In Japanese, the name of Japan is Dai Nippon or Nihon; Dai = “great” and Nihon or Nippon = ”origin of the sun”, hence, Land of the Rising Sun. Japan is a corrupted form of the Chinese word Riben (“the origin of the sun”). The term Nihon was officially used by the Japanese beginning with the year 670; until then the name of the country being Yamato. The Japanese called their country with different other names too, very long ones, which were in fact metaphors.

The division into periods of the Japanese history is tributary to the Japanese calendar. Its pattern follows the one formerly used in China (beginning with 140 BC), the adoption of this calendar being made by Japan during Emperor Kotoku’s rule in 645. The calendar structure uses the system of era numbers (nengo). Two or more eras form a period. The name of the period was determined, as a rule, by the name of the capital city, which was also the sovereign’s residence, and marked the beginning of a new, more important, reign.

The names of the eras were chosen depending on one of the major events in the country’s life, no matter if they were positive or negative ones. For example, an emperor’s accession to the throne, a period of prosperity, the establishment of a new reform or a natural disaster could have been valid pretexts to the name of a new era. The number of years that an era lasted varied.

The Japanese medieval epoch spans across seven centuries, beginning with the 12th century and ending with 1868. There existed a relative long historical period in which the general notion of state was very vaguely underlined. The unification of the clans and the establishment of a central Japanese government took place only in 648 during Emperor Kotoku’s rule (645-654).

According to most historians, Mediaeval Japan is divided into four periods as follows:

Period / Years

• Kamakura / 1185-1333
• Muromachi (Ashikaga) / 1333-1573
• Azuchi-Momoyama / 1573-1603
• Edo (Tokugawa) / 1603-1868

Japan comes out of the Middle Ages with the beginning of the Meiji period or the “Illuminated government” (1868-1912), marking Japan’s entrance in the Modern epoch. In 1868, the last Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, was overthrown and Emperor Meji (1867-1912) was reinstalled as the leader of the nation. As a result, the leader of the imperial forces, Saigo Takamori and the leader of the shogunal forces, Katsu Kaishu met and discussed the peaceful handing over of power.

An earlier version of this text was published in
The Spirit of Medieval Japan (Nipponica Publishing House, 1999)

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Sushma Joshi is a Nepali writer and filmmaker who was born in 1973 in Kathmandu. She has published The End of the World (2008), a collection of short stories, Art Matters (2008), a books of essays about contemporary art, and New Nepal, New Voices (co-editor, 2009), a selection of articles. In this interview she talks about her books, writing, Nepal and her future trip to Thailand.

Mihnea Voicu Simandan: Your collection of short stories, The End of the World, has quite a few references to politics, especially the Maoist struggle for power. What is the relationship between fiction and politics?

Sushma Joshi: Politics can be an incomprehensible beast. How better to describe the complexities of the cotemporary moment than through fiction?

MVS: Your concern with injustice and the tough life of poor Nepalese is an obvious theme in The End of the World. Does literature have the role to raise awareness of social injustice?

SJ: No, I don’t think that’s necessarily the job or obligation of literature. I love this Leo Tolstoy quote and I subscribe by it: “The aim of an artist is not to solve a problem irrefutably, but to make people love life in all its countless, inexhaustible manifestations. If I were told that I could write a novel whereby I might irrefutably establish what seemed to me the correct point of view on all social problems, I would not even devote two hours to such a novel; but if I were to be told that what I should write would be read in twenty year’s time by those by who are now children and that they would laugh and cry over it, and love life, I would devote all my own life and all my energies to it.”

MVS: How was the book received? Is it still available in bookstores? I bough my copy at a secondhand bookstore in Bangkok.

SJ: I am one of a handful of authors writing and publishing in English in Nepal, so there was great deal of interest in the book. Unfortunately, the publishers did not give me royalty, and so we parted ways. It is currently out of print (if the bookstore sells you one, it’s a pirated copy). I am planning to publish it myself in case I don’t find another publisher outside Nepal.

MVS: What is your writing routine?

SJ: I write between jobs. I take a month or two off every year. I edit multiple times!

MVS: When will you publish another book of fiction?

SJ: My new novel is a love story set in Nepal’s civil conflict. I was working for the UN during the conflict—I realized the scope of the stories could only be captured by fiction. I’m trying to find publishers in the UK and Europe. Hopefully you will get to read it soon.

MVS: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

SJ: Keep writing. Don’t give up hope. Take pleasure in the writing process. Keep fighting for your rights as writers.

MVS: Apart from being a writer, you are also a filmmaker, telling stories through a different medium? Is there a strong connection between ‘the writer’ and ‘the filmmaker’?

SJ: Film is a visual medium in which you tell stories without many words. It forces you to visualize. Being a filmmaker makes you a better writer, and vice versa.

MVS: You have been awarded the Asia Fellowship and will travel to Bangkok in October. Give us more details.

SJ: I will be researching the stories of Nepali migrants in Burma and Thailand. I am excited at this opportunity to learn more about my own people and the way they moved throughout Asia, and also excited at the chance to live and learn about two other Asian countries. I’ve lived in the USA and England, but not in any country in Asia.

MVS: From a literary point of view, where does Nepal stand today?

SJ: Nepal is at the crossroads between India and China. We have almost 30 million people. Nepal is full of mythologies, histories, stories. But publishing in Nepal is run by a small number of publishers who rarely pay writers, and booksellers who pirate books. Writers become dispirited and are not motivated to work in this environment. I think if there is less tolerance of copyright violations and piracy, more young people will produce exciting work in the coming decades.

MVS: Give us three reasons why a trip to Nepal would be rewarding.

