Final hour to 2009

Saw the canopy of trees that looks like a union made in heaven on the last day

약속

제 친구가 영원히.
기쁜이, 슬픈 도 있었어요.
우리 사이의 우정이 나에게 중요한.
그래서 비록 아주 피곤한,
나도 열심히 계속해요.
오랫동안 소식이 없어요,
당신는 괜찮아죠?
걱전 마세요, 실망하 지않아요,
밤 마다, 나도 하느님께빌어요.
“부디 무사하소서!” 라고 말했어요.
우리우정이 선물을 하느님이 한테서.
그냥, 친구예요. 약속이.

Emptying

The day after Boxing day, I started my annual ritual of clearing the clutter for the year, only that it went beyond the year’s collection. First it was the cell phone messages, some numbers I have since lost contact with the owners and then the emails, email addresses, websites and recycle bin on the desktop. Perhaps it was some kind of obsessions, I just love to clear and empty all that seem to have passed on. Call it the spirit of yesterday, some would accumulate and collect such cherishable moments and endearing memories, but I would rather discard them totally. Yet sometimes, they remain despite its physical disappearance. I started tearing pictures printed out when the digital equipment were not as advanced and it proves less painful as I had imagined it to be, then I laid my hands on the letters and notes, some had even been packed into boxes and were stored away for years. Why the urgency to empty all that were carefully kept initially? I’ve asked that question but couldn’t really answer it properly. I suppose I could have kept them with the space available in the house, but my mind and heart were most reluctant. I reckon that people and things that remain to be in sight and held dearly in my heart will always be there, I need no proof or further verification or confirmation. As such, I see no need to keep what was already in the past since I am sure we would have the present and future to hold on to. As for others that have long been out of sight and/or have kept me out of their mind, wouldn’t it be good for me to let them go and free myself from the reins of the past? Still, what is the past? Harold Pinter hit the nail on the head when he said (and I quote), “the past is what you remember, imagine you remember, convince yourself you remember or pretend you remember… It is never there when you try to go back, it exists, but only in memory. To pretend otherwise is to invite a mess.” How much more true can you confront ”the past”? So out go the boxes of letters and past emotions turned stale? Some can be dated back to about a decade ago. And then the apparel and accessories and ornaments that were purchased or given were also let go of. Then I was again reminded that I do not need the desires for such extras in life, in fact as I was throwing them away, the painless act was quite an irony to the pain I had once suffered from wanting them so badly. And the many long years that had gone by once seemed so unbearable only went in a flash, and suddenly, all were flushed out and flushed down to nothingness. Not sure if the cynic in me is acting up again, but the chapter on Ecclesiastes in the Bible came to mind the moment all emptying was completed and I feel light again.

Winter song for you

The lake is frozen over
The trees are white with snow
And all around
Reminders of you
Are everywhere I go

It’s late and morning’s in no hurry
But sleep won’t set me free
I lie awake and try to recall
How your body felt beside me
When silence gets too hard to handle
And the night too long

And this is how I see you
In the snow on Christmas morning
Love and happiness surround you
As you throw your arms up to the sky
I keep this moment by and by

Oh I miss you now, my love
Merry Christmas, merry Christmas,
Merry Christmas, my love

Sense of joy fills the air
And I daydream and I stare
Up at the tree and I see
Your star up there

And this is how I see you
In the snow on Christmas morning
Love and happiness surround you
As you throw your arms up to the sky
I keep this moment by and by

All I want for Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Pachinko

Pardon me for I really don’t understand a life revolving around the Pachinko parlor. The Pachinko is a form of game made popular in Japan. It involves pinball and works almost like the jackpot machines found in all casinos. You can see as many such parlors as you can find the Pc-bang or Norae-bang in Korea. This is especially true in Osaka as opposed to the other big city, Tokyo. I wonder how interesting or addictive such a repetitive brainless game could be but I simply refused to give it a try. And thus, I merely stood outside one of the many on the streets and when someone entered or came out of the parlor, I quickly took a snapshot of the scene with the act. Apparently, the really young ones are barred from the game parlors and as you can see from the edge of the automated door, the Korean dramas are rather big in Japan though I can see that there may be a limit cap to the number of shows allowed to be aired on national TV. What surprised me was actually the posters of Winter Sonata as I could see that Mr. Bae is definitely still one big shot in Japan and people may be attracted to the 2002 production which to me was already fit to be in the archives. Yet again, it is already a classic in itself.

Glorious Food

Nishiki Market, a place to shop with a twist, that is shopping for food. Of course there are many other food places and frankly speaking, I was expecting even more than what came into sight, but the visual treat was enough to make this a worthwhile trip. Rather than tasting the food, I prefer feasting it with my eyes, admiring the colors of late Autumn, mostly red and orange. Some of the things I see but never get to taste them, or rather never even thought of trying them. I am always a conservative when it comes to food and was practically stuck with tempura udon/soba, ramen and curry rice all the while, a stubborn streak that shows in all aspects of my life. So I was very tempted by the variety of food available in the market, the cooked and raw treats, and wanted very much to have more than three meals a day, in fact, at times I do have a fourth one, the extra tea time I call it. Then I take pride in my self control and eventually only treated myself to something I thought irresistible–the tofu doughnut! Love it perhaps because of it being a healthier version of the Amercianised donuts or it could be its unsweetened or discreetly sweetened taste. In any case, I won’t mind getting another bag of it anytime, anyday.

Déjà vu yet again

The angle of this photograph reminds myself of a scene in the Japanese movie titled “Love Letter“. Then the two ladies who look exactly alike came face to face with one another on a narrow road like this. It was as surreal as in a dream and yet it sort of signifies how the two strangers’ lives are somehow intertwined and never quite apart since the day the leading man came into their lives. I was trying out my camera and am really happy to create the blurring effect at the background to highlight the back of this elderly man. The wheeled carriage or what was known as the Jinrikisha was widely in use during the Meiji era  and has become an important tourist attraction or mode of transport in tourist areas. I especially like the marriage of the old and the modern, it exudes the charm of nostalgic mood and brought me back to the old days, the era that only re-enacts in postcards and books found in the nearby shops.   

Kabuki

Kabuki Festival kicked off with a bang. The theatre was filled with excited crowd all waiting to get a ticket to the performance. Was hoping to catch a glimpse of a geisha or maiko while strolling along the Gion area and when I would have gone to watch the show if I was alone on this trip. Perhaps I will catch it in my next trip. For now, I can only settled for the pictures of the Kabuki.

Trick or treat

 Linus’s great pumpkin has flown far away from his companion to land on the grass slope along the way to the Keage station somewhere near Nanzen-ji. The meeting came as a pleasant surprise especially when Halloween has long passed and Christmas bells are ringing everywhere on earth. Surely it has meant to fly back to the land of pumpkins or perhaps it was again running away from Linus. Now at least the secret is let out of the bag; there is truly the great pumpkin that flies up to bring gifts to children all over the world on Halloween night, if you see it, it’ll be a treat, if you don’t, it’s just another trick.