About The First Word

These writings are mainly inspired by my life in Japan after spending nearly fourty years in the United Kingdom.  There are also some flashbacks to the past and in particular to people and places that had a particular impact on me.  This is partly expressed in Fiction and partly expressed in Non-Fiction.  The writings are also inspired by my love of Japanese contemporary writing and Japanese culture including the unique and in many cases superior contribution Okinawa makes to them. 

Sometimes the events portrayed Fictionally are entirely a product of my imagination and sometimes they actually happened but a long time ago.  For example I see a young good looking guy in a Cafe staring wistfully at an interesting looking woman sitting over the other side of the room and imagine what he is thinking.  It does not mean it is me thinking those things or indeed acting out my characters thoughts.

Sometimes I think of a story and I like it and I might use it by weaving in a few real facts.  I always state that this is fiction though and never pass it off as the real thing.  I often talk to other foreigners here and they tell me what they have been doing.  These insights are usually provided by younger people who are single and are therefore not a reflection of what I get up to but do tell you something of what is going on. 

If some of the themes are suggestive then they reflect the suggestiveness in part of popular culture in Japan and the reality of what goes on in this stimulating place.  I have tried not to indulge too much in excess in real life so I am cutting my fictional characters a bit of slack.  I reserve the right to exercise a little artistic licence when writing Fiction because lets face it we all dream a little and it would be boring if  writings were the same old drivel. 

Where I have categorised an entry as Non-Fiction then I will do my best to be as objective as possible.  A lot of my Fictional writings do explore the nature of relationships and also strong emotions and some of the writings I am thinking of posting may shock those that know me a lot.  There is a kind of extreme social conservatism in Japan that exercises tremendous power over the minds of 99.9% of Japanese people who can be hyper sensitive to anything that may bring shame or embarassment to the family.  So please do make the distinction between Fiction and Non-Fiction and if these writings offend you in any way please do not point your browser this way.

 And nearly finally, if you had seen and heard what I have seen and heard in nearly twenty years working in the criminal justice system in England, where I witnessed many of my colleagues losing their grip on their sanity, then you probably wouldn’t be too surprised at some of the things that buzz around my brain.  I am one of the survivors.

Most of my best stuff is not here.  A lot of it is too long and there is always the danger it might be published.  I will occasionally put out a chapter to see what happens.

That is quite enough warnings and excuse making.  I am only putting this in because those that care about me panicked and thought I would be revealing their innermost secrets in my next post.  Sorry to disappoint you.  I will not be doing that and if anyone is offended by anything  I write I refer to the comment I made earlier. 

Thank you and good day.