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[Assistant] And ordered him to make his headquarters in the remote fishing village of Edo, 300 miles east of Hideyoshi's castle in Osaka.


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[Assistant] But in Edo, the village that would later become Tokyo,


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[Assistant] Reputed to be the most impregnable fortress of its time, it was also one of the most ostentatious.


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[Assistant] Osaka Castle had a strategic location close to the Emperor's Palace in nearby Kyoto.


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[Assistant] For centuries, the Emperor had remained a ruler in name only, ignored by those who truly held power.


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[Assistant] He wild away his days with court gossip, calligraphy, and poetry.


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[Assistant] Hideyoshi courried the Emperor's favor, inviting him to know plays and musical performances.


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[Assistant] But the emperor would not grant this warrior of peasant stock the title of shogun.


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[Assistant] In contrast, Ieyasu's rival Hideyoshi failed to produce a male heir.


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[Assistant] He called him Hideyori, and he was the jewel of his life.


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[Assistant] As Hideyoshi obsessed over his own son, his adopted son, now an adult, was in peril.


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[Assistant] Hideyoshi then ordered his adopted son's entire family put to death.


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[Assistant] Hideyoshi then called Ieyasu and four of the most powerful daimyo to his deathbed.


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[Assistant] He appointed them legal protectors of his five-year-old son Hideyori, his heir and the future ruler of Japan.


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[Assistant] Those Daimyo who feared his growing power began to plot against him.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu's territory now extended throughout most of Japan.


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[Assistant] He was determined to maintain his holdings and expand his base of power.


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[Assistant] When the battle began, women and children rushed to safety.


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[Assistant] One of the young girls at the castle later told her family of the terrifying experience.


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[Assistant] As the battle wore on, heads of slain warriors were brought to the castle to be prepared for the ritual presentation to the victor.


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[Assistant] It was believed that even in death, the samurai should be viewed as a worthy opponent.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu's troops now pursued the rebellious Daimyo and their armies.


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[Assistant] This would be the battle that changed the course of Japanese history.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu set up his command post atop a hill overlooking the valley.


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[Assistant] Waiting through the night for the rest of his armies to arrive.


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[Assistant] At dawn, Ieyasu's attendant physician hastily noted in his journal,


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[Assistant] With only 50,000 troops challenging his enemies 80,000. He waited for his son to arrive with reinforcements.


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[Assistant] But at eight in the morning, the fog suddenly lifted, and the two opposing armies found themselves within striking distance.


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[Assistant] Rallying his troops, it was said he sent them forward with his famous battle cry.


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[Assistant] Several enemy Daimyo and their armies, convinced of Ieyasu's ultimate victory, defected and joined Ieyasu's forces.


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[Assistant] In recognition of Ieyasu's power, the Emperor awarded him the title of Shogun, the barbarian subduing Generalissimo.


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[Assistant] Tokugawa Ieyasu now had the authority to rule Japan in all military matters.


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[Assistant] But always there was the specter of Hideyoshi's young son Hideori growing up in Osaka Castle.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu had sworn with his life to protect the boy.


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[Assistant] The boy who could someday lay claim to all Ieyasu had won.


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[Assistant] He expelled many of the foreign missionaries, including João Rodrigues.


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[Assistant] But still he faced the only true threat to his power, the young Hideyori.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu came to but one conclusion. He could no longer honor his pledge to a dead ally to protect his son. Ieyasu decided to go into battle once more.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu accused Hideyori of subversion and ordered his troops to advance against Osaka Castle.


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[Assistant] Hideyori supporters, nearly 100,000, held strong.


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[Assistant] He sent a woman samurai to negotiate a truce with Hideori's mother.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu offered a safe haven for Hideyori's garrison, if in return he agreed not to mount further rebellion against Ieyasu's rule.


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[Assistant] To prove his intentions, Ieyasu signed the pledge in blood.


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[Assistant] As the flames raged around him Hideyori refused to surrender and was left with no other option. He committed seppuku.


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[Assistant] Tokugawa Ieyasu had wiped out the last threats to his power. Or so it seemed. But not everyone was under his control.


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[Assistant] His struggle to control the future of Japan had just begun.


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[Assistant] In the early 17th century, the ruler of Japan, the shogun, was told this story.


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[Assistant] Eyewitnesses wrote of these remarkable times. These are their memoirs of Japan's secret empire.


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[Assistant] It was the year 1600, and Portuguese Catholics had long held a monopoly on trade in Japan.


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[Assistant] The most powerful warlord in Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, commanded atoms to his castle.


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[Assistant] Rather than ordering his execution, he wanted to know more about this stranger.


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[Assistant] It appeared that Ieyasu was interested in more than friendship.


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[Assistant] To avoid those he considered a threat to his own authority. EA also wanted his own fleet of trading ships.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu asked him to build two ships capable of navigating the open seas.


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[Assistant] When the Catholic missionaries continued to gain converts and create problems, he expelled them.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu replaced his Catholic interpreter with William Adams who had been quick to learn Japanese.


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[Assistant] And Adams negotiated especially favorable terms for the growing Dutch East India Company.


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[Assistant] And was awarded the right to wear the two swords of the samurai.


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[Assistant] It was possible that Adams visited Ieyasu at his tea house for intimate conversation away from the politics of the court.


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[Assistant] The tea ceremony was much admired by a western observer.


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[Assistant] The Tea House was also a retreat where they could replenish their souls.


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[Assistant] For Ieyasu, unsettling foreign influences could jeopardize the peace he worked so hard to forge.


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[Assistant] And united Japan after generations of civil war.


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[Assistant] But as a court chronicler documented, the task ahead would not be easy.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu had to curb the power of the Daimyo, the feudal lord.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu allowed the Daimyo to rule their own domains.


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[Assistant] But he prohibited them from doing anything that might enhance their power or status relative to each other.


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[Assistant] In Tokugawa, Japan, a daimyo was restricted to only one castle. And to enlarge it, he had to receive permission. A new ship? Ask the shogun. Arrange a new alliance through marriage. Only if the shogun approves.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu would maintain the peace through this ordered control, and it extended through all levels of society.


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[Assistant] The Japan that Ieyasu fashioned was built on the ancient teachings of Confucianism.


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[Assistant] All samurai were members of the elite class, whether he be a daimyo warlord or a lowly foot soldier.


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[Assistant] At the very bottom were the tradesmen, considered the parasites of society.


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[Assistant] But for the daimyo at least, there were still ways to earn special privileges.


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[Assistant] Ieyasu decreed that the lords must help build his castle and the surrounding city of Edo.


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[Assistant] The construction became a grand competition as each daimyo bide for the shogun's favor.


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[Assistant] Soon they transformed the small castle and backwater village of Edo into a magnificent domain.


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[Assistant] The emerging splendors of Edo were recorded by Rodrigo de Vivero Ibalasco, the governor of the Philippines, who had been shipwrecked off the coast of Japan.


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[Assistant] He spent several months in the capital as a guest of the Shogun.


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[Assistant] Those daimyo who had gained most favor lived closest to the castle and were granted more audiences with the great ruler himself.


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[Assistant] The great ruler had realized his vision. All of Japan was under his control.


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[Assistant] At 72, he was still remarkably vigorous. Then, on one of his regular hawking expeditions, he fell seriously ill.


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[Assistant] As he lay dying, he planned the details of his funeral.


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[Assistant] His ashes taken to the top of a mountain overlooking the land where he so often went with his hawks.


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[Assistant] Among the family members was a young grandson, destined to become Shogun.


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[Assistant] But the child Iemitsu would grow up determined to carry on in the footsteps of his famous grandfather.


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[Assistant] Iemitsu, the third shogun, would keep Japan under Tokugawa rule, using any means necessary.


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[Assistant] The third Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu, worshipped his late grandfather.


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[Assistant] But though Iemitsu tried to emulate his grandfather, his tactics were much more severe.


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[Assistant] It was reported after he became a shogun, Iemitsu summoned the daimyo to his palace.


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[Assistant] He listened to few and spared no one. He would not tolerate competition not even sibling rivalry. He ordered his younger brother to commit suicide.


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[Assistant] A European merchant who once tutored Iemitsu observed the Shogun's court.


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[Assistant] In peacetime, there was no common enemy, no spoils of war to reward the daimyo for their loyalty.


