The Fuss About The Word Allah In Malaysia

When I first heard about this issue concerning Herald the Malaysian Catholic Weekly, demanding the rights to keep using the word ‘ALLAH’ to refer to their godly deity in their weekly publications, I knew that this will not end very well.

It will be problematic. Very problematic.

Non-Malaysians who have learned a thing or two about the basic history of Ancient Egyptian Empire-inspired religions like the Abrahamic ones would probably say:

“Why would this be a problem? The word ‘Allah’ has been used to refer to a godly deity among the Arabic language speaking people from various religious backgrounds, even before any of the Abrahamic religions ever started! Arab traders travel all around the world, and besides goods, they also trade language, expanding the vocabulary of many other languages where they made business.”

Unfortunately, things are not so simple; it will never be.

In Malaysia, religious blindness has always been a convenient tool for politicians.

The truth is that although Malay Muslims could be considered as quite religious and passionate towards their faith, it is a great irony that the same people are mostly NOT very well informed with their own religion.

The basic principles, its history and how it all started.

Opportunistic politicians know this very well.

People are not interested in meticulous facts about history, about who is right or wrong.

People just want to ‘appear’ to look like they are fighting for something great.

People want to vent anger and stress, pat themselves on the back, feeling good with the illusion that they're doing something good for their god.

Yes, this is problematic.

Because people don't know what they really want.

And people are too lazy to think for themselves.

They need opportunistic politicians to think for them.

When there are no trustworthy politicians in Malaysia…

Yes, this is problematic.

Clearly we need to revise our education policy.

syurga atau neraka?

petikan dari BERNAMA:

KUALA LUMPUR 19 Ogos — Dakwaan bahawa pengakuan dan sokongan kepada orang, pertubuhan atau parti tertentu diperlukan sebelum seseorang itu layak masuk syurga atau akan ke neraka adalah salah menurut ajaran Islam, kata Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Muzakarah Fatwa Kebangsaan, Prof. Datuk Abdul Shukor Husin.

Beliau berkata, keputusan Jawatankuasa Muzakarah Fatwa Kebangsaan telah menetapkan bahawa ketentuan seseorang Islam masuk syurga atau neraka adalah hak mutlak Allah s.w.t. berdasarkan kepada keimanan dan ketakwaan seseorang itu.

Katanya, keputusan itu telah diperkenankan oleh Majlis Raja-Raja dalam Mesyuarat Raja-Raja Kali ke-188 pada Mac 2001 dan menambah bahawa Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan telahpun membincangkan isu itu sejak tahun 2000 lagi.

“Muzakarah Jawatankuasa Fatwa Kebangsaan juga berpendapat bahawa sesiapa sahaja yang mengajar atau menyebarkan pandangan atau fahaman seperti ini adalah salah dan menyeleweng daripada ajaran Islam sebenar,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan di sini hari ini.

Beliau mengulas kenyataan Menteri Besar Kelantan yang juga Mursyidul Am Pas, Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat dua hari lepas bahawa penyokong atau anggota UMNO tidak akan masuk syurga. - Bernama

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cukup lucu sekali petikan berita di atas.

mungkin Prof. Datuk Abdul Shukor Husin fikir golongan muslim/muslimin di Malaysia itu,

semua nya bodoh lagi bangang.

seperti mereka semua nya tidak tahu bahawa kenyataan Tuan Guru Nik Aziz itu hanyalah semata-mata pendapat peribadi nya yang dipengaruhi pegangan politik sahaja.

pakai pengaruh dalam agama untuk meraih sokongan politikal.

bukan kah suatu ketika dahulu Tuan Guru pernah guna teknik yang sama?

cepat lupa lah orang Malaysia nih.

kerajaan pun cepat melatah, bimbang rakyat akan percaya bulat-bulat.

terdesak?

takut dan bimbang?

kerajaan dan pembangkang, kedua-dua nya.

main-main, anjing-anjing, bodoh-bodoh kan rakyat.

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syurga atau pun neraka, tiada manusia yang tahu.

sebaik-baik manusia pun, tiada manusia yang tahu.

sejahat-jahat manusia pun, tiada manusia yang tahu.

loop-hole agama?

mungkin!

tapi di situ lah ironi nya.

dan ironi itu sungguh sadis kenakalan nya.