SJ: Nepal has amazing artistic traditions, from painting to sculpture to architecture. Nepal has incredible geography—it amazes me even though I was born here. And most of all, it has amazing people. So come see for yourself!

MVS: Thank you for your time. I’m looking forward to reading your next book.

SJ: Thank you Mihnea!

Mihnea Voicu Simandan
Bangkok, Thailand
August 20, 2010

Alison Jean Lester

Mihnea Voicu Simandan: In 2006, you made your debut with a collection of short stories inspired by your life abroad. How long did it take you to complete the book?

Alison Jean Lester: I didn’t set out to write a book. I was just writing stories as they came to me. The first seven or so stories came to me between 1999 and 2001, and then there was a hiatus due to upheaval in my life. I started writing stories again in 2004 or so, I think. It wasn’t until early 2006, when the title story was published in an American literary journal, ecotone, that I considered the possibility of assembling a collection. Once Phil Tatham of Monsoon Books expressed an interest in publishing them as a book, I had to get down to work on developing the rest of the stories I had floating in my head.

MVS: When did you write the stories?

AJL: I used to ride my bike into the park near my apartment. There was a coffee shop there. If found it really easy to think there, and when I couldn’t think, I’d ride my bike, and then I could think again. This was at the beginning. Later – two apartments later (upheaval, remember) – I wrote on my balcony, in the mornings, when I was free.

MVS: How was the book received?

AJL: It was very interesting to me how it was received. There were three main reactions in Singapore. First, expat readers who felt it was a book that represented “us”. Second, Singaporean readers, who felt it was a window on the expat world (one interviewer said it challenged her stereotypes of expat women – I was very happy about that). Third (my favorite), Singaporean and other readers who felt they identified with the feelings and situations in the book as applying to us all. As you noted in your review, it’s people who feel displaced speaking in the book. It’s people who feel like they are out of their element. Anyone can feel like that; not just expats. Sayuri, in Being Japanese, isn’t an expat in Japan, but she still feels foreign.

MVS: Is it still available in bookstores?

AJL: It is available in Borders in Singapore, at least, and is also being distributed in Barnes & Noble in the United States. Since the end of last year, it has also been distributed by Macmillan in Australia and New Zealand.

MVS: I bought my copy at a library sale in Bangkok…

AJL: I’m sorry they wanted to get rid of it, but I’m glad that it led you to me!

MVS: Locked Out is written from the point of view of a woman, with all major characters being either expatriate or local women. Do you think it’s easier for men to accommodate to a new country?

AJL: There is one story in the voice of a 14-year-old American boy, but he’s being affected by the presence and character of a German woman in his neighborhood, so perhaps that story is partly her point of view as well. But the predominant point of view is indeed women.

I don’t think that men have a fundamental advantage over women in adjusting to a new place. In Tiptoe, I hope you can tell that Amy’s husband also feels awkward and nervous about his position. But he goes off to work each day and she is left trying to find a place for herself, somehow, somewhere. This is very often the case for the “trailing spouse”. The one who arrives in the new country with a job waiting for them has a ready-made community. They know where to plug themselves in. The trailing spouse is unplugged without an obvious outlet.

MVS: You have also published two non-fiction books: Present for Success: A powerful approach to building confidence, developing impact and transforming your presentations and Communication: Your Key to Success (with Shirley Taylor). As the titles suggest, these two books of self-help cater to a totally different kind of reader…

AJL: Yes! I run a communication skills training and coaching business, AJ Lester Communication Training. I’ve been working as a corporate trainer for over a decade now, and when the opportunity came up to write these books, it was great to be able to channel all my accumulated experience and knowledge and impressions into these books. They’re part of a really good series that Shirley Taylor is editing: The ST Success Skills Series.

MVS: What is your writing routine?

AJL: Hahahahahaha! I wish I had one. In fact, just last week I wrote some writing days into my calendar, because I’m too busy with work at the moment (not to mention a lovely new husband – of one month! – two interesting teenagers and a dog). I’ve been working on a novel for several years now. That doesn’t mean it’s long! It means I hardly get time. During two summers I took a week to myself in the south of France, to let my thoughts travel where they needed to and not be distracted. That worked wonderfully, but it’s a huge luxury. When I came back, I wrote on Monday mornings. But that was during the financial crisis. The economy has picked up since then, and I’m busy again. So… I’ve written writing days into the diary, and I’ve simply got to protect them.

MVS: When will you publish another book of fiction?

AJL: As soon as humanly possible.

MVS: Do you employ the same techniques when writing short stories and novels.

AJL: Excellent question. In a novel, you have to spread a number of themes out over a longer stretch of narrative, and you have the opportunity for several points of view. Lots of great novels speak in the voices of two people or more, but there’s not enough space for that in a short story. In a short story, it seems best to take one theme, or one conflict, and have the bulk of the story’s language refer to it. In a novel, it’s more like getting a puzzle put together.

I really like short stories because they demand clarity of purpose from the beginning. Maybe that’s why the novel I’m working on is turning out to be made up of chapters that could also possibly stand alone. But the one I have in mind for after that will be different. I’m determined to find a way to write that one in another way.

MVS: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

AJL: Practice. Practice practice practice. Don’t expect the first thing you write, or the first three things you write, to please you. I wrote two novels before I started writing the short stories in the collection.

Think about it this way: When you turn on a tap that hasn’t been used, brown water can come out. You can’t turn the tap off and expect the water to be clean and clear when you turn it on again. You have to let everything that’s in the pipes out. Maybe the clean water is what you want. Or maybe the brown water has something interesting in it. But don’t be afraid of the color. Keep the tap open.

Also, don’t write in a vacuum. You won’t learn anything. Show your writing to people you trust and admire, and listen carefully to what they say. Sometimes it hurts. Let it sink in slowly. Don’t let them make your decisions for you, though. Listen, then decide what to do.

