Copper Kettle
@Mar/'85 Singapore
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A Map of Singapore

Singapore is a small and beautiful country the size of inner Tokyo, where more than 4 million people are living. Majority of the people are living in the south part of the island. People call it as a garden city due to manicured beauty of the city harmonized with thick vegetations and contemporary state of art buildings. This is the popular travel spot for our Japanese people. Millions Japanese visit this tiny island country and spend their fortune each year. Singapore locates on the pivotal strategic point in marine transportation routes between Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean region. Even today, airplanes are highly developed and carrying millions of tons cargo every day around the world, sea transportation still has a vital roll in international economic transactions. Singapore is playing an important role as nestling of international cargo fleets or exchange port of international merchandises.

Demand for international telecommunications ever strong in this rapidly developing city state, so the current facilities in Sentosa Island are becoming over crowded. Such circumstances made Singapore Telecom decided to build a new international gateways at the main island. Bukit Timah was selected as a site. I had a chance to engage the project as a chief testing engineer in constructing the new international satellite earth station at Bukit Timah in summer 1985. Singapore is a tiny island country, but it has metropolitan and rain forest in it and functioning well as a city state on the tip of Malay Peninsula. The work site locates on the way to Johor Bahru of Malaysia, besides the reservoir in central part of the island. The new site needs to be built every thing at the same time not only huge dish like satellite antenna but buildings for equipment and administration, and access road as well. Despite the sophisticated communications equipments need to be dealt dust free to keep their performances, building dusts are everywhere equipment to be installed at any time. Moreover, no access road completed yet. Narrow access road between the site office and the equipment room are often covered with mud due to scall we have almost everyday in this tropical climate. Three barriers between newly made equipment room and the outside were made in order to keep away dusts as much as possible.

This project was really unique in numbers of engineers dispatched to the site. At that time, number of testing engineers dispatched to the site to construct one normal size commercial satellite communications earth station was at most five or less. But over thirty engineers were dispatched to the site on that single project. I have to confess that most of my time at the site was consumed for arranging lunch or accommodation for them rather than technical matters.

Work Site at Bukit Timah, Boots and Helmets in the site office

The premier of that time was Mr. Lee Kuan Tew, he was an aggressive and talented politician who was leading young Singapore to the highly developed country with his strong iron mind. The target was Japan. His tactics was to follow Japan and over pass her. His strategy was totally accepted by the Singaporean and really making people so enthusiastic and exciting. A mother of middle class family in this country is so eager to send her child to the top class university. She pays high rate tuition fee to send her child to the famed supplemental school after the normal school hour. I am a person who opposes this kind of sardine pack education to the children. Despite of consuming fortune and power or sacrificing children’s time, there would be so little rewards than losing. A great politician or leader would be generated from people who have spent their child hoot more dynamically or diversely among normal family life.

In the city, Japanese tourists were flooded everywhere. There are branch of major Japanese department stores, like Isetan, Sogo, Yaohan and etc. All these outlets were bustling with shoppers of Japanese and locals. Almost everything you can buy as you are living in Tokyo. Trading firms and manufacturers from Japan were actively operating their business in this small country. Instead of the size of the coun try, size of Japanese School was the top level among the world.

Isetan Singapore

My stay in Singapore of this time was three months from October to January. Population of Singapore consists mainly of three races, Chinese, Malay and Indian. Its population ration is roughly 7 to 2 to 1. This makes the New Year in Singapore extra long than other country. It starts in November, Indian New Year, then Christmas in December, and normal new year in January, at last biggest one Chinese New Year in February. In Orchard Road, the main street in the City Center, every shops and restaurants were made shining with thousands of bright and colorful illumination. This extra long New Year illumination gave us pleasant and rich feeling whenever we out walking.

Since Singap0re is multi racial countries, their religions are also at large and each religion has their temple or church. For example, Thousands light Temple for Buddhists, Sri-Mariaman for Hindus, St. Patrick Church for Christians and Sultan Mosque for Muslims. They are living peacefully in this small island state. This is really a melting pot of the races. As a man from the single race country, Japan, it is hard to understand the situation. Are they really harmonizing each other? If you the town carefully, you easily notice that each race has their major habitant area. Respecting the difference each other, still people seems find pleasant to live who has same identities. They respect the difference but not hostile and struggle, but keep some comfortable distance each other. This delicacy sense of balance might be a typical for the society of human being. On the other hand, most elaborately developed creature on the earth, human being, is stamping on their own bothers and sisters, or between regions and religions.

Thousands lights Temple, Sri-Mariamman Temple, St. Patrick Church, Sultan Mosque

Foods in Singapore are another pleasure we can enjoy during the stay in there. Chinese foods are world famous, especially it is so appealing and matching to our Japanese tongue. My favorite is Newton Circus. It is a big open air foods center located in Newton Circus. This open air food center is always bustling with full of people of every kind. Almost all kind of foods you may find in Newton Circus, so everyone can enjoy their favorites there. Fresh foods materials are cooked poignantly in front of you without waiting long. Dishes are cheap made but the tastes are genuine, no false and prices are certainly reasonable.

My other favorite is Copper Kettle in the corner between Orchard Road and Scott Street. A tiny café restaurant half open air style nestled in the narrow space between the buildings. Tables are covered by large canvas tents. A small café restaurant, but even a live music entertains you. A middle aged Chinese musician with guitar in his arm swings mainly jazz oldies. When we went there, he always entertained us with his few repertoires of Japanese songs. His specialty was Presley. It was rather funny a middle aged Chinese musician sang repertoires of Presley playing almost like as Presley himself does, but only different looks. A small bottle of root beer, a Singaporean beer, and snack like pasta are our usual choice. Even dark at night, hot street air breezes into the restaurant. This is the time filled with comfort enjoying tropical feeling on naked skin, with tasty foods, rhythmical live music and little meaningless conversation among intimate colleagues.

In front of Mer-lion, A menu of Copper Kettle

Mar/'86 Rinzo@Singapore (Updated on27/Aug/'05)

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