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On the way back from our family holiday in Byron Bay Australia, we had an overnight stop in Guangzhou, China. This was our first visit to China and after reading so much about the growing economy of China and their takeover of the world, I was very curious to see it. We flew Southern China Airlines, which has excellent service, and in legroom, my most important factor, they scored extremely high, and they provided a free hotel for an overnight stay. The hotel was located about 20 minutes from the airport. Guangzhou is a huge city, about the size of Chicago, but I had never heard of it before moving to Asia. China is so big with a number of massive metropolises that most people in the world know little about. I know that it was one night in one city, but according to my initial impressions, China has a long way to go before being a world leader in culture and society, like the US, Europe, and Japan. The number of construction projects were impressive and it was a massive hotel, but the infrastructure of the roads and buildings, etc. reminded me more of Latin American and Eastern Europe than more developed countries.

We had a nice stay however, and found some high quality, cheap fruit in a market nearby. We were certainly stared at and I assumed not many American families with blond children go through there. The pollution was really bad, with a chemical odor in the air and a hazy morning. I know China will get it under control eventually, but they really need to take drastic measures to improve air quality. Many expats who teach there complain of this and it is a shame when children have to have an indoor recess because of pollution. I am intrigued to see more of the “middle kingdom” one of the oldest civilizations on earth to understand the country better.

I also spent a weekend in Bangkok, Thailand for a job fair. Most of the time was spent working, but I did get to go out for a couple of dinners and a walk to the night markets. Bangkok is a huge city set in the tropics and it reminded me of other tropical cities I have visited. The big impression it left on me was the influence of a colorful form of Buddhism. There were ornate shrines, big and small everywhere. This is much different than the more sedate form of Buddhism in Japan. I was also surprised to see so many transgender men/women. It is totally acceptable in Thailand, in part due to the tolerance of Buddhism. I also noticed the king is venerated with photos and books. I didn’t know it was a kingdom. The food as always, was delicious and I hope to come back to visit this tourist mecca.

Owen made his middle school soccer (football) debut yesterday. The Senri & Osaka International Schools Sabers travelled to Kobe to play the Canadian Academy Falcons (CA). CA is located on Rokko Island, an artificial island in the Bay of Osaka, which is home to a large shipping port. Yesterday, January 17th was a special day in Kobe, as it was the 20th anniversary of the Great Hanshin earthquake in which over 6,000 died. The game started with a moment of silence for the victims of the tragedy.

In the SOIS middle school, there is about 150 boys, so the team has a lot of players. Six grader Owen plays on the “B” team which is reserved for the younger players. They won their game 5-4 and Owen scored two goals and assisted on another. The team was up 3-0 at halftime, but their positioning broke down in the second half, combined with more aggressive play from CA, made the game close. Owen is not passionate about soccer, but is enjoying the sport. I like it because it makes them run around and is outdoors. Owen played midfield and is learning a lot about the sport. I hope he continues to play.

In between games, I went for a run around Rokko Island. There is a nice 5 kilometer loop set in a park like setting which hides the warehouses and stacks of shipping containers that make up most of the island. The earthquake really hurt the port economically. Before the quake, they were much busier, but with the destroyed facilities, Singapore and Hong Kong took over much of the business and Kobe never recovered. Today the island is much quieter with a less busy port and businesses also moved out of Kobe as well. It is nice being on the water however, but the environment is a bit sterile on the island and it feels like one is not in Japan.

The MS boys’ soccer Sabers are in action next week as they host Kyoto International Academy. The grade 8 students are on a science field trip so the younger students will get a chance to play against older students.

Our family had a wonderful week in the resort town of Byron Bay. It is located in northern New South Wales, near the border with Queensland, just 45 minutes from the Gold Coast airport. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.

The town is known for its hippy values and promotes alternative lifestyles. As you can see on the entrance sign, the peace and love movement of the seventies is alive and well in Byron Bay. Most of the restaurants and shops promoted vegan, organic, all-natural, gluten-free products. There were signs advertising yoga classes, new age spirituality conferences, etc. There is a very liberal feel to the town.

