the "developed world"

what i've seen of japan is clean, quiet and orderly - environmentally and socially. the streets are immaculate, everything is landscaped and sculpted, even plants and trees that aren't intended to be. for example, pine trees. i haven't seen anyone who looks poor, definitely not homeless. except for their ethnicity, most people look like they just stepped from the pages of either elle, gq, vibe, or rolling stone. i saw one building that looked like it could be the projects, but i didn't see any people there - definitely not the projects. people watching from an overpass at the central train station in kobe during the lunch rush, the streets were crowded with people and cars, but it was quiet. no car horns, no one raising their voices, swarms of people crossing the streets in an orderly fashion at the light. quiet.

i was tempted to blow off japan, it being our last international port. at this point, the thought of even thinking about planning travel, is tiring. notice i said thinking about planning travel, not traveling. no matter how fatigued one gets thinking about disembarking at another port (especially when there were only two days between china and japan, and less than a week before we were in vietnam - seems like ages ago), once you get out in the streets, one is revitalized by the hustle and bustle of another place.

other than honolulu and san diego, japan is the only port in what is referred to as the developed world. during the japan logistical preport, we were warned about sticker shock (protecting one's assets can be interpreted more literally here) and fixed prices (no haggling), rather than the water, mosquitoes, crime, muffler burns, and rabid monkeys and dogs.

my only plans for japan, were a s@s arranged homestay, which would be two days of hanging out in japan, where all i had to do was meet and greet the family i'd be staying with, and be charming. that would happen day two. day one i decided to just tag along with lesly (dr. matt's wife), dr. matt, and gloria (anthropology prof.). by the end of the day we had used the citibank atm (atms are generally the first stop at each port) picked up their rail passes at the train station, ate fresh baked chocolate covered belgian waffles (rum raisin and maple were also available), resisted the hagen daz shop, ate noodles, visited the botanical garden, bought a japanese style smock like wrap fron "hondya", a store that specializes in original japanese designs, checked out a pachinko parlor (think chain smoking japanese at slot machines; and the nosiest places in japan if not the world), people watched, and walked, and walked, and walked. not bad for not planning anything. i've always said my favorite days are those when there is nothing that i have to do. apparently, it can be applied away from home too.

the next day i met takako and kiyoshi (pictured) ikoma. after a brief shipboard program for all homestay participants, the families took a s@s student, staff or faculty person home with them. kiyoshi and takako are 69 and 70 year old retirees. kiyosho use to work for panasonic and takako was a teacher. they live in hirkata, located between osaka and kyoto, and not far from nara. takako wasn't with kiyoshi when he picked me up at the ship. she was participating in a kimono club fashion show (i saw 500 women in kimonos) at the ritz carlton in osaka. we would pick her up on our way to their home in hikarta. kiyoshi and i took the train to pick up takako. then, together, we walked the probably two kilometers to their place, stopping for tea and roll cake at a cafe housed in a space set-up like a traditional japanese home, with low ceilings, tatami maps, screens, linens, and pottery that would have been used in the past. i would soon find out why they thought the cafe was such a quaint novelty that i had to see - takako and kiyoshi have a much more modern life, with all sorts of gagets and conveniences. after the cafe, we walked through the narrow streets of hirkata, stopping at a pottery store, some bakeries, and a boutique where she bought me some japanese slippers made of folded fabric.

as retirees takako (pictured) says "everyday is sunday, we don't do anything". on the contrary they seem to fill their time, well. takako, with her kimona club, hippo family club (the language learning club that organizes homestays), and doll making. kiyoshi and i had lunch together (best seafood i've had outside of new orleans and todos santos) in the subway station en route to meeting takako. he told me then that on mondays and wednesdays, he goes to the gym, tuesdays he goes to yoga, and the rest of the time he does chores and plays golf - now how sweet is that. they have three kids, one in malaysia, and have close relationships with korean and american students that lived with them while studying in japan. they have traveled extensively and have things from all over the world in their home, a condo in a highrise with big views of the region.



their modern condo has a shower and tub that requires a phd to figure out. but, my favorite gaget of theirs is an electronic japanese-english dictionary. we visited three museums in nara together, two of which had gardens - this is japan after all. it became a challenge for me to provide the english name for the flower or tree before takako's electronic dictionary could. the first night she served me a salty tea with a cherry blossom in it. i asked why her and kiyoshi weren't having the same, she simply replied "for guests only".

here is takako and i in front of a cherry blossom at the shohaku art museum that was exhibiting the paintings of uemura shoen. shoen perfected a genre of modern japanese painting known as "bijinga", or paintings of beautiful women. she's also the first japanese woman artist to receive the "order of cultural merit". the wisteria was also photographed on the museum grounds.



there are at least five control panels near the door in the family room. i have no idea what all were for, but when it came time for me to bathe before bedtime, i found out that one was the intercom to the bath tub, which also tells you when the tub water is full and what temperature the water is. i'm not going to give a detailed description of the bathroom, i'll just say it's two rooms, spacious, and when i sit upright in the tub, the water comes above my arm pits, and my favorite, the water stays warm. there's a heater in the tub. that's not all that's heated.

the biggest adjustment to being in a new country, or away from home in general, can be adjusting to different bathroom facilities or more specifically their toilets. i can do a lengthy blog posting on international toliets. since mauritius, squat toliets have been the norm, which are just a couple notches above the latrines we dug at escola formigas du futuro when i was working in angola. however, the major advantage of squat toliets are that they have plumbing, including porcelin bowls built into the ground. the difficulty is getting your butt close enough to the ground and the bowl. there are porcelin foot grips, but believe me, they won't prevent you from falling over. there just there so you know where to put your feet.

