Lessons from (and for?) Japan

I am spending most of this month on vacation in Japan, and have already traveled across the main Honshu Island from a remote resort village in Kansai (a southern region) to tsunami- and earthquake-ravaged Tohoku, the northeastern region of the island.  I couldn’t help thinking about how the average Bulgarian on such a trip would react to such a journey, and would like to share some of my thoughts on this excursion.

I should mention first I can get away with the following prescriptions or advice, which I would not do so frankly had I traveled to the U.S., since no one needs an outsider to tell them how much better their country is than theirs, or how much better we do things.  But I am not Japanese (though my wife is), and I know that many Bulgarians admire Japan, and were especially impressed by their stoicism, solidarity and gumption in rebuilding without complaint or whining after the triple national disaster (including the nuclear power plant meltdown).  They call this “gaman,” usually translated as “patience.”

As we all know, the Japanese islands sit on unstable tectonic plates that make them periodically susceptible to earthquakes, tsunami, and other natural disasters.  They do the best they can to minimize the damage, and otherwise get on with their lives.  Similarly, because the islands are largely covered by inhospitable mountains, they have been overcrowded for centuries.  They have learned to be especially courteous and respectful of their neighbors’ needs, and call this characteristic “wa,” or harmony.

I can’t help noticing that all of us in the West—Europeans as well as Americans—don’t do as well on the “wa” front.  Yes, we too come together in the wake of traumas such as the terrorist acts of 9/ll, but it seems that we have the luxury of indulging in too-frequent internecine conflicts or self-inflicted problems (e.g., there is very little graffiti in Japan) because we don’t have to deal regularly with such inhospitable natural conditions. 

On the other hand, I also noticed that Bulgaria has an important lesson for Japan.  When I enter a Japanese restaurant or shop, even with my “gaijin” or foreigner’s face, the proprietors address me in Japanese, not because they expect me to speak it, but because they don’t speak English.  Bulgaria, however, has made enormous strides since 1990 in training a generation of young people to speak English, and to speak it very well.  I don’t highlight the importance of speaking English out of American ethnocentrism, but because it is inescapable that English has become the lingua franca of business, academia, and science, and you need to have command of it to succeed in an international career. 

I suspect that young Bulgarians pride themselves as members of an English-speaking European community, while young Japanese don’t feel any urgency to work or study abroad. This has become a matter of concern to government officials, and is debated in the national press.  It is an issue they will struggle with in the coming years, while on this score, Bulgaria is surely already on the right track.

One final note:  I acknowledge that Japanese and Bulgarian salaries are on a different order of magnitude, but still I was shocked to find that 100 grams of domestic Japanese “satonishiki” cherries cost about 10 Euros.  These are not nearly as tasty as the plentiful domestic “chereshi” in Bulgaria, and the Japanese I met could not believe that you could find the latter for 2 leva per kilo. So, my friends, enjoy your wonderful, affordable fruit!