Saman Dance @ Koudaisai 2007

Proudly presents…
Saman dance performance by Indonesian students in Koudaisai 2007.
Enjoy!

(just a little bit information, I am the one who sit first in the left side using white shirt )

First Part

Second Part

We got the 2nd Place by voting. We lose to some Japanese guys doing juggling while wearing some Joker-like mask. It’s okay. It is not the prizes that matter, but the unity and friendship between us. I really had fun doing the Saman dance together. I did one mistake though. So, みんあ さん、ごめん ね

About:Smile

Quote of this day.. Taken from Desperate Housewives Season 4 Episode 2..

There is nothing more deceptive than a smile..
And no one knows this better than the people who hide behind them..
Some flash their teeth as a polite warning to their enemies..
Some put on beaming faces to keep their tears from falling..
Others wear silly grins to mask their fears..

But then there is that rare smile that is actually genuine..
It is a smile of the person who knows his trouble will soon be over..

What I like from this TV-series is when it comes to the end of the episode, there is this unique-narrator who always conclude the story into one beautifully-arranged sentences which in many ways, impress me a lot…

Some flash their teeth as a polite warning to their enemies.

Yeah, it occurs in many events. You have to attend a party, which, at the same time, forces you to meet your enemies. The host wants to make a closing photo for the party, of course, letting you and your enemies in altogether. You smile, your enemies smile, and then you finally have to face each other with that smile in your lips.. Yes, what can be told except that both of you will lead that smile to “warn” each other, pretending to smile, but deep inside you may be saying horrible things to them..

Some put on beaming faces to keep their tears from falling..

You visit your dearest friends. He is sick. But, as a matter of visiting-sick-people rules, you have to keep on smiling. Let the sick people share your happiness for a while. Yet, deep inside your heart, you cry for that moment..

Others wear silly grins to mask their fears..

Have you ever got the feeling that you are so damn screwed out with all the stuff you did lately, and still, you have to keep smiling? What result in it will be that silly-ugly smile covering your faces..

But then there is that rare smile that is actually genuine..
It is a smile of the person who knows his trouble will soon be over..

Genuine!
Smile will release our relief for sure after knowing that all the troubles which surrounded us lately will be over soon..

Koudaisai Tokodai 2007

Hari ini dan besok di kampus Ookayama Tokodai diselenggarakan festival yang namanya Koudaisai. Ini adalah even tahunan yang menurut para senpai di sini mengundang banyak keramaian. Yang datang bukan cuma mahasiswa saja, tapi juga masyarakat sekitar dan anak2 SMA. Selain festival yang berbentuk bazar makanan dari berbagai negara, hampir setiap laboratorium di sini juga mengadakan “Open Lab”. Semua orang diberi kesempatan untuk mengetahui lebih dalam ngapain aja sih lab-lab di Tokodai itu, riset-riset apa yang mereka lakukan, dan topik apa yang mereka tawarkan.

Hari ini adalah hari pertama Koudaisai. Cuaca tidak mendukung nampaknya, karena dari pagi sampai sore (bahkan sampai malam) Tokyo dilanda hujan lebat (beberapa orang ada yang mengatakan sedang ada badai di Jepang). Payung-payung pun bertebaran, dan beberapa ada yang beterbangan (hanya satu yang saya lihat, karena ada seorang cewek yang nggak kuat menahan badai). Berikut video yang saya sempat abadikan.

Selain bazar makanan, ada juga yang namanya Flea Market, yaitu pasarnya orang-orang yang menjual barang-barang bekas dengan harga yang miring. Saya sempat berkunjung dan membeli sebuah jaket dengan harga……50 yen. Ya, tidak salah, bukan 500 yen, tapi 50 yen.

Teman saya, Asri, sempat bertanya kepada penjualnya. “Go hyaku en?”, kata si Asri. “Iie, go juu en.”.. “Go hyaku en?”, “Iie.. Go juu en.”.. Dan kami pun baru percaya ternyata harganya bener2 50 yen.

Oh ya, di Koudaisai ini, stand Indonesia menyajikan SATE (インドネシアのやきとり). Harganya 150 yen sebatang, yang mana, sangat mahal sekali kalo dikonversi ke rupiah (sekitar 12 ribu rupiah sebatang). Begitulah, memang makanan di Jepang mahal-mahal. Ini foto sate yang sedang dibakar di atas arang. おいしいですね 。。。

Demikian lah hari pertama Koudaisai tahun ini. Nggak banyak yang bisa diceritakan karena saya sendiri belum muter-muter (hujan, males kemana2, ngendon di stand Indonesia aja terus).

