Grandfather Dies. Father Dies. Son Dies. Grandson Dies: This is True Prosperity

An ancient Zen Buddhist story goes like this:

A very wealthy family in China bought a large farm and built a beautiful palace upon it. They wished for good luck, health, and fortune, so they decided to ask a famous Zen priest to write a scroll for them to hang in their den. The priest accepted the job and went back to his temple to pray for enlightenment.

After a few days, the priest returned with the finished scroll and the entire family gathered around in great anticipation to see the words that the priest wrote for them. The priest said a short prayer and opened the scroll and hung it on the wall.

The scroll said:

Grandfather dies. 
Father dies. 
Son dies. 
Grandson dies.

The entire family was furious at the priest. They shouted and demanded that he go back to the temple and rewrite the scroll for them.

As the priest was rolling up the scroll, he sighed and said: “I will rewrite the order of names on the scroll in anyway you wish. But I think there can be no other sequence. If all die in this order, I think that is true prosperity.”

My own mother died in a freak car accident in 1994. Of course, I was crushed. I was in Japan and she was in America.

After the car accident, she was taken by ambulance to the hospital. I understand that she floated in and out of consciousness before she died. Since I was so far away, I had no way of seeing her, holding her hand, and saying: “I love you mom. Thank you for everything.” But at least I can be thankful that my father was there to do so when she went away. Many people who die are not fortunate enough to have a loved one with them, to hold their hand, to whisper in their ear: “I love you. We all love you…. Please rest. You may go now.” And with words like these, my mother “let go” and passed away. I will always regret that I couldn’t be there with my mother in her time of need. I thank God that my father could be.

There are too many people in this world who die alone. Could there be a more woeful way to die, than when loved ones cannot be there by your side to say their last, “Good-bye”?

After my mother died, though, I was angry. I was angry at the world and I was angry at God. For months after my mother’s death I had recurring nightmares and the most bizarre dreams. Many of the dreams involved times when I was a boy. I would be playing in a playground and I would see my mother on the other side of a fence. I would cry out, “Mom! You’re back!” And I would begin to sob uncontrollably. My mother would grow angry at me and she’d start to leave. I’d cry out again, “Mom! Come back!” As she walked away, she would turn around, look at me, and always say the same thing: “I cannot come to visit you, if you are going to cry every time I see you.” And with that, she’d disappear into a field of tall grass.

I would always promise not to cry the next time. But I couldn’t keep my promise. I think I saw this same dream nearly every night for at least six months.

Then one night, I had the most bizarre dream of all. My mother, as usual, walked away because I was crying, I was on my knees. I had my head in hands to try to hold back the tears. And then suddenly, I found myself in a huge chamber. It was like a colossal courtroom. I looked up and there was an old man sitting in a chair, looking quite frustrated and irate at me. He was massive in size. He was huge, at least 40 or 50 feet high and he was sitting down! He was brushing his beard and looking at me as if he was considering what to do.

I knew exactly who he was, yet I was not afraid of him; I was furious.

I shouted: “It’s not fair! It’s not fair that my mother died in an accident. My mother was still young and healthy. She should still be alive you bastard!” The old man just stared at me. I continued to shout at him. And I began to cry.
Then he calmly said: “So you think it is unfair that your mother has died?”

“Of course it’s unfair!”

The old man sighed and said, “Very well then, I shall allow you to be reborn and I will give you a different mother, and that mother will still be alive today. Would you find this acceptable?”

“A different mother!?” I said. “No… No, thank you.”

I suddenly awoke from my dream. I was in tears.

I pondered this strange dream for many weeks after that. Then it dawned on me: Instead of being angry that my mother died in an accident. I should be thankful for all of the wonderful times we spent together, all the hugs and bedtime stories. All the laughs and the great dinners. All the special times that my mother made me feel special, and all the other times she cheered me up when others did not. I should thank God for all the wonderful memories I received from being the son of this loving woman. She was always there for me when I needed her. And now, whenever I see her in my dreams, I do not cry. In fact the dream I often have with her now is one where I am on her side of the fence and we are sitting in the field and having a picnic and smiling together.

I haven’t seen my mother in a while, but I look forward to the next time I do.

I told this story to a priest who has become my friend. He asked me to show him a photograph of my mother. I did. He said: “Your mother was a very beautiful woman. Always keep this image of her in your heart. You are most fortunate that it is you, and not her, who has but memories and a snapshot.”

“How profound!” I thought. And I have always kept his words of wisdom in my heart. I share these words with my friends whose parents have passed away.

If only I could have been lucky enough to be there to hold my mother’s hand and be able to say, “I love you” when she passed away. How thankful I would be; thankful for that moment that I could be there. But I wasn’t.

But she was there to share and be a big part of my life.

I wouldn’t trade those photos or memories for anything in the world.

Would you?

My mother and father sometime in the very early 1950s.

Confessions of a Propagandist for the State!

"In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."- George Orwell

"Jake" is a news reporter for a major broadcasting station in Japan. His program is broadcast to millions of homes. I recently interviewed, "Jake" (not his real name). We met at my favorite watering hole and "Jake" confessed his story to me. Here is what he said:

"In a surprising turn of events, I have lately found myself in the position of propagandist for the state and Big Pharma. It's true. I am now reading and broadcasting the "news" (read: "propaganda") to millions of people in Japan.

It disturbs me to have to read out some of the stuff that arrives on the newswire.

If I tell the truth on air, I will most likely get in a lot of trouble even if I am not fired. If I follow the "party line" and read out the propaganda as written, I will wind up hating myself and quitting. (This has happened already twice before.) These are my only choices. It's just the way it is. I don't want to get fired, but it will happen if I tell the truth. If I do like everyone else and trot out the lies, I will keep my job.

