I received a mail from my friend Andrew who lives in cold Northern Japan. Andrew is also a columnist for Lew Rockwell so we are sort of "Brothers in Arms." We are always on "the same page" so to speak (though, often on different paragraphs!) Here is Andrew's latest on Lew Rockwell (LRC): Yasukuni Shrine Whines Justified? (www.lewrockwell.com/2014/01/andy-sirkis/a-shrine-to-war-and-militarism/) Andrew sometimes sends me very interesting insights and comments. Here is his latest email:
Hey Mike san,
Here's a fun little story you might want to post on your blog, I don't think its the kind of thing LRC would publish:
My family was in Yamagata City this past weekend. If you know Yamagata City, you would know its a nice city in the central valley of northern Japan, at the base of some large mountains. I wouldn't want to disparage Yamagata City, but it's fair to say that its seen better days and isn't one of Japan's most economically dynamic cities.
Even so, near the main train station they have a couple of nice department stores. One of those stores has a basement area where you can buy a wide assortment of the most delicious foods imaginable. Literally, I walk around the vast expanse of food stalls drooling all over myself. After I stop leering at the gorgeous Japanese girls, I look at the food and continue drooling. Its that good, just looking at the cookies, and cakes, and bread, and snacks, and fried foods, and meat dishes, and sushi, and salads, its endless!
In America, I have never seen such a delicious choice of food to go all in one place,all in a convenient and attractive setting. In large cities like Tokyo, these basement food markets in department stores are taken for granted. Even in the smaller cities, you can easily find a department store with this set up.
When at the market in the store in Yamagata City, we bought fresh, raw, minke whale meat. The minke whale is not endangered and our fine Japanese whalers, engaging in research of course (nudge nudge wink wink say no more), catch a good number of these delicious cetaceans. The meat, eaten raw and with a bit of chopped ginger is fresh, and tender, and nutty tasting like the best cut of beef you ever had.
Sorry to all you Americans who live in "the freest country in the history of the world" because it is illegal to buy whale meat in America under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Those Green Peace control freaks who love whales and have their own TV show simply HATE Japanese whalers. They spend millions racing around the world to assualt Japanese whalers, but did they protest at all when Obama and his gang annihilated a group of Afghans on their way to a wedding a few weeks ago? Some priorities.
Eat whale, it's delicious!
I responded, "Thanks Andrew. But! But! What about Flipper?" (by the way, I have eaten whale! It is delicious!)
Remember, whales are mammals... Some slices of the
I'm proud to be a Lew Rockwell (LRC) contributor. I've been doing it now for nearly ten years.
I remember when I first started, I was so proud to have my articles published (I was rejected by other sites dozens of times!)
LRC taught me about politics and the economy. It was so great to meet and read like minded people. They have all taught me a lot.
For that, I thank them all.
I also remember, back in the days when small government and Libertarianism (anti-government, anti-war, pro-free market) was considered a freakish notion by Joe Blow Average. When I told people that I wrote for LRC, if they had heard of it, they'd roll their eyes or say something along the lines of, "Oh? That explains why you are the lunatic fringe".. But after these last ten years of war and bailing out big banks, as well as a crashing and destruction of the Middle Class, people no longer think that way...
If being against foreign wars, bombing and killing innocent children; against bailing out Wall Street and Big banks, against high taxation and intentional destruction of our currency and being for freedom and the rights of man is the lunatic fringe, then I am it.
And damned proud of it!
Writing for LRC allows me to reach millions of people that I could never reach with my blog...
The interesting part is Youtube is an also-ran in Japan, Korea and China.
Oh, the wonderful things you can learn from blogging and LRC.
(Oh and that title; "I Knew PSY Before He Was Famous!"is kind of true. My company did an event that he appeared at in Japan in January of this year (2012).... Like and idiot, I didn't go (lazy!) I didn't meet him but the most famous "talent" at our company, George Williams did. Said PSY was a nice guy too! (I knew I should have gone to that show!!!!!)
I want to write something that I think will be received by most Americans like my article on Lew Rockwell (LRC) entitled, "America is Bankrupt." According to Lew, that was the #2 most read article on LRC in 2005. It was roundly criticized by many Americans and even got me death threats.
