Hilman Nordin

[2015 BOOKS CHALLENGE] #WahaiMelayu by Anas Zubedy

2015-01-25T09:06:00.005-08:00

#WahaiMelayu is a light book that can be finished in a day, but I decided to use it as my 'cheat book' and slowly complete 40 pages a day. The book is filled with wake-up calls, advice, and social observations targeted to the Malays, though the author mentioned that 'many of the tips has universal imports'. Despite the small form factor and 1 - 2 sentence(s) per page, each 'tips' gave something to ponder, with some contained heavy criticism on how the Malays think, politicking, do business and conduct their family. And one of my favorites:

"Malay fathers must know that their interest in Manchester United or Arsenal has no direct positive impact on their children's future. Interest in READING will!" (page 273)

Towards the end of the book, more 'tips' are call to arms to Malay parents - directed to fathers more than mothers to reflect on how they value education over other things that Malays are known to dwell in. The author even call for a New Parenting Policy to go hand in hand with the New Economic Policy.

Large chunk of the book are tips on business and money. It wouldn't be a book on the Malays, if there's no mention of the 'lazy native'. The author managed to secure a mention (actually three - once in the 'why this book' and twice among the tips) and gave his thought on it. The book has a foreword by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in which he defended the New Economic Policy and raised his concerns on the fact that 'many from the community seems to denounce these efforts (the policy)'. I'd say that many points derived in this book are the same concerns that Tun Mahathir raised when he wrote The Malay Dilemma (1970).

Maybe, with the advent of micro-blogging and SMS, it is easier for the younger Malays to get #WahaiMelayu than a slightly longer and wordier book. Then again, its up to them to teach their children (next generation Malays) to take up reading!

Three Characteristics of my Generation

2012-03-17T04:16:00.001-07:00

If I would give a title to that short essay it might be the title that I gave to this post. Maybe something even fancier than a direct clue of what to expect in the essay. I was required to write a short essay in 30 minutes last Friday, as a part of a test required for admission (eventually a PhD scholarship) to Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The short essay was actually a test to measure up my English language proficiency, and is actually an alternative to TOEFL; as NTU staffs realized that Malaysians usually do not take any English language proficiency test after the Malaysian own MUET. The test was to ease evaluation process for the locals.

The question was to identify characteristics of my generation that is different from the previous generation. In the essay I interchangably use youth and new generation opposing the old generation. Seeing the fact that the test might look into my flow of thinking and organization of ideas, I limited my writing to three characteristics for the 300 words essay. Being put under intense pressure of writing an essay in a limited time, along with the thinking 'this must be good the first time' made me force myself to be quick on my thinking. I asked for an extra paper, drew some 'mind map' of what I would write and elaborate on the three characteristics. I think I planned the writing for about 5-10 minutes, then thought of the best way to start the first sentence around 2 minutes, and off I went. After the first sentence, everything became much easier.

I began with highlighting 'herd-mentality' as an effect of the shared information between youth. This can be measured in how a content is viewed and discussed. I gave "Kony 2012" as an example of a video that went 'viral', most of the time because of content sharing in social network website. I mentioned the Arab Spring, where youth are sharing thoughts on their government and organized social movement using alternative media. At times, not everyone would go to the streets and actually do something, but there will always be people sympathetic to the cause that would have thought sharing is an action in itself.

Then I discussed on 'reduced attention-span'. The internet has provided enormous accessibilty to information. Before the emergence of Twitter, most of Internet contents are provided in personal web sites and blogs. Currently contents are getting shared using social media and web sites such as Twitter allow people around the world to do microblogging - sharing simplified version of information. With a lot of information being shared, there are tendency to keep on devouring more and more information without a break to do some contemplation on it. I mentioned in the essay that 'various scholar see this as intrusion to deep thinking'. At that time, I can't name any scholar that made that claim.

The last point was on the 'dependency on technology'. I hate to do so, but I made the iPhone as an example - giving free advertisement to the device (I did it again in this post!). I had seen in classes that I teach, that students are calculating simple mathematics problem using calculator, in a way that made our own brain seemed less reliable. To end the essay, I mentioned that 'I now face difficulty in finishing the essay' as I was writing it with a pen (my hand really hurts!) and on the path to complete the essay I kept thinking 'where is Google when I need it most?'.

p/s: after the English test, I have to sit for another exam with multiple choice questions. First 25 questions was tricky questions, mathematics and IQ test from SPM level (I think), with another 10 from first year Engineering Mathematics. I originally came for the challenge. NTU is in favor of first class degree holders (for scholarship) and in this case I am not.
p/p/s: typing is so much better!

[VIDEO] Eyman Hykal's Detik Debar on Selamat Pagi Malaysia, TV1

2011-12-29T17:29:00.001-08:00

My own review here.

Eyman Hykal's Detik Debar - Review

2011-12-27T05:52:00.000-08:00

If in one of these days, given the current circumstances and the stereotypical view on Muslims and Islam, especially the perception of the two in the eyes of Americans, and with most of the current IT-era developed by and with the support of 'debt industry' - the world suddenly changes, from the interest-laden economy to 'Islamic economy', it will require the world superpower to be the first one to adapt the change. At the time of writing this, America is still the world's superpower and therefore Americans might have chosen a leader capable of embracing that change, with or without knowing that their leader capable of doing so. At least in "Detik Debar", that was what its writer imagined and persuaded the readers to believe in.

