Travelers Can Max Out on Japanese Manga

TOKYO – Travelers in Japan who are manga (mahn-gah) fans can now max out on them by spending time in manga-kissa (mahn-gah kee-sah), or “manga cafés,” that are stocked with hundreds of manga books that, for a small fee, patrons can sit and read for hours at a time.

For the few people around the world who are not familiar with the term manga, it refers to Japanese comic books, which, along with anime (ah-nee-may), the Japanese word for animated films, have taken the world by storm.

Like kabuki, samurai and tsunami, these two words have transcended the Japanese language and become part of the vocabulary of the world.

Anime and manga have not only transcended international and linguistic borders, they have spawned two of the most dynamic industries in the world, and have become powerful cultural forces in Japan, in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Manga, or the comic books, generally come first because they provide the titles, names and storylines, and if they are successful they may be animated—a much more expensive process than printing and binding books.

Animation is, of course, a modern technology, but manga have been a part of Japanese life since the 7th century, when Buddhist monks began to create picture scrolls depicting animals, flowers, leaves and other symbols. Some of these early scrolls featured animals that acted like humans…and satirized Buddhist priests.

By the 13th century manga were being used to decorate the walls of temples. In the 16th century, manga began to appear as hanga (hahn-gah) or woodblock prints. Some of the most popular of the larger of these prints depicted 69 different sexual positions, which, among other uses, were given to newly married couples on their wedding night.

In the 1700s manga woodblock print artists began to make collections of their prints, write captions for them, and bind them into books. By that time, the content of the prints ranged from exuberant eroticism and political satire to depictions of nature.

As the decades passed, artists began to include stories as well as captions in their manga books, with the narratives gradually becoming more and more important. Eventually, books illustrated with manga became the leading literary form in the country.

The most popular of these books featured prints and stories about famous courtesans in Japan’s huge red-light districts, and were known as ukiyo-e (uu-kee-yoh-eh), which can be translated as “portraits of the floating world.”

The word manga was created in 1815 by an artist named Hokusai, who was to become one of Japan’s most famous hanga masters. He made the word up from ideograms meaning “whimsical” and “picture.”

Just as Japan’s woodblock prints had a major impact on European painters in the 16th and 17th centuries, Western techniques of shading, anatomy, and perspective were introduced into Japan in the late 1800s, resulting in dramatic changes in the appearance of manga.

By the early 1900s, manga books were a thriving part of Japan’s new publishing industry. With the onset of war in the 1930s, the activities of manga artists and publishers came under government control. Only those that supported the military goals of the government were allowed to stay in business, and then only on a drastically reduced scale.

With freedom restored in 1945 and the prewar publishing giants reduced to small operations, new manga artists and publishers sprang up by the hundreds, publishing cheap copies called akahon (ah-kah-hone) or “red books.”

One of these new artists was a former medical student named Tezuka Osamu, who revolutionized the content of the comics by creating such characters as Mighty Atom and writing storylines in a variety of themes about real life. His New Treasure Island, published in 1947, sold over 400, 000 copies, resulting in the industry changing from producing comics for children to comics for teenager and adults.

Now, there are monthly manga for boys, for girls, for salary men, for young women, and for virtually every other group, covering everything from fashion and male-female relations to how to be an effective manager. The sales numbers of many of them are in the millions. A number of the most successful ones are sold around the world in translated editions.

Animated films based on Japanese manga are also sold world-wide, as theater films, television series and videos. Their plots run the gamut of human interests and emotions, from adventure and love stories to action films.

Their categories include mecha (may-chah), or “big robots;” hentai (hane-tie), or “porn;” martial arts, science fiction, fantasy, and “cyber punk,” etc.

The Japan Foundation estimates that between 70 and 80 percent of the young people in the U.S. and other foreign countries now studying the Japanese language were prompted to do so by their desire to read manga in their original language.

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 still in print, 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/.

ENKAI ! – How to Party Japanese Style!

TOKYO – Until the last couple of decades the Japanese had a reputation of being workaholics, not given to letting their hair down and having a good time. The Japanese were indeed hard workers, but the impression that they didn’t go in for parties and other forms of entertainment was way off the mark.

