Author Advocates Adoption of Japan’s “Police Box” System

Murder and other kinds of violent mayhem have become endemic in the United States—a dramatic change from the social order of the past, brought on according to many critics by a combination of films, television and digital games that glorify violence; rap singers who promote it, migrant smugglers, and crime syndicates fighting to control the market for illicit drugs.
In fact, violence of the most horrendous kind has become as American as apple pie, and this, says Japanologist Boyé Lafayette De Mente, is more than enough reason for all American cities to adopt the famous Japanese system of street-corner and neighborhood koban [koh-bahn], called “police boxes” in English.
According to De Mente the literal meaning of ko is “to take turns” and ban literally means “to guard” or “to watch,” and the term can be traced back to the bansho [bahn –show] or “check points” manned by samurai warriors on Japan’s major streets and roads during the country’s long shogunate period.
A number of American cities have experimented with koban—San Francisco in particular where they were championed by Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Columbia, South Carolina—but they have been mostly ignored by the country at large.
“The value of the koban in reducing crime and violent behavior in general has been proven beyond any doubt not only in Japan but also in foreign cities that have tested the system,” De Mente says
De Mente, the author of more than fifty books on Japan, notes that the term “police box” is misleading because the majority of the koban in larger Japanese cities and towns are mini-police stations that are manned 24 hours a day by rotating offices, are equipped with communication facilities and computers, and have detailed maps of the streets and buildings in their vicinity.
“Tokyo alone has approximately 1,250 koban, with over 15,000 police officers assigned to them, and there are over 15,600 koban in Japan—whose populated areas combined are the size of a single county in Arizona, New Mexico and other western states,” he adds.
De Mente says that in addition to acting as information kiosks for residents and visitors, Japan’s koban police patrol their neighborhoods, watch over everything going on in their vicinity, report any suspicious situation or behavior, quell street violence, and function as “lost and found” repositories.
“Policemen assigned to koban become intimately familiar with the businesses, employees and residents in their neighborhoods, and in effect serve as their personal security guards,” he says.
Larger koban have small rooms where the officers can take breaks, and small kitchens where they can fix snacks for themselves.
Another aspect of the Japanese koban system De Mente says is worthy of adoption is the practicing of retaining retired policemen as advisors to officers newly assigned to the stations, and to fill in at smaller stations when the officers are out patrolling the neighborhoods.

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Boye Lafayette De Mente is the author of more than 50 books on the business practices, cultures and languages of Japan, Korea, China and Mexico. For a list and description of his titles go to: www.boyedemente.com, and www.Amazon.com.

Author Debuts “Bridging Cultural Barriers” Column

 

Author’s Column “Bridging Cultural Barriers”

Debuts on Thunderbird School’s Online Knowledge Network

Author Boyé Lafayette De Mente, internationally known for his 60-plus books on the business practices, cultures and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, has debuted a weekly column entitled “Bridging Cultural Barriers” on the Knowledge Network website of Glendale, Arizona’s Thunderbird School of Global Management.

     His columns published to date include: The Pitfalls of Logic in Dealing with Foreign Cultures, Asian Art of Face-Reading Goes High-Tech, Finding China’s “Back Doors” to Beat Bureaucracy, Dealing with Japan’s Dynamic Diligence Factor, and Japanese Make Breakthrough in Universal Translation.

     The columns can be seen at http://newsandopinions.thunderbird.edu/columns/category/de-mente-boye-lafayette-bridging-cultural-barriers/

     A 1953 graduate of Thunderbird, De Mente has been involved with Asia and Mexico since the late 1940s—first as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency and then as a student, trade journalist, editor and author. His first book, Japanese Etiquette and Ethics in Business, published in1959 and still in print in its 8th edition, was a pioneer work in the field and was followed by similar books on China, Korea and Mexico.

     In a follow-up series of books De Mente also pioneered the use of “culturally pregnant code words” as shortcuts to understanding and dealing with the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Mexicans.

     Many of the key terms identified and explained in these books, including Japan’s kaizen (kie-zen), or “continuous improvement and China’s guanxi (gwahn-she), or “connections,” have since become a part of the language of international business.

          The Thunderbird Knowledge Network website also features three of his recent books on the personal and business etiquette of China, Korea and Japan. A full list and synopses of his books are available on his home-page BoyeDeMente.com.

