Eating jajamen and gyutan in Morioka!

  

What I ate at my first meal in Morioka

 

What I had for my final meal in Morioka

 

In my previous blog entry, I wrote about having had Akita jidori in Kakunodate and possibly also Morioka.  While in the capital city of Iwate Prefecture, I also had a dish that's associated with it -- and food associated with the capital city of the neighboring prefecture of Miyagi!    

 

Here's the thing: Morioka is famed for three very different noodle dishes -- but since eating one of them (wanko soba) seems more like a challenge than pleasure and another (reimen) sounds too much like Korean naengmyeong (AKA naengmyun), which I've eaten loads of (in South Korea and elsewhere), I elected to pass up on eating those two noodle dishes while in Morioka.  Instead, the one specialty noodle dish I decided I wanted to try while there was jajamen: which may sound like another Korean noodle dish, jajangmyeon, -- that itself is considered to be a Chinese dish by Koreans! -- but actually is quite different from it.

 

Among other things, whereas jajangmyeon consists of noodles in black bean sauce (and chunks of beef and radish or potato), jajamen is topped with niku-miso and thin slices of cucumber and negi (Japanese leek), and served at the place I ate it at with a slice of pickled radish and some minced ginger.  And then there's the fact that jajamen is a two-phase dish!  For after you've eaten the bulk of what you're first presented with, you give the bowl back to a staffer at the eatery that you have the dish at (which tend to be specialist eateries for jajamen!); whereupon they'll fill your bowl up with hot water, you crack a raw egg into it and turn the concoction into something akin to egg drop soup that you then are expected to drain for the complete jajamen experience!  

 

While a modest dish (that's meatless), I enjoyed it quite a bit.  And, in all honesty, if I lived in Morioka, I could see myself having it monthly, if not more often.  But here's the thing: I think that it's one of those regional dishes (like Funabashi's sauce ramen, which I'd never have heard of if not for Funassyi!) that's next to impossible to find outside its home region/city/town!  Which, really, is too bad!

 

Still, I also have to admit that in the (relatively) short time that I was in Morioka, I didn't eat it again.  Because, well, there were other things I wanted to eat -- including the regional specialty of Sendai: gyutan (grilled ox tongue); which, funnily enough, I didn't have when I visited that city back in 2019 (because, then, I fixated more on the area's seafood)!

To be fair, I didn't expressly seek out gyutan while in Morioka either.  But while scouting out places to eat for my final meal in the city, I passed a place serving up gyutan that had such great smells wafting out of it that I decided that was what I wanted to eat there and then!

And so hungry was I that I went for a deluxe option that consisted of gyutan served on a hot plate and covered in a sauce that appeared to be a blend of tomatoes and garlic and was very yummy indeed; a (smaller) dish of conventionally grilled ox tongue; a bowl of mugi gohan (barley rice); and a bowl of clear oxtail soup.  Happily, I was able to do it all justice and polish off the lot!  Oh, and all this was nicely washed down with a bottle of nicely crisp and refreshing Kawatabi Cold IPA, produced by the Kibou no Oka brewery in Iwanuma, over in the neighboring prefecture of Miyagi! :)

Rain couldn't spoil my visit to Kakunodate! (Photo-essay)

This week started badly, with my having nightmares two nights in a row -- the result of worrying about bad things happening in Hong Kong.  Last night though, I had a nice dream involving my being in Japan eating sushi.  I figure the dream was set in Japan in part because I finally got to viewing Hayao Miyazaki's magically evocative The Boy and the Heron yesterday -- and, also, because for some years now, Japan has been a place I have found myself visiting in the imagination, even if not physically (by way of movies, books (I'm a big fan of Keigo Higashino's tomes, among others) and food!).

 

Of course, I did finally visit Japan again this past October -- after a hiatus of some 4 years (thanks to the pandemic).  And there's still so much I want to share about that trip.  So, here's resuming doing so with this post about the next place I went to after visiting Tazawako: the former castle town and samurai stronghold of Kakunodate; one stop away on the Akita mini-shinkansen and, actually, now officially a part of the Akita prefectural city of Semboku along with Tazawako (though I must say that the parts of it that I visited sure didn't feel like a city)!  Anyways, you be the judge by way of the following photo-essay! ;b

 

It was still dry when I walked from Kakunodate's train station

through its Merchant District...

