Week 8: Asia Trip: Part 1 - Japan

This week on the Blog I would like to talk about something a little different. I would like to give basic insight about one of the most interesting journeys I’ve had - traveling in Eastern Asia. I’ve divided this blog entry into 3 parts. Each is related to a different country as each country in Asia provides totally different kind of experience and atmosphere.

The first part is related to the country perhaps most familiar with fellow students of our university. Obviously I mean Japan. The country of blooming cherry trees (Sakura), Manga, martial arts, geishas and robots. That’s what most people imagine when they think of Japan, I suppose. In reality one has to truly experience Japan to really know what it’s about and realize that the generalizations about Japan are very shallow, while the culture and things you’re likely to experience in Japan will leave you with very amazing impressions that go way beyond what you’re likely told about that place and the people living there.

While most people associate Japan with Tokyo as the main city representing that country, to truly experience Japan you have to visit the Kansai area. To get there you have to travel to the magnificent, artificial island airport - the Kansai airport. You can get there from Poland in 12-15 hours by plane including stopover (you're just an average "Asian" work day length away from being there ;-) )

Reaching the Kansai Area

The stunning views of Japan’s most beautiful regions and the airport, which is possibly one of the leading examples of amazing, modern construction engineering will greet you as you arrive.

Kyoto, near the top of the Fushimi Inari

From the airport, you should travel to Kyoto - the fastest way to get there is by the limited express - “Haruka”. 
A train that will get you from Osaka to Kyoto in about 40 minutes, that departs straight from the airport terminal and stops in Kyoto’s central district. 
Right next to the Kyoto Tower, the most "crowded" area (Kyoto is not a crowded place, it's more like the Japan that you see in anime/ manga) and most hostels/traditional guest houses.














Speaking of which, a stay at a Japanese guest house is a very memorable experience, so I truly recommend  trying it at least for a night or two. 

A small, cheap guest house room in Kyoto

Kyoto is what most people fascinated with the older part of the Japanese culture will be absolutely in love with. The life in Kyoto is slow, it doesn’t feel like a city at all - it feels like a small town living its own, Japanese life. People riding bikes to work, traditional Japanese architecture everywhere, temples, small restaurants, geishas, shrines. 

The Fushimi Inari entrance, it's just like this for the first 20 minutes of the hike..
 the rest is for you to explore

Speaking of shrines, you haven’t truly lived if you haven’t visited Fushimi Inari. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. A scenic route to the top of a mountain covered with hundreds of gates, dozens of shrines and small cemeteries. If you go there after dark, that’s a lifetime experience for many people. 

There’s so much more to Kyoto, but you just have to visit to truly feel the atmosphere, and what this beautiful place really is about. To me it was the essence of what I liked the most about Japan. 
I arrived with high expectations, and when I started exploring the place they were only superseded.

Kyoto hostel balcony

Kyoto, Emperor Tokugawa's estates

The "Golden Pavilion", Kyoto

Kyoto, Gion

Another very traditional place you absolutely have to visit in Japan is Nara. It houses the oldest temples in Japan, the most beautiful nature and wild animals just roaming around the streets and approaching people(!). 

Nara's oldest temple

In general, there seems to be some informal conflict between Kyoto and Nara, as the two most traditional cities in Japan - Kyoto is said to contain more famous historical places, but Nara is said to be more beautiful and it is a fact that it is also older in general (it was the capital city before Kyoto too).

Nara

Nara's chilling wildlife

Nara's hostile ;-) wildlife

Streets of Kobe

 If you want a very livable city, look no further than Kobe. The city known for Kobe Beef, mountains and beautiful harbor, as well as home to most Yakuza houses and a giant earthquake that forced the city to rebuild a lot of its infrastructure, which happened in just 2-3 years, Japanese style. I think it's totally worth a visit, as you might just want to stay, like the biggest group of foreign expats moving to Japan.

Kobe

Kobe from a cool mountain nearby

The Himeji castle, interior

Other than those mentioned above, amongst others, Kansai region houses such things as the Himeji Castle - perhaps the most famous building of Japan that is currently being renovated.















But also Iga - the place where Ninjas originated from, and where you can check the original Ninja museum with all the weapons, floor traps and hidden wall passages, as well as learn some Ninjutsu straight from the descendants of real “Ninjas”.

In fact, probably everything you love about Japan, minus Manga emerged from the Kansai region. That’s where the Japanese history happened, and where it still lives!

