Japan Travel (2002) Memoirs — Part 2

Japan First Week

My flight from Bangalore was at 8:00 PM, and from Chennai, the Singapore flight (via Singapore Airlines) took off at noon. Though the flight time is 3.5 hours, because of gaining one hour as it is in the East, we reached Singapore at 6:00 AM.

The flight is a Boeing 747–400. This is huge, I guess around 400 people can sit. There is also an upper floor for Raffle Class, which I understand is a class above economy.

Singapore Airport is huge. I guess it would be around 5/6 kilometers long when all the corridors are combined. There are around 150 arrival and departure lounges. There is a huge shopping complex, hotel, eateries, refreshment rooms, and God knows whatnot — all within the airport itself. To move along in the airport, escalators are there (these are horizontal escalators, one can either walk along the corridors or take the escalators — which are parallel to the escalator).

The flight from Singapore to Tokyo started at 9 AM. Again, we gained 2.5 hours. Ultimately it reached the Narita airport at 5:00 PM.

A few things about both flights:

1. There are Boeing 747–400 and can seat around 400 people — including people on the upper deck.

2. Before serving the food, they give a menu card indicating the options.

3. The flight has an in-flight entertainment system, with a video display in front of you (behind the seat in front). This has options for movies (including one in Tamil), features, documentaries, video games, and news (CNN updated every hour). There is a detachable control device, which is attached to the seat. One can control all by using this. And there are earphones so that no one is disturbed.

At Tokyo airport, I first bought a card for 1000 yen for making calls. All phones either use pre-paid cards, or one can make payment by dropping yens.

(A few things about the currency. There is only one denomination, yen (what I mean is that there is no paisa and rupee, or cent and dollar). One rupee would be around 2.5 years. The coins are for Yen 1,5,10,50,100, 500. Almost everywhere there are machine-operated systems (railway stations, phones, buses, games, vending machines — one can make payment with yen coins). This is very important, as in Japan most of the operations are unattended and automatic. Of course, in some of them one can buy a pre-paid card and operate it — like a train, phone, etc.)

I then took a train to go to a central station called Shinjuku Station. The train line is right below the airport. To go to one floor below to catch the train, guess what I used to carry the luggage. I carried the luggage in the trolley, down the escalator!!

The trolleys, though look like one in India, have an in-built braking system. When in released condition, the brake is on. When needs to be moved, the handle at the back needs to be pressed — the brake is released. Once the back handle is released, the brake is on again. So, one needs to go onto the escalator with the trolley and release the back handle. The trolley gets locked. Once reaching the bottom, press the back handle and move it on.

Now the train fare. The Shinjuku station is 1.5 hours from the Narita airport, but the fare is Y3100 (Rs. 1300). This is a normal air-conditioned train. So, you can imagine how expensive travel is here.

One curious thing about the train — one keeps all the heavy luggage right next to the entrance and sits where they are supposed to. There is no fear that someone is going to get down with his or her luggage (and mind that even though when I buy a ticket, I get a seat and coach number, nowhere I do a booking with my name).

This is another key differentiator of Japan. People are honest, and the general assumption is people are honest. This is opposite to what is in India, where the assumption is people are dishonest. So, we have put up an elaborate system to find out dishonest people. This has put an enormous strain on the system. Think about the amount of useful labor that gets released in Japan versus India.

I am staying in a place called Nakano. This is a sort of semi-apartment accommodation, called Weekly Mansion — Tokyo. This is a chain across Tokyo, and one needs to do the booking for at least a week. The one I am staying in is a 10X12 room, and a small bathroom (small means 5X5 –small). However, the amenities that are there are quite something — a room heater, a 21” flat screen TV, a VCR, a microwave oven, an oven, a small fridge, and a small cooking place. What is the cost of this — around Rs. 80,000 per month (yes, eighty thousand)

For washing clothes, we have a coin laundry on the ground floor (coin laundry means washing machines, which can be operated by putting, yen. One needs to put the clothes and the washing powder and put the coin as instructed. Then it would wash on its own. There are three types of machines, for cotton clothes (one wash of 100 Yen), for woolen clothes (300 Y), and drier (for one day of fifteen minutes, 200 Y. However, I understand that one needs to dry at least three times i.e., 45 minutes for reasonable drying). I am yet to use the machines — let me accumulate sufficient clothes first.

The TV shows only the government-wired channels — there are around 11 of them and shows only Japanese programs. There is no scope to take Cable TV, as this mansion does not provide such a facility. In Japan, people generally use Direct To Home (DTH), which is a satellite dish hanging outside the house.

