Tip 100: Giving of ourselves (Contest)

This blog post/tip contains information of the contest on the right held between November 1-December 14, 2008. Do vote in the Poll on your right and win something. Look through all the post between Tip 1-99 and decide the tip that you like best. You could use the labels on the right to assist you to zoom into topics you have preferences for before deciding on one tip to vote for. Then, send an email to philchlee@mailcity.com with the title "Contest Tip 100" and at the body of the message, provide your name and full address and let me know the tip you have voted for. To win the grand prize, share why you like the tip in less than 50 words. The visitor who have voted the tip that has the highest votes and emailed me with a reason that is well written will win the grand prize. The address needs to be your real address as everyone who votes would get something beautiful from me. Check out this blog by middle of December to find out who the grand prize winner is. All the best and do join as it gives me an opportunity to know my visitors better and what makes interesting tips that keep you coming. I hope this blog will be a blog where I could give of myself and be a blessing to others. Join me in making that a reality. Do your bit by giving me your vote.














Each of us could give something of value to make this world a better place. I have yearned of doing something of significance for a long long time. Deep inside me, I have a great desire to do great things, yet the path to greatness is to remember Him who is Great and where all wisdom and life begins. It is a paradoxical path where we deny our greatness, give of ourselves selflessly and be contented with whatever He chooses to give us, trusting that He loves us more than any other through the Perfect Love of God. The more we learn this love, the more we taste the beauty and fullness of this life and realize that we are closer to the desires of our heart that God leads us to. Yet, its not an easy journey as God knows that there are a lot of extra baggages we are carrying that hurt us more than make us feel fulfilled. Its also a journey that only we can make at the right time as we all learn different things at different phases of our lives and at difference pace of learning. I could remember that it was difficult for me to learn to be a little more generous a decade ago compared to another well to do friend of mine who believed in being generous and that others who do not do so, are losers. I do not subscribe to that. All of us could give something, even if we do not have the resources to do so at the beginning or have yet to let go of that baggage of holding on to certain things in our lives. Still lots to learn in giving of myself but I will try. Of course do not judge me. All of us need to remember that only God is perfect and all we can do is love Him and love others as ourselves. Encourage everyone to give what they could, to make this world a better place. We all need an encouraging word and an understanding heart. Lets start by giving that.














Oh yes, I got a 3 hour paid trip to Macau to renew my passport and finally gotten my Hong Kong ID. I am now officially working in Hong Kong instead of Japan. Its my first trip to Macau and was amused to see the mix of well maintained Portugese buildings in the midst of Chinese temples and casinos. It puts A Famosa in Malacca, Malaysia in pale comparison. In a city of Macau where some would think that all there is to see are casinos, there is much beauty to unravel. Would explore more with my family next time with much more time. But before that, it will be London with my family. Thank God for all this. May I learn to give more and live my role in this world.

(Photo shows the ruins of St Paul, St Dominic Church, the garden in Macau town hall, casinos - the few I could see in that short period of time doing the Amazing Race photo taking)

Tip 99: Cultivate reading habits early R.E.A.D.

Haruka does not read yet. But, I love to see these photos of her looking and playing with her books. I will see Haruka and Tomomi in a weeks time as they join me in London and I miss the moments when Haruka comes to me with her books. She does not say anything as she does not know how to utter any words, but she often brings a book to me and I would then put her on my lap and read to her. The difference between daddy and mummy in reading style is that I would add a lot of sound effects to the reading, while mummy would just do them in full Japanese sentences. I have noticed both way works, as Haruka would also go to mummy for reading when daddy turns her down ... ok, I try to oblige most of the time. Once again, an acronym to make the Reading tip easy to remember, be Readers yourself, make it Enjoyable, make books Available, Display books with pride.

Children do what they see. At a young age, parents are the best role models. If parents are keen readers, children will learn to be the same as they are curious to discover what are in books. Tomomi is an avid reader and she would regularly go to a second hand book store in Tokyo or buy books online. I on the other hand, read less and would just browse books whenever I happen to be in a bookshop (probably once a month or less), get them for free from seminars or when I see them lying around. I do speed reading and if an idea interest me, I would then delve into it more. I spend more time surfing online for news, google whenever I think of an idea to understand that idea better from different sources and prefer writing to reading to get me thinking and researching about ideas and topics. I noticed that Haruka spots that I use the laptop more often than I read, which may not be good for her. As Tomomi is not working, Haruka would spot her reading more. Its hard to start the habit of reading as I spent quite a lot of my free time on the laptop doing freelance research or to take the family out, but I suspect I would have more free time after I leave Japan for good. Haruka is growing and is becoming a better observer and its important for her to see me reading more, so she would grab her books more than she reaches for my laptop. Though, one thing in the right direction is me making reading enjoyable to her. Whenever we read the animal book, I would create stories with animal sounds and this makes better sense to her than just plain reading. When the story books show children raising their hands, I do the same and she is learning to follow me. Nowadays, when we flip the pages, she would remember the sounds and do them before me. Of course, I would need to progress to more complete sentences, but I strongly believe that communication needs to be understood to make them meaningful. We have got many baby books as gifts or pass me downs and just leave them in our room for Haruka to play them. It sometimes pains me to see the colourful pop up origami books being destroyed by Haruka or have the edge of the books being eaten, but I read that its important to make books available and part of the daily environment of the child. After a while, the babies would learn that books are to be appreciated for their pictures and contents, and not for food or playing. Instead of keeping the books locked to prevent them for being spoiled, its better to make them available - a mixture of waterproof plastic, cardboard and paper books. Its fine to have some in the baby's stomach as they do not have such a big appetite for books anyway. Lastly, allow the child to see books displayed nicely. It was difficult in our cramped Tokyo home, but things are starting to change as we move to a bigger place. Alternatively, take the child to children bookshops so they see lots of colourful books displayed nicely. Of course, if its displayed in a special place in the home, it sends the message that the bookshelf is more important than the television set. At some point, the child will learn to have some respect for books instead of using them as sword play.

