Australia – World War II, Japan, India and Indian National Army

Magarri was shot by Japanese military. Magarri was on his mission to save the trapped children in an island in Australia when Japanese war planes bombed and destroyed most part of the island including an orphanage run by missionaries. Japanese military men shot Magarri from back when he tried to run to the boat where Drover and Nullah along with saved children were waiting.

Magarri fell on the sand. Japanese army men approached to the half dead Magarri. They tried to get information about others from him. He did not say anything. Japanese army men shot him to confirm his death.

It is a scene from ‘Australia’ which I saw yesterday along with friends in 109 Cinemas in Ito Yokado, Kiba. The movie ‘Australia’ directed, co-produced and written by Baz Luhrmann is interwoven well with fiction, romance, fairly tales, history and aboriginal believes.

What is special with the movie Australia for me is it is the first movie I watched in Japan. Generally I do not prefer to watch movies at theatres mainly due to some of my physical limitations. When Tom-san and Wong-san proposed to watch this movie at Kiba, I also joined with them. It was slightly difficult to follow the Australian version of English but the flow of story in Australia was never boring. We could enjoy the beautiful landscapes of Australia.

The character of Magarri is played by David Ngoombujarra who is an indigenous Australian actor. He played the role of assistant to the main character Drover played by Hugh Jackman who was looking after the livestock in ‘far away down’ in North western Australia own by Lady Ashley. The leading role of Lady Ashley was played by Nicole Kidman.

Incredible is the role of Nullah, the son of an aboriginal woman and a white father. The boy plays an equally leading role like Lady Ashley in the movie. Nullah's role was played by Brandon Walters, an 11 years old indigenous boy from Broome. The scenes of the boy Nullah riding a horse were excellent with an astonishing Australian landscape as background.

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman were in Tokyo, Japan on 26th February for a promotion of ‘Australia’. The movie Australia was released in Japan on 28 February 2009. I am not going to the detailed story of Australia as it will kill the thrill of watching the movie for many of you.

The Australian aborigine grandfather of Nullah played by David Gulpilil is exciting. He played the role of King George, a magic tribal leader, whose grandson is Nullah, the boy living with Lady Ashley. Nullah is son to an aboriginal woman and a white Neil Fletcher, a station manager who plans to take Faraway Downs from Lady Sarah Ashley. Mother of Nullah is daughter to King George. All scenes of black magic and aboriginal dance shown in the movie were new to us. The movie Australia conveyed new knowledge on Australia.

There is love, passion, desire, fear, anger, hatred, racism, jealousy, simplicity, superstition and history in Australia, all interwoven so nicely that we enjoyed watching the two hours and forty five minutes lengthy movie in one stretch without any intermission.

Japanese Army was shown as negative characters in the film. The Japanese war planes bomb at innocent human beings and kill them. The orphanage was also destroyed by Japanese army. They killed Magarri. History says Japanese people were wrong at the time of World War II, but how come my mind justifies the Japanese stand!

Did the history teachers conveyed me wrong lessons that Japanese military was in the right direction? Was British imperialism opposed severely by Indian people and at the same time justified Japanese imperialism? I am not a scholar to comment into the exact details of support of Indian people to Japan even after many years of the war. Was it due to the anger towards the British who were ruling India at the time of war?

Japanese military helped one of the great Indian freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose (S.C Bose) to form Indian National Army (INA) and fight against the British at the time of Second World War Almost all Indians consciously or unconsciously supports S.C Bose and consider him equal to Gandhi. Some Indians consider him as the real Indian freedom fighter. He has shown courage to form a military with the help of Japanese military and fight against British. They captured some eastern parts of India and established the Independent India Government (Azad Hind). Unfortunately Japan lost the war and rest is part of the history well known.

Contrary to the official opinion, Indians supported the stand of Japan at the time of World War II. It is worth to recall the name of the Indian judge Radhabinod Pal, who was on the 11 judge panel of the Allied tribunal and was the only one to voice dissent. Radhabinod Pal opposed punishing Japanese war criminals convicted by an Allied tribunal.