Hard Questions: Religion Conversion for Muslim Malaysians

Today’s post is going to be an extension to one of my previous post about answering ‘hard’ questions from my Japanese friends. In that post, I give out 2 different questions that I consider hard to answer, and in today’s post I’m going to attempt to tackle one of it.

The question that I would like to ‘answer’ in today’s post would be about Malaysian Muslims and their freedom in religion.

This is going to be a long, long one so let’s get into it.

Hard Question No 1: In Malaysia, when it comes to religious conversion, everyone is promised the freedom of (or from) religion, but why does this not apply to the Muslim majority?

I have two types of answers here: One for the Muslim Malaysians and the other for the Atheist Japanese.

CLICK TO CONTINUE READING THIS LONG POST

Answer to Muslim Malaysians:

If you have not heard it already, basically ALL Muslims, Malaysian or not, are prohibited from leaving Islam. The main reason is because it is in the Islamic Code of Law, and like many other laws, there are severe consequences when you break one. In this particular case, one could be granted with the maximum penalty of DEATH if leaving Islam was the offence that he/she chooses to commit.

The confusing problem here is that Malaysia is NOT an Islamic Country (Malaysia as an Islamic Country was just a political label); and the existence of two court system (secular and Islamic) makes it hard to tackle such cases because the Syariah Law only applies to the Muslims, and what makes a Muslim a Muslim is by his/her faith, NOT something written on his/her identity card.

According to the basic teachings of Islam, when someone decided that he/she is no longer a Muslim, no identity card could save him from the fires of HELL when he/she goes to the other world.

So how does such a law could be accepted as a part of Islamic Law is something that we should ponder upon as it was in direct violation with the basis of Islam that promote tolerance, peace and freedom of thought. One very important point to remember here is that this law was passed AFTER the death of Prophet Muhammad, thus making it a human-made law after all, like many of the other detailed elements in the law system we call the Syariah Law.

The only thing that separates Syariah Law from Secular Law is that it was created based on HUMAN INTERPRETATIONS of the Quran and Hadiths.

Well, at least that has always been my opinion about this issue.

The second most popular reason would be the FEAR of negative voices coming out those ex-Muslims. This is quite important because the negative opinion towards Islam that comes from the mouth of an ex-Muslim carries with it a certain weight; as they lived through it and experienced it first hand. They’re not mere Islam-bashers or racist Islamophobes.

The other popular reason that Muslims love to discuss about is the fear that ALMIGHTY GOD might be angry with a community that allows Muslims to freely choose their religious loyalty.

This could lead to GODLY PUNISHMENTS, preferably natural disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes or maybe some newly evolved and dangerously deadly diseases like the new pig influenza.

It could be anything really; GOD could punish them by making their sons homosexuals, of instance, and for the conservative Malaysian community, having a homosexual son is the worst thing ever, no matter how hard the homosexual-activists tries to associate themselves with happy words like ‘gay’ and ‘fabulous’.

FYI, the act of sodomy, even if done in a confined private space and far from public view, is illegal in Malaysian Law, and one could be prosecuted for this backside sexual gratification. Read about Anwar Ibrahim.

To sum it up, I can come out with lots of other reasons, but these are the main three:

1)The Islamic Code of Law itself strictly prohibits Muslims from changing/choosing to be free from Islam. Even if the blasphemer was born into a Muslim family (and this automatically bound him/her with a godly contract to be a Muslim for life), he/she has no choice but to adhere to this law; because a law is a law and if one decides to break it, that person should expect the punishment to be severe.

2)The fear that these 'bound-to-hell' blasphemers might expose and put Islam in a negative way, causing more Muslims to become blasphemers and eventually turns everyone else, hell-bound. Like a zombie disease. If everyone goes to hell, who is going to play with the many many promised virgins in heaven?

3)Fear of GOD’s punishment for being secularly tolerant and abiding to the international human rights and moral values. They don’t want tsunamis or their sons to magically turn gay, so no one should be allowed to un-Muslim themselves. If the natural disasters still occurs, it must be because Islam have not succeeded in conquering the whole world yet.