I just cannot parrot the lies. I think the news has lost all credibility, and station ratings go down because people know they are being fed propaganda. I think people are smart enough and mature enough that, if they are given the facts, they can make intelligent decisions for themselves.

Anyhow, here’s how I got into this curious position.

I was hired to produce and direct a prime-time show on a major broadcasting station. I have a staff of five, including me. I was told that I would also have a professional newsreader to come onto the show and do his stuff.

The day before the first show, at rehearsal, I was told that we didn't have a newsreader after all. I was dumbfounded when I was told that I was expected to do the news. As producer/director (which translates as engineer, scriptwriter, co-host and coffee boy) I pretty much had my hands full each and every show. 

It is a live broadcast, and in live broadcasts, mistakes are verboten!

So I became the news anchor. Not by choice, but by – well, like I said, it just fell into my lap. Don't get me wrong; the news needs to be done. So since there was no one else qualified to do it, I was stuck.

Now, here's where the problem begins. I know the news is written for people around the education level of an eighth-grader, so lots of facts are omitted, but sometimes the propaganda is just so blatant that I can't stand it. Also, from years of experience, and being a voracious reader, I have developed a healthy skepticism of what passes for news these days.

Here are two examples of news stories that I had to read out that just made me roll my eyes. But, before I do that, let me quote George Orwell once more:

"Omission is the greatest form of lie."

Keep that in mind. The news stories are not written so that I must directly speak a falsehood. But they are filled with important omissions, which turn some of them into blatant propaganda. 

Read this next bit of news. It is the kind of story that all news reporters read verbatim. Tell me what's wrong with this picture.

G-8 statement slams N. Korea 

Ministers of the Group of Eight countries condemned North Korea over its nuclear and missile development programs and warned that the group will take additional steps if Pyongyang fires missiles. In a chair's statement released after the gathering, the G-8 foreign ministers "condemned in the strongest possible terms" North Korea's active nuclear weapons development and ballistic missile program.

The statement also criticized North Korea's "current aggressive rhetoric," saying, "This will only further serve to isolate the DPRK." 

Like I said, this is blatant propaganda. I just couldn't bring myself to read this out as is. If I did, I would be a tool of the propagandists. This sort of news is a lie by omission and can only serve to stoke public opinion into supporting a war against North Korea that will get a bunch of innocent people killed! That's right. This is a lie and this news is written to further a political agenda.

I admit that I did broadcast the story the way it was written but I added a critical fact to the very last paragraph that I think people need to know. I said:

"The statement also criticized North Korea's "current aggressive rhetoric," saying, "This will only serve to further isolate the DPRK." While ignoring the fact that US B2 Stealth Bombers, capable of dropping nuclear weapons, have been making threatening flights over South Korea just seconds away from North Korea."

Gee, isn't this little fact relevant? Not if you are a propagandist for the state. 

Saying this, though, is telling the truth. How can we expect the North Koreans not to be bellicose when US bombers are buzzing their territory? Hell, the USA carpet-bombed the North during the Korean War, killing an unknown thousands of innocent civilians! Of course they will scream to high heaven when US bombers are flying around, within seconds of flying time of their country. Please refer to: Ubuntu Peace Education Project website:

In the Korean War, the U.S. demonstrated its willingness to attack Korean civilians in order to injure unidentified military partisans. In doing so, it violated international humanitarian law and provisions of the Geneva Conventions. Among illegal actions engaged in by U.S. soldiers and the U.S. command during the Korean War 1950-53 war were the destruction of clearly marked hospitals and destruction of irrigation dams at Kusong and Toksan that provided water for 75% of North Korea’s food production.  

The Air Force at the time reported that the "subsequent flash flood scooped clean 27 miles of valley below", noted the flood waters wiped out supply routes as well as villages, and acknowledged that the loss of the rice crop will mean "starvation and slow death."    

Napalm attacks more widespread than those ultimately banned in Viet Nam 16 years later and carpet-bombing destroyed 75% of North Korea’s cities and villages...    

The American planes had bombed the entire city (Pyongyang) multiple times in the Korean War and obliterated virtually everything in it. Indeed U.S. reports cite a general ordering a stop to the bombing of Pyongyang since "nothing worthy of a name" was left standing. 

Why we are stoking the flames of war with the North Koreans – a country that can't even feed its own people – is just beyond my comprehension. People need to wake up and see that they are being manipulated.

The next story that I had to read out also made me want to pull my hair out. It was about a 74-year-old man dying from bird flu in China. I can't remember the exact text now, but it went like this:

China: In the last two weeks, 11 of the 43 people infected with bird flu in China have died, the World Health Organization said Friday. 

The latest to succumb was a 74-year-old male patient from Shanghai.

Bird flu, again? You’re kidding me, right? And how does the death of a 74-year-old man in China make the news when average life expectancy in China is 72?

We go through this flu nonsense every four or five years. The last time this sort of sensationalism flared up, I complained about it and predicted this story coming up. Big deal! (Let me make another wild prediction: that there will be a war in the Middle East within the next year or so.)

Eleven people die in China and that makes the news? What a joke. How about a few points of reference here? 

First off, there are over 1,340,000,000 people in China. Over 65,000 die in traffic accidents in China per year (an average of over 170 people every single day!) Many Chinese factories are dangerous and every year there are hundreds of thousands of fatalities and injuries! I have read of about 300 people dying every day in China in factory and industrial accidents!

And these people want us to worry about eleven people dying of the flu? 

They call this "news"? I call it propaganda! 