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente is a graduate of Jōchi University in Tokyo and Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. He is the author of more than 50 books on the business practices, cultures and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico. For a list and synopses of his books go to: www.boyedemente.com.

 

Fascinating Story of Inns in Japan!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

TOKYO—The mix of modern and traditional lifestyles in Japan is one of the most remarkable facets in the Japan experience—facets that incorporate some of the most sophisticated facilities and amenities in the world today with a lifestyle that is more than a thousand years old…and remains emotionally, intellectually and spiritually fulfilling to an amazing degree.

     There are, in fact, many extraordinary things about Japan that the rest of the world generally knows nothing about.  One of the most interesting of these things is the fact that Japan had the world’s first nationwide network of inns for travelers…a network that appeared virtually overnight in the late 1630s.

     Furthermore, all of the inns in the network— altogether numbering over 6,000 ordinary inns and over 400 luxury inns—were located specific distances apart on all of the major roads in the country, at “post stations” which in effect were small villages or towns…most of them built around the newly constructed inns to provide a variety of other services for travelers.

     This extraordinary phenomenon began in 1635 when the recently established Tokugawa Shogunate government in Edo [Tokyo] decreed that some 250 of the clan lords, whose fiefs were spread around the country, would spend every other year in Edo in attendance at the Shogun’s Court.

    This security measure required that the clan lords maintain residences in Edo; that they keep their wives and children remain in Edo at all times; and that on their semiannual treks to Edo they would be accompanied by a designated number of samurai warriors and attendants, based on the size and wealth of their domains.

     The Maeda lord, the richest of the fief lords, maintained four mansions in Edo with a combined staff of 10,000 people, and on his trips to Edo brought an additional 1,000 warriors and attendants with him.

      These extraordinary troops of lords, clan staff, samurai warriors and personal attendants were known as Daimyo Gyoretsu (die-m’yoh g’yoh-rate-sue), or “Processions of the Lords. The dates of their travel to and from Edo, the routes they took and when and where they stopped overnight were all fixed by the Shogunate.

     When on the road the colorful, coordinated processions had the right of way. Ordinary people on the roads and in the villages and towns they passed through were required to get off of the road and bow down as the processions passed. Anyone failing to abide by these strict rules could be cut down by the lords’ samurai warriors.

     This shogunate mandated system continued for some 240 years [until the1860s], and was a primary factor in the political, social and economic life of the Japanese for all those generations!

     Keeping the inns supplied with staff, food, drink and other items to accommodate the lords and their entourages—plus the hundreds of thousands of other regular travelers [businesspeople, salesmen, sumo wrestlers, entertainers and gamblers] who quickly took advantage of the network of inns, and keeping the inns and post stations in repair, was second only to agricultural in the Japanese economy.

     On just the Tokaido (toe-kie-doh), or “Eastern Sea Road, between Kyoto and Edo, there were 111 honjin (hoan-jeen), or luxury inns for the lords and other high-ranking guests, 68 waki-honjin (wah-kee-hoan-jeen), or semi-luxury inns for the next level of travelers, and 2,905 hatago (hah-tah-go) inns for ordinary travelers.

     A few of these historic inns still exist, and hundreds of others have survived in a succession of reincarnations.

     No one can say they have fully experienced Japan until they have spent several days and nights in a traditionally styled Japanese ryokan (rio-kahn), or inn—especially one in an area that is so scenic it is spellbinding.

    

Copyright © 2008 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente is a graduate of Jōchi University in Tokyo and Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. He is the author of more than 50 books on the business practices, cultures and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, including JAPAN MADE EASY – All You Need to Know to Enjoy Japan! [available from Amazon.com] For a list of all of his books, go to: www.boyedemente.com.

Merging of Man and Machine Takes Giant Step Forward!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

TOKYO—Science fiction is rapidly becoming reality—an incredible phenomenon that is both fascinating and frightening. I have commented before on the remarkable advances Japanese robot scientists have made in “humanizing” their creations. But their latest step in robotics goes well beyond that point.

     Japanese scientists have now created a robot that can read the mind of a monkey that is 10,000 kilometers away on a different continent! That’s right—a monkey…some 7,000 miles from Japan!

