Japan Q & A

I got an e-mail from Jason Caskey asking about my trip to Japan. I answered him in e-mail then I decided to throw the answers over to the blog.

Question #1. How was the trip?
1. The trip was awesome! The grandest part was being with my magnificent son. I LOVE Japan. There is NO trash. And, for an entire week, whenever I saw a price for taxi, food, beverage, or goofy souvenir, I paid "no" tax and left no tip. The price is the price. Tipping is insulting and the taxes are built into the service or product pricing. That is pretty nice. There is no guessing and virtually no math -- the yen is worth about a penny -- around 100 to a dollar -- it fluctuates daily, but that's close.

Question #2. What was the most interesting thing you experienced?
2. The most interesting thing I experienced -- actually puzzling -- was that the kitchen and bath in Aaron's BRAND NEW apartment building was sort of primitive. You had to stoke up the gas for the hot water. The built-in oven is smaller than my toaster. The washer IS NOT EQUIPPED with a hot water connection. There is no dryer. Few people have them. I know EVERYTHING is built for thrift and conservation. I knew it would be plain and austere, but I never guessed it would be THIS plain and austere. And Aaron said his apartment is quite large compared to most. I mean this is the highest tech country in the world, but I found out that is pretty much for EXPORT -- not for the folks, unless you are quite wealthy. I talked to several of Aaron's friends, some who have been there for years, and they agree that life for the regular folks in Japan is a basic, plain-jane existence. Now, there is nothing poor about it, and these people do not feel deprived in the least. But, if you want hot water, it doesn't just come tumbling out of the faucet. You have to sort of call up the gas line, then you must turn off the gas after you are washed up. That is puzzling to me. But, I did talk for quite a while to one of the AET's that Aaron knows. She is from Australia. I was marveling about this complete lack of hot water for the washer, and she said, "we never used hot water to wash at home." So, now I'm thinking maybe it's not just Japan. Now, of course, we stayed in two beautiful hotels on our travels, one in Tokyo, and one in Kyoto. The hotels have instant hot water, but these are westernized big-time. I'm not talking about hotels, I'm talking about the way people actually live everyday. Tourist don't see that. It's extremely interesting. I'm just saying that here, even the poorest people in the projects have the hot water spigot ready to go.

Question #3. The biggest culture shock?
3. The biggest culture shock was the sun comes up REALLY early -- Jase, you would love it. The sun rise was like at 3 or 4am. So at 5 it looks like 9:30am here. VERY disconcerting for the week-long visitor. I never adjusted to the time. I stayed on Texas time the whole week. So, when I got home I wasn't tired or irritable -- I just jumped right back into my every day routine. On the day I returned home, we got to the house from the airport at 6:00pm, scarfed down a burger -- I was ravenous for some TEXAS beef -- and went straight to an Arlington High football game. We got back home at 11:00pm. It was great!

Question #4. Your favorite thing about the Japanese?
4. My favorite thing about the Japanese is their extreme respect for the very old and for the very new. It was very apparent in the care they give their magnificent ancient temples and shrines. None of that is swept aside in the name of progress. And the new is shiny and clean, carefully maintained. I didn't see anyone sick. I love that -- and that is something I ALWAYS notice. There were lines and crowds. We were on buses and trains, but everyone was apparently healthy. No one serving food coughed on my sushi. I never heard a sneeze. Actually, I was the sickest person there. I was allergic. They go REALLY heavy on the feather pillows and comforters. Give me synthetics, any day, thank you very much. And, they have a ton of flora and fauna. That surprised me. I never thought about Japan being lush and green -- verdant -- but it was. It was very beautiful, and, blessedly, I had my Allegra 180. Otherwise, I would have died and Aaron would have had to ship my body home. They cremate everyone there -- no space, you see. So, unless Scotty approved lighting me up and sprinkling me over the Japanese flora and the fauna, there would be shipping charges involved. I briefly wondered if American Airlines lets you substitute your seat ticket for cargo space?

Question #5. Your least favorite thing about the Japanese?
5. My least favorite thing about the Japanese is my lack of their language -- it REALLY keeps them very separate from the world -- and they like that. I hate to say this, but there is some racism towards "foreigners" -- not necessarily Americans, just any foreigners. Aaron and I didn't encounter it on our week of traveling, but he encounters it occasionally in the work-a-day world. The people in Japan drive like maniacs -- I can verify that. Aaron lives in a big city and he has gotten used to people speeding right up to stop lights, then suddenly stopping. A couple of weeks ago, he was standing with his bike at a busy traffic circle and some blue-collar types in a huge crane truck sped up to him so fast that he seriously thought he was about to be killed. He said his life truly flashed before him. Within inches of Aaron they slammed on the brakes and he looked up at them in the cab of the truck and they were dying laughing. Aaron said he instantly thought of the way a black man may have felt in southern smalltown, USA when the same thing happened to him. It's racism both places.
One day, as Aaron and I were on a tour bus driving through Tokyo he was gazing out of the window and he said, "Mom, I'm counting."
I said, "What are you counting?"
He said, "I'm counting foreigners."
We were driving through one of the biggest cities in all of the world. As we crawled through late afternoon traffic, there were scores of people walking through every intersection we crossed -- as in any big city.
I said, " Oh, how many have you counted?"
He said, "Zero. Try it."
So, I started paying attention to all the people walking through all the intersections and I NEVER saw a single person except Japanese that afternoon. The only foreigners for miles around, apparently, were the dozen or so right there on the bus with me! This is a nation made up of people who all look alike and think alike -- completely OPPOSITE from our notion of community.

Question #6. Finally, is Diggs going to come home with a lovely young woman in a kimono?
6. Here is what Mr. Diggs says about the possibility of coming home with a lovely young woman in a kimono -- because I have been asked this question several times, so I asked him.

He has a few basic parameters:
1. She would have to be Christian. That's knocking out 95% of the entire population right there.
2. She would have to have a VERY EXCELLENT command of the English language and want to live in the USA. That knocks out probably 90-95%.
3. She has to be fine. According to Aaron, that knocks out about 90% of the women.

So, we are working with some very tiny probabilities, here. Stranger things have happened, so we don't rule it out, but it doesn't look terribly likely from here.