Tokyo Motor show 2005 - The showdown of chicks!

Girls...girls...girls ..and Cars! Thats probably what every Motor Show is all about. I was luckly enough to catch the Tokyo Motor Show this time around. I was told it's "THE EVENT" this part of the world, pertaining to anything and everything to do with cars and bikes! The show was held at the Mukhuhari Messe exhibition centre, which is HUGE, really huge. They had one hall dedicated for bikes and 3 big halls for cars. Almost every single MAJOR (*hint*hint*) car manufacturer in the world was there. As such, brands like Proton and anything from china was pretty much NON-existant! How GOOD...finally no crap polluting a good exhibition like this!

It was exatly like a static modelling show, only this time the cars were the models, and chicks they were..with many like Honda, Toyota, Volvo, VW showcasing their concept cars and roadsters. The new Z4 was up for view. I will let the pictures speak for itself, i've uploaded quiet a bit on the web, with a few on this blog. If you wanna see the rest, please go on ahead and check it out here !

This bike i am on (see pic below) is 2300 CC, can you beat that? What would one do with so much horses on 2 wheels? Anyway, it was a fun trip. 4 of us went for it, me, Johan, Ganesh and Hisako(our japanese friend). She was an excellant guide. We took the early express from Tokyo station to Kaihim Mukuhari station, which was about a 30 minute ride. This is half the standard subway time, given the fact we hardly stopped in any of the stations. Thanks to JR railways for this express train. We got in arounf 10.15 and ended up spending every paid hour checking out cars (Any chicks too ;) ).

Yes, we paid 1000 Yen for the early bird pass and 590 Yen train ticket. That alone adds up to RM50. We left only around 7.00pm, had an early dinner at a complex nearby, where my gooddie friends treated me for my birthday with some Italian food!

By the time i got back to the hotel it was almsot 10pm. It was a very tiring day but i must say, every single tired muscle was worth it's effort. Some cars were really awsome. I really look forward to some of them coming down to KL. Even though i may not be able to afford any, i can oogle at someone elses' chick... arrggg...i mean car la!!

It also made me realise how far proton is in coming even close to it's competition. I wished the arrogant dumb ministers who keep protecting proton come visit this show and eat their hearts out! The exhibition will stay on untill 6th November and if you have the financial means, GO SEE IT!

Rest in peace ....

I woke up at 7.30 and first thing after a shower, i turned to bernama for any early morning updates. This time, it wasnt good. A lady i had admired so much over thelast few year not only for her personal character but for the courage she showed in battling cancer, has made a calling to Almighty! This is a great Loss to us, God indeed takes the best souls away earlier! Thestar eventually places a notice on this that read -

Prime Minister's wife dies!

Breast Cancer: Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's wife died Thursday after a nearly four-year battle with breast cancer. She was 64. Members of the public can pay their last respects at Seri Perdana between 11am and 4pm.

Our prayers go to Pak Lah and family, may they have all the support and will to go through this difficult times. The nation is grieving with you. I hope he has the courage and strength to continue leading this country!

Is the Great Tokai Earthquake brewing?

It's almost 1 a.m now and i cant get sleep. The thought of it haunts me. Nobody likes be in an earthquake, even for fun. For that matter, i dont think anyone wants to be in anyform of natural disasters, given a choice. And one too many i've had the last 7 days. We've had 2 quakes in Tokyo last 7 days, first on Sunday, measuring about 5.1 on richter scale. I was out checking out the the Meiji park, as such i didnt feel much of it, not more then tremors. My Friend Ganesh was in his apartment, and panicked and ran out. But his neighbours were cool. I even thought he overreacted, since i didnt feel much on sunday.

To my horror, it came again! Just 2 hours back (approx, 8.45pm Japanese time), while i was having my first dinner date with some japanese girls, it struck. We were having dinner in the laqua shopping complex opposite my 43 storey tokyo dome hotel. The restaurant was on the second floor and experiance was beyond words!

I never thought it'll be that scary...People paused for a minute untill the swinging stopped, then continued. But the ligts on the ceiling continued shaking for an addional minute or 2. I couldnt imagine being in the hotel room on the 36th floor when this had happened. The higher u are, the more shaking you experiance, and i think i've had enough of this. i'm not mentally prepared for an attack at such height. But i'll prepare for the worst after this.

It reminds me again of how precious life is and how it all depends on the alimighty up there! Tokyo is preparing for a repeat of the great Tokai earthquake, which is due this year, or anytime soon. The japanese, especially around tokyo are mentally prepared for it, i hope we foreigners are too, hoping that we dont add up to the numbers!

