Gratitude And The Gift Of Life – Online Gratitude Journal #5

(Photo by Mr. Greenjeans)

My late grandfather in WWII

My late paternal grandfather was a physician. He served as the headmaster of Shanghai Railroad Hospital in the early 1940′s.

A bit about historical background: This is when Japan was in war with China, leading to WWII on the Asian side of the world. Japan (along with some other western countries) invaded China, took their land and built railroads for Japanese industries and military. The Railroad Hospital was for the local Japanese expatriates.

My grandfather, however, took Chinese patients when he thought necessary. He was a physician, and for him, his mission was to save lives. But this liberal attitude caused friction with other Japanese there, and he returned to Japan after only a few years.

When China reopened its door to Japan in the 1970′s, he went back and saw some of his former patients who were still alive. They welcomed him warmly. (Note that back then, or even today, many Chinese people hate Japanese for what we did to them during the war.) One former patient wrote a beautiful calligraphy that says “Magic hand that saves life” and gave it to my grandfather.

What really happened during the war

This week, Hunter Nuttalll and I wrote joint posts Comparing America And Japan. While discussing Freedom and Opportunities, we talked about the War Relocation Camp the US government enforced during WWII to the people with Japanese ancestries. It is also called Japanese American Internment.

This is not about POWs. POWs are captured combats. This Internment, on the other hand, was forced to civilians living in the US. Many were US citizens. But during the war, many “mainstream” Americans grew suspicious of them because they or their parents were from enemy country, Japan.

The book and movie Snow Falling On Cedars depicts this situation well. I don’t think it works well as a mystery, but it does describe the time and its feelings. Those Japanese Americans were forced to move hundreds (sometimes over a thousand) miles at short notice. They had to sell their houses, farms, businesses, and pretty much everything they had in a few days – and everyone knew about it, so the selling prices were practically nothing (talk about buyer’s market. . .). They had to live in the camp until the end of war. Again, they committed no crimes – the only thing that was wrong was their ancestry.

And I’m writing this not to accuse the US government but to point out what can happen in war. War fuels fear and drives people to do unreasonable things, like putting innocent civilians under custody (well, it was the government’s policy, but the general public in the US supported it) or refusing to treat sick people like many Japanese doctors did in China.

Gratitude for the lesson in life

Today I am grateful for my late grandfather who showed with his own actions the courage and love that transcend politics. I would like to use the power of this gratitude to forgive.

To learn more check out these movies:

The Last Emperor
To see some of the crazy things Japanese did in China during WWII. Learn the history so that we can learn the lesson from it, rather than to get distressed with guilt, shame and blame.

Picture Bride
Comments to the aforementioned post also covered the special history of Hawaii. This movie is about the Japanese immigrants in early days of Hawaii. Bonus: Same good-looking actress, Youki Kudoh, who played Hatsue in Snow Falling On Cedars.

Lost in Translation
You can wrap up with this hysterically funny movie, which is also a beautiful story of love.

My Law of Attraction Dream Money Project, week 4, $800

I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking how I want to use this dream money. The stake is getting high. $800. Do I want a new laptop – maybe an Apple for a change? Do I want several trips to spa to pamper myself?

These are nice, but this week, I want to send this money to charities. I intend to donate 10% of my business profit, so this is really nothing much, but it’s a start. I want to express my gratitude for the gift of life I have.

This is not just to honor my late grandfather. I have heard some sad news around the blogosphere. Alex‘ father-in-law passed. Pearl‘s father passed a few month ago. Another friend’s relative is MIA and I’m very concerned. I would like to take a moment to honor these people who are so well remembered.

I have also heard heart-warming news of birth from Peter. Steve recently had his second. Kim and Jason are expecting their first. Talk about the big cycle of life.

So $800 to charities. I like Kiva. I’m also looking at organizations that support artists because I love arts.

May I ask you for a favor, please?

If you like this blog, if you think it helps to live better as a person and maybe as an entrepreneur, please subscribe (free). You can get updates by RSS feed or by email. The number of subscribers is one way I get feedback for my efforts, and its increase is very encouraging. It also helps to get more ad income, which again goes to social purposes, and make it easy to get more interview guests and guest blogs.

