Japan and the observation…!
Well as some of you might know last December 17Th I went for a 3 week holiday to Japan. This has been by far one of the more impressive, fun but also confusing experiences in my (almost 28 years of) life. The impressive part can of course be attributed to the fact that I come from a small but rich and protected country (the Netherlands). The fact that I hail from Holland (as we call our country) usually elicits the expression “Sugoi ne!” which loosely translated means “thats cool isnt it”.
I have no real opinion about it, I figure that if you live in a country where not everything is socialised and taken care of by the huge amount of taxes we pay and a decent system of rules and regulations that you would be left with either a scary free fall life which might have its own thrills or your in a sorry state that we all are forced in more and more by “the man“. A friend of mine instead felt sorta trapped in the oiled machine that is our country and left.
Watch his blog about his new living at: www.jalanrajawali.web-log.nl
All I know is that Japan isn’t the free open space where the American (for lack of better description) is to be had. Now am I used that the government sets some rules and regulates some particulates in Life but not to the extend that it is in Japan. To be frank it scared the Hell out of me at times. Its not really big brother that is watching you, but the power play is much more in the way that it used to be felt in the Sixties, the man seems to be everywhere. Its you boss that tells you what to do….and because all your colleagues also are stuck in the same treadmill they too will try to force you into the pattern. And Average Japanese Male might work 10 to 12 hours a day, and women postpone a relationship with the other sex for working and career. Respect and stature is everywhere. You address and elder differently then you would your class mate, but your class mate differently then your siblings. A store-clerk bows to his costumer because the fact that the costumer is paying makes him higher in the food chain. Even if these things seem logical ( I to am brought up with the believe that an elder is is to be respected and that service is the better way then disservice) the way these things are enacted feels a bit like groveling to me. But it works. Japan is to be considered one of the most productive societies on the planet, every employer goes to work on time and doesn’t show up late. You cant make up a story of train delay or long lines at the metro check in, because everything goes with a flow and efficiency that borders on the paranormal. Impressive indeed.
Tech wise Japan is top notch. But everything is done with a precision and perfection that makes everything buzz with a feeling of activity. The Japanese are polite, quiet and stylish. The only thing in all this what I missed was the human element. Sometimes it felt as if you where surrounded by automatons. A full subway is so packed that people stand close within each others personal little bubble, but nobody makes Eye contact, rules of no cellphone in the silent sections are obeyed, but no body smiles at one another. It was a little creepy at best. Restaurants and establishments are a direct contrast to this, the store clerks yell their on-sale goods with out pause to their costumers and the student refilling the stocks in the back apologises to every costumer that passes him that he is working but ready to help. Eating isn’t a silent matter either, when you enter a Restaurant you are greeted loudly, and every costumer that leaves is loudly thanked for the business and his contribution. And to give a tip is totally offensive because your saying “well your service was good but use this extra money to make it even better will you!?”
one thing I couldn’t really comprehend was that after 10 pm the streets where deserted ins some areas, as if everyone when to bed before Jay Leno (the tonight show) and David Letterman. Personally I stay up until the big chinned man is replaced by the red haired freckled Irish man Conan O’Brien (the late night night show) and after I might even go out still. But the Japanese in the smaller cities didn’t do this it seemed. Also changes are that you will be stuck with no service or transportation during the Xmas, holidays and new year days. Like the didn’t want to make money on the extra income. In westernized parts of the world the month December is the month that makes or breaks the fiscal year, but in Japan you might be faced with the fact that Internet banking and travel services are closed. Weird indeed.
But the weirdest to me was still the fact which I also found in other Asian and Pacific countries like the Philippines, Australia and Indonesia, is the American system of Utilitarian distribution. As a European I am used that Cities are build like a circle….the center is the head of the beast where everything happens, and throughout the rest smaller pockets of shops and malls are located for the more generalised items, the center provides more specialised Shops and establishments, and seldom will it happen that you need to travel far and wide to get what you wanted. In the more American like System every pocket that is centered around a Mega mall is a self sufficient system, of governmental buildings and utilities. And the city center seems to be eliminated. In a way you are told well this is what you get, better make your life so that it will fit with it. Now I am am a person with tastes and likes that aren’t always the same as the mass, and in Asia that means travel, and a lot of it to get what you wanted, to have the experiences you liked. Very inconvenient to me and not at all economical, if you consider that travel is expensive and it might lead to loss in this way. Comes to show that the American system once again comes down to less then efficient.
Aaah well, I guess that I am spoiled beyond measure and yes maybe the Japanese where Right…I am from a Cool country called Horanda!f!
To view my pictures from Japan go to my flickr page at: www.flickr.com/photos/themainentity
Or alternatively join me at my Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1011511010) pages.
Well my name is Bart Ros sometimes also Know as themainentity.
