I met one of the bosses of one of the biggest international television networks in the world the other day. He is a Canadian. He travels all over the world and, because he is in the TV business, he told me that one of his favorite things to do in every country was to judge by TV commercials what things were important to that particular society.
Japan's TV commercials? Insurance for this or that; home sales; automobiles; financial instruments and plans; candy, cosmetics, fast food... Companies like Zurich, Sekisui, Kanebo.... Japanese commercials that soft sell and are emotive commercials. I think that's right. He also told me that he was "astounded" by just how many over the counter drug and prescription medication commercials there were on US TV all the time. US TV commercials? Drugs, Cholesterol, Machismo ("my ding-a-ling is bigger than yours" commercials); fast food; commercials to make your dick hard, make it soft, put you to sleep, keep you awake, lower blood pressure, lose weight; not to mention commercials galore for people with extreme anxiety and panic attacks and defense attorneys for DUI and more. Oh, and don't forget the drug side effects disclaimers! Very sick society? Maybe so. Why is the USA this way? It wasn't that way 50 years ago, was it? Here's one piece of anecdotal evidence: Japan has its problems too, but here is something that will drop the jaws of all Americans... Did you know that in Japan, on any given day, you can get on a bus, train or subway and see unaccompanied 5 and 6 year old kids going to and from school? Little 5 and 6-year-old kids riding the trains by themselves in no fear of danger... And the other passengers think nothing of it. Why? Because that is normal in Japan. It should be normal everywhere... Alas.... Think about that. I don't really have any conclusions to point out (I've made mine). Dear reader, please think of the ramifications of what I have written here and come to your own conclusion. Here is a recent Japanese TV commercial that is a soft sell and very emotive. This is a commercial for a new computer sales and service company.
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Here's a compilation of Japanese commercials, 2014, weeks 10 + 11, I just scanned quickly, but we have a candy commercial (Lotte), a Softbank mobile commercial, an AU mobile commercial, a band promo, Playstation ad, Iberico Pork Donburi commercial, and a real gem at 4:40 -- A Boat Race commercial:
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Thanks to my good friend, James Santagata for co-writing this article with me! James, you are tops!
"The wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings. Let food be your medicine." - Hippocrates “He who takes medicine and neglects to diet wastes the skill of his doctors.” ~Chinese Proverb "Health begins with what you eat." - Chinese Proverb Watch this video sent to me from my dear friend Linda Schrock Taylor. It's in Spanish, but you don't need to be able to speak Spanish to understand what this is all about. It is about Sugar in our diets and nasties that too much sugar causes, like diabetes.
I wake up everyday and I make breakfast for my wife and son. It is 90% raw vegetables and fruits. There is nothing processed in it at all. I also, when I awake, do work and check my e-mail and waste time on Facebook. I am appalled at how many people will post photos of their breakfast that consists of things like a stack of pancakes with syrup and whipped cream on top... Or they have photos of a breakfast of deep fried potatoes, waffles or french toast smothered in syrup along with processed orange juice. Don't forget the cup or three of coffee with two cubes of sugar in each, please. Sorry, folks, but it kind of makes me sick to even think about eating like that. But don't think that I didn't eat that way too. I did. But now I know better. I have been reading recently that over 1 in 6 America kids are on some sort of drug regimen to control behavior in schools. In some states, I read that the schools are now allowed to give these sorts of mood controlling chemicals to unruly students. Madness! I firmly believe that American children suffer all sorts of ailments because of diet. Think about it, of course your kid is sick when he eats processed foods all the time. Of course he can't concentrate at school; his brain is fried with chemicals. Of course two Pop Tarts and a bowl of Captain Crunch are NOT a healthy and balanced diet no matter what the label on the box says (Extra Iron added!). There is no child who can function normally when eating junk all the time. Folks, eating junk food constantly is bad. The food doesn't go through you, it becomes you. You eat junk, you become junk. Folks, a breakfast of Sugary cereals, a sugar laden piece of toast or a Starbucks cinnamon roll is not a healthy breakfast, it is poison.
