Byakkoutai 白虎隊

This is actually a miniseries shown on TV in Japan. It is about a group of young samurai (18 years and below) formed as part of the effort to defend the Aizu fief during the Boshin War, which took place as part of the Meiji Restoration.

I won't go into the details of the TV show, that you can easily find out either by watching it (there is a DVD out there if you stay outside Japan) or by checking out the show's website. What I want to do is talk about some of the things that this show made me think about.

One of the teachings that samurai in Aizu is taught is that ならぬことはならぬ。This means that what must not be, must not be. Or, we must do what must be done. This is such a simple phrase, yet it sets out the importance of fulfilling one's duty, of having the moral courage to do what is right, of being willing to face up to challenges and not back away when the going gets tough. While some may say that such thinking is outdated in our modern world, a look at how youths are behaving nowadays, and I think, "If these kids are taught all these, would we have the social problems that we have now?" A recent piece of news has a kid from a famous school in Singapore beating up a bus driver. Should we condone such practices ("he is just a kid", "give the kid a chance", etc.) or should we teach the little one (our future generation, our hope for the future) to behave properly, to bear the social responsibility for his own actions?

Another teaching is that one should not cause one's parents to worry. No matter how old we are, we should be thankful to our parents. It is because of them that we exist. And thus, no matter what we do, we should not cause them to worry. While parents are inevitably worried about their children, as children, on our part, we should act in a way that we don't cause them unnecessary worry, that assures them that we know what we are doing, that we know the consequences of our actions, and we are acting in a responsible manner.

立派に死ぬには立派に生きなければならない。To be able to die in an exemplary manner, one must lead an exemplary life. Or, the manner that we live our lives will determine the manner that we die. We can choose to lead an honourable life, and die with honour and be remembered as a person of integrity. Or we can shirk responsibility in all we do, and die being remembered as a coward.

And the sun always appear after the rain. We should not give up hope even when things look grim. All we need to do is to bear through the rough patch, and we will eventually get to better times. The important thing is to persevere and not to take the easy way out by running away from our problems, or a sticky/tough situation.

Aizu produced many good warriors. And I think this could be because they devote time and effort as a whole towards educating their children. Not just sending them to school and teaching them to read and write. But rather, education in terms of inculcating in future generations the correct values. Education is not about learning a skill. It is about learning how to lead life, and includes the skills and values that we need. To produce people of calibre like those from Aizu, we should focus on educating our future generations in the correct manner. While having great engineers and cunning businessmen may bring about economic growth in the near term, to be a great nation, we cannot depend on having the tallest buildings or the biggest airports to survive in the long term. It is the quality of our people that will determine whether we can survive all challenges that the future may have for us.

Byakkoutai on Wikipedia
Fan site

Iwo Jima? Iwo Tou?

硫黄島can be read as Iwojima, or Iwotou, but apparently, from what I know, it was called Iwotou originally. Iwojima is the name given to it by the Americans.

So now, after all these years, it seems that Japan is going to use back the old, original name of Iwotou. So don't be surprised if you start seeing references to Iwotou in the future. It still refers to the same small island.

DNS-312H Network Attached Storage (part 2)

While the NAS didn't work very well back at my previous place (read my previous post), I did manage to set it up at my new place, and right now, it is being used as a central server to store our emails, as well as files that I want to be able to access from both computers. I haven't been able to set up my bookmarks to be loaded from the central server, though.

But with Windows Vista, there problem is that everytime I log in, I need to manually reconnect my network drive. Even though I selected the "Reconnect on logon" option, it is not able to log in correctly. I still have yet to find the reason why... but that is a small hindrance, compared to not being able to access the drive at all. If anyone knows how to solve this, do let me know!

Letter to forum - Thoughts on conserving energy

A letter to the forum page of the local newspaper, written by me and published.

"I recently went to a mega supermarket in the heartlands, and while the temperature outside was a hot 33 degrees Celsius, the air conditioners were making the supermarket much colder than expected. While the fresh food section may require such temperatures, I really wonder if the other sections of the supermarket selling electronics and fabrics really need to be so cold. Is it not a waste of energy to make buildings much colder than they need to be?

A Japanese friend of mine commented about the indoor temperatures in Singapore when he visited recently. The difference between the temperatures outdoors and that indoor is so great, that it is difficult to dress appropriately. Anything worn to suit the outside heat is too thin for the indoor's cold temperature, while anything worn to fight off the cold is probably going to make one sweat a lot more when walking outdoors.

