Most Japan Red Cross Donations Have Not Reached Survivors - Peace Boat Japan Sucks Too!

Unbelievable. The Japan Red Cross seems to be doing its best to retain its reputation as a scam. Peace Boat Japan is in second place, close behind. 

HANK WILLIAMS JR. - YOUR CHEATIN' HEART

The big earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster happened more than three months ago, and useless organizations like the Japan Red Cross have seen to it that most of the money collected have not reached the hands of those in need. The papers report that over 55% of all monies collected have yet to be distributed! The incompetence and bureaucracy are mind-boggling. 


The Yomiuri Newspaper reports about personal experiences of some of the survivors:

"We lost our car in the tsunami and we can't buy a new one to get on with our lives without money. I hope the donation money arrives as soon as possible," said a 64-year-old unemployed man who is living at a shelter in Higashi-Matsushima.

The prefecture's social welfare section said many municipalities lost their family and resident registries in the tsunami. Without these documents, it is difficult to decide who is entitled to a share of the donations. "The quake left us with a ton of clerical work, and we're short of staff who can handle making donation payments," one official said.

To be paid, a person needs a disaster victim certificate. To get a certificate, one must undergo an inspection. The problem is that there is not enough staff to handle the issuing of the certificates, which has severely slowed up distribution of the donation money.

Great! We have $1.6 billion dollars... And Red Cross spends $0.17 cents on the dollar for the actual charity programs and these clowns can't hire a few part-timers to do paperwork to get things moving along at a better pace? All the while in the Great Red Cross and General Charity Scam it was reported that the CEO of the Red Cross was reportedly paid: 

"Her salary for the year 2010 was $651,957, plus all personal, medical, & pension expenses. Less than 10 cents of your donated dollar actually goes to the cause..."

Wonderful. People are suffering and they can't get their money "because there aren't enough volunteers" and we have $1.6 billion dollars and can't hire a few people to push papers for a few weeks? 

Yomiuri Newspaper continues:

The Tagajo city government said staff shortages mean it takes at least one week to issue a certificate. But even after a person gets a disaster victim certificate, the city said it takes even more time for them to get paid.

Tagajo resident Ayako Hirayama, 57, visited the city office Saturday to apply for a certificate. She lives in an apartment with her husband and her son's family because their house was flooded by the tsunami. They have no refrigerator, so they have to go shopping nearly every day. She said having a place to store food would be a big help, but a city official told her the donations would not be distributed for about a month.

"Without money I'm just wilting with worry. We're really having to tap our savings, so I'd like to get the donations as soon as possible," she said.

Don't worry, Hirayama san. The checks in the mail.... It's been that way for over three months. Just don't hold your breath.

God, Japan Red Cross is totally useless. People are in trouble now and it takes these idiots over three months to help some of them!?

But I write this post with an eye on objectivity. I think the Red Cross is a crap organization and I believe their track record all around the world shows it. But let us not hold our derision merely for the Red Cross. I am a fair person and am willing to hold another charity in equal distain. There's another that I must insist upon slapping up side the head and that is Peace Boat Japan.

Peace Boat Japan seems to be another shady scam operation.

I will never help Japan Red Cross again and I will not help Peace Boat Japan again. I suggest that you do not either. I am not sure about all of Peace Boat's hijinks, but I imagine that my recent experience is symptomatic of a larger problem. Concerning Peace Boat Japan, and my experience, here are the facts:

On Sunday, June 5, some friends held a charity concert for which the proceeds went to Peace Boat Japan ostensibly to help survivors and victims of the Tohoku disaster. On May 31, I stupidly allowed the Peace Boat Japan people on my radio show to promote the charity and the event.  By allowing Peace Boat on the radio show that gives them a defacto approval from a major Japanese broadcasting station that they are reputable. 


A broadcasting station has a responsibility to the public to protect them, provide them with proper information and to not be scammed. The charity who uses that position of the broadcaster to promote themselves have a responsibility to do likewise. This is not a responsibility to be taken lightly.

This is why broadcasters will not allow, for example, mafia-type of organizations or scams to advertise their services on air with commercials. It's because the station has a responsibility to the public and for the public good. If something bad happens, and the station had promoted that service, product or event, in this country that station has responsibility.

