Runker Room Guestbook

I am so happy I found your web site. I am a student of Okinawan Goju-ryu. I am not Japanese, I am American. I think the term is gaijin. Is that right? Before I began to study karate, I did not know much about Japanese people or your history or culture. I have learned much. I also enjoy the simplicity of the Okinawan culture. I realize that much has changed and become more westernized. I am very happy that some people are holding the ancient customs with such high regard and carrying them forward.

Many Americans are now moving into a place of higher consciousness where we are able to understand and appreciate (as a culture) what we could not in the past. Many people in our country frequently forget that we are still in our infancy here and have much to learn even though we have learned a lot already!

Ever since I started to study karate, I have known without being told that it was like a beautifully cut diamond, with more facets than you can possibly see without turning it many, many times. I am so happy to be part of the school I study with because we follow the Okinawan and Japanese traditions fairly closely.

So many people in our community want to practice karate in our school, but our sensei does not give away or sell belts and we don't train for the purpose of competition. We do compete and we do earn belts but it is done in the spirit of the traditional teaching of karate. I think more people would stay if they could see a bit more of the larger picture and could be connected to it on some level. The training is arduous. Goju is a balanced style but a difficult style. It is easier for a lot of people to go somewhere else and learn to punch and kick in a way that will win them a big fat trophy to take home and have engraved. It is a purpose even though it is a very bad one.

I had seen television specials on the Discovery channel about the Obon festival and of course I have seen the representation done in the movie Karate Kid. I knew that certain aspects of the dance were incorporated into the movement of the kata and the more I begin to understand that, the more I want to learn the dance too. I love to dance and sometimes I just take my kata into dance and it feels wonderful.

If I can learn more about Obon and bon odori, not only will I be happy and fulfilled but I can share it with people who are looking for a way and a purpose to connect. There is more I feel in my heart but I have taken up a lot of your time with reading this already.

I would like to also say that I admire your profession. A pathologist is a very interesting career. It is something that still makes me jittery to think about though. I have a weak stomach. But, what you do is vital to the living and for the families of the ones that have gone on.

Congratulations for your page!!!!!

My name is Ruben (27) and I am Peruvian Nikkei. I am Nikkei Netas Groups member. Sansei desu. Otosan, okasan Peru-jin desu, ojiisan, obasan Nihonjin desu. Okinawa no hito.

(Sorry for my English, I can't speak English very well).

Kono web page o mite kudasai: http://www.glo.org/overstay is about "Dekaseguis".

OK Runker:

We are the board members of the Nikkei Netas Group website. Our group's objective is the integration of all Nikkei colonies of the world. When we found your website, we decided to communicate with you and, if possible, establish a friendly relationship and to help each other. Although the differences of the language or place we live, we have the common fact that we are descendants of Japanese.

Best regards,

Your website is incredibly detailed!! Wonderful. As someone who lives in Oregon and has been to some of the places you mentioned, I have to agree with everything you said -- except for the microbrews, I just don't like them. Sorry.

Anyway, I have just barely scratched the surface of your site, there's so much to see here! I just wanted to say that although you did a great job, why is it all Portland-Portland-Portland!? (Not just you, everyone is Portland-this and Portland-that.) I know your site is about Portland, but I get annoyed when all people talk about is Portland. Even the local news will mention Portland (of course) and then other cities, and skip over Salem most of the time. I live in Salem, (the State capital) and it's like it doesn't even exist. Salem isn't small, and it's the state capital, a lot of important decisions are made here, so I don't understand it.

Personally, I find Portland waaay too large. And there's hardly any trees to be seen, who wants to look at nothing but tall buildings and a polluted river? Sure, there's lots of shopping and great restaurants, but you can find that in Salem too! (and a lot less expensive, easier to find, and you don't have to deal with as many weird people.) I once had a boyfriend who lived in Portland (no, I'm not gay, I'm a woman) and it was annoying to have to pay to park my car, and then take public transportation everywhere or get lost driving around. Grrr. And everyone has to live in an apartment, unless they're practically rich. In Salem I have a nice house and a yard, and it's more peaceful.

I noticed that you mentioned the Oregon coast, and other places, not only areas in Portland. Could you come to Salem and see what we have here? I think Salem is much more liveable and nicer than Portland in many ways. You might be surprised.

I'm not trying to be rude or anything, it's just annoying when people love Portland so much, and like to drink those bitter microbrews. Ugh.

A salute -- wonderful site! My name is Rob, and I am the curator of the Sandon Historical Society’s museum in the historic silver-mining ghost town of Sandon, British Columbia, Canada. I'm thrilled to see all of this -- I'm in the process of trying to link up to related websites -- I wrote the stuff on the Nikkei in Sandon that appears on the Slocan Museum website. Dunno how it got here, but I don't really care; I'm just glad someone thought it fit to link up with.