Other East Asian countries may not support Japan and the new generations at these countries might have studied a different history about Japan as opposed to the history books in India. Therefore it was little difficult for me to accept first the scene of Magarri shot dead by Japanese army. I don't want to personally justify any crime committed by the Japanese army during World War II, but just wanted to convey the influence of teachings and different perspectives on mindsets. Probably the truth is what the majority believes not always may not be the absolute truth. So is the fate of history too. What the majority and the winner believes and implements is the true history and the defeated one is always a sinner!

Yahoo answers have an interesting discussion on this movie. To read please go to this link; The movie Australia

Anyway, my first movie in Japan ‘Australia’ invoked memories of the history classes at high school. Thanks to Baz Luhrmann and team.

Cost of living for a foreigner in Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. The recent statistics shows that capital of Japan, Tokyo is the most expensive place in the world to live. Japan is the second strongest economy in the world, but the most expensive.

One reason for this high expense is the highest living standards by its citizens. The quality of life is also high in Tokyo. Everything contributes to the expenses.

From the last one year living experience in Japan, let me brief the costs of living in Tokyo. The apartment rent per month is 115,000 Japanese yen. For Yahoo BB broadband internet connection with a land phone the bill be around 6,400 Japanese yen. It is quite reasonable considering the quality of service Yahoo BB offers and the advantages of having a landline telephone from Yahoo BB in combination with Apa Kabar international calling card.

The monthly electricity bill will be around 6000 Japanese yen. I paid the last water bill approximately 3600 Japanese yen for two months. So, monthly 1800 Yen is nominal for a single man. The gas bill will be around 1600 Yen, because I don’t cook at home. This gas consumption is for heating the water for making coffee and water heating for bathing. The NHK television bill will be 1390 Yen per month. Softbank mobile phone charges for a month is around 2000 Yen. This includes the extra calls I make to friends within Japan. For making international calls I use Apa kabar card which costs 2400 Yen. I have to buy at least 3 Apa Kabar cards in a month, thus this amounts to 7200 Yen per month.

Daily commutation charges by train to office and back will be 580 Yen per day. So accumulated for a month and also including the extra travels I make to visit friends and for purchase will total to 20,000 Yen. This kind of expense depends on the place where we live. For others, this amount may be less or high.

For food and snacks monthly approximate expense for a single head will vary from 45000 to 60,000. If I go for eating out together with other friends once in a week, this amount will go further high.

Hair dressing charges are quite noticeable in Japan. My hair dresser charges me with a small bill of 3,000 Yen. This is where I got astonished with the living expenses in Tokyo. Every month I pay 3,000 Yen for hair cutting. I am not going for any beautification of my hair! In my country, for this amount of money, even if I go for a medium luxury hair saloon, I can have my hair cut for full two years! Here in Tokyo, we are not paying for the actual work he does rather we pay the hair dresser to live in Tokyo. He has to live in Tokyo in order to render his service to us!

The clothing and physical fitness charges will vary according to the individual and I don’t want to put any amount, but it won’t be less than 10,000 Yen if we take the average per month.

Then there are vacation expenses for a foreigner. Entertainment expenses another category. Today I went to see a movie. One movie ticket costs 1800 Yen.

Since I have insurance, I have to pay some 30% of the expenses. Monthly medical expenses are approximately 5000 Yen.

Living with family and kids is quite highly expensive in Japan. The lowest international school fee won’t be less than 60,000 Yen per month for one kid. The school bus expense may vary from 20,000 Yen and more. Then comes the other education expenses separately.

All the above mentioned expenses are purely from my own experience and have nothing to do with a national average figure. I don’t want to do a totaling of all the expenses and state a particular amount as the monthly expenses. Some companies will take care of some type of expenses. Again that depends on the individuals agreement with the company and company's commitment to the employees. Therefore Just I have given the breakups of living expenses in Tokyo. There are other types of expenses, which I might have missed out. I will update once I remember those expenses.