Everything is raw. Heavy raw veggie and fruits intake at every meal. Here, raw carrots, strawberries, tomatoes, cucumber, asparagus, lettuce (not pictured) cashews, oranges, grapes (peeled), blueberries, fresh grapefruit, bottled mineral water. My son eats like this three times a day. He will also have a little bit of rice once a day and some meat or fish. Never will he eat processed foods or fast food. (Read this! What timing! http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news%2Fhealth&id=8920784)
Health is important. Beef is a luxury. If you're going to eat beef, then eat the best quality grass fed beef. For Chicken? Buy chickens from real farms. The best quality grass fed beef comes from New Zealand. USA beef is full of drugs and chemicals (and bovine growth hormones) and even banned in many nations! I've bought Australian beef that was reprocessed. So we don't buy that anymore. (US Beef Industry Consumes 4/5 of All Antibiotics Produced in the USA read here.) The economy and life are tough enough on our children without us giving them a lifetime of bad eating habits that will only pull them down mentally and physically. Let us stop this and start to make the small effort everyday to give our children eating habits that will help them to live healthy and prosperous lives! I used to coach children's sports. I coached a kid's team that had 75% of the kids from homes without a father. The mothers did their best, but they had to work. The kids were usually on their own. I felt sorry for them so I tried to be their friend and their dad every Saturday at practice and at game time. Since I did this, I got to know these kids pretty well. I could see how the kids mood and energy levels were different every time at practice. It was curious. One day a kid would be fine and seem like his head was clear; he'd be "with" us. The next time, he'd be bouncing off the walls and throwing the ball away constantly! It was strange! I'd ask them what they ate for breakfast... They'd tell me what they ate and it was then that I realized that there is a problem. Whenever the kids ate breakfast cereals, they couldn't concentrate. If they ate somewhat healthy, they were okay. I wondered what they'd be like if they really did eat a healthy breakfast? Heck, they'd probably all be supermen! If a kid cannot concentrate at basketball when he is running around having fun with friends because he didn't eat right, how in the heck can anyone expect that he could do well in school sitting in a boring classroom where he has to be silent and pay attention? Especially is he had a sugar high from eating a high fructose corn syrup laced breakfast? Things are tough enough for kids (and life is long and difficult) that they need all the breaks and advantages they can get! They need to begin to have a life whereby raw vegetables and fruits are at least 90% of their eating habits! Don't believe me? Well here's a free first chapter written by some dietitians with doctorates on the benefits of raw food; The Live Food Factor. I know mom and dad are busy, but preparing raw foods three meals a day is cheaper and, actually, faster (cut a lot at once and use Tupperware)... Also you'll save money in the long run on medical bills.
Folks, your child's health (and yours) begins with what you eat (and drink). Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food.- Hippocrates The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease. - Thomas A Edison * NOTE: We also don't have a TV so my child can focus on important things like reading and music and sports.... TV is brain damage and a huge waste of time - and that has zero to do with content. TV is a displacement of time. Time is the only non-renewable resource!
Being a foreigner in Japan is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you are allowed to slide by the locals if you make some faux pas when it comes to courtesy or business manners. Because you are a foreigner, there's all sorts of rules that you might not be expected to know and follow. As long as you are sincere and show that you are making the effort to assimilate and do like the Romans do, then the Japanese are quite forgiving for minor transgressions. In fact, the smart foreign businessman can use this to great advantage.
I have many times. I find that being a foreigner is a huge advantage.
On the other hand, because you are a foreigner, there's all sorts of things you probably cannot or won't be allowed to do. It's not as bad as it used to be but some of those things are things you'd take for granted back home like renting an apartment, getting a bank loan or getting a good job even!
It's hard to try to make a living when you are a foreigner in Japan. Not only do you have to deal with language problems and a Japanese language that changes everyday, no matter what you do, you can't change your face. So no matter how much you try to assimilate, study the language, learn the customs and drink like a fish you'll always be a foreigner.
