Jake Adelstein's Blog, page 87

The deafening silence of National Geographic Society CEO John Fahey on declining journalism standards at NG group

I'm departing a little from the usual subject matter of this blog. The problems my sources, friends, myself and other  reporters have had with National Geographic are unfortunately probably not isolated cases. A former NG staff, Alan Mairson, has an incredible site about the decline of journalism standards at National Geographic group in recent year, especially after News Corporation took a controlling interest in National Geographic Television and National Geographic International.http:// www.societymatters.org

PS. Of course, I may lack objectivity on this issue.  But I think what he's saying is noble, admirable, accurate and praiseworthy.

Societymatters is not the work of a disgruntled journalist. It is the work of someone who cares about the mission of National Geographic Society and strives to make it the great organization it once was and could be again.  He documents numerous questionable efforts and productions by NG group in the last few years. Alan's efforts to get to speak to the CEO, John Fahey, have been a quixotic task, but if you grew up idealizing National Geographic, as I did, then please support his efforts. Check out Dear John: Let's Talk. To solve a problem, first you have to admit that there is one.

Why I would rather work for the yakuza than National Geographic Television UPDATED: My resignation, apologies, and words of caution to anyone involved with production. NGT番組に関する辞任とお詫びと注意勧告

I have been working as a consultant on a National Geographic Television documentary on the yakuza since the summer of last year. I resigned on February 24th. I also asked that my name be removed from the program, Gangland Tokyo.

I did this for two reasons. I was not given full access to the materials that would allow me to verify the factual accuracy of the program and thus unable to do my job properly. There are also issues of the program being seen as yarase (やらせ).  Since I can't verify the factual accuracy, taking the money and continuing would be perfidious. Also, after seeing a rough cut of the program, I now have serious concerns about the safety of all Americans and Japanese sources, friends, and the staff of National Geographic Channel Japan who are involved with this program. There is a chance that the yakuza that have been betrayed by NGT will use violence against those residing in Japan to express their anger. I am even concerned about the safety of the yakuza that agreed to appear in the documentary, probably under false pretenses and false promises. They will face retaliation from their superiors if the program is aired as it is now. Yakuza are people too, a small minority of them are good people in their own right, and once they cooperate with the program, they are also sources. And sources have to be protected. That is the good faith that is demanded in responsible journalism.

I am posting this publicly because I have been unable to reach all the parties involved in this documentary. I will not be shown the final product and National Geographic Television has refused to tell me whom they interviewed or how those interviews were obtained therefore I can't be sure who is at risk of substantial harm. After consulting with friends in the Japanese police and in US Federal Law Enforcement agencies, who advised that I had a duty to inform all parties involved, which I agree with, I have decided to do this very publicly. National Geographic Television has asked me at least once not to update or inform their Japanese partners about problems with the production (see correspondence and emails). Therefore, I feel that I must do what they should do.

In February, I asked for a copy of the final cut of the documentary video and a final copy of the script to make sure that factual errors had been corrected and to have the yakuza ceremony footage I loaned NGT excised from the program. I received a notice from National Geographic Television, refusing this request, that curtly stated:

"NGT is satisfied that Mr. Adelstein has completed his consulting services on the Program, and Mr. Adelstein should submit his final invoice if he has not already done so."

On February 25, instead of turning in a final invoice, I turned in my Letter of Resignation and I am returning my salary. The check is in the mail.

I have posted highly redacted versions of my resignation letter both in English and my  Japanese letter of resignation of 辞任状. They have been redacted to risk the exposure of and endangerment of sources and those involved with the project.

My counsel has advised me that by posting this I will probably face malicious litigation from NGT that will bankrupt me and leave me financially destitute. But after careful consideration, I have made my choice. I would rather lose my life savings than have anyone lose their life or their fingers for the entertainment of NGT's viewers.

For more on the background to these events, please continue reading.

I was employed by National Geographic Television (USA) as a consultant for their documentary, and as part of that work I helped arrange interviews, handled logistics, and did some of the interviews myself. I introduced the outsourced film team to my sources and friends. I loaned them footage of actual yakuza ceremonies, for their "dramatization" sequences–that I asked to be returned and that they have not. There was actually no response to that request until they failed to obtain the same footage from CBS 60 Minutes, at which point they essentially said they would steal it or find it from third party sources.

For several months, I have repeatedly asked to have all the materials necessary to verify the "factual accuracy" of the program, as was the agreement. The reply from NGT was to insist that "factual accuracy" actually meant "general accuracy", and that I was being difficult.

When you insist on doing your job correctly and to the best of your ability, some people become annoyed; I have many faults as individual but I try my best to be a responsible journalist, which is to tell the truth to the public and protect my sources. I have failed to protect my sources in the past. I don't ever forget about it; I try to atone for it. In addition to being an investigative journalist, I am a board director of a Japanese NPO, which fights against human trafficking and the exploitation of women, children and foreign workers, often providing shelter and doing rescue missions. I do that work pro bono. There are many times we have information we'd like to take to the police or make public but cannot because it would endanger the victim. We always choose the safety of the victim first. It's standard operating procedure. As a journalist, I believe the same rules of protecting victims are supposed to be applied to sources.

This is not the first time I've worked with a documentary film crew. In 2009, I worked with Lara Logan and Howard Rosenberg of 60 Minutes on a feature about four yakuza receiving liver transplants at UCLA under dubious circumstances. The television crew was well prepared, had read my book and all the documentation I sent them in advance, and spent months doing independent research. They spent weeks consulting with others and myself. They diligently altered footage and voices so as avoid endangering anyone involved. I was even consulted about the re-broadcasting of the documentary and when I said that safety concerns had emerged, they agreed, and did not re-air the film. They have been the paradigm of professional, ethical, and responsible journalism.

What NGT are doing is often referred to as "parachute journalism", a problematic practice well-described by the Committee To Protect Journalists. It essentially involves transporting journalists, or a film crew with no journalists, into an area to report on a story in which they lack knowledge, experience, and good judgment. The dearth of knowledge and budgetary constraints often results in inaccurate and sometimes harmful news stories or features. Parachute journalism is not always a bad thing. It can bring fresh perspective to news coverage. However, it can also result in huge problems if done recklessly.

On a personal level, it's one thing to have a crew of outsiders come into the country, cause havoc and then run away, but usually they don't leave a ticking time bomb in your house and not tell you about it. I expect that National Geographic Television's response to this will be to defame me, and attack my credibility, and assorted character assassination. They may pretend to take the moral high ground by saying, "We're exposing criminals." But what they're doing is burning their sources and exposing them to danger. The yakuza that cooperated were promised things that were not delivered. They were promised that their conversations were "off the record." They are not being "exposed"; they are being betrayed. Perhaps NGT will work out a back-door deal with those involved where they promise to cut the problematic footage in exchange for the parties involved making coerced statements that they "we were completely happy with how we were treated." That would be a kind of blackmail, but I believe that NGT is capable of doing that to save face.

