Autumn... trees are starting to change color, like a rendering of warm colors on a canvas. Temperatures have gone down, and I notice it's almost the end of November. Time flies.
Last Monday, I paid a visit to Kita-no-maru Park near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Spent maybe about an hour or two sitting on the bench, gazing at the picturesque scenery adorned with beautifully colored trees, while some little nursery children played with parents and other people sat on the lawn reading books or just taking a nap. Calm, quiet, and peaceful. Birds flew from a tree to another from time to time.
An oasis in bustling central Tokyo.
When you talk of autumn leaves in Japan, Kyoto is the first place that comes to mind. The former capital of Japan is just purely beautiful during this season. The scenery of numerous history-rich artistic temples with a balanced mix of red, orange, yellow, green, and sometimes pink and purple leaves is just simply magnificent.
However, peculiar things are starting to happen in Kyoto. The autumn period is becoming shorter and shorter year after year. Compared to half a century ago, leaves now start to change color two weeks late, and leaves fall off the trees a week late, shortening the "autumn leaves season". Why? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess... the temperatures at Kyoto have risen, widely thought to be the result of global warming. According to records, the average temperature of Kyoto is three to four degrees (Celsius) higher today than in the Meiji period, about a century ago.
Kyoto is where the international community agreed on a protocol to reduce greenhouse gases, and the host country promised to cut 6% by 2012 from the 1990 level. However, the reality is emission has increased by more than 8%. Experts note that the Japanese industries had already gone through a series of rigorous cost cutting measures in the 1980s through developing new technologies, thus cutting carbon emissions, so much of the current plans focus on taking advantage of the Kyoto Mechanism, such as emissions trading (ET) and joint implementation (JI), and also promoting and persuading offices and homes to save more energy.
We, as individuals, need to act now. For our future, not only to help our environment but also in order not to lose trust from the rest of the world. There are lots we can get done if we all do it. :-)
In December, I traveled to Cairns, in the northeastern corner of Australia, with my family. It was certainly a nice and long-needed break from the daily rigorous studying. My October was full of exams, and the beginning of December saw the last, yet the biggest exam of the six years: the graduation exam. Not until we pass that do we become eligible to take the national license board. In Japan, graduation from a faculty of medicine requires you to pass this graduation exam, instead of submitting a thesis. So, we do go through a period of 'torturous studying', however, we are never required to learn how to write a paper.
Named after William Wellington Cairns, then Governor of Queensland, this city was originally founded in 1876 to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield. However, the region has been inhabited by the aboriginal Walubarra Yidinji people, who called and still calls the area Gimuy, since long before the Europeans came. Later on, the city developed into a railroad hub and a major port for exporting sugar cane, which still remains the biggest local industry after tourism, and metals, minerals, and other agricultural products from the surrounding coastal areas.
Cairns gives you the impression of a peaceful countryside city. It doesn't have skyscrapers, nor does it have multi-story shopping complexes. It's not about the hustling and bustling one has to endure in Sydney or Melbourne. The seaside boardwalk gives you a pleasant view of the port and the peninsula across the cove, which is sacred aboriginal territory, and especially picturesque at sunset. However, the nearby beaches are not a place for swimming, as it is infested with crocodiles and some stinging jellyfish, a reminder that the seashore is predominantly mangrove swamp, and that the port was built after clearing part of it.
The best and most beautiful waters for swimming nearby is certainly out at the Great Barrier Reef, which is a UNESCO-registered world heritage site, and stretches over a distance of 2,600 kilometers. It is composed of over 900 islands and 2,900 individual reefs. Cairns is naturally the hub for those who come to see what is the largest single structure made by living organisms. However, we must keep in mind that the booming tourism (generates AU$1 billion every year) together with climate change are the biggest 'enemies' for this great natural wonder.
