"It's Great to be Alive!" A message of positivity on a cold and rainy Tuesday morning

Today, it is cold and rainy here in Tokyo. Most people would say the weather is terrible. Not me. I like this weather. The rain makes the air smell so clean and fresh!


Yesterday, I met a young woman who had just defeated cancer and returned to work. She was beaming!

Even though she wore a cap to cover her head, probably because she had lost all her hair due to chemotherapy, she was so happy to be back at work. When I met her for the first time, she was incredibly enthusiastic, like a sixteen-year-old, and just so happy to be there.


I said to her,


"So, are you happy to be back?"


She replied, "Oh you don't know the least of it, Mr. Rogers. I am just so happy to be back here. Some of my friends said to me, 'Why do you want to go back to work?' But I am just so happy and thankful to be here. What I went through was a massive shock."


I smiled at her and said, "Oh, I know exactly what you mean. It is wonderful just to wake up every morning and see the sun or the rain. It is wonderful just to be able to walk the streets and go about your business. Just being here is so wonderful."


"Oh? She replied, "You've had health problems too, Mr. Rogers?"


I smiled.


"People just don't know how well they have it. There are people who say they are afraid of dying but they get bored and don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon."


We both laughed. I continued,


"It's wonderful to just be here and to be wanted and to have a job and health. More people need to realize that."


"That's absolutely correct. Just being here is an incredible gift!" She replied.


Since she had cancer and the scare of her life and a brush with death, I know, because of that, she knows exactly what I mean. She knows I know, too. There is a sort of brotherhood to people who have this sort of shared experience.

Sometimes I meet people who tell me that they work constantly and never have the time to spend with their families. I think that is sad. Of course work is important, but don't lose sight of why you work.


It's wonderful to be alive today. Don't you think so?


Tell your family that you love them and, when you walk out the door, smell the fresh air and see something new. Be positive. It is great to be here.


Note: Most Men Die With Regrets

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Positive Thinking: The Story of A Guy Who Defeated 4th Stage Cancer - Two Sides of the Positive/Negative Thinking Coin

Work is going terrible? Things look bad? 

You think you have it bad now? Seriously? 


Let me tell you about my friend Paul (not his real name) and how his life and death are a good lesson for us all.


Paul was a very popular and well known guy. You might say he was famous. At least in the music business in Japan, everyone knew him. Everyone in the world who knows a very famous late 80s ~ early 90s Japanese all-girl punk band  knows his work. Paul lived a fun and full fast life; fast foods, late nights, drinking and other recreational activities. Besides that, Paul was a heavy cigarette smoker for years. 


One day, out of the blue, Paul had a sore throat. The sore throat didn't go away after a few weeks so Paul went to the doctor again. There, he was diagnosed with forth stage cancer of the throat. 


The forth stage of cancer is, as you may know, the worst and final stages of the disease. Forth stage usually means that the cancer has penetrated the lymph system of the human body. The chances of survival are less than 5%... Suddenly, with all these things going on you'd think that Paul would get very depressed.


Well, he did. Like most people, Paul got very depressed. 


Soon, his condition got worse. It got a lot worse. Of course it did. It had to with an attitude like that.


Then, one day, while he was at work, we met and had a nice long talk. This was after I helped my own daughter defeat forth stage cancer. Paul believed that I could tell him why some people defeat cancer and why some people don't. 


Paul was a difficult discussion. Paul was a like a "sponge." Unconsciously, he was sucking the life and energy out of everyone he came into contact with. I could feel it. He was in a near panic that he felt he was going to die soon. Paul was grasping, searching for me, for anyone, to tell him some sort of knowledge, some sort of epiphany, some sort of magic that would make it all go away. He wanted some sort of "key" to wisdom that would answer his questions and make him healthy again. 


I told him that the knowledge I have he already knows too. I told him that he already knew what had to be done, he just hadn't realized that it was there, right in front of him, the entire time.


Paul told me that whenever he went to the doctor's office (of course it was the doctor for cancer so all the patient's there were cancer patients) he would enter the waiting room. In the waiting room everyone would be looking down. Whenever a new patient entered the room, they look up look nervously at the faces of the other patients. Everyone, he said, would be reading each other's faces and body language to try to determine who was the next one to die and who would survive. 


They were all sponges taking the life energy out of each other. It was like death row at a prison.