I simply refuse to be a propagandist for the state. I wish more so-called news reporters would wake up and realize that they are not helping – and are actually harming people – by scaring them like this."

By this time, "Jake" was very drunk and about to pass out. I put him in a cab and took him to his home so he could sleep off his drunk and his frustrations.

I cynically chuckled and was reminded of my old saying about TV news:

"Remember the Golden Rule about TV: 90 per cent of everything you see on TV is bullsh*t; the other 10 per cent are commercials."

Edited by Jeremy Irwin

Reprinted from www.lewrockwell.com

What Happens When Grandmother Has a Stroke...

(This is a difficult post to write. If my immediate family sees this, they might get angry... But please read until the end... Even in this mis-fortune our loved one brings us good things...)

My mother-in-law had a stroke. Her condition is rapidly declining... She hasn't long on this earth. I thank God she isn't in pain.

I will miss her. She was always kind and good to me and a very fair person. If there is a heaven, I know she is going there.

The immediate family shudders under the stress. They become irritated at how each other handles grief... What should they do when the matriarch is dying? What will they do when the glue, the love, that held the family together for so many decades disappears?

I try to help anyway I can... But there's not much I can do but listen and try to make things a bit more convenient...

Friends send condolences...

I remind everyone and myself of an old story: 

"An ancient Zen Buddhist story goes like this: 

A very wealthy family in China bought a large farm and built a beautiful home, a 'palace' upon it. 

They wished for good luck, health, and fortune, so they decided to ask a famous Zen priest to write a scroll for them to hang in their den. After meeting the entire family and discussing the scroll, the priest accepted the job and went back to his shrine to pray for enlightenment. 

After a few days, the priest returned with the finished scroll and the entire family gathered around in great anticipation to see the words of good luck and fortune that the priest had written for them. 

The priest said a short prayer for all and then proudly opened the scroll and hung it on the wall. 

The scroll said: 

"Grandfather dies. Father dies. Son dies. Grandson dies." 

The entire family was furious at the priest. The elders were shocked and enraged! The younger ones were at the brink of violence. 

They all shouted and demanded that the priest go back to the shrine and rewrite the scroll for them. 

Rolling up the scroll, the priest sighed and said: 

"I will rewrite the order of names on the scroll in anyway you wish. But I think there can be no other sequence. If all die in this order, I think that is true prosperity."

・　・　・　・　・

My mother-in-law had a stroke. Her condition is rapidly declining... She hasn't long on this earth.

I believe that, age-wise, I am next in line... 

As it should be....

The family grieves and supports anyway they can... They are spending important time together. When I shot this photo, my daughter asked why I did that. I replied, "In a way, I envy you all. You get to spend this time together and hold her hand and say the things you want and need to say. My mother died suddenly and painfully in a freak car accident, I wasn't able to be with her in her last hours. So, like I said, in a way, I envy you all. Everything happens for a reason. Good things can come from this too if you try to find them."

The Young People Don't Care... And That's a Good Thing.

The following is just my two cents. Take it or leave it... I've found out that what I think usually doesn't cause the world to turn upside down anyway. Don't send me your mails about "My father fought in...." My dad did too. Know what? I don't care. - Mike (young at heart)

You'll read the news and they'll constantly tell you about bad blood between Japan and her neighbors. Every time some dumb Japanese politician (all over 65-years-old) goes to Yasukuni Shrine, the shrine that supposedly glorifies Japan's past military aggression, the politicians in China and Korea (all over 65-years-old - excepting that lunatic who currently "runs" North Korea) all lose their incontinence and shat their adult diapers. They raise hell and scream about what the other lunatics who "run" Japan are doing and complain about "Japan's war-time militarism" and "past aggressions." (Note: I suspect that Japanese prime ministers visiting Yasukuni shrine while in office could be a sign of senility... We should look into that!)

The news services get into a big tiff and saber-rattling commences along with the typical lame excuses and press conferences....

It's a big deal to the (all over 65-years-old) crowd. But you know what? From my point of view, the vast majority of younger people don't care.

Anytime you see these anti-Japanese or anti-whatever demonstrations on TV, you'll see mostly old people and a few young lunatics in the crowd... Of course, the world has more than enough lunatics to go around for every country... Unfortunately. But you know what?

From my point of view, the vast majority of younger people don't care.

The vast majority of young people from China or Korea (that I've met) and ALL the younger Japanese people I know and live with simply don't care.

World War II was a different world to them. It has nothing to do with them at all. I think you'll be hard-pressed to find a Japanese under 50-years-old who was garreting Chinese civilians in Shanghai in 1942 or administering puncture wounds to Koreans about the same time.

Nope. I'd reckon you couldn't find a single one.

Just like you couldn't find a single former slave owner alive today in the Southern USA.

It's past history. The younger people just seem to not care. And it's a good thing.

I cannot give any data or statistics on how the young people think, especially in Japan, but I can give you anecdotal evidence.

Ever heard of a South Korean boys group named, "Big Bang"? No? Neither had I until my then 17-year-old daughter told me about them about a year or so ago.

Big Bang is massive in Japan; along with several other Korean pop-acts. 

Big Bang

Folks in the west have heard of Paul McCartney or the Rolling Stones. Yes. They played or are playing at Tokyo dome in recent days or early next year. Tokyo Dome holds about 55,000 people... Probably the only western acts that could sell the place out today is Paul McCartney returning to Japan for the first time in 11 years - Doing tons of Beatles songs, by the way - and the Rolling Stones, coming back to Japan for the first time in nearly ten years...

