Cherry blossom! When Sakura flowers perfume the morning sun

For many days I have been thinking of making a post on cherry blossom and the O-hanami festival. At Tokyo part of Japan, the Sakura flowers started blossoming during the early days of April. We were invited to join the O-hanami party that was held at the sakura garden in front of the Yasukuni shrine with the whole family. That was an enlivening event for all of us to socialize with Japanese people.

O-hanami party is conducted at the cherry blossom occasion in Japan. Look at the flowers, drink O-sake (Japanese alcohol), eat and praise the beauty of Sakura flowers are the general activities being done during the O-hanami party. There may be variations in the mode of the parties being conducted. The concept is to praise the magnificence of Sakura flowers. The view of Sakura trees with full of light pink Sakura flowers is really a feast to the eyes. So appealing are the views that even while rushing to the office, it is hard to avoid taking a moment and look at those glamorous bunches of flowers.

Why, even this post is motivated by the alluring sceneries that had caught in the eyes after the start of cherry blossom in Tokyo. The period of end of winter season and the start of spring is marked with the blossoming of sakura flowers. Sakura flower is synonymous to the Japan in one sense. For an outsider like me, Japan could be symbolized to Mount Fuji, Sakura, and Hiroshima-Nagasaki – the three most striking things that come to the mind at first while referring to Japan.

For ages unknown, the sakura has been the most affectionate and adorable for Japanese people. Let me borrow from Nitobe Inazo-san’s ‘Bushido’, to best represent the feelings of Japanese people towards Sakura flowers; “The Yamato spirit is not a tame, tender plant, but a wild – in the sense of natural – growth; it is indigenous to the soil’

The Sakura trees in Komatsugawa garden near to our apartment were leafless till the end of March. Now all of them have turned to look like light pink clouds hanging from the branches. People started come out of the home and spend their leisure at the garden. Children play with the falling flower petals. The chirping sounds of birds are back to the garden.

The most thrilling experience after the O-hanami party was to meet Mrs. Akie Abe, the former first lady of Japan (2006-2007), who is a popular and prominent figure in Japanese political and public life. We were really lucky to have a group family photo with Abe-san. I do not intend to post the group photo before getting her written permission to do so. We were wondering, compared to India, how freely a known personality like Mrs. Abe could walk on the road in Tokyo!

This post may be incomplete without the following lines (again excerpts from ‘Bushido’) by Motoori Norinaga, the famous poet of Edo period;

                                    Isles of blest Japan!

                                            Should your Yamato spirit

                                    Strangers seek to scan,

                                           Say-scenting morn’s sunlit air,

                                           Blows the cherry wild and fair!

What is Japan?

Kenichi Tanaka-san’s blog video ‘Japan – The strange country’ prompted me to write this post. Tanaka-san did translate successfully and humorously his observations about his own country to 11:21 minutes movie. While Japanese people are known for their generalizations, Tanaka-san stands different and looks in to the facts with a distinctive perception.

That might be the fifth grade when the science teacher told about cold countries. Probably there was a country name Japan. Almost 29 years, during the 1980s, I was fond of Soviet Union. Our text books were protected by the thick pages of Soviet Nadu (Soviet land), the magazine which we received free of cost to home during our childhood. My father was an Indian National Congress leader during those years who was involved in the active politics with ex-chief minister of Kerala, K. Karunakaran. Even then he did not show any hesitation to receive the magazine from Soviet Union, which boasted the achievements of communism in Soviet Union.

Soviet Union was powerful in those days and influenced Indian political brains, while hard core communist leaders and followers dreamt on the thunder sounds of spring in India that will come from China or Soviet Union. Japan was not known to me at that time. Japan came through electronic products such as Sony, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, and Hitachi and through the Suzuki motors. Japanese automobile companies influenced India much more than the electronic products in terms of cost.

In upper primary schools, we learned about volcanoes and Japanese earthquakes. We heard that Japanese people make light weight roof to their houses, in order to reduce casualties in case of earth quakes. We heard about the intelligence of Japanese people. We learned Japan's victory over China and Russia.

Japan returned to our study corners during high school days, when we learned about Second World War. That was first time I really admired Japan. More than any Japanese electronic products or Suzuki’s joint venture to produce Maruti to the Indian streets, Japan’s help to Indian freedom fighters during the war impressed me. That was a topic of discussion in our friends circle. That was one of the rare subjects where all friends reached to a common agreement! Japan – an Asian country dared to stand alone and fight the European colonial forces in Asia. Japan might have tried to colonize some Asian countries, but the Japanese military helped S.C Bose, popularly known in India as Netaji to form Indian National Army (INA). Indian National Army along with Japanese military fought against British East India Company and advanced through Eastern India. They could form the first Independent India Government in Andaman Nicobar Islands under the leadership of Netaji. Unlike many of the South East Asian countries, I believe, Indian people supported Japan and wished for its success. We were so depressed to learn Japan’s surrender in the war.

Somewhere in the mind, there was a desire to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki at least once in life. During our high school days, Japan was almost a model country. A country with dedicated work force, a country with educated, healthy, disciplined and polite people live, stood as a role model to our generation. Teachers taught us to learn from Japan’s experience, Japan’s return to the world’s economy like a phoenix bird. History teacher Mrs. Rathi compared the phoenix bird and Japan’s waking up from the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The desire to visit the land of Phoenix birds were heaping up. Internet and access to the information was not so popular on those days. I searched the encyclopedia pages to read about Japan. I could see pictures of beautiful women with colorful umbrellas and hand-fan. Japan remained a mystery in the mind. People are different, their faces are different, eyes are small and after all Japanese people believed the manufacturing technology ‘Small is beautiful’. Japan makes everything small.

Japanese workaholic nature is famous all over the world. One of my colleagues recollected his professor’s visiting experience to one of the Japanese company, where he could see an operator with a black badge on his uniform. While inquired about this, he was informed that the operator and his union were in strike against the management. I am not sure of the truth behind this story, but such kind of stories surfaced in our discussions during tea breaks when I was working in India. This was an extraordinary incident as the strikes in India have never been gentle.

