Since leaving America August 2006, I have traveled to sixteen countries. A great deal has happened. This site is to share my thoughts, photos, music, writings, travel experiences, and developing political/social commentary with you. I hope you find it interesting and informative.
Over a decade ago, my wife and I were on a road trip. We spent a few days in Nagano and then headed for Tokyo. Mount Fuji was conveniently on the way. Unfortunately, all we saw was a giant gray cloud which completely shrouded the famous landmark. We couldn’t even discern an outline of the peak.
Just recently, we tried again, spending three days in the Mount Fuji area. The weather was totally on our side, with clear blue skies every day, and hardly a cloud in sight!
There’s so much going on there, you could easily spend a month and not do it all. Museums, shrines, temples, sky trains, hikes, lakes, water falls, onsens, dairy farms, many excellent restaurants and hotels, even a safari park. We chose to drive all the way around the huge mountain, viewing it from every possible angle, doing what we could along the way.
Next time we visit the area, I promise I’ll attempt to climb the mountain, at least to the lower base camp. Hopefully, that will make me an honest man. Until then, let’s keep my little secret just between you and me.
I first visited Japan in 2007, met Masumi in 2008, married her in 2012. It’s been a whirlwind of happiness since. We’ve traveled to over 20 foreign countries in Europe, North America, and of course Asia. And Masumi and I have explored the wonders of Japan together, from Hokkaido to Okinawa and every place in between.
Masumi still teaches music at a local elementary school, while I continue to write books, political articles and do what I can from here as a peace activist. I also do some songwriting and music productions here in my modest home recording studio.
Together we’ve seen two of her daughters married. The remaining single one lives here in Tambasasayama and we see her at least once a week — I’m teaching her English.
We also have been blessed with three adorable kitties: Arthur, Jennifer, and Sophie.
What is the lesson? I’d say it’s this: You’re never too old to dream and it’s never too late for dreams to come true!
However, in 1951 Daihachi Oguchi, a jazz-trained musician based in Nagano Prefecture, transcribed into modern notation several traditional Taiko pieces, adding his own touches. He formed his own ensemble — Osuwa Diako — and performed these modernized works. The new performance style, known as kumi-daiko, quickly grew in popularity, and soon many other ensembles formed and continued to popularize the musical form.
Taiko performances are common both in Japan and other parts of the world. We recently had such a performance at the castle grounds located in the heart of downtown Tambasasayama.
As a songwriter/music producer, I love taiko music! There’s the drama of the choreographed drumming making a riveting visual statement. But it’s the power and energy of the layered rhythms which most captivate me. The first layer is the towering tribal warrior beat which drives the entire performance. On top of that and weaved throughout are some very interesting counter rhythms. It’s impossible to stand still and not smile at one of these performances.
Hey! You want to really surprise your friends? Hire one of these taiko groups for your next birthday or anniversary party. A good time is guaranteed for all!
And you might make a new friend . . . like we did.
When I watch the above video, Instruments of a Beating Heart, I’m tempted to think it’s all been staged for the cameras. But I have the luxury of a wife who teaches music to elementary students in just such a school and she tells me . . .
Yes, this is exactly what it’s like!
There are several things that truly stand out, at least for me.
The kids take the auditions so seriously, but their enthusiasm for getting the parts in the orchestra is shared. They’re very supportive of one another. Their focus is making their individual efforts contribute to the success of all of them in the shared enterprise. This “spirit of community” very much defines Japanese culture. It is why Japan is such a polite society, why there’s so much respect for the property of others, why the crime rate is so low, why kindness is the norm, why everything here seems to work so well.
The students show an awful lot of respect for their teachers. Of course, there are always exceptions. My wife tells me about the one or two or three kids in a class who are disruptive, even abusive to her and other students. Overall, however, Japanese students are attentive and polite.
THEY CLEAN THE SCHOOL! This includes the halls and the classrooms. Correct me if I’m wrong but I can’t imagine this being standard procedure in the U.S. and can imagine parents being outraged at the school using their kids as janitors. I think it’s phenomenal! It gives the kids a sense of ownership of and responsibility for the school, prompting them to keep the facility clean in the first place.