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[Assistant] They were commanded to appear at Iemitsu's court in Edo.


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[Assistant] They were part of a system known as alternate attendance.


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[Assistant] It was reported that a daimyo could spend more than three quarters of his income maintaining the processions and supporting his army of samurai once they reached Edo.


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[Assistant] They were paid a small stipend to perform their official duties such as they were.


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[Assistant] It was a life that the once proud warrior could never have imagined.


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[Assistant] Edo was becoming a city of samurai whose job description was rapidly changing from soldier to bureaucrat.


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[Assistant] Five government highways led to the Shogun's capital of Edo.


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[Assistant] All with inspection barriers to enforce Iemitsu's laws.


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[Assistant] A multitude of rules and regulations monitored who came in and who went out of the city of Edo.


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[Assistant] Or sumo wrestlers, whose girth was ample proof of their profession.


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[Assistant] Farmers were routinely denied permission to travel from village to village. The government preferred to keep them working in the fields.


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[Assistant] Those without the proper papers often try to avoid the inspection posts by slipping by on side roads.


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[Assistant] Despite the uncertainty, against all odds, travel grew in popularity.


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[Assistant] The most traveled road was the Tokaido, which ran for 300 miles from Kyoto to Edo.


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[Assistant] Inoue Tsuji was a young samurai woman writer who kept a diary as she traveled the Tokaido road.


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[Assistant] Inns along the way offered welcome respite to travelers like Tsu-jo.


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[Assistant] She was on her way to Edo to serve in the residence of a high ranking samurai.


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[Assistant] Although Tsu-jo traveled on official business accompanied by her brother, she still encountered disturbing difficulties.


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[Assistant] Officials were always on the lookout for women who disguised themselves as boys.


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[Assistant] Under Iimitsu's reign, anybody who did not follow his rules could be punished.


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[Assistant] But there was one group persecuted simply because of their beliefs. The Christians.


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[Assistant] The Shogun Iyamitsu offered rewards for the arrest of any Japanese who preached or practiced the Christian faith.


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[Assistant] By Iemitsu's time, all foreign missionaries had been deported.


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[Assistant] But the converts they left behind, the Japanese Christians, remained devout.


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[Assistant] A European merchant observed the growing persecutions.


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[Assistant] Iemitsu was increasingly disturbed by the Christian situation, especially in the South, where a large number lived.


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[Assistant] But they were samurai in their hearts and well-versed in the use of weapons.


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[Assistant] The shogun's iron hand extended to every detail of a peasant's life.


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[Assistant] There were taxes on windows and shelves, a head tax on each newborn child, and a whole tax to bury the dead.


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[Assistant] The farmers were taxed in rice, the currency of the day.


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[Assistant] Ironically, farmers were not allowed to eat the rice they grew.


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[Assistant] These taxes were collected by the daimyo to finance their elaborate processions to Edo.


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[Assistant] The farmers were in dire straits, as a Japanese writer lamented.


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[Assistant] Drought and famine further depleted the meager harvest.


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[Assistant] The father and his friends killed the local governor and the whole village, samurai, peasants, and Christians, rose in revolt.


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[Assistant] Feeling protected, they brought in their wives and children and barricaded themselves inside.


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[Assistant] The Shogun didn't tolerate dissidents, especially any who looked to Jesus for help. He sent his troops to Shimabara to quell the rebellion.


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[Assistant] That he asked the Dutch to send a ship with cannons against the besieged castle.


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[Assistant] The third shogun issued laws restricting travel outside of the country.


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[Assistant] On penalty of death, no Japanese could leave Japan. And those who were already abroad could not return.


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[Assistant] To ensure his edicts were obeyed, he destroyed all ships of seagoing capacity.


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[Assistant] Then he forbade the entry of any ship of European origin.


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[Assistant] Only the Dutch were allowed to stay and trade, but with severe restrictions.


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[Assistant] Two years later, in defiance of the Shogun's ban, an official Portuguese trade delegation arrived in Japan.


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[Assistant] The shogun showed no mercy and ordered the execution of 57 of those aboard, ambassadors and their crew. He ordered the ship burned. The few survivors were sent back with this warning.


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[Assistant] Steamships, like most western innovations, were unknown in Japan. Now there were four in the harbor.


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[Assistant] The American squadron, armed with cannons and almost a thousand men, was ready to force its way onto Japanese shores.


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[Assistant] They had successfully kept the West at bay for over 200 years.


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[Assistant] Could the samurai nation repel the industrial might of a determined west?


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[Assistant] The Japanese were determined to keep their doors closed to the West for as long as they could.


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[Assistant] For over 200 years, this sequestered trading post would be Europe's only window to this impenetrable land.


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[Assistant] The Dutch East Indies Company sent Dr. Kemper to provide medical care for the Dutch community.


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[Assistant] He was also asked to gather information about the everyday life of the Japanese It would not be an easy task


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[Assistant] Dejima was tiny. Kemper counted 236 steps across and 82 wide.


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[Assistant] There were never more than 19 men allowed on the island at a time. And never any Western women.


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[Assistant] Far from home, the men did what they could to transform the unfamiliar Japanese-style buildings into a little touch of Holland.


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[Assistant] They placed chairs and high tables on the woven grass mats, replaced futons with poster beds, and insisted on being served Dutch food rather than eating Japanese.


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[Assistant] No Japanese except for prostitutes were allowed unsupervised contact with the Dutch.


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[Assistant] But the trickle of information that arrived from overseas was carefully guarded.


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[Assistant] The ruler of Japan, the shogun, hungered for news of the outside world.


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[Assistant] He commanded the westerners to present themselves at his castle once a year.


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[Assistant] The road trip to Edo gave Kemper revealing glimpses into the world of the Japanese. He recorded every detail of his month-long trip.


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[Assistant] Kemper would write about all of the travelers, samurai and their lords called daimyō, merchants and roadside performers.


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[Assistant] As the road traffic grew, so did the number of merchants who catered to the travelers' needs.


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[Assistant] Tradesmen, once considered social parasites, were beginning to improve their position in Japanese society.


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[Assistant] Successful street peddlers became roadside merchants.


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[Assistant] The samurai were the elite ruling class, less than 10% of the population. In Tokugawa, Japan, one was born a samurai.


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[Assistant] And only a samurai had the right to carry two swords.


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[Assistant] Obligation and loyalty to one's daimyo master form the basis of their warrior code.


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[Assistant] There were no wars to fight, and many daimyo found it difficult to keep a full army on staff.


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[Assistant] While higher level samurai could find work as civil servants, other samurai were not allowed to work in occupations considered beneath their class.


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[Assistant] An increasing number of unemployed samurai called ronin wandered the countryside looking for a new master.


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[Assistant] The search for new opportunities led many to the cities.


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[Assistant] And there was no more rapidly growing city than Edo, later to be known as Tokyo.


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[Assistant] Edo was the capital of the Tokugawa shogunate and Dr. Kemper's destination.


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[Assistant] Here he would finally come face to face with the shogun, the most powerful person in Japan.


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[Assistant] When Dr. Kemper arrived in Edo, he was sequestered in guarded quarters for two weeks.


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[Assistant] Finally, he was summoned to appear at the castle of the fifth shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.


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[Assistant] She broke class barriers when she caught the eye of the reigning shogun.


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[Assistant] Her son, Tsunayoshi, carried within him both samurai and merchant values.


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[Assistant] At his court, scholarship rather than martial prowess was the fashion.


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[Assistant] And Daimyo lords who wished to curry favor with him became patrons of the arts and letters. It was a time of cultural flowering in Japan.


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[Assistant] Influenced by his childhood study of Buddhism and the Confucian classics, the Shogun's laws of compassion were intended to protect all of nature's creatures.


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[Assistant] But Tsunayoshi was also known for lavishing the national treasury on his own pleasures, and he began to pursue his reforms to harsh and unpopular extremes.


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[Assistant] Born in the year of the dog, Tsunayoshi issued strict laws protecting dogs.


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[Assistant] Tsunayoshi would become known as the Dog Shogun. Dr. Kemper observed with humor.


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[Assistant] It was the dog Shogun who Dr. Kenfur was finally summoned to meet. After a month-long trip and two weeks of waiting,


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[Assistant] Kemper was so impressed with the experience, he drew sketches to illustrate his account of the command performance.


