The Vanished - Afterword

Mauger and Remael's book is utter garbage. Unless you like your 'journalism' fabricated, falsified. Google was around in 2014, when the English translation was published; Benjamin, Hector, Charles- any reason you didn't spend a few minutes Googling? Tourists with preconceptions, not journalists. Ignorance of the language, plain ignorance, facts that don't add up, no facts at all- none of this deters Lena et al. Finally, here's Lena.

The Vanished: -17: Fin

March 11, 2011. Lena's breathless claim at the bottom of the page is utter bullsh*t. I was here. Like millions in Japan, I was glued to Japanese TV for days. We knew. Nor would I trust Stephane's testimony. He visits Fukushima's no-go zone after the disaster:

Take a dive here And here

The Vanished- 16: Tojinbo Cliffs

Mauger and company visit the famed cliffs of Tojinbo, which she describes as "two hours from Tokyo City". Well, the flight from Haneda to Komatsu (nearest airport), Ishikawa, takes an hour. From there it's about 45 minutes to Tojinbo, Fukui, by car. Did the budget stretch to airfare for three and a rental? Overland from Tokyo the journey takes seven hours. (Did they even go there?) Anyhow, Mauger says they've been invited by Shige Yukio, a retired police officer and founder of an NPO whose mission is suicide prevention at the cliffs. Later that day the following bizarre scene unfolds:

So, just like that, it's off to Osaka.

The Vanished - 15: Planet Toyota, and a Mitsubishi

Still in Toyota City. Aichi Prefecture. Lena claims to meet one Peruvian named Freddy who arrived in Japan in 1991 and began working for Toyota that year. According to Lena, he was a temp worker (yes, for nearly 30 years!) and has been laid off by the manufacturer, which she says is letting people go in large numbers in 2010 (?) despite an 8% increase in sales over the previous year (makes no sense, given Toyotism and Just in Time production). Or what year is it? Lena doesn't enlighten. (In any case, Japanese labor statistics don't support her assertion.) Anyway, Freddy wonders- (see photograph)

Problem is, this pic (oh la la, tres symbolique) was taken not in Toyota (or anywhere else in Aichi, for that matter) but in Osaka. Busted by the blue plate. Again. Did Stephane even snap this, Lena? Oh. And the car? It's a Mitsubishi.

The Vanished- 14: Lena Goes to Toyota, Aichi, and Splains Some Things

In which we travel with Mauger and friends to Toyota City, Aichi, to meet "connections". Home to Toyota Motor Corporation, of course, and Lena claims that people are fleeing the "jewel of Japan [which] has been sinking in the recession." Since 2008, and she knows this how? Because "(t)hey say". Let's consider a couple of bits straight off. First: What does the government say about Toyota's population? 2005- 400K 2010- 413K 2015- 414K So that's that. Lena is too preoccupied with her preconceived notions about Toyota (and Japan) to be distracted by mere facts. Moreover, she senses something sinister in "Planet Toyota", where everything is named, you guessed it, Toyota. As in Toyota Station, Toyota Post Office, Toyota Elementary School, Toyota Hospital.. A bit like Niigata City, with its 新潟小学校、新潟高等学校、新潟大学、新潟中央郵便局, 新潟市民病院... A bit like anywhere. "In 1959, the Japanese government renamed the small city of Koromo, known from then on as Toyota City." Nope. This is not the DPRK, Lena. The city assembly did, for multiple reasons: 1) the kanji rendering Koromo were difficult to read: 挙母 (Good luck getting 'Koromo' from that-in fact, Toyota's headquarters adopted katakana: コロモ); 2) to avoid confusion with a city of the same name in Nagano; and 3) to identify the city as home to Toyota Motor Corp.

Drop in sales in 2010? Nope. Toyota reported an 8% jump for that year.

The Vanished- 13: Did You Even Read It?

High praise for this tripe comes from from Benjamin, Hector, and Charles. "Hats off", exclaims Benjamin. (Of prestigious Keio University, no less-just goes to show). From Hector: "I feel the word johatsu will stay in my heart forever." That's unfortunate. From Charles: "I hope the book will be translated into Japanese." Honestly, Chuck, I hope not.

