A man who is so called "homeless"/ホームレスのおじさん

Today I met a man, who said he was 61, living in a shack by the river.

He talked to me when I was taking a picture of a street cat. 

He said, "Do you know of anyone who'd take her?" 

I didn't. 

He started telling me why he needs to get rid of his cats. (It wasn't a street cat. It was one of his three cats).

He said he is going to move to a "center" (I'm guessing its like a shelter) next month and they won't let him take his cats with him. 

I've always wanted a cat but my mom doesn't want to have a pet. 

He said that he had used to do a recycle of TVs and refrigerators for living. He's been living in that place for more than 20 years. But because of the economy, the earthquake, and the shift to the digital TV from analog, he is no longer able to feed himself by doing recycle. So he decided to listen to the government (social workers) and move to the "center"soon.

He looked healthy, clean, and smart. 

His shack had the antenna for the TV and he said he had a generator for the electricity too. I was curious about the inside of his shack but I didn't ask him if I could take a look. I thought that would have been rude for the first time meeting. 

I think it was the first time in Japan talking to a man who would be categorized as "homeless" by the majority. (I had a chance to spend some time with homeless men in the States when I visited a meal service with a social worker).  I've always wanted, since I was younger, but never did it. 

We talked for about an hour. He told me many interesting facts about the "homeless society". How they  work, get paid, and find a place to sleep... and the history of the area.

I wasn't familiar with the area at all,  even though I've lived around there since I was 15. I never even tried to know the history or what type of people reside. Well that's probably normal as a teenager back then. Now that I'm interested in my neighborhood (a little too far to call a neighborhood though), so I decided to go for a cycling today. I was looking around, taking pictures, and ready to go home. I met him right there. 

He was very talkative. I think that was why he said had been on the TV for a couple of times being interviewed for a documentary. He also said he had been photographed by a photographer who was making a series of photographs of "homeless men". 

I was grateful for his welcoming attitude and openness. I felt very comfortable asking questions. He knows a lot about this society and what it is to live in Tokyo. I've done a research about homelessness in Tokyo, but it wasn't the same when a real person tells you.

I'm still very curious about his life. Why did he chose to live this way? How is his relationship with his family? Does he hate the world or enjoy it? Has he ever fallen in love? 

Many, many, many people come from the countryside to Tokyo to look for work. I'm sure he was one of them too. 

It was easy for them to find work and feed themselves when the Japanese economy was going up like no tomorrow. Everybody believed that their living would only get better. 

Who would have thought that Japan would sink like this? Who would have thought they would be homeless for life? 

I thank God for the new meeting and it reminded me that there is always something to gain, when you get out of the house!

日本語で書く時間がなくなっちゃったのでまた今度。

The 20's in Life / 20代

今日買った雑誌の中で、とっても心に響いた文があった。
I'd like to quote from a magazine that I read today. It really made sense to me.

以下引用

＊＊＊
２０歳は、大人ゼロ歳。
人は４０歳になって、やっと大人になる。


A twenty year old man is a 0 year old as an adult. 
A man finally becomes an adult when he turns 40.

ハタチはみんな大人だと思ってるかもしれないけど、２０代で初めて社会に出ていくわけだから大人ゼロ歳。３０歳までは大人としてどう生きて行くかを考える時期。

You may think that a man of 20 years old is an adult (legally, "adult" is above 20 in Japan), but he is actually a 0 year old as an adult because he goes into the society from his 20's for the first time. Your 20's, until the 30's, is there for you to figure out how you want to live your life as an adult.

（中略）(Cut)

家にこもってネットで調べても本当のことはわからない。人生は自分の体を使って現実と向き合い感じることが醍醐味。カメラは、そのためのツールなんだよね。

Searching on google at home won't tell you what things really are. Life is all about facing and feeling the reality with your own body. A camera, is just a tool for it.

＊＊＊


写真家　横木安良夫
Photographer Arao Yokogi

「２０代のうちにやっておきたいこと」
"What you'd want to do in your 20's"

（SHUTTER vol.2）



２１歳の今、学校から出て、人生という迷路に迷いこんだことに気づく。
わからない、考える、考えてもわからない、のループにとらわれ、
生き方、信念、方向性の定まらない自分にイライラし、自己嫌悪も少なくない毎日。

I just realized that I've been caught in the maze called life after I finished school. I'm 21.
I keep on getting lost, trying to look for an answer, and getting lost... over and over.
How do I want to live my life? What is my belief? Where am I going?

