On the Road Again...

Hello, everyone! I am back pounding the pavement after taking about 6 days off from running. Man, it felt really good to get back out there. The first day, I was doing kind of a limp-jog for about 2 miles around the track. I must have looked like Fred G. Sanford. I kept adding about a mile a day and today, I was able to put in a total of 8 miles, which included a hard 10 X 400M.

I am starting to run like a normal, uninjured human being, but I will never be as smooth as Pat Porter as show in the photo above. Pat, an Adams State College runner who was my contemporary when I was running for Western State College, dominated cross-country running in the U.S. for a number of years. Pat's running was poetry in motion. He did not just fly like a bird--he soared like an eagle. Some of us just dream of moving like that.

Anyway, I spent most of my down-time reading and want to make a few book recommendations here for those of you who are interested in modern Japanese society:

First, The Enigma of Japanese Power by Karel van Wolferen is a must-read, especially if you live in Japan. The book was written in 1989, but much of what the author presents still ring true today.

Embracing Defeat by John Dower is another excellent read about the Occupation Period in Japan immediately following the war. Did you know that the Japanese constitution was written in just over 7 days by an American team selected by SCAP? One of the architects of the constitution was a sharp, young 22-year old female who made sure that women's rights were not overlooked.

Finally, Japan's Quiet Transformation takes a look at what has happened in Japan following the bursting of the Bubble Economy. The 1990's is commonly known as the "Lost Decade" but the author, Jeff Kingston of Temple University Japan, argues that the economic realities of the period helped cause Japan to transform into a state giving more power to the citizens. He goes on to give a number of interesting examples of this quiet transformation.

OK, enough of the academic stuff. June 11 is coming up. I will be traveling to Guam very soon to gather my resources to post entries about the run across Japan. Why June 11? Because that is the day I started the run in Kagoshima in 1983. Why start in Kagoshima and not in Wakkanai? It just seemed like the logical thing to do, although I have been told I should have started in the North so the run would be all downhill!

Taking Days Off

I don't like taking days off from running and I rarely do. Although I have loosened up a bit over the years, I never used to take a day off from running unless I was physically unable to run. One of the craziest things I did was go on a 3AM run in the city of Atlanta before catching an international flight. I've also done a 1AM run through the middle of Sydney, but that wasn't so bad. Knowing that I will most likely race better by taking days off has not convinced me to take any rest days.

I have taken days off when hospitalized, but that doesn't happen very often. I was hospitalized only once in my lifetime, and that was the time I was running the length of Japan. (That story will come up later in my trek through Kyushu.)

Yes, I have been quiet on the blog for the past week or so. It has been a rough week. I have been slaving over the final draft of my dissertation, which, by the way now has over 80,000 words. The deadline is adding to the pressure.

The toughest part has been the inability to run. I have a very nasty infection in the toes of my right foot. It is particularly bad on the bottom portion of the 2nd and 3rd toes. How did I get it? I think it all started with a simple scratching of the toes one day after a run, that most likely made a small cut in my skin. I knew something was different on subsequent runs, but I continued the daily routine. I think it all came to a head when I went on a rainy run on a very mushy field. The little bugger bacteria must have crawled in as a result of that run (I think).

Anyway, I was in pain for a few days with a huge swollen, infected foot. I won't go into details, but it was not pretty. I finally went to the doctor on Saturday and got some antibiotics and other good stuff to help the toes. I'll go back to see him again tomorrow.

The moral of the story...Anything can happen to anyone at anytime. Just keep running when you can!

The Long and Winding Road...

That song by the Beatles played over and over in my head when I was putting in the miles across Japan...

A little over 32 years have passed since I began running or hyper-ventilating all over the place, as some would say. I was only 14 years old at that time, living in the city of Sasebo, Japan. Yes, it is the city with an American naval base and should not be confused with famous military town of "Yukuuuuuuska," which is located somewhere near the Japanese city of Yokosuka.

