CHAPTER FIFTEEN: A FAREWELL TO JAPAN

I wish that I could transport every one of the readers of my account to the people, whom I met in Japan, to the places, to which I went in Japan, and to the great time, that I spent in Japan. I had and still have lots of great friends in Japan. I went fishing. I went to birthday parties, at which Moet & Chandon and other champagnes and sparkling wines flowed. I went to weddings. We danced, drank, feasted, sang, talked, laughed,together, cried together, went to fireworks, and went on picnics. I was counted as a Japanese person among my Japanese friends. These friends sometimes even asked me sincerely for advice and they listened to my advice intently. Even brief encounters with Japanese citizens, whom I never saw again, were nearly always very good. I was also able to see and tour about Japan a fair amount during my twelve years there. I saw eight or nine castles, countless temples and shrines, several gardens, and various scenic places. I also made friends with several fellow English-speaking people.

I met countless children through my teaching and most of them were darlings. several of my young students acquired a very good ability in English. Most of my adult students were great and I socialized with a number of them. The rewards, that I received from these students through just their companionship or even continued attendance, were of immeasurable value.

I was also greatly blessed by being able to meet and become friends with several Filipinas and one Romanian woman. All these women were gems. they were true friends and they will always be counted as great friends in my heart. They cared about me and my problems. They listened to me. I cared about them and their problems. I listened to them, too. We shared a unique bond of companionship. I could not have survived without them. I could speak to them in Japanese and I was also able to converse with them in my native language, English. these women were absolute godsends. My life is much richer for having met them and the same goes for all of my friends.

Had there not been the vile thread of extortion running through my life in Japan, my life would have been so rich with blessings that I would have likely been floating on sunshine twenty-four hours a day. People need contact with other people and I am no exception to that rule. I miss all these friends very much and I miss Japan a lot, too.

My final eighteen months in Japan were terrible. My life nearly ended.

While I was in Japan, my non-smoking mother died of cancer, which started out as lung cancer. She died in April 1997. She had separated from my Dad for a while, but she had been living with him again for three or four years before she died. My mother had tried to communicate with me, but I had cut both my parents off because of what they had done to me. My mother's death was sad chapter in my life, but it was only sad to me because I knew that my mother would never be able to address to me directly all the wrongs that she had committed against me. My mother's death really equalled a type of closure to me. I felt comfort in knowing that my mother could not longer cause me pain.

I did not return to Canada to go to my mother's funeral as it was too dangerous for me to go back to Canada. Many people did not understand my situation and thought that I was callous in not attending the funeral. I would have attended my mother's funeral, if there had been a safe way of doing so.

About two years after my mother's death, my Dad wrote me a letter stating that he wished "to communicate" with me. I decided to open a line of communication with him. I felt that it was good to try to make amends with one's family. I decided to give my Dad another chance. My Dad seemed sincere in his letters and on the phone and so I was certain that he would not repeat his former ways. I even warned my Dad in both writing and on the phone to inform me of any pending court cases dealing with my problems. When I questioned my Dad, he said that he knew of Mr. Harada and said that Mr. Harada was helping me. I told him that Mr. Harada was not helping me and he really was not.

All of this served as the backdrop for the final months of my stay in Japan. I actually did not trust my Dad. I doubted him, but I wanted to believe that he was being sincere and honest with me.

By late spring of 2002, the fate of my school had been decided. I was at Katashima Nursery School and a second meeting between Mr. Tanaka, Mr. Oka, Mr. Morinaga, and me took place. All three of these men had the very obvious persona of a vulture. Mr. Morinaga was the most eager of the three vultures. Mr. Tanaka had the audacity to give Mr. Morinaga my school at no cost: Mr. Tanaka showed no compunction in saying this in front of me. I had already paid half the prinicipal of the loan and the equivalent of thousands of dollars in interest and the remainder of the principal of the loan plus some extra cash sat in my school's account just ready for Mr. Tanaka's taking.

When the other two men were not present, Mr. Tanaka informed me that he had decided not to give me my school because he said that I needed to be controlled. Please, remember that Mr. Tanaka was not entitled nor allowed to own such a school as mine under Japanese law and so my school was not his to give or to sell to anyone, if this were the only criterion to be considered in the matter. Mr. Tanaka had also breached his promise, which is a contract, with me: he had promised me that my school would be mine solely, that my wage would rise, and that all profits would be shared.

Mr. Tanaka said one other thing that was also very condescending. He told me that I was on my last chance of being in Japan with Mr. Oka and Mr. Morinaga. I thought that this comment was not only very belittling but also very arrogant and rude. At the same time as I thought this of the comment, I knew that finding another job in Japan and getting another guarantor would be nearly impossible.

On July 3, 2002, the unbelievable occurred. I arrived at one of my other two nursery schools to teach as usual. I walked into the nursery school office about twelve minutes before I was to start teaching and the office phone rang. The nursery school owner answered the phone and, after a short exchange, the owner turned to me and said that the call was for me and that it was from the United Nations in New York! Of course, the owner could only speak Japanese and it just so happened that I knew the Japanese expression for 'United Nations'.

I took the phone and Mr. Akazawa was on the line. He also told me that the United Nations' New York office was on the phone. An English-speaking woman then came on the line. The call was conference-style from New York and was linked through Mr. Akazawa and the nursery school. From time to time, two French-speaking women spoke to me in French. These two women were very nice. The English-speaking woman was very nice, too: she was the main speaker. There was also a Japanese man, who could understand English, and he interpreted the English conversation into Japanese for Mr. Akazawa. Needless to say, receiving this phone call sent shock waves through everyone around me on that day and it reverberated from other people later on.

The conversation with the English-speaking woman, who was affiliated with the United Nations, started out well. She asked for confirmation of my full name. I gave it. She then asked how old I was. I gave her my age. She told me that they had someone of my name on record as having lived a hundred and twenty years previously, getting fatally shot, and then disappearing. She said that there were other men in history with different names but with the same disappearing act after having been fatally shot. She asked me if I had lived before or ever gone by another name. I replied that I had never gone by another name, that I did not remember ever having lived at another time, and that I remembered being a child in the 1960's and early 1970's. I voiced my reasoning out loud to her that I must have died only the times that I had been shot in July 1989. She suggested that I might have blocked out any other time that I might have lived and died. I chuckled and gave the light retort that I did not think that possible.

It soon became obvious that someone was coaching the English-speaking woman on what to ask me and say to me. I guessed that there were three men, who were lawyers, coaching her. Apparently, I was right. From this point, our conversation took an odd tone.

The unnamed woman told me that the United Nations had been watching me for some time in order to confirm my identity. It turns out that the United Nations had been watching for possibly more than a decade. What is more, this organization had been using UN helicopters to spy on me for seven years or more in Japan. I had seen a light green helicopter with the Nike-like red swoosh on its side: I had thought that this was a UN helicopter, but I had not been sure. I was also hurriedly told that all the help, afforded me by the United Nations would come at a cost to me. This was astounding to me!

I became angry at this point. I asked the woman why I had not been approached earlier as I had contacted the UN thirteen years previously and that I had last phoned the Geneva office to inform them of my plans to go to Japan as I had not managed to secure a contact at the New York office. The woman said that they had wanted to be certain of my identity, that there was very little contact between the two offices when it came to matters of human rights issues of individuals, and that the New York office really had not known where I had gone. I told her that I found all this unbelievable because her office had found me. I told her that likely my dental records still existed and that my retired dentist and doctor would have recognized me from an updated photograph, which existed within Japan. I said that there were other records that would have confirmed my identity. I added that the United Nations should have made contact with me through the Japanese government and the Japanese police. I asked the woman why they really had waited so long to contact me. I told her that all those years of waiting on my part had been just a waste of time in my life.

The woman became angry with me and told me that I was being rude and insolent. She repeated that they had needed to be absolutely certain of my identity. I replied that such positive identification must have been difficult to have made from a helicopter. I was very angry and was being sarcastic. The woman became angrier. Once again, I was told that I was rude.

I informed the woman that I was an extortionee and that extortionees are not forced to pay for help. Moreover, I stated that the extortionee's court costs were usually paid by the extortioner. I added that the extortionee's court costs were still covered by the extortionee's country in the event that the extortioner could not cover the court costs. I further added that Canada was not only my country but one of my extortioners and so the federal government of Canada was doubly responsible. The woman was furious with me and told me that help to me would not be free and that I would have to do things for the United Nations. I told her that forcing me to do anything would constitute extortion. She became really furious with me, but my blood was boiling.

I spoke calmly as I asked the woman what things I would be forced to do. She answered me in an ordering and condescending tone, saying that I would be required to go to various countries and troubleshoot for the United Nations. She told me that I would even have to go to countries, where I would run the risk of being killed, as she said that I would come back to life anyway. She also told me that I would have to do all this for free because I was going to get a very large amount of money in court compensation. I stated flatly that risking my life intentionally and expecting to come back to life would be tempting God. I added that I did not do any job for free. She became furious with me again and restated that I would be rich and would not need remuneration. I said that I would need remuneration for services rendered, even if I were rich or I would not render any services. I did add that I might do things for countries out of the kindness of my heart sometimes. The U.N. woman became angry again. I asked her when I would get time off, if I did all this work for the United Nations. She informed me that I would be too busy to get more than a few weeks off per year as there were many problems in the world to solve. I asked her why I was so much in demand and whether or not there were others, who could help with the world's problems. She said that I had the unique ability to grasp the nature of a problem and find a solution quickly.

As I am the type of person, who likes a challenge, I suggested to the woman that I could solve many problems over the phone. She told me that she did not think that I could. She told me that I would need to study the problems first hand. I asked her for an example of a problem. She told me that there had been and still was considerable unrest among the citizens of France. She told me that the United Nations did not understand what the unrest was about nor did they know of a solution. I told her that I was aware of the unrest and that I knew of a solution. I had her interest. I asked her if she knew what type of unrest it was: she replied that she did not know. I told her what it was. I told her that the firefighters, railroad employees, port workers, and farmers had all gone on strike at various times. I told her that I had read in my English-language newspaper that the issue was over taxes. I said that this meant that the strikes had nothing to do with employers versus unions, but that they were linked to a stand-off between the citizens of France and the national government of France. She said that the united Nations knew that. I told her that the United Nations knew the solution to the problem, if they knew the problem. I told her that the national government of France needed more money. She became frustrated with me and said that they all knew that, but they did not know how to get the extra money needed. I responded that the answer was childishly simple. I told her that the national government of France needed to start up a lottery or lotteries, which would create a surplus of cash available to the French government to use towards subsidies, wage supplementation, national services, and possible national debt. I added that this could also be done on the municipal level. I said that the national government of France might even be able to lower taxes eventually. I did say by way of concession that some citizens of France might become addicted to gambling via the lotteries, but these people were likely addicted to other things, as well. I asserted that the benefits of the lotteries would outweigh their disadvantages.

My idea, which I did not think was original nor particularly clever, was hailed as brilliant. According to my sources, there have been several lottery winners in France now, the French government is a bit better off financially, and the French people are a lot happier. When I voiced my idea, it surprised the U.N. people. What surprised me was that my idea had surprised anyone. I thought that such a solution was so obvious that it should not need more than a few seconds to think of it. At any rate, I was thought too be a great guru of brainstormers and was given a great deal of praise for my solution. The easiest solutions to make are the ones that use existing tools.

