Incense That Kills Mosquitoes Represents Difference in East vs. West Philosophy...

There is a kind of incense that the Japanese (and many Asians) burn that wards off or kills mosquitoes and flies. It's called "Katori Senko" in Japanese. "Senko"means "incense." "Ka" means "mosquito" and "tori" means "to take or kill." Hence the name Katori  Senko, "Incense for killing mosquitoes."

Eastern method of handling mosquitoes: incense

I think that Katori Senko is wonderful. When I first came to Japan, I was so surprised to see such a product for the first time in my life. It was very pleasant smelling (I love the smell of incense) and it really worked! It was so pleasant not to have to spray chemicals on my body and face or spray them around the area where the children were playing.

I remember just hating the idea of things like "Yard Guard" that my father would spray around the yard when we were having a barbeque or the medicinal taste of some spray that my mother would spray on our faces to keep the mosquitoes off. Off course spraying chemicals on your children's bodies or in the area they play in cannot be good for their health!

Western method of handling mosquitoes: chemicals

With Katori Senko, none of that is necessary. Just light a few coils and place them around the area where you plan to be outside and no more mosquitoes!

Katori Senko was first made in 1885 and is made of natural ingredients. It is wonderful and it represents, for me, some of the wonderful things about Japan that I love.

I also think that there is something else; a microcosm of the entire world represented in this small package. It is a mirror of our world and it greatly represents the difference in thinking between western and eastern peoples. Whereas, in the west, if there is a problem with food, health or insects, western philosophy and medicine are quick to react with chemicals; while in the east, a more holistic approach is taken to many of our problems. This is why things like Acupuncture, Tai-chi, and, of course, Katori Senko come from the east.

Of course, I believe that we westerners have much to learn about patience and a more holistic approach to our troubles from our eastern brothers and sisters.

I believe "Katori Senko type of thinking" - eastern philosophy - being more utilized in the west, especially in the United States, could greatly go to help cure many of our ills.

For more go to the company web site:

This is a great way to kill mosquitoes, a "mosquito killing incense" that kills them by blocking their air ducts, or whatever the nasty bugs breathe through. A famous brand since 1890!

As an alternative to the ubiquitous citronella anti-bug candles, these incense-like bug repellent coils (known as katori senko (or mosquito killing incense) will actually kill the annoying bugs by blocking their breathing holes with smoke particles. Has a nice blend of herbs and floral deterrents, including eucalyptus, that give off a pleasant aroma that is mild and non-irritative. This purchase is for a kit that includes 10 incense coils and a coil stand (burning it on a plate away from flammable materials is recommended). A great Japanese item with a cool retro Gold Cock packaging! You just gotta love the retro packagaing AND the retro English! Very typical and cool 1980's Japan! (Of course, for English, I suppose we could teach these good folks a thing or two!) I love Katori Senko! Try it! You will too! The smell is summer in Japan!

Are the Bees Really Dying Out? The Strange Disappearance of the Bees - One Japanese Farmer's Experience

Yesterday I wrote about going to pick strawberries at a farm in Isehara about one hour out from Tokyo. While I was there, I was anxious to ask the farmer about the story going on concerning the dying out of the bees that we so often read about.


I became interested in the bees and honey story because my wife and son have allergies this time of year and one well reviewed natural remedy for allergies is locally produced honey. The rationale for using honey to treat allergies is that bees process the same pollen that causes the allergies in making the honey. So, by eating the honey, one can build up a resistance to the pollen - somewhat like immunizations use dead viruses to create. (Also add loads of vitamin C and vitamin D3!) It seems to work well for my wife and son.

My wife's uncle is a farmer in Isehara and he grows rice and tangerines. Since he has tangerines, he also produces honey from bee hives he keeps and sells it as "Tangerine honey." It does have a different tangerine flavor (or so people tell me. I can't tell the difference!) 

(L to R) Shigeru Yamada and Mr. Tsuzuki, rice and strawberry farmer 

Over these last few years, there is much talk about the bees disappearing and or dying off. In the photos above, you can see two large jars of locally produced honey. The jar on the left sold for ¥2,000 (about $24.18 USD) two years ago. My wife and son just discovered the wonderful relief that honey gives to serious allergy sufferers and they went through (actually my wife) went through a jar that was 1/2 that size in three years. Now we are back to buy a new jar of locally produced honey and the jar on the right, when you can get them, sell for ¥5,500 yen (about $66.50 USD) today. So the price has gone up a lot... I am told that the price increase is due to problems with the bees.