according to shirley, one of our guides in xi'an, china's reputation for poor toilets was so bad that it was incentive for the folks at the wild goose pagoda to build what she referred to as a ten star toilet, which she showed us upon arrival. given all the toilets i've seen abroad and at home, a simple toilet seat doesn't qualify as a ten star toilet, which is pretty much what she directed us to. i'd rather have a squat toilet (i've pretty much mastered them by now), in a clean facility, a stall that had toilet paper, a hook/tray for ones belongings (squatting with handbags and souvenirs doesn't work), soap, water and a way to dry one's hand at the end of the process.

japan has the holy grail of toilets. the first one i encountered looked so complicated that i chose the simpler squat toilet, because there was less of a learning curve. the main difference between the japanese toilets, other than all the buttons and hardware, is noticed immediately upon sitting down - the seat is very warm. roman letters are a rarity in japan, so the multitude of buttons to push on the armrest of the toilet (actually, it's probably just a control panel, not intended to be an armrest) are totally indecipherable for those of us who don't read japanese. i'd later encounter a similar panel with pictures, but at that moment i was on a ritz carlton toilet with a lot of buttons tempting the hell out me. i pressed one. warm water shot between my legs. there was considerable water pressure. it wasn't unpleasant, but soon thereafter i was ready for it to stop. after all, kiyoshi was waiting for me. i thought, like automatic flushing toilets, it would stop on it's own. it didn't. hummm, how to make it stop? is there a motion detector? lift up a little, see if it stops. nope, didn't work. refer back to control panel - many buttons, many japanese characters - no clue. once i was able to see beyond the buttons and characters, i saw the colors, including red. halleluja! i'm outta here.

the toilet at the ikoma's was similar, except that the control panel was on the wall and it had pictures, in addition to water between ones legs, air was possible. malaysia's toilets are similar in concept, but more rudimentary - they simply provide a water hose that extends from the wall. i didn't want to talk at length about toilets, but it's hard not to given the differences, and the fact that toilets are something you must experience in every country. one can get away with not eating the local food, using the public transportation, or speaking the language, but...

one more quick sexist toilet sidebar. while working for habitat for humanity in new orleans there was one of many outhouses designated for women. the difference was that it had a mirror.

back to the homestay. for those blog readers who are planning to do s@s in the future, if you haven't figured it out from my india and japan postings, in port, homestays are the way to go. they are the best way to see a place. you get your own personal tour guide, great accommodations, transportation, home cooked meals, introduced to great restaurants and more. i was a little nervous, because i figured the family would be expecting a white college student. but, i figured if they're willing to host some random person this way, they must be pretty flexible and openminded. however, someone had put some thought into pairing people up, because the ikoma's and i were a good match, and probably more unusual than the average participant. i don't think one of our s@s wild childs would have enjoyed the ikoma's as much as i. from what i overheard in the dining hall, the many other s@s students who did homestays seem to have had a really good time too. most were assigned to younger families with kids, from toddlers to teenagers. there were probably some nightmares too, but i'm keeping it positive until i hear otherwise.

the first night at the ikoma's, takako pretty much fed me from the time we got home until shortly before bed,including a wonderful traditional osaka dish she prepared. we also looked at maps, family pictures (i wish i had brought some; i did bring them some south african wine), and watched some japanese baseball on tv. the following day, before taking me back to the ship, we visited two fine art museums in the suburbs of nara. we had lunch (tempura and soba noodles) at a restaurant before heading to the big regional attraction, the todai-ji temple (8th century; pictured), where the great buddha vairocana - the biggest buddha you'll ever see - with thousands of other tourists, including a s@s bus load. they were going back to the ship on a bus with 40 others and i would ride back with the ikoma's in their mercedes.

my second great adventure/discovery in japan was another day where i had no plans. i slept in read and planned to hit the streets around noon. luck would have it that by the time i was ready to leave the ship, judyie (theater prof.) and mary (religious studies prof.) had plans to walk across the bridge to the park. outside the ship, to the left was a bridge that appeared to lead to an industrial area. to the right was the portliner subway to the kobe city center and transportation to all other parts of japan. most of us had gotten use to getting off the ship and hopping on the subway. An unchartered area without the subway, endless shops, neon and the masses was looking pretty appealing on a very pleasant spring day in japan, our last. the area across the bridge turned out to be the antithesis of the city - two parks connected by a singular walkway - one with smooth giant rocks to climb and warm one's body on, and a peace park with peace memorials from cities around the world.

the whole way was lined with public gardens (mostly un-japanese like cottage gardeny beds of flowers. there also was a green cafe surrounded by a wooded area, a flea market, an eco store promoting recycling by selling second hand stuff, basically it was just a thrift store - the most orderly, and cleanest, i've ever seen. this day was the beginning of the golden days holiday period so families were out playing, picnicing and barbecuing in the park. as we were strolling in the area, what ultimately drew us to the peace park at the end of the trail was drumming, very african like drumming. there were drums, other percussion instruments, and three girls, one in the shortest shorts i've ever seen and platform shoes, another in similar attire with stilettos. they could have been flygirls in a musicvideo. it was very reminiscent of brazil - tits, ass and lots of percussions. they didn't have much in terms of t&a, but what they did have they were shaking it seriously. i would love to know the history of this area. most (last photo is an exception) of the space was so unjapanese like in it's seemingly improvised and unmanicured nature, with an emphasis on peace, and the environment.