Random Thoughts

This post is the answer to the comment
some annoymous person made to my last post.

>its fascinating that you are a japanese who went to america to kind to 'escape', usually its the other way around.. a westerner who goes to japan (or some part of asia, or anywhere in the world for that fact).

The biggest reason for the mass immigration is
alway the financial opportunity
though some immigrants claim it is political assylum for them,
still the reason they choose US to come is
the finacial opportunity.
They watched Hollywood films to believe
all Americans are living in big houses
with a big yard of green lawn.

Japanese used to immigrate for the same reason to US,
however, it ceased when the war broke out between two countries.
Now Japan has a wealthy society
even though their economical growth stagnated in early '90s,
they still have #2 GDP in the world.
So there is not much reason for Japanese to immigrate to US
as an immigrat of the traditional sense,
just like Italians and Irish used to immigrate to US in masses,
but no longer they do that
as they have much wealthier societies compared to those times.

However, still many Japanese come to US
because in Japanese medias,
glamorous images of America cultures are flooded,
which make many Japanese fascinated
with the idea to come to US.

You can call that 'escape'
if you call the reason Americans come to Asia 'escape'
And just like many of Americans go back to US after a while,
most of Japanese go back to Japan as well
as they realize how hard to be accepted by the society,
and humans have a deep desire to be accepted by one.
If you are an immigrant of the traditonal sense
who immigrated for the financial opportunity,
you try to make it there
no matter what kind of issues you have to face,
like language, race, legal status and cultural difference.
On the other hand, if you are am American, a Japanese
or anyone from wealthier countries,
you always have a choice to go back to your countries
where you do not have to face many of those issues.
Well, I do not say "all of",
especially if you are not a White person in US.

>the problems are the same wherever we go, i suppose.

I %100 agree with that.
As being a foreinger means being an outsider,
our desire to be accepted can give you so much headache.
We want to be accepted by others,
we want to be veryfied by others,
we want to be connected with others,
but then that is what we crave in our own countries too.

And also your personal issues follow you anywhere you go.
For exapmle, if you are a very shy,
not so positive or active person,
and you think that is the reason
that you feel you are alienated in your own society,
going to other country does not solve any of those.

>i can sympathize with some problems you encounter. my parents were immigrants from asia, and even though i spoke fluently, i also encountered some stereotypes and confusion from people who didn't know any better,

I wrote a series of articles about immigrants in US
for a Japanese publication a few years ago
and interviewed many people
like Chinese, Koreans and people from Latin Americas,
also watched some interesting documentaries
about the immigrants communities in US.
If you are not White(or Black),
people ask you where you are from, means which country you are from
ask whether you speak English or not
even if you are a person who was born and raised here.
I think that can be a very humiliating experience too.

>but... there are good people out there, not only ignorant or unreasonable ones. hopefully you will meet some soon.

That is very true.
Actually I met many people like that.
And I never thought Americans are more racistic than Japanese
as things like racism and prejudice can exist anywhere.
I say the racism itself does not descriminate.
However, whether that person is nice ot not,
and whether that he/she is prejudical
on some subjects are a bit different issues.
Some people can be very nice
and very prejudical at the same time.

>anyway, i just wanted to say i hope you find your happiness soon. dont give up.

Thanks for your kind words!
I really appreciate.
And to be honest, my biggest problem is my career right now,
not the US society.
In 2007 and 2008, I wrote monthly articles
for a magazine from the Japanese major publisher,
which allow me to do whatever I like to do.
It was tough work but I really enjoyed.
However, that magazine folded at the end of 2009.
Now in Japan, most of decent magazines have disappeared
because of the impact of the internet and other issues.
I like to write about the realities of this society
but no Japanese media let me do that.
You may think American media is bad,
but Japanese media is much much worse.
The true journalism is basically dying there.
In 2009, I did nothing but withdrawing because of that,
and felt like being stuck
in the darkest tunnel without any exit.
Right now I am in the process of
digging myself out of this pit.
How? I do not know.

