Ego Libre

So I am leaving Japan. Again. But it feels more definite this time. After all, instead of a short trip to Europe, I am moving to Australia. Moving to another country. Once again.
I thought I would get eventually used to it. But I don’t. Can anyone really get used to it? I am sitting in a friend, passing stations that I know, that have been my world for past year, memories of my friends waving me off at Shinjuku station still fresh in my mind. I feel sad. Tokyo is a fantastic town, but more then anywhere else, it makes you realize that a place to live is only as good as the friends you make there.
And I am worried. I think I can call myself lucky to have such a fantastic friends all around the world: Canada, Denmark, Japan and of course Czech Republic as well as scattered in other places, constantly moving in a way as I do. So you could say, well big deal. Another country, another people, right? It might be so, but I am still worried. It’s getting harder and harder to keep in touch with everyone. I will really need to find a good job so I can pay for all the tickets (and one that allows me at the same time to travel so much) or a job that makes me travel to those places. I had to pass on visiting Pat’s wedding in Canada. I had to pass on visiting Lukas’ wedding in Czech and I won’t be there when his kids is born. I could not see some of my friends in Denmark because they were traveling during the short time I was staying there. Heck, I even have to plan well ahead to be at my brothers’ wedding next year. I mean I feel lucky in one way, but I just wish I could live in the same place or at least a country (or even a continent) as my friends do. At least for some time.
Maybe I am too sentimental today. I am reading Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the shore. There is an interesting passage there (excuse my crappy recollection and translation): “From the first hello when people meet, it is only eternal goodbye after that.”
I said another goodbye. To another bunch of people that I care a lot about. Another bunch of people who are so dear to me, that I would be willing to fly around the world, even just for one day to shake their hands and exchange a friendly, understanding smile. And once again it hurts me in a way that I would have never anticipated when I first met them.
Ah well. Yesterday I was talking about synthesizing happiness. I should practice what I preach. Maybe I don’t even have to synthesize too much, after all I am starting a new life, this time with my girlfriend in a whole new country. Please wish us luck. I am looking forward to it so much, but let’s be fair, of course I am a bit scared as well as excited.
However, for a moment I will pretend to be a bit more Japanese and swallow my felings inside. New horizons are approaching. And so is the Narita Airport station… See you in Australia or wherever whenever… but as we all know and hardly accept… not forever.

I am in Singapore. This time I do not have a simple sum up story to tell you how this town feels. I am taking a break for that to tell you how I feel… if there is a possibility that some of you care.

I feel ashamed of myself. One thing that I am going to talk about tomorrow when I sit down and try to arrange my thoughts on Singapore will be how luxury hotels are comparably cheap here. I am staying in one of them. But that’s not the story. The story is about a man. Interesting man. A Japanese writer. Wanderer, bohemian, homeless, however you want to call it. A man with whom I have spent several hours in an interesting and stimulating conversation about literature and philosophy for last couple of hours that he missed the last train going to airport, where he currently resides.

Another part of the story is about my hotel room, which was due to full occupancy upgraded to higher class and that coincidentally is a twin room, so I have two beds.

Due to our conversation, this man lost his last train to go back. He will have to sleep on a bench in a park. This man is no homeless in a sense as you might think, he is an intelligent, clean shaved man wearing a Lacoste T-shirt, so no problem there.

Where is the story and why I feel ashamed? Despite knowing it would not be a problem, I have not offered him a place to stay. It was right there, available and no issues with it, yet I did not do it. But I do not feel ashamed because of that. I feel ashamed of the reason. The man assumed that I sleep in a nearby hostel. I did not try to convince him otherwise. I was ashamed that if I offer him this option, he will find out that I am staying in a room that costs more per night than he spends on food per month. I was ashamed of that.

And due to my shame, I have not helped a fellow man.

This man says he writes books as some kind of remedy. I write this post for the same reason. Why is it that people feel ashamed of having more? Is it a complex that has been built into me in by growing in the Czech Republic and the shame that comes with riches? Or is it something deeper transcending more than just my culture? And most importantly, why is that? Why feeling that I have too much means that I offer too little? This shame is a toxic thing and I will have to find a root of it to get rid of it.