Japanese houses with Tatami and rent a house in Japan

All praise to Japan till now, here we go a bit sarcastic. This phrase was conveyed to me by a friend: A lucky man is one who lives with an English house, American Salary, French cook and Japanese wife. (This is again praise to Japanese people!)

Then the unlucky man lives with an English Cook, American wife, French Salary and Japanese house! (This one may not be praise!)

Though little exaggerated, the above phrase reflects the traditional belief that Japanese houses are just enough to live. When I entered to the apartment allocated to me I realized it. People with 6 feet height can raise their hands and touch the ceiling. We don’t need to search for a stool to change the lights for example.

Traditional Japanese houses are simple, neat and beautiful. Japanese houses are built with a bedroom with Tatami. The meaning of Tatami in Japanese is ‘folded and piled’. Tatami mats are a traditional type of Japanese flooring. Tatami floors are made of woven soft rush straw, and traditionally packed with rice straw.

The modern Japanese technology uses sometimes styrofoam though it is not widely accepted and not considered traditional. Tatami are made in individual mats of uniform size and shape, bordered by brocade or plain cloth. I am not sure of the exact dimension of Tatami mats, but my boss when he took me to the apartment first time during February 2008 told me that Japanese building standards use different Tatami sizes and bedrooms are identified with the number of Tatami used in a bedroom.

When I changed to a new apartment at Higashi Ojima, my boss accompanied me to select the house. Foreigners may often face problem to find a house in Japan. Many house owners turn their face against foreigners. If approached through a real estate agent, foreigner’s application may be turned down. I have heard of such problems in Japan, where it is difficult for foreign people to find a suitable apartment alone. Many of the house owners have problem in communicating with foreigners.

The language barrier is one of the biggest problems. Also the house owner thinks that due to improper language communication for day to day living, the foreigners may trouble the neighbors. Foreigners come from different background and may not be aware of the garbage disposal procedures and other social gatherings on which Japanese people mix together and contribute to the cleanliness of the building. Japanese house owner is more worried about the interpersonal relationship of the foreigners with local Japanese. Very often this attitude of Japanese people is highlighted as discrimination and racism of Japanese people towards foreigners. If we meet this land owner individually, he is very polite and nice talking and may not have any false prejudice inside. He just wanted to avoid complications (communicating in English with foreigners is a complicated thing for many Japanese people – true!)

Anyway, coming back to our discussion on Japanese houses, the Tatami laid Japanese houses represents Japan’s simplicity even at the height of technological advancements and achievements. Tatami reminds us the nature’s presence inside a Japanese house. Finally at night, for sleeping, we withdraw ourselves from all the modern life stresses and interpersonal strains and go back to the nature! That is a great idea behind Tatami.

Tatami were a symbol of luxury item for the wealthy at a time when lower class people’s houses had mat covered dirt floors. Tatami were gradually popularized and finally reached the homes of commoners around 300 years ago. Otherwise my house won’t have built with a Tatami floored bedroom!

House rent is high in Tokyo. The house rent for my dwelling is $1150 per month, including the maintenance charges. This home is just enough for my family with two kids. In Japan, it is tagged as 1LDK. This means the house is with One bed room, one living room, one Dining hall, one Kitchen. Kitchen is always a part of extension of the dining hall. If we go for more comfort, half of the salary will be consumed by the house owner!

If you are looking for a rented home: http://www.propertyworld.com/_Japan

http://www.sakura-house.com/

http://www.oakhouse.jp/eng/

http://www.arkadia.com/usa/real-estate/for-rent/japan/

http://www.realigro.com/House-for-rent-Japan/index.php

http://www.forleasebyowner.com/x_japan.asp

http://www.housingjapan.net/tokyo_apartment/index.php

http://sabbaticalhomes.com/Home_Exchange_Cities.aspx?country=Japan