The Future is Already Here in Parts of Tokyo!

Amazing New Mixed-Use Complexes
Are Preview of World to Come

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

TOKYO—On a recent visit to Tokyo I and renowned tanka poet Mutsuo Shukuya were treated to lunch in a gourmet restaurant in the huge, spectacular Roppongi Hills complex by Yoshio Karita, senior executive advisor to Mori Building Company, creator of the amazing city-within-a-city.

Once Shukuya and I had arrived at the Roppongi Hills complex via an underground concourse from Roppongi Subway Station, and rendezvoused with Karita San, getting to the restaurant required a miniature tour of this forerunner of Tokyo’s futuristic business-dining-residential-shopping centers.

During the luncheon Karita San shared with us the philosophy that had attracted him to Mori, a philosophy that he was dedicated to helping carry out. Formerly director of protocol for the Imperial Household and recently awarded The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure for his services to the Imperial family, Karita San is one of the new breed of Japanese whose vision is helping to create today a lifestyle that is a harbinger of the future.

The amazing Roppongi Hills complex is divided into five areas: North Tower (which encompasses casual gourmet dining areas), Metro/Hat Hollywood Plaza (featuring beauty, diet and health amenities), West Walk (a free zone for trendy communication), Hill Side (art and lifestyle spaces including entertainment), and Keyaki Zaka Dori (sloping streets filled with greenery and luxurious urban apartment buildings).

These zones includes restaurants, upscale shops, lifestyle and lifecare services, a cinema complex, gallery, museum, TV broadcasting station, Grand Hyatt Tokyo Hotel, an educational academny, a tour center, the Roppong Hills Club, an observation deck, and more.

In a recent article in Wired.com British architect-writer-photographer I. Momus said that walking around in the new areas of Tokyo was like getting a preview of the 21st century. He added: “But glimpsing the future in Japan isn't just about first sightings of cool gadgets. It's also about seeing a city change—fast—as if photographed in time lapse. The city is shockingly unstable. Buildings disappear, replaced by new ones. Entire districts come and go, seemingly overnight.

“Roppongi is the hot district just now, with a new art museum and the massive Tokyo Midtown complex drawing people to the formerly sleazy neighborhood. Other districts, like Odaiba, rise spectrally and speculatively from Tokyo Bay on artificial land.”

Momus went on to say that Tokyo is a city where yesterday’s tomorrow is constantly being replaced by today’s, adding: “The Tokyo way is to try stuff, trash it, then try something else. Whether it's the legacy of earthquakes or Buddhism, everything here is understood to be temporary. It's best not to get too attached. The spirit of what you lose will probably pop up somewhere else.”

However, the new complexes like Roppongi Hills, Shiodome, Odaiba, Omotesando Hills and Tokyo Midtown—and new independent buildings like the Marunouchi Building and the Shin Marunouchi Building across from Tokyo Station Plaza—are not temporary efforts. They are representative of the new Tokyo that is rapidly rising where the old once stood.

The two new independent Marunouchi buildings are themselves remarkable examples of 21st century edifices, combining business offices, restaurant arcades and shopping floors that make the most of architectural imagination, superior design and decorating sense, and advanced technology.

Both of these buildings are integrated with Tokyo Central Station, its massive Yaesu side underground shopping mall and the Marunouchi and Otemachi business districts, with subterranean plazas and concourses. You can, in fact, stroll, dine and shop underground from the Tokyo Station area to Yurakucho, Hibiya and the famous Ginza shopping, entertainment and dining districts that are generally considered the heart of Tokyo.

Tyler Brûlé, writing in The International Herald Tribune, says: “The Japanese might be obsessed with many things (cute mascots, manga, belting out a good tune to close a business deal) but few pursuits can compete with the passion [they] put into building—not just the concrete-and-cranes variety but also the fine art of building anticipation.”

He adds: “I'm usually not the biggest fan of such 'grand projects,' but Japanese developers have a special knack for not only delivering extraordinary modern wonders but also completing them on time.

He goes on: “When Mori finally took the hoardings off its Roppongi Hills development, it was remarkable how quickly the mix of high-rises, tunnels and retail blended into the fabric of its surroundings. While the final execution may not have been to everyone's liking, Mori could hardly have been accused of leaving a trail of mud, untended flower beds or unfinished concrete canyons on or around the site. Within weeks of completion, Roppongi Hills felt like it had been around for years.”

Brûlé was also impressed with when he was given a sneak preview of Tokyo Midtown, only a short stroll from Roppongi Hills. He said he was fully armed to dislike it, but within four minutes he “was hooked” by its design as well as its extraordinary mix of brand-name retailers, financial institutions, its Ritz Carlton hotel facilities, its Starbucks/Tokyo FM café-cum-studio, its open spaces, and more.

He suggests that the denizens of London, New York and Paris and other major world cities would no doubt be envious of Tokyo Midtown—as they no doubt would be of dozens of other new developments in Tokyo, Yokohama and other Japanese cities.