So that was my ‘answers’ to Muslim Malaysians, and I’ve used these answers on several Muslim Malaysians before, and I guess my simple explanation and brief conclusions seemed sufficient enough to some of them; and through my personal experience, a lot of them accepted my answer without much rejection.

Well, probably the only rejection that I got is something like “ Yo dude don’t talk about Islam man, you don’t go to religious schools and you don’t memorize the Quran. You’re constructing your opinion on bases that you set by yourselves, so just shut up and don’t act like you know everything dude, you might get sinned for that” - kinds of complaints… and these are quite popular: You don’t go to religious schools, therefore you have no rights to voice your opinion about religious matters.

But the same method did not work very well with some of my (atheist) Japanese friends.

Especially to those really interested in discussing and talking about the subject.

(The uninterested ones would just nod even though they don’t really understand/agrees; being careful not to cause unnecessary conflicts, one that I would never start in a discussion such as this.)

The same answers that I have provided above does not work, because they do not adhere to the ‘current’ international standards of human rights, a secular code that were created by men, for men. A code that evolves along/with the change of moral values and what we humans mutually thinks is globally wrong or right.

It does not make any sense to them.

This is why I have to answer the question differently and take a different point of view, so here it goes:

Answer to Atheist Japanese:

Throughout the evolution of human society and rapid development of humane standards, we humans are known to be competitive creatures, and those sitting on the top of the food chain is not the strongest, but the smartest ones; the ones that lead and control other lesser humans.

People have been experimenting with a lot of ways to control people.

Some uses our natural instinct to bond with other that has similarities with us by introducing the ideas of races and clans.

Some uses nationalism and patriotism.

Some uses political ideologies and looks-good-on-paper theories.

And the most powerful tool of it all: RELIGION.

Muslims pray at least 5 times a day and follows a strict and controlled life, and this made them very loyal, passionate and abiding to their religious leaders.

This is a very convenient situation because people are easy to believe whatever that comes from their respected religious leaders.

Just think about what would happen with the powers that these religious leaders hold against the ordinary people, if someone rebels and started to form a new group that did not believe in being loyal with the current people on top?

How are these religious leaders going to retain their power over their people?

They cannot because rebellious ideas are very threatening to people with power.

So they cook up a horror story and influenced their own people to look down and despise these pitiful unbelievers, and when it comes to a point that the method does not work anymore, the only solution is to KILL the rebel, shut him up and justify his death through laws that were made and passed among them.

Pretty basic formula used by many other ancient religion.

Getting pretty hot in here, doesn’t it?

Moving on to the next ‘reason’, I remember one of my Japanese friends who took me by surprise by a simple argument: When someone leaves Islam, that person is automatically free from Islamic Law, so the death penalty for conversion cannot be applied here!

That argument made sense at first but it can be easily put down:

If that is the case, then why does the death penalty still applies to soldiers who defect from their county? This military law is still very common in many military organizations around the world!

The only negative side of this counter-punch is that it put Islam in a militaristic light, something that might not look very ‘nice and peaceful’.

Moving on…

To know the reason why a Malaysian Muslim are not allowed to change his/her religion, we have to go back to the source and understand the real reason why it was prohibited in the first place.

Just a few years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, there were many followers who stopped practicing the Prophet’s teachings, and goes back to burying baby girls and raping random chicks and sucking dicks.

So in order to stop this, they made it a death penalty for a Muslim to abandons Islamic teachings, so that they will not return back to their barbaric ways of life.

Islamic teachings have ushered a lot of moral improvements to their civilization, and do I have to stress how much progress in science has Islam influenced our civilization?

WEEEEE!

The other reason for this DEADLY BAN is pure military-minded.

As many knew, the early days of Islam is filled with some pretty crazy wars, and a Muslim soldier who abandons his faith can no longer be accepted as a Muslim soldier because his allegiance to his military commander is in parallel with his allegiance with his military commander’s GOD.

At that time, one cannot be a trusted Muslim soldier if he is not a Muslim because the war they’re fighting is mostly based on religious belief; Islam vs Christianity ? the holy war.

So just like any other military organization before (and after) it, it’s a no-brainer to apply this law to protect the integrity in the military ranks, and keep the brotherly group spirit alive among the soldiers.

Hey, it’s easier for men who were thrown into a bloody war to bond with their partners if they have something in common; and religion is one BIG element. The army with the most team-spirit will always win.

