One of the people I met last November during the environmental meeting I attended was the president of Mikuniya Corporation, one of the leading environmental consultancy firms in Japan. Well technically, he's not the president as of now because he retired a few months ago.
He went to the international ecovillage meeting because he'll use his retirement fund to put up his own ecovillage in Japan. He'll set up the village with a fellow former president (of an IT company) and also a retiree.
I got my first Christmas gift from him a few days ago.
This one is called a lifetime calendar because it has all the dates from the year 2000 to 2050.
Very economical if you ask me because you don't have to buy another calendar for as long as you live, well that is if you don't exceed the year 2050. It's a very brilliant concept actually.
I'll be celebrating my 60th birthday on a Friday! Haha!
I realized that this gift will be with me for a very long time. And in that way, I'll always remember the guy who gave this to me even if we only physically met for three days.
Here he is preparing a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. I don't know why but the Japanese culture stretches from two completely opposite spectrum. Here we can see their appreciation and respect for the step by step process - and this might be the value behind the concept of the lifetime calendar.
In a glance, you'd be able to spot the dates that matter to you. Like the day you graduated, when you got your first job, the moment you'd propose to your wife, your wedding day, birth of your first child... You'd be able to see your life in numbers and right now, I don't know what insight you'll get from that but in time, I know it'll be one heck of an experience.
Our universe isn't made of atoms, it's made of stories. And in one glance, you can see your life in numbers - being constantly reminded of the stories and memories behind those digits.
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