Here's a short video clip i recorded with a fren's phone after the quake stopped. You can still see the light moving. Check it out here...

Gothic Lolita culture @ Harajuku

Say gothic chicks, and u'll get this "you weired" look from some. Dont even try the word Lolita coz you can be jailed for it. I learnt today that there are a few types of lolita's according to japanese translation ."Kuro(means black) lolita"and "Ama( means sweet) lolita" and "Ero( hehehe, you know this one you pervert, erotic underaged) lolita" and "Elegant(spelled as E-le-gen-tu) lolita" and Cos (means costume playing ) lolita.

Well the gothic lolita culture is very prevailant amonst young japanese girls as young as 12-13. No better place to get a first hand experiance of this, then Harajuku. Harajuku is a Goth Loli check out place every sunday. Girls all over Tokyo come here and gather as early as 3p.m and get made up in extreme gothic looks. Weired and punky i must say. They do it for fun and to be photographed at no cost. Here's some pics of them and them with my friends.

When i first started writting this piece, i was wondering what i should call the title. I thought of calling it Harajuku Gothic Girls. I did a quick check at google and was surprised that the Harajuku Goth lolita's are pretty famous. You can learn more about them here and here.

Also on the right is a Gothic couple. The Japanese street fashion culture is still very strong. Girls start young on grooming. Everyone just looks so "made up" full of make up etc... as if they're all heading for a modelling photo shoot. Japanese girls spend allot of time and money on looking good. Unfortunately, some who cant afford it end up selling themselves part time to rich old white man and also to the pornography film industry to earn side the needed money.

The wish tree @ Meiji Jingu Shrine

After a long tiring walk around the park on my Meiji Shrine trip , i did have some lighter moments after all. One thing that caught my eye was the wish tree. Aparently the spirit of Empreror and Emperess Meiji is in that tree and you can ask for something or anything. People from all over the world who visit this place, have the opportunity to buy a piece of wood for 500 Yen and write their wish/request from "GOD" and hang it on the tree, at the spaces provided. So the picture on your left gives you an idea of how it looks lah.

Now, here's some interesting wishes that i and Sammy (my work mate from australia) manage to photograph. I must say, these people have some sence of humour.

Obviously you didnt need a genius to tell you that these wishes didnt come from local japanese folks.

Meiji Jingu Shrine (Shinto Shrine)

I had a lazy morning, waking up late and packing up. Yes, the hotel has finally agreed to upgrade me free of charge to the Super Deluxe room on the 36th Floor. As soon as i packed up, i left to visit emperor Meiji's shrine, which is situated in Harajuku, about 30 minutes away by subway.
The original shrine of Emperor and Empress Meiji was destroyed in WW II. It was later reconstructed in 1958 with wood donated by the public. It's situated inside the Yoyogi park, which is such a splendid and peacefull place to be, either yourself or with your loved ones. It's a little cool around this time and the visit was good, here's some pictures!

Found this bunch of girls from china harassing that little girl in Kimono for a shot, decided to cash in on that too :) .

Feeling at home in Japan

One of the biggest problem a person like me would encounter being away from home is good home cooked food. Nevertheless, i've literally been away from KL since 1998, with the longest period staying and working in KL not lasting more then 2-4 months. Now you take this statement and multiply it with weeks of eating Bento Meal's, shushi, Udon's and cheap taste-less japanese meals and you'll know how excited i got when i found 2 indian shops just 5 minutes away from my hotel, one called Jyoti and the other Sapana.

It was excellant, given the fact i had 2 curries (chicken keema & mutton curry) togather with chiken tikka and the whitish stuff felt like sweet yougurt with fruits inside of it. Sweet lassi comes on the house, free flow. Yummie, i'm now so hooked to these restaurants!
As for the price, it's about 1000 Yen, about RM 33-35. If you're just about to say "walau-ye", hang on, this is normal price for food here and consider it cheap. A standard fine dine usually can cost you about 2-5000 YEN per meal. So the motto is, if you spend 1000 Yen & below, it's okay :) . BTW, this was lunch. The same meal for dinner will cost double.

AP controversy ... (Part 2)

I first blogged about this here, and with all the Rafidah rackus, i thought it was over! but the old man seems all out to nab kak Pidah. First he asked the government not to cover up, and now claims he didnt give any approval for Naza to be declared national car, he merely gave his advice when asked for on Naza's interest in becoming a national car. The Star post on this matter quoted him as saying;

A letter to him from Naza Kia Sdn Bhd dated May 21, 2002 – which he produced during a TV interview last night – only requested his advice on the firm's plans to make the 2,500cc model a national car.
“I replied that I had no objections to advising the company on its plans,” he said.