Japanese management style has become popular in India. The collective responsibility and treatment of all people in all grades with equal respect has been some what different from the one, Indian companies and institutions inherited from the colonial British system. When working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, one of the Pakistani friends, who worked in Japan, used to tell his observations on Japan. The discrimination in the society is not so open and severe in Japan based on the nature of job of a person compared to India or Pakistan.

Japanese product quality and quality implementation systems are famous around the world. There is a significant section of the Indian society believing in ‘brand Japan’ image. Japan is a brand for quality products.

My first encounter with a Japanese national dated back to 1996 April 11 when I was on a short business tour to Geneva and visited United Nations office. During business meetings there were chances to meet people from Japan. While talking with them, I have not tried to hide the veneration towards Japan.

There is no intention to assess the present living experiences with that of the old imaginations right now. I may do it on another occasion. It is always better to keep imaginations to our heart. Practical experiences may differ from person to person and can not be weighed and criticized with imaginations. I have tried to recall maximum possible images of Japan before I came to Japan. Now it will be interesting to watch what is Japan in Tanaka-san’s video.

Japan - The Strange Country (Japanese ver.) from Kenichi on Vimeo.

Hello, my name is Nimura

Before starting, I like to take an advance bail that this blog post is a personal one.

Yesterday my colleagues were deeply thinking how to write my name in Japanese. Anything foreign including the names, objects etc are written in Katakana script. Thus it is easy to identify by seeing the Katakana script that the thing or person is an outsider to Japan. My first name: Jayaprakash itself is little longer for Japanese people and after coming to Japan, the name is cut short to Jaya. As Japanese people add san to every name, they call me Jaya-san. In fact, Jaya alone is female name in India. When the colleagues told their desire to call Jaya-san, I did not show any hesitation. After all, what is in a name…..a rose is a rose…..

Things and people are divided broadly as Japanese and non-Japanese. This classification makes the things easier for Japanese people to understand things better and differentiate. The end purpose is not yet known to me. Hiragana and Kanji are used for Japanese things. Japanese names are written in Kanji.

Yesterday, one of the new systems required all the names to be entered in Kanji. It was necessary to put my name in Kanji. After much discussion, translation of my names in to English and then to Japanese they came with some suggestions. In India, names have meaning. Hindu names are based on Sanskrit language and each name has one meaning. For example, my first name Jayaprakash is a combination of two Sanskrit words Jaya and Prakash. Jaya means success and Prakash means light. The total meaning is some thing like ‘Light of success’

Converting the ‘Light of success in to Japanese Kanji, my name will be 成功光 (success light). There is no Japanese name like this and the colleagues told it is not a good name in Japanese language. Family names are used in Japan and they asked me the meaning of my family name in English. My family name in my mother tongue is Kottampilly. Some of the old Malayalam-Tamil meaning of Kottam in English is ‘New’. Pilli stands for Village. Modern Malayalam language and many of the new generation Keralites do not know these meanings. This Kottampilli has many variations in the southern states of India. Some of the people living in the border areas of Tamilnadu, Kerala, Andhra and Karnataka have family names like Kottapilli, Kottampilli, Kottampally, Kottapalli etc. While I was in Riyadh, one of my friend from Andhra Pradesh and another friend from Karnataka has same family name as Kottampilli. Interestingly according to them also, the regional versions of Kottam is New and Pally is village.

Recollecting the old Riyadh friends, I translated my family name as ‘New village’ The new village in Japanese language is ‘Atarashi Mura’. 新しい村. Japanese people do not use Hiragana while writing names. They just take 新 from新しい and村 to make the name新村. This is pronounced as ‘NIMURA’ in Japanese.

Now, I got a Japanese name – Nimura-san. 新村

Interesting experience! Japanese names have their origin in the nature. The mountain, river, village, bridge, chopsticks, bell ring, trees etc are the major inspirations for Japanese names. If translated to English, some of the Japanese names can be read as Blue tree (Aoki), Middle Field (Nakada), Middle river (Nakagawa), Upper field (Ueda), Tree village (Kimura), Paddy village (Tamura), Middle village (Nakamura) etc.

Similar naming system has been followed in India too since ancient time. Our family names also bear some meaning in the old language, which many new generation people can not recognize. Sanskrit names are meaningful, but recently in the name of fashion, baby names are twisted and it is hard to find any meaning in any of the existing language. A great percentage of population still follows the traditional way of putting names in India too.

The names taken from natural things show the civilization’s affiliation with the nature. It is a kind of union achieved in the society by calling human beings the names of natural things. The preservation and maintenance of nature comes from within. People carry the mountains, villages, trees, animals and rivers wherever they go, while they sleep, wake-up, eat and go to school and always with them! This is the ultimate example harmony of human societies and nature!

Are the wheels coming off Japan’s traditionally organized social structure?

Recently one of the Japanese friends, who had visited major Indian cities for business purpose, commented on the economical developments happening in India. It was good to hear that a country like India with an explosive population makes remarkable achievements in industrial growth. He was eager to tell me the energy and confidence he could observe in young entrepreneurs and business executives during his interaction with them.

That must be true. The young educated generation in India is ambitious to reach new heights and prove their abilities. Drawing encouragement from the proven success of Japan and other developed countries, the young generation is motivated to add new dimension to the traditionally stained image of their country. I told my friend that the recent economical developments are concentrated in the industry only. There might be a low penetration of growth to the basic necessities too, but the growth is highly not organized or distributed in India. The poverty rate is much higher and alarming in India. The human rights violations, child labor, aggression towards women, malnutrition, infant deaths, and poverty to mention a few things that UN has put India on the top of their list underrate the recent economical growth.

As an Indian, it is a proud to hear that our country is growing. It is a relief and gives hope to those downtrodden millions of human beings, termed as ‘cattle’ by her wealthy class. Even the right to education bill proposed by the central government in India is questioned by some vested interest groups in the name of funds and basic infrastructure. They don’t understand that the idea of right to education is important to feed into the social structure, so that the administration, bureaucrats, social organization will strive to meet the requirement. That attempt is enough in a society to bring success. Years of suppression, caste and class based discrimination, disparities etc, have reinforced optimism in political brains too in India. India needs more enthusiastic young brains to overcome those optimistic blocks in the political front and move forward.

