3 Years in Sendai-22 - Kyoto! - pt1

One of most memorable moments in japan was my short three days visit to Kyoto to attend the COP3 Convention on Climate Change or Global Warming. organized by the United Nations. The trip was sponsored by the Director of the Kawaijyuku Bunri or the Prep. School where my wife was teaching in Sendai. I tried to get the Japan Times News Paper to sponsor me but was turned down  even when my idea was to present articles related to the Climate and environmental issues that had appeared in the News Paper throughout the year which i had been collecting and safe keeping. I was also turned down flat  by the Malaysian Embassy in Tokyo that would not even entertain meeting me to discuss my plan. My wife's boss took me seriously enough to foot the bill for my whole three days trip to the convention.

Aremd with my camera, my sketchbooks and four panels of Newspaper Articles covering a years worth of environmentally related issues I took the 'Max Yamabiko' bullet train from Sendai all the way to Kyoto. My idea was that i was gong to bring into consciousness of the issues that were affecting the Global warming through these articles that inlcuded statements made by the then President of the United States Bill Clinton with regard toh ow important it was that we dealt with the agenda.

I was there as a loner, not a member of any HGO or representing any country as my own would not give a hoot at the the time, but i was there bright and early with my messages.

I had always considered myself an environmental activist of the peaceful kind and as such i was bound and determined to make my self heard one way or another and I did.

Initially i settled for the wayside display of my Newspaper Articles and watched the crowd browse as they walk by, people from all over the world. Most I noticed walked by with not so much as a glance too busy chatting of great it must have been to be in Kyoto. But some stopped to glance at what was pasted on the board and perhaps an idea or two might have taken shape in their minds in the process. At least I had hoped that they would have had some form of understanding of what they were up against.

It was heartworming to notice the mixture of people who  walked by and I felt great to have been a part of something that I had a great interest in even if i was not an invited guest. I a way i was glad to had been just an onlooker standing on the fringe as i knew back then that i could have made a scene if had been able to talk about the Climate and other related issues and they would have to shut me up or throw me out. .

And security was tight as there were dignitaries from various countries attending the COP3 Climate Change Convention and I was careful not to over expose myself as I had no business of being there.. 

One of my wife's Japanese student who was from Kyoto assisted me while i was there and so i had is easy getting situated where lodgings and so forth was concern.

As for my News Articles was concern, they made it into the Convention Hall without me as I met a fellow from Washington DC who asked if he could used the display for his booth in the convention. So my job was made easy and my effrort paid off as my Newspaper articles were displayed at he Washington DC NGO representative booth no less.

Here were the two young frined I hd made and who made it possible for me to see through my intention at the Kyoto COP3 Convention in 1997.

That was me in essence the Elegant Zen Monk begging along the street of Kyoto!

And the other me flirting with the Geishas! I know i was a Japanese in my previous life no doubt!

And that was me the tourist meeting another fellow tourist, sightseeing in Kyoto.

3 Years in Sendai - 21 -In the Footsteps of Hokusai.

While living in Sendai in  December 0f 1997 I made a short visit back to the San Francisco Bay Area in order that I may renew my passport entry permit into the USA. During this visit I made a trip to green Gulch farm and Zen Center  where i had spent sometime as a Zen student. Upon my visit I was shocked to find that the night before the oak tree that grew next to the main office and close to the Zendo where we used to sit in meditation was split in two by a lightning strike. 

I did this sketch of the tree from a different angle and it was quite an experience to find a tree that is so familiar to me when I was living at the Center to be struck right through  the center I wondered what it would have been like if it had happened during one of our Sitting  periods. Imagine the shock it would have caused to all those while their minds were in deep meditation. 

I took a short trip back to Malaysia together with the rest of my family on another occasion and  was asked to do a mural inside a bar which one of my nephews had design. The job was needed to be completed in three days and i did it earning me  RM 3000.   

This was done on the river in Akiu, a small mountain town quite near to Sendai. It has a small artist community which included sculptors and woodworkers, potters and  musicians.  

These next few pages of sketches were done in imitation of the style that was Hokusai's. It is a very oriental if not Japanese style that has its own unique character and has its own  simplicity yet very appealing.

Hokusai captured the everyday life of people in action doing what their vocation  was and in his simple style he captured them with full passionate artistic talent that few great masters were able to.

Although I have managed to imitate his style, it was still not anywhere as near as what it was to the original works and his 'Manga' or comic as they are called went on to become one of the most sought after  collections of artworks in history.

I stumbled upon Katsushika Hokusai as i might have mentioned before while i was working as a Librarian t the University of Wisconsin , Green Bay, Library. I came upon the two volumes of Hokusai's Manga and absconded them immediately, I borrowed them permanently pretty much until I left the university.

To me Hokusai had tripped an instinct within me as an artist leading me to my own quest for a recording of life as is in the form of sketches and  pantings. There is no subject taboo nor any technique foreign, i tried anything and everything throughout my life so much so the i have been considered as 'Not and artist' by one of my Art teacher and mentor in Malaysia in later years.

Art ofr Art's sake or Art for fun's sake was my motto  and  one of my sister in laws upon viewing my sketches at one time made a comment to her husband that my works were too childish to be taken seriously.Perhaps she was right and i was glad for myself that i kept my childhood  and playfulness in my artistic expressions throughout my artistic life; i abhor getting myself too serious about doing art. I  am still the same after all these years and perhaps why I am  still a starving artist.

