I am a first generation Japanese-American born in the States and raised in Japan. I grew up under a nomadic (non-military, non-diplomatic yet adventurous) family, heavily influencing my traveling habit. My free range parents taught me to be independent and open to experiences. An upbringing under a bi-national setting taught me to fathom cultural differences. Living in Africa has taught me to accept others as your own family and live happily with less. Life is an endless journey of wonders and fascination, where traveling and human interactions further enriches you. And Life is full of limitless valuable lessons.

I am resuming my CSing endeavors that goes several years back in Africa to relive and revive the truly great experiences.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing is my greatest companion for traveling. There is no other concept that better represents openness and acceptance -by accommodating a non-acquaintance into your home as you would for someone you care for. This is my avenue to discover that there are many good and kind-hearted people out in the world, despite the imperfectness and many flaws our humanity holds. Offering and asking for free shelter or any kind of assistance, exposes our vulnerability. Accepting and being accepted of such assistance extends our circle of trust. As social beings, sharing of space, time, and the physical and metaphysical realms is the prerequisite of bonding and caring for one another. When you are offered a roof and water in the middle of nowhere in Africa from a complete stranger, that is one true form of human kindness that I aim to spread to others. I see value in such random connections.

Couchsurfing coupled with traveling also allows one to become a global citizen, or perhaps an “earthanoid” as a representative of earth. . Global citizens are those who have not only transcended geographical but also social/cultural boundaries at great numbers and depths. In times of isolationism and separatism, I believe global citizens can mend unnecessary layers of divisions. Arising innovations and inventions that potentially will advance our societal boundaries beyond earth, will inevitably accelerate global citizenship, as civilization develops at the interplanetary and intergalactic level. I believe that extraterrestrial civilization upon extensive space exploration will ultimately maximize our global citizenship, and ultimately enable humanity to be boundless.

Interests

I believe the world is much interconnected than we expect it to be. With respect to our current universe, all physical objects from the celestial objects to all living species to dust particulates are ultimately derived from the same source -matter or particles intertwined with the animating energy alternating each other according to the Newtonian Laws and originating from the so-called Big Bang. Life can be seen as the most miraculous and finest product of Darwinian evolutionary craftsmanship engraved in the biological blueprints of nucleic acid, and Humanity is perhaps the most unique forms of consciousness and intelligence that offers much more depth to life.

At the simplest, I seek for connections not only through human interactions but also amongst the visible and invisible, physical and spiritual, and tangible and intangible. I carefully observe and analyze the internal and external world to make sense of reality and perhaps the Truth. I like fiddling with and exploring mind-boggling concepts as quantum physics and the universe, neurology and our persona, anthropology and linguistics, religion and after life, social justice and racism, history and politics, environmentalism and sustainability, etc.

• culture
• photography
• documentaries
• dancing
• environment
• cooking
• vegetarian
• vegan
• meditation
• gardening
• politics
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• minimalism
• karaoke
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• anthropology
• history
• logic
• philosophy
• science
• volunteering
• nature
• sustainability
• buddhism
• healing
• conversation
• learning
• healthy lifestyle
• diversity
• composting

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
Rap taught me English speech (despite the foul language...). Hard rock/Heavy metal got me through awkward puberty. Slow tempo jazz is my healing music. But there's nothing compared with 50's to 80's oldies that takes me down memory lane.

Movies:
Love Actually, Lord of the Rings, Inception, Forrest Gump, Star Trek TV Series

Anime/Animations:
Studio Ghibli series by Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿)
Gundam series by Yoshiyuki Tomino (富野喜幸) and others
Pixar movies

Books:
Damian, Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger,
All books by Jared Diamond,
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking,
All books including 火の鳥 (phoenix) and ブラックジャック (black jack) by Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Discovering that a local family in Africa named a baby after myself and feeling that I touched them in some way. I am constantly thirsty for knowledge and learning from others, but as I grow older, I realize that it is vital to imprint a trace of your life onto others.

Teach, Learn, Share

Love your enemies. Matthew 5:44
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist. Oscar Wilde
Our fingerprints don’t fade from the lives we touch. Judy Blume
Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. Film Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We build too many walls and not enough bridges. Isaac Newton
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Gandhi
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched –they must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller
天は人の上に人を造らず 人の下に人を造らず (heaven does not create one man above or below another man). 福沢諭吉 (Yukichi Fukuzawa)
夏草や兵共が夢の跡 (Summer grasses, all that remains, are of warriors’ dreams). 松尾芭蕉 (Basho Matsuo)

What I Can Share with Hosts

I see beyond the fact that Couchsurfing is not simply an alternative accommodation, but a community of true sharing. Regardless of the intentions of the users for different platforms of alternative accommodations, I believe that the ultimate factor that draws the line between Couchsurfing and others are whether there are strings attached or not. Other platforms may involve staying in exchange of monetary, work or other forms of transactions, whereas Couchsurfing involves trust. This trust-based system is the foundation of Couchsurfing and it is what tends to be limited and fragile in the world yet is what humanity really needs. It is through this platform that a more honest and genuine form of human kindness can be circulated. I aim to embrace this core value of couchsurfing, and to not take this human kindness for granted.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Nepal, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Zambia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, Namibia, United States