- Eating an entirely vegetable based diet called Shojin Ryori by my Japanese relatives.
- Supplements of raw barley
- not putting expectations of having children or a married life on me due to birth defects concern.
- Finding that my Japanese parent nearly died from the Iodine during cancer treatment and that I am completely allergic to Iodine and developed a shellfish allergy by age 8.
Hiroshima fallout impacted my life in its entirety. I have lived as westerners call it "vegan" for over 25 years now. I cannot trust western medicine to diagnose me on certain things because it is clearly a money & politics game for them once I enter a hospital. Instead for many years since college, i chose alternative medicine and even found a very reputable Native American herbalist for my medical needs. I rarely take prescription medications and because I am mixed race on a genetic level, was told by a Board member of National Institutes of Health, that the cellular level they test on is for persons of the Majority genetic population in the USA. And, that the medications for this genetic population (primarily caucasian) in toxicology testing reaches toxicity at a higher level of chemical tolerance than for genetic populataions of mixed genetic backgrounds (such as caucasian/asian or caucasian/latino persons).
I was healthy for quite a while throughout my life after becoming a "vegan" and the added help from the Native American herbalist kept me flu & cold free in the Northeastern USA year-round (for approximately 10 + years). And, that was primarily in Ithaca, NY where the international student crowd and closed indoor environment for 75% of the year allows exotic flus to be passed easily. It took me 2 years in the college environment to seek the alternative herbal treatment. Mostly it was a simple intake of an herbal tincture when I got the sniffles. Never got sick after it was introduced in my life and I took it as instructed. Now with the current news and Japan, I have a new worry. That is being exposed to more Nuclear radiation. Obviously, I cannot take the iodine pills, or I will not be able to breath any longer, aside from other side effects. In my late twenties after being a non-profit work-horse and rarely slept, worked 80+ hrs. a week at low pay with multiple jobs and independent consulting gigs for business & entrepreneurs I believed in;- i collapsed due to a burnt out Thyroid. In conjunction with that it happened when i was consulting for a business owner with a humanitarian project that was based within sight of a Nuclear reactor near the Schyukill River near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I took several herbal thyroid supplements on the market after talking to another organizer at a clinic in Richlandtown, PA who was undergoing chelation and vitamin drips from radioactive exposure in Mexico. So, what i did which cost another good chunk of change, was go through all the thyroid supplements on the market that I could take. I found which ones worked best and then I purchased all the ingredients seperately and took them individually to try and isolate the main ingredient that I needed. After months of trying this, my choice thyroid supplement was standing with Deglycerrized Licorice or DGL (a $5.99 supplement on its own). And, it was the one thing that my body craved at the time. I would get mental pictures of it from my biological system when it was missing. And, it has been the only supplement that my body has Ever craved in my life. Since this time, I have lived/camping in remote areas of upstate NY as I have systematically developed allergies to cosmetic & toiletries at a higher rate, intense building allergies that keep me away from viable job opportunities, I cannot take any prescription medications as I experience nearly ALL listed side effects and some may stop my heart, and I can rarely find buildings in which I can live (due to intense allergies to the materials). In my life I have done non-profit work on the East Coast, as an unpaid intern/volunteer etc even with my own organization and done my own think-tank research due to the generally hostile political climate I experienced being Japanese-American for the past 36 years of my life. Because of the hostilities directed at me and my now deceased siblings;- I cannot see a future for me in the united states. I have been treated in Totality as "the ENEMY" all of my life by other Americans outside of my immediate family. And so, my situation is strained unless i manage to find individuals with causes to make a statement to those who consider me an enemy since my birth. This means financially, I have never been able to get off the ground to have any dream of having a home or family realized. I was fortunate for a more cultured relative, a Kelly from Philadelphia who was an entertainer, who gave me the musical instrument to see me through my childhood life. I do pray for peace, however, I feel that the USA has made a very loud statement of hating the Japanese. Even one of my Martial arts instructors here in Hawaii made a comment to me after the 3-11 Tsunami that he thought Japan is better off now. Since he seems to control & undermine my life in Hawaii, I could only take this statement of his Japanese hatred as part of his discontent with his own predominantly Chinese heritage. Someday, I hope that peace blankets the world. My life has been full of tumultuous fighting between other groups of people and their stances on a Nuclear world. Though, it is not my whole life, it is blaring so loud due to these outside parties that I can barely tone it down.