In a bid to conserve energy, and do a little for the environment, the Japanese government has decreed that all government agencies set their air conditioners to no colder than 28 degrees during summer. Workers are allowed to dress down to suit the summer heat. They are not expected to turn up in suit-and-tie anymore; short-sleeved shirts will do just fine. Can we not follow suit and save some energy, and save ourselves from the dilemma of wearing jackets in a country which has summer all year round?"

Our new home - Moved in (part 2)

Here are some pictures of our new home. You can actually see it too at my wife's blog. Below is a shot of our living room.
And here is a photo taken of our first dinner after moving in.
Now, the challenge is to sort out all those things inside the boxes... and to find places to keep all my books, files, CDs and other miscellaneous stuff. This whole weekend was spent doing just that, and I am not even half done. Moving in was the easy part.

Star Wars, Dune, Taiji and the Condor Heroes

I was watching Episodes 1 to 3 yesterday. Phew, spent the whole day going through the DVDs, and was I tired after the movie marathon. Well, here are some more thoughts about the Star Wars series.

First, to do with taiji. "Fear of losing is a path to the dark side." This seems to be quite in line with what I have written in my taiji blog about being afraid to lose. And the more powerful you get, you become more afraid of losing what you have. This is something that we have to watch. The better we become, the more we must be careful not to guard what we have too closely. I recently learnt a lesson from observing a colleague. He was afraid to lose, and ended up losing because his plan was basically one to prevent himself from losing, rather than to bring about victory.

Okay, enough about taiji, if I need to say more, I will talk about it in my other blog.

A similarity with The Return of the Condor Heroes was found in Star Wars. Anakin Skywalker fell in love with someone older than he was, just like Yang Guo. They met when he was still a child, and she was nice to him, just like Little Dragon Lady (aka Xiaolongnyu) was nice to Yang Guo. And similarly, their unions were viewed to be wrong (a Jedi marrying a senator, compared to a student marrying his teacher). And of course, Anakin had his right arm cut off, just like Yang Guo. And both were proud, knowing that they were good in their skills.

And the Kamino that created the clones were like the Tleilaxu of Dune, specialising in making clones. The assassin sent to kill Padme was a "changer", like a doppleganger from Dune, able to shapeshift.

Seems like the movie really does draw a lot of inspiration from different places.

Our new home - Moved in

Finally!

We have moved into our new home. After a month of running around, getting the renovation done, applying for electricity, water and gas, getting the phone and broadband set-up, choosing curtains, moving our stuff into the new place, we have moved in today!

Now, time to enjoy the new home! Am I excited about having a place of our own.

Our new home (part 5)

After all the work (actually, most of it was my wife's) getting the new place ready, we are now in the final stages of moving in. Most of the furniture is there, our belongings too. Just some more boxes of stuff that needs to be moved. But they are too heavy (most of them are my books) so we are getting some professional movers to help. The problem with our phoneline and Internet was solved too, after repeated calling the telco. Renovation is done, except for a bit of touching up on the paintwork which they will do tomorrow.

Looks like we are all set to move in as planned.

Our new home (part 4)

Those staying in Singapore know that there is a 3-in-1 package by one of the telecommunications companies here. And that was what I got for my new home, considering that the 3-in-1 package comes with residential land line (using VoIP technology), broadband Internet connection, and a mobile phone subscription.

The problem comes when installing the setup in a new home. First, while the line was supposed to have been activated since Saturday, till today, I am still not getting any connection. When the person from the company came to install the setup at my new place, he couldn't get the DSL modem to connect. After checking with the company, it seems that it could be because "the connection hasn't been activated yet." And apparently, even when activated, it may take up to 24 hours before connection is available.

So today, I went to check, and still no connection. So after calling their tech support, I was told that the line was actually activated already. So it could actually be because of my phone socket that is causing connection problem.

Huh? So who should I be listening to? One says my line wasn't activated yet, another says that my line was activated already, as per the agreement to activate on Saturday. Nevermind, we shall see when they send their tech support guy over tomorrow, and hopefully, this big company is able to solve my little problem.

Our new home (part 3)

Moving into a new place is a lot of work.

I have been to IKEA every day for the past 3 days. Each day, I came back with loads of stuff. And they are going to send over some of the stuff that I couldn't carry in my Honda Airwave.

