Reiwa era

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Akihito, Heisei era, Imperial family, Naruhito, Reiwa era, Tokyo

I visited Japan twice and I remain impressed by this country. Going to Japan was like a dream, everything I saw was completely out of the ordinary and unexpected. I visited once when I lived in Beijing and a second time when I lived in Rome. So many happy memories from those trips. I remember once on the Official Day Reception at the Japanese Embassy in Rome telling the Ambassador about my trip and how impress I was with his country and its people.

The food, the cities, the train stations, bank machines, the hotels, the people, the historic sites, its television and the NHK news, the safety of the place and the overall attitudes of the people I encountered. From the day I arrived in Tokyo at the airport and how well organized and civilized it all was. Everything was so clean and so easy to use, despite not knowing how to read Japanese signs and knowing 10 words of the language.

Tokyo, a city of 39 million people, (greater Tokyo area) that is the entire population of Canada in one city. Despite that large number, it was extremely well organized and clean. Low noise level on the streets despite the traffic. I also visited, travelling by bullet train Shinkansen to Kyoto, Nara, Osaka and Himeji Castle.

I always wanted to be posted to Japan but that did not happen.

On Wednesday 1 May the new Reiwa Era ( Beautiful Harmony in English) though the characters Rei and Wa means Fair Breeze, will start with the accession to the Chrysanthemum throne of Crown Prince Naruhito and the end of the Heisei Era under his father Emperor Akihito who is abdicating.  All calendars will start anew and officially everything will be counted as of 1 May 2019, first day and first year.

Naruhito will become the 126th Emperor of Japan in the oldest dynasty in the world, 2000 years, the first was Emperor Jimmu. The Imperial Family claims descent from  Amaterasu-ōmikami (天照大神／天照大御神／天照皇大神), the top deity of the Shinto religion. She is the goddess of the sun and the universe. The name Amaterasu means “shining in heaven”. The meaning of her whole name, Amaterasu-ōmikami, is “the great august Kami (deity) who shines in the heaven”. According to the Kojiki which chronicles Japanese Mythology the Emperors of Japan are considered to be direct descendants of Amaterasu. The Emperor is also the Head of the Shinto religion in Japan.

 

 

Ten years ago in Rome

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Capena, Dr Massimo Buzzanca, Italy, Rome, Wire hair

Today on FB I had a reminder of 10 yrs ago, showing a photo of two little puppies about 6 weeks old.

The 26 April 2009 we drove to Capena which is 30 minutes North of Rome. It is pretty straight forward taking Via Nomentana going North from our house on Via Dei Villini and then joining the SS-4 which is the ancient Via Salaria (Salt Road) on the way we will past some interesting site like the old Rome Airport of the 1920’s Roma-Urbe and then joining the old Via Tiberina at Prima Porta and going North still until the round about second exit and Capena is just further down the road. At this point we are in the countryside and it is green and dotted with nice houses.  Our destination was the farm of Dr Massimo Buzzanca and his wife Tiziana.

Via Tiberina is a very ancient Roman road from 396 BC and don’t be surprise to see around Settebagni and Capena a lot of prostitutes all decked out sitting on a sofa by the side of the road. We would learn later that a lot of those prostitutes were in fact nuns trying to make ends meet. Many came to Italy from far away impoverished countries and the Cardinal who runs the convents for his National congregations often don’t have the money to supplement all the needs of their priests and nuns, so they get a night job. Pretty amazing because the Vatican does not help them financially. Prostitution is illegal in cities but not on the highway between towns. But I digress…

We had met them some months prior when Nicky and Nora were just a few days old. In Italy when you buy a pet they are microchipped by Law at the point of purchase and this being Italy, the government department responsible for the registration of all animals has forms to fill out and a few months down the road, you will have to go collect the formal registration etc. You cannot name your pet whatever name you choose this is Italy and Style comes into play, by Law letters are assigned to a group of days in the year and so in our case that day the letters were F and E. So Nicky was christened Fantastico Nicky and Nora, Eleonora di Capena.

Nicky and Nora are very different in character, Nicky is a week younger than Nora and he is a show dog by pedigree and family lineage. Nora is a tracking and hunting dog on her family lineage. Meaning that Nora has always been our guard dog and early warning system whereas Nicky is a beach boy loving the sunshine and going through life as if he is on a walkway with lots of paparazzi.

On the drive back, Will sat on the back seat with Nora and Nicky. Nora was nervous about leaving the farm and her relatives whereas Nicky whined non-stop in his little whiny puppy voice. We discovered quickly that we could not take them together to the Vet clinic. We could walk them together in Rome but once in Canada that became impossible.

