Most Popular Posts...

Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts

Thursday, 7 November 2013

The Day I met God in Ueno Park


One morning, a long time ago, when I was perhaps a lot more shallow than I am now, I landed in Tokyo from Europe, and my hotel room wasn’t ready until that afternoon. So in a jetlag haze, I took a little walk around Ueno Park, the scruffy old green lung of North Tokyo, and sat down to watch the world go by. I’d almost forgotten what a strange and amazing day that was, so now I think I’ll share it with you...

  In my daze, I noticed that an ancient wizened old homeless guy was sitting beside me, and without realising it, struck up a conversation in English, which he spoke fluently. Although I was so jetlagged and exhausted I could hardly keep my eyes open, we talked all day about philosophy and the meaning of life from an eastern perspective and western perspective, and how in, fact there wasn’t a great difference from the fundamentals of what perhaps Jesus really meant Christianity to be (no, not silly statues of the virgin Mary and supporting Zionist colonial plans, you fools), the old pagan ways of the west and the Shintoism of Japan, and how really, the rules of life were the same no matter where you are in the world. There are good and bad people on both sides of every fence, and many ‘bad’ people have good traits and many ‘good’ people have bad traits (bad spirits inside them that haven’t managed to throw off), and really, the love of money and material goods, of conquest and domination, were just bad spirits inside a man. He talked and talked and everything he said seemed like deeper wisdom, and for years afterwards I often thought about this Yoda of Ueno park, and who he was, and how he became homeless and, did he really exist or was this old man actually God speaking to me in some way to help change my life’s direction and understand why I’m actually here?

I can say I’ve learned my lessons slowly. But if it wasn’t for this guy, I wouldn’t have bought books comparing Buddhism to Christianity, or the 'crazy' writings of Zachariah Sitchin, Graham Hancock or Daniel Pinchbeck. And if I hadn’t done that I wouldn’t have considered Ayahausca, which to all who’ve taken it would agree is a profoundly life changing experience. But strangely enough I thought about this man again the other day, probably for the first time since I’d taken Ayahuasca, and realised that all the time it wasn’t that he was God, it was just that he was a man with the light of God shining brightly in him. An enlightened man, if you want to call it that.

But now thanks to him, I can see that we all have a piece of Gods love in us, he’s everywhere, its just that, for almost everyone (at least in the west) that piece of their soul and is hidden so deep inside that, that they’re trapped in the web of their own short term animal-like cycle of needing ‘stuff’, and of needing the fix of temporary ‘satisfaction’ that distracts them from taking a moment to realise the true reality and the true love of life. ‘Life’ for most people involves TV shows, sport, the soap opera and politics of everyday gossip, political correctness and other false ‘causes’, fast food, prescription drugs, casual sex, getting drunk, recreational drug use, pretend illnesses like ADDT and other attention seeking cries for help…you get gist) every last one a short term fix and none of them connected in any way to the reality and true beauty of the world.

Maybe the wisdom of the Ayahuasca is beginning to kick in finally, that I’m beginning to see the cancer of the ‘western’ consumer world for what it is, and can see how the ‘answers’ to these cravings simply make you want more. The ‘bad guys’ even created new language to distract, divide, confuse, and ultimately, cause needless conflict – (smart huh?) - How do you react to someone calling you a ‘racist’ (always by idiotic white guys with beards) or a ‘sexist’ (usually by those same spineless men, although sometimes by girls as a sly compliment) when this is every time a trap question because the words actually have no definitive meaning and were constructed originally as trap questions to damage reputations by avoiding real issues. But this is just the start - The legal system is changing. The media is pushing the moronic masses to accept different boundaries of what’s appropriate, and what’s acceptable in terms of ‘the mans’ interference in your life. And believe you me, your voluntary enslavement has a long way to run yet – so subtle, you wont even notice.

So what’s the answer? Should you stop watching crappy TV dramas? Should you realise that the Bills vs. the Redskins or Arsenal vs. Man. City mean absolutely nothing? No, of course not. For some people, maybe you, that and hamburgers all they have to look forward to in life. Maybe you’re too far gone to accept that reality is not the slavery you’ve already sleepwalked into.

The true answer is that there is no answer, except to ask yourself truly the question that why the homeless old man, with no bank account, and no material possessions, who lives free in Tokyo’s Ueno Park, is infinitely happier and more content in his life than you, or anyone you have ever known?


Sunday, 31 July 2011

BANZAAAII !!! Japan Adventure


Actually the song ‘turning Japanese’ is about masturbation rather than Japan, but now I have your attention, chicken choker or not, I would like to tell you about one of my favourite places in the world.

From the cover of the totally out of date and
aimed at socially inept 19yr old virgins - 'Lonely Planet' (which doesn't even have a single entry for 'zen' in the JAPAN guide - speaks volumes)

Yes, yet again I’m here in the land of the ‘delivery health’ service, Metro train gropers, fish that clean  your hands, and of course the gadget covered and heated toilet seat - Japan.

So first morning, I was exhausted.  After a sleep free night playing Poker in London (to pay for my spending money here), and Leaving at 9.50am from Heathrow and arriving without much sleep in Tokyo 11am the next morning, I was pretty tired. After a quick airport Katsu Curry (future wives please take note, that’s my favourite dish and its really easy to cook I heard)
Waiting for the big one - Earthquakes are actually pretty common here, but take a bit of getting used to

I recommend staying at the Akusaka Weekly Mansion by the way, its not so expensive, self catering, free wifi and great location in Akusaka which is a posh place next to Roppongi (the bizzare and dirty foreigner town) More on the areas of Tokyo later though.