In spite of what of what foreigners think, this guy at least doesn't sully the image of foreigners like today's examples do. Who cares if this image is of a straight laced foreigner bumpkin? The Japanese see him as a cartoon character.
Not only is the mere fact of being a foreigner a double edge sword, we have these dumbsh*t foreigners all around us here who are messing things up for the rest of us.
I've often said on my radio program that, "日本にいる外国人は９７％いいかげん" (Nihon ni iru gaijin 97% ha ikagen) which translates to "97% of all foreigners in Japan are undependable (or useless)."
You folks think I jest, but I don't. I do think most foreigners in Japan are pretty useless and I think you cannot depend on most of them at all. Heck, look who's talking! I think I can't depend on me too many times! Especially when it comes to raising kids! (Oh parenthood and the irresponsibilities that come with it!) But what some of these other foreigners do is just unbelievable!
Looking like a stoner in the west might be cool. In Japan?
One might say that "A few bad apples spoil it for the rest." Not in the case of foreigners in Japan. The vast majority are screwing it up for the minority of us who are trying to fit in and not raise too much hell and be good neighbors.
In Japan the group is very important. Westerners have a hard time understanding this. But your actions will affect the group whether you like it or not. Like I said, it's hard enough trying to fit in and make a living without the peanut gallery screwing things up for the rest of us.
And speaking about screwing up. In today's news, TODAY, there's two stories about two dipsh*t foreigners who have screwed up big time.
A 25-year-old former TV personality who had been accused of robbery and injury in another case was rearrested Wednesday on suspicion of raping and robbing a woman after breaking into her apartment in Tokyo, police said.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, Alexander Lee Dela Fuente broke into the Ota Ward apartment of the woman in her 20s at about midnight on June 28. He chloroformed her until she became unconscious, and then raped her and stole 5,000 yen and a cash card, police said.
Moron! He did this for ¥5,000!? I'm speechless.
This is bad for my business as it just makes the Japanese suspicious of foreign TV & radio talent and foreigners in general. What Alexander doesn't realize is that, besides never getting a TV job again, his former management agency just got a massive black mark and things like this cause agencies to go bankrupt and people to lose their jobs. You know, like people who have kids to feed?
Like I said, foreigners need to understand how actions here affect the group. Had this clown still been a TV reporter, committing a crime like this would cause the entire show to be cancelled. That means a bunch of staff people, cameramen, writers, lighting people, assistants (people with children and rents to pay) all lose their jobs. Several years ago I caught a guy on one show I produced doing drugs. I fired him from the show on the spot. I had to. If he got caught by the police, our show would have ended immediately and everyone would be out of a job. Once again, everyone had families to feed and responsibilities. I couldn't take the risk. I had no choice but to fire him right then and there.
The next story about "Gaijin F's Up Big Time!" comes from the Japan Times Online. This story is especially damaging and I also have a unique interest in this case. It is about a star player on the Japanese Basketball league who has gotten arrested for importing more than a kilogram of marijuana to Japan. He did it in the mail for chrissakes! What an idiot!
(Er, by the way, did I mention that 97% of all foreigners in Japan are useless and undependable? I did? Okay. Thanks.)
Why I am interested in this story is because the Japanese basketball league has been struggling for years to make a dent in this country. Just this year it looked as if they had turned the corner. I went to their all-star game at Saitama arena and the place was packed with 14,000 paying guests! It was a great time!
Next year the league is going to expand and a new team is being started in Tokyo. The fans and the media have great expectations. I had great expectations as they are slated to use my company to sell tickets to their games, so not only do I have a fan's interest, I have a small financial interest.
Now, on today's news, I see a familiar face! Why, isn't that the guy who won the MVP award at the all-star game I was just at with my son a few weeks ago? By golly, it is!
Osaka Evessa power forward Lynn Washington, the most famous player in bj-league history, was arrested at 10:20 a.m on Tuesday for alleged involvement in the importation of between 1 kg and 1.5 kg of marijuana, media reports stated the same day.
Washington was booked by Osaka Prefectural Police on Tuesday, according to published reports. His 32-year-old wife, Dana, was arrested last month, it was reported.
