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.
No, we didn’t have baked ham and mashed potatoes for our New Years celebration meal.
In fact, Masumi-san cooked for THREE DAYS, preparing absolutely amazing traditional Japanese foods for our feast.
Usually, we have a huge feast at Masumi’s mother’s house, with sisters, in-laws, cousins, grandchildren, aunts and uncles. But this year, there were only six of us for the annual feast, and it was held at our house. Still it was a phenomenal way to start this new year. Perfect company and excellent food. Yum!
What were you doing New Years Eve? The usual. Or the unusual.
As is standard operating procedure for us, Masumi and I were well off the beaten path . . . we certainly weren't in Times Square. We weren't wearing a beer guzzler cap. We didn't do vodka jello shooters, smoke DMT or put magic mushrooms on our eleven-cheese pizza. We never even got around to singing Auld Lang Syne.
Here's the very short, edited version of our New Years Eve celebration.
This was the climactic end to seven days in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
To put it mildly, it was a unique and highly entertaining visit to a country I've been to before, but always finding intriguing. My wife Masumi, however, has never been to Thailand, so this short adventure was especially exciting for her.
Doi Inthanon National Park is about an hour drive from Chiang Mai, and is home to the highest peak in Thailand. On our way there for two days in nature, we went through a Hmong village, where they happened to be having a New Years festival.
The park and surrounds were outstanding. Unfortunately, since Doi Inthanon Mountain itself shrouded in a cloud, while we were there the visibility at the top was limited. But as the day progressed, the air cleared and we got to do some hiking and experienced stunning views of the countryside. We stopped at a few villages sprinkled around and sampled "real life" in this rustic, relatively underdeveloped part of the world.
For easy access to the park, we did a homestay at Nongtao, a Karen tribe village actually within the great expanse of Doi Inthanon National Park. People were shy but amicable. Our host was truly superb, helping us decide what to do and how to get places.
Not far from our homestay was an elephant park. These were no ordinary elephants. They had all been in the parade celebrating the recent coronation of the new King of Thailand. You can sense from their regal bearing and sophisticated manners their royal blood lines.
What would a visit to Thailand be, however, without spending time at a few of the literally tens of thousands of temples and shrines? We capped off sacred site hopping by visiting the world-famous White Temple, a short distance outside of Chiang Rai.
We were so comfortable and fit in so perfectly, I'm sure no one suspected for a moment that we were tourists.
Of course I remember the typical New Years holiday celebrations in the U.S.!
The
shots of Buttery Nipples, Afterburners, and White Gummy Bears, the beer
chugging contests, DUIs, the streaking of police patrol cars, mooning
at McDonald's drive-thru, the totaled rental cars, 72-hour hangovers,
the arrest warrants, getting herpes from kissing some stranger at
midnight, the Rose Parade, lying in the den in a puke-soaked Kurt Cobain
sweat shirt through 12 hours of football -- Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl,
Orange Bowl, Tangerine Bowl, Toilet Bowl, Oxycontin Bowl.
It's impossible to overstate how different New Years is for me here in Japan.
Granted,
there might be some revelry in the big cities like Osaka and Tokyo.
Compared to what typically goes on in America, even these are more like
Thursday afternoon bingo in Butte, Montana or octogenarian shuffleboard
in Sun City, Florida.
Fasten
your seat belts, people, to keep from falling off your chair when you
nod off reading this. A pot of hearty espresso is recommended if you're
serious about making it to the end.
New Years Eve day, Masumi, her daughter Azusa, and I, climbed a mountain I've written abouttwicebefore.
It looks like a mountain but it's really not that high. It has steps
and trails, so we left the GPS, emergency flares, ropes, and rappelling
gear at home. What I like about it, besides offering a decent work out,
a couple hours in nature, and splendid views of the valley which
contains most of my home town,Sasayama, is that by bike it's only about five minutes from my house. It couldn't be more convenient.
This
time, we also brought Azusa's Black Labrador puppy too. We all headed
over -- Azusa on foot, Masumi and I on our bikes -- to the trail head,
which is situated right in front of a small shrine. Of course! Shrines
are as ubiquitous here as fire hydrants are in the States. Anyway,
about 45 minutes later, we were on top the small mountain, had a picnic
lunch, then returned on the same trail.
It
was cool but comfortable, perfect for this relatively easy hike.
However, as we made our way back down, the temperature started quickly
dropping. And continued dropping right into the evening.
Masumi
and I had the option of visiting the grounds of a local temple to "ring
in the New Year". They have a No Theater performance, a bonfire, and
serve free non-alcoholic sake. This is a real family affair for all
ages.
But we decided it was just too damn cold!
So
we stayed home, falling asleep before midnight. We missed the tofu
cannons, whale juggling, sky diving ninjas, and laser holograms of
Godzilla eating the Moon. This was prudent. We needed to rest up for
the next wild and dazzling phase of our extended weekend, Land of the
Rising Sun New Years extravaganza, set for next morning.
That would be at べんてん神社
(Benten Shrine), the Shinto shrine which belongs to our village. We
live on the very east end of Sasayama proper, in a village called Noma.