"What's your assessment of Peace Boat, Sargent?"

"It's a clusterf*ck, sir!"

Let me make it clear that I have no problem at all with these sorts of charity events (like the one held on June 5) and I think it is great that wonderful individuals get together to help out anywhere they can. I merely have a problem with organizations like Japan Red Cross and Peace Boat. Read on and you'll see why I do have a problem with these organizations. I think anyone with an ounce of common sense will agree with me.

After the Peace Boat event ended, I met with one of the promoters yesterday and asked about the results of the charity. I want to know how much money was collected (actually, as program producer, I have a responsibility to report this to the station) and how it was or will be used. The promoter was upset. He told me that he, too, was angry at Peace Boat. He said that when he inquired about this, he was told that Peace Boat Japan cannot, and will not, give out that information.

Astounding! Something really stinks. Talk about ripping people off! How do we know that these Peace Boat reps didn't just pocket the money? What criminals! They have a responsibility to faithfully and dutifully report income and all usage of these funds!

That an organization like Peace Boat Japan would go on air, using (abusing) the good will of the public and a free broadcaster to make a monetary gain yet not faithfully report the results of their actions and the collective efforts of that promotion is nothing short of scandalous. This cannot be allowed to go without public notice and this simple blog post is a part and parcel of that.

The people at Peace Boat Japan that I dealt with have some questions to answer and, until they do, they will be considered by me as a scam charity in Japan and are banned from ever being on my show again. They also should be made to settle things correctly by other Peace Boat members for these people have shamed that organization.


Trust that, until it is rectified, I will make every effort that other broadcasters are aware of this sham.  

Pardon my French, but, Japan Red Cross and Peace Boat Japan, "Baise toi!"

NOTE: Probably Peace Boat Japan and Japan Red Cross don't care about this blog. Even though it is small, it still gets about 5,000 readers a day. My radio show has over 100,000 listeners a day in Tokyo alone. Both charities have the chance to respond fairly to the charges leveled against them.... Bet you a half a doughnut (spelled correctly in this case) they  are such conceited jerks that they do not respond.


SECOND NOTE: I don't know of many charities that I can recommend in Japan but I do support Rock Challenge Japan and Support Our Kids. I have worked with them and seen what they do and like it. You can trust, though, that if they ever do betray our trust, you'll be the first to read about it here.

I am so honored. This was the headline: 

"Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers and Hitler loses his honorary citizenship"

The double entendre was so thrilling and I'm so proud. Wow! Just think of it. Imagine me and the fuhrer actually being mentioned in the same breath! Me and the Fuhrer both losing our citizenship! Hell, just being dissed in the same sentence as Al Hitler is quite an honor for me, you see.

SPIKE JONES - DER FUHRER'S FACE

Usually this blog only gets me hate mails and second-rate personal insults. But to be coupled with the original leader of the entire free world, the Third Reich and the New World Order?


Wow! I guess I'm finally really getting somewhere in my life! Just goes to show what some hard work and dedication can do for a fellow!

This was the headline of the email notice of one the newest projects designed with the international businessman in mind. It's called, "The International Man" and it's getting more and more popular by the day amongst international businessmen around the world.

In the newest issue (it must have been a very slow news day) as  I was honored to be interviewed.

The subject line on the email notice reads: 

"Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers and Hitler loses his honorary citizenship"

But, lower in the mail it says: 

Date: June 8, 2011

We're very happy to bring you the first part of another IM-exclusive interview, this time by our correspondent in Tokyo, Mike Rogers. Mike was on the ground during the recent earthquake and has some solid insights to share, as well as commentary on the Japanese economy, politics and potential opportunities.


Plus, apparently 60 years wasn't too long to wait before stripping Hitler of his honorary citizenship and, a good set of choppers could end up costing less at home (at least those who call the UK home) than "medical touring" abroad, thanks to a cosmetic dentistry provider Dentalcare Plus.

You can read about Adolf Hitler being stripped of his citizenship here. The Austrian Timesreported:

"....all of the town’s councillors wanted to disassociate themselves personally and politically from the far-right mindset and Nazi ideas. He explained that the Town Hall wrongly assumed that the honour became obsolete with the Third Reich dictator's suicide in 1945."

