people will learn by themselves anyway

sometimes,

i pity those who hardly listen, but easily speaks.

when ideas are overflowing, we are often tempted by our own will to speak, to be listened, and to be understood by others.

but sometimes we forget, that the world is big, and vast. there are some places that might be new for us, or will never be understood by our brain at a time.

We shall always learn, even from those that looks inappropriate. for example, the younger ones.

but that is human, we forget and we make mistakes.

people will learn by themselves anyway. let’s just enjoy the ignorance.

aptitude or attitude?

i know, people often say that “attitude is everyhing”, “you only need good attitude to get good jobs”, blablablablablabla…blah!

but for my honest opinion,

i’d rather work with person with good aptitude but not so good attitude (excluding punctuality and honesty matters of course) than to work with a person with good attitudes but so-so skills. Good or bad actually are just… how we define “something that fit our perception. Good for me, might be bad for a thousand of people.

Come on! We want the best out of our projects, aren’t we? Or we want a good friendship with a failure result?

i’d rather find friendships out of the works!

good attitude brings you to get fans, lovers, and supporters. but good aptitude brings you to… job opportunities. period.

i’ve seen enough people with bad attitude but incredible aptitude with tons of job opportunities (some people get multiple jobs at a time because he/she is so damn talented).

the world is getting crazier anyway.

land of the rising sun, the journal!

hell yeah finally i got time to write my Japan Trip journal! well i think it’s no longer a journal because i write it almost 2 weeks after my arrival at Jakarta, and i can hardly remember the details about this and that. But fuck them. Let’s just write and share anything. This is my home, anyway.

I’m gonna write it as a summarize, plus i give you some tips, if any of you guys are planning to take a day, or days, or a month off to visit Japan, maybe i can share a bit.. here we go!

1. Exercise!

Especially if your previous country (a.k.a the place you are living right now, is a car-centric country, or a motorbike-centric)well, you can follow this tips, or not. But you will find it really expensive if you spend your days in taxis. It will cost you around 100USD to reach some places that take 35-50km distance far. I’m not joking and no one here is. You will use the most famous subway trains in Japan, JR (the cheapest), or you can choose another name, but still, a train! It takes you to places, and most of the Japanese use the train to go to places, work, school, date, and other things. And you will easily get tired if you don’t prepare yourself at first (because 10-30km walk is normal for most Japanese), like go for a morning jog starting today, until the day of your departure. It helps a lot!

2. Find low costs air fares, go for Promos!

Japan is the 3rd highest GDP in the world, you’ll be a goner if you don’t prepare yourself to book the promo tickets, or the low cost air fares like Air Asia (although you’ll transit in one place for some flights). It will help to cut your expenses a lot, because trust me. Shit will get serious when you arrive at Japan and look at their price tags!

3. Washing the parts of your body never been this hard.

well, if some of you have already known about Onsen, the public bath in Japan, you will find it almost everywhere, and thanks to the Civilization, some hotels or ryokans have private showers for you that don’t get easily accustomed to Japanese ways of living. I said it have never been this hard, because you will find yourself washing your dick with some other guys beside you washing their owns shamelessly. A friend of mine said that they have the principle : “There’s nothing to hide between us.”

4. Practice the simple common Japanese language

Simple daily languages like, “where to go to..”, or “i don’t speak Japanese language”, or “Where is the Toilet?” will come in handy for your overall trip. They usually don’t speak English, or they will speak their own English, which you have to decode it for seconds before you dig what they said. But i give up for the letters (hiragana katakana and things). Countries with roman-letter languages will get confused with the Japanese letters at first, or maybe for the whole trip.

5. Bring your own Electric Socket Connector

For some hotels won’t provide the Connector for your country’s electric socket. For your info, japanese use this kind of Socket. Again, they don’t usually speak english so you will have troubles for saying some tongue-trill words like Electric Socket. You will have to pronounce it like “Erekturiku Sokutu”, and no guarantees they will understand at that time. Pictures would help anyway.