そんな中でこの言葉に出会った。

That's when I encountered this quote.

救われた気がした。

It saved me.

そっか、まだまだこれからなんだ。
みんなが通る道なんだ。

Good, its not just me. And my life has just started.

よし、なんでもいいからまず、現実と向き合ってみよう。何事も経験だ。

Alright. Let's face the reality, no matter what it is. Experience is what I need.

Photograph by Arao Yokogi

(http://www.alao.co.jp/)

The motivation for my Tohoku trip

As you probably know, Tohoku is the area where the earthquake and tsunami happened on 3.11, 2011.

I was in the States when I heard the news. The students at my college did what we could, which was to raise money for Japan Red Cross. I don't know if it was the best organization to send the money to. I didn't (still don't) know if it was the right direction or not. We just did what we thought was the best at that time. 

It's been seven months since then. I just got back from the States a few weeks ago. I've missed a lot of things that the Japanese have been sharing about the disaster such as the changes in the society caused by the frustration for the inconvenience, anger for the politicians, regret for the past, worries and hopes for the future. 

The biggest thing I feel that I've missed was the fear. It left a scar on the Japanese people's hearts in different ways, not just on the people who lived in Tohoku. The aftershock continued for a few months after 3.11 and that made so many Japanese, including my family who lived far from Tohoku, not able to sleep at night. Many went neurotic because of the endless depressing reports from the media. More and more people have been losing their jobs in all parts of Japan. Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't experience any of them directly as I wasn't there. 

That is the motivation to visit Tohoku and see the reality with my own eyes. I didn't want to be blind about this topic. I wanted to make a personal connection with it through experience so that I don't just let it fade away.

So I took off with my father. He had gone on a trip there for 3 times already after the earthquake to photograph since April. We spent 3 days there just taking pictures, pictures, and pictures. But as the trip went, it was getting hard for me to even press on the shutter. It was probably the first time that I felt so depressed to take photographs. 

I'll start uploading the photos in the coming posts. (But I'm going to try to make the posts as positive as possible!)

何食べよう？The Most Favorite Japanese Food

アメリカから帰る前から、「日本に帰ったらまず何が食べたい？」とよく聞かれた。
日本に帰ったら、「よし、どこに食べに行こう？順子の好きなところでいいよ！」と友達は言う。そう言われると浮かばない。私って日本食で何が好きなんだろう。

Before I left the States, Many of my friends had asked me "what are you going to eat first in Japan?".
My best friend told me when I got to Japan, "We're going wherever you want to go eat now!".
Hmm... that's a good question. What's my most favorite Japanese food?


その時は「あえて言うなら、たくあん！」と答えて、ふざけるなと笑われた。だって、お刺身は食べれないし大好きな牛角だってアメリカで行ってたし（そもそも日本食じゃない）。天ぷらやトンカツみたいな揚げ物はそうそう食べたくならないし、ラーメンな気分でもない。そうめんは向こうで毎日のように食べてたし、冷やし中華には目がないけど、これも日本食屋によく食べに行ってたなー。ここで挙げるものを見てもわかるように、そもそもあんまりこてこての日本食（魚介類や山菜等を使った料理だとか、海外で手に入れづらい物）自体に残念ながら親しみがないのかも。今思うと、アメリカで食べる日本食でも何だかんだ言って満足してたんだな〜と。。。笑

I couldn't come up with an answer right away so I said "I'd say, Takuan!" and made my friend disappointed(Takuan is a radish pickle). I'm sure she had expected something like a good sushi, tempura, or ramen place, which are hard to find in the States (that are affordable for us students). But somehow these didn't sound good to me. There is my favorite chain restaurant in Japan called Gyukaku, but I used to go to one in LA and also its not technically Japanese food (its Korean-Japanese). I love the cold noodles, but I ate them many times at a Japanese restaurant close to my college. And I started to realize, because of my background, I wasn't so familiar with the "real" Japanese food that were hardly found in the States. I guess I was basically (not completely though! lol) fine with the Americanized Japanese food there....

それからというもの、何が好きかなー何が好きかなーと毎日のように考えていました。
そしてその答えが昨日ようやく見つかったのです。

Since then, the question has been bugging me everyday. "What do I like the most that is Japanese?" And I finally found the answer last night when I went to a traditional Japanese style bar with my parents.