The woman said that the United Nations could likely provide me with a inexpensive car and she asked me where I would like to live. I said that I wanted to live in Japan most of each year. I tested her by saying that I would need special paperwork or identification in order to say in Japan and I said that I would need it right away. She informed me that I would be given a special diplomatic passport. She added that my trial against the Canadian federal government had begun, but it would take a couple of years to come to a settlement. She told me not to return to Canada. I told her that I had no intention of going back to Canada, but I thought that I would be forced to return as I was only on a one-year visa. She told me that I would be all right with the Japanese government as I had not done anything wrong in Japan. I told her briefly of my problem with my employers and said that they wanted me ousted from Japan. She told me that I should take them to court. I laughed and informed her that was a very difficult task for a Japanese citizen, let alone a non-Japanese resident of Japan. She did not understand because she did not understand the Japanese way.

The U.N. woman said that nothing could be done quickly for me. By this point in speaking with her, I could no longer tolerate the tone nor the essence of our conversation. I told her that that was fine because I had already appealed to the American government and had mentioned in my letter that the United Nations had not helped me. I complained to her about Mr. Dayal and all the bureaucracy that had been flung in my face by the United Nations' New York office. I also reminded her how it had taken the United Nations more than thirteen years to contact me. She reiterated that they had wanted to be certain of my identity. I countered with the restatement that my identity would not have been difficult to verify with direct contact and photographic identification. I questioned her as to why the United Nations had not contacted me while I was in Canada and before I had been shot. She told me that the United Nations had not been certain that I had a case. I asked her why the United Nations had removed my principal witness and her entire family from Canada, if it had been thought that I did not have a case against the federal government of Canada. She told me that the United Nations had been worried about the safety of my principal witness and her family. I told her that such a course of action meant that the United Nations believed that I had a case against the Canadian government. She admitted that that was so. I was furious.

I asked her then why the United Nations had not helped me get to safety. Can anyone imagine what her answer was? She told me that the United Nations people did not come to take me out of Canada because they had been afraid of getting shot, too! I could not believe my ears. I told her that I had been going down to America on short trips two or three times a week to get gasoline for my car and therefore I could have been contacted in America and then, I could have moved all my belongings and myself out of Canada by myself. I told her that contact had been paramount. I asked her why the United Nations New York office had not sent people to Washington State to intercept and contact me. She said that the expense was thought to be too great! I asked her if she and her office thought that sending a helicopter to watch me for about seven years was less expensive. She understood the rhetoric and had nothing to say.

I said that I did not like the United Nations' deal of enforced servitude. I refused to do it. I further restated that I did not think that I would be able to talk to her again as I had complained about the United Nations' virtually nonexistant attempt to come to my aid to American Ambassador to Japan, Thomas Foley. I said that I would be happy to talk to her and listen to her on a future date, if she were less acerbic towards me. She told me off for that statement! I just laughed her reaction off. With an assurredess that would have made even Sherlock Holmes blush on one of his great days, the United Naitons woman, who remained nameless, asserted that she would be in touch with me again.

I have not been contacted again by the United Nations since that day. It also came to light that "U.N. woman" was a mere stooge or patsy for the U.N. lawyers, who were toying with me.

Just the receipt of this phone call sent shock waves through my immediate surroundings. One of the biggest problems was that no one else could understand English and so the meaning of the conversation was lost. I explained the conversation in Japanese, but the whole episode seemed to have caused more problems than it had solved for me. Most people felt that the shooting incident was unbelievable and I had no proof. Officials from the United Nations should have come to Japan and met with me discreetly.

Mr. Tanaka, Mr. Akazawa, Mr. Oka, and Mr. Morinaga quizzed me on the validity of the phone call that I had received from the United Nations. These four men did not believe that the call had been true. They believed that I was working some kind of scam or joke and that I had had some of my friends pose as officials from the United Nations. All four of these men jeered at me and made fun of me even more.

I about June 2002, Mr. Tanaka, Mr. Oka, and Mr. Morinaga started spying on me. they phoned all over the city, in which I lived, and were able to get people to tell them my every move. They were able to convince some people that I was doing something wrong that warranted me being watched and they were able to convince other people that they were helping me. They were simply trying to take advantage of me. These three men did this concurrently with but independently of Mr. Harada.

Mr. Tanaka, Mr. Akazawa, Mr. Oka, and Mr. Morinaga all decided that they should pen the most restrictive contract for me. This contract was written in Japanese legalese and was incomprehensible to me as I could only speak Japanese and not read very much of it. One of this contract's stipulations was that I was required to pay Mr. Tanaka fifty thousand yen (US$500) per month. Mr. Oka took me to immigration with this contract and the immigration officials were horrified with it. They demanded of Mr. Oka that he remove the offensive clasues. These officials were supportive of me and they even asked me about the phone call that I had received from United Nations. They were stunned that the United Nations had waited thirteen years to contact me and they were horrified that I had been shot dead and abused by the government of Canada. Mr. Oka heard this verification of the phone call from the United Nations, but he refused to believe that the phone call had been real. I told the immigration officials that I needed a separate Japanese trial, as well, just to free me from my difficulties in Japan.

At first, Mr. Oka was stymied by the decision of the immigration officials on my contract. He conferred with his cohorts, Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Morinaga. The end result was the creation of two separate contracts, one of which was to be presented to immigration and one of which was designed to force me to pay Mr. Tanaka an exorbitant amount of money. Mr. Akazawa was present with the other three men, when I was given these two contracts to sign. These four men told me that I had to sign both contracts or I woud not be given the work contract that would enable me to procure my working visa. These men knew that I could not return to Canada, but they believed more that I simply did not want to go back to Canada. They believed that my problems with the Canadian government were due to my stupidity and stubbornness and not due to any cruelty on the part of the Canadian government. I was left with no choice but to sign both contracts as there remained only about two weeks before my visa expired.

Mr. Oka and I returned to the immigration office with my contract. The immigration officials asked me about the matter of the monthly payments to Mr. Tanaka. I told them about the other contract that I had signed. Mr. Oka was furious with me. The immigration officials were furious with Mr. Oka. The two immigration officials asked me why I had signed the contract that required me to pay Mr. Tanaka fifty thousand yen (US$500) per month. I said that I had signed it under duress. The two officials did not see how that helped me. I told them that I would not have been given the contract necessary to obtain my working visa and that Japanese immigration could not have done anything for me without that contract. They agreed with me. I reiterated that I needed a trial to stop those, who had pitted themselves against me. I told them that a person should not be forced to do anything. I said that I had lost my freedom. The two immigration officers fell helplessly silent.

Mr. Oka and I returned from immigration with all my paperwork done and a new visa stamped in my passport. Mr. Oka told me off for having mentioned the existence of the second contract. I told Mr. Oka that the the existence of the second contract was wrong. I told him that it threatened my existence. He was angry with me. At a later date, Mr. Tanaka, Mr. Akazawa, and Mr. Morinaga all chastised me for having told the immigration oficials about the second contract and our private discussions were none of the immigration officials' business. My disclosure about the second contract to immigration about the second contract to immigration had obviously made these four men very nervous. I was not willing to lie down and die, but I knew that i was fighting a losing battle. Mr. Tanaka asked me why I had signed the second contract, if I had thought that it was unfair and I replied that his cohorts and he would not have given me my work contract to pave the way for me to get my visa. He responded with a "gotcha-type" statement. About four years previous to this, I had started going to the Japanese police about what Vincent Gross was doing to me and I had mentioned Mr. Harada's complicity in the matter, too. The Japanese police had listened to me, but they had not thought that my situation was serious nor warranted their atention. I had given up on telling the Japanese authorities any more about my struggles.

Right after the matter of my visa was settled, Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Akazawa decided it was time to close my school's bank account. there was slightly more than one million six hundred thousand yen (US$16,000) in the account. Mr. Tanaka was to take one million yen (US$10,000) from the account to cover the final half of the principal of the loan that had been made to me. Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Akazawa decided to split the remaining money between themselves. They decided that I was not deserving of a bonus. I was to start my new venture with Mr. Morinaga moneyless. Needless to say, I was not excited about my prospects.

From this moment on, the backdrop to my last thirteen months in Japan as a quasi-free person was starvation and malnutrition. I was lucky, if I got one full meal every seven to ten days. I was forced to walk the streets for an hour or two every night in the hopes of finding some money that had been dropped on the street or forgotten in the coin return of a vending machine. I found money in this way two or three times a week. I found as as three hundred yen (in US funds, three dollars) sometimes, although, I usually only found one hundred and fifty yen (in US funds, one dollar and fifty cents). With this miniscule amount of money, I was able to buy some instant ramen (noodles) at the 7-11, where the staff had heard of my dificulties and some of the things that I had done for Japan and its society. The staff members at this 7-11, which was in my neighbourhood, started up a petition to have me become a permanent resident or citizen of Japan. The efforts of these 7-11 workers were and still are greatly appreciated, but there were too many people against me for the results to be fast enough to save me.

Eventually, I became so weak from a lack of food that I often could not get out of bed in the morning to go to work. My body began to reject food, when I finally obtained some. I could not even keep water down. I immediately threw everything up. I did not urinate regularly and when I was able to pass my water, I passed it with difficulty and I was caused a good deal of pain. When I actually did eat something and kept it down, it usually took me at least two days to have a bowel movement and I was so constipated that my rectum felt as though it was being wrenched and ripped apart. My stomach bloated and I lost a considerable amount of weight. My body atrophied to a large extent.

Another problem, which came up, was my bill payments. I had my gas cut off and my electricity cut off several times because I did not have enough money to eat let alone pay my bills. My phone was cut off once or twice, too, because I lacked the funds to pay for it. As my hot water heater was run by gas and had an electric starter, I did not have hot water when the gas or the electricity were cut off. When my electricity was cut off, the temperature got down to 3 degrees Celsius in the winter and up to 41 degrees Celsius in the summer. During these times, I slept in my school room and made full use of its electricity. I could only take a cold shower in my apartment. this was not quite so bad in the summer, but in the winter, the water was very cold.

Please, remember that all these difficulties were layered one on top of the other and comprised a daily struggle. Remember also that my daily struggles lasted for much more than a week. My struggles in Japan started, when I arrived there and lasted for the full twelve years that I was there. The last seven years in Japan were the worst. Having said this, though, it does not mean that I believe that Japan is a bad country. I simply met some of Japan's bad people because the Canadian government had set up a way to beset me with as much misfortune as possible.

I overheard one recurring conversation between Mr. Tanaka, Mr. Oka, and Mr. Morinaga about three times. The essence of the conversation was that they wanted me to starve to death so that they could send me home in a body bag and not be worried about me saying anything against them. (Until Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Oka told Mr. Morinaga of the existence of body bags, he had not heard of them! Mr. Morinaga was quite uanaware of basic things.) They seemed convinced that my death would solve all their worries regarding me. Mr. Tanaka told Mr. Morinaga to keep or sell all my personal belongings and to keep my school once I had been disposed of. Mr. Tanaka added that I was too strong-willed to die and so they would have to devise another way of oust me from Japan.

As there were so many players, who were running scams against me, there are many miniature stories to tell. Once again, I wish the reader of this account of my struggles to remember that all these scams were being run against me concurrently. To refresh the reader's memory, the basic scheme of this scam was to exploit me for cash either directly by not paying me properly for the teaching that I did or by watching or taping me in order to sell my methods, ideas, and lessons to other schools and teachers. Also, the scam was designed to stop me from having a girlfriend so that those men, who were playing this scam against me, could get close enough to the women, who liked me, to try to corner those women into having sex with them. The women, who liked me, were asked to meet the man, who was running the scam, somewhere public and the women were told that I would be contacted to meet them. I never received such a phone call. At other times, the women, who liked me during my twelve-year stay in Japan, were told that they had to have sex with the man running the scam first and then he would act as a go-between and contact me. Because there was too much opposition to me dating anyone, I did not manage to have very many dates. I was not allowed to control my own life and the women, who were interested in me, were not allowed to control their romance with me. The women, who liked me, were also usually told that they would be able to date me, if they first had sex or performed sexual favours with the men, who were pretending to be go-betweens for my female friends and me. Mr. Tanaka played this scam with two of my Filipina friends and when they refused him, he became irate. Mr. Tanaka made certain that one of these women was not allowed back to Japan for a long time and he got the other woman dismissed from her job and sent home to the Phillipines.

