K: So, lately I’ve been thinking about freedom. And so, I just want to warn everybody that, like, I don’t know, maybe like the first 5 to 10 minutes is going to be politics, but the rest of it is not. And… the reason that the first 5 to 10 minutes is going to be politics is because I’m really talking about the illusion of freedom in Ja – in the United States versus the actual understanding the freedoms you have in Japan. (laughs) I feel like I know my freedoms more in Japan than I knew my freedoms in the United States. And one of the biggest lies – and right now, the big lie is everywhere, right.

C: Right.

K: One of – and I think a bigger lie than… every other lie that’s been told about the U.S. elections is that there’s only 2 parties in the United States. That is just not true. There is a libertarian party, there’s the green party, there’s independents, there’s a whole bunch of other parties, but they keep saying it’s only a 2-party system. And it’s not. And I don’t know why the news propagates that lie.

C: The way that the electoral college works – and the way that what’s called First Pass the Post voting works – it’s… inevitable that it will devolve into a 2-party system for the presidential race. It’s not inevitable at any other level. There are senators who are neither republican nor democrat. Like Bernie Sanders, for example, is independent. There are… house members who are – and at the local level, there are a variety of political parties that get elected.

K: And so, for me, I just wish there were more honesty and transparency in the United States. Because, in the United States, they use “freedom” a lot to oppress people.

C: Yes.

K: And so, like the – the big thing about Obamacare and healthcare: nobody wanted Obamacare before… Covid because everybody was like, “no. I wanna choose. They’re taking away my choice.” And I’m like, what choice? Your choice to be uninsured? Because that’s not actually a choice. You cannot go to a clinic and have absolutely no insurance. As someone who has had good health insurance their whole life – and friends who have had no health insurance their whole life – my standard of care and my standard of living – like, when I met you, you didn’t have health insurance. And I was like, “what?”

C: That’s correct.

K: And I was like, “how are you getting anything done to your body?” And you’re like, “I’m not.” I’m like, “but what if something happens to your body?” You were like, “eh, I hope it doesn’t.” I was like, “what!? Hope? That’s your insurance?”

C: Yes, hope is my insurance.

K: Like, that’s just… bananas to me. That’s wild. And… so, for me, I feel like… freedom leads to food waste in the United States because, let’s be real – so here’s the thing: apple trees won’t grow the same… apple twice. Which, if y’all don’t believe me, go buy a book called Apples – Rasta was obsessed with apples when he was a kid. And I was surprised by that. That they could be genetically modified to grow the same apples, but apple trees grow different apples.

C: I think what you’re saying, let me clarify, is that if you plant a seed from an apple tree, the kind of apple that grows will not be the kind of apple whose seed you planted.

K: Yes. So, I think that… that that’s really interesting and fascinating to me. And so, for me, when I remember going… to the grocery store in the United States and loving being able to choose from the 15 kinds of apples.

C: Yeah.

K: That there are. And… not thinking about the amount of food waste that costs – that causes. Whereas, in Japan, the apples are seasonal. So, less genetic modification going on. And it causes me to have more variety in my die – I know I complain about there not being… the same stuff, but like today, I ordered a… a zucchini pasta maker and some cauliflower rice, and I’m seeing how those things freeze. And I’m looking at freezing and… because I’m really big into eating locally grown right now. That’s my… latest obsession. And the freedom to actually eat locally grown produce. And being from California, I was surprised how hard it was to eat locally grown… produce. And locally grown… animals. Just, like, eating everything from… your city.

C: Right. Unless

K: Or your prefecture in Japan.

C: Unless you wanted artichoke and garlic. Because you could get that from Gilroy. And Watsonville. But, yeah, most of the stuff was not grown in the city. And… Nagoya’s interesting, as are many Japanese cities, for having agricultural land inside the city.

K: Yeah.