Any other reading tips? Do you see reading as an important habit to cultivate?

(Photos show 10 month old Haruka saying, Please do not distract me while reading.)

Tip 98: Doing business in Japan R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

This is not a daddy tip, but written in response to an email from a visitor of my blog. Also, I thought as I begin to leave the Japanese work culture, its good for me to reflect on it and consolidate some lessons to a nice acronym of whats important in Japanese work and business culture, in case one day I need to revisit this chapter of my life again. Though these days, daddies need to learn to be cultural sensitive and this is what this tip is all about. To do business in Japan, you need a Representative, be Examined, lots of Sincerity and Patience, be an Equal to a Japanese, live the Culture, and gain Trust, all summed up by the word RESPECT which is an important word in Japan. My wife has taught me to even respect the plants and trees in not plucking them whenever your itchy fingers feel the temptation. The whole environment lives in unison and striving to make things beautiful is praiseworthy. A Malaysian friend was impressed when I shared to him that my wife would neatly fold chopstick wrappers or other packages of food after consuming them, before leaving them on the restaurant table or guest's house. Which other women in this world would do that? That's what you call a cultured woman. Of course, living with one is another story altogether but you will see lots more tips coming.

A respectable Japanese Representative to a foreigner is the first step to making the connection to a Japanese company. The Japanese pride in their system of knowledge that they have built over the years through constant improvement or 'kaizen' and know that it is too complicated for a foreigner to understand it. Though in today's global world, they do see the need to work alongside foreigners to meet the gap of lack of human resource or expertise in certain areas and sometimes to learn new ideas. Yet, only if there is a smart representative who could bridge the gap, can the Japanese be confident to form that partnership. Even banks would feel more comfortable lending to a foreigner if they are married to a Japanese compared to one who has stayed for a decade and not done so. Often times, the Japanese would be polite to host a foreigner, taking them to expensive restaurants or sightseeing trips to share with them the Japanese culture and sometimes they do that even when they have decided that the business would not work. Thats the essence of Japanese politeness and generosity and it is sometimes important to ask the Japanese interpreter to prompt the Japanese client for an honest answer on the possible issues that are putting the brakes in forming the partnership. Most of the time, its because the foreigner has failed in certain exams even when they seem to be small issues. Every Japanese employee is constantly tested if they upgrade their knowledge of the industry, know the company rules thoroughly and handles small tasks well before given more opportunities. The foreigner is expected the same and should never say no to producing Japanese manuals or setting up a dedicated local support team if they want the business. Though, there maybe more tests throughout the drinking with the Japanese as they get to know you better, your background, family life and judge your sincerity. To them, why would a foreigner do business with a Japanese. It takes more than dollars and cents in this competitive market and they want to know if a good relationship can be enjoyed. Patience is key because not only is time spent on collaboration and discussion for careful decision making, but time is needed for building of the relationship and the need to carefully prepare a good quality product before selling it to the market. Business is always long term in Japan and the mindsets are totally different compared to American business practices that would consider exit strategies should problems occur. Many foreigners do not consider the fact that in the long run, the Japanese expect them to fully localize the business and that all foreigners should begin to adopt Japanese mindsets and be treated as an equal to the Japanese. It is of course not easy to invest much time to learn the language, adopt the same mentality, take into account the whole team's concerns, observe organizational hierarchy and not question authority but that's how business is done here. Slowly some Japanese companies are learning to consider alternative ideas but the dialectics are still at play and a more modern Japan has yet to emerge from these exchanges. This has very much to do with the culture of slow change, less risk tolerance and thorough planning. Though, modern Japanese have been willing to forego many traditional lifestyle and that speaks a lot that change is possible. The foreigner just need to gain more trust and its through the little subtle acts of participation and understanding of the culture and mindset. Lots of time needed and a mindset of respect to be shaped.

What do you think of the above? Any encounters with Japanese in your home country or any experiences doing business in Japan?