In November, Washington's wife's name was on a package that allegedly contained marijuana and was shipped to Osaka from the United States. The marijuana had an estimated street value of up to ¥9 million, according to news reports.
For Washington, a two-time bj-league MVP, a Cannabis Control Law violation could signal the end of his career in Japan, and a decline for one of the league's great teams.
League spokesman Akihiro Ejima said a meeting is planned for Thursday, and representatives of all 19 teams will be included to discuss this issue. It essentially boils down to this: How will the league handle what has become incredibly bad publicity for a circuit that is struggling to capture the public's attention?
See? The actions of this incredibly dumb foreigner have now damaged the livelihood of basically everyone in the league and their families. What an a*shole! I've written before how screwing around with pot in Japan is a good way to get free room and board at the local penitentiary, no ifs ands or buts!... But a professional basketball player shipping this stuff from the USA through the postal service?
That's like walking around with a sticker on your head that says, "Arrest me!"
Hopeless!
I don't really have any snappy ending to this post. I guess I could just say a few things...
It's hard enough to make a living anywhere in the world, even if you are a local. In Japan, us foreigners have all sorts of disadvantages - as well as advantages. I'm the type of guy who, in spite of myself, likes to put the best foot forward. All I can say is that, "This is Japan." If you want to smoke marijuana, you shouldn't be here. It doesn't matter if you think the laws are wrong or that marijuana isn't bad for you. That's besides the point. Marijuana is against the law and they will throw you in jail for possession.
If you want to rob or rape, or commit any type of crimes, and you are a foreigner, then Japan isn't ideal for that either. Know why? Pssst! Don't look now, but as a foreigner, you stick out like a sore a*shole. It's not like you are going to steal a purse and then run into a crowd of Japanese and disappear while you blend in.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Japan, do as the Japanese do. If you are not going to assimilate, then please do the rest of us a favor and leave. You won't be missed.
NOTE: The purpose of this post isn't to bash foreigners in Japan, per se. It is, hopefully, to serve as a warning to people. Everyone makes mistakes. I've made way more than I care to remember. But through these mistakes, we learn. I see these people who were arrested and shake my head. Of course I've never committed a crime that involved a victim, but I have done many things that were illegal and that I am ashamed of. I hope, in my probably most confused thinking, that someone might read this and think carefully about what they are doing while living here in Japan... Like I pointed out, your actions will not only affect you and your life, it will affect others that you work with and care about. Remember that.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but why in the world are the police wasting time and taxpayers monies on chasing people around for victimless "crimes" like smoking herbs, prostitution, gambling, paying for sex and other "favors," and now standing around naked at a Sadomasochist club? You got to be kidding me!
Japanese Dominatrix: Beautiful and sexy Japanese girl? Yes... But not my type...
Different strokes for different folks, I guess... Me? I've never been one for pain.
Pain hurts. Funny that; I don't like things that hurt...
(Probably wouldn't kick her outta bed for eating rice crackers, tho')
It gets worse and just shows how stupid and hypocritical our masters and the police are in that, at this particular raid on said SM club, one of the 15 patrons arrested was an off-duty police officer! (I wonder how many of those othertax-feeding cops are involved in other so-called "illegal" past-times when they are not busy crashing parties and bizarre past times that other people are involved in?)
Hell, they arrest people for getting their jollies at an SM club? What the heck? Why don't they arrest people for going out and wasting a full day at a golf course too? If you ask me, that is a waste of time. As Mark Twain said, "Golf is a good walk spoiled."
Naotoshi Okuzawa, a 28-year-old senior patrol officer from the Atsubetsu Police Station, was taken into custody after officers entered Club Patio and found the officer on the stage naked and in the company of female employee, who had tied him with a red rope.
“There is no question that I was naked,” Okuzawa is quoted in admitting to the allegations.
When officers entered the premises at 1:15 a.m., 15 customers were present. Initially, Ozawa did not reveal his occupation, but later investigators discovered that he is a fellow officer.