Now, over 6 years years later it doesn't raise an eyebrow. I predicted the future. In fact, things are even worse than I could have imagined.
JUNIOR MURVIN - POLICE AND THIEVES
Today's article is another one ABOUT how bad life in the USA has become for the average person.
I went to America a few months ago to see my deathly ill father. I didn't want to go to America. I have really come to dislike going to that place.
Why do I dislike going to America? Well, there's something very wrong about that country. From the moment you land at the airport - I always land at Los Angeles International (LAX) - there's a tension in the air. I can't put my finger on it exactly but it seems like a racial tension. It certainly got worse after the Los Angeles riots of the early 1990's after the LA police beat up Rodney King.
Most Americans realize that America is an extremely messed up place and they will talk about it and openly complain about it amongst themselves but they will take umbrage with you if you, as an outsider, bring it up.
People may know that their kid is an idiot but they don't like it if you say so....
America is one royally screwed up place. Though most Americans recognize that fact, many are in serious denial or think that it is "still the best in the world." Americans are so used to being treated like third-class citizens that they fail to comprehend what has happened to them and their country. Americans are so jaded that they think it is normal to be yelled at by police or at the airport and treated like cattle. They think that this kind of behavior is normal.
Well, it is not. It's bizarre and uniquely American.
Why don't Americans recognize how bad that country has become? I suppose it's kind of like the frog in the slowly boiling water: The sh*t has been hitting the fan so slowly that Americans cannot see what kind of a crappy third-world country that place has become.
The biggest reason I dislike that place are the police and the airport. You know, when you go to any other civilized country in the world (That excludes all War mongering NATO nations, I reckon), and leave, they don't ask you to strip down naked and take off your shoes like the USA does. They don't ask that you go through an X-ray machine like the USA does.
The last time I went to a foreign country, besides the USA, I went to Hong Kong. Weird, those Chinese. Those people are polite and they are actually pleased that you come to visit. They are polite and kind to you. They treat you with respect. What's their problem? I have the same problems whenever I visited any other country in Eastern Asia or Oceania: The border and customs officials were polite and seemed happy to have me and my wife and children visit.
Odd balls, aren't they? I mean, who wouldn't think a guy who looks like a white American with his Japanese wife and 6-year-old son and two teenage daughters with their Gucci bags aren't terrorists with bombs strapped to themselves under their clothing ready to suicide themselves for the freedom of designerbagistan?
The USA? The immigration agent looks at my USA passport, his lips curl at the corners and he often barks in a foul attitude,
"What is your purpose in visiting the USA?"
"Uh, duh! Hello. I have an US passport! I am an American." I think, "I have a US passport. Is this Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union? Do you have the right to ask me where I am going and why I am here?" (of course I don't not verbalize what I am thinking).
And that brings me to an interesting thing I heard from an American woman the other day. We were talking about this very same subject. She said that she recently went back to New York and was surprised because people were "nicer" than she remembered them being. She had been living in Japan since the year 2000.
I asked her to explain what she meant by "people being 'nicer'."
She said that wherever she went, to stores or shops, it seemed that people were friendlier and more polite than she remembered. She said that when she was at a coffee shop, whenever customers walked in, they would always say a very polite "good morning" to the clerks and staff.
She's right. American people do this. I've noticed it too. It is much more pronounced than it used to be before 9/11. In fact, I have pondered about this and why it happens as I love to watch people and, in my amateur views on humanity and social behavior, reason why people act the way they do.
When I was in the USA a few months ago, I saw this very same behavior by people in many places I went. It has been becoming more and more pronounced as the US police state grows and crime grows along with it.
I didn't usually notice these overly friendly salutations at chain restaurants such as a McDonald's or fried chicken establishments or at large, very crowded restaurants. (I did, though, notice many security cameras at a McDonald's that I stopped at to get a cup of coffee off the 101 freeway heading back to LAX). I noticed this sort of overly friendly greetings and gestures at small restaurants like corner donut shops, liquor stores or out of the way mom & pop coffee shops in the neighborhood.... You know, the kinds of places that didn't have wide security apparatus and cameras like the famous chain restaurants that did or the large restaurants that were heavy with customer traffic, those were the kinds of places whereby customers would walk in (seemingly somewhat nervous) and give out a hearty "Good morning!"
