The Cost of Reincarnation

Traditional values

I am not sure how many people who are not Japanese get close in to the rituals of death Japanese style. I have a feeling that this is not a very widely experienced aspect of Japanese culture outside of Japanese consciousness so once again it appears that I have managed to sneak in through another cultural gateway.

To get to this portal we journeyed from Meguro to Kotobuki by car, a journey of two and a half hours. Some of you may remember a previous description of my brother-in-law's driving skills and so should be suitably horrified when I say that he was the chauffeur on this appointment with death. For those of you not acquainted with the implications of his being the driver I think I can summise thus: he plays the accelerator like a heavy rock drummer plays the bass pedal, the on board television is on constantly at full volume regardless of how it looses signal and mercilessly turns the inane drivel of Japanese day time television into intense static, and finally, he seems unaware of any relevance in the position or relationship of other vehicles to his own.

Needless to say the prospect of the journey filled me with a deep despair which I tried to mitigate by sitting in the back rather than travelling shotgun up front. Honourable Brother-in-Law (HoBiL) tried to insist that I take the front seat but with all the native guile of someone fearful for his sanity I resisted stoutly with the claim that his sister, my wife, should have the opportunity of sitting with her brother chatting during the drive.

I won my case but it was to be a pyrrhic victory. Not long into the journey I found that my head rested just millimeters away from the television speaker in the back. As we journeyed further from Tokyo so the signal edged away from stability and into off signal hiss, clicks and high pitched whines. A request to turn the sound down, as switching off was never going to be an option, was met with the volume going up a notch: mental note, work harder on your Japanese Jack.

Becalming the stressed traveller

Arrival at the temple in Kotobuki was a blessing and somehow the sight of the tranquil garden in its car park was a welcome sensual transition from the world of Japanese media to that of Japanese spirituality. We left the car and the daytime television behind, absorbed the gentleness of the shaped bushes, sculpted shrubs and pond filled with the golden glimmers of gliding carp. From the raw heat of the day into the cool shadows of the temple, this felt as though someone had pressed the "calm" button.

Old buildings in need of constant repair

The purpose of the visit was to perform the ritual prayers of the 23rd anniversary of the death of my wife's father. To the western mind, such an anniversary is not immediately recognisable on the occidental process of social and physical death. I put this down to the fact that when compared with the Japanese religious establishment our own Christian based franchises are contemptible amateurs in the business of death. Whereas our spiritual corporate profits are taken in one hit at the moment of demise the Japanese spiritual business model provides a substantial, and costly, customer service which is essential if the deceased member of the family is to gain a respectable re-incarnation.

Naturally, a family may choose to ignore this dusty obligation, they may even decide to bin the direct mail reminders issued by the temple "holding" the ash asset however they would then have to deal with the approbation of the ancestors. This is an important underpinning concept that has been written into the mythological psyche of the nation; the ancestors guard the fortune of the family therefore any lack of effort in following the required rituals, with appropriate costs, risks the fortune of that family.

In addition, if the required rituals are not performed then what sort of example does that set to the younger members of the family? After all, no-one desires to be re-incarnated in a low social position of ill fortune because the children didn't perform the correct rituals at your death.

The view from the temple window

I would like to consider the salient point that differentiates the business of death between the eastern spiritual corporate model and the western spiritual corporate model. This crucial differential is the concept of re-incarnation. In the west the spiritual corporations base their business model on the basis of an "entry fee". In order to enter into that most exclusive of private members clubs, heaven, the individual has to accumulate "heaven miles" on the membership card of their chosen corporation; Consolidated Anglican, Catholic International, Baptist Heavy Industries,... etc, etc.

This financial model relies on gathering the most amount of revenue during the lifetime of the customer, cutely referred to in the Christian mythology as "the lamb". Theological economists postulate that once dead and safely buried the lamb no longer has any economic value. Therefore the spiritual corporations of the west seek to maximise profits during the lifetime of the lamb with a whole host of branded consumables; birth rituals, christening rituals, coming of age rituals, marriage rituals, death rituals, pew sales, funding of church up keep, charitable tax breaks etc., etc., etc..

Catholic International cunningly cornered the market in the so called death bed conversion option which allowed the most dreadful of sinner to make a last ditch confession, kiss the cross and with a fat codicil to the will, achieve a v.i.p. fast track system through celestial immigration control. Other than that the range of product available is remarkably consistent across all of the western spiritual corporations.

The faithful prepare lamb for dinner in Catholic International's Haitian Division

I appreciate that there may be some dissenters to the point of view I am putting forward here but I wont call for them to be burnt at the stake! You may also be wondering if I am drifting away from the key interest in this blog which is Japanese culture but I would ask your indulgence for just a moment and would hope all will become clear, and relevant, in due course. In respect of the dissenting voices I would offer the following quote from THE VATICAN BILLIONS by Avro Manhattan:

"The Catholic church is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator and property owner in existence. She is a greater possessor of material riches than any other single institution, corporation, bank, giant trust, government or state of the whole globe. The pope, as the visible ruler of this immense amassment of wealth, is consequently the richest individual of the twentieth century. No one can realistically assess how much he is worth in terms of billions of dollars."

source: Chick Publications

Franchise opportunities in sales to middle class socio-economic groups

The importance of understanding this balance sheet in the western spiritual economic sector is that once you are able to see past the marketing campaigns run by the corporations involved you are better placed to understand the Japanese business model.

Note: If you cannot see past the western sales pitch then perhaps I can interest you in the latest version of New Age Buddhism which provides you with a superior moral ascendancy, the ability to maintain a rich western lifestyle guilt free and a rather fashionable new spiritual guru all for the cost of a weekend workshop (£499) in a cosy country house in the English counties. Just mail here to complete your order: wellrippedoff@newage.con

Whilst you may perceive a certain flavour of cynicism in my writing on western spirituality any such literary approach would simply fail in describing Japanese faith based business models. This is because the Japanese people are not blind to the "corporate nature" of faith practice in their culture. They see no contradiction because in their belief system poverty isn't a spiritual issue for the rich it is a spiritual issue for the poor.

