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Medicine with a heart
There is an interesting medical company here in Japan. It is called Fujiyaki, which means Fuji Medicines. It was started after World War II by a man named Mr. Takayanagi. He realized that many people still were undernourished after the near starvation levels they had to maintain during the war. He knew they desperately needed vitamins and minerals. He also realized transport was minimal at best, especially in the rural areas. Of course, poor transportation added to the problem of proper nutrition. But he was a man of ingenuity. So, for him the difficult situation was a challenge that he eagerly embraced.
He collected a few people to help him and sent them out into the surrounding areas on foot. They carried their supplies on their backs and went from town to town, village to village, farm house to farm house selling their wares. All the ingredients were natural and affordable. At that time, they all came from Japan.
At first the company was very small, so it had to ask larger ones to make their medicines and supplements for them. But gradually it grew and the owner realized that in order to control quality and prices, it was more advantageous for his company to produce its own goods. So, he opened a company factory. Now the company is able to serve the entire country with the products it makes itself.
The company has expanded so much that now it imports ingredients from China and Europe, while still using many Japanese traditional materials. All the products are still natural. And also, although it has modernized, the structure of the company has not changed. That is, salesmen still go from door to door selling their medicines and supplements (by car these days!) Likewise, the company does not advertise, rather it depends on word of mouth. And that method has proved to be tremendously successful.
Each client has a “medicine box” in his or her home. It is filled with goods from the company. The “medicine man” comes round once ever four months or so to refill the supplies. Clients pay for medicines only after using them, which is another special feature of this company. So, for example, if someone gets a cold and uses medications from the “medicine box”, he or she will pay for those medicines when the company’s representative comes round again. If the medicines are not used, there is no charge for them. However, because of Japanese law, supplements must be paid for immediately. The difference between what is labeled as a supplement and what is a medicine depends on the ingredients.
The beauty of this company is that it truly has a heart. Human relations are paramount. It obviously trusts its clients because the “medicine men” leave not-yet-purchased medications with them. And the company considers each person as a long-term customer. Likewise, the salesmen come prepared to spend as much time as needed to answer each person’s questions, listen to and tell stories, and suggest items that might be helpful. It is not uncommon for them to stay three or four hours!
My “medicine man” is extremely busy, as they all are. After making rounds, he goes to the company to do paperwork. So, he works very long hours. But when he is here, he still takes time to chat with me, not only about the state of my health and his products, but also about personal things, like our families and weekend plans. As busy as he is, he never seems rushed.
My “medicine man” is named Mr. Sato. He is young and very friendly. He is also very knowledgeable. In fact, he always gives me a mini-lesson in healthcare whenever he comes. When I asked him where he got his knowledge, he told me he went to conferences several times a year, but mostly his clients’ questions and needs were the best motivator for him to learn as much as he could.
When he explains things, he adds very interesting little details. The last time he came, for example, he informed me that it was important to put eye drops in the outer corner of the eye. That is because the fluid will follow the direction of the tears and will eventually lubricate the entire eye. If drops are put in the center, which is what I usually do, they will not cover the eye completely.
He also explains how one joint supplement works compared with another, which cold medicines will be best for me in the long winter months, or which skin care item will stop my incessant itching. Of course, he emphasizes the importance of also eating well, exercising, getting enough rest, and thinking positive thoughts for optimum health. He sees the big picture about health and also about being a salesman. He knows that a good relationship with a client is a major key to success.
So, even though the cost of what I end up buying does add up, I know I am getting the best quality goods on the market. In addition, I understand about what I am taking and the effects it will have on me. I appreciate that, of course, but equally, I am grateful for being connected with this company that does not sacrifice human relations in order to make a profit. And in this day and age, that is a rare privilege indeed.
Misturu Kakimoto of the Japanese Vegetarian Society writes: "A survey that I conducted of 80 Westerners, including Americans, Englishmen and Canadians, revealed that approximately half of them believed that vegetarianism originated in India. Some respondents assumed that vegetarianism had its origin in China or Japan. It seems to me that the reason Westerners associate vegetarianism with China or Japan is Buddhism. It is no wonder, and in fact we could say that Japan used to be a country where vegetarianism prevailed."
Gishi-wajin-denn, a history book on Japan written in China around the third century BC, says, "Thre are no cattle, no horses, no tigers, no leopards, no goats and no magpies in that land. The climate is mild and people over there eat fresh vegetables both in summer and in winter." It also says that "people catch fish and shellfish in the water." Apparently, the Japanese ate fresh vegetables as well as rice and other cereals as staple foods. They also took some fish and shellfish, but hardly any meat.
Shinto, the prevailing religion at the time, is essentially pantheistic, based upon the worship of the forces of nature. According to writer Steven Rosen, in the early days of Shinto, no animal food was offered in sacrifice because of the injunction against shedding blood in the sacred area of the shrine.
Several hundred years later, Buddhism came to Japan and the prohibition of hunting and fishing permeated the Japanese people. In 7th century Japan, the Empress Jito encouraged "hojo," or the releasing of captive animals, and established wildlife preserves, where animals could not be hunted.
