Odds and Ends

Original Posting Date: Thursday, March 5th 2008

There wasn't a new entry for some time now, but the reason will become clear in the next issues.

As it's normal in conversations, we start by talking about the weather.
At the moment it's again crazy in Kôbe. One example: Last week in the morning of one day the were real strong winds in the dimension of a small storm. During the day it stopped and got very warm, up to 10-12° in the shade, true spring, while during the night the temperature dropped and it started to snow, and in fact that heavily, that even several centimetre of snow lay on the trees and everything and even stayed until the morning.
By the way it makes for a beautiful picture: Several centimetres of snow on green deciduous trees and shrubs/ bushes.

In Harborland the companies had a nice idea for the Olympic Games in Beijing/ Peking. The put up life-sized figures, which are in the middle of doing traditional Olympic sports, yet they are figures of famous persons for the time of the Three Kingdoms in China  (around 3rd century a.D.). More or less asking the question: What would the Olympic Games look like if the Chinese would have invented them (and what they have called it)? Completed by explanations of the original sports and the personalities.

During a train drive I also saw an ad for Franz Lehar's operetta "The Merry Widow". Calling me surprised would be a nice way of saying it. Unfortunately I don't have a picture ...

Small anecdote: The two Germans and me were out in the city for dinner one evening, and while we were walking down the street, a Korean stopped and asked us, if we would know a nice club in the vicinity. Imagine this: You are in a foreign city, want to ask for directions, and on purpose address exactly the people, who are the only ones obviously not from that city, even not from that country! And yet it is understandable, since it were Koreans and we were talked to in English, since apparently none of their group could speak Japanese, so they took to the people, who most likely could speak English.


The following paragraph is once again only interesting to Gamer, the other readers can move on the daily column.

Recently I visited Nipponbashi, also called Den Den Town (Electric Electric Town) in Ôsaka. What Akihabara is for Tôkyô, Den Den is for Ôsaka: A heaven for Otaku, Gamer and everyone in love with technical stuff and electronics. In that I want to highlight my visit to two Retro-shops, which sell computer games, magazines etc. from old times, which are next to impossible to find at home. There's nearly everything from PlayStation, Dreamcast, Neo Geo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo, Master System and and and, to old games from the Arcade-times of the 80s and everything, while used, is original and in top condition!


Here's a photo from the SNES aisle

Final Fantasy SNES Parade

Seiken Densetsu 3 (Secret of Mana 2, never released outside of Japan)

And a small(!) part of the NES (in Japan Famicom - Family Computer) games section

Disadvantage: All games are of course only in Japanese
Advantage: One can find rare jewels and everything is really dirt-cheap! Honestly, games which go for several hundred euro in English or German on Ebay, one can get here for a few Euro, e.g. Dreamcast Grandia 2: 1.80 €; Shenmue: 8 Euro

(edit: These days the also have more "newer" stuff like PS2 and DS. And while, thanks to the Internet, it has gotten way easier to get those games, they still have two huge advantages: Next to all of the stuff is in near mint-condition and it is still very cheap. Plus, although it has been nearly 10 years since my first visit, the selection is still massive.)



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

Another round of questions from our readers:


What do Japanese do in their (sparse) free-time?

Hard to answer. At this point I would NOT call the sport-clubs of the pupils and students as well as the going-out for drinks of the businessmen, free-time.
Then they actually do the things Europeans do as well: First and foremost meeting up with friends, going shopping and playing computer games. And depending on the season they visit traditional festivities, for instance fireworks during summer.


Are all things in Japan really much more expensive?

No, it is just split differently. Luxury goods and food are even a good part cheaper than at home, in exchange things of daily life, especially if one has a family, are considerably more expensive. The author himself needs less money for living here than in Austria, because he has no family and does not need many of those things, and since the Euro is very strong at the moment (edit: please remember, back in 2007).
The cliche of the excessively expensive Japan stems from the fact, that one nearly only gets to see Tôkyô (on TV etc.) and in capitals especially in the inner cities life is always more expensive. Japan also only has 5% VAT.  (edit: Now it is 8%, slated to increase to 10% in April 2017).


And fitting: What about prices for clothes in Japan?