If your life is mostly occupied by vigourously scrapping the bottom of the barrel then clearly your family in your previous incarnation failed miserably in their duty to provide the correct rituals, at appropriate cost, for your re-incarnation. Perhaps this now helps to make the picture a little clearer!

Quality after life customer service

The Japanese spiritual business model doesn't see the death of the customer as a barrier to levying charges to his or her account. On the contrary, death merely increases the value of the customer's account and enhances the possibility of premium rate services. All of this is possible because the process of re-incarnation is not immediate at the point of death, rather it takes the form of a journey to the new life, a journey fraught with challenges and dangers. These obstacles are best overcome with the assistance and prayers of the relatives led by a monk, at an appropriate cost, from the temple where the ashes are located.

As an historical note and in order to be able to cite established business precedent, the history of re-incarnation in Tibetan Buddhism, a brand much loved by the western spiritual consumer, is instructional. Sometime before the 10th century the King of Tibet enacted a tax law which meant that all property of anyone who died without an heir would become part of the royal estate. Obviously if you want to keep the cash in the family then best get married and have children, simple, but not if you are a buddhist monk!

Worst still was the position of the senior monk in each temple for in the eyes of the law they owned the temple and all its properties. Clever old King eh, he is the sort of chap who would be on a good bonus in an investment bank today. However the monks were not to take this threat without the appropriate spiritual response. Such an unpopular take over bid had to be resisted as the shareholders were not happy with handing over their assets to a private owner (see Glazier takeover of Manchester United for reference). The response was devastating and demonstrates the power of the spiritual business model over the temporal estate.

There was an odd tradition which was not all that popular at the time but practised the idea that when people died they were born back into life again. The monks quickly realised the tax advantages of this system for if the head monk was reincarnated then he was, de facto, his own heir and the king could have no claim on his assets. This was the critical business stimulus the odd eccentric practice needed to go mainstream. Once nicely branded and presented as a package the possibilities to mass market the product were obvious. As the journey from Life to Death to Life was in the hazardous realm of the great beyond, which no-one but the monks can chart properly, then the risks and rewards are high.

Fortunately, the temples are able to calculate exactly when these moments of re-incarnation crises are at their most crucial. These calculations allow the temples to provide a timetable of rituals to follow after the death of their client. As we had journeyed to the temple for the most important ritual of the 23rd year anniversary of the death of my father-in-law you are able to get some idea of the extent and regularity of these important functions of faith. And lets look at the business model here, being able to charge for services to someone who has been dead for 23 years, boy have our churches missed an opportunity!

Reception

Once in reception within the temple we were offered a cold drink and a very nicely wrapped and presented biscuit. The monk joined us as he robed up. There is something quite wonderful about the buddhist monks for they have a truly cheerful disposition when you meet them in such circumstances. Well that is my experience so perhaps it is not sound practice to generalise but the ones I have met all appear to have a cheeky smile and a fine sense of humour. We discussed the various pleasantries of life and then moved into the adjacent temple where four stools were already prepared for us as the monk took pole position in front of all the the accoutrements required for this ritual; bells, drums, beads, incense burners and a selection of appropriate effigies and scrolls.

Addressing the infinite cost of reincarnation

If you have never been within the real space of a buddhist monk chanting then you have missed out on a real art form. The low, highly paced, almost guttural sound of the seemingly circular chants really does draw the listener to a connection of something that lays beyond the everyday. In this temple, within this space, enveloped in the sound and fragranced with an air rich with incense, the twenty first century simply evaporates from your consciousness. This is utempora.

Where the ancestors rest

Honourable Mother-in-Law (HMil) takes her faiths seriously and equally meets the responsibilities those faiths require.

It should be clear that the Japanese mindset in particular (if not oriental cultures in general) is capable of holding two sets of mythic belief structure simultaneously in a way the western myth systems fundamentally deny as a possibility; you are either Jewish, Christian or Islamic (and they are the same myths simply with variant market branding) let alone the possibility of being Jewish and a follower of say, the New Guinea Pig Cults etc.. Consumer brand loyalty is the absolute essential condition of the western spiritual business model. Such is its intensity people are prepared to kill each other simply because they cannot agree on God's name; is he Yaweh, God or Allah (they all do agree however that he is actually the same one and only God).

At the heart of western mythology is the idea of the separation of humanity from god, the eden myth, and the positioning of human beings as "having dominion over" creation, in other words different to and separate from all that is "creation". God is external to the western brands. In the eastern mythologies the human experience is part of the universal experience, they are inclusive belief systems, God is in everything and is everything even us. Such a fundamental difference creates a very different cultural psyche. For if we are part of everything and everything is part of us then anything we do in the spiritual practice department is all part of the same thing just a different way of looking at it. Therefore there is no problem with being a buddhist, a zen follower and even a christian all at the same time.

This ability of allowing for a multiplicity of interpretations of the human experience also allows for the fact that business is a part of life. An inclusive viewpoint which accepts that religion has a business aspect and sees no conflict of interest because the values of the the belief system do not separate the worldly from the spiritual.

So when HMil readily accepts the rituals of the death process and the costs those entail she might mutter about how wealthy temples are but she sees no hypocrisy in it. In the west our major accusation against the wealth of the churches is precisely the hypocrisy because for us our Christian and Islamic teachings specifically injunct us against the temptations of wealth. In Japan the poor are poor and that is the way of things, if you don't work you don't eat and as we all are able to work then your poverty can only be because your karma is not good. Someone in your past scrimped on the fees!

So in the temples of the west glittering with gold, as Popes and Immans travel in air conditioned limousines whilst they measure time on their gold Rolex's, we see a disparity in what they preach and what they do.

In Japan, as with all aspects of life, everything has a cost and if you want the best, in this case a higher status monk, then it will cost you more, naturally!

Coming up next; The Mystery of the Head in the Pacific. Japanese police are investigating the mystery of the head of a foreign blog writer that was seen floating in the surf of a beautifully sunny Pacific beach. They are following up the theory that he may have upset certain religious business interests.