MVS: Apart from being a writer, you are also a communication coach, helping people express themselves effectively. When did the writer become a public speaker / coach?

AJL: There was a step in between. I am also a comedian. I used to perform stand-up comedy, when I lived in Tokyo. Then I started practicing and performing improvised comedy. Learning to improvise has had a profound effect on my life, and I started thinking about how to apply the powerful rules of ‘improv’ – listen, accept, support, and offer – to business and personal communication. When I arrived in Singapore from Tokyo, I immediately started using ‘improv’ to help people feel more comfortable thinking on their feet and engaging their colleagues.

MVS: You have lived in quite a few Asian countries and now reside in Singapore. What’s so special about this city state?

AJL: I love tropical weather! I love the greenery and the flowers and the birds. I love swimming. But other places are beautiful as well. The main reason I have stayed here so long is my children. I’m divorced, and their father lives here too. Singapore is a great place for a divided family, because the kids can get around the city safely on their own, back and forth between the parents’ houses. Buses and taxis are very safe and not too expensive. Also, they are in a truly marvelous international school. I don’t know that we could find them such a stimulating but also secure environment anywhere else.

MVS: Thank you for your time. I’m looking forward to reading your next book.

AJL: So am I, Mihnea. I will honor my writing days, and I will let you know what happens.

Mihnea Voicu Simandan
Bangkok, Thailand
August 18, 2010

Landlocked in the heart of South Asia between China and India, Nepal is a country known worldwide for its beautiful scenery and violent political struggles. Sushma Joshi, a Nepali writer and filmmaker based in the capital city of Katmandu, portrays in her collection of short stories, The End of the World, a world full of wonder, desire and acceptance of the fact that life is not fair. Longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, The End of the World was published in 2008 by Fine Print Books and consists of eight short stories.

In Cheese, the opening short story, we find out about Gopi’s desire to taste cheese. He waits twenty years until he can afford the expensive delicacy only to be disgusted by its taste. Betrayal follows the friendship between Mahesh and Bhai, two construction workers who met in Bombay. On their return to Nepal, they join the Maoist insurgency fighting the government forces, but their destinies eventually take them down two different roads. And then, after years of being apart, the betrayal.

Waiting for Rain presents the discrepancies between poor villagers whose own sustenance are the crops they plant, and the corrupt politicians who steal from the farmers and then expect them to vote for them. Law and Order deals with the shattered dreams of a young Nepali man who, after being rejected by the British Gurkha Army, joins the ranks of the Police Force of Nepal. But, after he spends his entire first salary on booze, and has no money for food, the vegetables in the garden neighouring the police headquarters become Bishnu’s obsession.

When the end of the world was prophesized by a “great and learned sadhu [mystic],” everybody seems to enjoy their last hours on earth, indulging in expensive food that could have fed an entire family for a week. And then, the last day of the world arrives… The short story The End of the World was republished this year in The Mammoth Book of Apocalyptic Sci-Fi (edited by Mike Ashley). In Match-Making, Sharmila, a sixteen year old girl, is being inspected as a potential wife by the relatives of a young Nepali man.

In Green Dragonfly, the reader witnesses the destructive force of nature: floods and subsequent landslides erase entire villages off the map. As stranded survivors struggle to stay alive once the deluge is gone, corrupt government officials and scruples merchants make huge profits by selling food sent for relief. The short story brings to mind Marcel Proust’s A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, as Kamala recalls the horrifying experiences of her childhood: “Everywhere she went there was the presence of death, the smell of warm air and strange shapes of light showing the dusty crevices of night in a way that she had never seen before.”

The last short story in the collection, The Blockade, brings to light the fact that the violent political struggle between the Maoists, Democrats and Royalists only created more suffering for the people: “The Maoists had called the blockade. The idea was to choke off the landlocked country, slowly choke off its food, medicine and other essential goods until the people, hungry and full of rage, would come out on the streets…” As in many other places around the world, Thailand included, selfish politicians had only one thing in mind: power.

The End of the World by Sushma Joshi is an excellent radiography of the recent history of Nepal, with an emphasis on the effect of the People’s Revolution on the poor Nepali population, whose major daily concern was making sure their families had enough food on the table. A special feeling of place is given by the frequent use of Nepalese words, which, unfortunately, are not explained within the text nor collected in a glossary at the end of the book. But, apart from the odd typo, Sushma Johi put together a valuable collection of short stories that I’m sure will be of even more historical and social interest in future years.

I’ve been living abroad for eight years now, so I totally understand what it means to be “far away from home.” Although I made Thailand my home, I will never forget that my real, my first home is, from a geographical point of view, 7,000 kilometers to the West. Alison Jean Lester, the author of Locked Out. Stories Far From Home, also a globetrotter, created in her collection of short stories a world in which the characters, more often than not, feel a sense of dislocation, feel that they are, as the title suggests, far away from home.

Alison Jean Lester has lived both in the West (United States, Italy, and United Kingdom) and the East (China, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore). Locked Out, her first book, published by Monsoon Books (Singapore, 2006), is made up of ten short stories set in different Asian countries. In 2008, she has also published at Marshall Cavendish two books of non-fiction: Present for Success: A powerful approach to building confidence, developing impact and transforming your presentations and Communication: Your Key to Success (with Shirley Taylor). A prolific writer, Alison is now a communication coach and frequent contributor to The Straits Times (Singapore).

Locked Out, the eponymous short story that opens the book, deals with the conflicts of two civilizations: Western and Far Eastern. An American woman struggles to keep up with the “competition,” her husband’s Japanese assistant, but at the same time, she tries to remain true to herself. In Bill’s Bones, Judith Reynolds returns to an Indonesian island, where her husband drowned after an argument the year before, in the hope of finding his bones: “She sat back on her haunches and looked out at the surf. Suddenly she knew that Bill’s bones wouldn’t rise again.” Instead of bones, she (re)discovers her freedom and joy of living.