     In early 2008 the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International [ATR] in Kyoto, Japan joined with scientists at Duke University in the U.S. in connecting the brain of a monkey with a humanoid robot in the Japanese laboratory. The robot “read the mind” of the monkey and duplicated the monkey’s movements while it was still thinking about moving!

     That’s right! There was no time lag in the movements of the robot. It followed the brain waves of the monkey and began each movement at precisely the same time. When the monkey was told to move and thought about it before starting to move the robot performed the movement first!

     ATR research supervisor Mitsuo Kawato says this new brain-machine interface has already gone beyond monkey-robot and computer experiments, not only making it possible in the near future for people to exercise mind-control over robots but also over a wide variety of other machines, from television sets and computers to household appliances.

     Kawato explains that when people focus their attention or move their bodies discernible changes take place in their brainwaves and in the flow of blood patterns in their brains. This data can be monitored to reveal the intentions of the individuals and translated into commands that can be recognized by computers, robots and other machines.

     He adds that using brain-machine interface technologies that will eliminate the need for human beings to physically operate machines could transform the way people live and work—an understatement to say the least.

     Also in 2008 researchers at Keio University in Tokyo wired a man who had been injured and couldn’t move his arms or legs to a computer. With several hours of training, the man was able to operate programs on the computer by thought-control alone!

      Similar research is also taking place at several other universities in the U.S., where the process is known as Brain Computer Interface [BCI], with equally remarkable results.

     Keio’s Junichi Ushiba and his colleagues have also developed a way for people to project their minds into a virtual world “seeing” themselves and experiencing the feelings of flying, mountain-climbing, etc., just by thinking about these actions.

     Ushiba says that by extracting information from higher order brain activity it is possible to literally read a person’s mind—to actually see what they are thinking about.  This amazing breakthrough obviously relates to the holographic programs featured on Star Trek, where members of the crew of the star ship Enterprise can enter the programs and interact with the characters in them.

     In the United States, high-tech company Linden Lab is a leader in creating virtual worlds that on the order of the Enterprise’s holodeck programs.

     Based in San Francisco, Linden Lab is the creator of Second Life and the virtual world platform Second Life Grid, technology used in creating virtual worlds. Second Life allows a person to experience life in a virtual world.

     The opportunities offered by this technology are simply mindboggling—and I predict that sexual fantasies will soon replace violence and other action programs as the most popular simulations.

 

Copyright © 2008 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente is a graduate of Jōchi University in Tokyo and Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. He is the author of more than 50 books on the business practices, cultures and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, including WHY MEXICANS THINK AND BEHAVE THE WAY THEY DO—The Cultural Programming that Created the Character and Personality of Mexicans [available from Amazon.com]. See: www.boyedemente.com.

The Importance of Dealing with Japan’s Dynamic Diligence Factor!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

 TOKYO—In 1953 as a fledgling journalist in Tokyo I went to the dean of foreign correspondents in Japan [the Far Eastern Bureau Chief for a major London newspaper] and asked him if he thought it would be a good idea for me to stay in Japan—if there would be opportunities for me to build a worthwhile career, or if I should go home.

     His instant response was: “Japan is never going to amount to anything! Go home!”

     Just ten years later Japan was already on the verge of becoming the second largest economy in the world…and fortunately, I had not taken the famous correspondent’s advice.

  

     There are several reasons why Japan was able to recover so rapidly from the destruction of World War II. Two of these reasons are especially outstanding. First was the hundreds of millions of dollars pumped into the Japanese economy by the Allied Forces during the Occupation of the country from September 1945 to the spring of1952. And second was the fact that the United States bought hundreds of millions of dollars worth of supplies from Japan during the Korean War [1950-1953].

  

     An obvious third factor in why Japan was able to become an economic superpower by 1970 was the fact that from 1948 on Japanese manufacturers [that had sprouted up like weeds following the end of WW II] were inundated by American importers who began flocking into the country by the thousands seeking consumer goods of all kinds at cheaper prices, giving this mass of new Japanese companies total access to the American market. [By the mid-1950s Sears had 65 buyers permanently stationed in Tokyo alone.]

  

     But undergirding all of the effort that went into the creation of the world’s most efficient export industry were a litany of national characteristics that made the Japanese both unique and formidable competitors.

