To top it all, he chalks up massive bills for international telephone calls, so I was told. (This was in the early 1990s, when telephone rates were still very high.)

I had heard so much unkind talk about the master of macrobiotics that, even though I was active in promoting his teachings in Singapore, I dared not to even think about inviting him to lecture here.

How could I afford it?

I would need to attract a great many participants, each of them willing to pay an arm and a leg, to cover his just his lecture fee. That means I would need to spend even more money on advertising and marketing. The whole idea was out of the question for me.

In any case, I did not have much experience in dealing with people who are mean, nasty and materialistic. I did not know how to go about approaching such people. I did not dare.

Somebody else dared. And she beat me to it. A lady in Malaysia - where macrobiotics was even lesser known - invited Michio to present a seminar there.

I thought it would be my one and only opportunity to meet the man. I thought, what was a few hundred dollars in travelling expenses to Malaysia, compared with the tens of thousands that I would have to risk if I were to invite him to Singapore?

Different

So I went. I even managed to persuade about 20 other friends who were interested in macrobiotics to go along with me.

The group of us saw a totally different Michio Kushi in Malaysia. The moment he appeared on stage and began talking, we saw that he was kind, gentle and compassionate.

He was also funny. At several points during the lecture, he made the audience roar with laughter, in spite of them having difficulty understanding his thickly-Japanese accented English.

Plus, he wore a smile that was exceedingly warm, friendly and inviting. He banished all fears I had about approaching him.

My first contact with Michio was after the lecture. I was, at the time, publishing a newsletter on natural health with strong emphasis on macrobiotics. I went up to Michio to ask if he would grant me an interview for my newsletter.

He agreed. But because he was, expectedly, surrounded by people asking personal health questions, he asked me to return two hours later.

Two hours later, he was still surrounded by people asking personal health questions. He was just about to begin dinner.

“Are you tired?” I asked. “If you are tired, no need to do the interview, I can just write from your lectures.”

“No!” Michio said. He thumped his fist lightly on the table, smiled and added, “Macrobiotic people never tired. I will see you after dinner.”

Another two hours later, by this time close to midnight already, I had the privilege of Michio all to myself, answering questions that he must have answered countless times before. He was very obliging.

As the interview came to a close, I popped the most important question that I wanted to ask, “Will you come to Singapore?”

“Certainly,” Michio said. He would be happy to.

I was happy, too.

Michio did not utter a single word about his lecture fee, nor about first class air travel, 5-star hotel or international telephone calls. Perhaps his secretary would contact me later about all those unpleasant details?

No. I found out from Lai Hoon, the Malaysian lady who organised Michio’s seminar there, that Michio never made any demands of that nature.

Rumours

From where did all those rumours about Michio originate? I heard mainly from people who said they heard from others, so I was never sure.

The closest I got to a genuine source was a Singapore businessman who had invested millions of dollars - in a chain of stores and in a huge warehouse filled with macrobiotic foods - in the hope of making big money thorugh macrobiotics. (He did not succeed and his chain quickly folded-up.)

It was he who told me Michio demanded a $30,000 lecture fee. Perhaps Michio did that because he did not want to work with him. Perhaps the businessman had cooked up the incident.

I don’t really know. I never got round to asking Michio about it, nor about the other unsavoury remarks that I had previously heard about him.

My first meeting with Michio was so pleasantly memorable, especially when contrasted against the nasty picture that was painted of him by others.

The incident so aptly drives home one of the key - but lesser known - teachings of macrobiotics: DO NOT BELIEVE.

Don’t believe what others say, don’t believe what the authorities - the government, the church, doctors, spiritual gurus, et al - tell you to believe. Don’t believe what you read in books, don’t believe what your ancestors may have believed for generations before you.

Find out for yourself. Then you will not believe.

You will KNOW.