Halifax Immigrant

I’m Moving On

Sun, 3 Jul 2011 16:37:48 -0300

This is the last post at this URL. But that doesn’t mean The Halifax Immigrant is riding into the sunset and disappearing forever. I am just moving and evolving...to what, I am not sure yet but here is what I have started thus far:

The Halifax Immigrant Lite
http://halifax-immigrant-lite.posterous.com/

The very first post explains why I am calling it “Lite”. I have been using it for a few days now and so far I like the blog platform that Posterous provides. I am liking it so much that I have half a mind to just import everything into there....but I have to see if there is an easy way to do that.

So, I hope I’ll see you in the next world...in the realm of Posterous.

Recent History I Won’t Talk About

Fri, 6 May 2011 08:03:09 -0300

The past week or so has been tumultuous. There were many events to which an opinionated blogger could add his two-cents’ worth of comment.

There was the Canadian federal elections. The Conservative Party won a majority and the New Democrats ousted the Liberals to become the official opposition (a first!). I watched the leaders’ English debate. I thought Jack Layton was impressive...and so did many Canadians apparently. I am no political pundit but I look forward to the day I will be able to cast my vote too.

There was the royal wedding of William and Kate. It probably brought us back to our almost-forgotten fairy tale dreams...the prince and princess living happily ever after. Walt Disney should be cashing in on this event somehow. But I don’t have the the credentials to talk about royalty...except maybe say that the couple looked very happy...which is a good thing. I grew up learning about colonialism (in the colony’s point of view). I never experienced adoring any monarchy...and so I am not about to harp about its relevance in today’s world. But let us not forget, the image of the Queen is still on every Canadian coin. Prince William is in line to be Canada’s head of state some day. Lots of history there. And oh, I can’t even talk about Kate’s dress. I am the most tone-deaf person when it comes to all things fashionable!

There was the death of Osama Bin Laden. Enough is being said about that so I won’t add to the babble. I don’t even feel morally qualified to say anything remotely significant regarding the killing and the subsequent rejoicing in some parts. It’s closure finally...for some anyway.

And of course, there was the Habs losing game 7 to the Bruins. It was a hard-fought round. Did you know that the Canadian leaders’ French debate was moved to a different night because it conflicted with Game 1 of Montreal vs. Boston? I slowly begin to understand how important hockey is to the Canadian psyche. I watch hockey almost every night now but I still don’t understand why a linesman sometimes sends a player away during a face-off. One day, I’ll get the courage to own up to my ignorance and ask somebody...or check Wikipedia.

So there! I managed to talk about things I won’t talk about. Heh!

Leave Hiroshima Alone!

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:12:06 -0300

This played today on CBC Radio’s The Current. [Warning: It’s about 24 minutes long.]
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2011/03/21/hiroshima-david-gutnick/

These were the thoughts I put down on facebook....

Anna Maria Tremonti (I have much respect for her) and David Gutnick (don't know this guy) do not understand Japan at all. I do not claim that I do but at least I understand where the people he interviewed were coming from.

They both expected that the people of Hiroshima should be angry at the gov't for allowing this accident to happen. They certainly sounded like they have an anti-gov't, anti-business and anti-nuclear slant. Their problem was that they were not getting what they wanted to hear. They expected anger (which probably makes better news) like those shown by the brave people of Tunisia and Egypt but all they got was "obeisance" to the gov't.

So they were incredulous. David Gutnick talked in a berating manner, berating the A-bomb victims for not teaching their grandkids about the evils of radiation. "Why aren't you angry?" he sighs in disappointment. (But what should they be angry at? the earthquake and tsunami?) It was quite the we-know-better-than-you attitude. Not finding what he wanted, David creates a dilemma for the people of Hiroshima..."the dilemma to conform or to warn." Frankly, there is no dilemma. It is only in his mind.

So let's see what Anna Maria and David don't get....

(1) They refuse to see the difference between an act of war and an act of nature. For them, Hiroshima=death by radiation=Fukushima. He points to monuments that remind us of the A-bomb... See, that's about the war and the bomb; but nobody got bombed in Fukushima. If a drunk driver hits a pedestrian, one is angry at the driver not the car. If the same car was somehow blown away by a hurricane and hits a pedestrian, one does not get angry at either the driver or the car. They probably would nitpick and sue the driver for parking the car where a hurricane could blow it away...or the city for allowing the car be parked there or the car manufacturer for making a dangerous car...sorry, I get carried away. :-) If another nation uses a nuclear weapon anywhere in the world, you can be sure that the mayor of Hiroshima will be the strongest voice of protest.

