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Copyright © 1995 by Manfred P.. All rights reserved.

Sept. 9, 1995

The Most Organized City

First Impressions on Tokyo

by

Manfred P.

Keywords: Japan, Tokyo, tourist, travel trip report, travel log, travelogue.

I get out of the airport building and I am greeted by a bunch of surfer dudes running around with long boards, long hair, ear rings, Body-glove T-shirts, and cool stylish sun glasses. The temperature is a warm 85 degrees with a little bit of humidity. Honolulu-like. I was expecting that someone would snap a finger and I would wake up realizing that this is not the tropical paradise but the metropolis of the country of the rising sun. I did not expect surfer dudes. I had a vision of hard working serious conservatively dressed busy worker bees. A closer inspection, of course, revealed that besides the few surfers there were many more that did fit the stereotype.

Another impression from the airport was the lady that spilled some Coke on the sidewalk. She seemed embarrassed that she soiled the public sidewalk and made an attempt to clean it up. Most Americans wouldn't feel guilty after dropping ice cream on the pavement. Hey, most don't feel anything when their dog uses the sidewalk as a toilet. Japanese definitely seem to love cleanliness or at least they respect the others. There is less garbage along the freeways or on the parking lots in comparison with most other countries. Needless to say that there is always the exception to the rule. I watched a guy buy a pack of cigarettes from a vending machine and dropping the wrapping right there and then on the ground. Garbage, by the way, is supposed to be packed in transparent bags so that sanitary engineers can inspect the trash to make sure that people are separating trash from recyclables.

Many people associate Tokyo with crowds and streets teeming with people. The international airport in Narita only has two runways, as far as I could tell. It generally appeared to be a small airport in comparison with the major hubs in the US. While certain areas of the city are crowded they are crowded in a comfortable way. I have never felt uncomfortable or crammed. Most areas such as the financial district and most of the northern and eastern portions of the city have enough room to stroll around freely. At night one can even feel lonely in these areas. The more crowded places like Shinjuku or Rappongi are crowded in a positive fashion where you feel the city is alive and where one can feel the pulse. To people from smaller cities it might be astonishing to see a city that dense and with no real estate being wasted. If you, however, have been to Bangkok or Hong Kong you will not feel anything special. Kowloon definitely beats Tokyo in density.

Tokyo doesn't really have a center or a downtown. Just like it doesn't have a center it also misses a skyline. There is no characteristic feature that is outstanding. Paris has the Eifel Tower, San Francisco has Golden Gate, but what is Tokyo famous for? Most people have not heard of Tokyo Tower which actually looks like scaled down version of the Eifel Tower painted in red and white and used as a radio tower. Who has heard of Tokyo Dome, a Houston Dome look-alike?

Tokyo is a collection of cities and towns and villages that all grew together. Some people might look at the Imperial Palace as the heart of the city. Others argue that the Mitukoshimae Bridge is the center as all highway markers are measured from here. The flagpole next to the bridge is so to speak the country-wide 0 Mile marker. Greater Tokyo stretches for maybe 50 miles from east to west. With a few exceptions all buildings are rather small, no more than 10 floors. The only skyscrapers can be found in a small area north of Shinjuku Station. After an earthquake many years ago that destroyed buildings in nearly all districts people were puzzled that Shinjuku didn't suffer any damage at all. A closer study later showed that Shinjuku is located on top of a more solid rock and has superior quake resistant properties. Since then the city has decided to use this area for its skyscrapers. The most famous ones are the two towers of the TMG, Tokyo Municipal Government. Supposedly these are the tallest buildings in town and their construction cost was higher than all of China's GNP. I am not sure that this is true but I am sure that the costs were astronomical. Another area for high-rises is between the city itself and Narita. There Seiko, IBM, and a few more other multi-national corporations built symbols of power and strength in the form of steel and glass.

Many things are unique and interesting in Tokyo. Even on the bus ride from the airport that is 40 miles from Tokyo I learned something. Cars have active license plates that not only reflect light but the numbers are lighted from the back. Neat. Most cars are of course Japanese. But foreign cars are not uncommon. Leading in sales are German cars with the ever popular Mercedes and BMW. Volkswagen, Fords, and Jeeps can be found in small numbers. Rare are French. I have only seen only a couple of French cars during my stay. I saw more Porsches and Ferrarris than that. Surprisingly non-Japanese cars had the steering wheel on the left side. I don't get it. Mercedes and BMW for sure manufacture cars with the driver side being on the right. Why don't they sell those in Japan? But why ask why? Equally amazing were the strange company names advertised via neon signs on top of buildings. I have never heard of these names despite the fact that these seem to be big Japanese firms. Not surprising where the names of McDonalds, am-pm, and other knights of the economic war. Tension is still high in many areas of commerce. This luckily is nothing I have to worry about. Japan desperately needs good software and the US can deliver it cheaper and faster. So, my mission should be fairly easy.

I don't know who was in charge of product naming but when I saw a soda drink with the name "Pokari Sweat" advertised I had to giggle. No matter who or what Pokari is I wouldn't want to drink sweat. Can vending machines selling everything from Coke to coffee are all over the city with at least one on each block. I saw Pokari Sweat in these machines but my curiosity was not strong enough to find out what the drink tastes like.

