Watching Dear You (给阿嬷的情书)

I kept hearing about the movie Dear You (给阿嬷的情书), sparking my interest so much that I searched for a way to watch it in Japan. And I struck gold. It so happens that this movie is screening in Japan, although in only some cinemas. In fact, only four cinemas in Tokyo, and a single cinema in the whole of Kanagawa Prefecture. But that single cinema is in Yokohama, and so I found some time today to watch it.

 

 

Opening in Japan on 26 June 2026, it is already into its third week, but still managed to draw a handful of people.

I just want to say that I am so glad I took time to watch this movie. The story is about a Teochew man who left his family in southern China, making a living in Malaysia and Thailand (where the movie took place largely). With my grandparents being Teochew and themselves migrants who left China to seek a better life in Singapore, this movie, with its amalgram of Teochew migrant stories, struck a deep chord in my heart. By the second half of the movie, I will crying. And I was not alone. I heard a lot of sobbing around me, with a majority of the audience being ethic Chinese.

 

The entire movie was mostly in Teochew, with a bit of Mandarin and some Thai. And while I grew up speaking Teochew to my grandparents, my Teochew has gotten rusty; plus the version of Teochew used by the movie was not the version spoken by my grandparents. However, Teochew is a very poetic language, and the remittance letters a reminder of an older time, when people used so few words to capture so many emotions. The Chinese (Mandarin) and English subtitles helped a lot.

 

While the story is about a Teochew migrant, it is not just about a Teochew migrant. This is a story that will resonate with all migrants, everyone who had to leave home to live elsewhere. Truly a love letter to all Chinese migrants

 

Trivia: I finally found out the characters for "daughter" in Teochew are 走仔, basically, the characters for leave 走 and child 仔, the "child who leaves" because, traditionally, daughters leave their parents to stay with their husbands after marriage.

 

77th Mainichi Shodo Exhibition (第77回毎日書道展) at The National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT)

The 77th Mainichi Shodo Exhibition (第77回毎日書道展) spans two venues: The National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT) in Roppongi, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno. On display at NACT are the works by members of the Mainichi Shodo Association (including the organising committee of the Mainichi Shodo Exhibition) as well as winning works from the selected public submissions. The selected public submissions that did not win any prize or award are displayed at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.

Like last year, I went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum first. I am not sure if I will be going to Ueno this year, due to other things on my schedule.

 

Upon entering NACT, there were posters introducing the exhibition, plus related events. There are live calligraphy demonstrations by winners, and sessions that explain the winning works. Like last year, I timed my visit this year to coincidence with one of the live calligraphy demonstrations.

 

The exhibition itself spans three floors, with works by the organizing committee and grand prix winners on the first floor, works by members of the Mainichi Shodo Association and the top public submissions on the second floor, and other award winners (excellence award and merit award) and association associates on the third floor (roughly).

My key purpose for going today was to see the live calligraphy demonstration, where three grand prix winners showed how they actually went about writing their works. Two of them demonstrated how they write their kanji pieces, while a third talked and demonstrated carving.

I then took my time to wander around the exhibition halls.

And as usual, I took a photo of this place that was featured in the anime movie Your Name. by Shinkai Makoto.

 

 

June 2026 calligraphy "homework"

The "homework" pieces that I submitted for June 2026.

Hanshi kanji 半紙漢字: 却似送人來

 

Single character 一字: 禁

 

Hansetsu kanji 半切漢字: 緑楊樹頭山近 碧草門前徑斜

 

Unsubmitted pieces:

 

May 2026 calligraphy "homework"

A separate /home directory

As someone who has been using Linux from its early days, I used to keep my home directory on a separate partition so that I did not lose data or have to recustomise stuff when I had to reinstall Linux. Back then, Linux was not very compatible with new hardware, and I often had to reinstall Linux to find a distro that worked or suited me. Or when upgrading.

 

Then, Linux became easier to use, easier to install, easier to upgrade.

 

And I grew complacent.

