My son Ethan's Philadelphia Eagles bear enjoying a day at the local shrine. See if you can zoom.
I had the recent good fortune to visit Tokyo on business for sixteen days. Here I will pontificate as to why Japanese culture has it right (compared to us):
**Superior Dining: From standard fare to upscale restaurants, chefs take genuine pride in their craft. Each meal was a gourmet experience. They have portion sizes down to a science. Meals are generally healthy, featuring a protein, soup, salad, and vegetables. And no tipping! Outstanding service is implicit. Contrary to popular belief, the cuisine is not all raw fish. Italian, American, Chinese, Spanish, Indian, and Thai restaurants bespeckle Tokyo.
**Health Consciousness: I saw nary an overweight person, let alone, obese. Hold the sumo jokes. Seriously, people walk everywhere. Something small that blew my mind — The apple juice was the color of the inside of an apple, a pale yellow, and not amber like beer. If there is such a thing as ‘fresh squeezed’ apple juice, I found it in Tokyo. Delicious. I have a felling they don’t use the preservatives and artificial crap that we’ve become accustomed to in the US. Japan even has a National Fitness Day, a national holiday devoted to good, clean living.
**National Holidays: Japan honors the Elderly, Children, the First Emperor, Fitness, and the Ocean – with national holidays. Banks and major government functions are closed.
**Living life to its Fullest: People in Tokyo work and play extremely hard. While I am not one to indulge in the hedonistic realm, its nice to know that the clubs in Roppongi stay open to 7am, if you want to let loose.
** Transit system: The subway system is phenomenal. Super clean, super quiet, and super-on-time. You can set your watch to it.
** Discipline and Respect: To bow to others in deference upon meeting is a beautiful and eye-opening gesture. When entering an office building, you are greeted by several people wishing you a good day. Upon leaving, you get the equivalent of, ”Thank you for working very hard today.” Can you even imagine this gratitude in the US?
** Style: Tokyo is like ten Manhattans, each district with its own cachet. I was able to briefly visit Ginza, which boasted every top shelf store imaginable, including Prada, Burberry, Tiffany & Co, and Louis Vuitton. Asakusa was a beautiful historic district with an enormous open-air market place and legendary shriines. Omote Sando was a mix of upscale salons and a young urban crowd. Akihabara is the electronics capital of the world – or the ‘electric city.’ I didn’t even get a chance to visit Shibuya, Ueno, or Shinjuko, among other sites.
**Innovation: The majority of cars were sleek in design and smart in fuel economy-usage. The vending machines boggle the mind. They always work, are reasonably priced, dispense dozens of cold or hot beverages in distinctly shaped aluminum or plastic containers. There is even a mini rubber ramp to just drop your change upon. To charge your metro (pasmo) card, you can just stack your bills to feed them into the machine. Recycling is on a higher plane in Tokyo. McDonald’s had separate trash cans for plastics and paper. The one office building had no less than nine distinct trash cans for various waste materials. Real estate is at a premium, and so restaurants and shops are stacked six high. There are pocket doors aplenty, and you are cozy but not cramped.
We could learn a lot from the Japanese culture. Arigato.
- I really wish I had more time to blog as I enjoy writing.
