Socrates once said that an un-examined life is not worth living. Since my recent Japan trip was certainly worth going then it deserve some re-examination.
My flight transited in Frankfurt for a couple of hours so I got a chance to observe its airport which is very clean and high-tech. Also worth noting that both Japan and Germany has some similar characteristics in discipline and accuracy beside fateful collaboration in military. Japan modeled and get training to build much of her military from Prussia during Meiji Reformation.
The plane from Frankfurt was full with Japanese and when I arrived in Osaka the line for Japan nationality was full while the line for other nationality was practically empty. Interestingly when I was asked about my profession (I said PhD student) he said “but the invitation letter say that you are a professor.” Hmm maybe it is standard procedure to address conference speaker in invitation letter as professor, but nevertheless I appreciate the wishes.
I was told that with isolated location (you can’t do much country hoping from Japan than, say, Italy) and the high price of living. A pity, since I later found Japan to very captivating. I was quite happy to find “selamat datang” as the third row welcome messages after Japanese and English.
The luggage collection was staffed with an old man, every time a luggage slightly off-centre or getting to close to each other he will come and fix it. I was reminded to a passage in Lee Kuan Yew’s biography on his remark about how Japanese has tendency to push things for perfection.
After getting the bus to my hotel I looked for lunch in the small shopping mall nearby. I was quite happy to find a bento (lunch box) with chicken katsu, my Hokben fave, and some veggie for 500 yen. It’s only slightly more expensive than Hokben in Jakarta and taste much better.
If you wondering about the book beside my first meal in Japan. It’s a James Clavell, one of my favorite authors, with Japan as setting. The title is Gaijin, meaning stranger/foreigner in Japanese. It belong a classmate in Italy that I borrowed for months but never got to pass first chapter. I think it is appropriate, if a bit corny, to fill my lengthy travel by reading Gaijin as Gaijin.
The night was filled with reading book and watching TV. It’s interesting to watch anime and news as I can relate them to Japanese society. There was news (it has English subtitle) about a Japanese baseball player in top team in US and about people’s furor about a blade found in a canned food. The director of the company looked very embarrassed and he apologized repeatedly. I thing it might reflect a bit about US centric view, baseball only introduced rather recently in Japan, and very high concern for safety and precision. It’s very Japanese to conquer a US baseball team but very un-Japanese to be have such incidents.
The conference went very well. I received very good feedback from top US professors and I got many new colleagues, young PhD/researcher with the attitude to take on the world of academia. If I had doubt about Asian next generation of economist, it’s no longer there. I’m sure I will meet some of them again in the future.
After the conference I traveled all over Japan (covering more than 1000 km) from Fukouka on island south of Honshu (the main island in Japan) to Tokyo and meet up woth old friends. It's good that I bought the Japan Rail Pass which enable unlimited travel on main intercity train and some intercity transport. Shinkansen sure is quick (more than 200 km per hour) and very comfortable. Some of the train even have silent section where there will be no announcement on the next station since they want the passenger to have more peace and quiet (no, there were ringtone heard). Kyoto is particularly amazing. For centuries it is the seat of Japan Emperor with deep history of tact vengeance, and still the cultural capital of Japan now.
One thing that strike is how the polite Japanese are. Sumimasen (excuse me), ohaiyo (good day) and arigato gozaimase (thanks) are ubiquitous. One tram conductor in Nagasaki even said arigato to every passenger leaving the tram, and the other tram/train conductor are not so far behind. If you get lose or need direction, just ask (better of you have map to point at) and anyone you asked will try to help you. Their English may not good and some body language might be involved but you’ll get the point. I wrote more on Japanese queuing habit and the probable institutional/historical causes here.
Japan is a very rich country (second largest economy in the world) with modern corporations and cutting edge technology. But on the other hand, I watch strong family ties, spotted kimono wearing female and met young people at religious temple pray devotedly. The modern and the ancient are living comfortably side by side. I find it very fascinating before drinking water from a blessed fountain in a shrine they are required to clean the plate with ultraviolet light.
Another striking point on Japanese is how orderly and conformist they are. Almost all working man wear dark suit, almost all mobile phone have similar clam shell look, almost everybody eat Japanese food and almost all young girl has a dash of highlight in the hair. But once a week in Harajuku Street some Tokyo youngster shed clear of dress-code conformity like it never there before. But it’s better to be dress-up occasionally than going for drug or becoming sociopath.
I spent my last night in the capsule hotel in Osaka since the earliest Shinkansen from Tokyo would be too late. Its more comfortable and spacious than it seem. After you put the luggage and shoe in the locker downstairs you will get the complimentary pajama and goes up stair for your capsule. The large bathroom is fresh and has many individual cells and they provide towels and disposable toothbrush. The hotel was quite full and I was thinking if any of them works in Osaka and only going back to their faraway home in the weekend.
As I close my eye my mind wondered. Why would one need a grand accommodation when one capsule is sufficient? Why need bed when tatami /mattrass can suffice? Why indulge in sugary drink when sugarless green tea is better and healthier? Why treat oneself with animal meat that’s inefficient used of energy (90% of their meal turn to heat) when hijiki (Japanese seaweed) with soya sauce is already very tasty. How much material things do I really need to live? It was a moment of Zen clarity...
Note: Click on photos to enlarge
