Persatuan Alumni AOTS Malaysia

C O N T E N T S

The president message

Kaizen Seminar on “Towards Betterment: 5S and Kaizen”

Tea-talk on
ISO 9001: 2000 Quality Management System (QMS) and
Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Regulations

MEMORABLE GET-TOGETHER With Ichikawa-san

Hippo Participant's Experience

Japanese Popular Culture

Photo Highlights:
Training Course on GEMBA GEMBA KAIZEN (Basic) Part II

Hippo Participant's Experience

By : Nurussaadah Mokhtar

The whole Monday was entirely spent at Tsurumiryokuchi Park which is situated at the east of Osaka City Centre. It had been decided as a day for my friends (Zuliana and Azah) and me to go out for sightseeing on our own. Well actually we wanted to explore the city centre by traveling with the massive train system. Routes of all types of trains in Osaka are already in our hands. Our initial plan was to visit Tsurumiryokuchi and Tennoji parks, the Bay Area and other tourists’ spots in Osaka as they looked very attractive in the website. But Tsurumiryokuchi Park was too large that by afternoon, we became exhausted already.

Kinuko-san and Atsuko-san, both my friends’ host family reminded us to take care of our belongings while traveling. They really are worried about us…. They said there are very few bad people in Japan. And they also said that Japanese men are very shy but they are very kind so that we should not hesitate to seek their help in case of anything.


Posing with Azah and Nana at Tsurumiryokuchi Station.

Tsurumiryokuchi Park had once held the International Gardens Festival.

That night, Hirooki-chan prepared a map for me to reach Kyoto from Osaka. Poor Hirooki chan because he stayed up late at night to prepare the map for me. During dinner, we chat about Islam and Muslims in general. Hirooki-chan told me he surfed a website on Muslims in internet and faxed the webpage to the house. So he showed it to me and tried to translate the Japanese text into English. It was actually about the 40 advises from Saidina Ali bin Abi Talib, one of the early Muslim Khalifs. How interesting!

I asked Rina-chan if she likes gardening. She said Hirooki-chan does! No wonder Kinukochan, the host family of my friend, Azah mentioned that afternoon that Japanese men favor gardening more than their women do.

With the friendly Japanese women.

One thing which really fascinated me was when Mr. Yusak told us that drinking water is even accessible from any water pipes! That means their water treatment system must be very systematic! Roads are very narrow and the streets are occupied mainly with pedestrians and cyclists. What a healthy environment!

Kyoto was so fascinating that I had completely forgotten about that night’s dinner with Rina-chan’s friends; Miifa and Margarita who are also members of HIPPO Club in Nishinomiya City. We rushed to the train station and we thanked Mr. Yusak for his wonderful hospitality. He really made our visit to Kyoto an exciting and memorable one!

As I reached the house, dinner was already served. I was introduced to Miifa and Margarita. To my surprise, Miifa greeted me the way Muslims do. I replied her salam. She said she is interested in Islam and is learning more about becoming a Muslim. I was very touched when Rina-chan told
me that Miifa brought her to look for halal food around Kobe. I remember Mr. Yusak told me it is not easy to get halal meat in Japan. She brought home instant recipes of ‘nasi goreng’, ‘rempah rendang’ and what not. These people are very kind hearted! So that night, I ate Japanese dishes together with Malay food which Miifa cooked for me. I told myself I must
invite them to my house and serve them the best I can!

Miifa, Margarita, Hirooki-chan and Rinachan really laughed a lot when we were dining. I did not expect them to have a very good sense of humor and I never thought Japanese could laugh that much! As for me, I just smiled as I understood nothing… So Japanese could actually joke! Hirooki-chan explained how people in Osaka differ from people of Tokyo… They are warmer than the people in Tokyo.

Lovely Miifa and Margarita

One of the halal food shops in Kobe.