 

But the predicted rain came soon after I got to the Samurai District

(and stayed through the rest of my time in Kakunodate! :()

 

The first attraction I made a beeline to was the 

Aoyagi Samurai ManorMuseum, which actually

turned out to be a compound with multiple buildings...

 

...many of them chockful of treasures, including

samurai armor and swords (that I couldn't help thinking

that Funassyi, the history and katana buff, would LOVE)

 

Suffice to say that I most definitely came away from the visit

thinking that the Aoyagi family were serious collectors

of so much STUFF (including cameras and gramophones)! 

 

The second samurai house I visited, the Ishiguro House,

had far less STUFF inside of it -- but that might be true

only of the areas open to the public!

 

A cool element of this house -- parts of which remain occupied

by members of the Ishiguro family -- are the wooden panels,

designed and made in such a way that one's treated to a shadow show :)

 

Yes, I could have done without the rain -- but I also can see

what someone's said: that the rain can make the dark wooden 

buildings more photogenic!

Visiting the flagship Kiddy Land for the Funassyiland within it once more! :)

  

One of my favorite stores in Tokyo :)

 

The "land" within Kiddy Land that was my main reason to visit :)

 

Even before I became aware of the existence of Funassyi, I had already considered visits to the flagship Kiddy Land over in Harajuku to be a "must do" on my visits to Tokyo.  But now that I am very much aware of the existence of Funassyi and the fact that that Kiddy Land is home to a Funassyiland, it has become even more of a "must not" miss; this even though there is a larger Funassyiland not too far over in the Pear (Fairy)'s hometown of Funabashi -- which technically is in Chiba Prefecture but which still counts for many as being part of the Greater Tokyo area! 

 

So it should be no surprise that I went there once more on this recent Japan trip -- and on the first full day of the trip too!  Indeed, the only reason why it was not the very first place that I went to that day is because Kiddy Land only opens at 11am; two hours later than Shinjuku Gyoen!        

 

When I finally got over there, I found that the Funassyiland there is now on the second floor of the building rather than the first floor, as was previously the case.  (A note: the Japanese use the same method of counting building floors as the Americans -- so that the first floor is what the British would call the ground floor, the second floor what the British would call the first floor, etc.)  Also, it's smaller in size now than it was on my previous visits.    

At the same time, the part of the Harajuku Kiddy Land that has been designated as a Funassyiland still is crammed with Funassyi merch (that includes -- but is no means confined to -- cute plushies of various sizes; instead, there are such as chopstick holders, kitchenware, smartphone covers, fans, various types of staionary, bags, t-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, caps, hats, slippers, etc. with Funassyi's face on them!) -- and brought a smile to my face; and this especially as the merch included the one thing I absolutely wanted to get on this trip: i.e., next year's Funassyi calendar!  

 

So 2024 will be the seventh year in a row that I will have a Funassyi calendar in my possession.  For yes, I got Funassyi calendars for 2021, 2022 and 2023 (as well as 2018, 2019 and 2020).  How, you might want to know, since I didn't make trips to Japan -- or, for that matter, anywhere outside of Hong Kong -- in 2020, 2021 and 2022?  In short: with a little help from friends who live in Japan!

 

Here's the thing: While there is an online Funassyiland (i.e., the Funassyiland webs shop), it doesn't ship outside of Japan.  So I've had to get Japan-based friends to place orders for me and then, after receiving my order, send them over to me.  Most times, this kind of thing isn't too difficult -- but there was one year when air mail service between Hong Kong and Japan was suspended for a time. (Thanks, Covid -- not!)  And so my Funassyi Calendar had to be sent by sea mail; prompting me to worry that it wouldn't arrive in time for the start of the new year and my friend to ask, "What's next?  We use pigeon post?!"   

That joke wasn't as funny then as it is now that regular postal services have resumed -- and I myself, not just my Funassyiland order, can fly between Hong Kong and Japan!  And I also have to say that while it was nice that I wasn't completely cut off from my Funassyi merch supply between 2020 and 2022, it really is so much nicer to be able to visit a Funassyiland in person and be able to look around, and see what else there is in the shop to entice me! :D

Back to Japan for the first time in four years!