For years now, I have been saying that anyone interested in seeing what common sense raised to a high level, imagination, courage—and money!—can do to improve the quality and ambiance of human life all they have to do is go to Japan and visit a few of its new mixed-used developments and some of the country’s hundreds of mixed-use train stations.
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Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente
To see a list, with descriptions, of the author’s 30-plus pioneer books on Japan, go to his personal website: www.phoenixbookspublishers.com.

Which Side of Your Brain Am I Talking To?

Why Men & Women Talk
Past Each Other!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

It has been established beyond a reasonable doubt that the two sides of the human brain perform different functions, ranging from speech, emotional reactions, sexual pleasure, fear, and analytical thinking to the appreciation of beauty.

There is also growing evidence that one side of the brain is dominant in most people. This is of vital importance because left-brain oriented people think and behave differently from right-brain oriented people.

One noted authority on the function of the brain, Japan’s Dr. Tadanobu Tsunoda (author of The Japanese Brain and numerous other works), asserts that the language one first learns as a child is the deciding factor in which side of the brain is dominant for the rest of the person’s life.

Dr. Tsunoda has spent several decades studying the influence of languages on brain function, using electronic devices he developed to test thousands of people in his Tokyo laboratory—both Japanese and non-Japanese [I was one of his subjects]—with some amazing results.

He found that people whose native tongue is Japanese (or Polynesian!) are primarily right-brain oriented, while all other people are primarily left-brain oriented. (It’s the preponderance of vowels in these two languages!)

It seems that right-brain oriented people are primarily motivated by their emotions and a holistic approach to life, while left-brain oriented people are programmed to be logical and practical-minded, and to take a short-term approach to things.

I used Dr. Tsunoda’s theory as the basis for evaluating the differences between the mind-set and behavior of the right-brained oriented Japanese and the left-brain oriented rest of the world in a book entitled Which Side of Your Brain Am I Talking To?—The Advantages of Using Both Sides of Your Brain.

I believe that the right-brain orientation of the Japanese was one of the primary factors that made it possible for them to recover from the destruction of World War II and turn tiny Japan into the world’s second largest economy in less than thirty years.

All women in left-brain oriented cultures are forced to use right-brain thinking and behavior to survive in their male-dominated societies, while Japanese women, whose culture is primarily right-brain oriented, are forced to use left-brain thinking to cope with their male-dominated society—making them superior in many ways to the male side of the population...

The French and Italians and all Spanish and Portuguese speaking people are more right-brain oriented than Americans, Chinese, Germans, British and other people around the globe--making their cultures significantly more emotion-oriented.

Many of the problems that plague Western countries are caused by too much left-brain thinking and not enough right-brain thinking, and in Which Side of Your Brain Am I Talking To? I pinpoint many areas where business managers and people in general could benefit greatly from learning how and when to use the right side of their brains.

The book attributes the “irrational behavior” of both men and women to which side of their brain they use at a particular time, and provides insights for coping with the built-in gender programming of the brain.
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Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente.
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WHICH SIDE OF YOUR BRAIN AM I TALKING TO?—The Advantages of Using Both Sides of Your Brain (and Why Women Must Use the Less Dominant Side of Their Brains in Order to Survive!), by Boyé Lafayette De Mente. Phoenix Books/Publishers. 6x9 trade paperback. 108 pages. $9.95. ISBN: 0914778-95-1. Distributors to the trade: Ingram Book Company; Baker & Taylor. Consumer distribution: Amazon.com, Borders, Barns and Noble, etc.
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A full list of De Mente's books on China, Japan, Korea and Mexico can be seen on his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

How to Psyche Out the Japanese! (Chinese, Koreans & Other Foreigners!)

Using Key Words
As Windows to the Mindset of People!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

It has become painfully obvious that defining people by their race while virtually ignoring their ethnicity is both dumb and dangerous and the importance of understanding cultures is a new mantra for business leaders as well as diplomats and politicians.

For most people, however, understanding the cultures of others is a process that requires long periods of living in and personally experiencing the cultures, often preceded or combined with extensive studies of research by anthropologists and sociologists.

But there is an easier and faster way of getting into and understanding the mindset of people—a way that I use in my “cultural insight” books on Japan, Korea, China and Mexico.

While working in Asia as a trade journalist in the 1950s and 60s I learned that the attitudes and behavior of the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans were summed up in a relatively small number of key words in their languages—words that explained why they thought and behaved the way they did.

I first became aware of the role that these key words played in the mindset and behavior of the Japanese in my attempts to explain their way of thinking and doing things to American importers who began flocking to Japan in the early 1950s.

I made use of this approach in my first book, Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, published in 1959 [and still in print by McGraw-Hill], introducing such terms as wa/wah (harmony), nemawashi/nay-mah-wah-she (behind the scenes consensus-building), tatemae/tah-tay-my (a facade or front) and honne/hone-nay (real intentions, real meaning) to the international business community.

As a result of my trade reporting experience in early post-World War II Japan I was also the first to introduce the now popular Japanese words kaizen (kie-zen), meaning continuous improvement, and kanban (kahn-bahn), just in time parts delivery, to the international business community.

