Seisen Festival 2012: How to Win at Everything in Life

He did it again. My son. Yesterday, he won the top grand prize at a raffle at a school festival again this year. The prize was a trip for two, all expenses paid, to New York, New York, or another destination of your choice.

I volunteered to help out at the Kiwi booth. But, boy! Standing up from 7:30 am until 5 pm straight sure was killing my feet! 

It's not the first time he's won... In fact, I can't really remember how many times he's won. Last year he won one of the grand prizes at Bingo... He also won 5 times the year before; three or four times the year before that, and several times the year before that.

It doesn't surprise me that he wins. It doesn't surprise me when we win. I expect to win. We always win.

That's right. Not only does my son always win, so do I. So does my wife.

This time we won the trip to for two New York City (or the destination of our choice); two years ago, I won the grand prize vacation to Okinawa and a stay at Club Med.

In my life, from raffles and Bingo games, I've won vacations to Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, one vacation around the world, a home TV and stereo entertainment center, a professional bicycle..... Just to name a few...

When my wife and I got married, she won a trip to Hawaii for four people... That was convenient for our wedding ceremony....

The smiling guys cooking up lamb chops!

But back to my son. He always wins. My wife always wins. We always win. We have a reputation at our school as an incredibly lucky family because we always win.

So today I want to tell you how you can always win. In fact, it's easy. Just remember one important thing: Whether it is a bingo or a raffle or a drawing, or whatever; remember that if your children are healthy and you are spending the time together with them and your loved ones, that alone makes you a grand prize winner in life! Never forget that. And, if you do remember that, and stay positive, you'll see your "luck" change and you will start to win.

It's all in your mind, my friends!

Sometimes I go to Charity Bingo at my children's school and see my friends and they always say, "I can't believe it! You guys always win!" Then my friends will turn their smile upside down into a frown and add, "We never win!"

Well, of course they never win. Heck no! They just said, "We never win!"

If people say, "I never win!" then how do they expect to win? 

Hasn't everyone heard of "Self-fulfilling prophesy?" If you say "I never win!" then you will never win. It's pretty simple isn't it?

If you want to win, you gotta believe in yourself. Do you think the Wright Brothers could have ever flown a plane if they said, "We'll never fly!"

I traded caps with my friend at the Bangladesh booth. Boy! Do those Bangladeshi's cook up some killer Tandoori chicken! Sweet and moist!

Whenever I go to the school or charity Bingo, I am happy. I don't really care about "winning" a prize. Why? Because just by being there at the Bingo with my wife and son having fun, enjoying life and time together, and seeing all our friends, WE HAVE ALREADY WON! Even if we don't win a trinket or a prize, we won because we're alive, we're healthy and we're having fun together....

That's the key words here; we're alive, we're healthy and we're having fun together.

Do you get it? We are out with our family, having fun; having excitement. Sometimes we "win," sometimes we "lose" but, ultimately, we win because we are together and having fun and spending time.... What more could a person want?

I know. I have a daughter who I love deeply. But she was very ill as a young child and I spent many countless nights at her bedside wondering if that night would be the last. Oh how I would have given the world to take her to school and watch her smiling as she played Bingo. Oh how I would have traded anything I have to get back those days and given her a regular old childhood. Oh, what joy and emotion we could have shared and instead of quiet nights at the hospital, I would have loved to spend those evenings with her at school, eating chips and drinking soda and playing Bingo....

But, for me, that is past. I swore that I would never miss my children's time again after that. And I don't. 

The winning all-volunteer crew of the New Zealand booth. Thanks my friends!

Spending the short fleeting time with your children while you can is winning in every sense of the word.

If your kids are healthy and you have the time to spend with them at a school function playing Bingo, or even reading a book together then, trust me, you have already won..... You are alive. You are together. You and your child are healthy? You are a winner.

So remember, my friends, what winning really is. Is it getting a package of trinkets or tickets to go somewhere or is it spending a lovely time together and giving your child your complete and total self and your dedication and time?

So for this Sunday morning, look at your children. Do you have a happy and healthy family? Yes? Then remember, that whether it is a bingo or a raffle or a drawing, or whatever; if your children are healthy and you are spending a fun time together with them, that alone makes you a grand prize winner in life! Never forget that.

So smile and say, "Yes! I won!"

And finally, my son with his grand prize certificate. Actually, besides the Top Prize, we also won two of the other Top 50 prizes. Count that in with a day outside helping friends and volunteering to make this world a better place, it was a day of constant winning! (Look at that smile! That kid has just got to win, right?)

