It’s always overwhelming to arrive in a new country, especially if the culture is completely different than what you’re familiar with. Certainly coming to Japan in July 2007 was that way for me, even though I’d already made some stops in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and China, and at least had been introduced to the “East”.
The first few days are pure overload. There’s so much to take in, you’re not sure what to look at or even what you’re seeing. You’re distracted by just trying to function, trying to communicate in an unfamiliar tongue, trying to pantomime and fake your way from one scene to the next, hope upon hope you’re not offending someone.
Slowly, one-by-one, things begin to come into focus.
I distinctly remember the first thing that caught me somewhat baffled eye here in Japan.
Vending machines!
They seemed to be everywhere, often in places I certainly didn’t expect to see them. Like out in the open on the side of a busy road!
Of course, everything is convenient here. If I’m not mistaken, Japan invented the コンビニ — the convenience store.
What could be more convenient than being able to pull your car over just about anywhere, pull out some coins and buy . . . buy what your heart desires! As you can see from the pic at the top, there are vending machines for snacks, cakes and sweets, tofu, ramen, noodles, even strawberries.
And as I pointed out back in March, my wife Masumi discovered a vending machine for . . . OYSTERS! I personally have never had a craving for oysters in the middle of the night, but if I ever do I’ll just go look for the nearest oyster vending machine and start slurping.
By the way, I’ve also seen vending machines for beer and other alcoholic drinks. Since Japan has such strict drug laws, I’m not expecting to see any for marijuana anytime soon. Maybe they have those in Amsterdam.
I know it looks like I’ve already been hitting the sake, but I hadn’t opened it yet. It’s just that I’m very old.
I’ve written before about the uniquely wonderful national holidays Japan celebrates. It’s also talked about in my book LIVE FROM JAPAN!
This past Monday was 敬老の日, Keirō no Hi, Respect for the Aged Day here, my wife had the day off from teaching, and we had a barbecue celebration with her mother (definitely an aged person) and her older daughters. It was a splendid little party in the pergola I built a couple years ago.
Just before our festivities got fully rolling, I got a visit from one of my neighbors. The word had reached the highest government institutions. John Rachel turned 75 this summer, making me an official member of the “aged”. Not to diminish the prestige or importance of reaching this chronological benchmark, it’s not really a very exclusive club. People live very long lives here, and Japan this year recorded more people age 100 or above than ever in its history.
In any case, my neighbor brought with him gifts, those in the photo at the top.
The box of treats, including crackers and tea, was from the greater Tambasasayama area community. The bottle of expensive sake was from the mayor! He even wrote a letter of congratulations.
I suspect that this lovely gift-giving gesture was probably just a practice of my home town and other similar ones, modest size cities with more cohesion and sociability, and not the norm in the big cities.
But what a great touch on top of having a whole national holiday dedicated to us old folks!
And what a great way to make an “outsider” like me feel welcome in this charming and always amazing country, full of heart and adventure.
Finally, I have to draw attention to one of the treats.
My wife, Masumi, says these are really yummy!
Here is the rough translation of the messages on the package.
Life begins at 70.
When the angel comes for you at 70, tell him you’re not home.
When the angel comes for you at 80, tell him it’s too early.
When the angel comes for you at 90, tell him you’re not in a hurry.
When the angel comes for you at 100, tell him when the time comes you’ll be there.
Hmm. I assume the angel(s) speak Japanese. I think I better get cracking and make sure I’m up to speed with my command of the language!
Actually, I just made that up. Sounds good though.
“Take your vitamins, people! Don’t forget your Vitamin H.” If you get the recommended daily intake of Vitamin H, you’ll get through each day with a smile, find yourself buoyed with a general giddiness, approach every encounter, person and situation with a naive trust that’ll keep your blood pressure low and your gullibility off the charts.
Ignorance is bliss! Let’s party!
Hope is a ticket to Paradise.
Admittedly . . . so far it hasn’t done very much to prevent malaise, ennui, confusion, paranoia, short and long term memory loss, cognitive dissonance, alienation, disconnect, cerebral dyspepsia, disorientation, and hegemony of the lizard brain.
But we can keep on hoping!
Which brings me to the splendid tidings of this particular article. Yes, good people, if you were looking for a real boost, something to skyrocket your sagging expectations into the dreamy upper reaches of the gladosphere, you’ve come to the right place.
First, to appreciate the magnitude of this announcement, we need to review.