My Thing presents the relationship between an Indo-Portuguese woman and the Asian paintings that litter her residence. In Needing Ice we find out about Margaret, a teacher of English in Japan, who has always been ready to offer advice to anyone who wanted to listen. But, when she tries to help one of her students get rid of her abusive boyfriend, she finally meets her match.

Being Japanese is the story of Sayuri’s struggle as a young Japanese suffering a terminal illness. The strict expectations of the Japanese society forced her to behave against her own nature: “Sayuri felt Japanese rules of conduct like a second skeleton, which dissolved when she travelled. Abroad, it didn’t seem to matter what she wore, and as a result she always knew what to put on.” Bottom line, “Being Japanese was frankly exhausting. Maybe this was what was killing her.” It is by far the strongest and most evocative short story in the entire collection. In Tiptoe, Amy, an American woman, follows her husband to Singapore where he got a job at an oil company. She will find it hard to accommodate to the weather, but she will find it even harder to understand the emotional distress her neighbour’s child was in.

Strays is about a lonely woman living in Singapore, steadily going through the motions of life, which include a failed marriage, her elderly neighbour and her dogs. Singapore Sting is the funniest short story in the book. It presents two women’s efforts at exposing “the Chinese mafia” in Singapore.

The War of the Worlds takes the reader to an American neighbourhood in 1941. Here, a 14-year-old boy spends an afternoon with a German immigrant and has an unexpected experience: “Some people say that the Germans think a song is only good if it is difficult and that only the Italians know what a real song is.” In Really Trying to Get Somewhere, the reader follows a group of travel agents on a trip to Sri Lanka’s exotic countryside: “The local script was tremendously artistic, even erotic. Perhaps the letters were rendered in the most uninteresting of official fonts, boring to Sri Lankans, but to me they represented nothing less than a series of taut scrota, broad buttocks, and perfectly rounded breasts.”

Locked Out. Stories Far From Home is a beautifully written collection of short stories written from the point of view of women who live far away from their native homes. Much appreciated is also the attempt to enter the mind of Asian women and try to explain how they have to comply with the rules imposed on them by society. Alison Jean Lester, an American expatriate living in Singapore, continues to write and inspire people around her and we only hope that we will soon have in our hands another book of her wonderful fiction.

Ever since I had spent ten months in the Middle East – as a teacher at an Islamic international school in Qatar -, I have taken an academic and journalistic interest in Islam. Although I have no intentions of converting, while in the Gulf, I was asked, almost daily, to do so by both fellow teachers and my students. Unfortunately, my experiences there were quite eventful and I left the Middle East with a totally different opinion about Muslims than I had when I first landed in Qatar.

At the end of the day, for most Muslims in Qatar, I was only a Christian, a ‘lesser man,’ whose life in case of a road accident was only half as valuable as a Muslim’s. However, I did meet wonderful Muslims (most of them foreigners, not Arabs) who treated me with respect (though, sometimes I felt they ‘pitied’ me). I also met Muslims who prayed five times a day and lived the life of a ‘real Muslim,’ while others consumed alcohol and went whoring.

Singapore Ground Zero by Michael Vatikiotis is a collection of six short stories, which, as the title suggests, deals with the Muslim world of Southeast Asia in the post-September 11 terrorist attacks. The author can be considered an expert on matters relating to Asia, in general, and Southeast Asia, in particular, having worked as a journalist in the region for over twenty years. He has written both non-fiction and fiction books, with a focus on the Asian region. His fiction includes Debatable Land (Talisman, 2001), his first collection of short stories, and The Spice Garden (Equinox, 2003), a novel set in Indonesia and based on true accounts of religious violence. Singapore Ground Zero and Other Stories is his second collection of short stories and was published in 2007 by Singapore-based Talisman.

In Singapore Ground Zero, the story that opens the collection, the reader finds out about the dangers of believing everything one reads in books, especially if the books are strongly against Islam. Stanley Tan, your usual government employee who fully trusts the powers to be, becomes obsessed with the threat Islam poses to world peace and looses “himself in the world of terror.” Unfortunately, Stanley cannot differentiate between the normal life of everyday Muslims living in Singapore and “the grainy mug shots of bearded men wearing turbans and brandishing machine guns.” This flaw of judgment will eventually bring about his tragic demise.

Catching Communists deals with the disillusionment of an insignificant government employee whose job is to hunt down communists and make sure all dissidents in Indonesia are silenced. Seen as a national threat, communists “come alive at night and fill the dark void like spirits, plotting the downfall of our nation.” It is a story of extremes that force the characters to take sides. However, when the communists are no longer a threat, the former ‘hunters’ become underground Islamist militants, fighting against “the Great Satan in the shape of the United States.”

In Scar Face at Ground Zero, we find our about a young Indonesian’s post 7/11 trip to the United Stated. But, Dimiati Subianto’s first trip to America is not what he had expected it to be: “Denny came of age believing that America stood for levels of perfection and comfort that in Indonesia he could only dream about.” Instead, he has to deal with the Americans’ fears of Muslims and witnesses the injustice Muslims face in the USA.

The Pluralist is a short story that takes the reader to Malaysia and the struggle between moderate and radical Muslims: “It’s not the business of state officials to dictate how good a Muslim I am or am not.” For voicing such opinions, Daud Sileiman becomes a hero in the eyes of the Western media but, after the Malaysian government arrests him and throws him in jail, the Western world seems to forget about him. Unfortunately, this will make Daud join ranks with Al Qaeda.

