Update 7

Hello

We are back from Japan. It was such an interesting and enjoyable trip - technical visits and social - with a group of Surveyors whom we are all familiar. We covered so much ground from Tokyo to Lake Kawaguchi, Hakone, Toyohashi, to Kyoto and Osaka. But the itenary was carefully drawn up we did not feel tired or rushed. We ate authentic sushi, tempura and teppanyaki - but of course some of us, myself included, mixed these Japanese delicacies with our very own sambal, ikan bilis and rendang. The last night was a real Japanese fine dining complete with the ambiance of tatami mat, hushed whispering of pretty kimono-clad ladies, origami, and bonsai garden.

The technical visit included visit to Shibaura institute of technology to understand their programe for surveyors. While there we met up with several Malaysian students. Next we went to meet our counterpart the "Building Surveyors Institute of Japan" which also include talks on Japan latest software. We were lucky to be able to make a courtesy call to Matrade Tokyo office and next to the Malaysian embassy in Tokyo.

Although Japan is not a shopping haven but I do believe our group somehow manage to increase Japan GDP by 0.1%. Many of us came back with Kimono, Yakuta, Japanese purses and dolls, seaweed, crackers & nuts, swatch, Japanese brand cosmetics, branded goods from premium outlets - I think most of us took Sr Han Hoe's holiday motto of "Better to regret buying than to regret not buying"!!. Do watch out for him in a leather jacket. Or go over to our Sec Gen's house for a quick snack cooked in her unique 3-in-1 pan. And drop by to our immediate past president's house for tea using the new bone china tea set.

All the towns and villages that we visited - are clean, clean and clean. The toilets are clean, clean, clean with push buttons for water shower. Not a single piece of litter eventhough there weren't many dustbins. It seems that the Japanese would just pocket any rubbish to throw it later in the bins at home. Everything works, and there are a lot of unspoken rules that they followed religously. Everything work within a system. As such although they are polite, but since everything has a fixed procedure, way and system, not much flexibility. Recycle is a way of life and dining is a art. The scenery is breathtaking - especially with Mt Fiji in the background. And my God, the amount of photos that all of us took!!

We enjoyed ourselves but my only regret was that I did not try the onsen bath.

Salam
Sr Wan Maimun