「ナンコツの焼き鳥」（Fried Chicken Cartilage）

この日はちょうど両親に誘われ、有楽町ガード下（ｗ）の昭和な感じの焼き鳥居酒屋へ。
こういう雰囲気がやっぱり好き！洒落たバーとかそういうのいいから、ワイワイガヤガヤの大衆酒場みたいのが、食べ物安いし旨いしいいんだよね〜。とかいって、ビールも飲めないしお酒は３杯で酔っ払うんだけど。とにかくナンコツのあのコリコリがどうもやみつきで、家に帰ってからも忘れられなかった・・・。せせりとかぼんじりのプリっとした噛み心地もなんともいえない。

This is it - this is what I missed the most. Drinking and eating Yakitori (skewered chicken) at a Japanese traditional style bar/diner (called "izakaya"). I could care less about sophisticated bars where you have to dress up to impress others and pay $8 for an appetizer. I love the casual atmosphere of those izakayas. It's cheap and good. Each menu comes in a small portion. $1.5 for a skewer, $4 for a drink. That's all I need! They are also perfect for me who is super indecisive, because I get to try like 10 different food at once if I'm sharing with somebody else. Their food is supposed to taste the best with beer - which I haven't found it tasty yet. lol

Yakitori offers different parts of chicken. My most favorite one is Nankotsu (chicken cartilage). I also love Seseri (nack) and Bonjiri (tail), each of them have specifically different textures. They all are so addicting! And those are something that you normally don't cook at home because they always taste better at Yakitori place with all the right equipments like the grill and the chef's hands!



 ああ〜これ食べてる間もまた食べたくなってきちゃった。吉祥寺のいせやの畳とかめっちゃ恋しい！あれもこれもと優柔不断な私には、小さい皿で色んなものが食べれる居酒屋料理が一番なのでした。

大切なこと

日本に帰ってきて早くも３週間！家族と時間を過ごしたり、友達とあったり、家でまったりしたりで、幸せすぎる日々を過ごしてます。そんな中で自然に気づいた事があって、今日はそれについて。

ー自分にとって誰が大切かー

やっぱり、私が帰ってきた事を耳にして直接フェイスブックやら電話やらで「会おうよ」って連絡くれる人たちは、まぎれもなく大切にしたい友達たち。「会いたい」という口だけじゃなくて、実際に会う約束を取り付けようとしてくれるその行動に、友愛を感じる。 向こうから連絡は来なくても、こっちからメッセージ送って、「帰ってきたんで会ってください」って人たちも沢山いる。

アメリカで出来た友達、お世話になった方々とも出来るだけこまめに連絡をとるようにしてる。ポストカードも思い立ったら即書いて即送れるように、切手をまとめ買いしておいた。やっぱり「あなたのことを思ってますよ」という気持ちは、行動にして相手に伝えたい。


「家族」に割く時間、優先順位の付け方も大分変わった。
パソコンやるにも、あえてリビングまで持っていって、ママと同じ空間にいたい。
週１回くらいは忙しいお父さんにも会いに行って色んな事を学びたい。
お姉ちゃんは今遠いところに居るけど、出来るだけ早く会いに行って顔が見たい。

当たり前だと思っていた家族の存在。
今まで特別感謝したり思い遣ったりしたことがなかった。それが、アメリカ人のドストレートな家族愛の表現を目の当たりにして、私もこうやって家族に接したい！って何度も思わされた。
ママがどれだけ私を愛していて、それが一つ一つの行動に表れてるのが見に染みてわかる。ダディは思ってたより全然優しくて、謙虚な人なんだなあと初めて気づいた。

こんなに自分の家族を愛おしく思い、沢山の時間を一緒に過ごしたいと思うのも、恥ずかしながら初めての感情。離れてたからこそ、向こうで「家族」というものが欠ける生活をして他人の家族を沢山間近で見てきて”自分の家族ってどんな家族だ？”と考えさせられる機会が多く与えられたからこそ、こうやって今大切な事にやっと気づけたんだと思う。


