Japan Diary

Shinkansen

The petite, just-about-5-foot tall lady stands in stark contrast to the aerodynamic monster she is about to pilot. Many of the drivers of the Shinkansen, also known as the bullet train, are young women like her, 20 something, awaiting patiently for the incoming train to arrive at the Tokyo Shinkansen train station platform. While no longer the fastest train in the world, even though its peak speed crosses 300km per hour quite easily, it is still the world’s ‘original’ high speed ‘super express’.
I had heard a lot about Shinkansen timings being impeccable and every minute of the timing being honored. I was keen to notice just one specific bit- my train was supposed to leave at 23 minutes past the hour, so when exactly would it leave- would it be just as the clock transited from 22minutes 59 seconds to 23 minutes; or would it be at 23 minutes 59 seconds, or somewhere in between. We departed at 15 seconds past 23 minutes. While setting one’s watch is no longer necessary in an age where smart phones synchronize time from mobile networks- but before they came in, setting it to the Shinkansen timing would have been a very credible (and accurate) alternative. The JR (Japanese Railways) publishes statistics on Shinkansen punctuality timings every year, with the average delay in 2012, aggregated over all trains on all routes being 36 seconds; a poor performance compared to the 1997 record of 18 seconds.
The Tokyo- Osaka sector is also Wi-Fi enabled, so most passengers on board are busy on the ubiquitous devices. As I write this on a 2.2 kg, 15 inch screen Lenovo laptop, i can lay claim to being the proud owner of the bulkiest device on this train.  


Fuji-san

One of the key attractions on the  Tokyo-Osaka-Tokyo journeys is the crossing of Mount Fuji(yama). Whether by train or by plane, the key is to have a window seat on the left side while going from Tokyo for the Fuji view, and on the right side for the return leg. One day, I hope to capture the iconic Japanese image of a bullet train crossing by Mount Fuji with cherry blossoms in full bloom.
Called Fuji-san, with the honorific suffix San being suffixed like with most other things in Japan, it is highly revered by all Japanese. Fuji-san is as much about cultural heritage as it is about natural heritage. It is the highest mountain in Japan, with a perfectly symmetrical, conical shape.  The fact that it is an active volcano does not worry too many people as its last volcanic activity was in 1707. There has been speculation about an imminent volcanic eruption post the 2011 earthquake and Tsunami, with several mathematical models suggesting danger. That does not deter too many Japanese from continuing to revere and visit Fuji san.
On my bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka, I ask the train staff what time could I see Mount Fuji. At 39 minutes past 2, is the prompt response. And sure enough, at the appointed hour, I got a clear, uninhibited, picturesque view of Japan’s most famous geographical structure.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are a common feature of life in Japan for centuries. The whole world was stirred during the earthquake + Tsunami of 2011. For most residents, coping with earthquakes is a way of life. They just keep happening. The year 2013 saw more than 300 earthquakes in the country. A very high level of preparedness exists amongst most residents. Most earthquakes are mild, and only a few are felt. The level of tolerance to earthquakes also goes up as one spends more time in Japanp’. There are apps and devices which give the intensity of an earthquake when it occurs, and can be programmed to raise an alarm beyond whichever level on the Richter scale one chooses. A friend of mine had earlier set the level at 3.5. This meant that at that intensity (or above), there would be an alarm. In a few weeks, he re-programmed it to 4. Then, 4.5. His current level of tolerance is at 5.5.

Serious people? Kidding me?

Comics (manga) are an essential element of Japanese culture. The craze for comic characters in Japan is perhaps the highest in the world. Many Japanese lead almost parallel life through the various characters, in comics, books and video games. While there are thousands of Japanese manga characters, there are some which have become worldwide icons of Japanese culture, like Doraemon. Most children worldwide are familiar with the ear-less robotic cat, who has travelled back in time from the 22nd century to be of assistance to the protagonist, the bumbling schoolboy Nobita. So high is the influence of Doraemon that Doraemon has been appointed as the Olympic games ambassador for the 2020 Olympics, which toklyo will host. He trumped ‘Hello Kitty’ to be firmly established as what its fans call, ‘The Number 1 symbol of Japanese culture worldwide’.  Doraemon was appointed Japan’s first anime ambassador a few years ago by the foreign ministry.
Doraemon also has a very important role to play in my life- and I scouted around buying Doraemon memorabilia for my son, nephew and niece. Unfortunately, none of these mementoes, whether the soft toy or the stationery or the water bottle were made in Japan. They all came in from Japan’s big, westward neighbor.  It is really hard to find Made in Japan stuff in Japan. It is all made in China. The thing about the Made in Japan stuff is that it is, truly, many levels of quality above the kind of stuff dished out by the Chinese. And needless to say, many times more expensive.