What I had first as part of my first meal in Japan in four years :)
 

Straw-smoked katsuo (bonito), served up with two different

sauces and assorted items to top it with :b

 

In between my previous blog post and this one, I've been away from Hong Kong as well as took some time off from being online.  I'm still catching up on what's been happening in Hong Kong while I've been away and since my return.  So instead of adding my say to that, here's going ahead and blogging instead about some of what I did while away from the number one place I love and visiting the number one country I most enjoy visiting.  For, yes, four years to the month after my previous visit to the Land of the Rising Sun, I made another trip to Japan! 

 

With so much having happened (in the world at large as well as to Hong Kong) in that time, I did have some pre-trip anxiety as well as excitement.  And because I worried that things there would have changed a lot over there (as well as here), I decided to start the trip of with the familiar: a couple of days in Tokyo, a city I've visited multiple times (the first time back in 1982 and most recently in May 2019).

 

Upon landing in Japan though, the anxiety melted away.  It helped that I passed through immigration controls both in Hong Kong as well as Tokyo smoothly, and the customs too.  The train ride into the city went smoothly too; ditto check in to my hotel.  It help me to relax too that I had booked in at the hotel that I've stayed the most times in when in Tokyo and that the surroundings were largely familiar -- with many shops and eateries that I knew still being around (though it's also true enough that there were boarded up fronts and empty lots where a few familiar establishments used to be -- including *sob* a favourite sushi place)!

 

If that sushi place had still been around, it would have been where I would have my first meal in Japan in four years.  Instead, I ended up opting for an izakaya in the area: one which I had never been to previously but, still, was familiar enough in terms of my knowing what to expect there -- including an otoshi (compulsory appetizer) to accompany my first glass of refreshing nama biru (draft beer) to start off and my being able to enjoy the Japanese equivalent of tapas-style dining.    

 

There was sashimi moriawase (assorted raw fish) on the menu but I opted for the straw-smoked katsuo, a photograph of which had been posted outside the establishment and enticed me to give this particular izakaya a try.  When the dish arrived at my table and I tasted the first generous chunk of the fish, I knew that I had made the right choice -- and, well, let's just say that it was a portend of what turned out to be yet another enjoyable, food feast-filled time in Japan!

 

Put another way: Japan, I missed you so -- and worried, among other things, that you might have changed (for the worse) and, also, that with each passing day, week, month and year of not visiting, I was over-hyping you up more and more.  But you delivered once again: not only in terms of delicious food and drinks, and interesting sights and experiences -- but, also, with the amazing omotenashi, courteous, gentle and friendly ways that many of your people have. Oh, and than there's things Funassyi... but that I'll talk about more in later posts (though I will state for now that OF COURSE I could not resist visiting Funassyi's hometown of Funabashi once more this time around)! :)     

In praise of Japanese transport (which includes Hello Kitty shinkansen and Funassyi trains)! (Photo-essay)

At long last, I think this will post be my final entry about the most recent Japan trip I took -- some three and a half years ago now -- one which saw me spending time in Okunoshima, Ikuchijima, Akishoyishido and Hagi, among other places.  On this trip, I took a number of boat, bus and train rides; some of which made for enjoyable experiences in themselves.  

 

At the very least, they made me appreciate once more that Japan really is one of those parts of the world with great transportation.  And so great is the transportation that I think it merits a photo-essay of its own.  So, without further ado:

 

One of the boats that plies the route between Mihara 

and Okunoshima (AKA Rabbit Island) 

 

On a bus going between Yamaguchi (which I've only ever been to 

on transit to a number of other places!) and Akyoshido

 

On the more comfortable long distance bus between

Hagi and Shin-Yamaguchi train station

A bus advertising the Hello Kitty Shinkansen...

 

...which I spotted upon arriving in Fukuoka's Hakata station

from Shin Yamaguchi later that day!

 

Should anyone doubt: the Hello Kitty Shinkansen really exists! :)

 

And yes, it really does transport passengers! ;b

 

And yes, part of me does wish that I had gone on it! 

(Ah well, next time, eh?  Though it's also true enough

that I would like to go even more on the Funassyi train!)

