Saturday, May 16, 2009

i went to a maid cafe today!

i've always wanted to go to a maid cafe and see for myself what the fuss is all about.

and at last, today i got the chance to go to one such fantasy land when my co-workers volunteered to show me the most famous maid cafe in akihabara, @homecafe.

i was pretty excited.

and a bit surprised at how expensive it was compared to what service they offer.

the entrance fee itself is 700 yen, and you can't even take any photos inside the cafe.

anyways, upon entering the cafe, 5 japanese girls dressed in french inspired maid costumes greeted us with the greeting 「いらっしゃいませ、ご主人様!」 which means 'Welcome Back Home, Master!'.

it was pretty weird actually, to see so much concentration of nerds and cute girls in maid costumes cramped in such a small space.

*BGM played inside the cafe are of the anime songs collection, all the time, of course.

i ordered the omelette special menu that comes with caramel latte and the opportunity to take a picture with a maid of my choice.

the silly but cute thing about my omelette is the additional 'moe performance': the serving maid, using ketchup, drew hello kitty on the omelette... while saying 'magic words' to 'cast delicious spell' on it. then she asked me to cast the spell with her, which is the silliest thing ever, but so fucking cute nonetheless!

anyways, i think maid cafes are not bad at all, although it IS quite weird; and having entered one, i've definitely came closer in understanding the 'moe' culture of the otakus.

akane-chan kawaii !!!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Japanese Salaryman Life pt.1


When I was still a student, I always wondered how an ordinary Japanese salaryman live their life.

If one reads the many articles written by the western media about the Japanese salaryman, one could not escape the impression of the life of the everyday Japanese salaryman to be terribly stressful and horribly overworked, leading to a sexless life with the wife, and fuel the booming of compensated-dating with materialistic-minded, under-aged girls.

Every morning they have to endure the worst morning rushes in the world to get to work using the always over-crowded 'densha'; and in those small spaces where people rub shoulders with each other while they try their best to keep their balance so that they don't step on another salaryman's foot, or pressed on an office lady's breasts too hard (unintentionally, I hope), the ordinary Japanese salaryman would never refrain themselves from grabbing the still developing but already meaty and firm, buttocks of not-so-innocent Japanese high school girls who always wore their skirt way too short just to be cool at school, as they are very weak when it comes to peer pressure.

Their life is pathetic as it was just a declining road to 過労死 (karoushi), while frequently visiting the nearest soaplands and kyabakura clubs along the way.

As you can see, they don't have the nicest reputation.

And I've become one.

Well, sort of... It has only been a month and I still didn't have the opportunity to visit or do all those perverted things that they are famous for, as they have been portraited in the western media.

I really do lack in experience, but I could at least share what I have been through these past weeks... And I am pretty sure some of my blog readers out there, especially my kohais, would want to know what a salaryman life loosely assembles like.

So here it goes...

Ok I think I should stop here right now because it's almost 10:00 pm and I got to go to bed as soon as possible as I don't want to wake up late tomorrow; I need to get up at 05:45 am every morning to get to work god damn it!

To be continued...

p/s: to be fair though, although the phrase 'salaryman' means males who works under a salary, the more common usage of the title is applied to Japanese white-collar businessmen... not engineers, teachers, porn stars, police officer etc...

Sunday, May 10, 2009

korean ramen + homemade kimchi

my korean co-worker invited me to his room today to try some korean ramen that he prepared.

and he insist me on eating it with kimchi, totally korean-style.

it was pretty hot, especially the green chili, but the homemade kimchi (his mom sent it straight from tegu, korea) was pretty awesome.

there was also some korean miso and some small fried fishes as side dish. and oh, not forgotten some rotten green chillies!f

i really want to try more authentic korean food!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Panic during Totsuka Morning Rush

This morning, some of the train on the train-line that I use everyday to go to work to, has stopped working for about 15 minutes because of some shit that they don't want to tell us.