 

And panicked when the triple upgrade (Debian 12 to 13, LMDE 6 to 7, Proxmox VE 8 to 9) failed and my main PC went into an endless reboot loop. Thankfully, I had a snapshot prior to the upgrade, and rolled back without any issues (so far).

 

Still, given that I need to upgrade to Proxmox VE 9 and LMDE 7 soon, I really want to be able to keep my home directory intact. Luckily, I have an old SSD that used to hold my OS that can be used for migrating my home directory.

 

First, I formatted that disk and created a ext4 partition on it. It shows as 

/dev/sda1

on my system. 

 

Then, I rebooted my system, and at the grub screen, pressed 'e' to edit the boot options, changing splash to 3, then F10 to boot into the console. 

 

I started by mounting the spare SSD. 

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/new_home
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/new_home

 

Then, I used rsync to transfer data in archival mode.
sudo rsync -aAvx /home/ /mnt/new_home/ 

 

It was now time to mount the SSD as the new  home directory. First, it needs to be unmounted.

sudo umount /mnt/new_home

Then, I renamed my old home directory. 

sudo mv /home /home_old 

 

Finally, I mounted the SSD as my  home directory.

sudo mkdir /home
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /home

 

The last step is to edit /etc/fstab, and for that, I needed the UUID of the partition.

sudo blkid /dev/sda1

 

This gave me a string (which I will call MY_UUID here). I used this string to edit /etc/fstab by adding this.

UUID=MY_UUID /home ext4 defaults 0 2  

 

Then, I rebooted the system. Running

lsblk

showed this:

Now that the home directory is separated, I can afford to do a fresh install of LMDE 7! That would be the next task when I have some spare time.

 

Upgrading from Proxmox VE 8 to 9, Debian 12 to 13, PBS 3 to 4, and LMDE 6 to 7

Warning: Follow this method at your own risk! Read update at end of post!

 

Proxmox VE 9 has been out for a while, and it is based on Debian 13, which has also been released for a while. However, other than my main server (a ML110 Gen9) running on Proxmox VE 8, all other parts of my homelab are not standard installations. My Proxmox Backup Server has a concurrent Proxmox VE installation. My Fujitsu Celsius M740 Proxmox workstation that was installed with XFCE desktop on top of Proxmox VE 7 originally. For my main workstation running on a Ryzen 7 5700G, I had previously installed Proxmox VE 7 on Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 and then dual upgraded it from Proxmox VE 7 to 8 and Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 to 6. It was going to be painful to upgrade all of them to the latest version of Proxmox VE and Debian/LMDE.

 

Still, I knew I had to do it, and with a bit of time yesterday, I steeled my resolve and went ahead.

 

I used the official guides and my previous attempts as references.

Upgrade from 8 to 9 (for Proxmox VE)

Upgrade from 3 to 4 (for Proxmox Backup Server) 

Upgrading workstation to Proxmox Virtual Environment 8 

Dual upgrade: Proxmox 7 to 8 and Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 to 6

 

The actual upgrade process was more a case of changing the source.list files in /etc/apt so that they use trixie (Debian 13) instead of bookworm (Debian 12), and gigi (LMDE 7) instead of faye (LMDE 6). After which, I ran

apt update

apt dist-upgrade  

Once again, repeated use of 

apt -f install

dpkg --configure -a

apt dist-upgrade

helped me to finally get everything upgraded.

 

 

 

The main server seems to be running stably on Proxmox VE 9 with Linux kernel 7.0.6. However, the main workstation with Ryzen 7 5700G suddenly rebooted while on kernel 7.0.6. So, I decided to roll back to kernel 6.8.12, which was previously running fine when it was on Proxmox VE 8.

 

 

 

The backup server seems to be fine too.

 

 

 

The Fujitsu workstation is not used much, so I am not sure how stable it is.