One of the earliest anecdotes in Japan’s creation myth is about a party held by one of the gods that became so boisterous he was kicked out of the pantheon as punishment. He didn’t give up partying, however, and apparently passed on his predilections for a good time to the human progeny of the gods. In any event, entertainment of various kinds has been a significant part of Japanese culture since ancient times.

As in virtually all societies, singing, dancing and drinking were major entertainment activities in early Japan, with copious references to them in historical records. And rather than decrease with the passing of time, entertainment has grown in volume and variety to the point that since the mid-1950s it has been one of Japan’s largest industries—if not the largest.

One of the most characteristically Japanese forms of entertainment today is subsumed in the word enkai (inn-kigh), which is usually translated as “Japanese style banquet” and is a kind of generic term that refers to a gathering where food and drinks are served, and which serves several purposes.

The first enkai of record occurred in the 7th century at the imperial court on New Year’s Day and on other auspicious occasions during the year. In 1873 the celebration was renamed Shinnen Enkai (sheen-nane inn-kigh), or New Year’s Banquet, and was held on January 5th.

This was discontinued as an imperial court event after World War II, and was later picked up by the general public as a way of celebrating special occasions any time of the year, including New Years and at the end of the year, when it was called Bonen Kai (boh-nane kigh), or “Party to Forget the Year” just ending.

Shinnen Kai and Bonen Kai are still held annually by the thousands throughout Japan, but there are dozens of thousands more that are held to celebrate promotions, company events, farewell parties, assignments abroad, political rallies, family gatherings, welcoming parties (for new company or club members), etc.

In earlier times the locations for enkai were almost always restaurants or halls that had Japanese style rooms with tatami (tah-tah-me) reed-mat floors, but now many, especially large ones, are also held in hotel banquet halls that are Western style, with tables and chairs.

The importance of the enkai to Japanese can hardly be overstated. They are one of the primary ways the Japanese bond with each other in both formal and informal ways during the proceedings, which generally include a number of short speeches, a great deal of toasting and hand-clapping, and often singing and dancing performances by individuals or groups.

For the Japanese the enkai are an institutionalized and ritualized way for them to express and nurture their Japaneseness, to shore up their psyche and energy, and strengthen their bonds with each other and their guests.

Foreign business people can get a lot of cultural mileage out of sponsoring enkai for their Japanese affiliations, as well as by attending (when invited) those staged by the Japanese side.

Dinners (and sometimes lunches) arranged for large tourist groups in resort hotels and inns are typically done enkai style, with the participants wearing yukata robes, sitting on tatami floors at low tables, and being called upon to participate in some kind of entertainment.

Visitors in Japan, for business or pleasure, should make an effort to attend at least one enkai. They are a marvelous way to physically, emotionally and spiritually experience the traditional culture. [See my book, JAPAN UNMASKED -- The Character & Culture of the Japanese.

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 still in print, 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/.

Look Out Bill and Steve! Here Comes Kohei, Genri!

TOKYO – Until the late 19th century you could count the number of Japanese entrepreneurs on a few hands and feet. People just didn’t start new businesses, either because there were no new ideas or starting a new business was prohibited by the government and/or by deeply entrenched custom.

In fact, it was not until the last decades of the 20th century that entrepreneurship began to attract public attention in Japan. High school and university graduates went directly from school to work for some company—and the bigger and more famous the company the better.

The 1990-1 “Big Bang” in reverse that let much of the air out of Japan’s “bubble economy” resulted in a new mentality of individualism and personal independence among a growing number of young Japanese, changing things dramatically.

Now, hundreds of thousands of young Japanese prefer to work part-time or on a contract basis rather than as full-time regular employees, and thousands of them are doing what was unthinkable just a short while ago—they are founding their own companies.

What is even more extraordinary—for Japan—is that many of these new entrepreneurs start their businesses before they finish school. In some cases, while they are still in high school, and without bothering to go on to college.

Said one successful 20-year-old company president of a research firm that comes up with new product ideas: “Academics have no bearing on business.” He started his company with several of his buddies when they were still in high school. One of their first clients was the cosmetics giant Kanebo.