After Obama made it to the seat of power, the President of the United States of America can easily be either black or white in many fictions. Detik Debar's own John Martinez is effortlessly portrayed as Hispanic, without any reference to his religious belief in the beginnings of the novel, enough to make readers assume that the American President is nothing but a Muslim. Readers then embark on the journey of finding the true nature of the president, his own drive on making his own country embrace 'Islamic economy' and might find the occasional references of John Martinez uneasiness around Zionist lobbyist, and the support given to Jennifer Miles, a young reporter who reported news from the Middle East who fell in love with Palestine, and with it, her unbiased reporting from 'the other side of the fence'.

Eyman Hykal created Fariz Zafar as the hero of the story, a good man (grandson) from the reference to his grandmother; yet capable of being fierce and killing without doubt, skillful in the arts of parkour - which I believe to be an excuse for the Eyman to make Fariz Zafar agile and make him take that extra jump and running around the novel. Fariz worked with BISIK, Malaysian version of the CIA, and with it the access to incidents and events (read: plot) that most of the time, unknown to many.

Detik Debar was written in a style that managed to capture its readers attention to the story, living up to the meaning of the novel's title. The story moves quickly, without too many reference on the background story, history of the characters, and settings, and in places where there were, the story is purposely made to slow down before the next shock. Readers may only dwell and savor the development of few characters, with an exception to one character named Omar, other characters such as Alvaro, one of the assassins sent to finish off the president (many would have guessed an assassination attempt on the President after he made the claim to support 'Islamic economy') , are not really exposed (Omar was not exposed on purpose by Eyman). This shows that the focal point of the story is not on the assassination; we always get that from many action stories - a psychopath killer, an ex-army turned assassin have their character built up to the point-blank. There was an underlying, grave and urgent message from Eyman Hykal from his choice of characters.

In the end, readers will be left with wanting more of John Martinez, Jennifer Miles and Fariz Zafar - the first character because of the possibility of different history of the world where 'Islamic economy' is realized, the second for her charms and secret wishes that she'll end up with either the first character or the third; and the last character, Fariz Zafar for he represents what many Malaysian thought was not real, but wishes for it - a brave, ass-kicking Malaysian spy!

[VIDEO] What happened if they demonstrate during Merdeka Day parade?

2011-12-18T02:22:00.000-08:00

Back in 2009, I wrote this post. Now, another compliment is due for my father. He completed another marathon run, and if last time did made me had an urge to write, this time the feeling surges. Congratulations Abah, once again!

This time, there's a book launch for the new novel held together with Ramlee Awang Murshid's latest thriller. Managed to accompany father for the event, and since it is held in MPH, I was exposed to a lot of books from 2pm to 5pm. The result is me getting 4 books of various titles from the store!
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The title of this post is related to the video (or another interesting title is "What happened if America embrace Islamic Economy (sic)?") - where father told the audience about his novel, where his inspirations came from, and some interesting bits and pieces you can expect in the novel. Ramlee also introduced his new 'Fiksyen 302' afterwards, and my camera was out of memory to capture the actual launching gimmick. Do enjoy the video, and if somehow you are convinced to get one (any of the two books or both), you can get one with signature from here.

Poster for the occasion

Signing session

Queue for the signing session (taken from escalator)

Tokyo by Bike - Part 2

2011-12-08T16:33:00.001-08:00

An interesting sight in Tokyo about bicycle, and specifically to 'mamachari' is the different upgrades that you can apply to your bicycles. From the bicycle, similar to cars, you can guess what kind of person rides it. But since everyone is riding a bicycle of similar type, you can only see the difference from the practicality of the bicycles, not from the class or how expensive it is (as you would from looking at cars).

One kid

Two kids

No kids

More than two kids (or when your kids get older) - buy another bike for your kids

No idea.

You can also apply upgrades such as electric assist.

The flying machine alignment problem

2011-11-29T17:09:00.001-08:00

Tokyo by Bike - Part 1

2011-11-28T18:27:00.001-08:00

Policeman checking bicycle registration as I wonder when this will be over since the traffic light is already turning red again.

I have been stopped by policeman in Tokyo for three times in the course of three months. I can still remember all three occurrences. The first time when I was heading for Tokyo Institute of Technology for the first time from my dormitory near Komaba. The distance between the dormitory and the university made it possible to be lost (>6 kilometers), especially when I was not familiar with the roads, and because I was getting there on a bicycle. When you are lost, its common to ask for directions. And since there are a lot of Koban (police box) around, its only natural that I stopped by (OK, I have not been stopped by a policeman in this case) and ask for directions.

After asking for directions at the Gakugei Daigaku koban, I was asked to wait for a while before continuing my journey. I have been asked whether I bought the bicycle, where I bought it and whether I registered it under my own name. There was a sticker pasted on the seat post, something similar to vehicle registration number that the policeman can use to check who the bicycle belongs to.

The second time was after getting used to a certain route to get to the university. By getting used to I mean, I know the directions well, I know two or three different routes to get to the university, and I know where the koban(s) are, so if I passed in front of Koban, I will definitely "behave". So there I was, on one of the main junctions, at that time I was trying to get to my dormitory. The policeman stopped me and check for my bicycle registration. This time, I asked a friend of mine take a picture of the process.

The third time, I was cycling alone, trying to get back to my dormitory. I was following an old lady closely since the path is not big enough for me to get in front of her. It was not near any koban. It was a police car, with three policeman in it, suddenly spoke through the car speaker asking me to stop. The old lady stopped but then was asked to continue. At this point, I already knew what to do, so I hand over my identification for them to check, and showed them where the bicycle registration was.