Even modern day military organizations nowadays still uses religion to bond their soldiers, heighten up their spirit, justify their war and sometimes makes it look like it is a good thing to kill some ‘unbelievers’.

The last ‘reason’ (that I can think of) why the Malaysian authority does not allow religious conversion among the Malay Muslims is smaller in scale, but quite coy.

It’s totally political: Welcome the New Economic Policy!

But because this has been a very long post already, I plan to lay out and connect this point later when I wrote the second part of this post and try to answer the second question that is: How could a modern society such as Malaysia justify the blatant unfairness that is the New Economic Policy?

Uniquely multi-cultural and multi-religious, the authorities believes that in order to maintain peace, the Malay majority should be given special advantages that could help them in a lot of area; education, employment, health care, loans etc, in order to stabilize the social disparity among the various races, especially against the wealthier Chinese.

Before I end today’s post though, I would like to sum my ‘answers’ given to my Japanese friends:

1) Religion gives power to certain people, and in order to retain that power, rebels cannot be tolerated.
2) The law were created for a good reason in mind, to keep the early followers of Islam from their barbaric ways of life.
3) It To be continued…

P/s: Where did I have the time to write all this stuff? I don’t expect anyone to read all this stuff from start to finish though… Well, if it’s me, I would stop on the first paragraph and start to search for Akiyama Rina videos on youtube for sure!

Disclaimer: If you’ve read my other posts here, you would probably knew that I am not someone with the credibility to discuss about ‘heavy’ stuffs, but that does not mean that I am blind nor stupid. Well, I am a little bit dumb and perverted, but I still have an opinion, and if you disagree, write a comment! Freedom of speech is awesome, let’s use it!

AKE OME 2 !!!

yeah hoouu akhirnya aku ada mood nak sambung post AKE OME yg aku tulis beberapa hari yg lalu. pastu, aku nak tulis dalam bahasa melayu pulak tu wooh aku memang seksay !! dah lama gila babun tak menulis dalam bahasa melayu yg ku cinta nih. apa nak jadi ngan aku nih? ok lah sambung pasal AKE OME. sambil dengar eminem, ingin saya sambung kisah yg takde org kesah ini.........

ok kami (aku ngan yusei la) sampai umah dalam pkl brapa ntah aku tak ingat, tapi bukak aje genkan (玄関 - pintu utama), hidung aku telah dapat mengesan bau2 enak datang daripada dapur. jenguk2 diaorg dah mula buat persediaan untuk makan malam. aku sebagai orang melayu yg sopan lagi beradab tertib ketimuran gemilang pon apa lagi, cakap la yg aku nak tolong. tapi buat kali ke brapa ntah la mak dia cakap tak payah la duduk aje la depan tv, lagipon dah nak siap dah. aku pon naik la atas, gi berak. aahh best. turun2 hidangan makan malam dah siap. gilak ah sumer nampak sedap ajo wooh bahagia sial !! banyak jugak jenis2 lauk malam nih. ada tempura, miso shiru, daikon, pastu abenda lagi ah nama aku lupa nak tanya. terror sial mak yusei masak. brapa kali ah aku tambah. lauk paling sedap malam tu nama dia aku lupa, dia pakai ikan saba (ikan jepun fav aku !!) yg dibalut ngan rumpai laut pastu di biarkan dalam sup miso selama satu hari suntuk. sedap gilo brapa ketul ntah aku makan. ahaa sebelum kami makan hidangan utama, mak dia keluarkan steamed shellfish (nama melayu lupa plak) yg separuh masak. uhh juicy gila, dah la besar. banyak gak aku makan, dalam 3-4 ketul kot. aa pastu malam tu buat pertama kali jugak aku makan karashi mentaiko （辛子明太子 - telur ikan kod yg diperam ngan cili ngan garam). sedap gila benda nih kalo makan ngan nasi.