So why do I watch J-Vloggers' videos?

I discovered some Gaijins in Japan doing vlog on YouTube
about a couple of years ago, I think.
At that time, not many people were doing that,
and almost no Japanese.
Japanese are usually too shy to do vlog-thing,
most of them do not like to show their face on internet.
That was a part of the reason
that my space and facebook did not become big in Japan.
Instead of them,
we do have a social networking site called "Mixi"
but most of their members never show their faces on it.

Anway, when I was watching some youtube videos,
I discovered some Gaijins in Japan doing vlog,
and through their related videos,
I discovered more and more J-vloggers like
tokyocooney(my fav), rodgerswan(I miss him), claytonian,
myargonauts, busankevin and helpmefindparents,
to just name a few.
And waching their videos became an addiction
within my internet-addiction,

Now I do not watch as much as I did before
because there are just too many of them now,
and I am a bit bored,
but still I watch most of my fav vloggers' videos.

Then I like to ask myself why I watch them
as I do love analysing things.

Just like many other Japanese who come to New York,
I came here as I was gravitated to the glamolous,
trendy, hip, chic and wild images of this city
which were grossly exaggerated
by irresponsible Japanese medias.
All Japanese who come to US believe
that they will be able to speak fluent English
within a few years,
and they will make freinds with lots of Americans,
possibly boyfriends and girlfriends too,
and will be able to do something exciting.
However, soon they will realize
how difficult these tasks really are for them.
And probably the most schocking thing is that
Americans are not really interested in making friends
with Asians who can speak only a little English.
As Japanese are deeply in love with American cultures,
this is a harsh reality to swallow for them.
Realizing how hard it is to be accepted by this society
as an Asian who speaks a little English
or speaks English with an accent
in addition to the fact how hard to build the career
outside of the Japanese community
which are Japanese companies and Japanese restaurants,
the majority of Japanese go back Japan
after about four years or so.

Of course, there are people like me
to stay here for much longer time.
Yet, on the back of my head,
there is a voice that keeps telling me
that I am not welcome in this society.

Well, I felt like
I was a misfit in Japanese society anyway,
and that was the one of the reasons
that I have been staying here for a long time.
So even I am a mistfit in US society,
there might be no difference.
Well, that is not true,
at least, in Japan nobody is against me
because of my race
or inability to speak English without accent.

Recently, two Japan related news broke out big
in major American medias,
one of them was Toyota's huge recall
and the other was the big protest rally in Tokyo
againt the American base in Okinawa.
Both of them are not positive news about Japan.
Even though in the internet world
and among younger generations,
Japanese culture seems to have become more popular
in recent years, still in Major US medias,
you rarely see anything about Japan, and if you see,
it is usually a negative thing like these
or something very stereo-type.
Bascially I am living in the society which is saying
that they do not like my kind much,
which definitely keeps making a negative impact on my mind,
and shakes my identitiy.

Then I discovered those J-vologgers,
they are Americans and other foreigners,
genuinely like Japan and intrested in Japanese cultures,
which can make me feel better I guess
because I feel like they are verifying me
when I watch them.

Some Japanese turn out to be kind of nationalistic
after they have been staying in US for a while,
like they start going to some Japanese cultural events
even though the original reason that they came to US
was that they were gravitated to the American culture.
I guess they like to rebuild their self esteem
which was destroyed somewhat by living in the society
where most of people do not have
any strong positive images about Japan.
If they go to Japanese cultural events
such as the screening of Japanese old films,
they can reconfirm how great Japanese cultures are
and they are the people who came from the country
produced those wonderfully sophisticated cultures.

I guess watching J-vloggers videos seems to help
to rebuild my self esteem,
I guess that's why I like to watch them.

Does it make sense?

Strange World of Internet (For rodgerswan)

I have been in
a NEET(Not in Education, Employment or Training)Hell.