The Running Bin Men of Tokyo

Arrived in Tokyo just under a week ago after a fair old journey. Everything had gone fine until we actually boarded the plane at Heathrow. As soon as everyone had strapped in an announcement came over the tannoy informing us that the auxilliary power was not working and as a consequence the air conditioning was not switched on.

"As soon as we start the engines we will be able to return the cabin to a more comfortable temperature very quickly" we were assured.

Everyone looked around at each other and smiled, nodded a bit then sat back taking in deep breaths from the already hot and stifling air. Within nano seconds a second announcement came over the tannoy.

"This is your captain speaking, I have just been informed by the control tower that there is a problem with the runway and we will be held here until that is cleared up. At the moment there is no indication how long this will be but once we are given the go ahead we should be near the top of the queue to leave."

A collective sigh as loud a blue whale spouting shushed along the length of the plane. Somehow everyone realised that this was very bad news and we were in for a melt down.

What always amazes me in these situations is the lack of foresight. Obviously all of the staff disappeared into the first class cabin where they stood fanning the air with the a la carte menus but it was half an hour before anyone thought about opening the doors to allow some air in for the rest of us.

Eventually we were taken out of the oven and allowed permission to take off. True to the prediction, the moment the engines started the cabin temperature eased down and the arm rests on the seats stopped melting.


The flight itself was notable for turbulence and there was only one moment of staff surliness to note. When asked if I would like a drink I requested a lemonade. The hostess looked at me, curled a prehensile lip and said in a withering bass tone worthy of Dame Margaret Rutherford "Just a lemonade?". Obviously not being a raging alcoholic was an issue for her. "Go on then, make it a double and put some ice in it!" I responded with all the authority of an economy class passenger.

I did my usual trick and watched movies for the full 12 hours of the flight. Iron Man 2 lasted for 8 minutes before Robert Downey Junior stood on a stage backed by a line of inanely grinning chorus girls and a backdrop of a huge American flag fluttering across an enormous screen. When you have that moronic, jingoistic, mono-cellular nationalism shoved in your face it almost feels like some disgusting old man has just opened up his raincoat. I immediately switched that movie off.

Avatar gave me some relief, Walt Disney meets Terminator is a jolly sort of jape but there is always something slightly suspicious about American films celebrating the triumph of indigenous culture in the face of corporate genocide! Thankfully the Japanese film Rinco's Restaurant was available and that provided the entertainment highlight of the bumpy ride across Siberia.


An American review says, "After a bad breakup, a young woman returns to her hometown and opens a menuless restaurant.". Well that provides you with a truly insightful sentence covering a really clever film about, as is a standard for Japanese cinema, the tensions and disfunctionality between generations. The further comment that the film is; "Quirky, Quiet, Kind of Interesting, A Little Slow" obviously took our critic into the area of aliteration... but only just!

Quirky: because there were no guns.
Quiet: because there were no guns.
Kind of Interesting: truly I have no idea what this means but suspect it is because there are no guns.
A Little Slow: required cognitive thought processes.

You may be detecting a slight anti-American stance in my writing and o.k., I will come clean, America is not my favourite country, some of American culture makes me feel like the planet Earth is quite rightly doomed and I find too many Americans.... (was going to add something else but on second thoughts that's about right).

Rinco's Restaurant is a beautiful film, very humourous, gentle and ultimately uplifting. The story, and I refuse to ruin it for you, provides the basics of Japanese culture; food and family. I absolutely loved it and have no idea how many dollars it made at the box office though I am almost certain that our American reviewer will be able to tell you.

"My name is not news!"

I cannot be the only person who is infuriated by the belief that dollar sales figures are the prime indicator of value in the culture of film. Fine if our American cousins (remember chimpanzees are also our cousins but prone to less violence) want to start every revue with the bottom line but why on earth do we feel the need to copy them? Over recent years our media has been so completely bastardized that whenever a serial sex pest appears on the front page of a newspaper the first thing we are told is the value of the house they live in. Arghhh.....

You may be wondering if you have stumbled across the right blog at this point. Wasn't this meant to be something about Japan and Japanese culture rather than the story of a hot seat in Heathrow and a diatribe against the U.S.A.? Well yes and no... you see the flight out to Tokyo is the start of what I call "The Purging". Having spent the last seven months in the evolving armageddon that is London culture whilst working on human rights issues (in other words looking daily at the most awful crimes against humanity perpetrated by truly dreadful examples of humanity) I tend to become, how shall I put this, a little negative. My time in Japan is always the bath tub of sanity for me but it takes a few days to relax into a society with so many fewer stabbings, manners and a sense that the future can be better than the past.


Consequently with each new trip the first entry on this blog tends also to give the reader the opportunity to carve their way through the mayhem and also arrive in Japan. Already in just the past few days I have seen enough to write a book about but the real reinforcement that I was in a completely different culture left a broad grin on my face. In the picture above you see the shopping arcade just opposite Mushashi Koyama station which is a two minute walk from where I live when in Tokyo.

This arcade is a long air conditioned tube, auxillary power supply always working, which tunnels for six or seven hundred meters away from the station. Every hundred metres the arcade is cross sectioned by side roads whose main physical feature is their narrowness. A car width with room for a pedestrian either side is about the space provided in these little veins of commerce.

I was strolling around the other morning and doing some serious people watching down in the arcade. It was very hot out, about 37 degrees with the sort of humidity that even slows down the pace of snails. Inside the arcade space the air conditioning keeps the jostling crowd relatively relaxed but as soon as you step into one of those side streets the air becomes so thick it is like trying to breath in treacle. The effort of breathing also immediately drenches you in sweat so all in all not an environment to consider running a marathon in.

As I sucked in another spoonful of breath a Tokyo Dust Cart came towards me. A note here, all the recycling vehicles are of a scale which allows them to pass through the famously narrow streets of Tokyo. They are quite dinky really! As the truckette passed me at a steady pace I was confronted by two men running down the street behind the vehicle loading the rubbish bins into its crushing mouth. The operative word here is "running".