On the other hand, Japan’s economical growth and social structure has appeared as a model for me. During discussions, I used to point out my observations that Japan does not need any communist parties to bring socialism in to the society. The governments had done their job well to bring justice to all the citizens in Japan. I don’t claim that I have not seen anybody sleeping on the street. Yes, I have seen homeless people twice or thrice while walking with friends in the night through the busy Tokyo streets. For me and friends the scene was a strange experience in Tokyo. It is quite common in India or any other developing country.

Economy matters. If the country and people are rich and have enough money to satisfy the basic necessities, the money can be spent for luxury. Then the social life becomes a celebration. In developing countries, corruption in bureaucracy and political system has their roots in the poor salary structure. In Japan, as far as my experience goes, a good percentage of the population can afford to live with many luxury things in life.

Socialism is interwoven in the society. One of the reasons for this socialistic mentality among Japanese people as told by friends is the feeling of ‘unique race’. Japan, though possess similarities with the neighboring East Asian countries, has many unique things to make it separate from others. The almost homogenous society had made the things easier for the administration and law to implement, organize and interwove socialistic threads into the society. That was the efforts of past generations in Japan and the result is today’s Japan as a model state that other nations can learn.

I have always heard stories of loyalty, truthfulness and righteousness from foreigners living in Japan when they tell their real life experiences of losing money and valuables. One friend forgot his bag including passport, money and other valuables in a taxi, in which he came from Narita airport on his first day to Japan. He did approach the nearby police station to report. Following the instruction from the police, he went to the station the next day and to his surprise the police handed over his bag with all the valuables inside intact. Another friend from Singapore forgot to take change for 10,000 Yen from the vending machine. When he realized this loss on the next day, he made a hopeless attempt to check at the vending machine to get the change that was approx. 9200 Yen. After searching at the vicinity of the vending machine, he approached the nearby shop and explained his loss. To his surprise, they asked him what is the exact amount and time he lost the money. When he told both time and exact amount, they handed over him the money!

Yes, these have been what I used to hear from foreign friends, but recently, started hearing suddenly about taking care while riding crowded trains and do shopping etc. Some of the people started losing their money. The money won’t disappear by itself. It happens when the wheels coming off. The society could be symbolized to a vehicle. When the economy shudders, it is hard to keep the wheels in place.

Japanese, Indian and English Number systems

Japanese numbering system and method to denote and name higher count figures are different from English number system. Initially it was a bit difficult to get an idea of amount of figures while discussing with Japanese colleagues. International business figures are almost always in millions or billions. Japanese people have the same problem to understand when the figures are in millions and billions.

The Japanese system for numbers up to thousand uses similar system with that of the western system of numbering. For numbers up to thousand, in India also we use a similar system. Similar system means, we have different names to denote 100 and 1000. Generally we do not use any separate name for 10,000. It is just ‘das hazar’ in Hindi as ten thousand in English.

Before we start comparing the differences in dealing with higher numbers, it will be worth to recall the smaller count numbers in Japanese, English and Hindi.

Numbers                English                  Japanese                  Hindi

1                             One                          Ichi                            Ek

2                             Two                          Ni                             Do

3                             Three                        San                           Teen

4                             Four                         Yon/Shi                     Char

5                             Five                          Go                             Paanch

6                             Six                            Roku                         Che

7                             Seven                       Nana                         Saath

8                             Eight                         Hachi                        Aath

9                             Nine                         Kyu/Ku                     Nau

10                           Ten                           Ju                              Das

20                           Twenty                     Ni ju                          Bees

30                           Thirty                        San ju                        Tees

40                           Forty                        Yon ju                        Chalees

100                        One Hundred             Hyaku                        Ek sau

1000                      Thousand                   Sen                            Hazar

10,000                   Ten thousand              Man                          Das Hazar

100,000                 Hundred thousand      Ju man                       Lakh

1,000,000              One million                 Hyaku man                Das Lakh

10,000,000            Ten million                  Sen man                    Crore

100,000,000          One hundred million    Oku                           Das crore

1,000,000,000       One Billion                  Ju Oku                      Arab

Here, I wrote up to one billion only. One trillion, which is one thousand billions, is called Cho 兆 in Japanese and ten kharab in Indian system. Ancient Indian astrologers used big numbers to calculate the distance of stars and hence Indian numbering systems have names to denote really big numbers like one duodecillion, which is 1,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000. In Indian numbering system this is called Adant Singhar. It is not a surprise to use such big numbers for calculation while dealing with the universe.

In Japanese numbering system, ‘man 万’ is used to denote ten thousand. From ten thousand onwards Japanese people use ‘man’. Then Ichi man is 10,000, ni man is 20,000, san man is 30,000 and so on. The western system use ten thousand for 10,000, twenty thousand for 20,000 while the Indian (Hindi) system use a system similar to English like Bees hazar for 20,000 and Tees hazar for 30,000 etc. Up to one hundred thousand Indian and English systems are different. In India we use One lakh for one hundred thousand, which is ju man in Japanese.

Lakh and Crore are commonly used in India for business, while in Japan man and Oku 億 are used, in English Million and Billion are used. For me, the translation of figures from Indian to English and then to Japanese system of numbering takes much time to get an image when we discuss Ni hyaku man yen or Oku yen. Schools in India also teache Indian way of counting and denoting the numbers and the brain is forged to imagine the figures in terms of Lakhs and Crores.

With the globalization of the businesses in India, use of million and billion are quite common and it takes less time to translate the figures in mind to our lakhs and crores. It takes time to accommodate with new system used to deal with numbers. Years of building up of images and mental calculation based on one system can not be replaced totally with another system. Computer will make the things easy to convert the It is easy now to remember das lakh is one million and sau crore is one billion. The two process conversion of numbers from Indian to English and then to Japanese is many times a test for brain.

The other side of the story is the complaint from Japanese colleagues that the million and billions are too difficult for them!

