Live & learn

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 24)

2008-05-20T22:19:00.003+01:00

Another song post that was due for a long time already. I have been listening to this song over & over since it was released, and also the full Death Cab CD has not left my playlist for some time now. The 4 minute build-up is amazing, and the stalking lyrics quite haunting.

Enjoy!

Mission Impossible: Law Review Madness

2008-05-19T22:20:00.002+01:00

Over the past few days, I have been trying to get an article ready for submission for a US law journal. Don't ask me why, really - it's more a personal test than anything else. The first reason why no-one should go through this insanity is that a full book actually exists ensuring that your writing should be conform what authorities say it should look like. The second reason is that the submission process takes the form of a market where professors are trying to "sell" their work to journals. If only it was just about substance...

Anyway, I have been fascinated by this process over the weekend, and was thinking about posting and supplying a couple of entertaining links, until I found this on Concurring Opinions, which to me summarizes it all... wish me luck!

A Sample Law Review Submission Policy

posted by Daniel J. Solove

I recently came across the following law review submission policy and was astounded by its candor. Check it out for the real truth behind law review article submissions.

Submissions

We thank you for your interest in submitting to Pulp Law Review. Please read our submissions guidelines carefully.

Pulp Law Review accepts electronic submissions via our online submission system. We require you to put all your documents (CV, cover letter, article) into one file so that it messes up your margins and pagination and makes your life difficult. We do this to ensure that only those who really want to spend the time and aggravation submit to us.

In order to increase your cost and delay your submission, Pulp Law Review will only accept hard copy submissions from ExpressO. We do this because we are a very highly ranked law review, so we can get away with it.

Selection

The Pulp Law Review desires to publish articles of outstanding quality that make meaningful and original contributions to legal scholarship. Because we would not be able to fill our six issues under this standard, we have decided to also accept articles that rehash existing scholarship but that do so with clever framing, articles that sound really profound, or articles that discuss trendy theories (extra points if your article gets these theories right, but we're unlikely to know if it does).

In considering your article, we use an objective point system for assessing scholarly quality. Articles receiving over 100 points are generally accepted. Here is how it works:

1. Are you from a highly-ranked law school? If yes, add 20.

2. Have you published in highly-ranked law reviews? If yes, add 30.

3. Is your name Cass Sunstein? If yes, accept immediately.

4. Does your article have a nifty title? If yes, add 10.

5. Is the introduction good? If yes, add 40.

6. Do the footnotes need a lot of editing? If yes, subtract 50.

7. Does your article have more than 6 parts? If yes, subtract 10.

8. Do you thank a bunch of big shots in your introductory footnote? If yes, add 10.

9. Is one of our professors personally hand-carrying your article to us along with free coffee and donuts? If yes, add 20.

10. Are you submission #457? If yes, then you're our lucky lottery winner and your article is accepted on the spot.

Book Reviews

Pulp Law Review welcomes book review submissions. A book review is basically the same as an article; however, it differs in that it that spends a few sentences discussing a book before launching into the author's thesis.

Submission Length

We firmly believe that the ideal length of a law review article is 0 words. However, we will accept articles of greater length under exceptional circumstances. Under no circumstances will we accept an article in excess of 35,000 words.*

* Except if you're on our list of big shot authors.

Notification of Selection or Rejection

If we select your article, we will notify you promptly and give you an insanely short window of time in which to accept our offer. You can certainly try to have other journals engage in an expedited review, but we've designed our window so that hardly any will be able to review your piece in time.

If we do not select your article, we often will not bother to inform you. After all, you're a loser, and we have no reason to show you any respect whatsoever. You've already wasted enough of our time.

If you call to check on the status of your article or to request an expedited review, we will only answer our phones during one randomly assigned hour each day. If you cannot reach a person, please leave a message on our voicemail, which we promptly delete without listening.

During some years, we might send you a brief letter or email when we reject your article. Here is the text of our letter and a translation:

TEXT OF LETTER	TRANSLATION
Thank you for the submission of your article.	We are not really thankful at all. You completely wasted our time.
After careful review, we have decided that we are unable to publish your article.	You lost us at at page 3. We wasted 45 seconds of our precious time on your article as well as the time it took to dump it in the recycle can.
We receive many submissions a year, and can only publish a few articles per year.	We do in fact receive many submissions -- far too many -- but only a few are decent. Yours wasn't one of them.
Because of space limitations, we are unable to publish many excellent articles such as yours.	We don't want your crappy work even for our law review's online companion.
We hope that you continue to submit your work to us in the future.	Yeah, right. If you believe this, you really are a fool.

Copyright

If we accept your article, we will take copyright in it. In return for your relinquishing your copyright to us, we will pay you $0. We will then make revenue off your article by licensing it to Westlaw and Lexis, and sometimes by charging fees for excerpts. We will gladly share none of this with you.

Editing

We like to think of our editing as akin to putting lipstick on a pig. We often will not meddle much with the substance of your article, as what really matters most is that the footnotes are meticulously accurate.

Sometimes, however, we enjoy rewriting an article to change the style and substance of what you are saying. We get very frustrated when authors complain about our rewriting their articles. We want to publish articles that say what we want to say, and most authors make the mistake of interfering with this process.

We will often ask you to supply pin cites and parentheticals, as well as copies of sources that should readily be available in our library. It is important to realize that we do not Bluebook for the reader or for you, but for its own inherent goodness.

We will also ask you to supply citations for every sentence, including citations for your own original thoughts as well as for obvious propositions that everybody knows. Our rule is that nothing can be said without a citation to it being said somewhere else. It does not matter if the source being cited to merely states the proposition as an ipse dixit -- as long as there is something out there that states the proposition (including your own bald statements in earlier work), this is sufficiently authoritative.

"Wreak havoc on your fellow man, but love and protect Mother Earth"

2008-03-19T15:30:00.003+01:00

If I'm blogging again for the first time in almost two months, it either is because 1) I have too much time on my hands, or 2) I encountered something very funny. I can tell you that I'm quite busy with preparing for my next travels, so it ain't option 1).

Here we go (I'm so happy to see The Onion go live!):

In The Know: How Can We Make The War In Iraq More Eco-Friendly?

(Thx to Dave for the heads up)

One douchebag down...a couple more and some giant turds to go!

2008-01-22T21:41:00.000+01:00

From news.bbc.co.uk:

Thompson quits White House race

The actor-politician leaves a Republican race that is wide open

Former US Senator Fred Thompson has withdrawn from the Republican presidential race, after a string of poor finishes in early voting rounds.

"I have withdrawn my candidacy... I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort," he said in a short statement.

It follows his third place result in Saturday's South Carolina primary - a state he had said he needed to win.

Mr Thompson did not say whether he would endorse any of his former rivals.

He ended his statement by saying that he and his wife, Jeri, would "always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people".

The actor-politician entered the race in September, months after his rivals had started campaigning.

The BBC's Vincent Dowd says the former star of the Law and Order TV series will have thought hard about whether the next Republican primary in Florida at the end of this month offered any hope of a revival - clearly he decided it did not.

Even with Mr Thompson's departure the Republican race remains wide open, with three candidates each having won in the six states that have voted, our correspondent says.

A week of Dutch bands

2008-01-22T07:38:00.000+01:00

It was a slow week, but the two highlights last week were the two shows that I saw of Dutch bands. First, on Thursday I saw one of my favourite Dutch bands, Coparck. Their music is a nice mixture of jazzy songs with more uptempo poppy songs, which somehow fit together perfectly. Here's a clip of one of my favourite songs (I have to say that I completely forgot to include them in my best of 2007 list!).

On Saturday, I watched my friends' band play in a small local pub in Heemskerk (where?!). It's been a while since I've seen them, but it was more special than usual as it was also the first time that Timme and Rob played together (they started playing songs together after our trip to Indonesia). The evening was fun, as I hitched a ride in the 'tour van', which was completely packed with gear and people :) Anyway, here's a song I really like (with both the music and clip edited by good friends of the band): Fluid Essence - Passing Out of Time.

2007 Albums

2007-12-29T15:18:00.000+01:00

Although I realise it's a bit cheesy, I just thought it'd be nice to write down for myself what music I have been mainly listening to this year. So without further ado, here is my list of 10 albums of 2007 I have been listening to most:

1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
2. Aereogramme - My Heart Has a Wish that You Would Not Go
3. The Dear Hunter - Act II: The Meaning Of, & All Things Regarding Ms. Leading
4. Wintersleep - Welcome to the Night Sky
5. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
6. Saybia - Eyes on the Highway
7. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
8. Daft Punk - Alive 2007
9. Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5-55
10. The Receiving End of Sirens - The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi

Bali COP impressions

2007-12-27T03:25:00.001+01:00

The COP "paradise" needs heavy protection...

Aaah, plenary sessions...just like a good movie

Reunion of the Montreal COP-11 crew - fltr: Nicolas, Liz, J-O, Jennie & moi

Last night of the COP - not much plenary action going on here...

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel reporting the big news at 2.30am on Friday night: "We have....a footnote!"

I am only pretending to read the draft decision, of course :P

Conni and Michael anxiously waiting for something to happen on the final day...

Ban Ki-Moon "flying in on the last day to say that he was "disappointed" with the progress

And so it ends...

2007-12-15T10:16:00.000+01:00

I feel too exhausted now for a full analysis, but let me give some of the bottom lines:
- There has been an agreement by almost all countries in the world (including the US) on a so-called Bali Road Map. The decision is quite general and watered down, but the last contentious points (a request by the developing countries to change one detail, to which the EU agreed) was almost blocked by the US. After booing from the audience, and two great speeches by South Africa and Papua New Guinea ("if you're not willing to lead, please get out of our way!"), the US delegation bent. The agreement itself is extremely non-specific, but it's very clear that developing countries have committed themselves to action that they never did before. In the end, the agreement can probably be sold by all governments to domestic constituencies. The main thing is that they have now 2 years to come with a real agreement.
- Countries part of the Kyoto Protocol also now came to some first agreements over some contentious issues, especially regarding references to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but Canada withdrew its opposition, and Russian opposition could be negotiated away. Now there is one more session to go, but I will probably not see the end of that as I am about to go on my holidays.

So that's it for my climate conference reporting, off to the beach and the bintang!

Last MORNING(!) of the COP

2007-12-15T05:25:00.000+01:00

Will. This. Ever. End?

It's the next day, just past noon, and I am still sitting in the plenary hall of the Bali International Convention Centre, waiting for....well, I don't really know what. Last night, at 2am, some ministers finally agreed on a text on how to frame the discussions and negotiations for climate change policy beyond 2012, solving all contentious issues by....a footnote. However, that was not the end of it. Even though the US and the EU made a deal, watering down the text to something almost completely non-substantial, the developing countries, particularly China and India, still have to give their approval. And apparently they don't approve of it as it stands. Any changes to the text are again unacceptable to the EU. So now negotiators are armwrestling in backrooms to see who wins...sort of. After my slightly optimistic mood in the last few days, it seems that all is not so well. One particular sign was given just now, when China accused the objective UNFCCC Secretariat that they were intentionally planning the big plenary meeting at the same time as the informal consultations, wondering "Is this Secretariat our Secretariat?" If even the supposedly objective actors are not trusted here, will countries trust each other?

I am postponing my holiday now by at least a few hours, hoping that these issues will be resolved in the next few hours. But nothing is sure here. Agreement/No agreement; One hour/A new night. Although many delegates will need to catch planes back home, the fact that a new day has started has perhaps given some countries the idea that we can go on for another night. I will stay now, I've been here too long anyway. But I do hope it will ever end.

Last night of the COP: short report

2007-12-14T15:15:00.000+01:00

Just a short report. Things seem to be getting tense here on the last night of the COP. The main hall is emptied, a lot of small groups of people are discussing fervently in different places, and the big decisions still need to be taken, if at all. I hope I can make it through the night, but no guarantees as I will be leaving Nusa Dua tomorrow morning, and still need to pack. If I do, you will definitely get more update.

Funny detail: the most lively place right now is a small stand of a Carribean NGO, playing some raggaton :)

Last day of the COP: A Bali Road Map tonight?

2007-12-14T08:17:00.000+01:00

It's already the last day of the conference, and things will probably be getting exciting tonight (in fact, technically the last day of the conference may be tomorrow, if - as predicted - negotiations will last again till the early hours). I have a slightly positive feeling about the outcomes - which certainly doesn't mean that big problems will be resolved all of a sudden. It just means that I think we will get a so-called "Bali Road Map"tonight, something that everyone wants, but for the last week couldn't agree about what it should look like. What is meant with it? Well, it basically provides some sort of mandate for countries to continue talking and negotiating, but then with the aim to come to a new agreement in 2009 for climate policy beyond 2012 (when Kyoto's legally binding targets end). But the Road Map will probably be so broad and unspecific that it leaves open every single option of how such an agreement might look like, from the continuation of binding targets (what the EU and the developing countries support) to a more voluntary approach (as advocated by the US). But at least getting such an agreement here means that we are still moving forwards, and not backwards, like some countries seem to want. One optimistic sign I got yesterday, while talking to a Finnish delegate in a taxi, who mentioned that one of the issues that was the source of quite some anger and disappointment earlier this week, technology transfer to developing countries, was at least now partly resolved.

It is notable here that besides the usual US-bashing here, two new climate 'baddies' have come to the fore to take their place in the frontlines, Canada and Japan. One sign is the amount of "fossil of the day" awards countries get, and both have received quite a few. As for Canada, another sign was a government presentation, where no government representative was present. Japan did send government officials, but even though the country is a part of Kyoto, its future plans stay far away from binding targets, instead calling on stronger obligations for developing countries...

From the personal side, I had my presentation on Tuesday. Luckily I was able to have a chat with an expert on the topic on Tuesday afternoon, before the presentation, so I was sure that I didn't talk bullshit later that day. It actually went quite well, as did the other presentations in our panel. If only there were an audience to listen to it, though....I guess it was the timing (8pm), the title of the event (overly broad), and the "marketing" at the COP, but there were only 15 people, half of which being friends. A lesson learned, I guess. At least we did ok. The evening almost ended bad, though, when a French negotiator accused us in general, and my colleague in particular of being unprofessional without a proper argument. Luckily, there were some more "normal" questions and comments later, taking away the tension.

Other news is that I more or less finalised my plans to go to the US next year, with about two-and-a-half months staying in Georgia (where?), and a couple of weeks in Washington, D.C. It's still a while away, but I look forward to it!

Yesterday, I missed the Al Gore speech here - I prefered to sit by the pool instead ;) Unfortunately, I don't have the cable for my camera with me to upload pictures now, but I will try and do that later.

Coping with the COP/Surfing

2007-12-10T02:51:00.000+01:00

What a week it has been. If you can't even remember to get in touch with your parents to tell them you've arrived safely, you know you're busy. But it's not being in busy in the sense that I would want it. I think in Montreal two years ago I had the problem of climate fatigue, and I think it's getting back. There's too much interesting stuff, which means that you have to make choices continuously, and you end up with not really doing what you wanted to do. And that gets a little frustrating at times. I did at one point make a priority list of things to do here: 1) prepare my presentation; 2) get in touch again with old familiar faces; 3) attend side-events; 4) attend negotiations. I didn't really get to point 4 in this list, but also the other parts have been messed up a bit by a food poisoning over the last two days. I'm slowly recovering by now, but I missed out on the nice NGO party on Saturday, and wasn't able to give my first presentation yesterday.

But let me also emphasise some of the nice things of last week. I met up with Arno and co. at Legian, where we had a good time for a few days, including my first attempts at surfing (see photographic evidence). We even surfed a bit while a thunderstorm was raging! Also adventurous: there was a small (?) earthquake on Friday when I was at the COP. I think the Earth Negotiations Bulletin indicated it best what the feelings were about this event: "One thing delegates did not seem to be discussing was the earthquake in Bali that occurred on Friday evening during the COP President’s reception event. “Was there an earthquake?” asked one delegate." :)

Back in Bali - COP madness!

2007-12-04T04:19:00.000+01:00

The first breaths of warm air coming my way from Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali immediately reminded me of the last moments of my holiday last year. The literal warm welcome was a good start of my time here. Even though I was (and still am; woke up at 3am this morning) completely jetlagged, I had a relaxing first day (spending some time poolside with a Bintang), and meeting up with my colleague Eric. I also seemed to pass on the bad luck of losing stuff on holidays to a friend I met in Singapore. After meeting me, he first lost (and later found) his wallet, and then his lugagge was lost (although it came later).
The first day of the COP was somewhat like a reunion: I spent almost all day talking to people I hadn't seen in a while. I managed to attend only one side-event, and half a negotiation session. For that reason, I wasn't completely up-to-date when the most important news of the day was announced: Australia ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, leaving the US as the only industrialised country outside of it. The news may not be so amazing as it seems, though, and many people here are skeptical of the Ozzies having seen the light. Maybe they just want to influence the negotiations for after Kyoto into their advantage? Or maybe there is indeed some goodwill. They do have a great environment minister at the moment, former Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett, so hopefully he'll be able to rock the Australian PM towards taking action.

Anyway, here's an analysis, courtesy of The Australian:

PM Rudd's first act: ratifying Kyoto

Sid Marris | December 03, 2007

KEVIN Rudd has ratified the Kyoto Protocol as the first formal act of his Labor Government.

Mr Rudd said that following a meeting of the executive council – the decision-making body of government presided over by the Governor-General Michael Jeffery – it was agreed that Australia should be bound by the international climate change agreement.

The Howard Government signed the Kyoto Protocol after winning significant concessions in 1997, but never adopted it into law.

Mr Rudd campaigned on a platform of ratifying the agreement, which binds Australia to emissions of no more than 108 per cent compared with 1990 levels.

“This is the first official act of the new Australian Government, demonstrating my government’s commitment to tackling climate change,” Mr Rudd said.

Australia was on course to meet that emissions target that applies on across 2008-2012 on the back of significant carbon credits, but raw emissions are growing rapidly and will see a 27 per cent increase from 2012 to 2020 unless other measures are taken.