Imagine 10 years already, how time flies.

This photo was taken in our den at home on Via dei Villini. Nicky is on the left. They do not have their signature collars yet sent to us as a gift by our friend Cecilia H.

 

Election results in PEI

Tags

Green, Legislature, party, PEI, Vote

An historic night in PEI,  the Liberal government of Premier Wade MacLaughlan was reduced to minority third party in the Legislature, Wade lost his seat in his District.

We now have a new Minority Conservative Government with Dennis King as Premier designate. He just became the Conservative party Leader 2 months ago. His government will have 12 seats in the Legislature.

The big news is the victory of the Green Party who in a matter of 4 years went from having just one member to having now 9 members, of those 5 are women. The Green Party is now the Official Opposition, a first in Canadian Political History. Peter Bevan-Baker is a charismatic leader and this evening his speech was unlike any other I had ever heard from a political leader, he was gracious and he started first my recalling the memory of the late Josh Underhay and his little son Oliver who died on Good Friday in a tragic accident. The election in District 9 where Josh was a candidate was suspended and will take place in 3 months time. It was an emotional speech but also that of a gentleman avoiding the usual phraseology so common in speeches today. The Green party has a strong position now in the PEI Legislature and many hope that the minority government of Dennis King will work in cooperation with the Greens. King as Premier designate gave the indication that he would pursue a path of cooperation with other parties.

There are only 27 seats in our Island Legislature so getting along is important for good government, something our out going Premier forgot too often.

In my own District 12 Green Party candidate Karla Bernard was elected as our MLA. She is a very good person and I have confidence that she will be good for us.

Peter Bevan-Baker, Leader of the Official Opposition in the House and Green Party Leader.

Unfortunately the referendum to change the way we vote did not get the necessary votes to pass. Only 15 out of a mandatory 17 District votes Yes for a change or 49%.

The number of people who voted was also down from the usual 82% to 76% this election, difficult to understand what actually happened.

Rome

Tags

Birthday, Eternal city, Italy, Romulus

The 21 April is the Birthday of Rome, Maggior di Roma is an expression in Italian meaning Rome is greatest. Rome celebrates its 2,772nd birthday on 21 April which this year coincides with Easter Sunday festivities. Known as Natale di Roma, the annual birthday celebration is based on the legendary founding of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC.

Rome is known as the Eternal City even among the ancient Romans themselves. It was so called because the Romans thought that no matter what happened to the world, no matter how many other empires might rise and fall, Rome would go on forever. Romans still think this way today. Tu non vedrai nessuna cosa al mondo maggior di Roma. 

Puccini composed this Hymn to Rome in 1919 to celebrate the victories of Italy in the First World War and its liberation from Austrian dominance. It became in a way its Birthday song. Puccini got his inspiration from an ancient poem, “Carmen Saeculare” (literally, “Secular Hymn”, usually translated as “Song of the Ages”), is a hymn or ode by the Roman lyric poet Horace, commissioned by Emperor Augustus in 17 BC. It is collection of mythological and religious verses encouraging the restoration of the tradition and the glorification of the gods, particularly Apollo, Diana, Jupiter and Venus.

A tragic accident

Tags

Death, Election, Green, Josh, PEI

Yesterday afternoon was for a Good Friday a strange day, one full of foreboding, I had a bad feeling about the day, it was raining and gray, the Hillsborough river was calm. I swung by the Club to discover that the ceiling in the Parlour of the house was damaged by water infiltration, the elaborate plaster had fallen to the ground, water and debris on the floor.  Emergency calls were made to the roofing company. I went home and again driving by the Landing Marina I notice 3 ambulances and fire trucks and a zodiac boat used for rescue in the harbour. I wondered what was going on, I saw the zodiac boat go into the river and bring back bodies, the responders were calm and I thought something terrible happened, indeed it had. Just two hours later, I read on the page of the Green Party a cryptic message about condolences and death, a tragedy, but what could it be. Then a white bicycle appeared on a black cover, I immediately thought of my friend Josh Underhay who is a candidate for the Green Party in this election. The candidate in my district told me that Josh and his son Oliver had died in a canoeing accident that afternoon, yes those bodies, it was them. I simply cannot believe it. Josh was a great school teacher, he invited me during my campaign last October to talk to his class about voting and democracy, the kids were well prepared and asked good questions. He was also a musician and trumpet player, he spoke 4 languages fluently, one being Mandarin. He advocated for cycling in the city and the bicycle was his symbol.

