.
We certainly don't like authority, and we don't like to be told what to do.
So, Japan wouldn't be the natural place to be, would it?
Sailor Moon and Sumo are the base, the main reason why I'm here right now.
I heard that Santa Claus lived in Japan.
So I wanted to come here and see if I could find the real Santa Claus.
I wanted to learn an Asian language.
A non-alphabet language.
So it was really between China and Japan, and Japan seemed a lot easier.
After having promised my wife, who was just a fiancé at that time -
- that I have a job and she could come back to Australia -
- and that job fell through...
I felt obliged to at least come to Japan for a short time.
And initially I thought...
Six months or a year I would stay here -
- then go back to my life in Australia.
But as time wore on -
- Japan became more home and Australiabecame more of a distant memory.
I didn't really have that much life experience.
So I wanted to travel around the world first.
However, my journey around the world did not continue after Japan.
And here I am, sixteen and a half years later.
Japan always had a certain exotic allure.
It all started with ninjas.
When I was six, the concept of ninjas seemed so cool.
That kind of was the doorway to being interested in Japan.
I was doing an anthropology class at university.
I interviewed four or five people.
Some of them were studying in Japan at the time -
- and some of them had studied.
And just listening to their stories -
- especially the person who studied here in Kyushu.
And she's showing me these photo albums.
And I thought: "wow, that looks really fun!"
So, I came to Japan through that international program at first.
I was doing Semester at Sea, which is a program done by university of Virginia.
You sail around the world, taking classes with different professors on a giant cruise ship.
We were supposed to dock in Kobe and there was the Hanshin earthquake.
So the entire port got destroyed.
Luckily we were able to dock in Osaka.
After that I went to Kyoto for two days -
- and got to wander around Kyoto and Arashiyama and stuff, and it was like -
- "wow, OK, this place I would really like to come back to."
I suppose it was the idea -
- that there were these really pretty girls -
- that you could meet, who were open -
- to make friends with a foreigner.
Who spoke English
And get paid to do it.
Which is mostly true.
I had that idea because David told me.
He visited Vancouver and he told me:
"come to Japan, teach pretty girls and take pictures, and try it."
And so I did and that was 19 years ago,
For the first time I came to Japan was about 15 years ago.
For my previous job.
I came a few times.
So...slowly, slowly this country started to be very interesting to me.
And in that period of time I met a Japanese girl.
We moved to Italy and we lived almost eight years together.
I had many, many chances to come to Japan.
It was a smooth and long approach to the country.
Three years ago...
...after unfortunately I broke up with this lady...
...I decided it was time to try to live in Japan.
Not just spending vacations or coming here for short visits.
I fell in love with a Japanese man, and I wanted to be with him.
And I was interested in living in an other country, so I said: "OK, I'm coming."
I came here to teach literature and Italian language, to a university.
In some rather old fashioned Japanesy-English they say:
"What is your purpose in coming to Japan?"
I used to tell the truth.
I used to say I was kind of economic refugee.
And political refugee.
But I always felt that Japanese people felt a little disappointed.
I think they hoped that I would say that I -
- deeply respect the fine points of Japanese culture and all that.
So I always felt a bit bad.
So I thought: "What can I say that is actually the truth?"
But will leave them feeling good.
And finally after a decade or so living here -
- I finally stumbled across the correct answer that satisfied everybody, so I think.
"What is your purpose in coming to Japan?"
"I have a fetish for long, black hair."
And the Japanese people would always go:
"I see..."
Oh no, there's a foreigner in here!
It was just going to be a one year trip, but you know...
This is not a society you can understand overnight!
Five years of theoretical studies is not enough.
I was living in New York.
And going to school there.
And they had a very, very strong Asian studies program at my university.
Then, of course, you know, there's a lot Japanese stuff going on in New York.
Restaurants and movies and book stores and –
- a lot of Japanese people running around so...
I had a pretty good idea of a lot of things before I came here.
But of course, you know, the reality is a lot stronger than...
...than one imagines from New York.
I thought maybe Japan was much more crowded than it was -
- and people were much more rigid and consistent.
Most men were 'salarymen'.
Most women were house wives who were somewhat dependent, or codependent.
Very nice, quiet, very proper behavior country.
I think I expected it to be something similar to Hong Kong.
But more expensive.
Because when I came here 1990 -
- it was the end of the bubble economy -
- and this was famous as the most expensive place in the world -
- and that was absolutely true!
I always thought there is something mysterious about the writing style of Japanese writers -
- because it`s like, they concentrate more on details -
- and they leave big things out.
And the sentences always seemed a little bit like metaphors for me.
But metaphors for something I did not really understand.
So there was a little bit of fascination about it -
- but I never really thought about -
- Japan in a way like samurai -
- or old history or cherry blossom trees.
It was never a very fascinating country for me actually.
I think my image was of a very ultra modern, ultra clean -
- tall, glass-spired buildings -
- everybody incredibly wealthy, the streets immaculately polished.
I was a little surprised...
...when I arrived here and found rice paddies in the outskirts of Osaka city, and -
- the airport was not as modern as I thought it should be.
I landed in Itami, not the new Kansai airport.