About twenty-six months before I left Japan and about two months before broke my ties with Mr. Satano, Mr. Tanaka developed what appeared to be an obsession with what was going to happen to Mr. Satano for what he had done to me. Mr. Tanaka's obsession or fixation seemed to go deeper, though. Mr. Tanaka was also absorbed with what I thought would likely happen to Mr. Satano. He demanded to know my theories. Mr. Tanaka frequently asked me what I believed would be Mr. Satano's fate. I told Mr. Tanaka that Mr. Satano quite likely would go to prison for what he had done to me. I told Mr. Tanaka that I was not certain of this, but I did state that many Japanese people were angry with Mr. Satano over his ill treatment of me and that I thought that the Japanese police were investigating Mr. Satano or that they would be investigating him very soon. I said that it was well known that starvation of someone was considered a crime worthy of capital punishment in Japan. Mr. Tanaka seemed interested in my perception of Mr. Satano's future, but his wife and he both told me that Mr. Satano would remain unscathed and unpunished.

Once Mr. Morinaga had taken over my school, Mr. Tanaka asked me about Mr. Satano's fate a little more frequently. I told Mr. Tanaka that Mr. Satano would likely go to prison for what he had done to me and I warned Mr. Tanaka that he, too, would likely go to prison unless he righted the wrongs that he had committed against me. This made Mr. Tanaka furious with me, but I knew that I had nothing to lose in telling Mr. Tanaka what would likely happen to him. Mr. Tanaka told me emphatically that foreigners had no rights in Japan and that Japanese people reigned supreme in Japan and anywhere in the world. I told Mr. Tanaka not to travel outside Japan from then on, if that were his attitude. I told him that I had connections and could stop him from travelling within several countries. This was not an idle threat on my part as I actually did nad still do have such connections. Mr. Tanaka did not believe me and became more furious with me. I did carry out my threat without Mr. Tanaka knowing. I was told that he would be turned back on arrival in America and the United Kingdom. I had long since come to see Mr. Tanaka for the lying, cheating, unfeeling, inconsiderate, arrogant, conceited, licentious monster that he was.

One horrible incident, which illustrates Mr. Tanaka's lack of professional skills, still sticks in my mind. One day, a young girl of about two years of age cried for the bulk of the morning because she missed her mother and was frightened. This is very typical with many small children. The teacher was at her wits end and so she brought the child into the office and asked for some suggestions because the child's incessant crying was disturbing her entire class. Mr. Tanaka told the child in a very angry fashion that she did not need to come to the nursery school anymore, if she were going to cry all the time. What a callous man! Needless to say, his bullying did nothing to alleviate the child's fears. In fact, the child was likely more afraid to be at that nursery school. Was fur ein Dummkopf! (What an idiot!)

There was a small cafe near my school and one of the waitresses was a young Romanian. She was really attractive, but I knew that she was married to a Japanese man. To me, this meant hands off. I do not knowlingly make advances on another man's wife, fiance, or girlfriend and if I inadvertently make advances on another man's lady, then I apologize and graciously bow out of the situation. Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Morinaga both had their sights on this Romanian woman, who was about twenty-three years old at that time. From what I could grasp, Mr. Tanaka deferred to Mr. Morinaga any claim to making advances on this young Romanian. I thought that these two men were being very foolish for having any sexually charged intentions with this poor young woman.

In late summer of 2002, Mr. Morinaga started pressuring me to check and see if the Romanian waitress could speak English. Mr. Morinaga indicated that he wanted to hire this young woman, if her English ability were good enough for her to teach. I knew that there really was not enough money coming into my school to pay me a good wage, to pay a part-time teacher, and to pay Mr. Morinaga something reasonable. I knew that Mr. Morinaga would eventually grouse to me about him not making money on my school and he did. I also knew that Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Oka were receiving money from my school's profits. I reminded Mr. Morinaga of all this cash outlay, but he insisted that we hire another teacher and he insisted that we hire the Romanian waitress, if she could speak English.

One day, Mr. Morinaga and I had coffee in the cafe, where the Romanian waitress worked. I spoke to her in English and she was fluent in English, too. Before that day, I had only ever spoken to her in Japanese. Within a few days, Mr. Morinaga hired her. I taught her how to teach children. She learned quickly and we became friends, but I only met her on the job with the exclusion of going to her mother-in-law's restaurant twice to have something to eat.

Bit by bit, it became obvious that Mr. Morinaga was jealous of my friendship with the young Romanian woman. Mr. Morinaga's jealousy was not only unfounded but also absurd. This young woman was married and therefore unavailable. She did not have an "open marriage" and she was not the type to play around sexually. I knew these things about her without even asking her. On the other hand, Mr. Morinaga was a married man with at least two grown children. Some people feel that having sex with other married people is acceptable. Some people feel that having sex with people other than one's spouse is acceptable. The only trouble with this view on life is that it can be rife with legal dangers or a variety of possible backlashes, if each possible sexual liaison is not sleuthed out carefully. In a business relationship, blatant solicitations for sex are very risky.

About two months after Mr. Morinaga had hired the Roamanian woman, Mr. Morinaga erupted on me. On the day of his eruption, he picked me up at my school to take me to Mr. Tanaka's nursery school. Mr. Morinaga insisted on taking me to most of my jobs because he wanted to control me and make it appear as though he was going to great lengths to help me. On the particular morning in question, Mr. Morinaga informed me that our part-time teacher ws not able to go that day. Mr. Morinaga seemed angry as he imparted this information to me. He had not driven too far, when he lashed out at me verbally. He told me not to get close to the young Romanian woman as she was "his woman". I immediately informed him that the Romanian and I were nothing more than friendly work associates and that she was not available because she was married. I told him that she was not the type to fool around. Mr. Morinaga was embarrassed. We both fell silent. Mr. Morinaga was sullen. I thought that he was the most foolish man in the entire world.

The next time that I met the Romanian woman, I asked her if Mr. Morinaga had asked her to have sex with him. I worked my way delicately into the question. She told me that he had asked her to go to bed with him. I said that I was furious with him and I apologized for his stupidity and crassness. She said that it waas not my fault. I said that that was so, but I was the face of the school as my name was on the window. I said that I had to maintain a high level of professionalism with my students, their parents, my employees, and the public at large. The next time that Mr. Morinaga picked both of us up, Mr. Morinaga looked very ashamed and apologized to the young Romanian for the "previous time". The Romanian told him that it was "okay" and she turned to me and mouthed to me that it really was okay. I knew that it was not okay. After this incident, Mr. Morinaga really soured towards me and he became even more jealous of me. What surprised me was that my friendship with the JRJjomanian woman strengthened. She was never any more than businesslike with Mr. Morinaga or Mr. Tanaka. Mr. Tanaka and his wife tried to pry information from the Romanian about her private life. She commented on this irritation in private to me. She liked neither Mr. Tanaka nor his wife.

November 2002 was a momentous month for me. I had occasion to talk to New Scotland Yard over the phone. We discussed many things. I was told that the federal Canadian government was being sued on my behalf, that I would be rich, and that I was going to be knighted, if I wanted to be. I stated emphatically that I would be honoured to be knighted. I said that it would be an honour just to be able to meet the Queen. I was also told that Pearce Brosnan was no longer going to play the part of James Bond and I was asked if I were interested in playing the part. I said that I was very interested in the part. I was told that a decision would be made later. I was asked how I had managed to survive all my difficulties. I replied: "I live to die another day." I was told that that statement sounded like a Bond movie title and was asked if the Bond franchise could use it as they still had not named the new film with Halle Berry in it. I said that they could, but that "Live To Die Another Day" did not sound quite right. My statement met with agreement. I was asked how it should be and I asked for a few seconds to think about it. Within about fifteen seconds, I said that "Die Another Day" was perfect. The title stuck.

I discussed quite a few more topics with New Scotland Yard and then the conversation turned to Vincent Robert Gross, who is a British citizen. I was asked what Vincent Gross had been doing to me and I told them. The officers told me that they knew that Vincent Gross was causing me trouble. I was informed that Vincent Gross would be picked up by the British police at the London airport the next time that he went back to England and that he would be put in prison. I told New Scotland Yard that I was convinced that I would be deported to Canada. They were surprised because they said that I had done nothing wrong. They told me that a Japanese man was helping me and that he would hire me as a teacher and let me work at other jobs including the New York radio job until my I received my court compensation. I told the officers that the man, who was supposed to be helping me, was called Mr. Harada and I asked for confirmation of the name. I was told that I was right. I informed them that Mr. Harada was not helping me, that I was not in communication with him, and that Mr. Harada was actually bugging my apartment electronically. I said that Mr. Harada was running the same scam as Vincent Gross had been running against me and that Mr. Harada was in cahoots with the Canadian government. The officers, to whom I was speaking, were shocked.

Please be aware that much more than these incidents occurred in Japan and that I said many more things to people. Most of the weightier utterances and incidents, that I have not mentioned so far, bear no relationship whatsoever to my legal problems and cases.

At the end of January 2003 or the middle of February 2003, Mr. Morinaga nonchalantly informed me that he was a little annoyed with his friend Mr. Oka for not helping at all with building up the number of students attending my school . Mr. Morinaga told me that he was paying Mr. Oka a monthly stipend of one hundred thousand yen (US$1,000) from the coffers of my school. I was shocked and I was visibly furious. I was starving and the school's profits were being squandered. I already had come to the realization that these men were exploiting me, but I had not fully understood how much like parasites they really were. I was at my wits' end and I had no possible escape route.

On March 3, 2003, I had the opportunity to speak to New Scotland Yard once again. I also had the pleasure and honour of speaking to Queen Elizabeth II. I spoke to Her Majesty about the lack of a citizens' vote for Canadian senators, about corruption in the Canadain political system, and about corruption in the Canadian judicial system. I also told Her Majesty how that the Lieutenant Governor of my province of British Columbia had not helped me in 1989. Her Majesty told me that She had not been informed of my appeal by this deputy of Hers. I told Her that I thought that She had not been informed of my appeal. I knew that my appeal would have garnered the necessary results, if the proper channels had been followed. I also told Her Majesty that I had reappealed to the federal Canadian government about my unresolved Canadian trial once again in 1994. I said that I had written my appeal to Jean Chretien's Liberal government and that his government had refused me help. Her Majesty assured me that Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister of Canada at the time of our conversation, would be forced to leave office. About two months after this cnversation with the Queen, Jean Chretien's resignation for September 2003 was announced in the newspapers: in the end, Jean Chretien did not leave office until January 2004. Her Majesty asked me if I would like to be knighted and I gave a resounding affirmation to my delight and acceptance of such an honour.

I spoke to New Scotland Yard about a few more matters, but two more comments were made on my situation and I was asked one final question concerning the possible outcome of my situation at that time. The first of the last comments, that were made, was that Vincent Gross had gone back to England for Christmas vacation, 2002 and he had been put in prison immediately: I was told that Vincent Gross would not bother me anymore. Then, one of the New Scotland Yard officers told me that he agreed with my assessment that I would be deported. He agreed that no one believed me that Mr. Harada was being mean to me and not telling me anything. The officer also agreed that the Japanese government believed that I was simply being obstinate. We both agreed that I was doing nothing wrong and that I had done nothing wrong. The officer asked me what I would do, if I were sent back to Canada. I said that I would try to reappeal my case against the Eaton family and sue the family as the company had been sold in 1999. I also said that I would likely find it nearly impossible to get a good temporary job. I said that I would likely be penniless and that my father would likely complain bitterly at me for not having any money. I also said that my father would likely not be understanding about my trial.