Hokusai reminded me very much of my grandfather who was also a fulltime artist and had kept his own journals of sketches but sadly all his sketchbooks were destroyed by my relatives who considered them to be not good for Muslim taste. I was very young when i saw his sketchbooks and had no idea of how precious they were to save them when he died but i saw them  and Hokusai's collection of works reminded me of them.

If one keep sitting long enough and study the rooster with all its movements one can make a good collection of sketches and this was the essence of how artist like Hokusai cam to create myriads of sketches in the form of 'studies.' 

These studies can later become a piece of art themselves as htey allow for others to enjoy all the motions that the bird would get into giving it a lively feeling. 

One of my grand nephew who will inherit my style someday, perhaps.

3 Years in Sendai - 20- Time Spent at the Miyagi Museum of Art.

The Miyagi Art Museum located along the river Hirose and within walking distance of the Sendai International Center was the place you would find me hanging out whenever i have the free time to do so while living in Sendai. The Museum had a special attraction that had been a draw for those who live in and around the Sendai area and were into doing creative works. Th museum offered an open studio program that allowed those who had interest in doing creative art albeit painting, sculpture, printmaking or photography among other things were given space and often tools and equipment along with instructors to aid them in their projects. and all at no cost.

 There were two or three large studios which had some of the most up to date equipment to facilitate various projects and the instructors were ever on hand to assist in getting the work done. It was a heaven for artist like me and several other 'Gaijin' artists or foreigners who needed the space and  assistance due to  obvious reasons.  

This was also the place where one gets to meet local artist and exchange ideas  while benefiting from each other through sharing of art and culture. I never came upon such a facility while living in the United States for the 21 years of my life, not even in San Francisco where Art was the happening. No one had the time the money nor the space to share for free, as a matter of fact everyone I knew was into their own thing that any need of help was an intrusion. 

True to the Japanese spirit, children were given priority in being entertained to do the workshops at the museum and Sai sensei was one of the most entertaining character when it came to taking care of kids visiting the studios.

 Pimenta San was from Brazil and married to a Japanese. Mr. Pimenta's specialty was doing Tibetan Art especially the water color Mandala type painting. It took a special kind of dedication to be able to do this art as it required total meditative state of patience doing it. 

When looking at his finished work one would not believe that it was done by an artist from Brazil. He spent allot of time visiting Mongolia where he studied this technique of painting.

Goko San was  the 'Otai' or old Timer at the studio when I was there and  he was a print maker who utilized pieces of boards  and various items  to produce a colorful abstract print.

Full of dedication and passion this gentleman  often was lost in his own world of creativity. that he appeared to be like a small boy having a good time.

 The materials he used came from discarded materials anything flat and offered unique texture and  designs that can be reproduced as a colorful print.

An artist working with etching plates.

 A lady who has great ways with Lithography

Sometimes i get and audience when it came to oil painting.

I was alive back then and it was the moment in time and space when i could have created anything and walked away with some amount of satisfaction.

It was a great group of  people hanging out at the Miyagi Museum of Art inj Sendai back then each inspiring the other to create in an atmosphere of  friendship  and understanding. 

More Justifications

My car is finally legal to be driven on the road after running back an forth to get my insurance for the road tax squared away., however now  I am back to square one financially as i have exhausted my minimal earnings of last month which was about five hundred ringgit Malaysia after selling my precious old black and whites of scenes in and around the City of Georgetown which dated back to 1964 to my friend Lee Khai. i spent most of it getting my car fixed and giving some to my son and my daughter while the rest was put into the Road tax and motor insurance, as a matter of fact I had to ask for additional amount from one of my cousins because i came up short. As i said , now i am back to square one, because i only have one ringgit in my wallet! So my plan of making a trip any where is still put on hold and i am stuck with being in the 'here and now.' for now.
It is okay for now, I am sure there is a positive reason behind my setback and I am doing some painting with Chinese Ink on rice paper just to keep my mind active and productive. I still do the dishes from morning till late afternoon for the restaurant in lieu of getting that RM150- for my auto insurance from my cousin who owns the restaurant. The Internet is still cut off at home as the bill was not paid for two months which i found out from my son Karim so i am using the USM PC at the Museum office as i always did for the past 6-7 years at no cost, this is the only way i can keep on Blogging and catch up with whatever is the latest on You Tube and Face Book. It all sounds tedious and boring for anyone to read but I must jot things down as it is so as to keep this on going journal more realistic and authentic, like it is not always all hunky dory in life and despite the potholes and showers, there is still a hope for a silver lining behind each and every setbacks. I believe in this and in the fact that I am the cause of it all as i walk through this life to the end of my days. In the mean time i will keep my head held high and forge ahead manifesting the positive out of every negative  vibes the crosses my way.
The journey began from the first step i took towards my self discovery years ago when I first realized that i am the master of my own ship, my own destiny and no matter how pathetic or exhilarating the case may be. For as long as I am alive I will strive to right my wrongs and straighten out my crooked path. I will not die in vain not having accomplished my set goals and fulfilling my dreams to the best of my abilities. I will die a pauper perhaps, but I will leave a very rich legacy in the form of my thoughts and ideas and in the manner in how i have chosen to live my life. I see no no sense in looking back and wish that I had done this or refrained from doing that, I see no sense in regrets and wishful thoughts, I see only the fact that my time is slowly running its course and I am at the edge of my abyss and it wont be long when I will have to take that 'One Step Beyond' into the afterlife.However till then, till the moment i loose my faculty to think or write, I will strive to find my way to this spot that i am sitting in right now and reflect upon my life for better or for worse and try to make some sense out of all the no-sense that i have accumulated throughout my sixty five years of breathing.


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