Japan 2

From all the countries I've been to, Japan was, for some reason, the one that made me wish I could live there forever. I don't know if it was the kinky porn, the children's cartoons or the depressingly suicidal business people, I'm not sure, but there was just something there that made me want to stay.



And while in Osaka I tried as hard as I could to find a way to stay there permanently, and the only way I could find of doing that, considering i wasn't ready for an arranged marriage yet, it was by trying to find a job, and committing myself to a life of paid slavery, which I was, by the way, totally cool with.


And I still am, I still think that I'd rather wait tables somewhere I like, than make millions somewhere I hate.


So, coming back to Osaka I came across what at the moment seemed to be my dream job, easy, no stress, in the city I liked, with the people I liked, flexible hours, high pay, everything was perfect, and when I applied for it, my employer said the same most employers had told me while in Japan, he said: "No, because you don't have a working visa".


That phrase brought along several phrases with it, ranging from several hours to several days or weeks each.




1 - Denial - I would think: "Maybe the employer was just having a bad day, it happens to everyone, I'll just give him a call again tomorrow and if he says no I'll just try somewhere else, it can't be me, I'm just perfect just the way i am".


2 - Self pity - I would think: "Actually it is me, it's all my fault, why didn't I didn't pay attention in highschool, why I didn't dress better, they only asked you for a valid working visa, university degree, transcripts, cover letter, police background check, letter of recommendation, doctor's health certificate, alien registration card, insurance card, tax payer card, drivers license, etc, and you couldn't provide it, you are worthless, useless Bruno, it's all your fault.


3 - Appreciation - I would think: "F**k this s**t, I'm European, I don't need this s**t from anyone. I don't need that job, and I don't even need to be here anyway. The only reason why I'm here, is because I knew it would be a challenge, this is what i wanted, and actually I'm just a spoiled brat who had such an easy life in Europe that he decided to get out there to live it rough for a while, so he can appreciate what he had back home and actually I'm much better off unemployed, I can sleep late tonight, meet my friends and go cycling along the river tomorrow, that's what life's about"


4 - Objectivity - I would think (and I would know) that actually... if I was my employer i would probably be making the same decisions as he, because if he hires someone who's not legally allowed to work here, he could face steep fines, closure of his business and maybe even jail time. So of course he doesn't want to take the risk, no one would. He's actually a pawn just like me, standing in the frontline, defending someone else's interest, fighting someone else's war.


I knew my employer quite well actually, he was far from being the ruthless corporate rich bastard we always associate our bosses with, he was a normal guy, just like me, he also had to feed his children, pay rent, deal with a million people complaining about everything, he also had problems, fears and insecurities and he was just trying to make a living and get by in life as safely as possible. Same as me, same as everyone else.


And he was actually quite a smart guy, he had been in japan like 10 years and seemed to understand the system quite well, and he explained me that the japanese system, same as most systems it's actually a loop: to find a job you need to have a working visa, to have a working visa you need to first get a job, which of course you can't get because you don't have a working visa.


But I'm sure it's the same in your country, most jobs ask you to have work experience, which of course you can't get because they wont give you a job because you don't have work experience.


I knew it wasn't this particular employer who didn't want me to get a job, it was the government.


But the government, is chosen by the people, right? Japan is still a democratic country, right? Wrong.


Try this, go out on the street and ask random passerbyes for the solution to a technical problem, they will now know it of course, that's how democracy works, ask 100 million people with not technical knowledge whatsoever for the answer to a technical problem and they will either don't know it, don't care about it or get deceived into following someone who tells them he has the answer (so they don't need to look for it themselves).


This is specially true in Japan, where most people have conveniently decided to either shut down their brains and just follow the herd or plugging it into a computer and living in an alternate universe. Am I generalizing? Probably, but I think I'm allowed to generalize about a country I studied for a few years, worked and lived, I bothered to learned the language and kind of understood the culture. It is still generalizing, but if there was going to be a revolution in every country, I can be quite sure that Japan would be the last one. Because in Japan complaining is not an option. You just look down and do as you're told. 


Every loop has a loopwhole though. Good people disobey bad laws and the younger generations are growing more and more aware of the problems we are facing. Some of them are even aware of the solutions. 


I met some of them, and it was quite a refreshing feeling, like a breeze of fresh air.


If you meet 100 people and they have all the same idea, but then someone comes with totally new idea which is completely opposite, it can be like a ray of light, in an otherwise depressing cloudy day.


