Impressions of the Japanese

I’m in the air over Thailand, on the way from Bangkok to Myanmar. Although I don’t yet know when I’ll have internet access again, I thought I’d put finger to key and record a few thoughts about the Japanese.

First, they know how to run an airline! Smiles all around, and very helpful. Eager to answer any question, provide any assistance. Even Southwest doesn’t come close to the standard set by All Nippon Airlines. With the meal, metal utensils. Other nice little touches during the flight. And departures run right on time. A friend remarked the other day that flying used to be an experience, and no longer is. Well, maybe not on most airlines.

But that leads into another impression, and I say up front that this next impression is based on WAY too little experience with the Japanese – but it’s the impression that came to mind for both of us. The friendliness seems to lack true warmth, as if it’s forced, as if it’s done because they’ve been trained to do so, whether by parents or employers, or the culture at large. As if they’re thinking in their heads, “smile now” and “continue smiling.” There’s a sameness among them in the friendliness, both in this cheerfulness and in clothing as well. It all seemed to have a somewhat mechanical aspect. If you’ve seen The Matrix, life in the matrix had a sterile appearance. Hearing my comparison along that line, Daniel concurred that it seemed “programmed.”

Having said that, a few other thoughts are important to note. We both saw exceptions to this impression. The people doing business in the fish market, or the guy who helped us at our lunch restaurant. The latter was especially friendly, in an obviously real way. He even gave us his email address so we could contact him later if we got lost in Tokyo or had other questions. We also saw them relating to one another in obviously warm ways.

Another contributor to this impression may be the Japanese compulsion to succeed in any effort. They are reported in my travel materials to be shy toward foreigners, since they don’t want to fail in communicating in a foreign language, and also reported to be hard to relate to on a personal level because of these kinds of things.

And the other thought I need to note is that trained cheerfulness is not necessarily a bad thing. Some of us have trouble opening up and being friendly. I have one friend who has told me that she was very reserved and shy, and finally one day realized she must change. She is now one of the most warm and friendly people I know, and there is no doubt that it is real. Some might respond to the possibility of programmed friendliness by saying no one should be trained to be friendly. That would be a faulty conclusion.

Another impression: The city of Tokyo was clean. I mean CLEAN. C-l-e-a-n Clean. We did see one wall along the monorail and a highway that had some graffiti – and even the graffiti was nice and orderly! This cleanliness may have also contributed to the sense that things are programmed Matrix-style, but if so, I think that’s only a commentary on the dirtiness of our own culture.

Still another: They have a sense of style. The don’t clutter the streets with lazy attempts at clothing themselves. They look sharp and appoint themselves well. It’s a nice aspect.

Finally a couple of surprises. There were almost no westerners in Tokyo. In the Bangkok airport, and on the flight to Myanmar, we saw more Americans than we saw all day in Tokyo and its airport. Several times more. Also, we found it surprising that we found precious few in Tokyo that knew enough English to share a few sentences, and only one that made conversation somewhat easy.

On to Myanmar!