The running started as an attempt to lose weight. Nobody likes to have their titties grabbed by other guys when playing a pick-up game of basketball. One skinny kid named Virgil Fisher, who had ears the size of peanuts, asked if I ate too much gohan after grabbing a handful of my right breast. (I never did like the idea of "shirts" and "skins" teams.) I was so heavy as a kid that my jeans had holes in the inner thigh area from all the friction. I was lucky not to catch on fire like my friend Victor Rosier did, when he put a pack of matches and neebies (Japanese firecrackers) into his pants pocket and ran around the neighborhood.

The running began for me in 1974, and the weight came off, so much that by the time I was 18, the young ladies looked at me and said, "Man, that's gross." I took that as a good sign. When people say you look healthy, that's a sign that you need to drop weight if you are a distance runner.

"Hey Fred, no need to run. Just roll up the windows in your car on a hot day and you will sweat just as much as you do when you run. Try it." Right! This was advice given to me by an older lady that worked with me in the early 1980's. She was dead serious.

"If running is so much fun, how come people that run look like they are not enjoying it?" This I hear every now and then. I usually ask the person if they enjoy sex and imagine how silly the person looks, smiling and/or laughing out loud while getting it on.

The running was no longer to lose weight, but a way to gather my thoughts and to experience the outdoors. Just lacing up the running shoes put my body in anticipation of that kinesthetic flow of cruising over a long distance. Yes, I have had the experience of running at an exceptionally fast clip with the sensation that I was expending absolutely no effort. It's the feeling of being detached from your body and just watching as you cruise along. I've had this happen on regular runs and even on some of the days when I was running the length of Japan.

Unfortunately, I don't get to enjoy this sensation much anymore especially with the dead legs that have accumulated so many miles over the 32 year period. In any case, I believe this is what many regular runners seek, while others may run to train for specific races and may occasionally experience the "runner's high." The running that continues today is with the hope that there is a slight chance that the sensation will return, kind of like Halley's Comet. But I guess I can say like many runners, I just run for the sunrise and the sunset.

What are you doing in Guaaaaaam?

I had someone ask me that question, as if it was some kind of a crime or that one had to be stupid to voluntarily move to a small island to live. I couldn't believe I was hearing this. I still remember the details. The year was 1984 and I was standing in what seemed at the time like one of the most depressing places on earth--on a farm in Castroville, California. It was my first day there, and the dull artichoke farm scenery covered with gray fog did not leave a good first impression. All I could think of was John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath. (Later on, as I got to know the place I found that it wasn't so bad after all. In fact, it is a nice, quiet community not too far from San Francisco).

Anyway, let me get to the point. I did not move to Guam for the scenery, although I must say it is spectacular. I did not go for the weather, either. The super hot and humid conditions do not make running easy. It just wipes you out. I first decided to move to Guam when I realized that by age 27, if I had not lived on US soil for 2 consecutive years, that I would have no citizenship. Yeah, that's right. I'll get into the details later, but that's about it.

Guam, being only 3.5 hours away from Japan, is the closest U.S. territory. It is where "America's Day Begins," with the territory being the first U.S. soil that greets every new day. I made the decision to move to Guam in 1978 when I was a Freshman at Sophia University in Tokyo. In 1979, I made the move. After moving to Guam by myself at the age of 19, I have learned to love the island for its people and the multicultural aspect of the island community. Sure it has problems--a disturbing crime rate, history of frequent super typhoon visits, among others--but the place grows on you. I have never felt more comfortable in a community as I have felt on Guam.

I am sure Castroville can be that way for many people. It just isn't right to assume that we all want to live in the same type of environment. Each one of us has our own priorities when it comes to selecting a place to live. For me, Guam is home.

Pets Rule!

When I was in Tokyo, I did a lot of running around Shakujii Park, which is in a residential area ("Bed Town") located about 75 minutes away from central Tokyo. While on my runs, I would see elderly men and women talking to their pets as they walked them on the trails. The pets were clothed in fancy outfits--some wearing famous brands, like Burberry's and Adidas. These pets were all decked out. No doubt they are taking the place of kids in many Japanese homes.