Those losers! They strip him of his citizenship? It's another case of "what have you done for me lately?" In the 30's, Al was all the rage, but, after losing the war, he becomes, well, another loser. No one wants to associate with losers.

It's also another example of how useless these politicians we have are. Things are going to hell in a hand basket real quick and these clowns want to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Just like the Japanese government wants to make it illegal to not stand and sing when the national anthem is played. Fools!

Oh well....What a bummer! It's a wholly different story. I was just imagining myself in pictures alongside the fuhrer, Georing, Himmler and Goebbels!

Anyway, in spite of an article and interview in their newest issue about yours truly, International Man is an excellent publication designed for the international businessman, expats, and people thinking about going expat and is a daily must-read.

It's free and you can sign up for it here: http://www.internationalman.com/daily-communique/mike-rogers-honorary-citizenship

Thanks to Xavier Calendar hiding somewhere deep in Costa Rica and International Man for the chance for some shameless self-promotion!

Fukushima Disaster: The People of the Lie

"A lie told even ten thousands times never becomes the truth" - Mikhail Gorbachev


There are people in this world who are so desperate to be proven "right," at least in their own minds, that they would do, or hope for, most anything to achieve those ends. Some of these people are very mentally ill yet they fail to realize or see the shortcomings of their thinking. 

CARLY SIMON - YOU'RE SO VAIN

They are the People of the Lie. These people are all around us. They function in our society. We see them daily. These are the bosses at work who extoll the virtues of living right, telling the truth and working hard yet they are having an affair with another woman. 


These are the people who claim to be in search of the truth yet they commit lies at work and home. These are the wives and husbands who, on the surface, seem contented but actually commit domestic violence against their spouses and children.


These are the People of the Lie. These are also people who will do most anything or hope for ill fortune against others in order for them to get their desired gains.


The most extreme (traditional and much over-used) example of those sorts of people - people who will do anything to be proven correct - are political groups like the Nazis. These people were so sick that they would even kill others in an effort to be proven correct.


Recent modern day examples of these sorts of people were the hard-core believers in Man-Made Global Warming (AGW). I remember on a very popular morning FM radio show in Tokyo in 2006 when I was debunking the entire theory of AGW - after having Greenpeace members as guests on the program (who couldn't rectify their beliefs with scientific fact) - we received a telephone call from a very irate listener who firmly believed in Man- Made Global Warming. This listener was so furious that I would go on air and publicly debunk this polemic. 


He wanted to talk to the boss of the station. It was to his shock when I told him that I was the general manager of the station and if he didn't like what he heard on air there was something on the radio called a "tuner" and he should use it to change the station. He was so furious with that that he threatened to, "Come down to the radio station, set it on fire and burn it to the ground."


I told him that if he did that then we would have, "The police come down to your house, arrest you and send you to prison." Never heard from him again. 


I wonder if he still believes that AGW nonsense?


This is the kind of person who I classify as the People of the Lie; they will do anything to be proven correct, even if it means that people must be injured or die (of course not them) in order for that to happen.


The most recent example of this disgusting sickness, in many forms, is the current controversy about radiation from Fukushima. Specifically, how the Fukushima problem affects us in Tokyo, 230 kilometers away.


We've heard all sorts of stories; how Fukushima was going to make 1/3 of Japan uninhabitable; then it was half of Japan; there was going to be a nuclear winter, etc., etc.


I know one guy who, at the start of this entire affair, took his whole family and ran away to southern Japan. It was with glee when he announced on Facebook that they had found two TEPCO workers dead at the damaged reactors. He triumphantly wrote something to the effect of, "See? I was right. You are going to see more and  more dead guys like this coming out of there in the next few days and weeks."   


It was to his chagrin that I had to alert him to the fact that those two guys were killed because they drowned. When the tsunami hit, they were trapped underground and couldn't escape. Their deaths had nothing to do with radiation. Their bodies were covered in bruises and they had broken bones from being bashed around in a small room when the water came in and there was no way out.


May they rest in peace. Too bad some sick people are happy about their sorry lot.


