Our Local Style

Six months ago I arrived in JAIST also commonly known as the middle of nowhere. Like many frustrated foreigners before me I had trouble getting around because my Japanese just wasn’t quite there yet.

Enter the JAIST Survival Guide. It’s in wiki format (so please contribute!) and geared towards English-speaking foreigners who have problems while in JAIST because their Japanese isn’t quite there yet either.

What’s the best way to get to the city? What are the buses that serve JAIST? Where can I eat? What can I do for entertainment? It’s all in the wiki.

In early March I realized that it would soon be one year since I had arrived in Japan. The anniversary fell yesterday and the typical guy that I am I forgot.

In early 2008 I was talking to my psychologist about my impending trip to Japan. Putting aside the excitment of travelling to a land that people the world over covet, I also saw the trip as a second chance at university life. My 4 university years in Singapore were hardly my best years and I wanted to prove, to myself if to no one else, that it doesn’t have to be that way. Taking a quick glance around my room I think I’ve more than achieved what I set out to prove.

Looking at the physical artifacts that I’ve collected over the past year is only part of the story. I’m sitting in my room now and what strikes me most is that it’s clean(er). Ask any of my Singapore-made university friends and they’ll tell you I was somewhat of a slob. I once left grapes on the floor of my Singapore room and found them weeks later liquifying. Now my grapes go into the fridge, which I managed to rent, until I want to eat them.

The work’s been pretty good too. While I hate studying and slogging I’ve come to love learning. And every day is a new, learning experience. Whether it’s riding a Japanese bus for the first time or digesting a research paper I love learning and having new experiences. It’s the kind of feeling I wish I had in high school. Would have saved a lot of time and spared myself a lot of anguish.

On the subject of new experiences, I still haven’t travelled Japan as much as I’d like. I was initially holding out to travel with friends but unfortunately they are either content to lock themselves in the lab or have spent their money flying their girlfriend in from their home country and renting an apartment for her to stay for 2 months. Looks like I’ll be travelling alone which isn’t as daunting as it was a year ago when I didn’t know enough Japanese to survive. After all, my solo trip to Hokkaido earlier this year was awsome.

While Japan’s great I don’t see myself staying here in the long run. I’ve got one more year here and after that, who knows? Anything can happen in the next 365 days. So let’s sit back and see what happens, eh?

Just wondering if there are any email clients with secure data erasure. Gutmann, US DoD or just random bit writing. I mean seriously shouldn’t that have been implemented by version 0.9b? I’d like to make sure that email receipts leave to trace of my spending habits.

Have you ever explored your Windows Live Profile page? If you’ve signed up for Windows Live Messenger, or likely any of the other Windows Live services, you’ve got one. Hidden among the links is a page that asks if you’d like to receive promotional crap offers from Windows Live and MSN. And in typical Opt-Out policy you’ve got to tell them that you don’t want them sending you stuff.

What’s surprising (or not-so-surprising depending on how you look at it) is that navigating to this page isn’t obvious. There’s no direct link from the Profile page nor the Permissions page (which I also recommend you go through and decide who gets to view your information). First I had to get to some top-level Accounts Page via a hidden menu which appears when you hover the mouse pointer above your name in the top-right hand corner of the screen.

The Marketing Preferences page is listed on the Accounts page under the heading Additional Options. Sneaky marketers…

A dance competition in Brunei? I’m astounded. It’s about time the arts scene got its much-needed jump-start. And 12 groups in the prelims is a very good start.

Seems Kanazawa is having a very mild winter this year. In my town of Tsurugi it hasn’t snowed for 2 weeks. Ironic considering this region is named Hakusan which means White Mountain. The Friday night temperature went as high as 18°C. For a region where winter temperatures hover just above zero, it’s probably a sign that spring is in the air. The weather report predicts snow in the coming week and I for one fully welcome it. I like the snow.

In contrast, Hokkaido is snow-covered half the year through. And after 10 months in Japan I finally saved enough money to head northwards to the island for the 60^th Snow Festival in Hokkaido’s capital of Sapporo. It’s easily the best Japan has offered me so far not to mention one of the most impressive events I’ve seen in my entire life, the Snow Festival is my recommendation for “Things you have to see before you die”. And if you can’t see it, I have photos up on my Flickr account.