And come to think of it, this post is closer to my original intention of this blog anyway. Yet tomorrow, I will probably be back with a review of Singapore. Stay tuned, feel free to comment if you have any thoughts on this.

Hopefully I will be able to understand the origin of the shame. Maybe this man’s books will help. His name is Hideo Asano. You can see his books and maybe even buy them on Amazon or Lulu.

I am sitting back at the airport waiting to board my flight to Singapore. Hong Kong was a fascinating city (I am starting to feel that I am overly too positive about the places I visit, but never mind). Of course it helps a lot that I have friends living here, but still out of all the other places in Asia I have been to, Hong Kong is by far the most foreigner friendly.

Arriving in Hong Kong airport made me think of Zurich. Now that’s an association that I have not expected to come up with, but the comparison goes quite far. First, the airport looks a lot like Zurich airport (but contrary to Zurich this one is very traveller friendly. The surrounding scenery looks almost like Alps, if you decrease your standards and not look in the direction of the sea. Besides, the clouds are covering the tops of the mountains, so with a bit of imagination you might transfer yourself from South-East Asia to Western Europe.

But the comparison goes further. For example to the fact that Hong Kong is now purely a financial center. Since it lost its exclusive position as prime port of entry to China for foreign business, it obviously tries hard to develop a new niche in banking and finances.

Furthermore, it’s extremely expensive. Now this is coming from someone who lived a year in Tokyo. Hong Kong is by far more expensive than Tokyo or any other cities I visited in Asia and that by factor of 3, maybe even 4. Honestly, I was shocked. The price levels in Taipei and Seoul were directly comparable to Tokyo, but this is something else. I don’t get why people complain about prices in Tokyo, maybe it’s just because of the prevailing image from 1980’s, but Hong Kong is the most expensive city I have visited. And going out it just madness. There are places where you can get a drink for a reasonable price, but generally a night-out in Hong Kong will cost you about three times as much as comparable tour in Tokyo. But that’s life.

This feature might be related to the amount of foreigners living here. That was another shock, that might convince you that you are in fact in Western Europe instead of Asia. You might spend some considerable time looking for an Asian face in some parts of downtown Hong Kong. That’s also why I think it would be so easy to live here. And it is the same reason, why I could not live here too long, because the foreigners and their attitude would soon enough start to bother me.

Going out in Hong Kong reminded me that this place is after all a port. But nowadays instead of sailors coming on shore to refresh themselves and deflower local female populace, it’s the investment bankers and financial advisors. They are the new sailors. With their hard-earned cash spending it wildly on expensive drinks while maintaining casual relationship with the locals. Hong Kong is in many ways as one huge Roppongi. Maybe not as sleazy, or at least sleazy in different ways, but that surely came to mind.

But there are other things to see and do as well. I was lucky enough that my friends took me to a private party on sunday afternoon that was happening on a nearby island’s beach and involved a lot of beer and a food fight. It was a lot of fun, but more importantly it made me realize how easy it is to escape the bustling and busy downtown. Just taking a ferry for twenty minutes will take you to a nice and calm islands with tons of greenery and cozy local sea-food restaurants. Hong Kong’s population of around twelve million is dispersed in a very tight area where all the skyscrapers are. The rest of Hong Kong’s islands as well as the Kowloon peninsula is just uninhabited green hills and mountains. In fact, only 80% of Hong Kong is still untouched nature. Well, untouched cannot be taken literally as the pollution of the sea and air here is quite extreme. It might not be as bad as Shanghai, but it is still noticeable.

My flight is boarding now…. So last thought. How would Hong Kong stand when compared to the others. I guess due to the fact how easy time foreigner’s have living here, I must place it right after Tokyo. And if you are in the area, make sure you visit Hong Kong. It was a very different experience than I expected. Just make sure you have enough cash and that your nerves can take thousands of annoying foreigners roaming the city.

it’s 5:30 AM. I am sitting in a taxi, leaving Taipei. And I am reflecting on my brief stop here. Taipei is an interesting place. Even though after living in a 32 million people city and briefly visiting an almost 22 million urban sprawl called Seoul, Taipei can feel almost provincial with its mere 2.5 million citizen. However this also makes it more manageable than, let’s say Seoul.