THEY HELP SERVE LUNCH! Again, I think this is great! It promotes a sense of service to others, gives them some practical experience doing something essential. Amazing! Do the elementary schools in America even serve freshly cooked, nutritionally balanced meals?
Lastly, I want to highlight the conversation among three of the students, discussing “What are we?” Meaning, how should they see themselves as individual contributors to the upcoming performance. This occurs at 21:18 of the video.
With a perceptiveness and intellects way beyond their years — they are only six-years-old — they decide together they all form a “beating heart”.
“We’re each a piece of a heart. If everyone is together, this is our shape.” And one girl makes a heart with her fingers. “If one of us is unbalanced, then the shape is broken. It’s no longer a heart.” Out of the mouths of babes, eh? But yes, that sums up the sense of community here in Japan, which I’ve written about before. It’s ingrained in every Japanese from birth, for better or worse.
I’m not preaching. Nor am I judging. Schools in each country — as do their societies as a whole — have their own ways of doing things and approved, accepted practices. What I am saying is that it’s important to look to other cultures to get fresh ideas and perspectives. That’s one sure way to improve on things. There are always opportunities to learn, re-think, break old habits, to innovate. It’s just a matter of looking around.
And what do you think?
By the way, there’s excellent video commentary on Instruments of a Beating Heart, presented by Professor Andrew Hartley. He looks at the fundamental cultural differences between Japan and the U.S., focusing on the contrasting ways we regard and raise our children. I highly recommend it.
Please watch as much of the above video as you can handle. Dancing around the room is not only permitted, it is highly recommended!
Here are the lyrics to this happy bit of pop music fluff . . .
A recent article in RT tells us about the song. “The track was recorded by 11-year-old Svetlana Chertischeva, known as Betsy, and 12-year-old Maria Yankovskaya, two rising stars of Russian music. Released in November, the track was initially popular among elementary and middle schoolers, but later gained popularity among adults, and has since been featured in a number of meme videos.”
Okay . . . now the juicy part.
A member of the European Parliament from Germany, former school teacher turned social psychologist/politician Nela Riehl, is claiming: “’Sigma Boy’ is a viral Russian trope used on social media, which communicates patriarchal and pro-Russian worldviews, only one example of Russian infiltration of popular discourse through social media.”
It appears to me that we have to read an awful lot into these vacuous lyrics, quite typical of pop music faire, to find the cultural abominations Riehl is referring to. It seems like a bit of a stretch, for example, that ‘Skittles’ and ‘Snickers’ are Trojan horses for embedding love of Russia and deification of Putin into the minds of young music fans. And ‘get into my Bentley, get into my Beauty Box’ are seeds to destroy the West’s embrace of neoliberalism and love of democracy? Are we to regard ‘And you’ll make me yours someday’ a forecast of some sort of demon possession, the demon being Russian culture?
Riehl is so off-the-rails, I have to wonder if the brain damage is permanent or not. Is there any way to “unhinge” such a whacko?
Evidence of this pandemic of lunacy is also everywhere here in the US. Hatred of Russia and Vladimir Putin has reached epic levels. For anything resembling normalcy and productivity to return to our national conversation — and hopefully our foreign policy — we as a nation must return to our senses. Those would be the five senses which allow us to view and embrace reality.
The challenge is formidable. I do regular postings related to my War Is Making Us Poor campaign on social media. Sometimes the responses from Americans is discouraging, if not shocking. I posted my video indictment of Vlodymyr Zelensky on over 110 allegedly progressive Facebook political groups and got comments like . . .
“This is russian propaganda”
“This is utter bullshit. Fuck Russia, Fuck Putin, Slava Ukraini”
“Hey..shit poster… so what part of Russia are you from ??”
“This is one of the more disgusting posts I’ve seen recently. How would you have played the hand Putin dealt him? Ukraine invaded Russia? Get real.”
“This reads as a translation from a Putin propaganda hit piece. It’s ridiculous.”
