The End of Japan’s Pacifist Era? | @AbroadinJapan #249
Abroad In Japan Podcast
0:00 Yeah, it's a bit it's it's a bit depressing and a bit scary.
0:03 Um, diplomacy will hopefully win.
0:09 Wow.
0:09 Hello and welcome to the Abro Japan podcast.
0:11 Probably the best way of learning about
0:12 life in Japan without actually being in Japan.
0:15 I'm your host, Chris Broad.
0:16 We're joined as always by England's top Japan enthusiast, Mr.
0:18 Pete Darson.
0:19 Pete, I've run out of picari sweat.
0:22 How you doing?
0:22 Damn it.
0:23 Oh, you'll have to use your you'll have
0:25 to create your own sweat and lick that, unfortunately.
0:27 I'm good, Chris.
0:28 I have um I I've I've spent the last couple
0:31 of days um I'm going to say modifying my garden somewhat.
0:36 There's a big wall in my garden that I am
0:40 seeking to replace the unlovable breeze blocks with um uh glass.
0:45 I bought some glass ballast from uh
0:48 some bloke on Facebook Marketplace in in Lewisham.
0:51 And uh I've I've basically chopped down a wall.
0:55 I bought Oh, wow.
0:56 I bought this thing.
1:00 I bought this big I bought this big saw, right?
1:04 And I've been using it to chop things down.
1:07 I'm chopping a lot of like cement and blocks and brick and it is undefeated.
1:15 This diamond tipped circular sort of um still saw um is absolutely undefeated.
1:21 I am I am I feel like a god, Chris.
1:24 I've been spend the last couple of days just chopping walls down
1:27 and then I've got a big lump hammer and I'm just smashing walls.
1:31 It's been very satisfying.
1:33 Um my partner
1:36 is a little bit um underwhelmed with the um
1:39 with what the garden's looking like right now.
1:40 We we've sort of reached a bit of a hot spell.
1:43 You know, summer is upon us, Chris.
1:44 And um and my partner Sarah's not happy about the mess I've made in the garden.
1:48 There's a lot of cement kicking around.
1:50 I've got Can you blame me?
1:52 No, I can't.
1:52 I can't.
1:53 You know what?
1:53 I can't I the the thing that gets me is she is uh she she she mistrusts
1:59 my capacity for DIY when I think in my world
2:05 I don't think she has any cause for concern.
2:10 I don't know about that.
2:11 I don't think I don't think she should be that worried
2:13 about it cuz I've done some all right work over the years.
2:16 I don't know why she's so concerned about what
2:18 what I'm what I'm getting up to in the garden.
2:21 She must feel like she's dating[ __] Jigsaw out of the saw.
2:25 Maybe you want to play a game with big hammer swinging.
2:29 It's because she didn't see me with my top
2:31 off swinging a big hammer knocking a wall down.
2:33 She, you know, cuz obviously I wouldn't get much work done
2:36 cuz she should be bothering me cuz such a sexy sight.
2:41 I don't know if I'd rather date Jigsaw or Pete Donaldson at this point.
2:44 Jigsaw.
2:45 It's a very It's a very treacherous I mean it's
2:49 a very treacherous place at this moment in time.
2:50 I've got steel rebar coming out of I'm mixing cement constantly.
2:55 Constantly mixing cement.
2:56 I'm using more cement.
2:58 Didn't they say like China used more cement than uh Oh god.
3:01 Where was I think Yeah.
3:04 than the whole world combined in like a year or something.
3:07 Yeah.
3:07 Something weird like that.
3:09 God.
3:09 And the China number one second Pete Donaldson
3:13 in his garden by cement usage per capita.
3:17 Criy man.
3:18 That's good on you though.
3:19 You keep up that you do things in your garden.
3:22 You keep up that good work.
3:23 Yeah.
3:24 I went to a bloke in Lewisham.
3:25 Um I drove a I rented a big van uh from a company
3:29 at South End Airport and I drove all the way to Lewisham.
3:33 Um and this guy like scraped the entire side of the van.
3:37 lost my deposit almost immediately.
3:39 Oh my god.
3:39 Um and uh and then um and then the we were carrying the big sheets of like,
3:45 you know, you know, 15 mil mil glass,
3:47 really thick um safety glass to the car and the guy who was
3:51 carrying it with me just dropped his side and it just exploded everywhere.
3:55 Um so I've only got So I did have four sheets to use.
3:58 Now I've only got three.
3:59 So I've had to uh change up.
4:02 It's It's basically like the TV show on Channel 4 Grand Designs,
4:04 but I've had to change my uh my plans for the garden.
4:09 You live a ridiculous life of that.
4:10 There will be no doubt.
4:12 But fair play to you, man.
4:15 I've done nothing of compare nothing of comparison to that, unfortunately,
4:19 other than go to Lost Bar and get drunk once.
4:22 But good.
4:22 And it's your birthday, right?
4:23 Well, it's your birthday uh in a few days,
4:26 but it'll already have been your birthday by the time this episode comes out.
4:29 So belated or bel happy birthday.
4:32 How's it feel?
4:33 Bel early.
4:33 Um I I went for a uh I went for a Japanese I
4:36 or I will have went for a I I went for a Japanese head massage.