(Photos Top to Bottom 2 geishas who were kind to pose with me at Kyoto, my impersonation of a geisha at Halloweens in Hawaii and an advertisement shoot of one of my previous companies in Tokyo to get job applicants interested in a nice working environment. So far, no family shoot of us in Japanese costumes yet :( )

Tip 97: Eating well

(Photos: Top to bottom -Guilinggao HKD50 (USD$6.4), set lunch at Wanchai market consisting of fried fish in tomato sauce with soup with pork ribs HKD26 (USD$3.35))

All of us go through different phases of life. Hence, the tips on this blog relates more to myself for active reflection, my family for retrospection of the past, and the rest of you as entertainment. Though many would argue that eating well is a tip that should be applied in all phases of life. But, how do you define eating well? Are expensive food necessarily more healthy? Do we define eating well based on the idea that it satisfies our taste buds and gives a good smile on our face even when eating high cholesterol food, or do we make a point to always distinguish between healthy eating or eating for pleasure? Do we make it a point to not think about cost whenever something is worth eating whether for health or for pleasure? What then is worth eating? Royal jelly of the highest grade, Guilinggao from endangered turtles, shark fin soup for those who are not opposed to shark killing? Notice all these are food of the Chinese and not everyone would price the same value to such food. Do we constantly keep tabs on eating for pleasure, monitor cholesterol and carb levels? Do we need a budget for food and ensure we have sufficient expense spent on fruits and vegetables (and for some herbal soup), even when in certain countries like Japan, these items are more costly than others? Do you further hunt for organic and naturally grown vegetables which has higher price premiums especially in countries that do not have such preferences? How fresh should food be and do expiry dates on frozen food and canned food suffice or should frozen and canned food not be in the shopping list at all? Does eating well outweigh a more conservative saving culture even for some who are students? Tough questions especially for Asians who have more eating varieties and the mindset stays with them even when they are abroad. For me at least, the next 2 weeks will be less of a headache as I alone decide on what eating well means to me alone. Its harder to decide for the whole family but if I am only deciding for my own stomach and taste bud, then eating well means feasting on the different varieties of cheap Hong Kong food available. Gone are the days when Asian food were expensive (in Hawaii or Tokyo), varieties of good greasy hawker food were limited (in Tokyo) and when my student budget for food was limited (in Hawaii). Now, I can only remind myself to eat well, whatever that definition may be.














(Photos: Top to bottom - char siew siew yuk rice with soup HKD28, shop is at crossing of Stewart Road and Johnston road, Wanchai).

When I got a scholarship to do my MBA at Hawaii in 2005, I did a simple calculation and found the allowance in USD to be 14% higher than my Malaysian salary. However, after deducting rent at my host families' place at Hawaii, I was 22% worse off. I still had to pay for my monthly Malaysian car mortgage of a car that my brother drove instead, which leaves me with a little monthly expense budget of USD500 to live by. Though, that did not stop me to save for vacations around the Hawaiian islands at Maui, Big Island and Kauai. On top of that, I brought back USD$3300 in savings by participating in regular fixed term deposits when the USA deposit rates were at a high then, as well as my 1.5 month work in Hawaii. Though, I probably only ate well about 3-4 times a week, while other times were simple cooking with whatever ingredients consisting of cheap canned food or other bargain promotions at the supermarket. But as I look back, that 1 year wasn't that miserable as I did have my fair share of good eating and I survived. Later, when arriving at Tokyo, I did get a little culture shock at the high food prices and also saved more initially but later got back into the habit of eating well by treating myself to good lunch buffets that only cost 1000 yen (USD$10). Things got much better when Tomomi cooked balanced organic food daily plus daily brown rice with barley and other beans that has lots of nutrients. Now, in Hong Kong, I get my daily dose of good soup. There is a chicken rice shop with a long queue of customers for their 1 plate of rice and char siew and siu yoke with a bowl of soup costing HKD28 (USD$3.6). Still pricey if thinking in terms of Malaysian ringgit. But, it got me happy that I am eating well again. To me, eating well means having a bowl of nutritious soup daily that has been boiled for at least 2 hours (unlike the Japanese miso soup that requires stirring miso and hot water for only 10 minutes). To my wife Tomomi, eating well means having a home cooked meal using organic vegetables and Japanese bred beef or fish. It was never easy spotting a bowl of soup in certain countries and so is spotting organically grown vegetables. I am sure this will be a theme in my mind as we travel more in the coming years.

What about you? What does eating well mean to you? Don't you think how we are brought up affects our sentiments towards what is a good well balanced healthy meal that is satisfying to our taste buds and stomach?