I asked Paul to stop this behavior immediately. I asked him to stop being a sponge. I asked him to stop absorbing the light from other people and, instead, start projecting the light. I told him that, instead of entering the doctors waiting room, nervously, like the others, enter bringing hope for everyone else. Smile and be positive. Show the others that you (Paul) are going to be one that survives. Show them the way that they can survive and, not only survive, how to thrive. 


I hate to sound corny, but John Lennon had it right; "And in the end, the love you get is equal to the love you give."


I told him to stop taking energy from others and, instead, to start giving out positive energy.


Paul also told me that he knew that if he could just convince the doctors and the nurses that he was going to recover that he would recover. I told him that he was wrong. I told him that he didn't need to convince the doctors and the nurses; he only needed to convince himself. 

I believe that ancient books, like the bible, are filled with wonderful stories that are not necessary to be taken literally, but to be understood figuratively. In the bible, when Jesus walked on water, we know that it is literally impossible to walk on water. But we know that people can do the "impossible." I think Jesus walking on water means that he accomplished what people thought was impossible... Perhaps like the Wright Brothers making a flying machine. In the bible, Jesus said, "All you need to do is to have faith."


I told Paul that it wasn't necessary for the doctors and nurses and his wife and children to believe that he was going to be cured. It was only necessary that he believed that he was going to be cured.


I told him to take the 5 tips towards winning that I mentioned yesterday. I told him that he needed to do that because he needed to train his mind to be positive for the rest of his life. He promised me he would. He did. He did it religiously, he told me. I also told him that,


"When you recover, you must remember to wake up everyday and continue with these steps to prevent the cancer from returning." This is obvious as a cancer is a physiological disorder and a positive mental attitude is necessary to stop it or keep it at bay.


Paul took my advice to heart. He started becoming positive again. He started going to the doctors office and, when the door opened and he entered, he was light a bright shining star bringing happiness and positivity to the other patients. He greeted everyone with a smile. He started creating in his heart the image and the belief that he was positive and that he was a good force and that he was actually, through his positivity and his actions, healing himself and helping others to heal.


Soon, Paul's cancer shrank and fell back into remission. He was ecstatic. His doctor was extremely pleased. 
   
The next time I met him he was a changed man. I couldn't believe how much he thanked me. But he needn't thank me. I told him nothing that he didn't already know: That faith and positive thinking and beliefs can move mountains.


But, alas, this story doesn't have a happy ending. But it does have an important lesson for everyone: Several months later, upon being given a clean bill of health, and being told that the cancer was in complete remission by the doctors, Paul returned to work and his normal lifestyle, Paul began to live as he did before...  


One day, after work, when riding his motorcycle home, he was hit at an intersection by a car and the accident severely broke his hipbone in several places. Paul had to return to the hospital where he languished. He was mentally shattered by this accident. 


I believe that Paul was so disappointed by this accident and the fact that he had to return to the hospital bed for a few months that he fell into deep depression. 


I spoke to Paul again, briefly on the phone, and he was a defeated man. He was crushed to be back into the hospital. Soon after, I'm sure to nobody's surprise, the cancer returned. Paul would die from complications from the cancer and the treatment soon after.


Like I said, there seems to be an important lesson here. When Paul became positive, he healed himself. When he became depressed, he got sick. Could the quickness of this change and how the illness returned show anything but the importance of a positive mental attitude?


A positive mental attitude is not something that you can just turn on and off like a light switch. It must be grown and it must be cultivated. 


A beautiful garden of flowers and roses does not appear overnight. It takes months of doing groundwork, shoveling, spading, planting, watering and nurturing.


Are you doing enough to nurture your soul and your positive attitude? Are you doing enough so that you can become a beacon of light?

For more read the 5 tips towards winning 

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Blogging About Being in Drug Rehabilitation in Japan and More

I have been having correspondence with another friend who I have never met, yet correspond with, just like Charles Bukowski and Gary North. My friend's name is Jp (I'm not sure he would want me to write his full name down. He seems a very humble person). Jp seems to be very well known in Hollywood. He is an artist, creator and producer. 


That's about all I know about him. Seems like a guy who enjoys his privacy and has just a few friends but those are strong relationships.

Jp has been around Hollywood for a very long time. He has seen what went on there in the sixties and knows Sunset Strip and the entertainment area well. It also seems that everyone in the so-called "Hollywood In-Crowd" knows Jp but I also gather he is not a part of that "in-crowd." (People like me think that is a good thing). Jp has been inspiring me, unbeknownst to him, to move into a more creative realm of writing. I think I am going to do that.