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[Assistant] The shogun and the doctor would meet only three times, but each provided a brief glimpse for the other into his world.


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[Assistant] Japan had no desire to open its doors to the West. The country was at peace. But the economy was in decline.


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[Assistant] At least half of Edo's population were samurai warriors who had come to the capital with their daimyo lords.


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[Assistant] Since there were no wars to fight, the samurai had leisure time. But not always the means to enjoy it.


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[Assistant] Ironically, merchants who catered to the needs of the samurai were the ones who benefited.


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[Assistant] Since the beginning of the Tokugawa era, a restrictive class structure had kept everyone in their place.


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[Assistant] Although the classes were not supposed to fraternize, the rules began to bend.


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[Assistant] Samurai interest in education had encouraged literacy among all social groups.


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[Assistant] 85% of the male population of Edo were avid readers.


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[Assistant] Some of the best-selling novels of the day were written by a merchant-turned-author named Ihara Saikaku.


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[Assistant] His book celebrated the era's emerging pop culture, a totally new genre in Japanese fiction.


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[Assistant] He knew prostitutes and daimyo as well as beggars and merchants.


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[Assistant] In Edo, a night on the town often meant Kabuki, the most popular form of stage entertainment.


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[Assistant] The ruling shogun had ordered the lord to commit seppuku, ceremonial suicide.


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[Assistant] Outraged by his death, 47 of the Lord's samurai warriors avenged his honor by killing the official.


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[Assistant] This presented the ruling shogun with a dilemma. The samurai had obeyed their code of honor, yet they had challenged the shogun's authority. The people begged for clemency, but the shogun would not yield.


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[Assistant] These samurai had lived and died by their own code of honor.


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[Assistant] Soon these men were immortalized on the Kabuki stage, a nostalgic tribute to a bygone era.


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[Assistant] The honor of the samurai would live on in myth and legend.


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[Assistant] But in Tokugawa Japan, there were no wars, no more quests for eternal glory.


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[Assistant] In real life, the samurai would have to find another outlet for their passion.


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[Assistant] More than 3,000 courtesans and geisha plied their trade in Yoshihuara, the pleasure district of Edo.


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[Assistant] An effective tool for keeping the restless male population under careful control.


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[Assistant] Like soldiers on perpetual leave, the samurai often spent their idle hours and squandered their meager stipends on its seductive illusions.


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[Assistant] Gated, walled, and surrounded by a moat, it was a city unto itself.


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[Assistant] No Westerner was ever allowed to explore its pleasures.


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[Assistant] Yoshiwara courtesans were the elite of the prostitutes.


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[Assistant] Recruited at a young age from impoverished families, both geishas and courtesans were schooled in fastidious etiquette.


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[Assistant] And endowed with a magnificent sense of style and artistic refinement.


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[Assistant] Their ability to hold a conversation about the latest play or city scandal was as important as what came afterwards.


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[Assistant] To properly partake of Yoshihara's delights was an art in itself.


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[Assistant] Yoshiwara nurtured its own unique customs, art, fashion, and language.


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[Assistant] For the samurai who frequented Yoshihara, times were changing. They continued to train daily for battle, but without a war to fight, many became aimless.


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[Assistant] Katsu Kokichi was a mid-level samurai drawn to Yoshiwara, but without the income to fulfill his desires.


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[Assistant] Many of these young men, unemployed and desperate like Katsu Kokichi, lived on the edge of society, often falling into debt, theft, and gangsterism.


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[Assistant] For Katsu Kokichi, the samurai code of honor was all but gone.


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[Assistant] By the middle of the 18th century, the expensive delights of Yoshihara were no longer affordable for most samurai.


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[Assistant] The Pleasure District took on an increasingly ugly edge.


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[Assistant] To find a cure for its ills, some would begin to look in an unlikely direction.


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[Assistant] But when he stumbled upon a Dutch anatomy book, he was stunned by the drawings.


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[Assistant] In the mid 18th century, western books first brought clandestinely from the Netherlands


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[Assistant] Peaked the interest of many Japanese scientists and doctors.


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[Assistant] Dr. Sugita and his friends reflected on how shameful it was that they had tried to treat their patients without a true knowledge of the human body. He vowed to learn more. He taught himself Dutch so he could translate the book.


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[Assistant] In 1774, the shogun granted Dr. Sugita permission to publish the medical book so he could share his knowledge with other doctors.


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[Assistant] This book became part of a growing interest in Dutch learning, known as Rangaku.


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[Assistant] And yet, as attractive as western knowledge was to some Japanese intellectuals.


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[Assistant] The new country of the United States of America was on the move.


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[Assistant] Whale oil, which literally greased the wheels of American industry, was a multi-million dollar business.


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[Assistant] Whale hunters had depleted the North Atlantic oceans. Now America looked eastward to Japan.


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[Assistant] By the time Moby Dick was published in 1851, the United States was ready to assert its power.


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[Assistant] Japan's leaders were aware of the growing push towards their shores.


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[Assistant] Key advisors warned of an imminent foreign threat. They urged the Shogun to bolster his defenses.


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[Assistant] Then, early in the morning on July 2nd, 1853, a local fisherman reported this strange sight.


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[Assistant] These steamships dwarfed any ship ever built in Japan. To the Japanese, they were the Kurofune, the black ships of evil appearance.


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[Assistant] Onboard were some sixty cannons and almost one thousand Americans. And they landed not in the foreigners' port of Nagasaki, but rather in the forbidden waters of Edo Bay, the Shogun's own capital city.


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[Assistant] Upon hearing the news, the shogun immediately fell ill.


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[Assistant] In a desperate show of force, the shogunate sent a squadron of guard boats to surround the American ships. The Japanese officer ordered the ships to leave.


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[Assistant] Their commander, Commodore Matthew C. Perry, ignored him.


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[Assistant] Five thousand samurai warriors armed with swords and antiquated cannons lined the shores.


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[Assistant] Again, their chief officer commanded Perry, leave Edo Bay immediately. The Commodore refused.


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[Assistant] He would be back and he expected Japan to comply with America's demand to open the country for trade.


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[Assistant] If not, he was prepared to take Japan by force.


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[Assistant] To complicate matters, the shogun had died and the new shogun was mentally unfit. His advisors took charge, but they could not reach agreement.


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[Assistant] While the debate raged, the shogunate remained indecisive.


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[Assistant] The end of the year was filled with half-hearted compromises and inadequate attempts at coastal defense.


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[Assistant] Then in February, Perry returned earlier than expected.


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[Assistant] This time his show of force was even more ominous. He arrived with double the ships and crew. The honor of the Japanese had been challenged, but they had no means to defend it.


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[Assistant] As soon as Perry came ashore, the talks began. They went on into the night and for the next 23 days.


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[Assistant] Sumo wrestlers displayed their strength. The first one invited Perry to punch him in the stomach


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[Assistant] Another wrestler hoisted two huge bags of rice over his head to show his strength.


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[Assistant] Perry offered champagne and whiskey. He gave the Japanese gifts. Among those of particular interest, a telegraph.


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[Assistant] A camera and a quarter-scale steam railroad unlike anything the Japanese had ever seen.


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[Assistant] Japanese engineers would quickly make plans to replicate them.


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[Assistant] Their way of writing is very different from ours because they write from the top of the page down to the bottom. I asked a Japanese why they did not write in our way, and he asked me why we did not write in their way.


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[Assistant] He explained that as a head of a man is at the top and his feet are at the bottom, so too a man should ride from top to bottom.


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[Assistant] They carry a sword and dagger both inside and outside the house and lay them at their pillows when they sleep.


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[Assistant] Never in my life have I met people who rely so much on their arms. They are very warlike. And they're always involved in wars. And thus the ablest man becomes their greatest lord.


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[Assistant] What's the deuce you're doing in this part of the house? Adele is waiting for a supper.


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[Assistant] On the very night that I was born, the room was suddenly aglow with sunlight, thus changing night to day.


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[Assistant] As if I were guarding an empty house when Hideyori is not here with me. I say again, strictly order that all be vigilant against fire.


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[Assistant] Each night, have someone make the rounds of the rooms two or three times.


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[Assistant] Although he is Hideyoshi's heir, Ieyasu would never let him rule Japan.