 

Also, for the workstations, given that they have the LMDE repos installed due to my love for having Linux Mint icons, I faced the same issue where Proxmox does not recognise the version codename "Gigi" (which is LMDE 7). It causes the error message "unknown Debian code name 'gigi' (500)" and so I had to edit /usr/lib/os-release and change

VERSION_CODENAME=gigi

to

VERSION_CODENAME=trixie 

 

I guess I should not have to do this again, hopefully, for a couple years more.

 

Update 22 June 2026:

The main workstation with Ryzen 7 5700G has been randomly rebooting, especially when Bluetooth is used. I don't know if it is a PSU, CPU, RAM, SSD, or upgrade issue, and I am now rolling back to a previous snapshot. If that works, the issue would be the upgrade. 

 

Update 24 June 2026:

I tried to upgrade the main workstation with Ryzen 7 5700G again. It broke miserably. And when I tried to roll back, I couldn't run timeshift because the package broke. I had to reboot into a live USB of LMDE 7, but when I tried to run timeshift on that to restore the snapshot, it rebooted halfway. I suspect there is some package in LMDE 7 or Debian 13 that is causing the reboot. In the end, I used a live USB of Linux Mint 22.1 to run timeshift and managed to restore a snapshot. Given that something in LMDE 7 or Debian 13 is causing reboots, I won't be pursuing the upgrade path for this PC anymore.

 

Update 28 June 2026:

I booted up a HP T630 thin client using LMDE 7 live USB, adding the boot options

radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1

and ran it for 4 hours, with htop and nvtop running, a long YouTube video on Firefox, and glxgears too. I have also checked that it is a X11 session, not Wayland. It didn't random reboot... I really hope it is not a case of LMDE 7 or Debian 13 being incompatible with my AMD Ryzen 7 5700G PC... because that would kind of shut off the upgrade path even via a fresh install.

 

Japan premiere of Sparks of Tomorrow (二十世紀電氣目録-ユーレカ・エヴリカ-)

 

Today, I managed to catch the Japan premiere of Sparks of Tomorrow (二十世紀電氣目録-ユーレカ・エヴリカ-), the next TV anime series from Kyoto Animation that is loosely inspired by a light novel published by Kyoani. It will start airing on TV and streaming services from July 2026. The Japan premiere included a stage event with the voice actors of the two main characters (Sakamoto Kihachi, voiced by Uchida Yuma, and Momokawa Inako, voiced by Amamiya Sora) as well as the director, Ota Minoru.

 

While Kyoani did publish a light novel titled 二十世紀電氣目録, it seems that the anime series is only loosely inspired by the original work, and therefore, it is anyone's guess how the story will pan out. Basically, the official website says:

 

A Tale of Adventure for Boys and Girls
Who Dreamed of the Age of Electricity
in a World Shrouded in Smoke!

A little while ago.
Kyoto in the early 20th century, having evolved differently from the history we know today.
In a world where only steam engines had advanced, the city was shrouded in smoke.
──A little while ago. Kyoto in the early 20th century, having evolved differently from the history we know today. In a world where only steam engines had advanced, the city was shrouded in smoke.
With challenging art backgrounds reminiscent of Impressionist paintings and intricate animation, it depicts the dreams of boys and girls shining in an era of upheaval and innovation.
Kyoto Animation's new frontier.

From the way it is being promoted, it seems that Kyoani is trying to position this as the next Violet Evergarden.

 

Except for me, it wasn't. 

 

The background art was very well done, and the animation was Kyoani class. But that's about it. The Japan premiere showcased episodes 1 to 3 of the TV series that will be aired in July, but the story failed to draw my attention. The characters were deformed sometimes to exaggerate expressions, but instead of adding to the artistic expression and direction, it felt more like a cheap comedy trick most of the time. For around 67 minutes (the length of the premiere), I couldn't help but feel it was trying to copy Miyazaki Hayao and Shinkai Makoto in some weird mash-up that simply failed to hit home.