Another facet of this extraordinary phenomenon in Japan involves a growing number of young men and women who have taken an entirely new look at such traditional materials as silk, wood and hand-made paper, and are creating new products that combine modern and futuristic designs with the innate aesthetic qualities of the materials they use.

Kyoto, the imperial capital of Japan from 794 until 1868 and the center of Japan’s arts and crafts for more than a thousand years, has become a hotbed of entrepreneurship in the creation of new apparel and furniture lines. This new breed of businessmen and women has reached the point where they are now exhibiting and selling in New York, Milan and other global markets.

Young female entrepreneurs are among the leaders in this movement, working with traditional silk producers and dyeing companies to create handbags, jackets, and other apparel that are unique not only in their materials but in the artistry of their designs.

The day has obviously arrived when younger Japanese are going back to their cultural traditions as a source of creative ideas that can be turned into modern-day products—tapping into handicraft traditions that achieved the level of fine arts more than a thousand years ago.

This new breed of Japanese fashion designers, with their access to classic materials and unique Oriental design concepts, could very well eclipse the pop designers of Milan, New York and Paris in the near future.

It is surely this new breed of Japanese that holds the future of Japan in their hands. No longer chained to the past, no longer prohibited from using their imagination, and now having access to totally new frontiers of opportunity, they could take Japan to a new level.

One famous Kyoto manufacturer of incense now sells his products worldwide, achieving the sweet smell of success from a product that was once seen mostly in shrines and temples and at funerals.

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 still in print, 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 Izakaya Outdo Ireland’s Pubs

TOKYO – Ireland is famous for its pubs. Japan should be even more famous for its izakaya (ee-zah-kah-yah).

Izakaya literally means “public drinking place,” but they are more than just bars or lounges that serve drinks. They also serve food, and larger ones have extensive menus. They are also set apart from regular bars by their size, layout, décor, and furnishings, and the way the staff greets and serves customers.

When people in Japan go out to drink they may go to a bar or a lounge, where the décor is subdued and the atmosphere is quiet. But when they go out to party, it is invariably understood that they go to an izakaya.

A spate of new books on the izakaya reveal just how widespread they are and the role they play in Japanese life. The books identify three categories of izakaya: those that evoke nostalgia for the past; those that are decades old and appeal to older people, and those with atmospheres that are thick with the intimacy of the traditional Japanese way of life—and inspire fiction writers.

For the record, government statistics show that there are approximately 150,000 izakaya in Japan, a remarkable number given fact that the urbanized area of the entire country is about the size of a single county in a larger American state. [In addition, there are some 198,000 bars, cabarets and nightclubs in Japan’s cities, attesting again to the role that drinking plays in Japanese society.]

Seating in izakaya tends to be long, picnic-style wooden tables and benches. Staff members shout out greetings when patrons arrive and thanks when they leave in an atmosphere of raucous camaraderie that is not generally associated with the Japanese. Patrons typically share tables with strangers. Conversations are lively and loud.

Unlike other drinking establishments in Japan where most of the customers are male, izakaya patrons include couples, young women in twosomes and larger groups, and both young and middle-aged men. Many of the mixed-sex groups are co-workers.

Izakaya offer both foreign residents and visitors alike the best opportunity for experiencing a side of life in Japan that is far removed from the formality and rigidity of normal daytime activities, and far more revealing of the character of the Japanese.

Drinking alcoholic beverages has been an integral part of Japanese culture since its inception, first as a ritual associated with Shinto religious practices, then as a vital element in interpersonal relationships in both private and public settings, especially in business, political and other professional affairs.

Because drinking originated as a religious ritual it became imbued with deep-seated cultural meanings and uses that went well beyond the more casual approach to drinking alcoholic beverages that developed in the West.

To the Japanese, drinking was not just a recreational activity or an incidental way of relaxing and forgetting the cares of the day. It became the “oil” that lubricated relationships, the glue that bonded people, and the oath that formalized commitments and contracts.