C: So, there’s a large – I think what ten – Tempaku, so the Tempa Ward, to the east of Nagoya has large rice fields and… vegetable fields, and the… – it’s called a citizen’s college. I’m not sure the American equivalent, or if there is one, but there’s farming classes that you can… go to these farming classes, and then the government will give you a plot of land – I think it’s about an acre – on which you can grow vegetables. To encourage people to grow vegetables. So, it’s free of charge – you just go take the class, and they give you this plot of land, and as long as you’re tending it, you get to keep using it.

K: Yeah. And so… I think they had the system in the U.K.

C: Mhm.

K: But not in… the U.S. I think they might have it in Canada as well.

C: I know a few places in the U.S. have community gardens where, if you live in the community, you can get a plot of land. But that’s nothing official from t he government. That’s usually someone privately owns the land, or the government, like, looks away and says, “we’re not going to mess with this.” Like, I know the Brooklyn Community Garden was constantly being threatened with the government saying, “well, we’re gonna sell this land” or “we’re gonna plow everything under because we haven’t authorized a garden.”

K: Mm.

C: And I actually don’t know what’s happened with that right now.

K: So, in our neighborhood where we lived in California, we didn’t live in a food desert. We actually had… an obscene amount of grocery stores. We had about 15 grocery stores within a 5-mile radius of our home.

C: Yes.

K: And… for convenience stores, we probably had about 30 within a 5-mile radius of our home. And restaurants, we had over… 70 or 80 restaurants within a 5-mile radius of our home.

C: Okay, you are a bit generous with the 5-mile radius for restaurants. Because… we liked P.F. Chang’s and a few other things that were a bit outside 5 miles.

K: Were they?

C: Yeah.

K: So, maybe within a 10-mile radius?

C: I think P.F. Chang’s was about 25 miles? Because you go by time. You go by, like, is the food still hot when it arrives home if we go out and get it. Is it still hot when we get home? We had a lot within 5 miles of us. Because Great America was within 5 miles of us, and there are a lot of restaurants down that way.

K: Yeah.

C: And… along Lawrence Expressway

K: And Google was… about 5 miles – Google headquarters

C: Google headquarters was 40 miles away.

K: No because Google headquarters was right by Great America. They moved.

C: Oh, okay. They moved?

K: I thought they had moved.

C: No, they’ve always been in… whatever – what

K: There was some major

C: Yeah, we lived across the street from Yahoo headquarters.

K: Yeah. So, there was somebody, somewhere – I don’t know – which led to a bunch of restaurants being built.

C: Yeah. I think there’s a…

K: So, being like we didn’t have a lot of restaurants because PF Chang’s was really far

C: Yes. (laughs)

K: We had the Indian restaurant, we had the Korean place, we had – no, you just don’t remember.

C: Yeah. We lived near El Camino Real, so there were a lot of restaurants along that.

K: Yeah. We lived El Camino Real and Lawrence Expressway.

C: Yeah.

K: So, there’s just a ton of stuff on both of those. And… so… for me, all of that abundance created this illusion of a lot of food choice.

C: Mhm.

K: Without ever having to face the food waste that went with that choice.

C: Mm.

K: That went with the abundance of those choices. And… they didn’t give the food away. Like, if the food started to go bad, they would throw it away. And if you were homeless and you tried to do foraging in the garbage – because there’s people who live, in the United States, off of garbage. And… they’re free – they call themselves free range. And what they basically do is… when bakeries throw things out for being a day old, they go and take those out of the garbage. And when fruit is thrown out for being bruised, they take that fruit out of the garbage because it’s still 90% edible.

And they make really great… dinners with it. You can like YouTube it. And… so, for me, I feel like… okay. And then there’s that woman in Europe who’s like fighting to get her – the grocery stores to actually… limit how many that they put out and not to buy so much and not to put out. And one of her big things was that she got them to have bananas singly rather than selling them in bunches of five.

C: Mhm.

K: And so, that led to a 50% reduction in banana waste. And… so, food waste is… I don’t know – food abundance is the illusion of choice. When really, they’re making a bunch of choices for you when there’s food abundance.

C: Yes.