 

The music used for the series also felt generic, like something you have heard elsewhere. I don't even remember it now. I don't even have much to say for the story because it felt like another boy-meets-girl generic romcom, except that it is set in some steampunk alternate Meiji-era Japan, using the kanji 明滋 instead of 明治 for Meiji to show that it is an alternate timeline. The last 10 to 15 minutes was so uninspiring that I was more or less dozing off, just waiting for the show to be over so that the stage event could begin.

 

 

The stage event was also very generic. The voice actors talked a bit about the recording, director Ota said he was chosen as director because he volunteered. I was hoping to hear more about how they went about formulating the (uninspiring) story or working on the soundtrack, but the director was shy and never really talked. In the end, I treated myself to a Whopper Jr. at Burger King as a way to make it up.

 

On the way home, the words from the recent episode of Akane-banashi came into mind. "Support is gained after you've displayed your art. If such support precedes your art, that's proof of your immaturity." Kyoani has pushed out many great works in the past. Even after the arson attack, Kyoani pushed on, and fans continued to show their support. We kept believing that the Kyoani we knew will return. But is that support really support, or something mixed with pity?

 

Official anime website 

Finally, dark mode

After so many years, finally, there is dark mode on this blog.

 

Given that I haven't touched the template of this blog for many many many years, it was a challenge to add dark mode. In the end, I gave up, and asked Claude to do it.

 

Now, the blog will load in either light or dark mode, depending on your system's settings. There is also a toggle at the lower right of the screen to force it to switch modes.

 

In the midst of this change, I also realised that the blog has been on default mobile settings, which meant the desktop template was not being used when viewed on mobile devices. I have also fixed that. 

May 2026 calligraphy "homework"

The "homework" pieces that I submitted for May 2026.

Hanshi kanji 半紙漢字: 舟従南浦囘

 

Single character 一字: 豹

 

Hansetsu kanji 半切漢字: 詩書作我閑中地 風月知人醉裏天

 

Unsubmitted pieces:

 

April 2026 calligraphy "homework"

 

New round and two down

After practising several hundreds of times, I finally selected two pieces for submission to this year's Sankei International "Sho" Exhibition 産経国際書展.
 
Some candidates which were not submitted:

  

The next one should be Kanagawa Art Exhibition 神奈川県美術展, with the submission deadline somewhere between September and October (TBC).  If it is not being held again this year, then the next one will be Onchikai Shodo Exhibition 温知会書道展 with deadline being October.

 

April 2026 calligraphy "homework"

The "homework" pieces that I submitted for April 2026.

Hanshi kanji 半紙漢字: 水入北湖去

 Single character 一字: 義

 

Hansetsu kanji 半切漢字: 外發英華

 
Unsubmitted pieces:  

March 2026 calligraphy "homework"

 

A new round... one down

After more than 200 pieces, I finally selected the piece for submission to this year's Mainichi Shodo Exhibition 毎日書道展, sparking off the first submission for this year's round of exhibition submissions.

 

Some candidates which were not submitted:

 

Now to work on the piece(s) for Sankei International "Sho" Exhibition 産経国際書展.

Update 18 June 2026: The results came today, unfortunately, my piece was not chosen. Guess I will be trying again next year.

 

This was the piece that was submitted.

 

 

March 2026 calligraphy "homework"

The "homework" pieces that I submitted for March 2026.

Hanshi kanji 半紙漢字: 陶然共忘機

 
Single character 一字: 試

 
Hansetsu kanji 半切漢字: 放情宇宙之外 息足懐抱之中

 
Unsubmitted pieces:  

 

February 2026 calligraphy "homework"

15 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011

15 years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake and its resulting tsunami struck Japan on 11 March 2011.

I still cannot forget watching the news that day.

 

I still cannot forget the experience of living in Tokyo for a year after the earthquake, with the frequent aftershocks and an entire nation dealing with the aftermath. And how the movie Suzume strikes such a chord in my heart. 

Violets blooming again

 

「また、この花が咲く季節になったんだな」
"It is again the season when this flower blooms"

 

My violets are really blooming early this year.