Ambeth R. Ocampo's Blog, page 163

My Inquirer column today on the Katipunan asking for the help of Japan in the Ph...

My Inquirer column today on the Katipunan asking for the help of Japan in the Philippine Revolution. Please share,


The Katipunan and the emperor of Japan
opinion.inquirer.net
Pinoy tourists I meet in Tokyo often ask how to get to Akihabara, the area famous for everything electronic. A few seek directions to Tsukiji market, where tuna auctions are held at the crack of dawn. Others ask about Harajuku and the best time to see young Japanese girls walking around in Cosplay c���

Eureka! For two years Ive been looking for the Godzilla monument in Tokyo not kn...

Eureka! For two years Ive been looking for the Godzilla monument in Tokyo not knowing its very close to the Rizal Monument in Hibiya Park!

See you in two weeks! My last Ayala Museum lecture for 2014 on Saturday 29 Nove...

See you in two weeks!
My last Ayala Museum lecture for 2014 on Saturday 29 November.
Please share.


2014

Better late than never. My Inquirer column today on the use of primary sources i...

Better late than never. My Inquirer column today on the use of primary sources in classroom history.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/80116/escape-from-history


Escape from history
opinion.inquirer.net
One of the welcome reforms in the teaching of college-level Philippine history resulted from the new K-to-12 curriculum that moved many general subjects now crowding the first two years of college to high school. In the past, Philippine history was taken up in grade school, high school and college w���

Heritage is not just about crumbling old structures and historic sites but also...

Heritage is not just about crumbling old structures and historic sites but also about the names of cities, towns, barrios and streets.


opinion.inquirer.net
Heritage is something we inherit from the past. The word is used rather often these days to refer to old buildings and structures that are being torn down to make way for new structures and developments. There is no argument about the importance of preserving heritage, but we need some kind of clear���

This view greeted me this morning from the top floor suite of the Peninsula Toky...

This view greeted me this morning from the top floor suite of the Peninsula Tokyo. Overnight stay courtesy of a friend included a sala with a telescope to look diown on the Imperial Palace. This luxurious life can be addiictive and is great for a historian to enjoy for awhile to experience and understand butter on the other side of the bread.

My Inquirer column today on how I got to know about Japan and Japanese culture l...

My Inquirer column today on how I got to know about Japan and Japanese culture long before I even visited the place.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/79876/japan-of-my-childhood


Japan of my childhood
opinion.inquirer.net
I missed ���Undas��� again this year. I missed the bonding, the family gossip, and the memories that bring the dead back to life for a day. My nephews and nieces went about the cemetery picking at melted candles to form balls of wax, the old folks sat around a grave to reminisce while balut, butong pakw���

Saw this gold creature in the Yasukuni shrine flea market and was tempted to bri...

Saw this gold creature in the Yasukuni shrine flea market and was tempted to bring him home but he wouldnt fit in my suitcase. His name is Billiken and is a mascot or good luck charm in Japan. He was also the mascot of the prewar Manila Carnival. This Philippines-Japan connection I have to research

This tombstone in the Cementerio del Norte shows that on November 1 we should no...

This tombstone in the Cementerio del Norte shows that on November 1 we should not forget our Faithful Departed Pets and Animals. Pls share.


2014

Sorry for the late posting of my Halloween column on Frankenstein.http://opinio...

Sorry for the late posting of my Halloween column on Frankenstein.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/79733/birth-of-frankenstein


Birth of Frankenstein
opinion.inquirer.net
Young people today associate Frankenstein and Dracula with the monsters created for them in film and TV, not the originals in print that are a bother to read. I read an abridged version of Bram Stoker���s 1897 novel ���Dracula��� when I was in grade school and learned what an epistolary novel was like, th���