My initial impression got affirmed during yesterday. First, Taipei’s infrastructure has been all built during the 1970’s and 1980’s Chiang Ching-Kuo’s rule. It also seems that since then the money was needed elsewhere. That would explain that in a similar way as in Seoul, you can see that the development has been very hectic 20 years ago and now it slowed down. On the other hand Taipei also has its landmark - the ultra-modern Taipei 101 - the tallest skyscraper in the world.

But that also posses a question. Why in a city that is not so densely populated and that apparently lacks many other skyscrapers, someone would want to build the world’s tallest building? I have three theories.

One, the Taipei 101 is Freudian phallic symbol. Taiwan is strong, so let’s show them.

Second, the building represents a raised middle finger saying “Fuck you mainland China”. Taiwan is strong, so let’s show them.

Third theory is that without that building Taipei would rather lack some distinctive architecture or international recognition as a business and financial center. Taiwan is strong, so let’s show them.

I am not sure which one is correct, but I am sticking with the Freudian penis analogy Besides, I love skyscrapers (you see, Freud on me… and Taipei 101 is one of the most beautiful skyscrapers I have seen. But seriously, without 101 there is not much else in terms of architecture to see in the town. It’s history is very modern and thus lacks the usual sightseeing highlights - palaces and seats of kings and emperor’s, temples of rogue monks and US army brothels.

Of course this statement does not really give Taipei the credit it deserves. But it says that if you come to visit Taipei, don’t expect to be blown away by myriad of sights as in other citifies in Asia. Taipei is not about that anyway. I really like Taipei, because to me it represents what China could (have) been and maybe even more what Chinese could have been. I was really surprised, after my experiences in mainland China, to find that Taiwanese are fairly polite, nicely mannered and most importantly they do not try to hustle you or bother you on every corner just because you are white. The first two might be features of a culture, the third is probably due to economic development, it will be interesting to see whether people in Shanghai in 20 years will resemble Taiwanese now. As one student in Taipei told me: “Chine now is like Taiwan in 1970’s.”

And speaking of economic development, I have to address the issue of Chiang Kai-Shek. I must admit that I was rather unimpressed with this guy. Reading his brief biography, I can’t stop thinking that he is failure on most accounts and really do not see what credit could I give him. He is a typical first generation dictator - holding on crazy personal dreams and aspiration instead of developing the country. In this he resembles Syngman Rhee in South Korea.

When I saw his memorial from outside, this feeling only deepened. This is a pompous and majestic building (exception to the statement above architecture I made above), but it left me thinking that a man who leaves such a monster behind himself is not the most sane leader of a country. I thought that this would be really impressive, IF it had been dedicated to Taiwan’s liberation or something like that. To my great surprise, the insides of the memorial were filled with anti-Chiang Kai-Shek’s exhibition revealing the crimes of his regime. I also found out that the building has been very recently renamed to Taiwan’s Memorial of Democracy (please correct me if I got the name wrong)! So people are aware of the effect that the dictatorship had on the country and are moving on. Fantastic. There is hope for Taiwan!

The biggest issue here is, as all of you surely know, that leaders of Republic Of China (Taiwan) claim to rule over all China. I never thought much about it until I came here. It’s simply ridiculous. Taiwan is Taiwan, China is China. Whereas in South Korea I realized that either side is capable conquering the other, here the issue is quite reversed. Whatever weapons might have Taiwan acquired from US, it’s like Czech Republic claiming sovereignty over whole Russia (including all post-Soviet republic), or for the Danes among you, if Bornholm would be threatening with invasion Denmark, Sweden and Norway combined. In other words, I am no expert, but sooner or later this will occur even to the die-hards here. Taiwan is Taiwan. I guess I might get into some political trouble for that, but what the heck

And one final politico-economical remark. After looking at both Taiwanese and Korean history, I cam to a conclusion that democracy follows economic development and not vice versa. Both countries went through developmental dictatorship’s before arriving at (somewhat corrupt) democracy. This goes a bit contrary to what countries like United States preach, but then again they know best, right?

