Many have asked me how they can help Japan. I’ve been at something of a loss. Many cataclysms have taken place in parts of the world where perhaps how to help is more obvious, for example, by sending a check to Doctors without Borders or Americares. Japan is a little different, it’s a developed country which does not lack for most resources, but clearly, the need is great. But as a rich society, many of the international relief organizations, from the UN on down, have little presence there, since, well, when was the last time you saw CNN reporting about Japanese kids with no school or access to health care?

Today I heard about the US-Japan Council’s efforts in raising money for Japanese charities and and aid organizations, who are on the ground in Tohoku as I write this, bringing food, medicine and other comfort to the many needy. Check out http://www.usjapancouncil.org/. I’ve been to a few US-Japan Council events over the years and they have all been very interesting, well-supported and well-attended.

More to follow in the coming days……

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

Europeans used to tell me about  how they loved customer service in the US, even if the Americans providing that service didn’t know where their country was.   After three months in Japan, I think American customer service is horrible.   Lines in stores are long and nobody rushes to help.  People who work in stores look unkempt and speak in a way which would make Henry Higgins scream.     Goods are cheaper.  You get the service you pay for.

COURTESY:

The Japanese are more aware of others.   Nobody goes out unclean, insists on taking dogs everywhere, leaves a mess at the coffee bar, or yaps mindlessly on a cellphone for all the world to hear.  They also drive better.  Children tend to be disciplined and polite.

PRETENSE:

Japan is a nation without pretense.    I lived in a very fashionable neighborhood in Tokyo, and I felt pretty sloppy walking around in my old clothes, but I never felt bad walking into a store.   On the other hand, my first Espresso at Intelligentsia in Venice on the day I return was a cross between a Steve Martin caricature and one of those moments in Sex at the City where one of the characters actually has to do something that the rest of us do.   The people at the counter were too busy being beautiful to move their customers along, and the customers were too busy with their cellphones, dogs, friends, and highly specialized drinks to care that their was anyone behind them.   See earlier entries about customer service and courtesy.

GENERAL EFFICIENCY:

Trips to the bank and post office back here in LA were simply painful.   Endless lines (bank and PO), filthy lobby (PO), unhelpful clerks (bank), stupid customer service scripts (“how may I provide you with excellent service today?”-bank).   Oh, and if you are so fat you can’t get up off your chair to grab my package off the counter, maybe you shouldn’t work in the Post Office.  Obesity is a choice, not a handicap, and it is killing us.

TELEVISION:

Japanese TV is mostly pretty stupid or as exciting as watching paint dry.  You don’t need to speak any Japanese to pick that up.   My Japanese isn’t good enough to watch TV, and probably never will be good enough.  So I didn’t watch TV much, with the exception of baseball and movies on this one channel that didn’t dub them.   I got my news from CNN International and BBC World.   CNN International is a completely different animal from the US CNN.  CNN International actually reports news.   Anyway, the long and short of it is that I didn’t watch television very much.  And now that I’m home, the few shows I used to watch regularly no longer have any appeal and I really don’t understand why anyone would stay home to watch TV if they had anything better to do.   Even if people don’t  have anything better to do, can’t people find something better to do than watch just about anything that’s on US television?

INFRASTRUCTURE:

I will leave the Red State-Blue State-Left-Right-Fox News-NY Times discussion to others.  The bottom line is simple.  Our roads, bridges, airports, sewers, etc are third-rate.   It has come to this point because Americans have put up with it and would rather complain and blame than do something about it.   I’m sure each reader here has their own reason for why our infrastructure sucks.   I would suggest this one:  “The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in ourselves”.   I dare say the Japanese would never put up with such poor standards.

Then there are the little things:   Japan drives on the other side of the street.  I almost got killed crossing the road here on my first day back.  I think my brother saved my life.    When I order food in a restaurant, I dip my head in a sort of mini-bow when I’m done.   Chopsticks are now “hashi”.    When I hailed a cab at Singapore Airport I stood and waited for the back door to open (see earlier entry about taxis).