But then, they want to do a body check. So the three policemen divided their work - one was doing the bicycle registration, another is doing the body check, with another one inspecting my bag. They also ask many questions about my current situation, where I was heading, what I currently do and where I came from. At that time, I have a lot of things on my mind, since I thought there were not many people stopped by the curb and get inspected.

Sense the feeling of uneasiness in me, so they ask a lot of questions on myself and my country, in the process of getting friendly. Lucky I was not stopped by at any of the main junctions, if so, I would feel embarrassed.

Mamachari - available upgrades: child seats.

After checking with Malaysian friends, they also mentioned that they experience the same thing. This made us conclude that the policemen are looking at the foreigners more carefully than the locals. Also we conclude that you are tend to be stopped by policeman if you ride 'mamachari' (see picture above) instead of mountain bikes. This is maybe because 'mamachari' are more popular (almost everyone have one), and easy to be stolen because it looks the same.

But maybe this conclusion was formed because of the Malaysian (my own) perception of our own country's police force? More importantly, they (Japanese policemen) are doing their job and in my opinion after my observations, they are really good at it.

Getting old

2011-11-20T01:45:00.001-08:00

My sister told me that she's facing difficulty in understanding Japanese kanji. And I replied to her:
"If you start now, by my age you can be fluent in Japanese already".

I pondered upon my own answer. Nanka... it made felt old with traces of regret. Guess you can never turn back time.

SS - Someday We Gonna Die

2011-11-13T17:09:00.001-08:00

My sister found a story I made during my school days. It should have more chapters than 1, as it is now it's not even a complete story. At that time I am not sure why I chose Death as a theme and part of the title. If you have some spare time, do read the story, but I assure you, it will not be worth your while. You can access the story here.

The flying machine needs some Nitrogen

2011-11-10T23:01:00.001-08:00

Exam Tips - UM New Examination Hall

2011-11-08T16:32:00.000-08:00

With the new exam hall, if you are having a morning examination at Dewan Tinta (they give names to the halls this time), make sure you come early and book a place opposite of the glass windows. The hall is facing the Federal Highway traffic, and morning sun rise. The hall is not facing the sun directly, but if you are sitting in the last rows, you might feel uneasy with the light and temperature.

p/s: took the picture and wondered what to do with it.

Hope in Humanity.

2011-10-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

Great Turkish meal

Recent earthquake in Turkey brought memories of my personal experience of earthquakes and Turkish food. The mosque that I frequented last Ramadan in Japan was run by Turkish government. Other than the imported cook brought from Turkey, I was informed that the Imam was on the government's payroll. My experience was somewhat a mixture of culture and great meals, and also great friendship forged.

Tokyo Camii Mosque - Ramadan 1432 H.

And this news gave me more reasons to reminisce. It is about the survivors at Ercis living in orderly fashion; no looting occurred during desperate times. Another story on the Japanese people (even children) donating money in Turkish embassy in Tokyo, despite that they are still recovering from the great East Japan earthquake last March; these two stories give hope to humanity - despite that we are now being fed with news showing people do not even care about 2-year-old laying down on the street.

Barriers.

2011-10-26T16:27:00.001-07:00

When faced with barriers en route to your destination, a step back to get the whole view of your path is important. Viewing your route from the outside; or bird's eye view give you the whole picture of where you want to go and another way around the barrier. In modern terms, it's kind of like GPS.

Barriers/challenges in life can also be put into the same frame. On one side you have your goals/destination. On the other you have where you are at the moment. If let's say, one of your your goals is to be the best worker in your department - it will be a barrier of your boss do not like you.

But if your goal is to become the prime minister/president of a country; then the fact that your current boss do not like you will only mean that you will lose one vote towards your presidency. This will make you evaluate your barriers, in this case you will downgrade the level of challenge you might face with someone not liking you. The level of barriers can be lowered when you have higher goals.

Life is full of challenges/barriers. To be the bigger man who can cross any barriers easily, you need to set the highest goal there is. You need to set your destination right. That way when you take a step back, all the challenges can be seen as small and a necessity, because when you have something big, out-of-this-world kind of goal, there will always be a bigger and harder challenge that you have to face after that.

So where you headed?

The Letter (Part 6) - The Meeting

2011-10-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

Previously on The Letter:
I prayed that sooner or later I will get to meet her. The last letter (part 5) was written on July 2009. And about 2 years after I wrote the letter, Allah gave me the chance. I met her.

Part 6
The meeting convinced me. I now have the idea of spending more time with her. Our last meet was short, but I managed to get some idea of what kind of person she is, her views on life and death, her belief, her shortcomings. She faced a great difficulty months before the meeting, a great test by Allah; at the time when I knew about that I nearly decided not to see her. I thought of the trouble that I might face if I decided to go and see her, but all the time that I was in her company, I felt that my worries were baseless. HasbunAllahu wa ni'mal Wakeel.

I promised last time before I met her, that I will be a better person. Thank you Allah, for the chance to meet her made me a better person.

Class time.

2011-10-21T23:27:00.001-07:00

Had the opportunity to relive my experience as undergraduate listening to lectures. This one delivered by Prof Imtiaz of my department, I was here along with junior-course mates. Lucky the lecture was on how to find literature and write literature review which is still relevant to my current studies.

Sanity.

2011-10-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

Crazy as a routine, become a part of sanity.

Reasons.

2011-10-19T08:48:00.001-07:00

After a few times cycling to UM, I wonder what is it that I want to achieve. I was inspired with a story of a guy who cycle to work for fun from one of the TEDTalks I watched. I previously cycled in Japan during my 3 months visit, partly the reason why I can 'finally' lose weight.