The Vanished-12: Miyamoto Naoki (not Naori), Vanished 2002, 3/3.

In which our investigator finally meets the family of an evaporated, only to get his name wrong. And a couple other things. Lena's new interpreter, one Jun (what happened to chubby guy Guy?), introduces her to detective Hayashizaki, who in turn sets up a meeting with the Miyamoto family. On 3/3/2002, their younger son, 25, disappeared. Two days later the coast guard (not the "Ocean Tokyu Ferry company", Lena) in Fukuoka phoned to say that his belongings had been found in one of the cabins. Now, Mauger gets the surname right: Miyamoto. Only, she's wrong about his prenom: it's Naoki, not "Naori". I would say I'm shocked at the incompetence. But at this point...

Again, Miyamoto was 25 at the time, Lena. How did you get both his name and age wrong? Beyond pathetic. But beyond pathetic is not beyond Lena Mauger. Clearly. And where was interpreter Jun? As amateurish as his employer, apparently. Link: 宮本　直樹 | 特定失踪者問題調査会 https://share.google/d5EmfBTylIswSmTi7

The Vanished-11: 5.5 Million Evaporated

Apologies, Dear Readers, for this tedious and repetitive series. We get the idea, enough already. Yes, but I must soldier on. Positive note: the end approacheth.

Page 122: in which we encounter the astonishing figure 185,000- the true number of evaporateds, annually. Let's see, I arrived 30 years ago, that's 30X 185,000= 5.5 million. That's impressive hush hush. "Burial"- Hmm. Few Japanese opt for that.

The Vanished - 10: Otaku and Hikkikomori

Mauger visits Akihabara, The Maid Cafe. Where she meets "Picchi", one of the staff, dressed as Cinderella. Who frequents the establishment? Otaku. Nerds, geeks, those with a manga/ anime monomania. Mauger descibes them as "recluses living out their passions alone, holed up in a room, isolated on the Japanese archipelago". (Except when they're patronizing the cafe, of course.) That would be hikkikomori, Lena. Apparently our correspondent is unaware of the distinction. Bless her. She's really trying. Really, really hard.

The Vanished- 9: More of the Geographical

Sanya, we are told, "cannot be found on any map." Okay, whatever. But 'Sanno'? Blue plate to the left of the meter: 山王一丁目15. That would be Ota Ward, south of Shinagawa, on the way to Kawasaki and Yokohama. Haneda Airport. Nowhere near Sanya, Arakawa/ Taito. Chubby filmmaker/ interpreter garcon Guy's been napping on the job.

The Vanished -8: Interlude

A couple of gems. 1)"There is another world, but it is in this one." Profound observation by French surrealist Paul Eluard. But of course. I'm surprised that, after 72 pages, we have yet to encounter Foucault, Derrida, Barthes. Perhaps those luminaries are waiting in the wings. 2) "Sanya is not what he (Stephane, our photographer) imagined evaporation to be- vibrant, romantic, like in literature or film." Aww. Stephane wants his money back. There you have it, the problem with these French tourists' project. Thanks, Stephane, for distilling it, unwittingly.

The Vanished- 7: Sanya

Sanya (山谷): straddling Taito and Arakawa Wards in Tokyo. According to the book jacket:

"A little learning is a dangerous thing", as someone famous once observed. Search for 山谷 online, and you'll find it. The name was changed, in 1966, though not because the area was/ is "notorious for its petty criminal activities". Rather, names change: Tokyo used to be Edo, Niigata (where I live) Echigo... And a word on vending machines: those offering alcohol shut off automatically at 11:00 (23:00). By law. I know, from experience.

The Vanished-6: More Geographical Oddities

"Shunsuke Soda left Tokyo seven years ago to settle in Yamanashi province (sic) in northern (sic) Japan." Chubby filmmaker Guy, I'm beginning to lose faith in you. Yamanashi is neither a province (though it is a prefecture), nor would even the most deranged cartographer place it in "northern Japan".

