Ice-cream robot!

A robot making ice-cream in Tokyo! This ever smiley robot created by Yaskawa company makes and sells ice-cream.  His name is Yaskawa-kun , kun is polite suffix for boys :).

 Even the song is nice - roughly means, Yaskawa-kun is come for kids and parents and grandparents, and all love him . In the end, says "one more please" :D.
Even their website is robot themed !

A picture is worth a thousand words

      I was always very curious to see different places, and if I cannot go to that place , then pictures taken by friends of the place,and listen to the stories about them.  This was a way to see the unknown world through a known eye.. As in friends think alike and share similar understanding about a few things. So through their lenses the place will look more familiar than the pictures available on internet by professional photographers.

      Recently while sorting the old hard disk, found some trip pictures taken by friends. One of them was taken when she went to snowy alps, by a bullet train. I had never traveled by bullet train so neither had seen snow laden mountains through the fast moving train, then. Last year experienced both ! Yes snowy mountains through bullet train, location is different, but view is similar.. yes , I call it as experience! its not so often I travel on the same tracks, and not so often the mountains are covered with the white snow :).  hmmm long pause, Now from friend's pictures, the scene I had imagined was totally different than what i saw! Obviously this picture i did not remembered when i 'experienced' the scene myself. just thought now when came across the pictures. And it is not related to only one picture, its for all places and pictures! And about pictures of same place too. When i see pictures of place, and decide to visit, and see it myself, place seems much different. 

       Then i saw pictures of some treks, taken by me and taken by others in group. Picture of same place through different angle look so different! As if i just had not seen this part of the hill! Obviously this is not about the picture quality, dependent on the camera type and quality lenses. this is about the view angle. Really the perception reflects in the picture taken!

       I think The beauty of the pictures is it gets the memories in front of eyes, really and that is what is to enjoy!All other things become secondary...

 {this is the Artist's view of 'harabhara kabab'.. with loads of memories during college days :). }

Pizza commercial!

Pizza hut advertise from S. Korea!!
watch here

Doorstep service!

    Today morning, someone knocks the door. I see a salesman kind of guy from company "MAC".. Then he explained he is actually here for buying.. He said " I am here for buying used gold or platinum" shows a file with prints of all jewelry types. "we give u very good price"   So he is interested in used gold or platinum!  I am shocked !

My Indian mentality does not go beyond the a guy at doorstep for buying can buy raddi - used newspapers and magazines, at the max tins, glass bottles and used cloths.. but in japan why would someone buy these thing.. hmmm..

   And here is a Japanese guy at door step neatly dressed, speaking good english (yes kind of rare to see in Mishima)  interested in buying used jewelry !! And insisting on it to sell gold I have and ensuring repeatedly, a very good price !! Then he asked me my ring - wedding ring! I said a bigg "No"
"I cant sell this, its my wedding ring"
"I give u a good price."
{he is staring at my mangalsutra - the Indian wedding necklace}
"no"
"any ear piercings?" (with lot of hope)
(i checked my earrings, fortunately it  was not gold)
{ still staring at mangalsutra}
"ohh thts not gold ." (witty winning expression)
" platinum demo diajoubu, even platinum is fine"
"aaah this is not platinum"
"really? i give good price" (more convincing face)
"No No.. I dont want to sell anything"
"unn okay" (sad like face)
I shut the door.

---
At Mishima, japan.

from across the world

    What happens when a few poets from all across the world come together with an innovative project called "Renshi" ? Definitely it is a sheer entertainment to the reader !

    And then a few of them are not very good at english, keep open the option of translating the poem again :). Who started this is Makoto Oota a japanese poet and columnist in a well known news paper. and the news paper is also famous for his column! He gave rebirth to the poetry form of bygone age.. called "Renshi" in japanese. It was particularly famous in 12th and 13th centuries.. this is a set of linked poems where the next poem starts with last phrase of the a poem. in all forming a link. Ooka practiced Renshi successfully in homeland, japan, then across globe mostly European poets. Sometimes originally written in english or with help of translators. volumes of renshi are published in German, Finnish, Estonian , etc languages !!  And this particular book,in English, which fell in my hands "What kite thinks" is a special one as OOka says.. This is collaborative work of poets unknown to each other , and special because as and when they discuss, they each of them reveals a secretes of their own creative process.