The more I got into the Japanese, Korean and Chinese way of thinking and doing things the more obvious it became that they were culturally programmed and controlled by key words in their languages, and that these words provided a short-cut to understanding them.

I then went on to write a series of “cultural and business code word” books on China, Korea and Japan, and eventually added Mexico as well.

People in all societies, especially older societies, are in fact primarily programmed by their languages—and learning the meaning and everyday use of key words in their languages is far more effective than any psychological testing.

My books that are based on this “cultural code word” concept include Japan’s Cultural Code Words, China’s Cultural Code Words, Korea’s Business and Cultural Code Words, and Mexican Cultural Code Words.

All of these titles, except for the Korean book, are also available in paperback editions under different titles, including The Japanese Have a Word for It, There’s a Word for It in Mexico, and The Chinese Have a Word for It.

My latest book using the "cultural code word" approach is Elements of Japanese Design--Guidelines for Understanding & Using Japan’s Classic Sabi-Wabi-Shibui Concepts. In it I identify and explain the concepts and principles that are the foundation of the design of Japan’s arts, crafts and modern-day products, and are having a profound influence on designers around the world.

These ancient Japanese concepts and principles, all expressed in key words, are rapidly becoming the universal standard for well-designed products.

The point is, to truly know and understand a people you must identify and learn the key words in their languages...a point that so far has generally been ignored.

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Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente.
[A list of the author's books, with descriptions of each title, is available on his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.]

JIZAI (Jee-zie)—The Power of a Modern Version of Zen!

How the Japanese Tap into
Cosmic Creativity!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

I note in my book The Japanese Have a Word for It! that until recent times the Western world did not give very much thought to the relationship between the mind and the body, and to the power of the mind to influence and change the functioning of the body. Such ideas were regarded as mystic nonsense.

It was not until the latter part of the 1900s that Western scientists began to accept the idea that their concepts of the physical world were only a part of the human and cosmic equation, and that there was much more to life and existence than what meets the eye.

Most people in the West continue to ignore the ancient Asian practice of Zen, which allows one to transcend conventional wisdom, see things as they really are, and achieve mental and physical skills that are out of the ordinary.

It was the addition of Zen meditation to the training of Japan’s famous samurai class that made it possible for them to transcend the limitations of the average person in martial arts, and it was this same training that provided the insight for Japan’s artists, craftsmen and garden designers to routinely create masterpieces.

One of the versions of Zen that has played a key role in the emergence of Japan as a major economic power is subsumed in the word jizai (jee-zie), which, in effect, refers to being able to think outside of the box of conventional wisdom and customary practices.

Virtually all of Japan’s best known businessmen/entrepreneurs have been and still are practitioners of jizai, and the concept is the foundation of many of the think-tanks that sprung up in Japan in the latter half of the 20th century—the best known of which is the Jizai Kenkyu Jo (Jee-zie Kane-que Jo) or Jizai Research Institute, founded in 1970 by Masahiro Mori, a Tokyo University professor of engineering who was also the founder of the Robotics Society of Japan.

Many of the most successful products that Japan has produced since that time have been the result of jizai thinking. In product terms, jizai thinking means meditating on the design and function of a product until you arrive at the ultimate in function, design and quality.

There was very little if any tradition of this kind in the Western world until recent times, particularly in the United States, and it was not until competition from Japanese manufacturers became a serious threat to U.S. industry that some American designers and engineers began to take a more jizai approach to their work.
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Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente
For other concepts that are expressed by key terms in the Japanese language, see the author’s books, The Japanese Have a Word for It (McGraw-Hill) and Japan’s Cultural Code Words (Tuttle Publishing). For books in the same series on China, Korea and Mexico, see his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/ and/or Amazon.com.

YUGEN (Yuu-gane): A Japanese Word You Should Know!

The Mystery & Subtlety of Beauty

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

When Westerners first began to visit Japan in the mid-1500s they were struck by the refined beauty of the country’s arts and crafts. It was a kind of beauty that they had never seen before.

As noted in my book The Japanese Have a Word for It there was a character about Japanese-made things that gave them a look that was distinctive from similar things made in Korea and China, from which the original technology had come.

This special quality of Japanese things was so commonplace that the Japanese themselves did not consider it unusual. Everything they made, including simple household utensils, had the same quality.

Japan’s traditional arts and crafts owed their special character to a merging of cosmic and Shinto concepts of harmony, sensuality and spirituality—a cultural factor that remains very much in evidence and in force among Japanese artists and craftsmen in present-day Japan.

The Shinto concept of harmony included the size and shape of things, how they were to be used, and their relationship with people. The spiritual element in Japanese things incorporated the essence and spirit of the materials used, and was based on both respecting and revering these inherent qualities.

The sensual element in Japanese arts and crafts was reflected by the things that people automatically find attractive—harmony in shape, in size, in the relationship of the parts, in the interaction of colors, in their feel when touched, and in the vibrations they project.

After generations of refining their designs and techniques, Japan’s master artists and craftsmen achieved a kind and quality of beauty that transcended the obvious surface manifestations of their materials—a kind of beauty that was described as yugen (yuu-gane), meaning “mystery” or “subtlety.”