The Vanished-5

Our intrepid investigators- a reminder, they don't understand Japanese, though chubby Guy apparently does- visit the home of an evaporated. "Tim" is the eldest son. Really? A Japanese couple, this is. "Upstairs, lying in her bed, the grandmother clears her throat." Did she? Lay eyes on her? The family mutt? The point is?

They "used to live among the cherry blossoms in Saitama", the eldest "the son of tanners" . Tanners, traditional outcasts, did not live near the best blossom viewing spots, Lena. Or perhaps you mean they no longer reside in that prefecture. Or perhaps you don't have a point at all.

The Vanished 4: More Pesky Facts

120K in the mid- 90s? Nope. In fact, the National Police Agency reported 80,030 missing persons in 1995. Sigh. Chubby Guy. You really, vraiment should have stayed with filmmaking.

The Vanished 3- Geography

To the list of things modified or left anonymous we can add facts and truth. But we are not done, dear reader. In fact, we have only reached p. 17. From p. 18:

I'll keep it simple: Hananoyu is not in Shizuoka City- it never was- but Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture. Dear reader, I apologize: you've already decided between Guy and the sextant, further examples are but superfluous.

The Vanished 2- More Facts

Mauger and friends travel by shinkansen from Tokyo to hot-spring town Atami, Shizuoka. Why? Because our journalist has been told that people on the run "wash away their pasts in the sulfurous steam of the baths before being reborn elsewhere". Whatever. Because bustling hot-springs resorts are the perfect place to disappear, and easy on the pocketbook. Our investigators stroll through town asking for the evaporated people, Where are they, the 'johatsu'?- and are met with evasion, in Mauger's telling (it's not just Americans that are ugly overseas). Finally, they are directed to one Doctor Uchida, "the physician of the springs". Meaning? So they troop off, locate the good doctor, ask him about vanished people and hot springs (well, Guy does, presumably). Doc Uchida shares this:

Now, either the sawbones is in his dotage or, as I prefer to think, it's complete bullsh*t. Fukuda murdered a co-worker. Former. Singular. This was in Matsuyama, Ehime. During her 15 years on the lam, from 1982-1997, she was in a number of places: Nagoya, yes, Osaka, yes, Kanazawa and Fukui, yes and yes, but Shizuoka? No.

The Vanished 1: Fact-check: Vanishing Act

Mauger first published on Japan's 'evaporated' in 2009 in the magazine XXI, so presumably she and her collaborators visited Japan earlier that year or, more likely, 2008. From the jacket: "Every year, nearly one hundred thousand Japanese vanish without a trace." Mauger's book lacks a bibliography, so readers are left to dig into this surprising claim themselves. (Because it is a head-scratching figure and invites digging.) Really? 100K? No trace, never found? Here are the numbers, courtesy of the National Police Agency. From the year 2008: 84, 739 missing persons reports, 78, 668 cases closed. Let's consider the first year for which both figures are available, 1966: 91, 593, and 63, 667, respectively. Finally, in 2022: 84,910 and 80, 653. The data goes back to 昭和31, or 1956, and since then the annual figure for missing persons has reached or exceeded 100K in just 11 years. Not only that, but never have "nearly one hundred thousand people" permanently vanished. Habemus Corpus. Just where did Mauger get her numbers? Chubby Guy? Methinks the filmmaker's Japanese skills did not extend to internet searches in the language. Or was it "facts are so passe"? Or perhaps the triumvirate decided they were entitled to their own.

