This is a platform in which I primarily target the Japanese audience to recruit students who want to learn English – hence, I will omit detailed information on learning Japanese online with me, except to leave the link to my page with reviews! https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/5700326
さて、ここからは現在中高生の日本人の方向けの情報です。上記にもあるように、僕はプロとして英語（日本人に）や日本語（外国人に）教えてきました。2005年から2015年までカナダのモントリオールというところと、オンタリオ州のロンドンという街で学士号・修士号を取得しました。専門は「哲学史」です。歴史哲学を英語で勉強し、修士号を取るだけではなく、アメリカのさまざまな箇所で学会での発表をしました。また、２０２３年９月には Philosophy, Anime, and Religion という学術書に論文を出版しましました。詳しくは下記リンクの Table of Contents を参照してください。（第7章にIssei Takehara）とあります。またAmazonでも購入できます。
I apologize for the late notice, but thanks to all of you who have been my supporters, my academic paper on Dragon Ball Z was published on Sep. 26th, 2023.
This is the Amazon version, which may not give you enough info, but in its original publisher’s official website, Vernon Press (which deals with strictly academic books on popular culture theme, as a result, the book is citable on academic papers and journals and it is very different from a book that targets general audience who are not familiar with academic concepts; the publisher deals with university libraries as primary customers, which is why the book is expensive, but you can get a 24% discount!!) https://vernonpress.com/book/1842 You can see the other contributors when you visit “Table of Contents”
My latest book: Anime, Philosophy and Religion (Vernon Press, 2023)
For contributors of edited Volumes: My latest publication:
“Chapter 7: Philosophy, Soul, Politics and Power in Dragon Ball Z“, in Hayashi, K., Anderson, W. H. U. (Eds.), Anime, Philosophy and Religion, Vernon Press, 2023. Available at 24% discount using coupon CFC1335586F at https://vernonpress.com/book/1842
Come to think of it, the very first time the offer for publication came in 2012 from a different outlet, which was a more “student-oriented” program. A lot of people contacted me about this chapter’s completion and I have, on this blog, posted a number of times different versions of the chapter, which in the end became a book length on its own (so if you wish to see a deep look at what lies beneath my philosophy in Dragon Ball Z, please also take a look at those as well!). Finally, an academic oriented publisher that is Vernon Press offered me a space for contribution. So thank you, everyone, and in particular I would like to thank Derek Padua (a Dragon Ball academic/expert) for his edits and inputs, which essentially made this publication possible.
Thank you all once again for making this possible!!!
Yours sincerely,
Issei Takehara
For those who wish to read on my entire philosophy on Dragon Ball Z: Vegeta and Frieza Sagas, please read the (pre-peer reviewed) essays I wrote. For the published version, you cannot read everything for free, but you can read fair amount of it here that I am legally permitted to post. (peer-reviewed; published version) https://www.academia.edu/111047771/Philosophy_Soul_Politics_and_Power_in_Dragon_Ball_Z_promotion_
We are sorry to keep you waiting, but we have finally got an approval to launch the 2nd branch of FuMi Caffe (for Free) in Sumy!!
In the state of prolonged warfare, in order to support the people who are fatigued and hungry, we have decided to open the 2nd free café for the people of Sumy, a city and a province that is contiguous to the province of Kharkiv.
About the location
Population of about 260,000; located in the northeast of Kharkiv City by about 145 km, and only away from Russia by 35 km.
There is not much damage in the centre of the city, but the suburbs are heavily damaged, and people living there are extremely exhausted and living in poverty.
2. About the situation in Sumy
With this seemingly endless warfare, the local volunteers are halted and there is little (if any) humanitarian activity happening as of August, 2023.
However, the centre of the city is relatively safe and we can secure the safety of the staffs, as there are almost no air raid warnings.
3. The Contents of the Operation of FuMi Caffe
We aim to open the store by the mid-September, 2023. To start with, we will deliver food for 200~300 people mostly for the elderly, handicapped and children per day.
Our operation style is the same as FuMi Caffe, Kharkiv.
