Kaya Yamada

Kaya Yamada, or Pon-san, was born in Takayama, one of the main centers of the hippie movement in Japan, but spent his life travelling the world, living freely and doing as he pleased. His nickname (which loosely translates as "explosive") comes from his impulsive nature. He is known in Japan for his freewheeling lifestyle and his uncompromising desire for personal freedom, making him something of an inspiration to hedonistic and free-spirited nonconformists. Pon, who authored the book "I am a Hippie," is considered a hippie god in Japan and is widely known throughout the country by hippies old and new. No doubt he is also well known to the authorities too, having recently been busted with 350 mature marijuana plants in his garden. Now in his early sixties, he shows no signs of mending his ways, leaving his radical, alternative ideas behind and getting into the uniformity of mainstream Japanese society.

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