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[Assistant] Sooner or later, some ambitious character will ferment rebellion in his name. And even if Hideyoshi knows nothing about it, he will be blamed and forced to commit suicide to the grief of Hideyoshi's ghost.


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[Assistant] I was told there were ships on fire. I ran up the mountain to get a good look. The ships came nearer and nearer.


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[Assistant] Until the shape of them showed us they were not Japanese ships, but foreign. And what we had taken for a conflagration of sea


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[Assistant] Until the sheep of them showed us they were not Japanese ships, but foreign, and what we had taken for a conflagration on sea,


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[Assistant] The old idea was where you would have two samurai meet on the field of battle.


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[Assistant] The murderer of his own lord, which then gives him the right, in essence, to claim leadership of Nobunaga's vast coalition of armies.


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[Assistant] There's a story in Japanese that explains the character of the three unifiers. And Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu are watching a cuckoo bird waiting for it to sing, but the bird doesn't sing. And Nobunaga says, little bird, if you don't sing, I will kill you.


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[Assistant] By Ieyasu's time, the court is still powerless, but it is only the court which can appoint the Shogun. So in the ultimate symbolic sense, the court is still the arbiter of final resort.


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[Assistant] That's why all the warlords are aiming for Kyoto. You have to get the emperor to recognize that you're the most powerful of all of the combatants on the field of battle.


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[Assistant] What Ieyasu did in particular was have an abundance of sons that he could use. He could set them up to support his nascent government. He could set them up as independent military lords that he could then call upon, uhm, for help.


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[Assistant] Then when he finally, uh, in his final years produced an heir of his own, he ordered this adult male who had been his heir to commit suicide.


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[Assistant] And he waits until after Hideyoshi is dead, until he has a clear preponderance of power, and then makes his move, uh, to become the dominant military leader in Japan.


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[Assistant] Hideyori can no longer be ignored by Ieyasu. He's a threat simply because he exists. He is the legitimate heir of Hideyoshi.


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[Assistant] Um, Ieyasu is supposed to be supporting him until he, until he becomes an adult and


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[Assistant] He poses an intrinsic threat to the legitimacy of the Tokugawa Shogunate.


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[Assistant] There's one big problem with killing Hideori, however, and that's, that Ieyasu was supposed to be his supporter. I mean, it's a very realistic, cold-blooded strategy, uhm, but,


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[Assistant] All of the great lords had been fighting, uh, for a century. They were tired of fighting. They wanted to secure their own positions.


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[Assistant] These lords are building enormous territorial centralized domains. What the feudal lords are trying to do is essentially control everything and everybody within their territories.


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[Assistant] He had not proved himself on the battlefield. He did not have his own men who came with him into office when he became Shogun.


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[Assistant] The Tokugawa shogunate under his rule acts much more capriciously towards lords that disobey their orders or flout any of the rules and regulations which bound them.


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[Assistant] The alternate attendance system had been evolving over the decades of Tokugawa rule. And primarily what it meant is that great lords had to spend part of the year in Edo and part of the year back in their domains.


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[Assistant] And in fact, there grows up in Edo a class of samurai who only know Edo, even though their domain may be in the farthest reach of Japan. They're born in Edo, they work in Edo, and they only know Edo.


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[Assistant] grew up to be very substantial towns themselves.


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[Assistant] The maritime restrictions are designed to prevent any unauthorized contact with the outside world. They're designed to control trade and they're designed to prevent uhm,


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[Assistant] Christian missionaries from reaching Japan and being able to proselytize. And, and they form the bedrock of Tokugawa foreign policy for the life of the shogunate.


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[Assistant] I miss that feeling.


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[Assistant] Of your hand in mine, I miss that feeling.


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[Assistant] That was so divine There's no need to tell you


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[Assistant] That I need you so. No need to tell you cause.


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[Assistant] How well you know I missed those evenings. We'd stroll through the park when we'd hide from the moonlight.


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[Assistant] And kiss in the dark without


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[Assistant] There's no need to tell you that I need you so. There's no need to tell you cause oh well you


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[Assistant] You look so deserted.


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[Assistant] And it seems so strange, no smoke comes from your chin.


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[Assistant] Ride along, ride along, ride along. Ride along on the trail that leads you home. Ride along, ride along.


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[Assistant] Any time at all.


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[Assistant] Un-rockabye babe.


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[Assistant] By a candy-coated mountain.


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[Assistant] And meet the Jolly Times Express.


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[Assistant] It's an isle of happiness.


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[Assistant] Hope you have a pleasant stay.


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[Assistant] Alright darling, I'll meet you there at five o'clock. Goodbye.


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[Assistant] Did you ever sit day after day, night after night staring at your hands? I have.


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[Assistant] No, Ken put you up to it, didn't he? He told you all about me.


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[Assistant] No they don't. All they know is that I'm Mrs. Ken Conway. But it's my own name I'm going to use. I want that understood. Angelica Evans.


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[Assistant] Cluttering our papers, the spring winds blow. When through the open barriers, how gratefully we go.


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[Assistant] How could they sustain life itself under those circumstances?


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[Assistant] Wendy spent her first few days in Neverland, sleeping and recovering from the arrow.


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[Assistant] At night she would go down into the boys secret house and tell them stories as she put them in bed. After they all fell asleep,


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[Assistant] She would return to her own little house and flee.


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[Assistant] The holes were all cut the same size as one person so they could go in and out of the secret house quickly. They all liked their secret underground home.


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[Assistant] This home had one large room where the boys would eat, sleep, talk, and play. Large mushrooms grew out of the floor quickly, and they used them as seats.


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[Assistant] There was also a tree growing in the center of the floor.


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[Assistant] The tree grew so fast that by lunchtime, they could eat lunch on it.


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[Assistant] On one side of the room the boys had built a fireplace.


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[Assistant] Wendy hung a rope above it to dry the boys' clothes after she washed them. There was a huge bed on the other side of the room. All the lost boys slept in it, including John too. The bed was so full.


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[Assistant] That nobody could turn over unless they all turned over at the same time.


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[Assistant] The only boy who did not sleep in the big bed was Michael. He slept in a small box near Wendy.


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[Assistant] Tink's area was separated from the boy's side of the room by a blue cloth.


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[Assistant] Tinker Bell had very beautiful furniture and a soft bed and she was very neat and tidy.


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[Assistant] Wendy began to teach the lost boys to read and write.


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[Assistant] They all tried hard to learn except Peter, who said that he was too busy.


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[Assistant] The truth was that he didn't have the patience for reading. He thought it was an activity for adults.


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[Assistant] She would try to help her brothers remember them by asking them test questions like, What color was mommy's hair? How tall was father? What was our dog's name? Wendy did become the lost boy's mother. And she now had nine children.


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[Assistant] She baked pigs with apples and they drank a lot of fresh juice.


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[Assistant] Sometimes they ate real meals and sometimes they ate pretended ones. Peter always decided which.


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[Assistant] The pretended meals felt so real to the boys that you could see them getting fat as they ate. The boys had many adventures


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[Assistant] Their adventures, like their meals, were sometimes real and sometimes pretended.


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[Assistant] Peter often went out alone and he always told stories about what adventures he had when he came home. Wendy and the lost boys never knew whether he'd had a real adventure or not. Peter himself couldn't even remember. Wendy knew that some of the adventures were true because she went on some of them. For example, Wendy found the poison cake that the pirates had made to kill the boys.


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[Assistant] The pirates put many cakes in many clever places to trick the boys.


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[Assistant] But Wendy found all the cakes and threw them into the lake.


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[Assistant] Wendy also went with Peter on many other adventures.


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[Assistant] She saw him fight wild beasts and talk with the mermaids. Often Peter would hunt pigs while Wendy found fruit.


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[Assistant] Wendy liked going out on adventures with Peter. She did not feel that Peter was her child like the rest of the lost boys. Peter was different.


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[Assistant] She actually said to me last night, she's like, I want you to look at this. I want you to go in the other room and then walk in here and look at it. I was like, don't, let's not do this. Come on.


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[Assistant] Yeah, that's horrible. Whose name is on the list? Cause if yours is, you could probably throw him out. Uh, possibly, yeah. I haven't thought about that yet. Is it weird to be the star of a movie and you're still pulling your roommate's hair out of a drain?