All the management of the store is done by the local staffs, thus, helping the local economy by hiring the jobless.
[Free Café, FuMi Caffe] is based on the motto that is “food for the hungry, even if one meal a day”, and we strive to deliver food to survive through the winter. Furthermore, we will go at it with all our might to increase our donors so that we can open many more free cafes like this in the coming spring to save lives.
We have talked to the mayor of the city of Sumy the other day to ask for the assistance, and we are hopeful to achieve our goal.
Should you wish to help us, please sign up for a monthly supporter membership and if you are interested in making a one-time donation, please donate the money to my (Tsuchiko Fuminori’s) personal bank account in Japan, now officially used as “Fumi Fund” and the money is ONLY used to help the locals who are in desperate need for assistance. See also below the pictures for the new updates!
BANK: Mitsuisumitomo Bank
BRANCH: Nippori Branch
ACCOUNT: Checkings Account 8634613
With the mayor of Sumy
With the local volunteers
The market in the city of Sumy
Fumi Caffe Update!
A new semester began on September 1st. And to accommodate the kids/students of the staff members at Fumi Caffe who wish to study together online, we are allocating space for them at the café until the its opening hour at noon.
Every day, we see 10 people or so are usually waiting for the opening of the café at noon since 9 in the morning. We appreciate their support.
It has been officially decided that the 2nd branch of Fumi Caffe will open in the city of Sumy.
Soon, in October, we will start to have snow. In this unforeseeable future in the prolonged war, people from all over Ukraine have suffered and lost at least something. Our café stores will try to open in places that are heavily shelled and damaged so much so that people have long lost their jobs and they have reached beyond the point of exhaustion.
To become a monthly supporter, please click the link below.
We sincerely appreciate your support and please remember that when donating to Fumi Caffe, 100% of the money will be spent to help the people in need, i.e., those in poverty or in need of human interaction. Donations can be made on the link above as a monthly supporter (you can cancel it anytime without any penalties or fees) or you can send the money directly to my personal bank account below.
These are receipts just from July 2023 alone. I will post the receipts as much and as often as I can, but it is best to see Fuminori Tsuchiko’s Facebook account for the latest updates.
This is a continuation or of a detailed account that was not explained in my previous post.
ドイツ語版と日本語は後に続きます。[German and Japanese version will follow]
[The current report on Fumi Caffe the 2nd branch: the progresses and the reasons for the delay (as of Aug. 12, 2023); translation mine] Thank you for reading this, and I would like you to spread this message. Thank you again.
The overwhelming amount of the shortage of money
・The infrastructure of the areas we had planned to open the 2nd branch has not yet been recovered. Fumi Caffe team plans to open the branches in the areas affected by the war in the frontline, where people are not yet able to get enough food and daily necessities.
・The first Fumi Caffe opened in Kharkiv, where we had just enough electricity, gas and water to provide an economic boost in the local community. However, the places we are planning to open the cafes (including Kherson) do not have enough infrastructure recovered as the war prolongs.
・This is the reason why we need to open a store in those places so that there will be at least one place where the locals can get food a day and do not have to worry about living in strife. To have a store that is self-sufficient to be operated, we overwhelmingly lack the money much more than we had anticipated.
The delivery service for the poor and elderly people
・We were asked to start delivering the food and the daily necessities by the local volunteer community of the area we are planning to have a store in.
・We have successfully delivered the exact same menu as the ones offered at Fumi Caffe in Kharkiv for 300 people. (Please see the attached pictures below) We have learnt that there would be a need for cars and increase of employees in the near future. This is why we are asking you to help us with the donations.
The plans for opening the cafes outside Kharkiv
・There have been many requests to provide the similar services by the local volunteer groups by the affected areas, including Izuym, Poltava, Sumy, and Dnipro. We are seriously considering responding to them as a part of the rebuilding process, looking post-war.
On Financing (see how the money is being used by clicking here)
・To begin with, when I began supporting the people of Ukraine who have lost their homes and jobs due to the war, I only had my pension money to support the people living in the subway (150 people or so; see the clips attached that was made in the end of Year 2022 for detail attached below).