  

     One of the most important of these deeply ingrained cultural characteristics is subsumed in the word monozukuri (moe-no-zoo-kuu-ree)…a word that is so new it does not appear in most [if any!] dictionaries of Japanese words.

  

     The applied meaning of monozukuri evolved from the meanings of its parts, including original thinking, the application of extraordinary efforts to achieve goals, craftsmanship, and diligence—all of which have traditionally been readily discernable in the character of the Japanese.

  

     While all of these traits have made vital contributions to the economic success of the Japanese the one that is the most visible—at least to foreigners—is their built-in diligence.

  

     For me, this remarkable trait was underscored in the 1970s when I was at a New York hotel for a business meeting that included a number of Japanese managers. I came down to the hotel restaurant before 6 a.m. for an early breakfast and found myself standing in line behind the Japanese.

  

     I commented in Japanese to the man next to me that he and his co-workers were starting the day early. He replied with great emphasis and without smiling: Kimben na Nihonjin desu kara! [“Because we are diligent Japanese!”]

  

     The level of diligence in Japan is far higher than in most countries, and it expresses itself in everything they do…from the finish and the packaging of the products they make to the meticulous attention they pay to forging and maintaining their business contacts.

  

     Many of the failures of American companies and U.S.-made products in Japan have been because they did not live up to the diligence standards of the Japanese.

  

Monozukuri is a concept that must be taken to heart by any company wanting to succeed in the Japanese market.

 

Copyright © 2008 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente is a graduate of Jōchi University in Tokyo and Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. He is the author of more than 50 books on the business practices, cultures and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, including WHY MEXICANS THINK AND BEHAVE THE WAY THEY DO—The Cultural Programming that Created the Character and Personality of Mexicans [available from Amazon.com] Learn more at www.boyedemente.com.

 

Finding China’s “Back Doors” Key to Business and Political Success!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

BEIJING—In China where personal connections play a paramount role in all relationships—business, personal and political—the typical Western way of doing things is often ineffective, and may be considered both arrogant and rude.

   Historically ordinary Chinese had no inalienable rights to protect them from those in power. Bureaucracy was universal and honed to perfection, and expecting something simply because it was “right” and you should get it, and especially “demanding” something or some action, would virtually always result in doors being slammed in your face—or far more serious results.

   This situation resulted in the Chinese, including government officials, having to develop a variety of strategies and tactics to get things done—ways that were unofficial but were a key part of the system—like authorities allowing a black market to function because it provided them with advantages of one kind or another, including keeping the level of frustration in the population below the point of eruption.

     After the Communist Party came to power in China in 1949 and instituted a number of democratic principles and polices—including giving women the right to vote—the policy of both allowing and promoting unofficial processes remained virtually unchanged, both because it was so deeply embedded in the culture and because it continued to serve the interests of the government.

     The most common of these unofficial practices was using the hou men (hoe-uu mane) or “back door”—that is, contacting and making deals with people behind-the-scenes, in private settings, making them fait accompli on the QT.

     Despite political reforms and cultural changes that have made life in China far more open, rational and practical, the use of hou men remains a vital part of the conduct of business, national politics and international relationships.

     When there is a “back door” most Chinese will automatically take it—and if there isn’t one they will generally attempt to make one, because that is almost always the fastest and most efficient way of getting official as well as unofficial things done.

     In simple terms, these “back doors” are people who can get things done because of their power positions or because they can call on their personal relationships with others to bypass bureaucracy, official policies and often laws as well.

     Obviously, this aspect of personal as well public behavior is a factor in all cultures, but in China the hou men element functions as an integral part of business and politics, without which the official social, economic and political systems would not work well enough to sustain themselves.

     Until foreigners who are newly arrived in China learn about the existence of hou men and develop skill in making and using them their chances of success are slim.

     In fact, it pays to start building “back door” connections before you set foot in China—developing contacts and getting introductions through the overseas offices of Chinese companies, chambers of commerce, banks, cultural organizations, university professors, such clubs as Kiwanis, and so on.

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Copyright © 2008 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente is a graduate of Jōchi University in Tokyo and Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. He is the author of more than 50 books on the business practices, cultures and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, including ETIQUETTE GUIDE TO KOREA—Know the Rules that Make the Difference. Learn more at www.boyedemente.com.