(Photos Top to Bottom: Wanchai market scene which may not be so appetizing to some after all, Lots of food billboards everywhere at Kowloon)

Tip 96: Best places to exchange currencies

The best places to exchange foreign currencies are at places where negotiation is allowed. That is because the spread between Buy and Sell for each currency is usually huge and some traders usually would agree to reducing the spread if they are fond of certain currencies. The banks however do not have time to monitor the flunctuations of each currency and decides to increase the spread and transaction cost and pass it over to the customers to bear. So far, I have found Hong Kong to have the best values when you exchange your currency, while Japan and Hawaii to be places where you have to pay more to exchange your currencies. In Tokyo, there are practically no opportunistic traders who would want to make gains trading currencies, besides the fact that Japanese people trust only the banks with their money. The one place I know that offers the best value in Tokyo is at the New Shinbashi building (near the Shinbashi JR train station) where there are plenty of travel agencies arranging travels for tourists and they ended up with a side business of exchanging currencies for these tourists. Though, you can not negotiate the rates with the Japanese. This is the only place in Tokyo that I know of that offers slightly better rates than the banks. In Hong Kong, you can practically find an exchange booth at most street corners and its actually safer to do your transactions as crime rate and theft is lower in Hong Kong than Kuala Lumpur. It may seem trivial, but currency exchange can be quite a substantial cost when you are relocating to another country or having a work assignment of more than 1 month. This is especially so when the volatility of currencies are almost at the highest in this decade currently. The best rates are at money changer booths at Chung King mansion close to Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. Though, I found recently that HSBC bank in Hong Kong (not Tokyo) offers very competitive rates without the need for negotiation. You will need to conduct the exchange then deposit into a foreign currency exchange account and can make a request to withdraw it on the spot. If they do not have sufficient currencies in stock, HSBC only require 3 hours to prepare the requested amount at the branch of your request.
















So far, the Japanese Yen is edging higher and higher as traders decide to unwind their carry trades and sell their foreign investments and bring back the yen to Japan. Other investors seeing this trend also stock up on their yen, knowing that it would be a safe haven currency given the conservative nature of Japanese banks keeping high reserves. Its anybody's guess how long this would last but one sure way is to exchange your currencies in stages instead of doing a 1 time lump sum exchange. It helps when you are constantly monitoring the rates to know whether its at a ceiling price or a bottom price. Of course, if its at a historically low price for a few years, chances are you would not be at such a disadvantage to exchange more of your currencies. An example would be the USD/JPY that has increased to a 13 year low and AUD/JPY at a 6 year low and GBP/JPY at an 8 year low. Hence, the closer you monitor these currencies and do a stage by stage exchange, the more you stand to gain/less you stand to lose. I would have brought more yen out of Japan if not for the need to pay for my home mortgage. Anyway, its good to feel at home eating breakfast this morning - century egg porridge and fried Loh See Fun for a total of HKD13 (USD$1.60). Its been a long time since I would spend on breakfast compared to when I was in Tokyo, but seeing the old Cantonese ladies cook a good meal just makes me feel like spending. Nothing beats old style hawker food versus the premium priced restaurants.





























(Photos: Top - two currency exchange shops at Wanchai, Hong Kong.
Middle - New Shinbashi Building, the best place to exchange currency in Tokyo.
Bottom - my breakfast at a hawker food joint.)

Tip 100 coming up ... the post with prizes ... keep tuning into my blog.

Tip 95: Optimistically look for blue skies

I touched down at Hong Kong on 19th October. This is my first time at Hong Kong, besides the virtual immersion through the Hong Kong culture throughout my first 2.5 decades watching Hong Kong movies and TVB serials in Malaysia. Yet, I have always kept my Cantonese language exposure intact while being abroad by visiting the Chinatown in Honolulu, Hawaii and speaking to hawkers there, speaking to Hong Kong colleagues working in Tokyo and now finally, refining it to the right local nuances in Hong Kong itself and getting all the phrases right. Yes, I have officially relocated to Hong Kong and would make this my base for a while till my children grow up. Though, these days decisions are not as easy as previously when I was a single, as there are more family considerations. In travelling and in considering change, there are always fears and initial misconceptions based on badly constructed impressions. For instance, many told me about the bad air quality in HK, but as it turned out, the first morning in Hong Kong was a day with clear blue skies. There are always fears when we leave our comfort zone yet God is good to always encourage us with good signs along our paths. A great start to good things to come and may this new chapter reveal more tips and lessons for me and my family.
























Optimism vs pessimism. Open to ideas vs. Determined to make things happen. Which should we hold as our outlook in life? For me, I am personally more inclined to be optimistic most of the time (though sometimes I naughtily offer some pessimistic concerns to others to make situations more rich and complex), and also I am more open than determined. Living in Japan have led me to be more pessimistic of my abilities as the Japanese often have a high standard of excellence. As I am given more responsibilities, I have also been led to believe that determination sometimes plays a more important role in success, than being just open to work with others and open to changes. Yet, is there just 1 way or 1 outlook that works all the time? Nope. The dynamics of change that spans accross cultural differences, age differences, gender differences, personality differences are just too difficult to predict. It simply means that once we move out of our comfort zones, we simply need to be determined to understand these differences with an open mind. Often times, the differences may overwhelm us. Yet with faith, we continue our journey till the end and constantly recollect memories of clear blue skies and rainbows and give thanks.
