Well, we've all heard that the bees are dying off, right? Well, according to my wife's uncle and another farmer, Mr. Tsuzuki (farms strawberries and rice) the bees are not dying off per se. They are, are you sitting down? (cue Twilight Zone music) "disappearing." 

I wasn't sure what they meant and asked for clarification. I asked Mr. Tsuzuki at his farm, 

"Did you find and dead bees around the hives or lots of dead bees in the fields?"

"No," came the answer. He continued, "It wasn't the bees dying as such. They would fly away and disappear."

Fly away and disappear!!?? Wait! What?

There were dozens of bee hives just like this at Tsuzuki strawberry farm

That's right. According to these farmers the bees weren't dying off, they were disappearing. This is a quote, "The queen bee would fly away from the hive and then they wouldn't come back. I  think, perhaps, they flew around above the hive for so long that the birds would come and eat them."

Now, before you panic and think that this could be the end of civilization, Mr. Tsuzuki told me that he knows all about the bees dying off in America - everyone does. But he said that while they had a similar problem in Japan for a few years, the local farmers switched back to fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides that they were using before the problem started and now the bees are coming back. He said that they've had no problems this year at all.

Fact of the matter is that, Mr. Tsuzuki rents his bees from another farmer named Mr. Aigara to pollinate his strawberries during season. He gives them back after strawberry season ends.

In Mr. Tsuzuki's farms, inside the hothouses where no chemicals are used at all, he said that they've never had any problems with the bees. Mr. Tsuzuki says it's not a problem with Japanese produced bees or American produced bees. In fact, he imports his bees from the United States as he says bees from North America are larger, more productive and more robust than Japanese bees.

Mr. Tsuzuki says that the problem with the bees disappearing is, as I have already written, due to pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides used at farms. He also says that buying quality bees from a quality bee farmer that feeds the larva and pupa quality foods.

These guys looked very healthy

This makes sense if you keep track of the continual degrading of food quality in the United States. US produced beef and meat products are pumped full of chemicals and hormones to make them grow. Chickens and other animals on massive farms in the USA are fed concotions of chemicals and not natural grains. This is suspected as being the prime reason for earlier puberty in American youth. Dr. Mercola says the reasons for earlier puberty and be directly blamed on: Hormones in food; pesticides in produce; obesity and phthalates in plastics. 

Understanding this as well as how the FDA and US government seems to be a part of the revolving door with chemical manufacturers like Monsanto, it shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone that the bee population in the United States is under serious threat... But, in spite of what you've heard, according to two farmer's I spoke to in Isehara, while they need to be ever vigilant, they believe that they know what the problem was with the bees and have taken actions to correct it by using more natural remedies for weeds and pests as well as more natural ingredients for breeding bees.

While the bee farmers - and everyone else (including me and you) - needs to stay alert and cut down on use of chemicals at home and outside, I think a little common sense and a return to natural remedies for ailments like allergies or natural remedies for pests and weeds will serve us all.

Let the disappearance of the bees in the USA be a stark warning to us all all over the world.

Birds and Fish Dying in Mass? It Happened in Japan Before...

Recently there have been many news stories about birds and fish and other animals dying in mass. This has happened in Japan before. This is an article about this experience in Japan that I blogged about way back in 2004. It might have scary ramifications for today.

Minamata: Real Life Horror Show

by Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers
by Mike Rogers

Minamata is a very small fishing and farming town in Kumamoto, on Kyushu island in southern Japan. A beautiful place, graced by a gem-like harbor and a rushing river, Minamata does not seem to be the scene of a tragedy. Today, most young Japanese people are unfamiliar with what happened here so many years ago. But, just like Hiroshima or Nagasaki, Minamata is world-famous for a different kind of manmade catastrophe.

About fifty years ago, strange things began to happen in Minamata. At first, unable to understand what was happening to them, the local people were afraid to talk.

Some of the townspeople began experiencing delirium, blackouts, and numbness of their arms and legs. Soon, some of them became partially or completely blind while others experienced slurred speech. Others were thought to have become insane when, unable to control the movements of their appendages, they shouted at random. Those afflicted were rumored to be possessed by the devil when they could not control their facial muscles and their contorted expression made them look like "monsters." Local doctors were dumb-founded by the epidemic outbreak.

