Two Adventurers Cross Pacific in Amphibious Jeep Called “Half-Safe”

Journalist-Author Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Of Crossing Pacific Ocean & Bering Sea
in Amphibious Jeep Called “Half-Safe”

Margaret Warren De Mente

PARADISE VALLEY, AZ—In the winter of 1956/57 Boyé Lafayette De Mente, my soon-to-be husband, was a Tokyo-based journalist working for The Japan Times.

The newspaper carried a brief article about the landing of an amphibious jeep called “Half-Safe” (after a popular deodorant of the day!) at Kagoshima, on the southern tip of Japan’s Kyushu Island.

A few weeks later the jeep, owned and driven by Ben Carlin, its Australian “captain,” arrived in Tokyo. Being of a sporting if not adventurous nature my husband-to-be contacted Carlin and made arrangements to interview him.

During the interview, Carlin invited Boyé to accompany him on the last leg of his around-the-world trip on the jeep—a journey that had started in 1948 from New York with his then American wife Elinore, but which had ended abruptly some 500 miles off the eastern seaboard of the U.S. when the engine of the jeep conked out.

Carlin, his wife and Half-Safe were picked up by a Swedish freighter and deposited in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Carlin rebuilt the engine and once again the two set off across the Atlantic Ocean. After a stop in the Azores, they made the coast of Africa, and from there finally reached London by land and water.

Elinore went to work as a secretary while Carlin, over a period of several years (he was a notoriously slow worker), virtually rebuilt the jeep from scratch and they set off again, heading for the Near East, the Mid-East and Asia. Somewhere in India Elinore jumped jeep, left Carlin, and later divorced him.

Carlin recruited another “mate” (a young man from Australia) because the jeep required a two-man crew when at sea. This young man hung in with Carlin until they reached Kagoshima, Japan, and there he too decamped from the adventure, so Carlin was on his own when he arrived in Tokyo in the late fall of 1956.

For reasons Boyé has never fully explained, apparently to anyone, he accepted Carlin’s invitation to join him on the last, longest and most dangerous leg of the around-the-world journey, scheduled to begin in late April, by which time the storm-tossed North Pacific and Bering Sea would have quieted down.

A few days before the departure date a number of startling incidents involving Carlin and the jeep resulted in several of Boyé’s co-workers and friends urging him to quit the enterprise before it started. But despite a calm and basically un-aggressive nature Boyé refused to back out.

On the morning of May 1, 1957, Half-Safe departed from Tokyo amidst great media fanfare, first from the front of the Mainichi Newspaper Building, and then from the front of the nearby Yomiuri Newspaper Building.

For the first few hours of the journey, several cars filled with reporters followed the Half-Safe as it made its way out of Tokyo and headed north. One man had been assigned by his company to go all the way to Wakkanai on the northern tip of Hokkaido with the jeep. But a series of incidents involving Carlin resulted in him disappearing after three days and nights, never to be seen or heard from again.

Each day and night brought new incidents—not all of them involving Carlin’s irascible character—including a number that threatened to end the adventure before it really got started. This included the jeep springing a leak when they were crossing the straits separating Honshu Island and Hokkaido, collisions with submerged rocks as they neared the port of Muroran, and finally, on what was to be the big day of their departure from Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Carlin jumped from the dock onto the jeep for the benefit of cameramen, cracking a section of the cabin that he had constructed to enclose the jeep from the outside elements. This caused another one-day delay for repairs.

Getting underway the next day turned out to have another set of dangers that threatened the jeep before it got away from the dock. From that point on, the adventure and the dangers really began. The two adventurers encountered Russians, Japanese fishing nets, sea lions, technical problems, the frigid waters of the North Pacific and Bering Sea—and each other!

After enough incidents and adventures to fill several lifetimes, the Half-Safe arrived in Anchorage, Alaska on September 1, exactly four months from the day it left Tokyo. The safe arrival of the two in Alaska made news worldwide, and was listed in The Guinness Book of World Records, as well as Car and Driver’s Amazing Stories.

By agreement with Carlin, Boyé did not write his account of the crossing until five years had elapsed, to give Carlin time to get his own book published.

Boyé’s account of the crossing, which he chronicled in a book entitled ONCE A FOOL – From Tokyo to Alaska by Amphibious Jeep, reveals in precise detail the unexpected threats the two wayfarers encountered, including exact—but rare—conversations between them.

In his words, once they set off into the North Pacific the confines and noises of the jeep induced a kind of semi-coma that they came out of only when the daily 24-hour routine of “four on four off” was broken by some emergency.

Their two encounters with Japanese fishing nets and Carlin’s behavior following the last incident is high drama of the most absurd kind.

On another memorable occasion, Boyé stands on the tiny prow of the jeep for several hours in a cold rain and high seas pumping air into a torpedo-shaped yellow tank holding 660 gallons of gasoline to force gas into inboard tanks, with the tank jumping and rearing like a wild animal.

What is perhaps the most remarkable of all, Boyé hung in with Carlin until they reached Anchorage, where he also “jumped jeep,” parting company with his strange companion and flying to Phoenix, Arizona to see his family and recuperate.

And in yet another believe-it-or-not episode, 10 years after Boyé left the jeep in Anchorage, had spent another six years as a trade journalist in Tokyo (where we were married) and moved back to Phoenix, one of our friends spotted Carlin driving Half-Safe down Van Buren Avenue in the center of the city.

Carlin had eventually made it back to Halifax, Nova Scotia then continued for several years touring the U.S. in Half-Safe, lecturing and showing films of the Pacific and Bering Sea crossing, ending up in his hometown of Perth, Australia where he died in the 1980s, and where Half-Safe is on permanent display at his old school.

Boyé went on to have an extraordinary career as the author of more than 40 books on the business cultures and languages of Japan, Korea, and China. We now make our home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, from which he has crossed the Pacific over 100 times—by air!

His book, ONCE A FOOL, became a bestseller in Alaska, and is still available from Amazon.com, other online booksellers, and through major retail chains. To see a full list, with descriptions, of Boyé’s 70-plus books (on Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, Arizona and Hawaii), go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.


Contact:
Margaret Warren De Mente
Paradise Valley, Az 85253
Email: mdemente@cox.net

Builder Takes Aim at World’s Obsolete Cities!

Japan’s Amazing Mori Building Company
Changes Conception and Creation of Cities

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

Basically, the world’s cities have not changed in some 5,000 years.
That stuck-in-the-past mode is now being challenged!

ROPPONGI HILLS—It is astounding to note that within the last half a century some of the world’s most extraordinary accomplishments in the managing, designing, manufacturing and marketing of leading-edge products have come from a country that just 60 years ago was primarily viewed as a feudalistic society based on an ancient warrior mentality.

That country is, of course, Japan—a tiny island nation that kept itself isolated from the rest of the world during the Industrial Revolution, and then, following its defeat in World War II transformed itself into the world’s second largest economy in less than 30 years.

Beginning in the 1970s hordes of American and European businesspeople began making the long trip to Japan to find out why and how such a small and previously insignificant country could become such an economic powerhouse in such a short time.

What the world generally had not understood about Japan before—and still does not fully appreciate—is that for more than a thousand years prior to the modern era the level of intellectual activity in Japan was very high and the ability of the Japanese to quickly understand and master technology was unsurpassed.

Another element in the character of the Japanese that has traditionally been underestimated is their courage in discarding old traditions and charting new courses—a level of courage that generally does not exist in the United States and European countries.
Once politically and culturally free to exercise this courage, large numbers of Japanese quickly began to distinguish themselves as avant-garde thinkers and entrepreneurs.

One of the most outstanding present-day examples in this group is Minoru Mori, President and CEO of Mori Building. Since the early 1980s Mori and his company have been pursuing the goal of recreating cities that are both user and environmentally friendly, using the most advanced technology that now exists.

Roppongi Hills, the business, dining, residential and shopping complex on a rise overlooking downtown Tokyo that I referred to in an earlier column, is now the centerpiece of the Mori concept of what cities should be like.