See also: Winning at Raffles and Bingo and Winning at Life Are Exactly the Same! Here's 5 Simple Tips on How to Win at Both! http://bit.ly/OdYeHI

Support Our Kids is a New Charity to Help Children Whose Lives Have Been Devastated by The NZ and Tohoku Earthquakes

A new charity organization has sprung up in Japan and they are having a kick off charity ball, dinner, auction and raffle on June 24, 2011.

Yours truly will be there as the auctioneer! (photo below is me, my wife Yuka, and Japanese superstar actor Hiroshi Tachi)

 

Here's some information on this new charity:

Support Our Kids is a new non-profit organization and charity in Japan & New Zealand whose purpose is to raise funds to support children whose lives have been deeply affected have been affected by the disasters in the Tohoku region of Japan and in Christchurch, New Zealand.

 

Former Japanese prime minister Mori san is always helpful to our charity efforts! Thanks Mori san!!!!

Why is this needed? 

While respective governments, many corporations and a number of individuals are generously supporting the ongoing massive cleanup, reconstruction, and humanitarian aid in these regions there is an immediate need to support our kids!

• In the Tohoku Region, damage has been confirmed in 2223 schools, displacing over 5000 students, and the number of students either missing or confirmed dead is over a 1000.
• In Christchurch, NZ 163 Schools damaged, affecting thousands of kids now and forcing 4,800 kids to find schools in other cities. 

The objective of Support Our Kids is to host a charity dinner and auction on June 24, 2011, to raise funds to support the kids whose lives have been sorely affected by these disasters and to further the good relationship between the people of Japan and New Zealand.

The Charity Dinner & Auction:

URL  www.support-our-kids.org 

Date & Time: Friday June 24^th, Doors open at 7:00 p.m. 

           Dinner starts 7:30 - 9:30 pm for a 10:30 p.m. close 

Venue:  ANA Intercontinental Hotel Tokyo, Prominence Ballroom

Guests: 500

Price: Corporate Table:  ¥250,000 yen / table plus tax. (Table of 10 guests)   Individual Tickets:  15,000 yen plus tax. 

Format:  4 course seated dinner, beer, wine and soft drinks. Program include live entertainment, silent auction, live auction and Raffle tickets.

Dress: Business / Business Casual

Contact: For inquiries in English or Japanese please email to: info@support-our-kids.org

Our table (L to R) My wife Yuka, me, Tachi Hiroshi, John Bender, All Japan Rugby Team Coach and former All Blacks superstar, John Kirwan) 

Official Committee Name (委員会正式名称): Support our Kids ～ひとりじゃないよ 委員会

Event Organisers: 

NPO Jidai no Souzou Koubou, Wine In Style Co., Ltd. (iwine.jp) 

Honorary Members:

Japan

1. Tachi Hiroshi (Actor)
2. Mr. Yukiatsu Akizawa (CEO of Heroes’ Edutainment, Chairman of NPO Jidai no Souzou Koubou)
3. Mr. Nobby Mashimo (Vice Chairman Japan Rugby Football Union)
4. Terumasa Hino (Jazz Trumpeteer)
5. Mitsunori Torihara (Chairman, Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd.)
6. Yoshinori Ida (Chairman and Director, Isuzu Motors Limited)
7. Yoshihito Tanabe (President, FM Osaka)
8. Koji Kurusu M.D., Ph.D., (Chairman, Azalee Group)
9. Hirofumi Nishiyama (President, Yomiuri Jyoho Kaihatsu Osaka)
10. Masamitsu Sakurai (Chairman of the Board, Ricoh Company, Ltd.)
11. Katsunori Noda (President, Kyoritsu Printing Group)
12. Naoki Yamazaki (President, Up-Front Works Co., Ltd.) 
13. Yokichi Osato (Supreme Advisor, AMUSE Inc.)
14. Michiomi Fukita (President, Tokyo FM Broadcasting Co., Ltd.)
15. Yasushi Akimoto (Producer)
16. Yasushi Yoshida ( President, Bourbon Corporation)
17. Shinya Sakai ( Owner of Hanshi Tigers and Chairman of Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd)
18. Toru Shimada (President, Rakuten Baseball Inc.)
19. Kotarou Shiba (President, office48 Co., Ltd.)
20. Kojiro Shiraishi (Sailor, Sea Adventurer)
21. Tetsuya Kobayashi (President, Kinki Nippon Railway)
22. Isao Yoshino (Chairman of the Board, Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd.)
23. Shinichiro Ito (President and CEO, All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.)
24. Fuminori Kozono (Senior Executive Vice-President, NTT East Corporation) 
25. Masamichi Ujiie (Regional Vice President, Federal Express North Pacific)
26. Mr. Hiromi Tagawa (President & CEO – Japan Travel Bureau)
27. Kaori Ito ( Mayor of Kurashiki City)
28. Tsuneo Yoshida (Chief Director,  Japanese Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect).

