JAPANESE SNAPSHOTS – #42 – LASTING IMPRESSIONS

When I travel abroad, I always find myself comparing the place I visit to America. I am blessed to have seen a lot of amazing countries over the years. And America always fares well in comparison. Some of my favorite foreign locales include Barcelona, Spain and pretty much anywhere in Scotland. But in the former, they don’t speak English, and in the latter, the weather usually sucks. No place is perfect it seems. Travel is a balancing act filled with trade offs and compromise. And up until my October stay in Japan with my wife Inna, I always eventually yearned for my home in America, be it the Canyonlands of the American Southwest or my hometown of Annapolis, Maryland. But Japan changed that equation.

As a young man from Canada who we met on a shimmering sunset lake near Mt Fuji said, “Everything in Japan works.” I can think of no better way to describe Japan.

Japan is far different than any other industrialized country on earth, for sure. But the trappings of modern life are essentially the same wherever you go. Japan sets itself apart from the rest of the world by making everything run seamlessly, safely, and stylishly. Japan’s efficiency made me smile wherever I went. And I quickly noticed that the Japanese were all smiling too. They are a very happy people. And while they are never loud and arrogant like Americans, it’s pretty obvious they know they are a cut above and that their country shines the brightest. They exude a quiet, satisfied confidence. They know they have it good.

As a general rule the Japanese revere quiet. They are comfortable with silence and, unlike most Americans, do not feel compelled to fill the lapses in conversation with loud and mindless jibber-jabber. And the Japanese people are the sweetest people I have ever met. I thought the Scots held that title, and while they may be more entertaining — being natural born poets and all — they can’t hold a candle to the Japanese who are always bowing and thanking one another like grinning dolls. Ask a Japanese person for directions and they will stop what they are doing and take you where you want to go. They are never hostile and always gracious. To be honest, it can seem like an act at first — no one can really be that friendly — but after a few days you come to realize that it is totally genuine. And it’s infectious. I found myself bowing and smiling at everyone I met by the end of the first week.

Japan is a culture of contradictions, starting with religion. There is no organized religion to speak of and most Japanese will tell you they do not embrace any particular religion. But everywhere I went, from downtown Tokyo to the smallest village, I encountered a breathtaking assortment of busy Shinto or Buddhist shrines and temples. They bind the fabric of Japanese life like the spiritual threads in a ceremonial robe that everyone wears every second of their lives. It is the undercurrent that steers their path through life while bewitching their souls with ancient superstitions. For instance, according to Japanese myths, if you snip your fingernails at night, the evil spirits may enter the body through the fresh cut; and you should always cover your belly button during a storm so the god Raijin can’t nest himself inside your belly while you sleep; and my favorite one decrees that when you turn a certain age ( 25, 42, and 61 for men, and 19, 33, and 37 for women) you will have bad luck for the whole goddamn year. But it wouldn’t enter most folks’ minds to let any of this nonsense play an overt role in their secular lives. Religion is tolerated and never persecuted, but it’s always in the background. Politicians don’t play the religion card. And religion is not a part of the national conversation. It really only manifests itself during the two biggest holidays — New Year’s and Obon (day of the dead) — when most Japanese pay a visit to their local shrine or temple. But in Japan there is no god. Nevertheless, you would be hard-pressed to find a nation as spiritual as Japan. It’s all rather mystifying to say the least and often left me scratching my head.

Most health experts agree that Japanese spirituality is a big reason for their long life span and their long-game approach to life. Japan is a nation of turtles slowly walking a marathon that leads them to happiness. They call it ikigai, a combination of the Japanese words ‘iki’, which means ‘life,’ and ‘gai’, which is a broad concept related to value or worth. It’s a simple formula instilled in children and nurtured like a bonsai tree: look for your purpose in life every waking minute of every day and that quest will bring you joy.

I mentioned in a previous blog that Japan is the longest living totalitarian state in the world. But it never feels that way. There are no hostile police on every corner. In fact the few police you see are exceptionally courteous. They carry guns but pride themselves on never using them. No one ever tells you what to do, or not do. But if you live in Japan, you know the rules, and there is a deeply ingrained respect for the laws of the land — large and small. It’s like a weirdly hip and innovative Utah where all the bees in the hive work together for the greater good. The laws work. They offer prosperity and joy. So, why make waves?

And in this respect Japan is like the anti-America. Americans are ornery by nature. We question everything. And we are always ready to argue and fight. Americans are a very generous people, but we are not trusting, especially of our government. And maybe that’s justified because our government has let us down so often. So, while Americans enjoy almost total freedom and profess to live in the greatest country in the world, there is little true — or let’s say, long lasting — joy, and there is always a sense that things simply are not quite right. It’s like we all know we can do better. In Japan, they know they have.

Japan is an exotic riddle to me. Most of what I knew about the country before I visited it was framed by World War II — Japanese Kamikazes; brutal concentration camps; Army ants swarming across the Pacific, waving their red sun flags; and the nuclear nightmares of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That perception is not wrong, but it is not right. Because something truly transformative took place at the end of the war. The United States went one way while the Japanese went another. Perhaps it was just a matter of necessity. America has never seen itself destroyed by conflict except from within, during the Civil War. So, we have no idea what it’s like to wake up one day and realize that your country is dead. Japan was forced to begin again, to create a prosperous nation from virtually nothing. In many respects, they were a blank canvass. But their spirit had not been broken by defeat. And their spiritual touchstones were still alive and well. In a sense, nothing had really changed. Ikigai would, as always, determine their past, present and future.