This people proved me that there's still hope for Japan, there's still hope for the human race, there's still hope for me and for you, and I really wish that next time I go to Japan, I'm wont be needing a working visa anymore, nor a passport, nor money. 


Just a smile, just a smile and a little flower.

Whatever 8

Friend: Hey there.


Bruno: Hey, how's it going?


Friend: I feel terrible, just had an argument with my parents.


Bruno: Why? What happened?


Friend: Well, I want to go on a holiday, but they don't want me to go. What do you think I should do?


Bruno: Mmm.. that sounds like a typical first world problem. And the solution is usually the same, just brush it off.


Friend: What do you mean "first world problem"?


Bruno: Well, you know I have a friend, an english teacher here in Korea, and she told me that before coming here she was volunteering in Uganda, helping people with AIDS, and those people would die, because they didn't have access to the medicines, sometimes they were some medicines somewhere, but they were just too far away, and the transport costs too much for them, so they can't make it to the city, and they just die. 

Sometimes they have to trek for long hours, just to bring some water to their family and on the way they may get eaten by a lion, if they were lucky enough not to encounter some bandits or soldiers that will rape them and kill them, or make them slaves. 

You see, in Korea, same as the country you are right now, we don't have AIDS, we don't need to struggle to find food or water, we have no malaria, famine, plagues, drought, we have no dictator and no mass massacres, to put it simple we have no real problems. 

So we have to make some up, for example I would worry about the corruption in our government and about the high income inequality, you would feel bad because your parents don't want you to go on vacations, someone else will worry because their Iphone broke, they can't find a boyfriend, the weather is too cold or whatever.


Friend: Why do we do that?


Bruno: As with most things, there's no just one reason, or one person to blame for it, it depends upon a million different variables, a million different "if"'s. But maybe the simplest of reasons is that we've always done it and we don't bother changing it, because change scares us. 


You know, there's a documentary I really enjoyed about stress, basically they observe and study some distant cousins of ours, a tribe of baboons in the wild, their hierarchies, social status and relate it to the level of stress in their blood.


It turned out that the average baboon only needed to spend around 3 hours a day finding food and eating it, that left them the rest of the day free, to make someone else's life miserable.
Which is pretty much the same we do. And, paradoxically enough, same as in a corporate environment, each baboon, knew exactly who he could be picked on by, who could he pick on, and in turn, who could be picked on by the baboon he can pick on and so on.


The rest is history, as we evolved, almost every known human civilization, once they get to cover their basic needs (food, water, shelter) they have tons of free time to terrorize each other, either by making up gods that will punish them, finding some reason to invade or conquer their neighbors, or just make their own lives miserable with a bunch of utterly bureaucratic procedure of some kind. 


Take the egyptians, for example, once they started thriving, they couldn't just relax by the Nile and do some bird watching, they HAD to create a intricate series of gods, rituals, laws and hierarchies, then enslave hundreds of thousands of people in order to build some massive structures, for some retarded reason. And they HAD to do it, of course, in the most  ridiculously difficult way possible, lets take 20 years to build only one of them and lets use stones weighting up to 2.5 tons, yay!


And this is not me complaining about the egyptians, this is me complaining about human stupidity, we've been here for 200.000 years already (homo sapiens), we should know better already.


It's just not you that worries about what your parents say, everyone worries about things that don't matter, I also worry about my job, the weather, the future or silly things like catching the 150 pokemon.


Friend: I think they are more than 150 now.


Bruno: You get my point though?


Friend: There are 649 pokemon now.


Bruno: I know, but for me they will always be 150, maybe I'm just old.


Friend: Not old, but things change, we discover more pokemons, they evolve, and they get more and more complex every day, unnecessarily complex I would say, did you know that there are 7 Eevee evolutions now?


Bruno: Now that's just too many Eevee evolutions.


Friend: You said you worry about your job, but how come you never talk about your job?


Bruno: True, I don't usually talk about it, but I do worry, not as much as everyone else worries about it though. I'm just trying to change my perspective, see, pretty much all my life I've witnessed how everyone's life revolved around their work. 


Friend: Well, you are what you do, right?


Bruno: Exactly! That's what I got tired of, of "being" something, and the million social obligations that something, that title carries with it, so if I'm an office worker I have to dress on a certain way, I have to talk, eat and behave on a certain way, hang out with certain people, at certain places, drink coffee and look stressed, because if I'm relaxed I wouldn't be fitting the stereotype for the office worker, the same will happen if I'm an artist, musician or something like that, I have to dress on a certain way, hang out at certain places, with certain people, I'm expected to care more about social issues and my ideas are expected to be more liberal, so I got tired of always having to fit into some job description that will, in turn define my personality, my ideas, my appearance and that the rest of my life will revolve around that job description.


