Observations (followed by some pics of note)
Observation Ichi: Speaking of 2010, DB asks THB on the
last night, so which trip was better, this one or the earlier one? THB thinks
for a few seconds (nearing the max on thinking, unlike writing) and says, 2010.
WRONG! We start reviewing the two
trips and a minute or two later (THB is now getting exhausted, hard to keep up
this thinking pace), and come to the following conclusions: the artist visits
for most part were way better this time (and thus we are spending more on art
in 2013); in the terrific to essential category: Sagawa Museum, Adachi Gardens,
Nakasendo Road hike with a great guide, The Earth, Abeke House, and, not just
one triennial, TWO triennials full
of discovery and meaningful art, and a few more happenings that THB will have
to re-read the blog to remember (his own writing and he can’t remember!!!). All
exceeded expectations, were worth a significant detour (and some were very
significant detours).
So why
did THB jump to 2010 as the better trip? The obvious answer is that the shock
and awe factor were in full force. Who could forget picture after picture of
the toilets. Changing shoes every time you approached any sort of entrance or
exit or bathroom. Figuring out the trains, which always ran on time, and never
finding anywhere by the address, always having to use a map (and THB’s eyesight
has weakened enough in 3 years that DB does all the map reading now, a burden
that used to be more equitably shared). The cleanliness, the safety, the
different food (and Japan has many different styles of food we don’t see in the
US) from breakfast through dessert at dinner.
All taken
for granted this time. As Thomas Wolfe said, it’s great to go home again, as
long as someone is along to remind you how much better it is now than the last
visit. (Tom Wolfe, right?).
And the
real reason: many kudos and thanks to DB, our fearless trip designer (she
should start her own Japan Trip Advisor page), who used her knowledge from two
prior trips and customized one hell of a trip, as well as having along our
ever-congenial and passionate art-chasing co-travelers, E&J , who started
out strong and took the early lead in buying art, only to be overtaken on the
last few hours of the last day.
Observation ni: Transportation is always a big plus
in Japan. There are trains going everywhere, invariably on time (even after
typhoons that force re-routing, the new schedules are totally trustworthy). The
airlines run efficiently. And this time, because THB was walking around a lot,
it became clear that the cars are kept up immaculately. You rarely see a dirty
car and almost never a car with a dent. Fastidious might be a better way of
putting it. And, most of the cars look like they are of recent vintage.
Observation san: The lower level hotels (i.e. the
inn hotels) have no need to take credit card impressions because whatever
charges you might make after paying for the room are all pay-as-you-go: TV
extras require a pre-paid card; there are no mini-bars, the common bath areas
are included, the breakfast is included. However, whenever you check in
anywhere you supply your passports (so the government knows where you are?) and
THB thinks pretty much always a copy is made as well.
Observation shi/yon: All the hotels and inns have
converted over to having out large bottles of shampoo, body soap, face soap and
hair conditioner, and there are always plastic wrapped toothbrushes and often
(always? THB isn’t always checking) razors and shaving cream. The big bottles
are very ecological and aid the hotels in cost control; THB thinks that the
average Japanese traveler doesn’t bother bringing along toothbrushes and razors
for some reason that is akin to having separate slippers for the bathroom.
Observation go: While there appears to some fashion
norms, THB cannot discern much other than the women (of almost any age) are
not wearing a “work uniform.” Pants are
very common now, yet there isn’t a big jeans-and-t-shirt look…there’s no
particular trend other than everybody seems to be wearing an outfit unlike
anyone else. There are clothing chains here and lots of shopping in department
stores, somehow uniqueness is attained. THB may need to spend more time looking
at the younger crowd to find out how it is done. Of course, if THB focuses on a
truly younger crowd, he will find out the school kids are wearing uniforms:
white tops and blue pleated skirts and long white sox.
