Life Digest. May 2025. A toss-up between Australia and Japan.
A belated self-guilty attempt to start journalling of my life whilst trying to avoid genre specific egotism and making it a practical guide for the readers.
SYDNEY. LIFE.
In May I spent two weeks in my second hometown - Sydney. Apart from a few errands and visiting work office I hardly moved out of the area where I used to live nearly 20 years, which is Clovelly Beach. Walk from Clovelly to Bondi is still glorious and attracts many tourists (I heard at least 5 different languages during my walk on one sunny Saturday).
Coogee to Bondi walk. On the way to Bondi Beach, you pass a few other beaches, Bronte and Tamarama. They are more local, family oriented, and Tamarama is also popular with surfers.
Trends. “Soft clubbing” is a new trend based on Millennials (born 1981-1996) and Gen Z’s (born after 1996) choice not to drink alcohol or drink less. It is solid in Australia these days. Some cafes, for example, hold music events during daytime in a sober and relaxed atmosphere. In general, being healthy and in a good shape, although with a pinch of a narcissism, is the silent motto which is always in the air in Sydney.
Interestingly local newspapers like to portrait rich and successful listing their incomes or the price of their newly acquired houses. In doing so they often feature “personalities” operating in grey areas of the law. All this leaves a scent of a large village gossip with a smidge of a “strongman” glorification. At least this is how it felt to me.
I feel like writing a few more lines more about Sydney, so I stop short here and will do a separate post later. Well, I owe to myself a few posts now.
JAPAN. LIFE.
Nice to be back. Heat is not here yet, many cloudy days, warm and moderately humid. On such days in the afternoons, I like to work on the beach. Very productive! Seriously.
Town of Zushi. Interestingly I did not want to leave Sydney much this time, but when I landed in Japan, I felt calm and content. Zushi town near my home looked routinely familiar, largely different from athletic clad Clovelly in Sydney, one common feature both being near the sea. I was wondering what makes a place home… What came to my mind was a “predictable occurrence”. You see familiar places, nod to the people you know, pass by the shop signs seen many times, you take your plastic rubbish out each Thursday, same with empty cans on Saturdays and glass bottles every second Monday, - the routine…Predictable. And yet Sydney also felt home, the bricks in the building where I lived nearly 20 years still braving the sun, the small grocery is still there albeit with a new staff, the birds sound so familiar, and the manners of speaking are easily recognizable. But I hardly see people I know, the very familiar suburb is full of new and mostly young people. In a way, I felt like a guest in my own home.
So, where is my home? I pass this bus stop from where you can see Mount Fuji on a nice day and tell myself, “It is Japan, at least for now”. Because I felt… I belong.
Kamata. I sometimes visit this area of Tokyo. It has the feel of an old Tokyo with many budget groceries, rustic izakaya drink bars, sento (public baths) with black water - kuroyu. If you are into drinks, please use West exit of Kamata JR station for an aptly named Bourbon Road. What I noticed this time is that there is a promenade along Nomikawa River passing through Kamata. As an enthusiastic river/stream self-proclaimed walker I want to stroll along one day.
Plenty of walking options - says the map.
GOOD READS
I am still reading The Gulag Archipelago. Trying to protect my usual life optimism I moved to a shorter version because it is a heavy reading.
At the same time, I had a brief look at the work of the late Professor R.J Rummel of University of Hawaii. His research shows that total of around 169 mln. people were killed by megamurdering regimes in the 20th century.
Of them the largest killer was USSR. Post-Communist Revolution Russia, and then USSR historically were the largest killers of its own population (most people were killed during 1917-1956). Over 50 mln. people. In a different form though, this continues as we speak. To compare with the period when tsars ruled Russia, take 1876-1905, only 486 people were executed.
As I read in some recent news, these days the monuments to Stalin are being re-installed across Russia. The Killer-in-Chief is back, and it is a pity to watch this country crawling back to its dark past.
GOOD WATCH
Another good find. Prisoners. Hue Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.