The New Scotland Yard officer made the comment that he thought that my father should go to prison. At that point, I probably made one of my worst judgement calls ever. I said that I did not want to have my father go to prison unless he did something else wrong to me. I said that it was possible that my father had changed. I desperately wanted to believe that my father had changed, but I was almost certain that he had not. My reasoning for not wanting to have my father imprisoned was actually threefold. I wanted to give my father one more chance to be honest and fair with me. I was also afraid that my sister and brother would never speak to me again, if I had my father locked up. I knew that both my sister and brother did not know everything that my father had done to me and so I knew that they did not think that my father had done anything serious enough to me to warrant going to jail. My third reason for waiting to sue my father until he did something else wrong to me might seem a little devious, but I had no choice. I knew that I would have only one place to stay, if I had to leave Japan and I knew that that place was my father's. I knew that Canadian court cases take far too long to be immediately effectual to the victim and I knew that I would not gain title to my father's house quickly, if I sued my father. I really did not have any choice in the matter. None of my relatives would have wanted me staying in their homes because of my legal problems and the unknown variables that accompanied those legal problems. For this reason, my father's house was the only place, in which I could feasibly stay. Without my father's house as a place to stay, I knew that I would have had to live on the street.

One of the last comments and questions, that the New Scotland Yard officer put to me, concerned my chance at being the next James Bond. The officer told me that I had been chosen to be the next James Bond because of my linguistic abilities and other reasons. He said that my trial presented a bit of a problem for my availability, though. I disagreed. I stated that I had not done anything wrong and was not being charged with anything and so I should be allowed to do anything that I wanted to do as long as it was legal. The officer told me that I was not allowed to do anything on a celebrity level as long as I was suing my country. This made no sense to me at all. The officer asked me what the Bond franchise should do, if they were ready to create another Bond movie and I was still fighting my leagal battle. I suggested that Casino Royale should be done with a blond British actor as Bond and that the only version of Casino Royale done up to that point had been a parody and not done by the Bond franchise. I said that Bond's beginnings would be interesting to Bond fans. This became a reality, of course.

About the middle or end of March 2003, I wallked into Katashima Nursery School and Mr. Tanaka asked me if I knew where Mr. Satano was. One of Mr. satano's friends delivered produce to the kitchen at Katashima Nursery School and this friend had told Mr. Tanaka and his wife that Mr. Satano had disappeared. Mr. Tanaka told me that Mr. Satano's friend had said that no one was able to contact Mr. Satano as his cell phone service had been disconnected and he was never at home. I asked Mr. Tanaka and his wife why they thought that I would know about Mr. Satano's whereabouts since the two of them knew that I was no longer associated to or with Mr. Satano in any way. I said this very calmly, without any sarcasm in my tone, and in appropriate words. Even with my non-venomous approach, Mr. Tanaka and his wife accused me of being rude! I said that I was not being the least bit impolite. I asked them why they thought that I would know anything about Mr. Satano when they knew that I was not one of Mr. Satano's friends. The two of them feigned ingnorance of my dealings with Mr. Satano. Mr. Tanaka told me that he wanted to know what had happened to Mr. Satano and he said it in such a pointed way that it was obvious that he expected that I should know where Mr. Satano was. I told him that I did not know and I REALLY did not know. I asked Mr. Tanaka again how he thought that I would know what had happened to Mr. Satano. He said that surely I did know and he asked me if I had done something. I asked him to give me an example of something that he thought that I might have done. He said that I probably had not killed Mr. Satano, but he was sure that I had done something. He asked me to confirm that I had not killed Mr. Satano and I assured him that I most certainly had not killed Mr. Satano. I told Mr. Tanaka that I had reported Mr. Satano to the (Japanese) police several months before and so I said that it was possible that Mr. Satano was in prison. Mr. Tanaka's eyes widened for a few seconds and then he announced his disbelief at my theory. Mr. Tanaka and his wife did seem to be worried at the possibility of Mr. Satano's incarceration. Mr. Tanaka voiced his belief that Mr. Satano had gone somewhere without telling anyone. I said that Mr. Tanaka might be right and that that somewhere might have been prison. I also said that Mr. Satano's phone being out of service was very strange. Mr. Tanaka asked me about Mr. Satano's whereabouts on two more occasions after this time. I answered with the same answer, which was met with even more disbelief from Mr. Tanaka. It is interesting to note, though, that Mr. Tanaka was becoming increasingly more worried over Mr. Satano's disappearance and even more alarmed over his failure to reappear.

Mr. Tanaka informed me at the end of March 2003 that he wanted to reduce the number of hours that I taught at his nursery school. He claimed that the children were not learning all that much and that he did not want to spend so much money on English instruction nor did he want my school or me to rich off him. For years prior to this announcement, Mr. Tanaka and his wife had sung their praises about my teaching ability telling me that I was an excellent teacher. As of April 2003, my hours at Mr. Tanaka's nursery school were cut down. It was only a monthly loss of forty thousand yen (US$400), but it was a loss all the same and the principle of the matter was to be considered, as well.

On the last Sunday of May 2003, I went to my friend's bar for a drink. I really did not have any money for going out as I did not have enough money to buy food, but my body was rejecting all food at that point, anyway, because I had not had enough money to buy food for a long time. I had to go to one of my friend's bars to let all my friends know that I still valued their friendship. A phone call would not have been enough to convey how much I valued my friends. My friends had long since been told that they were not allowed to phone me as Mr. Harada was busy helping me and setting me up on dates with women. This was not true, of course. Mr. Harada was not doing anything for me.

Mr. Harada was a mole for the large faction of the federal Canadian government and the British Columbian provincial government that were against me. It had also reached a point where it was obvious that some members of the national Japanese government were part of the extortive plot against me. Moreover, there was quite a lot of news programme footage from the G-7 and G-8 meetings during my last year and a half in Japan and this footage often showed Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi side by side talking. Mr. Jean Chretien's face seemed to portray cattiness and sarcasm, whereas Mr. Junichiro Koizumi's face appeared to display earnestness and concern. The audio was turned down on this footage, but I was often able to read Jean Chretien's lips as he spoke to Mr. Junichiro Koizumi. Jean Chretien was defaming my character and lying about my situation in an effort to get me deported from Japan and gain full control over me once I was returned to Canadian soil.

Of course, my predicament was ridiculous. I should have been helped by the United Nations and I had not got it, even though I had phoned the Geneva office before I had left Canada for Japan. I had even told the geneva office what part of Japan, to which I was going. The people at the geneva office of the United Nations had told me to contact the New York office. In turn, I had explained that I had tried securing a contact person at the New York office, but that I had not been successful. The people at the Geneva office had taken my name and information and they had promised me that they would pass it on to the appropriate people. After I had appealed about my Canadian problems and the United Nations' apathy to my situation, I knew that it was too late for the United Nations to aid me in any way.

Anyway, on the last Sunday in May 2003, there arose the need for the police to be called. It was a serious but controlable situation that bore no relationship to my difficulties. However, I used this chance of a forum-styled conversation to report Mr. Harada, Mr. Tanaka, Mr. Morinaga, and Mr. Oka to the police officer. I also mentioned Mr. Satano, Mr. Akazawa, and Vincent Gross. The police officer said that Mr. Satano was definitely no good and that he no longer had his freedom. I was glad because that meant that the Japanese police had taken my initial complaint about Mr. Satano seriously. The police officer voiced his consternation over the actions of the other Japanese men and he said that my complaint would be looked into. I knew that a trial had been started. (Please, remember that it is highly unusual and unlikely for a non-Japanese to get a trial started in Japan against Japanese citizens with the aid of a Japanese lawyer let alone without one.) Then the policer officer asked me what had happened to Vincent Gross and I told him that New Scotland Yard had arrested him at Christmas. The Japanese police officer told me that Vincent Gross should have been arrested in Japan and he apologized to me on behalf of the Japanese police agency for not having known what Vincent Gross had actually been doing. This was a pivotal point in my acceptance by the Japanese authorities and it was important that some of my friends knew of my trouble. I knew that those friends would tell all my friends. This form of communication is very important and useful, especially in a foreign country. More importantly, this type of network communication between the Japanese people and, especially, groups of friends is very effective and highly used in many Asian cultures including Japan. (It is curious to note that Filipinas seem to have the most effective mode of this type of communication that is literally capable of circumventing the globe without costing any money or without costing very much at all.) I even told the police officer of all my troubles with nearly every company, for which I had worked in Japan. I explained that my troubles involved a wide-spanning scam against me and that it had been spawned in Canada. I also mentioned that I was certain Mr. Harada was having my apartment electronically bugged. I told the police officer that I wished to represent myself under the name Lawyer Bennett. This was satisfactory to him. Of course, my problem of needing to secure another working visa or obtaining permanent residency still remained.

My friends and the four customers in the bar were surprised with what I had said. They had no reason to doubt the validity of my statement nor did they doubt it. When the police officer left, my bartender friend said that he thought that it was amazing that the Japanese police force knew me and that they knew me in a good light. He said that he knew that I was not doing anything bad, but he said that it meant a lot in Japanese society for a non-Japanese national to be known favourably by the authorities in Japan. In Japan, usually non-Japanese nationals are either mistrusted or ignored. I knew this to be true for a society that is as closed as the Japanese one. Trust takes a long time to be granted in Japan. My friends and the customers in the bar were convinced that I would be okay and be able to stay in Japan, but I knew otherwise.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: MY LIFE IN THE ORIENT

I left for Japan on July 19, 1991. I was thirty years old. I had virtually no money and I had no chance of finding a decent career in Canada because of my court troubles. I was able to speak very little Japanese. I boarded the plane a very lonely man and disembarked as an even lonelier one. I had had to cut off all contact with my friends and relatives in Canada because my problems with the federal government and likely with my provincial government would have made it dangerous for anyone, who had anything to do with me.

I arrived at Narita Airport outside Tokyo at about five minutes to six o'clock in the evening on July 21, 1991 on Tokyo time. No one from my company, Interac, met me. I had been told that no one would meet me, but I still thought that this was strange. A room had been booked for me in a business hotel in a Tokyo entertainment district, which is called Ikebukuro. I had been sent the hotel address, which was written in both English and Japanese. I was told that I had to take a bus from the airport to another hotel and then get a taxi there for my hotel. I left on the bus at about seven o'clock and arrived at the first hotel at about eight thirty. I showed a cab driver the address for my hotel and he asked me where the hotel was in broken English. I was shocked and I told him that I did not know. The cab driver asked a doorman or valet at another fancy hotel where my hotel was and he was given directions. This lack of knowledge on the part of the cab driver surprised me, but I learned later that this was usual because very few streets in Japan have a name and so addresses are nothing more than a building number and an area name.

I made it into bed by nine o'clock. I was too tired to eat and I fell asleep right away. Jet lag and the length of the trip had caught up with me.

The next morning, I phoned the Interac office and they said that I had to find my way to their office by myself. I thought that that was odd, too. I was given directions over the phone and I found the office easily. I was surprised and I was proud of myself.

