Sweet 60
Amazingly, I will be turning sixty this year. In the past, the age of sixty was considered a celebration of reaching longevity and returning to being a baby by being born again. In Japanese tradition, we celebrate our good health despite our older age by wearing a red chanchanko (a red vest) just like when a baby is born. But I don't like to wear a red chanchanko and a red hat (a lantern shape) on top of it because it looks ridiculous. Absolutely, I don't like it. I don't want to wear it.
The time was the new year 2025 in Japan, when I was back home, I watched a TV drama called “Hot Spot” and every time I watched it, I laughed so hard in front of the TV because it was so funny. That's unusual for me. I have almost no sense of humor. But their jokes were so hilarious that I began to crack up. Like in a baseball game, the ball made solid contact with the bat and I hit a home run.
“Hot Spot” is a story about the employees of a small hotel at the foot of Mt. Fuji and the unusual, as well as ordinary, things that happen in that town. One of the main characters is an alien, born and raised in Japan by an outer space alien-father and a Japanese mother.
He is a middle-aged guy who seems to exist everywhere, and people around him are sometimes annoyed by his words and attitude. However, the amazing abilities that such an ordinary man possesses because he is an alien’s son makes his everyday life bizarre. The language and aspect are marvelous and compelling. It accurately captures a way of the town’s thinking that somehow naturally embraces the ordinary and the extraordinary in a way that would normally be incomprehensible. The script is by Bakarhythm. The actors are Akihiro Kakuta as the alien and Naoki Tanaka as the hotel manager. These three have a long history of achievement as Manzai Comedians. No wonder they are masters at making people laugh.
“Comedy” refers to Manzai, an immensely traditional Japanese art form that has continued since the Heian period (794-1185). It is performed by two or more performers, and since it is based on a simple conversational style, there is freedom to create in which anything is allowed depending on the individuality of the performer, such as music, dancing, and mimicry during the material. They deal with a wide range of subjects, including daily life, popular culture, politics, economics, and change their material in detail or boldly according to current trends. In other words, they are comedians with a high capacity for improvisation, who compete not only in the art of making people laugh, but also in their sense of language.
People are always looking for laughter. That is why there are so many comedians in the world who make people laugh. Laughing can ease people's feelings, increase oxygen consumption, and the internal organs exercise. Laughing also releases endorphins, which are hormones in the brain. This substance brings about a sense of well-being and relaxes the mind with the same effect as a runner's high. So there are many benefits to laughter.
The twins, Kim ( Ms. Gold ) and Gin (Ms. Silver), who became famous in Japan for being “energetic 100-year-olds,” were always cheerful and laughing.
Now, if we could live 100 years of our life like Ms. Gold and Ms. Silver, we could live another 40 years. What would you do with such a long life?
There is a David Cronenberg movie called The Fly that I saw about 40 years ago in 1986. It is about a scientist who develops a matter transporter, which is a device that instantly moves an object to a remote location. David Cronenberg makes a film with extreme imagery and a bizarre point of view, but it touches deeply on the humanity within. Although it is a horror film, it is an incredibly sad and heartbreaking story.
Another movie, I am also thinking of, is 1997's Gattaca. In the near future, the human race is divided into two groups: the “proper” ones, who excel in intelligence, physical strength, and appearance through artificial insemination and genetic manipulation, and the “improper” ones, who are born through natural conception. Parents can decide when they will carry their children. The title of the film Gattaca takes inspiration from the letters G, A, T, and C, derived from four of the nucleobases of DNA: guanine, adenine, thymine and cytosineis made. I thought it was a wake-up call to a society that tolerates genetic perfectionism and genetic discrimination at that time.
I remember a neurologist once said, “The human body can live up to 100 years, but the brain lasts 300 years.” So can we replace the internal organs? Partial replacement has already started. If the law were amended, scientific manipulation of DNA would be possible.
The time may come when Aliens and Earthlings, or Humans and Artificial Humans, will live together.
Organic beings like us may be able to freely travel through time and space. It may become commonplace that the person who was right in front of you will be gone before you know it, and then poof, they are far away. The ninja may actually have been flying through time and space.
Having 10,000 friends on Instagram, more than you can remember, and you may never see those friends in person. That seems to be what virtual reality is.
My friend for real, Louise Lemieux Bérubé is 82 years old. Last month I visited her in Montreal for an exhibition celebrating her 80th birthday and textile career and achievements. She included the work of 80 artists who inspired her 80 art pieces. I was honored to be one of the chosen artists. She said she will live to be 100 years old. And to celebrate her 100th birthday, she will organize an exhibition of 100 artists. When she asked me to come and to be chosen, I said yes, of course, but by then I would be 80 years old. I may have my clone by then?
I have to find my way to keep laughing and to achieve my own 100 year life-like future.
Thank you for spending your time reading my newsletter April 2025.
April 5, 2025
-Yuh