4:41 Um Oh, really?
4:41 on the day.
4:42 So uh that's that's what Sarah booked for me to as if to sort of go,
4:46 you know what, Pete, just just chill out.
4:47 You don't need to be chopping down walls.
4:50 Just get yourself get someone to chop
4:52 you in the head to for relaxation purposes.
4:56 Yeah.
4:56 Exactly.
4:56 Exactly.
4:57 Yeah.
4:57 Nice.
4:58 The older I've gotten and the more muscly and fat I've gotten,
5:02 I've appreciated massages more.
5:04 Uh, it is good.
5:06 Do it.
5:06 Get a good massage once or twice a year.
5:09 Yeah.
5:09 It's not something I do very often,
5:11 but every now and again you're like, "Oh, yeah.
5:12 I realize why people do this quite a lot." Um, and yeah, you and the and I mean,
5:19 it's just constantly you're constantly fearful of falling
5:21 asleep and snoring and blowing off really.
5:25 That seems to be kind of the the two perils of of getting a nice massage.
5:31 Is it?
5:32 And you're also thinking or you were last time
5:34 I spoke to you of coming to Japan, right?
5:37 If airplanes I've booked me flights.
5:39 I've booked me flight.
5:40 I'm trying to sort of get it's not going to be a long trip,
5:42 but it's going to be a it's going to be efficient.
5:44 I think I'm going to I'm going to grab a car
5:47 um from the airport and drive to wherever we wherever we're needed.
5:50 Uh
5:50 go to Toigi again.
5:51 Go to Niko and see the shrine.
5:53 Second time.
5:54 No, I'm not going to I'm not going to Tashi.
5:56 I'm not going to Niko.
5:57 I'm not going to I'm not going to do that because Chris will It's just basically
6:02 a part of Japan I don't want to talk
6:03 about anymore quite frankly cuz Chris films you
6:06 and then doesn't do anything with the footage.
6:08 Disgusting.
6:08 Yeah, cuz you we did a[ __] podcast
6:11 in a hotring that was hotter than Mount Doom.
6:13 Like if we thrown the[ __] ring in there, it would have like melted in seconds.
6:17 But we just sit here and do a podcast for like half an hour.
6:20 But it's exciting because you're coming over.
6:22 We've got no plan what we're doing.
6:24 I've got like I' I've blockooked like my friends
6:28 throughout May to try and do lots of cool stuff.
6:30 Obviously been traveling and doing all sorts.
6:31 I want to do lots of cool videos and I've got like a week with Natki.
6:34 We've got nothing planned.
6:35 We're trying to work out what the heck to do.
6:37 What do you do with the man who's seen and done
6:40 everything and then we've got stuff with Connor and stuff with you.
6:44 But what is there somewhere you want to go
6:45 or something you want to do in particular?
6:48 Well, so I'm looking at this map.
6:50 I'm looking at this map um for your friend of mine,
6:52 Japan, a country in East Asia.
6:54 Um and I have never explored any part of Shikoku.
7:00 I have never been to Shikoku.
7:02 The closest I've been to is like Wakayama, Okyama,
7:06 and I've never actually set foot on um Shikoku.
7:10 So, I know it's a bit of a shle, Chris, but I would we have to we have to
7:15 we have to we simply have to or we go Lost Bar in Shabuya.
7:21 Just get drunk.
7:22 Oh, that's that's one of the things you can do.
7:23 I mean, look, I love I do like Shikaka a lot and I'm
7:26 thinking of doing a video there with Connor two weeks before you arrive.
7:30 So, of course, you've chosen that.
7:32 Um, well, we'll if you want if if Dodson wants Shikaku,
7:37 Cinderella Doolson, she'll get Shikaku.
7:41 We'll we'll see.
7:42 We got to think of what we're going to do.
7:43 But I I do want to film a video.
7:44 I do want to film some podcasts.
7:46 I want to have some fun.
7:47 I think the only problem with Chicago is it's very hot in May.
7:49 Um on the tail in June when you're coming it's going to be like an oven.
7:54 So there's Hokkaido which is colder than that if
7:58 you want to go and get eaten by a bear.
8:01 Uh we'll work something out.
8:02 We'll work something out.
8:03 Maybe I've got some ideas.
8:04 I think there's a I think there's a there's a there's
8:05 a D there's a DDT show um Japanese um wrestling thing
8:09 that I set up like um with with our friend Chris
8:12 Brooks who is uh I think that's happening on the Thursday.
8:16 I've got I've got to get back for that one.
8:18 Go watch that.
8:19 Love me wrestling.
8:19 We got to go fly.
8:22 We fly back from Chicago straight to Kurken Hall in Tokyo for that.
8:26 That's my only that's my only uh plan.
8:29 I think some ideas will emerge in this episode.
8:32 We got some interesting stories, comments, questions, news,
8:35 and we kick things off with a listener story.
8:37 We've brought the story of the week back.
8:39 We to be fair, it was at the tail end.
8:42 It's back.
8:43 It was at the end of the episodes recently,
8:45 but the people wondered it at the front.
8:47 And by say people, I mean me.
8:48 At the front.
8:50 Yeah, I missed it.
8:51 I It's kind of like fun.
8:52 Yeah, some of them are hit or miss, but most of them are good at this one.