There are three basic parts to the Mori mission: total safety and security; the integration of the city environment and nature; and the integration of art and culture into the complex. These three parts incorporate six themes: the combination of urban facilities and nature; the merging of tradition and innovation; the mixing of business and culture; the convergence of universality and uniqueness; the merging of the local and the international; and the fusion of stimulation and tranquility.

The integration of the latest technology throughout the Roppongi Hills complex is a marvel of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The convenience and ambiance of its facilities has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. The variety of its artistic, cultural and health-related activities is equal to what one expects in a large modern city.

Mori Building, with the advice and help of some of the world’s leading architects and designers and such luminaries as Yoshio Karita, formerly director of protocol for the Imperial Household, is now engaged in a long-range plan to not only recreate Japan’s cities but to spread the concept around the world.

Internationally, the most spectacular of Mori’s overseas projects to date is the towering Shanghai World Financial Center, which became a symbol of the new China before it was completed. The 101-story tower, which rises from a garden setting, includes offices, conference facilities, restaurants, shops, a five-star hotel and the world’s highest observation platform.

Mori Building is now working with other wards in Tokyo and with other cities in Japan to replace large areas of traditional buildings and streets with multi-use complexes similar to Roppongi Hills—a program that will continue for decades if not generations, until all of the main cities have been transformed.

The Mori urban redevelopment vision is encapsulated in the word “hills,” chosen because of the deep meaning the term has for people—and now represented in Tokyo by Ark Hills (the first project), Roppongi Hills (completed in 2003), Omotesando Hills, Atago Green Hills, Holland Hills, and Moto-Azabu Hills.

Each of these projects follows through with the “hills” image by incorporating slopes and hills in the design so that it represents a microcosm of nature—very much like Japan’s traditional landscaped gardens.

In the past, Westerners trooped to Japan to discover the secrets of its economic power. Now I suggest that city leaders and planners from around the world make the trip to Tokyo to learn how they should be rebuilding their cities.
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Copyright © by Boyé Lafayette De Mente
To see a catalog of 30-plus books on Japan by the author, go to his personal website: www.phoenixbookspublishers.com.

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.

How Japan’s Shoguns Created the World’s First Travel Industry

TOKYO – It may be something of a surprise to most people that Japan was the first country in the world to have a nationwide network of roadside inns, and the first country in the world in which great numbers of ordinary people routinely traveled long distances on pleasure trips.

These two remarkable developments occurred because of a policy inaugurated in 1603 by Ieyasu Tokugawa who had emerged as the most powerful fief leader in the country after a series of battles against competing clan lords, and founded the Tokugawa Shogunate government in Edo (now Tokyo).

This new policy, known as Sankin Kotai (Sahn-keen Koh-tie), or “Alternate Attendance,” required that the leaders of all of the fiefs that had opposed Tokugawa keep their families in Edo at all times as hostages, and that the fief lords themselves spend every other year in Edo in attendance at the Shogun’s Court -- a ploy designed to help prevent them from becoming a threat to the new government.

This decree specified how many retainers—samurai warriors, aides and servants -- the Daimyo (Dime-yoh) or fief lords were required to bring with them to Edo on their semi-annual trips, based on the income of their fiefs --a strategy designed to cost them as much as 70 percent of their income and keep in them economically and militarily weak.

The trips of the lords and their entourages to and from Edo came to be known as Daimyo Gyoretsu (Dime-yoh G’yoh-rate-sue) or “Processions of the Lords.” The typical entourage ranged from 150 to 350 people. The richest of the lords, Maeda, was required to bring up to a thousand retainers with him.

The Sankin Kotai decree also designated which roads the fief lords would travel from and to their domains, and required that towns and villages along the various routes construct and staff suitable accommodations for the Daimyo and their retainers at intervals of one day’s march. Local residents were also required to maintain the roads in their vicinity and plant trees along them.

In 1637, Ieyasu’s grandson, Iemitsu, the third Tokugawa Shogun, dramatically expanded the scope of the Sankin Kotai system to cover over 260 of the some 300 fief lords in the country, making it one of the defining characteristics of the nation’s economy and social life.

The expansion of this extraordinary system of political and economic control required a major construction program that resulted in the already existing network of inns being extended throughout the main islands. The Shogunate decree mandated three classes of inns:

Honjin (Hone-jeen), which can be translated as “Head Inns.” These inns, richly appointed in the style of the imperial mansions of Kyoto, were reserved for the lords and their personal aides.

Waki Honjin (Wah-kee Hone-jeen) or “Annex Head Inns.” These inns were only slightly less luxurious then the Honjin and were reserved for other ranking guests when the Honjin were full.

Hatago (Hah-tah-go), which were the equivalent of today’s Holiday Inns, and were reserved for the lord’s warriors and lower ranking staff and servants.

On just one road -- the Tokaido (Toh-kigh-doh) or East Sea Road -- which connected Kyoto to Edo, there were 93 Honjin, 102 Waki Honjin, and 1,812 Hatago inns. There were four other great roads leading to Edo that were also lined with inns.

Not only did the Sankin Kotai system result in the development of a highly sophisticated network of inns nationwide, it was also responsible for the development of the traditions of extraordinary service that are still characteristic of Japanese hotels and inns, and for the spread of a refined level of culture throughout the rural areas of Japan.

These truly remarkable “Processions of the Lords” continued to be a defining characteristic of Japanese life for more than 250 years -- not ending until 1862.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Japan’s Amazing Traditions Of Recreational Travel

TOKYO – Japan was one of the first -- if not the first -- country in the world in which recreational travel by large numbers of people became a full-fledged industry.

The Japanese urge to travel for enjoyment has been a significant part of the culture since ancient times, and may have had its genesis in the incredible beauty of the islands and in the development of an extraordinary aesthetic sense in the Japanese psyche.

The mythological gods credited with creating the Japanese islands were so impressed with their handiwork that they descended from the heavens to take up permanent residence on the islands.

Poetry written well over a thousand years ago extols the beauty of the islands, and make it evident that the writers had traveled. Buddhism and Shintoism also played a key role in travel in ancient Japan, as monks and priests sought out locations of exceptional beauty in distant mountains to build temples and shrines that attracted visitors from afar.

During the golden Heian era (A.D. 794-1185) traveling for recreational purposes was common among the elite, and over the centuries, hundreds of places around the islands became famous for their exceptional beauty.

But it was not until founding of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603 and the beginning of over two centuries of peace and prosperity that the average Japanese were able to travel for recreational and for religious purposes.

The Shogunate mandated a political control system that required over 260 of the country’s some 300 fief lords to keep their families in Edo at all times, and themselves, along with a large entourage of retainers, spend every other year in Edo.

This resulted in the construction of a network of inns, a day’s march apart, on the five great roads leading to Edo from the rest of the country. While built to accommodate the domain lords and their entourages, the inns catered to other travelers as well.

As the decades passed, the roads and inns became crowded with religious pilgrims, gamblers, salesmen, sumo wrestlers, roving monks and priests, government officials, messengers, painters, poets, and secret agents.

Two types of travel became institutionalized in Japanese life -- monomode (moh-no-moh-day), which consisted of walking tours of famous shrines and temples around the country (that often lasted for months); and yusan (yuu-sahn), which were sightseeing trips to famous scenic places (numbering in the hundreds).

With a nod to the scriptwriters of the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby “road movies,” the first such “road” stories were written by Ikku Jippensha between 1802 and 1822. These stories were entitled Tokaido Chu Hizakurige, which translates as “Traveling the East Sea Road by Shank’s Mare” (on foot).

The series of books chronicled the adventures of two men from Edo, Yajirobe and Kitahachi, who preferred the pleasures and perils of the road to the carping of their wives.

The two dyed-in-the-wool Edo-type men (boisterous, argumentative, and proud) got into every type of comic situation imaginable, and in the process of telling their stories, the author provides a vivid account of the manners and morals of Japanese life during that era in Japan’s history.

The emergence of modern Japan gave rise to three other great categories of domestic travelers—hordes of school children on excursions that were mandated by the Ministry of Education in the late 1800s, millions of big city residents returning to their ancestral villages and towns on holidays and other occasions, and huge numbers of businesspeople going to and fro, from the northernmost island of Hokkaido to the southern island of Okinawa.