6. If you’re not Really like Theme Parks, think again to visit Disneyland and DisneySea

For the eyes and ears will be the only parts of your body that has been satisfied by those places. Trust me, the Japanese will the the most traffic visitors at anytime you visit those damn dream places. And the queues for any vehicles will take about 1 to 2 hrs long. Again, for eyes and ears, those places are irreplaceable (especially if you love Disney’s music and ever dreamed to see the Characters live). But for the other parts, it will be a shit. Information about those places, visit here.

7. Heaven for Foreigners, to find girls here

Well, i haven’t take photos with any girls, but i did some conversations. Most of Japanese girls consider Foreigners (or Gaijin, according to their language) are sexy and friendly. A japanese friend told me about that. Well i have been there and it’s quite true. They are somewhat… open to foreigners. But if you’re white, then you’re the boss. J-girls love white people the most. Some known places for hanging out or just looking around (for partner, yes) are Roppongi and Shinjuku. You can visit this web for more infos.

8. Don’t forget to visit Ghibli Museum and Fujiko F Fujio Museum

Only if you’re a die hard fan for the men behind those two. Which are Fujimoto Hiroshi and Hayao Miyazaki. Oh don’t tell me you don’t know These Characters?

Infos about those museums : here and here. picture source : here

9. if you love Japanese noodles, you’ll probably will look for another options there

Because it’s everywhere. Every-fucking-where. It’s delicious, yes. It’s addictive, yes. The type of the restaurants are unique, yes. You love to eat more, yes. But eventually you’ll get sick of it. Try the curry, the Bentos, or any other foods in Japan! Oh by the way, they have unique ways to order foods. Maybe i won’t tell anything for this one. Experience yourself!

10. Never miss Akihabara.

Akihabara is the weirdest district in the world. You are an alien there. You’ll get surprised of the scattered Porn shops, Weird doll store, Game Store, Arcade Game store, Maid Café, and anything that might be out of your imaginations. And the ordinary faces and expressions make it seems more weird like everyone’s trying to say to you, “Welcome to Japan, aliens!” You can reach to it by Trains.

11. Never miss Ochanomizu (for Musicians Only)

you can find everything about music there. Literally Everything. Any kinds of instruments, music scores, effects, CDs, DVDs, LPs, used items, blah-blah-blah aaaaaaaaannnndd your money gone. For you guys who’d like to hunt these items, better to prepare the picture of the CD covers, or DVD, or else. Or atleast, show them the name (written), because loud music will worsen the communication between you and the clerks.

12. Choose the best season to come

If you’re used to live in four seasons country, well this one should be no problems for you. But if you live in an equator-crossed country like Indonesia. Japan would be a problem for you. I suggest you to visit when Spring season, or at Fall. pass the winter and summer without curiosity. Visit Accu Weather for more infos about japan current temperature and weathers.

13. Explore other places out of Tokyo

Tokyo is the most sophisticated city in Japan. You can find almost everything there, from the japanese traditional houses to the Hachikō Statue in Shibuya. But you are incomplete if you miss the most heritage place in Japan which is Kyoto, and the Place where Takoyaki was born, Osaka. Or maybe you wanna hit some historical places like Nagasaki, Hiroshima? Your choice! You can take the bus, or Shinkansen, or Commuting through trains. Yes, they are all connected.

14. Well don’t forget to bring enough money

As mentioned before, japan is the 3rd highest GDP around the globe, so even USD users will have to prepare for the worst. Everything is almost expensive in Japan. CDs, books, foods, drinks, trains, hotels, anything. Save the best for the last, and save yourself from the most fancy items in the world. Trust me, you will always intrigued by the things there. Because design is the most important for Japanese products. And shit just got really serious, the contents were also incredibly intriguing.

Okay, i hope these 14 things will help you a lot. For i don’t have any personal stories to tell. You can visit this web for most informations that will help you, written in English. Some invaluable informations or tips might not be written here for i write this one based on my personal experiences. Visit another web or ask people before you visit Japan!

