A new rabbit year has come around -- and attendant Miffy madness in at least one part of Hong Kong! :D (Photo-essay)

Sun nin fai lok!  That's the Cantonese phrase for "Happy new year!"  I can hear you ask: What about Kong hei fatt choi?  Well, would you believe it if I told you that it actually means "Wishing you wealth and prosperity" -- with no actual reference to a new year celebration?!   (And the same goes, by the way, to Gong xi fa cai -- which is the equivalent Mandarin phrase -- or, say, Keong hee huat chai -- which is the equivalent Hokkien phrase!   

Speaking of new years: I grew up wishing people "Happy Chinese new year" in English but in recent years, there's been a movement -- especially, it seems, among North Americans of Chinese descent and/or with other Asian ancestry -- to get people to wish others a "Happy lunar new year" instead.  I know the reasoning behind it but I must admit to thinking it's flawed; this, since, among other things, "the Chinese Agricultural Calendar is indeed a “Lunisolar calendar” (陰陽合曆), not a sheer "Lunar calendar" (陰曆)".  (For more, read this great Twitter thread on the matter by Chau Wun-liong.)

 

In an attempt to try to bypass this controversy, some other folks (here in Hong Kong and in various other parts of the world which is celebrating Chinese New Year) have taken to wishing people "Happy new year of the rabbit"!  Which is fine; except that it's worth noting that, for the Vietnamese, it's the new year of the cat!  In any case, it can feel like it's the (new) year of Miffy in Hong Kong; especially if one is in Cityplaza -- a shopping mall which has opted to showcase the white cat from the Netherlands this festive season!  

Photographic evidence that Cityplaza really has 

gone big on Miffy this festive season!

 

Happy new year of the rabbit, 2023!

 

An introduction to Miffy, for those unfamiliar 

with the white rabbit with the X for a mouth

 

Just one of the large Miffy statues about the place

 

A man posing for a photo with another large Miffy figurine

(And yes, it's mainly adults that I saw posing for pics with Miffy!)

 

Miffy-themed lai see hanging from a tree

 

More Miffy images at the ice skating rink in the mall

And the Miffy mania extended to the mall elevators too! :D

The latest works by VA Wong Sir and Ah To say so much about the situation in Hong Kong, and "the Far East"

Remember VA Wong Sir and Ah To?  The two talented political cartoonists may have left Hong Kong but they are keeping their eye on what's happening in the city they love and continuing producing works that are say so much about the situation in this part of the world.  And in recent days, both of them have produced illustrations that I think are very much worth sharing with others.  

 

So without further ado, I present to you this from VA Wong Sir (who now is on Twitter as well as Facebook as well as Patreon) which points out that Hong Kong is not (yet) "back to normal" like the Hong Kong government (including the Hong Kong Tourism Board) would like you to believe due to existing pandemic regulations and restrictions (never mind the national security law):

 

And this from Ah To (who has a Twitter account but appears to be more active on Instagram), produced to "celebrate" the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st of this year, which was inspired by -- and updates -- Tse Tsan-tai's "The Situation in the Far East" of July 1898: 

N.B. To appreciate the details of the illustrations, particularly Ah To's, click on the images to view enlarge versions of them!

Visiting historical sections and locales of the historic Yamaguchi prefecture town of Hagi (Photo-essay)

I don't live in Japan and the majority of people I "follow" on Twitter are not Japanese but my Twitter timeline -- and much of the news cycle -- has been dominated by the news of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe being shot this morning while out stumping for a local candidate in Nara and pronounced dead this afternoon.  I think part of the great shock at learning of this news is that contemporary Japan is a place where one just doesn't expect to hear about anyone being shot, let alone a senior politician and, also, Japan being a place that many people I know (in Hong Kong, etc.) think very well of.  

 

In all honesty, Japan is the country I miss visiting the most these past two and half year or so (as a result of travelling been made difficult, if not well nigh impossible, as a result of the pandemic that has last far longer than most people expected).  Japan also happens to be the last country I visited before the pandemic struck.  And, ironically, I happened to spend a significant portion of my most recent visit to the Land of the Rising Sun in Abe's home prefecture of Yamaguchi, from which another prime minister of Japan who was assassinated, Ito Hirobumi, also hails.   

I hope people don't think it too macabre but since the next installment in my coverage of that October 2019 Japan trip was actually going to include mention of Ito Hirobumi, I'm going to go ahead and share that photo-essay today.  And I hope that, in so doing, it'll show the deep affection I have for Japan, a country with quite the turbulent past but, hopefully, a much more peaceful and happier future...