Is it because of it's fun? Is it because I want to continue losing weight? Or maybe I just want to relive my days in Japan? I had these questions currently running in my head.

But I think I might have one word to describe what I am doing. The word describes the fact that I am not satisfied with myself and that I want to push myself further. I'll keep the word with me for now.

Achievement: Cutting down Facebook time!

2011-10-17T20:19:00.000-07:00

Simply using StayFocusd in my Google Chrome browser, I managed to cut down Facebook/Twitter/Youtube time. I began with giving myself 10 minutes per working period to visit all the "time-wasting sites". This week, I cut the time down to 5 minutes. With that, my productivity should increase right?

I would say, yes. But that does not stop me from finding ways to overcome StayFocusd; details I wouldn't share here in case you want to use it for your own good. It also does not stop you to discover new "time-wasting websites" (in that case, you might want to start blocking the new website using StayFocusd). In essence, StayFocusd can be used as to help you, but it all go down to your own self willpower.

Mirrors.

2011-10-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

One of the place I searched for myself, and met someone I've never thought I would become in me.

Finding Islam in Tokyo (5)

2011-10-14T02:23:00.000-07:00

This is the place I usually pray in Tokodai. It is close enough to my lab even though its in a different building. Actually this place is the 'R' level, where 'R' stands for roof.

The 'R' floor.

I brought a slipper with me. And since I usually wear shoes to Tokodai, it is convenient that I leave my slipper on the 'R' floor of "Ishikawadai no ichi-go-kan". That way, I can use the slippers when I want to take my wudhu' on the 7th floor, one level beneath 'R' floor. It's good to know that somebody already leave two praying mats on the floor; makes it convenient to do jamaah.

Sometimes, there will be a girl who prayed here. I believe she's an undergraduate student, since I didn't see her during Ramadan. Undergraduates are having long summer break, and I noticed that during Ramadan, when the summer break already started for them, only research students were around. Usually when she came to pray, I waited for her to finish. Same goes when I went to 'R' floor before her. After I noticed the usual time she came to pray, I adjusted mine and we didn't see each other quite often.

The place is not that big, but once, I prayed with two other people. This is also the place I met and befriended Radon.

Radon is an Indonesian student in Tokodai. He's 25 years old, and he has a wife, currently pregnant, and expected to deliver at the end of the year. He mentioned that when he was telling me the reason of him not returning to Indonesia for Ramadan and Syawal.

"A lot of Indonesian went back home during Ramadan. It is hard to be here in Ramadan because of the duration of fasting. It is much longer here than in our country". Radon also expressed concern since I mentioned that I will be experiencing fasting in Japan. I was more concerned with him, I guess, since I can picture that he will not be returning home even for Eid!

Picture of the stairs leading to the 'R' floor.

There was also one time when I prayed alone for Zohor since there were no one else around; and suddenly some Japanese people came to the floor. I was praying near to the edge of the stairs, and I can hear that someone's voice telling me,

"Sumimasen".

And then some people walk behind me to the adjacent door. After I prayed I realized that they were the elevator's repairman. The elevator of the "ichi-go-kan" reaches only to the 7th floor, and you would have to take the stairs to get to the 'R' level. 'Maybe they needed to get on top of the elevator to fix it' was what I explained to myself. I thought it was very thoughtful of them not to bother me while I was praying, even though they didn't took off their shoes to come on to the 'R' floor.

I was given this beautiful praying mat to use for praying inside/outside the restaurant.

Halfway in and out

The first time I went out far enough that I do not have any choice but to pray outside of convenience was during my trip to Kamakura. I was very lucky to locate one Turkish restaurant, where I confirmed with the owner that he sold 'halal' meat. Since at that time it was near to 12.00pm, it was already time for Zuhur prayers. After ordering food, I asked the owner where can I pray for my Zuhur, as my logic would suggest, the owner would have somewhere to pray since he should be praying too.

He then showed me one small place that I can use to pray. I was also given a praying mat, which in my opinion was very beautiful. At that point, I forgot to ask the owner something; but I didn't bother to ask as in my opinion, he hesitated. Maybe because there were a lot of customers and he needed to focus on attending to them and cooking for them.

How can I tell he was the owner? Actually, I don't have any proof, I concluded from my observations. I was in the toilet for my wudhu', and I saw his picture all over the place with different customers.

View from the staircase of the restaurant.

What did I forget to ask him? The qibla direction. I used a compass and my iPod to determine the direction, only to find out that the direction will require me to pray half-way in and out of the restaurant. It was an emergency staircase outside the restaurant, and it was made of steel. The way it was built make you able to see the ground, and I think I forgot to mention that the restaurant was on the 3rd floor. Since it was located at the back of the restaurant, it didn't interfere with the entrance or any customer, and from my observation, the emergency staircase was rarely used.

I was grateful to have found the restaurant, because another alternative would mean I have to pray in any of the many Kamakura's temples compound.

Finding "koen"

Bicycle as barrier, 'kain pelikat' as my prayer mat and this slightly bigger sidewalk become a place of worship.

Following my cycling trip to Tsukiji Fish Market (Kappabashi and Akihabara afterwards) which was about 10 kilometers (the furthest point was Kappabashi = 14km) from where I lived, it was Zuhur time when I got to Akihabara. I wanted to explore Akihabara, but I felt restless because I haven't prayed. In Tokyo at this time, Zuhur is around 11.30am and Asr is around 3.20pm.