K: and so, that looks like freedom, but, for me, as I educate myself and more… it’s a lot less like freedom. And more like a responsibility I didn’t ask for.

C: Like the 57 channels and nothing on kind of feeling.

K: Yeah. Because there were times when we had over 107 channels.

C: Yeah.

K: and I literally couldn’t find anything I wanted to watch.

C: Right. And we could watch two at a time.

K: (laughs) Yes. I could watch two at a time. And record a third. But… for me, I just – I find that… sorry if you heard that. My mic fell over. It’s going to drive our sound person – they’re going to be irritated with me, but I can’t find a comfortable place to put my tripod today. I don’t know what’s going on. Anywho, so – that’s another thing. I have the freedom to put it anywhere, which makes me feel like I can’t put it anywhere.

C: Because you have the freedom to put it anywhere, but gravity does not understand that freedom. Gravity is not like, “that’s fine. Put it there. I’m not gonna make it fall over.”

K: So, what are some freedoms that you feel are actually… people giving you choices you didn’t ask for? And by giving you choices you didn’t ask for, giving you responsibilities you didn’t ask for. In the United States or Japan.

C: See, I don’t think of it so much like that. I think there are some things that… the freedom of choice in effect takes away other choices. I never feel like I’m spoiled by choice in that way. Because I have so much choice, I can make none. Mathematically, I do: if you have an infinite number of things, you have to assume the axion of choice to pick any of them, but that is a complete digression.

K: No. I’m saying like when people give you… freedom of choice or abundance, do you ever feel responsible? Like, they’re making you responsible for their choice to do abundance. Like, for me, the fish aisle. So, I don’t eat a lot of fish.

C: Yeah.

K: Because I have HCP and lupus, and so I can’t eat a lot of fish. I am a pescatarian. So, I eat a lot of chicken – which I have to eat to live – I think that if I had nothing wrong with my body, I would probably be vegan. Or vegetarian. I don’t know. I go back and forth about the cheese.

C: You’d be a pescatarian by choice and limit yourself to only fish and veggies and things, but you can’t because fish doesn’t contain all of the nutrients that you need. So, you compromise and eat chicken.

K: Yeah. So – although I can eat shrimp. And a little bit of salmon every now and then. But the iodine in shrimp… really can mess up my system. So… for me, I feel like when I go into the grocery store, fish is really popular in Japan. And I wonder if the abundance of fish that’s sold – because they have beautiful halibut steaks, like beautiful every kind of fish you could want. Love whiting, don’t know how to cook it. It’s a tiny, little white fish. Don’t know how to cook it. But eat it whenever it’s served in a restaurant because I absolutely love it just like I love grouper. Although I stopped eating grouper because everybody loves grouper, and the grouper population is under threat.

C: So, it’s been 20 years since we ate grouper. We were in the Bahamas. We ate grouper when we were there.

K: Yeah. So… and I try not to eat anything – I’m trying to not eat imported foods. And I’m trying to eat locally. To be a locavore and just… change my whole life and have my freedom – using my freedom to off-set the freedoms that other people don’t have.

C: I feel like sometimes there’s a false dilemma presented, and they use that. The people presenting it use that to… do things I would not agree with. And be like, “okay, you can have red slushie or blue slushie.” “What if I want no slushie?” “Nope, no slushie is not an option.” I feel like, with food, nobody forces me to eat food. But with, you know, healthcare – which you mentioned – that was kind of “you can have no health plan, or you can have no health plan.” Because every company has the freedom to turn you down. So, I feel like my personal freedoms… it’s not so much that I have too much freedom.

K: This is in the United States, not

C: This is in the United States, yeah.

K: Because, in Japan, no matter how sick you are… you’ve got health insurance.

C: Yeah. And if you haven’t been paying your health insurance, when you get sick, they’re like, “tsk, tsk. You should’ve been paying your health insurance. We’re enrolling you now and sending a bill.”

K: And you have to write a letter of apology.

C: Yes.

K: In Japanese.

C: Yes.