I noticed this sort of behavior by customers at these small shops.
"Now, I wondered, "why are people acting so overly friendly? Isn't it strange?"
I did some very surface research about crime in my home county and found that more than 10% of all felonies were robbery (with 85% being assault)... When it came to property offenses, over 1/3 were theft.
Perhaps my image is wrong, but it seems to me that robberies of these little corner shops and mom and pop restaurants are far more prevalent than robberies of big chain restaurants and establishments that are full of customers. Low traffic and poor security seem to me to make an easier target.
So, how does this abnormally high amount of extremely friendly greeting work as a self-defense mechanism? It dawned on me at a coffee shop in Oxnard, California.
I walked in. The shop clerks looked at me. They were a Vietnamese couple. Nice folks. I quietly said, "Good morning." I made my order. After me, several others came in. They all gave out a very loud "Good morning!" (It seemed too loud, in fact)... Everyone did this as they filed in and out of the shop. I sat down and enjoyed my coffee at one of the two tables available.
One after another, people came in with a very loud, "Good morning to you!" "How are you today?" etc. Nevertheless, there was that tension in the air. The same one I always felt at LAX. If you always lived in Southern California, you'd probably never notice it. But if you lived outside of the USA, this tension is very heavy and like soup in the air; it is a very heavy fog.
Hmmm? The tension is in the air. The people all greet in a loud, yet mechanical way. "What is the reason?" I thought....
Then it dawned on me.
I believe that this excessively friendly greeting and attitude was a method of self-defense. When these people walk into an establishment like the ones described above, they say a hearty (exaggeratedly friendly) "Good morning!"
The true meaning of this greeting is not, de facto "Good morning!" it actually means, "Don't worry about me. I am a safe person and mean you no harm. I just want to come and go about my business."
The greeting disarms people and allows them not to worry and can give them a chance to relax... Like I said, I believe it is a defense mechanism.
It is just one more reason why the USA has gone to hell in a handbasket. People must now announce their intentions in coded language to others to show that they mean no harm. It used to be the other way around; people expected others to be civil; that was normal and a matter of course.
It used to be that it was normal behavior that everyone was not a criminal and only criminals announced their intentions upon entering and establishment by way of saying something like, "This is a robbery! Put your hands up!" Now, in 2011 USA, normal people must disarm others by announcing that they are not criminals by overtly loud salutations.
Many Americans will scoff at this idea (like they scoffed at my 2005 article). But, deny it as you wish, it is pretty difficult for any human being to shut off their basic human survival mechanism regardless of what country they are living in.
In today's USA it is necessary to let others know that you have no ill-intentions. It used to be obvious and common that people had no ill-intentions towards others... In today's USA? One never knows. In today's USA you must broadcast your intentions. It is a bizarre and sad state of affairs.
I can't possibly be the only person who sees this. I think it is even more prominent after a long absence. Opinions?
Introducing the Next Rock Superstar: Hatsune Miku.
I will have another new article on Lew Rockwell (LRC) Monday. The article will be about something that is happening in Japan that has to do with culture and music. It's implications are frightening.
I have the article, links, and videos all ready for your pleasure.
Seriously, be prepared for a shock. Remember the name Hatsune Miku... She is going to turn our world upside down. She is huge in Japan, becoming big in Europe and I hear popular in France already!
People over 30 will probably misunderstand her. People over 50 will hate her. But here's the problem!Teenagers go crazy over her - and it is not a flash in the pan! Some of her videos have more views in Japan than Lady Gaga does... Some are nearing 10 million views!
Lew Rockwell is the spiritual leader of a massive an anti-war, anti-state, pro-business web site that is the most read Libertarian news site in the world. I am most honored to be a columnist there. Lew Rockwell (www.lewrockwell.com) is one of three sites that I read religiously everyday. You should too.
At LRC, you can get the real news and not some government sponsored propaganda.
Some famous writers at LRC are Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, Patrick Buchanan, Gary North, Fred Reed and so many other great writers that I just cannot mention them all.
Check out LRC everyday!
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LRC, Mike Rogers, Mike in Tokyo, Lew Rockwell, Gary North, Fred Reed, Ron Paul, Patrick Buchanan, Libertarian