Indian Embassy, Radhabinod Pal and a cultural shock

Mr. Grant was on a short trip to Japan, when I met him near Kudanshita station. I was on my way to Indian Embassy to get the application form for renewal of passport. A tourist from Britain, Grant was curious to hear my opinion about Japan and more on Japanese attitude towards foreigners. Interestingly, this is one of the snooping topics many of the foreign travelers in Japan trying to get answered from foreigners living in Japan. Grant did not hesitate to tell his intention to know Japanese attitude towards foreigners.

The subject of talk was particularly important considering the place of our meeting. There were much in the western and East Asian press connected with Yasukuni shrine in the past, but it is quite natural for Indian people to support Japan’s stand during World War II. As the post-war trial judge Mr. Radhabinod Pal mentioned, victors decide what is wrong and what is right. It is a controversial issue. Opinion polls conducted by various newspapers and other media across India reveals that Japan is the most admired nation in India even today. It is common that school history teachers in India used to tell inspiring facts and incidents of Japan's growth as a powerful nation in Asia. Japan has been a source of inspiration for many young Indian politicians and industrialists. After all, Japan helped Indian freedom fighter S.C Bose to make INA and fight against the British East India company rule in India. Radhabinod Pal has done the justice to millions Indians too through the dissent notes and observations.

While walking towards Indian Embassy, I remembered Justice Radhabinod Pal and his reasons. Each cause could be justified with the theory of relativity. The justice is relative, the crime is relative, the punishment is relative and the whole social structure and laws are relative. Moral values are relative. When the Observer and the observed are two different identities, there exists a line of difference. That difference will bring conflict and conflict will generate injustice. The justice or injustice depends on the perception of the observer. Moreover, the judgment is influenced by the observer’s attitude.

There are three entities in the process of observation - The observer, the medium for observation and the observed. The inference is affected by the relative positioning of the three entities. The difference creates such a division between the observer and the observed. The difference between the observer and the observed is the source of conflicts and injustice. If there is no difference, the observer and the observed becomes one. This is the reason Mr. Pal is revered in Japan and there is a monument dedicated to him that stands on the grounds of the Yasukuni Shrine.

Grant was also curious to know the cultural shock I might have faced in Japan. Cultural shock is a much debated subject in Japan among foreigners. Periods of cultural shock are a necessary phase of any expatriate’s life. The perception and excitement the expatriate bear with while entering to a foreign country have great influence on magnitude of cultural shock. As every expatriate may pass through some form of cultural shock during the expatriate life I also have undergone a mild cultural shock. It was not severe to totally obliterate the good feelings.

If the host culture is extremely different from ours, we may psychologically disorient for a period of time. For some people it takes more time. Very few people, unable to cop with the differences, decide to put an end to the expatriate life. The saddest part of the cultural shock is that during many of the life situations, the expatriate may feel as if they are children, a kind of helplessness, as if we are thrown out from our mother's lap. Some feels loss of face. Frankly, I did share the feelings to Grant the difficulties of carrying a different head in public places! It is a strange feeling while riding a subway train or walking on the roads. A different object among things of uniformity! It is easy to get noticed in the crowd. Foreigners from countries other than some of the East Asian countries have different looks. Grant has been carrying his head through many cities and villages, but he agreed the psychology of a visitor is different from the psychology of an expatriate.

If the host country is hostile, expatriates will feel more uneasiness. In this case foreigners living in Japan are lucky that Japanese people are not hostile. Japanese people are warm and there is a considerable percentage of philanthropists in Japanese society.

After around thirty minutes of sharing on history, justice and culture shock, we bid adieu. Walking back to the Exit-2 of the Kudanshita station after completing the work at Indian Embassy, images of S.C Bose and his marching soldiers flashed in the memory.

Tail-Post: Taking the exit-2 at Kudanshita Toei Shinjuku line/Tozai line is one of the shortest routes to reach Indian Embassy at Tokyo. Embassy is called Taishikan in Japanese language and the kanji is 大使館.

International Military Tribunal for the Far East: Dissentient judgment

Lectures on universal declaration of human rights,

Two years of life in Japan

It is more than two years in Japan!. Still the moments of departure from Cochin airport remain fresh in memory. It was not so long before that I left India to Japan. The period spent in Japan is around 5% of my life till now, but the diversities and excitements of experiences have been vast and have substantial effect in life.

I did meet a young man from China at Morishita last week, who was in Tokyo for a short business trip. While sharing general things like the socio-political and cultural differences between China and India, he got curious in my stay in Japan and attitude towards life in Japan. My answer was short: Life in Japan is calm and peaceful.

When I say the life in Japan is calm and peaceful, it just reflects the general attitude of a majority of foreigners living in Japan. This ‘calm and peaceful life in Japan’ image should be embroiled with the private or professional life. The experience of working in Japan, that also for a Japanese company is totally different from that of working for a company from any other countries. The calm and peaceful atmosphere prevails in the general life affairs in Japan.

Almost all basic necessities of are easily available and easily accessible in Japan. One of such thing that will strike in the mind of a foreigner in Japan is the ‘convenient stores’. They are really convenient and make the life simpler and easier. We don’t need to wait behind long queues to pay the utilities bill when it can be paid in less than one minute in a nearby convenient store. The food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacks and many kinds of eatables and juices are available all the time, all the days in a week.

Convenient stores are called Konbini’ in Japanese language. It is written in Katakana as コンビニ [Ko-n-bi-ni] and this is one of the Katakana words I liked to use frequently while talking with friends. As sensei compares jokingly, Konbini is the friend and Konbini is the spouse of many of the workaholic and lazy people. Convenient stores are now a synonym with a life partner for many of the bachelors in Japan.

Another striking point during the last two years is the obedience to the law and order in Japan. This can be translated into the discipline in public places. The life in Japan is like a life in a company called Japan Incorporated. Whatever be the roots to this existing discipline and obedience to the law, it is a great plus point for the Japanese society, which they might have cultivated with consistent efforts over many years. Such kind of public discipline can not be implemented with the aid of external forces within a short period. It is the inborn nature of Japanese people to obey the rules and regulations. This is one of the concerns when Japanese companies bring foreign people from different cultures to Japan that the new comer to Japan may feel uneasiness to easily absorb into Japanese culture. It takes long time to get adjusted with the new social structure and in many cases the foreigners does not get involve in the mainstream. They resemble the floating element that may fly away after some time. There are cases where foreigners who can manage communication in Japanese language get involve in Japanese social and cultural events along with local Japanese people. If the language barrier is removed many of the routine concerns of foreigners will be solved.

