LOC CITY

When I went back to my hometown last weekend,

I stopped by a shopping mall named "Loc City" which

name seemed strange to me.

However, I suddenly realized that "Loc" was

an abbreviation for local.

Everything there is cheaper than that in Tokyo,

so I couldn't help buying something on impulse.

My mother and I had Tan-men at a cafeteria there

and it was so good!!

The taste reminded her of Tanmen she liked to eat

at her favorite ramen shop when she was an office

worker about 40 years ago!!

So, I'm sure she will try that again!!

Dee-Dee Part2

Dee-Dee'd appeared in my blog again!! I'd really like you to see her cute shots.

My mam is taking me for a walk, but I'm too tired to walk anymore.

I love to take a nap. Every time my mam leaves me alone, I enjoy sleeping and relaxing with a friend of mine!!

Kamakura Tour ②

After we moved to Hase by Eno-den , we walked to Hase temple and then to Kotoku-shrine. Hase temple is famous for the statue of the Kannon deity and for the beautiful command of Yuigahama.　While watching the view, we enjoyed having Japanese cake with Matcha at the cafe there. Then, we visited Kotoku-shrine to see Big Buddha which was a symbol of　Kamakura. I found many foreigners taking pictures of it eagerly.　Maybe, the statue is very unique and totally different from the one in European style.　We got tired from walking all day, but I think we also had a chance to get good exercise!!

American Presidential Ellection!!

Barack Obama won the American presidential election today.

I was very impressed by his victory speech and the fact that

many white people voted for him.

I watched the news all day and was excited to see the moment

when the African American first became the American president.

I believe that the United States has made progress for "New America" without racial inequality and hope that President Obama will make it possible to change the country as he says " Yes, we can!!"

Kamakura Tour ①

I went to Kamakura with my sister and niece on Saturday.

As it is called "Little Kyoto", Kamakura has many temples and shrines with a long history.

First, we dropped off the train at Kita-Kamakura station and walked to Enkaku-ji、Kencho-ji and then to Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine.

Enkaku-ji was erected by Tokimune Hojo and is famous for its magnificent gate. We had a lunch box I made there. It was fairly good.

Next, I took a picture of the gate of Kencho-ji, but we gave up visiting the temple for saving time. Then we visited Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine. It was the time of the Seven-Five-Three Festival which is held to celebrate children's growth and to pray for their future good health.

I very much enjoyed seeing many boys and girls wearing beautiful kimonos!! I also consulted an oracle (Omikuji) there. Lucky me!! I drew a good fortune (Kichi)(^0^)v

Christianity and Islam

Do you know that Christianity and Islam have the same roots? Both were originated from Judaism. Strictly speaking, Islam is said to be a blend of Judaism and Christianity, for Islam introduced “Ten Commandments” and the idea of “The Last Judgment” from Judaism but denied the Jew’s sense of racial superiority as Christianity did. Muhammad who established Islam took over the idea of equality that Christ preached in Gospel. In this way, some similarities can be found between these two religions through their history, but they have many different poins in the course of development.

Christianity and Islam were born as an individual enlightenment or inspiration. Both are monotheistic religion that the only one God is allowed to believe in. Christ is considered the same as God in Christianity but a human in Islam. For Muslims, both Christ and Muhammad are not Gods but Prophets and Muhammad is the last and the greatest one among the three Prophets including Moses and Christ. Therefore, for Muslims, God equals Allah and keep in mind here that Allah is not the name of God but God itself in Arabic. Moreover, Bibles of these religions are called and written in different ways, so Cathlic one is “The New Testament” written in Greek and Muslim one is “Quran” written in Arabic.

Christianity is mainly spread all over Europe and America whereas Islam is through Middle East, Africa, China, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Both were spread by missionary work, holy battle or conquest. In Islam, many Muslim traders played an important role in spreading the religion to other places along with spices. The word “Jihad” means a holy battle, but it was actually an invasion to expand a territory. Similarly, in Christianity, crusades are considered a holy battle to recapture the sacred place, but it was also the invasion which was made to seize food and property. In the 15th century, conquistadors such as Cortes and Pizarro also invaded the native civilization in South America for the same reason. They converted Native Americans into new religion by force. In this way, Christianity and Islam spread out all over the world

while many lives were sacrificed.

These two religions have survived for thousands of years in some ways. In Christianity, “church” has a significant role in encouraging people to keep Christian spirit by attending church services. Meanwhile, in Islam, “mosque” has the same role as Christian church. Muslim routinely worships God there or everywhere five times a day.

Both Christian and Muslim believers pilgrimage to sacred places as an annual event. Christian pilgrims visit Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela whereas Muslim counterparts visit Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. This practice also strengthens religious devotions of the believers.

Embodiment of God such as an idol and an icon is also dispensable for Christians not only for mission but also for passing on its legacy to the next generations. On the other hand, the practice was strictly prohibited in owe of God in Islam. For this reason, Islamic art such as “miniature” and “arabesque” have developed without a description of God.

Religious taboos and marriage styles notably vary between Christianity and Islam. For instance, divorce and abortion are not basically allowed in Christianity. On the other hand, using the left hand at meals, smoking, drinking and eating pork and dog meat are refused as an unholy act. How about marriage styles? In Christianity, only monogamy is acceptable while polygamy is common in Islam. However, passing on their property to more than two wives have made Muslim families become smaller and weaker, so it has become difficult for them to maintain the tradition. For this reason, polygamy has been limited to the rich men who can afford it. In addition, arranged marriage is still popular in Islam, which represents the limited freedom of Muslim women and also their low status.

The most remarkable difference between Christianity and Islam can be found in politics. Christianity has the separation between divine (religion) and secular (state/politics,) but Islam doesn’t, except for Turkey. It is because, in Islam, religious law called “Sharia” has controlled not only their daily lives but their social system and national governance. Therefore, in Islam, there is no clergyman or minister and so the religious leader is the same as the head of the government.

In this way, Christianity and Islam which have the same roots have developed in different ways. The history in which they have shared Jerusalem as a holy place still causes troubles today between Jewish and Muslim refugees. Some Christian countries such as the U.S. and England publicly support Israel, so the condition between Christian and Muslim has become more strained than ever since World Trade Center attack in 1991. Muslims call it “Jihad” and justify their deed as a holy action. Even suicide bombing is considered virtue in Islam. In response, Christian believes that imposing armed sanction is right. To study cultural diversities in development between Christianity and Islam are very interesting, but it is deplorable that many lives were sacrificed over the long history of religion.

"Red Cliff"

I’m looking forward to seeing a movie “Red Cliff” which is coming out soon worldwide!! The battle of Red Cliff is one of the most famous ones in Chinese history. In the movie, Takeshi Keneshiro has played Komei who is a brilliant tactician. Not only do I like him, but I’ve been interested in the story itself. John Woo, a director of this movie, first casted Chow Yun-Fat as Shu-yu and Tony Leung as Komei. However, Chow Yun-Fat quit Shu-yu, for he had no time to prepare Mandarin Chinese for the movie. Therefore, Tony got Shu-yu and Kaneshiro did Komei. Personally, I’m glad that I’ll have a chance to see Kaneshiro playing Komei on screen!!!

Lin Zhiling who has played Sho-kyo, a wife of Shu-yu, is the hottest actress in Taiwan. I'm paying close attention to her beauty as well!!!