nya org jepun sambut christmas lagi meriah drpd perayaan diaorg sendiri tapi tak tau satu haram pasal agama christian. diaorg ikut aje bulat2 budaya amerika. tapi yg makin aku heran ngan brader Syria tu dia cakap dia tak kerja pon. bini dia yg support kewangan rumah tangga. apa kebenda la org syria nih abih tu datang jepun buat apa. pastu complain plak cakap awek arab lagi cun drpd awek jepun. 知るかボケ! dah tau asal kawin ngan awek jepun lak? anyways aku kena sound " you're muslim right? so why can't you speak arabic? ". aduuh betul jugak tu. malu betul aku. uih masih belum lambat untuk aku belaja cakap arab! hmm.... mcam mana la diaorg mencarut kot bahasa arab aa? 気になる！

lepas solat pegi jumpa ngan kohai aku kat eki pastu pusing2 Sunshine City sementara nak tunggu waktu berbuka. tapi terlebih2 pusing, sampai terbeli jaket; tgk2 jam dah pkl 6 ptg ( berbuka pkl 5 lebih) so pegi la restoran pakistan MARHABA kat belakang eki IKEBUKURO. waa dah lama tak makan mutton beryani kedai nih ! time aku duduk tokyo dulu slalu gak datang situ makan. memang best! tapi manusia sentiasa kalah dengan nafsu nya. kitaorg order byk sgt roti sampai tak abis makan. 反省しています。 lepas makan, pegi STUDENT HOUSE kat MEGURO, tido.

dlm pkl 12 malam aku tersedar dari tido, tgk sekeliling takde org tapi terdengar suara gelak ketawa kat bilik dalam. alamak cuak la pulak apahal takde org tapi bole dengar suara org gelak ramai2 plak. tgk2 kohai2 kosen 3yr student baru sampai. tgk makan kuih raya diaorg rupanya. so aku pon sebagai senpai yg baik hati kena la tolong diaorg makan kuih raya. banyak sangat tuu. ahh... 美味しく頂きました！ dah lama tak makan kuih raya. bole la. tapi ada sorang kohai ( lelaki) tu muka mcam adik perempuan munsip. hmm..... mushykil....

24hb pagi raya bebeh !!! yahuu jom turun mandi raya !!! sampai2 kat tempat shower ada kedengaran bunyi2 yg aneh lagi mencurigakan datang drpd bilik shower. hm... bunyi mcama.... oo patut la ada bdk pompoan tgh mandi. so aku cancel la mandi, naik atas ambik air wuduk aje. pakai baju melayu. slow2. sambil tersengih2.

sampai SHIBUYA dalam pkl 8:00 kot aku pon tak ingat. pastu naik bas kecik sampai embassy. hujan rintik2. pastu takbir raya ngan solat raya oh yeah ! ramai gila org datang. ada dalam 500-800 kot. pastu makan la kat atas. menu tahun ni pon biasa la. ada nasi himpit. nasi beryani. kari hijau aku tak tau nama. kari merah aku tak tau nama. apa lagi aa. tak ingat tapi aku ingat sumer nya sedap. waa ni baru rasa mcam raya ! kenkadang penin aku tgk baju kurung bdk pompoan yg berkilat2 dengan warna nya yg cerah2. ahh dah lama tak tengok pompoan melayu berbaju melayu yg bertudung mcam org melayu, makan makanan melayu dengan sudu, bukan dengan tangan yg merupakan cara sejati org melayu sejak berzaman. waa banyak nya MELAYU !!!

abis makan maka bermula la pesta dimana beratus2 org melayu bergambar2 bersama2 diaorg sendiri, setiap org berusaha bersungguh2 untuk memberi senyuman kepada kamera didepan sedang kan sumer org tau sebenarnya diaorg tu agak sayu tak bleh raya kat malaysia. hahaha padan muka diaorg ! i know you're faking that smile but it's ok. aku pon sangap jugak, join sumer org ambik gamba. dengan group yg aku tak kenal pon aku cuba masuk gamba diaorg. takpe. diaorg tak marah punya sebab raya. tapi brapa ratus keping la nak ambik penin aku. rimas pon ada jugak sebab kena fake smile. takpe lah asalkan diaorg bergembira di hari raya. aku join aje. aku pon nak bergembira.

abis2 bergamba, aku balik sensorang aje sebab aku dah beli tiket bullet train awal so tak leh tumpang senpai aku balik sampai nagano. lagi pon dia nak beraya lagi kat umah staff kedutaan. aku plak rasa mcam malas la pulak nak raya lama2. sket2 dah la kata seorg ahli nujum yg agak bijaksana. time aku nak pegi balik SHIBUYA eki tu terserempak ngan 2 org awek jepun pakai gothic pink sambil tarik beg luggage besaq gilo. pelik gila sampai aku terlupa nak ambil gamba. tapi yg aku geram nya bole plak dia tgk aku ngan muka pelik ( sebab aku gaijin la tu ). woi cik adik korang berdua tu yg pelik !

tengok2 jam baru pkl 2 p.m. hmm... takkan nak balik nagano terus kot. せっかく東京に来たんだから。so nak gi mana aa? aha ! jom pegi AKIHABARA ! lemas kat akihabara pegi HARAJUKU plak ! uwaaa nasib baik takde org wat cosplay lak di pagi hari raya yg mulia nih. alhamdulillah for the rain. time aku tgh pusing2 kat SUNSHINE CITY kat IKEBUKURO, aku terserempak sekali lagi ngan awek jepun gothic pink tadi. diaorg masuk SANRIO GIFT SHOP. haa memang sesuai la kedai tu ngan diaorg, satu kedai tu kaler pink. pening aku tgk. aku masuk sekejap aje tapi tak leh tahan. pusing2 kat YAMANOTE SEN sampai aku penin, baru la aku patah balik ke TOKYO pastu naik bullet train lagi ke NAGANO. tapi sebelum aku naik train aku tak lupa untuk belik buah tangan untuk mori kun : the famous TOKYO BANANA BAUMKUCHEN. sebelum balik asrama, beli onigiri fav aku karashi mentaiko （辛子明太子）. sampai umah pkl 6:30 p.m. eh piye ngan bak tak balik lagi. takkan diaorg pegi fuuzoku kat ROPPONGI kot. hmm takpe lah. baik gi solat dulu. pas solat bukak com, chatting sket kat ym pastu aku terfikir. eh apa kata aku tulis blog kot melayu hari nih !? つうか、長えよ今回は！さて、秋田大学の編入学手続きの書類をそろってみよっか？