The three yakuza involved claim that the director made verbal promises at the time of the interviews and these promises were broken. They were promises that ensured confidentiality, a say in the final edit and that there would be nothing in the program to incriminate them. They cooperated in good faith. By US standards they were foolish for not getting something in writing. If you look at the situation like a yakuza would, they were simply expecting that they were dealing with honorable people, whose words meant something in lieu of a written contract.

There is a saying in Japanese, bushi wa nigon ga nai (武士は二言がない). Literally, a samurai doesn't have a second word. What it means is that once a samurai has said he'll do something or promises he'll do something, he does and he keeps that promises. He doesn't backpedal and say "factual accuracy" means "general accuracy" or that "we may have said that but that's not what you signed."

Would I believe the word of three yakuza over the word of an LA based "film director" who brags about his reputation for doing awesome "dramatizations" and "re-creations"? Mmm…Yes. I'd believe the yakuza every time, in this case. The yakuza do have standards and practices. They are not particularly high standards but they exist. Most yakuza have them posted on large ornate scrolls posted on their office walls and written in bold dark cursive: "Any member who engages in theft, robbery, rape and or any other activity that runs contrary to the noble way (ninkyodo) will be expelled." It's very clear.

I've never seen the standards and practices documents for National Geographic Television, although I have asked to see them many times. The only time I've even heard NGT staff seriously mention them was at the room of the Ritz Carlton Tokyo where the director was staying. He was complaining that standards and practices at NGT had issued a new directive which banned all sit-down interviews, "because they're boring" and required the outsourced film crews to get footage of people "doing things" while being interviewed. It was at this point that he began complaining about the scholars, police officers, ex-police officers, and authors that I had arranged to interview weeks in advance, because obviously, they weren't interesting enough. They would have given great insight but they are people who sit down and talk, not perform.

Towards the end of the filming, the crew became desperate for "exciting footage" and ran around town getting it, making us short on staff. Of course, there was also no good will between the director and myself and one crew member had already quit after declaring that they felt the director had no concern for the safety of their family in Japan. So I conducted two of the interviews myself, with a one-man film crew. I was not hired as a reporter but as a consultant but I gladly did the work because I wanted the program to have some substance. I was glad that parts of that interview remained, at least in the cut that I was shown, with reluctancy by NGT.

I thought about leaking this state of affairs anonymously so as to avoid legal issues but then I decided that's the kind of cowardly, sneaky backstabbing behavior that I detest. I'll speak up for myself, and I will speak for everyone that they have ruthlessly used and endangered for their own profit.

What NGT is doing is tantamount to criminal negligence. Under Japanese law, if during the course of your work you engage in negligent behavior that results in injury, you can be held criminally responsible and arrested. The Japanese penal code refers to this as gyomujo kashitsushisho (業務上過失死傷) or "crimes of injury through negligence in the pursuit of professional activities."

I am a Japanese permanent resident and subject to the laws of Japanese. NGT may be surprised to know this, but since the documentary filming was conducted in Japan, they and the film crew are also subject to Japanese law. Just because you're not Japanese doesn't make you above the law.

In September of 2004, the Japan Coast Guard arrested the Russian captain of a ship on charges of professional negligence resulting in death, after the ship capsized and three crew members died. The ship had arrived at the lumber dock in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture and began unloading its cargo. Coast guard officials then told the captain to move the vessel away from shore to protect it from a typhoon that was approaching, but the captain did not heed the warnings and stayed at the dock. The ship repeatedly crashed against the pier and sank; three of the eighteen crew members died and the fourth crew member was never found.

In analogous terms, which I hope NGT can understand, they are the Russian ship captain, the typhoon is the footage they have taken in bad faith, the crew is everyone in Japan involved with this documentary, and I am the coast guard. They've been notified.

If they air the film as it is now and anyone is hurt, I'll be the first one to go to the police and file charges of criminal negligence resulting in injury and/or death. And I will do my best to see that they are extradited. Because recklessly endangering or causing harm to others is a crime here in Japan where the documentary was filmed.

They can't deny they knew there were dangers. The chain of emails that someone in the organization anonymously sent me establishes that, as well as does this posting.

NGT has been warned; I hope they become enlightened and do the right thing for once. Ethical and factual journalism can actually be pleasant, if a little boring.

You might wonder, "Well, if it's so dangerous, why don't you leave Japan?" I don't leave because I while I may retreat, I don't run away. I'm the sole support of a good friend and his family, who I have promised to look after. I also know that when the yakuza get angry they will look for someone to blame. I don't want that to be one of my friends who introduced National Geographic to their sources that NGT then browbeat into getting introductions to current yakuza members. I've talked with the parties involved, directly and indirectly; they don't blame me. I don't fear losing my life. I don't fear losing face either; I've already lost it. It has been a humiliating week of apologizing to all parties involved in the program, including the National Police Agency. Every one who I introduced to the National Geographic Television crew is upset with me and doubts my judgment. I can only apologize and do my best to make sure that it doesn't reflect badly on them. I don't worry about the yakuza taking their frustration out on me. However, I worry that their subordinates will confuse National Geographic Channel in Japan with National Geographic Television and that their staff will suffer for it, if they seek to avenge their comrades. It is also possible that the individuals who made the introductions to the yakuza are harassed or blamed for the matter.

From the beginning, I warned NGT repeatedly that interviewing current members would cause problems and be dangerous. Those warnings were not heeded and I have spent several days now apologizing and dealing with the individuals they have angered. The yakuza groups involved in the program have killed at least twelve people in recent years, including innocent bystanders in cross-fire, their gangland enemies, and have also shot police officers. They are to be taken seriously.

Below I have posted highly redacted versions of my resignation letter both in English and Japanese. They have been redacted to risk the exposure and endangerment of sources and those involved with the project. National Geographic Channel Japan had nothing to do with the making of the documentary, although due to the lack of English ability of most yakuza, I fear that they will end up being the middlemen in this conflict. I can only offer my deepest apologies to all concerned and hope that the producers will do the right thing and not air footage that endangers many, betrays the good faith between journalists and sources, and borders on criminal negligence. I was not involved in the problematic interviews and have no editorial control of the program. Please address any enquiries to National Geographic Television.

