What You Can Get In Sapporo

On my last trip up to Japan:

Sparkling Biru of Tangy Flavors



Fresh Crabs From Sea



*More to come your way*

Spam Self

Fast forward to PRESENT since I first started JM2C and abandoned it.
Till now.

Here's my first spam of 2010.

Camwhore:


Look So Damn Diff:


How time changes.
How time flies, too.

A Dedication

Phase One:-
I'm wean and weary,
Meek and mild.
For as time to come,
I will again, strengthen and run.


Phase Two:-
I'm observant; You're assertive,
When I'm weak and weary,
You're there to pick me.
And when you're dejected and jaded; I'm here to deliver you.


That's of you do understand what's going on, but I'm sure, someone will, for this entry is dedicated to you.

Far From Being Ordinary

The minute hand on the clock is ticking rapidly, clocking towards 2:00 a.m.
Daybreak's in just another 4 hours counting from 2 and I'm done with my first set of notes for the night.
Way to go, man! I'm gonna sit, sweat and re-structure the bloody essay in my seat out in thy living room till six in the morning. Yet as I'm doing my work, I'm blogging my time away here, for the stale memories of the past keeps on playing inside my mind, like a carousel ride. Fresh tears are inevitable making me weak and weary; while these droplets are also fresh like the morning dew of the ocean's deep.

Damn...My life's none other than anything but far from the ordinary.
Allow me to sum up my feelings in these four phrases:-


I used to notice you from the distance,
Like a dancer awaiting practice session,
But in the wrong studio.
You came up to me and offered to take me home.

Looking down at the crowded streets,
I spied you again, looking up at me.
I felt my heartbeat racing, wild.
And I know, I am in love.

There she goes, far away.
And here she comes again, right up to me.
She clings my right arm, tight.
And drags me along...down the rescinding streets of lust and curse.

When I turn off the lights at night,
I am sadly, reminded of you.
Yesterday, you took off with her on a high note,
And left me fluttering about. LOST.

A thousand sighs...

Oops, I Did It Again!

Live by the pen, die by thy pen.
I reckon I will get shot down for my writings on a fine sunny October, just like Zhou Wei Hui, author of Shanghai Baby, should I gladly publish my horrendous 106-page long book on tyranny and tryst in the local magic circle.
You name it, lust, in the form of pregnancy sex, incest, rape and more, drugs/DWIs taking the form of intravenous shots and ghey activities make up the contents of my already completed 'Lemon Tree - The Renaissance', with devious incubus magician Joe playing the biggest tyrant in this 15 chapter long novel.
And its good reason for me to kiss goodbye to my life-long dreams of working as a foreign correspondent.

Oops, I did it again! Am currently working on expanding those chapters and creating excitements.
Jeez...way to go, man. Stress mode - ON!

A Thousand Whines and Groans

A Thousand Whines and Groans for the entire day spent doing just this alone.
Oh so goes the first draft of my first dreaded critique paper:-

An Overview Of The Need For Population Control:-

As Saw (p52, 1980) quotes then Health Minister of State Mr Yong Nyuk Lin, "Singapore, as we all know, is a very overcrowded little island of nearly 2 million people living in an area of just over 2 hundred square miles or a density of population around 8,000 people per square mile. Family planning is therefore a matter of national importance and indeed, one of urgency for us. Our best chances for survival in an independent Singapore is stress on quality and not quantity."

Evidently, the issue of population control and family planning rests on the mind of the state's leaders, due to a surge in post world war 2 baby boomers and a free trade, migration policy between Singapore and Peninsula Malaya during the decade from 1947 to 1957.

The crude birth rate peaked at 42.7% in 1957. Also, in 1966, the number of deliveries reached a record high of 39,835 which won KKH* a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest number of births in a single maternity facility – a record it held for 10 years.

In light of the momentous separation between Singapore and Peninsular Malaya in August 1965, the government was fully aware that the newly independent state had to survive alone without its traditional economic hinterland, thus, highlighting Singapore's limited small land area and the economic difficulties and lack of viability of the island state devoid of natural resources. These factors drew serious attention on the dire need for the government to keep check on Singapore's rapid population growth in planning for social and economic development (p53, 1980).

Likewise, the government then feared that unchecked population growth could strain the country’s limited resources as they would of any underdeveloped country. Moreover, the average educational qualification of each youth then, was capped at secondary two due to the disruption of the Japanese Occupation.

In recognizing the potential impact of high birth rates on the Republic's limited resources, the Health Minister tabled a White Paper in Parliament in September 1965 and outlined a 5-Year Mass Family Planning Program, introduced in 1966 to regulate the level of fertility and control the rate of population growth. Singapore was to reduce its TFR* to a replacement level of 2.1 by 1980 and maintain this level indefinitely so as to achieve ZPG* by 2030.