I met one familiar Indonesian face in front of Yodobashi-Akiba, who mentioned about finding an empty space. At that time, I was having this kind of thinking - find a mosque/musalla first, if fails find a 'koen', Japanese for park. I didn't manage to find a musalla, but I found a public restroom to make my wudhu', and a slightly bigger sidewalk (so that it didn't bother with passerby) and prayed there.

This small koen is located next to Akihabara station, is where I prayed in Akihabara during my second trip in Ramadan.

The next time I was in Akihabara, it was in Ramadan. But this time, I searched straight away for any koen, or any empty space. I managed to find one right beside the Akihabara station. The best thing about the place was it had a tap where we can make my wudhu'. So I don't have to find any public restroom. Everything was there to begin my prayers. It came to my mind that I sincerely hoped that the koen might someday have a musalla for Muslim travelers.

I used 'kain pelikat' as a praying mat. I chose to pray somewhere that is not bothering anybody, while my back is against a wall. Of course, I need to make sure the spot was clean. This picture is taken with the Akihabara station in the background.

This is where I made my wudhu'.

Usually, before Ramadan, I would bring some bottled water, with the intention of drinking it, and using the water to make my wudhu'. But Ramadan made me forget to bring one, and it was really convenient to find tap water in a place suitable for prayers. The downside was, that this place is frequented by people, especially smokers. So there were a lot of cigarette butts on the grounds. There were also people who stop by to sleep. A careful look around the place made me me guess that some uses this koen as their home; with cardboard boxes carefully arranged at one of the corners.

But I am grateful to have found this place.

Lake Ashinoko and Hayakawa River

I had the chance to go to Hakone, after a friend of mine mentioned about it. And since at that time there was only a week prior to Ramadan, I thought I should travel and see more of Japan. I went there alone, and I believe it was a good experience, to a certain extent spiritually uplifting.

I found out that Hakone was about 80km from where I lived. So I made the decision not to use 'rukhsah' for my prayers. Since it is far enough for me not to get to Tokyo by Asr, I decided that I would do my Zuhur and Asr prayers in Hakone.

At first, I thought I wanted to make wudhu' with the water from Lake Ashinoko, a caldera lake formed by volcanic eruption of Mount Hakone. The water is very clear, with a lot of fishes. There were a lot of beautiful pictures of Lake Ashinoko, most of the time with views of Mount Fuji, or a red 'torii' gate on water. But during my journey, it was only time for Zuhur after I crossed the lake. I prayed after an interesting pirate boat ride.

This time, I brought along a proper praying mat.

View of Lake Ashinoko from where I prayed. Can't see Mount Fuji from here because of other mountains blocking the view.

I also thought that I want to pray by the lakeside. It would be an interesting experience! But there were a lot of people walking by the lakeside, so I decided not to. So I make my wudhu' in a nearby public restroom and prayed somewhere hidden from view.

It was a tiring one day trip, and before I went back for Tokyo, it was already time for Asr. I calculated that there will not be enough time for me to get to Tokyo and prayed Asr, so I chose to pray before I get back. So I headed to Hakone-Yumoto station, the station that linked Hakone to Tokyo area and try to find a place to pray.

I didn't get to pray by the lakeside, but for Asr I prayed beside Hayakawa River.

From the station, I went directly to Hayakawa River. There were some people in the river, walking and enjoying the cold water. I realized there was a spot with no one walking around. So I decided to pray at that spot, which is by the river bank. There was some thick bushes near where I prayed, a reflection of a path less traveled by.

I make my wudhu' with the water from the river, carefully on top of the slippery river rocks. I also went to take some water from the river to be brought back to Tokyo. The water tasted nice, and refreshing especially when it is cold.

Hayakawa River, near Hakone-Yumoto Station.

Praying near the lake and river of Hakone feels different. One of the reason maybe because I prayed alone, and have to decide on praying on my own. Hayakawa River is also a place where I made up my mind not to try 'onsen' (Japanese style hot spring). I decided after reasoning with myself with what Islam has taught me against my ever increasing curiosity to try out Japanese culture. Another reason why it feels different to pray there must be because it was closer to nature. The sounds of river. The sounds of cicadas of summer.

With lack of Japanese language proficiency, going to Japan can be intimidating. But I always get by with my little Japanese, and there were a bunch of people that I can speak English to. Going to Hakone alone meanwhile, reduces me to being only with myself. Before this, I always have qualms of going somewhere far away, because I thought I may deviate from Islamic teaching, and would have done something inappropriate. But, being alone in Hakone made me hoped from Allah to guide and keep me safe. This must be the reason why praying near the lake and river of Hakone feels different. I prayed, and I know I was not alone.

Finding Islam in Tokyo (4)

2011-09-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

I asked this picture from Norai, who was my classmate when I was Form 4 and Form 5. She is now happily married, blessed with a little child named Hana. Last time I checked, she stays in Japan, and updates her blog with life in Japan and many 'perantau' recipes! I asked her about halal soy sauce, and she gave me this picture.

To uphold the faith, one of the things that we must make sure of is the food that we take. I remembered in one of the Friday sermons in Tokodai the khatib mentioned something about the sign of Imaan in oneself - is when he start asking whether a particular act is permissible in Islam, or whether a specific food is halal or haram. In Tokyo, I found out that finding halal food is hard, at times I have to do something that I didn't do back home. The best is to cook by yourself, where you buy the ingredients, you determine the amount of fat and salt (in a way is healthy), use your own alcohol free - soy sauce and drink 'animal-derivative free' drinks.