Wishing and cherishing uneventful days on the 20th anniversary of my return to Asia (and Funassyi's 1,885th birthday!)

  

Yes, I still think Hong Kong is really beautiful!

 

Today is the 1,885th birthday of my hero, Funassyi, the Pear (Fairy) who is the unofficial mascot of the Japanese city of Funabashi (where it made its home after "coming down to Earth" from the Pear Fairyland around 11 years ago).  It also is the 20th anniversary of my leaving the USA and returning to Asia.    

Happily, today was a largely uneventful day in my world -- with the biggest "event" being that Funassyi -- yes, the actual Funassyi -- actually liking my Tweet wishing it a happy birthday!  Which is how I like it.  ("May you live in interesting times" may neither be Chinese or ancient -- despite what many people think -- but it certainly can feel like a curse, especially when one is living in national security law era Hong Kong!)

 

Sadly, however, yesterday was far more eventful as far as Hong Kong was concerned.  The following are the first three paragraphs from an Associated Press (AP) report on the matter:

Hong Kong police on Monday accused eight self-exiled pro-democracy activists of violating the territory’s harsh National Security Law and offered rewards of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,600) each for information leading to their arrests.

 

The rewards are the first for suspects accused of violating the Beijing-imposed legislation since it took effect in June 2020. It outlaws subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism.

 

The eight activists are former pro-democracy lawmakers Nathan Law, Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok, lawyer Kevin Yam, unionist Mung Siu-tat and activists Finn Lau, Anna Kwok and Elmer Yuen [aka Yuan Gong-yi], police announced at a news conference.

As Hemlock (of the Big Lychee, Various Sectors blog) observed today: "For many Hongkongers, at least some of the individuals in the mug shots (apparently taken from HKID cards) are instantly recognizable." And many of those individuals in the mug shot-like photos (which, in the case of Anna Kwok, was taken when she went to get a new Hong Kong Identity Card shortly after she turned 18!) are people that many Hongkongers admire, respect and/or voted in legislative council and other elections for in the past.  And are otherwise just a few degrees of separation from. 

 

Take, as an example, current pro-Beijing legislative councillor Eunice Yung -- whose father-in-law is Elmer Yuen!  (And while she may have gone on the record as having "cut ties" with him, the fact of the matter is that Elmer Yuen still is the pro-Beijing politician's husband's father!)  Also, for my part, I've voted in the past for one of the eight and have personally interacted with two of them as well as am currently "mutuals" (i.e., they "follow" me as well as I "follow" them) with two others on Twitter!

 

A reminder from the AP piece I quoted earlier: "Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese city, has come under increasingly tight scrutiny by Beijing following months of political strife in 2019. Authorities have cracked down on dissent with over 260 people, including many pro-democracy figures, arrested under the National Security Law." 

 

And while then chief executive Carrie Law had declared that the National Security Law would affect only a small minority of people back in June 2020, such as the closure of various unions and other organisations, newspapers and media sites, the emigration of hundreds of thousands of people since that law came into effect on June 30th, 2000, and the effective banning and censorship of a number of films, books, slogans and songs would get one thinking otherwise.

 

All this with the passing of Article 23 still to come.  Speaking of which: last week, a senior journalist friend divulged that when (not if, alas) Article 23 finally gets passed, he may feel obliged to leave Hong Kong (for his safety).  In the same conversation, a lawyer friend joked that some parts of our casual conversation -- in a bar, I might add! -- might be deemed to be "seditious" and thus cause us to be sentenced to life imprisonment after the passing of Article 23!

 

The stuff of nightmares -- and more than incidentally, nightmares are what I've been having in recent nights, thanks to the Hong Kong government but also Elon Musk!  But never Funassyi -- who I wish more inhabitants of our planet could be like.  If so, what a better world it would be... *Sigh!* 

 

By the way, call me sad all you want but I do take some comfort in Funassyi having said back in August 1st, 2018 (when it came over with its band, Charamel, for a concert): "I will never forget you, Hong Kong".  And wouldn't it be nice if the world at large -- and powerful governments (including those of the countries where the eight Hong Kong individuals with a HK$1 million bounty on each of their heads) -- did the same and stood with Hong Kong? :S   

Trying to be hopeful at the beginning of a new year (the way my hero, Funassyi, surely is!)