Some environmental groups dispute the official Department of Environment estimates about compliance in what is called the first Kyoto period – up to 2012 – believing Australia will be at least 1 percentage point higher, or 109 per cent of 1990 emissions.

Mr Rudd said today that his policy measures would help ensure Australia reached its targets for the first Kyoto period and make a meaningful contribution beyond.

The other measures include setting a target to reduce emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050 - with intermediate targets to be set after a report next year from respected economist Ross Garnaut - establishing a national emissions trading scheme by 2010 and setting a 20 per cent target for renewable energy by 2020 to dramatically expand the use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

After the Rudd Government’s action the instrument of ratification will sit with United Nations for 90 days until coming into force.

However, the Australian Government will use its decision to argue for a place in all the United Nation’s forums discussing climate change at a two-week conference in Bali that began today.

The forums will set out an agenda for dealing with climate change after 2012.

Mr Rudd, his climate change minister Penny Wong, environment minister Peter Garrett and Treasurer Wayne Swan will attend the meetings in Bali.

There are 175 nations that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which achieved a quorum of nations when Russia signed up in February 2005.

The Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. The approach was adopted because it was believed developed countries can more easily pay the cost of cutting emissions and that developed countries have historically contributed more to the problem by emitting larger amounts of greenhouse gases per person than in developing countries.

Under the Protocol, 36 countries and the European Union are required to achieve greenhouse gas emission levels specified for each of them in the treaty. These targets add up to a total cut in greenhouse-gas emissions of at least 5 per cent from 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008-2012.

In the second stage discussions, some nations will be arguing for a greater contribution from developing countries, which are wary of an agreement that would hamper their ability to grow and increase living standards to those of the developed world.

Australia, under the Howard Government, was seeking to persuade the United States to take a greater role in the next round of negotiations in the hope that developing nations, predominantly China and India, would also be expected to temper their emissions.

PS: I got a new camera (which I hope I won't lose!!!), but I can only upload some pix later.

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 23): Don't get any big ideas

2007-11-30T23:59:00.000+01:00

And to follow-up with my first december post, I just wanted to celebrate that Radiohead's new album, In Rainbows, is out today. The band pulled off a great stunt early October, by not only announcing their new album, but also announcing that it would be out in 9 days (10 October), and at any price (i.e. you could get it for free) through their own website (skipping the record companies and retailers). Although it remains to be seen what kind of impact this could have on the music industry (lower prices? more direct sales?), I thought it was great that a band of this stature decided to do what they want, rather than following orders from a record executive.

And I love it, more down-tempo, beautiful songs, which only get better after listening to it more. Although it's difficult to pick a real favourite, the most straightforward beautiful song is Nude. It's an older song, which they luckily decided to record and put on In Rainbows.

Enjoy!

Catching up (Pt.2): Back to Bali

2007-11-30T23:25:00.000+01:00

After yet again some friendly reminders by good friends, let me start again by catching up a bit. In 12 hours, I will do exactly the same as one year ago: sitting in a plane towards Singapore. It's a period of deja-vu's of sorts. Again, I'm going to Bali for work; again, I'm combining it with a holiday afterwards; again, I needed to go to the doctor for pills and injections; again, I did this last minute; even some of the other things that I don't often push myself to do (like getting new contact lenses), I did almost exactly one year ago as well. But this year will not be the same as the last, I'm sure. Last year was one of the best holidays ever, sharing it with some of my best friends. Even though I will meet one of my best friends (Arno) in Bali for 2 days, it probably can't compare to the four weeks of traveling of last year. I also have some more work to do: I will be at the UN climate circus for two whole weeks, and I am expecting it to be hectic, exhausting, intense, but a great and fun experience, especially in a place that nice. I also expect to meet quite a few old friends, and hopefully meet new people as well. The holiday plans are not rock solid yet, but I might have one week on my own around X-mas. A good chance to sit down, read some books, and ponder about life. Or it might just be more social as well. As I mentioned in a previous post, I don't think I am the best person for solo-traveling, but I am definitely willing to give it another shot, especially in Indonesia.

Anyway, I hope to give more updates in the next weeks about everything that's (not) happening at the climate conference. I am slightly optimistic about the outcomes, but could be proven wrong.

Learning to teach

2007-10-03T16:35:00.000+01:00

Today I had to give a lecture for the third time since I started at IVM. Although by now, I have given more than enough (short) presentations to feel quite comfortable with doing that, my levels of nervosity and stress reached new peaks yesterday evening and this morning, just thinking about what I needed to do.

Teaching is definitely something more than just presenting your work. You have to start with the basics (especially if teaching international climate change law to paleoclimatologists), and you need to go back to some of the things you already take for granted in your much more narrow, specialized research subject. Furthermore, rather than trying to convince people of your 'message', you have to leave the students with a feeling that they know more about the topic than they did before your lecture.

Having said that, all the stress and worrying seemed a bit premature (what else is new), and it went much better than expected. Part of the stress was caused by a very similar lecture last year, which I did not so much screw up, but only went through the material much too fast (talking 25 minutes where I needed to talk for 90 minutes). I thought I learned my lesson, and I made an extended version of the lecture this time around. But what I didnt expect is that I was able to talk much more elaborate and deeper about the same subjects than last year. Challenged by some good questions and nice discussion, it was almost relieving to see that I was able to slow myself down, and give the topics the time that they deserve. Luckily the students also picked up quite well. There is still room for improvement, though, as I now had to rush through some of the parts at the end. I also think that I need a bit more preparation to explain some of the more complicated topics better. Sometimes, when I don't fully understand the topics myself, I have some difficulties in explaining it to others, or with coming up with good examples that could make it understandable.

Overall, though, I am a happy man today. If only I could just drink a beer, rather than emptying my kitchen for the big renovation there tomorrow :S

Canada vs Netherlands...

2007-09-27T07:53:00.000+01:00

Canada sues over EU seal-trade curbs

The Associated Press

September 26, 2007 at 8:43 AM EDT

GENEVA — Canada has brought a complaint to the World Trade Organization over Belgian and Dutch rules prohibiting the sale of seal products, trade officials said Wednesday.

The annual seal hunt has long been condemned by animal rights activists as cruel and Canada is facing a number of possible bans on seal products across Europe.

Trade officials in Geneva did not have any further details about the dispute, except that it pertained to restrictions in Belgium and Netherlands.

International Trade Minister David Emerson and three other senior Canadian officials announced two months ago that Ottawa would seek formal consultations over Belgium's ban on importing and marketing seal products, which Emerson called a “violation of Belgium's international trade obligations under the WTO.”

“But Canada's government will fight bans of this kind on all fronts – people's livelihoods are at stake,” he said.

The Executive Commission of the 27-country European Union rejected appeals earlier this year for an EU-wide ban on the import of seal fur products aimed at forcing the closing of Canada's annual hunt.

The EU head office said a 1983 EU law that imposes limited bans on the import of fur taken from seal pups “provides adequate response” to concerns presented by the European Parliament.

The European Commission said the population of seals in Canada's Arctic and Atlantic regions “has grown significantly” in the past three decades from just under two million to about six million harp seals alone, and that seals are not listed as an endangered species.

EU rules impose a ban on seal products derived from newborn harp seals less than 12 days old and on hooded seals less than one year old. Environmental and animal-rights groups complain that the rules allow hunters to go after the pups once they reach an age just over the ban limit.

Canada says the biggest market for its seal products is Norway, which is not a member of the EU.

Moves by several European countries to introduce national bans have caused widespread anger among industry and trade officials in Canada.

Canada defends the hunt as vital to the survival of people in a region desperate for jobs and growth.

Catching up (Pt. 1): Lowlands 2007

2007-09-08T12:01:00.000+01:00

To follow up on my previous post, it's time to catch up with some of the things I did in the past few weeks, before I have to head off again for a week (four days of working in Potsdam, and one day of fun in Berlin).

A few weeks ago, I was very happy to go to my favourite festival in the Netherlands again - A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise (or, for us Dutchies, simply "Lowlands"). It's been 7 years since I last visited the festival, and although I visited some other festivals in the meantime, I knew that I quite missed this. Although Lowlands may not have the "big names" that other festivals are so proud of, it makes up with looooots of things to do, great facilities, and a fantastic atmosphere. This was already the case back when I last visited, but now it even felt more like a theme park for adults. With movies, stand-up comedy, (street) theatre, political debates, a whole range of nice restaurants, and many other things, there's almost too much to keep one busy. And then there is still, of course, the music.We arrived on Thursday afternoon (after I first enjoyed an amazing lunch at my sister's restaurant). The weather looked threatening, but turned out to be fine for almost the whole weekend. Thanks to some friends, we got in a bit earlier than the big masses, so we were able to secure a good camping spot underneath the trees, and close to the festival grounds. The rest of the day consisted of drinking, good talks, and safeguarding our spot (as we had some 10 tents still to come...). We pulled it off.
On to the music. Friday started off really good, with watching Editors, Kasabian and Damien Rice in a row. I actually managed to go to bed early that night, which turned out to be good - I was quite energetic on Saturday. Saturday was a bit of a slow day, but there were still some great shows - Jimmy eat world, Brand new and Saybia (see post below) being the highlights. After a full day of watching concerts, we had a great night dancing to horribly cheesy music (I guess copious amounts of alcohol helped quite a bit) :) I had high expectations for Sunday, with the Shins, Arcade fire and Tool playing, but except for Arcade fire, my expectations were not completely fulfilled (but they were too high in the first place).

Monday was - as usual after a festival - spent in a state of haziness and sleepiness. It took me till Tuesday to recover somewhat, which I had to, as that day I started cleaning my apartment. But more on that in a later post.

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 22)

2007-09-08T00:01:00.000+01:00

Ahem...apologies for not updating in a while again. I had several posts in mind for some time now, but didn't find the chance to sit down and write them yet. So please allow me to start off easy again.

This song has been haunting me (in a positive way) for some time now. Perhaps it's the repetitive soothing guitar line backed by the organ. Perhaps it's the beautiful singing. Perhaps it's the outburst at 7.30 min. Or perhaps it's because from now on it will always remind me of our great holiday in Indonesia last year (thx to Timme for putting it on the DVD!).

The song is by the Danish band Saybia, who I recently was lucky again to see at the Lowlands festival (more on that in a later post). It's kinda hard to believe that they put this amazing song as a hidden track on their previous album, these are the days.

So I hope you're up for a long song, and do not find it too repetitive (it's best to listen to right before going to bed): Saybia - Untitled.

Enjoy!

Beyond irony

2007-08-12T15:28:00.000+01:00

Wait, hold on, is the logic behind this beyond any one else's comprehension, other than me (besides that we are seemingly going back to Cold War politics)?

1. The use of fossil fuels, including oil, by humans cause increases in global average temperature; these temperature increases are even larger in the Arctic region.

2. Temperature increases causes the Arctic sea ice to melt in the next few decades.

3. Humans are happy with melting ice, which makes it possible to exploit huge oil reserves in the region, so we can continue to rely on fossil fuels.

4. Go back to 1 and repeat...

Why not pay some more attention to the following:

What a beautiful day

2007-08-05T22:13:00.000+01:00

100th post, and nothing to report really... I just wanted to share that I was witnessing a beautiful sunset on this first real summer-y day in the Netherlands (I count the other 'nice' summer days as extraordinary spring days, or perhaps a very beautiful early autumn :P). Anyway, seeing the sun set over a wind power park (with the added beauty of the realization that green energy is being produced) just made my day :)

Although it wasn't as beautiful as in this pic, it hopefully still conveys the idea ;)

To Budapest...and back again

2007-08-01T16:41:00.001+01:00

Traveling is nice, but I somehow find it very difficult to update my blog while doing so. That's sometimes unfortunate, because I don't always remember the nice details later when I'm back...Nevertheless, let me try and recap the last week in Budapest.

Before that, though, let me start with geekdom :) The night before I left to Hungary, I was out there with Kyla and her boyfriend joining the hype. Yes, I can tell my grandchildren (if it ever comes that far) that I stood in line for the last Harry Potter book (insert nasty joke about me being a nerd here). After waiting for waaaaaaaay too long (I was glad that at least it didnt rain), we finally managed to get our copies around 2am. And I had to get up the next morning around 7am to catch my flight... (which was the reason for standing in line - I was so naive as to think that the book would be sold out at the airport...silly of me). Still, I couldnt keep myself from reading the first bits that very night (and the rest of the week continued to be characterized by a lack of sleep, partly because of the book).

The next morning, I met up with Conni to catch our flight. To our surprise, KLM decided to put everyone in a huge line, for no particular reason. So even though we arrived at 8.15am, we only checked in at 9.30am for our 10am flight. This was the second time I had to run to catch a flight, but it worked out....not. In Budapest, we figured that even though we had run fast enough, our suitcases were not able to catch up with us. After flying for some years now, I was actually waiting for the day that this would happen, and I wasn't too stressed about it (probably because I was too tired). Anyway, after one day, our stuff finally arrived.
My first impressions of Budapest were that of an Eastern German city, nothing particularly nice, but also not a bad place. Later that week, I realized I was wrong. The city was much more vibrant than I expected, and definitely much more beautiful. Especially walking at night along the Danube, seeing the beautiful architecture under bright moonlight is very nice to see. Unfortunately, because of the summer school we were attending, we didnt have too much time to go sightseeing, but I hope to catch up in March, when I should go back there for another work-related meeting. The city also hosts a whole range of terraces and other nice places to hang out and have a drink. And amazingly, everywhere there's space to sit. The only problem is maybe the clubs, where dancing space is scarce later at night :)The summer school was once again very enjoyable (I doubt whether it's possible to really have a bad experience at these things). I have to say that in comparison with previous summer schools, I spent less effort getting to know everyone, also because it was only for one week. Generally, it was a good combination of intensive discussions on international climate policy, the sense and nonsense of emissions trading, interdisciplinarity, law vs economics, etc. At the end of the day, there was no other option than to go out drinking and eating, which is of course not a problem for me, especially when it's over 30 degrees after 6pm. The only night when I more or less restrained myself was on the night before my own lecture (I went to bed on time - 3am) :) Oh, and the thermal baths in the city are magnificent (see picture for evidence).
Back in Amsterdam now, I miss the people, atmosphere (and temperature) in Budapest, but at least I'm quite inspired for the work that I need to do this month.

I normally don't read these things (really!)

2007-07-16T21:59:00.000+01:00

I somehow have the feeling that I live in a rather safe neighbourhood, and even the fact that someone was shot 100 meters from my house (I live on nr. 221, this was 249), doesn't change that feeling!

Preparing for my PhD meeting next week...

2007-07-10T16:19:00.001+01:00

Edit: Thanks to Conni for forwarding :)

The Wind

2007-07-09T11:47:00.000+01:00

Epuron - The Wind
Uploaded by tanj75

Hope or hype?

2007-07-08T16:09:00.000+01:00

In a weird mix of fascination, relief, puzzlement, happiness, disgust, joy and some other feelings that I cannot perfectly describe, I was watching Live Earth entering my living room yesterday. My first reaction about the whole event was enthusiastic. Great bands! Rocking out! With a great message! And millions of people watching! And that feeling is still there, but somewat tempered by now. Yes, there were a lot of great bands performing to get people around the world to do something about their greenhouse gas emissions. But how awareness was raised left me wondering whether this is the best way.

Before I try explaining myself, I should say that it was amazing to hear really all kinds of people, from the VIPs to Average Joe/Jolene talking about awareness, energy-efficient lightbulbs, stand-by electronic devices, becoming climate neutral, planting trees, melting icecaps, etc. Sometimes painfully politically correct, at other times the messages were heartfelt. If we accept that not everyone will learn or want to learn about the complexities of climate change, it may be a good thing that people automatically start linking their energy use to climate impacts. In this sense, I think the event has to some extent succceeded in its goal of raising awareness.

No, I will not join the choir of critics that of course immediately challenged the organizers by asking how the hell they would save the world, by giving energy-guzzling concerts all over the world. If I would join these critics, I might as well start first with criticizing myself for all the energy I'm wasting (please feel free to criticize me for this, though; it might help changing me!). The reason why I am questioning the way Live Earth aimed to raise awareness is that it seems to direct us to only one way of solving the problem - joining corporations in addressing emissions. As one of the TV-presenters said about the manifestation in Amsterdam: "this is looking more like a commercial for the energy company Nuon, than an event to do something about our emissions". In other words, the message that the problem is related to overconsumption has been lost in an event that was consumed by millions around the world (including myself). In this sense, it might have been better to get acts that have a track record of social/environmental activism, rather than the mega-acts that just draw the biggest audience. Because now I can imagine that people dont take the message to drive less from the presenter of MTV's Pimp my Ride (even though they pimped a car with a biofuel engine for this event...).

Having said that, the event may have a good impact in Japan, maybe because in this country the potential to do something about overconsumption is still huge. I think any message there by pop/rock stars may leave a bigger impact than elsewhere in the world.

All in all, I hope that after the hype, we can see that global awareness has risen to a point that could really force governments to take actions, and that we don't end up in a continuing hype that is only about how 'cool' it is to be climate neutral. This 'coolness' should be internalized to such an extent that people dont have to convince themselves that it's cool to be green.

Just think about it...

2007-07-02T15:40:00.000+01:00

"The world’s richest 500 individuals have a combined income greater than that of the poorest 416 million."
2005 Human Development Report

Pearl jam

2007-07-01T08:36:00.000+01:00

Two nice days have passed already since the pearl jam concert last Thursday, but I still wanted to post about it. I haven't seen them give a bad show yet, but this one was certainly one of their best. In a week full of rainy days, we had a beautiful afternoon in Nijmegen. I didn't even feel too bothered anymore by the fact that we were in a traffic jam most of the afternoon, and that because of that I missed most of Incubus. The setlist was long, the band was really enthusiastic, the crowd was supportive (which is not always the case with Dutch crowds), and there was a beautiful moment when there was a speech about one of the victims of the Roskilde tragedy 7 years ago (the family of the victim was present at the concert). And it gives me chills to sing an anti-war song with about 10(?)thousand voices. Two short movies of the concert below: 1 of the opening song Release (including my first youtube performance), and one of the protest song No more.