UPDATE: National Geographic group tried and failed to do a yakuza documentary for National Geographic Channel in 2008-2009. Allegedly cancelled because of safety concerns and access issues. (This was probably before Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired a controlling interest in the channel. )

"Gangland Tokyo" should not to be confused with a previous attempt to shoot a yakuza documentary that was researched and in pre-production from mid-2008 to mid-2009 for the National Geographic group working with another film company. The film was also tentatively under the name "Inside The Yakuza" which was also the working title for the documentary that is now being called "Gangland Tokyo." That project was abandoned because it was deemed too dangerous for those parties involved. At the end of 2008, most major crime groups in Japan banned television appearances on any media outlet, due to intense pressure from the police. In the end, the only actual filming that took place was of the Sanja Matsuri(三社祭) in Tokyo in May of 2009. Those involved with the previous project wish it to be known that they are not involved with the current program in any material or supportive capacity. One of the major obstacles to the original production was that it was feared that airing footage of current yakuza members, even with their consent, would create problems and safety issues for everyone involved.
以前、2008ー2009年 NGTグループが別の制作会社と連携して仮題「Inside The Yakuza」を作成しようとしたそうです。しかし、警察の圧力もあって三大のヤクザ組織が幹部らのテレビ出演を禁止したこともあり、安全上などの問題で同プロジェクトは中止されました。結局、2009年５月には三社祭をしか撮影されませんでした。今回の番組は一時に仮題も同じく「Inside The Yakuza」でしたが、今回の番組と前回中止された番組は一切関係ありません。前回のプロジェクトに関与した方々は今回関わっていないそうです。以上。
UPDATE 2: The always amazing  and usually very witty CRASSTALK.COM linked to this blog and added great materials on what journalism should be about and other problems that have surfaced with National Geographic group in recent years. If you're an aspiring journalist, (and may the Gods of Fortune bless you if you are because you will probably live on sub-standard wages for years to come), it's worth checking out.
Yakuza Are People, Too–A Cautionary Tale.

Why I would rather work for the yakuza than National Geographic Television: My resignation, apologies, and words of caution to anyone involved with production. NGT番組に関する辞任とお詫びと注意勧告

I have been working as a consultant on a National Geographic Television documentary on the yakuza since the summer of last year. I resigned on February 24th. I also asked that my name be removed from the program.

I did this for two reasons. I was not given full access to the materials that would allow me to verify the factual accuracy of the program and thus unable to do my job properly. There are also issues of the program being seen as yarase (やらせ).  Since I can't verify the factual accuracy, taking the money and continuing would be perfidious. Also, after seeing a rough cut of the program, I now have serious concerns about the safety of all Americans and Japanese sources, friends, and the staff of National Geographic Channel Japan who are involved with this program. There is a chance that the yakuza that have been betrayed by NGT will use violence against those residing in Japan to express their anger. I am even concerned about the safety of the yakuza that agreed to appear in the documentary, probably under false pretenses and false promises. They will face retaliation from their superiors if the program is aired as it is now. Yakuza are people too, a small minority of them are good people in their own right, and once they cooperate with the program, they are also sources. And sources have to be protected. That is the good faith that is demanded in responsible journalism.

I am posting this publicly because I have been unable to reach all the parties involved in this documentary. I will not be shown the final product and National Geographic Television has refused to tell me whom they interviewed or how those interviews were obtained therefore I can't be sure who is at risk of substantial harm. After consulting with friends in the Japanese police and in US Federal Law Enforcement agencies, who advised that I had a duty to inform all parties involved, which I agree with, I have decided to do this very publicly. National Geographic Television has asked me at least once not to update or inform their Japanese partners about problems with the production (see correspondence and emails). Therefore, I feel that I must do what they should do.

In February, I asked for a copy of the final cut of the documentary video and a final copy of the script to make sure that factual errors had been corrected and to have the yakuza ceremony footage I loaned NGT excised from the program. I received a notice from National Geographic Television, refusing this request, that curtly stated:

"NGT is satisfied that Mr. Adelstein has completed his consulting services on the Program, and Mr. Adelstein should submit his final invoice if he has not already done so."

On February 25, instead of turning in a final invoice, I turned in my letter of resignation and I am returning my salary. The check is in the mail.

I have posted highly redacted versions of my resignation letter both in English and my  Japanese letter of resignation or 辞任状. They have been redacted to risk the exposure of and endangerment of sources and those involved with the project.

My counsel has advised me that by posting this I will probably face malicious litigation from NGT that will bankrupt me and leave me financially destitute. But after careful consideration, I have made my choice. I would rather lose my life savings than have anyone lose their life or their fingers for the entertainment of NGT's viewers.

For more on the background to these events, please continue reading.

I was employed by National Geographic Television (USA) as a consultant for their documentary, and as part of that work I helped arrange interviews, handled logistics, and did some of the interviews myself. I introduced the outsourced film team to my sources and friends. I loaned them footage of actual yakuza ceremonies, for their "dramatization" sequences–that I asked to be returned and that they have not. There was actually no response to that request until they failed to obtain the same footage from CBS 60 Minutes, at which point they essentially said they would steal it or find it from third party sources.

For several months, I have repeatedly asked to have all the materials necessary to verify the "factual accuracy" of the program, as was the agreement. The reply from NGT was to insist that "factual accuracy" actually meant "general accuracy", and that I was being difficult.

When you insist on doing your job correctly and to the best of your ability, some people become annoyed; I have many faults as individual but I try my best to be a responsible journalist, which is to tell the truth to the public and protect my sources. I have failed to protect my sources in the past. I don't ever forget about it; I try to atone for it. In addition to being an investigative journalist, I am a board director of a Japanese NPO, which fights against human trafficking and the exploitation of women, children and foreign workers, often providing shelter and doing rescue missions. I do that work pro bono. There are many times we have information we'd like to take to the police or make public but cannot because it would endanger the victim. We always choose the safety of the victim first. It's standard operating procedure. As a journalist, I believe the same rules of protecting victims are supposed to be applied to sources.

This is not the first time I've worked with a documentary film crew. In 2009, I worked with Lara Logan and Howard Rosenberg of 60 Minutes on a feature about four yakuza receiving liver transplants at UCLA under dubious circumstances. The television crew was well prepared, had read my book and all the documentation I sent them in advance, and spent months doing independent research. They spent weeks consulting with others and myself. They diligently altered footage and voices so as avoid endangering anyone involved. I was even consulted about the re-broadcasting of the documentary and when I said that safety concerns had emerged, they agreed, and did not re-air the film. They have been the paradigm of professional, ethical, and responsible journalism.

What NGT are doing is often referred to as "parachute journalism", a problematic practice well-described by the Committee To Protect Journalists. It essentially involves transporting journalists, or a film crew with no journalists, into an area to report on a story in which they lack knowledge, experience, and good judgment. The dearth of knowledge and budgetary constraints often results in inaccurate and sometimes harmful news stories or features. Parachute journalism is not always a bad thing. It can bring fresh perspective to news coverage. However, it can also result in huge problems if done recklessly.