The Interac staff seemed disinterested in me over the phone. I felt that I was not being treated properly by the company, but I decided to reserve judgement for later. I did not have long to wait. When I walked into the office, I was introduced to the Head Teacher for foreign teachers. This man seemed nice, but something was troubling him. He did not say much to me, but led me to a small room. It was a supply room and it housed the office photocopier. There was a metal, folding chair just inside the doorway. He left the door to the room open, but he left the light in the room off and he told me to sit in the chair. He told me that he was going a short distance down the hallway into a room, where the board of directors was having a meeting. He told me to wait in that little room until he came back for me.

While I was waiting in the little room, a Japanese, female staff member came in to use the photocopier. My presence startled her greatly and my inability to speak Japanese at that time exacerbated the situation. She made an issue of me being in the little room and took the board of directors to task for it. It was obvious that she thought it strange for me to be waiting there. I thought that it was strange, too.

As I was in the little room, I overheard the board of directors and the Head Teacher talking. References were made to the KNX job. I thought that it was odd that those people would know about that job. The Head Teacher said that he thought that the board of directors was being mean to me. They told him that I was in Japan and that it was too late to do the news job. The board of directors said that they had an even better job than the initial one that I had been promised. The indication was that I had to go to bed with a Japanese woman before they would give me the better job. They felt that I had to prove myself linguistically and sexually before I got a promotion or a high-level job in the company. The directors had been told that I did not know Japanese. One of the directors said that a certain Jon Burzynski would be mean to me then as he would be in charge of me and any of my possible connections. This particular director seemed to be the main company person, who was against me and in control of me. The Head Teacher said that this man was being mean to me. This director asked the Head Teacher to go get me.

The Head Teacher came back to me and took me to see the people in the meeting room. I felt as though I were facing a gauntlet. I could not see any sense to this treatment. When I walked in no introductions were made. The one director was smiling and laughing. He seemed to be laughing at me. He asked me if I were all right in a tone born of ridicule. I said that I was all right and I asked him forthrightly if he were all right. This angered him. He said that his question was usual. I said that it was customary to be introduced to someone before conducting business. I said that it was unusual to be laughed at and that it had been odd to have had to sit in the little room. He was visibly very angry with me. I was extremely angry with them and I knew that I could not comment on much of anything that I had overheard. I did mention the KNX job and the reasons why I could not do the job. This infuriated the one director even more. I stood in silence for a minute. I was waiting for someone to say something. No one spoke and so I asked if more were required of me. I was told that I could leave.

I was taken to the front of the office and I was asked to wait. There was some confusion as to what paperwork to bring to me. It became obvious that there were two contracts for different amounts of money. A female staff member started to bring me one contract and was asked to stop part way towards me. She was told to bring me another contract. This female, staff member seemed flustered, confused, and upset at this. The Head Teacher asked loudly if I were not allowed to do the better job then. The answer was that I was not allowed to do the better job right away. I was brought a contract for two hundred and fifty thousand yen per month (US$2,500/month). This confused me because I had already signed such a contract. I questioned the need to sign another contract. The secretary told me just to sign it. I signed it. The Head Teacher was upset and asked the board of directors something about why I was not being hired for the better job again. The answer came that I had to do what had been decided in the meeting. The Head Teacher also asked what the purpose of another contract with a larger amount of money with my name on it was. The Head Teacher was exasperated and furious with the board of directors. I knew that Interac was not a good company and so I knew that I would not stay with them for very long.

I went to the Hiroshima office for job orientation. I overheard a secretary/manager there tell a teacher that I was supposed to be given a Tokyo position that would pay me seven hundred and fifty thousand yen per month (US$7,500/month). The only catch was that I had to go to bed with a Japanese women before I was hired for it and that Jon Burzynski was running some kind of scam against me so that I could not go out with anyone. This Jon Burzynski wanted the job that was meant for me.

It turned out that Jon Burzynski was telling everyone that he would help women to go out with me. I worked every week night until late. I was never home early. The company was involved in a scam against me. It also came to light later that they were bugging my apartment electronically and taping my conversations. They said that there was some kind of problem concerning me and that they were trying to fix it.

Interac did another mean thing to me. My monthly travel expenses totalled fifty thousand yen or more (US$500.00) and I was not allowed to submit these receipts for reimbursement until just before payday. This meant that I got behind in my cash flow. Other teachers were allowed to submit these receipts any time that they wanted to.

One day, I found a brochure, that I had been given by Interac before I had left for Japan. A substantial housing allowance and a substantial reimbursement on the plane fare to Japan was promised in this brochure. I mentioned this and I was told that I was right about my find, but I was asked to be quiet about it or I would be dismissed from the company's employ.

I quit Interac about three months into my contract. I went to work for a private prep school, where I taught mostly children, who tapped into an entirely new market for the prep school. Interac dogged after me. Jon Burzynski was hired years later to do the job that I was supposed to have been given. It was rumoured that Jon Burzynski was not paid as much money for this position as I would have been. Interac had just wanted my ideas for as little money as possible.

The prep school owner encouraged me to go out with one of the women in the family. This family switched the names of the two women in the family, so that it could be denied that I was dating anyone when it suited the family to say so. This was done, so that I could not be hired by another company that had agreed not to hire me until I had dated someone. People, who threatened the family with exposing their plan to me, were given a pay-off. No one ever told me. It took me a long time to prove all this to myself, to believe it, and to digest it. Of course, my efforts to prove all this and understand it were severely hampered by my lack of understanding of Japanese, which I was in the throes of learning slowly.

The prep school owner and his supposed sister tried to convince me to marry this arm-twisting sister. They even tried to get me to move out of my apartment and to move into their house. I refused. Interac had even tried to get me evicted from my apartment after I had quit them. They could not have me evicted because I had been paying the rent and had paid the damage deposit.

My prep school owner's name was said to be Tatsuroh Himeji. His school's name in English translation was Himeji Prep School. Later other fellow teachers told me that there was another Himeji Prep School in the city of Okayama. The school, that I knew, was at least 30 miles or 50 kilometres away from where I had taught. The people, who informed me of the existence of another Himeji Prep School, told me that the prep school owner had been mean to me. I said that I knew and that there was nothing that I could do about it at that time.

When I started with the prep school, I made certain that I had two days off a week: Thursday and Saturday. I had resolved to keep Thursdays as a day off as I was teaching several private students on Saturdays. Eventually though, I was hired part-time by a company called Time T.I. Communications to teach a group of engineers at Kawasaki Steel on Thursday evenings. I started to make between three hundred fifty thousand yen and four hundred fifty thousand yen per month (US$3,500 to US$4,500 per month).

As I did not have a girlfriend, I succumbed to the pressure to date the sister of the prep school owner about three months after I started at the school. This Japanese woman was my first real girlfriend. Three months after dating this woman moderately, she pushed hard for marrying me. I told her that I needed time. I cooled down on the relationship.

One evening a week, I taught an adult class at the prep school. One of these young women, a college student, seemed to be interested in me in a romantic way. Many people started to talk about how much this young woman liked me. I decided to ask her out for coffee and I asked her for her phone number. She was my student, but I reasoned that she was of age and I was in a private school. Moreover, I also reasoned that going for coffee was the most innocuous of all activities. I did not tell her that I found her attractive nor did I tell her that I liked her. I felt that we could meet over coffee in a professional way and if she were interested in me, she would let me know.

I phoned her home three times over the space of about two weeks. She was not home the first two times. On the third time, I got her at home. She curtly refused to meet me for coffee. I gave up. She quit coming to my class and then she reported me for harassment to my school.

I started dating the school owner's sister again sporadically.

One night before my adult class, the young college student came to the school and requested to speak to me. She handed me a handwritten note in fractured English. She shook from fright and worry. The essence of the note was that there had been a misunderstanding between us and that she wanted to rejoin the class. I decided to acquiesce and allowed her back into the class. This was likely a mistake.

Within two weeks of this young woman rejoining my adult class, the school was abuzz with murmurs and whispers of how much this young woman liked me. Even my child and teenaged students were talking about this young woman liking me. I felt ill to my stomach over it. I never made any further advances on this young woman, even though she followed me home on the train two or three times. On one occasion, the school owner came to me after my adult class and offered to give me a ride to the train station. This was very unusual as I always walked. When I got to the car, I saw the young college student in the back of the car and she was looking at me with pleading, bedroom eyes. I went to get into the front seat because I did not want any contact with the young woman, but the school owner insisted that I get into the back of the car. The young woman immediately moved towards me and pressed her body next to mine and held my left arm with both her hands. I pushed her away from me straight away. She was shocked. The school owner asked me if I were okay and I said that I was. I did not speak very much on the way to the station and I did not speak to the young woman at all. On arriving at the train station after a seven-minute car ride, I exited the car as quickly as I could and was very thankful to be away from such a conniving, young woman.

Right after this college student had reported me for harassment, another, older adult student in my adult class helped me link with an English teacher at the secondary school, where she worked. This man, Vincent Robert Gross, and I became friends. I confided in him about all my troubles at the prep school and he said that he would check into my problem and help me, if he could. He was fluent in Japanese and I was still a novice.

It turned out that Vincent Robert Gross simply wanted to take advantage of me. He told everyone that he had a teaching position for me in the secondary school, where he taught. Via the phone, he tracked me everywhere I went. He stole some jobs meant for me and he went after every young lady, who liked me. He told the young women, who liked me, that he would tell me about them. He told these women that they had to give him their phone numbers and that they could not contact me directly because there was a problem in my life. He also told them that they had to go through him because he was a teacher and that gave him a high status in Japanese society. (Social status and rank are very important in Japanese society.) Furthermore, he told all these women that he had seniority over me and he could speak Japanese when I could not. He used this same strategy on all the companies that tried to contact me to hire me. Vincent Gross also used this strategy to stop me from winning prizes. Vincent Gross had been recruited to ensure that I did not go out with any women other than one from the area, in which he and I taught.

Just after having met Vincent Robert Gross, I made the acquaintance of a certain Mr. Harada, whose family owned the privately held secondary school, where Vincent Gross taught. Mr. Harada took me out for lemonade near my apartment one day. It seemed as though he was laughing at me. One of his friends chastised him for something, which I did not understand because it was said in Japanese. Mr. Harada told me that he was a French teacher at a women's community college and that he could only speak Japanese and French. I could not speak Japanese very much at all at that time and so I spoke to him in French. It turned out later that he was fluent in English. In fact, he was infinitely better at English than at French.

Mr. Harada suddenly informed me that he had been to Ottawa about a year before I had arrived in Japan. I thought this piece of information too odd to be coincidental. Mr. Harada even laughed as he imparted this information. I immediately suspected Mr. Harada of collaborating with the Mulroney federal government of Canada. I purposely asked him an odd question, that I knew would elicit a negative response and catch him off guard. I find using red herrings helpful in ferreting out the truth. I asked him if he had met and spoken to the Canadian Prime Minister. Mr. Harada gave a negative response with a certain amount of chuckling. Then, I hit him hard with a damning question. I queried as to whether or not he had spoken to someone in the Canadian government about me and my legal problems in Canada. Mr. Harada's face went completely crimson and he was speechless. He did not answer my question, but he suggested that he take me back to my place. I knew that I had caught him and I also knew that the Canadian government was dogging after me still.

A little while after this encounter with Mr. Harada, he took me to his house for coffee and he told me that he might hire me to teach French and English at the women's college, where he taught. I knew that he would never hire me. On another occasion, Mr. Harada took Vincent Gross and me to his house, where the three of us made small talk. Even though Vincent Gross and Mr. Harada spoke in Japanese part of the time, I could tell by their intonation and body posture that they wanted to hide something from me.