Finally Osaka- the flagship city, the biggest one of the Kansai region. It gets a lot of comparison to Tokyo, but really it’s an entirely different world. People speak with the famous “Kansai” dialect and really are entirely different compared to Tokyo people. The place, despite soaking the western culture is still far more “Japanese” feeling than Tokyo. You can just hang around Umeda, see the Sky building with an amazing panorama of Osaka, check the Osaka castle and learn about “uniting” Japan, numerous museums, crazy shops, amazing food.. and so on, so on, there’s just so much there. Best of all, it’s less than an hour away from each of those places mentioned in this post by amazing Japanese trains, and costs less than a Polish train.

Osaka from the Osaka castle

You have to be in Japan to truly experience Japan and know what it’s about. It’s an amazing place, every bit as amazing and it’s said to be, and even more. I could say a lot about the people there, as well as many other things, but I’m running out of space ;-) Dozens of pictures will not even give you a glimpse of what's to come after you visit. It's necessary to feel it. I just recommend you to go, and totally make Kansai area your destination. The prices of goods are not much higher than Polish prices, which probably contradicts opinions of people who go to Tokyo, where you’re not likely to feel the same Japan you probably want to find there anyway. So totally, as soon as you get some time, book a trip to Osaka and travel around. There’s a JR West Rail pass that you can buy at the airport, that will enable you to take any trains in the Kansai area and because of their speeds, you can see all those places within a week, and it’s probably going to be one of your most enriching weeks of your life.

Finally, some Japanese curiosities seen shopping in Osaka:

Question time. Being a student of a Polish-Japanese university.. 
Have you ever been to Japan? If not, why? 
Do you plan to go, and if yes, what would you like to see? What do you expect to experience?

Sources: Own experiences and photos
PS. Sorry for poor formatting under some browser window widths, and some browsers. I tried but couldn't fix it, looks like it's Google's job now.

Week 8 Reality shows- is it a way to fame or a psychological trap?

For the last couple of weeks I have been wondering how it is possible to get both famous and rich just by being. You know what I am talking about, don't you? Yes, reality shows and celebrities. Especially one - "Keeping up with the Kardashians", where we can observe Kim Kardashian. From homemade pornmovie and selling privacy in reality show to being invited to the most important social and fashion events and becoming a millionaire. Wow, that's impressive, but is it worth it?

The strangest thing about reality shows is that nowadays it is a fast track to becoming a public person. Moreover it often springboards to public career(politics, media). Another advantage of it are rewards. There are always some cool gadgets or sometimes even big money to be won/got. I noticed that Kim gets money just for coming to the party or wearing an item of clothes. 

I must admit that I’ve watched a few episodes of this show just from curiosity. And here is what I've learned: it basically consists of talking about mundane stuff: what to wear, where to go to the party, quarrels and love life of Kim and her family. It is supposed to look real but one can notice that besides it has real persons in it, it has been carefully directed. It is developing, we get to know more and more new characters, both family and friends. So it is some kind of soap opera but in reality, technically at least.

These people are willing to give up their privacy. They got famous and are now well known among the crowds, especially in the USA. They are even chased by the paparazzi. Every newspaper wants to have their new pictures. Photos from Kim’s wedding were sold for 1,5 millions of dollars! Can you imagine? It's absolutely crazy.

Link

It is even crazier that Kim Kardashian was on the Forbes List, you can check it out here:

Link2

So why do people watch it? And I am sure they are because as I mentioned earlier the show is developing. Maybe they want to chill out, they don't have to think at all while watching something like that or maybe the society is getting more and more stupid? 

For me reality show is a psychological trap. People are chasing the dream of being famous and rich, they spend their time watching this kind of stuff instead of doing something worthy.

What do you think about this phenomenon? Why are reality shows becoming more popular these days? And most importantly: Do you watch them? Be honest guys:P

Here you have some links where you can watch this reality show.

Week 8 Love & Money

What is more important for people love or money?

My first thought is love. Of course!:)What would be a life without love. From the youngest age, when I was a little girl I wanted to have my prince - of course I considered myself  a princess:P 

Firstly, let's assume that I have found him and he is perfect. We have a great relationship and we don’t have to make ends meet every month. Quite convenient. Everything is fine, we love each other. But one day one of us loses the job. And we don’t have the psychological calm any more. We start to argue more often. We are angry all the time because we cannot afford things we used to buy. And love suddenly fades…

There are people who cannot live without love. They would do everything to keep the affection alive. They support and care about each other. When they marry they do it consciously. They know that they want to be together no matter what.