Friend: So you're not gonna work anymore so you don't get labeled.


Bruno: It's not about working or not working, it's about not giving it more importance than it should have and not letting my job control my life. So yes, I'll work for a couple of weeks or months every year here and there, save some money, then go traveling or do something i enjoy, like learning a new language and spend all the money, when I run out of money find a different job in a different country, save some money, spend  it all doing something nice, work again, and so on, but I'm not gonna stress about it like I did before and definitely not going to let it take over my soul.


Friend: I wish I could do that.


Bruno: So do it.


Friend: But everyone expects me to work my whole life at the same job, I'm Asian remember?


Bruno: I'm Asian too.


Friend: No, you're not.


Bruno: Ok, I'm not, anyway, being Asian is just the most handy excuse you can find now for not doing what you want, Asian countries have some expectations towards their citizens, same as every other country in the world, they are all pretty much the same, and we all think our life is harder than everyone else's and we all think our country or our family makes our lives oh so very difficult, just so that we don't have to take responsibility for our lives and we can keep blaming someone else for our misery.


Friend: 649 pokemon.


Bruno: It's crazy, right? 649 and counting and some of them just look ridiculous, like, seriously, what is this?

Friend: It's a Solosis.


Bruno: And that?

Friend: that's a ferrothorn.


Bruno: How about this one?

Friend: Luvdisc


Bruno: How clever! And what's this supposed to be?

Friend: That's a chimecho.


Bruno: This is getting out of hand.


Friend: You know it's just a children's game anyway.


Bruno: Children's game? How dare you!?!?


Friend: It is.


Bruno: Well, whatever then.


Friend: :-)

Go to the gym

Guilt: It's 3 o'clock.



Bruno: So?



Guilt: So, the gym closes at 5?



Bruno: So?


Guilt: So you should be on your way already.



Bruno: What's that? I should???


Guilt: Yes, because if you don't you're gonna feel guilty latter today, and if you don't get yourself tired you wont be able to sleep well tonight.



Bruno: F***k that s***t, I'll sleep anyway.


Guilt: No you wont and you know it.



Bruno: Well, I'm not going anywhere.


Guilt: So why on earth did you spend so much time understanding how exercise works, how it affects your mood and what effects it has on your body, if now you wont want to go to the gym? Why do you spend so much time learning what foods are good for you, which aren't, how are they digested, which gives you the best nutrients, if you're not gonna eat them latter? Why do you spend time understanding the political and socio economical institutions if you're not gonna try to make them better. You need to walk the talk, exercise makes us happy and you know it, no "but", get dressed, go to the gym, and think about what i said.



Bruno: Who do you think you are?


Guilt: I'm the logical part of you, the one that will come up with logical arguments to convince you to always do the right thing for the right reasons. No excuses.



Bruno: So damn arrogant, well guess what logic, I don't care. I'm gonna stay home and learn all of Asuka's 10 hit combos in tekken dark resurrection.


Guilt: That's ridiculous, you have tekken 6, why would you play dark resurrection?



Bruno: Just to piss you off, that's why.


Guilt: It's 3.10 you better get going.



Bruno: I have a headache.


Guilt: No, you don't.



Bruno: I'm still tired from yesterday.


Guilt: You're not.



Bruno: It looks like it's gonna rain.


Guilt: It doesn't.



Bruno: I have things to do tomorrow morning.


Guilt: You don't.



Bruno: Ok, how about this: I'll just exercise at home for 1 hour, right here right now, and you leave me alone.


Guilt: Work out at home for 2 hours, 30 minutes of yoga, 30 minutes of stretching, then go for a walk for 1 hour and you're free.



Bruno: 1 hour exercise, 15 minutes stretching, walk around the block and I'm done with this s**t. I'll even throw in some documentaries after the walk.


Guilt: 1 hour exercise, 30 minutes stretching, 30 minutes meditation, then go for a walk for as long as you want and you're off the hook.



Bruno: Deal.


Guilt: Deal.

Shave your head

Bruno: Let's shave our heads today!

Friend: What? Where did that come from?

Bruno: Let's shave our heads baby!

Friend: What? You call yourself baby now?

Bruno: Yeah baby.

Friend: Ok baby, let's shave.