About the current system on how to make a donation; there are primarily 5 different ways as to how you can contribute.
You can directly send the money to my own personal bank account.
Mitsui Sumitomo Bank (the name of the bank)
Nippori Branch (the branch of the bank)
Checking Account 8634613
Tsuchiko Fuminori (surname followed by the first name)
My money left at the bank account, as of August 9th, 2023. (See the picture below) [706 yen = about $4.8 USD]
Fumi Fund was founded on May 1st that asks money from foreign countries other than Japan (for Japan, we have set up the monthly supporter system as I have mentioned above).
We make our receipts public about the wages paid to the Ukrainian employees, the rent and the electricity bills, etc. This is all handled by our accountant(s).
We only accept the U.S. dollars for this fund. (See the picture for information here)
Fundraising
Since last week (Saturday, Aug, 12th), I have been asking people for money in the public space in Kharkiv City Hall. I will do everything I can do to collect money to help the people of Ukraine.
The prolongation of the war with uncertainty of the future has directly been hitting the elderly and children’s life, both physically and mentally. Many volunteers are also having difficulties (due to the infrastructure constantly shelled) in continuing their activities, and ended up fleeing the areas. The only volunteer support activity that is happening is by the Japanese volunteers (very few, still).
It is incumbent to create independent self-sustaining volunteer groups, cooperating with the other Japanese volunteers as well as volunteers from the E.U. countries and the local Ukrainian people. This is because if we depend on or belong to an organization, the money will be spent elsewhere and it does not help the people in real need.
Individual volunteer groups, such as my own, can spend the money however they wish freely. Hence, there is a danger as well and one needs to donate the money to the ones you can fully trust. As for my team and Fumi Caffe, I, Fuminori Tsuchiko, have been certified as an honorary citizen by the governor of Kharkiv (see the picture below) and we have many media exposure. We are aware people who donate to us are entrusting their hard-earned money, and we will use the donated money 100% all to help the Ukrainians.
You can be confident that this is the case by simply following the news media and our report as well as the publicly made available receipts for the things we have bought and how we used our money. (see the links attacked below for more details)
Lastly but not least, we want to THANK YOU so much for your attention and help. Without your help, we would not be able to do anything. Your money is quiteliterally saving people’s lives every day. I have personally met him a couple of times and he really devotes his life to this cause. He is someone you can truly trust.
The following links below show the media coverage of Fuminori Tsuchiko as a trustworthy volunteer.
[Aktueller Bericht zur zweiten Filiale von Fumi Caffe: Die Fortschritte und Gründe für die Verzögerung (Stand 12. August 2023)]
Der überwältigende Mangel an Kapital
Die Infrastruktur an dem geplanten zweiten Standort konnte noch nicht wieder hergestellt werden. Das Fumi Caffe Team plant Filialen in Ortschaften zu eröffnen, welche besonders betroffen vom Krieg und nah an der Front sind. Die Menschen dort haben verstärkt Schwierigkeiten an Essen und tägliche Bedarfsgüter zu kommen.
Das erste Fumi Caffe wurde in Charkiw eröffnet, wo wir gerade genug Strom, Gas und Wasser hatten, um der lokalen Wirtschaft einen Schub zu geben. Die Orte, an denen die neuen Fumi Caffe Filialen eröffnet werden sollen (Darunter Cherson), haben, aufgrund des Krieges, momentan noch nicht die notwendige Infrastruktur.
Deshalb möchten wir Lokale an diesen Orten eröffnen, um den dort ansässigen Menschen die Möglichkeit für ein tägliches Essen bieten zu können ohne sich Sorgen um eine kommende Mahlzeit machen zu müssen. Um ein selbsttragendes, autarkes Lokal zu eröffnen, fehlt es uns weitaus mehr Geldern als wir erwartet hatten.
Der Lieferdienst für arme und ältere Menschen
Wir wurden von den lokalen Freiwilligen gebeten an den geplanten, neuen Standorten einen Lieferdienst für den täglichen Bedarf anzubieten.