When peaceniks were all mopey about the destruction of Yugoslavia via a massive, illegal bombing campaign, we had this WONDERFUL SONG to turn those frowns upside down!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWwXtG199PQ
When young and old, rich and poor, were reeling from the dotcom stock market crash and subsequent meltdown of the economy, the Oxycontin back then was this appropriately titled MUSICAL INTUBATOR.
Granted, seeing the Twin Towers come down and the U.S. turned on its head in an orgy of fear and grief was a bummer. But it was only two weeks later THIS HEAVY BREATHER was released to remind people what was really important in life!
As a delightful soundtrack to the slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians and bombing Baghdad Iraq back to the Stone Age, who couldn’t help but feel the awesome “boom boom” of THIS DANCE FLOOR M.O.A.B. Bumping and grinding has never felt so patriotic!
So what’s the lesson here?
It comes down to this. When trying to process the next installment of doom and gloom by the pernicious 24/7 lethal drip of MSM drivel, when trying to sort out and deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, endless wars, a collapsing economy, oppression, genocide, critical race theory, wokeness, wealth inequality, corporate tyranny, technocracy, the Great Reset, cyber warfare, biological warfare, info warfare, masks, vaccines, fake news, deep fakes, the Deep State, bad TV, bad movies, and the screechy hyperventilating of our political class, for our own sanity — for our survival as a species — we must break with the old habits, open our minds, and turn our blurred gazes to a new source of enlightenment and hope!
Hear me now! When confronted with the spirit-killing sludge of endless crises, don’t look to Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, Robert Reich, Thom Hartmann, Rachel Maddow, Tucker Carlson, Jimmy Dore, or Joe Rogan. Don’t even listen to me, except of course for this one last incredibly brilliant piece that you’re reading right now. Because let’s face it. What we self-appointed mouthpieces — myself included — vomit up for mass consumption is a worthless pile of pitiful, mostly pessimistic, self-promoting blather.
No, dear friends and comrades: WE MUST TURN TO SOMEONE WHO CAN ACTUALLY SAVE US!
Someone who knows the real price of freedom. Someone with some skin in the game!
This first part of this story offers insight into the way the U.S. government works. The last part is another inspiring tale about Japan.
The summer when I was twelve-years-old, I had a thriving lawn-cutting business. Understand that I lived in a mobile home park. So my jobs were pretty much already “lined up”. In two rows on opposite sides of the single lane that serviced the entire community were somewhere around 200 trailers, each surrounded by tiny lawns.
(The photo on the right is a current one of the trailer park from Google Satellite Views. Now the entire area is entirely developed but back when I was a boy, it was surrounded only by fields and woods.)
Not bragging, I have to say I did a good job. So the word spread and I got very busy. After each day of cutting and trimming grass, I put my daily take in a jar.
About the middle of summer, the jar was getting extremely full . . . and very tempting. Gosh, there were a few things I really needed or wanted. So I started replacing the money with little white IOU slips. By the end of the summer, there was no money, just white slips. My savings now consisted of promissory notes.
And that’s how the U.S. government works!
Actually, it’s how most U.S. citizens function. The nation is up to its neck in “white slips” both personally and institutionally. I can honestly say I know very few people who are good at saving money. Piling up credit card debt appears to be the national pastime.
To be completely fair and accurate, however, in terms of actual personal savings rates in countries with advanced economies, Finland (-1.2%) and Poland (3.0%) are the worst, Sweden (17.1%) and Switzerland (17.6%) are on top, and the U.S. is in the middle (8.1%). By the way, these are figures from 2019. The U.S. is certainly not as bad as I expected.
Anyway, to the point of this story.
Just this past May, a gentleman estimated to be in his 70s or 80s — who he is still is a mystery since he never identified himself and to this day remains anonymous — walked into a government office in Yokosuka City. He put six bundles of 10,000-yen notes, a total of six million yen as pictured above, on the counter and announced: “These are my savings going back to when I was in elementary school. Please accept it as a donation.”
That’s the equivalent of almost a half million U.S. dollars.
As there are churches everywhere in the U.S., there are temples and shrines everywhere here in Japan. The really fascinating ones are the special purpose ones.
There are shrines and temples devoted to the usual things: money, health, happiness, long life, good marriage. There are ones dedicated to uniting two people in love or in friendship. Interestingly, there’s at least one shrine for breaking up! This could be a lover, a friend, an employer. At all of these temples and shrines, the donation box beckons you for your coins. There is often the option to light a candle or buy incense. The money apparently is chalked up as payment for “services rendered” by whoever or whatever is fulfilling your request.