 

On the same day that I visited Hagi's old castle grounds,

I also walked through its old samurai district and

the historical section bordered by the Aiba Waterway...

 

...over to the Hagi Meirin Gakusya, a former clan school 

which now is home to a visitor centre cum history museum.

outside which can be found two stone installations that brought to

mind ones I had seen at Hanoi's Temple of Literature! 

In the building of that which is also known as the Meirinkan can be 

found displays of various artefacts include weapons and helmets 

 

...and information about the Choshu Five (young samurai who 

went to study abroad and returned to become leaders of politics 

and industry in Meiji Japan), who include Ito Hirobumi

 

Before they left to study abroad, two of the Choshu Five 

had also studied under Yoshida Shoin, a noted educator

condemned to death at the age of just 29

 

This modest building where Yoshida Shoin lived and taught

in his final years is now part of the Shoin Shrine (Shoin Jinja)

that's Hagi's largest (Shinto) shrine

 

The more conventionally shrine-like section of Shoin Jinja

 

Within walking distance is another place of pilgrimage

for many Japanese: the former villa of Ito Hirobumi,

the first prime minister of Japan

A black (attire) day in Hong Kong

Black was the attire color of choice for many Hong Kongers today

The key chain accessory of choice for people wishing 

to make a statement today

In the wake of yesterday's shock developments, Hong Kong Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai and fellow pan-democrats issued a call for people to wear black today to express their anger at the actions of the Hong Kong police force.  Before I got out of my apartment today, a friend messaged me to say she was out and about, and disappointed that not many people had seemed to have obeyed that call.  

Curious as to what things would be like in my neighborhood, I went out to have a look for myself and found that, while there weren't as many people clad in black today as I had wished would be the case (and, say, back on June 16th of last year), there still were a good deal more folks who had dressed in black than I reckon is usual.  And when I ventured to another section of town later in the day, I not only saw more people in black attire but also noticed that some of them were pointedly wearing t-shirts with "Hong Konger" (this on a non-ethnic Chinese-looking individual, which I thought was very cool), "Hong Kong ga yau" (this on an elderly gentleman) and  "f**k everything" (yep, it was a young fella!) emblazoned on them!

In another welcome development, Lam Cheuk-ting, Ted Hui and the eight other people arrested yesterday and charged today were freed on bail this afternoon.  (For some reason though, six other people arrested yesterday did not appear in court with them today -- and I hope that we'll be kept informed about what happens to them.)  More than incidentally, when Lam and Hui met the press in the courtyard of the magistracy after their release, Lam was clad in a black t-shirt with the word "Justice" emblazoned on his chest.  It got me thinking of the man who had "Courage" emblazoned on his (similarly black) t-shirt that had been among the hundreds arrested back on July 1st.

If only all of today's news were of the positive kind.  But I think we have to recognize that things are not going to back to normal or the way we want for a time.  The likes of Carrie Lam and Matthew Cheung may say the Hong Kong government "cherishes" press freedom and insist, even up to just a week ago, that press freedom in Hong Kong is intact but the authorities' actions speak louder than words.  

Even before the arrest of Jimmy Lai and the raid of his Next Media's offices on August 10th, press freedom was threatened: sometimes physically; and other times by way such as the non-renewal of work visas (for the likes of the Financial Times' Victor Mallet in 2018 and the New York Times' Chris Buckley earlier this year).  Today, the authorities went a step further and denied a work visa for Aaron Mc Nicholas, the incoming editor of the Hong Kong Free Press (who previously had had no visa problems when working for Bloomberg and Storyful).

Earlier this month, the Hong Kong Free Press ran a piece on a number of journalists being stuck in limbo because of visa processing delays.  Consequently, there now are fears that while Aaron Mc Nicholas may be the first journalist who looks to have fallen victim to the security law, he may not by the last by any means.  

Another shock piece of news today concerned at least 10 Hong Kongers having been arrested by the Chinese authorities for trying to flee to Taiwan by boat this past Sunday.  Reportedly, all of them were involved in the extradition bill protests and one of them is Andy Li -- who was arrested under the security law on the same day as Jimmy Lai and Agnes Chow, and now finds himself in major trouble since he's currently out of bail and most definitely is not supposed to leave Hong Kong. 