On a personal level, it's one thing to have a crew of outsiders come into the country, cause havoc and then run away, but usually they don't leave a ticking time bomb in your house and not tell you about it. I expect that National Geographic Television's response to this will be to defame me, and attack my credibility, and assorted character assassination. They may pretend to take the moral high ground by saying, "We're exposing criminals." But what they're doing is burning their sources and exposing them to danger. The yakuza that cooperated were promised things that were not delivered. They were promised that their conversations were "off the record." They are not being "exposed"; they are being betrayed. Perhaps NGT will work out a back-door deal with those involved where they promise to cut the problematic footage in exchange for the parties involved making coerced statements that they "we were completely happy with how we were treated." That would be a kind of blackmail, but I believe that NGT is capable of doing that to save face.

The three yakuza involved claim that the director made verbal promises at the time of the interviews and these promises were broken. They were promises that ensured confidentiality, a say in the final edit and that there would be nothing in the program to incriminate them. They cooperated in good faith. By US standards they were foolish for not getting something in writing. If you look at the situation like a yakuza would, they were simply expecting that they were dealing with honorable people, whose words meant something in lieu of a written contract.

There is a saying in Japanese, bushi wa nigon ga nai (武士は二言がない). Literally, a samurai doesn't have a second word. What it means is that once a samurai has said he'll do something or promises he'll do something, he does and he keeps that promises. He doesn't backpedal and say "factual accuracy" means "general accuracy" or that "we may have said that but that's not what you signed."

Would I believe the word of three yakuza over the word of an LA based "film director" who brags about his reputation for doing awesome "dramatizations" and "re-creations"? Mmm…Yes. I'd believe the yakuza every time, in this case. The yakuza do have standards and practices. They are not particularly high standards but they exist. Most yakuza have them posted on large ornate scrolls posted on their office walls and written in bold dark cursive: "Any member who engages in theft, robbery, rape and or any other activity that runs contrary to the noble way (ninkyodo) will be expelled." It's very clear.

I've never seen the standards and practices documents for National Geographic Television, although I have asked to see them many times. The only time I've even heard NGT staff seriously mention them was at the room of the Ritz Carlton Tokyo where the director was staying. He was complaining that standards and practices at NGT had issued a new directive which banned all sit-down interviews, "because they're boring" and required the outsourced film crews to get footage of people "doing things" while being interviewed. It was at this point that he began complaining about the scholars, police officers, ex-police officers, and authors that I had arranged to interview weeks in advance, because obviously, they weren't interesting enough. They would have given great insight but they are people who sit down and talk, not perform.

Towards the end of the filming, the crew became desperate for "exciting footage" and ran around town getting it, making us short on staff. Of course, there was also no good will between the director and myself and one crew member had already quit after declaring that they felt the director had no concern for the safety of their family in Japan. So I conducted two of the interviews myself, with a one-man film crew. I was not hired as a reporter but as a consultant but I gladly did the work because I wanted the program to have some substance. I was glad that parts of that interview remained, at least in the cut that I was shown, with reluctancy by NGT.

I thought about leaking this state of affairs anonymously so as to avoid legal issues but then I decided that's the kind of cowardly, sneaky backstabbing behavior that I detest. I'll speak up for myself, and I will speak for everyone that they have ruthlessly used and endangered for their own profit.

What NGT is doing is tantamount to criminal negligence. Under Japanese law, if during the course of your work you engage in negligent behavior that results in injury, you can be held criminally responsible and arrested. The Japanese penal code refers to this as gyomujo kashitsushisho (業務上過失死傷) or "crimes of injury through negligence in the pursuit of professional activities."

I am a Japanese permanent resident and subject to the laws of Japanese. NGT may be surprised to know this, but since the documentary filming was conducted in Japan, they and the film crew are also subject to Japanese law. Just because you're not Japanese doesn't make you above the law.

In September of 2004, the Japan Coast Guard arrested the Russian captain of a ship on charges of professional negligence resulting in death, after the ship capsized and three crew members died. The ship had arrived at the lumber dock in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture and began unloading its cargo. Coast guard officials then told the captain to move the vessel away from shore to protect it from a typhoon that was approaching, but the captain did not heed the warnings and stayed at the dock. The ship repeatedly crashed against the pier and sank; three of the eighteen crew members died and the fourth crew member was never found.

In analogous terms, which I hope NGT can understand, they are the Russian ship captain, the typhoon is the footage they have taken in bad faith, the crew is everyone in Japan involved with this documentary, and I am the coast guard. They've been notified.

If they air the film as it is now and anyone is hurt, I'll be the first one to go to the police and file charges of criminal negligence resulting in injury and/or death. And I will do my best to see that they are extradited. Because recklessly endangering or causing harm to others is a crime here in Japan where the documentary was filmed.

They can't deny they knew there were dangers. The chain of emails that someone in the organization anonymously sent me establishes that, as well as does this posting.

NGT has been warned; I hope they become enlightened and do the right thing for once. Ethical and factual journalism can actually be pleasant, if a little boring.

You might wonder, "Well, if it's so dangerous, why don't you leave Japan?" I don't leave because I while I may retreat, I don't run away. I'm the sole support of a good friend and his family, who I have promised to look after. I also know that when the yakuza get angry they will look for someone to blame. I don't want that to be one of my friends who introduced National Geographic to their sources that NGT then browbeat into getting introductions to current yakuza members. I've talked with the parties involved, directly and indirectly; they don't blame me. I don't fear losing my life. I don't fear losing face either; I've already lost it. It has been a humiliating week of apologizing to all parties involved in the program, including the National Police Agency. Every one who I introduced to the National Geographic Television crew is upset with me and doubts my judgment. I can only apologize and do my best to make sure that it doesn't reflect badly on them. I don't worry about the yakuza taking their frustration out on me. However, I worry that their subordinates will confuse National Geographic Channel in Japan with National Geographic Television and that their staff will suffer for it, if they seek to avenge their comrades. It is also possible that the individuals who made the introductions to the yakuza are harassed or blamed for the matter.

From the beginning, I warned NGT repeatedly that interviewing current members would cause problems and be dangerous. Those warnings were not heeded and I have spent several days now apologizing and dealing with the individuals they have angered. The yakuza groups involved in the program have killed at least twelve people in recent years, including innocent bystanders in cross-fire, their gangland enemies, and have also shot police officers. They are to be taken seriously.

Below I have posted highly redacted versions of my resignation letter both in English and Japanese. They have been redacted to risk the exposure and endangerment of sources and those involved with the project. National Geographic Channel Japan had nothing to do with the making of the documentary, although due to the lack of English ability of most yakuza, I fear that they will end up being the middlemen in this conflict. I can only offer my deepest apologies to all concerned and hope that the producers will do the right thing and not air footage that endangers many, betrays the good faith between journalists and sources, and borders on criminal negligence. I was not involved in the problematic interviews and have no editorial control of the program. Please address any enquiries to National Geographic Television.