Not only were these bin men running in urgency to gather the bins and fill the truck but they were doing so in corporation hard hats, uniform overalls, boots and the mandatory cotton gloves of all Japanese working people. I mean it, these guys were running and the rubbish truckette was rattling along at a fair pace.

The reason for this urgency was obvious, behind the dust cart was following a small line of traffic; two motor scooters, a delivery truckette and a car. In such narrow streets removing rubbish would inevitably cause delay and clearly the Japanese response is to do the job as quickly as possible so as to minimise the inconvenience.
After all, rubbish collection is a public service and therefore carries a responsibility to the public.

I stood watching and would have shaken my head in utter disbelief if it wasn't so bloody hot. You see I live most of my life in London and there the dust carts are bigger. If you drive along a back street and come across a dust cart you just pull up the handbrake and switch the engine off to save petrol money. Our dustmen are a lot more laid back, a lot more relaxed about their task. They will be careful not to breach any health and safety regulations by invoking unwarranted urgency.

But this is Japan and things are very different here. Now I have got the transfer process out of my system I will be sending some more detailed insights into those differences. Today promises to be a rich opportunity to relate. In a few hours I am off on the two and a half hour drive to visit my father-in-law's grave. This is for the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of his death, a very, very important moment in the death process which requires a priest and ceremony (with a not insubstantial fee involved) in order that father's transition into the fullness of re -birth is complete.

I have a sneaking feeling this will be the topic of my next entry; the business of death Japanese style.

Waiting for lift off.

I have been thinking about athletics recently. You know, throwing a stick, throwing a piece of metal too heavy to throw or running pointlessly in circles. Images of these meaningless ball shy activities invoke the ancient oni Wey Ting.

Not long now and I will be leaving for Tokyo. The first thing I will do when I arrive is have a nice, long, Japanese style bath in a Japanese bathroom. Can it be possible to imagine what it has been like to go the last eight months without having a proper level of bath standards?

You cannot imagine how much my heart bleeds having to content myself with western European bath culture. The difference is clear and once you have enjoyed the experience of Japanese personal hygiene culture everything else is dreadfully second best!

The Countdown

This has been a long hard old slog. We returned from Japan at the end of January this year and have had to wait a full seven months before we would be released from the penury that is life in the UK.
But it is not to be long now until I return to onsen, shinkansen and sushi, the three gods of desire that ever torment my memory as I wait for a delayed train in the cold water of the London rain whilst the smell of kebabs drifts across North London.

Only five weeks to go and my feet will be on the soil of the rising sun once more.

Daimyo Tataroka Enkas

Daimyo Tataroka Enkas is the name of Lord Tatlock's famous football team in the renowned Boozehounds Fantasy Auction League. Before the commencement of the 2010-11 season the team was previously known as Lord Tatlock's Trotters but the noble Lord decided to recognise the long and ancient ties between Britain and Japan whilst celebrating their outstanding World Cup performance in South Africa by re-naming his team in a Japanese style.

Lord Tatlock lives at Tatlock Towers, Tufnell Park, England N7 and is very, very old.

A Japanese bullet train with a kingfisher's nose

Making a Shinkansen train run faster wasn't a great challenge; making it run more quietly was. The "claps" created by the train entering tunnels (caused by a sudden change in air resistance) were so loud that residents 400 metres away would complain.

Engineer Eiji Nakatsu noticed that kingfishers were able to dive smoothly from air (a low-resistance medium) into water (a high-resistance medium), and wondered if this was due to the bird's streamlined beak. Computer simulations proved him right. "Data analysis showed that the ideal nose shape is almost identical to the kingfisher's beak," he says. The new shape has also cut the train's energy use by 15 per cent, and increased its speed by ten per cent.

Here is the story

Japan Postcard: Sent Packing

Well it is that time again. I do the packing because I have a particular spacial awareness that is a useful skill in this area. Takayama tends to try to pack artistically, as we would expect, and like all artists demands that more gets shoved into less but everything has enough space around it to allow for the creative context. She's rubbish at packing!

So I do the packing. I have just finished and one case weighs 21 kilos and the other weighs 20.5 kilos which is within the tolerance of the stated 20 kilos per case per person. This did take a bit of juggling because the original pack had us at a total of 46.7 kilos. A quick re-evaluation, some items relegated to hand luggage and we got to within the required tolerance.

There is one small problem though. I haven't packed anything of my stuff at all, not one single item in that grand total of 41.5 kilos is actually mine. This is quite usual, after all Takayama is a sculpture so we have to bring and take back some weighty materials and tools otherwise she can't do any work whilst out here. Then there is HMiL's plum juice, jam and assorted bags and coats given to Takayama out of the cupboard. That cupboard is like the Tardis, over the last five years I have had to carry back about 2.78 tonnes of assorted bits and pieces and yet it is still bursting at the seams every time we get back here.

In addition there is the Chinese medicine supplies, obviously there are essential snacks and presents for most people and of course there are those strange electronic/magnetic devices that HMiL swears by in terms of alternative health care. After that lot's all in then there are Takayama's clothes, shoes and of course a supply of those Japanese heat patches that weigh in at a hefty two kilos.

Once I have winched the cases shut, snapped a ligament or two getting the belt around the case, then the job is done. My stuff? Well you might notice me wearing a similar style for the next couple of months, sort of looking like I only have two sets of clothes. I can get the laptop and camera into the hand luggage then I just stuff what I can into the space that's left and then leave the rest here.

Slowly but surely my wardrobe here is getting bigger than my one at home. Now the big question is, "Is that really something that worries me?"

I hear it's cold in London, Gordon Brown and David Cameron are calling each other sissy and the British taxpayer is set to fork up another 300 billion this year to make it look as though...well, well actually, that our economy is not almost one trillion pounds in debt. Hey and guess who is going to have to pay that bill off over the long term?

