Mt Fuji

When we arrived at Fujikawaguchiko it was foggy and wet. We couldn’t see much other than the misty lake. The hotel had promised a good view of Mt Fuji from our room but it was no where in sight.  We certainly brought our tropical rain to Kawaguchiko which was supposed to have only 5 days of rainfall in November. As the evening waned the rain stopped. Gradually the contour of Mt Fuji took shape but the top was still shrouded. I slept early eager to catch sight of the full mountain in the morning. I felt the excitement of a child on Christmas eve waiting to find out what her present was the next morning.

At 3 am I woke up suddenly. I gazed out of the glass doors and held my breath in awe. In the darkness the mysterious Mt Fuji wore a white pointed straw hat like those worn by Japanese farmers. If I were to assign a gender it would be a HE, a grand sire, a wise man, a village chief; one whom earns the respect of all.  I didn't sleep much that night. I was on vigil just before dawn. Then the sunrise splendor unfolded. The first sun  rays dropped a tinge of pink on the summit. Slowly and  steadily this drop of pink spread downward along the Eastern slope acquiring an orange hue as it slided. Soon the eastern face of the mountain was aglow. I was so struck by the beauty of it all that I told myself there must be a God behind such wonder.

Spell bound I held Mt Fuji as sacred. I thought it disrespectful to spread our laundered undergarment on the deck chair in the balcony of our room before Mt Fuji's very eyes.The whole of the next 2 days we took endless pictures of the mountain from various locations of Kawaguchiko. Every view was breath taking, be it between branches of a maple tree, at the lakeside with tall rushes or from a nearby hillcock.

In our hotel there is an indoor hot spring with full glass windows which provide a magnificient view of the mountain. As per Japanese public bath ethics you have to bathe yourself before dipping into the spring naked. When I went in one afternoon I was fortunate enough to be alone. Still I felt a bit awkward and shy to bathe in full view of such sacredness. After being in the spring for a while, a sense of quiet delight overwhelmed me. My bare body in the clear spring waters joined by the majestic mountain awakened my sense of  just  BEING.

 
 
 

Can not mention

I am really amazed at the speed our government introduce changes in policies. I am not sure whether to be impressed or amused. Today was the release of the PSLE results and I have read in the papers that the ministry is considering not announcing the top students. I thought it meant the ministry will not be revealing the names of the top students in the cohort and the schools they come from. Little did I expect such draconian measures to "hide" the scores. I was at my school to see how my P6 clients fared and also to standby should any pupil need counselling. In the hall where all the pupils and parents were gathered nerves were raw as usual. As per past years after the usual announcements about the application process for secondary school and getting the pupils to acknowledge the dedication of their teachers, the Principal went on to reveal the percentage of passes in the various streams and the subjects. The name and the score of the top 3 students were not announced. In its place the Principal spoke about "model" students who set good examples and 5 names were flashed on the screen. There was no mention of how they fared in the exam or how they earned the merit of being "model" students. I turned to a teacher standing next to me with a puzzled look and she told me these students are actually the top scorers in the school. Throughout the briefing other than broad percentages not a single mention was made about the actual scores, the magical 3 digit figure became a taboo overnight.

Another new "pattern" shall I call it was the introduction of an award for the student with the best character. "Hmm....isn't that rather subjective?" I whispered to the teacher. She told me there was a list of criteria for the selection and the school had to get the teachers to nominate students and then  decide on the name after a long meeting.

I find the sudden change rather amusing. I thought about the tuition centre which no longer could parade the picture and score of the top PSLE student whom it proclaimed to have groomed. I thought, about the parents of the top students in each school who missed the opportunity of feeling the glory which their child brought upon them (aiya just missed by one year). I empathized with my principal whose rotten luck deprived her the pride of announcing a substantial improvement in the scores this year. I thought about that 3 digit figure, be it 197, 212, 224, 236, 244, 255, 262, 279, 285 obsessed by generations of parents. Yes it is high time this figure be banished from our dream/ nightmare.

Nothing surprises me anymore?

A common expression amongst people as they age is "nothing surprises me anymore". This is  usually from people who have seen a lot, feel jaded or unruffled.