A week of concerts

2007-06-27T16:42:00.000+01:00

Sander already commented on one of my previous posts that it will not be possible to have a quiet week this week, and of course he is right. This week, I'm basically going from one concert to the other. Two are already behind me, and I still have three to go. On Sunday, I went to Damien Rice with Arno. It was very good, especially the chilling opener, 9 Crimes, the unamplified version of Cannonball, and lengthy, alternative versions of other songs. The only problem maybe was that all songs started similarly (Damien Rice starting by himself on piano or guitar, with the band joining in later). The day after I visited a punk rock concert in the Melkweg (Against me!), where I figured out that I am still not too old for those kind of bands (especially when they have a nice message in their songs, and refrain from talking bullshit about Amsterdam in between songs). Then tomorrow, I'm off to see two of my favourite bands, Incubus and Pearl jam, playing in a row. The weather's probably not gonna be on our side, but it should stilll be great! And finally, I will round of the week with some cheesy, but hopefully good nostalgia when I go and see Genesis with Arno's dad. So will next week then finally be that quiet week that I was thinking about??

Here's some live impressions of some of the things I've seen/will see. Enjoy!

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 21)

2007-06-23T12:53:00.000+01:00

Time for another songpost. This time it's from the new cd of The Editors, An End has a Start. The song itself has an incredible sadness to it, both in terms of music and lyrics (with its references to death), but I like how at the end of the song, the music picks up, with some heavy orchestration, with the singer Tom Smith (slightly optimistically) wondering "can we start this again?".

The Editors - Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors

Enjoy!

Weekly round-up

2007-06-21T22:33:00.000+01:00

Me not posting doesn't mean that nothing is happening - just that I haven't found or made the time to sit down quietly to process it all and type it down. Having said that, here's a round-up of the last week:
- Thursday (14 June): One of those days again, where I go down for a borrel (Dutch social drinking), and promise myself and others to only have one beer, and somehow find myself ending up in Paradiso till the early morning (which was great fun, by the way). It was the more foolish as I knew I had to get up early for the long day ahead of me (but no regrets!).
- Friday: The day of the yearly work trip with IVM. Having organized it myself in the last few years, I was a bit skeptical (as I thought all the fun options would be exhausted by now), but I have to admit that I was completely wrong. The activities of the day were kept hush-hush till the day itself, and even then we were fooled into thinking that we would visit the Rijksmuseum, after a funny (yet informative) lecture on the Night Watch by Rembrandt. This was all part of a set-up of a game which I don't need to explain. Suffice it to say that the game itself consisted of doing funny stuff in Amsterdam, such as jumping ropes and singing the national anthem (not at the same time, though) at Dam square, selling a crappy radio to tourists for 7 Euros, asking one of the statues in the centre if we can borrow his gear and make money for him for a few minutes, etc. Afterwards, the lounging with a beer, good food, and good company was definitely worth it, and at least this time I saw it coming that I would go on till late!
- Saturday: hmmm, can't seem to remember much of it...
- Sunday: a quiet day, except for meeting one of the summer school participants again, that I joined a few weeks earlier.
- Monday: I would have loved to go to work again, but I had to be present for an evaluation of my department at IVM, and present a poster in Utrecht. We were told that we had to answer lots of questions about the working environment. Instead, I was grilled about the substance (substance!) of my PhD, which of course was quite challenging to talk about. I think I managed somehow. The organisation of this whole meeting was incredibly crappy, by the way, as there was no space to hang our posters, and there was also no one telling us what the procedure of the whole thing was. Eventually, it felt like a day I could have spent better in another way.
- Tuesday: In the evening I joined up with some old friends to watch some stand-up comedy with one of the Netherlands' best comedians, Theo Maassen, who was, as usual, hilarious.
- Wednesday: Thanks to Timme and Rob, I was allowed to go back to Indonesia, at least in my mind. They prepared a wonderful 80 minute dvd, documenting our holiday of last December, which will be in my top 2 of best holidays ever at least till next December (when I hope to go back there again!). Although it is great to relive the emotions and experiences of what is on film, it is of course also important to remember the moments that didn't make it on camera, but as it isn't too long ago, the movie managed to do just that. And for once I wasn't that annoyed by the sound of my own voice (maybe also because I wasn't talking that much).
- Today: I went on a little shopping spree, and bought some clothes and a duvet. The latter purchase made me feel rather stupid, for reasons I cannot elaborate on here.

All in all, quite a fun and exciting week. But really, I could use a quiet, not so exciting week by now...

Vivoleum

2007-06-20T14:54:00.000+01:00

For those who haven't seen it, I can still recommend The Yes Men, where two guys impersonate World Trade Organization officials, and on their behalf say shocking (yet not completely unrealistic) things. Now they're at it again, presenting the product of Vivoleum (candles made of victims of global warming's bodies, brought to you by Exxon) to a conference for oil producers. Funny stuff :)

Jesus Camp

2007-06-14T13:34:00.000+01:00

After being fascinated in a sick way after seeing its trailer some months ago, I managed to see Jesus Camp with some colleagues yesterday, as it is finally in cinemas here.

The documentary is about fundamental Christians in Colorado, US, who indoctrinate their children at bible camps in a scary way. To be honest, I wasn't as shocked as I expected to be (I thought the kids were even going into military training, but no - however, they're still being trained as 'warriors' for Jesus, and they need to get their victory, whatever that means). I guess you can respect the documentary makers for not screaming the message in your face, like Michael Moore sometimes does. They basically show the facts, and if you come from a more left-wing background, you probably get disgusted (like me) when you see kids being urged to bless George Bush, or when they are being used to ensure that a conservative judge makes it into the Supreme Court. However, as someone pointed out yesterday, the fundy's could also watch it themselves and probably think - wow, that was a nice documentary about ourselves! In fact, only one of them, Ted Haggard, had some problems with the movie.

Just some quotes from the movie:
- (Mom 'homeschooling her 12-year old kid, arguing first that global warming is no problem): "Did you get to the part yet where they say that science hasn't proven anything"
- (Preacher doing a sermon): "And while I'm on the subject, let me say something about Harry Potter. Warlocks are the enemies of God! And I don't care what kind of hero they are, they're an enemy of God and had it been in the old testament Harry Potter would have been put to death!"
- (same woman arguing why it is good to indoctrinate kids): "I can go into a playground of kids that don't know anything about Christianity, lead them to the Lord in a matter of, just no time at all, and just moments later they can be seeing visions and hearing the voice of God, because they're so open. They are so usable in Christianity."

You can find the trailer here.

What keeps me working

2007-06-09T10:40:00.000+01:00

There are times that I wonder whether I'm working on a topic (climate change) that I am unable to follow, given the rapid developments in the world. It seems impossible to be up-to-date on all aspects of the problem, and keeping up with reading the news, literature, etc. Yet at other times I realize that I'm in the middle of something exciting (although sometimes frustrating), and where work obviously still needs to be done. And I would say that this is still the case, even though some news reports, showing smiling political leaders may suggest otherwise.

This week, the G8 and five developing countries reached a political agreement on a range of topics, including climate change, energy efficiency and energy security. I think the subtitle of the agreement gives a hint of what is wrong with the agreement: "Challenge and opportunity for world economic growth". Throughout the text you'll find statements in the vein of: we need to tackle climate change, as long as it doesn't hurt our economic growth. I will not deny this statement for the many countries on the globe where growth still is an imperative (i.e. in the global South), but the way in which the problem is phrased basically ignores the tension that exists between continuing growth - at least in industrialized countries - and doing something about our energy consumption and production.

Before the text was agreed, there were nasty attempts by the US to water down the text completely. To some extent they have succeeded. But just to give you an idea the outrageousness of their attempts, look here (you can do a nice comparison what kind of additions the US got in - and guess who invented the new subtitle?!). I will not go into too many details about the text and what is not in there, see for example Greenpeace.

So is there anything good to say about the G8 agreement? That depends how you look at it. From an optimistic perspective, there are some good aspects:
- The US agreed for the first time to a long-term emission reduction target to reduce emissions by 50% in 2050 (important footnote: the statement doesn't say compared to when)
- It was agreed to start negotiations on a future climate agreement in Bali by the end of this year (hopefully I can report about that from there :P), and to finish these in 2009 (important footnotes: 1) nobody knows what such an agreement will look like, or whether they will in fact make their own deadline; 2) somehow, the US got the words post-Kyoto in the text - implying that after 2012, Kyoto is dead).
- There is no mention of the Asia-Pacific Partnership as being a viable (let alone credible) complement to Kyoto, and the UNFCCC is emphasized as the main forum.

I'm sure this is far from the end of it - I guess that keeps me working ;)

Phew...

2007-06-08T19:08:00.001+01:00

Yes, I'm still alive! Yesterday, I actually got a comment from someone that with me coming back from Japan my blog also stopped. But as I want to continue to bother other people with what I experience, I can say that the reports of the death of my blog have been greatly exaggerated ;)

Having said that, I haven't been able to sit down and ponder over the experiences of the last few weeks really. After some hectic last days in Tokyo, I had only a few days to get ready for the Amsterdam Conference, which was organized by IVM. The conference went very well (I must admit that my trip to Japan managed to get me out off most organization responsibilities, and that the burden for some of my colleagues and the students they worked with was quite high), and my presentation went smoothly. Somehow, I get the feeling that studying a new topic for a few months (in my case the Asia-Pacific Partnership) makes you an expert in the eyes of many very fast. Right after the conference, a summer school was organized in Amsterdam, and even though I was doubting at first to what extent I should participate in it, the good vibes that the group of the summer school were sending, I was (yet again easily) convinced that I should participate as much as possible. That meant that over the last one and a half week I barely spent time at home other than for sleeping. In addition, it was a time of meeting up with old friends, and going to a wonderful concert. But the social 'overdose' was most welcome, and of course, lots of fun.

By now, I haven't eaten at home (i.e. cooked for myself) for more than a month, and even though I like eating out (I can't cook that well anyway), it is also good now to sit at home and relax a little.

Oh, I should also mention that I noticed that my old habits die hard - I managed to lose my wallet last Sunday. If you somehow find it somewhere, let me know! :P

I think I can now really say: I'm back :)

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 20)

2007-05-27T03:45:00.000+01:00

I love this album...

The dear hunter - Black sandy beaches

There and Back Again

2007-05-21T15:05:00.000+01:00

Yes, that's it. C'est tout. As I'm still a bit jetlagged, I hope to provide a better evaluation of how I experienced Japan later on, but let me just stick with the last days there for now. After my 15-hour busride from Fukuoka to Tokyo, where Samuel Jackson and Kevin Spacey talking Japanese kept me from sleeping long, I was quite exhausted when I arrived back at the university. Nevertheless, I had to finish my paper for the conference in Amsterdam. I more or less succeeded in that, although I only just finished the conclusions (here in Amsterdam).

The night after I arrived we had a goodbye party at the university, where we first bought sh*tloads of drinks and food. The very painful headache the next day told me I had very good fun, although I think some of the others were muuuuch more drunk than I was ;)

The last day I reserved for buying some stuff for others and myself, including a new camera and mobile in Akihabara. The last night I invited Kanie-san and his wife for dinner, but it ended up a bit more stressful than necessary, as I managed to forget my Amsterdam housekeys somewhere else. But fortunately we got it sorted out.

The plane ride back was long, but a good one - I was looking forward to coming back home. The only bad thing again was Heathrow (extreme security measures and delays). I think I'll try to avoid that airport from now on for long distance trip.

Anyway, it's good to be back! :D

Two Letters to the People of Japan

2007-05-16T07:20:00.000+01:00

Letter # 1

Dear People of Japan,

After having had the privilege of traveling through your beautiful country for about two weeks, I cannot help but asking the following. What is the secret behind Japanese tourist behavior? It is no surprise to me anymore that in every place I visit (the temples and shrines in Kyoto and Nara, the castles in Himeji and Kumamoto, the wonderful island of Miyajima, the gorgeous Aso-san area, etc.), I will see buses packed with Japanese tourists being dropped off. However, what keeps on puzzling me is this simple question: why? Why are so many people traveling in groups whereas I have noticed it is quite easy to get around here on your own as well, especially if you are a native? Why does everyone get out at the same spot, following a person with a flag who takes you to the exact location where other groups? What is the reason that everyone wants to pose for a picture at the same spot, in approximately the same pose? And is there a rule for photographing your wife or girlfriend at these spots? I have observed this now at a variety of locations in your beautiful country, and have not yet been able to figure out the reasons. Therefore, I would be grateful if you could explain this to me. Especially I found it difficult to comprehend why the beautiful sights demand that someone be in the picture. I have enclosed some pictures to show that it is really not that necessary.

I sincerely hope that you do not take any offense in this letter. It is not my intention to criticize your behavior, but merely a matter of curiosity on my behalf. Also, please forgive me for overly generalizing. I know that in addition to people traveling in an organized fashion, there are still many people traveling in small groups or individually. Finally, I acknowledge that the above is not something purely Japanese, but is practiced by many tourists from all over the globe. If you could point out another nation that may be better qualified to address my questions, please let me know.

I look forward to your response.

Yours truly,

Harro

PS: I could actually find one reason for having myself in a picture: to help remember that it was in fact me who was there. Just to show that I have accustomed myself a little, I enclose the following picture. Note, however, that I still do not understand why I would have to be in the picture on every location.

Letter # 2

Dear People of Japan,

Through this letter I would like to sincerely thank you for the great hospitality and kindness that you have shown to me today. When I left for Aso-san this morning, I did not expect to hike the full day. However, the beautiful surroundings and the great weather left me no choice to test the strength of my legs. I walked and I walked (and climbed a little) to enjoy some superb views of the crater. Of course, when I left the ropeway station, I did not prepare for lunch (except for 2 kitkats). Therefore I was deeply grateful to the elderly Japanese couple that offered me a part of their lunch when I was about mid-way. Before that, I had a rather adventurous climb down one of the peaks of Aso-san (Naka-dake), where my sneakers proved to be a sorry replacement for hiking boots. Nevertheless, I joined the friendly kids from I don’t know how many high school classes in the struggle down volcanic sand.

During my descent I of course managed to slip, after which my whole bag (in- and outside) was covered with sand. At the next peak, I decided to check whether my electronic equipment I brought along was still fine, and I emptied my bag. I only found out that I left my glasses there two hours later. But yet again, I was saved by Japanese helpfulness (and a little persistence from my side). After inquiring with some people who could not really speak English, I was driven to the top of the crater, although to the wrong side. After making that clear, I got translation help via Tokyo, when I called my friend there. I was able to figure out that they already found my glasses and that I only needed to wait a bit, and they would drive them over to my side of the crater. Because of the waiting, however, I was about to miss the last bus. No problem, as the same people offered me a ride back to the youth hostel. All in all, I’m deeply impressed by, and thankful for the kind treatment you’ve given me today. I think it is no exception to the overall friendly people that I have encountered here. Thanks again.

Yours in gratitude,

Harro

PS: I would also like to thank the person who invented the hot bath, which was heavenly after coming back from a full day of hiking. And of course thanks to Mr. Asahi for producing a nice cold beer to enjoy afterwards ;)

Will we ever learn...

2007-05-11T12:37:00.000+01:00

Hiroshima, America and Humanity's Future
by David Krieger, August 2005

We are again in the season of Hiroshima. Many will gather at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to remember that fateful day 60 years ago when an atomic weapon was first used on a human population and obliterated the city of Hiroshima.

In America, unfortunately, far too few individuals will take note of this anniversary. Many of those who do remember Hiroshima will recall it as an event of triumph, not disaster.

Throughout most of the world, the name Hiroshima has come to represent man’s technological capacity for massive destruction. Hiroshima was the culmination of the high-altitude bombing and long-range killing that came increasingly to characterize World War II.

Hiroshima opened the door upon a new world, a world in which it is possible for humanity to destroy itself by its own inventions of highly destructive weaponry. Hiroshima was the world’s first look at a technology that could destroy countries, end civilization, and foreclose a human future.

Happy holidays?

2007-05-10T14:28:00.000+01:00

Finally, I got hold of an internet connection where no one is waiting to chase me away from a computer, where I am not being charged ridiculous prices, and where I don't have to struggle with a Japanese keyboard... yes, it's time for an update.

I'm now in Hiroshima, after having spent a few days in the Kansai region. I started with an overnight bus trip from Tokyo to Kyoto, which was very comfortable, although I didnt get too much sleep. Then I forced myself to stay awake and stroll around to see the main temples and shrines in Nara (including the largest wooden building in the world). As you can see, Nara is packed with 'sacred' deer, who have a day job of chasing Japanese for cookies. After lunch, I wasnt able to stay awake, so I went to bed for a few hours, only to wake up with a big bad smack of reality (see the post below). I think I will remember this holiday mainly for that, which is not to say that it's a bad thing, but it definitely cast a damper on my spirit.After Nara, I went back to Kyoto. I will spare you descriptions of all the temples and shrines I saw this time (see some of the pictures), as I also had a slight case of temple-fatigue. It was good to meet up with some of the people I knew from Kyoto, though. Aki took me to a brilliant restaurant, with lots of seafood, none of which, amazingly, I disliked (even the carp sashimi tasted excellent)! I also had my first-time ever snake encounter. I was quite perplexed, as I didnt know if it was poisonous or not (it did give me an angry look). One of my friends in Kyoto was also so nice to offer me to call his friend in Himeji, my next destination. Thanks to him, I was able to stay with a very nice Japanese family for one night. The communication problems were mostly solved by his friend, but it gave me an opportunity to practice the 3 Japanese sentences I know by now (nice to meet you, the food was delicious, thanks so much) :P And once again, I made myself eat octopus and squid (I almost start to like it....hmmm, or maybe not). Himeji itself had a very impressive castle (no, the temple fatigue doesnt mean that I am fed up with Japan or Japanese architecture in general). The weather has also been playing along nicely, with most of the days being very warm (luckily I packed my shorts along with my snowboard clothes when I left Amsterdam).
After a long trip today, I arrived in Hiroshima, where I will stay for a few nights. Although I will visit the many places commemorating the horrible event of 6 August 1945 again tomorrow, I got a first impression, and I was deeply touched, especially when reading about the stories of survivors telling how they were forced to leave their loved ones to die. Again, not a very uplifting place to be, but it's definitely worth it to sit down and think about what happened, and why the hell anyone would think throwing a nuke one someone else is a good idea.
Travelling alone is allright, but the problem is that somehow I keep on telling myself how much more fun it would have been with someone else. It shows that I'm not a loner pur sang. As a refuge, I'm trying to pack my trip with nice sights, and I think I've been succeeding in that quite well. After Hiroshima (where I will, yes!, visit more shrines), I'll be going to Kyushu, to see the biggest volcano in Japan. It's funny how every single person I told that I was going there was amazed why I did not fly. They simply could not believe that someone was willing to sit in a train all day to get from A to B. Maybe I am a little crazy after all :P

No words...just wishes

2007-05-06T08:56:00.000+01:00

For Renée & Steve. My thoughts are with you.

