Japan, the country of Totoro, the country of Princess Mononoke, the country that gave us The Departed and its soul haunting music, the country of Sakura flowers and many a romantic notions in my head - I think only the Native American/ First Nations people are held in more romance in my heart.
Taking the bus from the airport, to the tiny town of Tsukuba, the humidity, the paddy fields, reminded me very much of my grandparents' home in Negombo. It took us almost 2hrs by bus to go the 40km, and that is actually worse than Sri Lanka - so there goes my first stereotype of Japan - its lightning speed transportation.
Japanese food - what can I say - if I loved it before I adore it now. Udon, shabu-shabu, okonomiyaki, tankatsu (kaki fry), sashimi, miso-soup…. I had the good fortune of having two ceremonial Japanese meals - the best was with a friend, but of course my phone's battery had died on that day and I had told myself I am going out to eat with a friend, I am not being a Japanese tourist, so I am not taking my camera. "You have your eyes, you have your memory", my friend reminded me. And anyway I would not have been able to capture the extreme politeness blended into the ceremony. "In Japan", my friend said, "food is of two parts : the food itself and the presentation in the vessels".
This friend actually drove an hour to come and see me - and he is someone I met at a conference 2 years ago. I did not expect us to meet, but because he was on my Facebook and we communicate a bit through that, and eventually I would put stuff up there about Japan, I didn't want to have gone to Japan and not told him that I was there. So I wrote to him saying I am here for a very short time - he offered to take me out to dinner one of the days and of course I was more than happy - I was not feeling like I was in Japan too much what with all the non-Japanese of my experiment around me, so I thought this was a prefect opportunity. I am always surprised how I can sometimes talk so much with people that I seemingly don't know much - but it is not something that happens all the time -how does that saying go "you can not clap with one hand". At this point I must also say that this bad-American-tourist paranoia has been beaten into my head by my physicist friends who strive to be different, most of them can speak some Japanese and read a lot of katakana and hiragana and go into extreme lengths to not do offensive things. So I was carefully using my chopsticks and placing them properly on the chopstick rest, while my Japanese friend would just leave them in the bowl - the restaurant owners would later comment on this. I also learned how to say it is very good in Japanese and said this to the cooks. All this having impressed the cook, he stood at the door as we left, bowing to us, watching us as we drove away - how very sweet.
During dinner we talked about lots of things - physics obviously, the nuclear reactors in Japan, and also Japanese tradition, and women's role in their culture. When it was time to pay, we split the bill - it is what I expected, because it was expensive and we are both poor postdocs; but I didn't want to fight my way to it - it was my friend who suggested we split. But later my friend said, "this is a very traditional Japanese restaurant, they expected me to pay for you, because I am the man"… I would have gladly slipped my share under the table for him, and let him pretend that he was "the man"! I am not on a mission to bust Japanese traditions, and sometimes I actually can find them beautiful.
Also I met another friend from grad school who now works with KEK, who is also Japanese - this was quite accidental as I didn't know he was there now - but we just ran into each other at the canteen. He later sent me this lengthy e-mail about tourist spots in Japan and also said his wife would be happy to drive me around the next time I am there. Him and my other friend, make me think that Japanese people are very hospitable people, like Sri Lankan people.
On my way to Japan, I was told that Japanese people, just like to do what they are being told, without questioning: wearing face masks, unplugging every electric appliance, but the computer - "it is not important to ask why, it just is important to do it". Back in the dorm, I would notice this about the appliances and also about face masks.
Japan is also full of kitsch - cute cat/bear/any-other-animal cartoons adorn every single thing from restaurants to busses. Here I give you some baby kitsch. (And no, Totoro is so not kitsch!!!) But yes of course you can find non-kitsch - like the two classy restos we went to.
Our dorms were like any regular dorm, but even there, like many restos we went to, we had to take off our shoes, put them in a cubby and wear their inside slippers - again the ceremony.
I must mention something that happened at the airport on my way out. My Canadian/American colleagues were getting through the ticket counter at regular speed, but when it came to me, the ticketing agent took some time. She said she needed to check my reservation. "Do I not have a seat?" I asked knowing sometimes that airlines overbook, even though I had a seat assigned from the self check-in that I had done (I was just dropping off luggage here). "No no, you have a seat, everything is ok, I just need to check something" she said in a most polite way. "Is something wrong with my passport or visa?" I asked "no no everything is ok, I just need to check something", she said in the polite voice again, but this time it was annoying. She took a good 15 mins to call a whole bunch of people and then personally went and talked to someone else. I was reminded of what someone said during the week "Japanese people are very polite; they are not kind - there is a difference." I am always weary of those statements, but… Later as the 6 of us were walking towards security, two of us were stopped by bullet-proof vest wearing policemen and asked for papers - this time it wasn't me, but I instinctively stopped, only to be told by another in the group "nope don't stop, keep walking" - "don't make eye contact" he said jokingly (?). Later ha said "those two were stopped, just for not being Japanese". I had forgotten that I had heard stories of Japan being notoriously racist. It was by far the most hassle I had being through at an airport. People are all up in arms against racism in western countries, and they should be I say, it is not like they are perfect countries; but there are so many other countries, Sri Lanka being one, that shamelessly practice racism, and no one can even bat an eye about it.
Yet, it is not my strongest memory of Japan. Two crazy bureaucrats won't write my Japanese book - it would be unfair to the extremely hospitable Japanese friends of mine. The few only give me reason for caution when I am dealing with bureaucracy, but my friends define the place for me - just like the US, just like Québec.
As a photographer I have learned... that all people are not alike, but they do mostly have the same hopes and fears; that judging others does great harm but listening to them enriches; that it is impossible to hate a group of people once you get to know one of them as an individual.
- Annie Griffiths Belt
I vow to come back again...
PS. For the first time in my life, I had two almost-full same days - the wonders of a round earth and a dateline...