I've decided that I was going to start writing more about the many true and bizarre things that have happened to me in my life. I have been arrested a few times, should be dead (more than once); the lead singer of a one-hit wonder rock band, a drug addict, a witness to an exorcism; I won $100,000 at the lottery in '81 or was it '82? I've been divorced twice (not so special); I fought and defeated a rare and extremely deadly childhood cancer, met and worked with many famous people, been on TV; and I have the bragging rights of being the only DeeJay in Japan who has been fired from every FM radio station in Tokyo at least once (Bragging? That's right. If you knew how crappy these Tokyo FM stations are, then you'd agree) .... 


All in all, I've lived a charmed life. I want to write it down while I can.

My 54th birthday party

There's much material to cover, so first, I'll want to write about my true adventures in drug abuse and drug rehabilitation. This, inspired by Jp, but also inspired by Charles Bukowski of whom Jp is also a fan of. I will be posting some of these stories starting today or tomorrow (I am 1/2 way through the first one).


Before I do, though, I think I need to explain another reason why I do this. Of course, I'd like to be a famous writer someday too. But, if I get so lucky to be so, I also know that it would most certainly happen after my death, if at all. That's why I need to post these things. This blog is sort of my notes.


These stories will all be true stories to the best of my recollection and follow my writing style like the following two examples... But they will be even more raw and scary (I hope). I hope that I have the guts to write it down as it was and not to hide facts and sugar coat:


My Life is Like a "B" Horror Movie 


"All I wanted was one little drink, yet I couldn't have it." I said as I lay down on the sofa. The friend snorted the cocaine and rubbed his nose. Through his gasps he looked at me and said,

"Mike! This is a dry county in a Christian country in the Land of the Free. Why is it you have a problem with that? Why do you hate the baby Jesus!?" He laughed sarcastically at the absurdity of it all and handed the straw towards me. I refused. After a 24 hour flight, snorting cocaine was the last thing I needed.


On the left of me, here's a guy breaking the law by smoking marijuana. On the right of me, a guy breaking the law doing cocaine. Me, in the middle, I cannot even buy a glass of wine or a beer just because it is a Sunday? What is this? Enforced Christianity? Didn't Jesus drink wine?


John Belushi, Japan and Me - Or How the Movie Animal House Changed my Life


If you want to be special and do something really different, then you can't do what everyone else is doing. You have to go for the "gusto!" Watching John Belushi taught me to do that... Sometimes, it got me in big trouble with bosses, but the results have always been good. Like Francis Ford Coppola once said, "The things you get fired for at 20-years-old, are the things you are celebrated for at 50-years-old." I want to be celebrated. Who doesn't? Life is short.


Anyway, this inspiration to write these things down all-of-a-sudden. How did it come about? Well, as I wrote yesterday, first I decided to give up forever working with some clowns I know. Then Jp inspired me to watch some Bukowski videos. They caused me to remember how I felt when I was 30. Then Jp wrote about his work and frustrations.


So I decided that I am going to write these things down in the ext few days and here was my letter to JP explaining my motivations:

"Jp, I need to learn more from you. You have so much to share. Now, today, I am inspired by you and Bukowski to finally write down my experiences in drug rehabilitation in Japan. And I am doing that right now (taking a break). My thinking is that my blog writings are my notes (as well as a pocket notebook that I always carry). This year, I may get lucky and get a good sum of money from a business venture that I made a few years ago. I pray so. That allows me to have more freedom. Either way, I know that people create their own reality through self fulfilled prophesy so I am expecting the best and want to live my life. 


I want to write my experiences as I remembered they happened. I think it might make a good (maybe funny) collection of stories or even be good for a script (whether that script becomes movie or not is besides the point). Several people who know me well have read articles and posts when I admitted that I went drug rehab, divorced twice, was arrested a few times, etc. etc. 


They tell me, "Mike! Don't write that. People won't want to work with you!" 


I think, "Yep. Probably true. But so what? It is what it is. That was a long time ago and, in today's society, things (and people) are so f*cked up anyway. If they can't handle someone who is honest about their past, then I don't want to work with them anyway." 


There are so many people full of sh*t who are living plastic lives with plastic faces. Like that Roxy Music song, "In every dream home a heartache." That's the way it is. Our society is so sick because in every dream home there is a heartache; kid's a drug addict, father an alcoholic and having an affair, mom's addicted to pain killers, an unloved person relying on what a doll represents for love... On and on... Yet people want to keep the facade that they are "normal healthy and happy individuals." They don't want to admit their human failings. They want to live a life that is merely a show... 