Das, was wir in unseren Fumi Caffe in Charkiw anbieten, konnten wir erfolgreich an 300 Menschen liefern (Wir bitten darum die Videos und Bilder im Anhang unten anzuschauen). Dadurch haben wir gelernt, dass wir auf jeden Fall in naher Zukunft Fahrzeuge und mehr Mitarbeiter benötigen werden. Daher bitten wir um eure Hilfe und eure Spenden.
Pläne für die Eröffnung weiterer Cafés außerhalb von Charkiw
Wir haben viele Anfragen erhalten, ähnliche Dienstleistungen in anderen betroffenen Gebieten, darunter Izium, Poltawa, Sumy und Dnipro, zu ermöglichen. Wir möchten diese Anfragen als Teil des Wiederaufbau-Prozesses in Bezug auf die Nachkriegszeit berücksichtigen.
Finanzen
Als ich angefangen habe die Menschen in der Ukraine, die ihr Zuhause und ihre Arbeit verloren haben und in der U-Bahn leben mussten, zu unterstützen, hatte ich nur meine Rentengelder zur Verfügung. (ca. 150 Menschen. Bitte schaut euch das Video von Ende 2022 im Anhang an)
Zum aktuellen System und wie man Geld spenden kann; Es gibt insgesamt 5 verschiedene Wege uns zu helfen.
Man kann Geld direkt auf mein Konto überweisen.
Mitsui Sumitomo Bank (Name der Bank)
Nippori Branch (Bankfiliale)
Checking Account 8634613
Tsuchiko Fuminori (Nachname, Vorname)
Mein Kontostand, Stand 9. August 2023. (Zu sehen auf dem Bild im Anhang)
Der Fumi Fund wurde am 1. Mai gegründet und bittet um Gelder aus dem Ausland, mit Ausnahme von Japan (Für Japan haben wir die oben genannte Monatliche Aushilfe)
Wir veröffentlichen alle Rechnungen und Ausgaben, darunter die Gehälter für unsere Ukrainischen Mitarbeiter, die Miete, Stromrechnungen usw. Das alles wird von unseren Buchhaltern verwaltet.
Wir können nur USD akzeptieren. (picture needed here)
Fundraising
Seit der letzten Woche (Samstag, 12. August), bitte ich öffentlich im Rathaus von Charkiw um finanzielle Unterstützung. Ich werde alles tun, was in meiner Macht steht, um den Menschen der Ukraine Hilfe anbieten zu können.
Das Andauern des Krieges und die damit verbundene Ungewissheit der Zukunft, beeinflusst sowohl die Senioren als auch die Kinder physisch und psychisch negativ. Auch die Freiwilligen Helfer haben Schwierigkeiten ihre Aktionen weiterzuführen und mussten aufgrund des konstanten Bombardements flüchten. Die einzige Aushilfe, welche noch aktiv stattfindet, ist von japanischer Seite (welche immer noch nur sehr geringfügig ist)
Es ist essenziell, dass unabhängige und autarke Gruppen Freiwilliger entstehen. Dies kann nur mit der freiwilligen Hilfe von Japanern, EU-Bürgern und Ukrainern stattfinden. Wenn wir einer Organisation angehören oder von einer abhängig sind, wird das Geld nur an anderen Stellen angewendet und hilft damit nicht den Leuten, die wirklich Hilfe brauchen.
Individuelle Gruppen Freiwilliger, wie meine, können die Gelder verwenden, wie sie wollen. Daher besteht natürlich auch eine Gefahr und man muss sich sicher sein können, dass die Spenden in vertrauenswürdigen Händen landen. Mein Team, Fumi Caffe und ich, Fuminori Tsuchiko, sind Ehrenbürger, ausgezeichnet vom Gouverneur von Charkiw (Siehe Bild im Anhang). Zudem sind wir sehr präsent in den Medien. Wir sind uns bewusst, dass unsere Spender uns ihr hart verdientes Geld anvertrauen und wir werden hundertprozentig alles davon aufwenden, um den Ukrainern zu helfen.