Left to right: Me, Mr. John Kirwan (National Coach Japan Rugby Football Team), Tim Williams

New Zealand

1. Mr. Ian Kennedy (New Zealand Ambassador)
2. Mr. John Kirwan (National Coach Japan Rugby Football Team)
3. Tim Williams (Wine In Style Co., Ltd.)
4. Shaun Conroy (NZTE)
5. Ed Overy (General Manager Air New Zealand Japan)
6. Robert Bell (CEO, ANZ Japan) 
7. Yu-Jan Chen (President, Global Sales and Marketing for ZESPRI International Limited) 
8. Makoto Kinjo (President, ANZCO Foods Japan Ltd.)
9. John Hundleby (Market Manager, Japan and Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd.)
10. Arun Nangia (General Manager, Japan - National Australia Bank Limited)
11. Mark Kennerley (President, Fonterra Japan Ltd.)

Supporting Organizations:

1. New Zealand Embassy
2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
3. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
4. Orange Ribbon. 
5. Tourism New Zealand
6. KEA (Kiwi Ex-Pat Association)
7. Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan
8. Japan New Zealand Business Council

Supporting Corporations:

1. Air New Zealand Japan
2. Delta Airlines
3. ANZ Japan
4. ZESPRI International Limited
5. ANZCO Foods Japan Ltd.
6. Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd.
7. National Australia Bank Limited
8. Fonterra Japan Ltd.
9. New Zee Company Limited
10. Terrace Downs Resort
11. Bancorp Co., Ltd.
12. Adidas Japan K.K.
13. Plain Corporation
14. Carol Priest Japan
15. Health Beauty Forum
16. Delta Airlines
17. Wazoo.jp

Special Guests: 

1. Tachi Hiroshi (Actor)

1. John Kirwan (National Coach Japan Rugby Football Union)

Besides former prime ministers Mori and Fukuda (pictured here) there were three other former prime ministers in attendance.

Entertainment: 

1. Mr. Terumasa Hino (Jazz Trumpeter)
2. KapaHaka group NgaHau E Wha (Maori performance group)

MC’s :  Junko Akisawa (TBS Announcer), John Kirwan  

Auctioneer: Mike Rogers (Inter FM) 

Auction items:  Over 20 great items including a signed All Blacks Jersey, Golf Trip to New Zealand, signed baseball goods and much much more ! Check out the web site for more details.

Ticketing:

Corporate tables: Email for corporate tables to info@support-our-kids.org  (Tax invoices can be issued on request). Please pay by bank transfer.

Ticketing information also available on www.support-our-kids.org

How the Children are Helped

The funds will be used to support our “Time Out” Home Stay Program for selected Japanese children from the disaster struck regions of Tohoku to stay with caring families in New Zealand.  The funds will be used to sponsor trips which will include cultural & educational exchange activities with children in New Zealand and also to support Cholmondeley Home in Christchurch and other children’s organizations affected by the disasters in Japan and New Zealand. Home Stay arrangements will be made through the organization “Time Out in New Zealand” (http://www.timeoutinnz.org.nz/ja ) which was spontaneously formed by New Zealanders with a love for Japan and the Japanese people. 

Deadlines for us of funds. Set deadline to March 31, 2012.

Handling of Funds:

All proceeds will be handled and administered by the NPO Jidai no Souzou Koubou (http://www.jidai.or.jp) 

Auditor: Independent auditor will produce an audit report no later than May 15, 2012. 

Won't you come out to support this great cause?

White Cultural Superiority Complex

The title of this article could very easily have been the saying, "People in glass houses should not throw stones." That is a very old saying and everyone knows it, but people do it all the time. Especially when it comes to foreigners criticizing Japan.


This is a post that will piss off a very many people, though it is not intended that way. This is just an observation that someone like me can make.

OMD - ENOLA GAY

First off, the title of this post is very racy. Let me state for the record that I am half-white and half-Asian. To white people, I look 100% white. To Japanese, some can tell that I am half. To half-Japanese / Americans, we all can recognize each other within seconds. There's a sort of "brotherhood" to being half.