Oh, and I forgot about tipping.  In Japan, you don’t tip.  There is no “service charge”, or “couvert” either.  You simply pay the bill, which includes compensation for the employees.   The idea that I am responsible for the direct compensation of someone else’s employees makes no sense.

AND IT’S NOT ALL BAD:

I enjoyed going to the supermarket here.   Japanese markets have very little foreign foods, and many of the ingredients one might need to make a favorite dish aren’t readily available.    Often, items like salad dressings are heavily “Japanized”, which to most Westerners means “I’ll live without it”.   It’s virtually impossible to buy a whole chicken at a Japanese supermarket, or meats on the bone as we know it.    I missed sparkling water.  It’s not for sale everywhere, and often it’s imported and outrageously expensive.    Japan is not a diverse society.  Diversity has its joys.

And I think even my brother’s cat is happy to see me.

Below is a photo of sunset, December 27th, Tokyo-Narita International Airport.

I thought that the prospect of coming back to the US would focus some thoughts about Japan but actually it was visiting Singapore and Hong Kong that triggered some thinking：

＊This is a unique culture in Asia and the world. The way they do things is just different. Sometimes it‘s　interesting, sometimes maddening. Usually there is some logic to it maddening. Usually there is some logic to it. Italians will carry on about how they are all different fromeach other, and French and Italians will carry on about how different they are from each other, but they`re more like distant relatives.   They just think they`re different. The Japanese actually are different from just about every Ｏｔｈｅｒ nation out there. As one of the guys on one of the JapanBall trips said; “Hey, you know, Japan, it`s like a whole other country”.

*It`s easy to understand how the stereotypes prevalent in and among different societies in Asia come from.

*Our role in this region is changing. Our place in their minds is changing, and the influence we think we have is not where and in the manner we think it is．

A simple week outside of Japan, in two other places which I know pretty well, has made it clear to me why I`ve always been drawn to Japan and why these days I feel at ease in this　place. Without going into great detail here, who I am and what I am works well in the Japanese scheme of things. And these days, even my minimal abilities in the Japanese language is something akin to meeting the Japanese halfway.

Many more thoughts are rushing around my head right now, but I`ll leave this entry as it is. Stay tuned. Lots more writing about Japan from back home in Los Angeles.  And besides, Narita has an observation deck.

This will probably be my last entry from Singapore unless I find something really unique.

Today I went out to Changi. Changi is not just he name of Singapore’s legendary if underused airport, but the place where British and Commonwealth POWs were held after Singapore fell to the Japanese in February, 1942. The surrender at Singapore was the worst military defeat in the history of Britain. There is a museum at Changi, just outside the airport fences,  which documents the Japanese occupation of Singapore and the suffering of the POWs and Singaporean populations. Cut and past this link for some information: http://www.changimuseum.com/

I don’t know if you have noticed but I am something of a Japan-o-phile. It’s important for people like me to visit places like Changi.

Going from Japan to Singapore via Hong Kong in as exercise in sensory overload which I will recount later. But for now, here are some new pictures from the past week in Tokyo. There are others which I will post later.

Today CNN ran an article on its website and had a brief video report on the TV news, or I should say, CNN International did. The American CNN was probably too busy reporting the latest high school basketball scores and what Sarah Palin had for breakfast.  The difference between what CNN shows outside the US and what it shows inside the US is huge and could be the subject of another entry or several.