“We seriously apologize for arrest of a policeman,” said Minoru Okumura, a spokesperson for the Hokkaido prefectural police. “All the facts will be investigated, and we will deal with this matter in a very strict manner.”
"We seriously apologize for the arrest of a policeman"??? Yeah, what he really means is that "We made a mistake. If we'd have known he was a policeman, we'd have never arrested him. We only arrest mundanes and peasants (regular people like you). We promise to make sure that it doesn't happen again..."
Pardon me for being so stupid, but what is it that they are arresting these people and this cop for? Being stupid? Having weird hobbies? Being a bit twisted (who isn't a bit twisted?) Being naked inside a building? Well, funny that, I have a strange notion that it is inside of buildings and not outside of buildings that people are supposed to be naked when that dress (or lack thereof) situation occurs.
"Hands up! I'm taking you in... Dead or alive! Your call!"
Great. Just great. Japan's total debt is 492% of GDP and our national financial situation is desperate and these clowns are chasing around people with fetishisms and other silly habits. It is even stupider when you realize that the government wants to make laws that are supposed to make us "better people"!!!??? As I wrote in: Man Dies Smoking "Legal Herb"? Japan's Newest Drug Craze and More Unnecessary Drug Laws
The government has no business passing laws on what people wish to put into their bodies. If people are stupid enough to want to huff airplane fuel, drive without a seat belt, drink until they kill themselves, or eat junk food all the time, will we pass laws making that illegal too? (Look at the idiocy in England whereby teapots must be labeled, "Sugar leads to diabetics." (sic))
This comes down to private property rights. The poor guy who died, as with you or me, are the owners of our own bodies. There is no one who has the right to tell us what we can and cannot consume. Guidelines are welcomed, but these draconian laws are a waste of taxpayers money.
These idiotic laws are passed, but our lords, masters and politicians get caught doing the very same things that they don't want the mundanes, peasants and public (that's where you and I come in) to do because of their hypocritical public stance. Remember: "Don't do as I do. Do as I say!"
Cops? Out of control everywhere!
When is the public going to finally stand up and say, "Enough is enough!" of this nonsense.
Interestingly enough, just after I finished my series on drug rehabilitation in Japan, the news is out that a young man was smoking 脱法ハーブ (Dappo herb) "legal herb" and died in his apartment in Nagoya. It also seems that there is some confusion as to whether or not this Dappo Herb is legal or not. Shop owners have been circumventing the law by selling the herbs as "incense." It seems that if the shop owners tell the customers that they should smoke the herb, then that would be breaking the law.
This is confusing as, with, say Marijuana, Japanese law is specific; smoking marijuana is not illegal in Japan. Possession of marijuana is illegal. Possession precedes use. Makes sense. So, then why isn't possession of these laced herbs not illegal? It is just more on the madness of these laws... But more on that later.
This news has come to the forefront last night and today as, day before yesterday, a young man in Nagoya was alleged to have been smoking the Dappo Herb and then he died. It is not yet sure the reasons for his death but police suspect it has something to do with an overdose concerning Dappo Herb.
Here is a news story about the incident:
Quick explanation & translation:
The video talks about a 24-year-old guy named Miura, a restaurant employee, who was smoking this Dappo Herb with a friend and died on February 6th, 2012. The friend told police that they were smoking when Miura grew silent. Soon after, his friend checked him and Miura's body was cold. The police said they found the Dappo Herb in Muira's pocket along with a pipe. Many shops are selling Dappo Herb as "legal herbs" but this is not true. The police say they will start enforcing the law in a more vigorous manner.
The rise in popularity of Dappo Herb has gone from two shops selling it in Tokyo in 2009 to at least 89 this year.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government identified two shops selling such products in fiscal 2009. As of last Friday, 89 such shops were in existence, many of them in Shinjuku and Shibuya, areas popular with young people.
"Even if (herbs) do not include chemicals designated (as illegal) by law, you can't say they are safe. (Inhaling them) is like conducting a human experiment with your own body," said Masahiko Funada, who heads a team researching addictive drugs at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry in Tokyo.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has been locked in a race with dealers as it keeps adding new stimulants to its list of illegal drugs while dealers keep marketing new products, including new chemicals they say are not covered by drug regulations.