In the 1950s, villages and rural organizations nationwide began sponsoring group trips to major cities and scenic attractions. By the mid-1950s virtually all companies in Japan were sponsoring annual outings for their employees to beaches, hot spring spas or mountain retreats.

Today, virtually all Japanese make at least one overnight trip away from their homes and offices each year, and millions travel within the country from a few to dozens of times every year.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Japan Remains Safe Haven For Foreign Travelers!

TOKYO – Japanese who travel abroad are repeatedly warned in travel literature, by their travel agents, by friends, and by the news media that once they leave Japan they will be in danger of being robbed, injured or even killed if they do not remain alert and take special measures to protect themselves.

The Japanese are cautioned never to set their bags down in a hotel lobby or in any kind of transportation terminal; to never walk in certain areas of cities at night; to be wary of conmen, touts, and so on.

Unfortunately, these warnings are not exaggerated or based on unwarranted fears. Given the number of Japanese who are robbed and often beaten while they are abroad it is remarkable that so many -- some 14 to 15 million -- continue to travel overseas each year.

In contrast to this, it is so rare for a foreign traveler in Japan to be robbed, beaten, killed or even harassed in any way that when it does happen it makes national headlines.

The incidence of violent crimes has gone up dramatically in Japan since the introduction of democracy and Western culture following the end of World War II in 1945, but the crime rate is still far below that of Western countries, and generally does not involve foreign victims.

One often hears that in Japan women can walk alone, at all hours of the night, in city districts that are notorious for their low life and the presence of street thugs and professional gangsters without fear of being accosted, robbed or raped. And that is true.

One also hears that foreign women are even safer when they are out and about in Japan -- wherever they may be and whatever the hour -- because Japanese males, including the criminal element, are less likely to harm foreigners. And that is true.

The continuing low level of crime in Japan, in particular the low incidence of people being attacked in the streets -- day or night -- can be attributed to Shinto and Buddhist standards established in the culture very early in Japan’s history, and reinforced politically and socially during the long Shogunate period (1185-1868), when armed samurai warriors administered the country and were empowered to quickly and severely punish law and custom breakers.

During the early decades of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867), samurai warriors were legally permitted to kill people on the spot for violations of etiquette or the law that today would be consider minor infractions.

Given the combined influence of the Shintoism and Buddhism, both of which advocated non-violence, and the social morality mandated and enforced by the samurai rulers of Japan, ordinary Japanese became paragons of honesty and good manners.

Still today, people routinely leave unlocked bicycles on the sidewalks and in front of stores and stations. As a rule, you can leave a bag or some other possession virtually anywhere in public and it will be there when you get back. Shops routinely put product displays outside, and leave them unguarded.

It is said that the extraordinary success of vending machine marketing in Japan occurred because it was possible to set them up out in the open, unprotected places, with virtually no chance that they would be vandalized and robbed.

Stories abound of the time and effort people expend to return lost or forgotten property, especially where foreign travelers are concerned. This is not only a manifestation of the honesty that is built into the character of the Japanese. It is also because the Japanese feel that they and the whole country are responsible for the welfare of visitors.

This security factor is one of Japan’s greatest assets, and is an integral part of the attraction that the country has a travel destination. It is also one of the reasons why foreign residents are so attracted to life in Japan.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Japan’s Amazing Traditions Of Goodwill & Service!

TOKYO – Lafcadio Hearn, a Greek-island born writer (the son of an Anglo father and a Greek mother) who arrived in Japan in the 1890s on assignment for an American magazine, became entranced with the attitudes and behavior of the common people, and wrote that life in Japan was like living in paradise.

There were many who disputed this idealistic view of Japan, but Hearn was, in fact, on to something.

For more than a thousand years before Hearn’s arrival in Tokyo, the foundation for Japan’s culture had been wa (wah) or harmony, based on a concept known as amae (ah-my), which may be translated as “indulgent love.”

In essence, amae referred to treating people with the utmost respect and propriety, never doing anything to upset others, and going out of your way to be kind, thoughtful and generous.

Obviously this philosophy did not prevent all aggression and violence in Japanese society, particularly among the ruling class, but it did permeate the attitudes and behavior of the common people to a degree that is rare in human history.

The ordinary people of Japan were law-abiding, honest and thoughtful to a degree that was astounding to visitors from the West -- and despite all of the changes in Japan since the end of the 19th century, enough of this traditional cultural remains in Japanese society to set them apart from most other people.

Bicycles, store merchandise -- you name it -- are left on sidewalks and streets without fear that they will be stolen. Taxi drivers turn in anything left in their cabs! Individuals go to extreme lengths to return wallets found on streets or in other areas -- with the contents intact!

Japan’s traditional culture also made hospitality a moral and philosophical facet of their character, particularly in their behavior toward guests and seniors -- a phenomenon that grew out of their native religion, Shinto, and the influence of Buddhism and other concepts and customs imported from China.

And what was equally impressive to Hearn -- and millions of people who have since visited Japan -- was, and is, the level of service that is an integral part of the lives of the people -- in every facet of their lives, from the manufacturing and wholesaling industries to the retail trades.

And nowhere are these traditions of service more obvious, and more impressive, than in the inn, hotel, restaurant and nighttime entertainment industries.

As in the case of so many aspects of Japanese culture, this extraordinary standard of service rose to the level of an art during the Tokugawa Shogunate era (1603-1867) -- a phenomenon that grew out of the fact that the standards of etiquette and service in the Shogun’s Court and in the courts of the 300 provincial lords was spread throughout the country.

There are a great many things in Japan today that are impressive to visitors, but when it comes down to what really makes the most lasting and the most positive impression on visitors from abroad is the character of the people -- their attitudes and behavior toward others in general, and especially toward customers and guests.

The traditional etiquette of the Japanese -- how they behaved toward each other in both social and business settings -- was based on the highly refined and stylized manners that developed in the Imperial Court in Kyoto and, like their concept of service, spread from there to the courts of the shoguns and provincial lords, then to samurai families, and finally to the whole of society.

An old story dramatically illustrates the level of Japan’s traditional etiquette. In the 1890s a London banker became a devotee of the Japanese tea ceremony and told his counterpart in Tokyo that he would like to have a teahouse built on his property.

The Tokyo banker dispatched a carpenter to London to build the house. The London banker was so impressed with the manners of the carpenter that he mistook him for a member of Japan’s upper class, and greeted him accordingly. He was astounded to discover that the man was a common worker.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Japan’s Appeal to Visitors Exotic and Sensual

TOKYO – There are two Japans -- the modern or Western, and the traditional. It is often said that it is the Western amenities of Japan that make it a comfortable place to visit. But it is the traditional elements that make it fascinating to the foreign visitor, and one of the world’s best travel destinations.

The fascination that Japan holds for foreigners derives not only from the charm of the unfamiliar, but also from the fact that so many facets of traditional Japan are strikingly unusual and beautiful, and the very essence of exotic to foreign eyes.

What makes Japan even more interesting to the foreign visitor is that one can move freely and effortlessly back and forth between the modern and traditional, as easily and as quickly as passing through a door. In fact, a door is often the only dividing line between the two worlds.

And not surprising to those who are familiar with Oriental cultures, there is a strong sensual element in the exotic side of Japan -- from its traditional architecture, arts, crafts and wearing apparel to the extraordinary number and variety of festivals and other customs that make up the essence and flavor of Japanese culture.

What makes the impact of the traditional side of Japan so powerful is that the exotic and the sensual are combined. Both are integral elements of virtually everything that is culturally Japanese.

One might say that the Kanamara Festival of the Wakamiya Hachiman Shrine in Kawasaki City, between Tokyo and Yokohama, and the Honen Festival of the Tagata Shrine in Komaki City, are two of the extremes of the sensual side of Japanese culture.

These annual events, sometimes referred to as “fertility festivals,” are built around activities involving replicas of the male phallus that range from small to eight feet or more in length. Young women ride phallus-shaped seesaws and eat phallus-shaped candies. Men, women and children get their pictures taken embracing huge phallic reproductions.