Again quoting from my book, “Yugen beauty referred to a type of attractiveness—beneath the surface of the material but in delicate harmony with it—that registers on the conscious as well as the subconscious of the viewer. It radiates a kind of spiritual essence.”

The skill and techniques that were going into Japan’s arts and crafts by the 10th century became so deeply embedded in the culture that they were not distinguished from daily life, and were reflected in everything the Japanese did, from designing and building castles, gardens, homes and palaces to the creation of hand-made paper.

Despite the mostly Western façade that today’s Japan presents to the world yugen beauty is still very much in evidence in the arts and crafts, in traditional restaurants, inns, shops, wearing apparel and elsewhere in many unexpected places.

Yugen is another Japanese word I recommend that other people learn and use because it clearly identifies a concept that in other languages requires several sentences to explain—and in itself is an example of the traditional Japanese propensity to refine things down to their essence.

This compulsive reduction tendency of the Japanese is also dramatically demonstrated in their ability to design and manufacture miniaturized hi-tech products and in using nanotechnology to create new processes and new materials.

For a definitive look at the Japanese view and creation of yugen beauty, see my book, ELEMENTS OF JAPANESE DESIGN—Key Terms for Understanding & Using Japan’s Classic Wabi-Sabi-Shibui Concepts.
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Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente
For a more definitive discussion of yugen and more than 450 other key Japanese terms see the author’s The Japanese Have a Word for It (McGraw-Hill) and Japan’s Cultural Code Words (Tuttle Publishing); both available from Amazon.com, other online booksellers, and bookstores worldwide. To see a full list of his 60-plus books, go to his personal website: www.phoenixbookspublishers.com.

MUGA (Moo-gah): A Japanese Word You Should Know!

The Secret of Becoming a Master
In Any Physical Art, Craft or Sport

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

Many years ago when I was a resident of Tokyo and spent most Sunday mornings bowling with journalist friends I had a new kind of experience that was to have a profound influence on my understanding of how the body and mind work together—or more to the point, how they work against each other.

I was serious about honing my bowling skill and was always fully conscious of every aspect of the physical movements involved in moving down the lane runway for two or three steps and releasing the ball.

But on this particular April morning I had been in a contemplative mood since getting up and walking the few blocks to the bowling alley in Meiji Park. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, there was a mild breeze, and the sky was a seductive blue. My mind virtually disassociated itself from my body and I was not conscious of the act of walking.

When I joined my friends there was none of the usual banter and my mind remained more or less outside of my body. I was the first one up. I made my approach and let the ball go without thinking about it, and made a strike.

This body-mind disconnect continued and I got three more strikes in a row, when the thought suddenly occurred to me: “I’m in a state of muga (muu-gah)! This is fantastic!”

I became intensely conscious of what I was doing, and on my next time up my ball went into the gutter. I was beside myself with disgust at having broken the spell of muga.

The dictionary meaning of the Japanese word muga is self-effacement, a spiritual state of selflessness, to be in a state of ecstasy.

But thanks to Japan’s famous samurai class the term had come to mean much more than this esoteric definition. From the age or six or seven boys in the samurai class went through a rigorous training process to develop incredible skill with the sword, and while they were mastering the physical process of wielding a sword they were also developing the ability to enter the mental state of muga—a state in which the mind did not interfere with the actions of their trained bodies.

The samurai were not the only Japanese to make use of the element of muga to achieve mastery in their profession. The training of all Japanese artists and craftsmen traditionally began in childhood and continued until they were in their thirties or forties and sometimes until they were in their fifties.

In this long process of mastering every physical element of their art or craft they also gradually got to the point that they did not have to think about the movements that were required to create a masterpiece. Their actions were spontaneous.

All people everywhere, especially those engaged in arts, crafts and other skills demanding precise, coordinated physical movements—from jugglers and musicians to sportspeople—must achieve some degree of muga in their actions to reach an impressive level of skill. But only those who are able to perform automatically on the highest level, without thinking about the movements they must make, become true masters.

It helps to have a word that explains the relationship between the body and the mind in developing a physical skill, and I recommend that the term muga be adopted by all cultures. If young people are able to relate a long period of physical training with achieving the muga mind-state—during which performing a physical function perfectly becomes spontaneous—they might take their training more seriously.
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Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente
For a more definitive discussion of muga and more than 450 other key Japanese terms see the author’s The Japanese Have a Word for It (McGraw-Hill) and Japan’s Cultural Code Words (Tuttle Publishing); both available from Amazon.com, other online booksellers, and bookstores worldwide. To see a full list of his 60-plus books, go to his personal website: www.phoenixbookspublishers.com.

The Japanese Way of Pleasuring in the Brevity of Life!

How Communing with the Fragility of Life Can Sharpen

Your Sensual, Intellectual & Spiritual Enjoyment!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

One of the special elements of Japanese culture is the tradition of creating both environments and occasions for communing with the fragility of life—an element that adds enormously to the recognition of this fragility and makes people more inclined to enjoy the years they have.