pastu lepas makan, mak yusei ajak main babanuki untuk pilih sapa yg akan basuh pinggan mangkuk malam tu. aku pon cakap la tak payah main pon takpe, aku pon bole tolong basuh. lagi sekali mak dia tolak pelawaan aku untuk tolong. so kami main la, akhir sekali yg kena basuh pinggan malam tu: aku ngan hoshimi. aku sengaja aje bagi kalah supaya dapat jugak aku wat kerja dalam rumah nih. time basuh pinggan mangkuk, aku tanya la hoshimi mcam2. aku tanya pasal mcam mana life org yg baru masuk society kerja nih (hoshimi sama umur ngan aku, start kerja sebagai wartawan majalah remaja beberapa bulan lepas). dia cakap ok aje cuma letih sebab sibuk gila. tapi aku terkejut gak sebab dia kata dia tak minum arak & tak isap rokok. sebab aku terkejut adalah kerana majoriti org jepun yg bekerja nih kalo lepas kerja, memang jadi tradisi diaorg utk ajak rakan sekerja pegi izakaya utk minum2. dia cakap memang rakan kerja dia ajak gi izakaya, tapi dia cuma order jus oren aje la. time aku cakap kat ayah yusei yg muslim tak minum arak, dia terkejut plak; dia kata: "mcam mana diaorg nak hilangkan stress lepas kerja tanpa minum arak?". aku cakap aje la org mesia pon kuar gi makan jugak tapi tak minum arak pon bole hilangkan stress. pastu aku tanya plak hoshimi, percaya kat tuhan ak? "hmm.. tak kot" dia jawab. pastu dia sambung "org jepun generasi muda2 skang dah tak percaya pada agama. tapi time ada festival apa2, kami join jugak asalkan best dan seronok". hmm mcam tu ke? (aku dah tau sebenarnya, cuma saja nak borak). pastu aku pon citer aa pasal org mesia yg hampir sumer nya percaya kat tuhan; tak kira la muslim ke, buddist ke, christian ke sumer nya at least ada kepercayaan terhadap tuhan. dan walaupon kami org mesia ada kepercayaan dan budaya masing2, takde la nak gaduh2 sembelih adik awak tikam abang jiran sebelah. kami idup aman ajeh, aku pon suka ngan mesia sebab mcam2 jenis budaya bercampur aduk dan masing2 bole bawa identiti sendiri tanpa ancaman drpd org lain. tak mcam jepun yg hanya ada org jepun, malaysia is truly a multi-cultural country yg aman dan menampakkan potensi utk menjadi negara yg maju.

lepas basuh pinggan, kami duk depan tv ajeh sampai la pkl 1pagi. sebelum aku naik tido, yusei suruh aku ingat apa yg akan aku mimpi malam ni. mimpi yg kita lihat pada malam new year (1hb punya malam) ni org jepun panggil hatsu yume (初夢), kalo ko mimpi nampak gunung fuji, makna nya bagus la ko punya tahun. aku ingat mimpi aku malam tu. pelik betul mimpi aku. aku mimpi hoshimi masuk bilik aku tgh tido pastu dia ajak buat sex. wtf !!?? aku pon cakap la yg muslim nih haram berzina, tapi dia nak buat jugak siap bukak baju sumer sambil cakap yg dia dah lama nak wat sex ngan foreigner. so aku pon lempang la hoshimi sampai dia rebah pastu dia pon blah dr bilik aku. ntah mcam2 mana ah, sedar2 dah pukul 9 pagi. wooh nasib baik mimpi aje. yusei ajak aku turun makan sarapan pagi. mak dia tanya la apa hatsu yume aku. takkan la aku nak cakap "saya mimpi anak pompoan sulung makcik ajak saya buat sex tapi saya tolak", so aku tipu la dengan niat baik " saya mimpi saya jumpa ngan family saya kat mesia. mungkin sebab saya terlalu tersentuh dengan kebaikan family makcik selama 3 hari ini. terima kasih banyak2 sebab sudi ajak saya untuk sambut tahun baru bersama2. ini merupakan satu pengalaman yg amat berharga untuk saya". bla bla bla aku pon berterima kasih, puji2 sket pastu suruh diaorg jaga kesihatan; sumer nya itu perkara2 yg sepatutnya kita cakap kalo dah stay beberapa hari kat umah org jepun; mori (tutor aku) yg ajar sumer nih. nasib baik aku ingat sumer.