Here some photos to end this blog :

berandai-andai ditengah malam

kadang, terlintas jelas dalam benak,

bagaimana ya, rasanya, menjadi warga negara maju?

misalnya, gue berkebangsaan Amerika, Jepang, atau.. beberapa negara di Eropa Barat?

minimal Hongkong? haha.. eits, jangan marah dulu, jangan gembar-gembor muncrat ludah lo kemana-mana mau ngoceh tentang miskinnya rasa nasionalisme gua. Sabar…

gue cuma berpikir, setelah melihat thread di bawah ini : http://www.kaskus.co.id/thread/5155c0c02675b49f0c000003/tebak-berapa-harga-baju-cucu-sby-presiden-indonesia/

dan ini :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/indonesia/berita_indonesia/2012/10/121008_sby_kpk.shtml

dan pengalaman-pengalaman beberapa hari ini, semenjak gua baru saja pulang dari Jepang (jangan bahas soal pengalaman di Jepang ya, nanti gue tulis blog tentang perjalanan gue selama 12 hari di Jepang kemarin, nanti.. huehuehu), beberapa diantaranya seperti :

• macet seperti biasa yang dikarenakan kelalaian pengemudi, baik itu roda dua maupun empat, maupun para pejalan kaki, yang masing-masing buta norma,
• lambannya orang kita dalam menjawab atau memberikan respons terhadap sebuah pesan (entah itu SMS, BBM, e-mail, atau apapun),
• lambannya orang kita dalam menangani suasana antri (kasir menghitung barang belanjaan seperti menghitung hari),
• mudahnya orang kita membuat kesalahan (salah menghitung jumlah makanan yang dibeli, salah mengingat tanggal latihan, membuat sesuatu yang tertulis secara asal-asalan, dan menyebut nama tanpa di cek terlebih dahulu keabsahannya, dan lainnya…) dan terkadang, rasa malu itu sepertinya sudah tersimpan jauh diantara rambut pubis kita masing-masing, begitu dalam hingga sudah tidak terasa lagi malu nya apabila kita berbuat salah,
• mudahnya kita merasa puas, terkadang rasa puas itu kelewatan hingga dipuji dan diakui “orang rumah” (baca : orang di lingkungan kita saja, seperti lingkungan sekolah, kampus, kecamata, kotamadya..) kita sudah bangga setengah mampus seperti habis menang melawan Godzilla di tanah Mesir,
• betapa bangga nya kita menggunakan, memakan, meminum, dan mengenakan, sesuatu yang berasal dari luar negeri, dan betapa yakinnya kita (seringkali tanpa diyakinkan sama sekali) dengan prinsip : “yang dari luar itu PASTI lebih baik dibanding yang dari dalam.” Masih teringat jelas dong, bagaimana fenomena sandal Cro*s, sepatu Wak*i, Minuman Cha*ime, warung ramen yang meledak beberapa tahun belakangan seperti Ikkous*a, dan… kebanyakan. Betapa empuknya kita akan sesuatu yang berbau “luar” atau “tetangga”.. Kalo gue produsen di negara Jepang, atau Amerika, se”sampah” apapun produk gua, tinggal dilabeli “No.1 di Jepang” saja sudah pasti laku berat di Indonesia… T_T
• betapa isi program Televisi lokal kita dipenuhi dengan… berita korupsi dari para pejabat, atau dengan jelasnya para pengisi program kita meloloskan sensor berita-berita kurang menyenangkan seperti kasus pemerkosaan, kasus pembunuhan, kasus penganiayaan, kasus perampokan, kasus penculikan, dll… tapi dengan bangganya Lembaga Sensor Film kita menyensor adegan bibir ketemu bibir..
• betapa runtuhnya persatuan bangsa kita kalau udah bicara soal agama… Celakalah sebuah negara yang terlalu membawa agama ke dalam berbagai aspek, ya kita-kita ini orang Indonesia yang sebenarnya udah ngerasain dan kena imbas hasil perbuatan para pejabat di atas sana yang terlalu membawa agama terhadap hal apapun dalam sistem pemerintahan… sampe ada satu kalimat satire terhadap semboyan negara kita, yaitu Bhinneka, tapi tidak Tunggal Ika,
• betapa bangga nya kita apabila ada orang berkewarganegaraan non-Indonesia melakukan sesuatu yang sifatnya menghargai produk dalam negeri, seperti orang bule meng-cover lagu dalam negeri dan diunggah ke YouTube, seperti contoh ini atau cover “resmi” (ada lisensinya dari negara tetangga), yaitu ini (kalo mau nonton video fullnya, beli aja CD nya, ada yang versi bonus DVD dibanderol harga 99ribu rupiah.. budayakan beli CD fisik atau iTunes… hargai musisi! )

segitu saja cukup kali ya? udah cukup mewakili perasaan gua terhadap negara ini… (toh yang gue kemukakan adalah fakta, bukan opini, meskipun tanpa angka..)

