The Mystery Entertainment
Stripping away the ‘okazari’ to observe the blueprint of truth.
*Seina’s life-staking play*
March 2022.
I moved to Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
In November 2022, I pre-registered for my ashes to be scattered at Mekari Shrine, overlooking the Kanmon Straits. A few months later, sensing a global shift in food security, I decided to seek a base for self-sufficiency.
In Japan, there is a growing “Akiya” (empty house) problem. Due to a declining and aging population, many abandoned homes are sold or rented at very low prices. While searching across various prefectures, I found a very old house with a garden in Shimonoseki for only 32,000 yen (about $220) a month. In this city of steep hills, many areas are inaccessible by car, causing properties to lose their market value.
This house is a 20-minute walk from Akama Shrine. For me, having long wanted to delve into The Tale of the Heike before the end of my life, it was the perfect place. It was also a “DIY-OK” property—meaning I had to rebuild it myself just to make it livable.
This is where the story, the “Mystery Entertainment,” began.
In Shimonoseki, I began to stumble upon fragments of hidden history—pieces of a puzzle that form the foundation of modern Japan, yet are difficult to speak of officially.
After all, history is the ultimate mystery entertainment.
The Meiji Restoration
The Heike Story
Ancient Whispers
Seina: Nice to hear from you. It is commendable that you wish to inform people about the “unfortunate” war years and the history of POW’s. It is not a subject most Japanese wish to discuss as it reflects poorly on the nation. I lived in Tokyo for a few years in the early 1970s and for four years in the late 1980s. I was engaged in high tech business and met hundreds and hundreds of Japanese, though none would admit to being in the military during WWII even though they were of an appropriate age. The atrocities committed by Japanese military before and during WWII are many and horrible. I already know too much about them and don’t care to discuss them except to say the official position of the J. government has been totally non-acknowledgement. That’s why I think you may be treading dangerous waters. I think it is a better policyfor folks like you and me to close the book at the end of WWII and look at the positive relationships our countries have developed since.