I’ll confess, being raised Catholic, I’m very familiar with the fundraising that is integral to keeping houses of worship up and running. The Catholic Church is not exactly shy about grabbing as much out of your wallet as it can. Vatican City in Rome is supposed to hold more wealth than many countries.
I’m also familiar with praying for favors, engaging designated holy places, holy icons, and calling forth holy spirits, saints and deities. Yes, we had all sorts of saints and angels to beckon and put to work. Thousands still travel to Lourdes, France for the sacred healing powers of the spring water there, the result of miracles by a young lady, Bernadette, who was upgraded to the official status of sainthood in 1933, under Pope Pius XI.
Then there’s Saint Anthony, the patron saint for lost items. Saint Christopher is the saint for safe travel, thus many folks I knew — including my parents — had a Saint Christopher medal dangling from the rear view mirror of their car.
Back to Japan and the shrines and temples nearby Tambasasayama.
The photo at the top was taken at Mondo Yakujin Toukou-ji, also in Nishinomiya, a temple where people bring their trials, tribulations, crises, catastrophes, problems, and heartache. The idea is to reverse your fortunes and get on a positive track again. My wife calls it the “Karma Temple, so I guess you could say you go there to tune up your karma.
A few months ago, middle of spring, we headed about 40 km (25 miles) north to one of the most unique and beautiful temples in our area. This is the Hydrangea Temple, set on the outskirts of Fukuchiyama. We got there at the peak of blooming. And you’ll never guess. The place was wall-to-wall hydrangeas. They even had chickens!
Not sure what chickens, or hydrangeas for that matter, have to do with Buddhism.
But who am I to question?
Please remember that my large-format, full-color, deluxe LIVE FROM JAPAN! is full of photos and anecdotes about the “other side” of Japan, stories just like this one, about life away from the urban frenzy, out in the country in a traditional, rural community. As I have said many times . . . “It’s like living in a fairy tale!”
Let me share with you my adventure of discovery in the Land of the Rising Sun.
上高地河童橋ライブカメラ Kamikochi Kappa-Bashi Live Streaming Camera
Never been to Japan? How do you visualize it?
I know that I used to think ‘Tokyo’.
Lots of buildings, cement, gaudy lights, flat-panel displays, high-tech dazzle.
The truth is that 70% of Japan is covered with forests.
As I describe in my book LIVE FROM JAPAN! and make vividly apparent with over 450 photos, my Japan is beautiful green fields of rice, soybeans, and many other vegetables, flowering and fruit trees, domesticated and occasional wild animals — monkeys, foxes, ferrets, raccoons, wild boar, even bears — countless varieties of birds.
But proof positive from my camping trip last week, after living here for almost 13 years, I still haven’t seen it all. Every time I venture into a new area of this relatively small country, I’m astonished by some side of Japan I couldn’t have imagined.
My wife and I just spent three days in the “Japanese Alps” — Kamikochi — a mountainous region in Nagano Prefecture. We hiked, checked out the scenery, breathed the refreshing clean mountain air, viewed the deep blue of a sky that is only rivaled by perhaps the Swiss Alps or the rich azure we experienced in Leh, Ladakh (northern India) some years back.
Words completely fail to capture the beauty of Kamikochi. So feast your eyes on some pics!
There’s a whole chapter in my book, LIVE FROM JAPAN!, devoted to Japan’s highway service areas. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, these are the equivalent to what we in the U.S. call ‘rest areas’. They provide a place during a long drive on a highway to pull off the road, stop, stretch your legs, go to the restroom, and for those which have the facilities, to buy some snacks and refreshments.
While functionally they are the same, Japan takes this convenience to a whole different level. Many highway service areas here are mini-malls! I have examples in my book of some typical ones to illustrate how elaborate and well-equipped they usually are.
Having said that, this past weekend my wife and I stopped at one on our way to camping in the Japanese Alps, which was really over the top!
Of course, it had the usual amenities: a restaurant, food court, fast food and ice cream stands, a souvenir shop, vending machines, beautiful clean restrooms.
However, on the inside court it was a spectacularly different story. Inside there was a small but adequate water playground!
This was not a paid admissions theme park. It was free and provided fountains and pools for the whole family to splash around and enjoy. Since this entire summer has been a real scorcher, I can’t overstate how welcome this surprise feature was for everyone stopping by this aptly named ‘highway oasis’.