The town became popular with tourists due to Paul Hogan of Crocodile Dundee fame. He had a vacation home there and opened up a hotel in 1991. Every year, more tourists came and the town developed many hotels and vacation homes for rent and sale. It has managed to keep its hippy vibe, despite the development and is much different than the coastal and inland towns around it. The sub-tropical flora and fauna give the place a Hawaiian look. We were there during the peak summer tourist season and there were long traffic lines into and out of town, but it still felt relaxed. Most of the tourists were Australians with some younger international tourists, backpacking or working their way around Australia.

Byron Bay is also famous for surfing due to the breaking waves on several points in the area. We all took a surfing lesson which gave me a new appreciation for the sport. I learned that rip currents are helpful as escalators to surfers and are not to be feared. Some other fundamentals given to us by our instructor Gaz, were look up at the beach, not at the fish, banana and then build up on the board, and to relax and bend the knees once one is up. The best of us was Ocean and she loved it so much that I bought her a surfboard. We hope to find some surfing spots in Japan. My only complaint about surfing is when there are lots of people waiting for waves. It is better than waiting in lines for downhill skiing however, and there are no costs to use the ocean. I am glad to give our children many different experiences and the chance to surf was one I didn’t have growing up. I think back to scuba diving, skiing, etc. I feel it is important to give our children a good breadth of experiences so they can find what they are passionate about and be aware of what is out there. It will hopefully give them richer, fuller, lives as adults.

We stayed in a luxurious villa ($7 million Aussie dollar list price) near the beach in the Cape Byron Headland Reserve, just outside of town. There was a walking trail through the forest preserve and it allowed me to see lots of different birds, trees, flying foxes, and even wallabies. I did several posts on my nature blog of observations I made on hikes in the local area. There is a scenic lighthouse located on the high cliffs of the peninsula and below lies the eastern most point of the Australian mainland. We walked into town in the evenings for dinner in the local restaurants and were surprised by the huge flying foxes (fruit eating bats) of tropical Australia. I saw these many years ago on a trip to Cairns in the far north of Queensland. I will not likely stay in a nicer place for quite awhile and I would like to thank Jim and Ale for their hospitality and kindness. It was wonderful to share the New Year celebration with family and friends!

We even took a morning to drive inland to see a small preserve of rainforest in the Night Cap National Park. Like almost all places in the developed world, including my home of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, it is sad think that 95% of the forests were lost from the time of the early settlers until today. I am quite radical in believing that acreages or small hobby farms should be banned so more land can be devoted to virgin forests.

As I always say however, it is not important where we are for holidays. As long as I am with my family and can devote most of my energies to my wife and children, I am going to have a wonderful time. I was tempted to work more than I did, but in reflecting on my life, spending time with my family will be more important than getting more done for my job. Finding this balance between my career and family is something that is always challenging for me. The quiet time during the break also got me to reflect on my life. One of my new year’s resolutions will be to focus on my health. One of my enemies is stress and through meditation, exercise, and eating less and more healthy, I want to live better. We will see if I can keep the momentum up as my schedule gets more hectic.

Yesterday we went to the beachside suburb of Manly. The boys loved the big waves and were safe thanks to one Manly lifeguards. They are one of the oldest lifeguard teams in the world, having been formed in 1903 after 17 people drowned in the first official bathing season the year previous. He has a passing resemblance to comedian Jason Sudeikis. The founder of Sydney, Captain Arthur Phillip named the area “manly” because of the masculine characteristics of the aboriginal people of the area. He was speared in the shoulder there, which is quite a masculine thing to have happen to someone. We took the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly and had some great views of the Sydney harbor (below). The only bad part of the day was the rain in the afternoon, which drove everyone home and made for a crowded ferry ride back home.