8:56 Stop saying that.
8:56 They're all great and cherished.
8:58 Abroad Japan@gmail.com.
9:00 You animal.
9:02 They are good.
9:02 They are good.
9:03 Entertain me surfs.
9:05 Entertain me peasants.
9:07 This one will be good.
9:08 The thing is I never read them in advance, right?
9:10 I we you know you get you get a story and I learn what it is as I read it.
9:15 Let's go.
9:16 Hello Chris and Pete.
9:17 Thank you for advice on the Nakendo Trail last year
9:20 where you hiked with Nazki through the mountains of central Japan.
9:22 I stayed on it for 4 days like Chris Oaski and guess what?
9:26 I saw a freaking bear.
9:28 Oh my god.
9:29 Whoa.
9:29 the the entire trip with Natsky,
9:30 we were terrified about this and he brought along party poppers
9:34 and party crackers and all these stuff to try and scare them
9:38 in the event that we did meet one, which
9:40 would have just led to us dying even more
9:42 slowly and painfully with the sound of party going on in a party environment.
9:47 Yeah, it wouldn't have been ideal.
9:48 Um, it was only in the distance it
9:50 disappeared after I made loud noises, I assume.
9:52 I was reaching the end of the Tory pass.
9:54 Narajuku was within sight.
9:56 I turned the corner on the path and saw something fluffy, fourped,
10:00 and much too big to be a monkey
10:01 just leisurely sitting in the middle of the path.
10:04 Oh my god.
10:05 I mean, Jesus, that's kind of creepy.
10:08 We walked Naski and I walked the same bit as well.
10:10 Um, there's bear bells all along the nendo as well
10:13 that you're supposed to ring to, you know, warn the bears.
10:16 __] off.
10:17 I hear you were not supposed to run.
10:19 Where to hell with that?
10:20 I ran.
10:20 I searched for higher ground and I waited for other hikers to come along.
10:23 Eventually, someone did come from the direction of where the bear was,
10:27 and I hurried down to tell them of what I had seen.
10:29 Sadly, there's only so much that justulating can do.
10:32 They seemed not too bothered and nonchalantly
10:35 suggested I carry a bell next time.
10:37 Much love to you both.
10:38 Cheers for the new format bringing Japanese
10:40 lessons back and for the cheeseboard at last.
10:41 It was delicious.
10:42 The Japan enamored Austria residing Portuguese man, David.
10:46 Thank you, David.
10:47 And congratulations on surviving an encounter with the bears.
10:51 Uh it it was like this whole thing though like Natki
10:53 and I were terrified and like on one of the days
10:56 we stayed in a tent up in the mountains and we
10:58 were the only people on this campsite because nobody does
11:01 this and nobody's stupid enough to stay there and we were
11:04 next to this massive forest like meters away and at night going
11:08 to the bathroom I was I had to like leave the tent
11:10 and walk around and I was like this is absolutely horrifying.
11:14 Uh near the worst was Natski snoring to be fair.
11:17 But uh yeah, be careful if you go into the mountains of Japan.
11:20 Be prepared.
11:21 We've got a bear story coming up this week.
11:23 And also there's an app that I discovered like a website called Kuma Map.
11:28 Kuma meaning bear.
11:29 Kumamap.com.
11:30 And it's it's really fascinating.
11:32 You get a map of Japan covered in like dots.
11:36 And the dots are report of a recent bear sighting.
11:38 And I was at my friend's place recently up
11:40 in Tohawker and there was a dot like right
11:44 next to his house and a bear had been
11:46 spotted like 3 days ago just walking with a family
11:49 and you know I kind of want to see a bear.
11:51 It would be kind of cool.
11:52 They are cool.
11:53 I like bears.
11:53 I think they're beautiful.
11:55 Don't want to do it randomly in a forest
11:57 at night but from afar would be it would be good.
11:59 I would Yeah.
12:00 I would do it from from your mates's um top window but I wouldn't want to see
12:03 from the Toyota Sentry window.
12:05 Yeah.
12:06 Yeah.
12:06 Exactly.
12:06 Yeah.
12:07 But um the story of the week involves that later on.
12:11 But we got power spot of the week first.
12:13 Are you ready for power spot of the week, Pete?
12:17 Power Spot of the week.
12:27 Power Spot is should be drinking spot of the week
12:29 this week because it involves drinking and sake.
12:32 uh on the cycle.
12:33 Uh the the best just finished the cycle cycle 14 days down the west coast Japan.
12:38 The best day, the best evening was we finished in Nigata City and I
12:43 took everyone to the sake vending machines
12:46 uh called the Ponuku Khan in Nigata Station.
12:48 They've got 200 vending machines,
12:51 each one with sake from one of the 200 breweries in Nigata.
12:55 Nigata is like famous for being like
12:58 the sake capital of Japan cuz it's very big.
13:00 Got lots of rice.
13:02 And we finished the whole stream by just slowly
13:05 getting drunk in front of these saki vending machines.
13:08 And I was like this if this is not
13:10 a power spot quite frankly I don't know what is.
13:13 Uh have you been there?
13:14 What do you know of the saki vending machines?
13:16 I don't think you've been there right.
13:17 No I had a little sort of um it wasn't really a day trip.