I don't despise those kinds of people. They need to be pitied. If those kinds of people don't want to work with people like me who want to reach higher ground by telling the truth and admitting their faults, then why would I want to work with them? 


Who is the really sick person in this picture? 


I want to be happy. I want to be closer to God, Buddha, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, the big electrode, nature, peace, earth, the Sun, Bob, Tony, whatever-you-want-to-call-it. I want to reach the higher ground. I don't have any problem admitting my past.


Maybe I am wrong, but the best way to be happy and to reach that higher ground is to admit one's own problems and then, by doing so, you'll be able to be more accepting, understanding and less judgmental of other people's problems.


And, so, with that, my next posting will be about going into drug rehabilitation in Japan. Japan is well known for a no nonsense policy on drugs. Japan will put you in prison even if they find a tiny bit of marijuana on your possession. It is world famous and a well known fact that Japan doesn't mess around with drug abusers. 


Now, I can tell the story to you as it happened to me. Sounds scary? Well, it was, but that was a long time ago. Today? Call me crazy but I have very fond memories of drug rehab in Japan... It was much like my days in a university dorm.


The funny part about drug rehab in Japan is that they put the former drug abusers into the same hospitals as people who have been interned for mental disorders such as insanity or schizophrenia, so, when you are there, you never know why the person next to you is in the hospital. They could look completely normal but be unable to hold coherent conversations. On the other hand, they could look like a crazy mad scientist with their hair sticking out all directions and unshaven, seemingly barking mad crazy but be quite the well mannered gentleman... That sort of gentleman, that would be a normal person; a former drug addict, like me. I always looked like hell but had good manners and respect for people.


Of course I had respect for them, they scared the living daylights outta me. I didn't want them to kill me in my sleep.


The other tougher part about drug rehab is that you don't know when you'll ever be released until a week or a few days before release.

You'd look like this too is you only were allowed showers and shaves twice a week.

Compared to Matsuzawa Hospital, the hospital I stayed in, the movie hospital in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was pretty realistic in many ways. The difference between that hospital and mine? Not much. Everyone wanted desperately to get out of that place yet couldn't; and both hospitals had people dancing in the hallways. At least the hospital McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) was in had background music playing. My hospital had none... Yet they still danced. 


I also kept thinking of ways to escape and couldn't get that theme song from the movie "The Great Escape" out of my head.


The guys in the halls are still there dancing today, I'm sure. I am glad I am out and can talk about it. It is funny in parts and sad in others. I hope you will enjoy it. And I hope I don't come off as a pompous ass.

ROXY MUSIC - IN EVERY DREAM HOME A HEARTACHE

Thanks to Jp

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Processed Foods Cause Obesity and Cancer in Humans - Human Deaths From Cancer are on the Rise Since 1950 - Cats and Dogs Now Eat Processed Foods - Cats and Dogs Now Get Cancer….. Any Questions?

The other day a good friend told me about another acquaintance whose daughter had just passed away last Tuesday from a ten-month battle with cancer. Poor little girl. She was only eight-years-old... I have experience with dealing with childhood cancer so I can understand somewhat their suffering. May god rest her soul and comfort the parents.

......

This morning I went to the grocery store. I walked by the racks that have the processed poisons (er, I mean processed foods). I never buy that stuff. We picked up our veggies and fruits and then went to the check out counter. There, I noticed that, "Gee! The shelves where the processed human foods are sure do look a lot like the shelves where the processed cat and dog foods are. In fact, they look exactly alike!" 

If you don't pay attention closely, you might be eating your cat's dinner... It might even be healthier!

The increase in cancer deaths (even with the massive decrease in smoking cigarettes) can be attributed to many things. Some things may be difficult for us to control like the air we breathe or the location of factories from our homes.

It is easy, though, to control what we put into our bodies.

Human food. We know this isn't healthy.

It is common knowledge that processed foods cause obesity and cancer in humans (as well as many other maladies)

Deaths from human cancers are on the rise since 1950 (an increase of over 41%!)

Seriously. It's in a can or packaged at a factory, is there any question that it has all sorts of chemical goodies in it?

The diet of people in the west (Japan too) have continually been on a course of more convenience. This makes a situation whereby the consumption of processed foods increase as the years go by.


It isn't a coincidence that as more and more people eat processed foods that more and more people get cancer. Recently, more and more cats and dogs are getting various sicknesses and diseases like cancer. 