Each village of several in our city of 50,000 or so typically has its
own shrine and community center. Living in Japan is about community life and getting to know your neighbors.
The
motif at the shrine was similar to what we missed at the big temple
downtown the previous evening. There was a small bonfire, free kelp and
squid snacks, and sake. This sake was the real stuff but only
dispensed in thimblefuls, so no one exactly got rowdy.
This
being a shrine and to the rather meager extent that Japanese indulge in
religious services, there was singing. Mind you, this bore no
resemblance to Handel's Hallelujah chorus or a medley of tent revival
spirituals. In fact, what we apparently were singing was the national
anthem, which is why my lovely, principled wife was not singing along.
She is categorically and staunchly opposed to nationalism, even
superficial celebrations of what has not served humankind very well over
its blood-soaked history. Which explains why I had to burn all of my
American flag Hanes boxer shorts right after we got married.
Of
course, anyone who knows me knows that I am joking. All of my American
flag undies were long gone decades ago. I believe they were used as
rags to stuff Molotov cocktails at some street protests in Berkeley back
in the late 60s. I can't say for sure. It's difficult to track where
things end up after you drop them in a Salvation Army collection box.
Let
me add that Masumi thought the idea of singing the national anthem on
this special occasion was very strange, a total anomaly. Somebody
certainly made a very odd choice. Personally, I found it to be a rather
doleful affair, not the stuff of conquest and plunder.
Anyway, here's a very short video clip of my neighbors singing at the shrine.
Okay . . .
Enough
is never enough, especially when it comes to wild abandon and revelry.
Sure, we were exhausted from all the whoopee. But driven by relentless
surges of hedonism and the insatiable urge to party like its 2099, as
soon as we got home we decided to go to Kaibara, the town both near to
where Masumi grew up and where we officially got married.
柏原八幡宮 (Hachiman Shrine) is a beautiful place at the top of a hill. It maybe takes ten minutes to walk up the stairs.
People
step to the front of a shrine, make a contribution, sometimes light
incense, ring a very dissonant, clanking bell to get the attention of
whoever might be listening, then make an appeal for some improvement in
their lives -- new husband, better job, health, long life, happiness,
money -- the usual things. They also write these requests on pieces of
paper and tie them to a tree on the grounds.
Whew! Wild and crazy times here in Japan, eh? We know how to party! Personally, I find this all very calming, informal, charming, especially since I mercilessly was subjected to thetortures of the Catholic Massfor way too many years. What can I say? Buddhism and Shintoism rock!
I'll
end this account on what I find an interesting note. While there is
some god, a spirit entity, associated with each shrine -- our local
shrine described above is in dedicated to Benten, goddess of art, music,
literature, especially appropriate for Masumi and I -- the Japanese,
and most Asian people, especially Buddhists, don't pray to a
specific god, saint, angel, virgin. At least not the way Christians
do. The Catholic Church has a precise org chart for all of its holy
representatives. St. Christopher was assigned assuring safe travel, St.
Anthony unobstructed breathing passages. Then there was the Virgin
Mary, who had what could only be called a cult following of her own,
rivaling that of Jesus, who of course was the Savior, source of
salvation. Asians just send their prayers out, as Masumi tried to patiently explain to me. Buddhists are very much into flooding outer space with prayers.
You may find this interesting. When you visit Buddhist monasteries, you see prayer wheels, hundreds
of them, all different sizes, from ones which could fit in a bowling
bag to ones that are taller than a human. Each prayer wheel contains
hundreds -- sometimes even thousands! -- of sacred inscriptions from
holy Buddhist texts. Again we have appeals for peace, harmony, long
life, etc. Spinning a prayer wheel, it is claimed, sends these good
messages out into the universe, inundating it with the highest spiritual
content and aspirations.
While
from what I can tell, it's not working, it's most certainly an
admirable enterprise, and so different from the Western framework of a
person's relationship with God and his heavenly ecclesiastical staff.
Take a moment and picture those televangelists, furrowed brows sweating,
faces bulging with the power of the Lord, yelling: "You want that new
car? You want your bills paid? You want that ugly goiter to
disappear? To be able to sing along with Mariah Carey and slam dunk
like the Shaq? Well, just put your hands on your television screen! I
say, put 'em both right here on my face, and FEEL THE POWER OF THE LORD
FILL YOUR LIFE with money, success, happiness! Ask and ye shall
receive! PRAISE GOD!"
Just something to think about next year during half-time of the Rose Bowl.
[ To see all of the photos, go to author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
The existing ten should all slide down a notch to make room for a new, necessary First Commandment.
1st Commandment: When it comes to others who embrace beliefs different than yours, thou shalt shut up and mind your own business.
I
was raised strict Catholic from the late 1940s until July 1961. I
attended Catholic school for six years. The indoctrination was
mind-boggling -- literally! I'm not sure where things stand now.
Allegedly the Catholic Church has made some giant leaps forward. I find
the word 'leap' a little hard to swallow. After all, it took them over
300 years to pardon that wildly insane heretic Galileo for declaring
that the sun was at the center of the solar system. It's too late for
his family to sue.