I had more of a high tech image.
Slightly more high tech image -
- than is actually here.
I had this image of, you know ...
A very technologically advanced society and stuff like that.
The technological aspects are kind of what I was expecting more of.
Pure capitalism and money.
Other than that, I really didn't think much.
That they behave very strangely.
They have those strange hair cuts -
- and they dress...
But I didn't really notice that in Fukuoka.
They all live like totally normal.
I was a bit, actually, surprised by that.
I didn't know anything about Japan.
Except for the cartoons for the manga.
Because I grew up with that stuff.
So I knew some culture from that.
There was one particular image from the TV.
I suppose in the 1960's.
It was of a young...
...maybe woman...
...in a crowd in Tokyo.
This is an image I saw on the TV.
She was buying...
...air!
From what looked like one of those old telephones that you pick off the wall.
But it had a mask.
And she puts her money into it, I guess a vending machine, and...
...put the mask here...
...and breathed in some fresh air.
And they were saying how polluted the Japanese cities were -
- and then they cut to all this traffic.
So the image before I came was not a particularly positive one!
I assumed all of Japan was sort of full of...
...pollution and...
...people living horrible city lives.
The money handlers.
At the airport.
The way the money changers would fan the money out.
Their handling of money was so extraordinarily -
- swift and skillful and artful.
It's all about the money.
Coming to Japan from the Siberian area -
- you go between Hokkaido and Honshu.
And you go down the cost.
And I saw Japan from the sea.
It was very, very beautiful.
A lot of concrete!
I was on the fourth floor, no elevator -
- going, "Where's the technology?"
"I'm in this concrete building with cracks in it!"
We were prepared for the fact that it was going to be hot.
And I was prepared for it.
But it was so hot and so humid!
Just like: "Oh my gosh! I don't know what to do."
My room was small.
The houses were all small.
The politeness of everybody.
The manner of everybody.
How clean everything is -
- and how well they hide things that aren't clean.
When my plane arrived...
...July 1986 in Narita, there was still...
...armored vehicles on the tarmac.
They actually had water cannons.
And these were police men but they looked like Darth Vader .
It looked very intimidating! So that was quite shocking.
I'd never imagine that!
Everything was my size.
Like when I was in the bus and I was trying to hold on to the handrails or something -
- I didn't have to go on my tip-toes or, you know, hold on to the bar -
- but I could hold on to the railings comfortably.
The little cars, the cars all looked like little boxes –
– and I thought that was really nice.
When we came here, in 1990, when I came to Japan –
– the bubble economy hadn't quite burst, and so there was money to burn –
– and all the clubs were busy.
The bars were full, and this was the scene for foreign teachers.
All different ages but...
My first four hours in Japan...
After four hours in Japan, I think...
...we went to the...English style pub...
I thought: "This is so interesting!"
Everyone's so friendly, there lots of interesting people and pretty girls, and...
...handsome foreign men speaking Japanese to pretty Japanese girls who's speaking English.
And warm and friendly, and...
I just thought: "This is Heaven!" And...
Maybe I can be someone new, someone different.
Santa Claus almost made it to Japan, as his primary residence, but –
– then of course, soon after I came to Japan, the bubble burst and –
– so Santa Claus, he lit out for the territory, so to speak.
For a foreigner living here, there's as well...
...is a certain sense of cloud cuckooland.
I came at 22 and I really never grew up.
Japan has the best toys!
I love shopping in Tokyo.
The compactness is actually really nice.
I can ride my bicycle everywhere.
My friend, she just left her knapsack in a department store entrance way.
Of course it was there!
You can leave your bicycle unlocked...
...and it may not get stolen.
It's quite likely it won`t get stolen, but try that in New York.
Actually, I caught a guy once.
Stole my bicycle and –
– followed him, and trailed him, and then dragged him to a police station.
He left in 15 minutes and I stayed for two hours trying to explain what I'd done!
That really sucked!
It's easy to live. It's so easy to live here. Just...
...like...
For some reason more than in America.
I think Japan has set a very high standard for me in terms of a lot of things I expect in my life.
The Japan in general is very, very clean.
The train system didn't fail to impress.
When the train says 07:01, don't hop on the :59 train or the 07:05 train.
Go on the 07:01 train, because it will be there at 07:01.
There's nothing major that really annoys me in Japan.
Japan is a fairly easy country to live in, I think.
Just how much..little, like major... few major problems you have.
Just love everything. The convenience of everything.
How everything is thought out and their attention to detail –
– is untouchable.
Makes everything...
...I guess you would say more comfortable.
If you are earning Japanese yen and you go into the rest of Asia –
– it's really nice!
It's got an incredible maze of hiking trails along the mountains and stuff like that –
– that you can get to easily by busses and stuff.
And then there's also things that you can do if you`ve got a car.
Places going surfing and kayaking, and sea-kayaking or river-kayaking.
Because, it`s about what, 75 % of the land mass is mountainous, you get some really fast rapids.
And then it's also islands, I mean, it's got swell and surf almost all the time.
Countryside and nature...
...in general in Japan. The southern islands.
This is the part I love the most.