It wasn't that long ago when people were trying to flee to Hong Kong -- from Communist China and also (Communist) Vietnam.  Now it's the other way around -- and not just by air but boat!  Which, I think, gives a good sense of the utter desperation some people are feeling rather than, say, their creativity or sheer stupidity.  Since for every Hong Konger I know who has decided to stay put even if/as their city burns and/or gets otherwise destroyed, there are others who want to leave, if they can. :( 

On the eve of a most unusual Chinese New Year

Hong Kong protest-themed banners 

for the lunar new year of the rat

 

Less political, more conventional and -- I'd argue -- 

less interesting rat-themed lunar new year decorations

 

Many months ago, a friend asked me when I thought the pro-democracy protests would end.  Before I could answer, he gave his opinion that it all would be over somehow by Chinese New Year.  By this, I assume he meant this upcoming Chinese New Year.  If so, well, the Lunar New Year of the Rat will arrive in just a few minutes and the pro-democracy protests aren't over yet -- though it's also true enough that they've been overshadowed in recent days by the Wuhan coronavirus crisis which is concerning the world despite what the World Health Organization (WHO) might want to believe.

 

To put things in perspective though: even this year's Chinese New Year celebrations are kind of being overshadowed by this medical crisis out of Wuhan.  Or, as more than one international news outlet has put it: the deadly virus outbreak has prompted China to cancel the Lunar New Year!

 

Yesterday evening, it was announced that Beijing had cancelled its large-scale Lunar New Year events.  This was followed by news that the Forbidden City -- which had 19 million visitors in 2019 -- would be closed until further notice because of the virus fears.  Soon after, it was announced that  Shanghai Disneyland also would be closing its doors to the public and all of China's close to 70,000 cinemas would be temporarily shutting down in reaction to the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic!  

 

In all honesty, it really doesn't seem like there will be much cheer this Chinese New Year -- and maybe more so in Mainland China than Hong Kong!  For the record, the death toll has now reached 26 -- all of them in Mainland China thus far (though now no longer restricted to Wuhan or even Hubei province).  And there now also are confirmed Wuhan pneumonia cases in Singapore and Vietnam in addition to the eight territories already on the dreaded infected list as of Wednesday; with Hong Kong's number of confirmed cases having risen to five.   

 

It'd be putting it mildly then to state that this is shaping up to be a really unusual Chinese New Year.  With that in mind, I don't think it is all that inappropriate to have Chinese New Year banners that proclaim "Five demands; not one less" and "Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our time" as well as "Lots of luck and (good) things to come" about one's abode this year -- like I have post being given them at the independent/pro-protest Sai Wan Ho Lunar New Year fair last weekend.  And if I came by one with wishes for a healthy year ahead, I definitely would have got that too.  In any case, that's what I plan to go about wishing people as well as the usual Kung Hei Fat Choi this year!

Inspired by Anthony Bourdain even while mourning his demise

A hearty serving of rabo de toro (bull-tail's stew)
I could totally see Anthony Bourdain having enjoyed

 The Spanish eat tripe too! 

Anyone else up for morcillo (blood sausage) canapés?

A couple of hours ago, I found out that one of my heroes has not only died but committed suicide.  Anthony Bourdain has given me so much inspiration and joy along with entertainment.  He led me to have memorable meals at a number of dining establishments, including Tung Po and the now sadly defunct Tai Po branch of Yat Lok here in Hong Kong, Muthu's in Penang, and Koyoshi Sushi in Osaka.  Watching his shows made me want to follow in his footsteps and head to many parts of the world, including places as diverse as Vietnam (a country he seemed to genuinely love) and Amsterdam (which an episode of The Layover made really enticing).  

I loved that Anthony Bourdain was able to appreciate both "low end" and "high end" foods, and that he seemed so happy whenever he was in Asia, eating Asian foods.  I also got a major kick out of his sharing my love of street food, "tube food" (including blood sausage and liver sausage as well as more "regular" types of sausage) and "nose to tail" eating, and making it come across as "cool" rather than "gross".  

And while I haven't actually watched any of his Spain shows, I still felt like I was following in the intrepid and enthusiastic traveller's footsteps there as I did such as make a point to try a variety of foods and eateries (all of them sans reservations) on my travels in that country as well as try to look at the country and society from the viewpoint of a traveller interested in delve deep into it rather than just scratch its surface -- the way I reckon he would.

