Brown Motion

There is a lot of ground to cover if one wanted to visit all the 190 plus officially recognized countries in our world. A lot of them have even more water to cover to get to them. But the family all aligned on the merits of burning fossil fuels to appreciate other cultures embarked on few voyages in the past two decades and came back with lots of pictures and memories to last this lifetime. Below are glimpses from the five of seven continents we touched down on..in no particular order.. and merely arranged based on the laziness of finding these gems by yours truly Above pic is of my breakfast in Pune, India High calorific content amidst a humid and noisy ambience not captured in the picture the rice lentil crepe is a crispy delight. Above vista is a ski slope near the Tahoe basin of the Sierra Nevada range in winter in Northern California. Bull. No really ... it is a big deal in India.  It is what Shiva the destructor of this universe rode on.. as myths go i...

Translated to English is Forest Bathing.  No bathing suit needed.  It is literally a walk in the woods.  In the last century the Japanese discovered that to get away from the grind of the big city and rejuvenate oneself they could take a walk among the trees.  This has proven to be  preventive approach to health care and healing in Japanese medicine. CNN recently showcased a series on longevity and living well hosted by their on staff Doc (of Indian origin) called Sanjay Gupta.  He took a trip to Japan to find out how their citizens lived long years for the most part and discover why city dwellers seemed lonely and overworked.  The latter is attributed their work ethic and surviving through post WWII times to build a better life.  Unfortunately overwork is today a leading cause of stress in their society. His findings lead him to discover this old technique of getting immersed in nature to solve the problems of modern society aka st...

Prior to our recent trip to Japan I had gotten enamored with the food from that land.  All manners of noodles, fried preparations refered to as Tempura and of course Sushi.  A term generically used to signify a whole plethora of items that have vinegared rice as a common ingredient.  Many contain fish as the next most abundant inclusion and the rolls that are crafted from it are a treat. Japan offered an exclusive variety that was always fresh in taste and ubiquitous from train stations to tourist sites ensuring I was adequately nourished. I recently discovered an 'all you can stuff' in one sitting type of place in Foster City (which is on the peninsula of the bay area).  Typically I am wary of such invites since the food is mass produced and sits there depending on whether someone actually consumes it or not. This place is different.  It asks the guest to limit their selection to four rolls per person and then proceeds to make the rolls fresh with...

That was the A-bomb journey. During times of peace and prosperity the human mind can be contemplative.  In times of war it is an entirely different story.  Looking back in history 70 years ago, humankind did a most horrific act.  It dropped a WGD - weapon of generational destruction on our own kind. America developed a nuclear weapon in Los Alamos, NM and dropped it on Japanese civilians in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  One cannot imagine the turmoil that faced Truman, the American president that made the call at the time.  One cannot imagine the wrath faced by those that survived this devastation.  One can only reflect. This past year we took our daughter to the origin and the culmination point of these two events in history to see first hand what the human mind is capable of.  While the science of fission and harvesting an amazing energy source could have limitless potential it also was responsible for a scale of destruction never before seen ...

Concluded an amazing trip into 'The Land of the Rising Sun'.  So named as its original name Nippon would suggest, the Chinese described it as such in their ancient texts going back 2,000 years where the sun rose before it did in China. The world's third largest economy by GDP it is an aging populace that is causing some anxiety in terms of how Japan might grow.  Their ministers are trying everything from increasing taxation to negative interest rates but impact seems to be minimal.  Unlike other countries in Europe we saw very little building going on - sort of consistent with no additional demand on the system.  Japan is also a monoculture in that it seems to have very little by way of migrant populations and is an island in its true sense. Perhaps this singularity makes them amenable to follow consistent processes, and be regimented and disciplined in all walks of life. Konichiwa is a standard greeting for many Japanese - and is in close approximation to 'Hi, ...

So begins any trip onboard Japan's high speed trains when a soft female voice announces that you are now part of a Shinkansen (train) experience.  The narration is quickly followed by a long Japanese translation about the destination, stops to be made and so on.  I actually debated titling this episode - Pop goes the Weasel - but then decided it was too cheesy to - even for the blog. Reason being that or another really funky nursery rhyme is the sound you hear on a Xylophone rendition, over the PA system when a Shinkansen is about to appear. In the post WWII era Japan expanded its industrial production in all spheres and the rails were no exception.  Called 'Shinkansen' which literally translates to 'New Rail Line' was a project that Japan undertook in its modernization spree starting in the sixties. They built dedicated and custom engineered rail lines for allowing high speed trains to service the most busy corridors on the main island of Honshu, ...

..has nothing to do with the famous instant coffee born in California, aka Folgers. Not when you are in Japan.   It is your engagement with the porcelain throne. The commode. Or as the Japanese might call it 'ben jo'. So while there is no Banjo on my knee it's definitely a place to rest tired knees.  As in have a seat and relax a while. As with many things in Japan there is tremendous attention to detail in all manner of things and the toilet is no exception.  These zen masters have taken the very function of defecation and turned the experience into something akin to a spa retreat. If you are anything like me you spend some quality time there during the day including the first minutes on awakening  (or so you thought).  Wait till you try the Toto washlet. A fully automated butt washing experience like none other. It all begins as you groggily approach your toilet when sensing the arrival of an unpleasant mass (read between the lines here) th...