Drinking also became the one culturally sanctified occasion when people could dispense with the strict etiquette that controlled their behavior and language at all other times -- etiquette that made it critical for them to conduct themselves in the precise way prescribed for their social level, gender, and position.

It was only when drinking and having reached a certain level of intoxication that people could “let their hair down,” speak relatively freely to each other, and behave in a rambunctious or licentious manner, depending on the venue and circumstances.

In earlier times, establishments where drinking was an important part of the activity included inns and restaurants of all kinds -- and there were probably more inns and restaurants in early Japan than in any other country, with the possible exception of China.

Then in more modern times along came bars, cabarets and nightclubs in numbers that were astounding. And among these establishments, none were as important in the lives of ordinary people as the izakaya, the Japanese equivalent of the traditional Irish pubs and early American saloons and taverns.

If you are coming to Japan, I suggest that you put izakaya near the top of your list of things to do.

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 still in print, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles, each one with a direct link to Amazon.com's buy page, go to www.phoenixbookspublishers.com.

Japan Creating Planet of Androids!

TOKYO – A new “breed” of robots now rolling [and walking!] off the assembly lines in Japan will no doubt change the future, not only in the way people work, and what work consists of, but also in the way they live their private lives.

The emergence of Japan as a leader in the design and production of first robots and now humanoids is, in fact, astounding, given the history of the country.

While the Industrial Revolution was going on in the West (from about 1750 on), Japan was virtually closed to the outside world and followed a policy of limiting, and in some cases prohibiting altogether, the kind of international trade and technological research that was part of the great changes sweeping Europe and the United States.

Furthermore, Japan had no tradition of the kind of state or private sponsored research that gave birth to the Industrial Revolution in the West. In fact, it was the policy of the Shogunate governments, particularly the last one that began in 1603 and ended in 1868, to maintain the status quo in both the economy and society.

So what happened? What changed in Japan? What made the Japanese suddenly become leaders in virtually every category of technology and science?

The national and political motivation that resulted in Japan becoming a technological superpower was, at first, an absolute obsession to catch up with the West in terms of military strength in order to avoid being colonized by Western powers, and later to achieve its own expansionary goals.

This motivation was fueled by a Zen-derived ability to focus on specific goals and to work toward them with incredible diligence, combined with a samurai-derived do-or-die spirit that was unbounded.

A second aspect of this extraordinary drive to catch up with – and surpass! – the Western powers was a deeply embedded view of themselves as a culturally and spiritually superior people who could achieve whatever they set out to do.

Another cultural factor that played a key role in Japan’s rapid rise to economic prominence was the fact that the Japanese were inherently “fuzzy thinkers” -- that is, they were imbued by their culture to think holistically, to view and see things from all angles; all perspectives.

This factor resulted in the Japanese being able to quickly understand the most complicated technology, often make improvements on it, and visualize how it could be utilized in a variety of ways.

And it is this cultural trait that has made the Japanese leaders in the creation of hard and soft robot technology. The stakes are high. Honda predicts that robots will eventually outpace its automobile business. If Honda and other proponents are correct, the size of the robotics industry could end up overtaking the PC industry.

Japan’s industrial giants are investing millions in developing consumer robots. Eye-catching robots like Sony's Aibo and Honda's Asimo have grabbed most of the headlines, but Japanese companies are developing practical robots that will be cheap, convenient and ubiquitous.

In early 2005, electronics maker Sanyo launched "Hopis," a medical robot designed for the consumer market. It looks like a toy but is packed with electronics – a speech synthesizer, a digital thermometer, a tonometer to diagnose eye disease, a glucose meter for diabetics, and various other sensors.

Designed to be an on-site doctor's assistant, Hopis is able to question patients in detail and send the answers to a medical center using its built-in wireless Internet connection. Mass production is expected to make Hopis a consumer item like a TV set or washing machine.

Labor-saving robots are hitting the market in growing numbers. In 2005, Fujitsu launched the Maron-1, a sentry robot that can be remotely controlled with an internet-enabled phone. The robot can send pictures of its surroundings to the owner's mobile phone. Equipped with electronic ears and eyes as well as proximity sensors, Maron-1 can alert the owner when it detects intruders.