We had Christmas dinner and Skyped with a many family members as we could reach. We spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day mostly around the apartment in Chatswood. Some locals nicknamed it “Chatswoo” due to its high Chinese and other Asian immigration population. We did notice many Asians and at times it felt like we are still in Japan. Owen showed an interest in the Aussie sports of cricket and football so I took the kids to a nearby oval to play.

Tonight we leave Sydney for Byron Bay. I can see why Sydney is one of the world’s great cities! The massive harbor and weather are magnificent. The city is relatively safe, organized with a high quality of life. The one bad thing is the high cost of living which surprised me coming from Japan. I found it more expensive here than in Osaka. This trip also reminded me of the unique flora and fauna of Australia, which is one of the biggest attractions for me to the country.  Sydney is a little too big for me and I prefer life on the west coast. I am looking forward to watching the Boxing Day Test Cricket Match today from the MCG between Australia and India.

Our family has a close relationship to the wonderful country of Australia. Nadia grew up in Melbourne and we lived in Perth while she was going to Murdoch University. She would like to move back someday here and we are considering sending our children to university here.

It didn’t feel like our usual Christmas this year as we are traveling. It will be nice to be reunited with family this weekend. I’ll be posting from Byron Bay later.

The city of Sydney is blessed by nature. The Port Jackson harbor, with its deep inlets, peninsulas, islands, bays and ravines makes for numerous stunning views. The Mediterranean sunshine and climate allow verdant, tropical gardens to grow easily, and this combination of blue water, green hillsides and limestone cliffs is absolutely stunning.

City authorities have done a decent job of protecting some of the coastline from development. Yesterday we went for a hike in the Harold Reid Reserve, a protected area on the Middle Cove peninsula. It is about 3 kilometers from where we are staying in Chatswood. Running through the reserve is the small Scotts Creek where I caught a brilliant blue glimpse of the Azure King Fisher. The reserve also has a mangrove area and  we identified massive tree ferns, banksia trees, and saw two kookaburras. There was also a flock of sulfur-crested cockatoos, and a pair of rainbow lorikeets, loudly squawking in a date palm. I was sure we were going to see one of Australia’s infamous poisonous snakes, but no such luck.

The only thing that bothers me as usual, is the encroachment of housing developments. I guess the money is too good not for people to put multimillion dollars homes on. On the way back we looked in the window of a real estate agency and were shocked what goes for a million-dollar home + here in Sydney. In the USA, the same homes would go for a 1/3 of the price. I don’t know how so many people can afford such expensive homes.

It is always nice to have access to a bit of nature close by in a city of 5 million people. Let’s hope city officials can build on this and preserve more areas of coastline.

We are spending Christmas in Sydney, Australia. We are staying at a friend’s apartment in Chatswood, an affluent suburb on the north shore of Sydney, about 10 kilometers from downtown.

On our first day in Sydney, we visited the the iconic Sydney Opera House and walked around downtown. Seeing the opera house is like seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Taj Mahal, it is one of the world buildings that is instantly recognizable. The opera house is unique, although it is in need of a face lift as the roof has yellowed a bit and the dark wood beams scream 1980s. There were heaps of people outside the opera house and hanging out along the docks. The atmosphere is quite nice with outdoor restaurants, bars, and cafes. We escaped the crowds and spent the afternoon at the Sydney Botanic Gardens. The open lawns with a skyscraper backdrop reminded me of Central Park in New York. We had a fantastic, relaxing, and fun day with each other. We had running races, sumo wrestling matches, and I especially was interested in the trees and plants that were identified in the gardens. As I always say, it really doesn’t matter where I spend my holidays, as long as I am with my family, I’ll have a wonderful time.