Also, if you have a blog, please write about Yes to Me. I strive to write inspiring and informative articles. Plus Yes to Me is not just about me – I interview successful entrepreneurs to learn about their startup secrets and edit quality guest posts.

Some of the best articles are listed in the sidebar, but here are my two most favorite:
Is Becoming An Entrepreneur Harder Than Surviving In A Foreign Country?
True Life Purpose Goes Beyond The Illusion Of Self

For the interviews, please see this archive page. Next week, we will have two handsome men from Men With Pens.

Thank you so much! I appreciate your support very much.

What are you grateful for today?

Comparing America and Japan, Part 2

(Photo by Sir Mildred Pierce)

Akemi: Recently, my blogger friend Hunter Nuttall visited my home country, Japan, and wrote the eBook “Memoirs of a Gaijin.” He went to Kyoto and Tokyo. I’m from Nagoya (a big city between Kyoto and Tokyo – he passed it by the train), but I’ve been to both cities several times.

So I thought this is a wonderful opportunity to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both countries. Please read the first half of the discussion at Comparing America and Japan, Part 1.

Housing

Akemi: Among the many things I like about America, conveniently designed comfortable housing is close to the top of the list. American houses are large, often comes with central heating and air conditioning system that keeps the whole house at the right temperature. Ordinary people can afford houses with a garden, which is a dream for many Japanese. I just wish we had the deep soaking bath in America. . .

Hunter: My friends in Kyoto had a bathtub that we couldn’t figure out how to fit into! It was twice as deep and half as long as what we have in America. Maybe if you’re the right size, it’s easier to figure out.

My friends’ apartment was very tiny, and the temperature never seemed to be right. It was fine for a visit, but it would definitely bother me to live like that. I’m sure Japanese homes are small and expensive because of the population density. Japan is 90% of the size of California but has 3.5 times its population. There’s only so much land to go around.

But even though ordinary people can afford a house with a garden in the U.S., they’re often leveraging themselves to the hilt to do it. Lately we’ve seen people lose their homes because they could never really afford them in the first place. Of course, we’re still correcting from the biggest housing bubble in U.S. history, so it’s hard to comment on housing affordability right now. Not to mention that prices vary dramatically from one area to the next. Because most Americans live on the coasts, a lot of us forget that when you move towards the center of the country, homes get really cheap.

Akemi: I lived in Columbus, Ohio, for 10 years and Nashville, Tennessee, for 3 years prior to moving to Oregon last fall, so you are telling me. . .

I still think living conditions in the US is better than Japan overall. It’s not just the housing for each families. We have more parks and general breathing space here. This adds to the need to drive around, however. I think the ideal is to have small communities where we can walk or bike to go to work and to do majority of the shopping, supported by near-by larger cities and online services.

Hunter: I live in Reston, Virginia, a planned community that was designed for exactly what you’re describing. The idea is that you should be able to live, work, and play in Reston for your whole life, moving to different areas when you enter a new life cycle. I live in the “young adult” area, where I can walk to restaurants, shopping, ice skating, a movie theater, art shows, outdoor concerts, a park, and a farmer’s market. I used to be able to walk to work, and there’s a road that offers a straight shot to D.C. in one direction, and Dulles airport in the other. I really like it.

Education

Akemi: Another thing I truly appreciate about America is the school system. I walked out from college, which was an extremely unusual thing to do in Japan. Over there, you get in college right after high school (those who couldn’t get in right away go to private school to catch up), spend four years, graduate and get a job. No transferring to another college, no walking off –- if you do, there is no way to go back.

So when I decided to complete my education, it was so much easier to come to the US and attend the college here. My college (Ohio Dominican College) accepted the credits I earned at my Japanese university, so I got my BA in two years. And there were so many adult and / or international students I hardly stood out.

Japanese schools have high standards. (The college algebra I took was like a middle school course for me.) But they are just so rigid, I think.

Hunter: In the U.S. you certainly see people going back to school as adults, but I think a lot of people feel that the “normal” thing to do is to go to college right after high school, graduate in four years, and get a job. I know I would have been afraid of strange looks if I had taken longer than four years to graduate.

Obviously I never took any math classes in Japan, but it’s not hard to believe that the U.S. is near the bottom of the world rankings in math. Just look at the SAT: the verbal section tests your ability to find antonyms for words you’ll probably never see anywhere else, while the math section tests you on simple equations and triangles.