"Jack," Takayama calls, "You're not going on about consumer slaughteryards again are you?"

Looks like we've arrived back where we began but I have a feeling that I am not the only person this year who is going to have lost his shirt (well in my case, left it in Tokyo!).

Til next time.......

Mito Komon, Understanding who is boss and why.

I was just sitting around the house watching the television when I realised something about Japanese culture that I believe is actually very important. The programme on show was a typical holiday season drama; love, treachery, swords and samurai, everywhere samurai with swords. In fact I would imagine that for most people one of the first images the word Japan conjures up in their mind is that of the samurai.

Fine clothes, fine swords, the dangerous elegance of power

This icon of Japan is the foundation of television drama, the lynchpin format which places the history of Japan at the heart of entertainment. But the realisation I made was that with very small exceptions this is all there is, almost everything is samurai, almost everything is historical drama that proclaims one standard Japanese identity.

Every child knows who they are

Now this is so obvious that I am sure some of you are thinking, "Come on Jack, what are you trying to say here." Well it is obvious but it is so obvious that I feel we miss something. In our English culture we have historical drama, good lord we are riddled with it, the royal family through history, stories of the Englishman as empire builder, those Norman invaders, Robin Hood, the list is long. But in all of our dramas there are others, we always have others. Even when we deal with the royal family, an example being Queen Victoria, there is always the foreigner, Prince Albert, that German character. Robin Hood, well how many episodes before the skillful Moor makes an appearance? Besides the men in green of Sherwood forest are fighting that dreadful foreigner the Norman overlord.

We have always known who everyone else is

Our history is filled with the comings and goings not just of the continent of Europe but the whole world and they all turn up in the cast of our historical dramas. We source our identity in popular culture from this multiplicity of identities. In Japanese popular culture there is only one identity, all the time the same identity continually playing into the nation's consciousness.

Mito Komon, the definitive Japanese hierachy

We have to remember that for many years the traditional greeting for the tourist arriving on the shores of Japan was decapitation. The poor old sailor who managed to struggle through the surf as the sole survivor of a shipwreck would stagger half way up the beach but never make it any further. No words, no enquiry, no other consideration, the first person to see this demon from the sea would either take the head off there and then or get someone with a sword to do the job immediately. You see Japan is the sacred islands of the Japanese and in the past they intended to keep it that way. There was going to be no issue about foreigners coming and changing or ruining the Japanese way of life. Foreigners were simply not allowed to pollute the national identity.

But, as I have said before, pragmatism and a dislike of uncertainty were always on hand to deal with changing situations. Gunpowder, for the pragmatic mind, and European weapons, especially in a feudal society with clans protected by warrior armies, held a certain attraction. Even then the traders were kept in isolation from the nation of Japan, either on a designated island or in ghettos, contact with the foreign was limited. Once the technology and the skills of production were acquired then it was back to the good old days of banishing foreigners on pain of death.

Dark days ahead as America forges its diplomatic style

Things really do not change until July 14th 1853 when the United States of America decided to use their own interpretation of the word diplomacy to open up the country for trade. Commander Perry arrived in his famous Black Ship and gave Japan two options, either open for trade or have all your coastal towns bombarded. Faced with an opponent so technologically superior the decision was the pragmatic choice, open for trade. This ended 200 years of trading only with the Dutch and the Chinese. The nation still managed to protect its population from excessive foreign influence but it was recognised that Japan had to become an industrialised country and move on the global stage. The rest, as they say, is history!

That realisation I started with was the effect of a continually mono-cultural background on identity today. True, a lot of what I am saying here is actually quite superficial in some respects, but scratch any surface and you will find the true metal of your subject. I believe the metal of this Japanese identity is something special.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Two years ago a delegtaion of Islamic traders organising the sale of second hand Japanese cars from a port on the coast to Asia and beyond arranged to meet with the city mayor. Their petition was about trying to obtain halal meals for their children at the local school. They presented their case and the mayor, who listened patiently so the report stated, replied, "Ah yes, but this is Japan."

The delegation tried to further explain but anyone who knows the Japanese knows exactly what the mayor was saying. Perhaps I could translate for you, "If you want to eat halal please do but in Japan we are not muslim so we don't do halal in our schools. If you are not happy with this then please go to a country where your children can eat halal meals in their schools. Thankyou and goodbye."

Authority comes from the top

Perhaps this seems a glib interpretaton but to the Japanese mind the whole question would have made little sense and have been seen just as an odd request from a bunch of foreigners. There is only one cultural position and that is Japanese, all other relationships are a matter of pragmatism but Japanese culture is never negotiable.

Halal meals? I don't think so!

And so to Mito Komon. This is Japan's longest running television drama and I love every moment of it. This progamme has over 1000 episodes to its credit and began in 1969. At 16.00hrs most weekdays you can see an episode of the back catalogue and the current series plays in an evening slot within the schedule. 1000 episodes and all with exactly the same format, the same fundamental plot. This programme is the Doctor Who of Japanese television, by that I mean that every so often the main character, Mitsuemon, regenerates and so, I believe, there have been 5 Mitsuemon and with each new interpretation of the character his travelling companions change (slightly).

Outnumbered but never outmatched, Japan against the world.

This is the plot: wandering old retired man arrives at a location and finds something bad going on. He and his team investigate and discover the truth about how local people are being abused by corrupt officials and authorities. They then confront the evil doers and a fight ensues. This fight is badly ill matched with Mitsuemon's faithful and ever present key retainers Kaku-san and Suke-san usually taking on at least 15 opponents at any one time. However what the bad guys do not know is that these two men represent the most formidable of swordmen and the most formidable exponent of judo. Very quickly it is clear that no numbers of opponent will get the better of these two but that is just the first lesson.

The inro is produced

At some point Mitsuemon will call his men to him and then they will reveal that their master is in fact not a retired travelling crepe merchant but the second most powerful person in Japan, Tokugowa Mitsukuni, former vice-Shogun and reitired daimyo of the Mito domain. No matter what your rank or authority this is the moment when you get down on your knees because if Mitsuemon tells you to eat your own foot all you can do is ask permission for some salt.