What can I say? Japan goes out of its way to make life a pleasant adventure for everyone. Too bad this highway service area is not next to my house. Or I could be splashing around in the fountains every day to keep cool!
I noticed right away how totally different Japanese kids are from what I was familiar with in the West. For starters, while middle class moms in the U.S. cart their children in SUVs to school then back home, early in the morning and late in the afternoon, hundreds of uniformed students flood the streets on bicycles here. Weather makes no difference. Sunshine or rain or snow, they’re out en masse. It’s an impressive sight!
Haruka Yoshitake just before she left to attend university in Canada.
During the stretch of my first major stay in Japan, I taught English for a year at all levels, from youngsters to adults over eighty. My two youngest students were four. Both of them were, by the way, absolutely brilliant. I also had other kids from six years of age up through high school. Three of my high school seniors were doing their last bit of cramming before entering college the following year. One went on to attend University of Winnipeg, majoring in International Development and Conflict Resolutions.
There are a hundred ways I could write about the kids here. But I’m going to focus on only elementary school students and one very particular aspect of their education, because it so perfectly illustrates the overall relationship between students and their schools, their teachers, adults and other authority figures, their communities, and most important of all, to one another. It is extremely revealing why Japanese are so obsessively considerate of others and so community-minded, later in life. It also is illustrative of the extremely high dietary standards and nutritional awareness of Japanese society.
We’ll be looking at the preparation of food and participation by students in typical schools here in Hyogo Prefecture. My wife Masumi is a music teacher for an elementary school in Inagawa, and turned me on to what you’re about to watch. Yes, she has confirmed: This is exactly what’s it’s like for young folks attending school across all of Japan. Here we go!
Now I don’t know if fresh meals, made from scratch, are common in America. I’m decades beyond any first-hand knowledge of what goes on there. All I know is that for the 12 years I attended Catholic and public schools, I carried my lunch to school from home, meaning over 2,400 times, I ate a nutritionally-questionable peanut-butter-and-jelly or bologna sandwich and a box of Sun-Made Raisins out of a paper sack, accompanied on special occasions with an apple or banana. Hopefully, things have improved.
By the way, ‘itadakimasu’ [頂きます= ‘let’s eat’] and ‘gochisousamadeshita’ [ごちそうさまでした = ‘thank you for the meal’] is what Masumi and I say before and after every meal.
I love this next video!
Notice the extensive use of masks and this was six years ago, pre-coronavirus. Japanese are very vigilant about hygiene and preventing contamination. Drooling, dribbling, sneezing, or in any way oozing into shared food is highly frowned upon.
The comments for these videos on YouTube are inspiring and thought-provoking. They point to a lot of the things I myself find truly remarkable about the participation and general attitude of the kids. Again, Masumi validated what you see. For example, cleaning the classrooms is a DAILY ritual. The students even do bathroom duty. Masumi told me that there are a few kids in her school who aren’t very academically gifted, or simply don’t particularly like the formal schoolwork, but they LOVE all the extra work duties. It makes them feel like they are part of something, making a contribution, accepted and appreciated by their peers. By helping with the upkeep, the students feel they have a stake in keeping the school clean and functional. They learn respect for property, how to work cooperatively for the good of all, the value of being a member of a team, and develop a sense of duty and responsibility. I suspect they feel that the school is in some sense “theirs”, not just some government building.
Anyone reading this who lives in the U.S. will have to help me out here. I frankly can’t imagine kids there, maybe less so the parents, going along with this. I can imagine heated complaints to the board of education: “I’m not sending my kid to school to wait on tables or become a janitor. What’s going on here?” Maybe I’m wrong and things have changed dramatically since I left. I’d love to know what you folks think of all of what you’ve seen here and how it compares to things back there in the homeland.
What I do know is what I’ve shared in other similar essays about Japan in my new book, LIVE FROM JAPAN! and on this website. And that is, Japan has practically no crime, the people are so honest here I still find it difficult to process, the young folks are friendly and polite — I’m constantly bombarded with greetings and smiles when I ride my bike and pass them in the street either playing or coming from school — and this is by far the safest, most civilized country I’ve ever been in. I can’t help but believe all of this starts right there in those classrooms, where beyond formal education there’s much thoughtful attention devoted to forming good character, developing respect for property, learning to work with others, and always giving your best to whatever you do — even wiping floors.