(2) They don't trust the gov't. Perhaps Anna Maria and David both thrive in a system where their gov't, if it can get away with it, will always lie to them. Their raison d'être as the fourth estate is to keep a bullying gov't in check. The Japanese, on the other hand, have more reason to trust their gov't (OK, I know that's too broad a generalization but bear with me...) because the gov't did bring them back from the destruction of WWII. After the war, they had nothing and the perception is that the gov't steered their economy to what it is today.

(3) They see "connections" even when there is none. Anna Maria comments, "Wow David. She's a granddaughter of a survivor so traumatized that she never spoke about the horrors of radiation poisoning when the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and now she trusts her gov't about what's happening at Fukushima." The trauma was caused by a horrific bomb dropped by the Americans. Fukushima was an accident brought about by the strongest earthquake in recorded history. Why shouldn't she trust the gov't? I don't see how they got from point A to point B. It would have been more plausible if she says that she didn't trust the Americans!

(4) They believe that even in a crisis, the gov't's first priority is to cover its own butt. The girl put it quite clearly. In times of crisis, if we don't trust the gov't, then who should we trust? Not everybody is a nuclear engineer; not everybody is a seismologist; not everybody is a doctor. Why would they expect that the individual would know better? Did they really believe that the every-man-for-himself strategy is better than following the advice of the gov't? Did they believe that a foreign gov't is really more trustworthy?

(5) They have a wrong sense of timing. It is not yet the time to speak out in outrage, not yet the time to start pointing fingers or for politicking. Some Hiroshima people may well be angry already in private but it won't be in an official manner. Now is still the time to grieve and pray, to work together to save lives and avert more disaster. To start complaining would be a huge disrespect to all the people risking their lives battling the problems in Fukushima. I am curious, in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion, did people from other Canadian cities start getting angry at the harbourmaster or at the ship captains, at the French or Norwegian shipping companies? And David wonders why the mayor of Hiroshima won't speak to him? He goads by saying, "This is your mayor's moment to shine." It is almost like he wants to burp as we say grace before the meal!

The protest against a new nuclear power plant is valid. (They finally found someone who'd speak against a nuclear power plant!) But the interviewed lady, Keiko, does not show outrage. She talks about her concerns about the future...discrimination and new accidents. But she speaks also about rebuilding and overcoming the disaster. I think this part was good.

Well, these are only my personal thoughts after listening to the broadcast twice. There is no real right and wrong. It may come out later that the gov't or TEPCO did cover up something or bungled something....and they'd come up with an I-told-you-so episode....but right now, we don't know that (although in the show, it almost felt like a given that the gov't is not to be trusted!). There will surely be a time for investigations, post-mortems ad recriminations...but later, not now.

Earthquake Thoughts

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:40:32 -0400

I was in a kind of daze as I drove on the Bedford Highway. Everything seemed so ho-hum normal in Halifax...which it was. But on the other side of the world, a massive earthquake had hit northeast Japan...and tsunami with waves as high as 10 metres had followed and wiped out whole towns not long after. It was surreal. I had morbid what-if thoughts about a tsunami rising from the Bedford Basin...what would I have done? My brain was turning numb. I had planned to prepare my tax return these past few days but I just couldn’t concentrate.

We had a few tense hours yesterday morning when we could not reach my father-in-law who lives in Saitama but works in Tokyo. It was a relief to learn that he was just stuck in the office, unable to get home because all the trains were stopped. He spent the night in the office and found his way home the following morning. So all is well for us.

But not for a lot of people caught in the disaster. And not for their loved ones who are worried to death about them.

I have some sort of survivor guilt. I look at my children and feel intense relief that we no longer live in Japan. We sleep well at night without fear of aftershocks. But on the other hand, many people are suffering and I feel powerless to help. All I could do was to stay glued to the NHK live streaming channel, glued to Twitter for latest developments.

After running our shop for more than a year now, I got to know our customers. I know that there a lot of people in Halifax with ties to Japan...a daughter teaching English, a son married to a Japanese, a family who has hosted a Japanese student, etc etc. So the least I could do was to glean up-to-date and reliable information (which of course will come from Japanese sources) and broadcast them on our facebook and twitter accounts. If those tweets and posts could make a difference to at least one person, then the exercise would be worth it.

I am also touched by the outpouring of support from all over the world. In face of such tragedy, human beings do come together. No matter what cynics say (I should know, I am one of them most of the time!), prayer will help. I irrationally believe that. (And no, I am not a religious man.) So I thank everyone for their prayers and positive thoughts. And to the few people who ridicule the call for prayers, the people who made Godzilla jokes, the people who spread false rumours just for the fun of it.... I wish them no ill-will. I just hope it doesn’t take a disaster in their lives for them to smarten up.

Lastly, I must commend NHK for their excellent and untiring coverage. Now I feel guilty for skipping on my NHK fees all those years ago. People in Japan, pay your NHK fees!