He was well travelled and had lived abroad. He leaves behind his wife and another very young son. I met his mother just last week and she told me that Josh as a kid was always curious about things and always enquiring, a very bright boy he was. Indeed as a person he was one of a kind, everyone liked him, thoughtful and generous, open to all people. We should have more people like him. His son Oliver was also a clever fellow and had musical leanings. So sad that he should die so very young with his father.

The campaigning is suspended today by all parties as a tribute to this exceptional person.  In his district 9 the other candidates took down their electoral signs so only his appear. The Prime Minister of Canada sent condolences. Today is a foggy, dark dreary day with misty rain. A memorial service was held at the Haviland Club at 1pm.

Photos Courtesy of Jing on Island, who comes to all musical events and takes great photos of musicians and bands.

Canadian Painter

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Art Gallery, art., Halifax, life, Maud Lewis, Nova Scotia

We were in Halifax about 3 weeks ago, an easy drive of 3 hours from Charlottetown across the Sea Bridge down to Truro and a hop and a skip to Halifax. This time around I wanted to visit the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia to see the collection.

The Art gallery is housed in 2 buildings next to each other, one is an old government building facing the Legislature and the other is an Italianate style stone building called the Dominion building which has a statue of Britannia sitting on the roof.

The two building have an underground passageway connecting them. The collection of Canadian art is of good quality and interesting featuring many artists. The one in particular I wanted to see  was the works of Maud Lewis (1903-1970) born in Yarmouth and died in Digby, Nova Scotia. She married in 1938 Everett Lewis. Prior to being married Maud had a daughter out of wedlock named Catherine Dowley. Maud never acknowledged her daughter who moved to Ontario and had a family of her own.

I had heard much about Maud Lewis and she is one of those painters discovered late in life by the art world and the public and became a celebrity, though that did not enrich her at all. Today she is an icon in the Canadian art world for her simple ”naif” or folk art style of painting. Maud (Dowley) Lewis came from a simple background, her family were tradespeople, her father John was well known in Yarmouth for making good quality leather harness and other leather goods.  Maud was born suffering from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and for the rest of her life suffered from this crippling disease. She was a very small women described as gnome like and her hands were severely deformed.

Her interest in art came from her mother Agnes who would paint Christmas cards and sell them to supplement the family’s income.  After her parents death Maud lived as a recluse and her only brother grew distant and rarely saw her.

At the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia a section of the museum is dedicated to her and her tiny little house in which she lived with her husband Everett Lewis, it has been transported from its original site and reconstructed for visitors to see.  It is as it was during her life, quite small, basically a one room house, with all the furniture, paint brushes and other items one finds in a house. What is so special about this little tiny house, is that Maud Lewis painted and decorated every inch of the place inside and out including the glass windows.

 

The house as it appears re-installed inside the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia today.

Her paintings are joyful and full of vibrant colours, showing life and scenes around her and what she saw.

Though I was not particularly interested in Maud Lewis as a painter despite having heard of her, coming to the gallery and seeing her tiny house and several of her paintings, I was enchanted by her work. It was I think the simple beauty of it all, childlike quality and the joy which radiated from her work. She has no agenda, no ideology, no philosophy or trying to pass a message. It is simply art for the beauty of it.

 

 

For this Good Friday

Tags

Catalonia, Easter, Gaudi, Sagrada Familia, Spain

I was thinking of a famous church today in Barcelona in Catalonia. This church has been in construction for 137 years and it is estimated that it will be completed by 2026.  I remember studying it in school 50 years ago when General Franco was the dictator in Spain and the church was sitting idle with little work being done and no money to go forward. In the last 25 years things have changed and now with tourism money is fuelling a campaign for the completion of the building. Teams of architects and artists are carving stones and following the plans of the original architect Antoni Gaudi making is vision reality.

There is a beautiful blog on this project. See the link https://blog.sagradafamilia.org

I had the chance to visit the church several times between 1998 and 2012 and the progress is impressive. All the elements in the vision of Gaudi had to have a special significance on the Creation, nature and God.

If you have a chance to visit Barcelona, do drop by for a visit.

Exciting times

Tags

Green, Legislature, MMP, PEI

We are going into Easter Weekend and so far 36% have voted in this Provincial election on Prince Edward Island out of a possible 100,000 voters. The advance polling days are very popular here.  This election we are voting to elect Members of the Provincial Legislature and we are also voting to change the way we vote hopefully adopting a system which is used in 90 countries around the World, called Mix Member Proportional or MMP for short. The MMP system is one the current government wants defeated but due to public pressure was forced into offering a referendum to settle the matter. We did have a non binding Plebiscite 15 months ago the MMP idea won then but the Premier of PEI, Wade MacLaughlan refused to recognized the results. He was under pressure from Ottawa, PM Trudeau did not want the results acknowledged. Richard Brown a Minister of the PEI government gave protesters the bird and another minister Jordan Brown (not related) openly laughed at protesters. This infuriated the average voters, people on PEI like politicians to be polite and courteous, though politics on the Island is a blood sport.