"The Vanished"- Introduction

In which Lena Mauger, avid traveler and magazine journalist, and Stephane Remael, photographer, propose to tell of "The Evaporated People Of Japan In Stories And Photographs". A tall order for Mauger and Remael, as neither speaks Japanese, and Translate wasn't a thing. So they enlist the services of one Guy (no surname), a "chubby filmmaker on the cusp of retirement". (Is any of that relevant? Meaning not particularly busy, thus free to tag along as Lena chases this non-story?) At least he's got a Japanese wife and some degree of Japanese fluency, apparently- so this Guy is on board as interpreter. As night falls over the Place de Clichy, Guy regales Mauger with "all the little things that, for him, make Japanese living so serene". You know: "the feminine gentleness, the elegance of movement, the efficiency of public transportation". Was chubby guy having her on? Place de Cliche. Anyhow, it's Guy who mentions "*a strange phenomenon: every year, thousands of Japanese people leave their homes and never return." According to our filmmaker, **Japan has more missing persons than any other country. Now, I don't want to put too fine a point on it, but there's something(s) slightly off about this tete a tete: if Mauger first hears about this phenomenon from Guy, then what was the subject of her original investigation? Anyhow, "there we were, two months later, foreign to this enigmatic culture, our only compass being our guide's perseverance in the face of shadows..." Nauseating, I agree. As for the "compass"- we shall see in later installments whether a sextant wouldn't have been the smarter choice.

* One of the few accurate claims in the entire book. In fact, tens of thousands are reported missing every year, with all but a few thousand found within 72 hours. Lena vastly inflates this figure. But of course. Because, Mon Dieu, the story. Among the 2-4K not found annually: those who have come to grief, whose bodies are never located; those suffering dementia who wander off with no ID; and, the truly vanished, those who do not want to be found, for any number of reasons. ** Sure about that, Guy? Take a peek at figures for the US.

Behind the Curtain: Japan and Korea

Just saw an informative deep-dive on NHK into efforts to recover the remains of Japanese and Koreans lost in industrial accidents during WWII. 長生 Coal Mine, Yamaguchi Prefecture, 1942, February 3: a cave-in occurs, claiming the lives of 136 Korean forced laborers and 47 Japanese. Until this summer, no remains had been recovered, though descendants of the Japanese victims had petitioned their own government in vain for help. Steps up the Korean government, dispatching divers to help in the search. Result: discovery of some remains, and bope of more to follow. Who made this happen? Groups representing Japanese families, their Korean counterparts, and the Korean government. Japanese authorities have been MiA. Why the reluctance to help? Doing so would require the country to confront the issue of Korean forced labor. A touchy issue, even 83 years on? One wonders. No, one doesn't. Consider the 30-year campaign (resolved in 2024) by Sado Island, Niigata, to have 佐渡金山 recognized as a World Heritage Site. Same complication: forced labor, Korean. Back to the coal mine: ironically, Yamaguchi Prefecture was home to the late right-wing PM Abe, murdered for his (and his political party's) ties to the Korean Unification Church. Ironies upon ironies. (Japan- Korea fraught- from the Japanese perspective, at least. Also, let's not forget wartime so-called comfort women, which Japan hasn't recognized as sex slaves, hence the "comfort women" fudge.) Mainichi Shinbun story here photo

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

日本人ファスト。Japanese First. The volunteers were extremely polite. They thanked me for taking these photos. I asked if they were being sarcastic- 皮肉。 No, they responded- from the heart. Now I feel bad. Almost.

Harvest Time

The rice harvest in the north of Niigata is essentially complete. Record heat and drought in June and July led many rice farmers to write off this year's crop, but in early August the rains came, and came some more. 恵みの雨、it's called. However, by this time some of the crop was beyond recovery, including that shown in the photos (though it looks healthy to me).

School Lunch- Still Just 500¥

Sayonara, JICA Hometown: We Hardly Knew You

The Japan International Cooperation Agency unveiled its 'Hometown' project in August: 4 cities in Japan paired with 4 African countries to foster cultural and intellectual exchange. What's not to like? Except that xenophobic netizens mischaracterized the initiative as immigration promotion- utterly false, let me stress. Sanjo City, Niigata, was one of the partner cities. From the original press release until 9/24, the city received 9,000 complaints and queries. Among the enlightened comments, as reported in the local paper today: It's horrible. The city will become infested with Africans./ Sanjo City and Japan will be destroyed when these people run amok. Not universally shared, but it's also true that more Japanese (than is apparent) feel this way but are too polite to show it. The story:

JICA has denied that scrapping the program was a win for xenophobes. That's probably not how the bigots see it.