More and more people feed their animals processed foods that are causing these illnesses. I think there is a pretty easy to figure causative correlation going on here, don't you think?


Question 1: Do you think the chemicals in processed foods are safe? Do you think that chemicals can cause diseases like cancer? If so, don't you think it is a good idea to eliminate these chemicals in your diet or at least cut them down greatly wherever you can? 


Question 2: Do you think you should you be feeding yourself or your child processed foods?

My son's typical breakfast: Raw veggies and fruits: carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, cashew nuts, tomatoes, orange slices, melon slices (and two boiled broccoli). Add to this homemade raw veggie & fruit juice and 1/2 slice bread and one small sausage. Glass of bottled water. We never give him processed foods for any meal! My breakfast is all these fruits and veggies blended into juice!

Get healthy and protect your health now because the government is going bankrupt and they aren't going to be able to pay for your medical bills one day in the very near future; whether that is Japan, the United States or any of the  European nations with their massive debts. Who is going to pay for your medical bills when the government can't? Hint: Look in the mirror (it's you!)

Getting rid of all the processed foods and poisons we eat and drink is not a 100% sure-fire way to prevent cancer and diseases, but it is a pretty strong shield. And, I mean, in this day and age, why not make the best effort to cut down these poisons coming into our body? In many ways, we cannot control pollutants in the environment and where we live, but we can make a better effort to protect our bodies and our children.


It's a pretty simple equation, I think. You can do your best to eat right now or pay the price later. Your choice.


Note: My dear friend, Timo Budo wrote, "Hey buddy, I read yer rant about processed franken-food. In my case you're preachin' to the friggin' choir. You seen the flick "Forks Over Knives" ?" Here's the trailer:

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A Message for Fathers: Most Men Die With Regrets

... They die that way because they became fathers and then, one day, they realize that they missed out on their child's childhood. My 80-year-old father mentioned this to me before he died this year.

What a waste.


Most men don't realize this until they are in their late 50s through 80s - until they die.


I am one of the lucky few. I realized it when I was in my mid thirties. The reason why I was lucky enough to realize it is because most dads get married and then they have two or three children within a few years. They also consistently repeat the same mistakes with the second and third child that they made with the first child. Then they don't get a second chance. They raise the children together, of course. Not me, my kids are 20 years apart in age.


I have four children. Julie (27) and Sheena (22) were born to my first wife. That wife and I divorced after seven years of marriage and I raised those two girls by myself. I remarried three years later and Wendy was born. When Wendy (17) got sick as a baby and then recovered from cancer, she wasn't able to live with her sisters for at least 6 years due to chemo-therapy treatments so her mother and I divorced and Wendy went away to live with her mother. 


I remarried again for the third time and Wray (8) was born.


Julie and Sheena often had trouble at school and sometimes with the police when they were teenagers. I regret that I didn't spend enough time with them, but with trying to pay to raise them, I didn't have the time I needed. I hired several nannies and they raised them. One nanny was the main one, but she wasn't full-time. I will always regret that I missed their childhood and didn't spend the time with them that I should have.


So, one day, my second wife, a wonderful woman, married me and my two daughters and Wendy was born.


When Wendy got cancer, I was devastated. One day she was fine. The next day she couldn't walk. A few days later she was in the hospital for the next 2 years. Then, when she was released she had to move away to save her life. I will always regret that I missed her childhood and didn't spend the time with her that I could have.


But, like I said, I am lucky. God gave me more chances (so, perhaps there is a silver lining to divorce). I don't want to miss Wray's childhood. When he was born, I often took care of him. I spent time with him and took him for walks everyday for the first two years in his baby carriage. Then, from age 1 1/2 until 7, I went to bed with him every night at 8 pm and we read books together before going to sleep. I make his breakfast at least 320 days a year and eat dinner with him at least 3 or 4 nights a week. I still do.


I always try to come home before 5:30 pm.


I want to live with Wray with no regrets. God gave me another chance I won't waste it. I cannot get back the time with my other children but I can make sure that I don't repeat my mistakes. I will always regret about my first three daughters, but I am trying not to regret with Wray.


You fathers please listen to me. Take my advice. 


Yesterday, Sunday afternoon, the piano school Wray goes to had a Christmas piano concert. I looked at the crowd in attendance. I estimated that there were 27 moms and about 5 grandmas there. The dads? A pretty poor showing. Seemed like 7 fathers and 4 grandfathers. With 27 moms, there should have been 27 dads but there were only 7. Where were the others? What is so important that they miss their child's performance?