Mitsubishi is also targeting the medical market with a robot that performs many functions of a human nurse. The multifunctional robot is 3.3 feet tall, weighs about 50 pounds, and moves on wheels. It is billed as house sitter, nurse and a "family friend."

The robot nurse is equipped with a video camera, voice- and face-recognition capabilities, and an always-on Internet connection. It can be programmed to remind its "master" to take medicine, and call for help if it detects unusual sounds or movements in the house.

“The Planet of the Apes” was far-out fiction. “The Planet of Androids” is present-day science.

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 still in print, 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 Good Design is Everywhere!

TOKYO – In the 1960s and 70s a number of Japan specialists and media pundits predicted that Japan would become the world’s largest economy—bypassing and overshadowing the United States.

Those predictions were naïve to say the least, but Japan has in fact become a world leader in a number of key areas that include technological advances in several scientific fields, particularly the creation of new materials.

This development is especially remarkable because invention and innovation were virtually taboo in Japan from the mid-1600s until the last decades of the 19th century, putting the Japanese some 200 years behind the Western world in scientific research and technology.

But there is one area in which the Japanese have been more advanced than Westerners—intellectually as well as technologically—for well over a thousand years, and that is in the world of design and in the creation of arts and crafts that are superior in both design and quality.

As far back as the 7th century Korean immigrants began bringing sophisticated Chinese art and craft technology to Japan. During the golden Heian period (794-1185) this technology and the accompanying master/apprentice system of training were integrated into Japan’s common culture.

Each generation of artists and craftsmen raised the bar on the standards of design and quality until they reached the level of a fine art. When the first Westerners showed up in Japan in the 16th century they were astounded at the technological ability of the Japanese and the quality of their crafts.

But it took the Japanese almost exactly one hundred years—from the 1860s to the 1960s—to get out from under the influence of foreign importers and to begin incorporating these traditional design and manufacturing skills into their export products, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Today, the philosophical and ethical principles that are the foundation of Japanese design and product quality are being adopted worldwide, creating what is now being called a new era of design.

Despite the inroads that have been made in Japan by Westernization and modernization since the 1860s the traditional design and quality concepts are alive and well, and they are tangible and visible for all to see.

Even in crowded Tokyo and other Japanese cities the evidence of good design and quality are visible on subways and trains and in the streets—on advertising posters, on storefronts, in product displays, in the architecture and interior furnishings of shops and restaurants, in buildings and offices.

For the discerning foreign visitor in Japan, just a few days can be an extraordinary aesthetic and cultural experience that is the highlight of the trip. If you look closely, the whole country is a virtual museum of modern and traditional art that adds an emotional, intellectual and spiritual ambiance to daily life.

[See my book, ELEMENTS OF JAPANESE DESIGN -- Understanding & Using Japan's Classic Wabi-Sabi-Shibui Concepts.]

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 still in print, 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 Guest House is a Sight to See!

TOKYO – The palaces of Japan’s emperor and empress and the princes and princesses – ensconced behind moats, ancient walls, the lay of the land and thick foliage – are hidden from all except for aerial views and on New Year’s Day.

But there is one “palace” that is not only out in the open, it is one of the most impressive sights in Tokyo, and yet very few visitors get more than a tantalizing glimpse of it as they drive by its spacious grounds.

This is the stately Geihinkan (Gay-ee-heen-kahn) or State Guest House, which was originally the Togu (Toh-guu) Palace, built during the first years of the Meiji Era (1868-1912).

In 1872 the Togu Palace was renamed the Akasaka Detached Palace. In 1873, when the Imperial Palace buildings burned down, it became the temporary residence of Emperor Meiji. Some years later, it was used as the official residence of the Crown Prince, who became Emperor Taisho in 1912.

Patterned after the Versailles Palace of France, the Geihinkan was designed by Tokuma Katayama, a Japanese architect who studied under England’s famous Josiah Condor and was one of the first Japanese architects to design a Western style building.

The present structure, completed in 1909, stands in grounds covering an area of 117,000 square meters and is built in French neo-baroque style, with a patina-green roof and granite facades.