The sensual element in the kimono, the yukata, the paper doors and partitions in traditional homes and inns, the kitchen utensils, the wall decorations, the gardens -- again in virtually everything that is Japanese -- is far more subtle than the phallic festivals, but equally powerful over a period of time.

To Western eyes, few things are more exotic than Japan’s kabuki and noh theatrical forms. And while not as overtly conspicuous, virtually everything else that is traditional in Japanese life also qualifies as exotic, from the ideograms used to write the language to the vast array of items one sees in department store food malls.

Another facet in the combination of the exotic and sensual in Japanese culture that attracts foreign visitors, especially Westerners, is the element of mystery. No matter how long foreigners stay in Japan, or how familiar they become with the people and the culture, the mystery remains.

This mystery persists because there are so many facets of Japanese culture that do not lend themselves to ready explanation, that remain beguiling and intriguing. Part of this perception may be attributed to the overblown “mystery of the Orient” image that has prevailed in the West for centuries, but most of it derives from elements of Japan’s traditional culture that are demonstrated in the arts and crafts as well as in household furnishings and utensils…in the essence of things that make them Japanese.

In other words, a certain “Japanese sense” that is both conscious and unconscious is responsible for the exotic and erotic aspects of Japanese culture that foreigners find so appealing and so satisfying. This “sense” is automatically applied to virtually everything the Japanese do, from such mundane actions as preparing and arranging food on a plate to landscaping a Zen garden or conducting a tea ceremony.

The visitor who wants to get the most out of Japan should be prepared to look, and go, beyond the Western facade that obscures the essence and heart of the traditional culture, for that is where the pleasure -- and benefit -- lies. [See my travel oriented language and cultural insight books on Japan.]

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

“Vistas Fit For The Eyes of Kings”

TOKYO – Not many people who go to Japan go to enjoy the scenic beauty of the islands. They are much more likely to think in terms of such images as the country’s famous cherry blossoms, geisha, kabuki, the snow-capped peak of Mt. Fuji, huge loin-clothed sumo wrestlers, or even the opportunity to do some shopping for high-tech products in Akihabara, Tokyo’s famed “Electric Town.”

But they will miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime if they do not make a point of experiencing some of the natural beauty that Japan offers.

Of course, most countries are blessed with areas of extraordinary scenic beauty -- some so sublime that they inspire the poetic muse and induce spiritual ecstasy. But few countries in the world surpass Japan in the sheer volume and variety of its natural beauty.

The islands of Japan owe their extraordinary scenic beauty to their volcanic peaks and central mountains chains that have smaller chains radiating out toward the coasts, resulting in numerous narrow valleys and small coastal plains separated from each other by ridges and headlands.

The greatest of these natural mountain ranges are on the main island of Honshu, and are characterized by peaks up to 3,000 meters (9,000 feet) and more in height. While these and other mountains are grand in size and form, it is the volcanic mountains that provide the special flavor of the country’s topography.

Altogether, there are seven great volcanic systems, with some 200 volcanoes, running through the islands -- and Japan has one-tenth of the world’s active volcanoes. Of course, Fuji san (Mt. Fuji) is the mother of all volcanoes in Japan, and although it last erupted in 1707, it is still alive, and recently has been grumbling and quivering.

One hundred kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Tokyo, Mt. Fuji is so high (3,776 meters / 12,385 ft.) that it is visible within a radius of some 200 miles. The base of Mt. Fuji is so massive that extends into several prefectures. Part way up the great cone there are a chain of five lakes that encircle the mountain, adding to its scenic ambiance and its attraction as a recreational destination.

Because Mt. Fuji towers over central Honshu like a great sentinel, it gets most of the praise, but it is in the coastlines of Japan that nature outdid itself. The islands have a total of 16,120 miles of seacoast that alternates between white sand beaches generally bordered by groves of gnarled pine trees, precipitous cliffs also clad in pines, lagoon-like bays dotted with emerald islets, secluded coves and inlets bounded by jagged walls of stone, caves, natural “bridges” of stone, and sculptured rock formations that are literally beyond the hand of man.

The central chains of mountains that make up the bulk of Japan give rise to thousands of streams and dozens of large rivers that course down gorges and ravines that are so beautiful the more finely attuned viewer may become intoxicated. The islands are also rich in lakes.

Outside of its cities, Japan is heavily forested. In the spring and summer the country is covered in a great blanket of green. In the fall, the leaves of great swatches of deciduous trees turn brown, gold and red. In winter, the high country and northern regions are sheathed in deep layers of snow that turn them into white wonderlands.

The natural beauty of Japan has long been celebrated in poetry, song and the arts, and has played an integral role in the life of the people, not only in their aesthetic practices but also in the their religious and philosophical life. The founders of the thousands of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in the country deliberately sought out places of exceptional beauty for their location.

Long ago someone described the Seto Naikai (Inland Sea), the shallow body of ocean that separates the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, as “A sight fit for the eyes of kings!” And it is just one of many such sights throughout Japan.

Visitors and residents alike who do not avail themselves of the opportunity to gaze upon some of the earth’s grandest scenery are missing one of the great pleasures of life. [I highly recommend the book JAPAN MADE EASY -- Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Japan! ...by you know who!

­ Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Honored Guest Syndrome Makes Japanese Great Hosts

TOKYO – There is a tradition of hospitality in the Orient that flies in the face of the historical circumstances of the vast majority of the people of Asia. From the dawn of their history until recent times, some 90 percent of all Asians lived at, or only slightly above, bare survival levels.

And it seems that in those countries in which the economies provided the least in the way of food and other amenities, the traditions of hospitality to guests and strangers were the strongest.

Mongolians, whose lifestyle on the barren, wind-swept plains of central Asia was always rigorous and frequently life-threatening, have traditionally been among the most hospitable of all people, and today they remain famous for readily and happily sharing what they have with visitors.

In countries that are in the Buddhist sphere of Asia, the poor and the affluent alike were taught that generosity and giving was both a religious duty and a way of building up divine merit—and much of this legacy remains today.

From the dawn of their own history, the Japanese were first influenced to believe in and practice hospitality by Shintoism, their indigenous religion, and by their subsistence-level lifestyle, and then for the last a millennium and a half, by the doctrines of Buddhism.

There were other immediate factors that helped make hospitality to guests a key part of the Japanese lifestyle and mindset. These factors, based on customs first practiced in the Imperial Court in Kyoto, then in the Court of the Shoguns in Edo (Tokyo) and finally in the Courts of the fief lords, included highly stylized ways of welcoming, seating and treating guests with special care that, over the centuries, became deeply embedded in the culture.

But there appears to be another element in the Japanese view and practice of hospitality toward visitors, Westerners in particular. This element, which they share with both Koreans the Chinese, seems to derive from pride in their race and in their country -- a pride that typically compels them to go above and beyond a degree of hospitality that would be more than sufficient.

The desire and efforts of the typical Japanese to make a good impression on visitors is sincere, and their enthusiasm to do so often seems to be unbounded. Japanese contacts and friends --sometimes even strangers -- will often pay restaurant and transportation bills when by all rights it should be the foreign side that pays.

When these situations occur and the foreigner protests, the Japanese will say such things as “When you are in Japan you are our guest.”

The legacy of all these influences to extend hospitality to guests remains strong in Japan, and when it is combined with the traditional Japanese commitment to service, which borders on a social if not a cultural imperative, it becomes a valuable asset, not only for the travel industry but for the country as a whole.

Japan’s combination of hospitality and service was honed to virtual perfection during the last Shogunate era (Tokugawa, 1603-1867), and is especially conspicuous today in the hotel, inn and restaurant industries -- areas that are on the frontline of tourism.

Leaders in Japan’s tourism industry have recently experienced a kind of epiphany insofar as the value of the hospitality and service traditions are concerned. Recognizing that these cultural attitudes and practices need to be taught to each new generation, they are encouraging new and more comprehensive training of industry employees.

Hotels, inns and restaurants that have successfully instituted training programs based on traditional attitudes and behavior stand out the moment one enters. The more this “return to the past” is emphasized, the more successful Japan’s tourism industry is likely to be in the future. See my book: JAPAN MADE EASY -- Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Japan!

