If you want to be happy for life…

A Chinese proverb says that “If you want to be happy for an hour, get a drink. If you want to be happy for three days, get married. If you want to be happy for life, do some fishing.”

There might be some arguments about the degree of how long for the 1st and 2nd ones. However, the 3rd one holds absolutely true at least for me, my wife and our mutual friend.

Perth has so many wonderful fishing spots. I never realized this until recently because I had hardly ever caught any fish at a nearby river. I was a loser.

All things have changed when my friend took me to an excellent fishing spot in Fremantle (20 minutes drive from Perth) and we caught 80 fish in just two hours. The very moment we caught a fish, we felt the adrenaline flow. Someone describes “Fishing” as KING of hobbies. We readily admit it. Not only it is exciting but also it gives us a reward of fresh seafood!

Since our first successful fishing day, it has captured the hearts of us, including my daughter who is now not afraid of catching fish by hand.

How crazy we have become about fishing? You can’t beat us. Despite heavy rain on and off for every 10 minutes, it didn’t stop us from fishing. We took cover every time heavy rain came and went back to the fishing place again and again while getting soaked to the skin. Our little daughter was very excited. She probably thought that we all were playing hide and seek or something.

We have been going fishing nearly every Saturday afternoon for the past few months. Don’t ask us whether we are going this coming Saturday. You bet we will! I have a premonition that this trend will continue… maybe for life.

What went wrong with my Investment Strategy?

True. My wife is absolutely right when she complains that something goes wrong with her husband's investment strategy in the garden.

I easily admit that I am a bad investor at least in my garden. I do not know how much I have spent on it, and have no idea how much profits I am making out of it. People might say that it doesn't really matter because that is one of my hobbies. That's true. However, it would be even more exciting if I know the real benefits of it, or not?

Investment in the garden includes such items as fertilizers, soil, seeds and seedling. The problem is that even myself cannot expect when I want to buy them. I just buy them whenever I feel like it. In recent months, as long as fertilizers and soil are concerned, I am happy with my strategy. These have been solely produced and brought to my garden with the help of a friend of mine "Mimi-chan (compost worm)" since they went into full activity a few months ago.

After all, when it comes to gardening, one of the most important key words is sustainability. I am now considering to bring this idea of sustainability into seeds and seedling as well. By doing this way, my garden will complete the whole sustainable system by itself. Is this a pipe drem?

What is my Soul Food? Where dose it come from?

It was on one of those Perth Saturday afternoons when I wondered "What is my Soul Food? Where does it come from?"

I had no idea how this question came to me. It may have come from the fact that I now live in overseas and have lived outside my hometown for a very long time. Whatever the reasons, they did not bother me much.

At first, I made an attempt to define "Soul Food". This sounds very similar but not quite the same as "Favorite Food". I define "Soul Food" as one's particularly favorite food which arouses a strong feeling of one's hometown.

When I think about my "Soul Food", I will name "UDON".

I love UDON since my childhood. It was probably because of my grandfather and my father's influence. They used to take me to UDON restaurants quite often. I still remember when my father spent an hour or two just to look for one UDON restaurant in an area where all we could see were "SOBA -buckwheat noodle" restaurants while we all were starving.

I inherit my father's passion for UDON. When I was hungry after school, I would often go to a UDON restaurant with my friends. When I started living in Perth, I missed UDON the most. There is availability of UDON in Perth but not high quality one. UDON has always been with me for a very long time, it is no wonder that I look for good UDON whenever I live.

In spite of my love for UDON, little did I know that where the ingredient comes from. When I got involved in the wheat business here in Perth, I have learned that the most important ingredient of UDON actually comes from where I live now "Perth" in the past and still now. This is an amazing fact. It jolted me.

I immediately gathered information on how to make UDON and made it by myself. It was my first try but my friends said "It tastes great!" Since then, it has become one of the Japanese dishes we serve at our home to our guests.

UDON making is very simple. All the ingredients you need are flour, salt and water. Even beginners can make delicious UDON from day one. Perhaps, you might want to give it a try even from today.

Pros and Cons about SKYPE

Having been a heavy SKYPE user for more than 5 years, the one thing I can say for certain about this innovative software application is that it can change the way we relate to one another. It has certainly changed the way I communicate with my family and friends.

