Watching Japan

I continue to watch coverage of the earthquake in Japan and the nicely paired nuclear crisis that has come with it. Insult to injury just doesn't cover it. I have no concept of what these people are experiencing. To have nothing, to have nowhere to go, to lose family and friends and even my entire city, it's unfathomable to me. The Japanese are an interesting people. I was lucky enough to go there in the 90s for work and we were given a handbook on behavior, customs, food etc. It was like getting a manual for a trip to another planet. Even hand gestures were detailed due to the vast difference in cultures.

The country was beautiful, organized, dignified with a touch of whimsy here and there and I loved it. Our driver (we called him the Penguin because he resembled an Asian Burgess Meredith) wore white gloves and whenever we stopped he whipped out a long fuzzy dusting rod and went over the car front to rear in case we had picked up a speck of dirt since the last stop.

The attention to detail was wonderful. From the handrails in the public spaces to the painstakingly wrought plastic models of the food offered in the little noodle shops (which thankfully kept me from ordering eel eyebrows or something). The client treated us to a magnificent and mysterious dinner one evening and although I didn't recognize the majority of the food it was lovely in its presentation and endless in its delivery. And because of the custom of filling drinks as soon as they became even the slightest bit low we were pleasantly hammered about halfway through the meal. Our hosts were unfailingly pleasant, accommodating and pretty amused by us and our game attempts to try everything and by the end of the evening we were all laughing and pretty darned drunk.

We took a detour to the old capital, Kyoto, before we came home and wandered from temple to garden to little alleyway and it was so intriguing to see monks walking side by side with kids in Power Puff Girls backpacks. I stayed in a traditionally tatami hotel room with a giant cedar bathtub where I floated for about an hour before turning on the TV to see the Chiefs/Broncos game and, I kid you not, a Godzilla movie.

I've read that the vending machines in Sendai are still intact even though the people there have little food or water but to crack into the machines is such a foreign concept that they remain unmolested. We've all seen American behavior when there is the slightest disruption, and we all run to steal TVs. The people I've seen so far are stoic, calm, polite and getting to work to restore their homes. I heard a word, gaman, which means perseverance, determination and patience. It describes what I've seen perfectly. It's what I remember from my trip so long ago.

We may see a nuclear disaster that changes the world forever or we may not but the Japanese people will deal with it and move on.

After all, they've done it before.