Dear People of the World (formerly Dear Americans)

2 year on after 311 Fukushima nuclear disastor along with the earthquake and tsunami.

In Tokyo, on 10 of March Sunday, tens of thousands of people gathered in Hibiya Park located near the parliament and government buildings and then marched on streets calling for halt of re-operation of any more nuke plants. Now only 2 of 50 plants are operated since all the plants were shut down last May.

As Patriot, I joined the march to show my will of no-nuclear policy. 

Nuclear energy is no longer efficient considering cost of safety measures and wastes disposal. Nuclear generation does cause severe accident, which no nation can perfectly prevent. It did happen like in Chernobyl and Fukushima and it will in future.

Surely we have to think alternative but nuke generation is no longer a choice for us.  

Because I love my country, its land and its people. I can never let nukes pollute our land and people any more. I can never let my beloved nation depend on such inefficient and dangerous energy.  

That is what a real patriot think. I wish other people in the world follow suit. Be patriot for your country and society.

I went to Kyoto last weekend holidays. The main purpose of the trip was to meet a foreign instructor of Japanese Sado. Do you know what Sado is? Sa means tea, Do means way, meaning "Way of tea." You can learn how to serve tea and sweets to guests and how to be served as guests.

Some people not only foreiners but even Japanese claim that it is too much of formality. I always thought that way. But my encounter with this Sado instructor changed my view.

His name is Randy-san. He manages a cafe in Kyoto. He is a Canadian man who has lived in Japan for more than 20 years. He first came to Japan to learn martial arts but later found out he had to be skillful for both martial arts and academic things. Then he chose Sado.

I joined his cafe's tea ceremony lesson for beginners. 6 students including me attended the lesson. His Japanese is excellent. He wore a very suitable kimono for tea ceremony. Only I wore kimono among 6 Japanese attendees. Actually my kimono was not suitable for tea ceremony.

He could explain every detail of Sado such as how to prepare and proceed.  

Then each student was instructed to perfom how to do each act of pouring hot water, mix with tea powder and then serve guests and how to be served. It is precisely ruled like social dances. No free form on your own. You have to memorize each act and perform that in public to be a good host and guest. That is kind of a hard thing to do. Interesting those things should be taught by a Japanese instructor but this time the other way around. I, Japanese was a student and Randy-san, Canadian was an instructor.

He said "up, pull, cover" when I try to bring up hot water from the pot. I had to repeat that 3 times. Weird, just for bringing up, you have to know how to do each act. But that is the way of tea ceremony.

I asked him why we should follow so many rules just for tea ceremony.

He answered that we should not consider them rules rather these are manners. It is fun to have meals and drinks without manners in casual clothes relaxing at home. But you can also enjoy formal dinner at high class restaurant wearing formal clothes. Just like that. You can enjoy such formality.

He said significance of Sado is like significance of life.

Wow, it seems a foreinger, westerner had a better view on Japanese culture because he sees things objectively.

Maybe that is a dilenma we, Japanese including me have had for a long time. He just seemed to solve that instantly.

It is like how I learnt why Geisha girls put thick white make-ups on their faces by a Hollywood film "Memoirs of a Geisha." In the old days party rooms were so dark without strong lights that Geishas needed such make-ups to shine their faces to be recognized. Japanese films don't usually show indoor darkness of the old days. Without knowing darkness of that period, you can never learn how the old time people live and see the world. Hollywood did a better job in that sense.

Ironically Randy-san got me more interest in one of my country's heritage. Similar thing happened in sports field recently. Judo has been criticized for causing scandals such as harrassment and violent instruction to female athletes. International Judo organization denouced that scandal saying that violent instruction is against original philosophy established by a founder of Judo, Kano Jigoro.

We, Japanese are forgetting what we really are. We have to bring it back!

Aren't they sexy? They are really Japanese men saving Japan's heritage.

A tall man in the middle is Mr. Hayasaka Iori, who is a male kimono producer. A man in blue kimono next to him is a president of English learning school, CEL English Solutions. The pair held the kimono party in Tokyo on January 14, 2013.

Recently very few Japanese wear kimono. Especially among men, very very few do. So a lot of kimono business went bankrupt. Kimono industry has been shrunk by that.

If more foreigners encourage Japanese men to wear kimono, I think, more of us will wear that.

I would like foreigners visiting Japan to see more men and women in kimono and enjoy.  

Last weekend I went to Kyoto city which was called Miyako in famous Hollywood Geisha film "Memoirs of a Geisha."

I visited there a few times in the past. But this time was kind of new experience because I wore kimono all the time during my trip.

Do you know what kimono literaly means in Japanese? It means "thing to wear." Yes, that simply means "cloth." In the old days everyone wore it in everyday life. Now people wear it occasionally only for special events such as New Year's day, coming of age or wedding ceremony. Most of us do not wear it casually. Even in Kyoto, you could rarely see people in kimono.

That should be considered very dissapointing, isn't it. That is why I decided to wear in Kyoto. Not just for special event. I did it all the time during the trip including the time I am staying at hotel and using transportation such as bus and subway. I impressed not only foreign tourists but Japanese there.

In Kyoto I visited the Geisha towns, Budhist temples and shrines. I could enjoy viewing those places in a very different way because of kimono. Kimono restrains you and makes you walk difficult. Not just kimono, I wore Japanese tradtional socks, called Tabi and sandals, called Zori. Those things disturbed me as well.

But that is why I had different experience from the past trips. I experienced how people viewed the places when the places was first established. I could share experience with people in the old eras.

Japanese lifestyle has dratiscally changed since Japan opened door to the West. We seemed lost our identity by that. Wearing kimono can revive our lost identity and traditional feeling.

See the photo of the below. That is traditional way of enjoying meals and sake. I did it on balcony of riverside restaurant. I enjoyed nice view as well as tasty sake and delicous Kyoto cuisine.  

Kimono and Kyoto are what we should be proud of.