But, in Japan, neither Paul nor Mick Jagger can claim any bragging rights over Big Bang; especially when it comes to young people. The McCartney shows were filled with 55 to 70-year old people. The Stones will probably have the same. 

Big Bang? Three nights at Tokyo Dome sold out within the first 2 hours and packed with 150,000 screaming young girls and guys... And they did the same last year too!

I'm not too hip on today's top of the charts pop music, but I have asked many Japanese women ages between 17 and 35 and they all know who Big Bang is... The Beatles or the Stones? Not so much. Ask any Japanese under 25 if they've ever heard of the Beatles and they'll all say, "Yeah... I think so. But I don't know any of their music..." They don't... But I reckon there's not a single Japanese under 25 who hasn't heard of Big Bang.

It's simply amazing.

(Photo of Japanese teenager showing vicious anti-Korean hostility... Nah, this 18-year-old Japanese girl doesn't just love Big Bang, she worships them! 

To these fans, and many young people just like them, World War II was in a different age in a different universe; they simply don't care about it at all....

I asked my now 18-year-old daughter about Big Bang and she told me that "...all my friends love them! They sing in Japanese that isn't native speaker Japanese, but that's OK. It is what makes them 'cute.'"

I asked my 35-year-old radio station assistant about Big Bang and she told me, "They are huge! All my friends like them. You just cannot get tickets for their shows anywhere!" This is from a girl who works at a radio station, on the most popular show on that station; you'd think she could get tickets if she pulled some strings. No way.

Last night, I asked a 42-year-old woman who runs a restaurant in my neighborhood about Big Bang. Of course she knew who they were. She went on to tell me that several of her close friends are "Big Bang crazy."

Like I said, none of these people were bayoneting people in South East Asia about 70 years ago. They don't care. It has nothing to do with them... Just like neither you nor I owned any slaves on southern cotton plantations.

Another world. Different countries in a different universe at a different time. It has nothing to do with them and their lives. It's other people's baggage. It seems the younger people don't want to carry it... Hell, I don't either.

These are real people who I live and interact with. The clowns in the Japanese government who have never had a real job, who steal our tax monies to line the pockets of their well-connected friends, and hire their friends for cushy government jobs are the ones who care about shit that happened 70 years ago...

It is all a part of these oldsters world and part and parcel of their jobs to maintain controversy so that they can justify spending our taxes on insane nonsense and keeping their friends happy...

Thank god for people like the members of Big Bang. They don't seem to care either about World War II, nor do they seem to care about what (over 65-year-old) politicians do. They care about now and their lives and their fans.

Check this. This video is nearing 100 million views on Youtube. Big Bang has many videos (even singing in Japanese too! - a language that is banned by the government in Korea (who are all people over 65-years-old, by the way...)

Here they are at Tokyo Dome for the final of their 2012 Japan tour shows. Laugh all you want, these guys are the real thing.... (Think about it: 2013 tour? $110 a ticket multiplied by 165,000 people... That's about $18.1 million dollars - give or take a few yen!) 

And REALLY thank god that these young people and their fans will someday soon be in their 60s... Maybe then, we can put this WWII friction to rest... 

Why not? World War II is ancient history, it has nothing to do with today's young people. They don't care. And I think that's a good thing.

(This article inspired by my good friend Andrew Sirkis living in northern Japan)

Feng Shui Means, "Make More Money!"

"Cleanliness is next to godliness" ~ Francis Bacon – Advancement of Learning (1605)

Feng Shui is Quack Science you think? Think again. Feng Shui is just plain common sense. By the time you finish this short article you will see why it is so painfully obvious and you’ll wonder why you didn’t figure it out sooner.

Do you want to make lots more money? It’s easy; clean up that mess. Do you want to have a more fulfilling life and a happier home? Easy; clean up that mess. Do you want to relieve stress and be more creative therefore more productive? That’s easy (and you already know the answer); clean up that mess. Cleaning up your mess and having a clean, open, well-lit home and workspace are keys to Feng Shui.

What is Feng Shui? I don’t really want to turn you off by getting into this part too much, but I suppose at least a little background information might be helpful. Feng Shui literally translates into, "The way of the water and the wind." In layman’s terms, that might mean that you don’t row a boat up a rushing river and against the wind. That should sound simple enough. Feng Shui, originating from ancient China, has been used by Asians for thousands of years.

In spite of all that you may have heard or read about Feng Shui, I’d like to take a few moments of your time to explain in simple terms why Feng Shui will help you accomplish all the things that you want from life: A happier family, a more relaxed home, relief from stress, more accomplishment, and a much better financial situation; and all just by cleaning up your home, office, or store. Feng Shui requires no investment, little time, and no hiring of hippie quacks to come to your house to tell you what’s wrong. All it requires from you is some diligence and a little effort. What could be simpler?

It might sound a bit ridiculous if I told that you could increase your business and make more money by vacuuming your space every day, but that’s the way it is. Here’s why and please consider the next scenario with me.

You are driving through the countryside with your wife and kids. You all are tired and hungry so you decide to stop for something to eat. There are two restaurants next to each other. You walk into the first one and the exterior and interior are dilapidated. There is a halfway dead tree with brown leaves falling off of it and dead plants near the entrance of the restaurant. The tables and chairs are old and broken down. There are stacks of old papers and trash piled up behind the cash register. The floor looks like it hasn’t been mopped in weeks. The ceiling fan looks to be on its last legs…

You walk into the second restaurant. It is clean. The carpet is not new, but it is clean and the tables are shiny. There are beautifully kept palm trees at the entrance of the establishment. The waitresses are all wearing nice, clean uniforms…

Well, I could go on, but why? I think both you and I have decided already which restaurant we are going to take our wife and kids to.