MMP in short gives seats based on the proportion of votes a party gets during an election.  If a party gets 30% of the votes cast then it would get 30% of the seats, no more. This is not what is happening now. The last Provincial Election saw results which favoured the Liberal Party in a disproportionate way. With only 36% of the votes, you get 100% of the power. Also the rural areas are not well represented if compared to the Charlottetown the Capital and other towns like Summerside. The MMP would correct that giving rural areas far more representation in the Legislature.

The old electoral system needs to change because it is very unfair to electors and is a relic of the old Colonial past under British rule favouring the Elites when women and the common man did not have a vote. Only the Landowners voted and distributed power amongst themselves.

As of Noon on 18 April the latest poll shows a Majority Green Party, an opposition composed of the Conservative Party and the Liberals might get some or no seats. This trend has maintained itself for 3 months now in every poll.  I can’t wait for Tuesday 23 April Election Day. PEI stands to make Canadian History by electing the first Greeen Party into Government and if the MMP is adopted we would be the first in Canada. It would send a serious message to Prime Minister Trudeau who had promised more than 1025 times in speeches to instaure such a system only to abandon the idea abruptly two years ago.

 Some of the people I work with at the Green Party. 

 

Provincial Elections PEI

Tags

23 april, Charlottetown, elections, Green, Green party, PBB, Politics

Well it seems that we are in election season in Canada. Today Alberta elected an Alt-Right Government, but then that is Alberta for you, a wealthy province with a population known for its racism and bigotry and proud of it. The exception being the 2 large Cities of Calgary and Edmonton who tend to be more progressive compared to the rural areas. The new Premier is Jason Kenney, a closet case, former Federal Minister in the Harper Regime. He is a bigot, a racist, etc and when the media brings it up he simply scoffs saying he was misquoted. We all heard that before. Kenney  wants to declare war on Canada, imagine the Premier of a Province with a 3 million population. Sad little man.

Newfoundland and Labrador is going to the Polls on May 12 and in PEI we are in the final days of our election which promises, if the projections hold, to give us the first Green Party Government.  Very exciting for us in PEI it would finally break the old feudal system of a handful of families ruling the Province as personal property. The current Premier Wade MacLaughlan, Liberal, is very unpopular. A man who came in 4 years ago with lots of high promises and hopes that things would change and nothing did. The Conservatives are no where with 6 leaders in 9 years and a fear mongering agenda. The NDP have two or three candidates and no one believes they will be able to have even one person elected. This leaves the Green with Leader Peter Bevan-Baker who has done a superb campaign, people see him as a gentleman, polite and courteous. Addressing every issue and presenting a no nonsense approach to social questions. I have spoken with him several times in the last 3 years and I am impressed by him. I remember the first time I saw him in a coffee shop near the Legislature, he was busy talking to his staff and it looked like a meeting of sorts over coffee. I nonetheless went up to him, apologize for disturbing their conversation, we shook hands and he asked me a few questions and we had a short conversation but it was very natural and interesting. He also during my own campaign for Municipal Office, listen to what I had to say and engaged me in conversation.  On the other hand I had a chance also to speak several times with the Premier but his manner is totally different, more aloof, distant and not interested. A very different experience.

Peter Bevan-Baker, Leader of the Green Party PEI.

PEI needs a change politically, the current system has produced nothing but stagnation for the last 100 years and the same people and families are always in power or in plum jobs. Corruption is rampant, the mafia could take lessons from the old style politicians here.

The hope is that with a Green party in power things can change. That is what we are all hoping for.

Also with this election, a referendum is being held to change the way we vote. Currently we have the old British system of First past the Post (FPTP) and the choice is to change it to MMP or Mix member proportional which makes every vote count and gives a more efficient level of representation. The old parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives are against any change to the voting system. If we adopt MMP system then we will be the first in North America to do so. If the Green’s are elected, the are currently leading we would also be the first in Canada to elect a Green Party Government. So this small island province of 150,000 people could make history.

Already with advance voting, some 30% of the electorate have voted, including me. The actual election day is Tuesday 23 April.

 

Gone

What a day and who can imagine such a tragedy. Very sad indeed to see such a great building which just celebrated 850 years go up in smoke in 3 hours. Of course it can be repaired but the old is gone. Just goes to show how life and all things in this world are temporary.

Notre Dame de Paris built between 1163 to 1345, destroyed by fire 15 April 2019.

Paris 1948