Takaichi and Nara's Deer

Takaichi Sanae, a frontrunner to replace outgoing PM Ishiba, is a native of Nara. She's also a right-wing blowhard. Takaichi has alleged that Nara Park's deer, a national natural monument, have been abused by foreign visitors, though local officials are unable confirm such violence. She says she has her own proof- so there! Anyhow, if this scary individual truly cares about the creatures, she might want to investigate this: 奈良鹿愛護会問題」とは、奈良の鹿の保護団体である「奈良の鹿愛護会」の管理下にある鹿の飼育環境、特に特別柵での収容環境が不適切であると指摘され、動物福祉の観点から問題視された事案です。餌が不十分で栄養価が不足していること、また鹿の健康状態が悪化しているにも関わらず十分な対応がなされていないことなどが指摘され、奈良県が「収容環境は不適切」と判断するに至りました。 Google's inelegant translation: The Nara Deer Protection Association issue is a case that was viewed as problematic from an animal welfare perspective, as it was pointed out that the environment in which the deer were kept under the management of the Nara Deer Protection Association, especially the special fenced enclosure, was inappropriate. It was pointed out that the food was insufficient and lacked nutritional value, and that sufficient measures were not being taken despite the deer's deteriorating health condition, leading Nara Prefecture to determine that the containment conditions were inappropriate. Video

Get Tougher on Foreigners

The ruling center-right LDP is in the midst of a leadership campaign to replace outgoing PM Ishiba. The political establishment, and the ruling party in particular, was caught off-guard in July's parliamentary elections by far-right Sanseito, which posted significant gains. The latter ran on a populist, anti-foreigner platform and, frankly, that sells these days, especially among younger voters. So, it comes as no surprise that the LDP, determined to establish its cred with this voting bloc, has announced it, too, will get tougher on foreigners, tourists and residents alike. With stories like this a staple online, it's becoming harder to make a case for cooler heads to prevail.

School Lunch

Indispensable Labor from Abroad

Even as Japanese politicians' tough-on-immigration rhetoric becomes more strident, the reality on the ground, and on the seas, is foreign labor is essential to the economy. Anti-foreigner party Sanseito and its ilk are on a collision course with this economic reality. It is past time for the powerful business lobby to speak up and speed up this inevitable train crash.

Unhappy Ending of Sorts

Azuma Shuhei, a candidate in Osaka in the July elections. Unlike most, soft-spoken and self-effacing. The Mainichi reports he visited all 43 municipalities in Osaka during the election, bringing his low-key style to "dialogue meetings". Sometimes he had an audience of just one or two. He finished 12th out of 19 candidates, while Sanseito-backed Miyade Chisato finished third, securing a seat in parliament. During campaigning Miyade delivered an observation typical of the party: "Look at Osaka's Dotombori -- it's chock-full of foreigners," Miyade said in a speech posted to X in May. "They buy up real estate and ignore Japanese customs. Is the government really protecting the assets of Japanese people?" The full story is here: A quiet voice in a loud election: Shuhei Azuma's lonely campaign - The Mainichi https://share.google/ANTl6aEuwtRzSuZkQ

Commute Photos

Foreigners and Japan: Updated

Minority party Japan Innovation has announced its own proposals regarding immigration: limiting foreign residents as a percentage (no figure provided) of the population, and making it harder to become a naturalized citizen, with revocation of citizenship in unspecified cases. Another example of how the goalposts are moving in a certain direction. Here are two not-unrelated articles. In The Guardian: https://share.google/Tb6K7ghZ7Xn2W1DtI From The Asahi Shinbun: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16031070 As someone (Hemingway?) observed, collapse occurs gradually, then suddenly. Which is why I'm very concerned about what's happening in Japan. Here's what decades of gradual collapse looks like when it reaches critical mass: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/u-s-citizen-tased-detained-during-ice-operation-des-plaines/ (Countless other instances, of course.) Such as this: https://share.google/zYdvZf13c7SIT0uJd The Shining City on the Hill, the New Jerusalem, Land of the...

