Report From Japan
by Sanja Ilic
August 07, 2007
“The lap dance is so much better when the stripper is crying…”
(AKA The people who come to live in Japan)
After having been imprisoned three days in a hotel filled with the future teachers of the Japanese
youth, I have come to ask myself why are these people here? Almost none of them seemed to be
genuinely interested in teaching these kids, but rather interested in partying and “living it up”. A very
small demographic of the people with whom I’ve interacted, mentioned their expectations of the
teaching ordeal. Maybe I am just an idealist and like to believe that people are here to do their job, or
maybe I am just over judging people based on my first impressions.
I am not sure, but the energy and vibe that occupied this hotel were fatigue and over exhaustion, as
almost everyone was forcing themselves to go out drinking till wee hours of the morning because they
are in Tokyo, and then attempted to attend the whole days worth of seminars and meetings, whilst
battling the all so famous Jet Lag. To them I say, “People we are in Japan now, for at least a year,
Tokyo is not a far distance from you!!!! It will also most certainly be more enjoyable once you have
learned a little bit of Japanese, and you go there with your friends, not necessarily people who are
strangers and you don’t necessarily like.”
There is also a trend of people who are coming to Japan to find their significant other, and they sure
do not try to waste any time. There were a few who have attempted to bring their “new” friends up to
their rooms and their attempts were foiled either by a security guard, a roommate, or the event
volunteers. It was rather interesting to watch human behavior and all the drama unfold. I was quite
surprised that no one got asked to board the next plane back to where ever they are from. Not to be
accused of generalizing, I have also noticed that the Americans in general were the attention getters,
somewhat closely followed by the Brits.
I have attempted to interact with the newcomers, to go out with them all, on their late night boozing
parties, but soon would leave as I would not like to be grouped together into the same category as
these wild, “off the leash for the first time” characters. I would simply walk over to the next bar, feel
out its vibe and then leave if I did not like it. I think that I may have become overly critical of my peers
as time progressed, as I have found myself walking through a park all alone on my last night in Tokyo.
I must say that it was the most pleasant experience in Tokyo thus far.
Tokyo, a city of buildings, shopping centers, and people, has still managed to maintain a few good
sized parks, where the trees drown out the neon signs and the crickets and birds drown out the noise.
I make it sound like I was alone, but in all reality there were plenty of Japanese people walking the
park at midnight. There were people taking short cuts to get home, also new lovers sneaking away to
make out a bit in a well hidden and poorly lit parts. A very interesting character was a relatively young
man standing at the highest point in the part, playing his trombone into the trees. He was not
necessarily playing a song, rather a note here or there. It somewhat sounded as a boat horn being
blown randomly. I came by him to watch him. He seemed perfectly sane, just needed a good place to
practice his craft. I thought that it was a very good contrast to the whole evening of events. It made
me rather happy and satisfied to know that I am not the only weird one. There was also an
abundance of homeless people occupying benches and sides of paths with their fridge sized boxes
that have become their mobile homes. It was quite interesting to notice that most of them were
business men, and NONE of them asked me for change, or anyone else for that matter.
There was also a camp set up, there were tents in an area, I was curious as to what it was…. And it
was a colony of homeless men. I have not seen a single homeless woman. And even though they are
homeless, none of them were pissed drunk, boisterous, or too dirty. They all would still respect their
city and cleanliness as they would go out of the way to gather their garbage and later dispose of it in
proper receptacles. The police officers would have conversations with them. It was rather common.
They would seem to talk about the extreme heat that Japan is experiencing during the summer, and
with my limited Japanese it would seem as if the officer was making sure that homeless were getting
enough water and knew of places where they could escape the heat. It was all a very interesting
behavior difference when compared to the homeless riddling the streets of Toronto.
I was explained by my cousin (who has lived in Tokyo and area for about 15 years) that most of the
homeless in Japan are the shamed business men, who have lost their jobs. So these people who are
living in parks and in boxes are former CEOs of fallen, bankrupted companies and are too ashamed
to go back “home”. Due to the technological bubble in the mid 1990’s Japan was on a very steady
economical incline, until the late 90’s, early 2000’s when the bubble burst, the economy was just too
unstable to support the number of people migrating to Tokyo for jobs, and it all collapsed onto itself, I
was explained. Japan has since been trying to rebuild itself. Many people are seriously concerned that
the newer generations will not be able to uphold the traditions and morals of the Japanese people, and
that they as a nation will be lost. These traditions and morals that they speak of are not necessarily
defined as they are in the west.
I will hopefully speak of that in my next rant to better explain what I mean by it. It is just too large of a
topic for me to manifest right now. I am, how shall we say, rather le tired. I am not entirely certain
what my rant is all about, but Adam had asked me for a report, so I guess I am attempting to write
one. Bear with me, they will get better.
August 10, 2007
NO wireless networks ARE found in range
That is my mantra these days in Japan, as I helplessly search for a wireless connection… within my
area. The nearest “hot spot” is over a 45 minute walk, and quite frankly, with the intense heat, I’d
much rather stay at home than embark on that journey.
Japan. It is great they say. There is a good reason why they say that. The people here are great. They
truly go out of their way to help out a Gai-jin (gringo, tourista, whatever you may want to call them). I
have encountered such treatments by my supervisor, as I had no alarm clock, so rather than letting me
buy my own, she gives me one of hers. “An old one she said” and yet the box had never even been
opened. I don’t quite know what to think of this situation. Second instance was when I accidentally
had soiled my white dress shirt with some spaghetti sauce, and the next morning she had greeted me
with an item, which she called the “bleechy penno”. It is quite interesting to see how much the people
in Japan genuinely care for the well being of one another and respect each other.
Being in Tokyo firstly, for four days, and then moving on to my home city for the next year or so, I
have only heard a Japanese person use their car horn once. It’s quite a relief from the noise pollution
in Toronto. It makes me think back to my visit to Panama City, Panama a few years ago, and how
shocked I was that everyone was consistently using their horn. If you did not know how to use a
horn, you were fucked. It is a rather interesting contrast, as the weather most certainly is not.