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

In Japan it’s Not All Raw Fish, Rice & Noodles!

TOKYO – If typical Westerners in advanced countries are asked to name their most important concerns regarding any foreign trip they might take, food is almost always high on their list.

Americans who have not traveled abroad before can be especially skittish about both food and water—in part because of stories about visitors coming down with the “tourist trot” in countries where sanitary standards are low or virtually non-existent.
Those who are not familiar with Japan might assume that sanitation standards there may also be low, and that special care must be taken to avoid being exposed to unfriendly bacteria. There is no need for such concern.

As it happens, the Japanese were among the first -- if not the first -- people to develop extraordinarily high standards of sanitation in all areas of their lives…something they owe to their native religion, Shintoism.

One of the primary tenets of Shintoism is that cleanliness is an aspect of godliness, resulting in the Japanese being acutely concerned about cleanliness from the dawn of their history, and developing a lifestyle in which cleanliness was a moral value that became deeply engrained in their lifestyle.

Long before Westerners ever equated bathing with good health and the advantages of keeping their homes and workplaces clean, the Japanese scrubbed themselves daily in hot water, then soaked in hot tubs as an added health measure. [When the first Westerners showed up in Japan, their body odor was such that the Japanese could not stand to be near them.]

The Japanese also cleaned their homes daily. Cooking and eating utensils were washed after each use. People not only cleaned themselves and their houses daily, they also kept the area around their homes scrupulously clean.

This virtual obsession with cleanliness has remained a key element in Japanese culture, and still today is one of the reasons why foreign visitors are so impressed with the people and the country. Visitors do not have to be concerned about the sanitation standards in Japanese restaurants, or anywhere else for that matter, including at street vendor stalls.

This is good news, of course, but it is only half of the news where food and dining out are concerned. When it comes to food and restaurants, Japan is one of the most cosmopolitan and international countries in the world.

All of the major cuisines of the world -- American, British, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Russian, etc. -- are available in Japan, in common, middle and upscale restaurants. Regional and local cuisines, from Indian, Indonesian, Korean, Malaysian and Thai to Tibetan are also available.

The number of “Japanese” restaurants that serve a variety of chicken, fish, meat and vegetable dishes that are “Western” in both appearance and taste is astounding. Western chain restaurants, particularly the fast food variety, are cheek-by-jowl in every city in the country.

Japanese restaurants serving traditional dishes, from sushi and noodles to combinations of rice, chicken, beef, eggs, pork and seafood -- all of which, with the possible exception of raw fish, most Westerners like the very first time they try them -- also abound throughout the country.

Office buildings typically have half a dozen or so restaurants in their basements. Newer, larger buildings have as many as fifty or sixty restaurants in their basements and on upper floors devoted entirely to upscale eateries, many of which offer panoramic views of the surrounding areas.

All of Japan’s major cities have what amounts to “restaurant districts” made up of dozens to hundreds of restaurants that attract diners as well as casual strollers who enjoy the sights, sounds and exotic ambiance.

Obviously, the Japanese are great diner outers…they have to be to support the incredible number and variety of restaurants -- there are well over 800,000 restaurants in the small county -- and they do so with a sense of adventure. They flock to new restaurants that offer anything new in the way of style or food.

First-time visitors to Japan should also make a point of having as many food experiences as possible. In addition to adding to their culinary knowledge and pleasuring the palate, it makes it possible for them to “rub elbows” with the Japanese and share in their daily life -- one of the main benefits of visiting the country.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

A Little Nihongo (Japanese) Goes a Long Way!

TOKYO -- Word has gotten out that virtually all Japanese study English for several years when they are in elementary and middle school, and that is true. It is also true that hundreds of thousands of Japanese study English in private language academies after they finish their formal education.

But that does not mean that the average Japanese speaks and understands English, even with a modest degree of fluency. Much like the United States, public school instruction in foreign languages in Japan has traditionally emphasized grammar and reading, rather than speaking.

Dramatic improvements have been made in teaching English and other foreign languages in Japan in recent years, but this still doesn’t mean that English speaking foreign residents and visitors no longer have to be concerned about being able to communicate with Japanese.

Of course, most Japanese who work in frontline positions in the travel industry, where their job requires them to interact with foreigners, generally speak enough English to communicate on a basic level. That is fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Once visitors get off the tourist track it can be very much like suddenly becoming tongue-tied – if not deaf and dumb.

Fortunately, it is not difficult to learn enough Japanese in a very short period of time to significantly improve the quality of a Japan experience – not to mention the personal pleasure it provides once you are beyond basic needs.

Unlike English words, which are spelled with individual letters that represent hundreds of sounds, Japanese words are made up of precise syllables that are based on only six sounds. These six sounds are represented in Roman letters as a, i, u, e, o and n, which are pronounced as ah, ee, uu, eh, oh and unn (more or less like the n in bond).

The Japanese language is made up of several sets of syllables. The first set is the above ah, ee, uu, eh, oh.. The second set is ka, ki, ku, ke, ko (pronounced kah, kee, kuu, kay, koh). The third set is sa, shi, su, se, so (pronounced sah, she, sue, say, soh).

Then there is ta, chi, tsu, te, to (pronounced tah, chee, t’sue, tay, toe); next comes na, ni, nu, ne, no (nah, nee, nuu, nay, no); ha, hi, fu, he, ho (hah, hee, fuu, hey, hoh); ma, mi, mu, me, mo (mah, mee, muu, may, moh); ya, i, yu, e, yo (yah, ee, yuu, eh, yoh); ra. ri, ru, re, ro (rah, ree, rue, ray, roh); wa, i, u, e, wo (wah, ee, uu, eh, woh); and finally n (unn) all by itself.

All the other syllables that make up the Japanese language are euphonic variations of some of the above (pah, pee, puu, pay poh), and combinations of two syllables (pya, pyu, pyo), etc.

These syllables never change, and with some exceptions, their pronunciation is constant. The exceptions are when vowels are pronounced “long,” and when there is a consonant at the end and beginning of two syllables that are joined (nikko / neek-koh). This means you don’t have weird spellings or unfathomable pronunciations to deal with.

As may have been noticed, the pronunciation of Japanese is virtually the same as that of Hawaiian, and practically the same as Spanish. If you can say ah, ee, uu, eh, oh and unn you can learn to pronounce Japanese in just a few minutes.

The famous Japanese farewell, sayonara, is therefore pronounced sah-yoh-nah-rah. And that weird word karaoke (which literally means empty orchestra) is pronounced kah-rah-oh-kay, not kerry-oh-kee!

Knowing just a few Japanese expressions can make a visit to Japan a lot more pleasant. Here are some examples (if you want to learn more, Japanese phrase books are available in leading bookstores and from online book dealers):

Good morning
Ohayo gozaimasu (Oh-hah-yoh go-zigh-mahss) / until about 10:30 or 11 a.m.

Good day or good afternoon
Konnichi wa (Kone-nee-chee wah) / from about 11 a.m. to around dusk

Good evening
Komban wa (Kome-bahn wah) / from nightfall on

Thank you very much
Domo arigato gozaimasu (Doh-moe ah-ree-gah-toe go-zigh-mahss)

Don’t mention it
Doitashimashite (Doe-ee-tah-she-mahssh-tay)

How are you?
O’genki desu ka? (Oh-gane-kee dess kah?)

I’m fine
Genki desu (Gane-kee dess)

How much is it?
Ikura desu ka? (Ee-kuu-rah dess kah?)

What time is it?
Nanji desu ka? (Nahn-jee dess kah?)

Let’s eat!
Tabemasho! (Tah-bay-mah-shoh!)

Let’s go!
Ikimasho! (Ee-kee-mah-shoh!)

For a complete home-course in Japanese, see my SPEAK JAPANESE TODAY, available from Amazon.com and other online booksellers.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Sensual Side of Japanese Culture Has Powerful Influence!

TOKYO – One of the most remarkable things about Japan’s traditional lifestyle was the role that the appreciation of beauty played in the daily lives of the people. It seems that the Japanese were among the few people known to history to have made aesthetics an integral part of their culture.