To date, there haven't been any deaths directly related to radiation at Fukushima. It seems that, like Chernobyl, panic over radiation will cause much more damage than the actual radiation itself.


Yesterday, I wrote a post entitled Results of Geiger Counter Use in Tokyo that was about my factual research using a "professional use" Geiger counter in various places in and around town. I could not find any elevated levels of radiation even though I went to several major areas in this city. The levels were all lower than regular levels in Hong Kong and in some UK cities. I wrote:


The readings have all been between 0.07 mSV/hr to 0.13 mSV/hr. A flight on a commercial jet airplane from Tokyo to New York will expose you to about 190 mSV (about 18.0 mSV/hr) so you can see that the current levels are not be worried about. Unless, of course, you are the worrying sort.  


Yet, even with my merely reporting the facts, some people want to take me to task and argue with me for doing so. Since this post is not about people's lack of critical reading skills or lack of analytical thinking abilities (I've covered that here: Critical and Analytical Thinking are Lost Arts Amongst Many of Today's Adult Population) I will stick with the subject and that is an examination of the People of the Lie; People who are so desperate to be "right" that they will do anything or desire anything so that they can be  proven correct.


One such person is a reader who is so desperate for this that it seems he hopes radiation is at dangerous levels and many men, women and children in Tokyo do get deathly ill so that he can say later, "I told you so." I don't think it is a problem using his pen name since it is a moniker. His handle is Richardw. He commented:


The question is not what readings you found - but which areas you didn't read that others have found high levels in. Why is it your call to say no big deal? You are a shill - and you are doing a good job of protecting the industry. Hope it goes well for you. Nice to see you work for the industry that TEPCO is known for funding. Well done - Marketing suits you.


Richardw's lack of reasoning skills are so faulty that I don't know where to begin. Richardw accuses me of being a "shill - and you are doing a good job of protecting the industry." And to what basis does he make these claims? Because I reported factually and truthfully what the readings of the Geiger counter I used showed!? Astounding! 


Do tell, Richardw, how does that make me a shill? Would you have been happier if I lied and made up wild claims of dangerous radiation in Tokyo? It seems you would.


The knee-jerk reaction and excuse of most of these people like Richardw is that TEPCO lies. Well, it is known and a matter of public record that TEPCO has lied about many things in the past. There is no debate and argument about that. There is, though, argument about what they lied about in this most recent case at Fukushima. For example, the charges that TEPCO lied about meltdowns at the reactor cores as early as March 18th. There was conjecture that the cores may have melted down at that time. Even TEPCO's own records show that there was this possibility, but until the radioactive release and danger was brought under more control, these claims could not be verified. That TEPCO did not announce unverified information does not constitute a lie. Unverified information is just that; it is conjecture. Public companies handling a nuclear crisis have a responsibility to tell the truth. They do not and should not go on the mass media making pronouncements of unverified claims. That would be most irresponsible.


Once again, we must only deal with known facts. I always want to deal with facts. My post was factual. What else is there?


What is the motivation for being one of the People of the Lie?


Either way, like I said, TEPCO has lied. That is a known fact and in the public domain. Lying is a very bad thing and should not be easily forgiven. TEPCO's motivations for lying are for money and lying to protect people's job's and their own, as well as the livelihoods of their employees and their families. 


That being said, these motivations for TEPCO's lying are easily recognizable, and, in a way, very understandable.  


Motivations for people like Richardw, on the other hand, are more difficult to pin down. But, in my opinion, once you do recognize then for what they are, they are even more ugly, disgusting and grotesque than TEPCO's simple-minded motivations.


Like my friend who ran away to southern Japan, these people are so "sick" that they desperately want people to suffer or die in order to be proven correct. The fact of the matter is that People of the Lie, like Richardw, want to be proven correct for nothing else but to be able to say, "I told you so." It is nothing short of narcissism and the twisted vanity of a psychopath. 


Trust that, even though they fail to realize it, the fact is that people like the ones who lied at TEPCO and people like Richardw are actually birds of a feather. 


They all are truly People of the Lie.  

To read more on the concept of the People of the Lie, I recommend F. Scott Peck's bestselling book, "People of the Lie - the Hope for Healing Human Evil"

Results of Geiger Counter Use in Tokyo

I finally got my Geiger counter! It arrived in the mail three days ago. I've been running around all over Tokyo with it, wherever I go, looking for hidden, deadly, mutating radiation. 