aku dah nak balik ke asrama dah petang tu, so sebelum aku blah, aku mintak la nak ambik gamba ngan ahli famili diaorg. tapi hoshimi takde plak sejak pagi lagi, mak dia ckap yg hoshimi dah keluar pegi mana ah sejak pkl 7pagi lagi. hmm.... semalam tu mimpi ke betul ah? anyways, yusei yg ambik gamba nih. sebelum blah, nenek yusei datang bawak apple ngan kacang, dia suruh aku bawak balik makan. sebelum blah tu biasak la, kena la ikut adat org jepun, so aku cakap la benda mcam mekasih, jaga kesihatan sumer dalam bahasa jepun yg sopan, bow, pastu blah. lambai bye bye sampai la tak nampak diaorg lagi. tu cara org jepun say goodbye kot. ayah yusei nak anta aku sampai ke train station so aku naik aa keter ayah dia. tengah jalan tu terserempak ngan satu couple pakcik makcik nih, keter diaorg terbabas masuk longkang. kami pon turun aa dr keter nak tengok kalo2 ada benda yg bole kami tolong. nasib baik takde yg cedera, cuma diaorg tak bole nak tarik kereta diaorg keluar dr longkang tu. kami tak leh tolong apa2 jugak so diaorg call la tow truck. kat iiyama nih salji turun lebat gila, time aku pegi tu salji dah sampai 2 meter. skang dah 4 meter. rumah yusei ada 3 tingkat. tingkat 1 ngan 2 dah tertimbus ngan salji dah. bukak tingkap nampak tembok salji aje. jalan pon penuh ngan salji, so memang licin la jalan tuh, senang aje kereta nak spin. kami naik keter balik, ayah yusei pon anta la aku sampai ke train station.

train aku dah sampai so aku mintak diri dulu la. aku baru sedar yg selama nih aku tak penah lak bersalam ngan ayah dia. aku pon pegi la dekat sket tapi sebelum sempat aku hulurkan tangan nak bersalam, ayah dia bow goodbye lak. lepas aku balas bow tuh baru la aku hulurkan tangan nak salam. ayah dia nampak mcam kekok plak nak bersalam tapi nasib baik dia salam gak. pkl 12.45 train aku berlepas. tut tuut mana ada train yg bunyi mcam tu dah. waa best sial 3 hari nih.

so, buat pertama kali nya aku sambut new year japanese style. perbezaan sambutan new year kat jepun ngan malaysia ialah: new year kat mesia meriah gila ngan bunga api sumer, tapi sambutan new year kat jepun lebih relax dan lebih tertumpu kepada spending time bersama2 famili makan makanan tradisional. aku rasa musim new year lah merupakan musim paling 'senyap dan slow' kat jepun. sumer org relax, dan cuba untuk enjoy cuti bersama famili dalam keadaan aman dan tak buat bising. yahoo abis gak post nih! nanti aku tulis pasal benda lain lak yg ada kaitan ngan life aku kat jepun nih. akhir sekali: ake ome everybody!

AKE OME !!!

AKE OME is short for shin nen akemashite omedetou gozaimasu (新年あけましておめでとうございます。) which means HAPPY NEW YEAR in japanese. this year i got the opportunity to celebrate new year with a japanese family, the family of my classmate Yuusei in Iiyama. I was very excited 'coz i'm very interested in japanese culture and i want to learn and experience it first hand.


Ok now i'm feeling very lazy so i'm gonna do today's post quick and easy. i went to Yuusei's place on ths 31st dec 2005 at around 4p.m. and when i arrived, his mom is already preparing for dinner. being a good modest gentleman of superior quality, i offered my help but instead she told me go to the kotatsu (low table with heater below), eat some mikan (mandarin orange?) and watch the tv. i'm the guest of the house she said. so i watched the new year specials on tv and 30mins later Yuusei said he wanted to show me his new turntable so we went to his room. shit it was awesome ! the useless thing costs about 200000 yen and the only function it has is the ability to mix and arrange music samples. i could buy a high end computer with that !! oh well just when my stomach's singing the happy song of go get some fukcing food, her mom called for dinner. oh yeah, her mom made (pic) nabe ryouri tonight! i've never eaten a nabe dinner before so i was quite sceptical and worried that i would not like the taste. oohh i'm soo wrong! it's fukilicious !! a japanese nabe dish is very simple actually. you put some water in a large pan/pot, put some suppon & shouyou and just toss in some fresh fish, shrimp, shellfish and vegetables, wait until it looks good enough to eat and enjoy ! halal, easy, fast and no skills needed.