Traveling down to some of the islands, down in south of Kyushu –
– like Tanegashima, and Ishigakijima ...
Just insanely beautiful places, and the people are so friendly!
It's just like: "Wow! This would be a great place to live if there was only some jobs."
Before I came I was living in Ireland and there was hardly any sun.
So coming and seeing sun even in winter, for me that's good –
– and it doesn't rain as much.
And there are definite seasons.
So...I'm happy about that.
The seasonal changes in Japan...
Not necessarily just weather, but the way life style changes –
– and the whole array of events changes.
It's really impressive!
From a tiny, tiny detail –
– in someone's house like the...
The decorations they have out will change by seasons, and...
Of course stores and menus and everything.
It just seems much closer to...
...something natural than the 24h America, where...
...nothing changes.
You have to go back to England.
Of course, flying through Heathrow.
You come into the arrivals hall, and...
...there are policemen with machine guns, sub-machine guns or whatever, and...
...bullet proof vests and...
...announcements that your...
...car will be towed away and blown up!
And all that stuff which is just...
...business as usual, everyday behavior...
...in 21st century Britain.
And I suspect much of the western world.
You just don't feel that here at all.
There's little sense of potential global crisis.
In the supermarket in Japan –
– all you need is just somebody to tellyou which isle.
But they will run to the place with you, and they will show you the item.
So, I was out of Japan and I was traveling and I needed cereal and milk.
So I went and asked the shop assistant. I was like –
"Where's the long life milk and where's the cereal?"
And he was like: "Cereal is in that isle, and I don't know where the long life milk is."
And he just turned around and continued packing the shelves.
So I literally just burst out laughing because of the contrast, and I was like: "Yeah..."
One other fabulous thing in Japan is 'nomihoudai', all you can drink.
'Nomihoudai' is really good!
I like the temple gardens, so when you get a chance to go over there and see them...
Very...
Peaceful. It's kind of peaceful.
Japan is incredibly safe!
I've lived here 26 years now.
Which is most of my adult life, I suppose.
I take it for granted that I can, sort of, walk anywhere at night.
That my wife can walk anywhere at night.
And my female friends...
I don't feel that they need escorting to the bus stop at night kind of thing.
That's a really great thing that I don't appreciate until...
...I travel abroad and...
...suddenly realize I have to take care of my expensive camera equipment or somebody will...
...take off with it.
I have four kids, four boys.
The oldest is 10 years old and the youngest is 5 years old.
They walk alone to school.
They go to the playground and they have a good time.
They ride bicycle too!
No problem at all.
In Mexico, no way you know, not even by mistake you know!
Very safe country! You feel comfortable and relaxed here.
I mean, people...
...are so well-mannered here.
It's a shame a lot of the rest of the world can't have the same...
...attitude, I guess, towards others.
I have often written about how kind Japanese people are to non-Japanese visitors.
Which is often not reported.
You get the instances of...
...sort of racist behavior.
Which often is reported, I think.
And certainly exists of course, but...
...generally I've been treated very kindly.
People are always very polite and very smiling.
I was a bit freaked-out that everybody smiled all the time.
When I first came, I was just like...
"Why are you smiling?" "Why are you laughing?" "It's not that funny."
But you get used to it, and...
...when you leave and you realize that people don't do that anymore...
...then you kind of like miss that.
There's so many options! You're not like in –
– if you were in, let's say for example...
...the United States.
If you're in the countryside and getting to a place that's gonna have anything like...
...a Picasso exhibit or...let`s say ...
...some sort of festival or something like that.
You're going to be driving for a while!
Whereas here, it's like "boom!" "OK, what's around the corner?"
And that makes it really, really fun.
There's a lot of fun stuff. I enjoy what's happening in the cultural life.
You look like you're lost, or you look like you're looking for something –
– people will come and will help you.
Or if they don't know they will try to find a way to help you –
– and I have that kind of experiences a lot.
I've soaked in some hot springs which I'll never forget.
They adore their cherry blossoms.
Which is kind of nice to see the enthusiasm.
I mean, oo ah... an other tree but...
...in the scale of it all...
It is quite pretty and, people get together. It's a good excuse for them to get together and...
...everyone seems happy.
Which is nice to see.
We were invited to join this group of 'salarymen' –
– and later some of the business women that worked with them showed up.
We were invited to join them.
"Have a drink!" "Have some food!" "Don't worry!"
We were like: "Should we give you money..." "Can we, like..."
"Go to the convenience store and get..."
"No, no, it's OK! It's a company party, don't worry!"
And their department manager showed up.
And it was the new employees as well.
And so he says to them...
"Right! New employees, you stand up!"
"Drink!"
That whole, 'iki'.
"Stand up!"
He drinks.
And he kind of comes around to us.
And he looks at us and says "Stand up!"
So we`re shooting back 'shōchū'.
So everybody's quite drunk and...
...the department manager, he's really drunk!
Or not, I don't know.
He has a bottle of wine in one hand, a carton of 'shōchū' in another –
– and he goes around pouring it all over his employees, who are up and running and screaming!
Drunk, but having a great time!
As it was, they ended up getting so drunk...