“This needs to be taken down! ASAP”
“You’re fucking insane.”
“This site seems to have been taken over by Meta trolls”
Obviously, animus toward Russia is running very high. Here are some stats from Pew Research Center . . .
“Roughly six-in-ten Americans (61%) label Russia an enemy of the U.S.”
“Americans overwhelmingly rate Putin negatively: 88% say they do not have confidence in the Russian president to do the right thing regarding world affairs.”
These negative sentiments are shared across party lines . . .
“Republicans and Democrats are about equally likely to say they view Russia unfavorably (88% vs. 87%), although Democrats are more likely to have very unfavorable opinions of Russia.”
No doubt about it. The Deep State campaign to smear Putin and create fear and hatred of Russia has been extremely effective.
And I worry . . .
There’s a threshold where brainwashing becomes more of a lobotomy and is irreversible. I fear many Americans have crossed that threshold and are permanent residents of Hate-Russia-La-La-Land. There may be no effective remedy.
We might be able to mitigate the impact of such colossal ignorance. I’m just not sure we can mass produce enough of these . . .
Since 2006, I’ve been in 35 countries. Total over my lifetime is 44. I’ve been in extremely wealthy countries with sky-high standards of living — Sweden, Norway, Monaco, Switzerland, Austria — and been personally immersed in extreme poverty — Uganda, Kenya, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, Myanmar, Nepal. When I was in Kenya, I lived in a community called Mbita, that had no running water, no electricity, and we went to the bathroom in a hole in the ground. I bathed with the locals in Lake Victoria. All I had to bring was a bar of soap and a towel. But we had to be on guard. The local hippos were temperamental and often very aggressive.
Granted, compared to the extreme poverty in Kenya and other 3rd World countries, for most people life in the US is luxurious.
So . . . how can ‘war be making us poor’?
‘Poor’ is a relative term. The US constantly trumpets itself as the richest country in the world, the richest country in history! And via carefully compiled spread sheets prepared by neoliberal economists, we can find strong evidence for the claim.
However, facts on the ground for millions of American citizens, tell a different story.
The simple truth is that, yes, there are a handful of Americans who are doing incomprehensibly well. They have vast piles of money, huge stock and property portfolios, accounts in tax haven countries bulging at the seams. But this is at the very top of the economic ladder. This opulence and affluence is not shared with 99.9% of the rest of us. The brutal truth is, wealth inequality has become so extreme, it has gutted our economy of vitality, undermined what used to be a diverse and robust manufacturing base, inaugurated “casino capitalism”, i.e. rabid financialization and speculation, and stranded ordinary citizens without what many other countries consider the “basics” of a healthy functioning society. For everyday people, while they may not have to bathe in local streams and lakes, these changes — which only benefit the wealthy elite — have made life increasingly difficult. Opportunities are disappearing and for the middle and working classes, just surviving and maintaining an acceptable living standard has become an increasingly daunting challenge.
Travelers from America, gone for extended periods of time and traveling in some of the better-off countries — including, by the way, Russia and China — report being shocked when they return to the US . . . shocked at the condition of our basic infrastructure, by the filth of our cities, by the level of homelessness, by the general quality of life they see. They are shocked and appalled by the level of anxiety, depression, and often anger and hostility which has become the norm. People are anxious, confused, frustrated, often frightened.
I’m not going to compare the US with Bangladesh or Haiti. Or Monaco or Switzerland. But I think it’s realistic to contrast what the US has become, first, to what it claims to be; and second, what it, as the “richest country in the world”, by its own reckoning should be.
I suggest you read my book. It’s very eye-opening. It’s not just a catalog of misery. It both takes aim at the primary cause of our economic malaise and decline — endless war, unnecessary and accelerating militarization of our society — and points the way for citizens to directly intervene and reverse the disintegration, before the US can no longer function as a nation.
The decline is almost imperceptibly gradual but there’s no doubt about what’s happening: War is bankrupting the US politically, spiritually, socially, and economically.
He’s a big guy with a big voice!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcsmULNyt7E