13:20 It was like a sort of night into dayare trip.
13:22 Um, I got to Tokyo.
13:24 I think I might have been meeting you actually.
13:26 I I thought, well, I'll use my um Saturday
13:29 night and I'll I'll I'll land in I think
13:31 I landed about tea time in um Haneda and then
13:35 I basically got the Shinkansen up to uh Nigata.
13:38 Um takes about two hours.
13:40 Um and I bimbled around there for a bit.
13:42 Couldn't I at first couldn't find the Saki vending machines, then I found them,
13:46 but they're all locked up and because it was obviously very very late indeed.
13:49 Um, and then the next day I was already hung over
13:52 and I couldn't look at a vending machine uh with booze in it.
13:57 I couldn't look at the very, you know,
13:59 the idea of drinking booze seemed very alien to me at that point.
14:02 Um, so I didn't actually visit them.
14:04 I haven't seen the Saki vending machines, but it's one of those places where
14:09 quintessentially Japanese um bit of a cultural kind
14:14 of experience because you can experience so many
14:16 I've been to like saki like festivals and stuff,
14:19 but to have so many different flavors of sake,
14:21 so many different um influences, so many different breweries, brewery.
14:25 They don't really brew it, do they?
14:26 Brew saki.
14:27 Yeah, I guess so.
14:28 Um uh so many sort of distillers uh
14:30 in one place is like it's it's an absolute touch.
14:33 you you can basically find the Saki that you're into.
14:37 It's a one-stop shop for finding out
14:38 um for learning about saki really, isn't it?
14:41 And it's just it's kind of cool cuz I think
14:44 most people have sak ones and then they make
14:46 a snap decision whether they like it or not.
14:48 They're like if it's good,
14:48 if it's nice and light and floral and flavorful, they like it.
14:52 Some of it tastes like paint stripper.
14:54 Quite frankly, you got to get the right one.
14:55 And I find like Connor for example,
14:57 I think he must have had a bad one cuz he's like I can't drink this fil.
15:01 And it took me like two years to convince him that Sak is good.
15:04 And now he's a bit more open-minded.
15:07 Uh so it's kind of cool.
15:08 You get like 500 yen and you get five tokens.
15:12 And some of the Saki vending machines it's one token,
15:14 some of them are two tokens.
15:15 And you can pick which one.
15:17 You can see like which the where the brewer is,
15:19 what the flavors are and kind of get a feel for each one.
15:21 And it's it's just really fun.
15:23 Some of them like have like essence of banana
15:25 in it and essence of fennel and essence of all sorts.
15:30 And it's just a really cool place to appreciate sake in a way that uh
15:34 everything's better out of a vending machine that that there can be no doubt.
15:37 And uh yeah, I just love it and I I kind of I want to go there now.
15:42 I want to drink some s just thinking about
15:44 the cool refreshing taste of saki on a hot summer's day.
15:47 It's a fine thing.
15:48 But you're right though.
15:49 It's it's kind of like if you It's well worth it.
15:51 It's a very you know like wine's very variable.
15:55 Saki is not quite so much, but it's just way more kind of delicate flavor-wise.
16:00 If you um I was a big in lockdown um I was ordering um uh not carbonated,
16:06 but basically like sparkling sake,
16:08 and I was absolutely seeing off bottle after bottle of sparkling sake through
16:13 most of uh through most of the later months of um lockdown and stuff.
16:18 It's such a delicious crisp drink.
16:20 Um and and if you find the sort of one that you like, if you like it more sweet,
16:24 and I think I do probably like it more sweet, a lot more lively.
16:28 Um there are there there's a sake out there for you.
16:30 It's not always available because like if you if you drink sake in this country,
16:34 it's always the same bottle that you always see
16:36 in um Tesco's or uh or sainsburries or wait or whatever.
16:40 And it's always just like it it tastes like sweat.
16:43 Sad sake can taste a little bit like sweat.
16:46 Um the old one cup saki that you drink in the park.
16:49 Oh god.
16:49 horrible that you see in that that you
16:51 see in 7-Elevens that basically tastes like paint stripper.
16:54 So, there's a lot of variability.
16:56 There's a lot of uh um there's a lot of um
17:00 like sort of variability in in in the flavors of sake.
17:02 It's uh yeah, it's a great drink, but just find the one that you want.
17:07 Don't give it another chance.
17:08 If you've had a bad one, give it another chance.
17:09 Give it another chance and try yogurt sake if you can.
17:12 It's like uh saki infused with yogurt.
17:14 It's from Fukushima, and it's just to die for if you can find it.
17:18 quite hard to track down but if you find it w so does the saki
17:22 veni machines of nigata and they also you can go to nata station to go
17:26 there or you can get them at Ioyuzawa station also in nigata bit close
17:30 to Tokyo does it get your seal of approval as power spot of the week
17:35 two in a row two thumbs up in a two thumbs up we did one last week and you
17:39 got a thumbs up and yeah you're getting
17:41 a thumbs thumbs up here as well done Chris congratulations
17:45 get yourself some socket get yourself some socket and Now we turn
17:48 ourselves to the news story or two of the week as well.
17:52 What's going on this week in Japan, Mr.
17:55 Dawson?
17:55 Fill us in.