On the other hand, one has to admit that we live in a world obsessed with wealth. For some people love is not so important, at least they claim so. What they care about the most is money. So they focus on their careers claiming that they don’t have time for love.

Working is also very important. It requires a person to be active. For me the worst thing is stagnation. Progress at work motivates us, it makes the purpose of life, which is extremely important for a comfortable and peaceful living.  Of course you need to keep balance.

There are also those, who think that money can buy you love. They pay other persons not just for sex but for the whole „relationship”, they become sponsors.

It is quite a difficult subject. The best thing is to have it both, right?
Does money effect love? Or is it the other way around?  What is more important for you?

If you want to learn more about this subject you can watch a documentary by Cherry Healey, which is called „Cherry Healey: how to get a life: Love &Money”.

Here is the sneak peak:

and the full movie:
 http://www.channelhook.net/video/pl.php?url=4D3F01E05CEF5C3B

Week 8 Being an only child- blessing or a curse?

I cannot imagine my life without my sister. She is both my family and best friend at the same time. It is super convinient:P So in my opinion being an only child is definitely a curse. 

What I think is that it's always nice to have a person with who you grow up. Then from the very beginning you spend time with a man close to your age. An only child spends most of the time with her/his parents, which is not the best thing in my opinion. Of curse it is crucial to have a good relationship with the parents but this cannot substitute realtionship we have with coevals.

There is no better time to learn how to socialise than during the childhood. I am convinced that the only child may have some difficulties with  communication with other people. He/she is not willing  to compromise. And one has to admit that doing that is extremely important, especially while being in a relationship in an older age. What’s more, such person can be easily selfish and sometimes even lonely, because of the lack of the company. People who don’t have a sibling neither have to share anything nor care about others. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that such people are heartless creatures. No. This is just my little observation. I have many friends, who neither have brother nor sister but they are lovely sensitive people. So I cannot generalize so much.

On the other there are some advantages of being an only child. There is no one to be jealous of. Parents can devote their undivided attention. There are no problems with inheritance. Moreover there are no fights with siblings. The last good thing about being an only child is that you can get a larger share of the family's income. Very mundane but very important at the same time. I know a few siblings who had had really good relationships before they had to deal with dividing the inheritance and became green with envy.

Besides those advantages, I still think that being an only child is a curse. It's always nice to have someone that you can count on. It is way more fun to have a sibling than to be alone. To be honest I would like to have even more siblings

Have you got a lot of siblings? Are you an only child in the family? What is better?

Week 8: A good man with a gun

I would like you to read/watch and comment on/discuss the presentation – A good man with a gun

You will find it at  

http://konwersatorium1-ms-pjwstk.blogspot.com/2013/11/week-8-god-man-with-gun.html

Comment on  it here.

Week 8: The art of trolling

I would like you to read/watch and comment on/discuss the presentation – The art of trolling

 You will find it at  

http://konwersatorium2-ms-pjwstk.blogspot.com/2013/11/week-4-to-care-or-not-to-care-that-is.html

Comment on  it here.

Week 7: Technology

      It is enough for us to look back in time to see how quick our technology developed. Only few years back there were no such things like computers and the internet. Computers and electronics started to develop in 1950. This date is very important because that year people were introduced to the concept of the internet for the very first time. Back then, it did not mean a lot.

The Internet was invented in 1957. Internet creators did not know that this invention would revolutionise the industry, and the way that people live. Today we can state that it was something that has changed the world.

      Technology changes the way we live and work. It allows us to complete our tasks easier with help of software and pre-programmed hardware tools. In last few years robotic engendering has become more popular than ever before. Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots, as well as computer systems for their control, movement, sensory feedback, and information processing for programmed hardware. Robot is a mechanical or virtual agent usually it is combination of electro-mechanical pre-programmed machines which is build to perform some functions.  

Have you ever heard of ASIMO the robot created by HONDA or BigDog by Boston Dynamics? Those are examples of two advance and very different kinds of robots. Can you think of any future use for those mechanic creations? How do you think those projects will look like in next 100 years? 

What would the world look like if there would be no internet?

Can you imagine people being assisted by robots in everyday tasks at home and work?

Are you aware of any other developing technology that could revolutionise the world in next century?

How will the future look like in next 200 years?