Bruno: What? Wait, are you sure of this?

Friend: No. But you just said so, I'll just play along.

Bruno: You're not supposed to play along, you're supposed to bring me down to earth and tell me it's a silly idea.

Friend: I think it's a great idea actually.

Bruno: Is it?

Friend: Sure, well you may loose some of your charm, but you'll save some money in shampoo and hair products.

Bruno: I never use shampoo or hair products anyway.

Friend: So you'll save some money on the hairdresser.

Bruno: I don't spend on that either.

Friend: So on water, if you need to wash it less often.

Bruno: That one either.

Friend: Eewww, so it makes no difference, you always wearing a cap anyway.

Bruno: True.

Friend: So just do it.

Bruno: Ok baby, let's do it together.

Friend: Forever alone level: schizophrenia.

Bruno: What can I say? I've been lonely.

Friend: You'll be fine either way, you'll be fine if you just stop worrying.

Bruno: I'll be fine either way.

Friend: Everything's gonna be just fine.

Bruno: Just fine.

Friend: Eveything's gonna be A okay!

Bruno: A okay!

Friend: You see, you're feeling better now.

Bruno: I feel better.

Friend: You're so lucky you have me.

Bruno: I'm lucky to have you.

Friend: You did well, now relax, take a deep breath and just sleep, that tomorrow it will be a wonderful day.

Bruno: I'll just sleep.

Friend: Sleep.

Whatever 7

Friend: have you ever thought about having a baby?


Bruno: Not really, I think we have way too many people already on this planet, we don't need more.



Friend: But it's the circle of life, we have to keep procreating.


Bruno: Indefinitely? 




Friend: Yes, like the stupid animals we are.


Bruno: But... almost  7.000.000.000 people already and counting, one million more people every four days, every second 2 people are born, isn't that enough? It's not like we are facing extinction or anything.


Friend: Anyway, it's what's expected from you, you're almost 30, gotta start procreating already.


Bruno: wtf! I'm like no way near 30, I'm 27.




Friend: Time to have a baby.


Bruno: We don't even have enough resources to take care of all the people we have now, why do we have to keep having more and more? Every baby born needs shelter, clothes, electricity, tons of food and water, we are not eve able to provide for all the people we have now, and you want to keep adding more people?


Friend: Poor people are not your problem, you have to take care of yourself, and think about your future.


Bruno: I am poor person, and I can barely take care of myself, how do you expect me to take care of a baby? And most important, why? why on earth would I ever want to do that? 


Friend: Because it's what's expected.


Bruno: Not a good reason.




Friend: Because you can.


Bruno: Still not a good reason.


Friend: Because then they can support you and take care of you when you are old.


Bruno: I'm not asian, i don't need my children to support me or take care me, I'll rather take care of myself.


Friend: But you will be blind.


Bruno: I'll be fine.


Friend: You will die.


Bruno: I'll learn to astral project, telekinesis, telepathy or something like that.


Friend: Right.


Bruno: Really, you don't think I can do it?


Friend: Of course not.


Bruno: Why not?


Friend: Because those things don't really exist. 


Bruno: Not yet, but I can be the first one to do it.


Friend: But that falls into the category of the paranormal, like the gods, astrology, angels, or ghosts, and you always say you don't believe in the paranormal.


Bruno: True, but If I can prove it, it will stop being paranormal, it will become a fact. Then I can believe in it because it's just there.


Friend: You think too much, you better have a baby, so that he will take care of you.


Bruno: No way. You expect me to just ignore all the overpopulation and environmental problems and think just about my own selfish future.


Friend: Exactly.


Bruno: Why would I?


Friend: Because everyone else does.


Bruno: Not everyone else, most people yes, not everyone.


Friend: Still.


Bruno: My father had way more babies that he could take care of, more than he could provide for, nevertheless, he decided to keep having babies, and he decided to take care of the others instead of taking care of me, so I had to suffer because of that, because he couldn't provide for me. I'm not a man of means so I wouldn't be able to provide for my babies either, why would I make them go through the same i went through for not having enough food.


Friend: Looks like someone has daddy issues.


Bruno: No way, it's just an example, and supposing I WERE a man of means, and i was able to provide for them, how could I ever live with myself knowing there are so many children in the world that have no one to take care of them, waiting for someone to adopt them, and I selfishly decided to bring a new baby to this planet while there are so many that have no parents.


Friend: How about passing on your genes or genetic material?


Bruno: No need to do that.