Nadia is happy to be reminiscing about her childhood. She grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne and left when she was 14 years old. It was funny that we couldn’t find a meat pie yesterday for lunch. There are lots of Asian restaurants but not Aussie meat pie shops. It may be a reflection of Australia being in Asia or the impact of immigration. We did get some fish and chips for dinner and a stop at the Woolworth’s super market resulted in a descriptions by Nadia of every product she remembers. 🙂

We finished the evening enjoying some Australian wine. Nadia and I had a glass of botrytis semillon produced by the Nugan Estate here in NSW. I forgot how good Aussie wines were! We used to live in Perth 13 years ago (has it been that long since we left?) and we learned about wine through courses at Western Australia University and trips to the Margaret River wine region.

Some of my initial impression of Australia:

• Osaka Japan is cheaper than Sydney. Things are really expensive here. I always thought Japan, Norway, and Switzerland were the most expensive places, but I would put Sydney on that list. I wonder if the economic statistics bear that out?
• Owen nailed it on the head by saying he was reminded of Spain while were were walking to the train station. The sunlight here is like the Mediterranean and I would say Australia is a mix between California and Spain. I can see why people want to come here as it is so beautiful with perfect weather.
• Sydney is much busier and cosmopolitan than Perth. We lived in Perth from 2000 to 2002 before moving to Venezuela.
• Topics in the Sydney Morning Herald were breaking down the recent attack on the Sydney cafe by the Iranian immigrant and a horrific story of 7 siblings aged 15 months to 17 years old were found dead in a Cairns home. The mom was also stabbed but was alive and taken to the hospital. There was also an article about real estate, which continues to increase in value like in the USA before the bubble burst. I foresee a real estate bubble bursting here also. Incomes are not rising as fast as real estate prices are rising.

Well, that is it for this morning. We are headed off to the famed Bondi Beach today to give the kids a taste of Aussie lifeguard and beach culture.

Men turn into their fathers as we get older. I am more and more interested in the weather as I age. I remember my father always mentioned the weather when I talked with him from afar and he had thermometers outside all sides of the house to check daily. I guess a part of it is my background in science and my interest in the earth sciences like geology, astronomy, and meteorology. Understanding and observing climate, wind patterns, tracking precipitation, etc. is fascinating.

After living for 13 years in tropical countries, my past two posts, Serbia and Japan, have been refreshing because of the change of seasons. This is my seventh consecutive year of living in latitudes outside of the tropics. Osaka is 34 degrees north of the equator, which generally the same latitude as Los Angeles, California, Atlanta, Georgia, Nicosia, Cyprus and Kabul, Afghanistan.

Osaka’s climate is classified as humid subtropical. It has hot, humid summers and cool “mild” winters and a definite change of seasons. The summer was incredibly hot and wet and the fall was gorgeous with perfect weather. This winter so far has been cold, not northern Michigan cold where I am from, the more like the Balkans cold with temperatures around 0 C. We even had snow flurries yesterday, which is very rare for December here, and over the year on average it only snows 3 centimeters (1 inch) per year. That is a bit sad because I love snow.

It feels much colder because of the lack of insulation  and central heating in Japanese homes. They tend to close off rooms in the winter, use small heating devices like electric rugs/blankets, pocket hand warmers, portable gas and electric heaters, instead of a furnace like in European or North American homes. I was joking that living in our house is like living in our summer porch in my childhood home in Michigan. We had a non-insulated room in the back of our house that was used for storage or sleeping in the summer (before the days of air conditioning). I find this interesting why the homes are not insulated well, as things here have a developed infrastructure, like highways, buildings, etc, why not have insulated homes? It is a mystery I hope to answer in my time here.

The students at our school from India and Brazil were very excited to see snow yesterday. I am looking forward to see how the winter progresses into spring.

It is a cliche that kids grow up so fast, but it does seem like it. I can’t believe Owen, our eldest son is already 12 years old. It seems only like yesterday that he was a little, chubby baby and in my jogging stroller drinking his bottle while I ran around Anaco. Where does the time go?

I took the photo above last week showing Owen in his basketball uniform and holding his MVP trophy. He won the award as the best player on his team at the Western Japan Athletic Association (WJAA) middle school boys basketball championships hosted by the Marist Brothers International School in Kobe. He really enjoyed playing basketball this year and we are very proud of him.

