There’s a clear destination: Japan.
To return to the land that has become, as my cousin put it, “chez toi” (or chez moi, I guess ).

The process began on August 22nd in Lausanne, Switzerland and ends September 22nd in Wakkanai, Japan.
But between, it’s full of rich depth of experience! And I’d like to share as much with you as I can.

Keep an eye here for the constantly updating playlist that will take you along with me on the voyage all the way until Japan!
Once I’m there I’ll move to a new video project, but for now, here’s S2J: My Voyage from Switzerland to Japan:

Watch on YouTube.

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Today I got an email on YouTube from a guy who wants to travel, but finds himself reluctant and didn’t seem to know where to start. I answered his email, and thought, “this could be useful for some other folks too.” So here you go!

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Dear Reluctant Traveler,

Travel is a bit of a bug. Once it gets in you, it’s really hard to avoid it – it’s an inevitability. But it’s good to show a little restraint and not just run off without learning anything (though that can be fun too). Personally, for me the process was complex. I left the US first to work, and so I was already “on the road” in a sense. That made it a lot less of a jump 8 years later when I decided to hit the road in a real sense as a full-time traveler.

My best advice for you is to ask yourself 2 questions:
Why do I want to travel?
How will I travel?

Everything revolves around that. For me the why was because I wanted to find out what people do around the world to help each other and to basically learn about people in different places.
Once you get the why down, the how is very simple.
For me, I travel to learn about people, not places. So I just go wherever the wind takes me and learn about the people there using a few tools like couchsurfing, hostelworld, and wikitravel. I’m not traveling to see specific UNESCO world heritage sites or anything like that…I could really care less about that kinda stuff, so the only time I find myself going to major tourist sites is when my quest to connect with the people leads me there inadvertently. You can’t really plan how to meet people the way you can for sights, so that means my how is a lot less organized and planned out than many people’s travels. It also means that I use a lot less money and can avoid scammers, thieves, and massive crowds a bit better than your typical tourist who is going for the sights.

The why is the first step. Think it out a bit, and the how will fall into place. ^_^

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It’s been a while since I’ve been anywhere online, and most of my appearances have been short and unfocused. There’s a very simple reason for that: I’m stuck in indecision. I don’t like to be inconsistent and indecisive publicly. Who does?
I’m not bothered or worried about it…just indecisive.

One thing I have decided upon: Caught Doin’ Good, in its public mission, has failed. CDG always was mostly a search, but I had intended to share my findings with the world. I had intended to force myself into enough positivity to produce clearly positive and inspirational stories to share with the world. I just didn’t succeed at that. I’m still breaking down what I did wrong: failed to set clear goals (including short-term and long-term goals), failed to network effectively (closely related to not having clearly definable goals), failed to focus on the project and not get distracted, etc…
Before I started CDG, I think my goals were so focused on making it happen that I lost sight of setting any clear goals once it started.
I should write this out a lot clearer and in more depth, but for now, suffice to say that it (in it’s public mission) is over.
I still have LOTS and LOTS of unused video, and I do intend to do something with it at some point, but I think I need time to process the experiences before I present them publicly, so that’s that.

Now the question is: What next?
I’m in Switzerland right now. Recently I got my official ID card here as a citizen, so I can find a job here now.
But very much to my surprise, I really don’t feel like I wanna live here. It’s beautiful, of course, but not every beautiful woman makes a good wife. Arranged marriage proponents would say, “Every woman can make a good wife if you decide to make her your wife”. But I’ve always been a bit more the dreamer/romantic.
I miss Japan a lot.
That’s something I never expected to happen. I passed through Japan in January, and something clicked in me then. After I left, I just wanted to be back. It’s been 6 months now, and I still regularly think about going back to Japan.

So here are my options as they stand in my mind:
1) Get a job here soon and delve into the routine of life here. A busy routine will clear a mind of all kinds of thoughts, and missing Japan will soon leave the forefront. But then what? What if I wake up 20 years down the line just saying, “I didn’t wanna live there in the first place anyway”.

2) Get a job here with a clear plan of staying for 1 year and deciding after I’ve given it more of a shot. My first reaction is, “Screw that! I really don’t feel like putting off deciding any more”.