The enactment of the 5 year mass family planning program has essentially been an integral part of the social and economic development strategy of the government aimed at improving the general standard of living of the people. The program was specifically designed to reduce the rate of population increase to facilitate and reinforce government efforts in advancing rapid economic development geared towards raising the per capita income of the masses. Also as explained in the above paragraph, this program itself constitutes the principal component of the overall population control program directed at the maintenance of fertility at replacement level to ensure that zero population growth can be attained as quickly as possible to stabilize the population.

Hnece, population control became one of the primary goals of the city-state’s in order to spur its socio-economic development. In 1966, the National Family Planning Campaign was launched and the government embarked on a Stop-At-Two children policy with the slogan - “Girl or Boy, Two is enough.

This slogan appeared in a total of 8 different posters in four different languages, namely English, Chinese, Bahasa Melayu and Tamil from 1974 - 1983. Of these 8 posters, 6 emphasized simply on the given message, which is aimed specifically at married couples aged 30 - 44, who usually are primary school leavers and post WWII baby-boomers while the remaining 2 were targeted towards school going youths and educated* young adults aged 16 - 22. *Educated - A minimum of 4 GCE O Level Passes and above.

Evidently, this campaign was created in a bid to re-engineer her society's behavior, attitudes and values over the benefits of family planning, especially on the advantages of having smaller families and how it could be achieved with family planning. Advertisements emphasized strongly on the visuals of a small and happy family, usually with the child being a girl due to the fact that Singapore is a predominantly Chinese society whereby boys are favored over girls as they pass on their family's name even after marriage. Also, the tone used for the above mentioned 8 posters were simple, straight-foward with the actual message being directly targeted right at the individual.

It was only during the 1970s we witness an influx of other anti-natalist policies - the 1969 Abortion Act, voluntary sterilization and other eugenic measures to ensure total effectiveness in their Family Planning Program.

Therefore, as a result of its anti-population campaign and henceforth, eugenic policies, Singapore’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) dropped significantly from 4.66 in 1965 to 2.1 in 1975. Replacement level was attained sooner than expected.

Spamming Myself, 3...I think.

Damn.
I really hate to laze and surf around, but since I've got NOTHING for my research assofar yet, I can't just simply touch the thesis. And has not been actively adding stories here.

A time for me to slog, soon.

Hataraki Man - The Times

From The Times
November 5, 2007
Comic-book heroine turns tables on men in Japanese workplace
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent
A well-educated, chain-smoking, occasionally foul-mouthed comic-book character has become a heroine for millions of Japanese women who are battling for recognition in the country’s male-dominated workplace.

Through her exploits, women have begun to see how, perhaps, they might overturn decades of gender inequality and chip away at one of Japan’s most frequently decried statistics – that, across all industries, only 10 per cent of managers are female.

To succeed in her working life, Hiroko Matsukata, a fictional magazine news editor, deploys a range of arts that her fans are quickly adopting themselves. The 28-year-old is sweet when she needs to be and flint-hearted when threatened. She is even able to control her use of Japanese, suddenly dropping the niceties of speech traditionally expected of women when she needs male colleagues to take her seriously.

But her most powerful weapon has turned out to be a controversial one: when work gets tough and her male bosses pile on the pressure, she flicks on her psychological “Man Switch” and is transformed into a career-focused, success-driven typhoon of productivity.

“Absolutely, women need a Man Switch,” Moyoco Anno, the 36-year-old creator of the comic, says. “It doesn’t imply that men are superior to women, but that people need to understand better the differences of how men and women behave in the workplace and use that.”

For decades the Japanese comic industry has done a roaring trade in cartoons that chronicle the miseries and triumphs of the salaryman. Anno’s comic is a deliberate role reversal. The mould-breaking comic, Hataraki Man (Working Man), tracks the agonising day-to-day trials of a woman trying to balance the modern desire for a career with the dead weight of traditional Japanese social values. It has become so popular that it has been made into an animated cartoon for girls and a prime-time television drama for women.

Hiroko’s adventures have also become the basis of a bestselling lifestyle guide for the modern working woman, teaching the art of remaining feminine during the fight for equality and showing how to cope with truculent bosses, difficult coworkers and unsupportive partners.

The Japanese Government has said that it wants 30 per cent of all managerial and leadership positions to be filled by women by 2020, which would require tens of thousands of real-life Hirokos.

But Anno argues that her comic is about much more than just the art of succeeding in a male-dominated work culture. Japan, she says, is a serial waster of both female and male talent. Part of the message of Hataraki Man, she says, is to highlight what she believes is one of the worst problems afflicting Japan – that the desire for a lazier, more comfortable lifestyle has gone too far.

She says: “The traditional virtue of Japan was that people took everything very seriously. As those traditions have been eroded, the quality of Japanese work has been downgraded.” She notes that women are in a strong position to capitalise on this changing atmosphere.