A Rebel to Remember is set both in Malaysia and Thailand and deals with a foreign journalist’s dangerous journey to Patani, in the south of Thailand, a region that “is the meeting point of two dramatically different peoples, the Buddhist Thai and Muslim Malay.” Once he crosses the border into Thailand, his driver is assassinated, the village headman who gives him shelter is gunned down by the Thai soldiers, the women of the village brutally murder two soldiers, and his guide takes up arms to continue the insurgency.

Television, the final short story in the collection, presents through the eyes of a 12 years old beggar the crackdown of a demonstration by the Indonesian soldiers on the streets of Jakarta.

Singapore Ground Zero is a book in which Michael Vatikiotis describes, without taking sides, the good, the bad and the ugly of Islam. What make this book a valuable and accurate description of the Muslim world in Southeast Asia is that the stories are seen through the point of view of both sides, with the author masterfully avoiding the necessity to take sides.

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Jate Sopitpongstorn

People come to Thailand for various reasons: some follow the “tourist track” and visit the many white-sand beaches that Thailand has to offer, some embark on more or less successful business ventures, while others are interested in making contact with Thai Buddhism and its spirituality. Maybe one of the most famous farangs to have taken the “temple track” is Phra Peter Pannapadipo, an Englishman who has spent more than ten years as a monk in Thailand. But he is not the only one!

Just a few weeks ago, Deepak Chopra, the 64-year-old world-renowned Indian-American spiritual guru and author of 55 books on spirituality and self-help, chose Thailand as the place to be ordained a Buddhist monk. Among the thirteen countries that recognize Buddhism as a state religion, Deepak’s decision to become a monk in the Land of Smiles was an honour for the Sopitpongstorn family, whose members were in charge of organizing the ordaining. It is thus not surprising that Jate Sopitpongstorn, the 37-year-old Managing Director of Horseshoe Point Pattaya, accompanied Deepak on his Thai spiritual journey.

From his penthouse office overlooking Lumpini Park in the capital’s financial district, Jate confessed that, at first, he intended only to serve as Deepak’s translator, but then he was talked into ordaining too by the monks at the temple. “It all happened in the last minute. I took the decision to follow Deepak into monkhood on the afternoon before the day scheduled for our guest and friend to become a monk,” said Jate. But, before the actual ordainment, Deepak and Jate spent four days in Kanchanaburi Province, where they got accustomed with the strict life led by Thai monks at Sunanthavanaram Monastery.

Then, between the 7^th and 12^th of July, the abbot of Wat Mai Sri Rom Yen, situated on the northern Thai-Laotian border in Chiangkong in Chiang Rai Province, took them in. After the ordaining ceremony, both were introduced to the temple life with their orange saffron robes and begging bowls as their only worldly possessions. Upon entering monkhood, they both received new names: for the duration of his stay in the temple, Deepak was called ‘Choti Punyo Bhiku’ and Jate was ‘Anurutto Bhiku.’

For Jate, life hasn’t always been as religious and spiritual as it might seem. His first brush with religion was during his school days, when, as a pupil at a Christian school, he had to go to church and pray every Sunday. When his parents moved him to a Thai school, he lost his religious identity until later in his years as a student at Chulalongkorn University.

The death of his grandfather was a turning point in Jate’s spiritual life. Apart from erecting the Three Kingdom Theme Park, an amazing complex in Pattaya, build to honor his grandfather’s memory, Jate went on a meditation retreat. It was during this intense time of meditation that Jate rediscovered his link with Buddhism. “Ever since then, I regularly go to meditation centers and I get involved in special Buddhist ceremonies. Apart from that, I started reading and studying Buddhism and, most importantly, tried to apply Lord Buddha’s teachings in my daily life,” recalled Jate.

Personally meeting Deepak Chopra and sharing his company during almost two weeks in temples in Thailand was another step Jate took up the ladder of spirituality. “During and after our morning alms round, I would listen to Deepak talk about life and spirituality. I tried to absorb from him as much knowledge as humanly possible and I truly believe that my spiritual life has greatly improved.” Jate clearly remembers Deepak’s theory of human and universal consciousness, as well as the concept of choiceless awareness, a higher state of mind on the enlightenment path that is characterized by being aware of whatever is present without choice or preference.

During the time they were in the temple, Jate acted as Deepak’s interpreter while the foreign guru engaged in long discussions with the abbot and the other monks. There is no doubt that Jate had a lot to benefit from this first-hand encounter between one of the most brilliant minds of the 21^st century and the Thai monks. Nevertheless, Jate believes that, in the end, everybody had something to learn from this experience. Both Deepak and the Thai monks became aware of each other’s teachings and interpretation of Buddhism and spirituality and, to paraphrase Deepak’s words, “it was an excellent opportunity to withdraw from the hectic public and business lives we all lead and give back to the world, in the form of meditation and seclusion, universal happiness.”

Jate talked at length about this new concept Deepak’s put forward and explained that if people around the world would indulge in meditation, considered in itself a medium for happiness and positive thinking, then humankind would be in contact with its own consciousness and transform the world around us into a better place. Hearing these ideas from Jate Sopitpongstorn, a successful businessman, considered by Thailand Tatler one of Bangkok’s most eligible bachelors, was both surprising and inspiring.

If two men, whose financial security could afford them a carefree life, had the power of will to shed their egos and worldly wealth to become (even if for a short period of time) followers of the Buddha’s teachings, it can only mean that people of all nationalities, races, and social status do reach out and try to make a difference. Because, if we believe Deepak’s theories, the more people follow the mediation path, the more happiness they create for everyone around.

For readers interested in more information about spirituality, wellness, and Deepak’s achievements and projects visit www.chopra.com and www.deepakchopra.com.