K: And make your payment.

C: Yes. But I think that… in the United States

K: I am so noisy today.

C: Yeah.

K: Chad’s looking at me like “ugh Kisstopher, just pick a spot.”

C: (laughs)

K: And I’m like, “no.” Part of the problem is I can’t lay on my side.

C: I understand your discomfort.

K: Yeah.

C: My micro

K: Y’all know I’m sick.

C: My microphone is hanging in the air, so it’d be weird if I got tired of holding it because I’m not actually holding it. But you are actually holding onto yours to prevent it from falling over.

K: Yes because if my microphone was where your microphone is, I’d probably faint halfway through the shot because I have POTS.

C: Probably, yeah. So, I think that the variety of American freedom to which… I have an aversion is the one that says that you have the right… to… take things from other people because how unfree would you be if you weren’t allowed to discriminate? If you weren’t allowed to… steal by deception… that kind of thing. To where… it’s like the – you know, the health insurance company’s freedom to turn down people. The bank’s freedom to raise your rates because you live in a bad neighborhood. Same with the auto insurance company. Up to 10% of your

K: I feel so burnt because you’re hella boring me right now. Like, what are you on about?

C: What I am on about is that I think that the American system of freedom is about “you can’t stop me.”

K: It sounds like you’re doing one old health insurance moan.

C: No

K: And we did a whole episode on health insurance. Like, for me, we’re #1 and we’re free. Like, to be free, what does that mean? So, like, in Japan, there’s no farce. There’s no, like… freedom at the cost of all else is I think is what you’re trying to say.

C: Yes.

K: And Japan is like, “no. These are the rules. Follow them.”

C: Yes. I feel like the U.S. – the variety of freedom that people talk about, for the most part, is “I want the freedom to do whatever I want, and if anybody tries to stop me, they are oppressing my freedoms.”

K: Yes. Literally.

C: And it doesn’t matter whether what they want to do is hurt other people.

K: Yeah. That’s true.

C: and, in Japan, they say, “well… technically, there’s no law against this, but you’re hurting other people. And therefore, you’re not allowed to do it.”

K: Yeah. So, are there freedoms in Japan that you feel… I don’t know – that you don’t take advantage of? Do you actually feel – like, where did you feel freer? Did you feel freer in the United States, or did you feel freer in Japan?

C: So, I feel like, in Japan, there are fewer things that I can do. I can’t go buy… pot and smoke it. Because I don’t want to be deported.

K: Yeah. I wish I could do edibles for, like, all that ails me.

C: right. And… I can’t… get drunk in public without worrying about being arrested. Like, there are lot of things that I can’t just go do that, in the United States, that I would

K: But you don’t get drunk.

C: I do not.

K: You’re not a drinker.

C: No, I’m not.

K: Okay. But you miss the opportunity to get drunk in public?

C: No. I’m – I miss the opportunity to… no, I don’t. I feel like there’s not much that I miss, but I know that there are bounds on the things I can do in Japan that there would not be on the things I could do in the U.S.

K: So, you miss not being a foreigner.

C: There are times that I miss not being foreigner, yeah. That I miss not worrying about if I… act a fool in any way whatsoever – like, being in the wrong even if it’s not against the law.

K: So, you miss your white privilege.

C: Maybe?

K: Maybe. I am very light-skinned, with light colored eyes, and you have seen when I stand next to you, I become black.

C: Yes.

K: When I don’t stand next to you, and I hang out with tanned white girls, I am… white – which I don’t ever try to pass. I’ve always owned my blackness.

C: Right.

K: I’m black and I’m proud. Say it loud. What? But that I will go unnoticed. If I am alone, I will be harassed.

C: Yes.

K: And so, you miss your white privilege. You miss being able to know that you won’t be arrested or harassed by the police. You miss the freedom of being white in America.

C: Probably, yeah. Because I never did anything that drew attention to myself… and I know that that’s not necessary to get the attention of police in the U.S. if you’re not white.

K: Correct.

