Pooh-san, Ume Juice, and Sunset Kagura
Yesterday was a wonderful day. It was so good I counted 11 high points, and 12 would be my amazing night of sleep. This article is about finding joy in small things.
This article includes:
Five Takeaways
Two “Notes to self,” which I challenge you to adapt to suit your context
Self-defense strategies for bear attacks
Knowledge of the Japanese Sports Drink of the Gods
Information on what the Japanese Gods watch for entertainment
A bad sketch from my journal and a silly name I have given to one aspect of myself
Pooh-san
After completing my Morning Pages on the garden deck yesterday, I realized the heat was not too bad. Recently, by the time I finish journaling, it approaches the “sweaty hours” of the day, and usually, I retire to the comfort of air conditioning.
However, as the sun was not shining down like Satan’s Spotlight, and the humidity was low enough that one did not require a machete to walk through, I decided to go for a walk. It was not just a short walk; it was an exploratory walk that took two hours and covered 9.77 kilometers.
Along the way, I found Pooh-san, which made me smile. You know him as Winnie the Pooh, but we all call him Pooh-san in Japan. While there were many beautiful sites along my walking route: a meandering river, numerous small waterfalls, bamboo groves everywhere, people harvesting rice, etc., the only photo I took was of Pooh-san’s face scratched into a concrete wall. It was just off to the side of a source of mountain water1, which is a common thing to come across in West Nowhere, so I found it amusing. Better yet, it made me smile. It is not even a good photo, but I wanted to remember that it made me smile. (Late edit: I posted this image to Facebook, and a friend who lives an hour down the coast shared a photo he took of Pooh scratched on the exact spot five years ago!)
Takeaway: Take note of the small things that make you smile, as they are often more difficult to recall than those that make you sad.
While walking, I also recorded several Voice Memos on my phone. When I walk, I do not listen to music; I listen to myself. I find it much more useful. Sometimes, my anxiety comes to the forefront as I embrace the silence and invite my mind to speak to me, but other times, it is a beautiful, creative mess of ideas that takes me to exciting places.
Voice Memo 1: “I am walking down the street, literally thinking about self-defense strategies against bears. Do I use my towel as a flexible weapon and capture it in his mouth to control his head and use my thumbs to attack his eyes? But this opens me up to attack from his claws, which is not good. So, do I spin to the side at the last moment, like an opening door, and hit the bear with an elbow to the temple? Would that shock him enough to scare him away?
This is insane. This is life with anxiety. Why am I thinking of this shit instead of being in awe of the pleasant breeze, the rice paddies dried up and ready for harvest, or the bamboo grove across the street?”
This voice memo was a reaction to a Haiku I was thinking of describing my relationship with a toxic person. This person likes to poke me to get reactions out of me. This person thrives on creating drama, so I chose to go no-contact. I gave up on the haiku because I didn’t want to write an unhappy poem. However, it reminded me of animals usually caged at zoos, “lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!” (This is the ADHD train of thought…) Yes, we have bears around here and wild boar as well. So, naturally, my mind spots the door marked, “What if a bear walks out of the woods right now? What would you do? Let’s open it up and see! This is what a brain on Anxiety is like. A stupid person in a large room full of doors marked with “What if…” scenarios, and the overwhelming urge to open them all… Or is it just me?
Takeaway: Say, “No, thank you.” It is always an option and sometimes the best option. If your mind wanders towards one of these “What if…” doorways, say “No, thanks.” And make some tea, bread, art, or just a mess. Just leave the door alone.
Voice Memo 2: “I should buy one of those Red Rider wagons to pull behind me while I go for walks like this because seeing the garbage is just depressing. I need to bring gloves and tongs to pick up garbage while I walk. Also, when I walk on the beach.”