One of the most memorable afternoons I have spent in Japan was in a traditional ryokan (rio-kahn), inn, situated on the slope of a gorge on picturesque Izu Peninsula southwest of Tokyo. It was a Sunday afternoon. I was alone, and it was raining—not a heavy rain but a light, steady rain that was close to being a mist. I was sitting on the balcony of my room, looking out over the gorge, waiting for a friend to arrive.

As I sat there I began to experience what the Japanese call mono no aware (moe-no no ah-wah-ray)—a Buddhist concept that includes being very conscious of the ephemeral nature of man, his struggle in the face of great odds and the inevitability of his downfall and disappearance.

This aspect of Japan’s culture, developed between 700 and 1200 A.D. was based on the acute recognition of the impermanence of all things—an element that was enhanced by the code of the samurai which required them to be ready to give up their lives at a moment’s notice—resulting in their lives being compared to cherry blossoms...beautiful but fragile to the extreme and subject to being wafted away by the slightest breeze.

This culture of impermanence was especially reflected in the haiku and tanka poetry of the era, as well as in the such great literary works as Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji), a novel about the intrigues and loves of an imperial prince (usually regarded as the world’s first novel) written in the early 11th century by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady in the Imperial Court in Kyoto; and Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike), compiled by a blind monk named Kakuichi in 1371.

The opening lines of Heike Monogatari, which depicts an epic struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for the control of Japan in the 12th century, say more about the human condition than many philosophical tomes:

“The sound of the Gion Shôja [temple] bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sâla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last; they are as dust before the wind.”

The culture of Japan reflected this theme in many ways, resulting in the Japanese developing an extensive vocabulary that expressed this inherent sadness of life.

While mono no aware means something like “indulging one’s self in grief,” neither this phrase nor any of the other key words were actually used in sad situations. Instead they referred to a gentle melancholy view of the fragility and preciousness of life that included an element of subdued pleasure.

The annual custom of celebrating the short life of cherry blossoms is the largest of Japan’s the mono no aware rituals. It reminds them to take the time and find ways enjoy life while you can because it will soon be gone.

My spending a quiet afternoon entranced by the natural beauty of the setting as it was being cleansed and renewed by rain was another of the mono no aware practices that are dear to the hearts of the Japanese. Still another way is to engage in “forest bathing”—spending time in an isolated forest, letting the sights, sounds and vibrations of the trees wash over you.

There is also an element of mono no aware in most of Japan’s classic art and craft designs, from kitchen utensils to the kimono wore by older men and women. The famous Tea Ceremony is a pure mono no aware ritual.

Knowledge of this cultural element makes it possible for one to appreciate more fully the distinctive essence of things Japanese—the elements that make them Japanese.

This factor is one of the unspoken and generally un-described things that makes the traditional aspects of life in Japan so sensually, intellectually, and spiritually attractive to everyone, including foreigners who are sensitive to the realities of life, including its brevity.
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Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente
For a detailed and definitive discourse on aspects of Japanese culture see the author’s book, ELEMENTS OF JAPANESE DESIGN—Understanding & Using Japan’s Classic Wabi-Sabi-Shibui Concepts; The Japanese Have a Word for It!; JAPAN UNMASKED—The Character & Culture of the Japanese; and SEX & THE JAPANESE—The Sensual Side of Japan. To see a full list of his books on Japan, China and Korea, see his personal website at: www.phoenixbookspublishers.com, and/or Amazon.com and other online booksellers.

The Fastest Poet in the East!

Tanka Master Goes Acrostic!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

In my book The Japanese Samurai Code—Classic Strategies for Success (Tuttle Publishing) on the strategies and tactics of Japan’s samurai warriors I refer to present-day tanka poet Mutsuo Shukuya as “The fastest poet in the East”—a take-off on the “Fastest gun in the West” lore made famous by Hollywood movies.

My reference to tanka master Shukuya was inspired by the legacy of poetry left by Japan’s famed class of warriors and his own samurai-like dedication to the art of poetry. Like his early predecessors who engaged in “poetry tournaments” during which they composed poetry non-stop for two or more days, Shukuya is able to dash off a 31-syllable tanka poem in two minutes or less, often relating the content of the poem to a particular occasion or friend.

Now, Shukuya has added to his poetic repertoire by inventing what noted British poet James Kirkup describes as “tankacrostics”—in other words, a tanka poem structured as an acrostic. For those who are not familiar with the term acrostic, it refers to a poem or series of lines in which certain letters, usually the first in each line, form a name, motto or message when read in sequence—a form first used in ancient times by Greek and Roman writers, and in more recent times by European composers and writers.

The composition of tanka as acrostics is no easy task. But like puzzles and codes it has a challenge and a charm of its own. Shukuya’s tankacrostics are not meant to replace classic tanka. They are, I believe, meant to challenge the tanka poet to add a new dimension to the classic form; to transform it into a personal message of goodwill and respect.

As a tireless advocate and teacher of tanka, Shukuya now presents his many friends and students with a new challenge that does, indeed, add a new dimension to the intellectual pleasures of life.
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Shukuya’s recently published book of tankacrostic poetry, 100 Tanka Poems for 100 People, is available from Amazon.com.