C: I don’t miss being hassled by other white guys who wanted to prove how tough they are. Like, that’s not something I miss. And you would see it when we would go out.

K: The arm-wrestling challenges were bizarre to me. Like, you got – and I don’t even know why people wanna arm wrestle you. It’s like as soon as someone finds out you’re from Alaska, they want to do like a lumberjack competition with you. And I don’t understand it. They want to go throwing axes with you, they wanna arm wrestle you, sometimes they want to straight up wrestle you. And I always think in a homoerotic way. Because I just find… wrestling to be homoerotic. I just do. That’s my opinion. Because the tradition of wrestling was two greasy, naked men in a pit. That’s homoerotic to me.

C: Okay. I can see where your fantasies are coming from today. And that’s fine. You have that freedom.

K: No, like, the Greeks used to oil themselves up

C: Yes, they did.

K: (laughs) And wrestle in a pit.

C: And then the Romans did it.

K: It was homoerotic.

C: And it was Greco-Roman wrestling. That’s why they call it that.

K: Yes. And that’s wrestling started.

C: Yes. That particular kind of wrestling. Because other wrestling

K: Best fight scene in a movie. Eastern Promises in the bathhouse. Loved it.

C: Yes.

K: I love naked fighting.

C: I know you do.

K: Naked fighting’s the best to watch. I don’t want to participate in fighting. I don’t want to participate in naked fighting, either. Just in case people were wondering “but would she want it – you know, fight if she were naked.” No.

C: But what I don’t miss is the

K: Being challenged to arm wrestling contests out of the blue?

C: Yeah, I don’t miss that. And I don’t

K: Being asked how moose tastes?

C: Yeah. Which is like a short answer, “it tastes good.” Next question.

K: Have you killed a moose?

C: Not personally.

K: Do you know how to shoot? Like, it’s a whole thing.

C: Yeah. And some of the answers, they’d be like, “whoa.” Like, yes, I know how to shoot. I was a champion shooter. Yes, I know how to blow things up. I had an explosives license. What?

K: But then they’re like, “please don’t shoot me.” And I’m like, “dude.”

C: Okay.

K: “What does that have to do with anything?”

C: I haven’t shot a gun in 30 something years.

K: Yeah. And that’s so weird. You know how to blow stuff up. Whoa.

C: Yeah. Again, I haven’t handled explosives since I left Alaska.

K: And you never said, “like your mind.”

(laughter)

C: Yeah.

K: I think that was a missed opportunity.

C: Like mind blown kind of thing?

K: Yeah.

C: Yeah.

K: You know how to blow stuff up. Whoa. Be like, “like your mind.”

C: So, what I don’t miss is the freedom of not having a safety net. And I find that a lot of what I

K: What safety net?

C: In the United States, there is very little social safety net.

K: That’s true.

C: I don’t miss not… I don’t miss working without a net.

K: Oh, okay.

C: I did not have health insurance because this was pre-Obamacare. I could not buy it for any price whatsoever.

K: Mm. Yeah.

C: And now, I can’t buy life insurance for any price whatsoever at current – at the moment.

K: Yeah.

C: Because, with Covid, they said, “whoa. We’re not issuing any new life insurance policies.”

K: (laughs) Yeah. Like, “we’re not trusting none of you.”

C: So, I had the misfortune of having my term life insurance expire during Covid, and they were like, “nope. You cannot renew it. We are issuing no new polices.”

K: Yeah.

C: So, I don’t miss… the freedom of not having to pay for those things. Of not having to pay taxes for a social safety net. And I think that’s what American discourse often comes down to is… “do I have to pay taxes for this thing?” And we moved because we didn’t want to pay taxes for the U.S. military – not the only reason, but one of the reasons – for the U.S. military, for – like, all of the bad side of the U.S.

K: Yeah.

C: And we still have to pay Japanese taxes for the Japanese self-defense force and such, so it’s a tradeoff.

K: Yeah.

C: It’s not perfect.