3) Stay in Europe a couple more months visiting Italy and Greece (always been a dream) and more of Switzerland. Then hop on the trans-Siberian railway (also always been a dream) and take it across to the tip of Russia. Hop a boat to the northern tip of Japan and through walking and hitch-hiking, make my way across the country within the 3 month visa (again, a dream of mine). Spend some time making videos around the Tohoku area and documenting the situation as it is right now. Get a round-trip ticket to the US for the holidays to see my family and then back to Japan in the beginning of next year. Search for a job from the beginning of next year in Japan and plan to stay for good at that point.

If I choose #3, I’m putting in about 90% that I’ll be in Japan for the rest of my life, and Europe will always just be a vacation spot.
If I choose #1, Japan will slowly dwindle into a piece of my past and Europe will become my life and my future.
If I choose #2, I’m just choosing indecision.

Stuff to consider:
1) I’m a Swiss and British citizen, putting me in a perfect position to work and live here for the rest of my life without ever a hint of visa concerns.
2) I’m white. Japanese people aren’t. I look like I should fit in to Europe. I’ll never look like I fit in in Japan.
3) Saved money is finite. If I choose #1 or #2, I work immediately. If I choose #3, I continue putting off work for another 6 months minimum.
4) There’s always the chance that it’s just a “grass is always greener” effect, and as soon as I arrive in Japan, I’ll wish I was in Europe. Or maybe I just don’t wanna deal with working, and I’m finding excuses to put it off longer.

I’m not asking for help deciding…just felt like there are many people who have supported me SOO much over the years online, and right now I’m just leaving you all hanging, especially with CDG just being up in the air. I wanted to declare it publicly over.

And well, that’s what’s in my head. ^_^

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If you know anything about me, you’ll know that I really love Japan.  I spent 5 years living there and loved every moment of it, and I have very much to be grateful to Japanese people for.
What you might not know is that I also have strong bonds with S. Korea, and some bonds with China as well. I lived in Korea for 2 years before moving to Japan, and loved it there too. I’ve also visited China, dated a Chinese girl, and have had many Chinese friends. So I have more than a passing interest in the 3 countries and their interactions, both at home and abroad.

Now I’ve been on the road for 9 months since I left Japan in August 2010. I’ve traveled across SE Asia, Central Asia, and now Europe and the UK. One thing I was shocked to see near the beginning of my travels was a change in SE Asia from previous times I’ve been there: much more Japanese marketing and Japanese tourists traveling in budget areas rather than only in resort areas made specifically for them.

That was slightly surprising, but what has shocked me more has been in the past 2 months across Europe. Not only are the streets littered with Chinese and Korean tourists, but most tourist sites have marketing all over the place in Korean…only old signs seem to be written in Japanese.

My thoughts?
Possibly (although this is all just speculation) Korean tourists are spending the most money in more expensive tourist areas, especially in Europe. Chinese are also all over, but there’s not so much marketing towards them, so maybe they’re a bit more stingy with their wallets? Clearly though, it’s not worthwhile for tourist sites to market to Japanese people these days, meaning they’re not spending much money in these areas, and haven’t been for long enough that marketers have moved on.

It seems like this was a trend that started before the earthquakes, etc… That makes me think of a couple possibilities:

1. The Japanese economy’s trouble and their conservative/pessimistic nature has driven them to tighten their belts and cut down holidays in places like Switzerland, Vienna, and Scotland, and move to more reasonable spots like Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
2. Japanese people have been going to all the main sites in Europe for years and have generally gotten tired of them. They’re tired of the long flights for short holidays, and the richer ones are moving more towards places like Macau, Maldives, and and exotic Malaysian locales to spend their money, while Koreans and Chinese who are newer into their riches are moving to the more traditional spots that were once littered with camera-wielding Japanese tour groups.

What do you think?
Has the failing economy followed by unprecedented natural disaster driven Japan out of their place of power in Asia for good?
Is this just a temporary condition that will return to normal once all these crises pass?

The most perplexing point to me is that everyone in Europe is marketing towards Koreans, not so much to Chinese.
Is Korea really doing that well right now? Or is the Chinese reputation for having a tight wallet guiding marketing decisions?

Or is all of this just a false perception that I’ve gotten because of the limited locales I’ve been traveling in?

My conclusion:
I wish I had some Japanese people around to chit-chat with every once in a while! >.<

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Here’s a video to go with my series of blog posts on Kashmir.

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Kashmir – only a vague memory in a statement I heard years ago.

“The only place in the world more dangerous than the border of N. Korea and S. Korea right now is Kashmir. Now that both India and Pakistan have gone nuclear, Kashmir is bound to be the start of the end of the world.”