   Ok lot about the poets, but what is the entertain part? all poems collected as book has explanation by the poet, about the situation , their thought process about the title itself.

   a link from the chain :

         Bridge after Bridge 
Don't cross them, she said. this place hides no treasures
no crystal forests or lpis rivers
no rose-petalled evenings
just an expense of nothing -
that's all.

Don't let greedy curiosity get the best of you.
Obstacles are not always the promise of prize.
 (Toyama)

          The promise of prize
There are moments to ripe with promise-
cool air alive with cries of bird,
a glamor of gold sunsetting on a pond-
that we think poems could write themselves,
and we hold to heart an unwon prize,
that might not be a lie.

But last night the moon was so full
I could make nothing of it
(Stanton)

Magazines

    I love reading magazines. Its mid way from heavy books to daily newspaper, covers vast topics in shorter version.
    As a child used to read the kids' magazines, then at teenage started reading the local weekly magazines for stories and some ntersting facts they used print , just to show off in front of friends.. and yes it worked well, most of them didnot have access to magazines, as parents were either not so interested or they used to read at work, others would just ignore the magazine as some other paper binding as daily news paper! As for me, i liked the witty humor in some magazines, story series in few and travel photography in other.. It definitely nourished my interest in reading. i was never choosy about subjects or types of magazines i used to read daily affair magazines, travel, spiritual, general knowledge and literature too.
     I remember when i was in school, once an uncle had given us some old National geographic issue with huge monkey -gorilla- on the cover.. and had information about animals.. I saw the magazine hundreds of times.. back then i could not understand English in the magazines. but i felt like we are so lucky to have such a great magazine- which appears on TV! when I left home for studies, so do the weekly magazines..Till this time india today was the most profiled magazine for me.. Now college introduced me some renowned magazines like national geographic, sky and telescope, computer world n all.. Now as I got more time to spend, reading the Time magazine, and vogue..
 

     Magazines have different style of narrating and more general views from all over the world, according to the current happening throughout the globe. And different section like art and culture, brief facts, entertainment, sometimes puzzles n crosswords et al makes it fun package.
     This will evolve as the time pass by.. but definitely magazines will remain favorite.

Fuji

     Mt Fuji - the sacred mountain in Japan! Gave me its "darshan" 5 days after arriving (!). Fuji is more often hidden than seen. By the way we are staying at around 40km from mt Fuji, in the city of rivers - Mishima.

     I was very curious about the astonishing mountain, may be for the various stories about it or for the seemingly perfect cone shape of it or for the adorable snow covered open top of it. The sacred one not only amazes the 'aliens' like me but the people here too! Even a very sophisticated taxi driver turns his head towards Fuji, while driving, to see if its there! Apparently there is beauty spot on the mountain, i think the only mis-shape in the cone is called as beauty spot. (as in the picture.) We stay on the beauty-spot side of Fuji :).

     Ancients founded the 'Shinto' faith in the divine presence of mt. Fuji. So they approach towards it with pure heart mind and body. "May all my six senses be pure, may weather be fair on mountain!" is the prayer they chant before the plod up Fuji's trails.

      I saw Fuji accidentally. I arrived in the town, and was amazed with the mountain clad backdrops of the town all around. but no Fuji. I could see mountains in all directions but one in clouds. for 4 days i went jogging in 4 directions but in vain. And later i decided the sacred one is not showing up until November - until when the sky is clear , so just explore the town :) I was jogging along the highway, and paused a while to have a look at a lavish car parked in huge parking area. Amazing convertible! I wish i could get to drive once !! as i glide ahead, and eyes move slowly  away from the car, there is the sacred mt Fuji! Stating tall and smiling with beauty-spot ! I stopped then and there, looking at the most awaited scene since few months.. Later i realized the parking area keeper was looking at me, this almost embarrassed me, but he tuned towards fuji and then towards me and smiled like "i too saw mt Fuji for first time!!"  :-).