短歌の達人が折句に取り組む！

ボイェ・ラファイエット・デイ・メンテ

日本の武士の戦略と戦術に関する拙著の一つで、私は当代歌人・宿谷睦夫氏を---ハリウッド映画で有名になった伝説の「西部一の早撃」に準えて---「東洋一の即興詩人」として触れた。

その本で私が短歌の達人・宿谷氏に触れたのは、日本の有名な武士階級が残した歌の遺産や彼の詩歌芸術への侍のような献身さに触発されたからである。二日も三日も掛けて休まずに歌を作り続ける「歌合」に参加した歌の先達と同じように、宿谷氏は、三十一文字の短歌をある特別の祝いや友人の名前と関連付けながら、数分もかからずに詠み上げてしまうのだ。

さて、その宿谷氏であるが、彼は詩のレパートリーに「短歌折句」という新たな分野を開拓した。これは著名な英国詩人・ジェイムズ・カーカップ氏が命名したものであるが、要するに、宿谷氏は短歌の分野に新しいジャンルを築いたことになるのだ。

折句という言葉に馴染みの無い人の為にご説明すると、通常詩歌の各行の先頭の文字を辿って行くと、ある文字が人名や標語や伝言になる詩歌や連語のことである。これは最初、古代のギリシャ・ローマの作家が試み、近年ではヨーロッパの詩人や作家も試みているものである。

折句としての短歌の創作（あるいは短歌としての折句の創作）は生易しいものではない。しかし、パズルや暗号のように、それはそれ自身魅力があり、手ごたえのあるものだ。しかも、それが上手に出来上がった場合にはまた特別なものである。

宿谷氏の考案した「短歌折句」は古典短歌に取って代わるものではない。むしろ、それは歌人にとって古典形式に新たな一面を刷新したことになるのだと思う。つまり、「短歌折句」は短歌を善意や尊敬といった意味を一層強調して詠むものに変換したことになる。

宿谷氏が「歌の贈り物」と命名した最初のこの短歌折句集は、ほとんど個人的な友人や彼が尊敬する人物に関連して創作したものであるが、その表題はかなり上手にその内容を言い表しているものになっている。

短歌の師範であり、疲れを知らない唱導者でもある宿谷氏は今や友人や子弟に新たな試みを投げかけながら、人生の知的喜びに新しい一面を付け加えようとしている。

Shukuya Resumé

Born in 1943 in Ome, a satellite city of Tokyo, Japan, Mutsuo Shukuya graduated from Toyo University, where he studied American and English literature. He is now one of the few tanka scholars, educators, translators and poets who knows the correct tanka form, and practices it daily as an English instructor at Chiba Nichidai Ichiko Senior High School.

In 1993 Shukuya, along with the famous Reizei “tanka family,” was invited to visit Paris where they participated in a Japanese Cultural Festival sponsored by the Gime Museum. There he composed impromptu tanka at the traditional Star-Festival called “Kikkou-Ten.” He later visited Hawaii and San Francisco to survey the condition of tanka writing, sponsored by Nihon Poets Club as vice-president.

In 1995 Shukuya won the prize given by the Governor of Kyoto Prefecture in a Tanka Contest sponsored by The Sankei Newspaper. In 1998 he was invited to the annual New Year’s Poetry Party in the Imperial Palace and had an audience with the Emperor and Empress.

Since 1999 Shukuya has been writing a column on tanka, “What is Tanka & How to Compose It,” in the bilingual magazine Plaza-Plaza. Since 2002 he has been translating a book, “New Japanology,” written by Dr. Michinobu Kato, retired professor of Aichi University, that is also published in Plaza-Plaza.

Since 2005 Shukuya has been publishing spontaneously composed choka (long poems), and tanka-acrostic poems twice a month in Plaza-Plaza’s blog.

An Introduction to Tanka

Tanka (tahn-kah), which literally means “short poem,” refers to a form of Japanese poetry that consists of 31 syllables in a precise 5-7-5-7-7 order.

During the 6th and 7th centuries, tanka was written as separate poems as well as “attached” to longer poems called choka (choh-kah) or nagauta (nah-gah-uu-tah)—both of which literally mens “long poetry”—that were modeled after Chinese poetry of that age.

The nagauta form of poetry came to be known as waka (wah-kah) or “Japanese poetry,” to distinguish it from the Chinese poetry that was popular at the Imperial Court and among students and scholars of Chinese culture.

By the end of the 8th century, tanka had replaced nagauta as the most popular form of poetry in Japan, and as time passed it also claimed the title of waka, which in effect made it the official poetry of Japan.

During the 17th and 18th centuries Japanese scholar-poets began to gradually distance themselves from the formal, conservative Chinese-influenced standards and rules of the past.

Following the downfall of Japan’s last great feudal dynasty (the Tokugawa Shogunate) in 1867, young Japanese poets began to introduce a new tone of freedom, spontaneity, realism, personalism and modernity into their poems, and by 1900 they began referring to their work as tanka to distinguish it from the staid form of earlier times.