17:57 Well, you uh you you prefaced it a little bit earlier on.
18:00 Um a police officer has been injured after a bear
18:03 attack in a forested area of Shiwa in Iwattate Prefecture.
18:07 The incident happened around 9:50 in the morning on April 21st.
18:10 The officer, who is in his 50s,
18:12 was part of a search team looking for a missing person.
18:16 That group included fellow officers as well as hunters.
18:18 So, a coordinated effort was already underway when um
18:22 an adult bear jumped out and attacked the officer,
18:25 biting him on the face and his right arm.
18:28 Um despite the severity, he was uh conscious while being transported hospital.
18:33 Um after uh 10 minutes after the attack,
18:35 a hunter at the scene managed to kill the bear.
18:38 Um there's just been a lot it's it's
18:40 what's the um bear bear is it bearing season?
18:43 You like lamming season?
18:45 Um, I think it might be bearing season.
18:47 People are giving, you know, the bears are giving birth at this moment in time.
18:50 There's there's um sightings of bear cubs in the area.
18:52 Police are now basically telling residents to uh
18:55 be cautious or if they're heading into wooded regions.
18:58 I I would be carrying weaponry at this point.
19:02 It's just bear after bear attack.
19:04 I'm worried.
19:05 Get your saw out.
19:06 Yeah.
19:06 Get your new chainsaw thing.
19:08 I mean, we It's It's strange.
19:10 Like we've talked about it on the podcast arguably too much over the years,
19:14 but the situation's actually gotten a lot worse.
19:16 And last year there was like an absence of beach nuts.
19:19 The bears didn't have any beach nuts.
19:21 Uh and there were 238 casualties last year.
19:24 13 of them fatal.
19:26 Um Akita had the That's interesting.
19:29 Akita had the most attacks at 67, Deniate 40, and Fukushima 24.
19:34 They're all in Tohoka, it seems.
19:36 Um, and yeah, it's it's definitely a bit of a problem
19:41 and the the public are sort of spooked by it.
19:44 They reckon the beach nut harvest is better this year.
19:48 So, the bears might have their appetite satiated and they
19:51 might not be rumaging through villages quite as much,
19:54 but uh it's it's a real situation.
19:56 And um yeah, Natki was terrified on the Nakendo hike.
20:01 I don't know.
20:02 But then he wasn't appropriately didn't bring bear spray.
20:05 So he's also silly.
20:07 No.
20:09 Um
20:07 and and his pockets are full of nuts.
20:11 Bear nuts.
20:13 Yeah.
20:13 Bears love tabs.
20:15 Well, I've got the So Kuma.com, right?
20:17 You can We're not sponsored by Kuma Map, by the way.
20:21 Map.com.
20:22 You can look up a whole map of Japan.
20:24 And there's there was a bear literally in uh about about half
20:30 a mile or a mile from Natky's house uh one week ago,
20:34 which is pretty close to home.
20:35 And I actually cycled straight past where this was
20:39 uh maybe the day the bear was spotted.
20:41 So they're they're there.
20:43 They're everywhere.
20:44 They're coming.
20:44 The bears are coming.
20:45 Pete, I'm looking I'm looking at I'm trying to sort
20:48 of figure out where how close to Nata's fine saki uh vending machines a bear has
20:54 been spotted and yes there was a one there
20:56 was one spotted in Nigata near near the sort
20:58 of more mountainous regions but yeah one bear
21:00 was cited it's subsequent movement route is unknown
21:03 I mean yeah I mean it would be unless
21:05 don't follow a bear
21:08 but I'll tell you what the bears won't be doing they won't be
21:10 exporting global arms outside of Japan for the first time in decades Pete,
21:16 what's the second story?
21:17 The second news story of the week's bit a bit different, isn't it?
21:19 Involves weapons.
21:20 Yeah, a little bit.
21:21 I mean, we need these weaponry to fight the bears, one would suggest.
21:24 Yeah.
21:25 Japan's uh shifted um focus and shifted the rules in their defense policy.
21:29 Uh the government has announced its biggest
21:31 change to arms export rules in decades,
21:33 opening the door to the global weapons market.
21:35 It means Japan can now export a much wider range of military equipment,
21:39 including items like missiles and warships, on a case-by case basis.
21:42 It's a significant move away from its long-standing pacifist stance,
21:46 which is ship policy since the end of World War II.
21:49 Um, most of the exports were limited
21:51 to non-combat roles such as rescue or transport.
21:54 Um, strict checks will obviously still be in place,
21:57 but Japan won't be apparently selling
21:59 to countries actively involved in conflict.
22:01 I mean, the list of that is getting smaller by the day, isn't it?
22:05 Um, and the the the the global demand for defense equipment
22:08 is obviously rising uh amid ongoing conflict and supply pressures elsewhere.
22:12 My business partner said, "God, if I had a bit of cash,
22:15 I'll be putting money behind um German
22:17 arms German arms companies right now." Um,
22:20 yeah, some allies have welcomed the move
22:22 as a step closer to closer to cooperation.
22:25 Uh, while China has raised concerns
22:26 about a possible shift towards militarism, um,
22:29 and a lot of people are kind of a little
22:31 bit mixed in the country itself in Japan.
