Norway Bomber Likes Japan

In the "file under 'C' for creepy' news, comes a revelation that Ander Behring Breivik, the accused mass murderer (and confessor) of 76 innocent people in separate bomb and gun attacks in Norway on July 22, 2011 thinks that Japan is a model country.

(Please don't let it be about Japan's immigration policies. Please don't let it be about Japan's immigration policies. Please don't let it be about Japan's immigration policies.)

In a document he had placed in the World Wide Web prior to his murderous spree, Breivik praised Japan for not embracing multiculturalism (Dammit!).

The oft-times rambling 1,500 page manifesto notes that he (Breivik) was on a self-appointed mission to save Europe from the threats of Islam, immigration and multiculturalism.

The wordy document also commended Japan for its policy of not allowing many Muslims to immigrate.

Just so we are all clear, Japan - like an decent first-world country - does not have a ban or limit for any specific or ethnic groups.

This tragedy in Norway might find its roots in fanaticism - the blaming of Muslims for all the world's woes. If people want to remember the past - Europe, heck, the world once blamed those of the Jewish faith for all of its ills.

Japan... you are a decent role model. Yes, you might want to make it easier for people to become actual Japanese citizens, but to be considered a role model for a psychopath - sorry. Breivik is one troubled young man.

More's the pity that there are a lot more people out there - of many religions or faiths or beliefs - that not only think like Breivik, but act like him.

Without getting too preachy, we're all people of the planet Earth. Can't we all just get along?

Andrew Joseph
who is of Indian-descent, Portuguese, too, born in England, grew-up in Canada, and lived in Japan. His dad is a Protestant, he was raised Catholic, is now an agnostic, likes the philosophy of Buddhism and married an Atheist. His family is brown, has a black uncle and mixed black and brown cousins, married a white woman and has a beige child. We don't have a Muslim in the family, but that was hardly from lack of trying. There's still time for a cousin or two. If my family isn't a fine representative of this big blue marble, then I don't know who is.

Surviving The Big One

With all the panic going on in Japan now about the nuclear problems in Fukushima-ken brought on by the 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011, I'd like to share with you a story I wrote here on June 23, 2010.

It's a good story - an interesting one, and it does restore one's faith in man's ability to survive.

Have a read: PRIEST

Somewhere thinking happy thoughts,
Andrew Joseph

Talk To Me: A Survivor's Tale of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb

Originally titled: An Interview With A Catholic Priest. You'd think the old title would tell it all - well, not this time. Rather than get into a discussion of religious views, I thought I'd try to learn more about the man behind the cloth.

Pretty much right beside my apartment building sits the Ohtawara Catholic Church. I guess I'm not much of a Catholic, because I never visited, and only did so reluctantly after I received a phone call from the parish saying that they had received some of my mail by mistake.

Padre Bernard Hiyamizu Yoshimi is a member of the Order of Franciscan Monks living and working in the Buddhist-dominated culture of Japan. The Padre is a thick-set gentleman of average height (5'-8") with a full head of black hair with a few strands of grey that belie his 65 years. He has bushy eyebrows that peek out from behind his tortoise-shell glasses.

As with most holy men I have met, he has a cherubic smile. I think he senses I'm not afraid of him. I think most people he sees are afraid of him because of who he works for, and that makes them uncomfortable. It also makes him feel uneasy because of the suffocating effect his presence can have, though he wouldn't admit to that when I asked him later.

It was a strange feeling as I watched him grind the beans to make a strong pot of coffee. He asked me all sort of impersonal questions about my life in Japan as he served me some cheesecake. Between mouthfuls of delight, I began to chat with him about his life.

"I was born on Goto Island. It's a tiny chain of islands two hours to the West of Nagasaki," he began. Immediately my ears perked up as some quick mathematical calculations would have put him near the second atomic blast in his 17th or 18th year.

"You're right. My family moved to Nagasaki city when I was 12. I was there when the bomb exploded. I wasn't in the actual destruction zone of the bomb. I guess it was sheer luck or God's will that I was far away to have ben spared the nightmare," he says catching himself.

"But the next day (August 12, 1945), I went down into the city to help the injured."

I tried to study his face, but it gave no clue--I wondered if it shook his faith in God. However, I promised myself I would not get into a religious discussion with him.

It suddenly dawns on me that he walked into a city a mere 24 hours after it had been bathed in radioactive fire--and it was still burning--to help the injured.

"Well," he pondered whimsically, "you have to remember that no one knew how dangerous it really was. We knew people had very bad burns on their bodies, but we didn't know the atomic bomb would cause lingering death so many years into the future.

"So I went into Nagasaki and stayed there for weeks."

I hesitate to ask him about his own health, so he asks for me. "Am I well? I'm 65-years-old, and I'm happy with my life and with God." I wanted to ask him about what he saw, what he felt, but he sat there with such a grim resolve that I knew he was suppressing something. I just met the man. Best just to leave well enough alone.