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[Assistant] That's pretty cool and that's something that you're going to, it's gonna, you're gonna carry that with you the whole rest of your life. It's like being in the breakfast club or something like that.


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[Assistant] And I'm not joking, that's absolutely true. Yeah. Well, congratulations to you. This seems like a very big deal. Thank you. Yeah. Well, the movie again, uh, it's called Love, Simon. It has nothing to do with Simon Cowell, right? No, no, no. He is in no way involved in this film. It's a high school movie. It opens in theaters tomorrow. Nick Robinson, everybody.


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[Assistant] Hi I'm Jimmy Kimmel and I am not allowed to eat this cookie until you click the subscribe button. So please click now, I'm hungry.


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[Assistant] I can understand you must have been startled when you saw her customer and me in the hall. Perhaps it was my fault for not telling you something about it before. You see dear, your mother is not really old. She can have admirers too. She can even, well, be in love with a man. Someday you'll understand better what that means.


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[Assistant] Besides, you know how hard it is for us to get along with my small pension.


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[Assistant] If we knew who he was, he might be willing to accept his responsibility.


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[Assistant] But you haven't the means to take care of the child.


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[Assistant] It's your duty to tell us when a man does the sort of thing.


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[Assistant] U.S. didn't send much aid, so that's familiar. Instead, it devalued the Puerto Rican peso, diminishing every Puerto Rican's wealth by 40% overnight, and forcing farmers to take loans so predatory that in 10 years, U.S. banks and sugar companies owned the majority of Puerto Rican land.


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[Assistant] You know, this would make a really good musical. In 1917, the U.S. granted Puerto Ricans American citizenship, just in time to fight in World War I.


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[Assistant] Thank you for calling Hispanic Federation. This is Javier. Uh, for English, press one. They're both me.


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[Assistant] Huh? Oh, uh, shirt and pants. Why? What are you wearing?


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[Assistant] Just imagine, the fish is subjected to this.


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[Assistant] My gut says we finally got through to him. You'll see. Next time will be different. I just wish that we could have a proper buddy fight one more time. Darn! Just relax.


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[Assistant] Each building has nine classic apartments and two penthouses, one large and one small at the top.


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[Assistant] The world is at a crossroads today, that if it doesn't try to write a new social contract,


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[Assistant] Uh, the area, okay, I grew up, I grew up in this neighborhood named Colonia del Valle. Okay. Which is kind of like the Soho in Mexico City.


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[Assistant] It's, it's nice, but it's not like the wealthiest area. So let's say it's more like, uh, the arts area, like arts district type of neighborhood. Okay. It's pretty cool, pretty chill.


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[Assistant] So this is how it happened, uh, I was born in Spain, born in Madrid. Okay. So then we moved, my brother, my mom and I, we moved, uh, probably when I was around seven, eight years old. Then, uh, like getting raised in Mexico, like, it was like all arts.


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[Assistant] And like, you know, looking at amazing architecture, having an amazing family which was raised like around art and all that.


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[Assistant] You know, like, I think that's what took me there.


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[Assistant] Actually, uh, my grandma and my granddad, they were like super involved, as well as my great grandparents and all that shit. Like they were super involved. Not directly like into fine arts, but like surrounded by artists and all that. Like my grandma and my granddad, when they were probably around five, seven years old, uh, Frida Kahlo used to take care of them.


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[Assistant] Who's that? Frida Kahlo, famous painter from Mexico. Oh, okay. Massive name.


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[Assistant] Like, as I was saying about them, like, they were not like artists as well, they were just like regular persons, they had like their own businesses and all that, but like, my education was like deeply and strictly into arts, like painting, sculpting, music.


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[Assistant] Yeah, same with my brother. My brother went into like this like musical route, and in my case it was just like painting and drawing and all that.


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[Assistant] Uh, yeaah, actually yeaah, actually I started drawing like, I don't know, I don't even remember, like that's one of the first things I learned how to do.


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[Assistant] I think I figured that out when I stopped going to school.


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[Assistant] I only did junior high and that's it and then I was just doing art on the streets and that's it. Right, okay. Skateboarding, you know.


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[Assistant] Actually it was the same exact thing and it's still the same exact thing. You know, like, you know, it's an illegal form of expression and all that which is, I don't know, it's of course like relieving and refreshing to the eyes and like to the spirit at the same time. But the thing is, uhm,


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[Assistant] Yeah, I, I, I was raised around graffiti and that's, that's my first schooling, like, you know, riding out, riding on the streets and all that, but like,


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[Assistant] One day I was like, you know what, like, yea, like, it's, it's nice to be riding on the streets and all that, but I want more. So that's when I started like doing imagery, uh, with pasting, stickers, all that.


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[Assistant] Yeah, probably I was around, probably between 12 and 14, probably. Don't remember. But more or less, I was skating already.


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[Assistant] Actually, it was like wherever you were able to do it, you know? Right. Like any spot that was like appealing to you, like, okay, let's do it.


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[Assistant] And still, still, like when I'm doing like murals and all that, it's spray cans and brushes.


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[Assistant] Uh, you know, it was a passion for a minute and you know, as any other kid, I was growing up and I was like, fuck yeah, I wanna be a pro and all that shit. You know.


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[Assistant] I have my tricks, I was, I cruise and all that shit, but suddenly I got my first opportunity to design a skateboard for, uh, Neighborhood Skateboards, which was owned, uh, by Julio de la Cruz from, he owned also Stamina, this is the 90s. So I made my first pro model for this rider.


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[Assistant] And that day I was like, fuck it, it doesn't make sense anymore to me.


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[Assistant] Any single accessory, apparel, everything.


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[Assistant] This is what happened, I truly got bored of graffiti.


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[Assistant] That, you know, that there's, there's this massive, like, ego fight. Everyone's, it's, it's, it's the biggest pissing contest.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I love it, don't get me wrong and I love everyone's art and I madly respect it, but that's what took me out from that.


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[Assistant] At least that's, that's a dialogue I started like to create since very young and that's, that's what I do now. Like, that's my dialogue. I try to transgress and to fucking like...


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[Assistant] Uh, create a thought or a feeling or emotion into the viewer.


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[Assistant] Actually, this is what happened. Uh, I stopped doing graffiti, like straight up, cause uhm, I met this guy who started working at this major design house.


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[Assistant] And he loved what I did and he invited me like, come, uh, we can hire you. Right, okay. So that took me like from the streets to a studio and that's when I started my design career actually, like.


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[Assistant] Doing, doing characters, doing, uh, advertising, all that shit. And then, from there, I got bored again.


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[Assistant] Yeah, actually, actually, actually I can relate that a lot to graffiti, you know, it was the 90s and that was the imagery that everyone wanted, like. Oh, okay, so that's why they wanted you, is because graffiti was so big, okay. Exactly. And then, in this job, the transition was like, okay, first, I didn't know, I didn't know how to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Next venture, like being their director. This is when I was 18. Right.


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[Assistant] Uh, no, the thing is that I didn't care about the money. Just wanting like, let's fucking do it. I don't wanna like, be stuck doing the same exact thing, which is great. I was getting paid amazingly and I was the art director, you know? Right.


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[Assistant] You know, it's, money is important but it's not everything and my thing is like keep going, keep going, I need to keep


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[Assistant] Are you the kind of person that you...


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[Assistant] And if you try to manage yourself, that's, it's not impossible, but it's actually really hard, you know?


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[Assistant] And of course if you don't have the plugs and if there's no galleries behind you and all that, like, it's almost impossible, you know? And in those days, it was hard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, in the beginning no one understood it. It was, it was just weird and new and, and the land was virgin for everything, you know. It was...


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[Assistant] It's pretty serious. Actually, I think it's like here in the US, but the beauty over there is that you can pay them, you know? Right, you can, yeaah. It's easy, it's easy. And of course, like, uhm, the currency, let's say, you can, you can, you can get out of like


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[Assistant] Like, one of these deals, like, for about, like, I don't know, probably five bucks?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 5 bucks. Yeaah. Which is like 50 pesos. Yeaah. 50 pesos, so.


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[Assistant] And then of course if you are smart enough you can buy fake bills and pay them with fake bills.