22:34 um they see the security benefits, they see the economic benefits,
22:37 but they also um worry about the erosion of pacifist ideals.
22:42 When an unstable uh America is in the mix,
22:45 you simply have to start thinking about
22:48 your own defense is in my opinion, unfortunately.
22:51 Um yeah, it's a big moment.
22:52 It's a big change for Japan and that could
22:54 um shape its role in internationally for years to come.
22:57 Um yeah, it's a it's a big change, Chris.
23:00 Uh I mean global stability is very quickly disintegrating as you can see and um
23:07 yeah I think it's it's a tough thing.
23:09 I mean, I remember when I first came here as a teacher, my uh supervisor,
23:14 really nice guy, um I wrote about in the book a bit, the original book, he uh
23:20 he was a staunch pacifist and he would often go down to Tokyo for protests
23:25 against anything related to military action
23:28 or amending the constitution or things like that.
23:31 And I was, you know, it was really impressive like there there's a really
23:34 strong pacifist movement in Japan after World War II.
23:38 But I feel like their post-war world
23:40 order is very much changing incredibly fast.
23:44 And it is important for Japan to be ready for all eventualities.
23:49 Uh who knows what could happen.
23:52 I think
23:53 when you've got like North Korea firing
23:54 off missiles every Tuesday and China's military is, you know, massive in scale.
24:00 You have to be prepared.
24:02 You have to be ready.
24:04 And I think Japan selling its own very well produced military equipment
24:08 to other countries is a great way to bolster its own defense,
24:12 invest in new equipment and prepare for the worst case scenario.
24:16 I think countries that are, you know,
24:19 are not don't have good defense open themselves up to attack.
24:23 And so it's it's really important and Japan is unfortunately surrounded
24:27 by countries uh that that don't overly like it so much.
24:32 And uh yeah, it's tough, isn't it?
24:35 It's um it's probably a good idea,
24:37 but I think most people in Japan I I think the tide is shifting
24:41 in the sense that younger folks are more
24:44 sort of mindful of the threats that are looming,
24:47 whereas the older generation still kind of remember what it was
24:50 like after the after the Second World War and the consequences and
24:54 how Japan kept its head away from any form
24:57 of military involvement and they want to continue that.
24:59 But the world is is is coming to Japan.
25:03 Uh whether it wants to or not.
25:04 Um it's it's got to be ready for that.
25:07 So yeah, and I think they're redefining what pacifist means a bit as well.
25:12 Uh clever rewarding, you know.
25:14 Uh article article 9 of the Japanese constitution, right?
25:18 It renounces war as a sovereign right.
25:20 Um it says Japan will not maintain military forces for warfare,
25:24 at least in principle.
25:25 And the way they've got around that is
25:27 of course Japan's military is called the self-defense force.
25:29 It is primarily a defensive military but its capabilities are exceptional.
25:35 Uh not just in defense but uh you know in attack as well.
25:39 So yeah and all down the island chain as well in Okinawa.
25:43 I remember I was in u uh where was it?
25:46 Ishigaki the end of last year.
25:49 You come out the airport and there's
25:51 big mountain and they're building like this.
25:53 There's a massive structure being built and it's um I think it's like a site
25:58 where it's going to have like a military base and maybe some patriot missile
26:02 systems and all sorts of things and the island chain from sort of Kagashima down
26:07 to Okinawa is being built out and sort of readied for the worst case scenario.
26:14 Um yeah, it's a bit it's it's a bit depressing and a bit scary.
26:18 um diplomacy will hopefully win.
26:22 But uh yeah, I mean it's just we you just got
26:26 to say out the the next two two years really.
26:30 It's kind of uh see how um see
26:33 what happens after that really just simply because um
26:35 the the the the people who are the you know the agreements that put put in place
26:39 about Japan's defense um aren't really written you
26:42 know aren't really sort of worth a paper they're
26:44 written on as you know most things aren't
26:46 with with the Americans at this moment in time.
26:48 So it's kind of um I think you kind of have to start
26:51 looking at at at your own um you know increasing your your own defense.
26:54 You know NATO's obviously doing it.
26:56 you know, my country, the UK,
26:58 um should your country um should have
27:00 updated their should have increased their uh
27:03 their um input um financially on this um years ago um for for that.
27:07 I do actually agree with um you know,
27:09 your hexaths and your and your rubios and stuff.
27:12 But uh yeah, it's it's um the the the world's order is changing.
27:16 Um, everyone's going capping to China because right
27:19 now they're um they're a more stable stable country,
27:23 weirdly uh in the middle of their own recession.
27:27 Oh yeah.
27:28 Yeah.
27:28 I mean it's it's I didn't quite envision
27:32 this happening and I think uh a lot of governments
27:34 have sort of been caught off guard in the last
27:37 well the last 10 years in general, right?
27:40 Um things they haven't had to spend money.
27:42 They haven't have to they haven't had to think about
27:45 they didn't have to think about this for the longest time.
27:48 So, uh yeah, but uh yeah, I mean I don't know what will happen.
27:54 I think uh just be prepared is is the best
27:58 thing Japan can do um for these sort of things.
28:01 And um yeah, I think selling their military equipment.
28:04 I know they send a they've sold a lot of ships to Australia recently.
28:07 I think uh that's a good start.
