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Just time for one last post before the end of the year methinks. There’s a fresh post up on Deep Kyoto of my favorite Irish pub in Kyoto: Gnome. Now for the last message of the year from Hozouji Temple:

It reads: 反省と感謝でおくる除夜の鐘

反省　- hansei = self-reflection
感謝 – kansha = thanks
おくる – okuru = send or give?
除夜 – jyoya = the watch night on New Year’s Eve
鐘 – kane = bell

As the old year gives way to the new in Japan, temple bells throughout the country are rung exactly 108 times. In Buddhist tradition this is the number of earthly desires. As the bell peals we are released from the regrets of the old year so as to greet the new year afresh. I wonder if the lack of a kanji for the verb おくる is so as to deliberately blur the meaning between sending and bestowing. The night-watch bell sends out the old year and bestows on us the new? Here is a rough idea of what this poem means:

In reflection
and in thanks
send out the old year
with the night-watch bell

That’s all from me in 2008. I had a good year. Lots of nice students and friends and good experiences to give thanks for. Especially I would like to thank Udo Bartsch and Fumi Hirai for giving me the trip of a lifetime in South Africa and I would like to thank M.T. for being my rock. A Happy New Year and see you again in 2009!

Update January 4th: Here’s a note from Masaya on the above:

Happy New Year, Mike.
I just looked at the poem. おくる is tricky.
I think it’s like おくる in 見送る(see somebody off).
When you 見送る, you are there to see other people leaving.
So, おくる is like let someone/something leave/go/pass while you are there to see that happen.
In the poem, it is more like “listening to”.
The poet listened to the bell and thought about the year that was about to end, and his mind was filled with self-reflection and thanks.
除夜の鐘 signifies the end of the year, so it can be that おくる has the idea of seeing off the year.
Does it make sense?
Take care,
Masaya

Actually, I looked a little closer at my dictionary entry for おくる today and lo and behold, when I scrolled down just a little bit further I found that very meaning and an example sentence too: 旧年を送り新年を迎える　～　See the old year out and the new one in!
However, my translation seems to hit the mark anyway, so I think I’ll leave it as it is. Thanks Masaya!

Funny.

Graham Annable’s blog.
Buy Comics at Things From Another World

Two more posts have gone up on Deep Kyoto since last I wrote: Field and The Hill of Tara.

Here’s some pictures of Luka’s birthday party last Tuesday. He gave us all these cool little toys that whine eerily and shine a light when you press a button hence the strange lights in some of the pictures.

BubbleShare: Share photos – Easy Photo Sharing

Here’s some pictures of Osaka architecture and views of and from the Sky Building. I went to the German Xmas market there with M.T. on Xmas Eve.

BubbleShare: Share photos – Find great Clip Art Images.

Here’s an a capella band that performed at the Xmas market. They are called “Permanent Fish” a name so stupid I just love it.

There’s a fresh post up in Deep Kyoto’s ongoing Irish pub series tonight:
Mc Loughlin’s.

This will probably be my last post before Christmas. Tonight I’m going to Luka’s birthday party which should be interesting as I haven’t seen him since Pagode closed down a year ago. He’s holding it here, which I’m happy about because it’s within short-staggering-home distance of my house. On Christmas Eve I’m going out on the town in Osaka, first to the German market, then out for dinner somewhere special and finally back to the magic bar. Christmas Day I shall be lounging,  gorging, imbibing and going nowhere near the internet. As I’m not going home this year I got myself a tree to keep my spirits up. From my childhood I have retained the idea that you should look up (in awe and wonderment) at a Christmas tree so no dinky little thing in the corner was going to suit me. I got the biggest one I could find but it only cost me ￥2,000. Here it is in a state of undress:

Here it is again with all the deccies (which cost considerably more than ￥2,000).

And finally here it is in all it’s awesome fairy-lit splendour.

I can’t help feeling it would look much better in my parents house in England with a huge pile of presents under it but never mind. It’s still entirely awesome and cool.

Two links before I go. First a quick message from avaaz on Zimbabwe:

Facing cholera, hunger and oppression, the forgotten and desperate people of Zimbabwe urgently need our solidarity and support this holiday season: letting them know we stand defiantly with their quest for democracy, security and justice. Sign our message of solidarity below which we will turn into a high rotation radio advertisement broadcast across Zimbabwe over the holiday period. Isolation is, in a sense, the greatest threat–the most powerful contribution we can make today is to let them know that they are not alone. LINK

And here (via Cryptomundo) is an interesting family tree showing how closely related Santa Claus, Al Jolson and the Yeti really are. Who would have thunk it? LINK

Here’s hoping Santa brings you everything you want this year. Happy Christmas!

First off here’s a link to the latest Deep Kyoto masterpiece I am working on. Earlier this month David Ewen and I went on a five stop pub crawl of Kyoto’s Irish pubs in search of the elusive craic. I intended to write one article detailing the pub crawl while comparing all five pubs and their relative merits, but have since decided they each deserve an article of their own. So the first one is up now and it’s on The Gael. Enjoy. There’ll be another one tomorrow.

Now as for today’s topic. I have a “To do” file in my bookmarks at the top of my browser where I put all the interesting links I come across when I think “Ooh that’s cool! I’ll look at that later!” and then of course I completely forget about them. So, it being the end of the year I am clearing them out and chucking them your way instead.  I think I’ll just post the silly or funtertaining ones today.