From 1912 until 1972 the Detached Palace served as a site for ministerial meetings. A portion of it was also used as the National Diet Library, and in the early 1960s it became an office for the organizers of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Following the Olympics, the palace underwent major renovation and was reopened in 1974 as the State Guest House. To say that the Geihinkan is grand and opulent does not do justice to it. It is lavishly furnished with thick carpeting, elegant furniture, decorative tiles, ceiling murals that include a depiction of scenes from Noh plays, and a huge one-of-a-kind chandelier in the main hall.

The huge Guest House compound is on the southwest side of the Imperial Palace grounds, just outside what was once a palace moat that is now the bed for a commuter train line. It is a 7-minute walk form Yotsuya Station, where the JR Chuo and Sobu train lines and the Marunouchi and Namboku subway lines intersect.

Numerous kings, presidents, prime ministers and other notables, including Lady Diana, have stayed at the Geihinkan. It is also used as a banquet hall for entertaining dignitaries, and as a place to sign international treaties.

It is open to the public only a few days out of the year, and entrance is reserved for those lucky enough to win an annual drawing, which is held well in advance of the day.

Anyone interested in filling out an application for the drawing can access the application site at http://www8.cao.go.jp/geihinkan/index.html. Dates for application are announced in Japanese only on the Internet.

Geihinkan by itself just means “guest house,” and there are commercial geihinkan in many Japanese cities, generally popular as elite restaurants.

The State Guest House is known publicly as Akasaka no Geihinkan (Ah-kah-sah-kah no Gay-ee-heen-kahn), or “The Akasaka Guest House,” and that is the name you should use if going there by taxi.

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 still in print, 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/.

Getting the Real Feel of Japan!

TOKYO – Despite all of the amazing artifacts of Japan – historical and modern – and despite the sublime beauty of its mountains and coastlines, the real attraction of the island country is the Japanese themselves.

In fact, people who come to Japan and limit their sightseeing to its historical grandeurs and its modern-day façade of high-rise buildings, amazing “bullet trains,” bridges and tunnels that connect islands, shops that make Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles look dowdy, and more, are short-changing themselves.

One of the keys to getting a real feel for Japan, and thereby getting the most out of a visit, is to rub elbows (and other parts of the anatomy) with the people themselves, and simply to “people-watch” – viewing huge numbers of them, in public, as they go to and fro.

There are literally several thousand outstanding “people-watch” locations in Tokyo alone. To make things easier for visitors, I have selected several spots, each of which has a personality of its own, that would most likely be regarded as at least in the top twenty locations in the city by most experienced people-watchers.

Three of these locations are within a short walk of each other. They are the main Ginza Intersection where Hibiya and Chuo Streets intersect at Ginza 4-chome; the Sukiyabashi Intersection, about 200 yards west of the Ginza Intersection, where Hibiya Street intersects with Sotobori Street; and the Hibiya theater and restaurant district another 200 yards or further west, adjoining Hibiya Street on the south side.

Since the late 1800s, most Tokyo residents have considered the Ginza 4-chome intersection as the unofficial the center of the city. Its famous Mitsukoshi and Wako Department Stores are historical icons.

For really old-timers, the Mitsukoshi Department Store building on the NE corner of the intersection was the main Post Exchange for the U.S, military during the 1945-1952 occupation of Japan, and there was a U.S. run hamburger and milk shake cafeteria in the basement of the Wako Department Store building on the NW corner of the intersection.

The Sukiyabashi Intersection, just a few blocks away, is probably the most filmed, and therefore internationally the most familiar, intersection in Japan…the special attraction being the amazing display of nighttime neon signs on the NE corner. Sony’s main product display building is on the SE corner of the intersection, and the Hankyu Department Store is on the SW corner.

The nearby Hibiya district is the location of the Tokyo branch of the famous Takarazuka Theater, which features all-female revues on the scale seen in Paris and Las Vegas, along with several other theaters and food courts in the basements of adjoining office buildings, as well a number of narrow restaurant alleys.

