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Oct 31, 2004 A Happy Return Home
Oct 30, 2004 Seattle (3) Filming of the additional footage for the movie's DVD Oct 29, 2004-2 Seattle (2) Seminar at Ramtha School Oct 29, 2004-1 Seattle (1) About "Water Song" Oct 28, 2004-2 Hado Publishing USA Opening Party Oct 28, 2004-1 To My Son's House in Los Angeles
Oct 23, 2004 Budapest Seminar
Oct 22, 2004 Japanese Food and Japanese Women
Oct 21, 2004 Budapest - Gathering for the Prayer to Water
Oct 19, 2004 Montecatini (Central Italy) Seminar
Oct 16 & 17, 2004 Romania Bucharest Seminar
Oct 14, 2004 A Sad News
Oct 13, 2004 Visiting Chopin's Home
Oct 12, 2004 Warsaw Seminar
Oct 11, 2004 Off to Eastern Europe
Oct 7, 2004 Visitors from Malaysia Oct 5, 2004 At Tama Parthenon
Oct 4, 2004 Ever Mere Seminar in Kyoto
Oct 3, 2004 About Mr. Miyazaki
Oct 2, 2004 Nagoya Be One Seminar
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* Sunday, Oct 31, 2004 A Happy Return Home |
My 20 days of overseas tour is coming to a very successful end. As usual, I am full of satisfaction and looking forward to seeing my employees and our cat that only is attached to my wife (Tama, I still love you!). However, I have one more big reason to look forward to coming back home.
My grandson, Riku is waiting for me at home. My daughter's husband is an ex-pat in Holland and they had a wedding at Amsterdam four years ago. Our first grandchild, Riku, was born there a year and 8 months earlier. People might think that we don't get to see him very often because he's in Europe, but since we have chances to visit Europe for different occasions, we get to see him more than people think. The last time I saw him was when he came to visit me in Liechtenstein in the middle of July, about three months earlier. However, three months is a long time for children that age, I can't wait to see how much he has grown.
My daughter's family is back in Japan for her husband's brother's wedding this time. But my daughter and her son will be in Japan for about a month so I can live with Riku for a while. I'm very excited about this. I'm worried that if he remembers this old man though. I always thought I'm still young at heart but I guess I am getting pretty old. I'll be back home soon!!
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* Saturday, Oct 30, 2004 Seattle (3) Filming of the additional footage for the movie's DVD |
The next morning, I had a meeting with sales manager, Betsy, about the plans of promotion of the movie in Japan at 8:30 in the morning. Then we did about an hour and a half of interview for the movie's DVD with William Arntz at his cabin. They wanted to add my interview in the DVD because there were many questions regarding who I am since my name, ideas and work appear in the movie but not myself. My translator for the night before, Dianne, who is a third generation Japanese, came early in the morning to translate for me that day as well. I heard Dianne say "excellent! wonderful!" during the interview so I'm sure it went very well. I'm looking forward to see the finished product. And before I knew it, it was 10:30, the time for me to leave. I had to get on the 2pm flight to Los Angeles.
Pablo, the director of planning, who also was the priest at the wedding scene in the movie, took us to the airport. I was only at William Arntz's cabin for a day but I believe that we got to know each other well and promised each other to work to spread the message of the movie as a common goal. Will will be arriving in Japan on November 20th and will be talking at the 27th/28th event. Before that event, he requested that he wanted to go see the rural part of Japan. He said that his past life has some connection with Sakakibara in Nagano prefecture. When I researched that place, I found out that that is the birthplace of a famous Japanese poet, Issa Kobayashi. If I exaggerate, I can say that this movie, "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" is a film that has the potential to change the history of the humanity. How the bleep are the maker of such film and the famous Japanese poet connected!? I'm planning to interview him once he comes back from that pilgrimage. |
* Friday, Oct 29, 2004-2 Seattle (2) Seminar at Ramtha School |
William Arntz's log cabin was in the woods, about an hour and a half drive from the Seattle airport. He has been living there by himself for about five years now. The rest of the staff of the movie all live within thirty minutes drive so I suspect that much of the creation of the movie took place in his cabin. He has a little pond in this yard with a circulation system that reminds me of Japan. I'm sure it will be beautiful once the lotus flowers bloom.
