It's always a busy time of year. The ends of the old academic year still need tidying away; the new one needs firing up.

And it's always a busy time in KL. Not only have we had the second year of the DiverseCity arts exhibition, but it's also the time when the Japanese film festival hits town.

Totally unplanned, our experiences of both touched on themes of change and adaptation.

The traditional musicians of Pakistan, for example, faced first persecution, then indifference and social disdain. Fearing that his native country's music would be lost for ever, a member of the Pakistani diaspora sets up the Sachal Ensemble, and introduces his musicians to jazz. The resulting fusion -- epitomized by Dave Brubeck's Take Five, complete with sitar and tabla -- took off on Youtube, opening the door for more overseas tours, and more importantly, a way back into the hearts of Pakistani audiences.

All this is detailed in the documentary Song of Lahore, which we watched in the afternoon before the concert. I found the human struggles involved in this process of change and adaptation very moving. The players appeared after the showing, and answered a few questions.

In the evening, we went to the performance. I loved the rhythms, the complex texture of the sound, the ingenious blending of styles. All the musicians were good, but I guess I particularly have to single out the stellar performances on the bamboo flute(s) and tabla. The only sad thing about the whole experience was the small audience, which rattled somewhat forlornly around the vast DBKL Auditorium.





In honour of this Pakistani connection, we finally got round to trying out the Pakistan restaurant on Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah that we've been meaning to visit for ages. The lunch buffet is really excellent. My choices were the pilaf with chickpeas, dhal, lamb, and vegetables. All spicy and tasty, and the lamb fantastically tender and flavoursome. We took some of their sweets home for tea.

Change and adaptation (or lack thereof) was the theme underlying all our Japanese film festival offerings too.

Tora-san of Goto is a doco. For 22 years, it follows the fortunes of a Japanese family on a small island. Dad has set up a noodle business. Later he expands to processing sea salt. He works hard, but also drinks hard, and makes his family work hard too. Some are happier about that than others.

Like all good movies, it raises haunting questions:

What can young people do on small islands? (Actually a surprising number of the seven children end up living on Goto, but some have had to leave, and perhaps more would have left if Dad hadn't been so very unsympathetic to that desire...) How hard should kids work? (These kids work hard, and "learn discipline", as Dad would put it. Some find this hard taskmaster difficult to love. Others grow up to apply his principles to their children.) Can parents ever avoid restricting their children? Can children ever avoid disappointing their parents? And who knew noodles were that much work?

Coincidentally, we'd had udon noodles at Yoshinoya Hanamaru just before watching the movie. Ontama bukkake (simple and delicious, with tasty soup and a runny egg) and tori dashi udon (featuring a very delicate chicken broth). But not Goto noodles...

(And udon figured later in the week, Korean-style, in the shape of jajangmyeon (noodles with black bean sauce) from Sopoong. Which was the prelude to the beginning of another K-drama, May Queen. As its makjang qualities are sure to figure in future KL diaries, I will say no more. BUT the closing of the Pavilion branch of Speedy, our tried-and-trusted source for all this entertainment, is a change that will necessitate a very unwelcome adaptation.)



I digress...

Our second visit to the film festival took in Asian Threefold Mirror, consisting of three shorts, all featuring encounters between Japanese and Southeast Asians. In the first an illegal Filipino migrant is ousted from Japan, the stages of his hard working life and inevitable decline reflected in the lives of the horses he has always been so close to. In the second an obstreperous elderly Japanese man is looked after by three carers in Malaysia, the third of whom strikes up a redemptive relationship with him, takes him to the beach where his two brothers died in the war, and inherits his pigeons, symbols of peace. In the third, a Japanese businessman laments his Cambodian love, who disappeared during the time of Pol Pot, and finds that though he can restore a damaged bridge, it's harder to restore a damaged life. All thought-provoking.

Our final festival outing for this year was to Rudolf the Black Cat. This absolutely delightful anime grasps the idea of change very firmly in its cute, cute paws. The little cat not only learns to be street-wise, under the stern but kind tutelage of the tiger-cat with many names, but also learns to deal with the fickleness of humans. When he finds he's been replaced by his original owner, after he inadvertently went missing, he hitches off back to his cat-friends in Tokyo. They were planning some big travels...

Other changes? Well, various new bits of art have appeared in Pavilion; I almost have a new arm (although it's still not totally flexible); I have a new phone, because my old stalwart had just run too badly out of memory; the shrine has had a yellow/red switch-over; and we discovered Urbean, in Avenue K, which turns out to do a fine salad.

And... mooncakes have come round again. This year ours came from the Sheraton's Celestial Court. Snow skin matcha and milky green bean paste; snow skin mango paste and strawberry truffle with pumpkin seed; classic red bean paste with single yolk; osmanthus white lotus and black sesame with melon seed... Irresistible, no?