JAPAN

How does one describe, let alone explain Japan in one short posting?  One can't; but of course I will try by giving you some of my observations.  First the flight over is endless.  You are in the air for 11 hours, plus getting to the airport, the wait at the airport (4 hours as the plane was late in leaving).  Once I got to Narita Airport, I had to find the desk that sells the bus tickets to the city where my friends live.  By the time I found it, they said I had less than 30 minutes before the bus left.  Enough time to get a beer and have a few cigarettes.

First observation about Japan.  They sell beer out of vending machines.  How do they control the use by minors?   They don't have to for the Japanese are trained from birth to do what they are told.  They never question authority.  Japan enjoys one of the lowest crime rates in the world.  Of course they have their share of kooks, like the ones who spread serin gas in a subway 14 years ago.  Some of the perpetrators have been jailed, but others remained uncaught.  Amazingly the leader's photo was shown almost daily in the newspapers where he was shown on video tapes, shopping.  They just caught him (only 14 years later).

Back to my trip: the bus ride was almost 3 hours long.  Your first impression of Japan is how green it is.  The airport appears to have been built on a peninsula of what had been rice fields.  Although there are many tall mountains on the island nation, near the coast they have low rolling hills of mostly pine trees.  Every inch of flat land is dedicated to rice farming.  Small plots of land are divided up and flooded, then the tiny rice plants are neatly placed in rows.  The vibrant green of the new rice plants is matched by the dense green growth along the highway (amazing since the rainy reason had yet to begin).  The flooded rice fields mirror the small hills surrounding them.  Amazingly rice (the staple of Japan) is priced like gourmet food.  In order to protect the poor rice farmers, Japan allows almost no rice to be imported (even though it would be much cheaper)

We move on passing by Tokyo, dominated by the new SkyTower.  It is the tallest building in the world (they added a few feet to it in order to best the one in Dubai).  Nestled among the many high rises, you will see Disney World with the Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Matterhorn ride peaking up.  Next you pass the many small cities on the outskirts of Tokyo.  They resemble the small industrial cities that surround downtown L.A. with funny looking signs.

My friend's wife and a neighbor met me at the bus/train station in Ashikaga.  She had the neighbor drive for she knew I would arrive with a huge suitcase and the neighbor drove a large SUV.  Fortunately I did not arrive until it was almost dark.  After catching up on things, I went to bed (after almost 24 hours awake).  Mostly we just visited, went to lunch and watched old movies.  My friend has an enormous collection of movies (we watched all 6 episodes of Harry Potter).  Noriko, (Kyl's wife) works at least 16 hours a day.  She not only cleans the house, cooks, does the dishes, laundry, iron etc.  She also spends a couple of hours every day in their garden.  The house was built on a Western plan with a few exceptions.  There is a Gencon entry and the main bathroom is downstairs.  Due to the frequent earthquakes, they don't put tubs on showers on the second floor.  Yes, we had a couple of really good shakes while I was there.

You may be surprised to hear that most of the meals we had were either French, Italian, or Chinese.  Of course we had to go to a sushi restaurant.  The group of men seating that look like they are playing video games or at slot machines are actually eating sushi.  Out of the kitchen comes a conveyer belt that wraps around three or four seating sections.  When you see what you want, you simple pick it up off the belt.  The color of the plates will tell the waitress what to charge.  Most restaurants in Japan have a button that rings a bell for the waitress and this one also had a tap for hot water for tea.  The Japanese are so cleanly minded that many restaurants also have a basin in the entry to watch your hands.  You also always get a hot towel to clean your hands.

My favorite chef was Yoshio who studied under a French chef.  He can prepare anything and always beautifully presented.  I am including a picture of my lamb chops with mustard sauce and a typical dessert dish.  My favorite Japanese food is tempura, but it is not as popular in Japan as you might think.  We had to drive for about 30 or 40 minutes for the best tempura restaurant.  The koi pond was in front of this restaurant.  Don't expect to see a lot of Japanese gardens.  Although my friends have a lovely garden carefully tended by Noriko, the house across the street is surrounded by gravel; not one tree or shrub.  This is more typical than you would think.  Many large homes have no landscaping at all.  If there is a garden it is more reminiscent of an English garden with lots and lots of roses.

My friend Kyl has lived in Japan for over 40 years and teaches English.  Sometimes in a class room and sometimes in his home.  I sat in on several of his classes.  Since I was introduced as an American living in Mexico, I expected questions on Mexico.  No, they were only interested in what I thought about Japan.  In spite of all the Japanese tourists you see everywhere, they mainly only think of Japan.  It is a very closed, closeted society.  It is the purest race in the world as immigration is almost impossible and they rarely intermarry.  They have an enormous growing aging population.  The birth rate is 1.2 children per family so it is a shrinking population.

At one class I expressed an interest in Zen Buddhism, so one his students (that I knew from other visits) gave me a book called "The Zen Way"  I find it fascinating, but it is a very slow read.  It is difficult for the Western mind to comprehend and understand the ways of Buddha (let alone a mind as old as mine).  Ever try to hear the sound of one hand clapping, or smell the scent of blue?  Like I said, it will take a long time to get through the book if I ever do.  Sometimes I think that I push my mind and body too far for my advanced age.  On the other hand I believe that if I did not, I would die (If not in body in spirit).  And so I push on.