On average clothes are more expensive, in exchange one can land some bargains with fashion stuff (if one finds its size), yet caution: if one takes from the wrong stand, one can easily get a heart attack when taking a look at the price tag. Shoes are, especially when on sale, often way cheaper. Apropos sale: There are things on offer year round they are not that much dependent on "sales".

The Usual

Original Posting Date: Thursday, February 21st 2008

Once more no big news.

Once again on Saturday I was hosted by my host-family (oh, clever play on words) and on Monday I was invited for a little party among friends. Including the, for Japan customary, joint cooking, eating and drinking and the subsequent visit to a Karaoke-bar, which are really everywhere in this country.

For people, who haven't seen the movie "Lost in Translation" with Bill Murray, Karaoke in Japan is not like at home. In Austria (Europe respectively) there are hardly any real Karaoke-bars and thus almost only "Karaoke-Nights" in clubs where you have to sing before the whole audience. Yet in real Karaoke one only goes with his friends in a separate room with the device, where you only hear each other and don't need to make a monkey out of yourself before strangers (except naturally if it's following a business meeting).

Of course last week was the damned Valentine's Day as well. For all those who might have missed it: I HATE THIS DAY! An artificially created commercial celebratory day on which you have to buy stuff, just so you can prove your love ... Let's be honest if I really need an invented randomly picked day of the year to show my Love what she means to me, well forget it, then I don't even deserve her.
Why do men actually always have to do something fancy and throw away lots of money? And why do us guys always try to outdo each other in the things we buy our girls, are we really that competitive? And why do women, who themselves want nothing to do with that nonsense, have to suffer through their female friends telling them what great things they got and asking them if their boyfriend really loves them if he doesn't give them a present?
Best part though: You don't even get a day off for this "holiday"! A friend wrote a spot-on article, which truly catches what I think about it.

For Valentine's Day Japan has really only came up with one tradition: The girls give chocolate to the boys. Although some couples do special stuff, it is rather rare and more or less only done by ones newly in love. I like that, it is not that extravagant and you have to do nothing as a man. Besides, although normally Japan likes kitschy stuff, for this day there is very few decoration and the like, understandable for such a limited custom.

And I won't tell if I got chocolate on Thursday.



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:


Today, we answer questions from our readers:


Where/ how often do Japanese go on vacation?

Families mostly do 1-day trips and naturally stay in Japan, whereas these trips are undertaken on traditional holidays. The majority of the Japanese travel during the so-called "Golden Week" in April, when several public holidays are falling on one week and many companies give their employees the whole week off. Almost always they go to domestic destinations, foreign ones are primarily Korea and the larger South-east Asian countries (Thailand, Malaysia, etc.) and because of cultural aspects Europe respectively.


Why are Vienna/ Salzburg are so interesting to Japanese (one at least gets the impression)?

Vienna and Salzburg are THE embodiment of European culture to Japanese with their buildings from the Emperor's era, like as well Berlin and the historic centre of Paris and Versailles respectively. These buildings and museums with their exhibits from the Middle Ages, Renaissance etc. correspond to their image of (old) Europe. In addition Salzburg of course is the birth place of Mozart (one of the few personalities from Europe almost everyone knows) and Vienna, as city of the Emperor with the corresponding symbols, has a certain recognition value, according to the motto: Yes, we have an Emperor as well.


Why do so many Japanese wear ("surgical") masks over their mouths, are they really that scared of germs (like Michael Jackson)?

For some this might be true and respectively, they sometimes put it on their children but with this question the Japanese politeness gets forgotten. Most wear the masks not when they are healthy and want to protect themselves but rather when they are sick, for they try to prevent distributing the viruses and of course do not want to infect anyone else (I believe that was also the original reasoning of M. Jackson, he did not want to infect his children. Yet the cultural naive Americans of course interpreted it as another lunacy  :)


How much tip/ beer money is appropriate in Japan, and how much do people give on average?

Nothing. In Japan there is no tip, since it is considered self-evident, first and foremost by the owners of the establishments themselves, to offer good service. On the contrary, it could be considered impolite, since one could give the impression, that one did not expect good service and was surprised by it (of course foreigners are being forgiven for such faux-pas). If one wants to reciprocate, one can use a certain phrase: "It has been a feast", and/ or say thanks a few times when leaving, or the best version: Just come again (and maybe bring someone else along).


