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    • me, me, me

      日本語
    • the pauper & the princess

      Steven McIntire Allen

      b 22 August 1963 Rangoon​, Burma

      下鴨神社 Kyoto, Japan

      04 April 2008

      7/5/3

      spouse

      Kanako Allen née Yoshida

      b Nakazoshi, Japan

      Daikanyama, Japan

      15 November 2015

      Yoda’s my right hand woman

      daughter

      Skye 満華 Intireina Allen

      b 12 August 2008 Saikudani, Japan

      Izu, Japan

      22 August 2016

    • senior portrait

      mother

      Marcia Allen née McIntire

      b 1930 Honolulu, America

      author

      Rochester, America

      1948

      monks, school children & Brad

      father

      Bradley Moore Allen

      b 01 May 1928 Kalamazoo, America

      pastor

      Maymyo, Burma

      c 1965

      Japanese

      2nd & last?

      maternal grandmother

      Kimi

      domestic

      1937 Kakala Drive

      Honolulu, America

      1930

      1st McIntire not born in York, Maine since 1635

      maternal grandfather

      Sidney Chester McIntire

      b 10 October 1871 Medford, America

      attorney

      1937 Kakala Drive

      Honolulu, America

      1930

      all in the family

      paternal grandmother top left

      Ethel May Allen née Dennis

      b 12 May 1898 Sarnia, Canada

      homemaker

      418 Stuart Avenue

      Kalamazoo, America

      25 December 1960

      the real Job

      paternal grandfather

      Harold Brainerd Allen

      b 27 September 1896 Detroit, America

      Secretary, Board of Directors, Upjohn Pharmaceutical

      Kalamazoo College yearbook

      Kalamazoo, America

      1918

    • I was born at Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Rangoon. I was probably the only Caucasian in the maternity ward, and for years I did not realise I was Caucasian. As an adult, in part because I discovered I was not identifying as Caucasian, I began to not identify as male, heterosexual, American, etc. Not that I'm not those things, but I often find those mindsets counterproductive.

       

      Just before I was conceived in Rangoon the government changed hands. When I was three, and my family had spent five years in Rangoon, we were scheduled to return to America, but the church asked my father to stay in Rangoon. The Burmese government had instructed all non-Asian missionaries to leave, so we left.

       

      I was raised in Rochester, New York. I say raised, because growing up is something I try to do every day. Language and teaching are brainwashing. Learning is something we do for ourselves.

       

      Summers I taught water skiing at a camp in Maine. After college I bought an old motorcycle and drove west to work at Alta, Utah for a season. I then worked in the Bay area, studied Swedish while working in a factory in rural Sweden, and worked as a ski guide in Austria. Next I was a migrant labourer in Spain, a water skiing instructor on an idyllic island in Greece, and a motorcycle courier in London. Also in England, I taught slalom water skiing with the world's #2. I sailed a 1920s Grand Banks schooner around the Caribbean, and then, like my mother's father, became an attorney.

       

      I began studying Japanese just before law school. During law school I lived in Ishinomaki on the JET Programme. I studied a semester of law school in Japanese and English in Tokyo, and interned at a think tank in Tokyo. My Japanese name, Masahisa Minamoto, appears on my Japan driver's license. My Japanese is a bit too natural, and may cause discomfort.

       

      I practiced in New York City until a Japanese game software company brought me to Los Angeles. Japan’s largest law firm moved me to Tokyo. After four years in Tokyo an international transactions boutique moved me to Osaka. In 2017 I was deported for whistleblowing.

       

      Besides gender, racial and orientation bias, I try to overcome what I’ve labeled temporalism. Oftentimes we look back at our societies and project our inadequacies onto our ancestors. Whether with women’s or racial emancipation, we tell ourselves we’ve progressed. The truth is we’re not that different.

       

      One thing Japan taught me is, more than our best imaginings or worst nightmares, we are products of our environment. I don’t wish to judge. Perhaps that’s one reason I chafe when I’m judged. If I snark when I feel micromanaged, please accept this apology.

       

      Also, I try to speak English, not American, but even when I’m trying to speak American I’m pompous. Sometimes my brain computer interface (BCI) makes me laugh.

       

      After 20 years in Asia, visiting 48 states, working in six, and working in 10 nations, I live in Denver, Colorado. Like most, I took the spirituality of my birthplace, Buddhism. I meditate several times a day. May you be happy and well.

    • email address

      email

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      phone

      legal practice

      law office

      autobiography

      memoirs

      autobiography

      My course I taught at Yokohama National University, including videos of the lectures, is available for free, but you will need an iOS device, iTunes U app and enrolment code D7Z-RWD-P8C.

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