Tokyo - Samu and Brilliance

No, I did not sleep through the entire night. But besides a quick wake-up at 1 AM and then getting up around 6, we actually did pretty well!

DISCLAIMER: I am re-telling most of this from memory and while you may not believe it, there is a chance I may not remember everything perfectly. I apologize if I horribly butcher any facts or stories... I'm doing my best from memory and some Google searches! TPU-F and TPU-M and Claysie please comment on anything I missed or misremembered if you read this!

On Saturday morning, we had a lovely breakfast in the hotel, which included some freshly squeezed orange juice, a delicious soft and perfectly fluffy croissant and a truffle omelette. As we were now getting used to, the service was extraordinary. It turns out that when Japan opened itself to the West, the Japanese learned (and perfected) everything from the masters of the craft. They learned how to make whiskey from the Scottish, pastries from the French and pasta from the Italians. Unfortunately, they learned how to make coffee from the British, which TPU-M greatly lamented. We learned all this (and so much more) from our guide, Samu, who was a veritable fountain of knowledge.

We met Samu in the lobby of the hotel that morning, promptly at 9 AM. In Japan, it's actually considered late to be on-time, you want to be at least 5-10 minutes early (to Claysie's great dismay). Samu, it turns out, was born and lived a large part of his live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After World War 2, Japan was mostly demolished and poor, without a lot of resources including food. His father saw a clip from Argentina, where the people were well dressed and successful-looking, so his father decided to emigrate. He hopped on a boat with basically nothing and traveled there, speaking not a lick of Spanish and with no familiarity of the culture there. He worked where he could and eventually worked his way into a fairly successful job. Samu's grandmother on his mother's side fled China back to Japan when the Bolsheviks came to power during the bloody Chinese revolution with her young daughter. As with his father, life was difficult and she also decided to flee to Argentina, where her daughter eventually met his father, and Samu was born. Eventually, Samu decided to return to Japan with his wife (of German descent) where he became a guide (foregoing his Economics degree). Lucky for him, that is where he would eventually meet us.

Samu is charismatic and outgoing and incredibly knowledgeable. No matter what we asked (and we asked a lot), he not only had an answer but often would go into great detail and tell stories. One of the first things I asked him as he showed us how to use the subway system was why everything was so clean and the people were so polite. Immediately, he launched into an in-depth explanation of Japanese culture and history. In Japan, you are taught to clean up not only after yourself but others from a young age. In school, groups of students rotate cleaning not only the classroom but the entire school. They are taught from a young age to take care of their environment. In part, this comes from Shintoism, the the indigenous religion of Japan. Shintoists believe that everything has a deity or spirit within. The grass, the tree, the column in the subway station. Thus, it is only natural to be respectful to all things and to take care of them. This, of course, led to more questions from TPU-F about the religion and history of Japan. Samu told us that the first people that settled in Japan are the Ainu, who came from what is today Northern China and Russia (the Mongolians). The Ainu tended to be Caucasian with lighter skin (I promise I'm not just being racist, there's a reason I'm telling you this). Later, from the South came the Okinawans, who were part of the Polynesian people that had settled most of the islands in the Pacific. The Okinawans were darker skinned with shorter, stockier builds and more body hair. In general, these two peoples were peaceful and coexisted without a lot of conflict.

Then came the Chinese from mainland China, had yellowish skin and less body hair. These were a warrior-like people, and they quickly conquered and dominated the other tribes that had settled in Japan. Today, less than 15,000 pure Ainu remain, and less than 2 million Okanawans. Most of the dominant traits in Japan are of the Chinese settlers or a mix. The Chinese also brought the Buddhist faith that had originated in India with them. What is interesting is that whereas in most other parts of the world religion was used to fight wars and kill, the two faiths intermingled rather peacefully and most people of Japan are both Shintoists and Buddhist. Both faiths are relatively tolerant and can coexist. As the society settled and began to amalgamate, a caste system developed. At the top was the Emperor and his family, then the Shogun and Samurai, and so on down to the peasant class. This caste system was rather strict, and was completely hereditary. The son of a Samurai would be a Samurai, and the son of a peasant farmer would be a peasant. A Samurai could kill a peasant at will with no legal consequences whatsoever. So while in a way society could be rather violent, it led to a somewhat subservient and in turn differential society, lest you be killed for looking at a Samurai wrong. That all changed when Emperor Meiji came to power in 1867. He pushed to modernize Japan and to open it for trade. Specifically, he had to get rid of the Samurai. But instead of outright banning them, he instead banned the possession of blades longer than 30 centimeters. Which just happened to be every Katana in Japan. No more Samurai. Of course, this didn't quiet work out that simply. Some of the Samurai rebelled, led by Saigo Takamori (who was the inspiration for The Last Samurai movie). Ultimately, the Imperial Army imported guns from the west and while the Samurai were very good with their swords, that did not do much good against firearms and they were defeated. Also, somewhat unrelated but very cool is Miyamoto Musashi, one of the most famous Samurai who was undefeated in over 60 sword fights and fought with 2 swords! And, even cooler, he had a legendary duel with and beat Sasaki Kojirō. It turns out, these two are the inspiration for Cloud Strife and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7! A little treat for the game nerds out there (mostly me). 

 

 Ok, moving on. Something else really interesting is that the Japanese are brilliant problem solvers and engineers. For one, all of japan is covered in these yellow strips on sidewalks and in the subway which have ridges in them. These are for blind people to easily be able to maneuver and walk the streets and use the subways. At intersections, the patterns change to make them aware, and near stairs bird sounds let them know steps are nearby. The gates to get into and out of the subway are always open, and everyone scans in regardless. They only close when there is a problem, preserving the servos in the doors and minimizing the need for maintenance. When a person in a wheelchair needs to get on the subway, an attendant comes with them and places a ramp over the gap. Then they radio ahead and let the attendant at the other station know what car and door the passenger is in, and what station they are getting off at. So they take care of them without having to create a ramp that extends at every station. Japan is full of things like this, ingenious and efficient solutions that are based on common sense!

My plan was to write about Days 2 and 3 in Tokyo but that will have to come in another entry... tune in next time for more of my witty and brilliant writing! And no, I don't re-read or edit these so enjoy my typos and grammatical mistakes!