![B360CDA5-64C6-4AF1-B4F5-2907D67BF2CA.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmSo1HNtVbwibcSYGp1MwdFUPPshiH25veLaRqTiKHrLyh/B360CDA5-64C6-4AF1-B4F5-2907D67BF2CA.jpeg)
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# I came to Japan on [May 15th, 2010.](https://steemit.com/unschooling/@kafkanarchy84/unschooling-blog-vol-19-7-years-in-japan-and-learning-more-than-ever-serendipitous-boat-rides-rendezvous-japanese-tops-and-the) Right when I landed, I was Intoxicated. Fascinated by an alien place that seemed already mine in some surreal, indescribable way.
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![AB48FBD4-CB71-406D-A96A-83C54A65BBFB.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmTS3et5XY77jhJPpRLBJg2YzKHCtaWLs7q5raee9f4UYG/AB48FBD4-CB71-406D-A96A-83C54A65BBFB.jpeg)
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# It’s here that I found Voluntaryism. Here that years and years of religious guilt and shame began to dissolve, and here that I became—and continue to become—more and more comfortable in my own skin.
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![B0729799-B290-48BC-9625-B9AC7B7CC2F4.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUSJWMAb7pPkdHgTL4E1b33jnA5oNcGUPBCUwTf47mX55/B0729799-B290-48BC-9625-B9AC7B7CC2F4.jpeg)
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# I wrote the following two years ago today, and feel it still stands as a good basic description of my approach here, though two years later I feel more peaceful, more balanced, and more on track! 

# Blessings from the land of the rising sun.
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***No one ever taught me how valuable time is.
It's hard not to get angry.
At 32, I guess I should also be grateful that at least I am learning now.
Some people never do.***

I wish I had back every dollar that I ever gave to a goddamn church because I was afraid I would go to hell if I didn't, or because I thought I would be a "bad" person. Thousands of dollars.

I wish I would have started saving young.

I wish I would have neglected to care about what people thought of me, and "fitting in" to read more books, study, think, and enjoy life as a child, teenager, and even young adult.

I wish school wouldn't have wasted my precious time by locking me in a goddamn building and making me feel like something must be wrong with me as I guiltily read Thoreau, Cummings, and Emerson, because the classes seemed boring....and I couldn't understand why I wanted to draw pictures instead of learning Algebra disconnected from real-life application.

I thought something was wrong with me.

My mom told me not to draw pictures in class.

I thought I was lazy.

My mind just didn't fit into their bullshit, but I believed them, and not me.
I probably would have had more fun in a few of the good classes had I not been so nervous about what the others thought of me.

I look back and they were mostly blockheads and dumbasses, not naturally, but as a result of the bonehead environment. Myself included often times.

I never knew what a human could do if allowed to pursue their own path.

I wonder why my interest in language and etymology was never stoked or encouraged by them.

My mom encouraged me here.

My dad's critical thinking skills are also a part of me I have adopted and reshaped, it would seem.

Time is money.

Money is power.

Time is precious.

Health is invaluable.

On this sunny day, driving to work, listening to the Bouncing Souls...it is exactly six years since I came to Japan. I want to carve out a path for my son that is safe and will allow his lifeblood creativity, genius, love, compassion, kindness, joy and warmth to flourish.

There are no guarantees, and no risk-free life, but the unnecessary risks that have been added to this life by sociopaths, murderers and human scum in positions of power are too much to bear.

Fuck the police. Breaking up families for a plant. Stealing money from people going from point A to point B.
And fuck the murder state. Stealing our hard-earned income to pay for bombs to blow up children in other countries.

How much more will we take?

If I speak out "too much," or live according to my own moral compass, I can be jailed or fucking murdered.

We all, and especially children, deserve so much more. 

Namely, freedom.

Nature says so.

It is a beautiful day.

From here on out I know, and I will be shaping my new life in Japan, and wherever else it might take me.

Mexico?

For any of you who may not understand why the hell I am so angry about all this, it is because I am so happy to be alive.

Wake up to the injustice in the world.

And as we all stop participating in myth,
reality will begin to make sense and heaven will be here.

Happy 6th (JapAn)niversary!
Google Voluntaryism!

Peace!

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# Well, Happy *8th* (JapAn)niversary is what I mean, this time.

![A687EA95-8482-4790-B689-238D30B19AA9.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYbmpdfocJJRpve1RiVaaA7kvJ5QmgqG2oFfitBgJbejE/A687EA95-8482-4790-B689-238D30B19AA9.jpeg)

# ~KafkA


[<center>!https://s1.postimg.org/3txr5uwta7/subbutton.jpg </center>](https://steemit.com/@kafkanarchy84)
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***Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DLive and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)***