28:10 That's a good way of doing things.
28:12 Um but yeah, they make good stuff.
28:14 They make good stuff.
28:15 Chris, you know, solid solid solid um setup there over there.
28:21 Just what I It must be quite complicated
28:22 because they're building these military ships for Australia,
28:25 but what is the language all going to be in Japanese?
28:28 Can you imagine?
28:31 They need speedy Japanese.
28:33 The Australians are going to need Speaking of which, this.
28:43 So, speedy Japanese.
28:45 Do you know what war?
28:46 War is in Japanese.
28:49 Oh, war.
28:50 Um, no.
28:52 I don't actually.
28:52 I don't.
28:54 Sensor.
28:54 Sensor.
28:55 Is that war?
28:56 Sensor.
28:57 Sensor.
28:59 Sensor.
28:58 Like sense.
28:59 Sensor.
29:03 Yeah.
29:01 Sensor.
29:02 I we've got like uh our awesome team who collect the podcast.
29:08 They've come up with some phrases that are quite
29:12 some lovely emotional phrases about I've not heard some of these.
29:17 Uh yeah.
29:19 What's it's like harmony is to be valued above all.
29:25 It's the expression goes all the way back to Prince
29:30 Harmony is to be valued above all.
29:32 So W is like peace, right?
29:34 Or to hold harmony.
29:40 Above all is to be valued.
29:42 Um I mean to be fair,
29:43 that's the principle of Japanese culture as a whole, right?
29:46 Harmony is sort of the top priority.
29:49 Making sure all arguments and all debate is sorted out nicely and calmly.
29:54 It's the sort of philos philosophical backbone of Japanese culture as a whole.
29:59 Uh there's another phrase here and I don't think I've heard this.
30:02 Uh literally the mouth is the source of disaster.
30:12 A gentle warning was Yeah.
30:20 Yeah.
30:21 Like mouth.
30:22 Uhto uh source of disaster.
30:26 Your mouth is I mean yeah Pete Dawson's mouth is
30:30 a source of disaster is a quite a nice mouth.
30:37 Be quiet.
30:39 Be quiet.
30:41 Pete's mouth is a sort of disaster.
30:43 __] it up.
30:44 It's a gentle warning to choose your words carefully.
30:46 Very much in line with diplomatic thinking.
30:48 I mean big fan of this.
30:50 There you go.
30:51 very very poetic a lot of this stuff.
30:53 Yeah.
30:53 Wasai namoto is the mouth is the source of disaster.
30:57 And our first speak Japanese of the week is uh I'll
31:05 I'm going to say this like every meeting I have now.
31:07 I'll just be like, "Sorry,
31:12 did you say you want you wanted sausages and bacon, sir?
31:16 Just wrap it off like Put it Put it in my coochie.
31:21 Put it in my coochie, please.
31:25 It's the sort of thing.
31:27 It's the sort of thing I thought Kem Watanabi might say to me when I met him.
31:30 Some profound powerful proverb.
31:33 But the first thing he said to me was, "Oh,
31:36 do you want pizza?" And I went, "Yeah, that was the[ __] that was it.
31:41 Oh dear.
31:42 I should have said the mouth is a source of disaster." Um, there you go.
31:47 some useful phrases that you'll hopefully never have
31:49 to use in reality in your everyday life.
31:53 Though the words sensor, war, unfortunately might be more relevant.
31:57 Uh we back home, guys, your stories,
31:58 comments, and questions over in the fax machine.
32:03 Wow.
32:04 And we're back with the fact machine.
32:06 What have we got this week, Mr.
32:07 Dson?
32:08 Remember Pete?
32:13 Um hi, Chris and Pete.
32:15 This is Bart from the Netherlands.
32:16 Uh this year I traveled from Fukuoka all the way
32:19 up to Nagano over the course of a month.
32:21 I made numerous stops and I started to wonder why
32:23 the dishes in the north seemed lighter than those in the south.
32:26 In Europe, we're used to eating lighter food when
32:28 it's sunny and hot and heavier meals when it's cold.
32:30 So you might assume that a classic northern
32:32 dish would be heavier than a typical southern one.
32:34 However, the opposite seems to be true.
32:36 I'm curious if there is a specific reason why you find
32:39 lighter soybased broths in Nagano and richer tonkatu broths in Hakata.
32:44 It doesn't quite make sense to me why it
32:47 called sober when it's 5 5°- 5° uh Celsius outside.
32:52 Thank you for the podcast.
32:53 Bart from the Netherlands.
32:54 Is this just because of the you know access to um to pork,
32:59 access to kind of like richer kind
33:01 of ingredients is available in warmer climates.
33:04 You can't you can't have pigs outside in the cold.
33:07 I think there's a degree of that.
33:09 I think different ramens are clearly very much shaped by the local area.
33:13 For example, um, Hokkaido miso ramen.
33:17 Often it has like corn and butter in the ramen
33:20 because Hokkaido is the land of corn and butter, dairy products.
33:24 Tomato, I'm not sure.
33:25 I think I looked up the history of it.
33:27 It said just tonkatu really kicked off in Fukuoka in 1946.
33:31 It probably just beca like in the postwar era,
33:34 Japan very much created a sort of new culture
33:38 from scratch when it came to dining and food.