But, sometimes if you meet with fellow Muslims, you know that he will definitely take Halal food, and in turn, if he is a shopkeeper or a restaurant owner, serves to you halal food. This is what we expect from out brothers and sisters in faith, and expected by them, we too will prepare halal food for them if by any chance they stop by our house. In Tokyo, to identify fellow Muslims are sometimes not with any Muslim identity - but your knowledge in geography and sometimes history of the their country of origins. Know their flags - as they will not pop out any calligraphic and Islamic sign outside their shop.

The Turkish Restaurant

During our visit to Kamakura, there's this awkward moment of where should we get our lunch for the day. Since I was accompanied by one Korean, one Chinese Singaporean, one Indian-New Zealander, and a Malay from Malaysia. I was thinking of getting in one of the Japanese restaurant and order anything vegetarian - as I experienced previously in Taiwan, the vegans can be very religious in their cooking. One suggestion was to get into Mac Donalds's but luckily the place was crowded. Then we went into a Turkish restaurant - by twist of plot, suddenly I was on top of the stairs up to the restaurant, leading the rest. Good thing I remembered how the Turkish flag looked like.

When we get the menu, the usual Turkish delicacies splayed on, with writings in Japanese. It was hard enough to read them even when it was in Katakana. But there was chicken and lamb, the usual kebab, rice and soup. Suddenly I remembered to ask something:

"Koko wa zenbu 'halal' desu ka?"
"Zenbu halal" the man, who I believe to be the restaurant owner responded.

I looked at the beverage section and I saw - Waa-ii-n (wine). Bii-ru (beer).

We were lucky that the restaurant owner provided a place for me to pray in the restaurant, so I don't have to stop anywhere afterwards. I prayed Zuhur while waiting for the food to be prepared.

My 2nd chicken meal in Japan.

Where is the mosque?

During my cycling trip to Tsukiji Market, we stopped by Kappabashi, a place that sells a lot of Japanese craft. It took sometime to get there from my dormitory as it was far away, and I made a long stop at Kappabashi to accompany my friend to purchase some 'Made in Japan' knives. By the time we want to head for Akiba, it's already Zuhur. I don't think I want to have a look in Akiba when I haven't prayed yet. That's when I recognize another flag - the Indian flag.

I went in the restaurant, asking about where the nearest 'musolla' is. At this time, if we didn't get to a mosque, it's good enough to get to the nearest designated musolla, since there's a Muslim restaurant nearby, the restaurant itself may offer a place, or there's a place near to the restaurant. My logic is, if not, how can the workers pray?

After being shown where's the nearest place was, I head out to the place. I have Asakusa Mosque in my mind - it's one of the mosque in Tokyo, and its being run by Indonesian.

I follow the directions given by the Indian restaurant worker to no success. Instead, I arrived at Akiba's own "Low Yat Plaza". There I found a familiar place that we often see during Friday prayers in Tokodai, and I asked him where was the nearest place that I can go to pray.

"Just find an empty space and pray" he mentioned.

I was having that idea in mind for a while already, so I found an empty space, put my bicycle as a barrier, use my 'kain pelikat' as a prayer mat and prayed Zuhur that day.

A bigger sidewalk where not many people passes through. Lucky I brought a compass with me, and my iPod serves as a reference to Qibla.

Kebab should be halal right?

In Akiba, I started to feel hungry. Maybe because of the distance traveled. Maybe because the hot weather. Then I saw another Turkish flag. They were selling kebabs! Last time, Mustafa (a friend in the Tokyo Camii Mosque) mentioned that you can get halal kebabs sold by Turkish people in Shin Okubo, who happened to be a relative of the Tokyo Camii Mosque caretaker!

After looking at the prices and deciding to buy, I asked a question, just to break the ice.

"Koko wa zenbu 'halal' desu ka?"
"Wakaranai" the seller answered.

I was overwhelmed with an "Eeeeeehhhhh?" moment for a while.

Then he explained in Japanese about why he didn't sure about the status whether it is halal or not. Maybe he's not the one who is in charge of purchasing the meat or something. But he mentioned that the meat is from Osutoraria. He also mentioned that the lamb that they have is halal.

I don't know why, but I said thank you, and I no longer felt hungry.

Can you drink Carlsberg Coffee?

I was rethinking this scenario over and over again. What if, Carlsberg, back in Malaysia, suddenly wanted to sell something like coffee. It is perfectly logic to assume that the company will change the brand name, maybe to Sunny Coffee? But still, it is made by the company that serves beer. Maybe I'll drink Sunny Coffee, if I don't know that Carlsberg made it. Maybe I didn't drink it if I know Sunny Coffee was made by Carlsberg. But what if it was named as Carlsberg Coffee, where it clearly mentioned the name of the company who made it?

The last time I met Mustafa (I hope to meet him again soon in Ramadan), I managed to steal his time and discuss about a few things, one of which the oddities of Muslim restaurants serving wines and beers. I wanted to know this issue from a regular Japanese Muslim view.

He mentioned that he knew it is Haraam. And he explicitly mentioned that according to his personal view, he disagree with Muslims serving beers in their restaurants. But at the same time, he mentioned that Japanese loved to drink. It would be weird if you go to a restaurant that suddenly didn't serve beer. He also told me that some of the Muslim brothers didn't use the money (acquired from selling beers) for themselves, but given to charity.

"It is between that 'brother' and Allah". he added too, that some restaurants do survive without serving beers and wines, citing a few examples such as the nearest Egyptian restaurant to the Tokyo Camii. It is all down to the choices that 'brother' had made.