(An edited version of this article was published in
‘Bangkok Trader’ – Vol. 4, No. 9, August 2010)

Alan Van Every

After receiving his degree and not finding a job that suited his skills, Alan, while being an artist and having a studio downtown, also worked mostly as a car mechanic. For the next seven years, he also did work as a sign painter / pin stripper / building mechanic / tow truck driver in a collision shop owned by his relatives. At this job, Alan was able to learn about and use many more skills and tools which he was to use, later on, as an artist. After working at the garage, Alan worked as an art teacher at a catholic school for the next two years and also as an exercise machine fabricator.

When Alan was approaching 50, he realized that he needed to find some different answers for himself as an artist. He began applying for artist residencies and planning on moving from his loft space. Finally, in 2006, that is exactly what happened: he went to Seoul, South Korea, to experience a different life style and culture for three months. After the three months were over, he decided to stay on in Seoul and teach English at a hogwan. He liked teaching again: “It was refreshing to have knowledge to pass on and I really liked the kids and felt that I was fairly decent at it,” says Alan in reminiscence of the time he spent in South Korea.

While he was abroad, his work, which already had an eastern quality it, continued to change. He was working on things he called abstract Mandalas which had an Asian feeling and he started using glitter and gold or silver leaf on his sculpture and paintings. After a year in Seoul he was a bit undecided about what to do next. His contract with his school was up and he was beginning to feel that the Korean Peninsula was a bit too cold and the people were not all that in favor of having Americans or, for that fact, many foreigners amongst them.

When his contract ended he came on vacation in Thailand for two weeks. He loved it: the weather was hot and the people were nice (some of them could even speak English!). “It was an altogether more relaxed atmosphere than the one I got used to in South Korea,” confessed Alan. Of course, he also understood that his views were influenced by the fact that he was on vacation, but “it was really the best I felt about things in a few years.”

On the way back to Seoul he thought to himself, “Well, why am I going back to South Korea?” At that point he was already decided: he would look for his next job in Thailand. He came back to Bangkok in February of 2008 and he’s been here ever since.  He likes Thai culture and enjoys traveling around to all kinds of parts of the country. He bought a scooter, which he loves to ride and modify. He rents a house (first house he has lived in since he moved out of his parents’ house in 1985) where he has arranged a small studio for his work.

For the last few years his art has had a kind of Thai feel to it, Alan being an admirer and researcher of Thai traditional art. The fact that there is a new museum in Bangkok for contemporary works only motivates him to continue producing quality art. He is really, really happy to know that he is also contributing to shaping the Thai artists of tomorrow by teaching art at Keera-Pat International School, Bangkok, where he presently works. “I’m sure some of these youngsters will be artists,” said Alan referring to the students he teaches.

His philosophy on teaching art has changed quite a bit since he was an art teacher in the catholic school some 20 odd years ago or when he taught at the university when he was pursuing his masters in the USA. He has less preconceptions about what children can and will do. Speaking about his style in the classroom, Alan likes “to teach by giving kids kind of a loose ingredient list, if you will, of what a project should have. I won’t show examples because I believe that examples make the children copy the idea and since they don’t need to, they won’t think creatively for solutions to the visual problems that are presented.”

His teaching philosophy is best summarized, in Alan’s own words, this way: “an effective art teacher must provide students with the opportunity to acquire, practice, and receive reinforcement of fundamental knowledge and skills; a good teacher encourages students to think, not to accept information passively, but to question, analyze and test via applications of newly acquired knowledge.” Alan believes that, as a teacher, he is going to learn more from his students about teaching than any other source. “I have some more definite ideas about the development of the right part of the brain and how to activate the creative drive and intelligence which frankly is easy to practice but a bit hard to put into words. In some ways, visual thinking is a different kind of intelligence which needs to be taught and practiced by the practitioner of the expression and I feel the teacher’s role is to facilitate it while developing confidence and being honest with the student.”

He really likes to get away from things that might be pretty and to things that say something in a strong visual way. Alan Van Every is a talented artist who, during his free time, continues to work on his own projects in his Bangkok studio. We’re looking forward to his first solo exhibition in the Land of Smiles.

(Read about Alan’s life in New York!)
(Initially published in ‘Bangkok Trader’ – Vol. 4, No. 9, August 2010)

Caron Eastgate James (now Dann) is a journalist, novelist and researcher who lived in Thailand for four years in the 1990s, where she worked as a teacher and journalist, then researched and wrote her novel and, later, used that research as a starting point for her PhD thesis. She was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1962, but now resides in Melbourne, Australia. Caron is the author of The Occidentals (Asia Books, 1999) and Imagining Siam: A Travellers’ Literary Guide to Thailand (Monash Asia Institute, 2008). In this interview she talks about her books, the literary scene in Thailand, and her passion for writing.

VMS: Your PhD research concentrated on Western writing about Thailand from Marco Polo to today. What were your conclusions?

CEJ: You’ll have to read my book, Imagining Siam! Basically, I say that there is a lot more to Thailand than the glossy tourism industry brochures show us, though there is all that too. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with package holidays to beautiful resorts at, for example, Phuket or Hua Hin. After all, the tourist dollar is very important to the Thai economy.

I would like English literature about Thailand to reflect the fact that there is much more to Thailand than the clichéd presentations of travel sections in newspapers, on screen and in popular novels. My message is probably more to writers – look wider than the girly-bar scene and the old East v West representations; and to publishers – commission manuscripts that tell a wider story. To readers, I would say look for diverse material about Thailand, particularly that written by Thai authors who write in English or whose works have been translated.

VMS: Although Imagining Siam: A Travellers’ Literary Guide to Thailand is an academic book, what benefits would a potential visitor to Thailand get from reading it?