THB has
the following theory: every woman (or teen not wearing a school uniform) has the
following items in her wardrobe: 10-15 pairs of a variety of shoes; 10 pairs of
tights (all have at least 2-3 versions in black) and 20 pairs of socks in all
lengths and colors and patterns; 10 paIrs of shorts; 15 different pairs of
pants; 20 skirts of all lengths and most made to be worn over tights and/or
pants; 20 blouses; some dresses; a variety of sweaters and jackets. Each woman
must not wear the same combination of above in the same half-decade (notes are
kept, spreadsheets updated). Therefore, the chances of seeing two women wearing
the same combination at the same time in the same area approaches zero. Since
occasionally THB has been left behind in high traffic areas (i.e., the others
are off visiting restrooms) and is doing his sampling, it was almost impossible
to see two women (out of 100s) wearing the same shoes, let alone all the others
items that go into an ensemble. Can there be another country like that on The
Earth?
Observation roku: There was minimal public usage of
cell phones (and if a phone was answered on a train, the person got up to move
between cars). Smart phones have made an inroad here, yet you see plenty of
flip phones (the Japanese version was way ahead of US before smart phones
showed up). You very rarely saw anyone walking and talking to him or herself.
About the only time it was ever obtrusive: a guy on the moat tour around the
Matsue Castle took a call, and THB was so bored it was more amusing than
annoying (and he stayed on the call for 4-5 minutes).
Observation nana/shichi: Bikes are big here, and they are
pretty much all the same: three gear oldies with a basket in the front, used
for commuting or going to school. On the islands around Naoshima many bike
places were renting the standard model except they had small motors on them
(and we also saw them on the road up to the silver mine outside of the Abeke
House). And, in the cities and larger towns they are ridden on the sidewalks,
sometimes at pretty good speed. THB almost got killed in Matsue when he was
crossing with the light (since DB and E&J were in the crosswalk with him,
THB is pretty sure it was green) by a big guy commuting at speed in the road
who was not looking at the pedestrians before turning and almost hit THB in the
twilight (where exactly is the twilight on THB?).
Observation hachi: There was a phenomenon we noticed
with taxis: invariably, if the taxi driver was not familiar with an address or
business name (easily possible because in Japan addresses are pretty much
meaningless without landmark buildings to go by), the fare to the location
(usually a restaurant) was always higher than the return fare over the exact
same distance. Sometimes by a factor of 25%. Taxis here have high flag drop
costs (in cities, usually $6.50) and slow incremental increases. One night, we
had two taxis, one following the other, arriving at almost the same time: one
fare was $21 and one $25 (at least it wasn’t as bad as the two taxis back from
the restaurant to the hotel in Santiago, that was $25 and $50!).
Observation kyu: Something we noticed in 2010 and has
picked up pace in2013 is how the art triennials end up being staged in closed
schools. In rural Japan, the pace of movement to big cities combined with low
birth rates is accelerating. That makes for a nice opportunity for art to
invade these large empty structures (classrooms, gyms, schoolyards, pools), and
also makes for poignant example of the changes in demographics and what it
means for these communities.
Observation jyu: Rice! Here, there, and everywhere.
Not so noticeable when you’re in Tokyo and Kyoto. Travel anywhere else in Japan
and realize these small plots are pretty much everywhere, and are not on the
industrial scale of California and other growing regions. Sort of goes along
with the full employment mode here: the trains, the stores, the hotels (not so
much in the Inn Hotel type spots), the post offices are loaded with staff. Road
crews have twice as many workers as you see in the US. There are a lot of
people working here. You don’t see any vagrants (or we didn’t visit spots where
they might be seen).
Observation jyu ichi: This is a quiet country, in general.
In the country, there are very few birds around. People are restrained on
trains. While conversations have a lot of thank yous and bowing and hai, hai,
hai, nobody is raising their voice. Even the guys drinking at the inns were
damn quiet. In the public baths, the only time THB heard a conversation was
when he could hear DB and E talking on the other side of the wall at I Love You
on Naoshima (I love you, DB). If a restaurant filled up, there would be a hum
for sure, and nothing like the decibel ranges at Delfina or Nopa.