World Athletics Championships

Held in Tokyo for the first time since 1991. The most electrifying moment so far from a discipline sometimes an afterthought: pole vault. This is A. Duplantis, competing for Sweden. Nickname, Mondo. Enjoy https://www.youtube.com/shorts/e1c5jA7iGsY?si=lLTJc_ccDgXiDaFa

9/15: Respect for the Elderly Day

敬老の日、in Japanese. The numbers: over-65s comprise 29.4% (about 36 mil) of the population, with 9.3 million still working.

Sanseito Has a Trans Problem

A politician representing Japan's populist party in Okinawa has, predictably, weighed in on trans awareness with entirely unoriginal, recycled rhetoric. What else? From Mainichi Shinbun: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250914/p2g/00m/0na/005000c In the run-up to parliamentary elections in July (in which Sanseito perfomed extremely well, especially among young voters), a university student I teach expressed his support for this pack of bigots. I gently suggested that its 日本人ファスト slogan and statements by party chief Kamiya (including slurs referring to Korean residents of Japan) were anti-foreigner, as widely reported in the media; there's nothing subtle about Sanseito. The student brushed aside my observation, insisting such was not the case. It was bizarre and unsettling, as though I were watching synapses engaging in cognitive dissonance or doublethink in real time.

Sanseito Sighting : Updated with Sanseito's Message to Turning Pointers, Kirkian Reflections

A sprinkling of Sanseito volunteers in downtown Niigata. Sporting their trademark orange. Waves to all, indiscriminately, Japanese and foreigners alike. The late Mr Kirk attended a Sanseito rally last weekend. Strange bedfellows, perhaps, considering the white, Judeo-Christian vision of America he championed. Don't imagine he was bothered by the wartime internment of Japanese Americans. Not overmuch. One thing about extremists: no sense of irony. From the official site: In Memory of Charlie Kirk We are stunned and heartbroken at the news of Charlie Kirk’s passing. Only on September 7, we welcomed him to Japan for a lecture. In that short time, he became more than a distinguished guest—he became a comrade, committed to building the future with us. We had promised to meet again at his year-end event and had begun to imagine the work we would take on together. Charlie left us with a wealth of vital messages. Though his life was taken, no one can take his convictions or silence the message he carried. We will honor him in the only way worthy of his example: by treasuring what we received from him, by telling it faithfully, and by carrying it forward—here in Japan and beyond. To his family, to our friends at Turning Point, and to all who loved him, we extend our deepest condolences and our unwavering resolve to continue the work we pledged to undertake together. Rest in peace, Charlie. We will see you again. ("comrade" an interesting choice) "carrying it forward—here in Japan": hopefully that doesn't extend to accepting some gun deaths, as Kirk opined was an acceptable price to pay for gun rights (fortunately Japan doesn't suffer from the peculiar American derangement about firearm ownership and God-given rights) Official site of Sanseito

Japan Today: Reliably Shoddy, Caveat Lector

The title, and link: Policewoman forgets gun in restroom, continuing an odd trend in Japan - Japan Today https://share.google/Zxanb7KUEePFnElli Now, you might expect from the title that Japanese police routinely misplace or forget their weapons. A brief and shallow dig reveals that this is not so: only two other such incidents have been reported this year, and none in 2024. In fact, you have to go back several years to find more than two 🕝 incidents occurring in a single year. (For comparison, The Trace reports that it reviewed records of "100 law enforcement agencies [in the US] and found that they had collectively reported the loss or theft of at least 1,781 guns between 2008 and 2017.") A trend, in fact, and one that belies another problem with the story: the claim that this is "odd", with the suggestion that Japanese police are uniquely unprofessional. Typical of JT's occasional inhouse story (nearly all news per se comes via wire services- JT employs moderators, not journalists.) What does it matter? This kind of report reinforces the biases and soft racism about Japan shared by many foreigners, both here and abroad. Namely, that Japanese officialdomm is peopled with total incompetents.

