I think we did pretty good since the man’s team ended up in the 3rd place and I and a few others ended up in the 4th place for individual.

The competition started around 9 am and lasted till 7pm. I had to go through about 12 matches which was quite exhausting for me at the end both physically and mentally…. looking at my relative age (had to compete with many late 20′s and early 30′s) and amount of workout and practice I was able to do recently.

I used to not play Taisho that much when I was part of the school team since I had other senbais in the team. However, in Songshan team, I usually end up playing Taisho and this competition was the case as well. Being a Taisho gives me a different type of challenges especially it often ends up my game determining the team result. Nonetheless, I would say I am more than happy to play the role as long as I can contribute to the team.

One of my matches – White is me and, as usual, a bit disappointed to see how I actually play vs. the image I have in my mind. At least I am very glad that I found a few things to work on.

This year, I finally was able to make it to the famous PingSi Lantern Festival after my 2nd trial since last year; last year, I ended up with Taipei Lantern Festival which is also great but a very different style. Thanks to the information from a couple of my friends, I was able to get there quite easily; I and my family went to Taipei Zoo to take the specially arranged shuttle bus to PingSi, which is a small town in the mountain area about an hour drive east from Taipei.

The “kind of” main event is the one that happens in PingSi Junior High School where hundreds of people gather every 30 mins, from 6pm to midnight, to light their lanterns and send them up to the sky in batch. This is the one that is in all the promotional videos as this is what this festival is usually famous for. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the tickets for this, so had to just watch this event nearby, however, it was till breathtaking. Actually, not everyone get to buy the tickets as they are limited. Instead, most of the people just light their lanterns anywhere in the street, which we did as well – twice for each kid, once in day time and once in night.

The reason I said “kind of” is because, for me, the main event seems more like mingling with people in the street, watching others light their lanterns, walking around the night-market-style food stands and having a little bit of everything….  more like just being part of the “festival” atmosphere seemed more exciting. Since it is a very famous international festival, there were foreigners everywhere as well.

For those who visit Taiwan, and if the timing works out, I highly recommend this one.

I feel so fortunate that we had an opportunity to be a part of this famous festival, especially not knowing how long I’ll be staying in Taiwan.

I am posting some pictures below, however, it seems like a bit challenging for a digital camera to get a reasonably good picture at night without a flash.

From 2010 Around Taiwan – PingSi Lantern Festival

[Videos from "Begin Japanology"]

First, the only area I visited were the old food street. I heard there are other areas to look around such as “Gold Ecological Park” and I wanted to have a chance to see Jioufen a bit more broadly.

Second, the old food street gave me such a strong impression at my first visit that I couldn’t help coming back. Some of you may already know but the ghost food street in Miyazaki Hayao’s animation “Spirited Away” was based on his inspiration from Jioufen food street. Especially, when I first visited Jioufen, it was a rainy weekdays and there wasn’t many people around. Because of that, the “old” street felt even more “older”. After about an hour walk from the entrance to the exit of the street, I felt like I had a time travel back to 1950s and it was a very exotic experience.

I won’t be posting information around Jioufen as you can get pretty much all the information from the web.

Instead, as usual, I am posting some pictures I casually took when I was hanging around.

Enjoy!

This SongShan event was quite special to me.
One was that it reminded me of a similar annual event my school team has. Every year end, the whole Yonsei Kendo team members, including alumni, get together at the school dojo to have an internal competition, followed by a “fun” dinner with family joining as well. And the SongShan atmosphere was pretty much the same.
The other one was the feeling of Kendo family. We were basically having fun and enjoying the time being together through Kendo.

Especially, this was the first time joining the dinner with them, and I really had a good time.

Unfortunately, pictures I took were not really good. However, still posting some that are relatively ok.

I am not sure when would be the next trip and I think it would be some time later in my life.

Anyway, it was a still a beautiful and much less commercialized place amongst the places I have been.