“What!?” You say, “I thought Japan was super clean!” Yes, in general, it is. Everyone who has visited us always comments on how clean the streets are. However, the beach and backroads are exceptions. It is common on back roads to find cans on the side of the road, and often signs that say, “Do not dump garbage here,” as disposing of washing machines or other large things is expensive, so some people would rather drive it into the mountain and throw it off the side of the road. What can I say? There are bad people everywhere. The best I can do is not become one of them and try to undo what others do.
Takeaway: Be the balance. If you see a rude person, be the polite person. If you are upset about people who litter, be the person who picks it up. Who cares if it is not “your” garbage? Everyone benefits when one chooses to balance one person's bad acts with a good deed.
On a lighter note, my wife and I bonded over a piece of garbage on the road. It got to the point where we looked forward to seeing it every time we drove by. For context, as mentioned above, the main roads are immaculate here. Amazingly so. However, on the route I commute, there was a half-empty (half-full?) two-liter bottle of tea on the side of the road. It was one of the squared bottles that don’t roll. I swear, it was in the exact same place for over a year. Also, it was beside a sidewalk, so anybody walking by could have picked it up at any time. I started looking forward to seeing it, expecting it to disappear each day. Then, one day, while riding in the passenger seat while my wife drove, I shared my knowledge of the miracle bottle on the side of the road. She didn’t believe me when I told her it had been there for over a year.
We spent the next two months laughing every time we passed that bottle, and when a 500 ml bottle showed up about 100 meters up the hill, we decided its child had returned to visit. The strange stories we made up about this bottle made for endless amusement. I was afraid to tell my wife the day I noticed it was no longer there. I did not want to take that joy away from our rides along that route. Now, we are actively looking for another innocuous piece of trash to adopt in the same way.
Takeaway: Choose your perspective; define your reaction. The first time I saw this bottle, it upset me. However, once I reframed it as an anomaly, it amused me. I decided that the fact it had lasted so long without being removed was some sort of miracle, and I found joy in its existence.
Voice Memo 3: (Summarized) I was thinking about a silly sketch I made in my journal the other day (shared below). I was going through the process of naming different aspects of myself to gain power over them. It is a strategy I have been playing with. As my hammock has gone from my relaxation spot to my safe place and now the ‘castle in which I hide from my demons,’ I named the part of me that tends to run and hide in this way “Hammock-berry.” In the voice memo, I dictated the tale of a Warrior of note named Stephen, who earned his family name via a shared anecdote explaining the source of his strength. When the king asked how he became so strong, he shrugged and replied, “I dunno, I eat roast hen every day.” The King laughed and named him Sir Hen-every, and so it was.
The story continued for multiple generations and permutations of the name, ending with Sir Hammock-berry, who was mocked for hiding in a hammock when the dragons came.
Takeaway: Your demons are easier to battle if you know their names. If you have to, name them yourself.
Ume Juice, a chat with my wife, and Substack
I arrived home two hours later, dripping with sweat, and my wife made me a pitcher of Ume Juice2. This homemade sports drink is amazing—four ingredients: unripe plums, rock sugar, vinegar, and time. You can drink a gallon and not feel full, as I swear it all goes straight to your muscles and organs that need replenishing. This is the sports drink of the gods, and you can make it at home.
As I sat by the fan cooling off, my wife Yuki returned with the pitcher of Ume Juice. She sat with me in our tatami room, and we chatted for a while. She often works next door, in our second home, so we rarely sit and talk during the day. It was nice to sit together and chat about my walk, the power of Ume Juice, and other things.
Note to self: Plan more ‘at home’ dates with my wife—morning coffee on the beach, afternoon coffee in the tatami room, beach chairs and sunsets. Too often, our joyful conversations happen by chance. Create more opportunities for them.
After my wife returned next door to work, I took a well-earned cold shower, sat down at the computer, opened Substack, and learned that
of had mentioned me in a post. Exposure! Yay, me! Thank you, !