This is cool.

This is a pants squirrel.

This is scambaiting. A brilliant idea IF YOU HAVE RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF SPARE TIME, of which I do not.

These are artificial foreskins. The perfect Hannukah gift!

These are Korean politicians showing us what democracy is really all about.

And this is a really cool illustrated version of Neil Gaiman’s “The Day the Saucers Came”.

And these are the chicken police keeping the peace and giving some weally wascally wabbits the hard word:

That’s it. My last class of the year is over and for the next couple of weeks at least I am more or less free. I still have the Saturday morning job at the clinic of course, but that’s far too much fun to be actually considered work. Anyway, now that my teaching year is up, I have plenty of time to look back and reflect on how things went. Not a bad year really. Not bad at all. I was blessed with lots of nice students to teach and I actually enjoyed myself a lot in my classes this year. I think I have a lot to be grateful for. Speaking of which… this is written on the signboard at the front of my school this month:

And this was written at the back entrance:

Together they form a waka style poem by the founder of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist sect, Shinran. The title is 恩徳讃 (ondokusan) or “Thanks and Praise”.

如来大悲の恩徳は
nyourai daihi no ondokuha
身を粉にしても　報ずべし
mi wo ko ni shite mo hou zubeshi
師主知識の恩徳も
shishu chishiki no ondoku mo
骨を砕きても
hone wo kudakite mo
謝すべし
sha subeshi

Many of the words and phrases in this poem aren’t even in my dictionary so I asked Koike sensei to help me.

如来 (Nyorai) is the name of the Amida Buddha or Buddha of Infinite Light, and 大悲 (daihi) is the boundless compassion he feels for all sentient beings. 報ずべし (houzubeshi) means we are duty bound to repay this kindness with gratitude. Now the two lines 身を粉にしても and 骨を砕きても are a poetic rearrangement of the common idiom: 粉骨砕身 (funkotsusaishin) literally one’s flesh and bones are smashed to powder... but which actually means to make one’s best exertions. Finally, 師主知識 (shishu chishiki) refers to the knowledge of a teacher or Buddhist master for which we must 謝する (shasuru) or express our gratitude. However, Koike was at pains to point out that it is not the teacher but the knowledge that is important, and that in this respect anyone who leads us onto the right path in life can be considered a Buddhist master. Here’s my rough attempt at a translation:

We should give our all to repay
The Buddha’s boundless compassion.
We should do our best to give thanks
For the teachings that save us.

Shinran wrote this in his later years when he was looking back on his life and reflecting on all that he had to be grateful for. Now, at the end of the year it is timely for us to reflect on the same. What are you grateful for this year? And who was your best teacher?

Ah, it’s time to say goodbye to two more writing classes. It’s weird to think I won’t be seeing their faces in the classroom again… Here’s dear old 3:1- you can click on the picture for a closer look, or as we say in nihongonese:下の写真をクリックしたらもっと大きく見えるよ :

Good luck to you 3:1 ladies! May you all be happy and well, and each discover what fulfills you! I know some of you could do GREAT THINGS if you just believed in yourselves!

Now here are the ladies of lovely 3:2:

I think of the many pictures taken during today’s prolonged photo session that one is the best, (despite my mad professor hair). Actually 3:2 are a funny class, and I mean that in a good way… When I said I wanted to take a picture with them, there was sudden flurry of “Me, too!”, “Yeah, I want to take a picture as well!”, “I was just thinking I really wanted to take a picture!”, “I wanna take a picture too!” kind of OUTBURST and suddenly we were all fighting for camera space… Here are three of the photo-munchkins in action: Shiori, Risa and Misa. Shiori & Misa – you still owe me homework!

I’m going to miss these girls…

Last night the guys I teach in Osaka took me to a magic bar called Vernon’s where you can be entertained by a magician at your table. The main magician at the bar was a TV celebrity known as ムッシュ・ピエール or Monsieur Pierr whose shtick is that he pretends to be French and says tres bien every time he completes a trick. He had us completely wrapped around his finger. Some of the tricks he was doing last night you can see in the following video but the video doesn’t really do him justice. When somebody performs this level of sleight of hand right under your nose it’s pretty impressive.  Anyway, I recommend Vernon’s Bar if you’re in Osaka. A very good evening’s entertainment.

Another year goes around and it’s time to say goodbye to two more writing classes. Nice classes these. I taught some of them when they were first years too… And I shall miss them. Good luck ladies in your bright and shiny futures!

Here’s 3:3. (下の写真をクリックしたらもっと大きく見えるよ！）

And here’s 3:4.

Hmm… the pictures are a bit fuzzy. Maybe I should have used the flash after all…

Several days after the indiscriminate slaughter in Mumbai, it is still unclear exactly who is responsible. One BBC article has suggested that the smiling killers we have seen on CCTV, may have been less terrorists with a cause, than mere nihilistic celebrity seekers (like the pathetic creatures who shot up Columbine and Virginia Tech and others of their ilk). Certainly, people who can execute a six year old child in front of its parents or who deliberately target a hospital for women and children do not really seem to be asking for understanding for a particular cause. Still cause or not, doesn’t really make much difference. Terrorists or nihilists – they are still all shitheads at heart.  I like what John Oliver on the Daily Show has to say about this:

When you’re a bankrupt ideology, pursuing a bankrupt strategy, the only move you’ve got is the dick one.