CEJ: Travellers today are very savvy and many of them want more than just a resort package-holiday with cocktails round the pool. Literary tourism has become fashionable and popular. Middle-aged travellers, particularly, are interested in literary backgrounds to the countries they visit. I wrote Imagining Siam in an accessible way, so almost anyone could read it. People could use it to identify locations of books and films about Thailand. They might also read the book in conjunction with a trip to Thailand, to give themselves a better feel for what they’re looking at. Armchair travellers also like to read about travel, and this book is perfect for people who love books, travel and history combined. The montage on the cover is of some of the books that I own. I have about 300 books about Thailand, old and new, that I have collected over the last 20 years.

VMS: What is your take on the English-language books about Thailand that are published nowadays?

CEJ: I think there is much more to be told. A lot of books since the 1970s have centred on the bar scene and male dreams of unlimited sex for sale, or the drug scene. This is only a tiny part of what Thailand is. There are few historic novels written about Thailand in English, particularly set before the 1960s. My editor said The Occidentals was the first historic novel Asia Books had published. In four years living in Thailand and more than 20 other visits, I went to Khao San Rd only once, and that was to go to a particular jazz bar.

In fiction, I like John Burdett’s series (Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tattoo and Bangkok Haunts), even though it does concentrate on that “seedy underbelly”. Also along those lines is the thriller Behind the Night Bazaar, by Angela Savage, set in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. For a different take on the Western man meets Eastern girl theme, I like Thai Girl, by Andrew Hicks, which tells the realistic tale of an Englishman who meets a Thai woman who works as a beach-side masseuse. The novel Jasmine Nights, by S P Somtow, is a wonderful coming-of-age story set in 1960s Bangkok. Siam or The Woman Who Shot a Man, by Lily Tuck, is also set in 1960s Bangkok, amongst the debate over the American part in the Vietnam War and the disappearance of the silk merchant Jim Thompson. For a novel about old Siam, The Falcon of Siam by Axel Aylwen, a best-seller in the 1990s, is a thrilling take on the story of the Greek, Phaulkon, who became a nobleman in 17^th-century Ayutthaya.

There are also some terrific memoirs, for example: Dream of a Thousand Lives, by Karen Connelly, about a young Canadian exchange student’s time in Denchai, northern Thailand; and Meeting Faith: an Inward Odyssey, by Faith Adiele, about an African-American woman who becomes a maechi (Buddhist nun) in northern Thailand. For short stories, I like Fragile Days: Tales from Bangkok, by Tew Bunnag, and Sightseeing, by Rattawut Lapcharoensap. I have also read and enjoyed stories and novels by Kulap Saipradit (Sri Burapha), Pira Canning Sudham and Botan.

There are some wonderful cook books that also talk about Thai culture, particularly those by the Australian chef David Thompson, Thai Food and Thai Street Food. He has just opened a branch of his restaurant Nahm in Thailand, at the Metropolitan Bangkok hotel.

VMS: You have lived in quite a few places (New Zealand, Australia, England, the United States, Thailand) but the main inspiration in your writing comes from Thailand. What’s so special about Thailand?

CEJ: It seems everyone has written everything about NZ, Australia, England and the US. Thailand has so many fascinating stories, good and bad, to be told about Westerners who have travelled there. Plus, it’s the only other country I’ve lived in that has a culture completely different to that of my own. That’s not to say I wouldn’t write about those other places. I am planning to write a novel set in World War II Europe, for example.

VMS: When will you return to Thailand?

CEJ: As soon as I can! I don’t think it will be this year though. I’d like to bring my husband, as he hasn’t been to Bangkok. He called into Phuket briefly a few years ago when he was on a cruise.

VMS: You are a full time lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne. What courses do you teach?

CEJ: I’m not actually full-time necessarily. I’m either on short-term contracts or sessional contracts, as about 50% of academics are in Australia. I did have full-time contracts from the beginning of 2008 until June this year. This semester, I’m glad to be teaching only one day a week. I’m having a well-earned break so I have time to do some more writing.

The courses I teach are mainly media studies, because I spent a couple of decades as a journalist. Teaching media studies is a lot more theoretical than actually working as a journalist, though. I also teach professional and academic writing for the English section.

I have also taught at Monash College, the pathway institute to Monash University. Most of the people there are international students from China, Singapore, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and a few from Thailand. I taught media studies, academic writing and other arts units there.

VMS: In one way or another, you have been involved in writing almost all your adult life. Was the transition from journalism to fiction writing and to scientific research difficult? Are the skills of a journalist, a writer and an academic interrelated?

CEJ: I wrote all my childhood, too! Mum said I picked up a pencil when I was just a few months old, and she knew I would be a writer.

Although the three occupations of journalist, writer and academic cross over in some ways, they are all also quite different. All, however, require a large amount of independent work and initiative to get the job done. Journalists are good at thinking laterally to find information, and this has helped me in my research for both my historical writing and for my academic work.

Becoming an academic in 2008 was strange because, after being a senior journalist for a long time, I was suddenly a junior at work again! I was thrown into the deep end, lecturing, tutoring and co-coordinating a first-year media studies unit of 600 students at three campuses. I’ve learnt a lot since then and I think I’m improving all the time.

I’m lucky I enjoy working alone, because when I’m not teaching, I work in my home office. As a writer, I always quote the adages, “It won’t write itself” and “writing is about going into a room alone and doing it”! It’s not glamorous, or fun, or amusing. It’s a lot of hard work with little financial reward. I always feel lucky to have been published at all and for my novel to have sold well. About 99% of novels written are never published; of the 1% published, the vast majority make a loss. Because I’ve beaten both those odds, I believe anything could happen!

VMS: Apart from the Siamese saga trilogy, what other books do you plan to write?