So here we go agian, the AP saga, now Tun calls Pidah a liar and claims it was MITI that gave approval and not him ....and lets see if theres any rebuttal!!

My same question is asked here, what kind of leader is this man, when he doesnt even have control and knowledge of what happens in his government, while he was the PM. Thank god for his departure.

Blogger vs. Corporate Bully @ india

A blogger from india, Gaurav just happen to blog about an article from an indian Youth magazine called JAM, that disected a big add by a popular management institute in India called, IIPM, which is the indian institute of planning and management. You see the problem is that the July 2005 article published by JAM exposes some very dubious claims of IIPM , pertaining to their ranking and degree recorgnition. With all the discusscians hapening over the months, the gist of the issue boiled down to the qualifications of the founder of IIPM, names Aarindam Chaudhuri or AC in short, which happen to be extreamely dubious.


So what has this to do with Gaurav? He happen to blog about this controversy and link to the JAM Article. Obviously, big PAPA@IIPM didint like the idea of a blogger talking about their exposed lies :) .

Well IIPM alike a typical big bully went all out to villify JAM, Gaurav and anyone in the blogsphere that talked about this. They have sent legal notice to JAM, Gaurav and a many other bloggers whore are bloggin about this. The problem is, Gaurav had to resign he's job @ IBM due to this controversy.

You see, IBM supplies laptop to IIPM student, as part of their enrolment (free laptop, walau), obviously they pay record fees for IIPM entrance. When the bullies at IIPM knew that Gaurav worked for IBM, they (including some dumb students) aparently started threatening IBM to burn all their lap tops if Gaurav doesnt remove the post from his blog. As a person who preeches and supports free speech, Gaurav refused. Respectably, IBM did not force him to remove nor leave them.

Gaurav didnt want to create tension and voluntarily resigned his job from IBM. The fact is, the whole world is talking (Check http://technorati.com/ as you can see whats the No 1 blog phrase being blogged about now, it's IIPM) about this now and these bloggers have world support to fight GANGSTERS like IIPM who use legal means (see in gaurav's article an email from legal department of IIPM) to scare people who beleive in freedom of speech.

I'm not going to repeat things but you can read further at Neha's , Reshmi's blog and desi pundit for a comprehensive overview. Now that Gaurav is jobless, you can also read updates on he's own blog.

IIPM must be dumb to think they can sue every single blogger in the world! How stupid and dumb they or their student can get? If you didnt know, since this controversy boiled over, their student are lurking all over WWW condemming these blogger, and logging into their blogs and launching personal attacks.

Coming back to local scene, there was a recent article about a developer in Klang that aparently built houses NOT according to specifications. I found out recently that the resident in the article and another person is being sued for millions for alledgedly misleading information leading to loss of sales, by the developer. Another sad case of companies with big bucks and under utilized legal department trying to scare a citizen who stood up for his rights! A BIG BOOO!

MAS - Going below expectations ...

Malaysia airlines has recently been in the news for all the wrong reasons... quarterly loss, rising fuel sur-charge etc ... and the last thing they probably want is one of their staff to be rude to pasenggers. Here's a complaint from my cousin sister and her husband and the nonsence they had to put up with on their trip back recently from Bangkok to KL on a MAS flight. Though a written complaint had been submitted to MAS, till today, no response has been received. So i'm planning to take it up from here untill MAS appologise for their incompetencies yet again!

Pesengger name: Dr. Gayatri Devi & Mr Thulasaidas
Enrich Membership: MH 067402344 / MH 067 402 322
Email contact: CENSORED
Tel: CENSORED
Flight Date: 25th Sept. 2005
Flight no: MH 0785 (BKK-> KUL) bangkok to KL
Seat : 24H & 24K

Complaint against racist and rude stewardess
Stewardess Name: Emi Khaliza

Me and my husband decided to take a short break to bangkok recently. It was an enjoyable trip untill we sat on our flight back home to KL. We were horified with your rude stewardess . There were a bunch of Indian expats seated infront of us who had requested for vegetarian meals. Not only was she very rude to these indian folks, one of them were served different food compared to the rest. When she asked why she is given something else compared to her friends, Emi's reply was to the tune " We dont have a kitchen in this plane, i only serve you whats there given" We're disgusted to hear this, so much for GOING BEYOND EXPECTATIONS. The least she could do is offer something else, like an additional bun or something and politely appologise for not having proper meals. She also started to teach pesenggers to say "Please" and "Thank You" . This is unimaginable, not only was she rude to everyone, she started preaching etiquette to fellow pesenggers.