Du kannst dir sicher sein, dass dies der Fall ist, indem du den News und unserem Bericht folgst. Auch kannst du unsere veröffentlichten Rechnungen einsehen und nachvollziehen, wie das Geld verwendet wird. (Im Anhang sind Links mit weiteren Details zu finden)
Zu guter Letzt möchten wir uns für eure Aufmerksamkeit und Hilfe herzlich bedanken. Ohne eure Hilfe, wären wir zu nichts fähig. Euer Geld rettet täglich Leben, im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes.
Die folgenden Links zeigen die Medienpräsenz von Fuminori Tsuchiko als vertrauenswürdiger freiwilliger Helfer.
UPDATES as of Aug. 30th, 2023 from Fuminori Tsuchiko on Managing the Cafe
Salary is paid twice a month (once every 15 days).
Salary is paid on the 15th and at the end of every month.
All the payment is done through the accountant we hired.
We make payment to their bank account but for those who do not have a bank account, we pay them in cash.
The taxes are paid accordingly to the laws of Ukraine.
We do not have a system where we can buy things by business expenses, so everything we buy, we must pay taxes.
The income taxes are very high, so it is not as easy as it seems even if people try to build companies for the reconstruction of the nation because they have to pay their employees a fair share.
If there is an illegal transaction of money or such activities, the companies are immediately ordered to be closed.
The employee list and how much is paid to each (see the picture attached) is for the 15 days, so it costs twice as much in one month.
Aside from the monthly salary, when you include the rent, hydro bills and electricity bills, and all the basics to run a business, it costs over $10,000 (USD) per month.
Having 11 staff members, renting 2 shops with 30 square meters each and 2 storage space of 20 square meters in addition to the hydro/electricity bills ($1,000 [USD]) etc… and the food (that feeds more than 500 people) per day costs about $200 USD a day, or $6,000 per month, adds up to about less than $20,000 per month.
The reason why we were able to continue this support for over 4 months is only because of those who sacrifice their hard-earned money (even if it’s $10 or $20 per month, which is a lot for people living on pension money in particular) and thanks to those who care about the victims of war. We sometimes receive a tremendous amount of money from some individuals. It is ALL thanks to those individual donors, and the staff and I are FOREVER grateful to such generous hearts. Once again, THANK YOU VERY MUCH or your support.
“Proportional Response v.s. Disproportional Response” [could not post it on YouTube due to the copy right claim; nonetheless, I think it is important to have this discussion]
After the destruction of Crimean Bridge on October 8th, 2022, Putin used all his might in an attempt to annihilate Ukraine from the face of the earth on Oct. 10th, 2022, so it seemed. This is absolutely childish on Putin’s part and it shows how amateur Russia is at military or political philosophy and practices (even aside from the “partial” mobilization of the troops, which ended up miserably).
For those who are not familiar with an “appropriate” military response that does not violate the International law and commit war crimes in situations like this (whether Crimean Bridge was destroyed by whom is irrelevant here just so long as Putin/Russia is acting as if it was done by Ukraine), there is a long standing tradition of how a country should act in order to avoid the escalation of the war that would result only in the millions of deaths of the innocent, civilians’ lives, not to mention the destruction of the one that performs a disproportionate response. This is well explained through the eyes of President Jed Bartlet in the West Wing S1E3 (1999). Consequently, this explains why Russia has over stepped the boundary clearly and gone mad and will never be recognized as a part of the International Community but only as a rogue nation from henceforth and will be and should be treated as such.
This was proven false – what she was worried about is how she could live in Hitachi City without any school support.