The life in a company called Japan, ruled by some rules and regulations, is convenient when the new comer to Japan starts learning what is good and what is bad in Japan. One of the great information sources maintained by Japan Police is really helpful to foreigners to understand the rules in Japan. Rules Regarding life in Japan is a must read document which is written in English.

There are many websites dealing with the life in Japan especially made for foreigners in English language. Japan is one of the leading countries in terms of broadband internet users, second after South Korea, but tops in terms of fiber to the home broadband internet connectivity. The websites and online information sources dealing with the life in Japan for foreigners are helpful to those who wish to come to Japan. One of such useful sites, that is worth to add to the favorites in your browser is Your Complete Guide To Life In Japan!

Looking back to the two years life in Japan, by knowing only survival Japanese language to communicate, I feel what is more required to live in a different culture is the ‘empathy’, which will drive us to fusion.

Sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka? - Pushing people into the crowded trains

On an average, three to four visitors of this blog comes from a google search for “Pushing people into the train in Japan”. The google analytics gave this statistical data of visitors from different parts of the world to this blog. It was interesting to know that people from 79 countries out of 167 countries searched for “Pushing people into train in Japan”. This shows the popularity of this “pushing” in Japan in the outside world.

It took around 10 months after reaching to Japan for me to realize this phenomenon and on November 2008 for the first time I noticed one such pushing. I might have come across similar scenes but could not have noticed while rushing for own entry into the train. As many things are unique for Japan, it seems, this pushing people into the train is one the unique phenomena to Japan. I like to call it ‘phenomenon’ irrespective of the creation of this action. It might have formed as part of the subway journey requirements over a period of time.

Unlike in many other countries, the subway discipline is much stronger and strictly followed in Japan. Even if the trains are late due to some unexpected reason, passengers keep their patience. Japanese people generally would not deviate from their disciplined behavior and they follow the beeline into the trains too even if they know that they are going to be late if not rushed to the crowded trains. Trains towards Tokyo are terribly crowded in the morning hours. For almost all, it is a rush holding the time in hand. If any of the connecting train is missed or becomes late, reaching at the office will be delayed. Being late to the office is considered a shame in Japanese companies, where work is given the topmost priority.

What prompted me to write this blog post with a heading like ‘Sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ is one of the interesting conversation heard recently in the crowded Toei Shinjuku train, which I could managed to board from Higashi Ojima to Morishita. There was snow in the morning and due to troubles in the Keisei line, the trains in the Shinjuku line were also got delayed. I think, this was the reason for delay, if my understanding of the announcement in Japanese language made on the platform was correct! I have to frankly admit my inability to catch Japanese words.

When the train stopped at Nishi Ojima station, two stations from Higashi Ojima, and the doors opened, I could see many ‘heads’ waiting outside that were eager to enter to the train. Hardly there was space for them enter. The people inside the train were already crammed that entry of some more people into the train was almost impossible. It was hard for the closed door to open at the Nishi-Ojima station as the crowd inside was sticking to the doors. The time was almost 9:00 and everybody knew that they were going to be late in the office. That might had been the same feeling of people waiting at the platform too.

I was sure, only one or two managed to put their legs into the train, but with them in that position the doors could not be closed. It was then the driver appeared on the scene. The two passengers who managed to put their legs inside the train were struggling to get their body inside when the doors tried to close. It was impossible to close the doors with their body almost outside!

I could see the ‘heads’ and hear some sounds. I could hear a male voice asking ‘Sumimasen, Oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ and then a female voice ‘onegaishimasu’. Then the crowd inside felt a ‘Push’ from outside. The pressure from outside might have pushed the owner of the female voice inside the train! We were almost squeezed and there were grudges and exhaling sounds inside. The doors were closed and the train moved.

For me, the incident was an opportunity for revision and practice of one of the often used Japanese words ‘Oshimasu’. Oshimasu is one of the Japanese words I learned in lesson 16 of Minna no Nihongo I book. Oshimasu is the polite form for pushing or pressing. Minna no nihongo have examples of sentences using oshimasu and osu to. Osu is the dictionary form of Oshimasu. We learned the oshimasu, oshite, oshita, osanai and osu form to make sentences where we need to press or push any kind of button or keys.

Use of Oshimasu in subway trains to push the people into the train was a new knowledge for me. I went skeptic on what I might have heard. When confirmed from friends and sensei, I got an idea of the usage of oshimasu in subway trains also. The meaning of the conversation ‘sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ is ‘excuse me, is it OK if I push you?’ and the female voice replied politely ‘Yes, please (do)’.

This is not really an extraordinary or odd incident to write a blog post, but being a foreigner having no such experiences in the past, it stimulated me to think of the discipline, obedience, politeness and after all the compassion in the society where I do live. Is it not the manifestation of ‘compassion’ in Japanese society that I have heard through the words ‘sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ I mean the compassion in the sense of consideration, care, concern and kindness. I do not intend to use compassion in the meaning of ‘sympathy’ or ‘empathy’ here. Pushing people into train is a form of that consideration from the side of the person who pushes passengers into the crowded train. He helps them to reach their offices in time!

雪が降っています

Yuki, the snow in Japanese language is one of the words I like most. When I did learn to use the ‘te’ form in our Japanese language lessons, I was almost obsessed to repeat the sentence ‘Yuki ga fute imasu’ means ‘It is snowing’. ‘te’ form is used to express a continuous action.

Snow is ardently attractive to me and the Japanese word for snow carries some mysterious beauty with it. Yuki is one of the names of Japanese girls too. I like the kanji for Yuki 雪. The Kanji character for snow or Yuki bears a modified Kanji character for rain. Rain is called ‘Ame’ in Japanese language and is written as雨. Kanji brings the nature into scripts. We can see the rain drops falling from the roof of our universe in this Kanji character or we can imagine as we open the window, we see the water drops falling and we call it rain! Snow is another version of rain and so it carries the kanji for rain too, but on a modified form.