I know a very smart guy who used to write software for NASA. One day he was trying to help his son with his homework, but didn’t know how to expand (x – 5)(x – 7). That’s like not being able to find Florida on a map. I can’t explain it.

Akemi: OMG. I know how to expand that. Can I work for NASA?

If American people are so poorly educated, it’s no wonder we have financial problems, like you mentioned in Comparing America and Japan, Part 1.

Gee, I loved the flexibility American schools provided for me, but I’m starting to be really concerned . . .

Hunter: That’s a good point: bad math skills mean bad financial decisions. Maybe people don’t realize how fast their credit card interest piles up when they don’t pay in full.

Akemi: We need to improve education. And I’m not talking about just school systems. We need life long, both formal and informal, education. Well, that is one of the objectives of our blogging, isn’t it? I want to remind people how so many opportunities we have and I want to help people become successful entrepreneurs if they so choose.

Freedom and Opportunities

Akemi: I think America is like a huge lab. We see the best and the worst here. On one side, there are horrible things going on like drug addiction and crimes related to it, or authorities denying the progress science has made in the last several hundred years. On the other side, there are people who are truly committed to high ideals such as environmental preservation and spiritual growth that transcend religious borders.

I never had a problem finding a good job because of my ethnicity. All they cared about was my skills and enthusiasm. I guess a green skinned alien can get a job if he had marketable skills! Whereas if I go back to Japan, I know I will have no job, and will be put down badly because I am not a “real Japanese” (meaning I speak English too well).

Hunter: The U.S. is definitely much less homogenized than Japan. And yes, that’s both good and bad. I think the more restrictions you lift, the more you see who people really are. If someone wants to save the world, there’s plenty of opportunity for that. If someone wants to be a drug dealer, we have that too.

Akemi, keep in mind that we’re in a time when discrimination in the U.S. is at an all-time low. If you had been here in the early 1940s (yes, way before your time), you would have been thrown into a War Relocation Camp (depending on what part of Oregon you live in). This was authorized by President Roosevelt and upheld by the Supreme Court. Things are a lot better now, but discrimination is still a problem, even if it’s not as pronounced as in Japan.

Akemi: Thank you for pointing out the Japanese Camp during WWII. It was totally discriminative (America didn’t do that to Germans).

It is important to remember, however, that America worked on its own discrimination issues. Black Americans (I personally think African-American is a strange term . . . we don’t call white Americans European Americans) had civil right movement. Women fought for their rights, too. The Equal Opportunity regulations and awareness didn’t just fall from heaven. And now we have a presidential candidate who is black and white people are supporting him too.

Japan, on the other hand, has done little to correct its discrimination. It does patchwork job, such as setting up its own version of anti-discrimination guidelines at work, not because they want to but because they see it as necessary accessary to hang out with other countries. They call it “gai-atsu” (pressure from outside). They don’t mean it, so they don’t use it. (The regulation has no penalty.)

I think this kind of passive attitude is really hurting Japan. Most Japanese don’t have dreams, don’t aspire to do something good for themselves and others, like starting a business they believe in.

Hunter: Actually, the U.S. did intern German and Italian Americans during WWII, though it was on a much smaller scale (11,000 German Americans, 4,500 Germans brought over from Latin America, and 250 Italian Americans compared to 110,000 people of Japanese descent). I think the hugely different numbers are explained much more by racism than by any military threat.

I agree about the term African-American being strange, not to mention confusing. People will use the term to refer to a black person in England, but not an American from Egypt.

I don’t think a passive attitude is good for anyone. Maybe the Japanese should start using the word for pressure from inside. In order to break down their discrimination, they’ll need someone to be their Rosa Parks.

A lot of Americans have a passive attitude as well, taking what they have for granted. Their aspirations are to be comfortable drinking beer and watching TV. I think it’s important for everyone to have their own Everest to climb. What’s the point otherwise?

Akemi: That is a great point, Hunter!

I really enjoyed doing this writing project – it’s refreshing to get out of my personal style and have someone talking back to me.

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you read the first half of this discussion, on Food, Crime, Kaizen, and Living within their Means, in Comparing America and Japan, Part 1 at Hunter’s blog.

