Cat Picture

Well, Phil, if you had called Neil Bush before heading over there, he might have been able to arrange for one of those mysterious girls to show up at your door?
How much fun would that be???!!!!

I think… Japan doesn’t NEED so much security for terrorism because it’s not really our FREEDOM that the terrorist hate.
it has a lot to do with politics (american troops in israel, oil pumping, money, greed, etc). Not to be compared to our country that is hated by the rest of the world…

I think… Japan doesn’t NEED so much security for terrorism because it’s not really our FREEDOM that the terrorist hate.
it has a lot to do with politics (american troops in israel, oil pumping, money, greed, etc). Not to be compared to our country that is hated by the rest of the world…

Concrete – “most modern of building materials”, was invented by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. The Pantheon in Rome is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world and has been standing for nearly 2000 years. I’m not taking anything away from the Japanese who appear to have done amazing things with the material – I wish the Iwate Museum site had more pictures of the building.

I just visited Japan this past April. Shinkansen, regular rail, cable car, buses, and on foot, crisscrossing the country by myself (female), and I too noticed that there were very few foreigners. If you or anyone every plans to visit Japan, I highly recommend the website http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com. You will have the opportunity to stay with families and all of your meals are prepared in full traditional manner. On ocassion, I was asked to join the families and it was one of the most wonderful experiences. Also, check out the buddhist region of Mt Koya San, you actually stay with the monks in their temples. I got lucky and was invited to a mediational ceremony, (45 minutes), and talk about amazing. I had a room all to myself, and the monks would prepare my bath for me, and the meals.
Loved reading about your experiences in Japan, sounded like so much fun… cheers, m.

Frank: I had discussed the Dogs and Demons book, which I’ve skimmed, with some Japanese friends while over there. They felt that the book was generally accurate. However the existence of these problems doesn’t necessarily mean that there is a crisis. A similar book about the U.S. would not the $billions that we spend on pork barrel highway and dam projects, the unaccountable and inefficient government that bleeds the citizens dry with taxes while paying an enormous staff salaries much higher than in the private sector for the same qualifications and work, big military expenditures, massive immigration by people who don’t share traditional American values and in some cases who are actively working to kill Americans and destroy American society, the inevitable degradation of the environment that will come from having a population of 420 million by the year 2050, the imprisonment of 2 million citizens, the lack of motivation and education among poorer members of certain ethnic groups, etc., etc. Yet thanks to individual hard work and initiative somehow the U.S. continues to thrive despite these structural problems. Same deal in Japan. Instead of giving up in the face of these problems the average Japanese gets an education and then works hard at doing something productive. But saying that people are muddling through doesn’t make for a best-selling book!

One bright side of the construction scams described by Kerr in his book: All the wonderful Olympic-class swimming centers! At least the looted postal savings didn’t go totally to cladding the mountains and coastlines in concrete.

From what I heard and saw about “working till midnight and beyond” in Japan, this mostly means staying alert at one’s desk until the boss left, and then putting down the head on the desk to catch some Zs. Granted, this is only from talking to an expat friend who spent some time in Tokyo and reading a few English-language papers while in Japan on vacation.

Interesting about the comment on engineering in the auto business. I was one of those mechanical engineers a few years back, working in Japan, sent by my American car company. The engineers in Japan and their management are certainly top notch in terms of automotive technical knowledge and dedication. But they can work to an excess it seems. Every day in and day out, working till midnight and beyond. I’m not sure how their families get along sometimes. There is not much of a balanced life. Weekends, it seems, are mostly for catching up on sleep.

If entrepreneurism and risk taking were rewarded in Japan, given this much dedication to work, the Japanese would certainly thrive. I usually only see this sort of sustained effort towards work in startups in the Silicon Valley or at grad schools in the US. This level of effort certainly helped to rebuild Japan, but unfortunately, the children of Japan are not terribly excited about the workaholic lifestyle they seen in their fathers.