ok the nabe dish is not actually a 'new year dish'. i was quite dissapointed to know that Yuusei's family don't do the things that tradisional japs do in conjunction to new year. well i used to learn about japanese new year celebration when i was still studying nihongo in kuala lumpur and his family's way of celebrating is far from what i had in mind. i guess when his father saw the frustration on my face (i'm not really frustrated, i'm just making the face) he decided to actually do something tradisional this year, which is to eat (pic) toshi koshi soba (年越しそば- go to next year buckwheat noodle) just before the clock hit 12 o'clock. so while waiting for new year everyone gathered at the living room to watch the kouhaku uta gassen (紅白歌合戦- red&white song competition: a famous & nostagic tv program that were aired on new year's eve for the past 50years: this tv program has this strong 'feel' to remind japanese that it's new year). the program aired from 8.00 p.m. to 11.45p.m. but both Yuusei's parents and himself fell asleep at 11, leaving only me, his older sister hoshimi and younger sister harumi infront of the tv. when it's 11.50p.m. we tried to woke them up but invain, so only the 3 of us had toshi koshi soba that night. after finished cleaning up, hoshimi said she wants to play famicon so we take turn playing 'till it's 2 a.m. then i took a shower and went to sleep at about 2.30 a.m. i'm not quite sure. happy new year... whatever....


it's new year ! for breakfast we had osechi ryouri (おせち料理 - new year's dish). osechi ryouri is a combination of a lot of food that i have no idea of what they're called. some i do know like kuromame (黒豆 - black bean）, daikon no nimono （大根の煮物 - japanese radish stewed） and of course the outstandingly delicious ozoni (おぞに - soup with omochi *i bring along some chicken meat so that Yuusei's mom can prepare this for muslim me*）. i forget to take a picture of ozoni so i only managed to took of what's left. i forgot to mention that there's also raw octopus and some kazunoko (数の子 - fish egg). raw octopus... is bad. very, very bad !!!! i would never try another slice of raw octopus, again !!!


i insisted yuusei on showing me the japanese way of celebrating new year so he took me to zenkouji （善光寺 - a famous temple/shrine here in nagano） to do hatsumoude (初詣 - first prayer?) so i was like woo i'm 100% pure muslim i can't buddist-pray! well, yuusei said, i don't believe in this stuff either but we're just doing this for... fun. just think of it like a theme park where you have to do stuff to move on to the next level/area. i said ok. so... there were thousands of people at zenkouji, and i bet only 10% of these people believe in the faith. nowadays it's hard to find a japanese who believes in any faith. islam, buddha, shinto, christian you name it you won't find it here. japanese becomes a christian when it's christmas, a buddist when it's new year and a shinto when it's matsuri (祭り - festival?). it's quite fucked up but as long as no one's hurt.

so back to my main story. we went inside (no pic allowed), it's crowded like a morning train in tokyo you can't even breath. i toss 10yen into this huge 'coin box' that were placed infront of this huge, bright, golden 'thingy' (i wish i could take a pic) and went outside to buy a study omamori （お守り - talisman) and an omikuji (おみくじ - fortune slip; says i don't have luck this year, yeah right). well that's what a typical japanese would do when they go to temples/shrines during new year. now that i've learned that first hand, we decided to go home 'coz it's freezing cold outhere. on the way back we bought a pack of my fav takoyaki (たこ焼き - octopus flitters) that were sold just outside of zinkoji.

there were a lot of stalls around the zenkoji at this time of the year, it feels just like pasar ramadhan during ramadhan in malaysia. we got like one more hour till our train comes so we went to a shoes shop to window shop and how lucky i am, yuusei wants to present me a new shoe !! i just told him to pick up the shoe that he think is the coolest so he picked a high-cut pony snickers for me. at 15000yen (7000yen after discount), i think it was too expensive and i told him to pick something cheaper but he said that it's okay 'coz he received a lot of otoshidama (お年玉 - new year's gift; just like 'duit raya' in malaysia) this year so hooray for me.