On Children's Day in May, the newspapers in Japan announce the latest statistics on children. This year, it was announced that the number of children declined for the 25th straight year. Japan, with a population of 127 million, will start declining in population after 2007. The birth rate is at a record low of 1.28. When I was born, one out of 17 people, was over the age of 65. Today, it is one out of 5. Of all the prefectures and regions in Japan, Tokyo has the smallest percentage of kids per capita. At the current rate using moderate range projections, the population of Japan will be half of what it is by the year 2100!

Japan is changing, and the face of Japan will most likely change in the coming years. That is, if the immigration controls are loosened up for foreign workers to come in and take up the slack. In the meantime, you can travel around the country today and literally see the effects of the changing demographics of the country.

What is in the photograph? That is a pet-clothing van setting up shop at Shakujii Park. They must be raking in the dough.

Tourism Studies

I never thought I would be going back to school to get a PhD in Tourism. I have heard all the comments, like, "What, tourism? What is there to learn about tourism?"

It's like if you were a tourist once, that makes you a tourism expert. Of course, we all know that understanding the deep motivations and desires of what tourists seek is not so simple. Anyway, I am studying the changing profile of the Japanese overseas traveler. The Japanese tourist today is not the same as the tourist of the 1980's. Today's tourists are a reflection of Japan's changing society.

How much has Japan changed since I completed my run in 1983? So much has changed, and yet so much has stayed the same. Convenience stores now dot the landscape in Japan, replacing the old mom and pop shops that used to be everywhere. The neighborhood rice and sake stores (Sakaya) have just about disappeared, to be replaced by discount liquor stores. The drink vending machines are still there on lonely country roads and you never have to worry about dying of thirst as long as you have some yen. Runners are pretty much respected today as they were over two decades ago, maybe even more after the Olympic marathon gold medals of Takahashi and Noguchi.

During my run across Japan, I met so many people, most that had never left the country for a vacation. At that time, only about 5 million (from a population of 120 million) Japanese went overseas for vacation. Now, approximately 17 million travel overseas. Perspectives on how they view the world have changed. An interesting observation is that I now often hear young Japanese naming all the overseas countries that they have visited, and then talk about their "wish list" of other countries that they would like to visit in the future. Unfortunately, many have not visited the other main islands of Japan, like Hokkaido or Shikoku.

Most of the young people that I see on campus were not yet born in 1983--man, that makes me feel old. Oh, I should not forget to mention that I don't recall seeing any blonde Japanese when I traveled the entire country in 1983. The only blonde I can remember from that time was Sting, singing "Every Breath You Take" on Japanese TV.

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

I have been living in Japan since September 2003, again as a student. The last time I was here under the same status was back in 1978 when I was enrolled at Sophia University in Tokyo.

Being at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) is a completely different experience. It is great being away from the big city life. I had spent a number of months during the past 3 years living in Tokyo and I had struggled with the long, crowded commutes into the city. Functioning on little sleep is not always easy. That explains all the tired faces that you see when you walk around in Tokyo. It is also clear why the "energy drinks" do gangbuster business in the cities.

Now I am staying on top of a mountain overlooking the city of Beppu with the ocean in the distance. The air is clean and the water tastes so good. Running around the campus and the farming villages in the surrounding area is awesome. Sometimes, all I hear is the wind and the bamboo rubbing against each other in the hills. An occasional crow will break the silence. The photograph above is of a typical fellow traveler that you will encounter on the side of a now less-traveled country road in Japan.

Being out on the quiet country roads reminds me of the days when I was running the length of Japan. I only have another 2 to 3 months to enjoy this before I head back to my real home.

Introduction

Why run the length of Japan?

I was asked that question many times. Let me give you a short answer first. The long one will be known after reading the posts.

First and foremost, I love running. I started running regularly at the age of 14 while attending an American school in Japan and had completed my first marathon at that age.

Secondly, I wanted to see parts of Japan that most Japanese don't really see. I felt that the best way to do this was on foot. Japan is not Tokyo or Osaka. The real Japan is in the small farming communities far removed from the cities.

The final reason is a bit complex. I am a US citizen, born and raised in Japan. I moved to Guam to live on US soil. As an adult, I was no longer allowed to reside in Japan unless I had a sponsor. Because of this, the run was a culmination of my wish to see the country of Japan and also to say "Good-bye" as my new life was already beginning on the island of Guam.