At some point around this time and one night at the end of my adult class at the prep school, the young, college student, who had caused me considerable grief, asked me if I had any friends in Japan. I naively answered her questions. I thought that doing so would be harmless. I told her that I had a Dutch friend named Robert Koene. She asked where he lived and I told her. (This type of question is very common in Japan and usually is for the purposes of making idle chatter.) Later I found out that she had contacted Robert Koene in order to get close to me.

It turns out that this college student went to Robert Koene's place with the belief that Robert had contacted me an had arranged for me to meet him at his place at the same time that she was there. Robert Koene was not supposed to tell me that she was going to be there, but he was just supposed to arrange a blind meeting between her and me. He did not tell me about this meeting because he wanted to get her into bed. It was widely noised about that Robert Koene had got this young student fairly inebriated on a reasonably small amount of beer and had managed to get her to take off her blouse and bra. She even allowed him to feel her breasts. It was said that she would not allow him to do any more, though. Apparently, he became angry at this and he took pictures of her topless. I overheard Robert Koene say to other people that he planned on waiting until I started dating this young student and then he would blackmail us with the threat of sending copies of the negatives to magazines.

On another occasion, Mr. Harada took me to his house and showed me a photo album, which contained pictures of one of his former girlfriends romping through a Japanese cedar forest. She was completely nude in the pictures. He gave the short commentary that Japanese women like to have sex often and anywhere. I felt this in poor taste. I think that lovemaking should be special and private and I do not think that my stance is prudish. My discomfort at seeing the pictures and my haste in shutting the photo album were very obvious and Mr. Harada was shocked at what he thought was prudery on my part. I did not see Mr. Harada again for a long time.

Some parents of my students and many of my students started talking about the fact that another one of my adult students, who was also a college student, and the prep school's word processor class teacher both liking me. On separate occasions, I saw both of these women near my apartment more than once and it must be stated that my apartment was far away from where both of these women lived: I lived about 30 kilometres or 20 miles from their town. On one occasion, I saw this other college student in front of the train station of the city, where I lived. I looked at her because I felt as though someone were staring at me and she was staring at me. I was about to say 'hello' to her when she burst into tears and started sobbing. I was too shocked and embarrassed to say anything and passed on by.

All three of these women were and probably still are extremely good-looking. I would have been overjoyed to have had any one of these three as a serious girlfriend and I would have seriously contemplated marriage in such a relationship, but I felt as though the entire situation was one of entrapment. These women did not really talk to me and often ran from me. I felt that it was prudent to leave further solicitations for dating these women up to these women. Of course, they never asked me out and, having been bitten once, I did not wish to be devoured on a second attempt to go on a date with one of those three women or anyone in their immediate, geographical area. After two years of this, I quit my job at the prep school and I cut ties with Vincent Gross, Mr. Harada, and all native English-speaking people in Japan.

Much to my dismay, Vincent Gross and Mr. Harada dogged after me. Mr Harada appeared where I was once every two or three years. I was never offered a teaching position by either of these men, but many people told me that they had a position for me.

Other schools lied and said that I was working for them and I was not under their employ at all. Some schools went as far as to hire someone with the same first name as mine, so that they could imply that I was working for them by saying that 'Stuart' was working at their school. Some institutions even wrongfully dismissed me and yet said that I was still under their employ. There were so many people running scams on me that confusion reigned supreme and many bystanders initially thought that I was of bad character.

During all of this, one American woman, one Canadian woman, one New Zealander woman, one Japanese woman, and one woman, who was both American and Japanese, all took turns insisting that they were my steady girlfriends. I never went out with any of these women except for the Japanese woman. All these women lied about my relationship behind my back and said that we had a serious relationship: they were able to stop me from getting a real date with someone I really liked. I was only friends with the Japanese woman, but she did her best to convince others around me that she was my girlfriend while she dated and bedded other men as did all these scamming women. Each of these women had their different reasons for wanting to scam on me and I am not certain that I know what that reason was in each case. Some were motivated by the promise of money if I were romantically 'incapacitated' and one wanted to make certain that I went to Canada with her as a tour guide and free hotel ticket.

I quit the prep school at the end of November 1993. In February 1994, I started teaching at a private nursery school, but they were not willing to be the guarantor for my working visa. My Kawasaki Steel class had come to an end in September 1993 and I had only had my private students' monthly fees for income. I knew that I had only from the end of November 1993 to July 1994 to find a new guarantor for a new visa. Good news came in March 1994 when Time T.I. Communications asked me on full-time at Kawasaki Steel.

My job at Kawasaki Steel was great and entailed teaching seventy engineers English every week. I taught Monday to Thursday morning from 7:30 to 9:30 and Monday to Thursday evening from 6:30 to 8:00. Coupled with my nursery school job and other work on the side, I did very well financially for three years. I was making between 500,000 and 600,000 yen per month (US$5,000 to US$6,000 per month).

About January 1996, my world came crashing down along with my job. The Head Foreign Teacher at Time T.I. Communications' Osaka office phoned me and informed me that my contractual salary amount would be for half its previous sum and that the number of required of hours of instruction per week would be the same. He also said that my contract length would be reduced to six months. He further told me that I would be given a false contract to secure my twelve-month visa. I thought about this deal for about three days and then I phoned the Head Teacher and told him that I would quit at the end of my current contract. I was without a guarantor for my visa once again. My Kawasaki Steel classes ended in April 1996. I had less than four months to find a new guarantor and many of my bridges were burned in the local area.

I found a Japanese man, who had become a friend to all my Japanese friends and who said was interested in helping me. This man, Mr. Tohru Satano, was the cook and supervisor at a Japanese-style pub. He said that the school would be mine and that he did not need any money if he could set the school up for a minimal cost. He said that he wanted me to pay back only the money, for which he might be out of pocket. I agreed to this. As it turned out, he was able to set my school up for just a monthly rental fee at prep school in Kurashiki.

Shortly after Mr. Satano and I signed our agreement, Mr. Satano reneged on a promise that he had made to all my friends and me. This deal had nothing to do with my school. My friends washed their hands of Mr. Satano. Mr. Satano came off looking like a liar.

Mr. Satano got me into two additional private nursery schools. I was also teaching in the rented classroom in a prep school in Kurashiki, the city where I lived. After about two years of running this school, I was bringing in an annual, gross income of 1,200,000 yen (US$120,000) or more. Expenses were low, but I was not paid fairly. Mr. Satano started pocketing most of the cash. This meant that I had to pocket cash from my own school: this was not wrong. Mr. Satano started telling everyone that the school was his and started accusing me of embezzlement. The Japanese National Police were on my side. Mr. Satano even became two to three months behind in the rent payment for my classroom. The owner of the prep school, where I was renting my classroom, questioned me on this and I said that Mr. Satano was not an honest man. I told this man that there was enough money to pay the rent for three months every month and this was true. The Prep school owner and I became friends.

It turned out that Mr. Satano had resolved not to pay me properly until I had bedded a woman. This was impossible for me as too many people were stopping me from having any contact with the opposite sex. The final thread left to any trust that I could have had for Mr. Satano was severed when I caught him stealing cash from the till of the pub, where he worked. Unfortunately, I was under contract with Mr. Satano and so I could not say anything about Mr. Satano's crime: he would have dismissed me forthwith. I bided my time.

Kozakura (Little Cherry Blossom) Nursery School, the first nursery school at which I had started working, treated me quite nicely in the beginning and the Head Mistress liked me a lot, although it seemed obvious that this school wanted me full-time and that I had to date one of their teachers before I was hired for this position. This situation did not seem to be the fault of this nursery school entirely. I was quite certain that Vincent Gross and Mr. Harada were behind the sabotaging of my chances at this nursery school. It is also interesting to note that the code of Japanese society dictates that a company is not allowed to keep an employee on part-time employment indefinitely: a Japanese company is expected to hire a person full-time after about two or three years of part-time employment. The expectation within Japanese society is that society MUST provide for the wellbeing of its members.

The biggest problem, that I faced, was that no one questioned what Vincent Gross and Mr. Harada were doing. No one verified that these two men were doing something for me or not doing anything for me. The Japanese system relies on honesty and it is unthinkable to the Japanese mind that anyone would lie, especially a Japanese person. Moreover, the guidelines of dealing with problems in Japanese society dictate that only one person or one group of directly affiliated people discuss a problem with the victim. No one else is supposed to even mention to the victim the name of the person or group of people, who are providing help. Herein lay the crux of my real problem. Vincent Gross and Mr. Harada were telling everyone that they were talking to me and helping me, but they were not communicating anything to me. They were bugging my apartment electronically without my knowledge, of course, and they were using that information to make it seem as though they were in contact with me. Furthermore, these two men made different promises to different schools, companies, and people.

As a brief aside here, there was another man, who stopped me from getting dates with women. He was an English teacher for and English language school, which was called GEOS. This English teacher's name was Stuart Hughes. He caused me no end of trouble, too. He was held in disregard by nearly every Japanese person, with whom I came in contact. I believe that he spied on me for Vincent Gross. He came on the scene and moved on to another city in Japan before Mr. Satano came into my life. The players against me were great in number. I believe that many companies and that the federal government of Canada had payoff-type bounty on my head to get me to return to Canada or to get me to commit suicide.

One important point needs to be made here. If I found my own lady friend, such a liaison did not count toward securing a great job, a promotion, a higher wage, or compensation from those, who had wronged me. Only the two men, who were supposedly helping me, were allowed to make the link between my prospective dates and me. Of Course, these two men, Mr. Harada and Vincent Gross, were not helping me an any new, prospective dates for me were told to wait until the first ones in line had had their chance with me. Any of the women, whom I managed to date, were hounded until they quit dating me. Moreover, if I had approached these two men for help, they would have told me that they could not find anything wrong in my life or they would have kept asking me for more time to look into my situation or sort it out as a delay tactic.

I went to Japan with an outstanding student loan. I was not able to pay this debt off before I left Canada because I had been subjected to extortion during my entire adult life in Canada and my wage had remained well below the poverty level. Further to this, I had overheard my personnel manager (human resources manager) at Eaton's, Sharon Turton, say that Eaton's would have paid for my education, if I had studied for and procured a Masters in Business Administration. This underhanded dealing with me meant that Eaton's was actually liable for my education expenses regardless of what I had studied. What is more, a degree in French is very useful in Canada, which is a bilingual country. Add to this that Eaton's was a national company.

In 1994, Kim Campbell, who had stepped in as Prime Minister of Canada after Brian Mulroney had resigned due to his unpopularity, lost the federal election. She even lost her own seat in parliament because she lost her riding. It was reported in the newspapers that Kim Campbell had spoken out against Catholics in Canada and she had derided the Liberal Party leader, Jean Chretien, for speaking out of the side of his mouth, a physical problem that everyone knew had been caused by a stroke. Jean Chretien took over as Prime Minister in January 1995. I had always respected Jean Chretien as he had been a household name in Canadian politics for a quarter of a century or more. As the United Nations had not rushed to help me, I decided to appeal to the federal, Canadian government again. The Progressive Conservative government, to which Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell had belonged, had been crushed and had won only two seats in parliament. The Progressive Conservative government lost its long-time run as a major political party in Canada and it dissolved. In lieu of any other forthcoming help, I chose this seemingly auspicious timing to appeal to Jean Chretien's Liberal government.

Admittedly, I filed my appeal with the new Liberal government in Canada a little too soon, but it was received. I became impatient at not having been sent a response to my letter from the new federal minister of justice and so I phoned the Canadian embassy in Tokyo. The man at the embassy laughed at me and said that Canadian policy would not change towards me. The said that there would be no difference between the way one Canadian political party dealt with and the way another chose to deal with me. I was shocked, but not unduly surprised. This man at the embassy actually mocked me. I told him that the Canadian government would be in trouble, if what he said were true. My statement seemed to shock him.