Photos show (Top) the harbour view of Victoria Harbour at Hong Kong just from the windows next to my office seat.
(Bottom) A sumptious dinner treat by my company at Jumbo floating restaurant which is only accessible by a 5 minutes ferry ride from Hong Kong.

Tip 94: Seek and you shall find grace

I was initially going to title this post as Hunt for Opportunities. Believe me, I'm a hardcore opportunist, or in Hokkien dialect, kiasu. Though, an eye for opportunities do make a difference between someone who seeks and someone who does not. This past decade, I have hunted hard for many opportunities and won many competitions, obtained a full expense paid scholarship with allowances to do my MBA in Hawaii, got a job in Tokyo in a foreign company even when my Japanese language fluency was low, managed to get a yen based mortgage at attractive rates to an apartment at a bargain in central Tokyo and recently got an assistant manager position in a Japanese company in Tokyo. Yet, the more opportunities I received, I am beginning to learn that these are all to be regarded as grace from God that He has so richly blessed me with to share with others. The more I receive, the greater the need to give that God imposes upon me, or expects from me. The more opportunities I seek, the greater the need to be humble that all is from God and that He chooses to give to fulfill His Grand Master Plan. The more I seek after opportunities, the greater the need for me to look at it through a bigger picture that there is greater value to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and God's plan through those opportunities began to be clear. And even if those opportunities were not obtained successfully, or circumstances change that I lose these opportunities even after hard work, I began to have an attitude of thanksgiving and trust in God for I remember God is guiding me always. Then, I realize that all men includng me are indebted to God for His Wonderful Grace.

At church today, Dub Jackson, the founding pastor of Tokyo Baptist Church, shared that he was once a fighter pilot and was devastated to see the destruction of Tokyo. Later, a simple act of giving out a track at Shibuya made a young men believed in Jesus Christ. That man was Commander Mitsuo Fuchida who led the attack on Pearl Harbor. He later became a missionary and co-auhored the book, From Pearl Harbor to Golgotha. On my way back, I had a moment when God convicted me that we are all under the grace of God, be it a fighter pilot, a trader at Wall Street, a missionary serving the hungry. None should boast of their lives as all are sinners, each depending on God for daily guidance. All do not deserve God's grace but He gave freely to all who seek. As a daddy, we seek after a happy family and means to provide for our loved ones. Yes, we can do it by ourselves, yet God determines the outcome. We can commit to God everything instead and He then guides us in our doing and living through His peace in our hearts, through faith in God and in love and goodness. We still do what we do best - some have an eye for opportunities while others have an eye for avoiding risk. God uses us to then to prepare His masterpiece. At times, we are moulded to learn valuable lessons about humility, giving and living sacrificial lives. In all, opportunities to live this life is from God who so richly bless even when we do not deserve it. I will write more in future posts of why I do not deserve many things, as it would bring God glory and reduce my pride. But that's what grace is about - that we do not deserve it, so we can live better lives of love.

Tip 93: Increasing your blog's google page rank

I have now earned a Google PageRank of 2/10 and an Alexa ranking after 5 months of blogging. This google page ranking simply means whether you will be placed at the top or bottom of google's search list when others do a google on keywords on your blog. It takes quite a while especially to get the ranking on Google as the page rank is updated after a while. I was checking my traffic details and found many visitors referred to my blog while googling various keywords, yet my page rank was still 0/10 a month ago. I am not sure if high traffic blogs also get their google page ranks updated slowly, and surely my blog can not be compared to the blog of ex Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir Mohamad who now has more than 8 million visitors even when he started blogging almost the same time as me. But, I will attempt to list tips by others while I was learning about google page ranks, as well as my own time tested practices in increasing the popularity of my blog.


What I first did was listed my blog for free at dmoz.org and yahoo. Dmoz is crawled by many search engines and if your website has lots of useful keywords and items of interest, hits would climb steadily. For instance, my international research paper published on my website 5 years ago has now more than 17,000 hits. Of course, if you want to boost your hits faster, you can always pay for premium services to list and promote your blog. Though, good content very much determines whether you get loyal visitors who browse your site for longer and thats tracked by advertisers as well who are interested to pay you advertising revenues to advertise on your blog. To list my blog for free, I used my own website and other networking sites such as multiply and linkedin.com and listed my blog site on every section and page. It helps that my linked in profile has more than 7000 contacts and I am at the top of the search of many recruiters and visitors to my profile who would click on my blog site to learn more about me personally. Yes, it means I am now a public figure, but these days, you may want to differentiate yourself from the many pawns in the industrial and global chain and put a personal face on your presence. Another method you may have noticed is that I diligently do a lot of internal links within each blog post to refer to the previous blog posts I published. This does count in adding your page rank, though not significantly. Then, be sure to search up similar blogs with high traffic and leave comments there with your blog website so that interested visitors could check out your blog as well as allow google to crawl your blog while crawling the more popular blogs. For Alexa ranking, you need to have visitors usually from USA who have installed Alexa software on their PC to visit your blog. Last but not least, be sure to post a variety of interesting topics ranging from informative subjects, personal experiences, investment opinions, product reviews to cultural themes. Just sticking to rambling about your life can sometimes not be such a popular search keyword. I do know that putting more photos does make the blog more interesting and I will strive to do that more often. I have also learnt later in my blogging, to seek for more comments from readers and to learn from them. Participation is key to a good blog visit and I very much welcome more comments... please keep them coming and add me into your blog roll. Leave a comment on this blog post if you have added me in your blog list, and I would reciprocate and do the same on mine.