In October of that year, he went east to Tokyo to enter the priesthood. He said he had reached that decision when he was 10-years-old, but it took many years of pleading to convince his parents of his calling.

I asked him if he had ever felt any prejudice for his religious preference - after all, here in Japan, the nail that stands up gets hammered down--conforming is expected.

He said he had never felt it, nor had his parents. He supposed his grandfather may have, because that was around the time of the Meiji Restoration. Not everyone embraced the views of the foreign visitors. His grandfather did when he converted to Christianity.

As a young monk, he soon had his own parish in Nagasaki. Now after 41 years in the priesthood, he lives in a small, rural city named Ohtawara, which literally translates to: big-rice field-field. His  church is always full with his small flock of about 50 people (including my friend Tomura-sensei of Wakakusa Junior High School). He said he did hope to add me to his flock. Perhaps his desire to talk with me was to measure my mettle--just as mine was to measure his.

It was then that I thought about doing a few more of these 'interviews' for some future project (this blog). Divine inspiration? The Father wasn't saying. He just sat there and giggled.

My talk with Father Bernard was not interesting for the things he had done while under his contract with God, but rather what he did prior. Hearing, feeling and seeing an atomic mushroom and then walking into it to help people makes him far more interesting than the labels of religion.

It showed me the measure of the man.

Somewhere opening up my mail,

Andrew Joseph

Today's title is by Stevie Nicks.
PS: The photo above shows the memorial in Nagasaki when on February 5, 1597, the locals killed 26 visiting Jesuit missionaries who were attempting to spread Christianity in Japan. The memorial was constructed in 1962 and contains 26 life-sized bronze statues.

Great Balls of Fire

Originally titled: Oh, my Buddha!
Welcome to Japan - 1991.
A chill permeates the air. Trees have traded their green togs for more flamboyant ones. Nighttime descends rapidly upon the unsuspecting participants. Peace on Earth and goodwill to everyone, as shops have their annual Christmas sales.
Hey! Waitaminute! This is Japan!
Christmas sales? Ninety per cent of the population is Buddhist. What is going on here?!
As I'm sure everyone knows (this is sarcasm), 26 true-believers of the word of Christianity were murdered in Nagasaki over 300 years ago. And even until maybe 15 years ago, it wasn't a good idea to admit you preferred god over kamisama (Japanese word for god).
So what has happened? Why are the stores celebrating THE Christian enkai (party) of Christmas? Are there a lot of Christians now living in Japan? Nope - 99.7 per cent of all Japanese are Buddhist. Could it be for the small foreign contingent living here posing as English teachers? There's only about 1500 of us on the JET Programme.
Or, could this all just be a sham, as the Japanese retailers have found yet another way to sucker the populace who are are well-known to have a love-affair with American culture?
Jumping on the theme of Japan's Western fidelity, merchants have been able to sell every western-style culture to the hungry masses. American baseball caps, Budweiser, Valentine's Day (which the Japanese have corrupted to be the day women give presents to men first, and then on March 14 - White Day - men give presents to women... it's so they don't waste their time giving presents to a woman who might rebuff them), Boss Day (although not popular back home, it is a billion-yen business propelled by the butt-kissing workers in Japan), Halloween and now Christmas.
Japanese families are now putting up Christmas trees, decorating them with stars and angels and placing presents underneath. When I asked why, no one had a proper answer, except that everyone else was doing it. Ah, so desu ne (oh yeah). Keeping up with the Suzuki's. The true meaning of Christmas is more sales and inventory clearance.
Fortunately, they haven't gone all the way yet. With the exception of a KFC (Colonel Sander's old place) advertisement, Christmas has not yet come to television. Rudolph, the Grinch and Frosty have not yet made a miraculous appearance.
Hurry people, hurry. There are only 35 more shopping days until that event two days after the Emperor's birthday. Read about the BIRTHDAY presented here.

(In the photo here, you can see the Crown Prince (next in-line to the Emperor) Naruhito and his wife, Crown Princess Masako, when they came to visit Tochigi-ken in July 1993, seen here at Nasu-Shiobara train station. Lousy photo, but I was far away and using a disposable camera. It's the closest thing I have to a photo of an Emperor.) 
While I am not one to begrudge anyone wishing to celebrate Christmas, I am sorely disappointed that few Japanese seem to know or care about the tradition they are making a mockery of.
Although... come to think of it... the West seems to make quite a mockery of the sacred tradition of Christmas, too. Oh well, I guess the Japanese are just copying the West, after all.

Somewhere wondering how I'm supposed to afford 23 Christmas presents for my office. Owe-owe-owe,
Andrew Joseph
PS: Today's title is by the one and only Jerry Lee Lewis. It's HOT! This is from the Dennis Quaid movie, of the same name as today's blog - It's HOTTER!
PPS: Why this title? Think about the lead-in phrase to Great Balls of Fire.