The modern day Japan is a testimony to the power of evolution. But evolution isn’t about species fundamentally changing. It’s about adaptation. The first man walked out of Africa with dark skin and thousands of years later he was living in Siberia and had white skin. But he was still essentially the same man. The sun had changed his appearance but not his essence. And the Japanese adapted to their post-war surroundings with a slow and steady resilience. In virtually every aspect of life they chose a different path than the rest of the world — their government, their society, their culture, their family structure, their spiritual mumbo-jumbo, their transportation system, their cuisine, their work ethic, and the way they treat their fellow travelers. In almost every respect, they are different. And while they are, at the same time, much like all the rest of us, they are also better, which is good because they face a frightening list of imminent threats that will tax their ingenuity to the max: an aging population, earthquakes and tsunamis, sea level rise surrounding their island nation, diminishing natural resources, a looming China, and a bat shit crazy North Korea armed with nuclear missiles. The world is closing in.

Since returning to America I can’t stop thinking about and talking about Japan. And I can’t wait to return. We are hoping to catch the 2020 Summer Olympics. Can you imagine?

FINAL SNAPSHOTS

For those of you who are getting a bit tired of hearing just how wonderful Japan is, let me assure you that it isn’t all sunshine and roses in Japan. The three things I found the most disturbing were:

They have one of the highest suicide rates in the world. This is attributed to stress and a strict code of conduct that demands one not bring shame to one’s family.
They have one of the oldest populations in the world, which is putting tremendous pressure on the nation’s health care, housing, and retirement safety net, forcing some old people who can’t afford to live to intentionally break the law so they can survive in jail.
Their sexual inhibitions often manifest themselves in truly perverted ways.

From a practical standpoint, as a visiting tourist, the worst thing about visiting Japan is the time differential. For Inna and myself it was thirteen hours and that meant that we were wide awake at two in the morning for the first few days. And while we could get up and go play while the rest of Japan was sleeping — going to the all-night fish market or just roaming the empty streets —it was hard to keep going during the daylight hours. But we had to because a daytime nap would make it even harder to sleep at night. It was a vicious cycle that locked us into zombie mode at the beginning of our visit until we got in sync with the Asian Circadian rhythm. The best solution to this problem is to drink heavily at night and stay in Japan as long as you can.

Japan is a very safe place. Tokyo with its population of almost 14 million people is considered the safest big city in the world. There is no crime to speak of. Violent crime is unheard of and street crime is virtually non-existent. As an example, there are bikes EVERYWHERE and they are rarely locked. The reason? Because if you get caught committing a crime in Japan — even something fairly insignificant like stealing a bike — they will immediately throw your ass in jail for a very long time.

This is one of the advantages of living in a country where people follow the laws. I read the daily police report in the little town of Annapolis where I live and it’s an endless stream of stolen cars, robberies, and muggings galore every goddamn day. We should be ashamed of ourselves. The Japanese definitely would be.

And how ironic that a country synonymous with manufacturing cars has pretty much sworn them off in favor of efficient public transportation and getting around on bicycles. I was a bit surprised to find that the Japanese drive on the left side of the road like in the UK. So, they got the British automobile system and the zero tolerance drug policy of the U.S. How weird is that?

It took me a week and three cities to realize that there was no obvious public housing. That’s not to say there isn’t poverty and a large number of tiny, impoverished, Third World looking homes. But they are integrated into the mosaic of the community at large. And you don’t see any beggars or desperate people just sitting around doing nothing. In Japan, there is always a job for you and you work. Every life has a purpose. Ikigai will set you free.

That brings us to the income issue. There are, of course, very wealthy and very poor Japanese, but the vast majority are truly middle class. There isn’t the huge economic divide you find in the U.S. where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the gulf between them continues to widen. Most Japanese live comfortably — but rarely lavishly — in the middle. The average income is between $50,000-$75,000.

I have traveled many times to Scotland and consider myself well versed in the wonderful world of Scotch. It’s my drink of choice after a fine lager. And the Japanese have some outstanding beers and wines. But I never seriously considered Japan as home to tasty, scotch. Sake, sure, but not Scotch. So, I was blown away one night in Kyoto when I was chatting it up with the bartender, a young lady born in Hawaii, and she let me sample a wide range of most excellent Japanese scotch. The truth is: the Japanese have crafted some truly great Scotch! Yoichi Single Malt and Nikki Whiskey are two of the best.

When Inna and I travel, about half of our disagreements center around where we are going to eat. I think this is true with most couples. But in Japan it was never a problem because of the food. The Japanese have the best food on earth and EVERYTHING we ate was delicious. Sometimes we didn’t even know what the hell we were eating. The Japanese diet is, of course, centered around fish — often raw. So, if don’t like Sushi and Sashimi — which is, of course, true with many Americans — then Japanese cuisine will be severely limited and you have my sincerest condolences. And typical of the Japanese, who take everything to the next level, we especially liked the wet napkins they gave us before we ate, and then at the end of our meal when it was time to clean up. It is not only sanitary and incredibly civilized, but it’s also downright refreshing.

Japan has cracked the code of life. It is by far the nicest country I ever visited. But you can’t stay. As part of the strict immigration policy, the Japanese track the movement of all foreign visitors by requiring that you show your passport when you check into your hotel. So, the authorities always know where you are and the clock is always ticking. You are only allowed to remain in Japan for ninety days unless you have a temporary work visa. But if I can get a work visa — maybe as a tour guide — I would like to try living there. My wife Inna loves Japan too but would probably not want to call it home. So, like a flower in the desert, Japan will forever be rooted in my soul and will bloom there forevermore, just waiting to be watered.