Thus Yuki ga fute imasu is written in Japanese language as 雪が降っています. This is a combination of Kanji and Hiragana. Though I have been learning Hiragana and Katakana in our Japanese class, Kanji is still a dream project. It may take years to learn Japanese Kanji.

This year this is the sixth or seventh snow fall in Tokyo today. Last two years there were only one snow fall each. Though we got more snow falls, only twice it became heavy. On February 1st and today snow accumulated on the ground and remained for some time. Today it was second of such snow fall in the morning, but not very heavy as happened in the first day of February. The snow accumulated on the tree tops and on the play grounds, but was melting soon.

Taking the opportunity, some of the students got an excuse for absence from the school and play on the ground. There were not many, but in the morning some of them made their way to the play ground. We managed to capture some of the moments of today’s snow fall. It was morning 7:00 and my hands were shivering while standing at the balcony.

When the glaciers melt and volcanoes turn ice skating resorts

There is one more snow fall out of the windows in front of me. Rarely, we open these windows during winter season. Occasion like snow fall are precious for us and we like to snapshot them in cherished memories. This is the fourth day in this winter season that we are lucky (!) to get snow. Compared to the previous years, snow fall in Tokyo this year is high this year.

This year’s winter is the coldest one I have ever experienced with more snow falls. The climate world over is changing unpredictably and this was one of the hot subject of debate when leaders met at Copenhagen on January to discuss and outline carbon emission regulations. That was a failed climate conference. The depressing fact of the climate change is that it is a universal phenomenon. Those responsible and not responsible for more carbon emission to the environment will equally share the burdens of climate change.

Copenhagen has not given anything hopeful to us that our national leaders in the recent future will be able to find a common chord to start a reverse process for the climate change. Reminding the biblical predictions we hear the variations in the weather predictions world over. The Vancouver winter Olympics was interestingly highlighted by the media with the absence of snow! Deserts starts getting more rain, migration of tropical sea creatures towards the poles are now the subjects of talk in coffee shops.

When I visited Indonesia, it was supposed to be a rainy season in the typical tropical area. When enquired to Indonesian friends the reply was pointing to the recent shift of the climate due to global warming. It was hot and the temperature was around 40 degree C. Recollecting own experience, I have also noticed the drastic climate change happened in Kerala, a southern state of India. We used to comfortably enjoy the cool climate of the green state of India during our childhood with the temperature moderates at 24 to 30 degree C throughout the year. During the 1990s we started hearing about the upward shift of the maximum temperature and now it reaches during summer at 40 deg C that reminds me of Indonesia’s climate now.

 

Human migration happened in the same way as the insects move from the unfavorable climate to the more favorable climate. It is the survival of the fittest theory that forces all the living things. When the desert becomes forest and when the forest becomes desert and the snow fall turns into fire of the desert, creatures also have to shift their habitats. When I talked to some people from Maldives at Trivandrum some years before, they shared similar concerns of migration at a near future to a nearby friendly country due to the rising sea water. Maldives will be one of first few island nations that will suffer the serious consequences of green house effect.

The reason for more snow during this winter may not be due to the climatic change or it may be due to the heavy snow at the northern hemisphere. Recently Japan has also concerns of virus and bacteria migration from the tropical countries as the climate at the tropical countries turn hostile to those viruses and bacteria.

Copenhagen was the graveyard of Kyoto protocol. More glaciers will melt in the coming years and the sea will gulp more island nations. Those who live at the top of the mountains think they are safe and laugh at those living down. They don’t know that ice at their bottom is melting. This happens at a time when the volcanoes turn ice skating resorts!

It is still snowing outside!

Breach of etiquettes while riding subway trains in Tokyo

I was told during a conversation by a Japanese friend that one of the survey conducted by Association of Japanese private railways revealed that noise is the biggest nuisance passengers get annoyed most. True! Recently everybody have mobile and almost all the time except sleeping it is the only companion for most people.

Use of mobile phone near priority seats is prohibited in Tokyo subway trains. Yes, the words written in the trains behind the priority seats could be read like this; “Please turn off the mobile phone near priority seat” This is considered as the manner while travelling in subway trains in Tokyo. Priority seats are reserved for aged people, physically challenged, pregnant women and lady passengers with babies. Priority seats or courtesy seats can be found at the end of each car.

Some of the public behaviors that attracted and impressed me in Japan are discipline, obedience to the law and regulations and cleanliness. Recently (Saikin in Japanese) I have been getting negative blows to my impression by seeing the public behavior, I must admit very frankly. Still I do praise the pin drop silence at subway trains. The self discipline is much higher than that in any other countries that I have seen. The very often noticed bad manner is the making-up of some of the J-girls. It is extremely a public nuisance especially to those sitting near to them. Applying make up while riding in the train is one of the biggest breaches of rail etiquettes, though it is written well in Japanese to please do it at home.

A good percentage of train passengers dwell in to their own world with their handsets. The handsets will be switched to manner mode. This is also one of the notices written inside the train with a symbol of mobile phone. Switch the mobile into manner mode is widely practiced in Japan while riding subway trains. "Please set your mobile phone to silent mode and refrain from making calls" is the words written inside the trains. Putting the mobile phone mode in to silent or manner mode is called ‘maanaa-modo” in Japanese language. It is written in Katakana scripts. Still some of the girls especially will be using their handsets though they occupy the priority seats. It is less offensive than turning the subway trains their beauty saloons!

Also, recent experiences force me to think there is a considerable deterioration in the cleanliness in the subway’s public places. The old and middle old generation tempts to blame the new generation’s growing ‘carelessness’ attitude, while some blames it on the recent economic troubles. The truth may be somewhere in between, but still there is considerable effort from the authorities to keep the roads and public places clean which is admirable.