I have lived on both sides of the fence of being white or Asian. I have even sat on top of the fence as a half when it was expedient (of course, whenever it benefited me to be "Japanese" I became one, If it benefited me to be white, I did that).


I found this magical transition to be very useful when I was, say, a high school student in California in a school that was populated by Hispanics, Whites and a few Asians. Unfortunately, and with often violent results, the racial tensions were often ripe between the Hispanics and Whites. 


I do understand being proud of ones heritage and think that it is healthy to do so, but to the point of fisticuffs? Well, that's another question. I suppose it is a question of tribes and savagery.

Take a look at those

Sailors fighting in the dance hall

Oh man! Look at those cavemen go

It's the freakiest show

Take a look at the Lawman

Beating up the wrong guy

Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know

He's in the best selling show

Is there life on Mars? 

- David Bowie "Life on Mars"

I played the field. I'd do anything to prevent myself from getting pounded or trodden upon by some savage regardless of the color of their skin. I was a wimpy white guy when it served me; I was a wimpy half-white half Hispanic when it served me; I was an extremely wimpy half-Japanese American when it served me well.


Being able to make these transitions like Spider-man was helpful in keeping a total woos kid like me from getting my ass kicked at school with regularity.


I did this for years. I still do it. This blog is a good case in point. I can attack Japan when I think something is wrong and I can attack the USA when there is something wrong. I think I have the right to do that.


Since this blog targets an native English speaking audience, it seems to also attract many people who have a dim view of Japan and her people. Many times it's because of a confused view of history. Though, I admit that Japan did a very many bad things in the past; I cannot say that Japan has done anything worse than the USA does.


In fact, no country in the world, today, is worse than the USA for being the Nazi Germany of the new century. Yes, I mean that the USA bombs, maims and kills brown-skinned little children and old men and women around the world everyday 24/7. 


Hitler wasn't as bad as that. Hitler only killed for 12 years. The USA has been bombing and attacking and invading countries on and off since 1840 or so.  The atrocities have  gotten much worse over these last 60 years. The USA averages bombing one country a year, every year, since 1945. 


But this blog is not about US atrocities. It is about what is going on in Japan. Specifically, what I mean is that, if I write an article or a blog post defending Japan's position - or attacking the views of someone who attacks Japan, invariably confused westerners will much too often write the nonsense knee jerk reaction "But the Japanese get what they deserve as they have never apologized for attacking China" (or some such nonsense or comment to that effect).


It also doesn't have to be a retort to an article that I've written. I also get many comments (that I always delete) from racists and fools who, for example, in response to the aftermath of the March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident write nonsense things like, "Japan gets what it deserves...." (using the absurd rationale of not apologizing for China, etc., above).  


I've gotten lots of those kind of nonsense comments from people with western names. I never get them from people of the so-called third world. Specifically speaking, I have never once, in my life, ever gotten these kinds of racist comments from people with names of the so-called "colored" persuasion... Nope. Never. Of course, it is racist of me to judge that a person whose name is, say, Sallamadin, is not white, just as it is racist for me to judge that a person named Williams is white....


But that is not the issue here.


I've never ever received a letter criticizing Japanese xenophobia from a person named  Muhammed or Sabahi or Ali. That's just a fact.


Don't even bring up American apologists for dropping the two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that I have to deal with at the end of every summer of every year... You see, Japanese old men, women and children deserved to be incinerated by the atomic bomb because of:


a) They attacked Pearl Harbor first
b) The Japanese attacked China
c) The Japanese were savages and the bombing was the only way to stop the war


Of course, all three reasons are not an excuse to commit genocide and wipe out innocent women and children.

Recently, in a post entitled,"Critical and Analytical Thinking are Lost Arts Amongst Many of Today's Adult Population


 In an article I wrote last year that was published in several international online sites, Japan's Bans the Cove and Other Atrocities I had suspicions on the motivations of that film's producers. The producers of that film claimed that their motivations were pure and sincere. They said something to the effect of "If the Japanese people could see the movie, then they'd rise up and stop the senseless killing of these dolphins." (I'm paraphrasing here.)

From being a person who works in Marketing, the mass media and is intimately familiar with hype, I smelled a rat. I wrote:

"...if the makers of The Cove were truly sincere about their motivations in protecting the whales and dolphins, and how, if they truly believed that if the Japanese saw the movie, they'd demand the end of this whaling and dolphin killing, then they'd make the entire movie free on Youtube. Other people with a message have made theirs free, why doesn't the makers of The Cove do the same? Trust that Youtube has hundreds of millions more viewers than the movie theaters in Japan ever could hope to have. But, you know what? The Cove is not available on Youtube; only trailers for sales promotion are available. There goes their credibility.

