Category: Personal/Blog News

Back from the Philippines

After a longish absence from this space, I’m going to resume posting. Although I returned from Manila to Taipei last Thursday at around 5pm, I’ve put off writing anything here for a few extra days to collect my thoughts a bit, and more importantly to do the things I actually had to do here. And there’s another reason. On the evening of my third or fourth day in The Philippines I went to an internet cafe and wrote a fairly long blog post on my initial impressions, which vanished into the ether as the computer crashed at the exact instant I pressed the send button. This occurrence generated a fair amount of both resentment and apprehension, which collectively prevented me from even attempting to post again until I was safely back at my own, stable computer.

First, a brief itinerary.

November 25: 9.30AM flight from Taipei’s Chiang Kai Shek airport to Manila’s international airport. Upon landing I find a payphone to call my friends, quickly tire of the exorbinant rates, and instead buy a SIM card from a nearby vending machine and pop it into my Taiwanese cell phone, giving me a real phone number for my two week stay. This makes my life several times easier. I meet my friends Beth, and later Arlo as well, we have dinner and Beth takes me to an apartelle near both of their homes (University of the Philippines “Teacher’s Village” region, Quezon City, Metro Manila.) The room is scummy but cheap, and the area is fairly nice, as well as quiet and safe.

Following this I spend a few days in Manila (often technically Quezon City, which is part of Metro Manila), sometimes with my friends and sometimes wandering around alone.

December 1: Fly from Manila’s domestic airport (next to the international one) to Iloilo City, where I meet two other friends. Stay the night in a ‘pension house,’ a strangely British sounding term I’ve never encountered before which seems to mean motel.

December 2: With my friend, take a bus from the south to the north end of the island (five hours), and then a ferry from the port to Boracay.

December 4: The reverse of the above trip.

December 5: Afternoon flight back to Manila, meet my two Iloilo friends for lunch first. Instead of returning to the previous Quezon city acommodations, I find the International Youth Hostel listed in Lonely Planet, which is only a few minutes from the airport. This will make my morning trip to the airport the day after next several times simpler.

December 7: Fly back to Taipei.

I know this isn’t the most enthralling travel log, but I have several posts on the Philippines coming up over the next couple of weeks. A few of the topics I plan to post on (some writing, some photos) are:

Magellan’s ignominous end in the Philippines

Filipino Overseas Workers

Japan in the Philippines

Language in the Philippines

The Chinese Cemetary in Manila

Intramuros

Comments: lost and found

We’ve had some comments disappear on our most recent posts. Adamu and I are currently trying to figure out what happened, but for the record, we are not trying to censor anyone. No matter how pissed off, abusive, or ridiculous your comment is, we will approve and post it, so long as it isn’t spam. And we do not delete comments once posted. If your comment has gone missing, it’s not us. We don’t want you to shut up.

We apologize for this problem and hope to have it fixed soon. In the meantime, keep the arguments, discussions, and rants coming: we appreciate every one. We’ll let everyone know once we’ve diagnosed the problem: for now, I’m blaming the gremlins.

Reflections from Somers High School Class of 2000 Reunion


WARNING! This post is entirely about my personal life. For your Japan fix, go here to see Miss and Mister Tokyo University. Quoth Joe, “Mmm pre-feminist society.” High school reunion antics after “the jump” (in quotes because it sounds lame):
Continue reading Reflections from Somers High School Class of 2000 Reunion

My new life in Japan


Conversation I had with MF a few weeks ago while we were taking a look at Japanese satellite TV operator SkyPerfecTV’s channel offerings:

MF: you should just quit your job and fly to japan next week
MF: screw the apartment
Adamu: dont tempt me
MF: you can get a job at nova
Adamu: haha
MF: and then go home to your sweet, sweet tv
Adamu: ok now that IS sad
MF: and a big can of kirin
MF: or asahi dry
Adamu: asahi
Adamu: id have to have a good tv
Adamu: maybe i could get those tv goggles
Continue reading My new life in Japan

Off to the Philippines

I’m writing this at 9.20pm, Taiwan time, in an internet cafe in Shida night market. No, I’m not out in a net cafe just to ease myself into the feeling of traveling before I actually depart. Yes, I do own my own computer here, currently located and fully operational in my own apartment. What is not working is my internet connection. For some reason unknown to me or my flatmates, the phone/DSL line went completely dead last night, and between final exams in my Chinese class yesterday and today and an early morning flight there was just no time to wait for a repairman. This internet cafe is called Concept, but as far as I can tell the only concept they had in designing this place was “take a basement room and plaster it with World of Warcraft posters.

I’ll be leaving on a 9.30am flight tomorrow (Nov 25), Taiwan’s Eva airlines from Taipei’s Chiang Kai Shek airport, to Manila, Philippines. Returning at the same time, December 7th. Everything in between is a little up in the air.

I have several friends in the Philippines that I’ll be visiting, all Philippinos who I met while I was living in Kyoto. Of the five people I expect to meet up with, three were students at Ritsumeikan with me (two exchange students and one graduate student), and two were graduate students at Kyoto University, that I met through my Philippino friends at Ritsumeikan, who they knew from home.

Some of these friends I’ll be seeing in Manila, and one (or two, if she can go), I’ll be meeting on Boracay Island. Rocs (the friend I will be meeting there) tried to book a flight for me for this weekend, but it was too short notice, so instead I’ll arrange one for the following weekend after I arrive in the country. Although next weekend is more convenient in terms of time, this weekend would have been much better from a financial perspective. Rocs tells me that following December 1st, when the tourist season starts, prices for accomodations will double.