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[Assistant] Uh, I was just spending the money I saved. I was not making money. I was just producing and producing and practicing and getting better and all that. So, suddenly I got this chance, this opportunity of my first solo show, let's say. Super small venue.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, no, I'm stuck there, you know, like, my, my, my economy is like, going down, my savings, I'm killing them, and it's like, okay, whatever, I'm just doing my thing and time will happen. I was not even thinking of traveling, that's...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and suddenly like when, when this was happening, it became the biggest party in the city. Oh, okay. Like, of course it was like a large show and it was, as I said, like a small venue and all that and music, free drinks, blah, blah, blah, blah. And suddenly it was like full house. Everyone was there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Amazing night, whatever, and that night, that's when everything changed for me. Really? Yeaah, cause this guy comes to me and he's like, dude, I work for Nike, Nike Mexico, and all these guys started. And what year is this? This is like 2000, 2000, 2001 probably.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, of course. Yeah, we all do. Barely. But being a hacker, you know. Anyways, this guy approaches me. I work for Nike Mexico. These guys that are with me, they are the international design team. And I'm like, okay. And they want to buy your show. And I'm like, how? Buy your show?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I'm like, how? Like all the pieces. I'm like, what, really? So, I'm like, yeah, like, when the show is done, not tonight, like in a week, we can have, I don't remember for how long they were hosting my pieces. No, they are leaving tomorrow. I'm like, fuck.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I talked to the guy from the venue, you know what, I'm sold out. They were really, and I'm like yeaah, I'll cut you out like as it works. Uh, and yeaah, they waited like till the end of the night, they took the pieces, they left the next day. So these, of course I made money, like not that much, I didn't know how.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did you know how to price art at the time? No? No, that's the thing, I made like, let's say I, I think I made like 12 pieces, I made let's say,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In dollars, probably like, like 1500 bucks. Okay. Which was, it's nothing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I get a crazy as him on Nike work opportunity and I'm like, okay, so I reply like this, this at night. Yeah, I'm interested.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They reply like this, can we call you? And I'm like, yeah, for sure. Send my phone number, my, my house number. They call me and they're calling me from Nike Hong Kong. So this is Nike, Nike's, Nike Hong Kong's fucking, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Brand director, and, and she's like, you know what, like, uh, people of my team bought some of your pieces, want to work with you, so, you, you in, and like, yeaah, for sure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So they're like, we're gonna send you a brief, uh, they send me this brief, it was this project, uh, which Mr. Cartoon was there, Michael Law, Eric Saw, uhm, who else was there, uh, Debbie Lok, and I don't remember who else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was just making t-shirts, graphics. This is the first time I charge like a ton for a graphic. Just one. A lot of money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, the thing is that, oh, this, this person, the, the director, uh, Karen cites her name. She was like, you know, this, this is the fee. You can, you are able to negotiate. And I'm like, okay, can we do a little bit more? And they were like, okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then that, that was released, that happened, and then after that, like let's say I waited probably like eight months, and I got invited to my first sneaker collection, the Lucha Libre gift pack.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, the, the, the reality, like, I'm, I'm still just a single human being and like, of course I'm grateful of all the stuff that I've been doing and all that, but at the same time I'm like, you know, whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, it did, like, that took my career into a higher level, mainly Asia, and of course Mexico.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But in Mexico it took a while because as I said it was starting, like the sneaker culture, the street art culture, all that was starting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When my shoes, my first shoe collection was released, it took like Mexican people like to digest that probably like a year, like a year after, like everyone was like, oh, a Mexican design shoes, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Even, even they were released like at these few boutiques we had like sneaker shops and all that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, that's weird. I never expected like triggering that throughout my work and all that. Right. And also the mask thing is something that has been like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, always. Probably since I was 7, I'm tripping with the mask thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because it's real. It's real. They believe it's fucking real.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was even more hardcore. Now it's, it's a business. It's, it's a show. Right. You know? And of course, like Mexico is trying to mimic the WWF and WWF. Right. And they want to make it more slick formula, right? More like a novella. Yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They, they were not able to, to show it on TV because it was like- Really? It was crazy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Actually, me and my grandpa, and my brother of course, there was this like, uh, massive venue in Mexico City.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The, the, the Bullring. Oh, okay. That was the biggest venue for wrestling, uh, late 80s. It started in the 70s.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In my, in my, in my time, it was late 80s and, and let's say the beginning of the 90s. And I remember going with my brother and my grandpa. And like then, cause, cause we were like, you know, like up and all that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I remember jumping the fence with my brother in order to get close to ringside. Just to be close to the wrestlers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, actually, actually, that's the difference. Like, how can I say it? Like, a lot of these wrestlers...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the first one dies, which is Santo, the one with the most movies. In these movies, all these are called movies now, like B movies, like he, he had fights, fights against like the, the sex and the women, and the vampire women, like Dracula, Frankenstein, aliens.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anything that you can imagine. Right. He was fighting. Okay. Just to keep Mexico safe. Yeaah. A lot of people when he died were like, oh my god, our superhero died, like, fuck, what are we gonna do? People thought that the movies were real. Really? Yeaah. That's a beautiful thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's amazing. Yeah. You can YouTube like his funeral and shit. Dude, it was like messy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a superhero thing. While you were, while you were like believing in Batman, I was believing in Mille Mascaras. And the difference is like, oh, I can go to the wrestling match and Mille Mascaras is going to be there and probably he's going to thank, like I don't know, a photo for me or I can buy a mask.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Actually not that many due to economics, but then, you know. Yeah. You can buy like the cheap ones outside, like the wrestling arena, which are like cheap, but you want the real one. You want the one won by the wrestler with his sweat and blood and tears.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, I was already wearing the mask and all that shit. And in between the shoes and this first collaboration, I have my first international show in Hong Kong.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, not, not exactly. I, I travel like as a kid, like with my parents and my grandpas and blah blah blah. Right. But like work-wise, yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, first show in Hong Kong, and, and I was, I was thinking, actually I remember talking to my brother, I was like, oh shit, I gotta fucking mask and fucking create like chaos over there to see what's the fucking...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Japan is one of the biggest ones. Like Hong Kong of course and the sneaker, the Lucha Libre sneaker is like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of these famous wrestlers I was mentioning, one of them is like, considered like God over there. Right. Mil Mascaras. He opened like, the Mexican culture and the exchange over there and all that, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The funny thing is that at that time, because I'm immersed into the wrestling thing, I started working with Mil Mascaras, which is my favorite wrestler and my idol and my...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and then, uh, with the years I, I, I, I was reading and I'm reading about this amazing artist Futura and I'm like Futura 2000, so I'm not that fucking crazy. He's doing a crazy ass name, so why not?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, not that young, like, I heard about Futura probably, probably late 90s, throughout this magazine Giant Robot from New York. And this Before Joke Supposed magazine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and I was like, fuck, and I was loving what he was doing, and then like, I, I related, like, he's, I figured out that he was friends with Keith Haring, which is an all-time favorite of mine. And then Basquiat, and, and all that, like, uh, pre-graffiti, uh, era.