Another thing that I asked him was about what he ate everyday, as I told him that it is quite difficult to get decent halal delicacy, and food in konbini usually is not halal. He answered that he seldom eat out. Judging from the fact that most of the Japanese like to eat out, I somehow feel that Mustafa made a great sacrifice of not going to a lot of places with his Japanese friends.

Kirin straight tea. Its tea, and tasted like tea.

I relayed to Mustafa about my recent visit to Kirin Beer Factory. At the end of the visit, we were told that we can have free beer tasting. Along with the beer products, Kirin also had other products such as zero alcohol beer (its a beer where they throw out all the alcohol, it actually was an alcoholic drink in one of its stages), straight tea and yellow-colored beer-look-alike tea. At that moment, I chose Kirin Straight Tea.

Mustafa told me that its OK to drink it. If I chose not to, then I will limit myself to small group of things that I can take. Then he had to rush for a meet with a friend, he was late because of the fact that I hold him with my inquiries.

Back in Malaysia, I wouldn't even enter a place where they serve pork. Here, I have to enter a kitchen to prepare my food, without questioning what the guy next to me is cooking. It maybe beef or chicken? Back in Malaysia, I wouldn't drink something with beer brand on it. Here, I learned to be flexible, for the fact that everyone in the trip to the factory was celebrating and "kampai"ing. That was the last time I get something with Kirin on it. I chose to limit myself whenever possible, but at the same time to respect the host (its understandable if you don't take alcohol, but if you don't take something that is not alcohol only because its made by the same company, you are one fussy guest).

They say, when in Rome, act like Roman. If being a Muslim made me impossible to be Roman, so be it. I will try to be as Roman as I could without violating my religion.

Dear Allah, forgive me if I was wrong in my judgement.

Talking to your child early and often

2011-09-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

Bought last time with no time to read. Now need to finish many books before indulging myself into buying more.

In the book "the genius in all of us" by David Shenk, the writer discussed on one interesting research by two psychologists, Betty Hart and Todd Risley. The research methodology involves sampling the actual number of words spoken to young children in 41 families of different socioeconomic background. The research was conducted for more than 3 years with families from (1) welfare homes, (2) working-class homes and (3) professionals' homes.

They found out children from professional's homes are are exposed to 8 million words more than children from welfare homes over the course of one year. By age four, the difference between children from the two homes would be 32 million words. They also found out direct correlation between the intensity of verbal exposure with later achievement.

This research among other researches compiled in the book as evidence of genetics not being able to dictate future of an individual, and talent; apart from being a gift, is actually a process.

This notion rings a bell in my head most probably because I read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers.

Cycling to UM

2011-09-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Morning before departure. Got these two bicycles from Sungai Way. Apparently, the old bicycle shop near Taman Bahagia LRT station now only carry branded bicycle line; some costs RM30,000 plus. These two bicycles are way cheaper.

Back in Tokyo, one thing that I did to keep me sane, was to be crazy. Among the things that I picked up in Japan is cycling. I would say one of the things that caused my weight reduction is cycling - and I cycled almost everyday back then. During week days, when the weather is OK (little shower also was considered as OK) I cycled to the Tokyo Institute of Technology from where I lived, and it covered around 6km per trip.

The crazy part? I didn't take the train as many would. Tokyo is pretty much covered with trains, you can get anywhere with trains and a little walking. And since I was new to the place, I should stick to the train lines, but invite trouble when the very first night I bought the bicycle, (yes, I went out and get myself a bicycle at night only to be amazed most of Tokyo wasn't asleep) I got lost on the way back home.

As soon as I realized that this may be the path less traveled by, but nevertheless a number has trudged through it, it became less and less crazy alternative.

Cat behavior early morning? The cat climbed the fence to eat some bamboo.

Cat behavior 2: Cats gather around bicycle.

So in Malaysia, I wanted to ride a bicycle too. It's been a while since I took something healthy as a hobby. Last time, I was into Trading Card Game (TCG), and it costs me money and time to collect rare cards. I didn't join any competition though. After that, I was into Basketball, and still is, I guess. But back then, I would want to buy basketball shoes. It costs money last time, but now I can't really set aside time for it (good excuse not to play. I hope I can go and play again later).

So I bought two bicycles, and start planning cycling trips. The first is to measure time taken for me to get to Faculty of Engineering from my house. I have thoughts of getting to the faculty by bicycle for work, and this is a good test. Whether I will actually do so, time will tell.

Near Taman Sea school. Climbed the first elevation.

I wonder who's idea is it to grow something in the middle of a pedestrian path?

Pedestrian path covered with untrimmed growth.

One of the great things in Tokyo for bicycle, is that the streets are bicycle-friendly. Sometimes I also use the pedestrian path. Japanese will gladly make way for me to pass through, and say "Gomennasai" (I am sorry), though I was the one who felt sorry for them. Motor vehicle drivers are also used to the sight of bicycles that they may develop more caution when it comes to bicycles. I have discussed about this with my friend back in Tokyo, if we were to take bicycle in Malaysia, specifically KL and PJ, there are many problems.

Finally arrived in Faculty of Engineering. Took around 34 minutes.

First sight of problem. Gave my sister a call for reinforcement.

But Malaysia have an interesting cycling community, hidden from my knowledge because I did not have a bicycle. There are a lot more crazy Malaysians out there who make cycling trips. A friend of my brother made one cycling trip to Langkawi from Selangor covering around 100km per day for total of 8 days. I don't know if I will go that far, but for now, I wish to keep myself healthy (and save money from buying more fuel, saving the environment etc), and maybe cycling is one way of doing it.