The origin of this extraordinary phenomenon, which was universal and applied to the high and the low alike, can be found in Shintoism, the indigenous religion of the Japanese, and in Taoism and Buddhism, the latter two imported from China between 400 and 600 A.D.

In Shintoism, nature is the handiwork of the gods. Recognizing and celebrating the beauty of nature is therefore a way of respecting and honoring both nature and its divine creators.

Lao Tsu, the founder of Taoism (The Way), taught that there was beauty in everything in nature, and that it was up to the viewer to see it. The great Tao masters who followed Lao Tsu further taught that it was possible to fully appreciate beauty only if a person allowed beauty to permeate his being and direct his life.

Buddhism recognized the beauty and harmony in nature, and advocated that people pattern their lives on the natural order of things, attempting to achieve both harmony and beauty in their daily lives.

The combination of these influences eventually permeated Japanese culture, becoming the guidelines and standards for the arts and crafts, for all of the artifacts and implements the Japanese used in their daily life, and for many of the recreational and cultural customs that developed over the generations, from flower-viewing to sightseeing.

These influences eventually culminated in the country’s famous “tea ceremony,” which is an exercise in pure aestheticism….rather than an occasion for drinking tea.

The nature of beauty as defined by the greatest tea masters is summed up in the word shibumi (she-buu-me), which can be translated as astringent, simple, conservative, unaffected, elegant, etc.

Shibui (she-booey) beauty is beauty that is in perfect harmony with nature and has a tranquil affect on the viewer. It imparts serenity, nobility and quiet luxury. It is a work of art in which all of the elements are harmoniously arranged and balanced.

After centuries of exposure to the principles and practices of shibui living the Japanese developed the ability to recognize and produce this quality almost instinctively. They did not have to strain to judge whether or not something was beautiful, or to create it.

It is the shibui quality in Japanese things that make them Japanese; that gives them an aura that is sensual and pleasing to the eye and to the touch. And it is the shibui aspects of Japan—from its architecture, arts, crafts, and interior decoration to how food is arranged on a tray—along with the character and behavior of the people, that foreign visitors find so appealing.

This shibui effect is visceral and sensual, and affects everyone, including those who are not consciously aware of its influence. It clearly explains why so many foreigners in the past chose to live in Japan despite many inconveniences and a long list of things they loved to complain about.

Virtually all of those old inconveniences and other reasons for complaining have disappeared, and while the traditional shibui side of life in Japan is often overshadowed by modern things, it is still there in abundance, providing an exotic and erotic flavor to life that continues to work its magic.

But experiencing this traditional side of Japan must be planned and done deliberately. Short-term visitors in particular should make a number of informed choices on what they want to see and do while in Japan, and plan their trip accordingly.

A few of the obvious things: spending at least one night in a Japanese style inn (ryokan / rio-kahn); dining in several Japanese style restaurants where patrons sit on tatami (tah-tah-me) reed-mat floors; spending at least one night in an onsen (own-sen) hot springs resort inn; attend and participate in a tea ceremony; go to a Zen Buddhist temple for a zazen (zah-zen) or seated meditation session; and watch a couple of chambara (chahm-bah-rah) movies -- those set in Shogunate times and featuring samurai warriors and townsfolk. [They are the Japanese version of American Westerns and such sword-fighting films as the tale of Robin Hood and pirate stories.] See my ebook: SABURO -- The Adventures of a Teenage Samurai in 17th Century Japan.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Playing the Geisha Game In Present-Day Japan!

TOKYO – During the 1600s in Edo (Tokyo) a special class of women entertainers who were skilled at playing the shamisen, singing, and dancing gradually came to be known as geisha (gay-ee-shah). Gei means art and sha means person.

The geisha performed for private individuals and parties in the country's large redlight districts, and in ryokan (rio-kahn) inns and ryotei (rio-tay-ee) restaurants. Because of their association with the courtesan quarters, and because prostitution was also commonly practiced in ryokan and ryotei, the geisha came to be regarded by many as a just another category of prostitutes.

However, as the decades of the Edo era (1603-1868) passed, the profession of the geisha grew in stature. Their training became more formalized and strict. Famous courtesans regularly hired geisha to help them entertain their high profile customers.

Although geisha did not work as prostitutes it became customary for them to form intimate liaisons with affluent men who patronized them regularly and treated them more or less as mistresses. Some geisha had more than one regular patron at the same time, but they were not for hire for indiscriminate sex, and having more than one patron simultaneous was frowned upon.

With the deterioration of the licensed gay quarters following the downfall of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1867, the social status of prostitutes began to drop and that of the geisha to rise. Their training was expanded to include lessons in etiquette, grace, flower arranging, the tea ceremony, and in how to be stimulating conversationalists, making them among the most accomplished women in the country.

Within a few decades the position of prostitutes and geisha had completed reversed. Geisha were the most elite of public women, and prostitutes the lowest. Wealthy businessmen and high-ranking politicians began to vie with each other to make the most famous geisha their mistresses.

It was, in fact, common for men of wealth and power to marry their geisha mistresses, with one notable example being Hirobumi Ito (1841-1909), who played a key role in the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate in the 1860s, became the chief architect of Japan's first constitution, and served as prime minister four times.

Given a social system in which wives did not participate directly or publicly with men in business or in politics, and therefore could not act as hostesses for their husbands under any circumstances, geisha came to perform valuable functions, not only dressing up business and political meetings held in ryotei inn restaurants but helping to make sure the meetings ran smoothly.

As late as the 1950s, Tokyo alone had over a dozen large so-called geisha districts, which consisted of clusters of ryotei that called in geisha nightly to serve their customers. Some ryotei had live-in geisha, but most of them lived in separate housing, and went to ryotei only when they were called. The services of the geisha were so costly that only wealthy businessmen and high-ranking politicians and government bureaucrats could afford to patronize them.

Then the rapid transformation of Japan into an economic super power from the 1950s to the 1970s saw the equally rapid rise of thousands of cabarets and night clubs that featured hostesses as drinking, dancing and conversational companions, with fees far below what geisha inns charged.

The far less expensive cabarets and nightclubs attracted huge numbers of middle-class men from every walk of life, for business as well as personal reasons. During the heyday of this era, over half a million young women were employed as hostesses.

The more attractive the hostesses, and the more skilled they were in entertaining men, the more they could earn. This naturally attracted some of the most beautiful and socially talented young women in the country. Hundreds if not thousands of these remarkable women became millionaires. Like the geisha of an early day, many of them married well. One married the then president of Indonesia, Sukarno, and became an international celebrity.

The reign of the huge businessmen-oriented hostess cabarets and nightclubs ended in the late 1980s when Japan's economic bubble begin to deflate, but they were quickly replaced by dozens of thousands of dance clubs and other types of entertainment spots that catered to newly liberated, and affluent, female clientele as well as men.

The geisha survived the economic fallout, although they are now on the fringe of Japan's entertainment world. In Kyoto, in particular, there are well-known geisha districts, with many of the women in the trade being third and fourth generation geisha.

In the evenings in Tokyo's Akasaka district, which borders the country's government center, one can still see geisha being delivered to ryotei and ryokan in rickshaws pulled by men wearing traditional Edo age garb.

Most geisha now voluntarily enter the profession when they are in their late teens. Their training is less formal and less comprehensive, often as little as a few weeks, as opposed to years in earlier times.

But to the foreign resident or visitor, today's instant geisha are just as fascinating, just as entertaining, if not more so, than their predecessors. And they are almost always more attractive because today their popularity and success is more dependent upon their looks.

Few things are more satisfying than spending an evening in a ryotei restaurant in the company of geisha, participating in their games and experiencing a sensuous-charged atmosphere that has not changed for centuries.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Japan's Hot Spring Spas Add Erotic Spice to Life!

TOKYO – Several hundred million years ago the earth's mantle opened up and spewed forth the Japanese islands, leaving a ring of volcanoes and thermal vents from the northernmost island of Hokkaido to the southern island of Kyushu.