My response did come, but it was not good. The letter stated that the Canadian government did not represent individual Canadian citizens in legal matters and an address and phone number for an office providing financial assistance for legal aid in my province of British Columbia were given. While I was in Canada, I had phoned and asked this very same office for help three times and had been refused. The letter, that I got from the federal minister of justice, could have easily fit on one page, but the Federal Minister of Justice (Injustice?), Alan Rock, had purposely started the letter far enough down on the first page so as to necessitate a second page. This meant that his signature was not on page one, where his lie about the Canadian government not getting involved with an individual Canadian citizen's legal problems was written. This did not help the (Not So Honourable) Minister to dodge his liability in the matter, though. The paper and the colour of the paper were the same for both pages and so were the watermarks : the paper of both pages of the letter was the same.

One year after having started my very loose partnership with Mr. Satano, I received a legal document, which was written in Japanese. I could not read it and so I asked Mr. Satano for help in reading it. The essence was that the federal, Canadian government was taking legal action against me to collect the federal portion of my student loan. I went with Mr. Satano to the courthouse in Kurashiki and talked with a Japanese judge. A Japanese lawyer, who was representing the federal, Canadian government and who had a very good knowledge of English, wrote me a threatening letter in English. I did not have enough money to pay my loan off in full. In fact, I was going hungry some of the time at this point. My poor wage from Mr. Satano had drained all my savings. In dispair, I appealed to the American embassy in Tokyo. I wrote to then Ambassador Thomas Foley. I wrote to him about my problems in Canada, my problems in Japan, and my student loan problems. I also sent him a copy of the letter, that I had received in January 1995 from the Canadian Federal Minister of Justice. It turns out that copies of both my appeal to the American Ambassador and my response from the Canadian Federal Minister of Justice were passed on to all those, who care about my plight: copies of these two letters were sent to several G-7 countries. Needless to say, the Canadian government dropped its case against me because I did not have sufficient funds to cover full or partial payment. I did not find this out right away and Mr. Satano made certain that everyone knew about my 'indebtedness' to the federal, Canadian government.

As I previously stated, Mr. Satano did the groundwork to get me into two additional nursery schools. I had relinquished the right to receive my pay directly from Kozakura Nursery School as I wanted my visa paperwork to appear as tidy as possible: of course, this proved to be a serious mistake on my part. The two additional nursery schools also paid Mr. Satano directly. One of these schools was called Katashima Nursery School and its owner's name was Mr. Tanaka. He and his wife ran the nursery school. Mr. Tanaka ran the financial end of the school and his wife was the head teacher. In the beginning, Mr. Tanaka seemed quite gruff to me, but, all in all, he appeeared to be a nice man. He and his wife both commented on how they thought that Mr. Satano was an odd man. Mr. Tanaka even told me that Mr. Satano had worked at a bank and that Mr. Satano and Mr. Satano's superior had been dismissed from the bank amid suspicion of embezzlement. Mr. Tanaka told me that that much had been in the newspaper a few years before. The two men's names had even been printed. Mr. Satano's wife had divorced him and, according to Mr. Tanaka, the divorce was over Mr. Satano's dismissal from the bank. I met Mr. Satano's former superior from the bank on several occasions and, on two or three of these times, I overheard the former superior ask Mr. Satano what Mr. Satano had done at the bank. Mr. Satano dodged the question, but he admitted to me in private that he had done something wrong at the bank and that what he had done had precipitated his dismissal from the bank.

Mr. Tanaka of Katahima Nursery School treated me very nicely. He often took me out for dinner and for drinks on his treat. He and his wife treated me with respect. All the teachers at that nursery school treated me well, too. The children tried hard to speak English and I did my best to make every lesson interesting through songs, actions, games, and jokes. I had a unique style and all my students really seemed to enjoy my lessons.

I had been teaching at Katashima Nursery School for about one year or one year and a half when Mr. Tanaka became eager to know about my personal life. For the first year while I was teaching at Katashima Nursery School, Mr. Satano often drove me to the nursery school and then he would visit with Mr. Tanaka for an hour or more. Sometimes, Mr. Satano would still be there two hours later and would take me back home. I went to this nursery school only once a week. I talked to Mr. Tanaka in the office for ten to twenty minutes before going to the classroom. We talked over a cup of tea or coffee. One such time, Mr. Tanaka asked me if I had a girlfriend and whether or not I liked Japanese women. I thought that these questions were far too personal. I said that I did not have a girlfriend at that time, but that I had had one. He then stated that I must be having sex with someone and asked for confirmation if this were so. I told him that that information was none of his business. This made him angry and he said that it was a usual question. Of course, I knew that this was not so even in Japanese society, but I did not know what to say. I told him that it really was not his business and told him that I had not recently had sex. I was shocked. I wanted to leave the nursery school and never go back. He asked me if I were homosexual and told me if I were, he did not want me around children. I was furious with him inside. I told him that I was most definitely not homosexual. I still am not homosexual, but I do not hate homosexuals. Mr. Tamaka asked me why I had not had sex recently. I told him not to worry about it. He pressed for an answer and asked whether or not I had contracted a sexually transmitted disease. I said that I did not have any diseases. He pressed me again for a reason for not having had sex for a while and so I relented and told him that I was being stopped from getting a girlfriend by several people. He and his wife did not believe me and told me that such a scenario was impossible. Mr. Tanaka called me a liar. From that day on, Mr. Tanaka started to belittle me. He did so even in front of others. He called me a strange foreigner or a stupid foreigner. He even made statements about my lack of ability for sexual conquests.

Mr. Tanaka began to tell me from time to time that non-Japanese people were inferior to Japanese people. At this time, it also became obvious that Mr. Tanaka was being unfaithful to his wife. Mr. Tanaka even told me that he had paid fifty thousand yen (US$500) for sex and sexual favours. It seemed as though he was not lying to me about this, but even if he had been lying, it was clear that he did not respect his wife. Mr. Tanaka even belittled me with this scenario by telling me that I could not get anyone into bed because I did not have enough money. Mr. Tanaka even used this line to belittle me infront of other people. I informed Mr. Tanaka that he was engaged in prostitution. He adamantly denied that his actions resembled prostitution in any way. Mr. Tanaka and I agreed to disagree. He still respected my teaching ability, though. Mr. Tanaka even told me that I was talented as a teacher and yet strange in other ways. I knew that Mr. Tanaka was far from perfect, too.

During my second year of teaching at Kawasaki Steel, I became overweight. I went from a 36-inch waist to about a 40-inch waist. I was not obese, but I was hefty. I gained weight because of the stress from my problems. My schedule did not lend itself to a routine eating pattern, as well. My most problematic meal was supper. I had to board the train by 5:40 p.m. to get to my evening class, which started at 6:30 p.m. In order to eat supper and make it to my evening class on time, I would have had to eat at about 4:00 p.m. I was rarely ever hungry at this hour and so I decided to wait until after my evening class to eat. This mean that I ate at a late hour every night from Monday to Thursday: I had evening classes only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. My evening class ended at 8:00 p.m. and my train arrived at the Kurashiki station at about 9:00 p.m. By the time I placed my order, received it, and started eating it, the time eas 9:30 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. As the only places open at that hour near the train station were pubs, I usually had downed the equivalent of four to six bottles of beer, before my order had arrived. In the course of an evening, I usually drank between twelve and twenty beer. With the consumption of all this beer, my stomach expanded and I was able to eat copious amounts of food. Bit by bit, I gained weight. I reached a point where I was able to eat the equivalent of three to five large suppers every night. I also acquired an unquenchable thirst for beer.

I began to look at myself in the mirror and I became dissatisfied with the overweight person, whom I saw. I began to wonder how I could conquer my weight problem. One evening, I went to one of my friend'sbars. He was the bartender and cook there. I was early and so I was the only patron. My friend came up to me and told me that I had gained a lot of weight and that it was not good. I agreed with him and told him that I had been thinking about that very problem. He asked me what I was going to do about my weight problem. I thought for a few seconds and then I told him that I had a plan. He asked what it was and I said that, from Sunday to Thursday, I would generally drink only three beer a day. I said that I would allow myself to splurge on Fridays and Saturdays. I also said that I would cut down on my food intake by one or two dishes a night and that I would stop eating snack foods with my beer. My friend asked me if I could do that and I replied that I could and would. In addition, I told my friend that he would notice a slight difference in my weight within a week and a marked improvement after two weeks.

I did not waver from my plan, but I found that I still had a craving for alcohol after I finished my three beer even on the first night of putting my diet plan into effect. I reasoned that whisky was not fattening because of its high alcohol content and its basic ingredients. I asked my bartender friend about this and he confirmed my deduction. Little by little, I drank more and more whisky each time I drank.

After one week of dieting by my method, I lost a fair amount of weight. At the end of two weeks on my diet, I was looking a lot slimmer. My friend was surprised. I thanked him for the push and encouragement. My problem had never been a lack of exercise, for I was always walking and my job was a very active one, as well. My problem had been my calorie intake. I became that slim that my friend was actually afraid that I would get thin, but I remained healthy.

As I was under a lot of stress with my problems, I ached for a release, if help was not forthcoming and help was far off from me. I had tried to get help from the authorities in Japan with my Japanese problem, but they did not believe me. Even my own friends did not believe me. Everyone believed that Mr. Harada was helping me, but he was not and I was strongly discouraged by everyone not even to hint at my distrust of Mr. Harada. I found that association with my many friends helped alleviate a lot of my stress. I used karaoke as a release, as well. My worst moments with my stress were when I was alone. By the time I had been working for two years under Mr. Satano's sponsorship for my working visa, I had become a functional alcoholic. I had also become a strong drinker: I drank two 750-millimetre or two 26-ounce bottles of whisky a day straight. At first, I drank one shot of whisky before I left for work in the morning. Then, I increased my morning consumption of whisky by another shot gradually until I was consuming five shots of whisky before I went to work in the morning. Of course I chased this whisky with some Coca Cola and coffee before walking into my workplaces. I did this to mask my foul breath to some degree. I usually drank some beer in the eveining of every day, as well. Some days, I nearly drank as much as three bottles of whisky.

I tried to slow my drinking pace way down, but I was usuccessful at first. One day, I was determined to curb the amount of whisky that I was drinking. I decided to make myself sick on whisky by drinking and extremely large amount of it. It was New Year's break and I drank four litres (about four quarts) of whisky in about six hours. I did not become ill enough to throw up, but I felt quite nauseous, really drowsy, and very restless for three days. I succeeded in dropping my alcohol consumption greatly. I even took a three-month break from all forms of alcohol.

Many people, especially the ones against me, did not accept that I had gained control of my alcohol problem. Two outside forces created the illusion of me having imbibed. One thing that needs to be stated at this point is that I very rarely become red-faced when I drink alcohol. I become red-faced when I have an allergic reaction to something or when I get sunburnt, of course, and I get sunburnt very easily. I have a very acute allergic reaction to secondhand tobacco smoke and contact with tobacco smoke even once a week for as little as ten to fifteen minutes in a poorly ventilated area can make me violently ill and very red-faced. If this exposure to tobacco smoke is repeated on a weekly basis, my condition worsens. Mr. Tanaka of Katashima Nursery School was a very heavy smoker. A very visible, two-foot-deep cloud of cigarette smoke hung at head level in the nursery school ofice most of the time. As far as getting sunburnt in an Asian climate is concerned, my face was no exception. I walked at least ten kilometres or about six miles a day to work in warm to sweltering weather from March to November. I sometimes took the bus and this meant waiting at bus stops in the blazing sun. My face was always pink from sunburn. Of course, people accused me of having drunk. those, who really knew me, knew the truth. I had not become perfect with my control of alcohol, but I was running at between eighty-five to ninety--five percent in control. An additional outside negative force that contributed to me appearing as though I had been drinking alcohol was lack of food intake due to my impecunious (impoverished) state.