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I was just like doing my thing. This is what I was telling you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I never thought about it. I was just doing my thing. And you know, like when you are that age, you are like, scattered brain, I don't, I don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, and I was just looking at things like on magazines, on movies, on TV shows, and that's it, you know? Right. Nothing else. I was just like empty.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so Japan, because besides the Nike thing, I'm working for the biggest wrestler in Japan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everyone's like, holy shit, who the fuck is this guy? Why is he wearing a mask? And that got me a lot of attention. And all this attention, I started working with Medicom Toy, produced some toys with them, like Kubrick's and shit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I start meeting more people, I start like working with brands, there are tons of like, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I met the creator with, this comic is from the 70s, I met the creator and he's wearing my sneakers and I'm like, woah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, cause I'm at this like party venue or whatever. Right. And they introduced me to them and, and to him and, and it's like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dude, like I, he tells me I love your work and like, I love your characters, I love Kinikuman, I love wrestling, like, master, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and next thing we have a collaboration, next thing, uh, I become a character in his manga. Just one number. Yea, but that was epic. Right. Like, that's a childhood dream come true. You still have the copies of it and stuff?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's fucking crazy. And, and his characters have like this like mohawk thing on the mask, so he drew like my mask and with the mohawk, so that's fucking crazy. It's fucking crazy. Anyway, so that, that, that adds to that, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Appearing in, in one of the biggest mangas in Japan from one of the cult classics from, from Japanese manga and all that, then the Nike thing, the wrestling thing and everything gets together and I start having shows in Japan, having collaborations and doing all these things in Japan and going like back and forth to Japan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And to be sincere, I went crazy, like I didn't even know how to handle like money, how to handle fame and how my life was like skyrocketing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of course, party, drugs, like girls, like, you know, doing crazy things and all that shit. And of course, of course, like, I lost my mind until I fell because I got this lawsuit, like major lawsuit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, actually Mille Mascaras got me into this like, uh, Mille and a half lawsuit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The wrestler I was, I was working with.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, he sued me. He sued you, why? Cause, in this sneaker collection, which I, I talked to him and he agreed, oh yea, no worries, you can use my image, blah blah blah, he even made me this letter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, but actually not his character. A character inspired by him. Right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So four years after this release and all that, I got a phone call from Nike like dude this is happening like lawsuit from this guy and he's suing us and suing you for a mil and a half. I'm like fuuuck.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was friends with him. So my first and only time at court, he denied knowing me. Really? Yea. And the funny part was like, with the lawyers and all that, my lawyers pulled the photos like me, him without the mask, him of course, and all that shit. It's a weird thing to lie about in court.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's the reason why, like, it didn't happen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, but that's, that's what like, like put me on my place in order like to, you know what, you're fucking up, like make things right and keep working and don't go that fucking crazy. And that took two years of my life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like back and forth signing documents, these, that, the other.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, not really. This was a weak ass elaborated case by the wrestler, you know? It was super weak.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's not old and he's still wrestling. He's 77 and he still wrestles.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so I actually, I'm already doing like fashion and working like not only Japan, like I'm besides Nike like grabbing small brands and all that shit. At this time I already met like artists from around the world. I met Futura, made a friendship with him, same with Stash, uh, Rosser, uh, Costas, all those cats.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, both made an amazing friendship with Futura, with Stash and Sir. Those were like my people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, then I lose this time two years of my career, but in these two years I keep perfecting my craft and my thing and all that. And I can't do my thing, I can't do anything related to wrestling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I was like, fuck, so what the fuck should I do? So that took me to this reinvention stage, you know, which, which took me to this like religious dark and like, I don't even know how to explain it, which is my art nowadays.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Of course I got angry about that, but I got angry cause, cause my, my idol was fucking. That too, yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I designed all these masks and cause I was like using like imagery of him, like I never charged him for his masks or like designing like all the graphics for his t-shirts or like products for Japan and all that, like I never charged him. It was like a fair exchange to me and plus like I took it like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't need that money cause I'm working for my biggest superhero and like that this is taking me somewhere else like career wise and work wise.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I changed that, and that's what made me go deeper into fashion, because as I was saying, like, I stopped doing my art, and I was trying to figure out what to do, I need money, I need this, I need that, and I was spending a lot of money on lawyers and all that, so I was like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For this, I don't have any collaboration, anything with anyone. So for this, I'm like, fuck, what should I do? Uh, I start like, making phone calls, blah, blah, blah, and...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I talked to Ross from CERN and he's like, dude, I need help. I, uh, for this we already had our first collaboration, like, part-wise. The Russian thing, he's Russian, it's his heritage. He moved from Russia from, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, what's the name of the place he's, he's where? Moscow? No, no, uh, Ukraine. Oh, okay. From Ukraine, when he was, I guess, like seven, six, something like that, to New York.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's never been big in Russia until today, cause now he has a store and blah blah. But it's, it's, you know, he's been more into the New York, like, soft culture and all that, and he's been big over there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Probably, but you know, it's a niche and like, it's like a sector and all that and he's been more into that like, uh, low-key situation. And you know, Supreme, Supreme is there and Supreme has been there and Supreme will always like, be on top of like, everyone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, actually it was not, it was not hard. I already like understood the formulas. I was already doing like things and apparel and shoes and all that. So I understood like the formulas. So as I was saying, I started designing with ROS.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And kept going, kept going, just designing here and there and getting money, blah blah blah. And then, like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Between that I work, like, I did stuff for Future and Labs, like bands, like, you name it, there are tons of brands, like, you should check on their website and all these people watching, like, they should check on their website, it's just a lot of work.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But then, uh, I think like close to five years, uh, uh, six years I've, I come back here to LA and Ross is living here. He's not living in New York anymore. Okay. And he's like, I need help with the brand to restructure the thing and all that. And that's, that's when I did myself like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, the transition haven't been hard, it's just, it's just fun. Sometimes,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To be sincere, I get like a little bit like, frustrated because it's just the same exact thing over and over. Right. Finally now it's changing and it's evolving and there's people with like, something new to show like, like our friend Shane with Midnight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's, that's, that's, that's been forever like since early days with Stussy, with Supreme, it's just like grabbing imagery from here and there and then like, you know, pissing contest again as I was saying, which it's fine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's just, it's just a crazy personal thing cause, cause beyond work we had an amazing friendship and all that, uh, dude got weird not only with me, with the whole team, uh, I don't know why he got weird, probably it can be money, it can be smoking a lot, it can be just


