The Great Wave

GESTURE AND NUANCE

**Note that pictures on this blog post are generally random**

Traveling to distant places allows us to experience cultural, social, and worldview diversity in ways that it is impossible to do otherwise. Nevertheless these variations are always seen through our own biases and conditioning and are therefore often romanticized, exaggerated, or simply feared. I have long believed that our preconceptions will influence our opinions and ultimately outweigh the reality of what we see. That said, here are some of my perceptions of Japanese people and culture.

Japanese people generally sit quietly on trains; they are plugged into their phones and headphones or reading, generally engaged in introvert processes. Men rarely talk to one another. People often take catnaps on the trains. Some people have said that this is an artifact of the cumulative fatigue of work, crowds, and commuting. Perhaps it has more to do with one’s ability to easily switch into a more relaxed state. Nevertheless people never seem to sleep past their train station stop. There is limited eye contact by western standards. Sometimes I notice someone looking surreptitiously but they quickly look away when noticed. Children, however, are very curious and will look deeply at us with a sense of wonder.

There is an inherent sense of politeness. Bullet train conductors and vendors bow as they enter and exit train carriages. Women especially seem to bow several times as an indication of thanks in recognizing another’s kindness. People move in great numbers but rarely seem to collide or get upset at others.

Cleanliness prevails. Onsens, or thermal baths are found in several places and are popular destinations for traveling Japanese people. People are often seen wearing face masks to protect others and self from germs. Streets are generally spotless. Recycling is available and expected everywhere.

Gestures are often non-verbal but quite expressive. Our waitress moves her hand slightly to indicate that she will be “invading our space’ to remove empty plates and will offer a brief, gentle smile when her gesture is understood. Our first taxi driver seems embarrassed when not immediately able to discern the hidden entrance to our hotel. He apologetically lets us know that we will not be charged for what he seems to view as his ineptitude.

People might not initially respond to a foreigner’s “excuse me,” but once they realize, they will go out of their way to try to help. There are helping professionals everywhere. People who are paid to direct crowds to safety, stationmasters at every station, conductors and food vendors on every train, sweepers to keep shrines tidy, assistants to take tickets and to give information when needed, ample road workers, etc.

Japan feels completely safe. People seem to thrive on honesty. There is orderliness within chaos. People take up less space. Signs set folks in the right directions. People go to shrines and temples in great numbers. Everything is checked and double checked: at the currency exchange I fill out a form, place my dollars on a tray which is handed to the clerk who counts the money and passes it back to another clerk who re-checks before replacing with the equivalent yen. Forms are checked against each other and my money exchange is returned to me. This all happens efficiently and quickly. I don’t bother checking my change.

There is no tipping in Japan. People are apparently paid a decent wage and the expectation is that they will do a first class job. One is not paid extra for excellence. In restaurants, one pays at the cashier. Money is placed on a tray and the cashier will spread the bills to indicate the amount received. Change is given with bills first counted-out in front of the customer before the small change is added. When leaving, there is a cheerful communal chant from the workers thanking the customer.

Nuance, by nature refers to the subtler forms of gesture and as such goes generally unnoticed within a culture. Outsiders are able to more easily able to distinguish what then become stereotypical perceptions of people. Also, temporal factors are essential in forming these perceptions. Over centuries people of different lands have been politically represented en masse as warlike or peaceful, mean or charitable, friend or foe. One thing that traveling can do is give us a more neutral perspective that indeed we are all people and there is a kindness and generosity that pervades as long as we attempt to offer the same.