Well, that's the news; and now the commentary:
That last paragraph of this quote from the Japan Times should demonstrate to anyone the futility of these sorts of laws prohibiting victimless crimes. There will always be new chemicals coming up that are outside the law. Will we keep expanding the laws forever and ever? We need less government in our lives, not more. It doesn't matter whether it is gambling, prostitution, or drug use, victimless crimes should be decriminalized.
It is true that this guy died in Nagoya but there is no proof that Dappo Herb caused his death. If he is stupid enough to be smoking some sort of chemical concoction that he doesn't even know what it is, then let him. There is no way to outlaw stupidity.
The government has no business passing laws on what people wish to put into their bodies. If people are stupid enough to want to huff airplane fuel, drive without a seat belt, drink until they kill themselves, or eat junk food all the time, will we pass laws making that illegal too? (Look at the idiocy in England whereby teapots must be labeled, "Sugar leads to diabetics." (sic))
This comes down to private property rights. The poor guy who died, as with you or me, are the owners of our own bodies. There is no one who has the right to tell us what we can and cannot consume. Guidelines are welcomed, but these draconian laws are a waste of taxpayers money.
Like I said, we need less government in our lives, not more. The expansion of laws and these sorts of actions only serve to increase the size of government and the tax burden on the average Japanese citizen. The politicians want to increase our sales tax to 10% - even, some say, 25%! but what they fail to realize is that they can raise the taxes forever and it won't matter.
It won't matter because, no matter how mathematically challenged the Japanese government is, you cannot forever continue to spend more than you take in. That should be the lesson learned over these last 20 years, going on 30, but it's not.
We need to shrink the size of government and government duties and with it, our tax burden. A great place to start is the ridiculous policing of victimless crimes.
A quick and easy way to do that would be to decriminalize victimless crimes like prostitution, gambling and smoking of recreational drugs. We've regulated and decriminalized one of the most dangerous, addictive and deadly drugs known to man; alcohol, and that seems to be working out okay.
Cutting down on the number of laws on the books will only serve to cut costs. We should decrease, not increase the number of laws governing the public.
The title of this post should be "Idiot Pot Users in Japan." Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against marijuana or any other drug use for that matter. I think all drugs should be decriminalized... But what I think doesn't matter. If you are in Japan, you'd have to be stupid to do or smoke (possess) marijuana. Because if you're caught, they will throw you in prison.
Mailing marijuana cookies to Japan. Doh! Did anyone ever stop to think, "I guess they might have candies and cookies in Japan! I wonder if sending cookies will look suspicious?" Perhaps this could be proof that marijuana cause brain damage
Sure, some people will say that marijuana is not bad for you at all and, even though some will disagree, I might agree with them totally that marijuana isn't all that bad for your health. It might even be good for you. I don't know.
But good or bad, marijuana certainly was lots of fun when I was a university student in the USA. But that was in the USA back in the days when small amounts of marijuana wouldn't land you in jail.
Is marijuana really all that bad for you? I don't know. But I can guarantee you that, without a shadow of a doubt, getting your ass thrown in jail in Japan for a decade because a little marijuana will certainly be bad for your health.
The point is that this is not a question of whether or not marijuana is bad for you or not. It is not a question of whether or not marijuana should be illegal or not. The question here is this: Is possession of marijuana in Japan a serious offense in the year 2011? The answer is "Yes. It is! It is a serious crime that holds prison as a penalty."
Interestingly, it is not against the law to smoke marijuana in Japan. The law states that possession of marijuana is a crime. Possession always pre-dates usage. So it is against the law to have any amount of marijuana.
Since it is against the law, if you do possess marijuana in Japan, you take the risk of getting arrested and you face the possibility of a long prison sentence. Once you are caught and arrested, making idiotic claims that, "Marijuana isn't that bad for you!" or "It was only a little bit!" or "I didn't know my friends were going to send it to me in the mail!" Just isn't going to fly. They've heard them all before.