The Coast Guard Agent Who Tried To Rescue Japan: A Humble Hero

Mr. Masaharu Isshiki (一色正春元海上保安官), the former Coast Guard official who released a classified videotape of the Chinese boat incident on Youtube last December, held a press conference at the FCCJ on February 14th. The tape provided clear evidence that the Chinese vessel acted as the aggressor in the situation. This is a revelation that embarrassed the Japanese government, as it potentially bolsters previous accusations that Japan acquiesced to China's might for fear of economic repercussions.

Masaharu Isshiki, the former Coast Guard agent who blew the whistle on the Senkoku Incident. He has become a folk hero in Japan

Isshiki, who had been studying since he was 15 for the career he has just sacrificed, likened the role of the Coast Guard to a "national border guard"; the Guard is responsible for patrolling Japan's vast territorial waters and executing rescue operations. Upon delivering a few ceremonial opening statements and a brief description of his duties while a Coast Guard official, he immediately breached the problem of Japan's several territorial disputes with other nations, and in particular the most recently problematic claim over the Senkaku islands; "a certain nation has begun to take action in that area…some people can say this country has even started an invasion process". While withholding clearly articulated reasons, he said that this threat essentially led him to release the video. When pressed further to defend his defiance of orders, he stated: "it became clear what I should do when I weighed that fact (that it was a government directive) against the fact that this is something that would benefit the Japanese people".

Isshiki also expressed concern over the growing number of residents who, if Japan is apprehended by force, see themselves as willing to resort to the use of force as well. On this point he lingered, strongly affirming his "deep-seated belief" that if a party has territorial claims that "words and evidence" should be used to solve the issue; "as you know, the world has experienced great tragedies in the past and as a result (we) have put together different ways to resolve international conflicts without resorting to force", he says, citing the International Court of Justice as an example.

Isshiki ended his speech with two requests for the foreign press. Firstly, that if a conflict arises between Japan and another nation that "not only are the reasons of the other country" covered by the media, but also "the thoughts of the Japanese population on the matter". He points out that the humble and reserved nature of the Japanese people, often considered "a beautiful part of the national character", has been misconstrued by the international community as an inability to assert their own rights and claims, which "has led to unfortunate interpretations of Japan in the past".

He prefaced his second request by noting the increasing presence of international journalists in Japan's media landscape; "many Japanese have started looking to the foreign media to find out about events in their own country", citing as an example last year's demonstrations, which many national media outlets chose not to cover.

He observes that the Japanese are awakening to the impartiality of certain news organizations, and becoming more aware of their many new source options. He presented this as a business opportunity for the foreign press, encouraging them to gain the respect of the people by providing consistently objective reporting.

After this, questions were taken, many too inane to be reported here. Isshiki-san was clearly more intelligent and witty than many of the reporters who spoke to him, cracking jokes and asking some reporters to break down the questions into ones that were possible to answer. It should be noted that Japanese governor Ishihara Shintaro, who attended with his entourage spoke publicly to him saying: "As a representative of the Japanese government, I'd like to express my greatest respect and appreciation for your actions. A person who acts on behalf of the Japanese people…should not be subject to persecution of the government."

When a press member in her question referred to his actions as "heroic", Isshiki made mention of it in his response, saying he didn't think what he did merited the description; "I didn't risk my life to do this. I like my life.  I don't want to risk it so easily. Some years ago, most Japanese ago would consider this a normal response and I am slightly concerned that the Japanese people have begun to lose that sense of normality. What I desire more than anything is for Japan to become a country where this kind of action is considered the right thing do by any concerned citizen."

Isshiki's book, to which he directed pesky reporters several times during his speech, Why I Did This: The Confessions of Senkoku 38 (何かのためにの告白)is now on sale. It's worth a read. The final three lines of his book are a moving call to social action.

It's time to throw away the idea that "as long as I'm okay, that's enough." It's okay for people to live only for themselves, but it's also a good thing to live for some higher purpose.  If everyone who reads this book, comes away with a little sense of that, and lives that way, maybe things will change.

Kyoto Prefecture to become the first to ban child pornography, while Japan's Ruling Party does nothing.

You read that right! Kyoto Prefecture announced plans to roll out a policy that will officially outlaw the possession and acquisition of child pornography, with plans to enact the regulations some time this year. Kyoto will be the first prefecture in the country to create and enforce such a regulation.

Possession of child pornography is currently legal under Japanese law, as long as there is no intent of sale or distribution. Child prostitution and pornography laws currently only outlaw the creation and distribution of pornography featuring those under 18 years of age.

Kyoto Prefecture's new regulation will require owners to dispose of all media containing sexual depiction of youth under the age of 18, and the government is currently considering penal regulations if such requirements aren't followed. Possession of pornography featuring children under the age of 13 constitutes child sexual abuse, and will become an automatically jailable offense. Anime, however, is not covered by the new law.

The proposed legislation was part of Kyoto governor Keiji Yamada's manifesto during the April 2010 race for governor. The regulations were proposed in a report authored by an investigative commission of nine experts, including academics, experts in law and experts in child welfare.

The new law seems a bit fuzzy. One major problem with current legislation is the lack of specifics in what constitutes child pornography. While some content is very explicitly pornographic, Japan's large junior idol industry exploits a grey area in the law by purporting to be art while washing their hands of any additional connotations images of scantily-clad children may have–and how those images may be used by other individuals. According to the Kyoto Shinbun, the report points out that the law would need to distinctly define what is covered under the law, for example just explicitly sexual acts, or things alluding to or involving genitalia.

The fact that anime is exempt from the law should be a point of debate as well, and is quite a large statement in the wake of Tokyo's move to restrict the sale of anime, manga and games containing sexual images of those under 18. The simple "slap on the hand" given to first-time offenders is also questionable, and at this stage the proposed law is dubiously flimsy. It is however a step forward and much more than the Japanese national government is doing. Currently, there is not even a bill in committee to ban child pornography possession.

Additional observations from Jake.

In addition to being an editor for this website and a writer, I'm also a board director of the Polaris Project Japan, an organization which helps human trafficking victims, works to stop the sexual and labor exploitation of women, children, and foreigners, and has been lobbying the Japanese government to make possession of child pornography a crime for several years. I am also the police liaison for the organization, which means that when we have a good tip on a human trafficking organization or child pornographers, Shihoko Fujiwara, the director of Polaris Project Japan and I collect the data and information and bring it to the police. I spent over a decade covering the Japanese police force as a reporter and understand what they need to make a case. There are many detectives who are enthusiastic about cracking down on human trafficking and child pornography. One tip which we took to the police last year resulted in the arrest and indictment of a child pornographer and the dismantling of a pedophile network.