Gratitude And Independence – Online Gratitude Journal #4

(Photo by Mr. Greenjeans)

America celebrates Independence today

And what does independence mean to you? To many people, it seems to mean not getting help from others, to do things on their own, in their way. What an ironical view. Don’t you know America owed a lot to France and other countries in its fight for independence?

Seriously, political issues aside, I don’t think independence is about isolation or self-righteousness. I think real independence includes freedom to ask for help and unity to do things together because even when I am with someone, I am still independent. What do you think?

I am grateful for my host country America. It has, and continues to provide me with new opportunities.

Gratitude comes to me at time of loss. . .

I lost all my bookmarks of several years on Wednesday. It started with a strange loading problem at certain sites. I did some research and one said Firefox sometimes does this and the first step to resolution is to clear the cache. I had no idea what a cache was, but the process to clear it sounded simple enough, so I did. I didn’t know it meant clearing information on the browser including bookmarks. . .

AAAGHH!! All my favorite sites’ addresses are gone. Now if you think you were my favorite, you need to remind me where you are.

I am grateful for all the technological advances . . . my computer and software . . . even little conveniences like bookmarks. . . Now help me become smarter to be grateful for the things I take for granted before I lose them . . .

My gratitude across the blogosphere

Aaron over at Today is that Day tried my Akashic Record Reading and wrote about it here. It’s critical to own what we did and put closure to negative energetic workings. Especially if you want to utilize the Law of Attraction favorably in your business and life.

James of Men with Pens just wrote an inspiring post about losing what you have built and gained and starting over. Let me quote the same quote he used to open the article:

“If I inherit a lot of money, I may feel a fiduciary obligation to preserve the corpus. But a person who creates wealth, a risk-taker, says ‘If I lose it all, I can go out and create it again.’ “
- Patrick Rooney, director of research, Center on Philanthropy , Indiana University.

Now that is independence. James extended this theme beautifully in his post. I love finding such high spirit – and he doesn’t even seem to consider himself to be spiritual. . .

Spirituality is not necessarily about going to religious meetings. It’s not about moral. A guy on a motorcycle (or a horse ) quieting his mind in the wild nature is very spiritual. And us building businesses to serve others!

My Law of Attraction Dream Money Project, week 3, $400

$400 to spend on anything I like is a pretty big deal for me. Do I want to go Nordstrom to get some clothes? A new laptop costs more than $400, right? Hmm. . .

I was walking in my local grocery store and my inner child came out. She wanted a share of the pie.

My inner child: Hey, I want that big flat of strawberries!
My adult self: Amm . . . this dream money is for something nice, not about getting groceries.
My inner child: But I want to eat all those strawberries! Lots and lots of them. I don’t want dinner, I want to eat all the berries.
My adult self: Well . . .
My inner child: You only get me that small tub from time to time. I want lots of strawberries, blackberries, blueberries . . .
My adult self: You are right. . . well, maybe we can split the $400 and get some berries . . .
My inner self: Oh, and look at those flowers! Can we get a new house plant? We had to give away all our plants when we were moving to Oregon, remember?
My adult self: Yes. They are beautiful.

I guess my inner child is right. I always thought those berries were a bit expensive, but what was I thinking? A flat of locally grown fresh strawberries are $12, and that is a lot! Let’s get some blackberries (called marionberries and boysonberries around here), too. Heck, add some ripe heirloom tomatoes. A nice planter of peace lilies. And a bouquet of lilies, lavenders. . . I am paying $100 for all these goodies.

My adult self: Are you happy now?
My inner child: Ah? Ug. . .

Okay, she is busy eating, and her fingers are red with the fruit juice. I take that as yes and thank you.

And with the remaining $300, I am going to Nordstrom for a shopping spree. I will start at the lingerie area (they have seriously gorgeous stuffs!), get a cotton summer dress, a few cute tops. . . Call me vain, I’m happy.

If you are wondering what I’m talking about, please check this post to see how this Dream Money Project works. I am expanding my wealth consciousness to utilize the Law of Attraction.

Okay, I am well fed and rested, ready to get back to work as a new entrepreneur.

What are you grateful for? And enjoy your summer!

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