One thing is that, winter seems less attractive than spring. Compared to my 2008 March trip, we were not able to see the low tide in front of the hotel that went as far as 50 m from the shore, the wave at the Bamboo island was too high and strong for nice and easy snorkeling, and not as many fish as before.

So, I recommend March vs. December/January, but I have no idea what is summer looks like there.

As usual, posting some pictures.

Mostly, they are in Korean but, this time, he sent out an English one, and I thought this one was great as it is quite relevant to some of the thoughts I have these days.

This one was by Douglas Taft (former CEO of Coca-Cola company) written in 2000.

===============================================

Life is:
Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air.
You name them: work, family, health, friends, and spirit,
and you´re keeping all of them in the air.
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball.
If you drop it, it will bounce back.
But the other four balls – family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass.
If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked,
nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same.
You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.
How?
Don´t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don´t set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.
Don´t take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as your life, for without them, life is meaningless.
Don´t let life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.
Don´t give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don´t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect.
It is this fragile thread that binds us together.
Don´t be afraid to encounter risks.
It is by taking chances that we learn to be brave.

Don´t shut love out of your life by saying it´s impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give;
the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly;
and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Don´t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you´ve been,
but also where you are going.
Don´t forget that a person´s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.
Don´t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.
Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, and Today is a gift;
that´s why we call it – the Present.

The description of the book in Amazon says “Father Barry went to Orchid island as a Jesuit seminarian in 1971. After studying the Chinese language for two years in Taiwan, and as part of his training for the priesthood, he spent a year living and working with the Yami people. This book is the story of that year. It is a collection of impressions – a song perhaps – meant less for the anthropologist than for the poet, the dreamer, or anyone else as interested as he is in sharing lives so different from their own.”

What I wanted to share here is a part in the book, which is very relevant to a question which had longed bothered me. Preserving culture vs. allowing/driving cultural changes under the name of civilization.

In the book, the writer was talking about the culture of Yami (the aboriginal of Orchid Island) with Big Lee who is also a Yami but relatively well educated. The writer says that Yami’s culture is simple and rich in traditions when especially compared to that of western. And Big Lee basically pushes back saying “So you are content to let them remain in their misery. Maybe you would like to preserve this island as a reserve for anthropologists, like the Japanese did – or as a zoo for tourist!”. And the writer was basically caught off guard.

All cultures are very unique and has special meaning of its own, but at the same time, people wants to pursue better life of some form and culture evolves reflecting such changes. I think the voting around casino in PengHu and the past vote about nuclear waste in Orchid Island has some relevance to this dilemma.

Somehow, the book gave me the answer of my own when I was getting out of the plane and walking toward immigration. Basically, it goes back to a basic fact that people needs to be respected whichever cultural direction one may choose to take, or not.

The answer is not about which way is “right or wrong”, but it is more around Is there “balanced respect” for all difference voices.

[Video source: www.youtube.com/kendoworld]

14th WKC Men’s Teams Finals – Korea vs. Japan – Sempo [CK Choi vs. Shodai]

14th WKC Men’s Teams Finals – Korea vs. Japan – Jiho [YC Kim vs. Kiwada]

14th WKC Men’s Teams Finals – Korea vs. Japan – Chuken [WS Kim vs. Uchimura]

14th WKC Men’s Teams Finals – Korea vs. Japan – Fukusho [JY Jo vs. Takanabe]

14th WKC Men’s Teams Finals – Korea vs. Japan – Taisho [KH Lee vs. Teramoto]

[Video source: www.youtube.com/kendoworld]

[Video source: www.youtube.com/kendoworld]

Shoji Teramoto of Japan wins Byung-Hoon Park of Korea with a hiki-men.

Men’s Individual Semi-Final [Teramoto vs. Lee]

Men’s Individual Semi-Final [B Park vs. C Choi]

[Video source: www.youtube.com/kendoworld]