I have to tell you a short story. My mom was born and raised in northern BC among a large population of First Nations people, Scandinavians and Japanese (wotta surprise! All of 'em fishermen!), and she first learned how to gut and clean fish (and sharpen a fish knife PROPERLY) from her Japanese Canadian co-workers. It was from her that I first learned about the whole 1940s expereience, as well as adopting her indignation over how her friends and their families were systematically robbed blind (and she was an Irish-Protestant, who nevertheless had no patience for bigotry, thank goodness!)

When that all happened, she lost track of a number of people who were very dear to her. I have never forgotten her outrage at what happened to them, or her anger at the hysteria that caused that reaction.

It's been a long time coming, but I think what's as important as any reparations to JC's and survivors who suffered through that is an understanding of the whole experience, and a commitment to resist that same unthinking paranoia and bigotry in the future. (Sadly, I heard yesterday of a friend of mine in Winnipeg having to walk his friend home to her house to be sure she was all right-- she's Iranian, but some of the local Brain Trust Thugs can't get their prejudices straight.)

Known at one point as the "Monte Carlo of the North," Sandon was at the heart of the richest silver-mining region of North America from the 1890s on. With a population of 8,000-plus, Sandon and its surrounding area once filled its narrow valley to near-bursting with miners, businessmen, speculators, professional gamblers, madames and millionaires.

Over the past 110 years over $35 billion worth of galena ore (silver, lead and zinc) has been wrested from the towering mountains around Sandon, as fortunes and reputations were built. From mining history to railroad wars; from a hydro-electic generating dynamo to crusading pioneer journalism; from aerial tramlines that were engineering marvels to the WW II-era internment of Japanese Canadians, Sandon and area is a living visit to Canada’s and North America’s exciting past.

As the museum curator, as well as the Historical Society’s secretary, I encourage you to learn more about our fascinating and unique niche in North American culture by visiting our website at:

http://www.slocanlake.com/sandon

As we are a small society which operates on a lot of volunteer hours and donations, our website is definitely a work in progress — bear with us, as we are still learning. Nevertheless, we’re happy to finally be on-line, and we are grateful for any and all suggestions, constructive criticisms and whatnot.

As well, we are constantly on the lookout for other sites we can establish a mutual link-up with, from railroad-related sites to mining sites; from labour and union history sites to journalism schools. Check out our site, and come back often — we are going to be undergoing some revamping during the winter of 2001-2002.

Thanx, I hope you enjoy our site!

Hajimemashite, watashi wa ima genzai Australia no Sydney de design o benkyouchu no Nihonjin gakusei desu.

Jitsu wa ima daigaku no sotsugyouseisaku de, aru short film o tsukutte iru no desu ga, sono film no naka de morgue room ga detekuru no desu ga nakanaka jissai no morgue room to iu mono o satsuei no tame ni kashitekureru to iu tokoro ga mitsukarazu kakuu no room o tsukuru koto ni nari, dou iu mono ga oitearu no ka research chu no tokoro Hiruki-san no homepage o mitsukemashita. Oisogashii to omoimasu ga, moshi yoroshikereba morgue room no kuwashii shashin o ikutsu ka e-mail de okutte itadakenai deshouka?
Taihen atsukamashii onegai to wa omoimasu ga ...
Gohenji omachi shite imasu.

Nice work on the website -- where do you get the time?! I'm going to post the pictures I took at the peace rally sometime, hopefully before the year is over. I'll let you know when this happens.

I was looking at the section on Japanese money on your web site and did not see any sen coins. I guess I'm the only one that remembers them. They were small, aluminum I believe and worth 1/10 of a yen. The dollar was worth 360 yen at the time. I guess that's not considered modern Japanese coinage.

There are several Japanese factories in this area, one of which is Toyota out of Aichi. There is at least one Japanese grocery, Ohama Shoten. Cumins, Inc. employs numerous Japanese engineers. We have quite a cross section of various races here in Columbus, sort of like Hong Kong. Right now there is a large influx of Hispanics into the area. The Chinese restaurants cook better Japanese food than do the two local Japanese eateries. Strange?

Runker's Note: With the exception of a few pages of this website, the font type and size are not fixed, so what a visitor sees is whatever their Internet browser settings are (default settings, if no adjustments have been made in the past). A visitor can set both font type and size to their liking by adjusting their browser:

Though I'm not Japanese, I study and experience Japanese culture. I have my own little pages about the culture of Japan and my first two trips there. If you want to visit them, here are the URLs:

• A Japan Primer: Just When You Think You Understand ...
  http://members.home.net/rolledtaco/stuff03.htm
• Travel: Observations in Foreign Lands
  http://members.home.net/rolledtaco/stuff04.htm

They would have been more extensive, but I got busy making many more sites since then. But I would like to update the Travel pages. My last trip was my first to Honshu (Kansai area and Hida).

