It’s been a year in the making, but I’m making another return trip to Japan this coming November. I’m super psyched about the trip — though, to be honest, I don’t know if it’s because I’m excited to be going back to Japan or if it’s more because I’m excited to get some time off work. When I went to Japan last year, I almost felt like I was Japan’d out and I wouldn’t need to go back for another couple of years. But I don’t know what it is lately; I’ve just really missed a lot of things back there… the food, the fashion, the people watching, the onsen, and my old friends.

This trip will be a little different from the last two that I’ve taken because I’ll be flying out to Osaka for a few days before heading to Tokyo. I haven’t been to Kansai for about 3 years, so I’m looking forward to going back and having okonomiyaki for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I think the plan is to stay at the super-high design 9h capsule hotel in Kyoto, which should be neat. I love the convenience and affordability of capsule hotels in Japan, so making it look like an Apple product just makes the experience all the better.

Other things I want to do on this trip:

• head up to Hakone and soak in some onsen
• shopping in Daikanyama
• re-visit the Ghibli Museum
• hit up a club or two (Ageha? Womb?)

November really can’t come soon enough. I think I really deserve this vacation. And I think I also deserve the iPad I plan on buying before I go on this vacation.

Wyclef Jean is running for president of Haiti. Is this a surprise to anyone? I mean, he did make a song about it.

Huawei India execs take Indian names to be more culturally acceptable. Chinese people have been taking Western names for a long time when they move to North America – and good on them for doing that. When was the last time you saw a North American taking on a foreign name to be more culturally acceptable? It’s rare enough for a Westerner to even attempt to learn the local language when living/working in Asia, let alone change their name.

US federal judge declared California’s ban on sex-same marriage unconstitutional. Congratulations to California residents – and all of America in general – but I’m still in shock that Proposition 8 even passed to begin with. This isn’t so much of a victory for human rights in America as it is America just tidying up one of their many self-inflicted messes.

Is creative meritocracy possible? The optimist in me wants to say yes, but the realist in me says no. Not in our lifetime, anyway.

Mongolian neo-Nazis. Is this seriously happening? Now, I obviously disagree with their sentiments, but I can understand why these far-rightwingers in Mongolia are so vehemently against Chinese influence. -But come on, even the real neo-Nazis are going WTF?!

US Government report: global warming is “undeniable”. Uh, you think? Welcome to 20 years ago, US Government.

Twitter is such a great way to come across new stuff you otherwise never would have heard of. Today, I just came across another new documentary, PEACE, by Kazuhiro Soda:

What is peace? What is coexistence? And what are the bases for them?

PEACE is a visual-essay-like observational documentary, which contemplates these questions by observing the daily lives of people and cats in Okayama city, Japan, where life and death, acceptance and rejection are intermingled.

Three people and stray cats are the main characters.

Toshio Kashiwagi runs an affordable taxi service for the disabled and the elderly, having retired as a principal at a special school. Meanwhile, he feeds a group of stray cats everyday. However, there is a growing tension in the cats’ peaceful community because a male “thief cat,” an outsider, is trying to invade it.

Toshio’s wife, Hiroko Kashiwagi, runs a non-profit organization, which sends home helpers to houses of the elderly and the disabled. But, her organization is facing financial difficulties because of budget cuts from the government. At home, she has been grumbling about the way Toshio feeds his cats.

As a professional caregiver herself, Hiroko regularly visits 91-year-old Shiro Hashimoto to help his daily routines. Living in a mice and tick infected small apartment, Hashimoto is spending his final days thinking about his own death. His memories of being drafted to World War II come back to him while dealing with Hiroko.

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[Originally posted on Schema Magazine]

I was born in Las Pinas, in Metro Manila, Philippines, in 1982. My family moved to Surrey, BC, Canada in 1989, when I was still in the middle of first grade. Even though it’s been 21 years since then, I still remember when my family first arrived. I have vivid memories of how fresh and cool the air smelled compared to the muggy, polluted air of Manila. I remember looking out and seeing mountains and trees, instead of rows upon rows of traffic congestion.

But somehow, somewhere between that day 21 years ago and right now, I lost track of those feelings. I still remember coming here with my family, obviously, but what I mean is that I lost track of the feeling of being a Filipino in Canada. Sure, when I go to my parents’ home for lunch or dinner on weekends, we eat the usual sinagang, adobo, and lumpia – but other than that, I can’t really claim to have many ties to my Filipino roots in my every day life. I’ve embraced Canadian culture to the fullest, even taking in bits and pieces of the Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean cultures that also help make up Vancouver – but in doing so, did I involuntarily let go of my Filipino roots? And if so, how do I reconnect?

Filmmaker Stephen Dypiangco, being born in California from Filipino American immigrants, knows this feeling well and attempts to find answers in his personal documentary, Home Unknown. The documentary follows Stephen and his parents on a trip to the Philippines, where he hopes to learn more about his cultural heritage and family history. During the course of Home Unknown, we get to see Dypiangco travelling to his parents’ hometowns, talking with long-forgotten relatives, and in the process, learning a lot more about his mother and father.

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