Hippo Family Homestay

Yeah, it was such a long time since my last post here. Today, I want to write something because I just had my “happiest moment” in Japan. It was a one night homestay with HIPPO Family. Just see the picture below for the detail. I will write something related with the picture that I took. I regret it very much that I didn’t take many photo, especially in the Welcome Party. What a pity…

This photo was taken under the cherry-blossom-tree-wannabe (some trees that will be transformed to the beautiful Sakura in Spring) in front of the Honkan, or Main Building, in Tokyo Tech O-okayama Campus. Look, they all smiled happily because of me. The girl sitting in my left side was Mirei, and the girl who sat in the left of the girl who sat in my left side (Ah, it was so hard to say, sorry… Hehehehe…), was Reina. Both of them are the children of Kaneda San’s Family (you will see more pictures of them later in this post), which was my destined family homestay at the moment. In my own opinion, all of the woman here were very beautiful. Some of them were still young though I think (at least from their appearance).

This photo was taken inside Kaneda Family’s house. They are Reina (left) and Mirei (right). Kawaii desu ne?

This was the only photo that I took together with the HIPPO Club. I _totally_ regret it. Actually, they took photo of me (with some other family) all the time that nite, of course with their own camera. Ah… Someday, I hope, hontou ni, that they will give me the photos..

I like this photo, because it was consisted of all the Kaneda Family’s children. Look, Reina was a very active girl. She moved all the time. Maybe, if I can speak Japanese well, I could explore many things. The boy in my left side was Keigo. He was 14 years old and now he pursued to continue into high school with good reputation in soccer. He likes soccer. I played WE 10 with him several times, and he was a very good player. I only won once, and the rest, he won the game. I said to him, “Watashi wa WE 0 benkyou shimasu.”. Next time, if I visit his house again, I will definitely win. Hehehe…

This was the complete photo of Kaneda Family (excluding me). It was taken before we left the house to Takao Mountain in Hachioji.

This was the map of Takao Mountain. Hiroi desu ne.. Dakara, we need a map so that we won’t walk in the wrong direction. There were so many interesting places spread in this mountain and I think we can not finish to explore them all in just one day. It was just too big.

This was taken when we use the “Chair Lift” (it was some kind of “flying” chair that will lift us to the top of the mountain). Omoshiroi desu ne..

This was taken in the top of the Takao Mountain. I don’t have anything to say though beside that. Seems like Reina do that “hand-style-OK” as what I did in the several photos before. Nice!

Some of you who are Japanese Dorama freak absolutely know this photo. Yeah, it is a conveyor belt style sushi where you can take each plate directly (and they will count it in the end how much plate that you eat, recording to the color of the plate). However, this time, we visited the 105 yen style sushi, so all the sushi’s price are flat.

Kanpai!! It was the last photo that I took with Kaneda Family. Chiizu!!

You will definitely realize that in the end I put so many photos of me here. Yeah, actually, I don’t like to take my own photo. But, someone requested to me the other day that I should take more photo.. Yeah, I did it. Next time, I will post something about the food (sushi) and the scenery in Takao Mountain.

That’s all. And I wanna say my greatest thank you to Kaneda Family for this unforgettable memory while I was here in Japan.

どうもありがとうございました !

Little Facts about Japan

1. Japan’s population is about 130 million. 10th largest in the world.

2. There are about 12 million people living in Tokyo. It is the largest population in one prefecture. The second largest is Osaka, followed by Kanagawa-ken in the 3rd position.

3. The land area of Japan is almost the same with Germany.

4. About 72% area of Japan is covered with mountain and hills.

5. Japan allocated 3.5% of GDP for Research and Development sector in 2005. It is the highest in the world.

6. The average life expectancy in 2006 : Male (79) and Female (86).

7. Total fertility rate in 2005 is only 1.29, means that between 100 women lives in their current age-specific fertility rate, there would be 129 children born.

8. Husband in single income family spent only 7 minutes a day for house keepings (in 2001). A survey by Social Research Institute of Michigan University (2002) stated that in Sweden, husband spent 24 hours a week for hous works, while in USA was 16 hours, compared with Japan with only 4 hours.

9. 21% Japanese people are over 65 years old in 2006.

10. Almost 90% of Japanese think that they belong to the middle class (in 2003 survey).

*directly taken from Topics on Japan lecture by Assoc. Prof. Yuriko Sato on October 10th, 2007.