JAPAN – TOKYO, THE EPICENTER OF JAPANESE MALAISE

Tokyo has such massive sprawl that it is difficult to locate airports nearby.  Therefore most international travelers must land at Tokyo Narita, about 50 minutes away, and take the journey in-city via a number of train options.  The Japanese are ruthlessly efficient and helpful in assisting visitors to make this transition.

I had only planned roughly two days in Japan’s capitol.  Though there is much to see and do, Tokyo is not really a tourist friendly city.  It is simply too massive, too tightly clustered, and too directed toward business to be a true attraction.  The best parts of Japan lie elsewhere – in its mountain villages, cultural outposts like Kyoto, and haunting world heritage sites such as Hiroshima.

I gave Tokyo a fair shot.  That consisted of a good ten mile multi-district walking day, and two nights of prowling.  What I found was a bit puzzling.  Tokyo was quiet.  There is little honking and crazy motorcycle traffic like found in Kathmandu or Bangkok, for instance.  Vehicle traffic was thick, but reasonable.  People are orderly.  There is no jaywalking here.  The city of 25 million is unusually clean.  Many sites are closed down or inaccessible, such as the sports complexes.  It gives me pause.  Why?

The most difficult to accept of these closures was The Imperial Palace.  It is heavily advertised as a tourist draw.  Beautiful maps handed to visitors create the impression it is wide open for your viewing pleasure.  You are charged an entry fee at the moated entry gates.  And yet upon arrival, there is very little to see.  The Imperial Gardens are dowdy and uninspired.  The Royal Palace itself is hidden behind high berms, tree screens and protective fences.  Not only can you not visit this exalted location, you can not even see it.  Not even a limited view sneak peek.

The grounds themselves are beautiful.  Three miles of lily padded blue-green moat surround the palace grounds.  The lush green landscaping is for the most part impeccable.  Huge reddish-brown walls built of massive stone blocks masoned together with almost Inca-like perfection define the perimeter.  But the zen gardens, waterfalls, arched painted bridges, reflection pools, graveled paths, contemplation benches and other features I had expected to see in a proper Japanese garden were missing.

Most surprising was how placid the locals were.  Nobody looks you in the eye.  Most wander around as if hypnotized.  There is no energy, no vibrancy there.  It is as if all of Tokyo is on Qualudes.  The citizenry is shy, polite, obedient, and subservient. Locals appear numbed, fawn-like, and acquiescent.  I would call them Elfin, akin to the Anime cartoon characters that now dominate Japanese youth culture.

The Tokyo-ites are however amazingly polite and incredibly helpful.  Many will go out of their way to assist travelers, even without being asked.  This includes taking you in person three stops out of their way on the metro so that you can arrive at the correct transfer point.

The metro subway system is probably the best in the world.  It is certainly the most involved I’ve ever seen (London being my personal favorite).  Over 25 lines make up the underground system.  This includes over 300 stations.  Most take up at least a city block below ground, connected to all major intersections with a rabbit warren of pedestrian walkways and feeder tunnels and subterranean shopping strips.

They are mirrored above ground by a number of train systems, the most famous of which are Japan’s “bullet trains.” These snub-nosed artillery shell like projectiles are sleek, efficient, punctual, and fast at 320 kilometers per hour.  Also expensive (a trip from Tokyo to Kyoto is about $125 US).  About a three minute window exists between stops.  Taking an ill-timed bathroom break or stopping to tarry for a snack means you will miss your ride.  They stop for nothing.  Trains run frequently, however.

Local hotels are generally small, clean, modern, crowded, and have many handy gimmicks such as electronically operated bidet jets on the toilets.  Surprisingly few of the staff and management I encountered in negotiating for hotels spoke English.

An exception to my earlier “lack of vibrancy” observation re: pulse and energy is Japan’s dining scene.  An amazing variety of culinary experiences are possible in Tokyo, including stand-up bars and an underground “Restaurant Row” beneath Tokyo Metro Station, in which every variety and style of domestic and international food is obtainable.  Who would ever have thought of being able to order fresh paella in Tokyo?

I am told through various sources that the reason for the docile nature of Japanese today is related to a number of factors worth an extended discussion.  One is Japan’s extremely low birth rate.  Another is gentrification of its population.  Another is a loss of confidence in the future.  There is also an increasing trend toward alienation of Japanese youth from the norms and expectations of a very traditional, homogeneous culture.  The problems all appear to be interrelated.