Samurai

Loyal. Self-sacrificing. Brave. Why not Cool as well? Samurai Japan, Samurai Blue, the men's national baseball and football teams, respectively. Romanticized in countless manga, anime, songs and period dramas on NHK. During the Edo period, 2 million out of a population of 30 mil. Insufferably arrogant. Parasitic. That's probably what the rest of Edo thought, for social inferiors were required to support them financially and, adding insult to injury, to prostrate themselves (dogeza, it's called) and grovel in their presence (though this custom was relaxed somewhat in Edo itself). Inhumane, cruel, bloodthirsty. The term tsujigiri (辻斬) refers to practice of testing one's blade randomly on passing strangers (drive by be-headings, perhaps). Social inferiors,of course. And then, there's inuoumono (犬追物). Samurai on horseback, in a circle, armed with bow and arrow. A dog is released. The circling riders let fly, vying to outshine their fellows in accuracy and grace. Charles Dunn, University of London Reader in things Japanese, has written an informative text about Edo called Everday Life in Traditional Japan Except he doesn't know or omits this detail of everyday samurai life. Not so Shirato Sanpei, the author of Kamuiden. Shirato devotes a section of his hit manga to the practice.

Coming of Age Ceremony

The nephew of the Emperor of Japan, Prince Hisahito, celebrated his 20th year in a highly ritualized private ceremony today (totally unlike the ceremony for the polloi, needless to say). Video here: 悠仁さま 成人式 https://share.google/PaBD4uBUi0AwiCsY4 The Emperor himself has just one child, Princess Aiko-sama, and while she would not be the country's first Empress, conservative forces in Japan would see her cousin ascend to the throne.

Sansan Cafe, Kakuda Beach

Spice Curry, Buri Set All good, but the buri (yellowtail) was exceptional.

Tofu, Tofu Everywhere

Fall Scene

Haguro damselfly and rice on the eve of harvest.

A Monkey, a Man, a Forest: Afterword

This remarkable short tale, サルと人と森, reads like a cautionary story for our times despite having been written nearly 120 years ago. As I understand things, the author, one Ishikawa, was moved to pen his warning by Japan's first case of environmental pollution resulting from mining operations in Tochigi Prefecture during the Meiji Era. In any case, Ishikawa's book is most prescient. I had to dig deep to find my copy. If there's enough interest, I would be happy to enquire into an additional print run. Drop us a line.

A Monkey, a Man, a Forest Translation- Final Chapter

The monkey: You humans were once as agile as us monkeys, but no longer. Why, I'd say you're regressing. Humans have become lazy, and clumsiness is the result. On the other hand, your neglect and carelessness grow by the day. You humans boast of your advanced technology, but in truth, all your fancy contraptions bring about human misery. The man, yelling: Cocky beast. Get down here, now. Monkey: Look around you. Do you see any other creatures in such decline as humans? I don't. Look at us, with whom you share an ancestor. We monkeys move about freely, whether on the ground or up in the air, swinging from tree to tree. You used to be like us, the forest for a home, but now you live on the ground with the snakes and frogs. I don't know what to call this, maybe not corruption, but think about it: humans on the ground, monkeys in the treetops, who's closer to heaven, who's nearer hell? Man: Hateful creature. Make no mistake: we humans could cut down all your precious trees. Where would you be then? You'd have to bend the knee and beg your masters for mercy, that's where. Monkey: Well, well, the truth will out, in the end. At last we see just how deranged humans can be. Forever cutting down forests, levelling mountains, filling in rivers, and paving the plains. But your roads lead not to heaven but to the gates of hell. You people have already disowned your ancestors and violated the natural order. I doubt there are more accursed creatures than you in the world. The monkey finished speaking, and the man looked positively miserable. He sensed the truth of what had been said, but he couldn't acknowledge it. Gritting his teeth, the man prepared to leave the forest. Observing this, the monkey said: Dear visitor, where are you going? Man, voice shaking: Wait a bit. I'm sorry for what I said earlier, he added reluctantly. Look, just wait here for a bit while I go home to get my gun. Suddenly out of nowhere, a volley of chestnuts rained down on the man's head. Man: Damn this monkey. What's there to do? In a flash the monkey was gone. The boughs creaked, the leaves rustled, but the old monkey was nowhere to be seen, leaping from branch to branch, farther and farther away, into the mountains where the sun rarely shines.