Yesterday we took him to the Hard Rock Cafe, made him breakfast in bed, and allowed him to use his iPad as much as he wanted. Typical of a boy nearing his teenage years, he was thrilled to receive headphones. We got him the popular “beats” by Dre type.

We are so proud of Owen and we love him very much! Happy Birthday!

This is my first time living in a non Christian culture. I am curious to learn more about the religion of Japan, which is mostly Buddhist mixed with elements of Shinto. I see many temples around here and want to understand them. I started reading on the subject and during my stay here, I am sure I will learn more. Note that I am not religious and being raised Catholic, I am now a secular humanist. I don’t believe in the supernatural, although I want to, and I am undertaking this study from intellectual curiosity, not a search for the meaning of life or other higher calling. I do think that religions are full of wisdom and my life can benefit from their teachings.

I started with Shinto because it would be like if Europeans still practiced pagan rituals. In a way they do I guess, because Christianity did incorporate some pre-Christian festivals like the winter solstice become Christmas, but most of beliefs have been lost to time and the power of Christianity. Shinto not so and it is the original religion of the first settlers of the island. It gives a window into what they thought was important and how they answered those big questions of why are we here and what happens to me when I die.

The central focus of Shinto is the kami or spirits. The kami can be of ancestors, great historical figures, or of natural phenomena like the sun, trees, wind, etc. Shinto started as honoring ancestors and family lineages, but as the population grew and time went on, the kami became more general. I think that is one way the early Japanese found immortality, by keeping the memory of their forebears alive.

Besides the kami, the religion centers on rituals performed at shrines. There is no sacred scripture or teachings, no belief in a god or heaven. It has been passed down through the generations by repeating of group ceremonies or personal rituals. I enjoy going to the shrines, mostly because they are always surrounded by trees, plants, and peaceful surroundings. This is much like the monasteries of Serbia, they were placed in wilderness, away from attack from the Turks. Visiting them usually involves a hike in the surround hillsides and forests. Shinto shrines are surrounded by not so much forests because Japan is a crowded island, but they all have at least a small grove of trees. You can see it very easily in any view of Osaka from above. Where there are a bunch of trees, there is usually a shrine or temple in the center. Nature not only gives the worshipper peaceful surroundings, but also the kami are found in nature. That might be the thing I like best about Shinto, the reverence for big trees. I respect and cherish old trees.

All shrines have a gate, called a torii. This helps people move from their busy, daily lives to a peaceful spiritual time. The gates are guarded by fierce looking statues of dogs or lions. These ward off evil spirits and the bad things that plague humanity. There is usually a water fountain to ceremonially wash away pollution and negative spirits. It also involves a walk to a temple that holds a sacred object that symbolizes that particular kami, whether it be a former emperor, war hero, or the spirits from that local area. People leave offerings at the shrines.

I don’t think foreigners can become Shintoists. It is a religion that is really tied to the DNA and culture of Japan. During the Meiji Restoration through to World War II, the Japanese government tried to make Shinto the official religion and rid it of Buddhism. They were unsuccessful and today, Shinto is practiced by regular citizens. They form neighborhood networks to take care of shrines and some even become priests for the shrines.

Last week I watched a Shinto procession through our neighborhood here in Onohara (neighborhood of Minoh) consisting of a palanquin being carried by men in costumes. Inside the palanquin were drum players and it was followed by about 100 people in colorful robes.

I have a lot to learn, but hopefully I have given my readers an introduction to Shinto and one outsider’s cursory view of it. I hope to understand Japan better through a better understanding of Shinto and Buddhism.

Source:

Shinto: The Kami Way by Sokyo Ono (Ono is a professor at the Shinto university of Kokugakuin Daigaku) with help from William Woodward – Charles E. Tuttle Company publishers, Tokyo 1962