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, he's a retard, you know. Can be many things, you know. And yeaah, I left on bad terms.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not in, not on bad terms, actually I was very, uh, I was a diplomat on that, on that thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He wrote crazy ass shit on an email and I was like, okay, thank you, peace. That's it. You know? And since then, like, I haven't seen him again. And I'm not planning on seeing him. Okay. So. You're past it. Yeah. Like, fuck that. I'm busy with other stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thank god I'm, I'm, I'm with you guys with OSS, like shout out for, for, for you. Yeah. For Alf and for Rof here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, actually, actually the beauty here is that, uh, blacks here, it's, it's very close to, to, to my type of art and to my taste and, and not only art-wise, also fashion-wise, like how the direction of the brand is perfect to...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How I look at things and, and actually also it's, it's, it has to do with my design, how I design like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Only like black things and like super dark and super hard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's, that's the craziest question. No one has asked me this before. I don't even know how to answer this. It just happened. Like, I don't know if it's like getting older and I don't know, like, I don't know, understanding more about yourself or your craft. I don't even know. I don't even know how to explain it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've always like drawn, been doing drawings like black ink and all that. To me it's more appealing since day one. Of course I play with colors and all that, but like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, it's just easier and it looks better and it's classier, at least for me. I don't know, I don't even know how to answer these questions, these are crazy questions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was three, three, four years ago?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like close to 5 years ago, uh, actually I was living, it was 3 years ago actually, I was living already here, uh, I left LA like for 5 days, went back to Mexico, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I didn't have my artist visa at that time. I was in the middle of the process of getting it. So it was funny when I came back because Customs asked me, you just left like a week ago, why are you coming back? What do you have to do here? And I'm like, I'm just buying stuff, like, don't ask. Better for its past.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, okay, so this happened three years ago, uh, remember Futura had this Hennessy release? The bottle and all that shit? They did that, that in Mexico, like party, massive thing and all that, so Hennessy, France was paying for all this thing, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and, and, and yeaah, I think I'm the luckiest one cause I, I made three pieces already with him and, and hopefully soon something else is gonna happen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, it's just crazy. And then what you asked, like, how does it feel that this guy is like making this piece about me?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, of course it's an honor and I feel like, you know, like, it's next level shit. I don't know dude, like, of course there's mutual respect, uh, I love his art, I know he loves what I do and that's the reason why we've been working for so long and collaborating for so long and having like, uh, how can I say it, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What can I say, I don't even know the word, like, it's just like, like, a major art experience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, like to live here? Yeaah. Like, that's, that's close to five years. Okay. Yeaah, it's like, yeaah, like 2012, 2000, yeaah, something like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I make this brand with this partner I used to have and all that and yeah, we start producing here. Noah was doing any type of like fixed gear inspired brand.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sir, Futura, this is the other, uh, next season, uh, we have collaborations with Futura, with Stash, with Matt Anthony from New York, with Robot Beta, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who else was in this second season? Don't remember, anyways. Third season, uh, Robo from, from Nike BRS, Sir, like, just pulling like the friends to work and all that, and that's what took us like to the next level. And then doing bikes, that, that happened with, uh, Colnago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not gonna lie, I don't like production. It's boring. It's the same exact thing and you need to check a lot of things. And I don't like the packing, I don't like the technical side of it. I just like the creativity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, for me it's that, and, and, and with this brand, my partner, uh, Neri, he, he was the guy like doing like the technicals and like dealing with printers and dealing with vendors and this I was just like creating and this is gonna happen, this is gonna, how, this is the mood, this is how it's gonna look, let's produce it, boom, and then like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, the thing is that, uh, I met Arnold working at CERN. We made this amazing friendship. Besides that, he's one of the most OGs in the game. Right. Uh, he's known by everyone. He's worked with everyone. Diamond, Blackscale, Crooks, you name it. You know, uhm, he's been insane forever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He deals with production, he's a designer as well, a major designer, and he's, he's actually his thing is like, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To make, to bring money to produce whatever you think of, like you can make that happen. So it's Arnold at this studio, David, new partner, new, new dude with us, uh, good friend as well, uh, he used to work at Sir, he was the last man standing over there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He, he, he is like, like the Jiminy Cricket. That's, that's how Arnold works. He's like the same one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then like, everyone has like it's own role or character, like, in my case, like, just like the guy who is throwing and throwing stupid ideas to the air and all that. Right. And Arno's like, okay, this can be don't know. Yo, Brandon, shut the fuck up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And made a friendship with Ian, blah, blah, blah. He's not Canadian, by the way. Uh, the thing is, uh, that triggered me like to, to make something for the Misfits, cause they were doing like a Latin America tour and all that, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ian contacts me like, dude, I like your work, you've done like shit for me, like, uh, uh, a part of why it's like t-shirts working or whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're like, oh, you know, like something simple. Can you reinvent the, the, the Crimson Ghost? Reinvent it. Yeah. And I'm like, what? Yeah. Yeah. We want the Crimson Ghost on your style. I'm like, whoa, fuck it. Yeah. That's a, that's a big undertaking. Yeah. So maybe it was only for the Latin America tour.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nonetheless, it's a big thing, you know, and from that I also did like this print, uh, of the Crimson Ghost riding a horse and all that, uh, which got like produced as a print for the tour.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At first I loved the project since day one. I'm gonna tell you why. Because it was different.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a street word to a certain degree, but it's more active word. Because actually people who are writing are using, it's like skateboarding word, you know, it's active word at the end. So I was, this was the first thought I was like, fuck, I love it. It's different. This is going to take me somewhere else. And then, okay, in the beginning, like I saw it like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] First, like, damn, it's all over the place, I need to fix it. Which...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With, with all the references that Rob sent me, like videos, this is what is, uh, we do the combo, we do this, blah. Then like, all the writers, like vegan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stevie, all of them, uhm, I was like, okay, so the direction it's, it's.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's there, I know what to do, it needs to go matte dark. Then I met you guys and, all wearing black, you with all your tass, like, all that, like, okay. So it makes sense, you know. All the pieces just work together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and it was, you know, like, I was like, fuck, it's, it's, it's all over the place. It's, there's no direction, you know? And then, like, that was, that was the challenge.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Doing that, like, where we are at right now as a brand, like, I'm happy and it's going, it's getting somewhere, you know? And this is not about numbers or about money, it's not about that, it's getting somewhere image-wise.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's, it's fucking strong and, and if we, if we take the right steps, it's, it can become something like major, major. And then what we had with, with this kid, like the vegan release, the bike that triggered something else and that opened windows with a different demographic, which is like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like the midnight demographic and all that. Everyone started looking this way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause, cause the bike collaboration, of course, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The person surrounded, like you, you, you have, you are friends with Shane and all that, same as, as me and all that, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're opening the channel, so that means something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, yeaah, but I agree, and where it's going right now, I think, I think we're doing, doing the right thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, the, the, okay, first, first, uh, I, first I ask Rob, like, I, I need to meet the kid. Like, I want, I want to see what's his thing, and like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] His mind is fucking everywhere. He's a mess. I like that shit. And from there, like, I was like, okay, what should I do? So I planned like, okay, I can do this, this, this, this and that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I was done, I was like, come to the studio, let's have a look at this. All this means all this. This is what I think about vegan. So, please pick one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there was, uh, this show at Nome Gallery, a sneaker show, one of our homies was showcasing, like, this massive, like, 3,000 shoe collection or whatever. Diamond had a party.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The apartment who knows what number had another party. There was like four or five parties on the same exact block and the same people were jumping from party to party. So I wonder, I haven't been on Fairfax probably like in what, like six months?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Energy is fucking stuck, and of course the only thing I'm seeing with changes is the kids that I, that I sold like five years ago, now they have mustaches. I'm like, okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like straight up to my house and I stayed in. I was like, oh my god. And all night, I couldn't sleep. I was just thinking, fuck, they are fucking stuck. Crazy. I just can't. I'm not part of that culture.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I think, I think, I think yeaah, you're right, it's all about the money and all that. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of like amazing brands, like the brands I like, they are not on Fairfax. That's the first thing, like the only one I respect, Supreme, of course, cause what they've done throughout the years and the channels they opened.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the rest, like, to be sincere, I just don't care. And to me, it's, yeaah, as you said, like, they're just looking for the money, there's no artistry behind it, you know, there's no meaning, there's no soul, you know. But there are a few brands that have soul, like, like, black scale.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, like, I can tell you, Fear of God, even though I don't wear it, and I don't know, the owner, I respect it, it's well assembled, like off-white, like, midnight as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That, that are doing like something new, something refreshing. Uh, they do it, of course there's money involved because people need to eat, but they are doing it just for the craft, for the artistry, for...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The, the, the happiness of doing something and showing something that no one has done, you know? It's not, it's not again like, oh let's, let's...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Make a new collection of things and let's live whatever life and let's be a goon and let's do this and that. No, there's no meaning, you know? It's not only selling a lifestyle and a fake thing, you know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yeaah, is it that one where I'm wearing like a pattern like hoodie like black and white? I think so, it's super old. Yea, it's super old. Yea, it's super old.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't even know what year was that, but that's super, super old. Yeah, I thought that was pretty cool. Yeah, actually someone like uploaded that, that was TV, like on TV. Right, yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's just whatever, but like, I don't know, it's just, it's just funny. It's just funny. Everything's on the website, like all the magazines and all that. It's funny, it's important at the same time that that opened my doors here, like to get, to get an artist visa and all that. Right. Like all these like... Press. The press will do that, yeah. And shit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, it's just funny and I don't know if we're missing something, like I don't know if you wanna talk like when I was fucking Madonna or like shit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, okay, first, first shout out to, to the Quiet Storm, to my team, shout out to the BBS family, Black Blood Studio, Mexico City, uh, Danny, and then shout out to, to you guys, like thank you, thank you for having me, first with the brand.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thank you, Rob, for making it happen. Thank you, dude, for holding the fort. And of course, thanks to Alf. He's been like my guardian angel lately. Thank you, thank you. Shout out to Alfredo. And this guy, like here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And besides being an army, it's, it's a cultural thing. It's, you, you are supporting some, first something positive, which is sports, you know? Like BMX, it's such a great thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly, and, and personally, like, at this point, like, BMX, BMX saved my life again, like, the moment I started working with you guys.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The James's, the Ashley's, the Elisa's, all of those, like, thank you guys, like, and thank you guys. Such a pleasure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, first Instagram because that's that's a trendy thing. Snapchat as well. Uh, you can find me, uh, golgo underscore DFT on both. And then the websites, the, the, the design one, it's, uh, the flow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Awesome. Yeah, if you can type that on the video like that would be epic. For sure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With the package, so you can see the just, you know, generic, usual Cars 3 logo, red and black, piled up for the name tag.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, I think Pylup's pretty cool, and we have to review them sometime or another, and my next review will probably be Rusty's McQueen or Easy Idol. Vote right there. I'm giving you guys an option today, so take advantage of that because usually I don't do that anymore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But anyway, the other cars here are Dirt Track Fabulous Hudson Hornet, I already reviewed him. And then you have the three next gens, Bubba Wheelhouse, Ryan Inside Laney, Chase Raceland, and of course another demolishing derby contender, Patty.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Blindsided by a new generation of piston caught racers, Lightning McQueen finds himself suddenly pushed out of the sport he loves. To get back on top, he will need the help of a young race technician