Everyone who gets caught says this kind of stupid thing. The result is always the same: The law will be upheld.
I remember several years ago when an American friend of mine came to Japan to visit her son. She didn't know her way around and the son he was too much of a selfish brat to pick up his mom at the airport so, since she was an old friend, I picked her up.
On the way back in the car, she started asking questions about Japan and telling me all sorts of nonsense that went on between her "Parent of the Year" parenting skills and her dysfunctional kid. She also told me that she sometimes sent her son marijuana in the mail. She said she hid the marijuana, in small amounts, in packages from the USA. I almost hit the roof. I told her to cease that immediately.
In a typical stupid, ethno-centric, typically American reply, she said to me,
"Oh. It's OK. I don't use my real address! It's not that much marijuana. Just a little bit. They won't put him into prison for a few grams."
"No!" I said, "No one here cares about your address. Trust me. It doesn't matter if it's even one little speck. If they catch him with that marijuana, they will put him in prison. No ifs ands or buts."
She wouldn't believe me.
I had to repeat myself, "No. If they find that marijuana on him or in his home, they will put him in prison!"
She then took the stupidity up a few levels higher by telling me how she so cleverly hid the drugs;
"Oh, they won't find it anyhow. I hide it in ball point pens and cassette tapes."
Jeez! What a fricking stupid woman! Had she never heard of X-ray machines? Didn't she know that they already have ball point pens in Japan? And, incredibly, and as hard as it is going to be to believe, cassette tapes were also plentiful in Japan. In fact Japan manufactured those things!!! I know the genius and technological prowess of the Japanese and, trust me, Japan has had ball pens and cassette tapes for a long time (Pssst! They sell them here at places called, interestingly, "Convenience Stores.") I told her again to stop that practice and also pointed out the obvious that cassette tapes and ball point pens, being mailed from the USA to Japan might look a tiny bit suspicious, no?
I have no doubt that that stupid woman is continuing this foolishness today.
Well, maybe it's OK, it seems her son is so useless that he can't keep a decent job to feed himself or pay his own rent so maybe it's better for him in prison. What the hell? Free rent and food!
Now, in Japan, today we have another story of another moron coming to Japan from the USA and now facing jail time for marijuana. Now, once again, I am not saying that I agree with Japan's drug laws. I don't. But, the law is the law, and when you go to a foreign country (or even in your own) and you take risks with those laws, you also accept the risk of penalties.
I hope this idiot kid doesn't go to jail, but if he does, I will say, "Just another in a long line of stupid foreigners." Here is the story in yellow with my comments included.
ARVADA - A Colorado School of Mines chemical engineering student remains in a Japanese jail after a friend of his says he mailed the student three cookies and four pieces of candy infused with marijuana.
With friends like this guy, who needs enemies?
Japanese prosecutors appear to be using the country's very strict anti-drug laws to go after 25-year-old Tim Wilson.
That's their job.
Wilson was attending Tohuku (sic) University in Sendai, Japan, as an exchange student when he was arrested back in August.
He's remained in custody ever since.
"They keep pushing the trial back," his father Jeff Wilson said on Wednesday. "Originally, they told us it would be no later than Oct. 24. Then they told us December, and then two weeks ago we found out it would be in January."
Japanese law says that a person can be arrested and detained for 22 days before charges are brought against them. If the prosecutors go to the judge at the end of the 22 days and ask for an extension, the judge will usually allow it. These extensions cane be repeated twice for a total of 66 days. If Tim never accepted these cookies into his possession, they will probably release him at the end of the 66 days and he will be put on the first plane back to the USA under a deportation ruling. He will never be allowed back into Japan again. If the police and prosecutors find marijuana at Tim's apartment or they find his friends in Japan have some and they got it from Tim then I hope Tim has fun with his new friends in prison.
Tim Wilson's friend agreed to speak with 9NEWS on Wednesday if we agreed not to use his name. He said in May he mailed three peanut butter cookies and four "Cheeba Chews" to Tim Wilson inside a package containing other items such as books and CD's.
