We have now been \nin Japan for three full days and\nI have to say that I am impressed with just about everything about the country\n\u2013 at least what I have seen and experienced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The people are non \u2013interfering and somewhat reserved \u2013 in part\nbecause of limitations with English \u2013 but they are respectful, helpful to the\nextent they can be and have a strong civic sense. The city \u2013 to the extent that\nwe have seen it has to be one of the cleanest cities I have seen. Brito, the\nday we arrived, said the Japanese strive for perfection and he is right. As I\nmentioned previously, Tokyo reminds one of Manhattan where everyone walks and\nthe use of cars is limited to the occasional use of taxis which are expensive.\nThere is a heavy reliance on public \ntransportation with the Metro and Japan rail both of which are\nsuper-efficient and extensive with frequent service \u2013 in the case of the metro,\nliterally every two minutes or so and in\nthe rush hour, every 30 seconds! The carriages are very clean unlike what limited\nexperience we had in NYC \u2013 the stations are also very modern with everything\nautomated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is rare to see an overweight, let alone and obese\nJapanese person and this applies to the young, middle aged and elderly. This is\nprobably a combination of factors: the diet \u2013 they don\u2019t seem to eat much in\nterms of portions, the diet seems to be focused on protein and less on carbs\nwith a lot of seafood. The other factor is the level of activity \u2013 like in the\ncase of Manhattan people seem to walk a great deal and driving is relatively\nuncommon. Finally, I am sure that genes play a part but when you consider that\nAsians who move to the West tend to be heavier, it would seem that diet and\nlifestyle are more important factors than genes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am not one to\nnotice people\u2019s attire but even I was struck by how well dressed women are in\nTokyo \u2013 I\u2019d call it casually elegant. One rarely sees a slovenly dressed\nperson. In our wanderings we have yet to see any evidence of homelessness. At\nthe same time houses and apartments are small and even tiny by American\nstandards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tokyo is an expensive\ncity \u2013 comparable to Manhattan or San Francisco \u2013 and for anyone who wants to\nvisit Japan be ready to spend money because it is not a place where one can\nstint and then enjoy oneself. We are spending two weeks here which is\nfinancially practical only because for about 2\/3 rds of the time we are going\nto be in Tokyo staying with Lekshmi and\nBrito and so we are spared the cost of a hotel \u2013 which given we are here during\n\u201cGolden Week\u201d hotel prices almost double. Also, be ready to do a LOT of walking\n\u2013 walking 5-8 miles daily is fairly routine and some of the terrain is slightly\nhilly. Clearly not a place for those who are not mobile or who would find\nwalking to be a hassle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today we experienced their metro system when we took a\nrelatively short ride and what I was told about the efficiency, cleanliness and\nthe extensive network is so true. The guide on the city tour we took says that punctuality is so prized that if a train\nis late by a couple of minutes, passengers are likely to complain!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A point made to us repeatedly is that the Japanese are scrupulously\nhonest and the crime rate is very low.\nWe were told that you can literally leave your wallet or phone unattended and\nno one will steal it. Our guide who spoke excellent English told us that at a\nlocal restaurant which her friend owned, there were 22 tables occupied with\ndiners and while they were eating there\nwas an earthquake and people ran out of the restaurant without paying\nobviously. But in the span of the next two weeks, every single one of the\ndiners returned to the restaurant and paid the bill for what they were eating\nbecause they had not done so at the time. Remarkable by any standards.\nSimilarly she said that taxi drivers are scrupulously honest and one does not\nneed to worry about being cheated on fares etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have met a few Westerners and they almost universally\nlove Japan and some who came here for a short stint invariably end up staying\nmuch longer. We met this Western family on the metro \u2013 the wife and her young\ndaughter were seated on a somewhat crowded train. The girl gave up her seat for\nMini and the wife despite my protestation offered me her seat. The husband was\nfrom England and the wife was from New Zealand. They had come to Japan for a\ntwo year stint and ended up staying for ten years and counting!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We have now been in Japan for three full days and I have to say that I am impressed with just about everything about the country \u2013 at least what I have seen and experienced. The people are non \u2013interfering and somewhat reserved \u2013 in part because of limitations with English \u2013 but they are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2182"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2261,"href":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182\/revisions\/2261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}