That is it for today's issue.
There are still some unanswered questions left, but next time then.




And since we hardly had any photos today: Things I ate lately, squid cut in stripes and
monkey brain

No, of course it's not monkey brain, but a little scare (out of disgust) for some readers just had to be (don't be mad  ;)  

Sundries

Original Posting Date: Wednesday, February 13th 2008

For the foreseeable future there probably won't be weekly updates, since because of the holidays, the number of events worth reporting heavily decreases. Also, I will NOT make this blog a simple journal filled with shallow gossip-stories!


Snowstorm

This week Kôbe, and even Port Island, got hit by a proper snowstorm, which is not an exaggeration, because visibility was heavily diminished. At the moment the weather is kinda crazy, which in German-speaking countries one could call "April-weather". Just one day after the heavy snowfall (which altogether lasted for several hours), we got 8°C in the shade and fairest spring weather. Right now very warm days alternate with chilly ones and we often get snow flurry, even at sea level.


Because of an enquiry, here an explanation: The Seiza I talked about last time, is the traditional way of sitting in Japan, especially for dignified occasions, whereas one puts his legs under the body and in practise sits on ones lower legs. Hence, it is indispensable and commonplace in a Dôjô for Budo disciplines (e.g. Karate, Kendô etc.).

The pictures are property of the respective websites and their operators/ owners.


As one can imagine, this is very painful for untrained people (just try it) but it gets worse when the pain fades. For than the feet are getting numb, which can lead to great problems in standing up and it can take a few minutes until one can stand. I once experienced an acquaintance who confidently wanted to stand up after a longer period of sitting and crashed flat out on the floor because his feet had lost all feeling and couldn't support him anymore (it was funny though, he kinda deserved it for his slightly arrogant behaviour).
If ladies are sitting in the Seiza they keep their knees together, while the men open them up a little bit. One advantage of this way of sitting, in contrast to tailor seat/ cross-legged etc, is that it's way easier to lean forward, which is very helpful for conversations or eating.
By the way, the Kanji (正座) mean "correct, proper seat", so the Seiza is the right way to sit.



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

Since our author is not able to write for the column for the time being, it will be omitted today.

Edit: At this point in the original entry I asked readers to send me questions about Japan, which I answered in the following entries.

Reunion

Edit:  FRACK, once again no new entries for more than half a year. I am truly sorry. However I promise this will change during the next weeks/ months.
Now, onward.


Original Posting Date: Wednesday, February 6th 2008

Not much new in Japan, aside from the fact that right now the last week of exams is taking place at University.

On Friday I met up with Katrina, a friend from Malaysia, who was in my group during the summer course at University (yes, I realise that I still haven't delivered the report about my 3-weeks stay during summer in Kobe, thank you very much). Sadly she was only a couple of days in Kobe and already took off on Saturday, therefore we could only spent a couple of hours together. We went with a common friend to the well-known Sushi establishment (she was also there during the summer with David and me) and afterwards talked a couple of hours.
It was nice seeing someone from the summer course again.
Has it really already been half a year?

Furthermore for Saturday I was invited by a friend to eating Nabe or Nabemono for a little gathering. "Nabe" itself actually only means "pot" or "cooking pot" and "mono" simply "thing". It only describes that you cook various things whatever you feel like, with a cooking pot, and that's why there are many different Nabe dishes and names, since one can virtually throw nearly anything in there. Nowadays it's most often prepared by using a cooking pot on a gas cooker, putting water and condiment in it and adding, depending on personal taste, meat, fish, vegetables etc. Mainly important for the Japanese are the facts that the people are sitting around the cooking place and share food from the same pot, because in their opinion this strengthens friendship (at least that's how it was explained to me).
Freely adapted from the Austrian saying "Beim Essen kumman d'Leut zamm." (Eating brings people together).
For this purpose one gets also invited to someones home most times, which by itself is already a big sign of friendship (see one of my older entries)

Dessert

The special point on Saturday was that all guests were people, who learn German and have already been to the University of Graz or want to go there plus 2, who just began studying German. However the whole evening only Japanese was used and Graz wasn't even mentioned (hence I wasn't abused as teacher).
Yet, sitting in the Japanese way (Seiza) is still very painful.