Isn’t it obvious? How could anyone expect that you or your business is doing well when you won’t even take the time to clean up and look after what is yours?

Don’t have dead plants in your office or home. Of course you should never have any dead plants at the entrance to your place of business or your abode. When people walk in and see dead plants, what could their subconscious possibly be telling them about the way you run your affairs? I mean, how hard is it to take care of a houseplant? If you can’t do that, then how could you possibly expect that you will be trusted with someone else’s business or their money? You can’t. You are dreaming if you think you can.

Don’t leave stacks of trash on your desk or behind the cash register. What does that tell me and other customers about the way you handle paperwork and your other affairs? You know what they say about ‘tip of the iceberg?’ If you have trash piled up in front of the store or restaurant, then I’d hate to see the disaster that lies behind those walls!

If you are a salesman (and, in a way, aren’t we all?) then you must expect that people do judge by appearances. Perhaps you can’t afford a shiny new car, but you can take the time to clean up that car of yours. How would I feel if I got into your car and there were old candy wrappers, empty coffee cups, receipts, trash, or even money on the filthy floor of your car? Not good, I can tell you that.

Think about it: How could anyone expect you to be doing a good business when your workplace and your home are filthy? They couldn’t. And if you sincerely stopped to think about it, you’d admit that what I’ve written here makes perfectly good sense.

The same rules will apply to your place of residence. It must be kept clean. A home is a place where one can escape the hustle bustle and reinvigorate themselves. A home is a place where one can relax. Relaxing is enjoyment. Who doesn’t want to relax? Who doesn’t want enjoyment? How can you relax or enjoy yourself in a pile of filth?

A home is warm. A home has an identity. That individual identity – whether it is yours as an individual person – or your family identity – must be preserved. You cannot do this without a home. Well, how in the world are you going to relax and refresh yourself when the place you live in is a filthy mess? You can’t. You need a home. Homes are to be kept clean.

Clear out that trash. Vacuum the floor; and especially do something about those dead houseplants.

It’s funny, when you stop to think about it, how dead plants remind people of, well, death; and how death doesn’t seem to correlate to good business unless, of course, you are an undertaker.

Many psychologists, and I think most people would agree, that we are products of our environment. Now what kind of product do you think you can produce, as a person, or as a business, when your environment is filthy? As the great statesman Benjamin Disraeli once said, "Cleanliness and order are not matters of instinct; they are matters of education, and like most great things, you must cultivate a taste for them."

Consider my friends: One can sit there all day thinking about ways to make more money, but they’ll not come up with a good idea while they wallow in filth. Good ideas are great. Great ideas don’t come from filth.

Do yourself a favor, clean up. And while you clean you’ll be refreshing your inner spirit and be able to make a place where you can relax and refresh; a place where your mind can create and play.

So remember: Feng Shui is not only common sense, Feng Shui means, "Make more money."

This article originally appeared on Lew Rockwell.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rogers/rogers211.html

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Keywords: Feng Shui, clean, Mike Rogers, Mike in Tokyo Rogers. cleanliness, Marketing Japan,

Amazing! Trained Goldfish Synchronized Swimming in Japan

There's this old guy in Japan that trains goldfish. Really! This is pretty amazing. Watch these four goldfish swim in formation.

The TV program is from China but the guys on camera are most definitely Japanese. This is a very cool trick but it is not trick photography as I have seen this with my own eyes in Yokohama before.

Pretty amazing:

I Am a Propagandist for the State!

"In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

In a very surprising turn of events, I have found myself in the position of being a propagandist for the state and Big Pharma. It's true. I am now reading and broadcasting the "news" (read: "propaganda") to millions of people living in Japan.

It disturbs me to have to read some of this stuff that comes on the newswire. I didn't expect, nor did I ask for, this news job. It fell into my lap. What am I going to do about it?

If I tell the truth, I will most likely get in a lot of trouble if not fired. If I follow the "party line" and report the propaganda as written, I will wind up hating myself and quitting... This has happened already twice. Unfortunately, it is pre-determined; these are my only two choices. It's just the way it is. I don't want to get fired, but it will happen if I tell the truth. If I do like everyone else and be a parrot of the lies, then I will keep my job.

I just cannot parrot the lies. I think the news has lost all credibility, and station ratings go down, because people know they are being fed propaganda. I think people are smart enough and mature enough that, if they are given the facts, they can make intelligent decisions for themselves.

Anyhow, let me briefly explain how I got into this curious position.

I was hired to be the producer/director of a prime time show on a major broadcasting station in Tokyo. Of course I have a staff of 5 people, including me. I was also told that I would have a professional news reader to come onto the show and read the news.

The day before the first show, at rehearsal, I was told that we didn't have a news person and that I was expected to read the news. This shocked me. Regular readers of my blog know that I am the kind of guy who likes to have fun and joke around, but I take my news and financial information dead serious. I think that if a station is going to do "The News" then they'd better damn well do a professional job, or there's no point in doing it. No one likes a half-assed job.

I was a professional news person and even hosted my own news and topics program for a few years on CNN Japan called, "News Wave" up until about 1993 or so. I have also been the news person on many programs over the years. The last time I was the news anchor was October of 2009. I thought that was going to be my last time.

I thought wrong. 

I was dumbfounded when I was told that I was expected to do the news. As a producer/director (engineer, script-writer, co-host and coffee boy) I pretty much had my hands full each and every show as it is a live broadcast and in live broadcasts, mistakes are verboten!

So I became the news anchor. Not by choice, but by, well... like I said, it just fell into my lap. 