The result of this brief halt of flow of people during such critical morning rush hour is total chaos, as the flow of anxious commuters fill the station's limited floor space; it looked like some hajj ritual being performed by many man and women in suits and work attire.

There was no walking space at all; everyone moves by pushing and getting pushed by the flow of commuters. If anyone drops his/her bag, she/he should forget about getting it back.

Such scenes does makes me wonder with slight fear.

People would never be able to evacuate quickly in times of emergency, if such event that requires such action ever occur.

In all the madness where some couldn't take it anymore and prefer to shout and swear at the person behind just because of a little push; I managed to get some photos with the low-tech iPhone camera.

Friday, May 01, 2009

tak nak balik berkhidmat untuk negara ke?

aku ditaja JPA untuk belajar di Jepun selama 6 tahun.

april 2003 - march 2009.

setahun buat bahasa jepun, 3 tahun buat diploma pastu lagi 2 tahun buat degree.

kalo ikut rate sekarang, biasiswa bulanan yang aku dapat adalah lebih kurang rm4800.

(100yen=rm3.7)

rm4800 darab 12 bulan darab 6 tahun = rm345,600.

banyak tu.

tu tak kira duit yuran pengajian + elaun buku la, elaun pindah, elaun kesihatan etc.

kalo campur sumer2, ada kot cecah setengah juta.

" setengah juta? banyak tu beb, but still, ko masih nak stay kerja kat jepun, tak nak balik berkhidmat untuk negara, untuk rakyat ke? "

ke sudah lupa diri?

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dulu aku banyak kali terbaca berita pasal student overseas tajaan kerajaan yang lepas graduate, tak nak balik mesia, langgar contract dengan terus sambung kerja kat oversea, pastu tak bayar plak tuh duit pinjaman.

kerajaan taja mahal2 supaya nanti dia bole balik untuk berkhidmat untuk rakyat.

tapi balasan nya, dia lari entah ke mana, demi kepentingan diri sendiri.

taufiq ali, kamu macam mana?

KLIK UNTUK BACA SETERUSNYA !!

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kontrak aku dengan JPA lebih kurang mcam nih:

aku belajar sampai dapat degree dalam kejuruteraan mekanikal kat universiti nasional jepun, dan lepas graduate, pihak kerajaan berhak memanggil aku untuk bekerja dengan mana2 badan kerajaan yg memerlukan. jika aku tidak berjaya untuk menghabiskan pengajian dalam masa yg ditetapkan @ menolak tawaran pekerjaan daripada kerajaan selepas graduate, aku bole dikenakan saman dan perlu membayar balik duit ganti rugi (duit biasiswa) kepada pihak JPA.

seterusnya, selepas cukup setahun daripada tarikh aku graduate secara rasmi, tetapi pihak JPA masih belum memanggil aku untuk berkhidmat dengan mana2 badan kerajaan, maka aku bebas daripada kontrak dengan JPA tersebut.

aku tak perlu kerja dengan kerajaan dan aku tak perlu bayar apa2 pun jika perkara diatas berlaku.

sebelum aku masuk company aku skang, aku dikehendaki oleh pihak embassy untuk menghantar satu surat ajaib.

surat perlepasan kontrak namanya.

kuasa surat tersebut adalah untuk memendekkan masa menunggu untuk ditawarkan untuk bekerja dengan kerajaan, daripada 1 tahun kepada 0 hari.

0 minit, 0 saat.

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jadi legally, aku tak perlu punbalik untuk bekerja di malaysia.

tapi aku tetap rasa yang aku perlu berkhidmat untuk negara.

kalau tidak, buat apa kerajaan habiskan setengah juta; cuma untuk lahirkan seorang jurutera yang akhirnya bekerja dengan syarikat bukan kerajaan?

bukan kah pelik lagi aneh sekali program tajaan luar negara yang aku sertai nih?

pelik, memang pelik.

aneh, memang aneh; kalau kita tidak tahu objective utama buah fikiran tun mahathir nih.

anda pernah dengar pasal dasar pandang ke timur tak?