There are many similarities between the Hindu literature and the Buddhist religions of the Far East. For example, the word Cha'an of the Cha'an school of Chinese Buddhism is Chinese for the Sanskrit word "dhyana", which means meditation, as does the word "Zen" in Japanese. In 676 AD, then Japanese emperor Tenmu proclaimed an ordinance prohibiting the eating of fish and shellfish as well as animal flesh and fowl. Subsequently, in the year 737 of the Nara period, the emperor Seimu approved the eating of fish and shellfish.
During the twelve hundred years from the Nara period to the Meiji restoration in the second half of the 19th century, Japanese people enjoyed vegetarian style meals. They usually ate rice as staple food and beans and vegetables. It was only on special occasions or celebrations that fish was served. Under these circumstances the Japanese people developed a vegetarian cuisine, Shojin Ryori (ryori means cooking or cuisine), which was native to Japan.
The word "shojin" is a Japanese translation of "vyria" in Sanskrit, meaning "to have the goodness and keep away evils." Buddhist priests of the Tendai-shu and Shingon-shu sects, whose founders studied in China in the ninth century before they founded their respective sects, have handed down vegetarian cooking practices from Chinese temples strictly in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha.
In the 13th century, Dogen, the founder of the Soto sect of Zen, formally established Shojin Ryori or Japanese vegetarian cuisine. Dogen studied and learned the Zen teachings abroad in China, during the Sung Dynasty. He fixed rules aiming to establish the pure vegetarian life as a means of training the mind.
One of the other influences Zen exerted on the Japanese people manifested itself in Sado, the Japanese tea ceremony. It is believed that Esai, founder of the Rinazi-shu sect, introduced tea to Japan and it is the custom for Zen followers to drink tea. The customs preserved in the teaching of Zen lead to a systematic rule called Sado...a Cha-shitsu or tea ceremony room is so constructed as to resemble the Shojin, where the chief priest is at a Buddhist temple.
Food served at a tea ceremony is called Kaiseki in Japanese, which literally means a stone in the breast. Monks practicing asceticism used to press heated stones to their bosom to suppress hunger. Then the word Kaiseki itself came to mean a light meal served at Shojin, and Kaiseki meals had great influence on the Japanese.
The "Temple of the Butchered Cow" can be found in Shimoda, Japan. It was erected shortly after Japan opened its doors to the West in the 1850s. It was erected in honor of the first cow slaughtered in Japan, marking the first violation of the Buddhist tenet against the eating of meat.
An example of a Buddhist vegetarian in the modern age: Kenji Miyazawa, a Japanese writer and poet of the early 20th century, who wrote a novel entitled Vegetarian-Taisai, in which he depicted a fictitious vegetarian congress...His works played an important role in the advocacy of modern vegetarianism. Today, no animal flesh is ever eaten in a Zen Buddhist monastery, and such Buddhist denominations as the Cao Dai sect (which originated in South Vietnam), now boasts some two million followers, all of whom are vegetarian.
The Buddhist teachings are not the only source contributing to the growth of vegetarianism in Japan. in the late 19th century, Dr. Gensai Ishizuka published an academic book in which he advocated vegetarian cooking with an emphasis on brown rice and vegetables. His method is called Seisyoku (Macrobiotics) and is based upon ancient Chinese philosophy such as the principles of Yin and Yang and Taoism. Now some people support his method of preventative medicine. Japanese macrobiotics suggest taking brown rice as half of the whole intake, with vegetables, beans, seaweeds, and a small amount of fish.
In his 1923 book, The Natural Diet of Man, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg writes: "According to Mori, the Japanese peasant of the interior is almost an exclusive vegetarian. He eats fish once or twice a month and meat once or twice a year." Dr. Kellogg writes that in 1899, the Emperor of Japan appointed a commission to determine whether it was necessary to add meat to the nation's diet to improve the people's strength and stature. The commission concluded that as far as meat was concerned, "the Japanese had always managed to do without it, and that their powers of endurance and their athletic prowess exceeded that of any of the Caucasian races. Japan's diet stands on a foundation of rice."
According to Dr. Kellogg: "the rice diet of the Japanese is supplemented by the free use of peanuts, soy beans and greens, which... constitute a wholly sufficient bill of fare. Throughout the Island Empire, rice is largely used, together with buckwheat, barley, wheat and millet. Turnips and radishes, yams and sweet potatoes are frequently used, also cucumbers, pumpkins and squashes. The soy bean is held in high esteem and used largely in the form of miso, a puree prepared from the bean and fermented; also tofu, a sort of cheese; and cho-yu, which is prepared by mixing the pulverized beans with wheat flour, salt, and water and fermenting from one and a half to five years.
"The Chinese peasant lives on essentially the same diet, as do also the Siamese, the Koreans, and most other Oriental peoples. Three-fourths of the world's population eats so little meat that it cannot be regarded as anything more than an incidental factor in their bill of fare. The countless millions of China," writes Dr. Kellogg, "are for the most part flesh-abstainers. In fact at least two-thirds of the inhabitants of the world make so little use of flesh that it can hardly be considered an essential part of their dietary..."
Misturu Kakimoto concludes: "Japanese people started eating meat some 150 years ago and now suffer the crippling diseases caused by the excess intake of fat in flesh and the possible hazards from the use of agricultural chemicals and additives. This is persuading them to seek natural and safe food and to adopt once again the traditional Japanese cuisine."
posted by vasumurti on 1/20/2009 6:23 pm