 

My calendars for this new year

 

A new year is upon us and I sincerely hope that 2023 will be better than 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019.  I'm going to wish everyone -- and the world at large! -- a happy new year, as per tradition.  But truth be told, I'm not feeling super confident that it will be; especially early on -- this not least because, despite what some people think, the pandemic still very much NOT being over; with fears that what's going on in Mainland China is very bad and that another Covid wave (and possibly even some variants) will spread out of it to the world.

 

At the same time, hope springs eternal -- and seeing long lines outside a community vaccination center offering BioNTech/Pfizer vaccinations makes me hopeful that many Hong Kongers have learnt lessons from what happened here in early 2022.  Still, the question is whether people in many other parts of the world have done the same.

 

I used to think that the world would look upon Hong Kong as the canary in the coalmine with regards to things emerging from (Mainland) China; be it diseases or political repression.  Sadly, the events of recent years has shown me that that doesn't seem to be the case; with people not caring what's happened to/in Hong Kong and not thinking that the lessons of Hong Kong can (also) apply to them.  

Still, there's time for people to make amends and learn; this because Hong Kong is not "over" or "dead" (despite what many doom-mongers have been pronouncing... for years, decades even).  In fact, even while mass protests no longer take place on the streets, even the resistance and dreams of a free Hong Kong remain alive.

For physical proof, look at two of the calendars in the picture at the top of this blog post.  Both of them were distributed freely by members of the Yellow Economic Circle.  With regards to the larger one: they once again feature the works of artists who had had a hand in producing calendars for 2022 and 2021, and I'm glad to see are still actively creating.   

Of the calendars I paid for, the one from Hong Kong also is a Yellow Economic Circle product.  And while the All Things Bright and Beautiful calendar may, at first glance, appear to have a super pessimistic theme, it's worth noting that the January page of their We're All Going to Die One Day(!) calendar has the following upbeat message on it: "Everyday is a miracle. When the moon goes back to bed, we rise from the dead"... of sleep that is!

 

Finally, we have the Funassyi calendar.  And while the unofficial mascot from Funabashi, Japan, is not "yellow" in the Hong Kong way, it is physically predominantly yellow -- a color that I associate with happiness and optimism (even before I came to know of Funassyi's existence)!  

 

It's become a "tradition" of sorts for me to have a Funassyi calendar on my desk.  Before 2020, I would buy one on a fall trip to Japan.  In recent years, I've had to rely on friends living in Japan to get and send me one.  On a different charitable note: I think it's worth pointing out that the big-hearted Pear (Fairy) donates its share of the proceeds from the sales of the calendars to charity.  

 

For a number of years, the recipient of Funassyi's largesse was the Michinoku Mirai Fund that supports children who lost a parent (or two) in the Great Tohoku Earthquake (and Tsunami) of March 11th, 2011.  But last year, the Pear (Fairy) announced that it was switching its charitable efforts to Japan's World Food Program Association (that it already has worked with for some years now).  In either case, both seem worthy of contributing to; with the bonus for Funassyi fans that one gets a calendar with lots of cute photos of their hero to enjoy viewing through the year! 

 

Will 2023 be the year when the Wuhan coronavirus finally will be enough control that I'll feel and be able to return to Japan for a visit?  If so, I'm going to make a beeline for the flagship Funassyiland in Funabashi (which now is in a different location from when I previously visited) -- and, also, the Funassyi Park which may be intended for kids but looks to a great photography spot for Funassyi fans! ;b 

Blogging about Twitter and what it's come to mean to me

 

Eight years ago today at Occupy Admiralty

 

Twitter has been in tumult pretty much since Elon Musk's first day as its owner.  But fears of a Twitter breakdown/shutdown reached new heights today, with tons of Twitter users Tweeting their goodbyes on the platform -- not because they are leaving it but because they genuinely believe that it will cease to exist within the next 24 hours! 