Nevertheless I didn't miss the chance to present good wines from Burgenland (my home state/ county). Thanks to a tip from Trummer-sensei I found a shop here in Kôbe, which specialises in the import of Austrian wines and since the founder and owner is from Burgenland, the rest sorts itself out.
Despite it being a dry "Blaufränkisch" they liked it very much and by now the Germans from my dorm have expressed their interest in tasting a good wine from Burgenland as well. That will probably be an ice-wine though.



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

Last week (February the 3rd and 4th respectively) Setsubun (節分) was celebrated in Japan. Originally a celebration of every change of season, nowadays it is held in this form only at the beginning of spring according to the traditional Japanese calendar (which is descended from the Chinese). First and foremost rituals are conducted to expel the Oni (a kind of demons) or keep them away respectively (it can be compared to the casting out of evil spirits during winter in Austrian regions). The most prevalent form, especially in private homes, is the dispersal of throwing of soya beans (called Mame-maki) at people dressed up as Oni or in particular directions of the house, accompanied by reciting a spell of banishing.
There are many other customs, particularly at Buddhist temples and Shinto-shrines, which can differ from region to region. In the Kansai region it is traditional to eat an uncut maki sushi role, although by now this ancient custom has spread to all of Japan. Setsubun is not a national holiday though and thus a normal working day.

Marginalia: Tomorrow, on February the 7th, this year will be New Year's Day according to the Chinese calendar, which takes place on a different day each year, like for instance Easter. In that, the well-known ca. 2 weeks long spring festival of the Chinese starts as well.

Venerable Visit and Dancing

Original Posting Date: Friday, February 1st 2008

Once again nothing on Wednesday, but I think server troubles are more a thing of Murphy's law than accusing me of it.
On Thursday and Friday respectively I wasn't home the whole day, that's why the update was rescheduled for Friday evening.

So, back to our show.
On the weekend I had the honour to receive Lord Takaki Meiyuu (高貴 明勇) for his part Daimyo of the Eastern provinces. On his travels through the Kansai region, His Grace deemed to give me, as Daimyo of the Mid-Western provinces, the honour of a visit at my administrative seat (he also visited my actual seat, Castle Himeji, but the castle is too impractical for my daily duties).
However, for most people his Europeanised name would be easier to understand: Helmut Hödl.

I took him for dinner to the Ryûkyû/ Okinawa restaurant and this time I also took my camera. He brought news from Tôkyô, but sadly already had to leave to Nara the very next day. By the way, Helmut will return home on the 7th of February, after 1 1/2 years of foreign study in Japan.
Only 2 students from Graz left in Japan ...

Some time ago, there was a real week-long temperature drop, such as that even with snow covering the hills.

Since the University is half way up the hills, on some days it suddenly starting snowing while I was at university (I wouldn't believe it at first), which made me very happy. Not to speak of the reactions of other people, for example of an US girl, who never encountered snowfall before. Real cold in Kobê was really nice, since at home it seems like January has again unusually warm weather, but it also got warm again in Kobê.


Last week a girl I'm acquainted with invited me to a training session with the dance club of the University, since in a talk we also came along the topic of dances and the club practises ball-room dances (Rumba, Waltz, Chachacha, Latin American etc.). It is interesting to note, that although their focus is on ball-room dances, which are considered old-fashioned in our regions, the club has over a hundred members. Whereas actually about half of them are men, in contrast to us, where often there is a big majority of women in dance courses.
Like all university clubs, things are taken extremely seriously in this one as well, including minute long practise of basic stances, exercises for muscle growth etc. One can see the strain and concentration in the faces and although the advanced members could dance very well and their technique was impressive I personally had the feeling that somehow passion and emotions were missing, or since they are Japanese, they could not express them that well. Especially when it comes to Latin American dances (Tango!).

A few impressions:

Here they are only counting "1,2,3" in the background, but as it is common in Japan, all do it and very loudly.

And that's it for today, after the extremely long recent entries, which had that length because of the backlog, I will be going back to shorter entries.