Japanese Scientists Make Break-Thru in Universal Translation!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

TOKYO—Throughout history languages have separated human beings into exclusive groups, making communication difficult or impossible, exacerbating their cultural differences and contributing to wars and other kinds of violence.

    The primary reason for this linguistic plague is the fact that languages are the reservoir, the transmitter, and the controller of cultures, so people who speak different languages have problems because they think and behave in different ways.

     When working as a trade journalist in Asia in the 1950s and 60s I learned that the cultures of China, Korea and Japan were bound up in hundreds of key words in each of the three languages, and that you simply could not understand their respective ways of thinking and behaving without intimate knowledge of these key words—a fact that I subsequently used in a series of “cultural code word” books on these countries.

      But technology is on the verge of eliminating some of the linguistic barriers that separate human beings—and much sooner than you might think.

    Most of the world is familiar with the “universal language” devices used by the fictional Capt. James T. Kirk and the intrepid crew of Star Trek to communicate with the various life-forms they encountered during their travels around the galaxies.

     Now, reality is rapidly catching up with fiction. Japan’s Council for Science and Technology Policy [CSTP] has challenged the country’s automated speech translation researchers to improve the present technology in the next five years to the point that automated translators will be a reality for Japanese who want to communicate with English and Mandarin speakers.

     Prototypes of these translators have already been field-tested in China, and the word is that they worked perfectly as long as the conversations were simple. The process is based on storing hundreds of thousands of sentences and speech patterns into the devices that have exact equivalents in the target languages.

     The goal of the CSTP is to have universal translators on the market for all of the world’s major languages within ten years!

     The impact that this will have on the world is so potentially profound and broad that over a period of a few generations it will surely change the nature of human cultures.

     This revolutionary change in the ability of human beings to communicate with each other across language barriers will inevitably increase the volume of conversations in formal business and diplomatic encounters, since every word that is pregnant with cultural nuances and uses will have to be explained in detail to make the communication complete.

      To fully explain the cultural content and role of the Spanish term macho (mah-choh), for example, requires several hundred words.  To fully explain the Japanese term kaizen (kigh-zen), or “continuous improvement,” requires as many as a thousand words or more (there is a whole book on the subject).

     But, as helpful as universal translators will be their appearance is not going to eliminate the need for people who know both the languages and the cultures of their foreign partners and competitors.

     There is simply too much subtlety, too much individual variation in human feelings and needs, for a technical device to deal effectively with all of the situations human beings get involved in.

 

 ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Copyright © 2008 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente is a graduate of Jōchi University in Tokyo and Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. He is the author of more than 50 books on the business practices, cultures and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, including ETIQUETTE GUIDE TO JAPAN—Know the Rules that Make the Difference. Learn more at www.boyedemente.com.

The Pitfalls of Logic in Dealing with Foreign Cultures!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

Americans endeavoring to negotiate business and political deals abroad often face a barrier that is so subtle, so unexpected, that they do not know how to deal with it.

     They typically spend an inordinate amount of time and energy in an effort to explain their goals and methods and get their foreign counterparts to understand and accept them, with little or no success.

    On these occasions the automatic response of most Americans is to assume that their counterparts don’t really understand the points they are making, and begin repeating themselves.  In these repeated efforts some talk a little louder; others assume it is a language problem and attempt to break their presentations down into simpler terms. Many end up watering down their original objectives in order to get a deal.

     While the degree of the impasse and the level of frustration that develops in typical Americans various with how internationalized or Americanized their foreign counterparts have become there is almost always resistance on some level that the American side cannot fathom or readily accept.

     This situation arises from the fact that American businesspeople and diplomats pride themselves on being fact-oriented and logical in their thinking, and their presentations and negotiations are reflections of this deeply embedded mindset.

     In Asian, Hispanic and some other societies it is generally not hard facts and unadulterated logic that carry the day. It is human relations and feelings—which in the American mindset can be both irrational and shortsighted.

     For the most part, Asians, Hispanics and others are motivated by a variety of cultural obligations that must be met before they can whole heartedly accept and pursue projects presented to them.

     In fact, it is not too much of a stretch to say that Asians and Hispanics are allergic to pure American style logic. Those who do accept propositions and responsibilities that they do not like do so by rationalizing that it is better to have a bad bargain [from their viewpoint] than no bargain.