Today, hundreds of thousands of Japanese of all ages write tanka as a medium of expressing their innermost feelings. No topic is taboo, and considerable license is taken with the 31-syllable format. Poetry readings are held weekly and monthly in bookstores, coffee shops, cafes and other venues throughout the country.

Schools, on an elementary as well as university level, sponsor poetry clubs and classroom recitals. Some schools sponsor annual “poetry tournaments.” Some of the poetry readings are competitive, and are known as “poetry boxing.”

Here are examples of tanka poetry by Mutsuo Shukuya and others:

Mutsuo Shukuya
(1943 - )

Mateba haya
tsuki wa minami ni
tanabata no
kagami no oke ni
kogaru nagakage

While I long for you
watching the moon in the south,
I find Altair’s stars
on the surface of the pail
instead of you whom I love.*

*This poem was written for Takako Matsu, famous movie actress and daughter of kabuki star Koshiro Matsumoto.

Mutsuo Shukuya
(1943 - )

Asa mireba
sakisomu hanaya
iro ni wo fu
toheba kaze ni zo
urumu asagao

I wake up to find
the morning glories abloom
fluttering in the
breeze which comes from somewhere
and brings with it such coolness.*

*This poem was written for Asami Saitō (described as a “pretty lady”), whom the poet obviously admires.

Emperor Tenchi
(626-671)

Aki no ta no
kari no io no
toma o arami.
Waga koromode wa
tsuyu ni nure tsutsu

A coarse straw roof
covered the harvest hut
in the autumn rice field.
But my sleeves became wet
from the moisture dripping through.

Monk Sojo Henjo
(816-890)

Amatsu kaze
kumo no kayoiji
fuki toji yo.
Otome no sugata
shibashi todomen.

The winds of heaven
blow through paths among the clouds
closing the gates.
But for a while I can detain
these heavenly messengers.

Ki no Tomonori
(Early 10th century)

Hisakata no
hikari no dokeki
haru no hi ni,
shizu-gokoro naku
hana no chiruran.

On a spring day
in the tranquil light
of the shining sun
why do the cherry blossoms
fly away like restless thoughts?

Taira no Kanemori
(? – 990)

Shinoburedo
iro ni ide ni keri
waga koi wa
mono ya omou to,
hito no tou made.

Although I try
to hide it my face reveals
my secret love
and yet he asks me,
“Is something wrong?”

Michihiro Matsumoto
(1940 - )

Tawamure ni
waga haha no kata wo
tatakaseru
yorokobu kobushi ni
se de namida suru.

My dying mother
rose from her death-bed
joyfully patting me on the back
bringing tears to my eyes.

Shichiro Ohshima
(1927 - )

Machi machi shi
Fuji no shira yuki
kesa mano atari
naki chichi haha mo
narabi yorokobu.

I waited and waited
for Mt. Fuji’s crown
to turn white with snow
before my eyes, my parents in heaven
hand-in-hand, also smiling.

You Know You’ve Been in Japan too Long, When….!

Japan Seduces Foreigners
And They Can't Leave!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

TOKYO—Marco Polo was one of the earliest foreigners to get seduced by Asia and failed to leave when planned.

Since the days of that intrepid adventurer hundreds of thousands of other Westerners have gone to China, Japan and Korea and fell victim to the same seductive elements of Asian life that is something like cultural quicksand. Once they step into it they find that it is difficult—if not impossible—to get out.

I believe that the culture of Japan is the most powerful of all, and that its influence on Westerners works like a magnet…or maybe the force of gravity. The closer and deeper you get into the culture the stronger its hold on you.

And what is especially remarkable about this is that many foreign residents have a long list of things about Japan that they do not like, and yet they stay on and on—often for a lifetime.

Two of the primary elements in Japanese culture that are responsible for its hold on foreigners are the aesthetics and sensuality of its arts and crafts, and the overt and covert sexuality of the culture itself.

Shinto, which provided the original foundation for Japan’s culture, is essentially a fertility cult that is both feminine and masculine in nature, with the feminine side conspicuously dominant.

Foreign males in particular are attracted to the feminine element in Japanese culture, like moths to flames—even when they are not conscious of what it is that they find so appealing about Japan that they choose not to leave.

Interestingly, foreigners with a well-developed comic sense and an artistic bent often translate their feelings about Japan into anecdotes and cartoons, and that is where Bill Mutranowski comes in.

A budding journalist, Bill went to Japan in 1986 intending to stay for a year. He began teaching English, and before long was contributing cartoons to the Japan Times Weekly and freelancing as an illustrator.

He is still there.

A short while ago Tuttle Publishing brought out a collection of Bill’s cartoons and accompanying text that illustrate and expound on life in Japan in the eyes of a foreigner who sees the comic, funny, hilarious side with a light-hearted touch that reveals far more than many serious dissertations on what life is like for foreigners in Japan.

Bill’s book is entitled You Know You’ve Been in JAPAN too Long When….which serves as a tag-line that introduces each cartoon and the insightful comments [in both English and Japanese] on the opposing pages.