Reading Kathryn’s post (highly recommended) led me to open over a dozen new tabs of articles I needed to read. This was a bit concerning because my computer is currently in a disagreement with me over how many tabs I am allowed to keep open at once. However, I read them all, subscribed to some, and took notes as seeds for future posts. All thanks to
. (If you “@“ someone three times, does it summon them like Beetlejuice?)After reading and processing about 20 open tabs, I moved to the hammock for a bit of pleasure reading3 and took a nap to prepare for the Sunset Beer Garden and Kagura event on the beach.
Sunset Kagura
We had a local outdoor event. It was Sunset Beer Garden & Kagura at the beach across from our house. It was brilliant. We were able to meet with many of our neighbors, enjoy the Kagura performance, and catch up with people we have not spoken to in ages. Plus, takoyaki, shaved ice, and live music!
Please allow me to share a short amusing point about our village: when we moved it, the story was that “some young people are moving in.” We assumed they were referring to our kids, who were 14 and 16, but we were wrong. They were referring to my wife and I, who were both 49 at the time. I guess ‘young’ is relative. At the first neighborhood “sports day,” when they invited “everyone over 70 years old” to join the next event, it was like a bench-clearing brawl…
Back on point. What is Kagura? Well, this was Iwami Kagura, as there are other varieties, but Iwami Kagura is the best, so don’t bother with those others… The region I live in, here in West Nowhere, Japan, is known as Iwami. That is 石見 for those of you who can read Japanese. If not, it translates roughly to “rock viewing” or “cliff viewing.” We have a beautiful coastline with incredible cliffs and rocks to view, where the name presumably comes from. Now, as for 石見神楽 (Iwami Kagura), the Kagura translates roughly as “Entertainment for the Gods.” It is based on Shinto, a polytheistic religion, and all the gods come from Shimane. Also, they abandon the rest of Japan and return to Shimane for one month out of the year. This is why Shimane is known as the “Land of the Gods,” which has me wondering what all other people in Japan do during their “Godless” times.
(The little girl stole the show. She kept approaching the Orochi (serpent/dragons), and the Orochi would snap at her until she ran away. Rise, repeat. She did it over and over.)
I see I have opened a rabbit hole here, as I could go on about Kagura for hours. Anyway, it is entertaining as hell. If you are curious about Kagura, while it is completely off-topic for me, comment, and I will write a post about it if there is demand for it. I only mentioned it as I love it, and it made me happy to watch it last night. Watching this little girl continually approach the Orochi, only to run away and then return numerous times, was the highlight of my night.
Note to self: Go to see Kagura more often. It is everywhere, it is almost always free, and it is just fun to watch.
After sticking around for a decent acoustic music set, we walked the whole 300 meters back home around 21:00. I was off for a second glorious cold shower after working up a sweat at the outdoor event while my wife played with the cat. However, I learned that was just a ruse, as when I came out of the shower, I found my wife had surprised me with a frozen banana & fruit smoothie! Yum!
I climbed in the hammock while I snacked on my dessert treat, with my dog napping under me and occasionally spanking me with her wagging tail, while my wife and I enjoyed our second long chat of the day.
After a short attempt at more pleasure reading, I gave up, fell asleep in the hammock, and slept like a rock.
It was a good day.
It is common for people around here to climb up to the top of local mountains, baby mountains, or just big hills and run a hose from the topmost pool of water they find. These are fresh and unpolluted by any homes further up, allowing them to run “mountain water” down to the roadside or sometimes their backyard. We had a fully functioning “mountain water” tap in the garden of the first home we rented in Shimane.
Again, while this is off-topic for me, if there is interest, I would be happy to write an article on how to make this. (Perhaps as a Guest Post on a Food or Drink Substack?
Is it strange that I don’t categorize Substack as “Pleasure Reading?” I think of it as “Creative Development” instead, as I mostly read things I feel will benefit me. Of course, I read a few stacks for pleasure, but those are the exceptions.
I wish I were as cool as Beetlejuice :)
Really glad that you were inspired by the work of others. This is what it's all about!