Japanese couples are breeding at less than replacement levels, producing only 1.4 children per household on average (the lowest fertility rate in the world, with 2.1 children per household being the assumed zero growth rate).   Consequently the population of 128 million which reached its high point 7 years ago, is decreasing at the rate of 1 million annually, and is projected to be only 87 million by 2060.  Children under the age of 16 currently make up 12.8% of Japan’s population.  Those over 65 make up 25.6%.  The latter number is expected to increase to 40% by the year 2060.

Part of the problem is economic.  Japanese women today are very independent and largely choosing careers over marriage and family.  Young men also do not feel confident marrying, with the high cost of housing and raising a family.  Many continue to live at home with their parents (more on this in a moment).  Couples can not afford children unless both of them work.  Yet Japan is one of the worst of the industrialized countries in the world for gender equality in the workplace, according to the World Economic Forum.

Currently for Japanese women in their twenties, there is a 25% chance they will never marry, and a 40% chance they will never bear children.  “Marriage is a woman’s grave,” is an old Japanese proverb.  A married woman in the workplace automatically stops being promoted, for fear she will soon leave the workplace to bear children.  A lack of national religious authority to promote and reinforce marriage helps add to the problem.  Japan also has a very small out of wedlock birthrate (2%) compared to the United States (41%) and other western nations – a virtue and yet population deterrent at the same time.

The bleak outlook has led to a youth culture of instant gratification called “pot noodle love.”  This consists of freewheeling group association, one-night stands, porn addiction, and anime cartoon fixations.  In many cases, it has also led to the opposite approach, a phenomena known as sekkusu or “the celibacy syndrome.”  This is a situation where 45% of women and 25% of men ages 16 to24 when interviewed express no interest in sex or dating at all.  Over 35% of those interviewed under 30 have never dated.

Which leads us to another phenomena.  The shut-in subculture of hikikomori.  Those who have given up on the outside world, live with their parents still, have no external contacts, stay up all night reading comic books and then sleep all day, and whose primary relationships consist of online connections with anime cartoon girlfriends.

The social situation in Japan has reached such critical mass that the government is now offering financial subsidy programs (konkatsu) to online dating sites.  Also of increasing urgency to the government is growing support of availability and funding of daycare, flexible work schedules, and an almost unheard of consideration of expanded immigration opportunity.

Concurrently life expectancy rates are increasing.  Japanese are simply living longer (to an average age of 84 -- the world’s oldest person is a 116 year-old Japanese woman).  At the same time that there are fewer workers coming up from underneath to finance the social services and healthcare needs of an increasing number of retirees. This means there are fewer household members in a society where multiple generations often live together under the same roof to provide for those in their twilight years.

This previously mentioned trendline of a stagnant economy coupled with a rapidly aging population is compounded by a national “fear of failure.”  This is a condition the Japanese government itself has recognized, and not a term coined by outsiders.  It is manifested in reluctance to take risks, diminished job mobility, working too many hours, stress, the personal hollow appearances noted earlier, an increasing suicide rate, and a failure to engage socially.

It is fueled by stagnant wages, elevated housing costs, the high cost of living, and lingering effects of the 2011 natural tsunami disaster leading to a nuclear shutdown/ power shortage and radioactive catastrophe.  Also contributing are 20 years of economic malaise, an inadequate child care system, inflation, diminished savings rates, national debt, archaic attitudes toward women, failure to enact sustainability policies in a resource weak nation, and weak political leadership.

One cause for cautious optimism is Japan’s history. Twice in modern times, Japan has achieved necessary if selective changes. The most drastic example came with the Meiji (monarchy) Restoration that began in 1868. The forced opening of ports by American naval forces under Commodore Perry in 1853-54 raised the prospect that Japan might be dominated by Western powers.

But the country saved itself with a crash program: It ended its isolation from the outside world.  It rejected its shogun leader and samurai class, its feudal land system and its ban on guns. It adopted a constitution, a cabinet government, a national army, a European-style banking system, industrialization, new education system and adapted to Western staples such as clothing, food and music.

It is not hard to imagine such changes being possible today (Japan still benefits from being the third largest economy in the world) with timely changes in immigration policy, expanded child care, flexible work scheduling, child rearing subsidies, and enlightened treatment of women in the workplace.