 

Unlike the first wave of departures in the wake of Elon Musk's first day as the self-proclaimed "Chief Twit", the people saying their goodbyes today have a genuine love of Twitter and are mourning what they see as its inevitable death.  At the same time, there are others who refuse to give up hope still.  People like behavioral scientist Caroline Orr Bueno, who Tweeted that: "I’m not throwing in the towel yet. As long as I can tweet, I’ll be here. And I hope you guys will stick around, too. The best way to destroy this site is to start behaving as if it’s already dead. Clearly, it’s not. And until it flatlines, it’s still worth trying to save."  

 

Incidentally, Dr Bueno joined Twitter in 2014 -- the same year that I got to realizing that the bird app was a place where I could get really good as well as up to date news pertaining to the Umbrella Movement, which began back on September 28th, 2014, after the Hong Kong police fired tear gas into a crowd of protestors.  And in 2019, after the anti-extradition bill protests -- the first of which I took part in on April 28th -- got going, I returned to checking Twitter for unedited reports from trusted journalists and other sources who often were Tweeting right at the scene. 

 

Even after the streets became quiet in 2020 (thanks in part to the Wuhan coronavirus along with China imposing a draconian national security law on Hong Kong), Twitter continued to be abuzz with pro-democracy chatter.  And as social distancing became a thing thanks to the pandemic and I spent less and less time with other people and more and more time at home, Twitter helped me to feel less alone; this particularly after I finally stopped just reading Tweets and producing Tweets of my one from August of last year.     

One of the reasons I decided to start Tweeting was that I had a question for somebody on Twitter, and figured that it'd be worth going on and seeing if I'd be able to directly get an answer from them there.  That indeed turned out to be the case.  And one of the great pleasures of the "bird app" has indeed been my able to interact with a number of people there that I don't have much chance of doing so anywhere else.  

More than incidentally, thanks to Twitter, I'm now in contact with -- "Following" and also being "Followed", in a good number of cases! -- a number of the people whose Tweets had informed and educated me back in 2014 and again in 2019 (people like lawyer-activist Kevin Yam, history professor Jeppe Mulich and journalist Rachel Cheung).  I'm also "Followed" by (as well as, of course, "Following") on Twitter by people whose work and deeds I respect: including pro-democracy politicians, human rights activists, and the likes of lawyer-activist Samuel Bickett, journalist-author Louisa Lim, journalist-author Karen Cheung, and the co-difrectors of Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down!

 

A second reason I had for finally decloaking on Twitter in August of last year was that a favourite voice on it (who went by the handle HK Wuliff) suddenly left it.  Her action came in the wake of a number of other Hong Kongers who had been very active in 2019-2020 deciding to shut down their Twitter accounts for security and/or "burn out" reasons.  As Hong Kong (pro-democracy) voices decreased on the platform, I got to thinking that I should give back to the movement by adding my voice on Twitter -- and also go ahead and thank those whose voices I had benefited from "hearing" there while I still could.  

 

On a lighter note: a third reason for my using Twitter is that my hero, Funassyi, is on it too!  For some time now, it's been a ritual of sorts for me to read its Tweet before I call it a night.  (The Pear usually Tweets in the evenings, with it being a rare day indeed that it doesn't Tweet at least once!)  And while Funassyi is not Following me, it's actually "liked" two of my Tweets already.  And yes, of course I got a real thrill from this happening; and yes, of course I am one of its 1.3 million Twitter Followers! 

 

Incidentally, unlike the more pessimistic Twitter users, the famously Pollyanna-ish Pear has been carrying on as usual on the bird app today -- sharing cute photos, making announcements of upcoming public appearances (which include yet another stint as a member of the Chiba Jets, its hometown professional basketball team), and posting good wishes for tomorrow.  I'd like to share Funassyi's faith, and be able to keep seeing Funassyi Tweets for a long time to come.  Ah well.  As the saying -- one that I heard a lot back in 2019 -- goes: Expect the worst but hope for the best!   This about Hong Kong, life in general and now, Twitter too!   

A more personal blog post than usual

 

Among the latest works of All Things Bright and Beautiful's 

Ah Li and Joanne

 

The label for the above work at the exhibition

of theirs that I went to recently

 

A lot of things have happened in Hong Kong recently.  But rather than write about them, here's pointing out that they've been covered pretty well by the likes of the fellow behind the Big Lychee blog  (See in particular yesterday's and today's entries).  And if you're wondering: I'm not planning to end this blog any time soon but I'm going to take a breather because the last few days have seen me getting news about a number of friends that have made me focus more on personal matters than normal.