...that, on that blue sheet that they put out, they started sliding across it –
– on their stomachs. So there is sushi flying up! Fried chicken! Potato chips flying!
They started rolling. There's a hill there, and they're rolling down the hill in their suits.
But!
So it's a fabulous time! 11 o'clock the lights go out, right! The 'hanami' time is over.
They all just kind of sober up, and they fold everything up and put it in the garbage –
– and go home, and we're like...
I lost my telephone.
Two days later...
...somebody called me. They found the telephone!
And I went to pick the telephone.
One year later I went to the bathroom.
And I found a bag with...
And I don't have a camera!
I really need a camera now.
I remembered...when I lost my telephone, somebody called me.
And they returned it.
I did the same thing.
If I'm in my country...
...maybe I'm gonna keep that money.
I'm not sure, you know, but here they teach me a different way.
It's an extraordinary sense of democracy here, in the sense that...
...everyone gets access to the rest of the society.
Everyone want's to be part of the society, and nobody want's to be left out.
So they go through a lot of effort to connect the shipping systems –
– and the railroads, and bus lines and...
So that everybody's connected.
There's no need to feel as if they are different.
I am sort of anonymous.
Sometimes I think I'm invisible.
But I'm not. I'm sure people recognize me.
Sometimes being a foreigner in Japan give you some advantages.
Because there's the curiosity towards the foreigner, so...
You are always very welcome to show your pictures, or be part of some event, because...
...people want to know something coming from outside.
As foreigners we are cut a lot of slack, I think.
Specially if you're white.
If you're a guy from Bangladesh working in a factory in Osaka...
...I'm sure it doesn't quite apply the same way.
We like to grumble. We need to grumble.
It's a long tradition among the foreign community to –
– get together and grumble about Japanese people, on Japanese society, about this and that.
And that seems to be a bonding thing.
It gets a bit tedious.
So there are particular bars you go to when you want to bitch.
So, there are after-hours where usually men my age ccomplain about this and that.
And I suppose it's no different anywhere else.
The term I hate the most that Japanese people use: "Yappari".
It's like: "Just as I thought".
So, you tried, you know, you're more Japanese than the Japanese –
– and then when you screw up, it's 'yappari'. "I knew it, you're a foreigner!"
So it get's a little disappointing that way, you know.
I know I'm never going to be Japanese. I can wear kimono...
I can study Japanese dance, I can speak the language.
I can do a lot of things, but I'm never going to be Japanese –
– and I accept that.
However, I would expect a little bit more...
...respect on what I've done.
My effort to understand they're culture, so to speak
After five years they still tell me every day:
"Oh! You can use the chop-sticks!"
But you see me eating with chop-sticks every day...
...you don't have to...
"Oh, you are eating!" "Oh, you eat fish!" "Oh, you eat this!"
They expect as much from you after 16 years -
- as they do from a foreigner who just walked off the boat.
For me it's difficult to understand sometimes what Japanese people really mean.
I think in Chinese or English, we say 'yes' or 'no'. It's very clear.
But in Japanese, they say...
We have to try to think their meaning.
Just the comments that people will make sometimes, like...
...kind of...It's more of a Japanese cultural thing, like...
"Oh, you got fat!"
"Wow, you have such a big nose!"
"Wow, you are so white!"
"Wow, you are so black!"
The lack of, kind of inner monologue...
...that comes out of peoples mouths sometimes.
A long time ago, several things annoyed me.
Now...
I really can't think of anything that genuinely annoys me.
I've either grown accustomed to it...or...
...Japan has stopped doing it.
Bureaucracy
The way things must be done, is the way things will be done.
There is no concept of negotiation or explanation.
You can ask why something is done, and usually the answer is tautological.
It is done because it is done.
And you're like...but why am I doing this? Why...
Why do I have to do this this way?
And they'll just say: "Because you do".
And you can fight all you want. In America it's all about negotiation –
– you complain to the boss and something may change, but here it's...
...it's like yelling at a very old wall.
It's not gonna move because you want it to.
Here's one that drives me crazy.
The Japanese traffic laws sometimes.
If...I was in a parked car at a stop light –
– and a car behind me, hit me from behind.
And in that car there was a child who wasn't in child seat, and that child died.
I could be held responsible for that child's death. Legally.
Adaptation of foreign culture just for fashion, or just for following a style –
– without the really deep meaning of it –
– is annoying for me because there are some things that I do believe in –
– and it's hard to see people taking it just as a fashion.
You go to a bakery store and you buy...three breads.
And they pack each bread in a small bag –
– and then these three bags into a bigger bag –
– and then this proper bag for the take-out.
So that's really, really annoying because...
...at the same time they have these very restrictive laws about the garbage.
I'm so tired of this –
– situation you have in the Japanese houses of sidling along when you pass somebody –
– on a stair case or in a hall because everything is at least 80 cm or less.
Whereas in America it would be 90 or 100, or maybe even 110 cm.
It's a huge difference!
People live in very easy environment.
And they don't work like their parents. I think this is a bad thing.
In a small city like Tottori...
...when people see me their first reaction is actually distance.
Sometimes people stare at you on the street.
Maybe they are afraid they have to speak English or something like that.