An annual event that’s become synonymous with the island of Hokkaido, this year’s festival boasted 286 snow and ice sculptures spread over 3 locations. Odori Park, the main site, is particularly beautiful at night. With the lights turned on and the snow falling (at -4.4°C!) the atmosphere is magical. If you do go to the Snow Festival, go at night.

This was my favourite carving. It commemorate’s Tokyo’s bid to be the site for the 2016 Olympics. The raw emotion captured is powerful. Not all sculptures were of this scale. Odori Park was littered with smaller ones like that of Doraemon, Stitch and one particularly awful Tetsuwan Atom a.k.a. Astro Boy.

A few days after arriving back in Tsurugi I joined a bus trip to the town of Shiramine where they host a smaller-scale snow festival of their own. The Shiramine Snowman Festival makes use of local talent and manpower. What they lack in ability they make up for with heart and cuteness. Again, more photos on Flickr.

Shiramine is higher up the mountain than Tsurugi and still managed to see some snow. Unfortunately it wasn’t cold enough for it to actually snow on the day I was there. But precipitation was suffucient for rain.

And this was the cutest one of all!

From the Borneo Bulletin Opinions Page, Wednesday 11^th February 2009:

Frontline staff problems a sign of a dysfunctional

I am a senior officer nearing retirement. Having worked under many managers (directors, heads, and others in leadership capacities) who are older and younger than myself and in several departments, it should be emphasised that it is for the good of the staff, the ministries, the public they serve and the nation as a whole to note that those assigned to be managers must not only possess high education, but managing capabilities and the abilities to communicate well, both verbally and in writing.

It’s worrying to know that many managers I have worked for are not comfortable with communicating personally with their staff and/or feel they are above the staff, so they prefer sending authorising letters, e-mails and notes instead of meeting them and discussing matters at hand which lead to better understanding, respect and feeling of worthiness.

Even worse, they are managers who prefer to ask other staff regarding certain staff, instead of communicating directly with that staff, and based on second-hand information, made their analysis and decisions on the staff concerned, which leads to conflicts, unhappiness and in the end distrust of the heads. Those who have experienced favouritism in an organisation know the frustration and distress this brings. But most often we only read and hear complaints about the operators and front-line staff. Problems created by operators and front-liners are a result of a dysfunctional organistion as a whole, so in order to create efficient front-liners, the internal problems must be addressed together.

There are managers who also behave inappropriately like smoking at the workplace, making the peons their personal assistants who run errands for them like paying their utility bills, taking their cars for repairs, etc. These are total violations of their powers.

They also don’t want to know the problems of their staff such as those single mothers who have to balance between work and home and staff with certain health problems when in reality, what’s going on personally affect their work also. Understanding staff’s personal problems and taking them into account benefit the organisation though it may seem a hassle to the manager.

A dysfunctional organisation is far from effective and a nation that aims for efficiency in public services should have managers who are not only qualified academically, but effective in managing and in inter-personal relationship.

It’s also sad to note that some young managers are disrespectful of staff who are older than them just because they are the ones in charge and they feel powerful and therefore govern staff with an iron fist when it’s only human, and particularly Islamic, that a Muslim should respect others, especially the older people who should be valued for their age, experiences and their contributions to the civil service.

I had experienced younger managers who are egoistic, refuse to listen to others’ views and who shouted rudely at staff and scolded those who reported sick. To these managers, I have this to say, the day will come when you will be old, too, and when you will feel the disrespect, pain and shame you have inflicted on others as Allah SWT is Most Fair.

To those in the selection panel, please for the sake of Allah SWT and the country who depends on you to be responsible, wise and honest in your selections, don’t just select managers who have high qualifications and passed the necessary government examinations such as General Orders and Financial Regulations, and probably have personal connections and affiliations with you, yet don’t have managerial skills and good dispositions for you will be also be answerable for the ineffective managers you have selected in this life and the next. To the ineffective managers, the staff are watching and evaluating your every move and respect can’t be bought, but it has to be earned.