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

Recreational clubs at Japanese universities, whether concerning sports, arts or culture, are a serious matter and their members can, without exaggeration, be called semi-professionals. The clubs have training sessions 2-4 times a week lasting several hours and, as a general rule, only accept people who already have some years of experience (thanks to clubs in schools) in the respective field, which means there is virtually no chance of joining for beginners. Naturally, the clubs compete against other universities in contests, whereas it is considered a great honour to be part of the first team (varsity team).
The "light" variant of the clubs are the so-called circles, which are also open for beginners, nevertheless the have trainings several times a week as well, and what is even more, they by far do not cover the manifold spectrum of disciplines the clubs do. Many a time to students (especially to external) the clubs seem to replace family and for many they are equally as important to them as their studies are, for some they are even more important.
Here it seems to once again prove true that when Japanese start something they will practise it to the extreme and with almost dogged ambition. Thus one should be careful in telling Japanese people one's hobbies since it could be easily understood in the sense of the Japanese form and they could assume that one is a semi-professional. Then one should make it clear that those hobbies are done only for fun and by far not that often.

Art and Ryûkyû

Original Posting Date: Monday, January 28th 2008

After this entry I hope to get back to the usual Wednesday respectively Wednesday-Weekend format with the updates.

So, as already mentioned, the days after the ski trip were filled with university work, but after
finishing that annoying sideline there were also some interesting things happening this week.

Together with a friend I have been to an exhibition in the city museum of Kobê about Ukiyo-e (浮世絵). Ukiyo means roughly "the fading world", as in "this world" (here and now, the world of the living) and "e" simply means pictures in this context. Ukiyo-e are the Japanese colour woodcut (also meant for printing) and pictures, which emerged during Edo-times and which concentrate on depicting everyday-life of the people, their festivities (many times Kabuki actors were painted) and their surroundings, which was a first in Japanese art. It can maybe be a little bit compared to the "Biedermeier", concerning the middle classes as well. In the Western world Ukiyo-e has become the definite perception of traditional Japanese picture/painting display, whereupon Katsushi Hokusai and his series "36 views of Mount Fuji" is perhaps the most famous.
Especially interesting, for me personally, is the fact, that Japanese Ukiyo-e also had some influence on European art after the opening of Japan, for example van Gogh was heavily influenced by it and allegedly had been on search for a "Japanese landscape" in France, to base his paintings on, after the role model Ukiyo-e. He reproduced some Japanese works in his style and colours as well. Other artists, whose works were influenced by Ukiyo-e, were Gaugin and Klimt among others.
However Ukiyo-e also encompasses "vulgar" depictions like courtesans and sex scenes, which is why they sometimes encountered problems in Japan itself (although more likely in selling them as because of restrictions by law) and why they were rejected by Western art critics. As well as because of their depiction of the simply life, a critique which Biedermeier also has to face again and again.

Unfortunately, as is the case with most museums, taking photos was strictly forbidden, which is why I can't show any. Instead a picture from the Internet, no worries though, after 200 years the copyright has expired:
"The great wave of Kanagawa" from Hokusai's "36 views of Mount Fuji"-cycle (I have the seen the original in the museum)

Visiting the exhibition once again showed me why I loathe Modern Art, especially abstract. If you look at these pictures, the details, the interaction of the colours/ hues and its splendour, the atmosphere, as well as the artistic skill e.g. to create a wonderful and aesthetic picture just with nuances of the colour blue on white canvas, so must modern abstract "art" appear amateurish to us. No matter if its directions like Jackson Pollock and his "Action Painting", or the like which emerged in the last 50 years, whereas especially in Austria one can find extreme positions in Mühl and Nitsch.
What bothers me the most in this is the separation of vision and skill. An artist of course should and has to have a vision to create a great piece of art but nowadays the term vision seems to have become "self-propelling" without the need for exceptional skills. Often it seems that one just needs to make something upsetting or abstract and know a marketing expert, who knows how to market it in the right way and sell it as art, and one becomes famous as long as you state that you had a vision for that "piece" and converted it into the piece or wanted to express something by it. I take myself as an example: As mentioned before I am a complete failure concerning visual arts (thank God not music) but even I can dump a bucket of blood onto canvas, drill a hole into a can of paint and run over a canvas, or put balls in pantyhoses and sew them together. Yet, put me before a picture by Da Vinci, van Gogh or Klimt and tell me to reproduce it and I will simply laugh into your face and leave.
On the point, in my opinion real works of art are not easily copied without the aid of technical means.
The sad thing is, that nowadays often artists with huge skill and potential have no chance whatsoever to get known, because the "scene" and many critics deem their paintings to be too unspectacular, not agitating enough or simply too "nice". In this regard if one takes a look at art history, irony stares right back.


