My Japan Impressions
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Transcript of My Japan Impressions
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My Japan Impressions _ July 2009
Train Travel in Japan
Train transportation in Japan is like in any other western country: dependable. Unlike
in India the system is well maintained, the stations clean and the trains run on time say, as it is in any developed and advanced country.
A typical station in the suburban section of Japan, near
Osaka is shown on the left. One station is like any other
one, say as in any city of Europe or UK. You will notice
that the stations are
well lit and the
displays helpful to
commuters. In many
places even thoughJapanese language signs dominate, English is now
seen quite prominently and hence a foreigner need
not feel lost. But asking for help for directions, may
not solicit much response as there are very few
English speaking natives.
Blind persons can use the stations with no
difficulty. As you would have noticed there
are paths with special tile markings. The
horizontal etched marking lines show the
straight path. Whenever there is a change
of direction or height is encountered the
engraving changes to bubble (round)
impressions to help the visually impaired
climb stairs, or turn around.
Japan has a very wide and complicated
network of trains: The Shinkansen (the bullet train) connecting main Cities, over
ground trains between stations and also the Subway trains (tubes) within the city.
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It is a pleasure and convenient to travel in Shinkansen they run at over 250-300
kms per hour and we could cover the
distance of 400Kms from Osaka to Tokyo in
three hours. A little faster than a present
day European train running between sayMilan (Italy) and Frankfurt (Germany). But
the Japanese had a significant head-start to
the race of train speed. The Shinkansen
started in 1964! TGV the fastest European
train (French), comparable to Shinkansen
started at least twenty years later.
Indians (like other foreigners) will benefit by carrying the JR (Japan Rail) passes
which are easily available with many Travel Agents in India. These are economical
and easy for travel within Japan. Otherwise the tickets can be expensive. A oneweek JR pass cost me Rs 15K. The amount of travel I did in one week travelling the
country south of Tokyo - around 200Kms/day, would have cost me no less than Rs
50K (JPY 100K), had I bought the ticket from the counter every time. The JR pass
will save packing and unpacking in various hotels and laundry costs.
Stations are easily recognisable by the JR sign board as in Europe and elsewhere.
One has to travel by JR to know the
comfort levels. Even the window has an
arm rest! The stations are very clean. Andthe seats are comfortable. The passengers
even queue up at the entrance for
boarding. This is unusual in any suburban
situation. They go to unusual lengths to be
courteous to each other. Even in Europe,
there is a mad scramble for entry into the
carriage.
As in case of many European countriescycling is popular because of the
community awareness of need for eco-
friendliness. And JR helps people to be
eco-friendly. The stations are so well
connected that most homes are never
more than 2-3kms from a nearest
station. This encourages people to park
their bicycles near the station and travel
to work or shop.
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Japanese pride on their punctuality and
schedules. In the unforeseen
circumstance of any train delay it is
announced in advance and the reason forthe delay is also displayed prominently!
However such instances are rare.
Londoners would find it useful to know that all
sub way trains in Japan have hat racks, where as
in London only the main line trains have. LondonTube is especially guilty of this slip-up. It is so
common in Mumbai and elsewhere that people in
a hurry tend to forget things on the rack. But on
JR you can safely forget your cash box and
retrieve later!
No impressive Architectural buildings
The country is bereft of any architecture of significance (heritage buildings!) at
least to the extent I have seen while travelling across five cities Osaka, Tokyo,Nagoya, Hiroshima and Himeji. In small towns like Miyoshi one does come across a
house or a mansion made in the medieval Japanese style. Thats about it. Even our
Banjara Hills in Hyderabad have some excellent houses. Towns like Vadodra and
Ahmedabad in India boast some extremely imposing architectural abodes. Japanese
will probably give an excuse on the vulnerability of their houses to frequent earth
quakes for such an aberration. But the last earth quake was in 1975!
Thus any significant architectural symbol is
conspicuous by its absence. All stations look
alike, as rectangular steel and concrete
structures. Compared to this even our Nampally
station (Hyderabad) looks majestic. However
some corrections are being made, as the
adjoining photograph of Tokyo station under
renovation shows. They say it will be ready by
2010.
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Hiroshima
Because of busy business schedule I was
unable to indulge in any sight-seeing in
Japan. But when I went to Hiroshima I
had some time between appointmentsand so I had the privilege of seeing the A-
bomb site. It has an impressive a Peace
Memorial and an exhibition with graphic
details of events that led to the A-bomb
and its after affects.
On 6th August 1945, America bombed
Hiroshima and Nagasaki as we all know. The adjoining photo is a symbol of the
devastation caused by the bomb.
The interesting information I had gathered during the exhibition tour of the Peace
memorial is revealing at least to me. I somehow missed this important piece of
information from my study of WWII.
Just after the surrender of Germany in
June 1945, there were negotiations
between Russia and Japan for a similar
surrender and peace treaty. The talks
about to be closed and a treaty signed. But
the Allied Forces, sensing that this could
lead Japan into a communistic regime
wanted to prevent the surrender of Japan
to Russia. And that is how this decision of
A-bombing of Japan has been taken by Ike,
Montgomery and Churchill. Though War was over in June itself, the A-bomb was
dropped in August!