Another little anecdote is the customs guy at the airport. On many instances I have observed that Asians have lots of luggage when they check in for flights in the US. I was carrying a little laptop bag with presentation material and documents and a second small bag holding a second shirt, pants, shoes, and toothbrush. After inspecting my arrival card the customs officer ask "Is this all your luggage you have?" with a tone of disbelieve in his voice. I simply replied with a "yes". He responded with "But you are staying for 3 days. Are you sure these two bags are all your luggage?" What can I say. I thought that that was more than enough.

Overall, Tokyo is a peaceful quiet city. There is no visible crime. There is no area that one cannot walk around by oneself at 3 a.m. It is safe and it also feels safe. No muggings, no drive by shootings, no beggars, no filthy slums, no barbed wire protecting property, no police sirens in the background. Instead small, one to two man, police stations can be found on each square mile. During day time police patrol the streets with old fashion bikes. People are patient and well behaved. There is no jay walking. Even at night people stop if the pedestrian light is red independent if there are cars around or not. Amazing. What patience. They strike me as more law obeying and rule following than Westerners. The streets are tidy. Everyone is well dressed, mostly in conservative colors such as bland shades of grey and black. Toddlers are dressed in Mickey Mouse sweats. High school kids are wearing uniforms. Everything is in perfect working order: the subways are on time, the elevators work, the streets have no potholes, the cars are all in decent shape, no piles of junk, etc. This is the most organized city I have ever seen. It seems unreal, kind of too good to be true. It reminded me a little bit of Disneyland, a faked utopia without trash where everybody is happy. But "most organized" is not the same as "best organized". A little bit of chaos can be good. It spices up life. I am definitely a supporter of the chaos theory. An openness to change, an ability to cope with the unexpected, and adaptability are traits that I would rank high but they do not seem to be fostered in a perfect city where everything is organized. As always there are tradeoffs. Low crime rate is nothing to sneeze at. It feels good to watch TV news without any mention of the latest murders, attacks, and violence. What would Hollywood movies be all about if there were no crime?

There are problems however. A very small number of homeless people exists. Most of them live in the many underground corridors at the Shinjuku Station. There they have built their castles out of cardboard boxes. Unlike in California where some homeless people are very aggressive and curse at you if you don't give them change, Tokyo's poor are very passive and I have seen no panhandling whatsoever. Two million people pass through this station each day. Subway meets bullet trains and other private train lines. All of the technical equipment is generating heat and the homeless use it to stay warm during the cold winter nights. Now it is warm and slightly humid, the rain season is over and the typhoon season is coming. Cardboard is used as a fan. The masses pass by and luckily there are many maps guiding through the several floors and fifty or so exits. Without maps one would helplessly get lost.

Real estate prices are so high that despite earthquake dangers things are built on top of each other. In some places there are three freeways on top of each other. Some freeways are built on top of the water channels which appears strange. Older bridges cross the waterways, but the new freeways are built on stilts on top of the bridges following the waterways. A good example is the Mitukoshimae Bridge. Another sign of real estate cost is the fact that cars and bicycles are parked on top of each other on a contraption that is forklift like. An urban myth says that in Tokyo one is only allowed to purchase a car if one can provide proof of a parking space for it. Sounds like a drastic measure to keep traffic congestion under control.

Japanese and Americans work equally hard according to statistics. Unlike the Europeans like the Austrians that enjoy a minimum of 30 vacation days required by law, Japanese and American workers only get 10 days vacation a year. Besides working, playing pachinko and smoking are popular activities. In the presentation I gave 8 out of 12 attendees smoked. A four hour talk in a room filled with smokers is not what I would call a pleasant working environment. Other than that I observed that all work areas were very quiet. Little chatter. When Japanese managers were asked what they are looking for in employees, creativity was ranked only tenth. The ability to make decisions was ranked first. Decision making seems like a very democratic process where decisions are made by the lower ranks that eventually bubble up to the higher ranks. I was told that it takes a while before decisions are reached but once reached the company will stick with the decision for a long period of time. What that boils down to for the individual I can't tell. But I do know from several first hand experiences that it is difficult to do business with Japanese companies. The cultural differences should not be underestimated. They form a clear hurdle that is not that easy to cross.

Americans have contributed to the Japanese language lately. "Doing the Bush thing" is now the modern phrase describing vomiting. Applying this phrase properly one could say after a long night of drinking on the way home "watch your step someone did a Bush here". As you can see, good US presidents are appreciated everywhere.

One more interesting feature of Japanese culture is that in high school pupils attend classes on morals. That must be a tough subject to teach. Maybe we could learn something. Even without those classes I learned something from the Japanese. This real life lesson is certainly more entertaining than sitting in a class room. The country of the rising sun is very different from our Western culture. The question is not if it is better or worse. The question I have is how long will this difference last? How many more generations will follow the foot steps of the elders? When, if ever, will Western thoughts be dominating the thinking process? Will Japan ever get tired of its current life style and demand a drastic change?

    

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