A few things are interesting about the TV. One channel is TV shopping all the time. Another one is always advertisement (thanks to this, I came to know that the cooking oil pack that I saw in the shop is syrup). There are channels, which show US programs, like Hollywood movies, Alley McBeal, and Friends. They are mostly dubbed dialogues, but today I saw a Rocky Balboa movie (Robert De Niro), which had only Japanese subtitles. There are a lot of classes to learn English. Looks like they are very keen to focus on English as a language. Otherwise, dramas are being shown. I have not seen Japanese movies. Another thing — a lot of sports especially football is shown. The Brazilian stars, Beckham and Oliver Kahn seem always there (they also show a very violent type of kickboxing here — I do not know how it goes with their general culture). News does not give much outline of world news, except for George Bush. I however saw some bogies strewn around a field — I guess this was a train accident in India. But I guess overall here too it is an idiot box.

(Coming back to English speaking, a few days back I was handed over a brochure for an English-speaking course. I guess because of the recession, people are looking at global skills).

The travel to the office is via subway. The Nakano station is around 8 minutes’ walk from the place of stay. From Nakano, I need to go to Otemachi. From that point, I get down from the station at Otemachi station, and the point I need to get out of the subway to get into the KDDI building (where my office is, it is just outside the exit of the subway), the walk within the subway is 380 meters.

The whole city has an extensive network of subway train lines. At each subway station, there is an extensive subway system for walking, in the Central Business part of Tokyo, most people can go right up to their offices using the subway only.

From Nakano to Otemachi is around 20 minutes by train either way. There is no class division; there is no lady’s compartment. I have taken a pass for a month. This is around Rs. 3000.

But if one thing that the whole of Tokyo is connected by only the subway, it is wrong. There is a very extensive system of surface lines called JR (Japan Railways) lines. Many times, one needs to use a combination of the subway and surface way to go to a place.

(Taxis are very expensive here. The moment one gets in, it looks like it would be a few thousand yens. However, all of them are Toyotas and have a lot of gadgetry. I guess it is quite expensive to maintain them too).

Our office is on the 21st floor of the KDDI building. Our building looks very small compared to the other buildings, but this is also 22 stories. The 21st story is the business center. Each office has been given a certain number of access cards, which open the main door as well as our room. I have not seen any security or lift operator as yet. However, I had an experience today (Sunday). I went to the office in the afternoon and found that the entire building was closed (shut down). So appears there is no concept of people dropping into their offices during the holidays. Tomorrow is also a holiday — the emperor’s birthday. Need to check the status tomorrow, as India is working.

As a facility, we have a vending machine that disposes of water, coffee (without milk and sugar), and green tea (this is also without milk and sugar, but this is tasty). Everyone goes and drinks what they want to — there is no concept of stocking water (maximum one can get the disposable paper cup to the table). There is also a vending machine, where one can get canned Coke, fruit juices, mineral water, coffee (hot/ cold), tea, etc. One needs to feed appropriate coins for the same.

This vending machine with a glass front panel is all over the place. They are unattended. In India, I do not think one would remain even for a night — people would break and take away things.

The lunchtime is between 12 and 1, and everyone strictly follows this. Almost everyone eats at restaurants. There are hundreds of them I think — most of them are below the buildings and subway entrance. There is one close to our office, which serves Indian food — though run by Japanese. It is small rice, Nan (unlimited), and a choice of 1/2/3 dishes. The dishes can be chicken, dal, sabzi, etc. The base cost for one plate (maybe the chicken is Rs. 350). A lot of Japanese come to eat there — Indian food is very popular here. You can Japanese ask for Nan. Today I went to a departmental store to pick up vegetables, and in one corner of the shop, there was packaged Chicken Curry, with a photo of Nan next to make the local people understand.

For buying things of interest, there are three types of stores. The first one is called the convenience stores — which are open 24 hours. They have mainly eatables. There are a lot of ready-made food available, one can heat and eat. But for us to eat that is difficult, mainly because of smelter l. These shops have a lot of confectionaries, bakery items, and frozen foods. They do not have vegetables. The second type of shop is the departmental store, which would have anything and everything for the household. Here again no vegetables, or cookable food. But you would get oil etc. The third type is the departmental store for food. You get everything that you plan to eat. But one does not get spices, and also, I did not see dal. The rice they eat here is different from what we eat, they are coarse and sticky. But there is no difference in taste. I am nowadays only eating lunch at the office. I have everything else stocked for having food at home. However, the problem is that on the majority of the items, there is nothing written in English. However, many of the brands are present (Cadbury, KitKat, Laughing Cow). So many times, it helps. The attendants in the shop also can help at times.