Don't get me wrong; the news needs to be done. So since there was no one else qualified to do it, I was stuck.

Now, here's where the problem begins. I am a voracious reader. I know the news is written for people around the education level of an eighth-grader, so lots of facts are omitted, but sometimes the propaganda is just too blatant that I can't stand it. Also, from years of experience, I have come to have a very healthy skepticism of what passes for "news" these days.

Let me give you two examples of news stories that I had to read that just made me roll my eyes. But, before I do that, let me quote George Orwell once again. 

"Omission is the greatest form of lie" - George Orwell

Keep that in mind. The news stories are not written so that I must directly speak a falsehood. But they are filled with important omissions which turn some of them into blatant propaganda. 

Read this next bit of news - the kind of news ALL news reporters read verbatim - and tell me what's wrong with this picture?

G-8 slams N. Korea, vows additional steps if missile fired

LONDON, April 11, Kyodo

Foreign ministers of the Group of Eight countries on Thursday wrapped up their two-day meeting in London, condemning North Korea over its nuclear and missile development programs and warning the group will take additional steps if Pyongyang fires missiles.

In a chair's statement released after the gathering, the G-8 foreign ministers "condemned in the strongest possible terms" North Korea's active nuclear weapons development and ballistic missile program.

The statement also criticized North Korea's "current aggressive rhetoric," saying "this will only serve to further isolate the DPRK." 

Folks, like I said, this is blatant propaganda. I just couldn't bring myself to read this as is. If I did, I would be a tool of the propagandist. This sort of news is a lie of omission and can only serve to stoke public opinion into supporting a war against North Korea that will get a bunch of innocent people KILLED! That's right. This is a lie and this news is written to further a political agenda. I read the news the way it was written but added a critical fact to the very last paragraph that I think people need to know. I said;

"The statement also criticized North Korea's "current aggressive rhetoric," saying "this will only serve to further isolate the DPRK."  While conveniently ignoring the fact that US B2 Stealth Bombers, capable of dropping nuclear weapons, have been making threatening flights over South Korea just seconds away from North Korea."

Gee, isn't this little fact a bit relevant to the story? Not if you are a propagandist for the state. 

Saying this, though, is called telling the truth. How in the world can we expect the North Koreans to NOT be bellicose when US bombers are buzzing their territory? Hell, the USA carpet-bombed North Korea during the Korean War killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians! Of course they scream to high heaven when US bombers are flying around, within seconds of their country. Please refer to: Ubuntu Peace Education Project website:

In the Korean War, the U.S. demonstrated its willingness to attack Korean civilians in order to injure unidentified military partisans.  In doing so, it violated international humanitarian law and provisions of the Geneva Conventions.  Among illegal actions engaged in by U.S. soldiers and the U.S. command during the Korean War 1950-53 war were the destruction of clearly marked hospitals and destruction of irrigation dams at Kusongand Toksan that provided water for 75% of North Korea’s food production.  

The Air Force at the time reported that the “subsequent flash flood scooped clean 27 miles of valley below”, noted the flood waters wiped out supply routes as well as villages, and acknowledged that the loss of the rice crop will mean “starvation and slow death.”      

Napalm attacks more widespread than those ultimately banned in Viet Nam 16 and carpet bombing destroyed 75% of North Korea’s cities and villages....   

The American planes had bombed the entire city (Pyongyang) multiple times in the Korean War and obliterated virtually everything in it. Indeed U.S. reports cite a general ordering a stop to the bombing of Pyongyang since “nothing worthy of a name” was left standing. 

Why we are stoking the flames of war with the North Koreans - a country that can't even feed its own people - is just beyond comprehension to me. The people need to wake up and see that they are being manipulated.

The next story that I had to read also made me want to pull my hair out. It was about a 74-year-old man dying from Bird Flu in China. Horrors! I can't find the exact text, but it went like this:

China - In the last two weeks, eleven of the 43 people infected with bird flu in China have died, the World Health Organization said Friday.

The latest to succumb was a 74-year-old male patient from Shanghai.

Bird flu, again? You are kidding me right? And how in the hell does the death of a 74-year-old man in China make the news when average life-expectancy in China is 72! WTF?!

We go through this Bird Flu nonsense every 4 or 5 years. In fact, the last time this sort of sensationalism was going on, I wrote about it and predicted this story coming up. Big deal? Let me also make a wild prediction that I think there will be a war in the Middle East within the next year or so.

Eleven people die in China and that makes the news!? What a joke. How about a little reference here? 

First off there are over 1.34 billion people in China. Over 65,000 people die in traffic accidents in China per year (that's over 185 a day!) Chinese factories are very dangerous and every year there are hundreds of thousands of fatalities and injuries! I have read where about 300 people die everyday in China in factory or industrial accidents!

And these clowns want us to worry about eleven people dying of the flu? 

They call this "News"? I call it propaganda! 

I simply refuse to be a propagandist for the state. I wish more "news" reporters would wake up and realize that they are not helping the situation - and are actually harming people - by scaring them like this...

________________________________

In Japan Nuclear Disaster Update & Strong Criticism of Western Media Sensationalism I wrote:

Remember my Golden Rule about TV: "90% of everything you see on TV is bullshit; the other 10% are commercials."

Actually, it astounds me that people do accept what what the media says as gospel truth. Don't forget that this is the very same media that told us 3 years ago that Swine Flu was going to kill more than 50 million people worldwide. This was the same media that told us that the USA had to invade Iraq because of Saddam's nooklar weapons. This was the same media that told us that SARS also was a killer virus that was going to wipe out entire populations. This was the same media that told us that Bird Flu was going to do the same.

