js45 tenjin jinja

The nearest important shrine to us was Tenjin Jinja. Nadia and I often walked past or through the shrine or its adjacent park on ambles or rides about Sanda. It was the venue for the usual shrine-related activities, for festivals, picnics and cherry blossom viewing. It was always a peaceful place, a vantage point for looking across the Muko River valley and up to the centre of Sanda. Cutting across the shrine was also a bit of a short cut home if we were in the region of Max Value.

On one occasion we had an excursion arranged by Nihongo Salon, a visit to the actual inner sanctum of the shrine and an audience with the (shinto) priest. It was interesting but, not having a command of the language, difficult to fully appreciate. Still, I recall we got the gist of what he said. Or I thought I did.

The shots I have posted are quite old ones, dating from a time shortly after our arrival in Japan in 2001. There's me in front of the shrine itself and Nadia in the adjacent park.

winter

Today was the coldest morning in sixty years, or so the man on the weather said, and I've a mind to believe him. It was very chilly out and in. At such times, my thoughts seem drawn to summer, to swimming, to Lawson Pool. In the spirit of these daydreams, or delusions, I publish a photo of Tom taken earlier this year. In the toddler pool.

our turbulent polity

Prime Ministers come and go, though rarely with the breathtaking finality of Kevin Rudd. Elected a mere two and a half years ago to popular acclaim, Mr Rudd maintained a high rating in the polls for almost two years before descending rapidly and apparently irredeemably. The ALP party meeting last Thursday acted swiftly and ruthlessly in deposing the King in favour of Julia Gillard, now Australia's first female Prime Minister.

One can't help but feel sorry for Mr Rudd. He had obviously worked extremely hard and probably felt he deserved a second term. It's hard to say where the failure begins, but an inability to sell Government proposals was certainly high on the list. Elected governments need to explain themselves and Rudd seemed caught in wilderness between being a diplomat on the one hand and a bland dispenser of cliches, on the other. There is no doubting his intellect and ability, but maybe the role of PM was a bad fit.

Julia Gillard is an entirely different creature. The near future will tell if her elevation to the top job was a stroke of genius or not, but I think she has a very good chance of beating the Coalition and certainly one led by Tony Abbott. An Abbott Government would mean another lurch to the right, a kind of resurrected Howard Government with the same hectoring, moralising tone. Of course, I'm all in favour of elected leaders setting a good moral example. Faith in the polity depends upon a certain level of ethical behaviour.

But Mr Abbott's shoot-from-the-mouth 'straight talk' is just a bridge too far, I think.

and yet more futba news

The Italians have crashed out of the World Cup. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth in Norton St. There will be fewer dives in the penalty box. Ultimately, a fitting departure and hot revenge for their mendacious behaviour in the last World Cup in Germany.

Australia is also out, but only after a brave and deserved 2-1 win over Serbia. The campaign which started out so disastrously against Germany two weeks ago ended on a high note. Level with Ghana on 4 points, we missed out on the Round of 16 on goal difference alone. A number of key players will now retire from duty and hopefully some new blood will come through and be appropriately nurtured.

New Zealand also had a great WC and punched well above their weight. Three draws against quality teams is an extraordinary result and a credit to coach Ricky Herbert.

BTW, congratulations to Pim on a successful head coaching stint with the Socceroos. I have been a critic of Verbeek's tactical approach for two years now, but in the end, he delivered on his promises. Good luck in Morocco.

world cup update

My last post was quite pessimistic. The second game against Ghana (1-1) restored my flagging belief in the green and gold. Certainly the image of the team, which had taken a battering in the wake of the German defeat, received overdue manna from the brave and coherent effort against the Black Stars, achieved with only 10 men. Poor Harry was off midway through the first half with a hand-ball offence.

Tonight is Serbia, a strong team with a good record. We have to win by a decent margin and hope Germany batter Ghana by at least three goals to get through to the round of 16. Alternately, we have to win and hope Ghana beats Germany. What chance of that, you might ask.

It's been an odd tournament so far, with France being eliminated and other giants failing to fire. Everybody seems to hate the Jubulani ball and the standard of refereeing has been inconsistent, to put it politely. Let's not even talk about the vuvuzela, which drowns out everything in it's wake.

Strange things have happened in South Africa and stranger may yet occur. Fingers crossed!

Germany 4 Australia 0

For two years now, a doubt has been nagging me. Somewhere at the back of my mind. Often just on the tip of my tongue. I have seen a lot of very, very ordinary football by the Socceroos against average sides. I have seen the team get-out-of-jail more than once with a late, undeserved goal. I have seen a lot of uncohesive and unproductive football. I have also seen a lot of lucky escapes. Yet Australia finished top of their WC qualifying group.