They would be ashamed because they can not really do.
I feel lonely in Japan anyway...
...and I don't like it.
Without any offense to the men...
The quality of men that you get here...
If they`re foreign guys...
Especially in Fukuoka because you just don't have a lot of...
People kind of coming in, or... they're older and already married –
– because they met, like, their wives in Canada or whatever.
So you get people who...
...aren't eligible or that you just wouldn't necessarily date.
Or they are so focused on finding a Japanese girl friend –
– that, like, you don't exist.
And then...
...if you don't speak Japanese...
...a lot of the Japanese guys are kind of like, not available.And the guys that speak English...
...are sometimes a bit...
...strange.
I like things big.
Japanese on the other hand, like things small.
The smaller, the better.
I don't like that people tell me: "Kawaii!" (Pretty), or –
–you have "Chiisai kao" (small face).
I hate that!
"Oh my goodness! Japan is this such highly developed, refined –
– complex, sophisticated, ancient culture.
And I am not good enough to...
...bow down before it.
And I have heard this described as a cultural cringe.
I've seen it. I've seen people...
Particularly people who come interested in studying...
...things like the tea ceremony, 'ikebana'...
Any kind of the particularly rarified...
...high art.
I understand why you might feel that way.
I understand it can be very intimidating actually.
I've been in the presence of people interviewing for example...
It was a very fearsome, actually rather unpleasant character.
Who was...
...very snobbish, and very...
...prepared to use his heritage and power...
...and seemed to delight making people feel uncomfortable about it.
Surfing's gotten a lot more popular here –
– so some places you go to, like on weekends, it can be super crowded!
I mean, you can be like Jesus and walk on water on everybody's surf boards –
– and never actually get wet!
I can't understand the public art.
The bureaucrats in city hall seem to decide what art is chosen for the public space.
I think it's really expensive. It's really terrible art.
And I saw one in Osaka that I've seen in Kyoto. Same artist
Shops opening at 11 o'clock...
...little bit annoying.
But, you know...
...I don't get up very early any more, so that doesn't really affect me very much.
I've read about other people having bad experiences here.
I think every year, in about January - February is a bad experience –
– and I always say the same thing: "Next year I`ll spend winter elsewhere."
I get in my room...it`d be freezing cold. It was December.
It was...
...zero degrees perhaps. Some nights.
Some nights there was snow, and...
...and there was a little electric heater.
And I'd huddle in front of that, and then I jump into bed.
And meanwhile...
...just a room or two away from me...
...behind the paper door...
...was David with the girl he was with that night.
I was lonely, and I was miserably cold –
– and I get "why did I leave my ex-girlfriend in Vancouver?".
I went to the super market, and I was going out always with empty bags –
– because I didn't know what to buy.
I've worn my shoes in the wrong place a lot of times.
Nothing really bad has happened to me.
Sometimes I have a lot of problems with paperwork because...
It's hard for me, even I'm studying, trying to translate every 'kanji' in a big contract –
– it's impossible!
Not being able to read things.
In a sentence of Japanese characters.
If you don't know one...
...then you cannot understand the sentence.
Once I thought I was buying body lotion.
Instead it was something to drink. So...
I was putting on my body, I was going to sleep.
Very sticky!
'Koku' means country, 'min' means the people, the populus.
The populous of the country.
The 'min' part of 'kokumin', it's from a picture.
The picture actually contains a meaning.
And that...
...'kanji' character...
...is derived from the image of an eye...
...and a spear being held to the eye.
And...in the ancient Chinese scheme of things...
...the 'kokumin', the public, were those who were...
...easily held down and intimidated by force.
So basically it means slaves.
The Japanese mind set is to surrender. To surrender to authorities.
It's acceptance.
I was brought up to believe that we are entitled of course to civil disobedience.
If I think something is wrong, I can stand up and shout about it –
– and march down the street to say "No".
There's no word for 'civil disobedience' in Japanese, as far as I know that is positive.
It tends to be the...same word that means revolutionary.
i.e. bad guy.
In our culture most people struggle. To find out who they are...
It's actually very difficult, you always have to fight.
You're fighting against yourself, you're fighting against the others, you're fighting...
...to find your place in society.
The Japanese people don't have it so much.
They are just there, they have their place.
And you don't need to ask about it.
They accept.
So this sounds actually pretty peaceful to me.
Because of these things, you might feel very secure.
You might feel very safe. Like being a part of a group, you can know what the other –
– people want to do. You can understand the other people.
So you will not have a problem...
...so much of an identity problem maybe.
One Japanese person explained it to me, she said that...
...this is a culture of shame.
People are coerced into behaving in certain ways –
– with the threat of being shamed.
That's one of the techniques that police use, is...
...if someone's arrested or caught doing something –
– the first thing they'll do, they will call family.
And they'll call employers.
And say, you know, we've arrested your chief manager...
...for stealing underwear, or something.
They use the shame, the communal group shaming.
The legal system here...
Once you're actually caught breaking the law, on suspicion of something.
The conviction rate's like 96%. Something like that.
Basically, once you're arrested you're going down!
So it's actually in your interest...
...to say: "Yes, I did it."
"But I realize I was wrong."