I brushed it off as sensationalist, but remember vaguely picturing a WWIII-like scene of mountains bursting into flame all around in constant explosions.  The thought seemed distant, unrealistic, and completely disconnected from me, and it soon faded into simply a memory that didn’t even pop back into my head until I started writing this.

2 months into my time in India, I found myself in a travel agent/internet cafe in Bombay in the heart of the tourist district of Colaba.  I was all-around tired.  India can really be exhausting, and I had been pseudo-volunteering with a number of NGOs that kept me constantly running around all over the place.  Add that to stomach troubles that wouldn’t go away for about a week at that point, and I just needed a break.  
I had been south to Bangalore and Tamil-Nadu, so the only logical ways for me were north or east.  Things were starting to really heat up in Bombay, so north sounded like the right pick.
I searched around for a bit and stumbled on Chandigarh, famed to be a clean, modern, restful place in the state of Punjab.  

All through my travels in the south I had kept looking for the “Indian food” that I knew from back home in Tokyo: Saag Paneer, Chicken Tikka Masala, Garlic Naan, Tandoori Chicken, etc… Across S. India they told me, “That’s just Punjabi food – you won’t get that here”.  So Punjab sounded like the place to visit.  

On a whim, I asked the travel agent what he thought about Chandigarh. “If you’re going up there, you should go to Jammu Tiwa.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a town at the bottom tip of Jammu and Kashmir – beautiful place to visit.”

I had briefly heard some other travelers mention having enjoyed Kashmir, and somewhere back in my mind I had the term “conflict area” related with the place…all of it equated as an interesting place to visit in my slightly-loco mind.  And it’s probably away from crowds of tourists due to the conflict and all.  
Maybe I’ll get a unique cultural experience out of this after all!

I stored the thought in the back of my head and went out to get a ticket to Chandigarh. When asked “where are you going next?” by people there, my only answer was, “I don’t know….Jammu and Kashmir?”

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(COMING SOON!)
Continue to Part 2: What is Kashmir?
Skip to Part 3: Thoughts on the Kashmir Conflict
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CNN Hero Narayanan Krishnan lives in Madurai, India.  His organization, Akshaya Trust, feeds about 425 people in Madurai who are destitute, elderly, and otherwise unable to provide for themselves.

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The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and claimed political leader for Tibetan people, and a spiritual leader for countless more around the world.  I’m glad I had a chance to see him speak.  ^_^

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Click here for more info.

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Find a person who has no money. Give them a small sum of money for a project that will give them more money. When they succeed and get more money, then they’ll give you back your original money. Sound simple enough?

It’s a really basic concept and one that’s been tried and found successful in many places, especially Bangladesh where it was started. But there’s a problem in India. At the beginning, it got a lot of attention and a lot of organizations got involved. One thing that Microfinance institutions (especially Grameen Bank) do in Bangladesh is take tiny amounts of savings from many poor people – working just like a usual bank. They then use those savings to loan money to other people.

In India, the same thing happened, but a lot of corrupt people realized that now you were able to take money from poor people without having to be a bank. People took their savings….and yeah, just took them. They didn’t help the poor. They didn’t loan that money to other poor people or repay the ones that had given it. They just took the money.

So the Indian gov’t stepped in. They said, “ah HELL no! Ya’ll cain’t be doin’ all that!”. So they made regulations that said only real banks can take money from anybody. Good move Indian gov’t!

Except….now all of a sudden the good organizations have a problem. They’re not official banks. They can no longer take any savings. So where do they get money to lend to other poor people?

There’s 2 answers: from other banks, lending institutions, and venture capitalists. All of those sources expect to make money on any loan they give to anybody, so they’ll expect high returns from the Microfinance institutions. Where do they get that extra money to give back to the banks? They have to take extra money from the poor people. Poor people suffer….

So what Milaap decided is that if they can tap into the kind of money that traditional charities get, they can then loan that money to poor people and make something that can just get bigger and bigger as more people get involved. But there are already a lot of NGOs and charity groups doing the loans on the ground. So rather than actually do the loaning themselves, they’ve decided to just work to raise money for the groups already doing it, so those groups can expand.

I’ll be collaborating with Milaap to document their work, and also to do a project of my own (our own!) where I work together to raise some funds with people on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc… If you want in, let me know! Or you can just wait a couple weeks ’till the whole thing is finalized and I make more videos about it.

Click here to see my first video with Anoj from Milaap.org

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