Death cab for cutie - What Sarah said

And it came to me then that every plan
Is a tiny prayer to father time
As I stared at my shoes in the ICU
That reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breaths as I said to myself
That I’ve already taken too much today
As each descending peak on the LCD
Took you a little farther away from me
Away from me

Amongst the vending machines and year-old magazines
In a place where we only say goodbye
It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend
On a faulty camera in our minds
And I knew that you were a truth I would rather lose
Than to have never lain beside at all
And I looked around at all the eyes on the ground
As the TV entertained itself

‘Cause there’s no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous pacers bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes ‘round and everyone lift their heads
But I’m thinking of what Sarah said
That love is watching someone die

So who’s gonna watch you die?

In Tokyo (Pt. 30): G'bye to Tokyo

2007-05-04T03:47:00.000+01:00

And that, as they would say, is that. The last report from Tokyo. My apartment is cleaned, my stuff almost packed, and my work almost finished (I saved the finishing of my paper for the veeery last day!). I'll be back in Tokyo for the last two days (17-19 May), but tonight I'm off to travel around for a little less than two weeks. I'll take an overnight bus to Kyoto (not particularly looking forward to the small seats), and will stay in the Kansai (Kyoto) area for 4-5 more days. From there on, I'll see (have to check for timetables of transport, accommodation, etc.).

My feelings are a bit mixed. I'm fine with going home (after traveling!), and to be thrown into the more hectic IVM-life again. I wouldn't mind staying longer, but then I would rather make it a few months longer instead of just a few weeks. So basically, I feel that I'm done with what I needed to do. Of course, I didn't get to do everything I wanted (both in terms of personal life and for work), but I can go back satisfied with what I've done here.

My last day was good, I spent the whole day yesterday drinking, watching movies, playing funny playstation games, and chatting with colleagues here. Luckily my hangover isn't that bad ;)

I don't know if I'll be able to keep up the blog while traveling, but I'm sure that I should have internet connection every once in a while. Otherwise, I'll save the stories for when I get back to Amsterdam!

(Back) In Tokyo (Pt. 29): Nikko

2007-04-29T15:40:00.000+01:00

Back in Tokyo again! I didn't make it to the embassy 'Koninginneborrel' on Friday, as I was having too much nice food, nice drinks, and good conversations first with some colleagues from the university, and later with some other friends (see below). Although we went for dinner and drinks in Roppongi, I still haven't been out there, really (which some may consider a good thing).After waking up too early on Saturday, I set off for Nikko to get there in time. When I left Tokyo, the weather was beautiful, but by the time I got to Nikko it was quite cloudy. Nothing to worry about, right? Rrrrright... Once again, the Shinto or Buddhism deities decided that I didn't honour them enough, and just like Seoul they pissed down on me. I was already soaked before I got to the hostel, and the thunderstorm didn't pass by quickly, so I spent my first day in Nikko without seeing anything. In the evening, I did go to a lovely restaurant, though, where it felt like you were eating in someone's living room (and great food for great value on top of that!). Another small highlight was seeing a few deer at night crossing the street (at a zebra-crossing, for real!) - I didn't expect to see any wildlife here.

So today, I had to catch up and try to see if I could do all that I could do in one day. Looking back, I quite well managed. I started in the morning with more temples and shrines. Some of them were even more beautiful than the ones I saw in Kyoto, such as Tōshō-gū (although none of them had nicer gardens). And it was nice to see the origin of the t hree wise monkeys ('see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'), which have graced my home in Amsterdam since 2001. However, overall, the whole Nikko-Park area was too crowded in my opinion (even though I went early), and I got some symptoms of temple-fatigue (not even taking the effort to go into a temple, because you don't feel like taking your shoes off...). So, after a nice lunch in a Korean restaurant, I headed off for Chuzenji-ko. I got off at a stop earlier and took a cable car to go hiking for the first time. The hike showed how badly out of shape I was, but I liked it nevertheless, because of the great views of Kegon falls and the surrounding mountains, the fact that there was almost no-one, and a little nice surprise (I didn't expect to see snow at this time of year! Of course, I slipped on it and fell on my ass...).As I lost the path after having gone more than halfway, I was forced to return. From there I took the bus to get a closer look at the falls, which were certainly nice (although I've been spoilt with too many waterfalls in South Africa to be really impressed). After that, I started returning, and after 4 hours I got back in Tokyo again, exhausted, but very satisfied! And on the way back, I also saw some macaques from the bus :)

By the way, I would like to wish everyone, on whatever continent they may be at this moment, a wonderful Koninginnedag. I heard the weather in Amsterdam is going to be shitty (25 degrees, sunny, I'm glad I'll miss it!) ;) Enjoy it!

(Last week) In Tokyo (Pt. 28)

2007-04-27T04:25:00.000+01:00

Tempus fugit, yes indeed...

My last week in Tokyo has arrived. This is not to say that I'm almost back. I still have about four weeks left, but I will have to leave my oh so cosy, tiny apartment by next Friday. On that day, I will also take the bus to Nara, to start off my trip through Japan. As I'm still waiting to hear if I'm gonna go hiking in Kyoto, I don't know my full plan yet, but it looks like I'll visit Nara, Kyoto (again), Osaka/Kobe (mainly for Himeji castle), Hiroshima, and if time permits, Aso-san (I miss the wonderful smell of rotting eggs at volcanoes).

But first, I will go and celebrate Queen's day at the embassy here today. I'll be too late to sing along with the Dutch anthem (aaah, what a shame) ;) , but it should be nice anyway. After that I'm off to dinner in Roppongi, and hopefully going out. Then tomorrow morning, I have to get up early to make my way to Nikko for the weekend.

Busy times at the end, as you can see, but I like it. Some (time) pressure also makes me work better, as I've experienced in the past, so I hope that Monday-Thursday will also be very productive days (and I also hope I have some time to see Spiderman 3 in between) :P

Ok, gotta run for lunch now! Will post more when I get back from Nikko.

Thank you Daily Show!

2007-04-26T04:28:00.000+01:00

This is almost too funny to be real :)

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 19)

2007-04-25T05:07:00.000+01:00

Another band I'll be seeing live sometime this summer (thanks to Steve!), Porcupine tree. Although this could be easily classified as progrock, I think it has a bit more to offer than what most would understand under that genre. Hey, and this song (The start of something beautiful) is at least under 10 minutes! Every second of music between min. 4.18 and 6.38 of this song is to me pure bliss :)

Enjoy!

Engrish (Pt. 2)

2007-04-23T03:55:00.000+01:00

Once again, why should I add anything? :)

(Back) In Tokyo (Pt. 27): Lost my Seoul

2007-04-21T12:31:00.000+01:00

Back again after my whirlwind trip to Korea. Which means that I can start with the good news: I have been allowed to re-enter Japan, so no worries anymore about exceeding my permit here! I was a little nervous though when re-entering Japan (the nervosity was enhanced by one of the most awful landings I've ever experienced, with the plane tilting to such an extent I was fully convinced the wings would hit the ground...). But the immigration officer, besides giving me a little dodgy look when opening the page that said that I left Japan two days ago, gave me the relieving stamp of approval :D

So, the bigger purpose of the trip has been achieved. But how was the trip itself? After a smooth flight and busride into Seoul, I met up with David (see pic below), who I last saw three years ago. I also met his wife and some of their friends working at the Canadian embassy that night. We had a good dinner (Korean BBQ!), and enjoyed a couple of drinks at various bars around town (one of which had a party where the head of Jagermeister Korea was promoting his drink by giving us free shots - how I hate Jagermeister...).The next day, David showed me around Seoul a little, but he had to go on to work. So I was starting to do when I'm alone in a new city - walk around aimlessly. I got to see a nice palace, but by that time, the weather had become absolutely horrible (rain, wind, very much Amsterdam-like). I also got a little bit annoyed by the hundreds of school children that swarmed the palace, so I decided to dry up in a restaurant and try me some Bibimbap, a local dish. Korean food, as some of you may know, is certainly good. However, they enjoy a particularly gross sidedish, Kimchi, which basically is fermented (rotten) cabbage with a spicy sauce. I was told that you have to get used to it, but one day wasn't enough for that. After lunch, I was soaked again within 10 minutes, and I saw that I had the choice between getting even wetter and grumpily stroll around the city, or to go to David's warm house, and enjoy a good book. I chose the latter.

From the little I've seen of Seoul, it looks like a mixture of Tokyo (tall buildings, neon signs, lack of urban planning, hi-tech, etc.) and a South-East Asian city (small streets, smell, busy streetlife). It looked like an ok city to visit for a few days, although the people that I spoke to that lived there were not entirely happy with the city. Anyway, don't ask me how Seoul really is, because after being washed away by the rain, I feel that I can't judge...

Oh, of course I should show you this curiosity (I would look sad too if I knew I'd be eaten...):
It's crazy to realize that my last two working weeks will start on Monday. In fact, the last working week is actually a holiday week here in Japan (socalled Golden week), but I'll probably use it to finish some of my work here. After that, I'm off again!

In Tokyo (Pt. 26): Carry-oh-key

2007-04-18T12:32:00.000+01:00

I haven't been able to think clearly for the last few hours due to a slight hangover, preparations for Korea tomorrow, a whole lot of e-mails flooding my inbox today related to all kinds of different topics, a discussion on how to use mathematical modeling in international climate policy, and last but not least, the incredible shitty weather (5-10 degrees and constantly raining). Nevertheless, I think I should be able to post :P

Yesterday, we had a nice trip to Jiyugaoka with the people from Kanie-san's lab. It was fun to meet some new people, to be able to drink without the fear of passing out, and to be able to say that I ate octopus, something that I would probably never eat if anyone told me before I started with it, but as I didnt recognize what was in the food, I happily ate it (until someone told me halfway that it was octopus). I didn't think it was bad at all, so I finished it. I know this may sound ridiculous for all you seafood-lovers, but for me it was another personal victory.

Then afterwards, I finally got to go to a karaoke-bar! And boy, do the Japanese take karaoke seriously! No, there's no big stage where any drunk guy or girl can terrorize the ears of the people in a bar singing Andre Hazes. It's much more intimate, with a room for around 10 people, hi-tech audio equipment, an unbelievably long list of songs to choose from (including music that you wouldn't expect in a karaoke songlistbook, such as deathmetal), and - at least the people I was with - people that actually try to sing! Of course, I had to sing as well, and since I dont know any J-pop I safely chose Imagine and The boxer. All in all, good fun!
Tomorrow morning, I'm off to Seoul, so I'll probably post my impressions of that on Saturday. Till then!

Problem solved - I think I need a new job!

2007-04-18T06:05:00.000+01:00

Leave it to a lady from Arkansas to solve the mystery of global warming. LOL!

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 18)

2007-04-16T16:06:00.000+01:00

Here's an acoustic version of a song I like a lot, this time by Audioslave (RIP, 2006), although performed by Chris Cornell (still very much alive) acoustic, Wide Awake.

If you can't already guess what the song is about, I found this deep analysis of the song :) "To sum it all up: Bush is an asshole. A very big asshole. You don't normally get assholes as big as him."

You can look a hurricane right in the eye
twelve hundred people dead
or left to die, follow the leaders
were it an eye for an eye
we'd all be blind
deaf or murdered this i'm sure
in this uncertain time

so come pull the sheet over my eyes
so I can sleep tonight
despite what I've seen today
I find you guilty of a crime
of sleeping at a time
when you should have been wide awake

Down on the road the world is floating by
The poor and undefended left behind
While you're somewhere trading lives for oil
As if the whole world were blind

so come pull the sheet over my eyes
so I can sleep tonight
despite what I've seen today
I find you guilty of a crime
of sleeping at a time
when you should have been wide awake

wide awake
wide awake
wide awake
wide awake

(Back) In Tokyo (Pt. 25): Culture shot

2007-04-15T11:44:00.000+01:00

Wow. Where to start. Kyoto was - as I more or less expected - beautiful, but I didnt expect it was so packed with nice sights (and corresponding history) almost comparable to Rome. Definitely far different from Tokyo, and - I have to admit - much nicer. Anyway, get ready for a long post ;)

Let's start at the beginning, going back to Wednesday. I had a hectic morning, as I wanted to check up at the hospital, and I needed to get my tickets to Korea. As for the first, I didn't really have time to wait for an appointment later that day, so after being helped by a nice, really old, but with a perfect British accent speaking Japanese lady, I decided to come back a week later if I would still wake up dizzy. Although my first day in Kyoto I had the problem again, after that it seemed to have gone away...Phew (for now).

The night before leaving I had some difficulties falling asleep. Perhaps partly presentation nervosity, but also typical Harro-stress: I realized that if I would go to Korea, my passport would expire within three months when re-entering Japan. Nevertheless, I still bought my tickets, and on my way to Kyoto I started calling the Dutch embassy and Japanese immigration. Both thankfully told me that I dont have to worry about it...Phew nr. 2 (for now).

The ride to Kyoto was with the Shinkansen, and it was the very comfortable and fast form of transport I hoped it'd be. Can't we hire some Japanese to take over the NS? I know it's stating the obvious that the Japanese transport system is so much better than the Dutch, but the differences are quite ridiculous.

After being welcomed by Japanese colleagues, my presentation went much better than expected. Given that I got a free return ticket to Kyoto, one night in a hotel, plus a renumeration, I guess I paid them back :P After that, we enjoyed a good dinner in a chicken izakaya. Not too fond of the chicken heart (blagh), but the rest was very good. The next day I had another great (& free!) 10-course dinner in a modern cuisine Japanese restaurant in good company.

On to the sights. I will try to keep it as short as possible, but it could have easily read something like: "Then I visited temple X and it was beautiful (...) Then I visited shrine Y and I liked it". I was very impressed by almost all of the Buddhist/Shinto places that I visited. Not only because the architecture of the places is often very beautiful, but combined with sunny and warm weather, and nice gardens in which the flowers and trees are blossoming, it makes for an extremely peaceful and pleasant experience. Yes, that is even true for the places where you'll find hordes of tourists.

I will save you a detailed description of all temples and shrines (and other sights), but let me at least list the places I've been to (in chronological order): Higashi-Honganji and Nishi-Honganji, Tō-ji, Nijō-jō, Kiyomizu-dera, Kōdai-ji, Yasaka-jinj a, Chion-i n, Nanzen-ji, the Path of Philosophy (which wasn't quite as quiet and philosphical as one would have hoped), Kinkaku-ji (Golden Temple), Nishiki market, Heian-jingu, and Ginkaku-ji. And that is probably less than 1/5th of the major sights in and around Kyoto... Which one is my favourite....hmmmm....I guess they are not really comparable. As for gardens, I was most impressed by the wonderful flowers, trees, ponds, etc. at Heian shrine. For the views, my favourite is probably Ginkaku-ji (although I'm sure temples in the mountains will beat this). The one temple that sticks to mind (I wouldnt say its the most beautiful, but its nice) is probably the Golden Temple. Lemme give some photo impressions:Friday was nice, as one student from Kyoto University who attended my presentation and who will study in Amsterdam next year, offered to come along for sightseeing. We had a good time, enjoying the weather, the sights, the food, and a beer in an Irish pub to finish off the day. We will try to meet up again in May, and hopefully go into the mountains surrounding Kyoto :D

On Saturday, I went to the Golden Temple, where to my surprise I was offered a free tour by two Japanese girls from the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies who wanted to practice their English on me :) The day before I was also approached by an elderly Japanese lady who wanted me to check her latest entry into her diary in English (which was mainly about how happy she was that the cherry blossoms were so beautiful...aaaaaaw). Unfortunately, except for street, temple, and shrine names I didnt learn any new Japanese. After the sightseeing I met up with Aki to finally really catch up on things (didnt really have a chance for that in the hospital). She showed me around downtown a bit, and we saw the world's coolest tombstone place (see pic) ;)
Oh, and finally, I was in Kyoto, the city where they signed the Kyoto Protocol. A few things reminded me of that :)That brings me to the end of this long post (believe me, I could have made it muuuuuch longer, and it would probably be a good way to make people fall asleep :P). Now I have to get back to work for a few days, and then it's off to Seoul!

Revolution in Tokyo!

2007-04-14T12:38:00.000+01:00

Back from Kyoto tomorrow - I'll post the stories & pics then. But for now, just something to entertain ;)

Thanks to Dave for the link!

In Tokyo (Pt. 24): Kyoto now!/ROK on!