Closer look at the bicycle. The guy who worked on the bicycle actually is featured inside a cycling magazine that I bought.

p/s: Haris, sorry for not stopping for Teh Tarik that morning!

Finding Islam in Tokyo (3)

2011-09-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

Biwa fruit tree. I failed to make a biwa jam out of this fruit. I accidentally made caramel.

There are some interesting people I managed to meet over at the Tokyo Camii mosque. And discussions between us vary, from how my home country look like to my opinion on Japan and the Japanese people, I always answer, to hide my real feelings, and to give out a partially truthful opinion or rather observation on the Japanese people: "Japanese are hardworking people". Deep in my heart, I believe, they are not only hardworking, but they overwork.

When I answer that way to Mustafa-san, he mentioned that Japanese are not really hardworking. Most of the time they lose focus. And he mentioned, it is better to take a break and do solat and after that only continue your work.

Mustafa is a Japanese young man that I usually met at the mosque. He is in his late 20's, older than me by a few years. From my observation, I believe he had traveled to all sort of places in the world, and gathered so many friends, I believe because of his friendly nature; always smiling.

I manage to meet one of Mustafa's many friend, an Arab from Jordan most probably, who stopped by to the mosque to perform his Asar prayers well after everyone has finished. The Jordanian Arab brought a non-Muslim Japanese girl to the mosque. Mustafa, accustomed to visitors in the mosque, showed her the way into the mosque, suggested that she took one of the scarves provided near the door for women visitors to cover their heads.

The girl declined saying "I am wearing a short skirt".

After his friend finished praying and joined us, Mustafa started to talk to his friend. And his friend mentioned that, if he wanted to see Mustafa, he would have come to the mosque. That is, because, that is the only place he ever see Mustafa!

After finish talking in English, Mustafa continued speaking in French with his Jordanian friend. They were discussing on a friend of theirs, Muhammad from Jordan, who is currently working in Lyon, as a lecturer. They even joke that the friend of theirs were incapable of speaking French!

Another fruit I tasted, but I don't know the name of this cherry-like fruit.

Another interesting person that I met was (Ustaz) Abdul Karim. Introducing myself to this man made me feel humbled. Before departing for Japan, I learnt how to properly introduce myself in Japanese. And since there's difference custom in naming between Malays and Japanese, I always insist to be called Hilman, instead of Nordin. I have no trouble to be called using my father's name, it is a good name though, but I wish to be called with the name my parents gave me. And since my name is I believe, a little bit hard for the Japanese tongue to master, I always pronounce my name as 'Hiruman'.

That was how I pronounce my name when I introduce myself to him.

And then he introduced himself with Abdul Karim. Perfect Arabic. Not Abuduru Kariimu. I then realize that my name, and the way I pronounce it doesn't sound 'Islamic' at all - and here in front of me a man of Japanese descent proud to be using an 'Islamic' name. I then explained, and pronounced my name properly, though I forgot that I bear the name of our Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) in the beginning of my name, because of I expect (again) that the Japanese are not used to long and foreign names.

"Can you tell the difference between Malaysians and Indonesians?" Ustaz Abdul Karim asked.

Then we discuss at length on recognizing other people's home country by just looking at their face and to the extent of clothing. Ustaz Abdul Karim mentioned that as a Japanese, he can tell the difference between Koreans, Chinese and Japanese; but he never get to tell the difference between Malaysian and Indonesian.

After discussing at length about the corruptions that enveloped Muslim countries, he then asked me whether I have tasted the biwa fruit. He mentioned that it is the season for the biwa fruit, and that the mosque have many biwa plants all around it. Since I never heard of biwa fruit and I believed I never tasted it - he brought me downstairs to biwa fruit plants, interestingly those belonged to a Russian-Turkish family who lived beside the mosque.

After asking for permission to get some Biwa from the family, Ustaz Abdul Karim then proceeded to help with getting some of the fruits down. I later brought those fruits back to my dormitory. The next day, I answered to him "Oishikatta".

Ustaz Abdul Karim watching a man of Russian descent trying to get some biwa fruit down.

Another person who I happen to meet during my stay in Tokyo is Mr Idris No Madjid, the Founder of Ummah Media, publisher of "Wawasan Kepulauan - Al Ummah Newspaper", a Japanese-Indonesian newspaper based in Japan. He is also doing business on halal food product, namely Bilal Food and Bilal Meat. He managed/owned (I am not sure) a travel agency, a member (if not the president) of Japan International Citizen Hajj Committee.

He gives away his colorful character the first day I met him. He gave me one of the newspaper, which I later keep in my office, and we exchange stories from our countries. He then mentioned "I was with Anwar Ibrahim during ABIM days years ago". Then somehow, our conversation gets into political matters.

I asked him one matter regarding Ramadan that trouble me for some time after coming to Japan, maybe because I believe he had the same background with me, coming from a country with majority Muslims.

"In Malaysia, we will know the exact time to start our fasting month during the announcement for the Ramadan month commencement, usually communicated through live-telecast and radio. But how about here?" I really doubt that the Japanese government will make a live-telecast announcing the start of the sacred month in present circumstances, though I hope there will be time for that to happen in the future.

"You can always come to the mosque to confirm, or to the Islamic Center. We will look for the new moon and announce the start of Ramadan. If we can't see any moon, we will contact the Government of Malaysia for confirmation", he explained.

I was shocked to know that. Why would someone contact my home country for confirmation of that matter?

"There is a fatwa on that: if we here can't determine the start of the holy month, we have to contact the nearest Islamic country and follow them, and that country happened to be Malaysia".