K: Yeah. So, for me, I find that I have more freedom – more actual freedom – in Japan than I had in the United States. I feel like. I feel… like – and this is a whole discussion on disability – but I feel like because I’m a foreigner, there’s no expectation of me to have ability. And this is part of the… the way that racism works in Japan is that they view not being Japanese as a disability in and of itself.

C: Mhm.

K: And I lean into that – as we’ve talked about before – and I find now that I’ve reached a… new level of disability – a shocking new level of disability – that I’m not sure how long… this is going to last. Because, with lupus, it makes you disabled in new ways, and you can never predict how long that new disability is gonna last.

C: Yeah.

K: Like not being able to sit up or stand up without fainting. That’s a new disability. So, that’s like… okay. I don’t know how long this one’s gonna last. Hopefully, it’ll pass soon. Hopefully, it’s not permanent. But, if it is, being rolled around, not a big deal.

C: Yeah.

K: It’s not seen as a big deal. And they have, like, really cute… push-cars – they have these really cute walkers that convert into… wheelchairs. I think they’re cute. I think they’re very fashionable.

C: Yeah.

K: They’re very fashion-forward.

C: They have rollators and different mobility devices. I think because so much of the population is elderly

K: Yeah.

C: That they’ve said, “okay. People are gonna need this, so we’re going to accommodate it.”

K: Well, I also like the freedom of… all of my doctors just accepting I’m disabled.

C: Yes. I think because you’re not taking away resources – and I don’t want this to go back to me ranting about healthcare again – but I think the attitude is… well, you need the treatment somewhere, so let’s just treat you as you’re disabled. It’s just something that happens to people. It’s a natural part of life. Rather than… you know, are you trying to work the system? Are you tying – what are you trying to do? And I think it’s reflected in the Japanese disability, too, which is not connected do employment.

K: Mm.

C: So, you can have a full-time job without losing your disability in Japan. Which is not the case in the U.S., which most disabled people will know.

K: So, for me, another… freedom that I enjoy is the freedom to choose not to engage with the United States.

C: Yes.

K: I enjoy that freedom. I also enjoy the freedom of choosing… who I engage with.

C: Yeah.

K: I feel like, with Rasta grown and out of the house, the past decade, I’ve been able to choose my own friends.

C: Yes.

K: And that’s been pretty spectacular and pretty eye-opening and pretty interesting. So, like, when you have a kid – some people do it this way, some people don’t – but the way we did it is we just became friends with other people who had kids our age

C: His age.

K: Yeah, his age. Sorry. And… we would just, like, make the kids be friends because we liked the parents.

C: Yes. It doesn’t go the other way around. Don’t just be friends with the parents of your kid’s friends. Make your kids be friends with the parents who have a kid their age.

K: And we were invited to, like, awkward parties where it was a sleepover, but Rasta wasn’t invited to sleep over.

C: Yeah.

K: And… we didn’t care, and Rasta didn’t care. And they were surprised by how much… they didn’t care. How much all of us, like, didn’t care. It was like…

C: We don’t make a big deal of it.

K: Yeah.

C: And I feel like, now that we are permanent residents – which we have been for a couple of years now – we have a lot more freedom. But it’s freedom that Japanese people would have without the permanent residency, and… it’s that your chole life is not tied to your job. Which is a little bit strange to say for Japan because there is the expectation of lifetime employment and such. But your health insurance is not tied to your job. Your retirement is tied to being employed, but it’s not tied to any particular job.

Like, your life is not about… what do you do. People are more likely to ask you how much money you make than what it is that you do.

K: I’m having wicked déjà vu.

C: Yeah?

K: Yeah.

C: Well, that’s no good.

K: IT’s over. But I wonder, did we talk about this before?

C: I think we talked, maybe, a year-and-a-half ago about the… employment thing.

K: Musick Notes, I hope we’re not boring you. I’m bored today. I’m finding myself to be… supremely boring.

C: But you’ve been bored all day. Of everything.

K: Yeah. Everything’s boring me today. Like, I can’t get interested.