More old, less young

Japan is the world’s largest geriatric society and there are several villages with dozens of 100 year olds and the youngest inhabitants in their 70s.
At the other end of the demographic spectrum is the choice that many young Japanese are making with regards to relationships. A large number are choosing to stay unmarried, and many more choosing not to have children at all. A survey i read up in the Japan times mentioned that the percentage of eligible adults in Japan not getting married (out of choice) at about 20%, up from 5% in 1990. Those choosing not to have children numbered around 40%.
Women are leading this charge. The reason cited is the pressure to conform to the family model of salaried husband and stay-at-home-manage-the-chores-housewife, with little or no support from the husband in managing the house and children. The corporate attitudes in Japan make it impossible for a woman to combine a career with children and this is prompting many women, especially in urban areas, to forego marriage and children, and instead focus on fulfilling their professional & career ambitions while retaining their independence.  ‘Marriage is the grave of a woman’s career’, was a saying I heard from more than one person while talking on this subject.
Men have their own reasons, but lack of freedom upon marriage, interference from the spouse and an increasing economic burden of managing a family are the top reasons cited by many men for not getting into marriage.
The result: Japan already has one of the world's lowest birth rates. Its population is shrinking substantially, and is projected to plunge a further one-third by 2060.


India- Yes. China- No.

Japan has a long standing history of relationship and respect for India and Indian culture. However, I was surprised to notice a lot of respect for Indians skills on Mathematics, Logical ability and English. A small, but ever increasing number of Japanese parents, are putting their children in Indian schools in Tokyo, run on Indian curriculum like CBSE, so that their children can be good at these skills and be competitive in a world where they have to compete hard with the Chinese, the Koreans and everyone else.
Much before this, with Buddhism coming in from India, travelers from Japan had a special interest in writing about Indian culture. There were also exchange students at the Nalanda university and political alliances during the Indian freedom struggle with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Rash Behari Bose getting support from the Japanese.
Rajanikanth still retains his popularity as the numero-uno Indian movie star in Japan, in an orbit where none of the Khans and Bachchans operate. Salman Khan comes in a distant second, but is slowly gaining in popularity. A new Rajani movie gets released in over a thousand movie halls in Japan.
While India is high on the charts, China is a favourite whipping boy, a phenomenon which has not changed over hundreds of years of history. The reason for many of Japan’s problems, for example, the end of many industries, is laid at China's doorstep. Pollution and poor air quality is attributed to air pollutants flying in from China into Japanese air.

Curry powder and Netaji

Indian curry is quite popular in Tokyo, and one can find lots of Indian restaurants, although many of the cooks are Nepali. One of Tokyo's oldest Indian restaurant is called Nair's, named after  A.M. Nair, an Indian student in Japan, who left his medical studies and became an independence activist after coming in touch with Subhash Chandra Bose and becoming his valet and translator. Nair married a local Japanese girl, renamed her Janaki-amma and started an Indian restaurant in upscale Ginza in Tokyo. Legend has it that the last person to see Netaji alive was Nair’s driver, Chindan Nair, who drove him to the airport before he took that ill fated flight, the mystery of which, is matched perhaps only by that of MH-370.
Coming back to Nair's (the restaurant), it’s staple offering is curry and Kerala food. The restaurant is now run by Nair's son (AM Nair died in 1990). My attempts to eat at Nair's had met with failure all three times i tried on my previous visit. Weekly off, and closed for renovation were the outcomes of the first two attempts. On the third occasion, I was turned out as i landed up at 8.25 PM, just five minutes before the closing time of 8.30 PM. Communism was alive., I told myself. Cholbe-na.  This time, I decided to give it one last shot, and was lucky to find the restaurant open. The food was absolutely nothing to write home about, neither was the service. However, the piece de resistance was a book on AM Nair, which I borrowed for the duration of the meal, which captured the story of Netaji, AM Nair and Japan’s surrender after the Nagasaki bombing in 1945 in a fascinating, personal account.

Epilogue

I take the direct flight from Tokyo to Delhi, and connect to Hyderabad via a domestic flight. Seated next to me is a person from the Afghanistan government, coming to Hyderabad for a training in Information Technology. When I answer ‘One’ to his question, “How many children do you have”, he almost chides me and says ‘One should have at least half a dozen’. Coming in from Japan, where marriage and children are being shunned faster than the arrival of the next version of a video game, life, in just twelve hours, had come a full circle  !