However, what was a major obstacle in the initial investigation is that the police felt that they could not get a warrant to search the home of the child pornographer if he only possessed it. They needed proof that he had been selling the materials to get a search warrant. One detective explained it very simply, "Possession is not a crime. Therefore, even if we suspect someone is involved in producing and distributing it but only know that they possess it–we can't make a raid. We can't seize the computer or materials that would help us track down the source of the child pornography or help us rescue the victims.  Even if possession was made a crime with no punishment other than a fine, it would immensely aid our investigations. We detest the stuff and the victimization of children as much as anyone does. Even more. However, our hands are tied behind our back. The FBI and other federal agencies pass on over a hundred tips to the National Police Agency each year about child pornography issues. Maybe one or two actually turn into prosecutable cases. Since Ando Takaharu became head of the National Police Agency, we've been getting more support on those investigations but they're still very difficult."

On February 15th, I went to  a hearing on child pornography in Japan, at the National Diet Lower House Member's Building, as a board member of Polaris Project Japan.  Bradley Myles, the CEO of Polaris Project (Washington DC)  attended as did members of UNICEF and two senators from the Diet. We made a strong case for the criminalization of simple possession.Myles was very succinct, stating: "The actions of any country, including Japan, play an important role in the global effort (to eliminate child pornography) and when possession of these images is legal in Japan, it creates a gap and an impediment to the entire international effort to police the problem." He advocated that Japan make possession a crime punishable by a fine and jail time.

Japan and Russia are the only remaining G-8 countries that defends the ownership of films of real children (not manga) being molested for personal enjoyment. I was hoping to ask some pointed questions after his speech, but  the Diet members skipped out halfway through the meeting and were not available for the Q & A that followed. Personally, it says a lot to me about how seriously the Japanese government takes this problem.

Perhaps, making an appearance at the beginning was the best that the senators could do.  However, when one of the Diet members made the remark, "It's hard to find a balance between freedom of expression and criminalizing the possession of child pornography", I felt like puking. Pardon me. Films of children being sodomized, gagged, tortured, raped and abused on film for the sadistic entertainment of others are not "freedoms of expressions" or "works of art"–they are evidence of a crime and a clear violation of decency. If you can stomach it, read the testimony of children who were used in child pornography to understand how deeply it hurts them, even years later while the films still circulate.  These films are also certainly a violations of Japan's laws on personal privacy, if you want to get into the finer legal problems. As such, the only people who should have child pornography in their possession are the police. As long as the purchase and possession of child porn are not crimes, there will be a demand for them and there will be anti-social elements who make money off feeding that demand, some of them yakuza, some of them simply sociopathic entrepreneurs. Japan continues to be one of the largest producers and suppliers of child pornography in the world.

Hiroko Tabuchi, ace reporter of the New York Times, offered very insightful commentary as I was live tweeting the conference. By no means was she defending child pornography, she has written very balanced articles on the problem but she did point out, "The Government cites concerns people could be prosecuted for mistaken downloads, being sent files unknowingly etc."  I would have to agree with that point. I can easily see how the law could be abused to frame people for a crime and its the kind of thing a smart yakuza would do to take down a nuisance—unilaterally send them  numerous pictures of child pornography and then immediately call the police and "inform" on the victim. Teenagers being arrested on child pornography charges for sending nude pictures of themselves to friends or their consensual partners is a clear example of law enforcement being poorly applied, and deeply flawed laws.

The law can be written requiring a burden of proof that the individual actively downloaded or bought the child pornography, repeatedly, with full knowledge of what they were buying. An exemption can be made for underage children who send naked pictures of themselves willingly to their friends or lovers.  I would also suggest possession be made a crime punishable by  a substantial fine or jail time rather than mandatory jail time. By giving the police and prosecution some leeway, it would encourage the possessor of the materials to cooperate with the investigation.  Even just making possession a simple crime punishable by a fine would be enough to let the police seize evidence in cases and capture the makers and distributors of the child pornography rather than just the end users.

If the Democratic Party of Japan has any decency they will at least put forth a bill to committee to ban possession of child pornography. There is not even a bill under debate at present–in effect, they are doing absolutely nothing. Judging by their failure to rid themselves of Ozawa Ichiro, their loyalties seem to be more about their own interests rather than the public good. Many of their financial supporters are people in the adult film and anime business producing neo-child pornography. The DPJ should be aware that Japan's failure to act on the problem is an international embarassment. I guess that's the best way to end these comments, with a little Japanese vocabulary lesson that I hope the Democratic Party of Japan would take to heart. "恥を知りなさい"（haji wo shirinasai). Be ashamed of yourselves.

Jake Adelstein, board director, Polaris Project Japan

Prosecutors demand jurors pull the trigger in shooting trial

The master demonstrates how to properly fire an airsoft gun at a 'gun bar' in Roppongi, Tokyo. Most Japanese rarely come in contact with firearms, much less get the opportunity to shoot one. (Photo by Sarah Noorbakhsh)

Monday saw the opening of a trial against ex-yakuza boss, Takashi Kajiwara, who was accused of attempted murder in the March 2009 shooting of an acquaintance. The defence asserted during the hearing that Kajiwara had lay a finger on the trigger and simply squeezed the grip, accidentally causing the gun to fire.

Prosecutors retaliated, saying that it would take a single finger 4-10 kilograms of pressure to pull the trigger on that specific model of gun, and that it couldn't have been an accident. The prosecutors then presented two weapons of the same type used in the crime, and in an unprecedented move said they would like the jury to try pulling the trigger themselves to decide. The defence has objected, telling the Asahi Shinbun that each gun is different, and the two presented in court may require more force than the one used in the crime. The judge will determine whether or not to grant to the prosecution's request and let jurors give the guns a squeeze.

Ex-Yamaguchi-gumi member Takashi Kajiwara, 47, is accused of shooting a man in the head on the street in Osaka's Nishi Yodogawa-ku on the evening of March 25, 2009. The man sustained serious injuries, as did another Yamaguchi-gumi member when he tried to stop Kajiwara from firing but was beaten with the gun. The second member, Hitoshi Tomioka, 45, was brought to the hospital for injuries he sustained during the beating, and was later arrested after a blood test came up positive for stimulants.

In Japan, where firearms are illegal except for use in hunting and sport, and for police officers, most people have never seen a real gun, much less fired one. The lay judge system is relatively new as well–having been implemented in May 2009–and if the judge grants the prosecution's request it will be an extremely novel, and potentially high-profile, landmark event.