The Infiltrator. Loved this movie. Also, The Score featuring M. Brando, R. De Niro and Edward Norton. I watched both in Sydney on Netflix trying to feel on holidays, but they are not available in Japan. Does Japan get the lower grade movies on Netflix? Guess I need to move to YouTube watching. For example…
Well said. Bruce Springsteen.
GOOD BITES AND SWIGS. SYDNEY.
My friend Haile has been serving Ethiopian food from his modest stall at the Friday Bondi Junction weekly market for nearly 20 years. When I lived in Sydney, I was a regular customer and always used the opportunity to refresh the old memories of Amharic language (I spend 9 months in Ethiopia in 1979, a very young boy working there as an interpreter and picked up a few phrases). Those were hot times of the war between Ethiopia and Somalia, and the food was hot also. My favorite was Kei Wot, beef in a very spicy sauce. Haile says it is hard to get ingredients into Australia to make Kei Wot, but he offers a wide range of stewed beef, chicken and lentils served on injera bread.
He now also has opened a small restaurant in Sydney Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park.
After you received your order tell him “ahmesugenalew” - thank you.
GOOD BITES AND SWIGS. JAPAN.
There is this very basic old school diner in Kamata (Tokyo) Asuto shopping street. Sets of meals are inexpensive, large and delicious.
Goldn Bup is a craft beer place in Chigasaki (Kanagawa Pref.) a birthplace of Japanese surf. Cozy place with outdoor seating. I took my colleagues there for a meeting.
Inside and outside of Goldn Bup. What to choose? Conspiracy Theory Double Hazy IPA.
EXERCISE AND HEALTH
In May when in Sydney I enrolled in 10 classes of my favorite fitness club Symetrie. I know the club since their establishment, some 15 years ago. They were close to my home, a “truly local” small suburb fitness outlet, and this is where I learned about circuit training and HIIT which is now my nearly daily routine at home or on the beach or inside a hotel room. They now have new program called Conditioning. I thought I was fit, but I could not keep up with other members, of course, some 30 years younger, but still. The structure is you work with a partner and move along four equipment stations - air bike, row machine, treadmill and skiergs. You do 4 sets on each machine going by calories in descending order 20, 16, 12 and 8 (each machine has a display) or max 11 minutes (you may not be able to finish all four sets, as you will need to change stations after 11 minutes). After you done you partner jumps on, but you do not rest. You do burpees in ascending order - 2,4,6 and 8. The whole class is 45 minutes. Well, this is a kind of a circuit you definitely need gym for, as you will need an equipment, a shouting and smiley coach and…motivation. I wish we had similar clubs in Japan. Or maybe I should enroll into a school to become a qualified trainer in Japan, as gym classes here are mostly entertaining, not conditioning.
We also did yoga on the beach and outdoor circuits.
Exercise physiology (EP). I never heard of that, but my Sydney GP recommended to visit one after he listened to my story about how for every knee issue the orthopedists in Japan recommend injections and a few very internetable exercises. I visited EP in Sydney and was hugely impressed. First of all, they measured the strength of each leg with dynamometer, check flexibility of the muscles and hamstring to quad ratio. Based on that a daily exercise routine was prescribed which I have been following for the last two weeks already and feeling a great improvement.
Exercises are written for you and shown, then you need to repeat. I tried to Google EP in Japan, just for the future as I mostly live here. I succeeded! And they are from… Australia. Will research more.
Conclusion. Second or third opinions are important in medical matters. But I take it further. Second country opinion can be more valuable. If there is an option.
P.S. Off to Tohoku region next week exploring the coast between Akita and Niigata, riding small local railways and relaxing at Awashima Island with population of just 350 people. As I don’t have hundreds of readers, I can name such destinations publicly for now. But I may think twice in the future, and you know why.
I want to visit Awashima! I've written a post about Awashima's neighbor, Tobishima in Yamagata Prefecture.
Looking at the prices of those beers is enough to keep me sober.