C: So, what I find funny – and maybe you’ll find this boring – is that

K: (laughs) See, that’s true love, y’all. That’s when you know you’ve married your best friend. When I’m like – because I called him boring, and he’s like, “yeah, yeah. I know you think I’m boring. You’re the only one that does.” I’m like, “but this is boring. Everything’s boring.” I hope this episode is not boring. Like, leave us, you know, a comment. Nobody comments in our comment section.

C: They don’t. They’re just too afraid.

K: Like, I got one comment once.

C: Yeah.

K: And that’s it. Like, nobody comments. And nobody @s us about the podcast on Twitter. But I know people on Twitter listen.

C: Do you think it’s their secret shame? Like, “I listen to the podcast. I can’t believe I did it again this week.”

K: No, like we have very vocal listeners. We have, like, one sweety that just… I absolutely adore you. And… you know who you are because you sent me Bemany, and it cheered me up. And so, that’ll be our inside thing, so you know that it’s you.

C: Yes.

K: Yes, it’s really you. Yes, you’re the only one who sent me Bemany.

C: (laughs)

K: And it was hilarious, and it did cheer me up. And… so… all of our Musick Notes are amazing and lovely, and we love you all. But no one ever comments. Like, was this episode boring?

C: Yes.

K: I don’t know.

C: I don’t know, either.

K: I can never predict because, like, last week’s episode was one of the most listened-to episodes, and I thought last week’s episode was gonna be boring.

C: Mhm.

K: So, I don’t know. Sometimes, when I think the episodes are boring, maybe because we stay on topic more?

C: It might be that we stay on topic, more.

K: When they’re boring, yes, because my mind’s not bouncing all over, and I’m not saying whatever.

C: Because you’re not just, “oh that reminds me of this” or “oh that reminds me of that.”

K: Yeah. So, I don’t know: is it us staying on topic that makes it more interesting?

C: Yeah. Inquiring minds want to know.

K: Or is it maybe me laughing less? Maybe people hate my laugh?

C: I

K: No, we’ve gotten comments. People like it.

C: People like your laugh.

K: If you don’t like my laugh, I don’t care. It’s my laugh.

C: Anyway, what I think is funny

K: what do you think is funny?

C: Is that because I work for a non-Japanese company, the Japanese government counts me as unemployed.

K: Yeah.

C: They just think like… “foreign companies just keep giving you money for no discernable reason. It’s mysterious. Why do they keep giving you money? You are jobless.” I’m like, no. I have a job. “No, you do not have a job. Because what is the tax registration number of the company that employs you?” I’m like, I’m not working for a Japanese company. “Then you are not employed.” And so, we have to pay taxes on the income.

K: Yeah.

C: But… the company doesn’t pay any payroll taxes or sales tax or anything that they would have to pay in Japan. They’d have to pay one or the other – either sales tax if it’s a service they’re purchasing or

K: Are you the only… employee stationed in Japan?

C: Yes. I am.

K: I’ve been meaning to ask you that, and it always slips my mind because… I know that they sell products in Japan.

C: Yes.

K: And so, I know that… your… employer sometimes comes to Japan.

C: Yes. People from my job sometimes come to Japan. Not in the last year. Nobody’s traveled. It’s been against corporate policy to come to Japan.

K: Yeah. Because it’s an Australian company, and they’re like super strict.

C: Yeah.

K: So… freedom. I think is… somewhat a state of mind but also… a whole lot of responsibilities.

C: I think so, too. And I think that… the evaluation of when it impinges on somebody else’s freedom is an important consideration. Like, if everybody is free to scream at each other, just way whatever, and… then it just results in some people not being able to say anything.

K: Yeah.

C: Because they don’t have the ability to scream in that way. And so, I think that… I think about it like driving. Not that I drive. But when I was driving… you don’t technically have the freedom to not use your turn signal, to speed, all of that. There are punishments for doing those things, but also the road’s a whole lot safer if people follow the traffic laws.

K: Yeah. They are.