At this point I want to apologise for the long rant about my personal views, especially because it has nothing to do with Japan, but I just had to get it out.


Since we spoke about Klimt, here is an imprint on a box of Pocky (chocolate sticks)

Another box had an imprint of a painting by Renoir ("Little girl carrying flowers")


I also have been to an Okinawa restaurant this week. This cuisine has some peculiar features, for the long-lasting Chinese influence as well as their own cultural mannerism. Unfortunately I did not have my camera on me, so there are no photos, but next time I'll be eating there I won't forget it.
(for the Anime-fans among you: The anime "Samurai Champloo" takes its name after the Okinawan dish "champuru", which approximately means "mix", and in the anime it points to the mix of modern and traditional elements)

Since I was apparently the only (Western) Gaijin (foreigner) in the restaurant, the waitresses (there were only girls) played a little joke on me. It is normal that waiters greet a customer when he passes them or say goodbye when he is on the way out, there are special phrases for that in Japanese (note my entry with "irrashaimase" on that), sometimes they even do that every time even if it is the same customer. If you leave a restaurant, the nearest waiter next to the exit will additionally bid you farewell, such are the rules of politeness.
In any case: As we were taking the bill after dinner, all waitresses assembled unnoticed (Japanese can do that) in a half circle behind me, and as I set foot on the stairs to the exit, all of them loudly shouted together "Please visit us again" (with a big grin on their faces), and they were amused by my surprised expression.



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

The island of Okinawa (沖縄) is actually only the name of the main island of the prefecture Okinawa, which is comprised of a whole chain of islands, which actual name is Ryûkyû (琉球). Because of their intensive contact with China and other Asian countries as well as their relative great autonomy until the start of the 17th century, originally the Ryûkyû islands posses a discrete culture and language, which is quite similar to Japanese today, but can be seen as different nonetheless, especially concerning the Okinawa-dialect, which is clearly different from standard-Japanese.
During the Middle Ages (starting from ca. 1000) the Ryûkyû Islands were an independent kingdom, which, albeit heavily influenced by China and paying tribute to it, was for a long time for all purposes a sovereign nation because of China's policy of quasi-isolation. In the year 1609 a Daimyo conquered Ryûkyû, with approval of the Shôgun, by which the islands formally lost their independence, yet since the Daimyo also was content with tax duty and a low level of direct control the culture could exist in relative autonomy, especially since the King as institution was preserved, so that the control by Japan would stay concealed from the Chinese missions.
With that, Ryûkyû was more or less in double subjection to China and Japan, which lead to several problems and tensions among the population and that made reforms necessary, which ultimately lead to a boom and further strengthening of the specific idiosyncrasies of Ryûkyû.
After the Meiji-Restoration in 1868 and the disengagement from China (since Japan defeated China in several battles) the prefecture of Okinawa was established and subsequently, the King was abolished, all areas of life came under direct control of the government in Tôkyô and Japanese culture and language was spread more invigoratingly (nowadays this is often viewed as kind of an assimilation policy).

Okinawa is especially known for its role in the 2. World War, since it was the only venue of a battle on real, inhabited Japanese soil (Iwo Jima is practically uninhabited with the exception of the military), and it is the second most costly battle for US forces in the Pacific War, after Iwo Jima. Thus the islands were under US occupation and administration until the 70s, and up to today the US have their second largest navy base of the pacific there. The relationship between the population of the Ryûkyû islands and the government in Tôkyô is still a little strained, since only in the past 10 years support for the original culture and language has begun (albeit not by the government/ state), whereas especially the language is a problem since many of the young emigrate to the cities of the main islands and cannot speak the Okinawa-"dialect" anymore.

Still alive (a letter from the management)

*Whew*, nothing new in four years. I kinda simply let it die in the middle of it, didn't I ...
Well, four years ago I finished all the stories for the German side of my blog and closed it and I also kinda lost interest in translating the rest. I am sorry, I'm a lazy bum.

HOWEVER, since I recently re-opened the German side with new stories, I decided it's high time to start translating entries again! So look forward to new material here.
(I just hope the readers have left their notifications on or stumble upon the new entries on a nostalgia trip)