Living here in Japan has taught me to take a friendly smile with a grain of salt and to never allow myself to be lulled into thinking that everything was okay and that people had my best interest at heart when in fact they were plotting my doom.I am better off with the devil that I already know than the angel I have never met!
People in Japan have no grasp of the realities of the real world.They generally tend to see things in black and white, many still retain that age old island mentality, where everything “WE” applies to everything and everybody “Japanese” and the world.I found this assertion to be truly annoying since many have no idea what their history is or where they come from for that matter.Sixty years of history after the Meiji Era for some reason is missing from their vernacular.
Not everything is what it appears or seems in this country.These experiences have taught me to never assume a person is a certain way because they are of a certain race.I have yet to find a Japanese person I have something in common with as I still have not found a drinking buddy who enjoys imbibing on sake and prose like I do.Sake is the epitome of liquid refinement in Japan, yet nobody seems to understand what it is.I have learned through this experience to let my false expectations go and focus on things that are more practical for my life—friendships aren’t required.
I do feel I am a better person today than I was yesterday though. I no longer place importance on people, but in myself and my own personal endeavors.Prior to coming to Japan, however, I had a tendency to be co-dependent thinking that following and emulating others was the best way to live when in fact it was the worst kind of way to live.I make my own moves now and as a result I am saving so much more money than I did before I came to Japan.
If there’s anything positive that I could take from my time in Japan is that I never take anything for granted.I value every precious moment in my life, especially when it comes to eating, drinking, and making love.I am more focused on the things that matter the most for me, and not what others think and because of this I can honestly say that I am a better person for it.Before I bit into a piece of sushi I say to myself “wow, I’m so lucky!”I am enjoying delicious sushi in Japan.I savor every sip of sake that comes across my lips and down my throat, I look more often into my lover’s eyes when I’m reaching into the heavens for God’s ankles and I cannot hold it any longer. It’s the simple things that I’ve come to love and appreciate the most.
I'm a sake and fine foods connoisseur specializing in local and regional rice wines and cuisines in Japan. I am a self published author of two books; one on hot springs and the other on nihonshu. I am also a cultural immersions instructor by trade and a life transitions counselor that oversees and assist people with life overseas.
Self Published Coffee Table Books: One on sake and the other on Japanese onsen: # ISBN:978-4-9904068-0-6/ The Soul of Japan. Japanese Sake# ISBN: 978-4-9904068-1-3. Both books are fully listed.
Kenrokuen Gardens of Ishikawa Prefecture
One of Japan's Three Most Beautiful Gardens
Korakuen Gardens of Okayama Prefecture
One of Japan's Top Three Gardens
Kairakuen of Mito
The Third Most Beautiful Garden in Japan
The Onsen
Snow Cooled Nihonshu
Nihonshu, nihonshu, nihonshu. I can feel the warmth FEEL down my throat as if the warmth is another living organism in itself feeling me as I feel it. I'm being drank.
Welcome Message
This blog is about Japan and its four fundamental charms: sake, onsen, shinto shrines and delicious cuisines. In this blog I have captured some of the everyday pleasures that many Japanese take for granted nowadays. I also want readers to understand that there is a spiritual harmony and beauty in Japan which can be found in its symbols. The Tenno, Mishima Yukio, Jukujo, Sushi, the Hot Spring, and Shrines, are for me the ideal symbols of Japan in my opinion.
On Mishima, a functional schizophrenic who was a five time Nobel Prize nominee, had a vision of a spiritual army that would protect the emperor, which could be symbolic in protecting old traditions and values. That through this army he would prove his love and loyalty to the Son of heaven through self disembowelment . This form of expression which was committed at the very height of Mishima's physical beauty and maturity was considered the most dignified way to die.
"Mishima felt that at the very height of ones beauty it is better to die then than to be remembered being in a state of decrepitude at ones death."
Beauty can come in many forms and can be expressed in many ways. But one must first define a sense of beauty first - mine is this blog. I too, like Mishima, focus on the 'old way' but through another form of expression, I also feel that many things in Japan should never change and should be protected at all cost. One thing that's just as painful as the death of the Soul of a Nation that's spinning out of control, is the impending doom of a culture fast becoming too Westernized for its own good.
On a final note: Jukujo, for me, represent the ultimate beauty that a Japanese woman could aspire to attain, and although Mishima was homosexual, he found beauty in women also.
The term"jukujo" itself could come off a bit negative to some listeners, but it depends. The term literally means ripe and well developed Japanese women in their thirties and forties , and up depending how far you want to take it. Jukujo are very intuitive, intelligent and extremely nurturing.
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