On the culinary front: I made sure to go beyond just eating jamon while in Spain (though it's also true that I did eat quite a lot of it -- Serrano, Iberico and even Iberico de Bellota) and trying a lot of local and regional specialties.  Having done some research beforehand, I knew that the Spanish eat a lot of sea creatures that many associate more with Asian culinary traditions (including razor clams, squid and octopi).  Ditto re eating animal parts such as tripe, cheeks and tails!  So when I saw such items on the menu, I would readily and happily order and eat them -- sometimes to the shock of my German friend, and often to the appreciation of the Spanish restaurant staff.  

I know there are people who see eating such items as stemming more from a dare than genuine expectation that one will find them delicious.  In all honesty though, I enjoyed eating rabo de toro (bull's-tail stew) and the Spanish version of blood sausage (morcillo) so much that I ended up happily ordering and eating them more than once on this Spain trip along with pimientos de Padron (the Russian Roulette of green pepper dishes!), gazpacho (so refreshing on hot days!) and, yes, platters of jamon (sometimes also with cheese but often just alone)!

And, like Anthony Bourdain, I regularly washed the food down -- or, should I say paired them(!) -- with alcohol: more often than not straight beer but also sometimes clara con limon (the Spanish version of British shandy or German radler), cava (Spanish sparkling wine) and, in one instance, a generous pour of gin and tonic.  

Returning to Anthony Bourdain: The way he's left this world has made it so that my thoughts and views of him will now forever be tinged with tragedy.  At the same time though, I have little doubt that this man who I never ever had the privilege of meeting, yet feel like I've had many conversations and experiences with over the years, will continue to inspire me when I travel, look at food and so much more.

Hello Kitty reigns supreme in Yogyakarta?!

Hello Kitty balloons for sale along with others

on the streets of Yogyakarta :)

Very pink and Hello Kitty-fied vehicles line a Yogyakarta lane! :b

 

While strolling about in Cologne with my German friend a few years back, we came across a bunch of Hello Kitty items on display in a shop window.  In Hong Kong (the home of such as the world's first Hello Kitty pop-up supermarket, and where nary a day goes by without my making a Hello Kitty spotting of some sort or other), this wouldn't be that unremarkable a sight.  But in Germany, it was so unusual that it caused us to stop in our tracks and gape for at least a few moments at its very existence!   

 

All in all, I reckon it's easy enough to conclude that Hello Kitty is (and her fans are) more easily found in Asia than Europe or any other continent.  I've been told that South Asia is a kawaii desert where few fans of the cute cat character are to be found -- but, since I've never been to that part of the world (at least not beyond a couple of its airports), I can't personally vouch for this.  What I do know for a fact is that I've seen Hello Kitty products wherever else I've been to in the world's largest continent: including Japan (but of course!), South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia (where quite a number of Hello Kitty items can be found at my family home alone!).   

 

Still, all this didn't prepare me for how mega popular the furry feline character looks to be in Yogyakarta -- or maybe all of Indonesia!  It's not just that, like in Hong Kong, one will invariably spot Hello Kitty's visage on a clothing item, bag or such when in a crowd or that many a private car has a large Hello Kitty decal on its back, sides, front or all of the aforementioned.  Rather, there's also the fact that a popular tourist item is a T-shirt emblazoned on the front with the words "Hello Yogyakarta" and the kawaii character's face (along with some misspelled words that confirm that it's unlikely to have been a Sanrio-approved product)!     

Nonetheless, all these previous spottings didn't prepare me for the sight that greeted my German friend and I on a quiet lane that we found ourselves walking along soon after exiting the kraton.  For after a morning viewing traditional cultural dances, portraits of Yogyakarta royalty and such, pretty much the last thing we'd expect to see in the area would be a line of Hello Kitty-fied vehicles which looked to be old Morris Minors or Volkswagons that had been hollowed out and tranformed into pedal-powered transportation as well as painted very pink indeed! :D

Taking part in The Gallery Walk for Charity that hopefully will become an annual event

A section of Danh Vo's large in-situ installation

at White Cube's Hong Kong gallery

One of Rob Pruitt's panda works on display at 

the Hong Kong branch of Massimo De Carlo

What is it about Hong Kong cultural events and dates?  For years now, it's been frequently observed that the Le French May arts festival regularly runs from April through to June.  And now you've also got the HK Art Week taking place between October 27th and November 9th this year: i.e., a fortnight rather than just seven days!