The Roppongi district, a few subway minutes from the Ginza/Hibiya areas, is a maze of narrow streets that are home to hundreds of bars, nightclubs and restaurants that run the gamut from plush to dives. The district is a major draw for foreign residents, film stars, fashion models and others wanting to make some kind of statement.

Shibuya, a few minutes further on in a southwesterly direction (on the Yamanote commuter Loop Line that encircles central Tokyo), might be called “young town,” as it is a night-time and weekend mecca for young people, drawn to the area as a meeting place (at “the dog” in Shibuya Plaza in front of Shibuya Station), and for its plethora of apparel and accessory shops, restaurants, bars, bookstores, record stores, etc.

Then moving one station to the north on the Yamanote commuter train line we have the Harajuku district and Omotesando Blvd., which now competes with Chuo Avenue [the main Ginza thoroughfare] as the city’s most popular strolling street.

In addition to the upscale fashion shops and restaurants fronting on Omotesando, the district’s maze of side streets are chocked full of shops carrying the kind of far-out clothing favored by the far-out young. In fact, it is the dress, make-up and behavior of the thousands of young people who flock to Harajuku on holidays and the weekends that attracts hordes of sightseers.

Next on our list is Shinjuku, the second station going NW from Harajuku, with its department stores, office buildings, hotels, and notorious Kabukicho entertainment and restaurant district, a short walk from Shinjuku Station. Often described as sleezy and dangerous because many of its establishments are run by gangs (domestic and foreign), it is generally as safe as Sunday School, and draws huge numbers of people who are attracted by its reputation and what it has to offer.

One could easily add such well-known locations as Akasaka, Aoyama, Asakusa, and go on down the alphabetical line, all with their own special appeal, but the few noted should be enough to satiate the most avid people-watchers.

All of Japan's cities have from a few to dozens of shopping and entertainment centers that swarm with people day and night, and especially on all holidays and weekends. The several hundred towns throughout the country also offer distinctive people-viewing opportunities that are based on the primary economic acivities in the vicinity -- from farming and fishing to making handicrafts, logging and tourism.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
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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 still in print, 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/.

Visitors Can Watch Svelte Female “Samurai”

TOKYO – In Japan’s hundreds of dojoh (doh-johh), or martial arts gyms, throughout the country it is now common to see young women wielding wicked looking “swords” made of sheathes of bamboo, and shouting ki (kee) or some other sound at the top of their voices.

These young women say that they have taken up kendo (ken-doh), or “the way of the sword,” because it provides them with a direct connection with Japan’s traditional culture and makes them feel “more Japanese,” filling a void in their lives.

This new phenomenon is being analyzed left and right by sociologists, psychologists and run-of-the-mill commentators, some of whom question the motives of the young women. One popular theme is that the women are not so much interested in regaining the spirit of the samurai as they are in “looking good” in skin-tight clothing as they cavort on the dojo floor.

Another explanation is that the young women find that practicing with a makeshift sword is an empowering experience because it allows them to demonstrate that they can become skilled in doing something that was traditionally seen as a male thing.

Practice in using swords was a major part of the lives of the warrior class that ruled Japan from 1192 until 1868, particularly male members, who were required to begin engaging in daily practice drills from the age of seven.

The samurai class was abolished in 1870 and the wearing of swords was banned in shortly thereafter, but kendo itself did not disappear. The military, the police and schools inaugurated kendo programs as a means of developing character and a fighting spirit.

In more recent decades the spirit of the samurai was kept alive in the public mind by kabuki, noh, movies, and long-running television serials. The appearance of the Tom Cruse film The Last Samurai in 2003 resulted in several books on samurai becoming best sellers, including one that was published in 1716 and another one that was published in 1905.

Now there is a full-fledged kendo boom going on in Japan that is part of a revival of the samurai spirit, which provided the foundation of the traditional culture for many centuries.

There is no doubt that practicing kendo dramatically increases one’s courage, self-confidence and outgoing spirit—something that most young Japanese girls of today already have in abundance without any kendo training.

Residents and visitors to Japan who would like to see some of these young women going through their kendo paces can catch the action at Tokyo’s Shinjuku Sports Plaza dojo and the Iguchi Community Center in suburban Mitaka.