1. 

Pass the salt

Here is a video clip so you can see for yourself:

So there you have it, out comes the inro (the lacquered box bearing the symbol of the Tokugowa clan) and everyone thinks "Shit!" as Suke-san tells them "Do you know who this is, this is the former vice-shogun, this is the Lord of Mito, get down on your knees now and show the proper respect."

There is no chance or opportunity of any other action in this moment as everyone is faced with the power of Japanese feudal authority. What Mitsuemon says is exactly what will happen, there is no debate. Faced with such power the ring leader gets up and attacks, he knows that he is a dead man and so decides to go out fighting, it is all he can do. But for such unusual insolence even in his moment of death a judicious foot comes down on his neck. Most of the time the ring leaders just keep their noses in the dirt and take their punishment. The other bad boy is then dispatched with ruthless efficiency and all has been set right. Mitsuemon produces his trademark laugh, probably at the very idea anyone thought they could get away with such a scam in the first place, and then goes on to ensure all worthy citizens are safe within that local society.

Everyone on the floor before authority

Well yes, this is an historic drama played with humour and perhaps you would say hardly a touchstone of culture. I would contend that you would be wrong to look at this with such eyes. Those eyes would be your western interpretation. The fundamental of this drama is authority and its power. When that inro comes out everything stops, one look at the Tokugawa seal and everyone falls to their knees. Remember this is Japan's longest running drama celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. We have Coronation Street and the working class of the Rover's Return but Japan has supreme power and authority enforced from the top to ensure society functions as it should with all wrong doers punished mercilessly. Every day at 16.00hrs and once a week in an evening prime time slot, the message goes out, always the same story, always the same result, always consistent. No uncertainty at all.

And who was this Mitsuemon?

Tokugawa Mitsukuni (徳川 光圀, Tokugawa Mitsukuni?, July 11, 1628 - January 14, 1701) was a prominent daimyo who was known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period. He was the third son of Tokugawa Yorifusa (who in turn was the eighth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu) and succeeded him, becoming the second daimyo of the Mito domain.

source: Wikipedia

Tokugawa Ieyasu

The key name in this extract is Tokugawa Ieyasu who is a formidable figure in Japanese history. This is the man who founded the Tokugawa Shogunate which ruled Japan for 250 years, absolutely no mean feat whatsoever. So Mitsuemon is Tougawa Ieyasu's grandson and a former vice-shogun in the Tokugowo Shogunate and that is someone you just do not want to pick a fight with.

This Tokugawa clan is very important because it established the capital of Japan at Edo, this today is the location of Tokyo. No Tokugawa, no Tokyo, as simple as that.

So how does this all translate into the contemporary. Well it is about authority and how we react to it. One flash of the inro and everyone is on their knees. But if you ask a company man today if that effects his life he would probably not understand what you mean, no Mitsuemon is just a television drama. However, if you ask that company man out for a beer after work he may just say to you that he can't make it because his boss is working late that evening. Nobody leaves until after the boss has gone, that's just the way it is in Japan.
In the meantime if any of you want to buy gold or silver rather than leave your money in collapsing currencies and negative interest rate bank accounts then here is where you do it: Saving in Gold Alternatively  you could simply believe what the politicians, bankers and economists are telling you, after all we all have to believe in something!

The man who replaced Liberal Democratic Party of Japan
Well Done Indeed Sir!
Overwhelming Election Victory on Change Mandate
Consequence: nothing changes.
Hatoyama, the grandson of the founder of a political dynasty

Hatoyama comes from a prominent Japanese political family which has been called the "Kennedy family of Japan."[2]

Hatoyama, who was born in Bunkyō, Tokyo, is a fourth generation politician. His paternal great-grandfather, Kazuo Hatoyama, was speaker of the House of Representatives of the Diet of Japan from 1896 to 1897 during the Meiji era.[3] Kazuo later served as the president of Waseda University.[3] His paternal great-grandmother, Haruko Hatoyama, was a co-founder of what is known today as Kyoritsu Women's University. His paternal grandfather, Ichirō Hatoyama, was a major politician; he served as Prime Minister and was a founder and the first President of the Liberal Democratic Party (ja:自由民主党総裁, Jiyū-Minshutō Sōsai?, 1956).

extract source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Hatoyama

Mitsuemon source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mito_K%C5%8Dmon

The Temple and The Shrine

Meguro Fudo Son

Here then is the story of the journey out into Japanese New Year, a strange and unfamiliar land for those from a consumerist culture that has forgotten its spiritual mythology (U.K.). The first thing to know is that New Year is the feast of feasts in the Japanese cultural and mythological calenders. Christmas is just what it is in the UK, a festival of consumerism, but without the days off of work, New Year is the party every Japanese person goes to. The image above is from the Meguro Fudo Son Buddhist temple which is just behind HMiL's home. This was taken at 02.00hrs on the 1st January 2010 and as you can see the temple is packed.

That is the thing about New Year, the festival really starts in the last few days of December when people go to the temples and shrines, more about this dualism later, to buy the necessary items to decorate the home with for the transition from old to new. Without these items Japanese homes would certainly not experience good fortune in the new year so a thousand yen here and a thousand yen there and the monks and priests will supply the necessary prayers, incantations, symbols and devices that promise every chance of wealth, health and happiness. (Though it should be noted that the first and the last are inseperable).

The Temple staff protecting the wealth,
health and happiness of the people

From first light on New Years Eve the Buddhist temples and the Shinto shrines are ready for the crowds. All day and all through the night, the big moment is the first dawn of the new year, people absolutely pack out these religious sites all over Japan. According to the wiki on Shinto shrines it is estimated that there are 100,000 across Japan. The number of temples is not a figure I can find and that is probably because it is simply uncountable. The number of these sites may seem vast but it is absolutely nothing to the number of people who attend them at New Year.