At least, the organizers got it right when they billed The Gallery Walk for Charity -- that hopefully will become an annual event -- as involving more than 40 galleries on Hong Kong Island.  And although my German friend (whom I met on a Tai Lam Country Park hike several years ago and is back in town for a couple of weeks) and I only went to just one quarter of the 48 galleries that opened their doors to participants late into the evening, we were pretty satisfied with what we got to check out; not least because we inadvertently also went and viewed a cool Anish Kapoor solo show at the Gagosian Gallery which actually wasn't part of the event -- but happened to be open to the public at the time that we went into the Pedder Building that's home to a number of respected commercial art galleries taking part in The Gallery Walk for Charity -- today!

Having collected our wristbands that would identify as walk participants at the Fringe Club, we opted to check out the swanky de Sarthe Gallery just a few minutes' walk, and exhibiting works by such as the late Chinese-French painters Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun.  Next, we proceeded to the Pedder Building and checked out art works on display at the illustrious likes of the Gagosian, Pearl Lam Galleries, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hanart TZ Gallery and Massimo De Carlo's Hong Kong gallery; with American artist Rob Pruitt's Hong Kong Panda show particularly catching the eye and, if truth be told, striking us as work we'd more readily -- and stereotypically -- associate with Mainland Chinese artists since pandas are so strongly associated with Mainland China for us.

Perhaps the most startling piece of work we saw this evening was Vietnam-born Danh Vo's The Exorcist-inspired installation named after lines spoken by the demon in the 1973 Hollywood movie, and consisting of over 450 mammoth fossils from the late Pleistocene period and an ivory Jesus Christ figure from the 17th century -- all of which bar one are suspended from the ceiling of the gallery at White Cube!  But in terms of enjoyable aesthetics, I actually was more impressed by -- and liked best -- the works of two artists who I've long admired: Yayoi Kusama, four of whose paintings were on display at Whitestone Gallery (along with those of fellow Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara); and Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, whose awe-inspiring works were on show at the Sundaram Tagore Gallery.  

Upon finishing up our art walk with visits to La Galerie, The Cat Street Gallery and Sin Sin Fine Art over in Sheung Wan, my German friend and I concluded that it had been a generally pleasant evening (that had included a dinner stop at Sagrantino since we were getting offered far more alcohol than food at the participating galleries!) even while a mixed bag as far as the art was concerned.  Something else that we got to noticing -- and thinking a bit strange, and sad -- was that we (somehow) didn't view works by a single Hong Kong artist even while coming across works by artists from the likes of Turkey, Spain and Canada as well as the usual Americans, Japanese and Mainland Chinese the entire evening!

Especially for fans of Puppet Ponyo... ;b

The Ponyo sisters hanging out at home in Hong Kong

Puppet Ponyo posing at the Tai Tam Tuk Reservoir

on a rare day out in the Big Lychee :)

Puppet Ponyo looking rather anxious for some reason

out on the beachfront at Mui Wo ;)

In the comments section of the hiking photo-essay I posted on this blog last Friday, regular reader -- and commenter -- Bill wondered how his favorite puppet plushie was doing.  While he was most certainly correct in his assumption that she was hanging out with the other Ponyo sisters at the time of writing, here's going ahead and giving him some visual evidence that Puppet Ponyo does venture outdoors in Hong Kong every now and then!

Although she certainly does enjoy visiting other territories (including Germany, Japan, Macau, Vietnam, South Korea, Luxembourg, Norway and The Netherlands), my regular travelling companion could be said to be most at home in Hong Kong.  This is, after all, the part of the world where Puppet Ponyo has done such as gone out hiking with me, to the beach, museums, and even a wetland park and a concert as well as knows that she's always free to just chill on my bed with Stress Ponyo and Muse Ponyo!  

At the same time though, it's true enough that the territory where Puppet Ponyo gets recognized the most and also attracts the most positive reaction is the Land of the Rising Sun.  In addition, Japan is where I'm most likely to encounter strangers willing to pose (with) Puppet Ponyo for me.

Those obliging folks who helped pose Puppet Ponyo in front of Kamakura's Daibutsu and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's headquarters will forever have a place in my heart and memories.  And on my most recent Japan trip, another nice stranger offered to help hold on to my beloved travelling companion on the grounds of Matsumoto Castle when the winds threatened to blow the little puppet plushie -- if not away, then into either the castle's moat or the nearby sandy pathway! 