KRAFTWERK - DENTAKU

Ai-yai-yai-yai.... So far, no luck.


I've been all over Setagaya-ku, Shibuya, Harajuku and Chiyoda-ku... (sung to the melody of Frank Sinatra's "Down South of the Border (Down Mexico Way))" Hamamatsu-cho and down Shinagawa way! 


No sign of deadly radiation.


The readings have all been between 0.07 mSV/hr to 0.13 mSV/hr. A flight on a commercial jet airplane from Tokyo to New York will expose you to about 190 mSV (about 18.0 mSV/hr) so you can see that the current levels are not be worried about. Unless, of course, you are the worrying sort.

0.10... No problemo

You can read more techy stuff about radiation measurements here. If you check the link at the top of the page of this blog, you can see what the daily levels of radiation are in Tokyo as read by a private scientific institution.


The level of radiation in Tokyo today, even after this March 11 disaster, is still lower than Rome, Italy or Hong Kong. This reports, from the height of the disaster no less, came from Bloomberg:

Hong Kong, Cornwall Radiation Beats Tokyo Even After Japan Nuclear Crisis

Typical amounts of radiation in Hong Kong exceed those in Tokyo even as workers struggle to contain a crippled nuclear plant in northern Japan, indicating concerns about spreading contamination may be overblown.

The radiation level in central Tokyo reached a high of 0.109 microsieverts per hour in Shinjuku Ward yesterday, data from the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health show. That compares with 0.14 microsieverts in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Observatory said on its website. A person is exposed to 50 microsieverts from a typical x-ray.

Many countries have naturally occurring radiation levels that exceed Tokyo’s, said Bob Bury, former clinical lead for the U.K.’s Royal College of Radiologists. A 30-fold surge in such contamination in Tokyo prompted thousands of expatriates to leave Japan after the March 11 tsunami knocked out power at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, triggering the crisis. Radiation in Tokyo is barely above levels in London and New York even now, analysts said.

“The situation in Japan looks set to follow the pattern of Chernobyl, where fear of radiation did far more damage than the radiation itself,” Bury said in an e-mail referring to the 1986 accident in the former Soviet Union, the world’s worst nuclear disaster. “Whatever the radiation in Tokyo at the moment, you can be fairly sure it is lower than natural background levels in many parts of the world.”

Here you can see daily radiation levels in Hong Kong that are on par or higher than Tokyo.

I laughed when I read the above because many corporations and foreigners in Japan pulled up their stakes and moved to China after the disaster because of fears of radiation. Just goes to show how poorly people use critical reading skills (or lack thereof) along with analytical thinking abilities (or lack thereof).

It has been well known for decades that many Chinese cities and townships have extremely high background radiation levels compared with most of the world and even the Chinese government has recognized the problem for decades. And still many foreigners left Japan to go to China because of radiation fears? Excellent risk management and risk assessment abilities of the western management of those companies.

I'm sure they will do well in China!

But this post is not about China, it is about radiation in Tokyo. 

Many people say that we cannot believe what the government says about radiation. Even though I link to private scientific institutions, some naysayers still don't believe that. OK. I bought a Geiger counter. I've checked for myself. I've even hoped to find some bizarre glowing green globules of irradiated gook. I've looked everywhere.

Nope can't find them. At least not here in Tokyo.

There are even some pundits and scientists who go on the mass media and say idiotic things like, "There are no safe levels of radiation! Period!"

Well, believe what you want. If what these scientists and other fools say is true, then we all  better stay indoors and hide under our blankets for the rest of our lives. Why? Don't look now, but there's a giant ball of fire in the sky that shoots massive amounts of evil radiation at us EVERY SINGLE DAY...


Trust that if you were so daft as to stand directly out in the blistering sun everyday, with no protection, it most assuredly would be damaging to your health. 


As far as I'm concerned, I've got my Geiger counter and I can't find anything at all to worry about in Tokyo... On the other hand, when I show it to people at work, the cute girls all want to see it and play with it when I show them the device. So it is good for something.