Cleansing the way

For regular readers of this blog it will come as no surprise whatsoever that on entering the temple the first task is to wash your hands. This is of course a ritual cleansing but I also believe that it is a deep statement of specific identity, "I am Japanese"

The ritual never ceases

What I have personally found truly surprising is not just the numbers of people but the complete cross section of society, when I say everyone goes I do mean everyone. There is an outstandingly high probability that members of the Atheist Society of Japan arrange to go together in a group and probably follow the rational, "Yes, obviously we don't believe in any of this but this is New Year and after all we are Japanese." Last night I even saw a group of Japanese punks washing their hands before going onto the next stage, spiritual purification.

First the physical then the spiritual cleaning

Wander up a few more steps from the water trough and you have a massive pile of incense sticks burning like a fireworks night bonfire and wafting large clouds of deeply scented smoke around the people. Most stop and "bathe themselves" in the smoke by pulling it in and around their bodies.

The burning desire for complete cleanliness

Observing this spiritual washing for some time what again is so amazing is that everyone appears to get involved. Young-old, goth-company man, punk-fashionista, executive-petrol station attendant, they all seem to want some of this cleansing ritual, and for very good reason. This is a moment when the goodness of the smoke gives you the opportunity to ask for a wish for the New Year and that really gives the insight about what is going on here.

Not a smoke screen

Once more this is Japan and this is the Japanese way of doing things. New Year is a re-affirmation of that Japanese identity, it is a defining moment of culture in the social and mythological calender. Yes, around the temples there are many stalls, a sort of fairground (spaces rented from temple or shrine of course) which provides a few light entertainments, some additional opportunities to buy spiritual commodities but dominated by food stalls. These food stalls are uniquely Japanese fare, the American hamburger or similar foreign fast food staples just simply do not exist within this particular universe. Here the seasonal favourite of octopus tentacles and squid hit the griddle plates with a hiss of steam.

Something to chew on

But it would be completely wrong to write off the attendance of young people at the temples and shrines as just the chance to "go to the fair". Of course there are some that just hang around the stalls but the vast majority ascend the steps, wash their hands and then cleanse their spirit with incense smoke before entering into the inner sanctum. There in Meguro Fudo Son they stand before the statue of the Buddha, clap twice and join their hands in a silent prayer with head bowed before throwing coins into the enormous trough before them.

This goes on all New Years Eve through to the dawn of New Years Day, throughout that day and on for another three days. People visit temple and shrine, they walk around or get the all night tube trains and go from site to site, eating, drinking and offering a quick prayer.

For whom the bell tolls?

This is the great beauty of the Japanese mythologies that those in the west fail so often to grasp. There is no monotheism in Japan; that dreadful mythology of the imperialism of the soul and the divine right of the one and only true God to dam into hell the non-believer, heretic and anyone who says their prayers in the wrong way. No, when people ask me, "Is your wife Buddhist or Shinto?" then I know they haven't got a clue about the Japanese culture. In Japan you can be both Buddhist and Shinto because neither are exclusive, they are inclusive beliefs that recognise there are many ways of seeing the spiritual aspect of humanity.

Besides this we all have to remember the Japanese qualities touted by this blog repeatedly. The Japanese are fundamentally pragmatists and they dislike deeply any level of uncertainty. Shinto is very much about being in tune with the kami (let's just say this means spirits here but it is actually much more than this) and thereby good fortune is yours in life. Once again, a whole paper could be written just on that word 'fortune' and what it means in Japan. The key point here is that Shinto is an ideal belief for making life good, so the Japanese use it mainly for the rituals of birth and marriage. On the other hand Buddhism promises re-incarnation, hmmm says the Japanese psyche, sounds good to me, where do I sign up? So Buddhism deals mostly with the rituals of death.

Obviously, for both to work you still have to put the effort into both of them. In observing all the feasts and rituals you pay the shrines and temples in a constant stream of coin, an investment in keeping all life harmonious and well balanced. After all, surely this is the pragmatic spiritual solution and doesn't leave room for the appearance of uncertainty! There is a Japanese saying that reflects exactly this pragmatism and certainty; "If one God throws you out you always have another to pick you up."

On New Years Day we went to the Hei Shinto shrine, a shrine associated with the Imperial family and with close ties to the sport of sumo wrestling. The image you see above does not give you anything like the true story here. We arrived at 16.00hrs and the queue to get into the shrine was out in the street.

Shrine security men in blue police style uniforms and armed with megaphones were marshalling this huge snake from the pavement, up six flights of steps (about thirty steps in each flight), in through the entrance, in through the outer courtyard to the main entrance for the inner courtyard. At this point you started to realise the enormity of the operation. You see the shrine is set in a square with roads on all four sides and queues were feeding in from all four street entrances. When you managed to arrive at the main inner courtyard then all four queues were merged into one gigantic parade ground file.

At least forty minutes to get this far, at least!

Everyone was patient, everyone was queuing, there was no trouble and everyone conformed, well nearly everyone. Takayama has never been one to wait in line, perhaps that accounts for her having left Tokyo when she was 18. She and I scurried up the steps into the outer courtyard where all the food stalls were. I thought that I was quite happy to just film around that area. I am also not fond of queues and suffer what I like to refer to as creative impatience!!!!!!!!!

Four minutes later and another three feet further on

But, as Takayama delights in pointing out, I suffer from guilt as a result of a Catholic education. She equally rejoices in her own position, "Guilt, what's the point of that?" So when she came brushing up against me and said, "I found a way in and no need to queue, it's just around the back." I felt a little uneasy knowing her track record in this area. She led me around and sure enough she had found an exit from the inner courtyard and, with a heavy heart beating with a sense of betrayal of thousands of loyal queuers, we entered against the flow of people exiting.

What it was all about

Once inside the inner courtyard my emotional burden was relieved because I saw at once the aim of the queuing activity and I hadn't in any way breached that purpose. Before the main shrine there is a row of bells from which hang red and white ribbons. After having made the journey from the street and been patient and polite, once all obstacles had been surmounted, all passage travelled, the queuer found themself before one of these bells and with a quick grasp of the ribbon able to ring it once.