Many Ukrainians are struggling in Japan, unlike the “flashy news coverage” that Japan is helping Ukrainian people. The reality is that we only have less than 2000 evacuees and the government has welcomes only 200 people so far since March. Furthermore, the Immigration of Japan has no organized plan for the replacement of the Ukrainians that they end up sending them to local places with no one to talk to and unless you are one of the lucky ones (usually they are through University exchange programs), you end up in local places and many of the Ukrainian evacuees I am teaching Japanese to are depressed and even when there is a news about them, Japanese media ONLY reports misreading information that they are doing well and being happy. Sure, there are many who got to stay in Tokyo or Osaka/Kyoto in large cities are doing okay, but more than half the evacuees are sent to local places with the people with the average age of 50 years old who speak no English at all. As a result, they are depressed and seeing psychiatrist or seeking for counselling. Also, getting a job without knowing Japanese is extremely difficult and most evacuees do not come with Japanese knowledge in advance and they were in fact told in Poland when they come to Japan that “as long as you speak decent English, you will be fine in Japan” which is not the case at all. Ask any Ukrainian evacuees in Japan, they will tell you the same. While it may be true that some Ukrainian evacuees are having satisfied life in Japan, MANY are suffering from depression since they got to Japan. JSUS programs tell students to report any complains or concerns but when the students report complaints, the schools belong to JSUS does not report it to the top, and they are usually dismissed because “we are busy now and cannot deal with your issues”. There was an article on Hitachi Sakura Japanese Language School which is one of the JSUS schools, where they have accepted two Ukrainian students and on the interviews the school only said positive comments WITHOUT asking how the students are actually feeling. This is a firsthand information I have heard and the Ukrainian students at that school were surprised that the news was reported in a positive tone, when in fact they were crying and depressed every day for the sheer lack of support from school. In short, they were used as a propaganda for the school to say “Look, we are doing great things!” but even the picture posted on the published article does not add up when I asked the Ukrainian students – in the photos, they are smiling, as if they are enjoying the school life, and it was described as such, but in fact, that picture was taken at a different time and the conversation was about a trifle matter about what food they like in Japan, etc… There is also a school in Kumamoto Prefecture, which accepted two Ukrainian students (again JSUS school) but since it was in the country side and all the other students in the class were Asians who only spoke in their own tongues and grouped together even during the classroom (the same with the Hitachi school in Ibaraki) that the students felt extremely isolated to the point of depression. At this school, the principal tried to help them but the school manager vehemently disagreed, and the school principal got fired and the Ukrainian students at that school were left behind. Never to be brought it up again. This is just the story about JSUS who “volunteered” to help the Ukrainians but in schools in country side, this type of treatment is rampant. I wish Japanese media report the REALITY of how the Ukrainian evacuees are treated on both sides. The government is even less interested in helping the evacuees, as they send out the evacuees to country sides and leave the control up to the community in that small prefecture – and they cannot argue against the government.
I am very grateful to Issei-san for this great opportunity! I liked that he immediately teaches how to build sentences correctly, it helps to understand the Japanese language faster. It is suitable for those who want to learn not only to communicate in Japanese in the store, but also want to work in the office and communicate with customers and colleagues.
I highly recommend this wonderful person and teacher from God.
Perhaps I should explain and constantly update on what I have been doing (i.e. why I am asking for donation here). I teach Japanese professionally online, but since May, 2022, I have been setting aside some slots from my paid lessons so I could give intensive lessons for the Ukrainian evacuees in Japan. They need to find a job at least within 3-6 months after arriving in Japan. As such, ideally, the lessons would be conducted at least twice a week but usually 3 times (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) following Genki I (more or less) followed by Try! N5 for conversational practice and Shin-Kanzen Master for grammatical practice. I will finish Genki I in 2-3 months and then the conversation phase as well as the idiomatic grammatical phase begins. It is my hope that I would be able to impart all that I can in such a limited time so the Ukrainian evacuees could get a job in Japan and would not face or worry about deportation after the “Special Activity VISA” that is given to them that only lasts for one year.
In order for me to offer these intensive lessons, I would ideally need $300-500/month – so I suppose I should withdraw the money donated every month – or else it gives off an idea that I am not in short of income. I will withdraw the money donated here at the end of the month, so people know how much money has been donated each month to support these Japanese lessons. I will be happy to provide you with any information on the progress of the lessons offered. *I just withdrew the money donated in August but the “money donated so far” on the GoGetFunding seems to show cumulative money donated and even if I withdrew money, it would still say the same amount as prior to my withdrawal of the money.