On other occasions, my German friend, my Tokyo-based American friend, her mother, other good friends and my mother have been the ones helping to make sure that Puppet Ponyo will look good for my camera.  So, actually, one of the great pleasures when viewing many of the pictures of my beloved travelling companion is my remembering the other people involved in getting those particular photos taken as well as the places where Puppet Ponyo and I were at the time that those snaps were taken. :)

Ann Hui's Boat People -- still packing an emotional wallop after all these years (film review)

On more than one occasion on my 2013 visit to Vietnam, 

I was given reminders of the country's tortured past

Boat People (Hong Kong, 1982)

- Ann Hui, director

- Starring: George Lam, Season Ma, Kei Mung Sek, Cora Miao, Andy Lau

In the 1980s through to at least the early 1990s, a number of Hong Kong films took 1970s-era Vietnam -- and those Vietnamese refugees so desperate to leave their country after the war that they'd risk their lives by fleeing on often flimsy boats that sometimes were preyed on by pirates as well as had to battle harsh elements -- as their subject matter.  In some instances, connections were made between the plight of the Vietnamese fleeing a Communist regime and Hong Kongers' Handover fears (implicitly in Vietnam-born Tsui Hark's A Better Tomorrow III (1989) and explictly in Evans Chan's To Liv(e) (1992)).  

But while there are those who think this too about Ann Hui's Boat People, the filmmaker has denied that this is the case -- and one must assume that the mainland authorities who allowed this movie to be filmed on Hainan Island and in the city of Zhaijan believed this too!  Something else worth noting is that while its title might get you thinking that, like her earlier The Story of Woo Viet (1981), it focuses on individuals who left Vietnam, this film -- whose Chinese title translates as "Run Towards the Angry Sea" -- actually revolves around a Japanese photo-journalist named Shiomi Akutagawa (played by George Lam) who returns to visit the country three years after covering the Fall of Danang in 1975.

Hailed as a friend of Vietnam by the authorities, Akutagawa is escorted around as well as wined and dined by Cultural Bureau officials, and treated as a honored guest when visiting such as a New Economic Zone where children appear to be growing up to become model Communists.  But especially after Akutagawa is granted permission by a friendly senior government official (essayed by Kei Mung Sek) to go about on his own, the Japanese man soon has his eyes opened very wide as to how terrible life can be for the less privileged, particularly those who were on the losing side of the un-civil war.

Among the people Akutagawa meets whose lives are incredibly wretched are three children (portrayed by Season Ma, Guo Jun Yi and Wu Shu Jun) whose soldier father was unfortunately killed a few days before the war's end, and a young man (played by a close to unrecognizable Andy Lau) considered to be a "bad element" on account of his having been an interpreter for the US army and consequently sent to a New Economic Zone far more hellish than the model one that Akutagawa had been taken to see.  Someone else who gets Akutagawa realizing that things and people often are not what they initially appear to be is an ethnic Chinese woman (essayed by Cora Miao) involved in the black market trade who relies on her connections to survive in some style.

Nominated for 12 Hong Kong Film Awards, Boat People went on to win in five -- including in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (for Chiu Kang Chien) and Best Newcomer (Season Ma -- beating out, among others, Andy Lau) -- categories.  After seeing this powerful drama (and finding myself thinking of certain shocking scenes -- and the way in which they were filmed -- some 48 hours on), I think all these honors are indeed well-deserved. 

About the one thing that I'd have changed in this hard-hitting work is the fate meted out to Akutagawa.  But knowing what I do about the way Ann Hui films tend to go, it seemed like the director just couldn't help herself in deciding to apply that final touch.   

With regards to Boat People's actors and actresses: I was amazed how unmannered George Lam and Andy Lau were in this film.  And if his character's entry into the movie (and that of Cora Miao's too) had not been met by gasps from the audience (at the Hong Kong Film Archive screening that I attended), I actually would not have realized who the actor playing him was!  At the same time though, Season Ma it was who turned in the most mesmerizing performance of the lot -- and I find it sad that her last movie appearance (in 1989's The First Time is the Last Time) took place just nine films and seven years after this one in which she made her cinematic debut.

My rating for this film: 9.0 

A very quiet graveyard and giant tortoise at Gesshoji

Sometimes I like to put Puppet Ponyo in a photo so that 

one can get a good idea of the size of something else in it!