I bacially wasted the year of 2009.
Except the 4-5 weeks of the summer, I did not do anything,
but just staying home and doing nothing but the internet.
Ahhh, this thing is so powerful that it can keep me
in font of my computer forever, and slowly killing me.
I thought new year would change this, but it did not.
Of course, I am the one who has to change my life, nothing else.

No doubt that the internet is very convenient tool for everyone,
especially for a writer like me,
the reserch had become much much easier.
On the other hand, it is quite addictive.
Without the internet,
I do not think I can stay home all the time like this,
I definitely go outside because of the boredom.
But with the internet, somehow the time flies.
What do I do with it?
I usually go from one site to another,
one blog to another like a butterfly,
looking for the warmth of someone,
looking for something to fill my empty heart,
leaving comments once in a while,
but feeling like never being able to
have a real connection with anyone.

However, something happened recently,
which changed my notion about the internet,
well at least a bit.

I watch many J-Vloggers videos,
who are Gaijins who live in Japan
and are Vlogging on YouTube,
and one of my favorites has been "rodgerswan"
He went to Japan in the summer of 2007
as an exchange student of Keio university,
and started his "Tokyoswan" series of videos
which described his life in Tokyo.
I tell you I really enjoyed watching his videos,
and he seems to be a genuinely nice person,
and really enjoying his life there.
One year later,
he had to go back to the States for finishing his college,
then just last summer, he came back to Japan,
this time to Iwate prefecture,
as a JET teacher, the Japan Exchange and Teaching program,
and again he seems to be really enjoying his life there.

But just a few days ago, a horrible thing happened,
he suddenly passed away
from an acute case of pancreatitis.
right after he had posted his final video.
He was only 23 years old.



It is strange that I am really grieving for his passing.
I have never met him,
even never having exchanged any e-mail with him,
I left a few comments on his videos, and that's about it.
Yet, I have been very saddened by this news.
It seems to be just "It ain't right"
He was so young and enjoying his life,
and most of all, seems to be a very very nice guy.
What an absurdity!
I am still living and he is not.
We all know this world is filled with so many absurdities.
No matter how we like to believe in
"Love""Peace""Unity" and "Justice"
this world shows us so many ugliness.
And the most saddly,
we know we are filled with so many ugliness too.
But if you watch rodgerswan's video,
you can tell he is one of the rare people
who are with so much warmth.
Of couse, I am not saying he was a Saint,
Sure that he was just an individual like you and me,
who had daily stresses and complains about his own life,
and his surroundings,
but still his smile, his attitude and the soft way he talks
put a smile on my face each time I watched his video.

Then his sudden passing really left me confused,
and now I think the internet may not
always make an intimate connection among people
but surely it can make an impact to other people's life.
Silly me that I always want to write
something can make my readers think,
and can meke them moved in some way
even though with the medias I have been associated with,
I can not make a real connection with my readers.
Maybe with the internet which I am addicted
and despise to some extent,
I can make something
which can make an impact in someones's ilfe.

Thank you rodgerswan for reminding me of that.
And I will not say "RIP" to you
because it seems to be not appropriate for you now,
or for me, at least not yet
because I am still not able to accept your passing.
Do not stick around in Japan as a ghost,
but please be born again soon, and wherever it will be,
come back to Japan and make people happy again.

We love you, we will never forget you.

The Tree that Blooms the Flowers of Love

"Aijyou No Hana Saku Ki(愛情の花咲く樹)"　Shuki & Aviva
The tree that blooms the flower of love,
this was a hit in 1973 in Japan.

Shuki & Aviva were from Israel,
I think they released only this single in Japan,
and I heard they sang in France after that.
Shuki composed this song
and the very famous Japanese lyricist,
Yu Aku(阿久悠) wrote the lyric.