As of today, worldwide deaths from Swine Flu: 82. No nuclear weapons for Saddam (if he had any, do you really think we would have invaded Iraq?). Worldwide deaths from SARS: 100. Worldwide deaths from Bird Flu: 80. Don't even get me started on Man Made Global Warming!

Adjusted For GDP, Japan's Stimulus Will Be Twice the Size of America's!

I just read some more alarm bell ringing over at Zerohedge. Please refer to "Protecting Yourself From Japanese Insanity":

Sayonara to Japan 

First to Japan. You've got to love mainstream media, investors and stockbrokers. The Japanese central bank's plans to end deflation have been widely greeted as having surpassed expectations. They're described as "bold", "inventive" and just what Japan needs after sitting on its hands for 20 years. Nowhere have I seen words such as "stupid", "insane" or "half-witted". Because anyone with a brain can tell you that Japan's plans will have terrible consequences, whether they succeed or not.  

First, let's look at what Japan intends to do:

• It will double current stimulus to 7.5 trillion yen (US$81 billion) per month. This means buying the equivalent of 70% of the total long-term government bonds in markets.
• It will buy Japanese government bonds with maturities of up to 40 years, seeking to push the average duration of Bank of Japan (BoJ) bondholdings to seven years, from the current three years. 
• It will increase purchases of financial instruments linked to the stock and property markets to lift the prices in those sectors and encourage other investors to buy them. More specifically, the BoJ will increase purchases of exchange traded funds (ETFs) by 1 trillion yen per year and real-estate trust funds (REITs) by 30 billion yen per year.
• The BoJ put a timeline of two years on its prior promise to achieve 2% inflation. 

To put this into some context, Japan's stimulus of US$81 billion a month compares to the U.S.' own US$85 billion program. But Japan's economy is much smaller than the U.S.. Adjusted for GDP, Japan's stimulus will be twice as large as America's. (Emphasis mine).

I am very pleased to see enough people really starting to get the message; we are heading for a disaster, folks. In the article above, though, the writer does not mention what happened right here in Japan the last time this sort of money printing and Keynesian nonsense was tried in the 1930s.

Look folks, it's common sense that we cannot create wealth out of thin air just by printing money; if we could, then why doesn't the government just print a million dollars and give it away to every citizen of the country? That should make us rich, right?

Well... It won't. Forget what the economists say; this is common sense. Anyway, as I said, the writer above forgets to mention what happened in Japan the last time this was tried. So, for that, I thought I'd reprint this past post in full for you to read again. Here you go!

Cyprus is the Opening Act for Japan's Coming Calamity: Government Debt to GDP in Japan is Now 245%!

I sit and read about the disaster befalling the people of Cyprus. I've been wondering when this is going to hit Japan. It will.

I was discussing this banking crisis and the tax on savers with my wife. It seems the Japanese are still firm believers in the sanctity of their savings in banks. 

I like taking my girlfriend to drink and see the flowers

I really wonder why they think this. It wasn't that long ago that the banks of Japan closed one day, and when they reopened, their money had been massively devalued. My wife even said to me that she remembers her grandfather telling her,

"One day the banks all closed and when they reopened, 100 yen was no longer worth 100 yen. It was worth 10 yen."

I gawk when my wife tells me this. I've heard this story from other older Japanese too. But still, the younger people today seem oblivious to what is coming. Savings in the bank seem sacred... (Even though the interest on those savings is some absurd rate of something around one-percent...)

The last time Japan had a "bank holiday" like Cyprus is having now - and many other countries are now considering - very bad things happened as a result of it.... One thing was a little incident folks do remember well until this day... You might have heard of it? It was called "The Second World War." 

Wikipedia says:

The Japanese economy shrank by 8% during 1929–31. Japan's Finance Minister Takahashi Korekiyo was the first to implement what have come to be identified as Keynesian economic policies: first, by large fiscal stimulus involving deficit spending; and second, by devaluing the currency. Takahashi used the Bank of Japan to sterilize the deficit spending and minimize resulting inflationary pressures. Econometric studies have identified the fiscal stimulus as especially effective.[67] 
(Effective? Ha! Keynesians editing Wikipedia! - Mike)

The devaluation of the currency had an immediate effect. Japanese textiles began to displace British textiles in export markets. The deficit spending proved to be most profound. The deficit spending went into the purchase of munitions for the armed forces. By 1933, Japan was already out of the depression. By 1934, Takahashi realized that the economy was in danger of overheating, and to avoid inflation, moved to reduce the deficit spending that went towards armaments and munitions.

This resulted in a strong and swift negative reaction from nationalists, especially those in the army, culminating in his assassination in the course of the February 26 Incident. This had a chilling effect on all civilian bureaucrats in the Japanese government. From 1934, the military's dominance of the government continued to grow. Instead of reducing deficit spending, the government introduced price controls and rationing schemes that reduced, but did not eliminate inflation, which would remain a problem until the end of World War II.

A few paragraphs above you can see where some nutcase wrote that the Keynesian economic policies were "effective." Yep. Real effective. You can read the results of these policies in the next paragraphs: deficit spending on munitions resulting in a 'boom bust cycle' that lead to a coup de etat and, eventually, World War Two. Yeah. Real effective. 

I am of the impression that things are really falling apart and going to hell in a handbasket here in Japan. 

I wrote about that in Japan: The End of an Era and last year in Here's Why A Weak Yen Will Destroy Japan:  

The clowns in the LDP think a weak yen will rescue Japan's faltering economy by making exports cheaper... Sounds good... That is, if there anyone to buy Japanese goods.  I fear that the weaker yen will be the last straw in breaking the Japanese Economy. Here's my reasoning why... 