Kendo masters point out that the moves in this new “samurai exercise” are not the traditional moves of genuine sword fighters. They say it is an adaptation of the “art form” of sword fighting developed for kabuki, noh and the movies, in which there is no physical contact.

[See my books, THE JAPANESE SAMURAI CODE -- Classic Strategies for Success, and SAMURAI STRATEGIES -- 42 Martial Arts Secrets from Musahi's Book of Five Rings.]

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 still in print, 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 Fast Becoming World-Class Travel Destination

TOKYO – There is a movement underway to redefine Japan’s image as a travel destination -­ to take it well beyond the traditional symbols of Mt. Fuji, geisha and the country’s famous “Bullet Trains.” These images are not being discarded or downplayed. They remain powerful attractions. But there is much more to Japan than these famous symbols.

Leaders in this movement point to the world image of France as the Mecca of food lovers and high fashions; to the image of Spain for its traditions of music, romance, bullfights and sunny beaches; and to the United States for its image of wide open spaces, Western cowboys, Hollywood films, titans of finance and industry, and such attractions as the Grand Canyon, gambling casinos, theme parks, and the freewheeling social behavior of Americans­-all of which have made these countries favored travel destinations.

Other popular destinations such as China, England, Greece, Italy and Mexico have their own unique, deeply embedded, positive images that derive from their culture and history. But the image of Japan is not as clear, not as familiar, and not as appealing...for both historical and cultural reasons.

One obvious reason for the vague and highly selective image of Japan is because the country was virtually isolated from the most of the rest of the world until the last decades of the 19th century, and until the mid-20th century it was seen as a country ruled by militarists who were determined to dominate East and Southeast Asia.

Another equally obvious reason why the rest of the world has generally not been interested in Japan as a travel destination is the fact that­-with the exception of Korea and China-­there were few if any historical, racial and cultural ties…and in the case of these two neighboring countries, the depredations against them by the Japanese military in earlier years created a reservoir of distrust and enmity that people who lived through those times cannot forget.

But times have changed dramatically. The warrior code and feudalistic form of government that controlled the lives of the Japanese for centuries ended in 1945. With personal freedom for the first time in their history, the long oppressed character and qualities of ordinary Japanese­ -- distinguished by an extraordinary degree of honesty, diligence, order, efficiency, hospitality, friendliness, and work ethic -­ -came to the fore.

These characteristics played a vital role in the astounding emergence of Japan as the second largest economy in the world, surpassed only by the behemoth of the United States­ -- and they are now among the elements that make Japan -- ­unbeknown to many -­- one of the most attractive travel destinations in the world.

Over and above the stunning scenic beauty of the Japanese islands, the historical artifacts derived from Shinto and Buddhist influences, and the exotic Oriental elements in the traditional arts, crafts and customs of the Japanese, there is another factor that sets the Japanese apart and gives life in the country -- ­for residents and visitors alike­ -- a special ambiance.

This special factor is the character and behavior of the people themselves, especially their attitude and behavior toward clients and customers in business, and toward guests in the hospitality and travel industries.
In no country is the solicitous caring for guests and travelers more highly developed than in Japan. It is, in fact, an art that has been an integral part of the culture for generations, refined and practiced until it became a part of the national character.

When this element is added to the sense of security and the unsurpassed physical convenience and comfort of traveling in Japan -- ­the hotels, the inns, the trains and subways -­- and to the availability of gourmet quality food from the around the world, an entertainment industry that is second to none, and endless shopping opportunities…you have a travel destination that is second to none.

All levels of the Japanese government from the Prime Minister on down, along with the public at large and businesses in general, have become acutely aware of the importance of tourism­ -- economically, politically and culturally­ -- and have joined in efforts to showcase the real Japan­ -- the unknown Japan -- ­of today.

By all of the measures and standards of tourism that count, Japan ranks near the top of the list of the world’s best travel destinations, and once this becomes known it will surely receive the recognition it deserves.

[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, first published in 1959 and still in print, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

For a complete list of his titles (each one with a link to Amazon.com's Buy Page) go to his personal website: www.phoenixbookspublishers.com.