What
I was taught, with no room for interpretation or even the slightest
bending of the rules, was that Catholics were true believers, everyone
else was a pagan and would burn mercilessly in Hell for it. This
obviously included jungle-dwelling savages with the bones through their
noses, anyone with slanted eyes, hairy-chested men on horses who raped
and pillaged without pause, witches, witch-doctors, probably
acupuncturists. But it also referred to -- brace yourselves -- all Jews
and Protestants!
Talk about being exclusive. The Catholic Church didn't mess around!
I
left that all behind. I remember the moment well. Both of my parents
were dead. I was attending a Catholic mass, summer of 1961. I tried to
listen to what the priest was saying. I looked around. People were
staring at the altar. The priest droned on, something about the Holy
Spirit. I was 15 and scared to death by a fear of eternal damnation --
something which was pounded into my head day-after-day, year-after-year
by both priests and nuns -- afraid as only a thoroughly brainwashed
young man can be, to do anything at odds with the Church or God or the
Commandments. But then suddenly, like that perennial bolt of lightning,
it hit me: None of this made any sense to me anymore. I walked out
and never looked back. To this day,I've never againattended a Catholic mass or Catholic service of any kind, for over 56 years now.
I
can look at religion now the way someone might look at photos in their
high school year book. Hmm . . . French Club . . . Junior Varsity
Football Team . . . Mr. Hunter, chemistry.
When
three years ago I wrote the song posted at the head of this rambling
monograph, I tried to include Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, and so on. But
it's just a song. There's only so much room without turning the whole
thing into a random game of Scrabble. So . . .
I settled on Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and then gave a nod to atheism in one line.
I
hear we're now in the throes of a new "Clash of Civilizations". This
refers to a war for hearts, minds, and oil fields, mainly between the
Christian West and the Muslim Middle East. The Jews are in there, since
they are allegedly under siege by the Muslims, and they now have a
marriage of convenience with the Christians -- which is about as
convenient as a marriage between a crocodile and a chicken, and makes
about as much sense.
First
of all, there's nothing "new" about this epic show down. Haven't any
of these idiotic champions of chaos and carnage shilling for this
conflict ever heard of the Crusades?
Second,
while I can buy "clash", which seems to be the operating word in just
about every interaction between the Western powers and everyone else on
the planet, "civilizations" somehow makes me think about "civil" and
"civilized". Neither apply to those participants who have by choice,
with full knowledge, by design, with clear intention, have brought the
human species and every other living thing on the planet to the brink of
extinction.
One
has to ask: Is this the best we as a product of twisted fibers of DNA
and RNA can do? Are we doomed by some kamikaze gene? Do we
periodically have to self-destruct, tear it all down? Why do we bother
with claiming it's about ideologies or religions or politics?
Because it's not. It's about hatred. It's about selfishness. It's about evil, either inherent or manufactured evil.
It's about either the evil we are, the evil we've become, or the evil that we allow to exist in our hearts and our minds.
What's
my song about? It's so simple, so naive, so straightforward, so easy
to understand. Maybe that's what makes it so difficult to take into our
hearts, try to weave it in with those strands of DNA and RNA, let it
become an antidote to the madness that drives us to reject and demonize
others, that allows us to dehumanize those who are different, that feeds
our inflated sense of importance, our "exceptionalism", our grandiosity
and rabid delusions of superiority, our ultimately self-destructive
rejection of our shared humanity.
Happy New Year! Yes, we're starting a new cycle. 365 days to do what?
Maybe the whole idea is just silly.
Peace be with us . . .
Then again, you decide for yourself. That's actually the idea.
Assuming
you've gotten this far, here are the lyrics to my song, performed in
the video by my extremely talented wife and myself, a simple
straightforward message for a complex convoluted time.
It’s a very special time of year For family and friends holiday cheer For those no longer with us We shed a tear A time to share A time of feast A time to care And pray for peace A time to give to those Who have the least
(Chorus) Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah Peace be with us Happy New Year!
This is the time to start anew Atheist Christian Muslim Jew To reach within And find the love inside of you Discard the old seek out the new Reject the false embrace the true To look ahead decide To bring out the best in you
(Chorus) Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah Peace be with us Happy New Year!
(Chorus – Japanese) Akemashite Omedetoo Peace be with you Happy New Year!
(Chorus) Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah Peace be with you Happy New Year!
[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
1st Verse: It’s a very special time of year Family and friends holiday cheer For those no longer with us We shed a tear A time to share A time of feast A time to care And pray for peace A time to give to those Who have the least
Chorus: Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah Peace be with us Happy New Year
2nd Verse: This is the time to start anew Atheist Christian Muslim Jew To reach within And find the love inside of you Discard the old seek out the new Reject the false embrace the true To look ahead decide To bring out the best in you
Choruses: Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah Peace be with us Happy New Year
Akemashite Omedetoo Peace be with you Happy New Year
Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah Peace be with you Happy New Year