Most often the breaches of manners are practiced by some foreigners too like talking loudly that will annoy the co-passengers and travelling in groups with baby strollers etc. This at one side, some of the friends have shared a peculiar problem of being a target of ‘staring’ by some of the local people while waiting for trains and riding in the trains. This one I feel may not be categorized as discrimination towards foreigners. This could be just out of curiosity. Even I will stare for a moment if I meet a foreigner at my own country. The point of discrimination is on how far the staring goes. After all, some people can not take out their eyes from some objects. Such kinds of people are there in every country and not only limited to Japan, though it is little inconvenience to become an object of staring!

White pebbles shower from the heaven- snow fall in Tokyo!

My fingers are still stiff as I just returned from the Komatsugawa park and starts writing these words. The snow has literally covered Higashi Ojima! Now the time is 12:15 a.m. on 2nd February and I may not sleep without writing this post. I could not resist myself taking a forty minute walking on the snow before writing this post. Events like snow fall are rare and must be enjoyed to its fullest in our own way.

At first, I thought of writing here only few words like “The snow fall history repeats in Tokyo, again the snow is falling”. On February 1st 2010, as predicted by the Japan Meteorological Agency, the snow fall started at around 6:15 PM in Tokyo.

It was on 2nd February, 2008, I could see the first snow fall in the life. Last year on February 1st, the snow fall repeated. That was the only one snow fall happened in Tokyo during 2009. The precipitation was not so strong that the snow could not form a layer on the ground. The first snow fall on 2008 was impressive.

Today the snow fall is heavy in Tokyo. This is the third snow fall since February 2nd 2008. This time kids could enjoy the snow fall. In fact they were waiting for me to join after the office hours. The snow fall was predicted through out the night till morning tomorrow. Now itself we could see the ice layers formed on the Komatsugawa park and the nearby buildings. The photos taken today night may not be clear and we are waiting for tomorrow morning to take more clear photos.

The outside temperature is 1 degree Celsius and I recollected the reason for snow fall, which Suzuki-san explained me last year. The snow falls when the air temperature near the ground dips below freezing point. It is like the white cotton balls falling from heaven.

The humidity is 96% and the wind speed is just 3 kilometer per hour. The weather forecast shows Tokyo and surrounding areas like Yokohama, Hachi Oji, Kimitsu, Fujisawa, Narashino, Chiba, Saitama, Ebina etc are also witnessing the similar snow fall today. It may be almost once in a year phenomenon in Tokyo. Even though the temperature dips down to zero and reaches minus two or three at some occasions, the snow fall is rare in Tokyo. I have heard from friends that snow fall often occurs in the near by northern prefectures of Tokyo.

We could take a short video of snowfall through the window. The ice has started clubbing on the bush tops, roof-tops and on the play grounds, but still the road transportation is not affected. The night view of the snow fall was not clear from our apartment.

If the snow continues falling through out the night, tomorrow morning, it will be a feast for the eyes! The camera is charged and ready for tomorrow’s snaps! Now itself the layer of ice had almost covered the ground and the snow keeps on falling. It is a wonderful experience for us to see snow fall, as we have lived most of our life in tropical part of the earth. Changes in experiences make the life more meaningful.

Melancholic pages of my life in Japan – departure of Remus-san

It was raining today in Tokyo. The rain added more cold to the already cold climate. The rain, which is used as a symbol in literature and movies, it seemed to me, was not merely coincide. Film directors have used rain, to express the pain of separation, death, miseries and depressed thoughts. While coming back from Narita airport today after sending off Remus-san, I was thinking of some of movie scenes where the rain symbolized the pain of separation.

Every departure is painful, but departure of some people, who are close to our heart, makes us depressed. The life amalgamated with pleasures and sorrows will not wait even a single moment for anybody’s consolation. I do not intend to search for the roots of sorrow or pleasure here. Today is one of the saddest days I have ever experienced after mother’s departure from Japan.

Today may not be a suitable day to write all the thoughts into this blog about the departure of Remus-san. As planned, Remus-san left Tokyo today. For sure, it is not just a departure for me. Remus said goodbye to Japan and I am just back home from the airport. Though I feel that today, it may not be a good day to write about his departure, I am unable to resist from sharing those painful moments of departure.

Either the otherwise crowded subway station was empty or I might not have noticed it. The mind was so preoccupied with thoughts of a good friendship which was started almost two years before. I have written about Remus before also in this blog when we friends gathered for a party at his apartment. Japanese language friends reunion

The friendship started from Sakura, when I was on a short transfer from the head office. We used to dine out some days at the Indian restaurant near the JR Sakura station. When Remus was moved to the head office, I was happy to get a companion.

Remus helped me a lot to set up my family, before they come to Japan. He was the one guided me and even purchased for me most of the house-hold items. Since I am not good at selecting the things, I followed his selection. He booked the flight tickets and helped me recharge the PASMO card and the list of things goes on……. I know well that friendship can not be listed out on a piece of paper or blog. What is coming out here is just the plain thoughts from my mind, when I am trying to console myself.

Remus was my lunch partner too at McDonalds and KFC. We shared our thoughts, fears, ambitions, plans and future. We shared the knowledge and discussed things of common interest. For my kids, he was Remus uncle. They loved to play with him during his visits to our home.

A true friendship, which can not be expressed by words, is something we cherish, is something we keep close to our hearts always. The life with many physical departures of beloved friends keeps on going with out waiting for us to recover from the twinge. The time will heal………this is what Remus told at the airport and I agreed.

The life in Japan, away from the home country, with good friends like Remus, was smooth and prolific. The voids created by the physical separation may not be filled up easily. I considered myself rather strong willed and unshaken. At the final moments in front of the departure gate, I noticed my words tremble and vision smudge as the eyes started filling……..

The end of this post is without any conclusion as this is one of the melancholic pages of my life in Japan.

Thy spirit walks abroad and turns our swords in our own proper entrails

Suicide is a cry for help. When one feels that the door of the last hope is also closed, and there is nothing left with for them to live in this earth, they, being carried away with uncontrolled emotions may decide to say goodbye to this world. This is how almost all of the suicides happen in Japan too as in any other parts of the world. Academically, this explanation may be enough to start the answer to the related question. In the real world, individual life situations and complex mental processes changes from country to country.