So that you would not forget Tip 100, add me on your blog list or favorites and bookmark me. Tip 100 ... contest for everyone. Leave a comment here if you have added me.

Tip 92: Buying a Camcorder

Video cameras, handicams, camcorders. They used to be way too expensive in the thousands denominator. Yet, these days you can get them for as little as 46,000 yen (USD$460) with very good specs on battery time, video recording time, compact light small size and well integrated to all sorts of media. That's the Victor Everio GZ-MG330-R that I bought this week. Trust me, I am not the type of person who spends extravagantly too often. Never thought of spending this money 1 month ago. But, when me and my wife knew that we would be travelling more in the coming months, we decided to make the purchase. Its much influenced by a friend of ours who showed us their holiday videos all over the world when we stayed in their place in Singapore. Of course, we do not plan to do the same for the showing, but it does store good memories for the kids. Already Haruka get amused when I show her the video on this blog when she disturbs me working on the laptop at home. Come to think of it, this camcorder would be close to the 3rd most costly item in my life after my Tokyo apartment and Malaysian car on loan to my brother. I have an eye for getting good quality items for free or cheap such as my laptop, my family size 4 year old fridge and lots others through this tip. Believe it or not, that I save 58% of my gross salary every month through a 20 year regular savings plan and still see my bank account increasing through additional savings plans through multi money currency deposits. The little luxuries I treat myself and family to are from additional side projects/business, though maybe its about time we have a more free and easy holidaying and record it down, else my kids would remember my thrifty ways more than the holidays. Too bad I caught that down as evidence. Hah.

I must say this purchase is good value because just 2 weeks ago, it was 10,000 yen (USD$100) more expensive. Japan is certainly the place to hunt for electronic items if you are not planning to get the latest model that would cost a huge premium. This JVC or Victor model does not come with HD or high definition pictures but I doubt I am in the league of film directors to benefit from that. Its all I need - 30GB internal hard drive for 37 hours of quality high quality recording, 35x optical zoom (have not tried this accross hotel rooms :)), the ability to connect to the TV instantly, instant start and off mode when I open and close the LCD, auto LCD display backlight control in a dark room for ease of filming, one of the lightest and smallest hard disk camcorder. There have been other good reviews too. I even got a pouch free and additional 4500 yen off by using my Yodabashi card. Now, lets hope I keep this beauty still looking good for many years. My older digital camera already has so many scratches from my photo snapping adventures. How does daddy keep a firm hand on this pricey item with sweaty hands when filming a movie with kids running about (not yet, but soon for sure)?

p/s No camcorders as prizes for the Tip 100 contest but everyone's a winner. Add me on your blog and visit regularly.

Tip 91: Selecting an apartment unit

These days, when land is scarce and population is growing, apartments, condos and high rises are beginning to be the norm in any city, instead of just an alternative housing lifestyle. They used to be only an alternative for better shared facilities, less upkeep of garden space and tighter security control, but especially in major cities where land prices are expensive, apartments may now be the only option instead of houses. I wrote about considerations when buying a property which is more related to the financial decision making in deciding whether to rent or to buy. Besides that, there are also considerations in selecting the particular apartment unit, and I found this Tokyo property guide very useful. I once had a dream of travelling and relocating my family in different countries. Even the thought of having a child born in different countries, thereby giving the child the option of different nationalities and providing our family with numerous mobility options in today's global world. Looks like this would soon happen, all praises to God who alone could make it happen, with my relocation to Hong Kong and London, and the need to apply such tips in different countries. Also learning that this is a corporate decision with my wife as we need to be happy together always, but there are some general apartment selection tips that work in most situations, though I realized without school going kids yet, the decision is less difficult.

Sitting down together to decide priorities should be the starting point. Some key considerations include commute time to work; prices and rents of different locations; facilities, proximity to shopping and recreation, neighbours, communities and safety, general environment in different locations; minimum space requirements and number of bedrooms. Interestingly, I read this article about people who buy houses that are larger than they can afford, end up spending more on longer debt payments, increased taxes, higher upkeep and more things to fill the house with and do not end up getting rich. Yet besides these, the need for adequate sunlight and ventilation into the apartment can save not only energy consumption, but the number of visits to the doctor. Ventilation introduces fresh air which dilutes the concentration of potential disease and infectious particles, thereby reduces the likelihood of transmission of diseases. It also prevents mold which can cause sinus and asthma problems. This can be a problem in many compact apartments which needs to be spotted early before a decision is made. Of late, there have also been many cheaper materials and renovation workmanship offered by developing countries such as China and one needs to inspect the quality carefully. Fixtures such as kitchen cabinets, door hinges and handles and wooden flooring would feel differently under more inferior workmanship and quality of materials. They may be meant to last for just a few months to a year under more careful usage and not suitable for families with young kids. If the decision is to rent an apartment, good relationships with a helpful agent and landlord is key to ensuring any such problems are resolved speedily and maintenance carried out responsibly.