Aside from that, I have very little idea of exactly what I’ll be doing while I’m there. I’m sure Manila will be interesting for a couple of days at least, and Arlo was telling me that there are some nice places to visit not too far from Manila. Since I was unable to actually find an English language guidebook in the stores here-plenty of guidebooks, but no Philippines book in stock-and also haven’t had much time to read up online (particularly in light of domestic service outage).

I’ve backed very light. I borrowed a smallish hiking backpack from my flatmate Steph-larger than my schoolbag, but much smaller than the orange monster I used to hike around China. I’ve packed a few days of clothes, my camera, a few minor items, and a few books. The books mainly consist of a couple of Japanese language history books on Taiwan. This is a space saving strategy, as English books take far, fare less time to read, and even one large book in English would weigh a few times as much as two slim Japanese paperbacks. Of course, since the entire educated population of the Philippines is fluent in English, I may pick up some local histories or novels in the English language, so I can actually know something about the country I’m in.

I don’t feel particularly nervous about my lack of preparation for the trip, and my lack of any real knowledge about where I’m going. A lot of people say that the Philippines is a dangerous country to travel in, but I think it should be a lot safer ever since they locked up Commander Robot. Is my lack of stress merely the calm before the storm, a lack of human emotions, or simply exhaustion from the dozen or more trips I was forced to make to various Taiwanese offices and burueas over the past three weeks to get my Taiwanese residence visa and reentry permit, so I would actually be able to come back into the country on the return leg of my trip instead of having to live like Tom Hanks in that that silly movie about the airport?

Upcoming trip

I just booked my flight for the Phillipines! I’ll be leaving Taiwan November 25 and returning December 7th. Exactly what I’ll be doing there is rather vague since I haven’t so much as looked at a guide book, but I’ll be visiting some Philipino friends that I met in Japan, so I’m sure they’ll know where to go.

Japan Politics Links


So suddenly I can’t get enough of Japanese politics. Hey, must be the money!

But in the course of my studies I have come across some great resources for those interested in following every goddamn word these politicians say:

Prime Minister’s movements. All newspapers and major sites offer this, but I prefer Nikkei’s because they have little news stories covering the PM’s major statements of the day. Like today was Koizumi’s big day to celebrate as his pet project, postal privatization, finally became law, so everyone’s favorite henjin decided to refer to himself in the 3rd person:

“This is a miracle in politics,” Koizumi said before a TV camera Friday afternoon at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence. “This miracle has been realized thanks to people who have supported Koizumi.”

In Japanese that’s not grammatically incorrect or anything, but it does take some balls for a man in his 60s to pull a Jimmy like that.
Continue reading Japan Politics Links

Mutant Frog Incorporated Reveals Secret Correspondence

UPDATE: Nichi Nichi also has a “sorry for not posting” post. Parallel lives!

Posts to MF have recently slowed to a trickle due partly to my increased level of employment and also the general busy-ness of others involved in this vital project. So in an effort to break of a little something for the peoples every now and again, I have decided to yank open the curtain of shame and reveal to you just what kinds of links writers from Mutant Frog Travelogue, Coming Anarchy, and Nichi Nichi (otherwise known as “Japan’s Gaijin Brain Trust”) e-mail each other back and forth:

First, a completely random picture to help broaden your horizons:

Found in an image search for “persistently.” This man is a member of the Motorcycling Amateur Radio Club. Their motto is “two great tastes that taste great together.” That guy looks really happy to have discovered a club that combines his two favorite and completely related things! It seems like it might be dangerous to take your hand off the bike to check in with your HAM radio buddies.

But what’s this? If you look closely at the photo you’ll see A GUY ON A CELL PHONE!!! This must be considered no less than blasphemy in a group of people who cling to obsolete technology, shocking beer bellies and tacky motorcycles.

But enough mean-spirited ranting. On to more links:

This was icky:

WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT (NSFW):

THE STORY:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8589349/

THE VIDEO:
http://www.jegergrim.dk/video/mrhands.mpg

I read that Kansai Electric is reporting something similar now:

Thursday, September 8, 2005

‘Cool Biz’ Saved 1 Month’s Power For 240,000 Homes: Tepco

TOKYO (Nikkei)–The Japanese government’s Cool Biz campaign, which encourages workers to dress lightly during the summer, saved the equivalent of a one-month supply of electricity for 240,000 households during the June-August period, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) said Thursday.

For Tepco, the saved 70 million kilowatt-hours translated into a 0.08% loss in the volume of power sold, or 700 million yen in lost revenue, for the three-month period. It also contributed to a 27,000-ton reduction in carbon dioxide emissions at its fossil fuel power plants.

The firm estimated that the lost revenue would have little impact on its profit, given that the cost of power generation also dropped.

Cool Biz was implemented in an estimated 40% of office buildings during the summer, according to Tepco. Men were encouraged not to wear neckties. On average, rooms were kept 1.4 C warmer than usual, the company said.

(The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Friday morning edition)

Miss Nippon!

Strange headline: 在韓日本人、１０年で倍増　半数、統一協会関係者か
“Japanese Residents of Korea Double in 10 Years, Half Are Members of [Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s] Unification Church”

Anyone know any more about this? If so, do tell!

Muneo Suzuki, internationalist politician known for A) Hiring an African Secretary (pictures included) B) Bribing voters with rice balls stuffed with 5000 yen notes and C) Getting re-elected to the Diet this year even after being convicted of accepting bribes!

That’s all for now. Must catch bus home.