well, melihat poin terakhir, kebetulan cukup dekat dengan gua, yaitu profesi gua sebagai musisi, gue cuma berandai.. bagaimana ya rasanya jadi warga negara di negara-negara maju tersebut, dimana perasaan yang akan kita rasakan kalo ada orang dari negara lain menghargai musik kita dengan cara meng-cover kita akan berpikir,

“sudah sepatutnya.”

apakah kita pernah berpikir demikian? gue rasa tidak (kalaupun ada, mungkin jumlah umatnya lebih sedikit daripada penikmat bulu ketiak pada perempuan). gue aja selama ini masih sangat bangga dan salut apabila ada warga negara lain yang menghargai hingga meng-cover atau membawakan musik dari negeri ini dengan sangat bangga, yang dimana…. dikit sekali.

musik Indonesia (genre apapun itu) kalo didengar secara seksama, musiknya tidak jelek, musisinya juga tidak jelek. trus apa yang salah ya? apa benar anekdot yang pernah gue dengar dari seseorang yang tidak usah disebut namanya, dia berkata,

“semua yang berasal dari Indonesia tidak akan dianggap, kecuali lansekap, budaya, dan tradisi antiknya, seperti gamelan, tari-tarian, atau suku-suku tertentu yang masih eksis hingga hari ini. yang lain ya dianggap meniru, berusaha membuat sesuatu yang baru, atau .. meniru.”

semoga ini hanya mimpi buruk.

oh Bung Karno… kemana perginya semangat yang engkau turunkan terhadap bangsamu ini?

come to think of it…

well, come to think of it,

about my last relationship, how it was ended, and things..

i could say it right now, i’m glad it’s over.

i’m glad, feel blessed, to have you outta my sight and my life right now,

we had good times, and very few bad times, and i’m glad we share the same laughs back then.

you were the key to my childhood-adult life back then, thanks for opening it, and i’m glad to live and love like what i wanna be right now,

and i’m free as a bird, right now, if somewhat might happen this note is read by you.

but i know, we were never meant to be together. and i’m glad to have the right to choose or wait another partner to fill this heart, as long as it’s not you.

thanks for the memories, the good times, the sleepovers, the trips, the lies, the loves.

atleast, try to imagine

atleast, try to imagine, if you can’t try or push yourself to see or feel the better places.

when you never listen, see, feel, or have been to better places, you will never know how deep your own definition of perfection is.

never was, and never will.

i know, we just CANNOT generalize all things together like we were all born in the same places, same families, same wealth, same luck, and things. i know those things, but atleast, try to imagine, and well.. this is 2013. We already are living in the most dangerous Information Age, in which you can tell everything just by click and typing their identities in the search engines. Still cannot?

well, atleast, try to imagine. fill the blank page with your most daring imaginations.

or just die.

finally, i realized

after a short-long journey about finding myself really in love with Japan and things, i finally realized that it is not worth a penny, to love another culture that much than your own culture. Alteast, before you know well and try to love your own culture, it is not a good choice to love another culture at first.

Well, i must say that i am a Japanese minded, born and live in Indonesia. The way i dress (somehow), the way i live, i see things, i make music, i listen to music, i admire arts, are according to what i see in Japanese point of view. Until i visit Japan (from 14 march until 26 march later), i realized that i AM, an Indonesian and will always be. I still hold the very large blood-stream of Indonesian in my veins, and the way i think, the way i look at things, are not that “Japanese” at all, and what would the Japanese want to learn or get interested with me, if what i know, is what they’ve already known?