2007-04-10T09:58:00.000+01:00

After two months of staying in Tokyo (not counting Yokohama/Kamakura), it's finally time to leave my home here for some days. Exciting times, in other words. First, tomorrow, I'm off to Kyoto, where I was invited to present at Kyoto University. It's strange to finally go to the city where something was conceived that keeps my research going (I lost count of how many times I've written the word 'Kyoto' in my papers). It also gives me the chance to meet Aki again, and of course to do some sightseeing there (although I only have three days for that - and from what I've read in the Lonely Planet, this is far from enough - reason to go back in May). I will come back on Sunday afternoon again. The presentation itself is also quite exciting - I'll be presenting something new. I had a minor confidence crisis about my presentation over the weekend, but in the end I should be ok. Before I leave I have to do some other things tomorrow. First, I will go back to the hospital - hopefully to get some idea what's causing the dizzyness. It could be my blood pressure (low level of minerals). It could also be my ear (for those of you who know, I've had a long history of surgeries on my right ear, and that might affect my balance system). Finally, it could be the fall of last week, although I think that fall was caused by the same thing that causes me to be dizzy now. Then after the hospital I have to rush to Shinjuku to pay for my second trip out of Tokyo - what am I saying: out of Japan! - next week - Seoul!

I called immigration, and chances for visa extension are very low, so I do what almost everyone else does who wants to extend their period of stay in Japan - hop to the Republic of Korea (ROK) and back. A very nice collateral benefit of my trip abroad is that I figured that one of my old IVM-colleague, David, s is now living in Seoul, so we already agreed to meet up. Yay! So I even have a valid excuse to go to ROK ;)

I dont know how often I will be online over the next one and a half week, but I'll try to give updates as much as possible!

PS: as for the title of the post: here's a link to the lyrics of one of the few climate change punk rock songs I know :)

In Tokyo (Pt. 23): Odaiba & Akihabara

2007-04-08T11:08:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I went out exploring new parts of Tokyo, so I was happy that my friend Mari wanted to join me to visit Odaiba for the Ashes & Snow exhibition I mentioned in an earlier post. To get to Odaiba, the harbour area of Tokyo, which is under heavy development, one of the best ways is to take the 'fully automated transit system without a driver' (I know no better word than 'monorail', but was just told by Wiki that I was wrong) from Shimbashi station to Odaiba. They made sure the route contains enough sights to see, so the ride was worth it. Before going to the exhibition, we visited the decadent Venus Fort, a mall exclusively catering for women. The exhibition itself was very nice again, although I must admit that it many of the photos and film parts I'd already seen in the 'preview' of the exhibition. Nevertheless, I'd recommend it if it ever would come to Rotterdam.

After a nice udon lunch in Odaiba, we moved on to Akihab ara. This part of Tokyo is mainly known for two things: 1) the high density of electronica stores; and 2) the high density of otaku. I've never seen as much anime and manga for sale in my life. Almost every store was packed with manga comics, cd's, dvd's, etc. It's basically geek-heaven - if anyone needs an exclusive Transformers toy from 1985 as a souvenir, let me know - they're only around 150 Euro ;) After reading a lot about it, we also visited a maid cafe (sorry, pictures were not allowed!), a cafe where Japanese girls are dressed up like French maids, in our case with cat-ears and -tails, which was - believe it or not - very much like a normal cafe. It's still interesting to think about the reasons why there is such a demand for these kind of cafes - we didn't see too many otaku in the cafe we were at, except for a lonely guy behind the bar, who was so clearly happy when the waitresses talked to him, and who also bought the little booklet with pictures of the girls....

Akihabara also has some cheap electronics, and since my cellphone charger decided to stop working here, I'll probably go back there by the end of my stay to buy a new cellphone, and buy some of you nice souvenirs of course ;)

Oh, and a little quiz - what do these nice cartoons stand for? One shouldn't be too hard to guess :P

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 17)

2007-04-07T15:03:00.000+01:00

Busy week behind me, busy week(s?) ahead. I've had an interview almost every day this week, which was pretty cool (in the sense of finally getting some new information about my research subject). I also managed to do some practical stuff, like fixing my glasses (which were bent after last week's close encounter with the ground), getting a haircut (I tried to explain that I wanted it really short, but I guess they had to keep it somewhat fashionable so they didnt cut everything :P), and booking my shinkansen tickets for the trip to Kyoto next week.

Today when I got up I felt dizzy for some hours, which scared me a bit after last week. Now I'm ok again, but if I have it again, I'll probably have to check up with a doctor. Later on today, I was very happy when I managed to get tickets for a concert I really wanted to go to later this year - Damien Rice. Timme just went to a concert of him in Tilburg that I had to miss because of my stay here, and of course it was a great concert (blabla..) and I felt bad that I missed it. Anyway, here's the first song of his new album, 9 Crimes. Enjoy!

In Tokyo (Pt. 22): Engrish

2007-04-05T09:35:00.000+01:00

No comments needed... :)

Learning my lesson?

2007-04-02T07:27:00.000+01:00

From nu.nl

Bottom-line: research says that kids keep drinking even after negative experiences with alcohol. It's highly probable that I eventually will be included amongst the kids ;)

Jongeren blijven drinken na negatieve drankervaringen

Uitgegeven: 2 april 2007 08:21
Laatst gewijzigd: 2 april 2007 08:25

UTRECHT - De meeste jongeren gaan niet minder alcohol drinken na negatieve ervaringen met drank. Veel jongeren noemen deze ervaringen zelfs 'cool' of 'grappig'.

Dat blijkt maandag uit onderzoek uitgevoerd onder jongeren van vijftien en zestien jaar door de Universiteit Twente in opdracht van de Stichting Alcoholpreventie (STAP).

Bij 65 procent van de incidenten leidde een negatieve ervaring met drank niet tot een voornemen om minder te drinken. Ook bij een ongeluk of een ziekenhuisopname, veroorzaakt door incidenten met alcohol, pasten de meeste jongeren hun drinkgedrag niet aan.

Slechts een kwart ging minder of voorzichtiger drinken. Ziek worden van drank motiveerde het meest om minder te gaan drinken. Een ongeluk of letsel door alcohol leidde zelden of nooit tot stoppen met drinken of tot minder drankgebruik.

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 16)

2007-04-01T14:57:00.000+01:00

After a relatively rough Friday (see below), I'm taking it easy this weekend. Therefore, another nice, lazy Sunday-afternoon song for you.

Enjoy!

In Tokyo (Pt. 21): K.O.

2007-03-31T00:59:00.000+01:00

I almost could have started this post with "another quiet week", almost...

The week indeed started off quiet, in the sense that I forced myself to take it easy with the cold that I felt coming up. This meant staying home, drinking lots of tea with honey, doing some work, and long nights of sleep. So nothing too exciting really.

Thursday was already more post-worthy. I was invited by my host for dinner. The ride there was quite adventurous, as it was the first long(ish) distance cycle trip for me to his house. I managed to not get lost big time, although I have to admit that even with X years of cycling experience in Amsterdam, I felt rather vulnerable on the Tokyo roads. But I managed not to get myself hurt (something I can't say of yesterday...). Anyway, the dinner was great (loots of good food, and nice sake), and I met a Japanese friend of theirs that I met in Groningen last year, so that was a nice reunion too.

Then yesterday it was an exciting day, as I had my first interview with someone from the Ministry of the Environment in Japan. It went very well, we talked about two hours, and I think I got lots of useful info. After the interview I went on to the Dutch embassy, where they had a so-called science party (I guess 'borrel' is a better word). It was fun talking Dutch again after some time, and I met some nice people there. After a few drinks, I went along with a group that went to a Belgian cafe near the embassy. After two more drinks there, I started to feel light in the head all of a sudden...next thing I know I see a strange guy looking on my face, and I'm down on the floor, and I feel a big bump on my head. They told me I passed out for a few minutes, and called the ambulance to take me to the hospital...I didn't feel that bad (passing out sobers one up quite a bit), but I was advised that it was for the better. In general, some of the people in the cafe were amazing in helping me out there, and I was joined for my first trip in an ambulance ever by a Scottish guy I met that evening. At the hospital, I was reminded what a silly 'emergency' case I was, when I saw a guy being reanimated. But still, I needed a CT-scan to check I didn't have a hemorrhage, which I luckily don't.

I was supposed to join Aki to Tsukiji (fish market) but that was obviously cancelled (the hospital was actually next to the market, but I didnt want to stay for the night :P). Too bad, but as you can see, I do my very best to put seek adventure here :P

Oh, and this is more or less how it looks:

In Tokyo (Pt. 20): Planning, schmanning

2007-03-25T11:12:00.000+01:00

Well, the weekend didn't end up the way I planned it, really. Yesterday, I went to hanami, but the weather was quite depressing (very cloudy and colder than predicted). After a long search for the people I was supposed to meet, I finally joined them for a nice picnic. However, as it was so cold, we decided to pack up and go inside a warmer cafe. After a few drinks, I finally got my first sushi experience in a very 'foreigner-friendly' (i.e. Harro-proof) kaiten-zushi restaurant. I promised myself to go to a sushi restaurant at least once, so that promise is somewhat fulfilled (although I was told that this was place was more comparable to fast-food sushi) ;)

As for today, nothing happened to my plans :( First, the weather was absolutely crap (lots of rain, very windy). Second, I'm starting to feel a cold coming up, so I decided it was better to stay at home, and try not to become sick. Hopefully, I'll get another try next week...

It's somewhat strange, by the way, how I have to read in Dutch news that there was a heavy earthquake in Japan that supposedly could be felt in Tokyo. I only didn't notice a thing today...

In Tokyo (Pt. 19): 3 down, 2 to go

2007-03-23T03:23:00.000+01:00

The week is almost ending again, and I don't have the feeling of having been very productive. I hope that'll change next week....Nevertheless, I did go to the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES; about 20-30 km south from Kamakura) to present my work and get some feedback. My preparation was quite bad, but luckily I'm at a stage where I can do presentations almost on auto-pilot, so I didn't embarass myself (although I felt a bit stupid for not being better prepared). I have to say that the number of presentations is getting crazy. I first thought I only needed to do one - now I count five (3 down, 2 to go). The problem is that after presentations, especially those lasting 45 min., I'm less sharp, and I don't get to ask the questions that I wanted to...I should mention some of the upsides, though. First, it brings me to places outside Tokyo. IGES is situated in a beautiful hilly area, and the building looks fantastic (see picture). It's too bad I forgot to bring my camera (and also too bad that people told me you could see Fuji-san from there only when it was already dark...). Another advantage is that in another case, they also pay my trip over there - I got invited to Kyoto in two weeks - expenses paid :D I hope to stay for 2-3 days, if possible.

Slowly, my schedule for April is really filling up, and I hope I have time to do all the interviews I want. At least, I'll try to do as many as possible.

This week I also figured out what my options are regarding my visa. As some of you may know, I have a tourist visa for 3 months, but I am staying for 3 months and 13 days...At first, I thought it would work itself out, but after some stories, I think I will choose to play it safe. Option 1): Go to immigration and extend my tourist visa (no full guarantee); Option 2) Go to Seoul for a weekend (which could turn out expensive); Option 3) Gamble. I think I will first try option 1, and hope it works out...

The upcoming weekend should be nice. Tomorrow it's hanami-time, and the weather prediction is great (18 degrees and sunny), so I expect to spend a nice time in Yoyogi. On Sunday, I'm planning to go to Akihabara, and, if I have time, to the exhibition I mentioned earlier in Odaiba. And next week, Aki will also be in Tokyo, so I'm looking forward to that too :)

BBC on the Great Global Warming Swindle

2007-03-21T01:37:00.000+01:00

"What!? Are you seriously saying that some of Africa's problems are due to a lack of resources, and not in fact the deliberate attempt of a load of malevolent greenies to prevent them from having a better life?" :P

As some of you may know, Channel 4 in the UK broadcasted a load of hogwash disguised as a documentary two weeks ago on how environmentalists are seemingly trying to scare the world into believing something that can't be true - climate change is real! I felt that it was too much effort for me to even comment on their intentional, misinformed bullshit (see, here, here, and here for people that do have the patience to do so). However, this one is quite nice. Although you can listen to the whole mp3, the interesting part - for me at least - is between minutes 18 and 25.

Finally, I think I should cut the director some slack. He obviously took some time to think it over and find the perfect argument why climate change is not happening: "You're a big daft cock" (If you manage to counter this argument, then you can always "go and f... yourself".

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 15)

2007-03-20T06:54:00.000+01:00

I know I'm a day late, but I would nevertheless like to dedicate this song to Mr. Bush, to commemorate the war he started 4 years ago, to save us all. Congratulations on another year!

A perfect circle - Pet

Don't fret precious I'm here,
Step away from the window
Go back to sleep

Lay your head down child
I won't let the boogeyman come
Counting bodies like sheep
To the rhythm of the war drums

Pay no mind to the rabble
Pay no mind to the rabble

Head down, go to sleep
To the rhythm of the war drums

Pay no mind what other voices say
They don't care about you, like I do, like I do
Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils,
See, they don't give a fuck about you, like I do.

Just stay with me, safe and ignorant,
Go back to sleep
Go back to sleep

Lay your head down child
I won't let the boogeyman come
Count the bodies like sheep
To the rhythm of the war drums

Pay no mind to the rabble
Pay no mind to the rabble

Head down, go to sleep to the rhythm of the war drums

I'll be the one to protect you from
Your enemies and all your demons

I'll be the one to protect you from
A will to survive and a voice of reason

I'll be the one to protect you from
Your enemies and your choices son
They're one in the same
I must isolate you
Isolate and save you from yourself

Swayin to the rhythm of the new world order and
Count the bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums

The boogeymen are coming
The boogeymen are coming

Keep your head down, go to sleep, to the rhythm of a war drums

Stay with me
Safe and ignorant
Just stay with me
Hold you and protect you from the other ones
The evil ones
Don't love you son,
Go back to sleep

In Tokyo (Pt. 18): Catching up

2007-03-17T10:29:00.000+01:00

Wow, it's been almost a week since my last post...well let's catch up with some things then.

On Monday I had my first presentation here for a few people from United Nations University. It was quite informal, so it went ok. I got some nice feedback, and stayed on for some presentations of other people afterwards. On Tuesday, I had another presentation scheduled, this time a quite long one. Although I was talking way too fast, it went fine again. It was interesting, as I was presenting some criticisms of the Asia-Pacific Partnership directly to people who were involved in it. I don't know how well they took it. They seemed a bit shocked at first, but afterwards said it was interesting to hear 'the European view' (never knew I represented Europe!). Afterwards I had my first all-Japanese izakaya group visit, and I was amazed how fast the birru and 0-sake were refilled ;) Once again, I tried some fishy stuff (tuna-jaw, seemed to be quite special), and once again it was ok (although I dont think I will ever be a fish-lover). The day after the presentation, I agreed with Kanie-san to write an article together, which should be fun to do. For that, though, I needed to get my interviews here planned. So, with his help, we collected a list and I sent out lots of mails. So far, so good: around 5 appointments after 1 day. I think this will require me to get my agenda organized for a change...

Other than that nothing much happened during the week, watched some movies, started reading Max Havelaar, etc. It did get much colder, though :( Supposedly, it even snowed this week (for the first time this winter, and record-breaking late!), but I didnt notice a thing. But I do hope that the temperature will go up by next week.

Today was very nice again. I agreed to go to Kamakura with Mari, my friend from Montreal, and one of her friends, Hiroshi. Kamakura is very much Tokyo is not: peaceful (despite the tourists) and beautiful (in terms of nature and culture). In other words, it's not a city. For two centuries, Kamakura was the ruling center of Japan, which could explain the high number of temples, shrines, and other sights in such a small town. After visiting the first two temples, Engaku-ji and Tokei-ji (which served as a protection for divorced women), we walked on a long, but rewarding hiking trail for to get to Daibatsu (the Great Buddha, which is indeed...great). By that time, the fogginess luckily retreated, and the sun broke through. After the visit to the Daibatsu, we ended up in an Okonomiyaki restaurant, another first-timer for me. Although I don't really see the comparison to pancakes or pizzas, the food was definitely good, and it was fun preparing it ourselves.

After the huge lunch, we went on to the Hase-dera, a ridiculously decadent temple close to the Buddha, with two huge golden statues, and nice gardens. Although we were up to visit some more temples afterwards, it was already too late to enter them. So in the end, and not surprisingly, we didn't get to see all (or most) of the 70+ temples and shrines in Kamakura, but I gotta leave something for next time, right? ;)
I think I may need to start to make plans for the remainder of weekends I have here. Although I still have more than two months, I should try to go to at least Nikko and Mt. Fuji/Hakone in April. Let's see how it works out. Anyway, a long post again, but that should make up for almost a week of none at all ;)

Finally, some more impressions from Kamakura:

Hanami!

2007-03-11T13:15:00.000+01:00

Yeah! I was just invited to a hanami-picnic on 24 March, to watch the sakura blossoms in full in Yoyogi-park. Looking forward to it already!

And just to give an indication of how serious the Japanese take this, here's the sakura zensen (the front of cherry blossoming approaching) from the Japanese Meteorological Agency.

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 14)

2007-03-11T11:17:00.000+01:00

Simply a beautiful song for a lazy Sunday...

In Tokyo (Pt. 17): Feeling small

2007-03-10T12:32:00.000+01:00

A relatively quiet week has passed. I have mainly been reading stuff for work, and there was nothing too exciting to post. Other than that, I enjoyed watching some movies (especially this one). And I shouldn't forget mentioning that I went to a flamenco show (yes, really) on Wednesday. It was nice to be out for the evening, and the dinner in a tofu restaurant was very good (hmmm, maybe I'm giving myself hints that I should become a vegetarian after all??)