As the nature of this on-going donation platform, I believe I will only get money from the people I know or friends of the people to whom I am teaching. So I suppose what I am saying is that I need a regular assistance if possible. However small. That being said, I still accept those Ukrainian evacuees currently in Japan who needs to learn working level Japanese as quickly as possible for free. So please contact me at: icreekphilosophy@gmail.com
Thank you again for your donation and thank you for your willingness to help the Ukrainians in Japan.
What I will say here is just my own belief and I am not in any way criticizing any of the readers’ stance – rather, this is a very generic statement I have felt throughout my life and this comes from my subjective point of view. So please just hear me out with a grain of salt. 🙂
I made this video not for leisure but so that people would not forget what is happening. What I mean is that even if some people are more sensitive to what is happening now because of the ethnic closeness, I think it is even more important to keep seeing and not to look away – because the more you avoid interacting with it, the more you lose contact with the war as an “actuality”, and the less contact you have, the easier for the memory to fade away [this is what Aristotle said about a relationship – people stop liking each other or people fade out of their relationship primarily when they do not have shared experiences for a longer period of time].
I grew up in Hiroshima in my childhood, and I hated the summer to come because the school made us watch the gruesome (though animated) movie about war victims and what happened in ordinary citizens due to the atomic bomb. Very graphic and my body often cringed. I could not see sometimes and closed my eyes, but we had to write about what we thought as HW and submit it at the end of the summer.
I am learning why they made us watch gruesome animation films about the war where child’s eyes slowly popped out as the atomic bomb hits the centre of Hiroshima and the after effects of “black rain” as well as the skin falling off due to the nuclear influence, etc… I still vividly remember what was shown to us, even after 30 years! Those films were made for educational purposes and approved by the government ethical committee. So it is very hard to find them for sale (since they were made for educational purposes only), but I still remember the titles of the films, and I sometimes check them if they are available online.
Looking back just several years ago, people were so “united” (so it appeared at the time) about #MeToo movement and I foolishly expected that something would finally about to change, but after 3-6 months, nobody (relatively) talked about it and people moved onto different topics because it was depressing, they said. Then came Parkland Shooting, which reminded us of how horrific the conditions of schools in the United States is, making us recall back to Sandy Hook and Columbine shootings. For about 4 months, it was all Americans talked about and if you were not talking about it, you were seen as an accomplice to the increase of gun crimes. But excluding the victims, no one is talking about it anymore, because they say, the news is depressing and makes them stressed and sad. Then came COVID, which most liberals took them as seriously as they could and after its being declared as the pandemic, they were fierce about mocking those who did not wear masks (which they themselves had not believed to begin with, and they used Asians as a laughing stock prior to COVID because Asians always wore masks even though “masks are scientifically proven that they do not work,” they said) and aggressively attacked those right wingers who were anti-stay at home order. Then BLM happened. People started to say “This has been happening for 400 years, and it has to stop NOW” “I will risk my own life to bring justice to black lives” “if you dare ask any questions about what we are doing even amidst Covid, you are by default a racist!” (while they were not condemning Asian hate crimes as much). By October, nobody spoke about it – even those who said “I will risk my own life to save black people and so should you, or you are a racist!” They completely disappeared. And I am sure they did not risk their lives and I know it to be the case that they are enjoying talking about LGBTQ community now. I asked some of them why they stopped talking about the cause they once felt so personal, and their response was “it’s stressful; I can’t deal with it anymore” – I was like, “Really? Is it what you mean when you said ‘I will risk my own life!’?” Just 4 months of protests and ordinary people finally started reading about a few popular books on black history, which they have not even finished reading, because it is “depressing“?
Now, Ukraine. The media are already not reporting as much and people are saying it is depressing and too stressful to watch, so “I won’t (If I don’t see or read about it, it does not exist)“ – I don’t understand the logic of the North Americans – they bash people as much as they would like when it is a topic, but after 4 months, they criticize people who still talk about it because people like me are nothing but nuisance and bring them stress by keeping reminding them of the atrocity.
