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Hermit Wizard’s 50+ years in Japan – Choogle On #126
Chauffeuring admirals to revitalizing mountain villages with drum circles, counter-culture festivals with hemp history and poetic vibes — hitchhiking and hospitals in between — the Hermit Wizard of Nagano riffs stories from a unique half-century (so far)
[Oops a little editing problem with this pod, some of the audio drops out right after the intro, don’t worry all you eager folk, I’ll get it fixed]
campstove moka-pot coffee atop a wood stove, either requires lighter
With campstove espressos in hand, cicadas in the mix, microphones tumbling down, way down a road that doesn’t appear on maps, i riff a epic catch-up with “Hermit Wizard” Steve — Navy sonar man turned mountain settler — ensconced in his Nagano valley after fifty-plus years in Japan which includes (at least) thirteen roofs, a few goats, a stash of bottled snakes, big car drives with Admirals and beach beers with Emperor’s bodyguards.
Dude lays it out: from Vietnam gun-lines to off-base life in the loooong-gone 70s, MARS-grams on teletype, to a diner where a lady grabbed his heart, riding out the “bubble” as far from Ginza as ya can get, rebuilding an abandoned hamlet one bath and kitchen at a time before “akiya” was a hashtag. Stories wind through Black Ship festivals, Miasa’s hemp fields, and poetry nights where Gary Snyder read and Nanao Sakaki translated (and who he later picked up on the road with thumb out) by way of counter-culture festivals with tipis and drum circles, Matsumoto craft fairs, chasing snakes, wrangling dogs and foraging for mountain vegetables and mushrooms in a Buddhist-Brigadoon which technically doesn’t exist. Through it all, remember “don’t believe everything you hear”.
Mountain air and fifty years at human pace when all you want is to be left along to read a book or pick at a guitar.
Bring a lighter for: Hermit Wizard’s 50+ years in Japan – Choogle On #126 (.mp3, stereo, 98MB, 1:06:41)
Weed & Hermit, Aug 2025
From the archive: Japanese Mountain Satori Time – Choogle On! #48
from the missing years, listen anyhow
More Nagano and Steve in Cannabis Culture & Journal of Internation Hemp Assoc magazines, elsewhere in this archive
And a song “Sam Stone” for Steve when laid-up in infirmary:
i ain’t a good singer but do it anyhow for a pal
Subscribe to Choogle On! with Uncle Weed
Fire it up via:
+ Follow along via:
Steve, in “Gonda’ circa 1993
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By Dave uncleweed Olson
4.5
1313 ratings
Chauffeuring admirals to revitalizing mountain villages with drum circles, counter-culture festivals with hemp history and poetic vibes — hitchhiking and hospitals in between — the Hermit Wizard of Nagano riffs stories from a unique half-century (so far)
[Oops a little editing problem with this pod, some of the audio drops out right after the intro, don’t worry all you eager folk, I’ll get it fixed]
campstove moka-pot coffee atop a wood stove, either requires lighter
With campstove espressos in hand, cicadas in the mix, microphones tumbling down, way down a road that doesn’t appear on maps, i riff a epic catch-up with “Hermit Wizard” Steve — Navy sonar man turned mountain settler — ensconced in his Nagano valley after fifty-plus years in Japan which includes (at least) thirteen roofs, a few goats, a stash of bottled snakes, big car drives with Admirals and beach beers with Emperor’s bodyguards.
Dude lays it out: from Vietnam gun-lines to off-base life in the loooong-gone 70s, MARS-grams on teletype, to a diner where a lady grabbed his heart, riding out the “bubble” as far from Ginza as ya can get, rebuilding an abandoned hamlet one bath and kitchen at a time before “akiya” was a hashtag. Stories wind through Black Ship festivals, Miasa’s hemp fields, and poetry nights where Gary Snyder read and Nanao Sakaki translated (and who he later picked up on the road with thumb out) by way of counter-culture festivals with tipis and drum circles, Matsumoto craft fairs, chasing snakes, wrangling dogs and foraging for mountain vegetables and mushrooms in a Buddhist-Brigadoon which technically doesn’t exist. Through it all, remember “don’t believe everything you hear”.
Mountain air and fifty years at human pace when all you want is to be left along to read a book or pick at a guitar.
Bring a lighter for: Hermit Wizard’s 50+ years in Japan – Choogle On #126 (.mp3, stereo, 98MB, 1:06:41)
Weed & Hermit, Aug 2025
From the archive: Japanese Mountain Satori Time – Choogle On! #48
from the missing years, listen anyhow
More Nagano and Steve in Cannabis Culture & Journal of Internation Hemp Assoc magazines, elsewhere in this archive
And a song “Sam Stone” for Steve when laid-up in infirmary:
i ain’t a good singer but do it anyhow for a pal
Subscribe to Choogle On! with Uncle Weed
Fire it up via:
+ Follow along via:
Steve, in “Gonda’ circa 1993