"The Tree that Blooms the Flower of Love"

We met again under the tree
with the flower of love in full bloom
There was her standing, whom I loved when I was younger
Rushing to her side and holding her hands
Staring at each other without saying anything
Ahhh, her unchanged beauty moved me to tears
Ahhh, I still loved her, I just kept telling her that

Both of us still remembered of the season
that the flower of love bloomed
No matter how many years have passed by
Both of us still remembered it
We will never part again
Holding each other, living together forever
Ahhh, her unchanged beauty moved me to tears
Ahhh, I still loved her, I just kept telling her that

Ahhh, her unchanged beauty moved me to tears
Ahhh, I still loved her, I just kept telling her that


In 1973, vacationing to the foreign countries
were still beyond dreams for most of Japanese.
In early '70s, Japan achievd to creat the world #2 economy,
only second to U.S.
Yet still many people, especially in country side, were poor
and the exchange rate was
$1 = 360 yen
now $1 = 90 yen
which means $ was four times stronger agains Japanese Yen.
But around 1980, it became like
$1 = 250 yen
So some Japanese started to go abroad.
And in mid '80s, it suddenly became like
$1 = 125 yen
Then, finally average Japanese started to enjoy
vacationing in everywhere in the world.


In early '70s, when going abroad was still
beyond their dreams for most of Japanse,
this kind of song reminded them of
a scene of romantic European cinemas,
especially French or Italian.
And they just dreamed about a romantic fantasy world
with beautiful exotic scenaries and beautiful white people.

Yes, this kind of song was a fairytale for Japanese
who had to work hard and live boring lives
and had a strong yearning for the American & European
White glamorous cultures.

He Did It Again / The True Face of the Exploiter

Two biggest news in New York of the last week were
1) Yankees' victory
2) Michael Bloomberg got his third term.

I didn't know Yankees's last win at the world series
was nine years ago, wow.
Actually my career crisis started around the same time.
So I really hope to have a positive change in my career
as well for the next year.
Well, even I know, judging with the current economic situation
and the huge media ciris in Japan, that would be very difficult.

Anyway, Yankees victory was of course a happy story
for New Yorkers, even though it did not effect
anything of my life except some conversations
with my Japanese acqauintances about Matsui.

On the other hand,
Bloomberg buying the third sheet of the mayor
was not a happy story for me at all.
First of all, he changed the law
that had limited the mayor's terms no more than two.
And he spent staggering $100 million for that one,
which was $157.27 for each voters,
and his opponent spent $13.12 for each voters.



As the matter of fact,
He has not recieved any salary from the city
since the first time he bought the seat of the mayor 8 yeras ago
because he does not need that kind of small money,
instead he makes tons of profit by using
his status and the power to control this city as a moyor.

Unfortunately many people admire rich people and vote for them.
Though I think it is so easy to understand that
rich politicians do politics for riches not for others,
many people do not get that logic sadly.

He has such a nice persona,
a great business man with a nice smile.
But nobody can be that rich without manipulations and exploitations.
If you think only hard & honest work can take you that high,
you are absolutely naive.
Yet, apparently too many people are that naive
and so easy to be exploited.

When you imagine about the face of the exploiters,
you may think a mean face of greedy landlords or something.
But the real exploiters exploite those cheap exploiters
and they exploit the system of the socirty
with a smile of a gentle man.
Yes, they are good at manipulating you,
aren't you manipulated?

Believe me, in this city, under this ministration,
the gap between riches and poors will keep windening.
Well, only hope I got out of this election was
after that much of spending,
the gap between him and his opponent actually widened
insead of getting bigger.

Japanese Actors Do Not Look Like Japanese!?? Part1

The other day, I had an argument over this subject
on some movie discussion board.

One guy wrote that he thought actors did not look like Japanese when he started to watch Japanese films such as Kurosawa's and Ozu's.

So I stated that actors in Japanese films did not look like Japanese to him because he was not used to seeing nice looking Asian/Japanese as he had not seen them in any American media.
For Americans, Asian are not supposed to be good looking. Therefore handsome actors in Japanese film did not look Japanese to this person.