This forced Japan to surrender to the Allied Forces, probably with an assurance of
freedom on how they run their country ensuring the independence of their traditionalinstitutions and emperors authority unaffected. This was quite contrary to the draft
agreement between Russia and Japan then under discussions, which would have
made Japan subservient to Communistic governance. Thus the Japanese should be
thankful for the bombing otherwise they could have been like some underdeveloped
CIS country, which are till recently under Communistic influence thus severely
stunting their growth and development.
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The well documented information in the
Peace memorial gives a vivid account of the
devastation and loss of lives (100,000) in
Hiroshima. It was told then that the after
affects of the Bomb would be such that novegetation can grow in the vicinity for at least
100yrs or so. But nature is stronger, as you
would see from the adjoining photo. There is
vegetation all around and the city is
crammed. It is suggested that immediately
after the A-bomb there was heavy rain both in Nagasaki and Hiroshima which
washed away the remnants of the radio-active particles. This might have made the
soil recover its fertility. Man proposes GOD disposes! can best describe this
phenomenon.
The YEN
All promotional literature on
Japan debunks the theory that
Japan is costly just to lull you
into going there. But dont
believe. At least for an Indian,
Japan is frightfully expensive. A
meal (thali) in an Indian
Restaurant will cost you Rs600/- (two yen = one Rs). Even
by standard of USD it must be
costly as this converts to $12/-
A meal for four persons cost us JPY 13K, without alcohol. That is a neat 1600/ head!
A four station twenty minute train travel will cost JPY 200 ie Rs 100/-. In India
for that amount you can have a monthly pass! I did not have the privilege of
comparing the costs in Dept stores but one can project by conjecture. But, I did
find that a mineral water bottle of 100ml cost me 120 i.e Rs 60/!!!
Interestingly local salaries do take care of this cost for instance, the salary of a part
time school teacher is JPY 200K per month. That is something!
But as a tourist it is difficult to survive even for a week. May be one should combine
pleasure with business travel so that your company takes of your portion ($ 240/per
day, as in case of Reliance) and you take care of your family. Otherwise dont
attempt to go to Japan as a holiday destination as you would to other countries in SE
Asia.
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The Food.
Dont look for vegetarian food in Japan.
But if you can live by salads, rice and
potato fry (pommes frites) then may be u
can manage for one or two days. So betteryou find some friend or relative to put you
up - so that you can cook at home.
Interestingly as Japan has friendly
transportation system, one can cover the
entire sightseeing parts by staying at one
place as you can go in the morning and
come back for the night home cooked
meal!
But going to a Japanese restaurant is an
experience. The restaurants are very
consumer friendly. You can literally order
your recipe. Here in the photo you can
see how the table top is having a grill
fixed, so that you can mix and match your
ingredients as per your own recipe. It is
really fun. Imagine you can make your
own tawa dosa as per your need crispy
for my wife and soft for me!
Other Musings:
1. It is difficult to find (almost impossible) a Japanese male with a paunch!
2. Japanese men are workaholic is well known. But this made the Japanese
woman independent in handling day to day routine. So the Japanese husband
depends on his wife for advice on mundane matters, say where to send their
children to school, which house to buy, the going price and the like.
3. Lipstick is not common amongst Japanese women.
4. Even if the Japanese woman
has a watch on her right wrist,
the lucky charm, if any is worn
on the same wrist.
5. Japanese children are well
behaved they dont litter or
spoil the public property as the
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Americans. No chocolate dripping fingers that ruin public property.
6. English is not common though some of them are trying to learn. So the
Japanese integration into IT is not fully self reliant. A lot of it outsourced,
mainly from China and Taiwan. If Indian software engineers/technicians learn
Japanese, there could be a big opportunity. Though some Japanese knowEnglish they prefer conversing in Japanese only and thus feel comfortable
with Chinese because of commonality of traditions and script. Though they
fought a lot of wars against each other!
7. Indian men may not like Japanese woman as they have small breasts.
8. 80% of the blue collared Men folk wear blackshoes to office few with laces
and mostly as slip-on. Suede and Brown shoes are rare. Other men may wear
sports shoes.
9. Designation does not give any notion of the authority and responsibility of a
person in an office situation.
10. Number of Japanese made International Brands (Sony, Toyota, Mitsubishi,
Fuji etc..) per capita (pop: 120 mil) gives an impression of their quality and
delivery rather than marketing strengths.
Some Photo Ops:
As you would notice the display of train
arrival and departure is in Japanese. But
dont panic. Wait for some time, English
will appear on the same display board.
What is interesting however is that there is
never any ambiguity in the information.
Also if you wait long enough observing the
display, some Japanese g man will
always volunteer to help you need not
even ask.
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From these photographs, one feels that these stationsare abandoned. Not a soul! And yet it is the peak
hour. No train is expected on these platforms for the
next hold your breath, ten minutes! That is the faith
the commuters have on their train service that they
enter the platform in droves just few minutes before
the train is scheduled.
My Escorts in Hiroshima
A Station Entrance a drab structure
A series of lockers in a station but is
nothing unusual. Most stations do have
them. In India they are manned that isthe difference. But the interesting thing is
we had kept our luggage in one locker
and locked the next one! Luckily we did
not lose anything, though it did give us a
scare as when opened the locker we
found the same empty.
Fortunately we opened the immediate
next one and found our stuff.
But this is a design fault. The number of
the locker should have also been
prominently displayed on the lid of the
locker.
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The author at the Hiroshima
Bombing Site