Another panoramic photo that I hope you'll click on to enlarge

for a better look at the subject :)

I know most superstitious Hong Kongers would never believe it but there are cemeteries and graveyards in many parts of the world that have become tourist attractions -- and I've been to a few of them (including London's Highgate Cemetery and more than one of New Orleans').  And while in Matsue on my recent Japan trip, I made a point to head out to Gesshoji -- a Buddhist temple whose fame looks to stem most from its atmospheric grounds being the final resting place of nine feudal lords of the Matsue domain and the first lord's mother Gessho-in, after whom the temple (originally called Touunji) was renamed.

 

Located approximately 800 meters to the west of Matsue Castle, Gesshoji feels distinctly off the beaten tourist track.  Or, as the author of the Frommer's Japan guide put it: "What I like most about [its] cemetery is that it seems ancient and forgotten; you might find yourself the only living soul here" -- and this despite the cemetery being more likely to attract tourists than the temple buildings (though visitors really should check out the Treasure House, especially as there's no extra admission fee to it, as is the case for many other temples I've been to in Japan)!  

For the record: on the two occasions I visited (because my first visit was too close to its closing time), I spotted a total of just three other visitors to Gesshoji!  And so quiet were things at the sprawling temple grounds that the first time around, it did feel uncomfortably eerie while the second time, the loudest sounds that could be heard were the muffled ones of tennis balls being hit during the physical exercise period for what appeared to be all of the students at a nearby school!

There must have been -- even still are?  -- times when the temple renamed as Gesshoji in 1664 is a more bustling place.  For instance, I can imagine that the funerals for the nine lords buried there must have been big affairs based on how large and elaborately decorated several of their tombs are.  In addition, it's mentioned in the temple brochure that Gesshoji's the site of annual formal memorial services held for used tea whisks (on account of the seventh Matsue lord, Matsudaira Harusato, having been a renowned tea master, under the name Matsudaira Fumai) and also is famed for its hydrangeas (so the local people may be most likely to visit when those flowers are in bloom)!

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if Gesshoji is usually as, well, dead as I found it to be for the most part.  And if so, I can easily imagine that this would have contributed to the temple having supernatural tales associated with it, notably about the giant tortoise statue erected in the vicinity of the sixth Matsue lord's grave that was given to nocturnal wanderings -- including to drink water at a pond located elsewhere within the temple grounds -- until a large and heavy stone monolith was placed atop it! 

There's another legend that good luck will come to those who pet the top of the giant tortoise's head and I figured this was worth doing.  Puppet Ponyo, on the other hand, opted to sit atop the creature's head.  I guess she was emboldened to do so by no harm having befallen her after she sat on the neck of an admittedly smaller tortoise effigy at Hanoi's Temple of Literature! ;D

Yummy and Contrasts (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

The contrasts are clear - between the street food experiences my mother and I had on my recent South Korea vacation and the one before (in 2009), and also between that on this recent trip and what we had in Vietnam last year.  

For a start, while we saw some interesting food being sold on the streets of Hanoi, we ended up feasting on them only with our eyes.  It wasn't that the food didn't look yummy -- but, rather, that the dining conditions didn't come across as all that ideal to us. 

Specifically, Vietnamese street food tends to be consumed while seated on low stools (as opposed to chairs) and using other stools like tables; and thereby resulting in both the food and the diner being much closer to the frequently super dusty ground than I'd like. Also, consider this as a quirk of mine but I like to drink (not necessarily something alcoholic but definitely cool and liquid!) when I eat while the Vietnamese seem to look upon eating and drinking as separate affairs!

On the Korean front: for some reason, my mother and I didn't spot as many street food stalls on our previous visit to the country as we did this time around!  So whereas I can only recall buying and eating street food on one occasion in 2009, it pretty much became an evening ritual on this recent vacation to wander around the streets near our hotel and sample some of the wide variety of food being hawked on the streets!

As I think the photos at the top of this week's entry for Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts show, Koreans sure do love their fried food, seafood (especially squid and octopus) and Tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) -- and after finding out for myself how yummy these street snacks are, I definitely understand why that's so!

Among the offerings I tried from the stall in the top-most photo was that which consisted of a large Western-style sausage with a fish cake and dark green-colored nori (seaweed) wrapping!  While I've eaten all three of those things before, I never had them in the same bite before -- and while the taste contrasts in my mouth were initially quite disconcerting, once I got used to it, I decided that this was one yummy savory snack and would not be averse to having it again! ;b