The children all performed their hearts out and smiled brightly when their performances ended. Even when it wasn't my son playing, I cried at some of the performances.


Here were these innocent, pure and bright young children playing their hearts out for their moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas. Oh what a joyous occasion it was.


What an even more joyous occasion it could have been had those other 20 fathers bothered to attend. I wonder if any of those fathers were you, dear reader? Or were they you at a different time at a different occasion?


Where were those fathers? Were they Golfing? At home sleeping? Working? Like I said, ultimately what is more important to all of us than our children?


Think about it my friends, what do we work for? Why do we chase the all mighty dollar?


We do it to give our families a place to live and a roof over their heads and food and a happy family.


Think about that last part, "... a happy family." Is a family truly happy when the father is not around? Take, for example this Christmas concert. How many Christmas concerts will your 8-year-old son or daughter perform at? Well, when you stop to think about it, kids are only eight once and Christmas comes only once a year.... That means once.


How often can you go golfing or work or sleep on the couch?

I hope that you, in the New Year, will think about what I am saying. Like I wrote, very few people have the luck to have raised children that are 20 years apart in age. I do. Listen to what I say. 


Share time now with your children because now isn't coming back ever again. Give your child a hug and spend time with them while you can. 

The future is coming sooner than you can imagine. Don't kid yourself. No matter how much time you spend with your children, one day, you'll wish you had spent more. Do it now.

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Santa Claus Visits Tokyo Hospital for Children With Incurable Diseases

Every year at about this time, Santa Claus visits the mothers and their children who have been diagnosed with incurable diseases. In Japanese, "incurable disease" is 難病 (Nanbyou). 


The good folks at the NPO Nanbyonet (Nanbyonet.or.jp  http://www.nanbyonet.or.jp/) help Santa and his helpers to visit these wonderful children and to try to brighten their day and spend some time with them and bring them happiness and Christmas cheer.

Santa tells me that he thinks that Nanbyonet.or.jp is one of, if not thee, most reputable charities in Japan. Nanbyonet.ot.jp helps to raise funds to give these children some happiness and enjoyment in their short time on this earth and to bring people closer together.

Besides Christmas events, Nanbyonet.or.jp also arranges camping for the kids, poolside and swimming events, arts and crafts, musical events and others to create enjoyment for these wonderful little people. Nanbyonet.or.jp also arranges training and support for the parents of these special needs children. 

For more information on how you can help Nanbyonet.or.jp check their website (Nanbyonet.or.jp) or inquire here: http://www.nanbyonet.or.jp/inquiry/index.html

Today, Dec. 6, 2011 Santa Claus and his helpers got an early start and had the pleasure of going to Juntendo University Hospital in Tokyo, near Ochanomizu Station to visit several dozen children and their mothers in the hospital.


Santa brought presents to all and took pictures for the moms and the kids to keep forever.

Of course, Santa can't show you all the pictures with his friends and their mothers, but here are a few that you might enjoy...

Oops! This little girl was out at the moment so Santa left a present behind on the bed. Luckily for Santa, when he came back a little later on, the girl was waiting for him! 

In the three wards Santa visited were about 60+ kids with varying degrees of illness. In spite of that, you probably couldn't find a more positive and happy bunch of kids and their moms anywhere else in the world! Ho! Ho! Ho!

This little girl thought Santa was scary! Maybe the yelling, "Merry Christmas" loudly in the usually quiet hospital hallways was a bit much. Next year, Santa may have to tone it down a bit in front of the very little tykes! But no! Santa is sure these kids are all going to get better and I will see them next year too.... ... Happy and healthy at their homes!

All the children Santa met were wonderful and loving, special children. One little girl, her name was Miki, sang a song for Santa and, even though she couldn't see Santa very well, she asked Santa to sit next to her so she could feel Santa's beard. She even gave Santa a big Christmas hug... Not only that, she handmade the best Christmas present any Santa could ever receive. She made Santa a candy cane out of red & white pipe cleaners with a bow on it! What a beautiful present from that lovely little girl's heart. How thoughtful! Santa took it home and showed it to Mrs. Santa and promptly hung it on the Santa family Christmas tree.

Candy cane present from lovely Miki san! 

Santa will never forget, Miki san. That's a promise!

Now, every year, Santa is going to think about Miki and all the wonderful children who shared their time with him this year. Santa loves you and is praying for you all and may a miracle happen to you and may god bless you all! 