Though there are a lot of problems because of language, one does not face the problem of the systems and because of the people. Take the example of a differential fare machine. This works like this — if one is not sure about the fare to be paid on the train (subway or surface way), he can get a minimum fare ticket. After he gets down to the destination station, he needs to put his ticket in the differential fare machine. The machine would tell you how much additional fare to be paid, and also give a ticked once you pay that. You can go through the gate using this new ticket.

Take the people. A few days back I went to a place 1.5 hours from Tokyo. I ate something and was looking for a place to dispose of the plastic cover of the bakery product. There were a few school children and I showed them a sign that I wanted to dispose of it they did not understand English). They tried to explain to me where the dustbin isis was but could not make out. Two of them then offered to take the plastic from me and dispose of the same. Also, now in Japan, almost everything in Japanese is written down next to it in English. I understand that it has increased a lot because of the World Cup Soccer.

Japan is a difficult place to live. But there is a lot of simplification in life. All the train lines are color-coded (e.g., I travel to the office by Tozai line. All over the place the line is indicated by light blue circles and stripes. If I take for example Marunochi line, the code changes to red). Also, when you enter into a particular platform, you get a horizontal stripe above your head just before the platform. The name of the station you are in would be indicated in the middle, and there would be station names on the left and right to it. For the names on the right, the train would be on the right platform. The same is true for the other side.

Maps are very commonly used. They are everywhere — on the platform, inside the train, with taxi drivers. You see all of them referring to it also (including taxi drivers — very surprising). When you make an appointment, people also mail a location map.

The people would I guess by our definition be stupid. Take an example, tomorrow is a holiday as it is the emperor’s birthday. When I asked the emperor’s name, our secretary (who is otherwise a smart lady — she knows English pretty well) could not tell the emperor’s name. When I said it should be either Akihito or Narihito, still there was no answer. If you ask for a place, they will immediately open the guidebook and refer to the maps. I feel that this is mainly because of two reasons — one is that they have all the systems in place and hence do not need to keep a lot of data in mind. The second is their propensity to perfect all the time (this also slows them down I feel).

Generally, people are very much immersed in themselves. In trains, there is hardly anyone talking to anyone. One would find a few sleeping, few reading books, few reading cartoon books (here adults also read cartoon books, and these books would be as thick as 500 pages), and a large majority is pouring on their cell phones (here cell phones have a large color display — people would be sending messages or would be playing some games).

You would largely find people extremely well-disciplined. The first person would get into the train only when the last person has got down. There is no rush for the empty seats, many times seats would be empty, and people would be standing. Nobody talks loudly (even on cell phones people whisper) — except late at night when some mildly drunk people talk their hearts out. However, this is very rare. In the escalators, people who stand take the left side, leaving the right side for those who want to move faster. When a ticket collector comes (not in the subway — here everything is automated. I saw one when on the first day I was traveling from Narita airport to Shinzuku), he opens the cap and greets everybody. In every shop, when you pay people greet you and say, “Thank You Very Much”. The entire culture is based on a lot of humility.

Another thing you may know is, that the Japanese are crazy about computer games. They usually play with game consoles (these are hardware boxes that are dedicated to playing games). Historically only Sony PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube were popular. This year even the Microsoft Xbox seems to be making inroads.

I understand that Japan has been in recession for the last ten years. But even then, their standard of living is such that India may need 50/100 years to achieve. With the infrastructure that they built (it is so perfect that I wonder if I am asked about some areas to improve, what should I suggest), and the reserves they have, maybe the next two generations need not bother. Even now, it is very difficult to identify who is the rich class. But I understand that there is poverty now, people are now sleeping on the railway platforms. But I guess that is minimal.

Another reason for the recession is the aging population in Japan. Wherever you go, you see a number of them (if you travel in off-peak hours, more than half the people would be old). They seem to be perfectly healthy and maintain a very active life. But they are retired. This is putting an enormous burden on the state, and more and more of the tax money is going towards this (this includes pension, health care, and social security). I understand that many in the younger generation are not too happy about picking up the pension burden of the older generation.

I must add another experience that I had today. There is a three-day off — as Monday is the emperor’s birthday. Yesterday I came to the office and found it closed from all sides (the entire building). I went back. Today I came, and the same thing. I was about to go back. Then I saw someone vanishing within the building through a small door. When I go to the door, it is closed. However, on the left side of the door, there is a microphone. I press that, and a guarded voice comes asking me where I want to go. The gate opens then. And I find the entire building operational inside (except the heaters), including the vending machine.