So life goes on in Halifax. Can’t believe I was harping about clear garbage bags just a few days ago. Seems so trivial now...

Trash Talk

Wed, 9 Mar 2011 14:21:58 -0400

There had been a plan by Halifax city council to push out a by-law amendment on garbage collection. This was scrapped yesterday due to a public outcry against it. Even the public consultation scheduled last night was abruptly cancelled. To be honest, I didn’t expect such furore.

Currently, in Halifax, this is how garbage disposal works. Each household is expected to separate waste into compost (organic material goes to a green bin), recyclables (like cans & milk jugs in a clear blue bag and paper & cardboard separately bundled), and garbage (everything else in black opaque bags, maximum of six bags per household per collection day.) Compost and garbage are collected alternately once every two weeks. Recyclables are collected weekly.

The proposed by-law amendment wanted to change two things: [1] reduce maximum allowable garbage bags to four (from six); and [2] change the colour of the garbage bags to clear, transparent ones with the exception that one bag per household will still be allowed to be opaque black for privacy protection.

Apparently, that was too much to ask and it caused such an uproar that city councillors quickly made a tail-between-the-legs type of about-face. It’s almost like I missed the punch line somewhere. I didn’t get it. One councillor said there was a need for “more education and communication.” Agreed. So why cancel the public hearing? Wouldn’t that have been a good forum to exchange opinions and communicate?

The reasons for the proposed by-law amendment: [Click here for complete FAQ.]

Using transparent bags encourages people to be more vigilant in separating their refuse accordingly. That’s because the collectors will see what’s in the bags and if, say, they find compost waste in your garbage bag, they won’t collect it. A 2009 audit showed that 30% of garbage should’ve really gone somewhere else. (This means 30% of the stuff we sneakily throw out as “garbage” could have been properly diverted as “recyclable” or “compost.”) Thus, the rationale for reducing maximum bag count from six to four. Penultimately, this means less stuff going into the landfill and more cost-savings for the city because landfills do cost money. And of course, ultimately, less garbage means protecting the environment...somehow.

Another reason that wasn’t mentioned anywhere but I think is valid is that clear plastic bags protect the garbage collectors because they will be able to see dangerous objects (broken glass, light bulbs, etc) before handling the bags.

The reasons for opposing the proposed by-law amendment (what I have gleaned from people’s comments):

“I want to protect my privacy.” This is simply mis-informed because one black bag is allowed....unless you really have a LOT of private things to regularly throw out.

“It will cost more.” For households, I am not sure about that. Assuming price of clear and black bags are the same, some of us will actually save money because we will be using less bags due to the lower bag limit. For businesses and landlords, it could be a problem as they have little control on what customers and tenants throw into their bins. But still, it is not an excuse to not find a way to sort garbage properly just because they are getting away with it right now. The sorting part is already a given. Remember, the amendment is not introducing new sorting rules. It is only proposing a change in bag colour to help easily identify non-compliance.

“Four bags is not enough.” All I can say is try harder. The city staff is willing to evaluate special circumstances on a case-by-case basis.

“It’s a money grab.” Let’s follow the money...black bag sellers will lose; clear bag sellers will profit. True. The city will save on landfill costs ($20 million in 12 years, they say.). Will the savings be passed on with a reduction of taxes? I am not optimistic about that but it should help support some other activity like snow clearing, or something. Certainly there is a need for transparency. What we can be sure of however, is that if landfill costs go higher, our taxes will go higher, one way or another.

“It is aesthetically less pleasing.” Amen to that but I can get used to it.

“If we implement, people will not follow anyway and just illegally dump garbage elsewhere.” This a police issue. Using the same logic, should we abolish the speed limits because a lot of people don’t follow it anyway?

“We’re turning into a ‘nanny state’. I want my freedom to choose.” Freedom comes with responsibility. In a perfect world, everyone would sort their garbage responsibly and there’d be absolutely no need for this by-law amendment. A nanny helps a child who cannot do things for himself/herself. If we expect the government to sort our trash for us, then we do need a nanny.

“I’m too lazy to sort my garbage. I like to just dump ‘em all in the black bag. I care for the environment as long as it doesn’t inconvenience me.” ... Gotcha! Of course nobody said that. That’s the truth!

What Happened To Our Welcome?

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 10:17:52 -0400

Yes, you’re right. The welcome banner on the shop window has disappeared. It is odd to be taking down a sign that says “Welcome! 2011 Canada Games Athletes” when we’re just right into the middle of the Games. It wasn’t stolen. It was taken down voluntarily by us because it was the right thing to do.