33:41 And when I was writing my new book,
33:43 Journey Across Japan, which you should pre-order now,
33:45 I basically like did some research a lot of the dishes
33:48 and like in some cases it was returning soldiers
33:51 coming back home from like Manuria and China uh who
33:55 brought like Chinese inspired dishes with them or like gyoza dumplings.
33:59 Uh I think there was like a a general
34:01 or an army sergeant who was in who's from Utnormier.
34:06 uh and he worked he was in Manuria got a taste for dumplings brought it back
34:11 to Utnamir and that's why has that sort
34:13 of historic connection tonkatu though yeah probably just became popular
34:18 uh one good shop took off it quickly spread and went like
34:22 that but uh yeah the three flavors there three or four flavors you've got soy
34:26 sauce you got soy sauce in tooka miso in Hokkaido tonkatu in Kyushu
34:33 and salt for some places I salt doesn't really it's kind of like the middleman.
34:39 Uh it doesn't really have a uh nobody really owns
34:41 doesn't satisfy anyone master of it's not very good in my opinion.
34:47 Oh boy.
34:47 Steer clear of salt ramen.
34:48 Uh hello Chris Pete.
34:50 Chris will you be doing a book signing?
34:51 And if you are can you please come to Birmingham on your tour.
34:54 Cheers Phil.
34:55 Uh cheers Phil.
34:57 Cheers.
34:58 I uh I I don't think the locations haven't
35:01 been confirmed yet but so far sales are going well.
35:05 If you're listening in the UK,
35:06 please buy the book because that will determine if
35:09 there's a book tour in the UK at all.
35:12 Um, last time we did London Leads and Notingham and it was cool.
35:17 I'm down to do more.
35:18 We put Harley on the list.
35:19 Just for Pete, if you come along to Heartley.
35:26 Yeah, there's no bookshops in Heartley.
35:28 Oh, no.
35:29 There's no bookshops.
35:30 There's probably one,
35:32 but I can't seem to if if you are releasing a really successful vape, fine.
35:37 Loads of them shops, a free vape with every journey across your pen book.
35:42 Yeah,
35:42 but like with the book tour stuff, it really just depends on pre-order sales.
35:45 And I'm the sort of person who would never ever pre-order a book.
35:49 I'm like, why would anyone do that?
35:50 But it turns out it's sort of important because if people pre-order the book,
35:55 sales do well and then you get a bigger book tour.
35:57 So yeah, if you want me to be
35:59 in your neighborhood with a book covered in crumbs and biscuits,
36:03 buy the book in advance is my my uh my advice.
36:06 And every Thank you to everyone that did so far.
36:08 Yeah.
36:08 You'd think that they wouldn't have if if no
36:10 one was pre-ordering the book in a certain area.
36:13 You you'd go there.
36:13 You know what I mean?
36:14 It's like uh it's like a swing state.
36:18 True, true.
36:19 Maybe I should go everywhere.
36:20 I'll do every city in the UK in the space of one month.
36:22 Do something outrageous and silly.
36:24 The last the last book I climbed to Mount Fuji to like sign some books, right?
36:28 And then we sent those to people, right?
36:30 Yeah.
36:30 Nice.
36:30 And uh I can't bother to do that again.
36:33 I'll climb the stairs to McDonald's or something for the next one.
36:37 I'll sign the ebook.
36:40 Uh but I'll do something.
36:40 I'll think of something.
36:41 Hello canankerous Chris and Peish Pete.
36:44 I found myself in Fagorka as a student.
36:47 It's been a while since I was in school,
36:48 so it's been fun becoming a student again.
36:50 I know your usual thoughts of being anywhere
36:52 besides Hokkaido in August is a fool's errand,
36:55 but as I will have 3 weeks off from my school,
36:57 I wanted to know if you have any fun recommendations for places
37:01 to see or Matsuri festivals to attend anywhere in Japan at that time.
37:05 Thank you guys.
37:05 All the best, Dave from Fukuoka.
37:07 I mean, the the festival I've always wanted to see
37:10 was the Tachi Nepa festival in Gossugawara in Almori.
37:15 It's like a 28 meter float that somehow humans can push and carry around town.
37:21 Uh, and I want to see that.
37:23 I've seen them like contained in their warehouse,
37:26 but I've never seen them actually being marched around town.
37:28 I'd love to go there.
37:29 The thing is, yeah, you know, August is like insane,
37:33 and it's really hard to enjoy going out to a festival
37:36 when you're being flame roasted by the sheer humidity of it all.
37:40 But that would get my vote.
37:41 I'd go there.
37:42 or the dick festival.
37:44 The fertility festival.
37:46 Uh oh yeah, the dick festival.
37:47 Everyone gets
37:48 rather graphic when you look up videos of it, but it's a fun family day out.
37:52 Let no one else tell you otherwise.
37:53 But uh best of luck to you, Dave.
37:55 Have yourself a good one.
37:57 Keep the stories, questions, comments coming into Japanodcast@gmail.com.
38:00 We'll be back to do it all over again next week, guys.
38:02 But for now, have yourself a great few days and we'll see you right back here.
38:06 By God, right here in the next episode.
38:09 Bye for now.
38:09 Have a good one.
38:10 Goodbye.