I feel like I wasted a bunch of money on an expensive device as I cannot find any deadly radiation.... I'm married so it's too late, but I can see a good use for a Geiger counter in Tokyo... 


Having a Geiger counter in Tokyo, from my research, shows no radiation levels in Tokyo to be concerned about, but results show that having one sure seems like a great way to pick up on girls!

How to be a Good Husband

"Don't lose sight of the fact that, once a man is married, the only sensible thing for him to do is to make best of the circumstances" - Page 7 from How to be a Good Husband


I went to my friend's house yesterday. In the loo there was this most interesting book that I found. It was entitled, "How to be a Good Husband". It is the kind of book that you could read, in its entirety, in 30 minutes. While it is very small and a short read, I found it very interesting and well written. It's not often that you read a book and every sentence is a true gem!

The book was originally written in 1934. The Amazon product description reads:

Marriage can be a series of humorous miscommunication, a power struggle, or a diplomatic nightmare. Men and women have long struggled to figure each other out—and the misunderstandings can continue well after they’ve been joined in matrimony. But long before Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, couples turned to self-help booklets such as How to Be a Good Husband andHow to Be a Good Wife, two historic advice books that are now delightfully reproduced by the Bodleian Library.

            The books, originally published in the 1930s for middle-class British couples, are filled with witty and charming aphorisms on how wives and husbands should treat each other. Some advice is unquestionably outdated—“It is a wife’s duty to look her best. If you don’t tidy yourself up, don’t be surprised if your husband begins to compare you unfavorably with the typist at the office”—but many other pieces of advice are wholly applicable today. They include such insightful sayings as: “Don’t tell your wife terminological inexactitudes, which are, in plain English, lies. A woman has wonderful intuition for spotting even minor departures from the truth”; “After all is said and done, husbands are not terribly difficult to manage”; or “Don’t squeeze the tube of toothpaste from the top instead of from the bottom. This is one of the small things of life that always irritates a careful wife.”

            Entertaining and charmingly illustrated, How to Be a Good Husband and How to Be a Good Wife offer enduringly useful advice for all couples, from the newly engaged to those celebrating their golden anniversary.

The Amazon comments from buyers is also interesting. One read:

Originally published in 1936, this little handbook is incredibly datedly sexist, and pretty funny because of that. Lots of advice along the lines of "Even though you make all the money, you should still show her respect" and "don't forget that washing and cooking can be difficult too." Shows how times have changed.

"Don't neglect your wife's advice on manners pertaining to your own dress. As a rule, a woman knows better than a man what suits him..."

It may be sexist and it may be funny, but much of the advice is spot on and, I think, useful in this day and age where stability is a rarity and mutual respect is a fast disappearing act (not to mention skyrocketing divorce rates). While many young people may find this book unusable, I think it has very wise platitudes that many would do well to observe.

For example: 

"Do remember that there can only be true happiness where there is self-deial. The ideal union is where each strives to yield to the reasonable wishes of the other."  - Page 41 from How to be a Good Husband

How often are we advised today, especially in western society, that the road to happiness is self-sacrifice? Not very many places, I think. This sort of attitude, while it may be considered "dated" by many westerners, seems to still be common thought in many households in Japan - in spite of all Japan's warts.

Reading this book reminds me of a buddhist priest friend of mine who told me what a truly happy marriage was and how I had finally found one myself. He said, "You and your wife are the nearly perfect couple. The nearly perfect couple stays together for a long time not because of sex or what people today consider, "love." They stay together because they are sympathetic to each others mutual suffering. They feel a bond. This is a bond that allows them to self-sacrifice for the other. That is true happiness."

Sure, How to be a Good Husband is a tiny and short book that can be read all at lunchtime... But, where in the world can you find such good advice on how to treat your wife and family correctly, without a bunch of politically correct nonsense all within 92 short pages? Not many places, I think.

There's also a companion book called, How to Be a Good Wife. I haven't read it, but think  will. Not only will it be fun and funny, it most likely has tons of gems in it too!

- Thanks to Ken Nishikawa and Ayumi Maeno, probably the happiest married couple you could ever hope to meet. And why not? They have both How to be a Good Husband and How to Be a Good Wife books in the loo!