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seperti ramai muda mudi malaysia zaman sekarang, tun mahathir pun suka sangat2 dengan jepun dan rakyat2 nya.

muda mudi suka anime dan manga, tun mahathir suka dengan japanese work ethics.

muda mudi suka j-pop dan j-dorama, tun mahathir suka dengan japanese customer service.

muda mudi suka mihiro, tsubomi, maria ozawa, yoshizawa akiho, yui komine, sakurako, riko tachibana, takako kitahara, tina yuzuki, hiyori shiraishi, nao yoshizaki, ran monbu, erica kurisu, kaede matsushima, serina hayakawa, yuka ozawa, rio hamazaki, sakura sakurada, jun seto, kazama yumi, ayukawa nao, asami yuma, hatsune minori, natsume nana, mizaki mao, nakano mina, imano yume... (kalo korang tahu lebih daripada 5 nama di sini, maka korang memang kena kurang kan tengok japanese AV... seriously dude ;p)

tun mahathir suka japanese punctuality, precision and passion for detail.

tun mahathir suka + kagum sesangat dengan orang jepun nih, sampai dia mahu makin ramai orang malaysia yang jadi macam orang jepun.

cara untuk menjadikan impian tun mahathir itu satu kejayaan adalah dengan menghantar student2 malaysia untuk belajar di universiti2 di jepun, dengan harapan bila mereka pulang nanti, akan terbentuk satu komuniti malaysian yang mempunyai ciri2 kejepunan, dan komuniti ini diharap dapat mempengaruhi rakyat lain untuk mencontohi sifat2 kejepunan yang tun mahathir suka sangat tu.

kesimpulan nya, tun mahathir mahu supaya rakyat malaysia pon mampu bertukar jadi ultraman.

memang cantik sekali rancangan itu.

tapi seperti mana2 rancangan manusia, ianya tidak sempurna.

[note: aku dapat explanation nih daripada bekas setiausaha peribadi tun mahathir ketika kami tengah minum kopi kat doutour selepas menunaikan solat jumaat di sebuah surau dekat dengan stesen shin-okubo. of course la aku tambah perisa sket...]

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rancangan ini kurang sempurna kerana japanese work ethics tidak di ajar di universiti2 nasional jepun, tetapi hanya bole dipelajari apabila seseorang itu bekerja dengan syarikat jepun di negara jepun.

so kawan2 sekalian.

macam ini lah cara nya aku berfikir.

macam mana nak berkhidmat untuk negara.

adalah dengan menimba ilmu dan pengalaman bekerja dengan orang jepun, dalam syarikat jepun kat jepun.

sebab tu lah aku sengaja pilih syarikat yang tidak ada seorang pun pekerja malaysia.

aku masuk sorang2, dan hopefully aku bole buat kawan baru dan dapat memahami culture jepun sepenuhnya.

walaupon memang aku tidak nafikan, yang bekerja kat sini bukan lah mudah, tetapi aku kuatkan juga semangat.

bila aku dah rasa macam dah ada pengalaman, baru aku rasa aku boleh balik, dan tolong jump start project2 kat malaysia pula.

aku harap aku dapat ilmu dan pengalaman yang membolehkan aku mempengaruhi orang malaysia jadi ultramen, satria baja hitam, flashman, 5 ranger etc.

aku harap aku dapat menjadi 'jambatan' yang menghubungi malaysia dan jepun.

alamak, cakap besar plak aku nih.

tapi, itu lah motivasi aku buat masa nih.

motivasi ku adalah untuk memberi sumbangan kepada negara.

setengah juta punya budi, kena balas jugak walaupon orang tak minta.

[nota aneh: aku tak pernah lak dengar mana2 senior aku yang end up kerja dengan kerajaan. tidak ada seorang pon. majoriti yang kerja kat malaysia pon, masuk syarikat jepun juga. perkara aneh ini sebenarnya tidak lah aneh sangat. kerajaan nak pakai ke jurutera yang reti cakap bahasa jepun?]
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