C: And so, I know when seat belts were introduced, a lot of people were like, “I will never wear a seatbelt. You’re taking away my freedom to not wear a seatbelt.” And I think nowadays a lot of people don’t even think about it. They just assume, “yeah, I’m gonna wear a seatbelt.”

K: Yeah. Seatbelt laws and helmet laws for motorcycles.

C: Yeah. And so, that ethos of “I’m going to display my freedom by violating not only social norms but just good safety practices” is… a little bizarre to me. I’m glad Japan does not broadly have that.

K: So… for me, I think about… using my freedom to offset the freedoms that other people don’t have. Like, I have the freedom to live a PET-free life. And so, PET is basically plastic bottles. Single-use plastic bottles. Not everyone has the privilege of living a PET-free life. I think it’s really awesome the guy in Africa who’s making fishing boats out of PET bottles to give back to the community. That lives on a waterway that… is having PET washed down into their community.

I think that’s really clever. I think that’s a local source because they’re like, “we need boats. We don’t have enough boats.” But he’s like, “you have a ton of PET, so let’s use PET.” And he’s actually cleared some rivers and things with it. And I think it’s a really clever solution. I think telling the community to not use PET that’s having all of these bottles washed into them, they’re like, “we’re not using Pet.”

C: Yeah.

K: “The PET is being, you know, flowed down the river to us. We don’t normally use pet.” So… single-use plastic. I’m really trying to get rid of as much single-use plastic as I can. I’m trying to be a locavore, and I’m trying to use my freedom to make the world a better place and think, “what can I do today with the level of agency, autonomy, and personhood that I have, that can make the world a better place for tomorrow?” And I think I’m thinking more and more about this as I age because I’m thinking… more and more about this… as what is the world I want to leave behind?

C: Well, and I think, based on talks you and I have had, that you think about it at the community level. You’re not saying, “you’re a bad person if you use single-use plastic.” You’re saying, you have the ability to not use it

K: Yes.

C: And so, if you not using it lowers the impact so that somebody who doesn’t have the ability – who needs single-use plastics because they’re severely immune-compromised or they need new catheters every day, or that sort of thing.

K: Yeah.

C: It’s just like with the straw argument: if you don’t need one, don’t use it.

K: Yeah.

C: But if you do need one, you should feel free to use it.

K: Yes.

C: And those of us who don’t need it – I usually don’t because I just drink water or something in a bottle. If we don’t use it, then it reduces the impact.

K: Yes.

C: So, it’s not about shaming anybody. It’s just about doing what you can so that the people who can’t do a particular action… the net impact is lower. Like, you and I don’t drive. But Rasta does because sometimes you need to go places that… require driving.

K: Yeah.

C: But because there are three of us, and we only have one car, then… some two-person couple where both people need a car, who can’t get around that – it balances out. Is the theory.

K: Yeah. The theory we’re working from. So, think about your freedom, and how can you use your freedom to make the world a better place. Giving homework. (laughs)

C: And although it is not free to do so, you are free to subscribe on Patreon.

K: Yes. And you can follow us on over to Patreon, where we will be talking about all things publishing. And this week, we’re talking about distribution in bookstores. Local bookstores. So, we’re keeping that locavore energy going.

C: Yes, we are.

K: And hit us up on Twitter and let us know: is it boring? Was this episode boring? Or is it more interesting when we stay on topic? I don’t know.

C: You can admit that Kisstopher was intensely interesting, but I was boring this episode.

K: (laughs) I think it’s the other way around.

C: Okay.

K: I know I called you boring twice. Sorry.

C: No, that’s okay.

K: Yeah. I love you.

C: Yeah. I know you do.

K: (laughs)

C: I

K: I’m not sorry I love you. I’m sorry about the whole – you’re not boring. You’re vastly interesting.

C: Thank you.

K: Yeah. So, we’re going to take all this interesting conversation over to the take two on Patreon. We hope you follow us over there, and thanks for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.

C: Bye.

K: Bye.