Observation jyu ni: Tokyo had the highest recorded
temperature on record for both October 11 and 12. It has been hot (and often
humid) on this entire trip, maybe 3-4 days of what we used to call fall weather
out of 25 (that includes our departure half day, which was very nice out). The
common rooms at many of the places we stayed were not much below the outside
temperature, if at all, day and night. And, a number of the installation pieces
in the two triennials dealt frankly with the tsunami damage and resulting
nuclear reactor disaster at Fukushima (here they refer to the disaster as
3/11). And, there usually is a master switch (that holds your key) that turns
off all the non-essential electricity (like lights and a/c) when the key is
removed (you don’t have to put in your key, e.g., you can fool the device with
biz cards).
These are
not totally unrelated statements. Global warming is definitely influencing our
trips in the fall; here and on our National Parks trip what used to be fall
tending toward warmish days and cool nights has become warm and humid days and
rare cool nights. After 3/11, all of the nuclear reactors have been shut down
In Japan (and there is a major controversy about when to start up). In response
to the reduced national energy production, many of the businesses have
significantly raised the kick-in level of the a/c temperature to save energy (however,
it appears that ambient light in the big cities is as bright as ever now).
Observation jyu san: THB kept postponing writing about
the absence of birds in Japan in the countryside and the parks in the cities
(who knows how THB’s mind works when it comes to putting stuff in writing…THB
does not!). After just completing the biography of Rachel Carson, maybe there
is some relationship between the environment and global warming and farming
that has reduced the bird population. Maybe more likely is that THB’s
observation is so anecdotal as to be meaningless (put this statement at the end
of every observation and you are closer to the truth than the shadow?)
Observation jyu yon: THB tried not to write (really?
After 21,000 words…THB did not try near hard enough!) about things that were
noted at length in the postings from the 2010 trip. So, here, are a few words
that had to be repeated: Send Ahead is a terrific service. You take bags that
are going to needed later in the trip, have the bell desk or concierge fill out
a form with the details, pay a very nominal fee (between $10-15 per bag, no
matter how large), and as you are checking in at the send ahead spot, your bag
magically appears (even when the one time the bell desk sent it to the wrong
hotel, then made it good at no charge, and the bag was there in time because
Fusao proactively checked). Above and beyond!!!
Observation jyu go: From our vast research, we’ve
learned that Japan is an aging country with a very low birth rate and the young
are starting to seek work overseas. In the cities, what we saw was a very young
crowd of teens and under35s everywhere, during the day and night, weekdays or
weekends. Walking a bit of Roppongi at night and on the subway ride back to the
hotel, we saw an overwhelming number of young women (in our car, it must have
been 35 teenage girls and young women to 3 men; we assumed some teeny-bopper
concert had let out).
We also
saw very few young kids and babies. So, maybe the oldsters a) aren’t going out
much, b) living outside the big cities, and c) there really is a very low birth
rate and/or parents don’t get out much with under 5s. Stats say Japan will
shrink by 30% over the next 45 years if things stay the same.
Observation jyu-roku Often, THB could not figure out how
to turn off all the lights in the room. Yes, it should be no surprise when THB
also could not work the phone, the camera, and plenty of other devices.
However, sometimes even the master switch wasn’t enough. Sometimes the controls
were next to the bed stand and mixed in with the alarm clock (fortunately THB
never set the clock to go off too early). We saw this when we stayed at the
recently Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles (there, THB couldn’t get the wifi working
and you had to wait 17 seconds to find out if the TV was coming on…TRUE
STORY!).
One night
THB slept with a soft red glow above his head (DB was already asleep and sh
thought that light was out…nope). Some nights THB turned on and off every light
twice (or more) to get them all off (or more likely, to find out he couldn’t
turn them all off).
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