Again, I understand to a point why people, especially when your or your neighbouring countries are involved, do not want to talk about it – these people, like Russians and Ukrainians, probably have different degrees of understanding of the issue and grieve differently than the others who are from other countries. In fact, I am guilty of that when Crimea was merged with Russia in 2014. I cared nothing about it and I thought it was just “another ”conflict. Also the fact that I was working full time and needed my full attention to my studies did not help. But now I regret not having paid much attention to it.
What I learned from having lived and grown up in Hiroshima was that, even though, I did not experience war by myself, the school tried to imprint on us how wars are evil in themselves and bring nothing but misery. We were taught to learn to hate wars, not the aggressors per se, especially at the time of WWII, Japan did do a lot of bad things as well. However, this “not hating the aggressor” does not apply here now with Ukraine, but still, I did not include any pictures of Putin for instance – my view is reflected upon in the video. My main focus was on the civilians who have to pay for the price they do not deserve. I believe that the harsher the reality is, the more attention we need to pay and keep talking about it and keep the discussions alive. Asians and North Americans in particular, I am disappointed at them now with regard to this atrocity that is happening. The media began to move onto the “next” problems in the society and almost solely focus on it, putting the war on Ukraine aside and paying the minimal attention to it – almost to the point of whether or not it affects “our daily lives” due to the inflation (not willfully realizing the future of Ukraine would affect the entire world and thus “our daily life”). In other words, we see it as an “economic problem” and no longer as a “Humanitarian problem”. In fact, the term “Ukrainian Fatigue” has been heard lately from the media, just as they began saying “COVID Fatigue” after a year or so, or in the case of North America, after 3 months. I personally do not think that helps anything, but rather allowing the Russians to do more harm and giving them “a surveillance free” war crime opportunity by us not constantly talking about it. Looking at the war, face to face, is hard, but if we keep avoiding hard things as soon as we get exhausted, I cannot possibly have a face to show to those who are still fighting. The best we can do is to keep perceiving and reacting in one way or another as “outsiders.”
Just by looking at the last several years, we do not know now where to ask for help or to talk. In this way, I think #MeToo Movement failed to accomplish what it set out to accomplish;Parkland shooting lost its meaning (it only has a nominal value now); Covid is an utter failure and the International community is complicit in it. BLM gained momentum but it was without manifesto or leaders to lead – especially when black people complain about “so called “BLM parties” that were regularly held in larger Los Angeles area (that it was a taboo for media or anyone else to speak about it was clearly obvious) at the end of the week for the fear of spreading the Covid, they were labelled as “poor, ignorant black persons, who does not belong to our movement” and thus a racist or at least pro-racist. In such situations, nothing good can of course come out of it.I fear the future of Ukraine will be the same. The degree to which we pay attention is directly and accurately measuring and translating the course of the future of that specific cause. With regard to war victims, although I do not have the direct experience of it, or perhaps because I do not have the direct experience of it, I know how important it is to keep the discussions alive and not to treat it as trivial or see it as “stressful and depressing” – because it has been imprinted on me that WWII survivors in Japan are still talking about it and they regret not having talked about it earlier because there are less and less people who know what a war is like in Japan and they see the lack of interest in wars and conflicts, signalling that the people who have lived a normal life tend to think too optimistically about anything – for instance, in Japan, we firmly believe the North Korea is not a threat – because if it does something to Japan, the US will protect us (not being aware that once the North Korea does something to us, there probably won’t be “us” for the US to protect). Because it is not a threat, there is no use talking about it – it just gives us a headache and forces us to think about the history andit is simply “depressing.”
As I said in the beginning, this is my generic stance and I do not mean to impose my views on the readers and in fact, this is something I have been thinking about since #MeToo movement stopped being “a thing” – hence, I decided to post this on my blog as it is a generic statement I want people to know that this is where I stand. And especially after BLM, I have been frustrated with the people’s lack of interest in what once had dominated their entire day. What I wrote here is probably generic enough that it can be taken not as a personal attack but just a statement of my faith.
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