[ If you like this article and others like it here at this site, please check out my full-color book LIVE FROM JAPAN!, available both in print and as an ebook. With over 450 photos, and 63 anecdotes, it’s getting excellent ratings and reviews. The EPUB ebook available from Apple, B&N and many other booksellers, and of course the deluxe print version, all look fantastic. But the Kindle version from Amazon isn’t so great (they did a very bad job rendering the photos). Amazon really compromised the quality of this beautiful book, so I’m just giving you fair warning. Enjoy! Please leave a review.
And one last thing: If you’re really broke and can’t afford to buy this book, I’ve never turned anyone away. I can send you a PDF and you can send me a smile. ]
Dedicated campaigning billboard in front of our local community center.
We have local elections coming up soon here in town. This reminds me of just how unique and charming campaigning is out here in the countryside of Japan.
There’s nothing arms-length about the way political candidates reach the people. They’re right out on the streets, cruising through neighborhoods, pumping out their message from loudspeakers on mobile campaign centers on wheels, they’re on the sides of the road, on the sidewalks.
Check out this video!
Okay, it’s not quite as exciting as this . . .
At the same time, it seems to work. At least government on a local level does a great job and I find living here extremely comfortable. Everything works the way we hope it would. Considering how meticulous Japanese people are about doing a good job, this is hardly a surprise. Whether it’s planting soybeans, installing a new sidewalk, delivering the mail, making pastries, whatever, the dedication to detail and precision is breathtaking!
I can’t say I really understand what monumental issues might be in play in these local elections. But there’s no shortage of interest from individuals who want the responsibility of running things. This guy seemed to be everywhere . . .
I wonder if he got elected.
As most of you may know, I’m quite immersed in the political struggles of my native country, which in many ways seems to be in decline, and one reason for these ‘Life In Japan’ stories and my book LIVE FROM JAPAN! is to take a break from the frustration and hopelessness of political talk. At the same time, to be a part of society requires paying attention to what’s going on. And respecting the effort that goes into making sure that the public gets the service it wants and deserves.
Japan is a democratic country and that is an intrinsic part of life here. Now if they could just get the U.S. to remove all those bases in Okinawa and the rest of the country!
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of going to the Laugh & Peace Art Gallery in Osaka, to see a selection of works by Enna Yamashiro.
She is a TV star, one of the regular travel guides appearing every Saturday morning at 9:00 am on Travel Salad, taking viewers to a host of other countries. What makes her contribution to the globe-trotting adventures is her paintings. Wherever she lands, she spontaneously renders her impression of the place, often on a computer tablet. A few we had seen on television were on display.
Yamashiro-san’s style is unique but at the same time eminently Japanese. I don’t mean in a traditional sense. Her approach is extremely modern. But her works reflect the aesthetics of both Japanese art and culture: simple, minimalistic, elegant, starkly beautiful. I especially love her sense of color.
Rather than an artist, she calls herself an illustrator. I’ll accept that. She still creates art. I’m sure she’d love for you to visit her website!
Life In Japan: Vending Machines
It’s always overwhelming to arrive in a new country, especially if the culture is completely different than what you’re familiar with. Certainly coming to Japan in July 2007 was that way for me, even though I’d already made some stops in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and China, and at least had been introduced to the “East”.
The first few days are pure overload. There’s so much to take in, you’re not sure what to look at or even what you’re seeing. You’re distracted by just trying to function, trying to communicate in an unfamiliar tongue, trying to pantomime and fake your way from one scene to the next, hope upon hope you’re not offending someone.
Slowly, one-by-one, things begin to come into focus.
I distinctly remember the first thing that caught me somewhat baffled eye here in Japan.
Vending machines!
They seemed to be everywhere, often in places I certainly didn’t expect to see them. Like out in the open on the side of a busy road!
Of course, everything is convenient here. If I’m not mistaken, Japan invented the コンビニ — the convenience store.
What could be more convenient than being able to pull your car over just about anywhere, pull out some coins and buy . . . buy what your heart desires! As you can see from the pic at the top, there are vending machines for snacks, cakes and sweets, tofu, ramen, noodles, even strawberries.
And as I pointed out back in March, my wife Masumi discovered a vending machine for . . . OYSTERS! I personally have never had a craving for oysters in the middle of the night, but if I ever do I’ll just go look for the nearest oyster vending machine and start slurping.
By the way, I’ve also seen vending machines for beer and other alcoholic drinks. Since Japan has such strict drug laws, I’m not expecting to see any for marijuana anytime soon. Maybe they have those in Amsterdam.