そしてアメリカにいるアービーとは、ほぼ毎日スカイプで話してる。話せない状況にいても（電車の中とか）、テレビ電話で顔だけでも見せ合ってる。電話よりもマメに、カカオトークというアプリを使ってちょくちょく写真を送ったりチャットしてるから、それはもうアメリカに居る時と変わらないくらいのコミュニケーションの量。笑
なかなか会えない遠距離中の恋人同士の連絡の密度はほんとそれぞれだけど、私たちの考えは、本当に相手の事を思ってたらどんなに忙しくても相手のために１分でも割いて「大好き」のメールくらい入れられるだろうというもの。もともと寂しがり屋の向こうのためにも、駅のホームでちらっとフェイスブック覗いてどうでもいい人のポストを読むくらいなら、それよりもっともっと大事な人に一言何か伝える方が意味のある時間の使い方、って思うようになったかな。

今はレギュラーのバイトも学校もないからこんなに周りの人の事考えてられる余裕があるだけなのかも知れないけど、忙しくなっても、どうにか周りの人を大事に出来る人でいたい。

自分にとって（自分とお金を稼ぐこと以外に）本当に大切なのは何かって言う優先順位の確立。前までは意識すらした事なかった。これはアメリカで得たおっきな収穫であり、”流れ”で生きてきた生活を脱したからこその収穫でもあると思う。

"America's Heart and Soul"

This is one of the movies that I want to show to my kids!

It is very inspiring. It shows many individuals all over America who have been pursuing their dreams and most of them make a living out of what they want to do in their lives. Although they say they are not making a lot of money, they all are so proud of how they live and know what is valuable other than money.

It made me realize again that a life is not just for making money to feed the family. Of course, we have to meet the basic needs of our family. We can not let our family starve to death by being selfishly pursuing our dreams. However, there is nothing more important than being proud of the way we live regardless how much money we make. In the movie, a rag weaver woman in Kentucky said, "I've been broke many times, but I've never been poor". I think what she meant was she was feeling blessed as long as she and her husband had something that they could turn their passion into.

It is always inspiring to hear something from people who have been doing one thing for many many years. It's so hard to keep doing one thing and it's so easy to quit, especially for someone like me- who has so many interests and curiosity in almost everything on the earth.

This movie reminded me of my father. He has published a book with the pictures of only scarecrows taken all over Japan for 7 years. Apparently, he had no intention to make money out of it when he started taking pictures of scarecrows. But he somehow just fell in love and found a beauty in them. The 7 years of pictures have come out to be a book, and fortunately some TV, newspaper and magazines have featured with his work.

I think when someone continues doing one thing with passion for a longer period than others, there will definitely be someone who would react to it. Even if you think it's not worth keep doing (like taking picture of scarecrows), if you put your love and passion into it until people will find, you are going to get a credit or honor or something. Most importantly, you are living your life. You are satisfying your soul by doing what you truly want to do.

I am proud of my father and he gets my greatest respect. I'm glad that he is not one of the corporation's working dogs. He is doing what his heart and soul tell him to do, not what the society tells him to do. My mom has always told me that "If there is no existing profession that you want to go for, then be the first to create one for yourself."

I think I'm very influenced by how they think about professions. My interests are still everywhere so i'll keep exploring the world until I find a right answer that will satisfy my heart and soul. If not, I guess I have to create one. :P


This is my father's book.



I tried to put the link to Amazon.com (the Japanese one) but it didn't work.. but anyways he has published some picture books of cherry blossoms too. Please check them out!

"Into the wild"

All photos by me

"Into the Wild"

The first time I watched this movie in a theatre, I did not have a word in my mind. The impression that the movie had given me was not describable with my vocabulary. It was astonishing.

The movie is based on a real story. "After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life." -from The Internet Movie database

Obviously, he had the potential to success and get whatever he wanted. His grades were good enough for going to Harvard Law school, which many people are dying to get inHowever, what he wanted to attain in his life was not the social status, fame, or money but the truth.

"I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth. "

He was tired of living in the world where common values were all around. He wanted to find the truth by himself. Common values.... are the values which majority of the population have consensus for. In capitalism, everything is based on money. In religion, love and faith are always emphasized. Fairness is what is all about in democracy. We usually take these values for granted. However, Chris McCandless did not. He did not want to take these values without questioning and experimenting by him self. For him to find what is the truth of life, he had to abandon all the labels and materials which the society had given him and be free from the "readymade" values. And he started feeling the world purely by him self.

(The pictures on this post were taken in Salvation Mt in Niland, CA, which was one of the places where Chris had visited on his way to find the truth. )


It was a thought provoking movie for me and for a lot of my friends too. It's a movie that I know I'm going to watch and discuss about again with my friends when we grow up and have families.