China and Japan are in a row over islands. Boom! Down goes exports to Japan's biggest trading partner. Please refer to the NY Times article, "Japan Trade Suffers as China Ties Deteriorate":

"Shipments to China, which is Japan's biggest trading partner, tumbled 14.1 per cent as demand dropped for Japan-branded products..."

Also refer to Japanese Car Sales Plunge Amid China Rage.

Europe is in no condition to be big spenders on anything as Euro states are already in deep recession.

The USA isn't in good shape either as it is in recession too and Japanese cars aren't selling well due to Fukushima and other issues.

Gee? So what will a weak yen certainly buy for Japan? Answer: How about a 10% increase across the board on energy imports?

Recent figures show Japan's trade deficit hitting new records. 

From Testosterone Pit:

Japan's trade deficit in February jumped to ¥777.5 billion. Exports dropped "unexpectedly" by 2.9% from prior year, despite Abenomics. Imports surged 11.9%. Eighth monthly deficit in a row, worst since 1979... This year in January, the trade deficit hit a new record of ¥1.63 trillion, and now ¥777 billion.  

When things start to deteriorate, they begin to unravel quickly. Just this morning on ZeroHedge, I found a writer who makes my skepticism seem like I am the eternal optimist! 

Please refer to quotes from: Forget Cyprus, Japan is the Real Crisis:

Forget Cyprus. A much bigger story in the coming weeks and months will be in Japan, where one of the greatest economic experiments in the modern era is about to begin. A country where government debt even dwarfs those of Europe's crisis-ridden nations, Japan will attempt to inflate its way out of a 23-year deflationary spiral.

It's widely expected that the BoJ will expand its 101 trillion yen (US$1.06 trillion) asset buying program by more than 10 million yen. Also, it will start buying Japanese government bonds with remaining maturities of up to five years by scrapping the upper limit of three years by the end of April.

Why Japan will fail

The subtitle indicates where I stand on the matter. Given its over-indebtedness, Japan has few good options left. But the policies being pursued by Shinzo Abe will fast-forward a major debt and currency crisis. It's a matter of when, not if.

Government debt to GDP in Japan is now 245%, far higher than any other country. Total debt to GDP is 500%. Government expenditure to government revenue is a staggering 2000%. Meanwhile interest costs on government debt equal 25% of government revenue.

There's no way that Japan will ever repay this debt. It has two main options: either go through extraordinary pain by cutting back on government expenditure or print substantial money to inflate some of the debt away.

Japan is choosing the second option, as are most governments around the world. It would rather print money than cut spending and doom the economy to a substantial contraction. The choice to print money though will result in an even more painful and drawn-out outcome.

It's inevitable that the yen will fall further from here, potentially much further. I've previously said that the yen at 200 or 300 on the dollar would not surprise. This could prove optimistic.

It also seems inevitable that Japanese interest rates will rise and bonds will sell off. Yields have to rise to just 2% for interest costs on government debt to take up 80% of government revenue. The jig will be up well before that though.

Currency wars to begin in earnest

Talk of currency wars has been on the backburner for a few months. Expect that talk to heat up and become a reality as Japan ramps up stimulus in the next two weeks.

The likes of South Korea and Taiwan are already suffering from the sharp fall of the yen. They, and many others such as Germany and emerging countries, aren't going to sit by and watch their exporters get priced out of the market by the Japanese. They'll retaliate with currency depreciations of their own and the currency wars will be on in earnest. But the question is whether these countries will be able to keep up with a hyper-inflating Japan. I highly doubt it.

The yen at 200 ~ 300 per one US dollar? And "that could prove to be optimistic?" Wow! 

I've got two things to say about that. One is the February 26th Incident that was already mentioned in the Wikipedia reference earlier in this article. 

Specifically about the February 26 Incident, Wikipedia says:

The February 26 Incident (also known as the 2-26 Incident) was an attempted coup d'état in Japan on 26 February 1936. It was organized by a group of young Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) officers with the goal of purging the government and military leadership of their factional rivals and ideological opponents.

Although the rebels succeeded in assassinating several leading officials and in occupying the government center of Tokyo, they failed to assassinate Prime Minister Keisuke Okada or secure control of the Imperial Palace. 

Wikipedia also says about one of the factions involved in this coup:

The Kōdō-ha emphasized the importance of Japanese culture, spiritual purity over material quality, and the need to attack the Soviet Union 

There's that nasty talk about war again. 

And the second comment I want to make about this entire mess isn't really a comment, it is an observation and a fact. Here is a small 5 gram gold bar... In 2008, this 5 gram bar of gold sold for ¥8,900 yen (at today's rate, that is about $94 USD)... As of yesterday, March 23, 2013, it sold for ¥27,924 (about $295.68 USD). That's a 313% increase.

Today the Japanese yen and US dollar rate is at 94.5 yen to one dollar.

This isn't rocket science, folks. The Japanese government has publicly announced inflationary policies and actions to devalue the currency.

In 5 years, gold - priced in yen terms - has tripled*... Now, reading the above is there any reason to not expect that this sort of climb is unreasonable to expect over the next 5 years? If the amount of money doubles in the next year or so, isn't it reasonable to assume that the price of gold will do the same?

We are heading for some very serious troubles folks. Prepare yourself as best you can. 

_____________________________

Got Gold or Silver? Where to Buy Physical Gold or Silver in Tokyo or try what my friend Mark recommended: http://www.olympic-gold.co.jp/

Rob also chimes in and recommends these two shops: http://gold-ichiba.com/ & http://www.coins.co.jp/

*Thanks to my friend, Jeremy Irwin