I looked at people that i admire the most (mostly are Japanese), and i forget one thing, the most important thing of those japanese people that i admire, is how far they would go, how big the impact they’ve made in life, they are definitely, A JAPANESE. They hold still the principles (Zen or things, need not to be mentioned here right now), the disciplines, the way of thinking, the unique characteristics that make them a blue out of the reds. That what makes them beautiful..!

and if i try more to be a Japanese, i will be a goner :p

Thanks brain, you finally let me hit the ground with this ass. Stay Indonesian, stay true. Admiring people or other culture is approvable, but trying to be an outsider is still, a goner. I’m planning to pursue my Master study at Japan 2 years from now, but i will bring my bright side of Indonesia within me. I am an Indonesian and will always be, i will sing like gamelans and dance like saman dancers, and stay humble as paddy, but will STILL learn more about Japan!

…

mind not the last sentences :p

what are you?

for some people, they are likely to be seen in person, in full-character, showing things, or making quotes by their own names,

but some, they make another characters, either in books, films, games, or anything, and make things, quotes, or anything.

what are you?

which one do you prefer?

i prefer to make those characters, for i doubt myself of being a good, versatile, or flawless person to be followed by my words. but if i create characters, i can make a flawless one, or two, or eve a hundred.

here is the example :

 

we are all know that Gandalf is a character in J.R.R. Tolkien‘s The Lord of The Rings, and the character itself was played by Sir Ian Mckellen. Nice one, Tolkien!

that girl from Niigata

well, sorry for being sluggish these days, i’ve been too tired to write blog for my daily updates in Japan.

anyway, i’ve been thinking about making a summary of my trip later. I think it’s the best and to let my blog filled with photos to reassure you guys about what i’ve been babbling about in this tiny little world of mine

it’s almost a week after my first arrival in Japan, everything seems wonderful until now. I’ve bought books (music scores of course), musical instruments, and many CDs. Well, it’s not an easy task to find such things in my country, if any of you have ever been or live in Indonesia, we lack of good source of international music except Bieber and things..

and, i haven’t tried the Onsen yet! today i will go to Kyoto, stay in a Ryokan, and maybe i’ll give a shot there. It is definitely not a common thing in my country to share the same room with people, with full-naked! a friend of mine told me that their basic principle of Onsen is, “there’s nothing to hide between us.” Well, that is SO MANY THINGS TO HIDE you madafaka! hahaha only in Japan!

anyway, let me end this one, for i will stay with my first statement, which is, i will make a SUMMARY, and .. about the title, yes,

i just share some laughs with a cute girl from Niigata, which i met in Tokyo Disneysea.. well,

i was planning to take photos with the Japanese girls, but oh boy, blame my guts! too much thinking i was, so none of them are caught in the same frame with me :/

regret i am, but.. atleast i remember that smile. Niigata! until we meet again

oh before i forget, you can check my Instagram here. It has more frequent updates than this blog recently, because of internet connection’s sake.

1st day report!

well, atleast i’ve found you, the leisure time!

so, this is how it feels, to be in a place that you’ve been dreaming of, since 10 years ago.

Tokyo, the city of wonders!

i’ve arrived at the Haneda International Airport at 10.00pm local japan time (+9 GMT) after a long flight, and soon we were greeted by the japanese administrators at the immigration check. Well, i did write some progress on my composition on the airplane, for the sake of my upcoming recital! But it was fun like heaven. I hope i could do things like this again in the future!

The first food i took was the onigiris and the sushis at Lawson. Oh did i forget to mention that i came here with my Sister and her husb? They bought the ticket to Fujiko F Fujio Museum at the vending machine there. Well, i guess our trip will be as fabulous as any other child stories that i’ve ever read in my life. Page by page, full of inks!

Then, we stayed at the First Cabin capsule hotel at Haneda airport. It is an unique hotel, where one guest stay at one room, and it IS smaller than any lodging house in Indonesia. Hahaha comparing to my lodging place in Karawaci to this place, i feel like a hobbit!

Well, i write this blog in the next morning because i have no more health points left to write yesterday. While writing, i’ve just finished my morning fried Soba that i ordered from.. another vending machine at the hotel’s lobby. I wonder how far did the robotic era has gone? I’ve been in the cave too long, i guess.

And sorry for the lack of photos! Soon.. soon..