Diary Entries From My Two Weeks In Japan
This place feels strangely familiar yet I feel like a stranger here.
What’s going on - why are the people so nice?
On my first day in Japan, I visited a café at the Fukuoka station (which was incidentally called ‘Seattle’s Best Coffee’, so of course the Seattleite in me got intrigued) as I started to seat myself, I noticed a Japanese lady walk towards me as she hid a smile behind the face mask she was wearing but the sparkle in her eyes gave it away. Apparently, what I had failed to notice was that the table was already reserved by someone else, her. She came close to me, grabbed her stuff from the table and ushered / encouraged me to take it… yes, she willing gave up the table and was seemingly happy about it! That’s how genuinely nice the people are out here.
Another incident that jumps to mind is a Japanese taxi driver who refused to take anything beyond 4000 ¥ (when our bill was 4600 ¥) because the route he had chosen had more traffic than he had anticipated, and this caused us a bit delay (which we were absolutely fine with). But his moral compass would not have it.
In the days that followed and as I had the pleasure to observe and interact with more Japanese people, I realized how deep the sense of the greater good ran in everyone; there was also an inexplicable sense of duty towards oneself and towards each other; and the urge to do the right thing when no one was watching. Everyone lived and exemplified the philosophy of Confucianism which is a system of beliefs centered around “cosmic harmony” and indexes virtuous behavior, respect and altruism.
Why is Japan so resilient?
I was no stranger to Japan’s proclivity to natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, seismic activities etc.), the apparent lack of natural resources and of course, (I’d be remiss) the utter devastation of the country during World War II.
In one of the tours in Nagano, my guide introduced me to the Daruma doll. This doll single handedly personified the resilience of the Japanese. It’s kind of a wishing well, if you will. Upon purchase both the eyes of the doll are blank - the owner is suppose to fill the right eye and make a wish and when the wish comes true, the left eye ought to be painted. Additionally, the way this doll is designed, it has a low center of gravity so every time it drops on the ground, it bounces right back up. Now that’s the interesting part. This exemplifies the perseverance and the never give up attitude of the Japanese - in the face of adversity every time they are about to hit the ground, they get up, dust themselves off and continue to march towards their goal in life.
Another great symbol of resilience is the remains of ‘A-Bomb Dome’ which is the proud lone survival of the nuclear bomb attack on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima during the second world war.
If you have an illustrious history with such a rich set of symbolism sprinkled across the country - when one looks back, one can not help but draw inspiration to fight back each time one is faced with hardships. Thus becoming a Daruma doll oneself.
Why does Japan have such a rich culture?
I was fortunate to be able to attend a traditional tea ceremony during my short stay in Kyoto. I wore a Kimono and eagerly watched our hostess set the stage for the ceremony as she educated us on the significance of each step in the process. To an untrained eye, this might seem like an event made out of a simple act of drinking tea but what it signifies are the four principles on which this ceremony is hinged - respect, harmony, peace and tranquility for the party attending the ceremony. The host plays a second fiddle to the guests and get this, doesn’t even get to drink the tea – their only duty is to serve the guests and to make sure they have a great time.
While many similar cultural practices in India like ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ are dying out, Japan has not only been able to preserve its culture but has been able to double down on it. During my trip, I also learnt (and saw) that most of Japanese culture has stemmed from India e.g. Buddhism, borrowing Hindu Deities like Yama, Ganesha etc., Japanese philosophy and language - in fact, many words in the Japanese language happen to come from Sanskrit.
Since Japan (unlike India) was never colonized, what we know about Japan is the unadulterated Japanese narrative thus making it easier to preserve the culture and the uniqueness of the country. On the other hand, countries which were colonized in the past have had the misfortune of getting their culture and narrative watered down as it became difficult to dissociate the Western narrative from their own - hence instead of taking pride in their culture there is a strong sense to get validation from the West. Being an Indian, I can confirm that India is at a precarious position where it risks losing its culture and heritage as people are increasingly embracing Western practices with gusto and forgetting their own (I am guilty of this myself).
But, in Japan - be it the Tea ceremony, Ikebana (flower arranging), Kawaii (culture of cuteness), Otaku (anime, manga), Onsen (hot spring bath) Japanese celebrate and take pride in their culture and so does the rest of the world.
Why is everything in a state of harmony?
On my way to the Fushimi Inari shrine, I was astounded to see the Shinto shrines and other sacred statues covered in moss and looking dilapidated and run down.
Even more astonishing was the fact (which my Japanese guide later shared with me was) that this was on purpose as this embodied the Japanese philosophy of ‘Wabi-sabi’ - which essentially celebrates the beauty of imperfect things that are in a state of transience. It is believed that as things or people age they become more beautiful so it was futile to clean the statues to make it look artificially beautiful – the best thing was to simply observe them as they were being claimed by nature. This really hit me. I realized, Japanese philosophies are not just preach sermons but are guidelines that can actually be used and followed by people in their day-to-day life. Juxtapose this to some practices in other countries which in theory might seem great but are extremely difficult to execute or incorporate into the lifestyle as over time, some people have tweaked and corrupted these to serve their own ends.
Many other Japanese philosophies like Zen, Ikigai, Confucianism, Buddhism, Minimalism are based on simplicity and are quite easy to fathom - it can easily be integrated into our lives without much effort. With such guiderails, one can’t help but be at harmony with oneself and with everything else around them.
There are so many other unique aspects to Japan that can best be described only through imagery. Here are a few -