Santa and his friends and helpers from Juntendo University Hospital and Nanbyonet.or.jp

CHRISTMAS NOTE: Every day of every year, some child is struck down with a terrible disease. While medical science desperately searches for cures, there is something you and I can do to make these children's (and their parents) lives just a little bit better. We can volunteer our time or donate to a worthy cause.

Won't you consider all the good things you have and just how fortunate we really are and give some of your time or donations to a just cause?

You'll feel better about yourself. I know I do. I wish I could do more. Won't you help this Christmas season?

(Nanbyonet.or.jp) or inquire here: http://www.nanbyonet.or.jp/inquiry/index.html 
(Sorry Japanese only! Trying to convince them to make English info ASAP)

Thanks to Nanbyonet, Fukushima san, Ogisu san, Okado san, Pfizer KK Hirata san and all the great folks at Juntendo University Hospital!

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"Who are you to make such claims?" Complaints Bloggers (I) Receive

Sometimes in posts on this blog, I want to warn people with small children about dangerous diseases and illnesses that can be prevented easily. But sometimes people will write thing like, "Who are you to make such claims?" Or like in yesterday's post, a comment like this, "You seriously are comparing the worst nuclear disaster ever, to flu shots. (sic) You are a sick individual." 


I get lots of hate mail especially when I compare the risks of everyday occurrences with a media sensationalized story like Fukushima.


Challenges. Those are comments that I often get... Along with invective and personal insults. I try not to insult these people back. I like to think that the big electrode, God, Buddha, Zig Zag, what-have-you, in the sky put these people on the earth to teach me patience and how to be a better person.


Kindness to people works wonders!

My third daughter Wendy.  Some say she is handicapped. 
I say she is "just perfect!"

The most recent attacks I have received are because I have warned parents about serious problems, diseases and illnesses that can affect their children and I use Fukushima sensationalism as a comparison. People will grossly overreact to Fukushima, over a hundred miles away, but when serious causes of diseases (that get little media attention) are right under their noses, they are oblivious. 


To pat myself on the back (once again) as a mass media professional for over thirty years, I know what kind of BS goes on with news reporting and sensationalism as I have seen it from the inside. And, with four kids, I hope I know a bit about raising children. In fact, because of 4 kids, and one of them defeating a rare, deadly childhood disease - yet remaining handicapped for the rest of her life - I know more than most parents would ever want to know about raising kids and diseases like childhood cancer.


Many times I have pointed out that we cannot believe what we hear on the TV news and even so-called alternative media. The sensationalism sells advertising. That's the point and, in this day and age, it astounds me that most people today say they know that, but when it comes to something like Swine Flu or Fukushima, they seem to forget it. I am beginning to think that this selective response is due to some childhood phobias. Please refer to: Japan Nuclear Disaster Update & Strong Criticism of Western Media Sensationalism:

Actually, it astounds me that people do accept what what the media says as gospel truth. Don't forget that this is the very same media that told us 3 years ago that Swine Flu was going to kill more than 50 million people worldwide. This was the same media that told us that the USA had to invade Iraq because of Saddam's nooklar weapons. This was the same media that told us that SARS also was a killer virus that was going to wipe out entire populations. This was the same media that told us that Bird Flu was going to do the same.

As of today, worldwide  deaths from Swine Flu: 82. No nuclear weapons for Saddam (if he had any, do you really think we would have invaded Iraq?). Worldwide deaths from SARS: 100. Worldwide deaths from Bird Flu: 80. Don't even get me started on Man Made Global Warming!

Fact of the matter is that this is the same media who constantly exaggerates stories in order to sell advertising space to an extremely gullible public. When will people ever learn? If history is any example then the answer is: Never. They'll never learn.

Just wait a year or three for the next killer disease and we can start all over again.  

So, I write posts like the above pointing out problems with the media. Then I write articles alerting people to serious cancer and disease causing problems that, while not trendy, nor spectacularly newsworthy, are actually much more dangerous to our children than Fukushima will ever be. For one example of that, please refer to: 

Benzene in Cars! This Will Kill More People Than Fukushima Will 

Do not turn on A/C immediately as soon as you enter the car! Please open the windows after you enter your car and do not turn on the air-conditioning immediately.

According to research done, the car dashboard, sofa, air freshener emits Benzene, a cancer causing toxin (carcinogen - take note of the heated plastic smell in your car). In addition to causing cancer, it poisons your bones, causes anemia, and reduces white blood cells. Prolonged exposure will cause Leukemia, increasing the risk of cancer. may also cause miscarriage.