The sinister symptoms began to afflict the animals of Minamata. Cats and dogs began to exhibit inexplicable behavior. Townspeople reported that cats were "committing suicide." Some cats chased their tails for days on end until they dropped from exhaustion. Dogs disappeared and were found dead days later. Even more shocking, afflicted birds began falling from the skies.

In 1932 the small town of Minamata boasted only one large factory which was owned by a company called the "Chisso Corporation." In Japanese the word "chisso" means nitrogen. The Chisso Corporation was in the fertilizer business.

For hundreds of years, the townspeople of Minamata had lived primitive lives as fishers and farmers. Minamatans were glad when, in 1901, the Chisso Corporation set up a plant. Employment became abundant. By 1932, the Chisso plant had become very large. Since the Chisso Corporation was not involved with munitions manufacturing, they were spared bombing during the war and confiscation by the allies after the end of World War Two. By 1950 Chisso had become one of the leading businesses in Japan. Hand-in-hand, the Japanese government worked with companies like the Chisso Corporation in order to provide much needed jobs to a post war Japan. Chisso became so successful that it expanded into other chemical manufacturing.

By 1953, the strange plague had directly affected almost one-half of all the people in the small town of Minamata. People who came down with this bizarre disease were treated like lepers. Because no one knew if the disease were contagious, society shunned the sufferers.

Minamata babies began to be born with grotesque deformities and massive brain damage. Minamata fishermen began to catch two and three headed fish. At this point the government and the Chisso Corporation became alarmed.

A mother shows her deformed child ultimate love and sacrifice

The Agricultural Ministry of Japan — financed by the Chisso Corporation — ordered research into the causes of the freakish sickness that was attacking the people and killing the wildlife.

In 1956, Dr. Hajime Hosokawa was assigned to study the case. Dr. Hosokawa was an honest man, and even though he was paid by and worked at the Chisso Corporation Hospital, he reported, "an unclarified disease of the central nervous system has broken out in Minamata." Hosokawa's report pointed to chemical dumping by Chisso. The Chisso Corporation didn't like this news at all and "removed" Dr. Hosokawa. So as to not alarm the populace, Chisso and the Japanese government covered-up Dr. Hosokawa's findings. Chisso continued with their business in Minamata Bay.

By 1958, the cover-up was well under-way while the disease gained momentum. At this time, the Chisso Corporation tried to hide the problems by moving their business to nearby Minamata River. But after a few months, people near the river began to experience the symptoms of the strange disease.

By now, people were beginning to panic. The government of Kumamoto decided that they had to act. But instead of forcing the Chisso Corporation to suspend operations, the Kumamoto government made it illegal for the Minamata fishermen to sell locally caught fish. You read right. The Kumamoto authorities did not make it illegal for people to catch and eat local fish, they made it illegal for the local fishermen to sell their catch on the open market. The new law caused the Minamata area economy to suffer anew. Since Minamatans no longer had the money to purchase foodstuffs, they were forced to eat more locally caught fish.

By 1968, the problem had grown to crisis proportions. The Chisso Corporation began acting like the mafia by forcing people to accept hush money in return for signing contracts that absolved the Chisso Corporation from liability for damages. The Minamatans were ignorant of the law. Their livelihood and their families were destroyed. What else could they do but accept Chisso's "hush money" and keep their mouths shut.

In 1969, a voluntary general citizens' group was formed to support the victims of the disease. The People's Congress for the Minamata Disease, joined with a group of lawyers and, using the testimony of Dr. Hosokawa from his death-bed, sued the Japanese government and the Chisso Corporation for damages related to what the lawyers termed "Minamata Disease." It will never be fully known how many people actually suffered from this disease — some estimates have the number in the tens of thousands — but as of today, only 3,000 people have been compensated.

Consider the babies that were born deformed or brain-damaged. Imagine the people who died or whose lives were ruined by an unknown disease. Minamata disease is one from which there is no possibility of recovery. It is a disease for which there is no cure. And today, that disease is known as Methyl Mercury poisoning.

For mankind there would be more cases to follow: Three Mile Island, Love Canal, Chernobyl, and Bhopal — to name a few. But people should not forget that the world's very first large scale man-made environmental disaster was covered-up by the government which was elected to protect its citizens — a disaster called Minamata.

This article edited by Elizabeth Gyllensvard

• This article originally appeared in Lew Rockwell in 2004