English Conversation (Eikaiwa) a con game? Engrish lessons from Yakuza 3

The critically acclaimed game, Yakuza 3 (龍が如く３) had a lot cut out of the American version. One of the more interesting scenarios scrubbed was the lead character, ex-yakuza boss, Kiryu's experience learning English conversation (英会話/eikaiwa). It turns out to be a badger game/a set-up/a con and an attempt at extortion, that ends with Kiryu beating the crap out of the thugs running the so-called English Conversation school. I can imagine several reasons why it was cut from the US version, one of them being that the english subtitles are horrific, the other being that Kiryu kicks the stuffing out of the americans running the con game.

Yakuza student Kiryu tells the head of the Eikaiwa school, "Of course, I won't pay your fees. You guys are running a pyramid scheme."

I don't imagine it would go over well with advocates of the JET program or English teachers in Japan either. The sequence basically portrays the English Conversation schools and their teachers as ruthless, manipulative predators. Most English conversation schools in Japan are legitimate and their underpaid (or overpaid) teachers decent people. But that's not always the case.

While many of our readers probably know this, for the sake of some that don't I'll explain a little bit of the background to this sub-story. In Japan, English is a compulsory part of education but due to the emphasis on grammar and reading ability, many Japanese find that even after years of English they are unable to speak it or understand it when it's spoken to them. This created the cottage industry of "English Conversation" or Eikaiwa as it's known colloquially. These schools are supposed to teach the Japanese how to actually use spoken english in real-life interaction with non-Japanese.

What's not well known is that a number of english conversation schools were and are still run by anti-social forces, some of them essentially being yakuza front companies. There are numerous ways these schools can be used as a semi-legal con-game. One is the use of attractive women/handsome guys who approach the Japanese mark and encourage them to believe that by joining the school that he/she will be able to date the person who solicits him. The other approach is to browbeat the student into paying a huge initial registration fee up front and then refusing to return the money if the student decides to quit. Others make the "victim" part of the game by embroiling them in a pyramid scheme, after they've paid a ridiculous amount of money for their "contract", by offering them a percentage of the fees for anyone else they can get to enroll in the school.

The most famous incident of an eikaiwa chain being exposed for fraudulent practices was the disciplining of the megalithic Nova Group in 2007. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in June of 2007, suspended part of Nova's business operations. After receiving numerous complaints, they concluded that Nova had deliberately deceived many of their students, and had committed multiple violations of the specified commercial transaction law, including providing false explanations to get students to register for lessons and coercing them to pay huge fees. They also illegally refused to refund fees to students unhappy with their services. Nova was allegedly connected to the Yamaguchi-gumi and in the past had used yakuza thugs to violently break-up attempts by the english teachers to unionize. The scandal resulted in Nova's bankruptcy and the loss of hundreds of jobs. Many teachers were recruited while the company was clearly going under, and not paid, as were many of  those hired before the scandal.

On August 26, 2009, the former CEO was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. He claims to have been using taking out funds to pay back refunds to disgruntled students and keep the company afloat but police sources suspect that a great deal of the missing money went to yakuza backers who wanted their cut before the company went belly-up. There's more to the story than that and if you're really curious you should check out 実録アングラマネー 日本経済を喰いちるヤクザたち（Underground Money–The Yakuza (Dark Powers) Eating Up Japan's Economy) for more details. It also covers in depth NOVA's attempts to stay in business through complicated financial dealings with a yakuza business associate and stock manipulator.

The english conversation school has been and will probably always be a good business for the yakuza. The same principles used to get men and women into hostess clubs/host clubs are applied to recruit students. Just like a hostess club there is the possibility of actually dating one of the teachers dangled out as bait to keep the customer coming back. Many companies portray their schools as place where Japanese men and women can have a chance to date an attractive foreigner. The foreign workers brought in are usually under stringent contracts that allow them to be easily replaced if they become problematic and bind them to their jobs. In some cases, their apartments and travel expenses are loaned to them in advance, essentially indenturing them to the company before they even began to work. Often the apartments provided are owned by the company as well.

I don't expect realism from a video game but the cut sequence detailing Kiryu's bad experiences with an English conversation school scam has elements of truth that make it interesting. Check it out for yourself, because if you have the US version of the game, you'll never get to experience the joys of learning English conversation as a yakuza. I'm sure there are a number of former employees and students of NOVA who wish they could solve their problems with the company the way Kiryu did: by battering the the executives running the place with a wide-screen TV and any other blunt weapons laying around the office.

Yakuza 3/The Missing English Textbook Solicitor Adventure (英会話の勧誘編）

UPDATE: Kotaku, The Gamer's Guide posted an excellent follow-up to this article, The Japanese Mob Wants You To Learn English, which brings up some valid reasons why the English Conversation adventure might have been cut from the US release of Yakuza 3. Brian Ashcraft explains it in detail, while adding some more information about NOVA's CEO, the infamous Saruhashi. The comments section of the Kotaku piece are also highly interesting. I would hope that this article doesn't scare people away from the JET program, which has been a useful gateway to Japan for many and offers some excellent experience. If you force yourself to study Japanese while doing the JET program, it can be very rewarding and I know a number of journalists and scholars of Japan who started as a JET and then stuck around to deepen their knowledge of Japan. Also, please see some of the emails that have been sent in by readers–they are illuminating as well. If I get permission to post them, I will.

KOTAKU, THE GAMER'S GUIDE does an excellent follow-up to this piece adding some useful information and insight. Check it out.

Ex-yakuza boss Kiryu politely asks for a refund for his english conversation lessons. He gets it.

English Conversation (Eikaiwa) is A Con Game? Engrish Lessons From Yakuza 3 (英会話が詐欺)

The critically acclaimed game, Yakuza 3 (龍が如く３) had a lot cut out of the American version. One of the more interesting scenarios scrubbed was the lead character, ex-yakuza boss, Kiryu's experience learning English conversation (英会話/eikaiwa). It turns out to be a badger game/a set-up/a con and an attempt at extortion, that ends with Kiryu beating the crap out of the thugs running the so-called English Conversation school. I can imagine several reasons why it was cut from the US version, one of them being that the english subtitles are horrific, the other being that Kiryu kicks the stuffing out of the americans running the con game.

Yakuza student Kiryu tells the head of the Eikaiwa school, "Of course, I won't pay your fees. You guys are running a pyramid scheme."

I don't imagine it would go over well with advocates of the JET program or English teachers in Japan either. The sequence basically portrays the English Conversation schools and their teachers as ruthless, manipulative predators. Most English conversation schools in Japan are legitimate and their underpaid (or overpaid) teachers decent people. But that's not always the case.

While many of our readers probably know this, for the sake of some that don't I'll explain a little bit of the background to this sub-story. In Japan, English is a compulsory part of education but due to the emphasis on grammar and reading ability, many Japanese find that even after years of English they are unable to speak it or understand it when it's spoken to them. This created the cottage industry of "English Conversation" or Eikaiwa as it's known colloquially. These schools are supposed to teach the Japanese how to actually use spoken english in real-life interaction with non-Japanese.