SKYPE is a free software application that allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet. You might have heard of the name or already are a heavy user of it.

I am compiling this list of Pros and Cons about SKYPE so that people who are still in two minds can decide whether or not to use this technology.

Pros:

- Easy to setup & use -
It is very easy to setup. The whole process of downloading, installing and joining SKYPE does not take more than 10 minutes. It does not ask you for much configuration at all. All you need is a microphone and an Internet connection. The use of software application is simple too.

- Free face-to-face Video Calls-
SKYPE lets you call anyone else on SKYPE absolutely free. My parents and sister (in Japan) are thankful to SKYPE for giving them the chance to watch my daughter (who is in Perth) grow up. Because there is no need to worry about time, distance or cost, we can stay connected with someone we love whenever they are. I use SKYPE to catch up with my friends in Japan from time to time too.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have a netbook and always carry it whenever I go. It means that, whenever the location is, as long as there is an Internet access, I can do SKYPE calls from anywhere around the world for free.

- In-expensive calls to landline and mobile -
Calls to landlines and mobile phones can be made for a fee but at low per-minute rates. (to Japan-landline: US$0.026/minute) You can also send SMS to mobile phones via SKYPE. (No more hassles typing on a mobile!)

- Conference calls -
I frequently use this feature and find it awesome. Just to give you an idea, while I am at a hotel in Tasmania, Australia for business (5 hours by air from Perth), I call my wife & daughter (at home in Perth) via SKYPE. If my mother (in Japan) calls me at the same time for something to discuss with myself and my wife, she can join and start a conference call with Perth, Tasmania and Japan all connected.

Cons:

- Calls drop randomly –
Although it is not frequent, this can happen sometimes for some reasons. Much improvement over the recent years, and more advanced technology is always on the way.

- Background noise -
Unfortunately, this can happen sometimes. It is possibly due to wrong settings of microphone / speaker, or due to slow Internet access. Sometimes, there is so much background noise that you cannot hear what the other person is saying.

- Intrusive sometimes -
When you are online, other parties can see your contact. This can be intrusive. However, I personally leave it set to invisible unless I am truly in the mood for conversations.

HAVE YOU MADE YOUR MIND YET? IT'S FREE ANYWAY. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

My Neighbor TOTORO

At last, I watched the famous Japanese animation film called となりのトトロ (“My Neighbor TOTORO” in English title), when my wife borrowed it from a friend of hers the other day. This film is enormously popular among children and adults alike in Japan. I have always wanted to watch it but never have got a chance to do so.

Surprisingly enough, Perth City is no stranger to this animation film. It is believed that the director of the film had an inspiration for "Neko bus (means CAT bus)" when he visited here. In Perth, we have a free public transportation called "CAT (Central Area Transport) bus". So even from this fact, this is a must see film for me for a long time.

The film follows the two young daughters (10 year old Satsuki and 4 year old Mei) of a professor who have recently moved to a countryside. Satsuki and Mei discover that the nearby forest is inhabited by friendly forest spirits called TOTORO and befriend with them. Only children can see TOTORO.

I watched the film with my two year old daughter. The interesting thing is that, despite our big age difference, we both enjoyed watching it thoroughly. For my part, it reminds me of my childhood’s feelings, like how I felt about everything happening around me at that time. I remember how excited I was about a little adventure with my elder sister when I was a little boy. My little daughter probably sees herself in the movie and feels something too.

The scene where my daughter and I both like the most is when Satsuki and Mei join TOTORO at midnight in a ritual dance around the planted nuts and seeds, whereupon the seeds sprout and then grow into an enormous tree. Those planted nuts and seeds are given from TOTORO to the girls in return for Satsuki’s favor to have offered him an umbrella on a rainy night at a bus station.

Every time this scene comes, my daughter and I enjoy imitating the ritual dance to grow the tree while humming the film’s background music, and we do it again and again. I like this scene so much that I start thinking about planting some nuts in my little backyard hoping to grow them big.

I believe that in this film there is the underlying theme of living in good harmony with nature while having a feeling of awe. This is something we may have forgotten but important to remember.

While writing this blog, I thought it would be nice if my daughter will be able to see TOTORO someday here in Perth.