Lunch with DW Shumway

He called me “hard skinned”.

DW Shumway https://open.substack.com/pub/shumway let me know he was swinging through Tokyo on his planned final departure from Japan and we met up in Ueno this past Sunday. Shumway is he who interviewed me a while back, an interview that was not bad, if I may say so myself, excepting my repeated use of “vaccine” when I meant “virus” and visa versa. Apart from the interview, we actually spoke but little that day. Sunday was just talking, over a curry lunch and two excellent beers.

He expressed surprise and/or shock at several things. One was in my report on how the day after my wife told me I have to move out of her house, she offered wine and cheese as if nothing had changed. He too is married to a Japanese woman. He was even more shocked when I told him how well she was treating me since then. We discussed the possibility that it may be like one who commits suicide and those close to them shocked because they seemed to be happier in the days leading up to the event. The happiness comes from the release from stress the decision allows. Other readers have suggested the same.

D is also shocked that I do not accept pledges nor paid subscriptions. He as well as many others do not understand my reasoning, that all transactions through my accounts in Japan are reported to the US. All the information that is shared with my banks to facilitate a money transfer is reported to the US via the US FATCA law. Believe me, no one wants this, especially non US citizens who do not even live there, whether they know this or not. Any corporation that used the same level of protections for their customer data that the US government does with the data it requires of its subjects would be heavily fined and face possible criminal investigation. Here is how such data was “secured” as far back as 2015. IRS plays CYA on insecure IDES encryption for FATCA data uploads – The Isaac Brock Society.

If you are not willing to post online for any and all to see; your name, whatever government issued ID number you may have been assigned, you bank account numbers, routing numbers (I can no longer recall if SWIFT “addresses” or the like may or may not fit in this.) and all else that is required to send money to any account of any US person wherever they may reside, do not send money to any US person nor account they have signature authority over, no matter the reason. Your data will be shared with the US government who only cares about its liability for leaked data and not for how to prevent data leaks. Recall that the US DoD has suffered numerous data leaks, one in particular led the loss, via execution, of all US spies in China. The US DoD has informed me that my service record has been leaked at least 3 times. Do you really think they the US government cares more about the financial data of regular people who are not even US persons more than it does its own employees? Today I read that China hacked into the US Treasuray Department, where FATCA data is sent, on December 8th last year.

There are also people who are using my name and SSN in the States. They have tax liens in my name. This can cause me serious problems and having my name and SSN popping up whenever someone sends me a payment for a subscription or the renewal of one or for pledges is something I think is best to avoid. There is a lot more that could be said on this but not publicly. In short, not good for anyone, not for those who would be my customers nor for myself. I will say that once one goes to renew their driver’s license and are told that they are not themselves because someone else had recently renewed it and then have to prove that they are in fact themselves and told that as they are now a victim of ID theft, they will have to wait 3 days to renew it in the future as the state verifies you are you, instead of the done in one day process you used to enjoy, ID and data protection takes on much greater importance.

We also talked about the craziness of the panic. It drove him out of Japan and into the wilds of the US N. West. He wondered how I put up with it. I believe it is due to the age differences of our kids. His are adults or nearly so. My oldest was 6 when the panic hit. This spun off in to my famous hard luck, which plays into my refusal to be a Trojan Horse for the US and its fetish for all information on everybody. It will happen that one of my customers would have their data compromised causing both them and myself great difficulties. D suggested I write about my bad luck. I very well might, but that would have to be a series of postings over a long period of time as there is no shortage of material.

Actually, it may have been the discussion of FATCA that spun off this topic. At one point he suggested I must have really thick skin after going through all that I have. After some reflection, I replied that perhaps I did but it was to a degree that causes friction with others. It seems that most believe themselves and their lives to be normal. Why wouldn’t they, for they are to themselves. I am no different. Years ago, while in the navy, a spectacular event with my vision drove me to see a naval ophthalmologist. He asked if I had any other unusual experiences with my vision or eyes and I answered that I had not. He kept returning to this question and I replied the same each time, but this got me thinking more about it and his other questions. Eventually, I relayed some other information and the doc got angry, yelled “That’s what I meant when I asked you earlier! Why didn’t you tell me this the first time I asked?”. I shot back, “You asked if I had anything unusual…”. He interrupted with, “THAT Is unusual…”. My turn to interrupt. “Not to me it’s not. These are the only eyes I’ve ever had, doc.. They and how they function are not unusual to me.” He stepped back, wide eyed, as if hit in the forehead by a 2x4 and contemplated this. After a moment or 2, he slowly shook his head in agreement and very softly and politely concluded my visit. It was then I was first prescribed eye glasses.

Over the years I would learn that I am guilty of similar. When someone is torn over some bad experience I have been unwittingly cruel in dismissing it as I have long had to deal with much more that is far worse. From a young age I learned that every endeavor will have set backs, road blocks, difficulties and idiots blocking the way or trying to divert you. I expect this in all that I do and plan for them. Even with having multiple plans to counter whatever is out there, I still often run out of all the original alternatives and have to come up with some on the fly. This is life. Well, it has been my life and it is only relatively recent that I have learned that this is not the case for many. Next, the event that defines this the best, “Fair Winds and Following Seas, Kitsune!”