Present-day Japan has 10 percent of the earth's volcanoes and more active volcanoes than any other country. There are more than 10,000 well-known thermal vents in the crust of Japan, and over 2,100 of these have been developed into onsen (own-sen), or hot spring bath spas. Japan's hot spring spas can be found in mountain gorges and valleys, on the waists of mountains, along the sides of peninsulas, and on the coasts. Some hot springs bubble up from the seabed offshore.

There is one in the middle of Tokyo Bay that has been tapped for a new, spectacular hot spring spa complex on the man-made island of Odaiba. The larger of the hot springs vents have given birth to hundreds of resort villages and towns. Some of them, like Atami, Beppu and Ito, qualify as cities.

Smaller onsen have 15 to 30 inns and hotels that feature hot mineral baths and the other amenities of a Japanese style spa. Larger onsen have from 30 to 300 inns and hotels. The largest one, Beppu, has some 700 inns, and attracts upwards of a million visitors a year.

Hokkaido alone has 193 onsen spas, and over 1,500 thermal springs. Shizuoka Prefecture, about an hour south of Tokyo by Bullet Train, has only 71 hot spring resort spas, but it has over 2,100 thermal springs.

Hundreds of Japan's thermal springs have been in commercial use as spas for at least 1,500 years. Numerous events of special significance that occurred in the baths have made the history books.

One of the more interesting: Yoritomo Minamoto, the founder in 1192 of Japan's shogunate form of government was a regular visitor. His favorite: Kusatsu, in Gunma Prefecture northwest of present-day Tokyo, because the high mineral content of its waters made his rheumatism better. During the famous Tokugawa Shogunate era (1603-1867), successive Shoguns had water brought from the Kusatsu springs to Edo (Tokyo) for their daily baths.

All of the 2,000-plus hot spring spas that are members of the Japan Spa Association have had their waters analyzed for their mineral content, and provide specific details on their efficacy in curing and relieving a variety of physical and mental illnesses. In the last century, Japan's onsen have gone from being just health resorts catering to those with problems to being both health and recreational destinations, with a variety of activities and facilities.

Today, onsen spas attract huge numbers of regular vacationers, including families, as well as honeymooners and lovers. Many people go to onsen for days or weeks when they are doing some kind of work project that requires peace and quiet. Others use them as retreats, when they want to opt out of the hubbub of urban life for a weekend or longer.

For the last century, the spas around Lake Hakone, an hour's train ride from Tokyo and adjoining Mt. Fuji, have attracted many foreign notables. There is almost always a sprinkling of foreign visitors at all major hot spring spas, particularly those in the vicinity of Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe.

Some onsen feature rotenburo (roh-tane-buu-roh) or outside baths that look like small, shallow swimming pools set among picturesque volcanic boulders. Many of the rotenburo have magnificent views of the surrounding areas. Mixed-sex bathing is still practiced in some hot spring spas, but not in local public onsen.

All resort spas have private baths for couples and families. [Regular TV promotional travel stories on the country’s spas often show men and women bathing together in large communal baths—with their modesty protected by small tenugui (tay-nuu-gooey) hand towels covering key body parts.] The foreign visitor who leaves Japan without having had the hot spring spa experience has missed a major opportunity to enjoy one of the special pleasures the country has to offer.

For the visitor who cannot get beyond Tokyo, there is the new Oedo Onsen Monogatari (Oh-eh-doh Own-sen Moe-no-gah-tah-ree) on Odaiba islet in Tokyo Bay, only a few minutes from the center of the city. This huge complex is built as an Edo era onsen village, with restaurants and shops that are right out of the Tokugawa Shogunate period of Japan.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Beverage of the Gods Has a Long History!

KOBE – Visitors to the Nada area of Kobe, one of the earliest and most international of Japan’s seaports, encounter an intriguing aroma that permeates the ground, the buildings, and the air.

This aroma is the scent of O’sake (Oh-sah-kay), Japan’s original alcoholic beverage, which is still enshrined as the national drink. (The “O” in front of sake is an honorific.)

Sake, a kind of wine made from rice, has been brewed in Japan since shortly after the introduction of wet-rice farming in the third century B.C. and was the only alcoholic drink in the country until the introduction of European wines and whiskeys by foreign traders in the 16th century.

In early Japan, brewing and drinking sake was closely related to Shintoism. Every community shrine had its own rice paddies. At first, the rice from these fields was made into gruel, and eaten. Over a period of time, the process was refined to produce a clear liquid, and became drinkable.

The liquid version of sake was still considered a special offering to the gods, but as time passed it became common to drink it at parties and banquets not associated with shrine rituals. The Imperial Household has its own rice fields and sake brewery, as did temples and other institutions of the day.

To make sake, the rice is milled, washed, soaked and steamed. Then fresh spring water and yeast made from malted rice are added to induce fermentation. During the fermentation process, which lasts for about 20 days, the mixture seems to come alive, bubbling and making all kinds of sounds.

After fermentation, the wine is separated from the rice residue by running it through a press. The liquid is then filtered and placed in large vats, where it settles and becomes clear. It is then pasteurized and bottled. The alcoholic content of sake take from the top of the vat is from 12 to 14 percent. That taken from the lower turbid portion has an alcoholic content of 17 to 18 percent.

Sake is graded by a national inspection agency on the basis of taste, color and aroma, and comes in three grades: tokkyu (toke-que) or first grade; ikkyu (eek-que), second grade; and nikkyu (neek-que), third grade. The inspectors look for a subtle blend of sweetness, sourness, pungency, bitterness and astringency.

The characteristics of any batch of sake is determined by the rice itself, how much of the rice has been milled away, whether or not distilled alcohol is added, the mineral content of the water used in the fermenting process, the amount of yeast, when the yeast is added, how long the process is continued, and, according to experts, some elements that master brewers keep to themselves.

There are four main types of sake, each of which is determined as much by the milling of the rice used as well as the brewing process. These four sake types are:

Junmai-shu (at least 30% of the rice polished away and no distilled alcohol added. This type is referred to as pure rice wine). Honjozo-shu (at least 30% of the rice milled away, and some distilled alcohol added).
Ginjo-shu (at least 40% of the rice polished away. When some alcohol is added it is called Ginjo. If no alcohol is added it is called Junmai Ginjo.)

Daiginjo-shu (at least 50% of rice polished away; again with or without added alcohol; if labeled Daiginjo, it means distilled alcohol was added; if labeled Junmai Daiginjo, it means no alcohol added).

A fifth type of sake refers to all of the above when they have not been pasteurized, in which case they are called Namazake (nah-mah-zah-kay), literally “raw sake.”

The first four categories are known as Tokutei Meishoshu, or Special Designation Sake. Each category has its own flavor profile based on the brewing methods employed and how much of the rice has been polished away. Sake gourmets pride themselves on being able to distinguish the types by their taste, rather than reading the labels.

Several districts in Japan have been known for the quality of their sake since ancient times. These include Nada in Hyogo Prefecture, (now within the city of Kobe), Kyoto and districts in Akita, Nagano and Hiroshima prefectures.

Top sake brands include Hakutsuru (Hah-kuu-t’sue-rue) or White Crane, Ozeki (Oh-zay-kee), which refers to a sumo champion, and Gekkeikan (Gake-kay-e-kahn). Okura Shuzo, the company that produces Gekkeikan, was founded in 1637.

Altogether, there are some 3,000 sake makers in Japan, most of them producing what is called jizake (jee-zah-kay), or local brands.

In addition to “regular” sake, there are also sweet, carbonated, dry, hard, and aged varieties. Sake is generally heated before drinking to bring out the taste and give it more of an immediate kick. One special type of sake is brewed for drinking cold, or on ice.

Sake was traditionally served and drank before meals, not during or after meals. But many people now drink sake during their meals and as well as in between meals.

Enormous amounts of sake are consumed at gatherings held to enjoy the beauties of nature, especially when viewing cherry blossoms, the full moon, and newly fallen snow.

Like wine experts, sake gourmets claim that they can also identify the region a particular sample of sake came from by its taste and aroma.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Amazing Ainu – The “Indians” of Japan

TOKYO – Long before the coming of the Japanese to the islands now known as Japan, the northern portion of the island chain was inhabited by tribes of ancient people whose physical traits were not typically Oriental.