Anyway, I’ve already messed up once, and slept through my alarm to go to a Summer Festival north of Tokyo with a really nice couchsurfer (sorry, I’ll make it up to you!)  It’s a shame it sounded actually pretty cool. That’s the good thing about couchsurfing, you can land in a place and quicker than you say ‘unreliable guy with jetlag’ you can have a bunch of new friends and cool things to do.  And surprisingly I haven’t met any weirdos on it at all. (which is not what most couchsurfing friends say since they have met me)
Japan is a Pot Noodlers Dream 

Now its 7am and, since I slept from 1pm to 4am (I was woken by an earthquake, I kid you not!) I’m feeling fresh and ready for the crazy day ahead. There’s always something weird and unexpected happening in Tokyo. I’ve had many a ‘quiet night writing postcards in Roppongi Starbucks’ which has ended the next afternoon in a Romanian Strip Bar. But this is a family blog so less said the better….today I’m off somewhere about 2 hours out of Tokyo, to my old friend and colleagues friends BBQ. Of course I’ll be the only foreigner but it will be good fun. Naoko is a future famous generipper and inventor of man eating plants who make quality electronics goods (it’s the kind of thing I imagine Japanese gene biology people invent at least) ok ok I’ll ask when I see her.

Everything you need in Tokyo at 7am except a beer

Since I’ve been here 20 times before and my Japanese is still awful, I’m coming armed with audio-books in my kindle and ‘japanese from zero’ which had been languishing on my bookshelf (or rather kadi-anns bookshelf) for 3 years or so already. This is my favourite country outside Scotland, so I really should learn the lingo (since no one else speaks ‘Engwish’) ;o)

Tonight I’ll get up to Tokyo Dome, home of ‘thunder dolphin’ rollercoaster, to completely fix my jetlag, and ‘la qua Spa’ which is where I should have gone yesterday instead of paying for a hotel as you can basically live there indefinitely (more on this place later, as were going to ‘the biggest spa in the world, ‘spaworld’ in Osaka so will be good to compare)

The plan in for the next 2 weeks get a bus down to Oskaka and Kyoto, with my good friend Minako, then I’ll have 5 days in Tokyo (which may actually turn into 3 days in Macao as I’d really like to check it there)

Ps- did you know that many apartments in Japan miss out 4 and 9 because the word for four (shi) also means death and 9 (ku) means suffering?  Superstitions eh - Kind of silly. 13 is my favourite number and it never did me any harm (because I’m left handed I think)

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

Poor People Round the World !



I was thinking today about the idea that a country could be judged on the behaviour of their poor - with how much dignity they act and how they are treated reflects that country. It does ring true - heres the Alan rating system!

Estonia - poor people are generally dignified. Ok they maybe smell a bit but try to dress normally, and look in bins furtively for bottles etc to recycle. The drunk poor die pretty quickly and quietly so you dont see much of them. 8/10 (minus 2 for the smell)

Great Britain (female pictured)- boorish oafs who blame others for their situation, join the BNP while liveing on kebabs, curry, chinese, chips with curry sauce, cigarettes, and beer, drop litter, intimidate normal people, say 'yeah?' a lot, take drugs, and go to Spain/Majorca/Ibiza for thier hoidays, have no taste, and milk the benefits system more than the worst 'asylum seeker'. Give me hard working Iraqis anyday and lets neuter the 'chavs' They do however keep the population up by having 8 children by 9 different fathers by the age of 13. My rating - (2/10) the 2 only because of the entrepeuneurship shown by their benefits scams.

Africa - African poor seem to me to be the most happy and good natured people on earth. i suspect its 1. they resigned themselves to the fact they are powerless about changing the situation a long time ago because they arent related to the ruling junta 2. they have IQ of 12 and 3. its sunny and warm most of the time. (7/10) they miss a few points because of their general smiling acceptance of their lot (which usually means being exploited down gold mines by chinese gangmasters for 2p a year)

Australia - Basically the same as in uk except 1. they have marginally worse taste if thats possible and 2. they beat their wives. - they do eat better though so even steven at (2/10)

Japanese - Japanese poor are the poor of choice. I once spent a jetlagged morning in ueno park, Tokyo with an old homeless philospher who was im sure in that film the karate kid (he may also have been the inspiration for yoda of star wars) he was a great old dude, spoke perfect english and had pefect manners, in fact it was a few hours before i realised he was a homeless guy. They make perfect origami cardboard boxes, and even leave their shoes at the door, which is pretty funny if it wasnt sad.

But all you horny solvent but slightly dodgy men out there (you know who you are...) there is the new national trend of love hotel refugees, where girls hang outside and offer free sex just for a bed....well sounds like the Tallinn nightclub scene...

http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2009/02/homeless-japanese-women-dubbed-love-hotel-refugees-.html

marks (9/10 - inventiveness and good business sense in the face of adversity, coupled with good manners and retention of dignity(except the love hotel refugees but well nobodys perfect...)


Americans - I think American poor typify all thats wrong with the country. They can be of course amusing because they are so ignorantly tragic - cliches abound of trailer park rednecks, boys in da hood, latino gangbangers, you name it. My experience of poor americans (outside of Hollywood) is that they are a pretty meek and victimised bunch, with a few nasty buggers like 50 cent bullyng and terrorising the population, and earning the general contempt of the generally contemptous population. The general crapness of americanss as people, is reflected in their not surprising exploitation of their fellow countrymen - http://www.bumfightsdump.com/search/bum_fights !! They do lose a lot of points by their awful eating habits - the fattest poor people on the planet bar none!!

My rating -a sad, and not very glamourous (3/10) becuase i feel sorry for them.