- Hopeful Officer

I can’t wait to read the replies.

As more and more Japanese tourists seek new destinations they have yet to visit, Brunei stands a “big chance” [sic] at attracting this particular market segment

Aside from the small problem of global economic downturn this may prove a viable market yet. A few suggestions:

1. Direct flight. There is no direct flight between Japan and Brunei. Visitors currently have a choice of stop-overs (Singapore, Malaysia etc…) so how would this affect the ticket pricing?
2. Language. Most Japanese can’t speak English fluently enough, much less Malay (in fact, the Japanese Ministry of Education is considering teaching English in Japanese!) Recruit volunteer translator/tour guides from university students studying the language.

I read about the flood. When the tail of the typhoon hit at the end of 2007 it got really rainy then too. If this is going to be a yearly occurence maybe we’d better think about improving our drainage system.

In other news, the new year brought with it the SPN21 (21^st Century National Education System). Many of us have long felt that Brunei’s education system was due for an overhaul and I for one certainly hope SPN21 will indeed help shape young Bruneians into well-rounded, global individuals.

That doesn’t mean it won’t be a bumpy ride. Everything looks rather good on paper but the real test is in the implementation. For the sake of the country, and the students, I hope SPN21 works out.

But I do have a few nits to pick. Foremost is the question of equiptment. The new curriculum introduces Music & Drama (compulsory from Year 1–Year8) which I wholeheartedly support but these classes can’t be textbook-based. Learning about a flute is very different from hearing one and both are far removed from actually playing one. Get instruments in these kids’ hands.

Second, are the teachers prepared? There is palpable concern that teachers don’t have appropriate training. Seriously, how many teachers and teachers-to-be have sufficient knowledge of music & drama let alone the capability to teach them?

Finally, the following paragraph in the Brunei Times caught my eye:

At the secondary school, Year Seven classes are named according to the acronym JERUDONG whereby the letter J is named for the top performance class and letter O is named for the class with the least performance.

The Science College, during my highschool years, made special effort to avoid segregating classes based on ability. Can you imagine the effect on a student’s self-esteem if he were placed into the lowest performing class? It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: student is placed in the lowest performing class making him believe that he’s stupid and there’s no point working harder. What does the O stand for? “Oh my God, you kids are stupid!”? The article doesn’t say if this is part of SPN21 or if it’s just how this particular school does it. Either way, I strongly disagree. Back in the Science College, our classes were assigned letters from the world BRUNEI. As it turns out, the N class was the “teacher’s pet” class.

If you’re looking to find out more on SPN21 SM Rimba’s website seems to be a good place to start (although I suspect it hasn’t been updated recently). MOE’s website reads like a Powerpoint presentation.

Here’s my little contribution to those who are seeking more than just phyical comfort: keep a diary that tracks your successes, blessings and lessons learned. At the end of every day write down anything, big or small, that could be described as a success, a blessing or a lesson.

Many of the motivaional books I’ve read champion tracking your successes. Success is a positive outcome that comes out of your efforts. Embrace the link between your effort and your success and you’ll find yourself growing in confidence. That confidence will keep you motivated when the going gets tough and you feel your efforts aren’t being rewarded. It’s easy to give in but that only guarantees you won’t succeed at all.

Blessings are unexpected gifts. They are different from successes because of their unexpected nature; you didn’t work for them. Counting your blessings keeps you thankful. A friend of mine once tracked her blessings alongside all the crap that happened to her and at the end of the month realised that the blessings far outweighed the crap. An attitude of gratitude is far too scarce in a world where too many of us think that everyone else exists just to serve our every whim.

Tracking your lessons is something that I came up with though I’m not excluding the possibility that it’s been written somewhere else before. Randy Pausch said Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted. So when you find yourself thinking Boy, things could have really gone better, ask yourself what lesson(s) you can draw from it. Keeping a record of your lessons gives you perspective by showing how far you’ve come. You’ll also be less likely to kick yourself for every mistake you make once you accept that you’re still learning. It’ll also, hopefully, keep you humble by reminding you that everyone else is learning too.