These tribes inhabited the northern part of the main island of Honshu, all of Hokkaido, the Kurile islands and the southern portion of Kamchatka Peninsula, and in that sense they were the indigenous “Indian” tribes of these regions.

These first inhabitants of Japan called themselves Ainu (Aye-nuu), which means human or man – and is similar to the custom of some of the Indian tribes of North America, the Navajo in particular, who call themselves Dine (Dee-nay) or “The People.”

Unlike the indigenous Indian tribes of North and South America, however, the Ainu inhabitants of Japan had physical features that made them distinctly different from Oriental Asians as well as the Indians of the Americas.

The eyes of the Ainu did not have the epicanthic fold that is characteristic of Orientals. Their eyes were unusually large and round, even for Caucasians, and ranged from brown, light brown and gray, to blue-gray. Also unlike Orientals and American Indians, Ainu men had exceptionally heavy body and facial hair.

The earliest mention of the Ainu of Japan and the regions north of Japan is found in ancient Chinese records, which refer to them as “the hairy people.”

It seems that the Ainu originated somewhere on the northeastern Asian continent (like the original, indigenous tribes of Korea who disappeared long ago), and then moved southward over eons of time.

In contrast, the ancestors of modern Japanese came from Korea, China and the islands that extend southwest to Taiwan. As these newcomers moved northward on the island chain they began encountering the Ainu just north of what is now Tokyo.

The new Asian immigrants to Japan were more culturally advanced than the native Ainu, considered them sub-human, both racially and culturally, and presumed that they had no rights to the areas they inhabited – just as European Americans were to view and treat indigenous American Indians in more modern times.

By the 7th century A.D., the Japanese were launching major military campaigns against the Ainu, decimating their population and pushing those who survived further north. This was the period when the term shogun (show-goon) first came into use in the compound Sei-i-Tai Shogun, which translates as “Barbarian Subduing General,” used to designate generals charged with eliminating the Ainu.

Large numbers of Ainu, like American Indians in later centuries, also died from diseases that were new to them.

By the 19th century there were only twenty to thirty thousand Ainu left. A few of these survivors lived in still relatively isolated mountainous regions north of Tokyo, and the rest in Hokkaido and on the Kurile islands north of Hokkaido.

It was during this era that the Japanese government, on the advice of an American politician, resolved to eliminate the Ainu as a distinctive culture by forbidding the use of the Ainu language, forcing the Ainu to take Japanese names, and prohibiting the practice of their traditional customs.

The attempt to eradicate Ainu culture ended in the 20th century, and there is now a growing movement among the remaining population to revive their language and many of their cultural ways. However, racial mixing has continued to diminish the number of full-blooded Ainu, and they now number only a few thousand, most of who live in small villages in Hokkaido.

Ainu-Japanese mixtures are especially conspicuous in the vicinity of Sendai, north of Tokyo. They are noticeable for their abundant hair, and for their eyes. Strangely, the genes that make the Ainu eye are often incompatible with the genes of the Japanese eye, making deformities common. The most common of these deformities is eyes that are too far apart; often to such an extreme that one of the eyes withers away.

But, when the two sets of eye genes work, especially in females, the results are astounding. Their eyes are huge, striking in color, and so hypnotic that people can’t avoid staring at them.

In the 1950s and 60s, a number of mix-blood Ainu-Japanese girls were brought to Tokyo from the Sendai area and put to work as models and as extras in movies.

They were very successful as models – giving rise to the Japanese art and comic preference for drawing young females with huge, luminous eyes – but they did not fare as well as movie starlets because their eyes distracted so much attention from the Japanese stars.

Visiting one or more of the remaining Ainu villages in Hokkaido is like stepping through a time portal to an age when the world was young.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Secrets of Japan's Appeal to Westerners!

TOKYO – When the first Westerners of record stumbled onto Japan in the 1540s, the discovery of the islands by Europeans resulted in an influx of traders and Christian missionaries, both intent on expanding their empires in Asia.

Among the many things that astounded these first Western visitors to Japan was the incredible quality of its handicrafts and arts, and the ability of Japanese craftsmen to copy any Western product not only perfectly but to improve on it in the process.

Thereafter, Japanese arts and crafts as well as Western products made in Japan were shipped to Europe in large volume.

One of the extraordinary historical stories of this era: Japans now famous woodblock prints were so common and so cheap that they were used as wrapping paper on some of the goods shipped to Europe, where they became highly valued collectors items and had a fundamental influence on European artists of the period.

But the number of Europeans in Japan, and their influence, grew so rapidly that the Tokugawa Shogunate began to fear the country might be colonized by the Western powers. This fear resulted in a decision by the Shogunate in the 1630s to expel all foreigners from the country except for a small detachment of Dutch traders, who were kept confined on a small man-made islet in Nagasaki Bay, and to ban all travel from and to the country.

For the next 200-plus years this tiny Dutch trading post and occasional officially approved visits by Chinese and Korean ships were Japan's only contacts with the outside world.

Japan's isolation from the Western world did not end until the early 1850s, when the United States sent a fleet of warships into Tokyo Bay in 1853 and demanded that Japan open its doors to trade and diplomatic intercourse.

Powerless in the face of the American warships, and aiming to control the situation as much as possible, the Shogunate agreed to the American demand, and in March of 1854 signed a pact opening two ports to American ships and agreeing to accept a diplomatic representative. Soon thereafter similar pacts were signed with England, Russia and the Netherlands.

During the next decade, foreign traders and missionaries flocked to Japan, this time with Americans leading the charge. But the signing of the pacts by the Shogunate in Edo (Tokyo) outraged some of the outlying provincial lords in the southwest. They began agitating for the return of the Emperor (in Kyoto) to power.
This agitation led to a civil war in the mid-1860s, resulting in the downfall of the Shogunate in 1867 and the restoration of the Emperor who had not exercised real authority since 1185.

The Japanese were fascinated by Western products, and began to disparage their own arts and crafts. Western importers once again began taking advantage of the Japanese ability to copy products, and by 1900 products made in Japan were flooding Western markets, earning the Japanese the reputation of being nothing but copiers and makers of cheap goods.

It was not until the 1960s that Japan's manufacturers were able to get out from under the control of foreign buyers and bring their traditional standards of quality into the production of Western style products. And as the saying goes, the rest is history.

What was the source of Japan's traditional quality standards? How were the Japanese able to raise the quality standards of their handicrafts to that of a fine art? This too, relates to their skill in copying and improving upon things they copy, but in this case it goes back more than a thousand years.

Beginning around 300 A.D. Chinese ideas and products began trickling into Japan, mostly through Korea and via Korean immigrants to the islands. Over the next 500 years, virtually all of these imported products, now regarded as Japanese, became the foundation of the economy and the culture.

Along with these products came the ancient Chinese custom of the master-apprentice approach to the arts and crafts. But the Japanese didn't just imitate the Chinese and Koreans. They institutionalized and ritualized the master-apprentice training methods, adding to it the concept of kaizen (kigh-zen) or continuous improvement.

As the generations passed, these institutions and rituals were strengthened by the introduction of the Zen principles of dispensing with the superfluous, and harmonizing life and nature, resulting in masters who could actually achieve virtual perfection in the arts and crafts.

This was the Japan that Westerners first encountered in the 1500s and again in the 1800s, by which time, the Japanese were so conditioned in the principles and practices of quality that they didn't think about it, and achieving it was simply the Japanese way of doing things.

Another important factor that distinguishes traditional Japanese arts and crafts, as well as many of its modern products, is a look and a feel that is unique, that grows out of the psychic of the Japanese that precedes their contact with Korea and China.

The influence of this "Japanese thing" on Westerners varies from very weak to very strong, depending on their sensitivity and aesthetic development. But it influences everyone to some degree. To the sensitive person, it has a calming, soothing effect on the intellect and the spirit, and creates a harmonious repose with nature.

Westerners who visit Japan, even for a few days, are invariably touched by this unique facet of Japanese culture. [I introduced the Western world to the term and concept of kaizen in my first books on the Japanese way in the early 1960s.]

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
______________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.