Duh! Moron! He doesn't want them to use his name? Why not? he doesn't want the whole world to know how much of an ass he is? Amazingly, but true, Japan is one of the riches countries in the world and we have lots of cookies and candies and cakes... Hasn't it struck "friend" for even a second that mailing $1.00 candies and cookies to Japan is a red flag and might look real suspicious?
That package never made it to Wilson.
If this is true, and it never made it to Wilson, and Wilson has no marijuana at his residence, he will probably be deported at the end of 66 days.
In June, Japanese customs officials flagged the package and then started an investigation which eventually led to Wilson's arrest on Aug. 3.
Jeff Wilson has been told his son faces up to 10 years in prison.
"We really believed this would be cleared up in the first 10 to 20 days. We thought he'd be released," Jeff Wilson said.
Well, you believed wrong.
Tim Wilson was registered as a medical marijuana patient with the State of Colorado when the marijuana edibles were sent, although federal and state laws prohibit the mailing of such items. He was given a medical marijuana card for pain in his back.
Medical Marijuana patient, eh? That's supposed to means he needs it to survive or live a life without pain. Well, his coming to Japan is a good argument for the people who don't want to allow medical marijuana. If this guy can go to Japan and do without it, it must not be that much of a medical priority. PS: Card or no card, marijuana is illegal in Japan.
Jeff Wilson insists his son never requested the edibles and that the friend took it upon himself to send the package to Japan. The friend told 9NEWS the same thing.
Sure, you can go to any prison in America and every person instituted there will tell you the same thing, "I didn't do anything wrong! They go the wrong guy!"
Some of the confusion may be due to an email exchange between Tim Wilson and his friend in which Wilson wrote, "That would be a good idea," when asked about sending marijuana edibles to Japan.
Jeff Wilson believes his son was simply being sarcastic when he wrote that and that language issues between the two countries was at play at the time.
Oh yeah. Dumb friend goes out and spend his money on marijuana; then spends his time making cookies; then spends his own money again on sending marijuana to Japan and it's all a misunderstanding between friends? Well, that's completely believable, right? Wrong. Bullshit! I believe Tim Wilson's father believes wrong and I don't think for a second he actually believes that cock and bull story.
Tim Wilson was also volunteering with the country's ongoing earthquake relief efforts.
Aha! Playing the sympathy card? Isn't that nice? By the way, volunteering is something that Tim (and every other person) in this country has done. No big deal. Sentimentality, or the lack of it, should not guide decisions concerning whether or not the law has been broken and if actions should be taken.
Tom McNamara is a Denver attorney with Davis, Graham and Stubbs and specializes in international law. He calls Japan's anti-drug laws "some of the most severe in the world."
"The amount [of marijuana] matters not," he said on Wednesday. "We could be talking about one gram or five kilos."
He says Japanese authorities have recently started to concentrate on cases involving drugs mailed into the country.
Finally, someone who says something that makes sense.
Jeff Wilson is now actively trying to bring more attention to his son's case.
"They've got the wrong guy," he insisted.
Bwa! Ha! Ha! Ha! "I'm innocent! Innocent, I tell ya!"
They arrested Paul McCartney for marijuana in Japan. They will most certainly throw your ass in jail for the same. Here, too, McCartney says he "didn't know"!
Tim Wilson has a 3.98 grade point average at Mines and his father showed 9NEWS a letter where faculty members were recommending he consider trying to become a Rhodes Scholar.
Well, with a 3.98 grade point average, Tim sure doesn't seem to be all that bright.
NOTE: The purpose of this post is not to kick this dimwit kid and his naive father. It's, hopefully, to make sure that someone will read this and make damn sure that they aren't the next Tim Wilson.
Tim is lucky, actually, that this happened in Japan. In some other Asian countries the penalty for what he is involved with is death.
NOTE TWO: I can bet you a donut that the friend that baked these marijuana cookies and sent them to Tim in Japan was high when he did so. Just goes to show that great ideas when you are high are usually not such great ideas later on when you are sober