Today I woke up early to go to Kamakura, which is more than an hour away. However, I remembered that I agreed with someone else to go there, so now I will postpone that to next week. Instead I decided to go to Shinjuku, one of the areas I didn't go yet in Tokyo. Although there are no spectactular sights to see, it's supposed to be an area where you can get a bit of everything of Tokyo in one place. To me, it did something else: it made me feel a bit small. First, I went to the west side of Shinjuku St., which basically is a walk from one skyscraper to the other (the ones you saw in the background of the photo in this post). After a while, my need to see impressive architecture was fulfilled, and I moved on to the other parts of Shinjuku, and there the feeling of being a small part of this world continued. During the week, Shinjuku St. is the world's busiest station. In the weekends, it seems no less busy, and this was the first time I actually got a bit anxious in the mass of people. Maybe it was also because of the lack of sleep, or the noise coming from every single shop, pachinko parlour (you wouldn't believe how many people are in these places!), or traffic. Especially around Kabukichō (which didn't seem like a red light district to me - they were selling the same clothes the cosplayzoku people would wear...). Besides the noise, my eyes also went a bit crazy, because of the ridiculously high concentration of neon and other signs. I know there's a big park in Shinjuku, but I didn't make it - I just wanted to go back home at one point. Again, maybe Shinjuku caught me on a bad day, but for now it doesn't seem like an area where I would like to return to quickly. Which makes me wonder why I am fine with going to Shibuya for a couple of times...

Anyway, a busy week up ahead. On Monday a presentation at UNU, on Tuesday a presentation at my university here, and next weekend Kamakura. I am actually quite looking forward to my presentations, because they allow me to get some feedback on stuff I've been doing till now. And of course, a good reason to have drinks afterwards ;)

In Tokyo (Pt. 16): The good, the bad, and the fascinating revisited

2007-03-07T02:46:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned before, I wanted to post some reflections on being here for a month on Sunday, but I guess today's as good as any other day. As the Romans said, tempus fugit, and I can't agree more with them. There's still a lot left to do and see, but, on the other hand, I still have more than two thirds of my time here for that.

Once again, I'll start with the good: I like it here. I was told after two weeks that it's really easy to live in Tokyo, and I think I'm starting to see why. There's enough of everything to keep a man busy: sights to see, shops to plunder, bars to go to, concerts to visit, great food to eat (yesterday, I tried tempura for the first time, which I thought was quite brave of myself - although, surprisingly, I liked the prawn and the fish, the scallop was a bit too much...), and I perhaps should mention the interesting work...

Ookayama is a fine place to live. Although nothing really special, it's quiet enough to have the feeling that you're in a small university town, but at the same time it's very easy to get to the more crowded and lively places in Tokyo. And I start to get used to the masses of people, or learning my way how to avoid them. Furthermore, I haven't been to a single place in Tokyo where I didn't feel comfortable walking around - everything is/feels incredibly safe here. As for my social life, although I wouldn't say it's in full gear, it's definitely a nice feeling to be able to meet up with different people for lunch, dinner, drinks, or whatever. Thanks also to the people that got me in touch with some of their friends, of course. And although my host Kanie-san has been away for the last week, he already invited me to his home this month, so I'm looking forward to that. But I also still feel very connected to Amsterdam, through everything from chatting, to phone calls, to skype (with which I had my first experience last Monday - work related though...). I almost feel that I am too connected with Amsterdam, as chatting with friends like at home somehow removes the feeling of being on the other side of the world - but I nevertheless enjoy the chats a lot!

As for the bad, I think most of the things I mentioned after my first day are less bad then they were. Maybe the problem was that in my first days, I was comparing Japan too much with my time in South Africa, and for many reasons they are almost impossible to compare.

Although my apartment is nothing like in Amsterdam, I can easily manage to live here for another two months. The only thing is that it requires a lot of cleaning (dust seems to come from all over the place). The rent is still higher than I expected (in total 60,000 yen, where I was at first hoping for around 40,000), but it won't get me into big money problems here.

As for language, I think I know what level of basic Japanese can get me around, and don't have illusions of having a chit-chat in Japanese. I also encountered more and more Japanese that do speak English, so I'm also not that worried about it anymore. I still hope, however, that I have the (spare) time to learn a bit more - the language is interesting enough.

Then one other thing, for which the situation is a bit bad now, but I hope that'll improve the coming month, is that I am here to write a theory chapter for my PhD thesis too, and up till now, I haven't been able to even think about the structure of such a piece. Today, I will make a slow start with it, but I doubt that I'll deliver on what I promised myself in that regard. But who knows...

And then for the fascinating. There are the day-to-day fascinating things here, like - hoping that I don't sound too offensive - the way some people walk and/or cycle; waiting for the traffic lights when nothing is coming; the thousand 'arigato gozaimas'-s you receive every day; the fascination for extravagant clothes (see this post); or the extreme emphasis on fashion in general; hot coffee cans from vending machines (not recommended, by the way); talking bath tubs (no, unfortunately not mine); etc.

The bigger fascination is perhaps how Japanese society seems to be extremely organized, modest, introvert, and quiet at one time, and chaotic, expressive, extravert, and loud at other times. I know it sounds like a paradox, and I guess it is, but it's hard to relate the quiet people reading their books in the subway to the kids going crazy at a punk rock concert (it's not only the age, I think). The organization was actually explained to me: all the signs that I can't read here basically are rules for behaviour, in such a way as parents would give rules to their kids. And I think most people got quite used to follow these rules (which makes me doubt why there is a need to have the signs in the first place).

I'm not going to say 'shitsurei' or 'domo sumimasen deshita' for another long post, but will leave it at 'ja mata'! ;)

PS: there were some nice analyses of my facial expression in the comments on the post the other day. I think I will have to disregard the less flattering ones, though. Anyway, I still have to decide whether I will bring a souvenir back to Amsterdam or send it to South Africa ;)

In Tokyo (Pt. 15): Sunny Sunday

2007-03-05T09:13:00.000+01:00

I actually wanted to use the opportunity of me being here for exactly a month already to reflect a little bit on my first impressions. However, that wouldn't be fair towards yesterday, as it was a fun day, and I should write about that first. So, I'll save up the reflections for one of the following days in which nothing happens at all ;)

I went to Asakusa, one of the older parts of Tokyo, and famous for its Senso-ji temple. But after a chat this week (when someone told me how one of the expats she knew didn't skip any opportunity to try out restaurants in Tokyo), I first wanted to go out for lunch. As I don't want to end up in a fugu or whale specialty restaurant, I did a little internet searching and ended up choosing for Katsukichi, a restaurant specialized in pork cutlets. And I don't regret it my choice! The food was amazing, and so ridiculously much that I didnt have to eat for the rest of the day. There was an older Japanese man next to me who was wondering how the hell a gaijin ended up in one of his favourite restaurants, so I knew that it wasn't only my opinion that the food there is good (and the waiting line outside also gave an indication...).After the great lunch I went on to Sensō-ji and surroundings. Although the temple, and the pagoda, shrines, statues, etc. around it look beautiful, I was a bit taken aback by the incredible amount of people there - I honestly cannot imagine wanting to go there as a temple-goer, with the hordes of (foreign and Japanese) tourists swarming the place...So, although the area has a somewhat nice 'old Tokyo' feel to it, I couldn't help but feel that it was too much 'made'. I guess the most genuine old Tokyo part was the amount of old Tokyo-ites strolling around the town. Maybe another reason why it was so crowded was that it was really the first day of summer. It was definitely warm enough to walk around in a t-shirt (although at night I needed my jacket).

After Asakusa, I went on to Shibuya, to see if I could find the place where De Heideroosjes would play. After some searching, I finally found it. I had more or less two reasons to go ther: 1) to see the band playing on the other side of the world; and 2) to perhaps stumble upon some other Dutchies here. And I did, although not quite the punk-rock loving Dutchy-type I expected to see there. No, I happen to get into a conversation with someone who used to arrange for strippers to come to Japan, together with his American friend who still did that. Yes, I guess 'pimp' is a right word for that. Not quite what I expected...but I got quite a few free beers (causing my first Tokyo hangover now). The concert was fun. The Japanese audience, although small, was very, very enthusiastic, or rather: crazy. The fact that I didn't recognize most of the songs they played indicated that it's been at least five years since I've seen them last live, but the band seemed quite happy.

All in all, a nice day :)

In Tokyo (Pt. 14): Roppongi (by day)

2007-03-03T02:47:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I decided to take a day off (meaning that I should catch up with work today...) and head for Roppongi (六本木), where I had a lunch meeting in Roppongi Hills, a huge, new commercial/shopping/food centre about 30 minutes from where I live. Roppongi Hills breathes decadence and kitsch, but I found it still enjoyable, and not all that fake. Now Roppongi itself is quite notorious in - and outside of - Tokyo for hosting the nightlife with the highest concentration of gaijin, and most of the bars/clubs/etc. are mainly occupied by foreigners looking for Japanese girls - and vice versa - at night. But, as the post indicates, I didn't see any of that, as I only went for a day visit. I'm sure I'll go there to experience the nightlife at one point too, although I have no clue what I will think about it - I'll leave that for another post.

After the great lunch, I went up the Mori Tower, to enjoy a very nice view of the city. Unfortunately, the smog(?) prevented me from seeing Fuji-san in the distance, but nevertheless I got a pretty good idea of where's what in Tokyo.

After the viewing, I went on to the Mori Art Museum, which had a range of exhibitions going on. The first of these was about the 'Smile in Japanese Art'. Although not too big, it was quite nice to see really old (1000 BC) clay figures of dogs smiling at you, and I was just stunned when I saw a large scroll which very explicitly depicted a farting contest between Japanese soldiers in the 19th century, as they were being watched by aristocrats encouraging them (by ukiyo-e artist Kawanabe Kyosai). Who'd have thought...

After that came an exhibition on humour in modern art, which managed to put a smile on my face at times, but nothing much more than that. Except for the picture here, I hope you can read the text :) Finally, I got a teaser of a larger exhibition coming to the harbour area (Odaiba) of Tokyo this month, and that's what got me the most excited. It's an exhibition of pictures and films of a man who portraits human-animal interactions. To get some idea of it, check here. The full exhibition will be in a travelling (or as they call it 'Nomadic') museum, built out of shipping containers, so the museum itself will also be quite something. I'm looking forward to that!

Today, I'll catch up with some work, and tomorrow I hope to go to Asakusa. So expect another post soon!

PS: whoever best describes my facial expression on that picture above, wins a souvenir ;)

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 13)

2007-03-02T09:16:00.000+01:00

Time for another great song. This time by a band that some call depressing, some call the best in the world, but there should be no doubt that they're incredible musicians, who can make beautiful music, and are not afraid to step out of the mainstream to do something unexpected: Radiohead. The song I pick is not my all-time favourite, but it's still amazing. The album version (found on Amnesiac) of this song is done quite ingeniously, with Thom Yorke singing his some of his lines backwards, while the music (which can be synced with the music of another song played backwards, 'I will'). Nevertheless, I prefer the live version, as I always seemed to like 'normal' Radiohead better than in their experimental version. Call it a lack of musical education.

The lyrics could be about how we relate with our environment, or according to Thom Yorke: "I don’t think about redemption. I focus on the most imminent ecological issues. You know, there are so many scenarios on the horizon at the moment that will result in mass suffering…For the most part in the West we worship a certain type of economics, which is like worshipping a false god..it’s a theory about economics which will collapse, and the sooner people realize that, the quicker they will be able to understand how we should be engaging with the world around us…To me, it’s like spinning plates: I’m not sure how long we can keep this trick going…"

Well said.

Enjoy!

In Tokyo (Pt. 13): Out of Tokyo

2007-02-28T10:55:00.000+01:00

Well, not really out of Tokyo, as the train ride to Yokohama basically doesn't give you an idea where Tokyo suburbia has ended and Yokohama's begins, but still, it's all about the idea, right?

I went to Yokohama for a (mildly interesting) lecture on ocean governance at the UNU Institute for Advanced Studies, but by chance I got to meet one of the people who I wanted to see here anyways, so that was an added bonus. He immediately pointed me to their PhD fellowship programme, but I think it's a bit too early to start planning my next research stay in Japan :P Before the meeting, I had an wonderfully delicious and huge lunch (for about 6 euro) at a Chinese restaurant in the biggest Chinatown of Asia (I guess they don't count China itself).

Although I didn't have much time for sightseeing, I managed to take a nice walk along the harbour front, passing by Japan's highest building (with the world's fastest elevator), the highest Ferris wheel, and maybe some other recordbreaking architecture that I failed to notice. It was nice to see the water at the harbour, although I would love to stand on the edge of the Pacific and smell the sea. That should be possible by going to Kamakura one of these days.
In other news, I finally got wired internet, which means I don't have to depend on the crappy wireless (especially in the evenings). Yay!!

El laberinto del fauno

2007-02-27T13:14:00.000+01:00

Can anyone tell me why this movie didn't win the Oscar for best foreign language film? I just watched it, and it's a wonderful fairy tale that manages to mix the fascism of Spanish Civil War with a story of a little girl that ends up in a fairy tale in a very believable manner. Very imaginative, great story, and above all, very touching. Although it's a fairy tale, I wouldn't advise kids to watch this stuff. I think it only comes out in April in the Netherlands, but for then, it's a recommendation.

(Oh, yes, I found a way of getting to watch nice movies here, thanx to Bittorrent and the incredibly fast connection at the university) ;)

Yay!!...

2007-02-26T05:28:00.000+01:00

...the people of the Academy Awards also seem to agree that An Inconvenient Truth was a pretty good movie (maybe they just wanna be as politically correct as most of the actors at the award ceremony) :P

In Tokyo (Pt. 12): In Tokyo

2007-02-24T11:28:00.000+01:00

Back in tourist mode again! It feels like I ran (or rather: walked) half a marathon today. I decided to go to Tokyo (meaning Central Tokyo) today, to explore the area there. I seem to end up in parks every weekend, and this weekend is no exception. I first went to the Imperial Palace, which is closed for visitors, except for its Eastern Gardens. Although very nice, it's also mainly a tourist attraction (including Japanese tourists, who just like abroad also come here in groups :P). But it may be nice to go there back there in April/May, when everything is in bloom, because the variety of flowers, plants and trees there is huge.After that, I walked through another park, and paid a brief visit to Yasukuni-Jinja shrine, just to see the place that has caused quite some anxiety in Eastern Asia, as former PM Koizumi and (apparently current PM Shinzo Abe) visited the shrine, which commemorates deceased war victims, but also some notorious war criminals. The shrine is basically a symbol of Japanese nationalism and militarism, and it's not only outside Japan that the shrine visits are controversial. Unfortunately, I did not have time to take a look in the museum next door, which apparently has the same vibe...

After a long and nice back along the outskirts of the palace, I spent a little time in Ginza at the end of day, an upper-class shopping area. I visited the Sony Building (I had to see the PlayStation 3, unfortunately I couldn't play it there :P)

Funny thing of today. I completely forgot about it, but back at the Youth Summit in Montreal, I met a Japanese girl, who lived in London at that time. At the conference on Thursday, I saw someone who looked a lot like her, but I wasn't too sure...So I sent her a mail, and it turned out that it was her after all. She probably was wondering what the hell I was doing there :P Anyway, it's good to have another person to meet up with here!

I don't know if I will go somewhere else tomorrow, but if I do, I'll be sure to post it here soon!

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 12)

2007-02-22T14:14:00.000+01:00

It's around 10pm, and I already came back from a concert. In Amsterdam, by this time, a band would have normally warmed up, but I guess the Japanese need to go to bed early to be prepared for another 12 hour working day ;) Anyway, the concert was great! Although relatively short (70 minutes), they played almost all the songs I like and kicked butt while doing so, and they started with my favourite song, which you can find here.

The venue was more or less like the Old Hall of the Melkweg, which made it quite intimate. Although some of the fans were very enthusiastic, overall I think the crowd had some difficulties expressing themselves (at one point, someone yelled 'thirst singu!' - which apparently referred to their song 'the first single'). It was also funny to notice how everyone and everything is still quite organized. The bar was more like the place where they sell food and drinks in movie theatres at home, bags should be locked outside the venue in lockers, and waste separation also continues inside concert venues. But of course, one of the great things was to be one the tallest people in the crowd with only 1.79m. I think there were only 6 other gaijin (except for the band, of course). Maybe a good thing, as the three Americans that were present were incredibly loud. Funny detail, by the way, they handed out setlists at the entrance before the concert...

Before that, I went to a conference on the Asia-Pacific Partnership. I set a personal record by exchanging 4 business cards within 10 minutes (I still think I can beat that). The good thing is that I have some openings now to talk to people involved in the whole thing. The bad thing is that I received two(!) papers today dealing with pretty much exactly the topic I intended to write on...guess I have to write something better then! ;) I was nicely accompanied by one of Kanie-san's students, who, although he was extremely worried about his Engrish, helped me out quite a bit in translating some of the conference presentations (the whole thing was in Japanese...)

I'll leave it that, and go back to reliving the concert :D

In Tokyo (Pt. 11): I want to ride my bicycle...

2007-02-22T03:53:00.000+01:00

Yay! I got a bicycle, meaning that I can act more like a Dutchie here :) It's quite a fancy one (meaning it would get stolen within a week in Amsterdam), but I think it's nice for cycling back and forth to the office (saves me about 20 minutes per day), and for exploring the neighbourhood. The cycling rules seem to be ok here, although I will have to remember that I don't have priority over other forms of traffic here :(

As for today, in about 30 minutes, I'm off to a Japanese meeting on the Asia-Pacific Partnership, so I guess that will be a bit of networking, securing interviews, and learning. Right after that, I will go to Harajuku, for the concert of the Format. Just to get in the mood, I'll post on of their videos here - I think it's quite funny.

If I have time, and my wireless connection is working along, I'll post some more about the concert after I come back tonight!

In Tokyo (Pt. 10): The art of exchanging business cards

2007-02-20T12:04:00.000+01:00

Yesterday there wasn't too much to post (and my wireless connection decided that I wasn't allowed to post anyways), but today was a nice day. I managed to go through all the reports on emissions trading, which means I can finally move on to the real work I am supposed to do here. It's about time, as I will meet go to a meeting on Thursday where I will have to arrange my first interviews, and I should be at least a little prepared...This morning I was maybe a bit overprepared, as I thought the meeting was today: so I got up early, put on my suit, and took enough business cards with me...only to figure out that it wasn't today. Nevertheless, it was good, as a former negotiator for Japan gave a presentation at the university, so I got my first experience in the art of exchanging business cards. For those of you who don't know, here are some guidelines (source):

Cards are exchanged at the beginning of a meeting; make sure you have enough available for everyone
It is best to stand up when exchanging cards with those of higher rank.
Facing your counterpart, bow slightly and hand your card (with the Japanese side pointing up!) either with your right hand or both hands. The same rule applies when receiving a card from someone else.
Make time to review your counterpart's card carefully. You might want to speak his/her name and position to be sure of correct pronunciation. If the meaning of his/her job position is in any way unclear, it would not hurt to ask for an explanation. Basically, you want to show interest in and respect to the other party.
DO NOT shove the card into your back trouser pocket!!