"I've reflected."
"Please treat me kindly."
There are very, very big issues in Japan we can talk you know .
Agriculture is a big problem, the fishing is a big problem...
Some diplomatic problems with other Asian countries.
So many things that people need to care of.
Discuss, do something, let`s change or ...
And I don't see that happening.
I certainly don't trust the Japanese media.
Main stream media.
TV in particular.
There's very little critical media here, unfortunately.
Journalistic practices that we have in the west...
There's something that looks a bit like it.
But...
...it's not a free press.
Now, what's happening with bloggers...
...I don't know.
I haven't really heard of any Japanese bloggers who are, sort of –
– telling it like it is.
Yet!
I would hope that something...
...good emerges in that arena.
There's no reason why it shouldn't of course, except there's –
– not really a tradition of it. Yet.
There's something here called the 'kisha-club' system.
What it is; the newspapers all send their representatives to...
...a government office.
And the government...
...makes it`s statements.
It's already preprepared statements...
...to the journalists, who then go back home and file their stories with the newspapers.
Everyone knows there's a massive problem in this country with discrimination against...
...Japanese born Koreans, 'buraku' people...
To some degree foreigners.
That's hardly touched on in main stream media.
TV is especially bad. It's just...
...lowest, common denominator entertainment.
It's a big problem for Japanese society –
– if the government and the law enforcement agencies, and the mob...
...all have a kind of cozy relationship...
...where it's not in their interest for things to change actually.
The only way things really could move forward is through an independent...
...critical...
...press.
Police stopped me...
...and asked me for my Alien Registration Card.
But, it was just the way they did it, and I was so, so upset because...
...I wasn't doing anything.
And I even said that, because I did kind of tell them off.
I was jut like, look...
"You can't stop me just because I look different."
And they, like, "Well, the Japanese law says that" –
– "And if we came to your country, the police in your country would do the same."
And I said '"No".
"In my country that is illegal."
"You don't stop somebody because they look different."
So for me that kind of brings back very bad memories in South Africa.
I never had to live through that. I'm too young, but...
In South Africa there were pass laws, where you had to carry your pass.
And if you didn't have your pass...
...then basically you got into trouble.
There are people who are kept...
...in what they call Detention Centers.
Until they are found guilty as charged.
So they may not get to court for a very, very long time.
And the police can use that as an intimidation...device.
Many things that I don't expect from a developed country.
When it comes to rights, it's not developed at all.
The watch dog committees, the...
...people who are looking to see where there might be abuses of power.
Simply doesn't exist. There's not a framework for that.
I don't know, they learn in the school a lot about...
...rights. For example human rights or something like that, but...
I don't know! They learn maybe, but they never talk or are really concerned.
There's a genuine belief that the police force can do no wrong.
One time I was riding my motorcycle and...
...police stopped me.
They was waiting for...
...speeding people.
And they told me: "It's a sign over there."
If that sign in Mexico, I understood, you know.
That sign...no more color, red... it kind of rust.
But here in Japan...
...is very hard to see signs like that, you know!
And...
...I went...
...later, like 2 or 3 weeks later, and they was doing the same thing.
So they are doing business over there, you know.
I'm...
...not keen on the degree to which the society is policed.
It's verging on the fascist...
...out of control...
...dictator style law enforcement organization.
In the beginning I was impressed by the police.
You know, nice uniforms and nice cars, and...
...I thought everything was...
...straight.
But I found out...
...exists something...
A little bit crooked.
I knew the word 'racism'. I didn't know what racism was until I came to Japan–
– and then actually...
...I guess felt the hate myself in a lot of ways. Towards myself.
Sometimes...
...Italian friends tend to say: "Japanese are..."
...what's the word? Racist?
I don't think it is in these terms. I think it's just shyness.
And...difficulty to communicate.
So the first impression sometimes...
A tourist or a business man who come to Japan can have this image.
But after you spend some time here, you realize it's not like that.
Of course...
...maybe some people can be...
...on the bad side, but that's everywhere.
Some of the stupidest things I've ever heard.
One of them was:...
...the foreigners come here, work as English teachers...
...make millions of dollars and take it back home with them.
So they are taking the money out of the country.
Well...
Foreigners that I know that work as English teachers earn about 2 500 dollars a month.
They can barely scrape through rent...
...and they spend most of it in the pub.
I happen to be British.
A lot of people expect me to have a horse.
And drink tea at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
And speak something which is often termed the 'King's English'.
And, you know, generally behave...
...as a gentleman, as they put it.
My wife who I eventually married, we lived together for about 10 years.
Until she finally roped me into getting married.
The mother...
...would not acknowledge my existence for the first five years.
I was dressed in a suit, I was carrying a small brief case...
...and I was walking down the stairs into the subway.
And walking up the stairs, out of the subway, was a...
...mid 30's Japanese mother with a couple of kids.
And she saw me and grabbed one of her kids close to her and said:
"Abunai! Gaijin!" (Be careful! Foreigner!)
There's not so much idea about what's going on abroad.
Like...
...people are not...
...very well informed about the situation in the world.
Like, with any other foreigner...
...you can talk about pretty much everything, or you can have an opinion about things.