A quick recap: The first post I saw when I got onto Facebook on Saturday morning was that of a friend announcing the death of her mother.  The news was not unexpected as I've known for a while that her mother was dying of cancer.  But I knew my friend was hurting all the same from the news; this since the last time we met up, she couldn't help crying when telling me about her hospital visits to see her mother.

Over the weekend, I also learnt from another friend that she recently had to have breast surgery after the cancer she has spread there.  In addition, I learnt from a third friend that her husband is not doing so well and could feel her worry even though we live thousands of miles apart.  And then late on Sunday night came shock news that a dear friend -- who I've not seen for over three years thanks to his never ever having set foot in Hong Kong, and Covid and Covid regulations making me loath to leave Hong Kong (even only temporarily) all this time -- had died of a heart attack.

 

Oh, and today is the death anniversary of Alex Chow Tsz-lok, whose passing on November 8th, 2019, sent much of Hong Kong into deep mourning.  As German journalist Jeanne Plaumann Tweeted today: "Something changed when Alex Chow Tsz-Lok died on Nov 8, 2019. Riot police, teargas laced with chemicals & pepperballs flying our way. The siege of PolyTech. The last big attempt to secure a free, democratic life. I will always remember the brave people of #HongKong. #FreeHK".  

 

I know that, as per the title of the All Things Bright and Beautiful exhibition I went to recently: We're All Going To Die Some Day.  But there are some people you hope could live longer than in fact turned out to be the case, you know?  (This generally with regards to those who died young -- like Alex Chow Tsz-lok, who was only 22 years of age when he died -- but also some older folks, particularly if they were still sound in mind and seemingly so in body.)

 

With regards to my friend who passed away this past weekend: he was an incredibly lovely man.  The person I think of when one talks about "gentlemen".  And two days on after hearing the news of his death, I still can't help shedding tears when talking about him -- as was the case this afternoon -- with my mother.

After hearing about his death, yet another friend contacted me.  Like the friend who passed away, he's several years older than me -- and he shared that he's got 10 friends on Facebook who are now dead.  I replied that I now have three and that's already pretty painful.  "Brace yourself for what's to come," he told me.  I will try, even while knowing it will not be easy

 

Maybe the thing to do is to focus on the positive memories one has of one's friends.  I know that has helped with regards to dealing with the death of my friend who passed away this past Sunday.  A certain wise Pear Fairy has said that "To live is to make memories".  I vow to keep making memories but also treasure the good ones already made with good friends and other loved ones.

Funassyi gushing on the Pear's 1,884th birthday! :D

Birthday Pear Funassyi flanked by Cat-Pear Funyassyi on 

its right and its Caterpillar-Pear sibling, Funagoro, on its left! ;b

Happy birthday, Funassyi!  Can you believe that the Pear (Fairy) is 1,884 years old today?  I must say that it's hard to believe this for reasons including Funassyi being so energetic still!  Something easier to accept: that Funassyi's been on Earth for 10 years now: as in, according to Pear-lore, Funassyi decided to come down to the human world some 10 years ago to try to cheer people -- especially those negatively affected by the Great Tohoku Earthquake (plus attendant tsunami and nuclear disaster) -- up and make them happy. 

Tributes to Funassyi on its 1,884 birthday include this cute video from Japan's B League (featuring area basketball team, the Chiba Jets) and a challenge issued on Twitter to people to try to spot Funassyi in it!  In honor of its 10 years on Earth, there's also such as a Funassy-themed exhibition being held in the Pear's hometown of Funabashi  -- whose official opening was graced by the mayor of Funabashi  as well as a special Funassyi train operating in the area, not to mention the production of Funassy-themed ice cream -- in time for crazy hot summer days -- and drinks (specifically, a nasshi (pear) shake)!

Note: this all is on top of more "usual" Funassyi themed promotions such a new collaboration with footwear makers Belluna and whatever new products are to be found at Funassyiland.  Speaking of which: I really, really, really miss not only not visiting Japan in general but, also, a Funassyiland.  In fact, my most recent trips to Japan (the last of them made in 2019 -- i.e., pre-pandemic times) all involved a visit to a branch of Funassyiland, be it the one in Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo or Funabashi itself!