Acceptable Benzene levels indoors is 50 mg per sq. ft.. A car parked with windows closed will contain 400 - 800 mg of Benzene. If parked outdoors, under the sun, at temperature above 60 degrees F (15.5 C), the Benzene level goes up to 2000 - 4000 mg, 40 times the acceptable level... And the people inside the car will inevitably inhale an excess amount of the toxins.

It is recommended that you open the windows and doors to give time for the interior to air out before you enter. Benzene is a toxin that affects your kidney and liver, and it is very difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff.

Or even my most recent post: 

Massive Cover-up! Worse Than Fukushima? Japan (and the World Over) Danger Levels at More Than 250 X Safe Limit!

Here are the facts: 300 death claims from flu vaccine. And Flu vaccines and neurological problems (caused Guillian Barre Syndrome in over 500 people). These two links show over 800 deaths and nerve damage vaccine related illnesses from, you guessed it, flu shots in one year alone! So far deaths or illness from Fukushima: Zero. 

Because of these posts, though, I will get attacked by people who ask me what right or authority I have to mention anything about diseases like this or children's cancer. Perhaps I am confused, but here is where I think my authority lies. My authority lies in my dearest third daughter whom I love deeply and will spend the rest of my life caring for and trying to help other parents (and their children) to prevent a similar struggle. 


So let me give my qualifications. First, my darling daughter, Wendy. One day, when she was age 1 1/2, she suddenly could not walk anymore. It was very strange. One day she was running around, the next day she couldn't stand. Soon after, she was diagnosed with 4th stage of a rare form of children's cancer called Rhabdomysarcoma. The doctors said it was incurable and her diagnosis was poor. She, like all children diagnosed with this horrible disease, was only expected to live for 2 ~ 6 months. 


As some may know, 4th stage cancer is the worst and final stages. The doctors at Setagaya Children's Hospital told me that she had virtually no chance. But I fought back. We fought back. 


I fired those doctors and hired the #1 expert in Japan (and top doctor in the world for this type of cancer - Dr. Mugishima at Nichidai hospital in Itabashi Tokyo) to handle my daughter. I fired the first group of doctors because they said, "Virtually zero chance." Dr. Mugishima gave us a 7% chance. Good enough. Better than zero. If your doctor doesn't think you have a chance, then that's not good. Fire them.


As part of the new doctor's regime, my then wife had to move into the hospital with my daughter 24/7 and that left me at home with two small girls to care for by myself and to try to hold down a job too! In spite of that, I took care of those two girls, and visited my daughter and wife in the hospital everyday religiously for over two years. 


The hospital cost me an impossible amount to pay. It was well over $10,000 a month every month for those 2 years (insurance doesn't pay for private hospitals and choices) and yet I paid it out of my pocket with no loans (Heck, I was a foreigner in Japan, my wife was in the hospital with my daughter, I had no assets, who's going to give me a loan? No one.) Yet, even with all this, I held down my job, paid for everything, cooked and cleaned and we came out victorious in a war with a deadly disease. 


When my daughters cancer was declared in full remission she was released from the hospital with one big caveat: Because of the treatment, her immune system was so damaged that she was not allowed to live with other children for six years because she would be catching all sorts of illness (from her sisters who played with other children at school who caught colds all the time). And those illnesses might kill her. 


After two years apart in the hospital and then another six years apart (at least) for the future, and me with a 11-year-old and a 9-year-old from a previous marriage, my wife and I decided it was best to get a divorce. In over 80% of all cases where a child in Japan gets cancer in Japan, the parents wind up in divorce. The pressure and stress are too great.


My daughter is now a high school student and looking forward to college. She is wheelchair bound for life but one of the happiest and most positive people you could ever hope to meet. I wish my other daughters were so happy!


Japan has a population of about 130 million people. Only about two or three children per year get this rare form of cancer. Nearly all of them do not survive. My daughter was only the second one in history of Japan, since it started cancer study with Germany and the USA in 1971, to do so.


These are my qualifications. I don't think they are so bad. 


UPDATE: People need to get their priorities straight. For example, did you know that: In the U.S., the odds of being killed by conventional medicine are almost 20 times (2,000%) greater than being killed in an automobile accident and almost 30 times (3,000%) greater than being killed by a gun. - From Confessions of a Drug Industry Insider.


*If any parents have such a challenge to deal with, please write to me and perhaps I can give some advice that may be helpful... I will try.

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