They learn 'this' painting is by 'this' painter...
...and from 'this' year.
But they don't learn to discuss it. They don't learn to have an opinion about it.
I do have Japanese friends who like to discuss, but –
– they are very few and they are not the average.
I know a lot of Japanese teachers who would like to...
...implement...
...educational ideas, classroom techniques...
...that they`ve picked up from the west.
And can't.
Because...
...the ministry of education is still obsessed with this...
...studying to pass tests.
They pay lip service to promoting conversational English, but...
It's not real.
From elementary school, going through high school and people in university...
...there is like, a lot of...
...ideas that I think are not...
...in proper order for a developed country.
I think...
...Japan has become a little bit more open and welcoming of foreigners.
I wouldn't say it's welcoming with open arms yet, but...
...I wish it was this easy when I came here.
There seems to be a much more generalized acceptance -
- of the fact that there are foreigners around.
When I first came...of course I was in a very rural community...
...but everyone would say:
"Gaijin da!" "Gaijin da!"
"There goes a gaijin!" "There goes a foreigner!"
And it wasn't limited to just the countryside, it happened here in Kyoto, big city.
It hardly happens these days.
These days, more often than not –
– a Japanese person will start a conversation in Japanese, rather than English.
English speaking has got a lot better.
When I came here nobody could speak English, but now it's...
...not uncommon to find good English speakers all over the place.
I'm not saying that's because of my work but, you know...
The burst of the economic bubble had a serious effect.
But psychologically the...
...sarin nerve gas incident... when Oum Shinrikyou people...
...set off the nerve gas in Nagano first, and then on the subway line in Tokyo.
That really affected people`s belief in the safety of Japanese society.
I don't think that can be overemphasized actually.
We had no convenience stores when I came here.
There was no ice-cream when I came here, to speak of.
There was no real bread to speak of.
It's illegal now to be even a member of a gangster group.
So that legislation actually really...
...took a lot of power away from the gangsters because –
– they could no longer operate in public.
When I first came to...
...Japan, and first came to Kyoto as well...
...they were very publicly present, the gangsters.
In Japan, usually when they prepare food, the food comes in whole.
You know, complete with the head, and the eyes, and...
...yeah. Other things, you know...
There's no mistaking what it is and where it came from.
Japanese sake, which I'm drinking...
...really inexpensive sake, you can get it at a corner store.
It's OK, it's not too bad, but...
...really, it was surprising to me how good sake can be if you get to know it.
We've had some...
...very memorable and amazing...
...and delicious...and unusual...
...meals that we wouldn't have had anywhere else.
We went to an end-of-year party with my work mates and this place was famous for its squid.
And they brought a whole squid...on to the table.
So, it was cut up in pieces.
So it was complete.A whole squid.
You could see the eyes and it was cut up all around.
And one of the teachers asked the lady:
"So, is it fresh?"
And she said "Yes."
And she took her chop-sticks and she touched the tentacles, and they started moving.
I screamed!
I didn't expect the food that was already on the plate, to be moving.
All chopped up but moving. I was just like "Wow!"
I eat very well.
I like that. I like the sophistication of the cuisine.
Japanese are meticulous about perfecting what they do.
There's a tremendous work ethic here.
And so they create a world in which work is efficient and things go well.
Usually in Colombia, for one experiment, you have for example two plates.
Here people make experiments with 20 plates, 50 plates, and they have no problem.
From the first one to the last one is perfect
They are just amazing, in the way...
...way they focus.
People here focus on...
Just they can take one small thing and focus it to perfect it.
And it's...
...it's nice.
It's a nice change to what you see a lot over seas -
- where everybody's a little bit 'tekitou' with it.
If it's good enough, yeah it'll do.
But here they're trying...
...try to make it work, perfectly. So...
It's a nice environment to be around.
Makes you wanna work harder.
Working with Japanese people who helped us to build up this place was amazing.
It was a great experience of...
Everything was so fast, so precise, so efficient.
I really missed in Italy when I used to work there.
In my image before, I think Japanese work very hard.
But in fact, not so.
The entertainment industry is very different here.
It's all about the customer, and it's not about getting tips.
Coming from North America you do something because you're a big tipper.
Better service, she's a big tipper.
Smile a little more.
Here it's just...
When you're hired to do something, you make sure the customer goes home happy.
This is my house, right.
This is an ad I got. This is before and after reformation.
This is before.
I had a romantic idea about 'minkas', the traditional farm houses –
– which I thought were absolutely beautiful.
And my students and friends would laugh at me.
"Why do you live in a ramshackle old farm house?"
"Don't you wanna have a cement condominium?"
When I first came to Japan I had this dream of living in an old Japanese house.
You know, the really old type.
The Tanizaki...
..."In Praise of Shadows" type house.
And we actually found that house and lived in it for 20 years, and...
It's very beautiful and very Japanese, and I'm sure if you're Junichiro Tanizaki –
– you're gonna love it, but...
It's a very, very hard life style living in one of those old houses.
And this time of year it's just completely dark.
And...
...depressing. Very depressing.
One can still find that tradition in Japan but you have to look hard and fast –
– and only 'gaijin' are interested.
