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Published: January 30th 2013
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Plastic food display
This is an under appreciated Japanese art form, one that has made its way to China, reversing centuries of cultural tropes going in the other direction Tokyo Blog
(As always, there are more photos than show on the first page, click on photos button or double click on any photo to get a larger image and access to all the photos.)
Although we have been in Hawaii for the past six days, some recording of our Tokyo experience is in order.
The motivator for coming here was so that Ellen could make contact with labor scholars and activists here, hoping to nurture their interest in developing relations with their counterparts in China. Originally, there had been some expectation that they would visit Chia this past fall, but t
he political dispute between their respective governments made such meetings ill-advised. The silver lining in all this was that it afforded us an opportunity to return to Japan, after a 12 year hiatus and visit the Tokyo area for the first time (we have both been reading much of Murakami's work and it was a delight to identify the parts of Tokyo he describes.)
I will leave it to Ellen to describe her success here, but I did witness several of the events, including a lecture at Meiji University, a meeting with important occupational health and safety researchers/clinicians, and
School girls
The private school students wear uniforms, some of them with heavy German influence, others English a sit down with members of the communist affiliated teachers' union, and can say without question that she made important progress in achieving her goals. For six days she was kept busy in a series of conversations while I took the time to wander in Tokyo, getting to museums, electronic superstores, and meeting my requirement for a daily meal of either sushi or tempura (or both!).
Our journey here was complicated by the presence of a rare snowstorm in Tokyo, a city graced with palm and orange trees (who knew!) While approaching the airport from Beijing we were diverted to Osaka and when nearing that western Japan city were informed that Osaka was also closed so we would need to “stay put” until something developed. After making lazy loops in the sky for about another hour, we landed in Osaka, where we stayed onboard for about 90 minutes (to prevent a riot among the mostly Chinese passengers, lunch boxes were quickly distributed.) We then took off again for Tokyo, and 40 minutes later our bumpy descent was interrupted with the sudden spooling up of the engines, signaling that we were once again climbing; the announcement, as all of the
Imitative Japan
In the early days, the Japanese auto industry's output was mostly copies of European designs, anyone see the orignal Fiat 500 here? ad hoc ones on this flight were only in Chinese, but a nearby passenger informed us that we were headed back to Osaka, where we landed 90 minutes after or departure. Offered an opportunity to bail, we did and along with our Japanese dwelling America friend, we took the Shinkansen to Tokyo. Finally, 19 hours after leaving or Beijing hotel, we arrived at our Tokyo lodgings.
The
pollution in Beijing had been unbelievable and coming to Tokyo was a dramatic improvement, with the moon and stars visible at night. Much else about Tokyo stood in contrast to the Chinese experience; cars yielded right of way to pedestrians, there was an orderly wait for people to exit subway cars before entering passengers proceeded, and I was able to walk down the streets without body contact. Our friend and host, Matt, explained that the overriding rule in Japan in to cause no disturbance to others around you. This is backed up by a full set of specifics; for example, one afternoon we went to to public bath (delightful with a series of indoor and outdoor baths of different temperatures and mineral content) and were cautioned to avoid splashing water on any of our neighboring
Rare imported car
Almost all the cars are Japanese brands, the only eceptions being German brands. Gas is expensive (tax is over $2.50 a gallon) and engines larger than 2000 cc are heavily taxed. We saw many electric assisted bicycles on the streets (and sidewalks.) bathers as we sat on the low stools where we washed thoroughly before entering the pools. Other examples abound, no one talks on cell phones on public conveyances (we were even admonished by a conductor when we were quietly conversing in the space between cars on the Shinkansen), careful queuing up when waiting for service, and strict adherence to the “walk/don't walk” indicators by pedestrians (even with a street empty of vehicles, people waited patiently for the proper signal.)
Originally, the plan had been to take three days to travel to nearby locations, but we were so taken with the Tokyo environment, we decided to stay put. By this time, we had moved from the hotel where we first lodged, to the home of Matt, his wife Sakiko, and son Ricky. They kindly offered to have us continue living with them, in their small but delightful home. This was the highlight of our visit; we had wide-ranging conversations on various topics, ranging from the political situations in places around the world, the nature of mental illness, and aircraft that place their engines in the tail section. (Sakiko is a trained Alexander technique practitioner, Matt is a labor activist and
Labor colleagues
These were veteran labor activists who invited us to lunch, nice tatami room resto. teacher and Ricky shares my interest in transportation equipment.) We look forward to seeing them again, they make annual summer trips to the US and we hope to be able to host them in the near future.
One interest I had for this visit was to better understand Japan's 20
th Century history, beginning with its early wars with China and Russia (actually in the 19
th Century) and continuing through the present. It was with the late 19
th Century wars the Japan became an aggressor nation, going on to seize territory from China and occupying Korea. In this fashion, Japan was imitating the treatment it had received by Western powers when it was forcibly “opened” in 40 years earlier. From this time on, Japan sought to extend its influence in the region, hoping to deny encroaching Western influences. This formed the basis of the ideology guiding Japan up until 1945 and its defeat by American forces.
In Japan, what in the West is known as World War II or more specifically the Pacific War, was known as the Great East Asian War and was depicted as an effort to free the people of Asia from Western domination. This nomenclature
Ellen and friend
Matt was our guide and host for our stay in Tokyo, a great guy! was banned by the US occupying forces but never dropped out of use and is once again used. Some of the translations seen at museums gave preference to one or the other names for the conflict, depending on the language used. Of course, history is written by the victors and the narrative of the West prevails, even when it ignores acts that can only be described as war crimes committed by the victors. The
firebombing of Tokyo (March, 1945) is an event rarely discussed in the US but stands out as a brutal attack on civilians, with as many immediate deaths as suffered by the civilians of Hiroshima five months later. As Ellen and I thought about it, the narrative of World War 2 that we grew up with had little room for the war against Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki excepted), focusing mostly on the anti-Nazi efforts.
Japan was never the one man show of Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Soviet Union; Hideki Tojo was the leader of a militarist cabal that had steadily increased its dominance in public policy matters and sought to assure Japanese access to resources in its East Asian neighborhood.
(Tojo was forced to resign after the tide Smoking ban
Many communities within Tokyo have banned outdoor smoking. What confused me was the presence of smoking in restaurants and bars, sometimes is segregated areas, sometimes not. The rate of smoking among men is 45%, women at 14% of the war against the Americans turned against Japan. One other interesting fact about this executed war criminal was that when he served as commander of Japanese troops in occupied China it wa
s under his orders that European Jews were offered sanctuary from Nazism.) In its expansionist polices in Asia, Japan was competing with other imperialist powers, the US in the Philippines, the French in Indochina, the Dutch in Indonesia, and the British in India, Hong Kong and Singapore. Japan was (and is) dependent on imported resources and felt that access to those resources were jeopardized by the surrounding Western colonies. There is an eerie echo of this in the current situation regarding China, another Asian power coming into its own. Also dependent on imports, and surrounded by US military bases and naval forces that endanger that needed access.
In summary, in Japan the war was regarded as necessary to secure access to resources and markets and the Western powers were in an imperialist competition with them, seeking to dominate that region themselves.
OK, this is sayanora (and Aloha) to all!
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