Do you have any other pointers you found helpful yourself? Do share it. Oh yes, its 9 more tips before Tip 100 which would be the contest everyone is waiting for. Stay tuned.

Tip 90: Picnic at the park

Tomomi loves a day at the park and even our wedding video featured the beautiful Shinjuku Gyoen in central Tokyo, once owned by the Japanese imperial family. Even when we bought our apartment, she insisted that it has to be near a nice large park. Parks were not so much part of me before I came to Japan, yet Japanese parks will be something I miss very much when I leave Japan. Being brought up in Malaysia, there are just not too many parks that are well kept, less vandalized, safe and clean. The weather in Malaysia that is hot and humid year long would also make a long visit less comfortable. Yet in Japan, besides the entrance fee of Yen 200-500 (USD$2-5), the government allocates a huge budget to maintain these parks using professional gardeners. The tradition of landscaping beautiful parks in Japan started as early as 794-1192 AD. The Japanese are famous for their parks that they categorised them into 3 types - the Chaniwa gardens that have features of tea houses, stepping stones and stone lanterns to prepare for the tea ritual, the Tsukiyama gardens or hill gardens with lots of bridges and pond streams to artificially produce a beautiful landscape, and the Karesansui gardens that are influenced by Zen Buddhism with pagodas and other religious concepts. Just blogging about this, made me reflect on the importance of getting away from our daily busy schedule to enjoy a peaceful calm atmosphere that is free from activity and work, setting apart time for meditation, rest and appreciation of beauty and change of environment. We all need that, don't we?

During my stay in Japan of more than 3 years, I did many snapshots of beautiful Japanese gardens. In Kyoto, there were the world heritage temple gardens of the Ginkakuji, Kiyomizu Dera, Kinkakuji and Ninna-ji and the zen garden of Tenryu-ji. Even in the metropolitan city of Tokyo, there are many large gardens such as the Shinjuku Gyoen, Yoyogi, Hamarikyu, Imperial Palace Gardens, Ueno, Rikugien, Kiyosumi Shirakawa, Kasai Rinkai, Inokashira, Jindaiji and Showa Kinen. Yet, this is just less than 5% of all parks in Japan or even in all of Tokyo as there are numerous others I have not visited. Yet, in the gungho attitude of wanting to experience all and accumulate as many beautiful memories as possible, especially in the early days of my arrival in Tokyo, I may have missed the whole point of parks altogether! Often times, my time, energy and concentration is spent rushing to every corners of the parks to catch as many sights as possible. In fact, the same happens outside the parks where I try to maximise earning potentials to its ultimate fullest in every possible situation and connection. Yet, we are not created as machines, but as human beings that need to rest, pause, give thanks, appreciate our loved ones and occasionally be away from our usual routine and in full observation of the Sabbath rest. When I was still in school, I used to set apart time to go to a shady park to pray, yet these have been lacking of late. I am glad for these times of picnic that I spent with Tomomi and Haruka just lying down, reading and doing nothing. The Japanese knew of the importance of solitude in parks a millenium ago. And even as I would miss the Japanese parks when I leave Japan, I ought to remember this crucial lesson in life. There is certainly a park somewhere we can have a picnic and do nothing. Wonder if that would be possible with teenagers to force them to spend some quality family time together :)

What about you? Any experiences to share on picnic or breaking away from the usual routine? Isn't it easier said than done in today's productive lifestyle? I probably need to blog about such a topic more often to remind myself about it!

(Photos show Haruka at 7 months at Shinjuku Gyoen park)

Tip 89: Remembering God's awesome acts

Often times, my writings on this blog tend to steer towards the acts of daddy alone and seldom acknowledge the awesome acts of God in my life. In my enthusiasm to share tips and recollections of my parenting experience, there could be more a tone of pride and self achievement, and less a hint of humility, gratitude to God and the desire to reflect on God's hand throughout my joy and achievements. Yet, I strongly believe that as Christian daddies, we ought to impress upon our children of God's awesome acts in our life. This is mentioned in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 of God's commandment to God's people to constantly talk about God with their children. To do that, we need to constantly reflect on our lives that each journey is something not for us to boast about ourselves, but to remember God in it and be convinced of it. Less pride and more humility always make a better daddy and what better role modelling to teach the often bragging kids of this educated generation. Watching 10,000 BC, I was awed by the splendour of the Egyptian kings in utilizing the many slaves to build their wonders. Yet, it reminded me more of the awesome act of God in using Moses, a feeble man to take the Israelites out of slavery and drown Pharoah's chariots in the Red Sea. Interestingly, this news I found, of the discovery in the Red Sea of gold chariot wheels dating to the time of the Exodus, points to a greater true story than the movie. It certainly disappointed God when His awesome acts were not remembered by the Israelites, and we Christian daddies ought to take heed of that.