The Japanese say it's too cold...
...it's too dirty, it's...
...too hard.
Still there are many, but...
After the war Kyoto was...
...almost entirely made up of...
...wooden houses.
The Japanese embrace their past. They respect it, they love it but they don't –
– understand how to preserve it.
In a sense that perhaps the Europeans would –
– preserve their central down town area, to have a consistent architectural theme.
The traditional old Japanese buildings are made of wood.
And, until now most of them just burned down, or fell down during an earthquake.
So these concrete buildings make sense. They are very stable against earthquakes.
So almost nothing can happen. They are ugly but they are safe.
I'm standing in an old street in Nishijin in Kyoto.
Narrow streets with old houses.
The house I'm standing in front of is about 80 years old.
Maybe older. And almost identical to the house that was next door.
Until a few months ago, it was torn down.
This is a photograph of the house next door.
From this point on.
I tried to buy this house...
...that was was torn down next door.
And last year, in the early spring I couldn't get the loan.
And it broke my heart.
The owner wanted to sell the property.
It was bought by a developer, was torn down, and then a new house was built.
I suspect that...
...the new house...
...will be gone...
...in the future.
And this old house behind me may still be standing.
If somebody buys it and preserves it.
So what I wanted to do...my dream was to... to buy a traditional Kyoto 'machiya'.
Plastic.
If you listen, you can hear the sound of silk loom weaving.
Mechanical weaving loom, down the street.
One of the houses similar to this house.
I don't know any foreigners here that work as English teachers...
I know one who is doing well.
One!
He has about 400 students and 3 schools.
In Osaka, and he's doing very well!
But he worked very hard to get to that level.
Whereas a lot of these others complain about...
...how these schools like Nova and so forth –
– but to get to any level like that you have to work hard!
You can not sit on your as and expect it to happen for you.
And I don't know why a lot of these people here –
– seem to get bitter by the fact that it doesn't work for them.
We live in a city with 1 600 temples, 400 shrines, 17 Unesco World Heritage sites...
That's just Kyoto!
One of the things I found though when I was living in the temple, is that I missed...
...a feminine principle.
It was very stoic. In Japan all the gods are male, all the deities are male.
And they have one, who's Kannon –
– who's the one for grace and love, but that's actually a transvestite.
It's a male god from India that they added breasts and include babies sometimes.
I missed the Mary aspect of theology, I missed the...
...the warmth.
So I said: "Basically I need a woman". And...found one.
Made two babies and I've been here ever since.
The details when you do tea ceremony...
Your hand has to wave in a certain fashion –
– and you have to bow so many times and –
– you have to do it in a certain fashion.
So every small movement has...
...a very specific way in which you should do it.
It's quite fun, very typical Japanese.
Straight.
There is like a sense of...
...looking for a way to recognize...
...your difference in very specific patterns.
Every prefecture has to have it's special food.
It's special landmark –
– and everyone in Japan will refer to those specific things.
So everybody in Kyoto knows those special temples.
And it's polite, if somebody's from Kyoto, to ask about those specific temples.
And about specific Kyoto dialectical phrases.
You don't want to embarrass anybody asking them about a temple they might not have seen or heard of.
They go through a lot of trouble here in Japan not trying to get anybody embarrassed.
People are...
...generally considerate of other people, and...
...try not to...
People try not to bother each other, they make an effort to do that, and...
...there's not much aggression really, and...
...I think that's nice.
Owning an establishment, I don't have to have the –
– top security of the world exactly. I have a latch on my door.
I know no-one's gonna break it down and bust in and...
Even my establishment, we don't have a bouncer.
My wife is, what...5'4.
Pretty tough but, you know...
...not as tough as a 6'4, 280 pound bouncer would be, so...
And that's one reason why, a lot of the places in Kyoto especially are by introduction only.
For security reasons. Not so...
...for snobby reasons.
We don't accept credit cards here.
We know the person, we send the bill on the mail.
We know they gonna pay it back. If they don't...
The person who gave them the introduction will be responsible.
'Ichi gensa no kotawari' is what they call it.
First time visitors are refused.
I think Japan has affected how I think and act.
Much more probably than I recognize.
At home I told to my parents: "You are too aggressive. I can not stand you."
Then I went to Bologna and I found the same...
...so I thought OK, it's not just my parents who are aggresive, all the Italians are like that!
I do find westerners...
...obnoxiously loud and ridiculously self-centered.
I love my life here. I really love my life here. It's...
I think coming to Japan was the –
– best decision I could have made at that time in my life.
I have a friend who said:
"Japan been good to me."
And...I would just have to echo that. That would be...
That would be how I would summarize my experience here: "Japan been good to me." .
Although we...
...we survive and we function perfectly in our daily lives...
...there's this...
...vast undercurrent of activity that we will never know...
...what is happening.
Somehow you can be part of it, but...
But you're still the foreigner, so there's still, like a bit of a wall.
Some...
...non-Japanese people here...
...can't stand that.
They leave because of that, I think.
They need to know what's going on and have some grasp of...
...the deeper parts of society.
And when they realize...
...that they're not gonna get that.
Then, time to leave.