If you are meeting in passing, then you may just carefully place the card in a shirt pocket or in a wallet or notebook.
If you are seated at a meeting, place the card gently on the table in front of you. Look at it often during the meeting in order to refer correctly to your counterpart's name and position. If you are meeting more than one person and have received multiple cards, arrange them neatly in front of you.

The Japanese hand out their business card at the drop of a hat. Don't be left out! Give your card to anyone that you want to hear from again. You'll likely go through a lot more cards during your trip to Japan than you would back home.

I think I didn't manage to keep myself to guideline nr. 4, but otherwise I think I'm prepared enough for Thursday :)

Oh, and it was also a nice day, given that IVM has some kind of arrangement for people staying abroad that gives me tax benefits :D

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 11)

2007-02-19T04:49:00.000+01:00

It's not often that I will post a song that I only heard the first time the day before, but thanks to Annemarie, I discovered Aereogramme. Although I heard something by them before, that consisted mainly of metal-like screaming, etc. I'm happy I gave them another chance, as their latest album, My heart has a wish that you would not go, is atmospheric and beautiful.

So, for those of you who are interested, here it is.

And for a nice explanation (and video) of the song, see here.

Enjoy!

In Tokyo (Pt. 9): Ueno

2007-02-18T09:58:00.000+01:00

I've been here for almost two weeks now...time goes faster than I think. The weekend started off nice, meeting up with someone from Bulgaria who's lived here for about 7 years now. I felt a bit more comfortable when she indicated that not only does she get around quite well without speaking Japanese, it is also possible to live here for that long without liking fish (as I said before I left: I either come back liking fish, or not liking Japan - luckily there is a third way). Anyways, it was good to meet up with another expat, and to see some of the Ebisu and Shibuya nightlife. And, after Indonesia, it was great to have my first Bintang (see Rob's ode to the beer here).

Yesterday, I wanted to go to Ueno already, but after sleeping in, and doing some work, it was already too later to go. The reason why I wanted to go yesterday is that weather predictions for today were much worse. So I went today, and at first the predictions were right. I didn't have so much problems with the rain (guess I am Dutch to some extent), but more with the umbrella-dodging. Fortunately, the sky cleared up later in the day, which made walking through the park a much more pleasant pastime.

There are many museums in Ueno Park, but I decided first to go to the biggest, the Tokyo National Museum, and ended up spending around two-three hours there, meaning that I didn't have time for any other museum. All the stuff in the museum was almost a bit too much to take in at once, as it displays Japanese art from very ancient history till early this century, from calligraphy to sculptures and ceramics. Very impressive, and nice to learn some things about the history of Japan(ese art), although I wonder to what extent I'm able to remember all the information and impressions I got today. I do remember I was quite impressed by this dish here.

After going through the park (which is definitely not as nice as Yoyogi, where I was last week), I was advised to go to Ameyoko, which was quite fun. It's almost like Waterlooplein in Amsterdam, with people yelling to try to convince you to buy their stuff, the difference being that here it's also food (and looots of fish), they're selling.

Too bad I didn't get to see everything I planned, but there are more than enough weekends to go, so I should be able to cover most of it.

I couldn't resist posting this...

2007-02-17T06:41:00.000+01:00

Nation's Snowmen March Against Global Warming

The Al Gore roadshow continues, but where is Radiohead?

2007-02-16T17:35:00.000+01:00

AL GORE, KEVIN WALL, PHARRELL, MANÁ, CAMERON DIAZ LAUNCH UNPRECEDENTED CAMPAIGN, CONCERT TO COMBAT CLIMATE CRISIS

“Live Earth” Concerts in All 7 Continents to Reach Global Audience of Over 2 Billion

Los Angeles, CA – Detailing a historic effort to engage billions of people across the globe, Kevin Wall, Al Gore, Pharrell Williams, Maná, Cameron Diaz, and the MSN Network today launched Save Our Selves (SOS) – The Campaign for a Climate in Crisis. The announcement was made at the California Science Center.

SOS is designed to trigger a global movement to combat our climate crisis. It will reach people in every corner of the planet through television, film, radio, the Internet and Live Earth, a 24-hour concert on 7/7/07 across all 7 continents that will bring together more than 100 of the world’s top musical acts. Live Earth alone will engage an audience of more than 2 billion people through concert attendance and broadcasts. MSN has partnered with SOS to use its reach to make the Live Earth concerts available across the globe. The Live Earth audience, and the proceeds from the concerts, will create the foundation for a new, multi-year global effort to combat the climate crisis led by The Alliance for Climate Protection and its Chair, Vice President Al Gore. SOS was founded by Kevin Wall, who won an Emmy as Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8.

“Our climate crisis is the paramount challenge facing humanity. SOS is more than a global distress call. SOS will give the world the tools we need to answer that call with meaningful action. The most important part of SOS is how individuals, corporations, and governments respond,” Wall said. “Our climate crisis affects everyone, everywhere, and that’s who SOS is aimed at. Only a global response can conquer our climate crisis. SOS asks all people to Save Our Selves because only we can.”

“In order to solve the Climate Crisis, we have to reach billions of people. We are launching SOS and Live Earth to begin a process of communication that will mobilize people all over the world to take action,” Gore said. “The Climate Crisis will only be stopped by an unprecedented and sustained global movement. We hope to jump-start that movement right here, right now, and take it to a new level on July 7, 2007.”

“At MSN, we have the worldwide audience and the technology stage to help unite a global community around SOS and Live Earth,” said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer of MSN. “Anyone around the world with an Internet connection will be able to come to MSN to view not just the concert events, but also an extensive collection of interactive media that will entertain, educate, inspire and ultimately drive change.”

Wall announced 25 of the 100 top musical acts that have answered SOS’s call and are performing at Live Earth. SOS is also engaging other celebrities, CEOs, athletes, academics and government leaders to engage their constituencies. Please see that attached list of 25 artists.

“More than 100 artists are performing at Live Earth and they’re all headliners. That’s what it takes to engage billions of people. We’re not just engaging fans of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg, or the Foo Fighters and Faith Hill. We’re engaging them and everyone in between,” Wall said. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from the artist community and are feverishly working out the logistics for all of the bands that want to be involved. Today we are announcing just the first 25 and will soon be announcing even more headliners who, for contractual reasons, cannot be announced today.”

The campaign’s identity is based on SOS, the international Morse code distress signal: three dots, followed by three dashes, followed by three dots. SOS is the most urgent, universal message we have, and SOS will use that signal as a continuous distress call to prompt individuals, corporations and governments around the world to respond to our climate crisis with action.

“SOS is creating an unmatched communications platform to take on an unparalleled crisis,” Wall said. “Our message must saturate the globe if we’re to succeed, and we will. In the US, we’re partnering with NBC-Universal and its networks. On satellite radio, we have SIRIUS and XM. In the UK, we’re partnering with the BBC. In Japan, we have a historic partnership with two broadcast partners. We have already secured television, Internet and wireless coverage in 120 countries, and the rest are soon to come.”

Wall announced that Live Earth concerts will take place in Brazil, Shanghai, Japan, Johannesburg, London, Sydney, and the Eastern United States.

Live Earth will be broadcast worldwide on MSN, which was the first sponsor to answer SOS’s call. MSN is one of the world’s most popular Internet destinations, and as such will allow the SOS campaign to have a global reach. MSN has services in over 42 markets and 21 languages, and more than 465 million people around the world visit MSN each month. Beginning today, people can go to http://liveearth.msn.com and begin participating in the global movement, and on 7/7/07, to watch the Live Earth concerts.

Live Earth is being produced by Control Room, of which Kevin Wall is the CEO. Control Room has produced and distributed more than 60 concerts since its founding a year and a half ago featuring Beyoncé, Madonna, Green Day, Dave Matthews Band, Keith Urban, James Blunt, Snoop Dogg, the Rolling Stones, among others. Its multi-partner network provides a global reach for live offerings through broadband, television, digital movie theatres and mobile phones throughout the U.S. and the world.

Live Earth will implement a new Green Event Standard that will become the model for carbon neutral concerts and other live events in the future. The Green Event Standard is being developed in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Commission to create a way for venues to be LEED-approved.

+++++++

LIVE EARTH FACT SHEET

Live Earth - The Concert for a Climate in Crisis

7/7/07

Concerts on all 7 continents:

Shanghai
Sydney
Johannesburg
London
Brazil - TBD
Japan - TBD
United States - TBD
Antarctica - TBD

100+ artists
Current and legendary artists across all genres performing multiple hits.

Announced today:

Pharrell
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Foo Fighters
Snoop Dogg
Lenny Kravitz
Bon Jovi
Paolo Nutini
Sheryl Crow
AFI
Melissa Etheridge
John Mayer
Damien Rice
Corinne Bailey Rae
Duran Duran
Snow Patrol
John Legend
Black Eyed Peas
Akon
Enrique Iglesias
Fall Out Boy
Maná
Keane
Kelly Clarkson
Korn
Faith Hill w/ Tim McGraw
Bloc Party

Celebrities and thought leaders
Entertainers, athletes, scientists, government leaders and CEOs helping engage their constituencies with SOS.

More than 1 million audience members
Live concert attendance reaching more than 1 million people.

More than 2 billion viewers
Multi-platform distribution (television, radio, internet, wireless) reaching in excess of 2 billion people across the globe.

The global audience gathered for Live Earth, its ongoing actions, and the proceeds from the concerts, will form the foundation for a new, multi-year international initiative to combat the climate crisis led The Alliance for Climate Protection and its Chair, Al Gore.

Source: liveearth.org

In Tokyo (Pt. 8): Of concerts & work

2007-02-16T05:43:00.000+01:00

Woohoo! With the support of Aki, who helped me to get tickets online from Kyoto, I managed to get a ticket to my first concert here. Next week Thursday, I'll go the Format in the Harajuku Astro Hall. Already before going to Japan, I knew that this was one concert that I didn't want to miss. I've listened to these guys for a few years now, but they never came to Europe. So I was very happy to know that I could see them here, and now I'm even happier :) After Aki booked the ticket, I had to pick it up through the Loppi, which I wasn't able to understand, but thankfully there was a nice employee willing to assist me.There are some more nice concerts coming up here in the coming months (Bloc party, Muse, etc.), and although expensive, I'll try to go to a few. Of course, I'll give a review when I come back next week, and will probably post some music as well.

Other than that, the week has been mainly about work again. I have to go through about 60 reports and articles that evaluate the European emissions trading system. Although some of it is interesting, it's a lot of work, and I'd rather focus on getting the research I proposed to do here. But I guess I have to get this over with as quick as possible. Other than that, I'm finalizing a paper that I unfortunately can't present, for a conference in Helsinki next week. Although I'd love to be at the conference, I think it's a bit too much to travel back and forth to Helsinki for that. I seem to be getting criticism for flying too much already from some people - with which I kinda agree, but it still doesn't stop me (see this post).

As for plans this weekend, tonight, I will meet up with a friend of Aysem, who works at UNU, which should be nice (it's about time that I go out for dinner again!). And in the weekend, I want to go to Ueno(上野), to visit one or more museums, and if I have time and feel like it, Asakusa(浅草). Too bad the weather isn't expected to be as great or today (although I brought my winter coat with me, it was too warm even with my spring/autumn jacket on), but it may be a good reason to go into a museum.

Till next time!

Song(s) Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 10)

2007-02-13T17:17:00.000+01:00

A good time for a song where it seemingly doesn't matter who performs it. I love every single one of these versions of Such great heights. Here they are, by:
The postal service (the original)
Iron & wine (cover)
Ben Folds (cover - note the end of the song :P)

And this is for the karaoke version ;)

Enjoy!

In Tokyo (Pt. 7): Waste-ing time

2007-02-13T10:24:00.000+01:00

Not too much to tell today. The working week has started again (yesterday was a national holiday (National Foundatoion day or Kenkoku-kinenbi - 建国記念日). I was shown around in Oookayama a bit more, who pointed me to all the nice & cheap shops in the university area.

Other than that, I'm quite occupied finishing some things that allow me to get to the main research I want to do here. And I have the feeling I should be getting there fast, as I could have my first meetings from people involved in the AP6 by next week already. Anyways, I'm happy to see that my books that I've sent from the Netherlands have safely arrived here (I will definitely need them!).

But rather than posting something very short, I want to discuss one of the other things that I think is interesting here: waste. As I mentioned in a previous post, the guidance books in my apartment were full of detailed rules of how to separate waste. Admirable, for sure, but also something I have to get used to, as full waste separation seems to be something of the past in Amsterdam (with some exceptions, of course). However, what I then think is strange is how everything is overpackaged here. It sometimes feel like everything you buy from a supermarket is like a Matroshka (see picture), where everytime you thing you've unwrapped the whole thing, there is another layer of packaging...Cooking, for example, becomes quite a challenge when you haven't unpacked everything, because you have to watch your food while you struggle with unpacking the other things :) Also, at any shop, like in many other countries, the employees are more than willing to give you an extra plastic bag. Finally, the use of cans and PET bottles is definitely not discouraged - I pass by around 20 vending machines from my home to work.

Japan's waste policy is to a large extent based on waste incineration (there's too little space for landfills - not a great option either), but I think there is massive potential for waste minimization. I would actually be curious to find out why there is so much overpackaging. Is this for reasons of hygiene? Anyways, it might be an idea to start with changing consumption habits and packaging - in combination with good waste separation, this might actually produce some results.

Amsterdam

2007-02-12T01:29:00.000+01:00

No, I'm not homesick, I just felt like posting something nice about my hometown :)

Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui chantent
Les rêves qui les hantent
Au large d'Amsterdam
Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui dorment
Comme des oriflammes
Le long des berges mornes
Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui meurent
Pleins de bière et de drames
Aux premières lueurs
Mais dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui naissent
Dans la chaleur épaisse
Des langueurs océanes

Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui mangent
Sur des nappes trop blanches
Des poissons ruisselants
Ils vous montrent des dents
A croquer la fortune
A décroisser la lune
A bouffer des haubans
Et ça sent la morue
Jusque dans le coeur des frites
Que leurs grosses mains invitent
A revenir en plus
Puis se lèvent en riant
Dans un bruit de tempête
Referment leur braguette
Et sortent en rotant

Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui dansent
En se frottant la panse
Sur la panse des femmes
Et ils tournent et ils dansent
Comme des soleils crachés
Dans le son déchiré
D'un accordéon rance
Ils se tordent le cou
Pour mieux s'entendre rire
Jusqu'à ce que tout à coup
L'accordéon expire
Alors le geste grave
Alors le regard fier
Ils ramènent leur batave
Jusqu'en pleine lumière

Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Y a des marins qui boivent
Et qui boivent et reboivent
Et qui reboivent encore
Ils boivent à la santé
Des putains d'Amsterdam
De Hambourg ou d'ailleurs
Enfin ils boivent aux dames
Qui leur donnent leur joli corps
Qui leur donnent leur vertu
Pour une pièce en or
Et quand ils ont bien bu
Se plantent le nez au ciel
Se mouchent dans les étoiles
Et ils pissent comme je pleure
Sur les femmes infidèles
Dans le port d'Amsterdam
Dans le port d'Amsterdam.

In Tokyo (Pt. 6): Cos-play-zoku

2007-02-11T11:14:00.000+01:00

This post is related to the last one, but in my opinion is worthy of a post of its own. One of the reasons I did not go to Shibuya on Saturday, but today is that on Sunday, the Cos-play-zoku kids would be there. Cos-play-zoku stands for 'costume-play-eeeeh-zoku' (aah, it means 'group' or 'family' - thanks Google). Every Sunday, at Jingu-bashi bridge near the entrance of Yoyogi-kōen, and near Harajuku station, groups of teenage kids gather to...well, to pose for dozens of cameras. I think you can see it as a form of self-expression. You could call them 'goths' in Western Europe, but I think there are some differences. Anyways, as the good book (Lonely Planet) says about them: "Cos-play-zoku are united in their fondness for Japanese visual type bands (...) and a sense of pride in their alienation. Many of the girls are ijime-ko, kids bullied in school, who find release and expression in their temporary weekend identities".

Enough talking. Below are some impressions.

In Tokyo (Pt. 5): Park (& tourist) life

2007-02-11T10:39:00.000+01:00

I definitely managed to get my exercise this weekend. Both yesterday and today consisted largely of strolling around different neighbourhoods, again (do I even need to repeat this) in beautiful weather.

Yesterday I went for a walk in the neighbourhood of Oookayama, the residential area around the university. I started off with Senzoku-ike, a park (or rather: a small lake with walking areas around it) near my apartment. It was quite nice to be in an area with trees, water, no cars, etc. (even though it was quite small). After that I walked without a specific purpose around the area. Although I thought my sense of direction is quite good, and I intended to return to the main gate of the university, I ended up two subway stops further...oh well, it's fun to get lost :) Finally, I walked around the full campus, only to figure out that it actually gives the VU a run for its money in terms of ugliness...