Nice site you have.

I´m editor at a Swedish newspaper, Vestmanlands Läns Tidning, and intend to write a few lines about the Japanese celebration of Obon. I have a section in my page labelled "This Day" where I write a few lines about what has happened on this particular day in the past or how people around the world celebrate it. I like your pictures. May I use one of them as an illustration in the paper?

The first weekend of November we Swedes celebrate All Saints Day, which resembles Obon. In November it is pretty dark up here (the sun sets at 15.50 and the day is about ten hours shorter than it is right now) so all the candles in the cemeteries are really something special. Most Swedes are Protestants and thus don't believe in saints but this is a tradition that goes back to days when we were Catholics (or even heathens). Unfortunately the American Hallowe'en is getting absorbed into our celebrations which makes everything confusing, but I think the Hallowe'en celebrations in Sweden will be moved a week or so from this year so we can keep our All Saints Day calm and dignified.

Vestmanlands Läns Tidning includes in its circulation region Surahammar, where the Edmonton Oilers goaltender Tommy Salo comes from. Salo is the pride of Surahammar. And if I'm not mixing everything up, Salo is one of the owners of a popular disco/restaurant here in Västerås. Västerås own hockey team was expelled from the top league a few years back due to economical adventures and now has to play against Surahammar and other blueberries for a few years.

I've just graduated from college in Tennessee and I've got a job with the Japanese Exchange and Tutoring Program. I'll be teaching English in a high school somewhere in Goto Retto. I've been checking out your website on the islands and I thought I'd send you a note.

I'll arrive in Goto Retto at the beginning of August. I'm extremely excited. I just found out that I'm placed there, and it looks like its gorgeous. I'll be there for at least a year.

Glad to see Grandview is now "Home of the Cougars". Not much has changed.

Didn't see either the Brunny or the Maddy getting a prominent mention in your profile. And I'm really not sure what the "Nerdity Quotient" is all about.

Did you know you can get Star Trek licence plates in Ontario? Another (perhaps the only?) reason to move back to Toronto??? Glad yer not waitin' for that 503 TTC.

Your website is great! Gambatte ne!

Ja matane! See you! Genki de, baibai!

I just thought I'd drop by and check your "News" to make sure that you survived that quake. I was on the phone with someone in Vancouver when that occured and they were able to feel it as well !

In General I like:

• kontotsu [?] ramen
• Ricker's Red beer [it's a meal replacement!]
• Hiroshima-ken - Miyajima, walking UP Mizan-san 583 metres
• Phone cards
• Weird subway "Engrish" advertising

Well, the summer of '99 I was in Algonquin Park then I prepared for my Japan trip where I was from December 12 1999 to June 1 2000. Fifteen cites and a wild experience~!!!! The cities I visited were [drum roll]: Tokyo, Koiwa, in Saitama-ken (Hanno, Kawagoe and Chichibu), then Shizuoka/Shimizu, Nagoya, Ikoma, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Sannomiya, Kobe, Tarumi, Okayama, Hiroshima, Miyajima, then back to Osaka, where I stayed for 4 months. The first 2.5 months I took 740 pictures which I'm still developing even now!!! Hiroshima-ken was so beautiful I could take pictures forever there. I worked (maybe) 5 hours a week and basically walked everywhere I could see a mountain (which was everyday?? ;) ) sometimes 25 km a day, around cities, mountains and temples etc.

I ended up going broke, being fed by other gaijin/Japanese in my gaijin house called Banana House in Sakai-shi. Met a ton of friends. Took a bus from Nagoya back to Tokyo and then back to Canada when my visa expired. By the time I got back to Toronto I was 17 kilos lighter!! A nice 6-month vacation!

I returned to the same company for the same job but for more money!?? I am now looking at some technical opportunities that may see me in Japan again! I would hate to leave this company but if I'm to grow technically in the programming ideas that I want maybe this is one way to do that.

May I wish you all the greatest happiness in your new life! I will try to not be such a stranger!!

Make your time,

I wish there was more material like your page on the Net so people like me can learn about different culture from ... how can I say ... a native!

I have a lot to say :) since I discovered your website tonight! That is the first time I have ever been moved to use an emoticon, by the way!

I have lived in Joetsu-shi, Niigata-ken for more than four years. Anyhoo, I could really go on and on. I wanted to talk about Portland and taiko and I found your website!

GREAT website. You made my week!!

Take care and akemashite omedeto gozaimasu,