Reflections on Japan

(Bob:) I had a variety of preconceived notions about Japan from my two previous visits, with both being business (reporting) trips in the mid- to late-1980s. With two exceptions, those notions tended to be reconfirmed.

First, the Japanese are very polite and friendly to tourists. The country is clean, well-organized and extremely efficient. It was amazing to see no trace of the mid-1990s earthquake in Kobe that killed thousands and leveled major parts of the city. New Orleans won’t look anywhere near that good 15 years after Katrina.

On the negative side, it scares me little to see a culture that is so conformist that people would never jay-walk, even after standing at a traffic light for several minutes with no traffic in sight, and they say they feel guilty and won’t take all their vacations because the people left in the office might have to do a little extra work to make up for the vacationer. Now that’s really scary, but maybe I watched too many WWII movies as a child.

The two biggest changes I noticed concern public restrooms and women in the work force. Twenty years ago the public restrooms, as in many countries, were to be avoided. Now, the women’s at least, I am told, are worth a tourist stop, with multiple buttons on the toilets controlling multiple interesting functions, including heated seats. I’ll let Luana go into detail on this -- perhaps in private after the trip. These bathrooms were a great topic of conversation among the women on the ship.

Second, women in the work force have really increased in the last 20 years according to a lengthy conversation I had with a woman tour guide. But most of the jobs have been “temporary,” no pension benefits and subject to firing at any time. This has been a big change in Japan as lifetime employment is phased out. This has also given women economic freedom, and they are much less likely to get married. Some 30 to 40 percent of women aged 30 are single and for men the figure is even higher.

The tour guide said women don’t want the hassle and cost of marriage and kids unless the guy is really well off and not the first son, since the first son has to take care of his mother. The current population projection is that Japan will lose 25 percent of its population by 2050 because people are having so few kids.

Japan is also very expensive, probably always among the top three countries in the world in cost of living and much more expensive than the U.S. The average cost of a home is 10 times the average annual income, and food and transportation are also high-priced: upscale Kobe beef restaurants in Kobe have $200 and up dinner entrees.

Tours in Japan, other than the extremely important one to Hiroshima, invariably involve four things: Shinto temples (the first one is interesting, the second one much less so, etc.) Buddhist temples (ditto), old Japanese-style castles (ditto) and going up in a tall building to photograph what’s below. (Buildings are capped at about 70 stories because of earthquake concerns.) The Japanese seem to think that even though their mile after mile after mile of cities are crammed together and ugly they will become photogenic from 70 stories up. They don’t. All the American brands are here, including AM/PM and 7/11 stores on every block and McDonald’s on every other block (They serve hot dogs in Japan, according to their signs.) There is a giant ferris wheel in every port.

All that said, I really enjoyed my visit to the temple city of Nara, which has the world’s largest wood structure serving as a Buddhist temple. It’s truly spectacular, and on the grounds are hundreds of miniature deer, which you can buy food to feed. They are quite aggressive at pursuing the food and trying to take it out of your pocket, but it’s a lot of fun and provides great photo ops.

Now I’m really looking forward to arriving in China tomorrow. It will all be new and exciting. Luana says I can’t wear my “Free Tibet” tee shirt. What a killjoy.