Yes, they do. They know what’s in their best interest. Development of other countries is not. Having other countries open their market is. And that’s what democracy before development eventually ends up doing. Both Taiwan and Korea have benefitted tremendously from the Cold War and US helped them sustain their regimes. However, we live in different times. Do not expect new Asian Tigers emerging any time soon. There is not that many dictatorships left.

Still there was a major difference between Taiwan and South Korea. They both have been initially developed during the Japanese occupation. I am aware of the fact that the Japanese were brutal and ruthless, but obviously this period had its merits as well. But while Korea had to develop itself from a country on par with Bangladesh, Chiang Kai-Shek brought with himself to Taiwan almost all foreign reserves of China as well as many treasures (source: Wikipedia, History of Taiwan … or somewhere there). Thus Koreans had to work from bottom up, Taiwan had its treasures partly piled up and thus was in better starting position. It is also interesting to see how Chinese and Korean industry structure is different. While Korea has built its chaebol conglomerates such as Hyundai, Samsung and LG in order to protect itself economically, a student in Taipei told me that Taiwan does not have such companies as Chiang Kai-Shek was afraid that big conglomerates would undermine his power. Once again development hindered by first generation dictator’s shortsightedness.

And on this bittersweet note I would like to sign off and check-in at the airport. I have had a wonderful time in Taipei and had to rearrange the list of countries in which I would be capable of living. It is now Tokyo, Taipei, Seoul, Shanghai. Seoul intrigued me because it was so different. But once mysteries are revealed, infatuation falters. Taipei amazed me with its familiarity. At least to me. Great vibe, great people, great penis right in the middle of it.

I must admit that my first impression of Taiwan was less than stellar. An airport reminiscent of Prague in the 1980’s was in stark contrast to the hyper-modernity of Seoul’s Incheon. Furthermore when I could not locate an open information office or baggage storage, I was starting to get even more depressed. Luckily enough, everything got cleared out and for the first time I realized that by learning Japanese I have unexpectedly learned one of the most useful Asian language. As in Seoul, everyone here speaks at least a bit Japanese to cater to the tourists. It might be even more pronounced due to history of Taiwan since it is only 60 years since the Japanese left, but still it is impressive when you can read menus and converse with waitress in Japanese.

This comment brings me closer to what quickly overcame my shabby impression of Taipei. Taiwanese seem to be extremely nice and friendly people (I should have known from previous experience, eh Eric? . Again from the generally cold acting Japanese and Koreans eyeing you suspiciously, my first hours dealing with Taiwanese have been extremely positive. But let’s give it a proper look tomorrow. It’s going to be a hectic sight-seeing and experiencing day.

Let’s see if Chiang Kai-Shek did a better job than Park Chung-hee in Korea. After all in some strange ways the political and economical structures of Taiwan and South Korea seem to be so similar, the most successful pro-western dictatorships in Asia. (Yes, for those of you well-educated in these topics, I have not learned much about Singapore yet.) Let the experience begin!

P.S: Taiwan is finally a country with a backward mobile system such as GPS, so I can use my ancient phone again. It feels weird to write sms instead of e-mails, but hey, one day, maybe one day the operators in Europe will smarten up and stop being so greedy

All things come to an end. The good, the bad even the ugly. I have left Japan today. It’s a strange feeling, I am neither happy or sad. I feel it was time to leave, but of course I feel sorry for leaving my friends behind. But that’s the way life is. C’est la vie if you are French, Shiyou ga nai, if you are Japanese.

I will wait a few days before I start thinking what do I think of Japan now that I have spent some considerable time there. I want my judgment to be as objective as possible and I feel that next two weeks will help me understand Japan and Asia even better.