In American media, you do not see many Asians. And when you see them, usually they are very very stereo types. Simply nice lookig Asian men do not exist in American media. Well, a few exceptions maybe.
But basically, in American media, Asian men are geeky ugly gumps,
And Asian women are exotic play-things who love to serve White men.
Casting directors do not chose handsome Asians because they think good looking ones do not look Asians enough.

Here is a good example.


Mashi Oka from the hit TV show "Heroes"


As he hated this accusation about the racism againt Asians in American media, he just did not want to admit it. I understood that.
So he started to write about Japanese propaganda films in Korea during pre-war era, which were nothing but ridiculous justifications of Japanese occupation over Korea.
I guess he wanted to say that Japanese media could be very bias too.

Anyway, after this argument, I started to wonder
if what I wrote to him was right or not.

Just look at some handsome guys in current Japanese media.


Kenji Sakaguchi (Actor)


Hiroshi Abe (Actor)


Tomoya Hase (Actor/Musician)


Takeshi Kaneshiro (Actor)


Kazuki Kitamura (Actor)


Ken Hirai (Singer)


Satoshi Tsumabuki (Actor)


Hidetoshi Nakata (Soccor Player)


With the exception of Nakata, they all have large eyes and tall nose, which are not Asians facial characteristics,
even Nakata has a relatively tall nose as an Asian.
Does this mean they do not look like Asians?
Well, at least I can say the majority of Japanese men do not look like them, that's for sure.

Hmmmmmm......

If I sit by the window of Sturbacks in New York
and keep looking outside, people walking down the street,
do I see many of those who look like Hollywood Stars?
"NOPE!"
But at least, I can say many White people do have
large eyes and tall nose relative to Asians.

So if the beaty standard of media in Japan is "large eyes and tall nose", probably it came from America or any European countries as most of Japanese do not have them.


To be continued.

City Wide Gentrifications, Who Really Got Benefited?

During '70s, New York city had really detariorated.
When I got here, which was in 1983,
Alphabet city, which was the east side of Avenue A of Manhattan,
East Harlem and South Bronx were like War zones.
After so many fire caused by the arson,
those areas looked like the bombed-by-the-airraid zones.
And many other areas looked so shabby.

In '80s, the city started the gentrifications
and in '90s, under the Giuliani ministration,
it was really intensified.
He had cleaned up Time Square Area completely,
where used to be a horrible dump,
porn theatres, adult stores and peep show places lined up,
whores, pimps & pushers loitered all the time,
and so many tourists were mugged violently.
Miraculously it turned out to be Disneyland looking area within four years or so.
Many other areas' gentrifications followed
like 14th street & Union square and Meat market Area.




Over all, New York has become much cleaner and safer,
that is definitely great.
But besides them, what other aspects of our city lives did they improve?
Hmmmm, nothing much.
And because of the gentrifications,
the rent conditions has become totally out of control,
and that has caused the huge price increase on everything.

For the last 20 yeasr, in my area, East Village,
the rent has got higher 6-8 times!
The price of groceries has, at least, doubled.
The subway fare has increased from 50cents to $2.25.

And the minimum pay is still $7,
which means, after tax, you bring home less than $1000.

The city let big developers use the public loan
with the very low interest.
The current mayor, Blomberg, the self-made super rich guy,
is seeking for his third term.
Today I saw a middle aged, middle class white woman talking on TV,
and she said that she believed his business skills would lead this city to the right way.

If you think someone can become that rich only with honest & hard working, you are too naive. And apparently there are too many naive people are living in this city and they will vote for him again.
Only the people who know how to manipulate and exploite the system can become rich like Blomberg. And rich poloticians do politics for riches, not for the middle class and the poors.
To me, it is such a easy logic, but it seems so many people do not understand and they do admire riches.
He will be the mayor again and you will be squeezed out more & more if you are not rich.