The adventures of Hiroko Matsukata have captivated women at a critical juncture: even the Government acknowledges that some of its demographic problems, such as the rapid ageing of society, can be solved only by redrawing the gender balance within Japan Inc. About 70 per cent of women quit their jobs when they become pregnant and most do not return to work for at least 15 years. According to research by Goldman Sachs, even a modest change in Japanese society – the addition of 2.6 million women to the workforce – would have a huge impact, raising long-term GDP growth from existing forecasts of 1.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

Another day at the office, Hatakari Man-style

It is another hectic day at the magazine for Hiroko Matsukata as she inches her way painfully to the top despite impossible colleagues and a messy personal life. Already there have been tears, stand-up office rows and endless cigarettes. Suddenly, the boss orders a massive feature on the Foreign Minister. She breathes deeply and focuses. “Work mode – on!!” she thinks. “Man Switch – DEPLOY”. Her eyes burst open and a surge of energy washes over her. Laser-focused, she works through the night, ignoring all distractions until the work is done.

An Endless Stream

There's a half-thought in me which I wanted to say, express thyself...but another nagging feeling telling thyself not to do so for I may be thinking too much about certain stuffs which may lead to well, an unwanted expectation.
How should I begin saying this man? My thoughts are all in a mess, except for the side of me which thinks about work...work...work. Nothing but immense article writing, story searching and listening to friends and citizens voice their own thoughts and opinions to divert thy feelings away from the subtle topic of romance and companionship.
Loving someone is a tough task, especially for the female, not unless the opposite gender she sets her eyes on willingly acknowledges his feelings for her. In that respect, there was someone whom I once(?) admired from afar, pined for his heart and cried for the feelings bottled inside me.
All because he captured thy heart with his inner charm. And on a personal note, I know its rather hard for thyself to fall for someone.
And another two whom I'm specially close with the other to relate with him.
But the worst thing was confession. For now, at least I know, I just want to cry...but ridiculously on Chinese New Year! My only fear now, is loosing my good friend to this issue.

The tears just starts pouring, like an endless stream.

A Sneek Peak into Your Say 2

SINGAPORE, 26th January:-
The year of the Ox is significant with prosperity through sheer hard work and fortitude.
And it is also a significant year for Singaporeans to strive hard at work during this turbulent year and cut back on their slacks as the weight of the global economic crisis looms across the region like a heavy rain cloud.
Now, let us take a quick look into the various responses garnered from the ground while Tan Wen Hui gets herself connected with the her fellow citizens on their take for the fiscal year 2009.

1. Adel Choo
Age: 23
Occupation: Sales Merchandiser

Qn1. What are your new year resoultions?
Adel: I hope to save more money, lose the bulge on my tummy and also, do well in my studies. Yup, that's about it.

Qn2. Given your current lifestyle as of 2008, what are the differences do you wish to see in yourself for the yr 2009?
Adel: I think...the biggest difference would be im back to my studies! And so it would be a more hectic lifestyle i guess and also, more disciplined as well.

2. Ng Weiqian
Age: 26
Occupation: Student

Qn1. What are your new year resoultions?
Weiqian: I'm hoping for better luck, especially in my studies...

Qn2. Given your current lifestyle as of 2008, what are the differences do you wish to see in yourself for the yr 2009?
Weiqian: Hmm...to become handsome, so as to make me feel much better!

Qn3. Lets' hear, what's your current and also, future perceptions of this economic crisis?
Weiqian: Hmm...this crisis as predicted will go on at least the 3rd quarter then we will see changes, as for a 180 deg turn about, shall see how obama deals abt it. But I still object towards his idea of printing more notes.

Qn4. How has the current crisis affected your family and personal lifestyle asofar?
Weiqian: In terms of wages cut from both my parents.

3. Yvonne Tan
Age: 23
Occupation: Student

Qn1. What are your new year resoultions?
Yvonne: Well, make the best out of everything!

Qn2. Given your current lifestyle as of 2008, what are the differences do you wish to see in yourself for the yr 2009?
Yvonne: (Just like Weiqian in this aspect) I want to try get a 180 degree change of myself, like learning to be patient and trying to correct my stubborness.

Qn3. Lets' hear, what's your current and also, future perceptions of this economic crisis?
Yvonne: I'm not part of the economy.. yet so.. can't really comment much.

Qn4. How has the current crisis affected your family and personal lifestyle asofar?
Yvonne: Oh wow, that's gonna be a long answer, but...if you're talking about the bailout package, most middle class family's won't even feel it. the gov won't help smes, which is what my mum's coy is, so she won't feel it. business will suffer if people don't buy things, but she doesn't depend on that, so she doesn't feel it. if it's all business as usual, and my expenses doesn't go up, things will get better. i'm about to go find a job soon since I've just graduated, so earning a salary would mean that i'll be easing the financial burden on her.

Qn5. How would you rate your family's current income?
Yvonne: In between fairly poor and mid range? it's not a stable thing since my mum's doing a business with no capital.


TAN WEN HUI


P.S. For more juices, do join in the questionable debate here by posting your thoughts, opinions and comments. Don't feel shy to do so!