In the spring of 2001, it had become obvious to most that I was having trouble with Mr. Satano. Mr. Tanaka voiced his concern to me about my predicament. I was on edge and I shook as much from my distress as I did from hunger. I reached a point where I often skipped meals because I could not afford to buy food. The good side to this situation was that I did not have enough money to buy alcohol either. I often ate instant noodles twice a day. I became weaker by the day.

Mr. Tanaka wanted to have the same English teacher coming to his nursery school for the sake of continuity. You see, my visa ended on July 21, but the school year ended at the end of March. Both Mr. Tanaka and I knew that, if I did not stay with Mr. Satano, I would not be able to continue teaching at Mr. Tanaka's nursery school and this would likely upset the little children at the school.

I told Mr. Tanaka that I would try to find a new guarantor for my working visa and he said that he would try to help me find one, too. I was unsuccessful at finding a new guarantor, but Mr. Tanaka found me one in time. This man's name was Mr. Akazawa and he had a business relationship with the nursery school. Mr. Akazawa was to be my guarantor and Mr. Tanaka said that he would give me a loan for start-up rental costs, students' desks, tables, chairs, the whiteboard, and teaching materials. I was nervous about the size of the loan, but I believed in my ability as a teacher and salesman and I knew that I could pay off such a loan quickly. I envisioned that it would take me between one year to two years to pay off the loan.

It was some time during the finalization of the paperwork for my visa between Mr. Tanaka, Mr. Akazawa, and me that another problem surfaced. I received a very detailed form from the Hiroshima Income Tax Office, which is the regional tax office for the area, in which I lived. There is also a tax office in the city, in which I lived, but something appeared to have gone beyond the jurisdiction of that smaller office. I had obviously been referred to the larger, regional tax office for some reason. Within standard practice in Japan, the non-Japanese national usually has his or her income tax deducted by the employer or by the visa guarantor. A Japanese person always takes care of this. Mr. Satano promised me that he would make certain to pay my income tax. For two years near the end of my stint with Mr. Satano, I had received a small cardlike form to fill out and send back to the regional office in Hiroshima. On the third year running in this new way of dealing with my income tax, I received a detailed package from the regional tax office in Hiroshima. This confused me because I had to take the equivalient of a copy of my T-4 slip (the Canadian version of a statement of earnings from one's employer) to immigration every year in order to renew my visa. Mr. Satano had faithfully provided me with this document. It turned out that he had not been paying my income tax and just filling out the paperwork as if I had been paying. One day while I was in Mr. Tanaka's office at the nursery school, I received a phone call a tax officer in Hiroshima. We compared information and sorted out the problem. I delivered the goods on Mr. Satano. Mr. Tanaka and I knew that Mr. Satano was in a fair amount of trouble. Mr. Satano would be required to pay a considerable sum to the Japanese government. I told the tax officer that I was quitting my school with Mr. Satano and that I was going to start at another school and that my new guarantor would make certain that my taxes were paid. The tax officer was very understanding towards me and obviously very angry with Mr. Satano. I gave him enough information to find Mr. Satano and I was open and honest about my new situation.

Mr. Tanaka promised me that my new school would be mine and that I would be in control of my school's bank account. He told me to start paying him back as soon as I could and he said that there was no hurry. I promised to pay him something from the first month of the school's operation and increase the monthly payment as soon as I could. Mr. Tanaka said that it was not necessary to short-change myself. I told him that I felt obliged to start paying him back right away.

Three weeks before my visa expired, Mr. Tanaka informed me that HE would have financial control of the school, if I wanted his help. He asked me if I was still willing to go through with the plan to open up my school. I had no money to pack up and go back to Canada and I did not want to go back to Canada because of all my problems there. I also had no other way of procuring a working visa in that short amount of time. I had no choice but to agree to this underhanded deal.

I had told both Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Akazawa that I needed to go to immigration six weeks before my visa expired to apply for a new one. They did not listen to me. The immigration official was furious with Mr. Akazawa for waiting as long as he had.

Mr. Tanaka often told me that he was the real owner of my school, which was called 'Stuart English Language School' in translation. Mr. Tanaka loaned me the equivalent of twenty thousand dollars in American funds (two million yen). He became increasingly concerned about losing what he began to look at as his 'investment': initially, he had stated that he only wanted the principal paid back! From the start, I was completely willing and prepared to give Mr. Tanaka an added percentage to his principal as a thank-you and I even told him so. I began to get a little on edge about the loan because of Mr. Tanaka's behaviour, but I had faith in my school and my ability.

After a few months of operation, my school's gross, monthly cash intake was over 800,000 yen (US$8,000). My school was bringing in that much money even with the loss of the revenue from Kozakura Nursery School. Kozakura had decided to go with the new teacher, whom Mr. Satano had found. The loss of this revenue was about 400,000 yen per month (US$4,000). Ther were four things that were very bad with the end of my relationship with Kozakura Nursery School. Firstly, this nursery school should have hired me permanently rather than letting me go. Secondly, it should not have sided with Mr. Satano. Thirdly, its employees were telling people that I still worked there and, fourthly, its employees were spying on me.

The issue of the loan for my school became a great source of tension between Mr. Tanaka and me. The money in my school's bank account began to mount up. The unused amount of money ran over the one-million-yen mark (US$10,000). All the while, I was urging Mr. Tanaka to take back one million yen (US$10,000) as half payment towards the loan he had given me. He stubbornly refused and complained all the more bitterly over his stupidity in being so generous as to lend me so much money.

My wage remained low all this while even though Mr. Tanaka had promised me that it would go up substantially, if I were successful: I was successful and he did not make good on his promise. I was in a financial crisis as it was after my situation with Mr. Satano and my low wage made it difficult to make ends meet. After my rent and income tax deduction, I netted about one hundred and seventy-five thousand yen per month (US$1,750). Because I was struggling financially, I found it necessary to dip into the cash that I was paid directly from many of my students. I needed this money just to eat and pay my other bills. Most everyone, including the Japanese police, did not question my practice as the school bore my name and I was the only one actually working at the school: I was the secretary, too. On top of this, I was working at least a few hours every day and I put in forty hours of class time every week and thirty-five hours or more in preparation of children's materials every week. Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Akazawa were against me, though, and whatever I took was deducted from my next month's pay. This practice of theirs only served to exacerbate my financial woes.

In addition to all of this insult and injustice rained down on me by these two men, another travesty was committed against me. For the supposed privilege of having Mr. Akazawa as my guarantor, I had to pay him a monthly fee from my school's coffers. This sum began at thirty thousand yen per month (US$300) and rose to fifty thousand yen per month (US$500). Initially, Mr. Akazawa also helped me with a disign for my business cards and he became the guarantor for my apartment. After these things were off the agenda, Mr. Akazawa was obligation-free except for Mr. Tanaka's complaining.

Even before I started taking cash from what I received directly from some of my students, Mr. Tanaka was taking sizeable sums from the cash that he obliged me to take to him. I have my doubts that he actually applied some if any of these amounts against my loan to him. Even while he did this, he did not fail to remind me of what I owed him. With Mr. Akazawa's help, I was finally able to convince Mr. Tanaka to take one million yen (US$10,000) out of my shcool's account and apply towards my loan from him. However, when I stated in front of Mr. Akazawa that I had told Mr. Tanaka to do just that one several occasions, Mr. Tanaka lied and denied that I had said so. Mr. Tanaka's wife even backed her husband up, of course. When Mr. Tanaka asked me what should be done with the rest of the school bank account balance, I suggested that we split it three ways: I wanted a buffer amount of money, so that I would not always have a shortfall of cash. Mr. Tanaka refused me this: he said that I did not deserve it. I was in utter shock at the monster that Mr. Tanaka truly was. The original plan, that was Mr. Tanaka's brainchild, was that Mr. Akazawa, Mr. Tanaka, and I should split any profit made from MY school evenly three ways. This was never done.

There is one other cruel thing that Mr. Satano did to me and it was repeated by Mr. Tanaka. In about the spring of 1998, I sent two American disc jockeys something of musical value. (For the purposes of protecting these two disc jockeys, their radio station, and my future chances with their radio station, I wish to be vague with the details of information.) These two men liked what I had done and decided that they wanted to hire me to work for them part-time while I lived in Japan. The annual wage for this job was substantial. I found out about this through the proverbial grapevine and I also discovered that Mr. Satano wanted to be paid all this money first and then he would mete out to me my take from this excellent career opportunity and he would keep his percentage. These two disc jockeys did not want to through a middle man in this way, of course. When Mr. Tanaka took over the reins of my teaching career, he, too, wanted a percentage of this money! He wanted fifty percent. Again, this was not acceptable to the two disc jockeys, who were contacted by Mr. Harada and promised by him that I could do their part-time job once he had hired me as an English and French teacher. Mr. Harada never once spoke to me about any of this. The disc jockeys did nothing wrong in all this, but just about everyone else in my immediate environs did.

In all fairness, it must be stated that Mr. Akazawa battled with Mr. Tanaka over allowing me to do this radio job. Mr. Akazawa also fought with Mr. Tanaka over raising my wage. Mr. Tanaka was obstinate and refused to give in. Mr. Akazawa only once of twice admitted to me that Mr. Tanaka was being mean to me, but he did not elaborate on the point. In Mr. Tanaka's presence, Mr. Akazawa always sided with Mr. Tanaka. At times, I thought that Mr. Akazawa was actually afraid of Mr. Tanaka.

In about the spring of 2002, Mr. Tanaka announced to me that Mr. Akazawa and he were going to quit any dealings with my school and my working visa. Mr. Tanaka told me that he would find someone to take over being the guarantor for my working visa as I had exhausted all of my such possibilities. Mr. Tanaka told me that Mr. Akazawa and he were tired of me and all the PROBLEMS with my school. It turned out that a private nursery school owner is not allowed to own another business or similar business other than another nursery school under Japanese law. Mr. Tanaka was concealing the ownership of my school under the names of two other people, Mr. Akazawa's and mine. Mr. Tanaka was poised to make a profit and was actually skimming money off the top of my school's revenue. The laws governing the owners of private nursery schools seem to be tied in part to the policy that the Japanese government has of paying out a monthly subsidy for each child in attendance at nursery schools. These laws also seem to be tied to the fact that a nursery school owner has a captivated market for any other program educational or otherwise: if the owner of a nursery school owned a private school at which a monthly fee had to be paid by the parents, it would be a conflict of interest at the partial expense of the Japanese government and a possible betrayal to the parents of the nursery school students.

By about May or mid-June of 2002, Mr. Tanaka informed me that his insurance salesman, Mr. Oka, whom I had met before, was going to be my new guarantor. There was some talk of Mr. Oka finding another man to help him with my school. This other man was eventually found and quickly. He was Mr. Oka's friend and he was about to quit his job. He was in his fifties and this made the scenario of him leaving his company before retirement a little odd by Japanese standards. In fact, Mr. Oka had left the same company years before. This was also strange as it is very unusual for any person to LEAVE the employ of a Japanese company. Such an early departure from the employment of a reasonably sized company usually meant that the employee had done something very wrong. This friend of Mr. Oka's, Mr. Morinaga, was a land owner and had a substantial income from rent payments.

This was the beginning of the last phase of my first stay in Japan. It was a type of death.