Reflecting my past, I can say God has guided me in each of my journey as I seldom made informed decisions nor have I gotten too much good parental advice. The turning point in my life was at a solitary place in my ex high school, SM Taman SEA when I prayed out of desperation and indecision. I was at a crossroad between serving God in Christian Fellowship and the many student leadership position I held or concentrating on my studies. I later told God in tears that I would love to commit my life to Him in serving Him and trust Him fully. In an instant, God spoke to me like speaking to Abraham and told me that He valued my obedience and that it need not be a sacrifice. For God saw in me like how He saw the poor widow who gave everything she had to live on including her 2 small copper coins. Since then, my studies did not fail me, and even when I did not have excellent results, God guided me to do a University of London external degree to shape my thinking, brought me opportunities to publish an international research paper, kept me for 5 years in an American firm even when I was slightly demoralized to want more, offered me a full scholarship to do my MBA, found me a job in a foreign land when I could not speak the language, led me to marry the right wife who could put up with me, provided me with a beautiful daughter even when we were anxious, assisted me to get a 1.8% yen mortgage loan just before the subprime crisis, and made me an assistant manager in a Japanese firm to fully understand the Japanese mindset and cultural management issues in today's global world. This is certainly not me in the driver's seat as most of the time I was just telling God I would make the most of out of every opportunity with the limited resources and information I had. Its certainly God's awesome act on my life lest I have anything to boast about. 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Its really that simple. God's will just requires us to give thanks and remember Him. Whatever we do then, will turn out beautifully even if we have no idea it would. Rather than worry what is God's Will, smile, remember Him and trust Him.

Anything to share about God's will? What about the tendency to brag while blogging? Or teaching children to remember God through our own stories? Love your honest sharings.

Tip 88: Be cautiously optimistic and contented

Since my last post comparing the current credit crunch in USA to the Great Depression, pessimism has risen to new levels not seen before in a long time. It was a shock to many that it would take USD1 trillion to bail out all the debt ridden American firms and this number may still be growing. The pessimism is not confined within USA as more and more greedy financial giants across the world are coming out of the closet to claim defeat. The American dream the world has shared in the past 2-3 decades is at stack. Wikipedia defined it as one's material wealth which is dependent upon one's abilities and work ethic, and not a rigid class structure. Yes, this is praise worthy, yet we seem to have gotten greedy to think that each human on this earth with sufficient education deserves to live as a king. Do we? I liked this article entitled Dr. Frankenstein's Wall Street on Chicago Tribune that mentioned that historically nearly 4 in 10 of us aren't ever ready, or able to sacrifice for a mortgage downpayment and home maintenance bills and should rent instead. Its time we drive home the message to our children that despite what this capitalistic system and consumerist society tell us, we need to be contented unless we are willing to work hard to get the things we want. Even then, we need to be cautious and rethink on big investments.

Working in Japan, I have been exposed to Japanese mindsets new to me, namely the need to be excessively pessimistic of one's abilities since everyone else is comparing against the mark of excellence. I would not say that this is a good approach to live by since we humans can never be perfect, yet being optimistic without building strong foundations can lead to huge losses and even endanger the lives of people around us. This can be likened to Jesus' parable of the wise men who built his house upon the rock and the foolish men who built his house on sand and suffered great loss in a storm. Jesus was of course, referring to the need to actively build spiritual foundations and live a Godly life, but the lesson can also be applied that we need to plan carefully when making financial decisions. Yet, very often we peer at our neighbours and dream a life where we live like kings and queens, holidaying around the world, driving posh cars and having homes with marble and granite furnishings. Its tempting when its all available on credit. In fact, kids these days do not even need to consider too much of financial responsibility since credit is freely given by their parents without worry of the items being repossessed. A splash on the latest restaurants or the latest gadget. Yet, at some point we need to learn contentment. Probably not an easy task to drill down to our kids that belong to the new generation, unless the current financial crisis alters society drastically. Though, I do give thanks that my parents rode through their storms when we were young, and though my dad experienced a few lay offs, my parents managed to stick to paying off all the mortgages. Mortgages to a certain extent defines parenting and the discipline of finance management. Paying a mortgage myself, I appreciate my parents more for their commitment and sacrifices.

How about you? As a parent, have you gotten excited about acquiring more and more and taking extra commitments? I had many times wanted to acquire additional larger properties ... phew, glad I did not. Do share. One thing I commit to do on this blog is to make Tip/blog post 100 a contest with freebies sent to you from Japan. Every contestant gets one. So stay tuned. My commitment to put a smile on every reader here. Hope you can be contented with that.