See, we were a bit simple-minded when we came up with the idea of making a welcome banner. Like the rest of Halifax, we were pretty excited that the 2011 Canada Games would be held here and we thought we should show our support. So we thought we could at least make a banner to show our visitors our hospitality as a community. It was a “labour of love”. My wife hand-painted the banner with bamboos in the sumi-e style. It came out quite...nice. (Sorry, I am tooting my wife’s horn here!)

But of course, with a multi-million-dollar-budget event, nothing is simple. Yesterday, I found out from a Chronicle Herald article that the phrase “Canada Games” is trademarked. Nobody can use it without permission, without paying to be a sponsor. Those are the rules and they are fair...fair enough. If I had paid to be a sponsor, I wouldn’t be too happy with “freeloaders” myself. So before I get cited for the trademark infringement, I rolled up the banner...and that’s that. Honest mistake. Lesson learned. But we still wish all the Games athletes the best and we still hope they enjoy our beautiful city.

FIFA 2015 Women’s World Cup may be coming to Halifax. We’ll probably just let the corporate heavyweights do the welcoming.

If Only...

Tue, 4 Jan 2011 11:07:32 -0400

“If only I had....” This past conditional clause in the first person with a pluperfect tense is something I wish I never would have to say again. But mutter it all day to myself yesterday I did.

The first day of business in 2011 at the shop was actually a good one. The steady stream of patrons was not bad for a Monday in cold January. I should have been pleased but it was not meant to be and I only have myself to blame.

A man came in the store with a serious expression. I recognized him because about a week ago I had sold him this hand-woven bamboo flower container. Sure enough, he brought with him the familiar box.

“It leaks. I would like to return it,” he said. There was no recrimination in his voice, only a hint of disappointment. Immediately, I realized what must have happened. He had bought the bamboo vase as a special gift and had subsequently suffered the embarrassment when it had started to leak. I had failed to inform the customer about the product properly. I knew I could not apologize enough for the predicament he had found himself in. And I was even botching up the apology part as I tried to explain why.

Bamboo vessels are not meant to hold water. They are bound to leak. Bamboo containers intended for ikebana will have copper lining inside. Otherwise, a small plastic or ceramic tube is normally fit into the vase if water is to be used. Unfortunately, the item he had purchased had not come with such a tube.

He wasn’t interested in my explanations anymore. He just wanted to be rid of it and put this sorry episode behind him. Oh, if only I had explained at the time of purchase....

I could only make it “right” by refunding in full. I wish there was something else I could do but how did one reverse a humiliation already experienced? I was in a gloomy mood the rest of the day and vowing to be more vigilant about providing proper information, though good for the future, did not get me out of the rut. I’d like to have a second chance with this gentleman but I doubt if he will ever be back.

I lost someone’s trust and it bothered me deeply. I will not let it happen again. If only....

Now I am putting this ceramic vase together with the bamboo container. Too late, I know; but I hope the next person who falls in love with this item will have a better experience.

The Courage To Unfollow

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 12:01:56 -0400

“X Unfollow” ... with one more deep breath, I click it. There, it’s done. Enough is enough. I feel much lighter...like a load has just been lifted off my shoulders.

I just cut loose this journalist whose tweets are 99% the bitch-and-moan variety with a holier-than-thou attitude. Exposing myself to this doom-and-gloom view of life where nothing happy ever happens has been tugging at my spirit all this time. Oh, reading such tweets is riveting...just like how I can’t stop myself from poring through all the readers’ comments following online news articles...even though most of them, hiding under the cloak of anonymity, are scathing, tactless, bigoted or thoughtless. But I just can’t stop. Maybe it is in the hope of finding that rare gem of a comment that is meaningful and logical. Or maybe I am just addicted. And maybe, I too have several chips on my shoulder and so feel gratified when I see someone else verbalize their chips....some sort of kindred spirit bond.

After a while, I have come to realize that reading such tweets are not cathartic; but rather, just downright depressing. I have also succumbed to angry tweets. My last 4 tweets were not the usual pointless blather...they were vents of my frustration with a company in Montreal that was an example of smooth-talking sales with bad (or I should say “zero”) delivery and follow-through. I wanted to warn whoever would listen to stop dealing with this company. A noble purpose? Nah, just a little vengeance....like an angry child who throws a pebble at a tank that just gutted his home. Of course, I am being overly dramatic!

So, I have decided Tweeter for me will be a source of:
breaking news (just like a stock ticker)
2. witty comments
3. uplifting thoughts
4. informative remarks
5. interesting links
the occasional useless but funny chatter (or is this covered in #2?)
local business deals & offerings

Same rules will be applied to me as I continue my experimentation with Twitter. Good-bye naysayers and luddites. I’ll start paying attention again when you start proposing constructive alternatives and solutions to whatever it is you oppose. I am sure you still have lot of followers out there and I am sure you won’t miss me. Now I am off to an “unfollow” rampage!

It’s not as difficult as it looks.