Then she came to serve us meals. First things she asked us " Is this your original seats? " with an arrogant tone. I am wondering if she thought we were also Indian expats (not that it's an excuse to be rude.) Then she asked " Are you vegetarians" , againt in arrogance. we aswered NO. My husband immediately went up to the chief steward and asked him to remove Emi from that section before she disgraces MAS further. She was immediately removed from serving food further and the chief appologised.

What is hapening to Malaysia airlines? This is going BELOW ANY LITTLE EXPECTATIONS a pesengger can have. Are MAS stewarders being overworked? She was very racist towards the indian pesenggers and also to us. To add more insult to MAS, behind our seats were a holidaying couple of which the lady works as a stewardess for a middle eastern airlines. She was equally shocked. I'm a frequent flyer with MAS as you can see with my enrich record, travelling every few months between Oxford medical centre, UK and Malaysia. I will surely think twice next time to fly MAS, given such sub-standard quality and rudeness of your cabin staff.

Regards,
Dr. Gayatri Devi,
Consultant Opthamologist,
Oxford University Medical Centre.

On a more personal experiance, i had this issue recently when i flew from KL to Tokyo on October 2nd. Both the interactive TV screens on my seat and the seat beside (11 A & C) fail to work. I complained to the stewardess and asked them if they could do something, and they told me i'm free to find another seat around the economy class, knowing obviously that the flight was alomost full. One even tried to convince me the interactive TV and Movie on demand is only for business class. OBVIOUSLY she doesnt know that the air craft systems of MAS are being upgraded where you now have movie, TV and music on demand even on economy class, MY GOD, they dont even know details about the plane the work on.

Finally i decided to give the chief steward a try to see if he could help, and HELP HE DID. He just reset the entire entertainment system and the PC rebooted :) and thats how i found out that the airline computer uses linux :) for the interactive entertainment system. It worked fine after that but sadly 3 hours of my journey was wasted staring at my food and the wall in front of me.

I just dont understand MAS stewards and stewardess, dont they ever know the meaning of GOING BEYOND EXPECTATIONS??? I think MAS should start a retraining program for all their rude and ignorent staff to educate them the importance of keep the standards high!

I have also loss faith in Skytrax (The guys who never fail to rate MAS so highly every year) as the service i get doesnt JIVE with the skytrax survey. But wait a minute, I'm not a Mat Salleh, no wonder i got shit treatment! Now it make sence.

Cultured @ Japan

It is such an amazing experiance. No wonder people say Japan is a unique place to work and live in. There is so much culture here in Japan. Having spent about 3 weeks plus here i must say, i'm impressed with the Japs.

First of all, everyone queue's up everywhere and anywhere. Even going into office lift, as soon as a stream of humans walk through the main entrance of the building that i'm currently working in, everyone just starts walking in a line and wait in turn for the lift. THIS IS LIKE GOD'S GIFT TO MANKIND.

Anyhow, i took the weekend opportunity to visit Odaiba perfecture and it's surrounding, thanks to the suggestion from my lonely planet guide book. The above picture is the flame of liberty, a V2 like monument and the time this shot was taken is about 4.30 pm. It's autumn falling in and coupled with mild rain almost everyday, it's been quiet cold.

By the way, if you felt the flame of liberty was cool, check this one out. This is the Japanese version of the status of liberty. Sorry, i forgot to use flash. Anyway, it's nice to know that this versin of the statue of liberty has not been "asian-ized" . So you dont have to go to New York and put up with bomb threats to see this statue of liberty.


And another interesting place in Odaiba that i visitted was the Venus forte. It instantly reminded me of the French village in Bukit Tinggi resort , Malaysia. I must say, people must like the French very much, there seem to be so many "French wannabe's" everywhere. Lets not forget the French quarter in New Orleans :).

So, it's a shopping mall full of overpriced imported / branded goods. Like as if the normal shopping outlets are not already expensive enough, they have boutiques (the name with a class) so you can charge a premium for it. Anyway, i had a very nice and pleasant feeling walking around Venus Fort. You also see quite a few hip and trendy chicks around.

There are more pics, inclusive of my previous trip here last month. I guess i've send them out to most of you folks that i know off.

AP controversy goes on .....

I have been reading on the AP saga's from many sources, the lame stream local media's thestar , NST and of course from the very site that got me interested in blogging, Screenshots. I would try not to repeat whats already mentioned on other sites on this matter, but for the curious, a collection of the past stories can be seen here, once again thanks to Jeff for the compilations.

Today, our ex-PM once again stirs controversy. He claims Naza's approval for national car status was purely a MITI decission and NOT HIS. After reading this i was quiet surprised, wasnt he the PM then? Whatever happen to accountability of leadership.

