God's golden carpet

(Originally posted with photo(s) at http://dlamini-dlamini.blogspot.com/)
Last autumn, while trying to balance enjoying the moment with friends, with giving due consideration to humanity's challenges, I came upon this sight.
It was a beautiful golden carpet of autumn leaves that the Creator had laid before us. It struck me how the relatively shallow science known to humanity has probably become a deity (god) in many minds, and seen as adequate to justify tearing up landscapes and replacing them with concrete. Is it always for the betterment of the human condition, or is it often driven by the blind pursuit of monetary gain (another way of saying 'limited interest')? What is the connection? Well, the sight of God's golden carpet was like the many wonderful phenomena that inspire us, like the sunrise, the rainbow, a lightning storm, a peacock, a formation of migrating birds, a flock of flamingoes, penguins taking to water, a rushing herd of antelope, the slow and deliberate majesty of the elephant, which all, without eliciting explanation or demanding social status of the viewer, show forth beauty and glory, and in a narrower sense, just sheer pleasure...and yet the destruction continues.
Why the seemingly illogical trend? The concept of social contract might hold the key. The terms by which we come together as a society are not obvious or uniform: some societies are more equitable than others, some administrative systems are less centralised than others, and so on. Why is this important? Because in a social system that upholds the right of a few to decide everything for the many, there has been the tendency to transfer between individuals and groups, the benefits and costs of our actions in the society. No wealthy family lives in a house next to a factory or power station spewing smoke, no political leader chooses to live on the banks of a polluted river. On the contrary, those with the power always seek out the spots surrounded by beautiful gardens, singing birds and a great view of the sunset. So the next time someone asks you to allow them to build a polluting factory or a large car park where your children play among the grass, trees and flowers, because they say it is progress, ask them a question: "If it is such great progress, why don't we build it in the place where YOUR children play?"

Gambling is illegal here!..

(Originally posted with photo(s) at http://dlamini-dlamini.blogspot.com/)
Gambling is illegal in Japan, according to the Criminal Code. Indeed, there are no casinos in the country. Well, sort of. There is nothing named 'casino'. Instead, special laws have been made to allow betting on horses, a lottery and so on.
Of all these 'exceptions', the phenomenon of establishments called 'pachinko', such as 'Jumbo Slot', the one in the photo, has to be the most intriguing (photo taken at JR Notogawa station, Shiga Prefecture). Pachinkos are all over Japan, numbering 18,000 (http://mondediplo.com/1998/10/12japan) - somewhat comparable to the 25,000 post offices which are generally considered to be more vital. In the pachinkos, you pay, play and then, if you win many balls (which serve as tokens), you can exchange them, typically for little slits of gold encased in plastic. You may not exchange these for cash - at least not at the same premises, so every pachinko has a little 'exchange store' (in practice just an exchange window) next to it where you can get money for the little trinkets you have won...
Indeed, has the the spirit of the law currently gone out to lunch?

Retreat from peace

(Originally posted with photo(s) at http://dlamini-dlamini.blogspot.com/)
North Korea walks into the Bird's Nest (stadium), Beijing. Probably the saddest moment in the 2008 Olympic games event was the entry of North and South Korea separately, reversing the tradition in recent games, of walking in together...
Who turned off the lights in the hearts of brothers?

Moment of Truth...how much Social Capital?

(Originally posted with photo(s) at http://dlamini-dlamini.blogspot.com/)
I walked into a convenience store around 10 p.m. on Friday 18th July 2008, bought something and came out.
I searched my pockets for the bicycle key and thought: "I must have left it on the bicycle", and indeed I had, as the photo shows. This must surely be the moment of truth for any society...the answer to the question: "how much can we rely on each other?" ...this is social capital.

This was not the first time I had done this. In fact, that very day, I left the bicycle in the covered parking at the train station, for which I pay a monthly fee for, and soon after boarding the train, realised that I did not have the key with me, which meant it was on the bicycle that it is meant to lock. I was in no state of worry as I had done this before.

It is perhaps interesting that high social capital is not considered much in classical economic measures. However, a high level of interpersonal trust lowers the cost of security measure and increases the efficiency of an economic system.

Dare I say: "If it is efficiency that you seek, then strive to make the members of the social grouping as cohesive (bonded together) as possible".

FOOTBEAT

(Originally posted with photo(s) at http://dlamini-dlamini.blogspot.com/)
I had been neglegent of the experiences of my feet, until I posted this photo on my flickr site with the quote:
"Every detail a pleasure to behold."
to which a friend replied:
"except the pleasure of beholding your feet. :-P " (yes, with friends like these, who needs enemies :) )
...After a little reflection, my response was:
"Consider the journey of this right foot thus far, and you shall see things anew:
walking across grasslands, crossing rivers, scaling rocky slopes, traversing sandy beaches, beating on concrete pavements, knee deep in snow, the eternal staircases, the buses, trains, airplanes, ferries, motor cars, my beloved bicycles, breathtaking elevators, long escalators at railway stations, crossing ancient bridges, a pause on the northern slopes of Mt Carmel,
...that innocent but painful laceration on the right side of the foot by barbed wire during childhood,
...helping obaa-chan with the sweet potato planting, following a herd of cattle all day long, caught in a hailstorm, the athletics sessions, soccer games, sitting through those lectures, the times of worship, waiting below Japanese style tables....
FOOTBEAT!
That's the name of the book. Buy it when I write it."

Holy, beautiful, cold winter!

(Originally posted with photo(s) at http://dlamini-dlamini.blogspot.com/)
And the the snow did fall, and we ventured out to see the cold beauty.
Shimogamo shrine looked like never before, a majestic bird preparing to take flight.
Her roofs, like wings no longer the usual dark brown of a tree bark,
but gleaming white in the occasional winter sun.

For posterity, on the same day I made this post, I recorded a question on facebook:
"Ndumiso would like to know if we really are here, or if the universe is one big facebook - content generated by some sort of consciousness...?"

New Year (shrine visits)!

(Originally posted with photo(s) at http://dlamini-dlamini.blogspot.com/)
Another new year (2008), another night at the temples and shrines to collect good fortune for the coming year, as the locals do. This year we visited a small temple/shrine just west across the river from Shimogamo shrine, and then moved on to Shimogamo shrine itself. It was most enjoyable.
Many, many people stayed up until the morning of January 1st, walking around temple grounds. Many friends went to more crowded shrines and temples, such as Yasakusa, next to Gion district of Kyoto.
There are a number of such occasions in Japan throughout the year, each with its own excuse, when people get together to do something that is outwardly rather ordinary, including street festivals, watching a mountain lit up by with a pattern using firewood, watching cherry blossoms and so on. The joy derived must have something to do with the feeling that one is part of a larger group with similar customs (shared identity), and also with the fact that one chooses to sacrifice time and money to attend such cultural events.