How Ironic

YCMTSU

How ironic.   A reader of my substack, Guy Gin’s and Count Chocola’s was in town from parts unknown for work.  Miraculously, we were able to both schedule a meet up and all save one was able to attend.

The evening started off in the most ironic fashion, given what brought us together and why we were meeting.  Our schedules allowing for an earlier meet, the out of towner and I scheduled to meet at 5.  As I work in Tokyo and am more familiar with the place, I let visitors choose someplace they know to meet.  This is no longer true as I have hardly been in the city these past 3 and 1/2 years and much has changed.  I am more disoriented now than when I first arrived, acting just as I was; a boy from a small town staring at the skyscrapers and “WOW” dressed eye candy walking about. Now I find myself in places I once knew intimately struggling to find a single anything that is familiar.  But I digress.

My rural friend from substack has not been in the city himself for a number of years and found a cool place with tons of microbrew beer as the venue for the first in person meet.  I got there a little early and went in.  Along the bar between the door and the place to order were assorted small dishes for snacks in plastic cups and covers.  Found one that looked particularly appetizing and waited for several minutes as those ahead of me placed their orders.   When I was next in line to order, a young woman behind the counter asked if I had a mask with me.  I replied that I did not and I was told to leave.  This was September 1st, 2023.  By far not the first time I have been thrown out for being a “dirty unmasked monster” but it is the first since at least as far back as May 8th of this year when Japan dropped the requirement recommendation to wear a mask.  Shocked, I replaced the food I picked up and left the pub to never return.  A shame as it looked like a real cool place.  Will never enter the place again.

As I was typing an email to the friend I was to meet there telling him it was a no go, he arrives.  Incredulous at my report, we went back to the place and found it to be accurate.  Two anti mask people plan to meet and discuss masks and other anti Covid BS and somehow choose a place that still, or again, requires masks.  You can’t make this shite up.

So we went to the same Pronto I met the Count and another sane person a few weeks ago to divide up our ivermectin order.  Great guy.  After talking for some time, I confessed that he was one of the few Canadians I have met that I did not learn to dislike in about 30 seconds.  Immediately, he said all the things that have led me to dislike most I have met.  He knew precisely what I meant and he too does not like such people.  He had fun with that theme through out the evening.

Another great evening with lots of ideas and experiences shared.

Now, on to other, related things.  Not only did the place we were first to meet throw me out for not having a mask, the photo at the top I took Aug. 16th in a lounge at a med/nursing school in Tokyo. These partitions and notifications have been in place since they allowed students back on campus, wherever that was.  Classrooms look little different.  I have not picked up on anything related directly to reinstating covid mitigation policy.   The CEO of the company I teach for was distressed to learn from me that colleges in the US and at least one company have reinstated mask requirements and many have also gone the full Covidian and restarted clot shot mandates, daily testing and the rest.  He has been very aware of what is going on but was not aware of this.  He does not even want to consider what it could mean for us here in Japan.   

The evening of September 2nd, 2023, my family met an old friend for an evening picnic at a night festival.   I did not count and even attempt to see percentages, but there were a great many masked people there.  Entire families with young kids, groups of kids, young adults either individually or in couples or groups and of course elderly wearing masks.

The Japanese government has publicly stated that they just followed the US CDC advice for covid.  If they continue to do so, we are looking at a replay of the same policies that failed us these past 3 years.  As my med/nursing school has not let up on their madness at all and I just got thrown out of a pub for not having a mask, I am even more pessimistic about this madness ending unless we destroy the cult of the mask.  And far too few are trying to do so.Thanks for reading Kitsune, Maskless Crusader! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On a completely other not; does anyone know hoe to place photos where they want them without having them end up misplaced again and again and again until they somehow end up where you want them? Curser and mouse just suddenly stopped working in Substack too.