Monday, November 30, 2009

Japanese Zen : Power of mind over matter...

I know that you all have the stereotype impression of Japanese; that they eat sushi everyday, and that everyone practices Zen. While the former is false, the latter is very much true. Japanese from various places and of various ages practices them, from farmers to city folks, from secondary school kids with Nintendo at hand, to old folks with walking stick at hand.

One of the more famous zen practices around is "mind over matter"...the one teaching we've heard over and over, but hand still hurts when punching a brick. However, just because we can't do it doesn't mean it isn't true. With enough dedication and willpower, it's amazing how you can achieve control over your body, enabling you to withstand pain, heat or cold. As far as I know, there's a particular group of people who have been very successful at this.

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Having said that, I would especially like to focus on zen practices by young Japanese city girls.

Young city girls here wear the shortest of skirts/pants during autumn and winter. And after living here for 5 years, I have learned to stop asking "Are they not cold??" I've settled for the assumption that they all meditate for half an hour each time before leaving their houses, thus their superhuman ability of extreme cold resistance. If you have any other better explanation, please feel free to enlighten me.

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Recently on the news, was a TV special reporting on how young Japanese girls no longer wearing just a mini skirt or hot pants, but paring them with leggings. This trend started only very recently but already with over 60% majority wearing leggings...this means lesser bare legs around, much to the dismay of boys who "appreciates beauty".

On a survey done, they asked these girls...."So, why leggings? Is it because of the cold weather?"

Amazingly, they expressed shock, then answered "Cold? What cold? Leggings are more fashionable..."

Chics and dudes, if only I can express my amusement here other than the usual "hahaha".

I could not help but laugh at their statement...I could swear that everyone in the cafeteria(was eating when I saw this) now thinks that Malaysians are crazy people. No other foreigners would have laughed hysterically at a TV report like that.

Randy is very sorry for causing a wrong perception towards Malaysians by the Japanese.

But how can I not laugh at that? I've known for years that they endure the cold winds just to show off beautiful slim legs, stare angrily at guys who ganders at them, then laugh happily among themselves in secret.
Now that they finally start wearing leggings, I thought that they have finally given in to Mother Nature...who could have known, huh...

On a different note, guys have started wearing leggings too...
Every time I see a guy wearing shorts with leggings underneath, it stupefies me to the point where I actually believed that leggings are meant for guys too....