After a (in my opinion too) quiet Saturday night, I got up this morning to head for Shibuya-ku (渋谷区) Getting of the subway, I finally saw what I originally expected when thinking of Tokyo: masses of people swarming around shops. Shibuya is either shopping Mecca or shopping hell, depending how you look at it. The area is primarily occupied by a young, fashionable crowd (15-35), who all spend their Sundays (and who knows what other day of the week) shopping for whatever it is they want.
After I figured out that there was no way I could get a sense of direction here, I decided to just wander around through the maze of shopping streets. Eventually, I got a small clue where I was again (thanks to a big department store; street signs are not particularly helpful). So then I decided to head off for Yoyogi- kōen (代々木公園), the large park near Shibuya. At the entrance of the park, I found the Cos-Play-Zoku kids (see next post). The park itself was quite crowded, but still far from the hecticness of nearby Shibuya. In the park I visited the Meiji-Jingu shrine (明治神宮), which was not only nice to look at itself, but also fun because there was a traditional wedding ongoing.

On the way back, I was already able to find the correct route without much difficulty - this should be helpful for next time I visit the area. I also decided that I should as much as possible go and explore different parts of Tokyo in the weekends, not only for my exercise, but also to take in as much as I can of the city.

In Tokyo (Pt. 4): Let it snow

2007-02-10T03:23:00.000+01:00

You don't see me complaining at all about the weather here (a favourite topic for the Japanese, by the way), but it's quite curious to point out the differences between Japan and the Netherlands this week. When I was able to stand outside without my coat and still feel warm, the first snowstorm caused some (minor) problems at home. At the same time, a lack of snow is causing trouble, even in the Northern island of Hokkaido, where it almost screwed up the annual Snow Festival.

Of course, I know, and scientists will always say that it's difficult to relate single weather events to climate change, but can someone explain to me why in one year the Netherlands experienced the warmest month in 300 years (July 2006), the wettest month in 100 years (August 2006), the warmest January in 300 years (2007), and some of the warmest October-December months, while at the same time Japan is experiencing unprecedented temperatures for February (not to mention other parts in the world)?

A practical issue that plays a role for me here is that I wanted to go snowboarding with my friend Arno, either on Honshū (the main island) or on Hokkaido, but so far this seems to be difficult. Of course, I hope it doesn't stop him from coming over ;)

Yesterday was a relatively quiet day: did some work, managed to find an ATM that wanted to give me (some) money, had lunch with Kanie-sensei, and did some reading. Today I will explore the Oookayama neighbourhood by foot, and tomorrow I'll go to Shibuya and Yoyogi park (or at least, these are my plans). Will post more on that when I get back!

In Tokyo (Pt. 3): Oh yeah, I’m here to work as well…

2007-02-08T11:29:00.000+01:00

I’m starting to get used to finding my way to the office at Titech (hmm, guess why the Tokyo Institute of Technology chose that as an acronym…). The last two days, both my host and his students weren’t present, so that was a good reason for me to start working. After all, as I mentioned before, I have quite some work to do here.

So yesterday, I started gathering documents on the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP6), or as a friend I met in Montreal calls it, the ‘Coal Pact’. The partnership is basically a voluntary agreement between the biggest developed countries that said ‘no’ to Kyoto (US + Australia), and the two biggest developing countries (China + India), with Japan and Korea also on board. The position of Japan is interesting, as it is the only country that wants to go down the Kyoto and the AP6 road. Hence, my stay here. But first I need to develop a list of questions for the interviews I’m going to do, and for that I have to go through all the documents. Reading some of the press releases from the Australian government, which can get me quite angry, I hope I will be able to restrain myself when I talk to people who are involved in the AP6. Who ever said I was an unbiased researcher? ;)

My office has been quite empty till now, except for an older man, who only seems to run in, say hi, and run out again. I think in April (when the new school year starts, there will be some more people). The view is definitely nice, with Central Tokyo and the other large districts in the distance. I walked around a little on campus today – it must have been almost 18 degrees. Everyone seems to be fascinated that the first cherry blossoms are already popping up. Already three times, I saw old and young ladies stopping to smell them

That's it for now again. Hope to come back with a bit more exciting stuff later!

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 9)

2007-02-08T11:09:00.000+01:00

I didn’t intend to stop my regular song postings, and now I finally found an incredibly forced to bridge to the following song that allows me to continue. Those of you that watched Garden State (if you didn’t, go and watch it! – take it from someone who likes all movies!) may remember the nice song at the end of the movie, Let go, by Frou Frou. That is not the song that I’m posting now, but the lead singer of that group, Imogen Heap made some solo records as well. This song is by far the best, giving me chills every time I listen to it, and the title (although not the lyrics) is quite appropriate for today, as I was playing hide & seek with the ATMs in Oookayama (yes, 3 o’s). I admit that I wasn’t really paying attention to finding ATMs in my first few days, as I must have passed two on my way from my apartment to the university, but it seemed like they were hiding from me. But now my yen are slowly running out, I definitely need to withdraw some cash for food, drinks, etc., and of course my rent. So I need to know where they are. Although I did find the two on my way, they don’t accept my bank card…At the supermarket, if that was possible at all in the neighbourhood, and the answer was ‘no’. So tomorrow, I need to seek some more in a different neighbourhood. If I can’t manage, I will go explore some other, busier parts of Tokyo (Shibuya area) on Saturday. I’m sure there should be some there.

Anyways, a long intro to a great song. Enjoy!

In Tokyo (Pt. 2): Getting my act together

2007-02-07T04:30:00.000+01:00

Well, in these first days, posting ‘soon’ means the next day, I guess. Today I had what you could call my first day at the office. But first, I had some difficulties with getting over my jetlag, waking up at 4am and not being able to fall asleep for at least one and a half hour. I don’t quite know if it was the jetlag that woke me up, or sudden stress of all the work that I needed to do while being in Japan. It really seems a lot at the moment. So in my hours awake I decided to write down what I needed to do here, squeezing the last battery life out of my laptop. I think that, in the end, my choices (if they are in fact choices) boil down to this: either try to make the most out of my social life, learn Japanese as much as possible, and get to know the country and its people to the fullest extent possible; or fully dedicating myself to the research I promised to do. The latter sounds most in line with the Japanese working ethics, but I would love to be able to get sucked in the social life too. However, I’m afraid that a combination of both would leave me unsatisfied in both ways…

After a slow wake up, I strolled to the university, still being amazed that it was again a day that could only be characterized as ‘spring’ (the flowers blossoming fully agreed with me). After some introductions and setting up my computer and printer, I was invited to attend a meeting of the ‘environmental politics/policy’ students, in which one of the students, Sayaka, the one who helped me out quite a bit in November, presented her M.Sc. thesis. It was fully in Japanese, so I had some time to write down my shopping list :P The discussions afterwards were in English, however, and they were quite interesting.

Before dinner, I was able to get a nice cell prepaid cellphone through Kanie-san for a very good price (30 Euros!), so I am connected again. If you need my number just send me a mail. I also got an adapter, even though I wasn’t sure whether it would work for my laptop plug. The dinner itself was great, though not cheap. I asked my dinner company whether they could order me anything they thought I would like (while giving a warning that I’m extremely picky). This certainly meant fishy stuff, and I was ok with it, and in hindsight, I don’t regret it at all. I guess this is the way to make myself learn to eat fish :P The whole meal was delicious, or as I should say: gochisō-sama deshita.

So, back in my cellblock..errm…apartment, the question of the day was: will the adapter work? And yes, it’s working (otherwise I wouldn’t be typing this)! This will make my work at the office, which until now meant struggling with Japanese keyboards and Windows indications, so much easier. Tomorrow I still need to arrange some other things (paying rent, filling in forms, checking whether I actually need to register as a foreigner, etc.), but I also hope to get started with some reading and writing.

Until next time!

In Tokyo (Pt. 1): The good, the bad, and the fascinating

2007-02-06T05:09:00.000+01:00

When I said that I was going to take a nap in my previous post, I didn’t actually expect to be able to sleep throughout almost the rest of the entire flight. If you have been on a plane with me before, you know that I find it quite difficult to fall asleep sitting up straight, being thirsty, and with noise around you all the time. But probably it was because I was really tired, and it felt nice.

After I landed and – as expected – missed the bus to Tokyo that I wanted to take, I called one of the students, Masahiro, and he made a new appointment. From that moment onwards, I think I can classify my first impressions of Japan/Tokyo into three categories: the good, the bad, and the fascinating.

Let’s start with the good! For starters, my appointment with the two students went fine, and they helped me out a lot by getting me to my apartment, and showing me around a bit on and around the campus. In general, I would add that the Japanese are extremely friendly, even if you can’t communicate. I also already got to meet up again with my host, Norichika Kanie. We had some coffee, I was shown my office, and that all looks very nice. What I also liked is that the area around the campus has a more ‘small town’ vibe to it. I was afraid of being surrounded by high-rise buildings, busy traffic, and lots of people. But it wasn’t at all like that, at least not in the direct vicinity. Another nice thing is that in two weeks time, I will have free internet at my apartment. Finally, the weather is amazing. I was just standing outside on my balcony, and didn’t need a jacket. It’s been 15 degrees and sunny today – sounds like spring to me (and in fact, the first flowers have already started to blossom, which makes me happy), although I have been warned that winter may return. Other good things will surely come my way, but I am here for too short now to add anything else to the list.

Then the bad…Although I admit that the inside of my apartment (see picture) is more or less what I expected, and that it is definitely livable for three months, and that it is situated quite conveniently, there are certain drawbacks to it. Somehow the designer of the international house must have thought that it would be appropriate to put foreign researchers in rooms that from the outside amazingly resemble cell blocks (my camera was giving me shit, but I hope to show this soon). Furthermore, the rent including all the extra fees is more or less doubled, which means it is about the same as I pay at home. And what also negatively surprised me is that there are no kitchen or other utensils at the place. After going through the guide to the residence, I figured out that I can get some utensils on loan, but it would’ve been nice if they made this clear upfront (UPDATE: by now I have them). The guide in itself is interesting, but I’ll get to that below.

Other disappointments are my own doing. I will have to deal with two main issues here: language and money. As for the first, I was already nervous that I did not know enough Japanese, but now I’m here I only realize how the characters can dazzle me. I can learn how to pronounce certain sentences in Japanese, but that does not help me finding salt in a supermarket when it is only written in Kanji, Hiragana, or Katakana. So, I will have to enhance my effort to learn Japanese in at least two ways (speaking and reading) so as to avoid getting lost in translation. This is the more important, as also at the university, them seem to be unable, unwilling or simply too shy to speak English. Then money may become a problem that I underestimated. Not only will the rent be much higher than expected, I realize that Japan is in fact a very expensive country, something which I at first expected, but later on thought `it`s not that bad`. Of course, I notice this much more now in the beginning I have to purchase a lot of stuff, but in general it seems a bit more expensive than Amsterdam. Another issue that I hope to solve soon is getting an adapter and a new mobile phone (I could’ve seen this coming). Especially the adapter is important, as I want to be able to continue to work on this laptop (of which the batteries are slowly dying…), because I am struggling with the Japanese keyboards (or at least to make sure that they don`t switch to Japanese without me noticing it!)

Then finally, I’ll move on to the fascinating. Although I think that over time many points can be added to this list, I noted a couple of things already. First, concern over hygiene. Not only do you see people with mouth caps everywhere, and you notice that it is extremely clean all over the place, but the guide for residents makes it very clear that the Japanese have a high regard for cleanliness. The last couple of pages explaining how to deal with moisture in your room even copy-paste text from Wiki on condensation. They really want us to understand what it can do! :P Maybe connected to this, but another notable thing is the amount of rules that I encountered. I was at first very cold in my apartment, but when I tried to look up in the guide how I could find the heating system (which I must say wasn’t hard to find at all), I was going through 5 pages of how to separate your waste, 6 pages on how to clean and keep things clean, 3 pages on when to clean your bed linen, and other rules for the use of the house. On the other hand, I don`t know to what extent the rules are in fact enforced.

In addition, I found some of the things I already read about fascinating: excessive use of mobile phones; the hectic larger subway and train stations (although I didn’t pass by the BIG ones, and it wasn’t rush hour); and the electric toilet seats sold in stores – I haven’t had the pleasure of sitting on one yet ;)

A long post, I know, but there was also a lot to process and I didn`t feel like waiting with posting this…I’ll give another update soon!

On my way

2007-02-06T04:48:00.000+01:00

I’m writing this post at 11,125m high, as the plane I’m in is flying over North-Siberia. Always good to have a laptop handy, so I can start with talking about the start of my journey when it’s still fresh. (and yes, of course, I wasn`t able to post this from up there, but for the sake of chronology, I wanted to start it with this post).

After six hours of sleep last night, it was quite hard to wake up this morning, but I knew I had to, so I rolled myself out of bed. Unfortunately, I didn’t clean up my place as I wanted to, but I hope my tenants can forgive me for that…I was brought to the airport by my mom and my sister Joska, which was great as I hadn’t seen her for over two months. After a remarkably smooth and quick check-in, it was time for the final goodbyes. And I have to admit that I didn’t feel as shitty and depressed as when I did six years ago, when I for the first time left Amsterdam for a longer period. It’s not that I won’t miss the people or the life around me, but I know time will fly by, I will try and make the best out of it, and before you know it, you’re back again. And of course, this digital era just makes it so easy to be in touch with people.

Then the annoyances started. First, our plane to London circled around Heathrow for an extra 30 minutes. Then I was told that my connecting flight was not in the same terminal (which is what I was told in Amsterdam), but in one on the other side of the airport. This started to piss me off, as I really hate rushing in airports (but you almost always seem forced to), and then British Airways people started to bug me that I could only carry one bag. Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s for security reasons, but gimme a break!

Maybe it wasn’t smart to post a song (two days ago) saying: “if the plane goes down…damn”, because when we were about to leave for Tokyo one of the passengers noted that something was leaking from the wings…4 hours later, we were finally able to go, but the delay means that I will miss my bus and be too late for my pick-up in Tokyo :S

Oh well, for now I’ll enjoy the fact that I have two seats to myself, watch some movies, read a book, practice a little Japanese, and take a nap.

Preparing for Japan (Pt. 3): In the waiting room

2007-02-03T11:27:00.000+01:00

In 24 hours, I will have landed in London, and my Japanese adventure will have started. But 24 hours seems like an awfully long time at the moment. I want to leave, now. I feel like I'm alone in the waiting room, eager to go in the next room for my appointment. But I will have to wait a bit longer.

Yesterday I had my 'goodbye' party in Cafe Ebeling (as I wrote in my invitation e-mail: Although my stay there may not be THAT long, I still thought it made a very good excuse to have a (some) goodbye drink(s)). It's always amazing to see the people you care about showing up, and although it's impossible on those kind of nights to talk to everyone as much as you want to, it's still great to see all of them before you leave. And of course it's a wonderful feeling to realize that you have friends. I really appreciate the great presents (although I seemed to show my gratitude by breaking them). Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but luckily Masha brought one along, so I hope to put some pictures up later.

So now, the day after the night before, what's left is packing, cleaning my room, handing the keys over to the people taking care of my house, and contemplating over the things I might forget (for people that know me: this is probably one of the most important things I should do today...). I didn't get as wasted yesterday as I'd expected, so at least my head is clear enough to sort everything out today. But I'd wish rather that my bag would pack itself, my house would clean itself, and that time fast-forwards 24-48 hours.

I'm already ready. Let's go.

Song Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 8)

2007-02-03T10:02:00.000+01:00

Enjoy...Damn

Controversies

2007-02-01T08:41:00.000+01:00

I don't always like Doonesbury, but this is brilliant :)

Lights out!

2007-01-31T22:55:00.000+01:00

The fact that I'm leaving starts to kick in a bit harder at the moment, after having said goodbye to my dad tonight. Yes, I know, it's only for a measly three and a half month, but it still is not a nice feeling. I guess I should go back to my mantra that I don't believe in goodbye's, but only in see-you-soon-again's :)

On a different note, climate change will predictably be all over the news again the next three days (at least). First of all, the new report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will officially be released on Friday. Supposedly, a final draft of the Summary for Policy Makers already leaked, but I have to admit that even my skills of finding illegal stuff on the internet have been insufficient in this case, or I simply may not have had the time to thoroughly search for it. Anyways, according to reports, the conclusions will be unsurprising to those following climate science, but are hopefully strong enough to encourage the general public to take the problem serious. One of its conclusions is that it is now "very likely" that humans have an impact on the problem, as opposed to "likely". In IPCC-speak, that is the difference between 64-90% certainty and 90% certainty. I don't know too much of the other (potential) conclusions, but be sure to keep an eye open when it hits the news on Friday and Saturday.

Secondly, following a French initiative, tomorrow everyone in The Netherlands has been called upon to switch of any electrical equipment and lights between 7.55 and 8pm. I would encourage anyone to join them. I don't know if it's possible, but I suppose it's possible to ask if they can turn off the beer tap in the cafe where I will be at tomorrow? ;) But of course, such an awareness raising action cannot go without a little bit of controversy. Our beloved PM, although being sympathetic to the action, has asked all his ministries (except for the environment ministry) not to join the action, as there may be a chance that the whole thing will lead to a blackout...I wouldn't mind lighting a candle and opening a bottle of room temperature wine at the cafe, if I know that Balkenende is left in the dark!

Song(s) Of The Day (That It's Being Posted) (Pt. 7)

2007-01-29T23:14:00.000+01:00

I know that these days consist a lot of just posting songs, but in this case I have at least three good reasons for it: 1) I wouldn't want to bore anyone (including myself) with half-hearted struggles over my PhD proposal that I still have to rewrite (when I've rewritten it, I will actually have a good reason to post!); and 2) it's quite difficult to find the time when you either have to finish things before leaving (I still need to make sure that I'm making it safe to my house in Tokyo) or when you're hungover; 3) tomorrow I will see Ben Folds live. So yes, Ben Folds. Thanks to Timme, I learned about this singer-songwriter/pianist. I don't love all of his songs, but the good ones he and his former band (Ben Folds Five) made are brilliant. So, to get into the mood for tomorrow, I'm putting them on repeat at the moment. As an exception, I'm putting two of his most melancholy and beautiful songs up, Mess and The Luckiest. Mess is by far the best song he's ever written in my opinion, with the word 'despair' written all over it. The Luckiest is his other side, and is a simple, yet wonderful love song-bordering cheesiness, I admit. I hope you like 'em.
I certainly do.