Will's garden One of the production crew, Betsy, was at the cabin with her husband and their newborn baby. She had been working in sales and distribution field for a long time so she gave me some good advices for running our upcoming event. She told us that the official release of the movie in Japan would be sometime in the next spring. I can't wait to have the movie arrive in Japan. Betsy's husband arrived in a Superman costume but he is a very good singer and a guitarist so he started performing with my musician friend, Mr. Seto, right away. Not only that though, Betsy's husband was also a very skilled kinesiology practitioner. I had a short try with his treatment that joins chiropractic technology and channeling and was impressed. I wish I had a longer time to have a full treatment with him.
In the end, there were about eight of the crews that gathered at Will's place, plus the four of us, the total of 12 people for the dinner. I enjoyed delicious seafood. At eight, we finished dinner and took off to the RamthaSchool for a scheduled seminar. This seminar was planned at only about a week earlier. That school was located about half an hour from Will's place in a town called Yelm. It was dark so I didn't get a perfect idea of where we were going, but it was definitely a trip that made me wonder, a seminar at location like this? At 8:30 in the night? With 1000 participants? (I heard that was about the number of people to be expected. However, when I entered the hall, there really were about 1000 people already there. Most people were laying down wrapped in sleeping bags or blankets. It was like a large hall, or a gymnasium. (I learned later that it used to be a training center for horse riding) There was a stage in the center and three large screens around it. When I saw that situation, I understood right away that it is not a school for school children, but more of a training school for the adults. There were some Japanese looking people as well. I heard later that there are people from all over the world that come to take a course on Ramtha's teachings. Ramtha's School of Enlightenment(UAS)…http://www.ramtha.com/ First, William Arntz and Betsy got up on the stage. Just as they stood in front of the whole audience, there was a huge cheers and applause. It was like they were some famous singers or something. Every time they say a word, the place fills up with the audience's cheers. They are already very popular within that community. (Since Ramtha's chenneler appears in the movie, all the Ramtha fans have watched it more than once.) And finally I was introduced. There was a huge round of applause and people started to stand up as I walked up to the stage. I was never welcomed as warmly and enthusiastically as this one with over 1000 people in the audience. What a stage! I knew I was going to have a lot of fun at that place. I felt like I was Elvis Presley for the 2 and half hours that I was on the stage. I could be hooked to this feeling! I have to remember that I am a serious, shy, Japanese missionary for peace!
It was past midnight by the time we returned to Will's cabin but he was up cleaning up and washing dishes. He must be like a god to some of the new agers after making such a great film but he doesn't act anything like it. I found myself liking him more and more as I got to know this modest good natured man.
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* Friday, Oct 29, 2004-1 Seattle (1)About "Water Song" |
We left for Seattle on the 9am flight to meet the creators of the movie, "What the Bleep Do We Know!?". I was invited to William Arntz, the main man of the production's log house there. My original intent was just to go there for a friendly visit, but it turned out to be a lot more than that. First, I met up with the musician, Ryusuke Seto and his wife at the Seattle airport. I had asked him for a song for the upcoming Water for Life Festival on the 27th of November. Since he lives in Seattle, and because we were told that his song has been completed, we decided to meet up at Seattle.
There also was Pablo from the movie staff at the airport to greet me. I introduced Mr. and Mrs. Seto to him and we all got in their car and drove off to Will's log house. I would like to talk about Mr. Seto first here. I met Mr. Seto for the first time about half a year ago through my wife's niece, Nobuko. Our first meeting was more of a formal, introductory type but there was something that I felt for him that I decided to ask him for a song. The following is an e-mail that I sent to him explaining the general image that I wanted the song to portray: I am looking forward to hearing the song of water. Here is the general concept of the song. We are all water We are all water We are all water Hope this would be of some help to you. Masaru Emoto Mr. Seto understood and arranged what I wanted to say very well. He made a beautiful song, singing it with her daughter who is also a singer. His "Water Song" arrived through the internet in my e-mail inbox when I was in Budapest. I remember feeling goose bumps all over myself when I heard the song on my computer. I am planning to have all of us sing the song as part of the festival on the 27th of November. There is an English version as well so I would like to take this song and spread it throughout the world. Here is the English version of the lyric: 「WATER SONG」 Far across the universe, this shinning star, Why do we breath this air? Where do we go from here? Listen to the voice within, the water inside of us, Sing to her, a melody with soft angel voice. Raindrops falling from the sky, Nature's greatest gift. We can all hold our hands, sharing light and harmony.
