Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha

cliff richard's song. but also a goodbye to sam, whom i'll meet this saturday again. :) hope you have a good trip in osaka.

there're a lot of delicate omiyage (souvenirs) in japan: the artifacts, handicrafts, even the okashi (snacks, bring me snacks sam) are made to be very fancy. but to me, it's not because the japanese want to sell them to get a hell lot of money (though they are), but they are making them with their very heart ("koko" in japanese, which also means "here"). the beginning of all procedures to make one thing is not the raw materials - the economics textbooks are all wrong - but "here", the enthusiasm inside us to give us the good hands to make superb things from raw materials.

so i also love chinese desserts - sweet soup (japanese has no such thing in their heads) it isn't only sweet, but also healing in a sense of its medical effect to our being, and also the happiness it brings when we drink it. for example, our mams will spend a whole afternoon preparing red bean sweet soup - soak the beans for overnite until they go very soft, stay by the fire to make sure it's not overdone, sometimes they will even add dried fruit skin to add the medical value to the soup. it's the very hearts of our mams that make the sweet soup delicious.

aren't we musicians also using "here" to make our own recipe?

eric x

p.s. sorry if you feel i'm showing off my elementary japanese. I AM. :D