And don't tell me that they can't give the movie away for free because then they won't make any money; just look at Google. Google gives away almost everything for free and they are one of the biggest money making companies in the world.

So just keep that in mind when you think about this problem and are bursting veins in your neck screaming about how evil these Japanese fishermen are." 


This post brought out the usual peanut gallery of abuse. People (with western names) came up with their usual litany of profanity and other intelligent logical discourse... They also kept up with the "Japan never apologized for China bit too."


The "Japan never apologized for China" notion is completely false. In an article that appeared on Lew Rockwell.com in Feb. of 2006 entitled, "Japan, Atrocities, Apologies and Atonement" I showed proof of all post-war deals and reparations that Japan paid (the article is filled with links and documentation check it yourself and see) and those agreements were negotiated and signed - with the blessing of the victorious western powers - by the respective, then-recognized governments of the Asian nations  that Japan had victimized. At the end of the article I posed a question:


In the case of the Korean victims, deals made by the former military government of Korea with Japan let Japan off the hook for non-state claims from those who suffered. The South Korean government received money from Japan, yet didn't compensate its own suffering people, and then suppressed claims by its own nationals against Japan. Why is Japan the only defendant in cases that involve financial retribution and demands for compensation? Why does Japan have to take all the criticism? Why don't these people sue their own governments and the United States too?

When Chinese sue the Japanese government for damages over the Nanjing massacre, or chemical and biological warfare injuries suffered, why do they sue only the Japanese government? Remember, Chiang Kai-shek forgave and dismissed all personal claims against Japan in return for financial help to fight the communists. Why don't they sue their own government in Taiwan? Why not sue the US government that prevented claims of this sort being heard during the Tokyo war crimes trials? 


But I digress....


The point of this post is hypocritical westerners who are hopelessly trapped in what I call White Cultural Superiority Complex when the complain about Japan yet fail to see their own disgraceful actions. They want to criticize Japan for, say, killing a non-endangered species of dolphins as featured in the movie the Cove, but they fail to recognize and address war crimes and atrocities that are being committed by their very own governments at this very moment. Hypocrites! Many of these people are self-professed Christians too. The bible talks about them:


Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye. (NRSV, Matthew 7:1-5)  


Then, when I take them to task, they knee-jerk the nonsense about World War II and Japanese invasion of Asia.


Yes. The Japanese invasion of Asia was a very bad thing. Japan committed war crimes in the past. If your countries are a part of NATO, you are committing war crimes right now.


But let's say your country is or was not a partner in crime over the bombing of Afghanistan or the invasion of Iraq... How about history, then?


Japan apologized in the 1950's for World War II. How about the west's genocide of native peoples, killing millions of them?  


Canada? It took them 200 years to apologize for:


"...one of the darkest chapters in its history, formally apologised on Wednesday for forcing 150,000 aboriginal children into grim residential schools, where many say they were sexually and physically abused." - Reuters


The Americans? Still hasn't apologized for killing an estimated 12 million native American Indians since the 15th century.... Maybe they get around to it in the next millennium. One of the most recent atrocities against native Americans was about 100 years ago in December of 1890 at Wounded Knee when US troops gunned down 150 men women and children.

But! But! We did give them a decent burial and, you can't 

deny that the Japanese do kill dolphins!

Australia? No apology for genocide against Aboriginal peoples wiping them out into near extinction.


New Zealand? Extermination of 85% of the Maori population and the so-called Land Wars.


Do I even need to mention any European country? No? I didn't think so.... I think I already mentioned something about NATO killing kids daily.


With all this past history and the wars and killing still going on today, people from these countries sure have the nerve to complain about Japan killing several hundred non-endangered species of dolphins, when they are bombing brown-skinned children in the Middle East?


It's much more difficult to look into the mirror and see just how grotesque and ugly one's face is. It's much easier to look over the fence and complain about your neighbors yard... For many westerners, I reckon looking in the mirror is far far too much to bear.


So, because dolphins are cute and more intelligent than dogs Japan is the target?


Pardon me if I scoff.


Note: Of course not all Caucasians are guilty of this error in thinking. Usually intelligent people with common sense do not - or can control themselves so they don't exhibit these behaviors. But, alas, even one person being a racist like this is one too many.


----


This article was inspired by a correspondence with Jen Freespirit S. I'm sorry that I initially took your queries as an attack on my views on the Cove. Hopefully, as I get older, I become more patient and wiser. Also good luck and chin up to Allison Sane.