So today there was a CNN story about Tokyo Cat Cafes. I’ve never been to one but they are something of a rage or fad here. You go to a cafe, you read or talk with your friends, and there are cats around for you to play with or who simply keep you company. There are also cafe’s where you can pay a fee to play with certain cats. I’m not quite sure how they make the cats play with you but that’s not my problem. Here is a link to the CNN article. Cut and paste:

http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/drink/tokyo-cat-cafes-006992?hpt=Mid

Cats have captured the Japanese imagination for quite some time. Even though the Akita is the national dog, and Hachiko is probably the most famous canine this side of Clifford and Snoopy (also very big here), cats seem to occupy a revered place. Hiroshige, the famous woodblock artist, created several works featuring cats. So did other artists. Some examples are on this page:

http://www.delmars.com/cats/gallery/catsart4.htm

White cats are supposed to be lucky and placid. But black cats, unlike in the Western mind, do not have a negative image nor are they considered spooky in any way. In fact, one of Japan’s best known brands is Yamato Shipping and Package Delivery, a kind of Japanese UPS, uses a black cat in it’s logo.

And of course there is the “welcome cat” or maneki-nekko. Nekko is the Japanese word for ”cat”. The cat, one paw held high, is beckoning, the another paw holds two gold coins. The origin of the image is not entirely clear and I have heard different versions of the story behind the friendly feline in question. Many Japanese businesses and homes have either a welcome cat porcelain statuette or a flag featuring a maneki-nekko. The cat is said to be welcoming customers and bringing good luck to the business:

Classic maneki-nekko.

My theory on all this is that Japan has always transported grain up and down this island chain, and has imported grain for centuries. Nations which store grains have rodent problems. Cats can deal pretty effectively with rodents.  In my mind goes further than any legend to explain the feline friendly Japanese.

Aoyama Crossing Police Box (Koban)

The subject came up the other day in an oddball context that I won’t get into here, but the way Japan is policed and the police culture came up.

In many ways this country is the most strictly policed of any free country. They are everywhere, and regularly admonish people for smoking where they shouldn’t, scold schoolkids for running in the streets and crossing against the light. And don’t even dream of taking your car out with a broken turn signal or with faulty exhaust or emissions system. You will be ticketed and cars can be impounded for such offenses. At the same time, a country with such strongly instilled social and cultural norms may not need all this policing, but that’s another story.

In addition to having typical large police stations, every neighborhood in Tokyo (loosely defined) has a police substation or two, called Koban. The police do drive around in cars and patrol on motorcycles but probably about half the police in Tokyo are stationed at Koban. In addition to walking around the neighborhoods on police or riding bicycles, their job is to take down reports of stolen or missing property, dogs, cats, and burglaries. A detective investigating a case will always consult the local Koban officers first for what they might know beyond what was found at the crime scene. They can be the eyes and ears of a area.

But they are also there to help. In a society with very low crime rates, where a lost wallet or umbrella is likely to be found and turned, the Police help with that. Japanese addresses are complicated and often not exactly logical (no house numbers, for example), so people, including yours truly, often head to the Koban if they can’t find a shop or an address. And the cops know their neighborhoods. And they never turn away someone asking for help. It is their job to help you find the dry cleaners’.

In the US we’ve been discussing “community-based policing” for years now. The police rank-and-file and others have often questioned its utility. The Japanese Police, I think, would argue that there is no alternative, and if you think it’s beneath you to get out of your car and deal with people then you should consider other employment.

On another note, since this discussion is also raging in the US, I’ll mention this:

As a foreigner I am required to be able to identify myself and prove I am in Japan legally at all times. I can be stopped at any time by any police officer and have to produce my passport or, if I were living here permanently, my Alien Registration Card. If I don’t, I risk being detained at the local Koban until my identity can be established. Japanese people are also required to be able to identify themselves at all times, although for them a Driver’s License will probably suffice or some other piece of official ID. To some this may sound strict, but I will share this story: My friend Paul (British) was stopped by the police in Ikebukuro station, and, having produced his passport, was then asked where he was going. He said he was going to his Kendo class. That earned him 4 new friends at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. And they actually apologized to him when they asked to see identification.

The pictures is of a typical local police sub-station or box.  It’s one of the more subtle ones.  It’s on my block.