What's not well known is that a number of english conversation schools were and are still run by anti-social forces, some of them essentially being yakuza front companies. There are numerous ways these schools can be used as a semi-legal con-game. One is the use of attractive women/handsome guys who approach the Japanese mark and encourage them to believe that by joining the school that he/she will be able to date the person who solicits him. The other approach is to browbeat the student into paying a huge initial registration fee up front and then refusing to return the money if the student decides to quit. Others make the "victim" part of the game by embroiling them in a pyramid scheme, after they've paid a ridiculous amount of money for their "contract", by offering them a percentage of the fees for anyone else they can get to enroll in the school.

The most famous incident of an eikaiwa chain being exposed for fraudulent practices was the disciplining of the megalithic Nova Group in 2007. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in June of 2007, suspended part of Nova's business operations. After receiving numerous complaints, they concluded that Nova had deliberately deceived many of their students, and had committed multiple violations of the specified commercial transaction law, including providing false explanations to get students to register for lessons and coercing them to pay huge fees. They also illegally refused to refund fees to students unhappy with their services. Nova was allegedly connected to the Yamaguchi-gumi and in the past had used yakuza thugs to violently break-up attempts by the english teachers to unionize. The scandal resulted in Nova's bankruptcy and the loss of hundreds of jobs. Many teachers were recruited while the company was clearly going under, and not paid, as were many of  those hired before the scandal.

On August 26, 2009, the former CEO was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. He claims to have been using taking out funds to pay back refunds to disgruntled students and keep the company afloat but police sources suspect that a great deal of the missing money went to yakuza backers who wanted their cut before the company went belly-up. There's more to the story than that and if you're really curious you should check out 実億アングラマネー 日本経済を喰いちるヤクザたち（Underground Money–The Yakuza (Dark Powers) Eating Up Japan's Economy) for more details. It also covers in depth NOVA's attempts to stay in business through complicated financial dealings with a yakuza business associate and stock manipulator.

The english conversation school has been and will probably always be a good business for the yakuza. The same principles used to get men and women into hostess clubs/host clubs are applied to recruit students. Just like a hostess club there is the possibility of actually dating one of the teachers dangled out as bait to keep the customer coming back. Many companies portray their schools as place where Japanese men and women can have a chance to date an attractive foreigner. The foreign workers brought in are usually under stringent contracts that allow them to be easily replaced if they become problematic and bind them to their jobs. In some cases, their apartments and travel expenses are loaned to them in advance, essentially indenturing them to the company before they even began to work. Often the apartments provided are owned by the company as well.

I don't expect realism from a video game but the cut sequence detailing Kiryu's bad experiences with an English conversation school scam has elements of truth that make it interesting. Check it out for yourself, because if you have the US version of the game, you'll never get to experience the joys of learning English conversation as a yakuza. I'm sure there are a number of former employees and students of NOVA who wish they could solve their problems with the company the way Kiryu did: by battering the the executives running the place with a wide-screen TV and any other blunt weapons laying around the office.

Yakuza 3/The Missing English Textbook Solicitor Adventure (英会話の勧誘編）

Ex-yakuza boss Kiryu politely asks for a refund for his english conversation lessons. He gets it.

無縁仏（Muenbotoke): Buddhas Without Connections

On the 8th and 15th of this month, in Japan and in parts of Asia, they celebrate Nirvana Day. It commemorates the death of the Buddha and his liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth; pain and suffering. In Japan, the Buddha or a Buddha is often referred to as hotoke (仏). Over time, the word itself has almost become a synonym for the deceased or the spirits of the dead. Buddha originally meant "one who is awake." In Japan, to distinguish between the use of hotoke as a reference to the departed and someone who is enlightened (achieved 悟り/satori), the word  ikibotoke (生き仏) or "living buddha" is sometimes used. I've should mention I have never ever heard anyone use that in reference to myself. They do say it about the Dalai Lama.

Nirvana Day is celebrated in different ways and on different days both inside and outside of Japan, depending on the Buddhist sect and sometimes even the individual temple. For some, it's a time to remember the recently departed (仏様・hotokesama) and to reflect on mortality. In some countries and at some temples, it's a celebration of life and people gather together for small parties. In Buddhist metaphysics, it's very hard to be born as a human–it's chance that we don't often get and simply to be alive as a human being and not a hungry ghost or demon or vermin is considered a cause for rejoicing. (I'm guessing that if you're born as a rat it's hard to store up enough good karma points to come back as a human. I'm not sure about monkeys or Henry Kissinger.)

This piece was originally written with TOKYO VICE in mind but I took it out of the final draft. Last year, the Buddhist/Meditation/Culture Magazine Shambhala Sun asked me if I was interested in submitting a piece and I pulled this out, rewrote it, checked my notes and sent it to them. Almost a year went by and before publication, I revised it once more. 2010 was a long hard year for me. I lost two good friends. One killed himself or was killed by his own people. He was a yakuza so that's part of the trade, I suppose. The other was my lawyer and mentor, Igari Toshiro, who I strongly suspect was murdered and the job set up to look like a suicide. 仏 (hotoke) literally "a buddha" is a word that the police use a lot. Homicide detectives are fond of the word.  「ホシを捕まえないと、仏が浮かばれない/hoshi o tsukamaenai to, hotoke ga ukabarenai」. Loosely translated, "If we don't catch the killer, the spirt of the dead will never rest." It comes from a folk belief that those wrongfully killed are reluctant to leave the world until justice is done and roam the earth as hungry ghosts.In the case of Igari-san, I doubt that the people responsible will ever be brought to justice, at least in this life. Well, maybe there is karma in the universe and it'll catch up with them in the next. I'd like to believe that but I'm not one for blind faith.

Despite writing about death, crime, betrayal, human depravity, and dealing with the aftermath a great deal, I'm not a morbid person; most of the time I'm pretty cheerful. However, I think that remembering our mortality is an important part of enjoying life.

My father is now close to 73. He's been a county coroner for over two decades and yet he's one of the happiest people I know. I asked him if the job ever gets him down and he says, "Of course, it does. But at the end of the day, sometimes, it makes me realize how lucky I am not to be the guy on the morgue table. Life is a precious thing and easily lost. When you know that, you treasure every moment and you really live. It gives you a greater perspective on things and what really matters and what doesn't. Almost very suicide that comes in is a tragedy and so is every homicide. Almost any life lost is a tragedy. Because death is the one mistake you cannot undo. "

Thanks to the Shambahla Sun for publishing the article and for giving me permission to post it on the blog. The names of the deceased in the article have been slightly changed out of respect for any relatives or friends that they might have had. Click on the picture or the link below to read the full article.

無縁仏. My essay from the March 2011 issue of Shambhala Sun

Muebotoke

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