And buying at IKEA means having to assemble the furniture... so I have spent the last two days fixing up furniture, while my wife was busy unpacking our stuff into the new wardrobe and cupboards. If I thought taiji was tiring, doing my own renovation (some of it, that is) can be even more tiring.

To think I still have shelves of books still yet to move... I think I can hear my back breaking...

Eye of the Beholder

I have fond memories of this game, because it was the first computer AD&D game that was different from the traditional Gold Box series released by SSI. While the Gold Box series had turn-based combat, with a third-party view of the battle, this is the first game of the Black Box series, with combat taking place in the same 3D dungeon screen, and no distinctive turns. Basically, you swing your sword when you click on it, and cast spells when you manage to open up your spellbook and select a spell. Of course, there are shortcut keys that allow you to do some of these faster, but your reaction is still crucial to winning encounters.

The story is simple enough, there is trouble brewing under the sewers of Waterdeep, and you and your party have been formed to go check out what is the cause. And as the name suggests, the nemesis is actually a beholder, which is a big floating ball of flesh, with a central eye capable of negating magic, and ten eyestalks that are capable of casting a different spell each.

Eye of the Beholder departs from the traditional Gold Box series in that there is actually some form of puzzle solving involved in the game. Gold Box series games attempt to incorporate puzzle solving into them, but most of them are feeble attempts and the games still hinge heavily on hack-and-slash. But Eye of the Beholder (aka EOB) actually managed to put in some puzzles that challenge people to think.

The hint book actually provides maps and events for each level, and also hints for the special quest found on each level. The teleportals found on each level can also provide a challenge (they can be confusing) or a quick method of getting from place to place.

So while this game may not be that great now, compared to 3D games like Neverwinter's Night and Oblivion, it did break new ground back in the old days by allowing real-time combat in the 3D dungeon screen. And that, in those days, was a big break from the norm.

Wikipedia's entry
A fan site with walkthroughs and maps
Another fan site with all three games in the series
Eye of the Beholder module for Neverwinter's Night

Calligraphy piece

For those who do not know, Formidable's name in Chinese is "威武". On the special occasion of her commissioning, I have written her name in Chinese, as well as used her name to write a short verse showing her spirit of being triumphant at sea.

A new frontier

Yesterday, on the 5th of May 2007, which marks the 40th anniversary of the Republic of Singapore Navy, Singapore's first stealth frigate, RSS Formidable, was commissioned. It marks the start of my country's venture into a new frontier.

Our new home (part 2)

I never knew getting a new home is so troublesome.

First, there are forms to fill, just so to get gas, electricity and water. Without these, guess what happens? I will have to dig a well and light candles... maybe even collect logs to start a fire. And register to get a car park lot for my car.

And of course, visit a nearby police post and get your address changed. And the good thing in Singapore is that this process automatically updates your address information with certain agencies. But of course, it doesn't update every one, so you still have to update that information with the various companies that you deal with, such as banks, telephone companies, magazine subscriptions, etc.

There is also subscription for a new residential phone line, and broadband (yes, I do need access to the Internet). And cable TV too, though I have yet to do this since we haven't decided on what channels we actually want to subscribe to.

Then there is the BIG matter of renovation. We wanted down lights, so that means we first have to get someone to do up the ceiling and the electrical cabling. Then find someone to install the lights (after buying the lights that we want). Hunt around for curtains and somehow get it up.

And visit all the furniture shops in the neighbourhood and spend hours in IKEA. And find out at the end of four hours at IKEA that they only keep your furniture with them for 7 days before they start to charge you for storage, which means you can't shop for furniture too early. They charge 5% of the furniture price for assembly (if you don't want to do it yourself) but that may be better than having an amateur try fix up a huge wardrobe.

Yes, shifting to that new home is going to need a lot of work, which means driving around looking for deals. But no matter how tiring it may be, I am sure the reward of moving into a new home will be worth it.

Our new home (part 1)

You can see this same picture here. This is taken from my new home, which we just got the keys to today. Getting the key is the first step, I never knew that there were so many things that need to be done before I can move into a place. Now I have to fill up forms for property tax, apply for utilities, change my address on my identification card (and all other addresses officially registered), apply for a phone line, etc.

And that is even before doing any renovations and getting the necessary furniture. I am quite lost, let's see if I can figure it all out soon.

Watch this space for updates.