Ringing in the New Year

Once they had rung the bell they stood for a few seconds with hands clasped and head bowed making their prayer for the New Year. A quick throw of some coins into the enormous open trough just behind the bells and off to buy some of that special spiritual merchandise. All around, the inner courtyard was lined with booths staffed by men and women in white and red robes. They were selling prayers, charms, fortune predictions for the coming year and spiritual arrows, one of these is a must have for every home.

Everyone goes to New Years Day

The arrows are made of something like balsa wood, flighted with card, wrapped with a prayer and touched up with red and gold paint, mass produced, not more than 50 pence each to make. Currently, at 150 yen to the pound, the arrows sell for 1000 yen each, about £7.50. These of course are the cheapest arrows, if you pay for a more expensive one it may not look very much different but it will have a much better prayer attached to the shaft.

Around the back in the outer courtyard staff were opening the rear doors to the inner courtyard booths and unpacking a constant stream of merchandising into trolleys inside the booths. If you remember the size of the queue, if you remember that this activity goes on for almost four days, then you have to understand the triumph of logistics that keeps this whole process moving. At a very conservative estimate of a thousand people an hour spending an average minimum of £10 each, each hour for four days then your supply lines need to be good. The temples and the shrines of Japan never, never let their customers down, the organisation and delivery are management models that sparkle with the world famous Japanese efficiency. And if you require a lesson in added value then it has to be worth the 50,000 yen for a private twenty minute consultation with a monk or a priest.

The little extras that really count

Once you have your arrow then you can tie a handkerchief or strip of material to it, so as to identify it as your own, and hand it to a very elegant lady from the shrine's staff. This lady is a Miko, a messenger of the spirit world and she gathers up the arrows in her arm and takes them to the centre of what appears like a small stage.

After the queuing, after the bell, after the purchases, a moment of real beauty

In one arm the arrows are gathered like a bouquet, in her free hand she holds a small shaker of golden bells. From the side of this stage a small group of musicians produce a traditional sound with traditional instruments that even a hermit living in a cave on Mars would recognise as Japanese. Our lady with the arrows then begins to perform a ritual blessing, I assume. This is done with slow graceful movements and starts with a bow towards the audience. The audience bow in return.

Respectful bowing commences the blessing

The lady shakes her bells and then turns slow circles before stopping facing to her left side of the stage. She shakes the bells and then slowly turns more circles until she faces the audience once again. Everyone is silent, everyone is mesmerised, everyone is captivated, this was truly beautiful.

A final blessing

Once this small ritual is complete our lady of the arrows moves to the front of the stage and shakes the bells over the audience. They all bow as she walks along the front of the stage from her left to her right and finishes with a final bow. Once this is complete she then hands the arrows back and each person holds their hand up to receive the one with their handkerchief on. Once they have reclaimed their arrow they have an opportunity to place some yen in a box, in Japan there are limits to what is for sale but added value is always appreciated, good manners would not allow less.

And so this is my own view of New Years Day in Japan, a small glimpse from a very partial viewpoint. Perhaps you would think that I am just writing from a cynical insight but nothing could really be further from the truth. Yes, I can see humour in what I see each year in Japan but only the humour a foreigner sees in any unfamiliar culture. However, as my stated aim is to understand something of another culture and share with all those who read this blog something of Japan, then we have to put this mix of spiritualities and commercialism into context and that context is cultural.

If you hold on to a deep pragmatism then you accept the way the temples and shrines do business, after all business is a necessary function of life. Japan is the consumer society, I would contend, without peer. As there is no conflict with visiting a Buddhist temple and a Shinto shrine so there is no conflict between the material practicalities and the spiritual practices, both can co-exist without compromise. Ask any Japanese how wealthy the temples are, ask them how good a business is a shrine and they will nod their heads and draw a breath. Senior ladies like HMil may even say they are built on gold and that to get a good funeral you need a high ranking monk for a good afterlife and that costs serious money. But when you are talking 'afterlife' there are not enough coins minted to value that commodity.

Wrapped in culture

As with everything else in Japan, if there is good customer service and value for money, like the Shinkansen, then it is seen as emblematic of the culture. The people may pay the temples and the shrines year in year out but all over Japan there is a cultural heritage in these buildings that defines an identity you cannot buy into but have to have been born to. The monks and priests spend their lives in prayer to defend the spirit of Japan and even if you don't want to be too involved in the rituals they do all the spadework for you and that is worth the cost. At the end of the day, if you spend New Years Day in Japan you are going to see a lot of people enjoying themselves, together, peacefully and pragmatically. Of that you can be absolutely certain.

Coals to Newcastle, queueless?

Oh and yes, in the five New Years I have spent in Japan I have never seen anything but Japanese stalls at the temples and shrines. The image above was photographed today at the Hie shrine. Perhaps a trend but I doubt it, it didn't seem like a lot of people were buying. Japan loves its food, loves its tradition and New Year is not a place where I would like to sell cross culturally. However, it reminded me of a night driving back from Exeter to London many years ago. We were hungry, it was nearly 1am in the middle of West Country nowhere but my friend Ali Gullen insisted we pull off of the M5 at the next junction and get a kebab. I told him he was mad, it was midweek, the early hour of the morning and we were heading to a village or town we had never heard of before. Thirty minutes later we were eating kebabs.

"You see Jack, we Turks get everywhere and when we do we open a kebab shop."

Ali Gullen, British of Turkish cultural descent.

And is if further confirmation was necessary then you just have to look at this image from the BBC web site showing Japanese businessmen praying at the Kanto shrine on the first trading day of the New Year. In Japan, wealth and happiness are indivisable and pragmatism says, even if you don't believe you still pray, after all, that leaves no room for uncertainty.

source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8439594.stm

This shows you the real difference between the Japanese and us, never in your wildest dreams would you expect to see the souless of Canary Wharf and the spiritless of the Square Mile gathered in prayer. The only shrine our business people know is the mirror in their bathroom!

Want a shinto shrine?