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* Thursday, Oct 28, 2004-2 Hado Publishing USA Opening Party |
When I left Japan in October 11th, my son was still in Japan. He drove us to the airport. In the car then, I said, "we should have an opening party when I get there, on the 28th of October." My son replied, "we don't have much time." But I suggested that we can still have a party for those people that can come with such short notice. My son agreed without hesitation as if to say that that is a great idea. So my son left Japan on the 17th after some busy days of finishing off his work there, and moving out from his house. It had been ten days since he had started his new life in the US now. I'm sure he didn't have much time to prepare for the party but we surprisingly had about forty people come to the party. There were people that came all the way from Dallas, Sedona, Portland, and even Tennessee. There were people that organized my seminar, people that will be organizing them, and people that are marketing my books, and some of my fans as well. I was happy to see so many people attend despite the short notice and the fact that we had to charge for the entry fee into the party.
Dr. Show and his secretary However, the person that came from the farthest part of the world was Yamada that came all the way from Japan just for this event. He left Japan in the evening of the 28th, arriving the morning of the same day, attended the party that evening, hopped on the airplane back to Japan the next day afternoon. He will be back in Japan on the afternoon of the 30th. Since he is in charge of accounting department in his office, he had to be back by the end of the month, the 31st. My son has a great friend that would come all the way across the continent for him.
The party turned out to be a lot of fun. Many people gave a speech and cheered the young two (my son and his wife) up for the upcoming challenges. My wife who is presented as the president of Hado Publishing USA looked like she was having fun as well. I was filled with satisfaction that I accomplished another good thing as a husband and a father. I was especially surprised and happy to see Hiromasa give a presentation of a future management plan on a slide show. He must have been busy just setting himself up but I was impressed to see his plan look very positive and hopeful. Our daughter-in-law, Jayme was also being a great host. She was filled with gratitude towards me for making her dream of starting a family in the US come true. I was happy by this whole situation and couldn't help but to exchange many happy glances with my wife.
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* Thursday, Oct 28, 2004-1 To My Son's House in Los Angeles |
I flew out of Frankfurt on the afternoon of the 27th for an 11 and a half hour flight to Los Angeles. When I finally arrived, the time was four in the afternoon, LA time. I try not to care too much about these time changes. My watch is always on Japanese time and I let myself wake up even if it's very early in the morning, or sleep in the middle of the day, whenever I feel like it. I don't think I can keep up with a schedule like mine if I didn't follow that kind of a lifestyle. I was greeted by my son and his wife at the airport. My son, Hiromasa is 28 years old, still a young boy from my point of view. He fell in love with a Philippina woman last year and got married without giving us much time to contemplate. Originally, I had sent him to California for a language study once he had finished high school because he did not know what he exactly wanted to do then. My daughter was studying at the CaliforniaStateUniversity at Northridge at that time so I thought she can take care of him. As suspected, my daughter was the perfect caretaker for him. Even after she left for Holland, my son did well there, although it did take him six years to graduate from a junior collage. And he ended up working at a travel agency in California. Therefore, he learnt to speak in English while he was there. However, because of the 911 incident, the amount of tourists from Japan decreased and he decided that he will return to Japan and help with my business. That was just about three years ago. For the first two years, he worked hard, and I was starting to think that I can be confident in him working at my office, until he met his current wife. As soon as they met, his whole attention was on their relationship and without giving much time, I heard him declare that they were married. I unwillingly went to Manila to meet her family although I was not at the best of mood. They started living together in Japan from last November. I get worried about Jayme, my new daughter-in-law, since she speaks English well but her Japanese is not improving much. Japan can be prejudice and closed to outsiders, especially women from Southeastern Asia. While that was going on, there was an increasing necessity for a business office in the USA with the increasing popularity of the movie. I realized that necessity during the April and May US seminar tour when I talked in 13 different cities. My wife and I decided to set up a company in the States for my son and his wife who we thought would be a lot happier there. We went to the States again in September and took care of legal situations for setting up a company and finding home/office space. We decided to call the company Hado Publishing USA. My son and his wife returned back to Japan once and formally moved to the US in the middle of October. And now here they are at the LA airport to greet us. I felt surprisingly relaxed at my son's new home. I was able to rest a lot better than at a hotel. Even though we only spent a night there, the place has already become a home for the family. |
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