Friend: How about passing on your legacy, all the things you have learned, and all the things you know to future generations.


Bruno: There is no such a legacy, the only thing I know is that I'm never gonna have children.


Friend: Never say never.


Bruno: You just said it twice.


Friend: Whatever.


Bruno: Yeah, Whatever.

The Script (when you're 19)

I recently talked to Korean friend of mine. He's 19 years old now, that means he's entering the age where people will start demanding from him to start being productive and do something with his life. And by "something" I mean, of course, something they want him to do and by "something they want him to do", I mean of course work or study.


Studying not as a way of helping mankind, not as way of understanding more about life, about our universe, your body, your mind or about how things work, but as way of satisfying society's hunger for predictability and doing just what you are expected to do, to keep things predictable, play by the rules and make sure everything's stays the same. That the rich stay rich, the poor stay poor and the foolish stay foolish. 


And working not as a way of helping others, but as a way of helping yourself. Everyone around you wants to make sure you get a job, and make just enough money to pay the rent, food and pay for a bunch of things you don't need. 


The amount has to be just the right one, if you get too little money you may get sick or depressed, being unable to keep working, if you get too much you may try to escape the loop of: working-getting little money-spending that little money-working again- getting little money again-spending that little money again-working again..

Same as a dog, they have to make sure you are kept on a short leash, giving you enough money and freedom so that you wont complain but not too much so that you will run away.




So coming back to my Korean friend, we were in a group, so other people, after learning he had just finished highschool, understandably wanted to know what's he gonna do after, because he has to do something, right? He can't do nothing. We all have to do something. Something that keeps the machine running, something that keeps the money flowing.


So his scrips would go something like this: 


"When I finish, I'm gonna go to the army, then I'm going to study business administration, and then I'm going to find a job at a company"


Now, there's nothing strange with this, that's what most koreans would say at his age when people ask them what are they going to do after highschool. It's just what's expected. Graduate then work at the company.


The problem is that this guy has dreadlocks, wears jamaican colors, and looks and talks like he'd rather be playing ukulele in costa rica, than going to the army and business school.




So I remembered what my script was when I was his age, and it was, surprisingly enough, pretty much the same as his.


I used to say whatever people around me wanted to hear just so that they'll leave me alone, and sometimes I almost believed it.


Sometimes I almost believed that was what I wanted to do, just because it was what they were expecting me to do.


Sometimes I almost believed I had to do something just because everyone else did.





And then when people found out I had the chance of going to spain, and they asked me what i was going to do after. I remember myself saying "I'm going to save some money in Spain, then come back to Argentina and start some business or buy a house here". That one was not only the answer everyone were expecting to hear, but also the only answer I knew, the only thing I thought it was possible doing then.



When I was 19, I couldn't have said "I'm going on a trip for the rest of my life" because no one would have understood it, and neither had I of course.




When I'm a guy and I'm 19, I'm trying to figure out what's going on with my body, why do I want sex, why do I like breasts. Why do I have so much energy, Why do I feel like fighting.???


And trying to figure out what's going on with my mind, why do I cry? Why do i feel lonely? Why do I feel unfulfilled? Why do I feel confused? Why do people look at me weird? Am I special? What's the meaning of life? Why am I alive? Why do i exist? Why am I so paranoid? Why do I hate everyone? Why do I hate myself? 


And on top of that everyone around you expecting you to have everything figured out already, and not only know what's going on with your body and mind, but also to know or  "choose" what is that you want to do during the rest of your life. And to give them a detailed explanation of why have you chosen that and how are you going to pull it off.




Now I'm 27 and still haven't quite figured out what's going on with my mind, what I did learn though is that every day we get a million new different thoughts and ideas, what I want to do now is not the same I wanted to do 10 minutes ago, assuming there's even something i wanted to do.


Change is unavoidable and next week I will  probably have radically different thoughts and ideas from the ones I have today, and so on.


So the advice I would give to that friend of mine and to the 19 years old me through space time continuous, is not to worry too much,  take life day by day, try to enjoy the moment, because today there are so many things going on, and you're missing them by trying to plan everything in advanced.


There's is no future, it's an illusion, there's just today and you are missing it.


Maybe you can plan today what you want to do tomorrow or next week, but don't bother on planning next month, because you will be a totally different person then. 


Sure your family and most adults you meet everywhere will want to know what are you going to do for the rest of your life, but you are 19 already, so it's time you understand that "I have no idea" its a perfectly valid answer to any question in life.