I took a flight from Nagoya to Seoul today embarking on a tedious journey, visiting 10 airports in 12 days and traveling throughout the major cities and hubs of South-Eastern Asia. In two days I will move to Taipei, then Hong Kong and Singapore before returning to Czech (or more precisely before returning to Denmark).

I think that this is a unique opportunity to learn what differences are there between the major industrialized hubs in Asia and I would like to share this reflections with you. So keep tuned.

Today, I have exchanged 60.000 Japanese Yen and got 140.000 Korean Won, 5.000 Taiwan Dollars, 560 Hong Kong Dollars and 120 Singapore Dollars. My valet looks like a treasure chest of a pilling pirate, but it makes me feel like a serious traveller

Now, if you will excuse me, I will go back to watching a fascinating live coverage of Starcraft tournament broadcasted in TV. I even have two channels showing Starcraft to chose from. I already feel that there are some differences between Korea and Japan

No excuses. I am still busy. Sometimes moving out of the country is even more complicated then getting in. Japan is surely the case. But during my last visit to Shinjuku town-hall (Shinjuku is central part of Tokyo), I saw a pamphlet and a link to an interesting video called “Would you survive?”. In the light of recent earthquake in Niigata that damaged the nuclear power-plant, the answer is probably no, but if you have nothing better to do, please go and see the video. Earthquakes will never be the same This goes especially to people who are about to visit Japan. The first earthquake freaks everyone out and frankly, this video is not helping

So I have to go back to packing (hoping that in my last five days in Japan no major earthquake will hit Shinjuku) and you can ask ourself: Would you survive?

I have heard some complaints about the frequency of posts, but then again I never have been good at these things No, seriously, lately I have been way too busy even to sleep more then 6 hours a day not to mention to find time to post articles. Hopefully things will get better once I finish school in Japan, but then there will be other stuff for sure. There always is. Anyways, besides working on serious projects, I also have to do some lighter stuff - like this animation intended for my Japanese class. Don’t laugh, it was my first attempt on such a thing It consist of more than 3000 shots taken on my Nikon D50. The story is a slight parody of the Japanese fairy-tale about Momotarou - the peach boy. Except that in our case it is Momoyarou - the peach bastard.
Alright, enjoy and hopefully soon I will be back with some more serious or relevant stuff

Click on the image on the left. Anything peculiar about it? Yes, when you buy a watermelon in Japan it might have a little pack of salt attached to it.

I was surprised to see it (maybe even more than the fact that this slice of melon is 3$), but I can tell you this, it actually tastes good.

And the lessons to be learned? Even if you are a genius marketer, you have to know the peculiarities of each local market. That is why I am not afraid that globalization will destroy regional differences. Maybe I should go to McDonalnd’s today and have my favorite shrimp-burger.

And by the way, speaking of watermelons. My Indian friends in Denmark used to eat watermelon with black pepper on it. Go figure…

Since my hicsuntjapones.com domain is running out soon and I have decided to close down the blog there, I guess if there is something I want to sure about Japan, I have to do it here.

Today’s post is very short. I just read some headlines today and they made me think once again about the big difference between real Japanese lifestyle and what foreigners who never been to Japan think about it. All three articles are so real and all are so sad, each in its own way. (as Leo Tolstoy would say)

• Host club managers arrested for forcing client into prostitution to pay off debts
• Man wearing schoolgirl’s ’sailor’ uniform busted trying to steal women’s underwear
• 8,700 liters of jet fuel leak at Kadena base

And this is not supposed to be some shocking or gossip news, this is normal mainstream stuff. I am glad I do not have to read about any parents killing their children, children cutting off and eating schoolmates finger (cooking curry with it) or somebody finding (again) some part of body somewhere in Tokyo. My favorite quote from Japanese police after finding a severed leg in a river in Tokyo was: “We are trying to determine whether the person has been a victim of a crime.” Go figure. I am not saying that these things are uniquely Japanese, but it just seems that people outside of Japan somehow “forget” this aspect of the life here…