However I feel quite the reversed. Increasingly I find things happening around us rather puzzling and unimaginable. Some of them are as follow:

1) The gangnam style video that has gone viral

2) Property prices rocketing out of comprehension

3) University undergraduates posing erotic sex video on the web

4) Flooding in New York

5) Republicans underestimating the changing demographics of the Hispanic vote in the presidential election


The gangnam video was viewed 680 million times on youtube. Yes it is funny and amusing but surely not earth shaking. Perhaps it is fueled by curiosity exponentially. It is amazing what seizes people's fascination nowadays. Apparently the humour and surprise element coupled with the unique dance movements in the video mesmerizes lots of people.Then you have the infamous NUS law scholar who wondered whose sensitivity he should be protecting and why was there a need to apologize for posing pornographic videos of him and his girlfriend's sex life on the web. It seems people have an insatiable thirst for new things and the more out of the ordinary anything is the more excitement it creates. It is as if people have to break out of boredom to survive. Therein lies the irony. The intention is to draw attention by delivering a surprise but any shocked response arising may be labelled as old fashion and outdated. Try sharing with the youngsters your disbelief that certain things  are happening and they will say you are out of touch and uninformed.

Yet uninformed is exactly the real reason behind other surprises that we encounter. Every one talks about how the property prices have rocketed beyond comprehension. Yet if one has been observant, focused and inquisitive one can see it coming, at least in Singapore with the accelerating increase in population. If we have cared enough to find out or note the annual population growth and the GDP growth over the last few years or bothered to be inquisitive or think deeper where the excess liquidity floating around will settle and wondered about the prolonged low interest rate environment, we should have seen it coming. Of course there are people who jumped in with what they called gut feel but most likely are people who have taken note of all such factors subconsciously. The fact is we have to reckon that in many so called surprise happenings it is ourselves who have not been alert ie. OUT OF TOUCH in the true sense.

Having said that there are many aspects/events in today's world which are hard to predict or which have turned out unexpectedly. These include subtle social changes that creep onto societies stealthily like a fog. I was amazed to learn that the youths in Japan are known to be complacent,apathetic and unmotivated. Unlike previous generations whose quest was to learn from the west the new generation appears unengaged and inward looking. Apparently the enrollment of Japanese students in top  US universities have been falling. The young people watched and decided not to follow the footsteps of their parents who sacrifice quality lifestyle for the lifetime dream job. Meanwhile the government grappled with setting some directions or aspiration to  tackle the prevailing aimlessness. The social aspect of things is especially difficult to envisage because it involves human psychology and behaviour. Like the effect that industrialization and modernization have on  climates, social changes can catch people and governments off guard, adding to the list of surprises we encounter. No wonder the Republicans lost the presidential election. They had failed to adapt to the changing demographics in the country;surprised whilst they watched the billions spent on campaigning went down the drain.

Feel the Magic

Read in the papers about this lady who founded Pat School House who is now moving on to be the CEO of another pre-school chain, G8 Education, one which is considered lower tiered in terms of fees. Her aim as she explained is to bring holistic child development to a wider group of families, inculcating in the children the love of music, literature and expression. One of her remarks which strikes me is that when interviewing child care teachers she will get them to sing and tell stories to assess their suitability. For a moment I was wondering whether I should apply for the job because I would love to engage in such activities daily (ie. if it does not come with the din and children on the loose haha).

As it's Friday and story telling time at the Library, I have to flip through the books which I  borrowed in advance to get a rough idea of the storyline. I have chanced upon 2 very inspiring books, at least for me who might not have grown up after all. The mystical flow of both stories awakes the child in me and the deeper meaning beneath them led me to some adult inner reflections. I was so enthralled by the language in one of the books that I went on to google a bit on the author, William Steig. He was a well known cartoonist for the New York Times before he went on to write children's books at the age of 61 (Wow so inspiring!). The language he used was so packed with emotions, of sadness, of struggles, of losing faith, of gaining hope and of riding the storm and emerging from difficulties. I think this children's book is worth more than any adult self help book as it appeals to the innate healing power of the inner psychic.

"Rather than using iPads, animation and loud sounds that will only attract a child's attention, I want to teach children so that their imagination can go further, they feel the emotions of a story"-commented the new CEO of G8 Education. I do agree with her. One must not forget that there are many aspects to living and the physical plane is just one of them. Helping the children to feel the magic will impart a dimension that makes life a little tad more worth living.