CEJ: I have a thousand ideas! Well, the next two in The Occidentals saga, for a start. The third will take place from the end of World War II to today. As mentioned above, I am also writing a novelised biography of Louis Leonowens, son of Anna Leonowens. I have recently had a break-through in my research regarding Louis. I have also travelled to Tak and found the site of his house in the late 19^th century and have been in touch with his grandson, also called Louis Leonowens.

I have several non-fiction books to write, but can’t say too much about them yet. They will be about Australian topics.

I’d also like to write a contemporary novel set in Australia, perhaps around the subject of modern families and the tendency for women to have babies later and later.

VMS: Thank you for your time. I’m looking forward to reading your next novels.

CEJ: Thank you for the interview. I’ll keep you posted on how they are going.

Voicu Mihnea Simandan
Bangkok, Thailand
August 4, 2010

Caron Eastgate James (now Dann) is a journalist, novelist and researcher who lived in Thailand for four years in the 1990s, where she worked as a teacher and journalist, then researched and wrote her novel and, later, used that research as a starting point for her PhD thesis. She was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1962, but now resides in Melbourne, Australia. Caron is the author of The Occidentals (Asia Books, 1999) and Imagining Siam: A Travellers’ Literary Guide to Thailand (Monash Asia Institute, 2008). In this interview she talks about her books, the literary scene in Thailand, and her passion for writing.

VMS: How was The Occidentals received in Thailand? How about abroad?

CEJ: I think it was received well in Thailand, since it sold out of its print run! It was on Bangkok English-language best seller lists when it came out in 1999. Quite a few people told me they really liked it. I don’t know if many Thais have read it – I’m not sure it would interest Thais so much, though I do know some Thais living overseas have read it. It’s difficult writing about people from a different culture and I don’t pretend to be able to have any insight into the Thai culture. So what I did with the Thai characters, is I tried to forget about culture and think of them as any other person. Anyone who, like Kesri, had been treated so badly, would probably react the same way. I was appalled when I read that many Western men in this era would come to Thailand, stay a few years or even 20 years, and at the end of their time there, would abandon their Thai partner, even if they had children together, and retire back to their own country. Also, many local women who became the mistresses or “second wives” of married white men were treated poorly.

I saw Edward as a weak character, his wife Charlotte as the eternal victim, and his mistress Kesri as strong and resilient, yet flawed almost beyond redemption because of her terrible experiences. Her daughter, Anchalee, will become a type of heroine though and will become more in touch with her Thai side in the second book.

The novel has been published only in South-East Asia and in Germany, but it is amazing today, with books available online, how it has been read by people in many different countries.

Last year, I had some interest from some film producers in Los Angeles to take out a movie option on the book. I even met them when I happened to be in LA last November. Unfortunately, the idea to option the book has been shelved at the moment, because of the economic crisis, but perhaps there will be hope for a future film. I always thought it would make a good movie.

VMS: The Occidentals was also translated into German, Das Erbe Der Schwestern…

CEJ: I can speak German! I learned it for a year at school and for two years at university, including Middle High German literature. However, my German these days is very rusty and not nearly good enough to be a translator. I was incredibly lucky to have a great translator, Ursula Bischoff. She also translates the works of Alexander McCall Smith (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency), a writer whose novels I greatly admire. I have been told by native speakers that the German expression in Das Erbe Der Schwestern is excellent.

The German hardback was published by Nymphenburger in 2003 and it sold at least 3000 copies. They then on-sold it to a paperback publisher, Knaur, and that edition came out in 2005 and sold 18,000 copies, which they were very pleased about.

Getting my book published in German was a bit of a fluke. It happened when I was lucky enough to get a very good agent. I would never have thought of it, but she approached me through my Thai publisher. It nearly didn’t happen – they forgot to pass on the message to me until months later! Anyway, I then contacted the German agent and we made an agreement for her to represent me. I didn’t think anything would come of it. One day, I got an email from her to say she had been to the Frankfurt Book Fair and sold my book to Nymphenburger! It also came out in an audio version in 2007. So I ended up getting royalties for about eight years altogether. Unfortunately, due to the economic crisis causing a downturn in business, my agent has this year decided to close her agency and go back to book editing.

VMS: The English edition has long been out of print. I bought my copy from a second-hand book sale. Are there any chances of a second edition? Would there be anything you would like to change?

CEJ: The English edition has been out of print for maybe a year or two. I would love it to be reprinted. Unfortunately, Asia Books no longer publishes novels. Regarding making changes, I’m not really into being a revisionist writer. However, I would correct the odd typographical and punctuation error and there is one mistake (a character’s name) I would also correct – I won’t tell you where it is! Actually, the copyright has now reverted to me and I am thinking of making The Occidentals available online as an e-book, possibly through Amazon’s Kindle. This means, however, that I would have to retype it, as the original discs no longer exist (and probably couldn’t be read by computers now, anyway).

VMS: On the last page of The Occidentals you make two promises. One of them, completing your PhD, has already been honoured. How about your intention to write two more novels in the Siamese saga series to complete a trilogy?

CEJ: I’m writing as we speak! I have started the second book. It had the working title The Wild, Wild East, but I think I’m going to call it The Golden House, after the women’s health clinic started by young Kesri at the end of the first book. The sequel opens in 1909 when Joe, now a King’s Counsel, and his new wife, Victoria, a “lady doctor” arrive in Bangkok. It also follows the story of the part-Maori grand-daughter of the missionary, Joseph. He always thought the illegitimate daughter he had with a Maori princess in New Zealand had died – but it turns out, he was lied to and she went on to have her own daughter, who has discovered her heritage. Now she is leaving her home in Central Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, and travelling to Siam to find her grandfather, not realising he is dead.

(To be continued)