雅克 不忑

finally after the failure of translating my name into japanese (jakomo= “ja” snake+”ko” kid, child+ “mo” moist and many others, last name gets into a simple “hit me”)

in chinese i coud find giacomo>>
jacques ( its french translation)>>
yake ( which is its chinese common translation) ya( elegant)+ke (translitteration)

Butte becomes a bu (“not” a negative particle) te (fearful, nervous timid)
so all together an elegant translitteration without fear.

Brave greetings from Tokyo

Radio Cina Internazionale

http://italian.cri.cn/

我学中文！

here some useful website if you want to start studying chinese:

http://www.mandarintools.com/ links to flash cards software and computer tools that are helpful when studying mandarin.
http://www.chinesecomputing.com/ this will solve problems of visualization
if you are Firefox user, these pop up translators are very useful.
For podcast check http://chinesepod.com

China quicker than japan?

There is one thing terribly irritating in Japan: the continuous waste of plastic bags.
Even when buying chewing gum I was offered a plastic bag.
Since yesterday China has banned free plastic bags in shops.
Whwn is it going to be in Japan and USA?

China wild west

Congo, Brazzaville, 2007.
The Savorgnan de Brazza high school is the most respected school in the Congolese capital but is in very bad need of repair. Jean de Dieu Malanga, professor of Chinese, is giving the students of the second year their annual examination. He himself has studied in China during the 80’s and makes a living as a translator for the Chinese bosses at the numerous construction sites besides his work as a teacher.

An article about chinese expansion in Congo.

Beijing Olympics

“Beijing, evidently, has other priorities. For all the sleek modernity of much of the construction, there’s no mistaking the old-fashioned monumentalist approach behind it. This is an Olympics driven by image, not by sensitive urban planning.”
This and much more in an interesting article of Paul Goldberger

Tokyo vs Beijing pt 2

I like yoghurt. Eating it in Tokyo or Beijing is quite a different experience:

In tokyo one enters the omnipresent “conbini” open everyday, everyhour.

Then wonders inside in a storm of colour and lights. Goes to the “no-door” fridge and takes what he prefers.
At the counter the yoghurt ( one cup) will be placed in a plastic bag with the plastic spoon inside another plastic bag.
One can go out now but where to eat it? apparently beside construction workers nobody seems to eat in the streets so it is up to you to find a place hidden enough to eat your yoghurt. After eating one may want to go back to the conbini that is probably still the closest place where to find a trash bin.

Beijing: the shops, unless you are in the western like center might look like that.
The yoghurt is sold in a thick ceramic cup. With a grey green colour. A  foil seals the top.  There is one type, no choice.  After buying  one has to drink it with a strow . He cannot leave the area around the shop because the cup will be recicled.

the failure of architecture

The man is Jiang Guohua, the communist party leader of Mianzhu. He is begging to ask the people to stop protesting.

I saw this image from a Herald Tribute article, wha impressed me was the fact that a political man was asking in that way. A man of power which could have just sent some police man ( will he do it later?) is begging normal people. Probably very few things are stronger than an angry mother. Probably thay feel guilty because many public building did not resist. Architecture failed to fullfill its prime function:protection.

Cogito ergo sum

Il Tibet, questo semi sconosciuto, oramai appare su tutti i giornali, tv e siti web. La complessa question tibetana viene solitamente riaasunta in “Cina=cattivi, Tibet=buoni”.
Sorvolando sulla strana idea per cui noi paesi occidentali ci sentiamo il tribunale del mondo e quindi abbiamo il dovere di intervenire in ogni questione (purchè ci sia un interesse a nostro vantaggio) a qualsiasi latitudine e longitudine;  consiglio di leggere un interessante articolo  apparso sul blog  del Corriere La nostra Cina.

Farmers vs merchants

I do not know if one can claim that inductive reasoning is the best method but here a small example to understand China and Japan feelings towards foreigners.
Next month I am going to Beijing for to job interview. Therefore I have to get a japanese re-entry permit and a chinese touristic visa.

First step would be to go to the office: the chinese embassy is 500m away fro mthe office in a very central area of tokyo ( Roppongi), the tokyo immigration bureau is in a blade runner like building on an artificial dock in the middle of no man’s land. From the closest metro station is 15min by bus.

Second step is to understand what is needed to do the visa: in the chinese embassy I found an officer with perfect english, in the japanese immigration office ( i went there 4-5 times already) I never found somebody who could speak something close to english but they are always very kind.

Both offices have all is needed to have a visa in the building ( photo machine, stamps, photocopy….) which is something usually missing in italian offices where in order to get photo+photocopy+stamp one has to travel through the whole neighborhood.

As a conclusion: would it be correct to say that in their deep soul chinese are more merchants and japanese farmers?