This doubt stayed with me as the team prepared for South Africa with a terrible showing against New Zealand, a moderate performance against Denmark and a worrying display against the United States. Finally, we have the opening match hiding against Germany. It really hasn't come as a big surprise, sadly.

What's gone wrong? What is going wrong? Is the team getting too old? Are we still living on the earnings of the 2006 success? Is Pim Verbeek just not up to it? Maybe it's a combination of these factors and others too. There is now a very real risk that the whole campaign will melt down. Pim can walk away to his job in Morocco.

But it's left to lovers of the game back home to pick up the pieces.

boys

Last night I went to a seminar on 'Boys and their Emotions.' This is such an important subject in my estimation. The results of not paying attention to how boys express themselves, particularly in the modern era is there for all to see; I don't need to point them out, surely.

Many young men are poorly parented, have insufficient positive role models in other men and often as not turn to less desirable behaviours. When women were given the opportunity to achieve equality (an unfinished project, I realize) men suffered a commensurate loss of identity. It became more complicated to become a man.

From complexity, opportunity can grow. There is a chance for men to find new ways of expressing their undeniable talents and predispositions. But that chance must start with boys, the way they are nurtured, encouraged, parented. It's time for fathers, no matter what their past failings or weaknesses, to step up.

Being 'AWARE'

I became familiar with the AWARE method for handling panic and anxiety attacks some years ago. I also found a good summary of the process at a website run by Mark Tyrrell. For my own benefit but also that of fellow anxiety sufferers, I have reprinted it here. In this case, over-learning the 'system' is very helpful. So, it can be useful to read over it, often.

The ‘A’ in aware stands for ‘Accept the anxiety'. Decide just to go with the experience. Fighting anxiety, getting angry or scared just fuels the fire.

The ‘W’ in aware is for ‘Watch the anxiety’ Observe it without judging it to be good or bad. Remember - you are more than just your anxiety.

The next ‘A’ in ‘aware is for ‘Act normally’. Behave normally and continue doing what you intended to do. Breathe normally focusing on extending the out breath. If you run from the situation your immediate anxiety may decrease but this may lead to an increase in future anxiety.

Staying in the situation helps ‘decondition’ the panic response as your mind gets the message that it is not really threatening. This is why people often say that the first few minutes of public speaking are the worst. If you continue for longer than a few minutes then the mind gets the message that it’s not really that threatening.

The ‘R’ in ‘aware’ is for ‘Repeat the steps’ AWA. Continue accepting your anxiety, watching it and acting normally until it goes down to a comfortable level.

And finally the ‘E’ in ‘aware’ is for ‘Expect the best’. What you fear may never happen. You will surprise yourself by the effective way you handle situations when using the ‘AWARE’ technique.

with Tom

trench and bucket
the sky rampant though leafless trees,
we work faster.

trench filling

Today Tom and I spent 90 minutes in the front garden. Our aim was to continue filling the long trench on the northern side of the house, where a retaining wall had been incorrectly sited. Tom had his tiny green wheel barrow and I had a yellow bucket and we worked in a kind of team-like way, though of course, he was easily distracted by just about anything, and prone to losing sand on the way down the stairs.

But he gets the truck noises pretty right. If only that energy could be channeled into industriousness, we would be finished by now. Still, I'm enjoying the process of emptying buckets of sand into the hole; the gradual rise of the ground level over time is satisfying.

We are an inefficient pair, but that's how we like it.

js44 our last car

Once again, I am a little at a loss as to why the Alto (see js43) was carted off for scrap. But I do remember that we were plying our way on the 176 at least twice a week on the way to country classes, so the tinyness of the Suzuki was probably bothering Nadia. There was little doubt that a head-on (or an any-on actually) would have left us seriously dead. There was no protection in the car.

So we asked a friend of Stephanie's who had a kind of used car export firm (Gulliver's) to find us a slightly larger wagon. The choice of K-wagons was large and I hoped that our modest budget of 500,000 yen would secure one. A couple of weeks passed and around came the salesman - with a 1993 Mitsubishi RVR Sportsgear. It seemed monstrous compared to the Alto (though it was really only a small SUV) but we took it anyway. It proved to be a great car.

It had a large sliding door on the passenger side, 'move-anywhere' rear seats, an electric sunroof and very, very good driver vision. There were 22,000 kms on the clock and it was in beautiful condition, after 11 years! We took it on holidays and on many forays into the countryside around Sanda. It was the first car that Nadia ever drove in Japan. I think she still misses it.

The picture shows the RVR on duty(minus bull-bar) in the summer of 2006 on a trip to the Tango-Hanto Peninsula, a popular spot on Kyoto's northern Sea Of Japan fringe. Tom is sleeping in the baby seat in the back. In the rear of the shot is a classic staple of country Japan - a K-ute. Get behind one of those and you nearly doubled your journey time! Honto ni!