It's funny isnt it? Tun has repeatedly said that the government should be fully transparent (since Pak Lah pledged for it) and should not lie to public. In fact i sence some sarcasm (as usual) in the above article, read carefully and you'll note this statement;

“This is especially (important) as we now believe in transparency,” he said.

Is Tun M making fun of Pak Lah's pledge for transparency, what on earth did he mean by "as we now beleive in transparency" . To me, i take it as he admits, he failed to be transparent before and now that the government wants to be transparent, please go full fledged.

Hahaha, now i am more enlightened as to why the Malaysian corporate has been so poor in acountability thus far. It seemed to be a top down problem professed by Mahathirism. And Tun has just proved it right, perhaps also admitted to it. Thank god, we're slowly getting rid of the rot in our society, little by little. I hope Pak Lah can move in a slightly faster pace then he is currently running at.

Bloggers, the many faces of them...

Being very new to bloggin myself, it's quiet amusing to read the blogs of fellow malaysian bloggers ...as much as i'm unknown to the community, i have read quiet a few blogs out there and here's a few that worth a mention ...

Screenshots - I beleive anyone reading this blog, probably already have access to this site, or have read Jeff's posting. While he's main objective is to upheld corporate governance in Malaysia, he once in a while sways in his opinion thats NOT ALWAYS neutral. Given the ammount of audience he gets, he does oftern get HEARD by folks from all parts of the world and also from the local warlords within Malaysia. He's also very sensitive, i wonder if he's pisces???

LKS - Yes it's Lim Kit Siang, very new to the bloggin scene but quiet famous, haha what do you expect, it's Kit Siang ler . I admire this old man la, at thsi age, he's so hardworking to attend parliment and also blog. He once forgot his password and someone tried to steal his blog (or something like that) but thank god, he's back in action.

Mac Zul - A professional in day time and blogger whenever he has the time. Owner of brand malaysia blog, recently out in the news when he was faced with a touble maker making racist remarks on his, Petertan's and many other blogger's site. Both Mac Zul and Peter lodged police reports. I wonder if the culprits have been caught. How i wish it was like SG, racist get picked up and jailed.

Petertan - His blog, the digital awakening, is quiet inspirational, he's paraphleagic(did i get it right?) and suffers from kidney failure and yet he takes time to blog on about his life. he's currently doing a fundraising on his blog to support hospice activities and he's promising to shave bald. 3 other bloggers, Buangmasa.net, SapiensBryan.com and Sharizal Shaarani have chipped in to shave with Peter. So please go ahead and chip in please!

T.V Smith - I've always been entertained reading his blog. He blogs about anything and everything thats something or nothing. Got it? Check him out at TV Smiths, Dua Sen.

The project petaling steet is another famous local blog, owned by a guy called Aziudin (i hope i got it right) , he looks chinese but he's malay :) hahah truly bangsa malaysia

How about the chicks?
Okay here's some i have seen and read about on other sites;

Meet Minishorts here ...

There another female by the name Kimberly-chun ;) hahaha doesnt that nic wanna make you get to know her ...hahah she's direct no nonsence...from what i have read on her blog ..check out this posting ...

Sri Petaling Residents vs. Putra Jaya Highway

The bitter fight between the Sri Petaling Residents and the putrajaya highway gives me a grim memory of the past ....back in 1996, after living 19 beautiful years in the government quarters beside the kampung pandan roundabout, my family got the boot from the government. We were asked to vacate the lovely home with a garden the size of half a football field to make way for this highway project. Perhaps due to the curses of hundreds of civil servants living in that area, this project died 2 years later. However, it's been resurrected now. Though the quarters are long gone once the SMART tunnel project started digging right below the spot where my house once stood, the latest victims have been the sri petaling folks.

The story is simple, the government, being extreamely short sighted as they always have been, acquired so little land for the KL putrajaya highway. Between the period during which the project should have started (it was postphoned for 7 yrs due to 98 economy crisis) , a MONEY CRAZY housing developer purchased the land around the highway and built houses. As a results of that, innocent house buyers ended up living in homes that are located at a distance of 2 meters between the elevated highway and their homes :) can u beat that? And as piling started, here's what happened. See both pics, more here.

In our bolehland, anything can happen. Obviously Samy Vellu's comment was so very un-intelligent, but then when has it ever been a smart one? He said quote:

"If there are objections each time we build highways and roads, let’s stop building them. “Let’s go back to using bullock carts. "

Where on earth do idiots like this crop up from? Arogance, ignorance all a sign of being in power for too long. Time for him to go, too much rot left behind. Mack Zul call's our Minister's statement the flip-flopping sami vellu.