But while I've not been able to purchase new items at a Funassyiland over the past three years or so, I've actually been able to get my hands on Funassy merchandise nonetheless.  For one thing, while Funassyi items are thin on the ground in Hong Kong, I have come across them every now and again in certain stores and malls.  For another, I've been gifted Funassyi items by friends as well as have been able to count on friends living in Japan to send me certain Funassyi items I consider to be "must have"s (i.e., the annual calendars, thus by ensuring that I have a smiley face to look and beam at next to my computer for a number of years now).  

Here's the thing: Funassyi's face really is one that I love looking at and almost always is able to get me smiling back at it.  I also love its voice and its actions.  So rest assured that if I ever get the chance again to attend a Funassyi event (including Charamel concert), I'd readily do so!  And yes, when I get the chance to visit Japan again, one of the places I really want to go to would be Funassyi Park -- it being targetted primarily for children be damned! :D        

Disasters strike and shock Hong Kong two evenings in a row

View from a sampan of a floating restaurant 

that's now under the sea!

 

For the second evening in a row, something's happened that shocked Hong Kongers.  This evening saw a fire break out on a power cable bridge in Yuen Long and this causing not only to the spectacular collapse of the bridge itself but also a massive power outage in the northwestern section of the New Territories (including Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai new towns) that lasted for hours.  

 

As a result, people got stuck in lifts of high rise buildings; traffic lights stopped working; and MTR services between Tsuen Wan West and Tuen Mun stations were briefly disrupted, and Tin Shui Wai station was temporarily closed.  In addition, services at a number of area hospitals were affected, as the power supply was unstable, and there was talk of a need to transfer patients to other hospitals. 

 

Something that didn't escape the attention of the number of people was that this Yuen Long incident occured two years and eleven months to the day of the horror that's known in shorthand among Hong Kongers as 721 (or, more lengthily, the 721 Yuen Long Attack).  Or, if you prefer to look ahead, consider that this disaster occurred just 10 days of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover by the British to China. 

 

And this comes one day after the occurrence of a way more high profile disaster -- one which many people have looked to as a metaphor for Hong Kong's future: namely, the sinking at sea of the Jumbo floating restaurant which was a fixture in Aberdeen's harbour/typhoon shelter for 46 tears until it was towed away just last week.  I mean, when even Funassyi Tweeted about it...! 

 

If truth be told, I've been shocked by the outpouring of grief at the news of Jumbo's sinking.  One particularly hysterical series of Tweets, to my minds, came courtesy of a Singaporean journalist usually based in Hong Kong and are so histrionic that I think they are worth quoting at length.  

 

I.e., "in between getting covid and having to rebook my flight back to HK and scrambling to find another quarantine hotel i can't believe the fucking Jumbo sinking is my last straw"; "like no kidding i emotionally cannot process this..... I know it's stupid to be shocked by anything absurd happening in Hong Kong any more but this takes the cake for me... for real thought I need to speak to someone i cant process this lol"; "haven't felt this way since Cardinal Zen was arrested but this feels somewhat worse because I just cannot find a way to rationalize this happening lol"; "i wanna scream !!!"

 

In turn, I want to scream back: "Get a grip, woman!  I mean, how can you compare the sinking of a tourist trap with "blue" owners (that I don't think any local regularly ate at) to the arrest of 90-year-old Cardinal Zen?!"  Also why are people mourning the demise of a mere restaurant -- floating or not -- when Hong Kong has lost so much else in recent months and years?! 

 

But another member of the Hong Kong Twitterverse stated something that gave me pause.  Specifically, "I often say that Hongkongers’ relatively strong reactions, from the mourning for Jumbo to the crazy affection to Mirror are a type of projection or sublimation of their suppressed emotion as well as longing for the old, happy days."  

 

Put another way: it seems that the mourning for Jumbo can be put in the same category as the mourning for culled hamsters and wild boar.  Mourning as resistance as well as mourning for what once was but is no more and mourning of what's allowed in lieu of so much other mourning being disallowed in today's Hong Kong.