Here are some samples of completed tag-lines:

You utter “Yoisho!” at the slightest physical exertion; You organize a work stoppage at a time that will inconvenience the fewest number of people; You think apparel emblazoned with nonsensical English is cool; You put a plastic “condom” – a clean one – over your umbrella before entering the supermarket on rainy days; You can tell the difference between honne (the real thing) and tatemae (the face or façade that masks what people really mean).

Also: You’re used to having a cleaning lady wait for you to finish (going to the toilet); Your comfort food sports eyeballs and tentacles; You secretly wish the Japanese prime minister were as tall as those other G-8 guys; You nonchalantly mention to your grandmother back home that you went to a “Penis Festival” last weekend.

You Know You’ve Been in Japan too Long When….makes a great gift for yourself or someone else who is interested in the exotic. It is available on Amazon.com.
________________________________
To see a list and description of 30-plus books on Japan by the author of Japan-in-Focus see his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Espionage Failures Major Threat to U.S.

Book Reveals Reasons Why U.S. Intelligence Has Failed

And Explains How it Should be Done!

Boye Lafayette De Mente

BOOK REVIEW:

Why U.S. Intelligence Fails to Steal Enemy Secrets – And What Can Be Done About It! – A Textbook on Espionage, by Len Walsh. Policy Institute, Lomita, CA, 2007, 356 p., $19.95.

TOKYO—Japan has had a long tradition of assassins and spies exemplified by the notorious ninja of the Shogun and samurai era and the success of its spy masters and spies leading up to and during World War II, so present-day practitioners of the arcane art of espionage will no doubt be interested in a new book by Len Walsh, a former resident of Japan.

Walsh’s book, Why U.S. Intelligence Fails to Steal Enemy Secrets – And What Can be Done About It, notes that the failures of U.S. Intelligence to steal enemy plans and intentions for U.S. policymakers are painfully public, with several books and articles describing the failures and ascribing the cause.

But only Walsh’s book documents that U.S. Intelligence failures are due solely to the CIA’s failure in espionage. In fact, no other book makes more than a passing reference to espionage at all.

A Textbook on Espionage, well-sourced with over 650 footnotes, lays out the theory and practice of espionage, with a detailed analysis of the finer points of espionage strategy and tactics, including the most important factor in finding and hiring a spy, the spy’s motivation. The book covers espionage in depth, including access, motivation, spotting, developing and recruiting of spies, tradecraft, running operations, maintaining security, and intelligence production.

Walsh says it is the CIA’s failure to understand the motivation of a spy (What would make a man in the enemy camp steal his organization’s secrets and give them to a CIA spymaster?) that is the single most important reason the CIA has no spies. To this day, CIA spymasters still claim they know how to recruit spies, even though their approach has not worked for the last 60 years.

He adds that only foreknowledge of the enemy’s plans and intentions can prevent surprise attacks on the United States. And only a spy in the enemy camp can provide that foreknowledge. Information on the enemy’s capabilities and activities, such as provided by satellite surveillance and electronic eavesdropping, and projections of future events, such as provided by estimative analysis, can tell much about what the enemy could do or might do, but nothing at all about what he will do. Only espionage can provide that.

This is what Sun Tzu meant 2,500 years ago when he wrote: “What is called foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits, nor from gods, nor by analogy with past events. It must be obtained from secret agents who know the enemy.”

A secret agent stealing enemy secrets is what espionage is all about. The charter for U.S. espionage is held by the CIA. The CIA is also charged with many tasks other than espionage, however. And it spends most of its time, budget and personnel on estimative analysis, covert action, liaison with foreign intelligence services, or trying to collect information from casual informants, to the neglect of espionage.

Based on interviews with over fifty spies and spymasters and on research in CIA documents and in the writings of current and former CIA officials, Walsh’s book uncovers the reason the CIA is unable to find and hire spies in the enemy camp. The CIA has only been successful in penetrating the enemy camp when a spy already in the camp walks in to the CIA and volunteers his services.

The first step in espionage is finding and hiring a spy. The second step is using professional tradecraft to manage the spy in a way that keeps him alive and well and stealing information for U.S. policymakers. CIA spymasters have no difficulty with the second step, and have been very successful in managing their walk-in volunteer spies. It is just the first step that consternates them.

The CIA was formed after World War II to collect and disseminate intelligence. But policymakers soon assigned the CIA two additional tasks, Covert Action (secret “war-fighting”) and Estimative Analysis (projection of future outcomes), and included these in a new definition of “intelligence.” (Most other countries kept their intelligence agencies just collecting facts. Russian Intelligence, for example, just went for the documents in their enemies’ safes. British Intelligence just collects the facts and sends them to the policy-making departments of the British Government who do the analysis.) Other tasks have also been given to the CIA over the years. Espionage seems to have been forgotten.

Covert Action and Estimative Analysis, as with satellite surveillance and electronic eavesdropping, are absolutely vital for national security, but they cannot provide foreknowledge of enemy plans and intentions. Only espionage, collecting information from a spy in the enemy camp, can give policymakers foreknowledge.

Hopefully, the CIA will change its approach and get back in the game.

AUTHOR CONTACT: lwalsh@socal.rr.com