The price to pay for development...

Doing research in Japan is just not the same like doing it elsewhere. I am still wondering and learning on how did they incorporate their customs in life (over-rated respect towards seniors/superiors) into science and technology but yet progressed much in this field. We all knew that rigid minds hardly made new discovery due to lacks of creativity but as special as Japan itself is, this special people with their special way of thinking and extraordinary hard work just could make it happen. Equipped with this attitude, no wonder these Japanese who was at one time the losing team in WWII, now emerged as the second largest economy in Asia and the world leader in terms of technology and industrialization.

One chill evening, as my eyes and body grew tired out of 5 days research work every week, I took a chance to unwind along the river next to my apato, the Takano Gawa. As I stroll along this smooth flowing river towards the point where it meets with Kamo Gawa at Demachiyanagi, I noticed that despite of being the leader in technovation, Japan has never neglected the environmental factor in its modernization. The river still flow with the same crystal clear water no matter how rapid that the city grows. However, this should not be so interesting to us as we should already knew that a huge amount of money being allocated to maintain this condition and by being a developed country, a keen concern towards environmental issues is a must if the government wish to stay in power. Please don't compare it with our Sungai Klang and Sungai Gombak because the politician that forms the city council here in Japan are the one who serve the community well or else they won't get elected. In Malaysia, it's the other way round where the politician are the one who 'wet their beaks' in most of the so-called taxpayer's projects, so just don't compare and contrast before changes being done, or else it might be an unfair ground comparison. ;p true?

In this post, what I wish to highlight the most is the existence of the blue canvas villas at nearly most of the bridge's underpass in Kyoto City. This blue canvas villas is one among few other places in Kyoto where homeless people seek refuge. This is a permanent self-build structure and do belong strictly to the person who builds it. Some of them even had a TV set and even grew their own vegetables at the river banks (refer left pic 2). Homelessness is the condition and societal category of people who lack fixed housing, usually because they cannot afford a regular, safe, and adequate shelter and this scene here just represent a micro percentage among an estimated 100 million of homeless people worldwide. Homelessness have been a major problem to the world for long and don't be shocked if I tell u that among these homeless people in Kyoto, some of them are actually the people who builds the city but get sidelined due to several pathetic reasons. From the information I get from several Japanese friends, some of these homeless people were alcohol abusers but some had really good background. Some were even doctors, managers, engineers and psychologist previously. This shows how different is the homeless society in Japan to the one in America, which occurred due to high rates of alcoholism, drug abuse and mental illness. In Japan, large proportion of the homeless people had steady jobs and stable lives until their companies went bankrupt and they were put out of work, mostly due to the crush of the Japanese asset price bubble (バブル景気　baburu keiki) which represent the time of skyrocketing land and stock prices in the Japanese economy, lasting from 1986 to 1990. The homeless people now are mostly the product of 'bubble collapse' (崩壊　houkai) and this is what we called the price that we have to pay from rapid development.

As Malaysia now moves into its next chapter of the development full with corridors criss-crossing the map from north to south, I do always pray and hope that our leaders will carefully and intellectually plan the best strategy to drive our country. We want to leap, and we want to fly high..but we must always remember that the bigger we became after the leap, the harder we will fall...

Till then for now...Let me enjoy my jog..enough time for serious thinking..I want to let loose and enjoy the view!!

Me & You..Success and failure...

As students, we often search what’s wrong with us and why we can’t be excellent in studies especially when it comes to bad exam results or failure in certain subject. Being just a research student in the beginning of a research life in Japan, I never ask you to believe in everything that I wrote in this article. It is because what I’ve gone through in these 23 years 1 month of life is not enough to endorse me to teach all about success and failure in life. However, allow me a chance to trigger your mind for a deep thinking and to share a little information that I have in this article. By the end, I do hope that you will be able to acquire at least a small chapter of worthy knowledge out of your busy daily life.

Subjectivity is the main element used to describe a successful life. To some of us, living in a simple happy family with foods to feed on everyday and good neighbours is already a success. To others, material wealth is the measure of earthly success. Quoting an old army pensioner that I knew and happens to be my grandfather, “Success is when you feel joy in everything you have achieved with the blessings of God and parents, to win the respect of intelligent people and being love by children, to master your own greed and lust, and to know that even one life has breath easier because you live.” This is what I believe as a principle key for him to have been successfully brought up his 5 children with his limited army salary, all becoming alumni of renowned universities with wonderful career nowadays. Whatever ways you defined success, it surely not far from the reality of leaving the world a bit better than the way we found it

Each of us knew that to achieve success is not an easy task. One has to really work hard for his goals. Success is not a destination but a journey. It is never final. In fact, it’s just a continuity of repeating, reinforcing and refining past achievements and conquering new challenges. A successful person is the person who dreams and works at his dream. Without a positive reaction and just a dream, one may become just another daydreamer and desires remain mere desires.

I’ve seen many among my friends that do not achieve much as they failed to plan for their daily routine at all so I try my best to plan each of my next days. The main subject is not to wait and not to react towards exigencies. The idea is not to type your assignment one day before the pass-up date or it may probably be a ‘cut and paste’ assignment from your friend’s work or the Internet. We must act according to our plan and priorities. Motivational Specialist also suggested that we plan for our next day’s commitment the night before we sleep.

Shortage of time is always a problem but for a successful people, the less time they have to work with, the more things they get done by wise management of time. As we could see, there are some real good role models that venture in almost all college projects, sports and voluntarily charity works during university life but yet still maintains his distinctions in every subject for every semester. Why this is not possible for us? Neither should we allow ‘lack of facilities’ or lack of ideal circumstances to cripple our efforts. We must do whatever we can with whatever resources we have so that we will be prepared for more challenging life after campus.

Adversities can be turned into opportunities. Dares could be doors. Failures are rehearsals for the next successful efforts. Mistakes can become stepping stones for future triumphs. Everyday, some things are being done that many has said cannot be done. Proton, Malaysia’s national car manufacturer was widely criticized in 1984 when Malaysia’s 4^th Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir came out with this national car project. During that period of time, some of our own Malaysians doubting the ability of Malaysia to produce cars while still importing our own tooth picks from China. But now, the person who once criticized the idea is currently happily drove in the latest model of Proton Perdana to send his grandchildren to school and even advised his daughter to buy Proton Gen-2 that looks sporty and catchy. This is what we called life where twist and turns are all about.

Though life is tough and we all have limitations when some of us born with only average ability, we must also accomplish whatever anyone else can. There are thousands of world class eminent figures like the respectful founder of Matsushita Electric Industries Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) , Mr. Konosuke Matsushita (1894-1989) who start with nothing and born not to a wealthy family but succeeded greatly in life. We must do believe that an average ability with brilliant planning and strong determination can help ordinary people achieve extraordinary things in life. After all, God never gives us more responsibilities than what we are able to perform. For Muslims, clearly stated in Surath Al-Baqarah (2:286) of the Quran, “On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear”. So, do your best and leave the rest to God.

Failure is normal in life. Please do not see it as the end of the world because perfection is rarely attainable. Don’t waste our life in learning nothing and be a master of zero. Whatever you do, do well. There are no small roles, only small actors. The most admirable of people are those who did ordinary jobs in an extraordinary way. My last advise, do not be intoxicated by success, it is never final. Do not be defeated by failure, it is never fatal. My fellow friends, see you all in the Hall of Fame.