When I read the report on CNN.com on March 2009, "Desperate Japanese head to 'suicide forest'", I related the phenomenon as part of the existing Japanese psyche. In fact, I was reading the book, Bushido at that time and was on an impression that the news appeared in CNN.com/asia is not a new social issue to be discussed with much importance this year only.

For sure, the ever increasing rate of suicide is a social issue in Japan, which needs to be thoroughly analyzed and prevented. Some people in every country may commit suicide and the social and personal reasons behind those acts of self killings changes according to the country. The last two years, we have enough reasons while reading the increased number of suicides.

I read somewhere in the middle of December 2009, that the suicide deaths in Japan has reached around 30198 by the end of November 2009 itself. That is pretty much a huge figure and a figure of concern for the social scientists. Since, 1997, the suicide deaths have crossed the border of 22,000 suicide deaths per year. Since then it has been continuing with a figure some thing around 30,000. It was horrible to hear that the death rate has crossed the 30,000 limit also.

I would like to recollect, some of my life experiences connected with the suicide in Japan. When I was waiting for the train in the morning to head towards the work place, I heard some strange announcements in Japanese language and on those days, the train comes too late, sometimes more than half an hour. Without knowing the actual reasons for the delay of trains, in order to reach the office I would choose to walk from the nearest exit of the station. As I could not understand the full meaning of the announcement in Japanese, some of my friends advised me to look into the display board where the message for the reason of delay will be displayed. If the kanji for personal accident is displayed, it might be a suicide case, and the train will be delayed more. Last year, I have walked at least 4 times as I have seen that message in the display board.

Every time I walk I used to remember the book ‘Bushido’ written by Inazo Nitobe-san. Suicide is institutionalized in Japan! Those institutionalized suicides known as Seppuku or Kappuku commonly called Hara-kiri were different from the ones happening now a days. Still the suicide rate in Japan is one of the highest in the world. For Japan, a country having almost everything to identify with a self pride, a country with the second strongest economy in the world, a country, which is a model to other nations on how to protect citizens rights, a country having a fairly good distribution of wealth system, suicide remains a scar, we need to agree.

I am not competitive at this stage to write analytical reasons behind this tendency of self killing. But one thing is sure that suicide is neither a matter of pride nor a way to escape from the personal defeats as observed in the Samurai period. In all countries, suicides happen, but when it happens more in a country like Japan, there may be reasons apart from merely economical as that mentioned in CNN.com/asia and it becomes a matter of concern.

It may not be the spirits walking around and turns the swords to their own proper entrails. There may be reasons that spread to the victim’s helplessness to deal with minute fluctuations in the external world that affect the internal world too. Education that focus on self manifestation, apart from simple school syllabus will help to a good extent to reinforce the positive life motivating elements in new generation. That will help to realize when the spirits start walking abroad and turns the sword to one’s own bowels.

Mount Naeba exploration on new year day

The snow, like white cotton balls continued falling down and piling up making our way difficult to go through. Though the car was provided with snow tyres, we were a bit skeptic to reach our destination by seeing the heavy snow fall all along the road to Mount Naeba.

The New year’s first day was memorable, not only in the mere meaning of just seeing a different place, but also by pushing a car to escape from the ice-trap where we spent around forty minutes and finally got help from the rescue team.

It was just the start of our exploration of Mount Naeba and we were on our way to the parking space in front of Prince Hotel Naeba. The journey was started at 7:00 AM from Higashi Ojima and we were happy with the hope that we can reach by 10:30AM at the destination and can enjoy the trip to Mount Kagura from Mount Naeba ski resorts.

All of us, lived most of our lives in tropical climate were thrilled to play with snow. We have seen snow fall in Tokyo, but not enough snow that we have seen in the websites of ski-resorts. The prime motivation to select a place like Mount Naeba was to make a different experience on the New Year’s Day itself. Change is the slogan in air now a days as we hear it from every corner. Let it be politics or personal life, change is a must to make the things lively.

Mount Naeba ski-resort is around 220km away from Tokyo. The day was clear when we started from Tokyo and on the way we could see Mount Fuji clearly. Mount Fuji is visible on a clear day from Tokyo also. As we were approaching to the mountain ranges near to Mount Naeba we could see the snow fall and on the middle of the way we stopped for a while to take snaps of the snow filled paddy fields and river.

Contrary to our expectations, on 1st January 2010, there was heavy snow fall and wind at the resorts. With our broken Japanese, when we approached the information counter, we were informed that the world’s longest dragondola, which is 5.5 kms from Naeba valleys to Tashiro area of Kagura ski resorts is closed due to heavy snow wind. It is dangerous to ride on the dragondola when there is a heavy wind. He informed that the ropeway operation is under red alert.

However, we could ride on the dragondola 2 which is around 1.7 kms from the slope of Mount Naeba to its peak. Fully clad with winter protection cloths, we could reach to the destination point of dragondola 2. That was an amazing and unforgettable experience to play with snow. The snow was piling up on branches of trees. They have already shed their leaves before the winter season. Now they got snow flowers!. The scene down to the valleys while we ride on the ropeway was impressive with bunches of snow sticking to the tree branches looked like trees with white flowers.

There were skiers coming down to the slope of the mountain playing with their children. At the top, we played with snow literally dipping ourselves inside the snow piles.

The resort and the surrounding areas of Prince Hotel Resorts are fully provided with all kinds of facilities to make the trip comfortable and strain-free, except the natural obstructions happen unpredictably.

It was around 5:30 PM when we decided to return back from the snow mountains. Restarting the car itself took another half an hour as the whole parking area was filled with snow and most of the cars were covered with ice. Everything looked white at the parking area. Struggling to restart the car, finally we could make our way to Tokyo with memories of an extraordinary experience.

Planning of the trip to Mount Naeba was much easier with the help of the website maintained by Prince Hotels & Resorts. We could make our plan well with the guidelines given in this website. Thanks to the website owner too for making this New Year celebration a memorable and impressive one. The link to the website is here; http://www.princehotels.co.jp/ski/naeba-e/index.html