    And generally, especially in Asia, there is the unspoken intent to take advantage of foreign relationships and technology by gradually subverting them to conform to their own views and needs.

     It is therefore imperative that Americans and others who are driven by their own facts and logic to make a serious effort to discover how and why their potential partners think and behave the way they do.

    In other words, liuoji (luu-oh-jee) is Chinese logic; ronri (rone-ree) is Japanese logic; nolli (nohl-lee) is Korean logic, and so on, and they are defined by the cultures in which they developed—not the American definition of the term.

 

Copyright © 2008 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente is a graduate of Jōchi University in Tokyo and Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. He is the author of more than 50 books on the business practices, cultures and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, including ETIQUETTE GUIDE TO CHINA—Know the Rules that Make the Difference. Learn more at www.boyedemente.com.

Cultural Ways of Pleasuring in the Brevity of Life!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

TOKYO—One of the most memorable afternoons I have spent in Japan was in a traditional ryokan (rio-kahn), or inn, situated on the slope of a gorge on picturesque Izu Peninsula southwest of Tokyo.

 

     It was a Sunday afternoon. I was alone, and it was raining—not a heavy rain but a light, steady rain that was close to being a mist. I was sitting on the balcony of my room, looking out over the gorge, waiting for a friend to arrive.

 

     As I sat there I began to experience what the Japanese call mono no aware (moe-no no ah-wah-ray)—a Buddhist concept that includes being very conscious of the ephemeral nature of man, his struggle in the face of great odds and the inevitability of his downfall and disappearance.

 

     This aspect of Japan’s culture, developed between 700 and 1200 A.D. was based on the acute recognition of the impermanence of all things—an element that later was enhanced by the code of the samurai which required them to be ready to give up their lives at a moment’s notice—resulting in their lives being compared to cherry blossoms…beautiful but fragile to the extreme and subject to being wafted away by the slightest breeze.

 

     This culture of impermanence was especially reflected in the haiku and tanka poetry of the era, as well as in the such great literary works as Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji), a novel about the intrigues and loves of an imperial prince (usually regarded as the world’s first novel) written in the early 11th century by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady in the Imperial Court in Kyoto; and Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike), compiled by a blind monk named Kakuichi in 1371.

 

     The opening lines of Heike Monogatari, which depicts an epic struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for the control of Japan in the 12th century, say more about the human condition than many philosophical tomes:

 

     “The sound of the Gion Shôja [temple] bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sâla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last; they are as dust before the wind.”

 

     The culture of Japan reflected this theme in many ways, resulting in the Japanese developing an extensive vocabulary that expressed this inherent sadness of life.

 

While mono no aware means something like “indulging one’s self in grief,” neither this phrase nor any of the other key words were actually used in sad situations. Instead they referred to a gentle melancholy view of the fragility and preciousness of life that included an element of subdued pleasure.

 

     The annual custom of celebrating the short life of cherry blossoms is the largest of Japan’s the mono no aware rituals. It reminds them to take the time and find ways enjoy life while you can because it will soon be gone.

 

     My spending a quiet afternoon entranced by the natural beauty of the setting as it was being cleansed and renewed by rain was another of the mono no aware practices that are dear to the hearts of the Japanese. Still another way is to engage in “forest bathing”—spending time in an isolated forest, letting the sights, sounds and vibrations of the trees wash over you.

 

     There is also an element of mono no aware in most of Japan’s classic art and craft designs, from kitchen utensils to the kimono wore by older men and women. The famous Tea Ceremony is a pure mono no aware ritual.

 

     Knowledge of this cultural element makes it possible for one to appreciate more fully the distinctive essence of things Japanese—the elements that make them Japanese.

 

     And this factor is one of the unspoken and generally un-described things that makes the traditional aspects of life in Japan so sensually, intellectually, and spiritually attractive to everyone, including foreigners who are sensitive to the realities of life, including its brevity.

 

Copyright © 2008 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente is the author of more than 50 pioneer business, cultural and languages books on China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, including WHY MEXICANS THINK AND BEHAVE THE WAY THEY DO – The Cultural Programming that Created the Character and Personality of Mexicans [available from Amazon.com]  To see a list and synopses of his books go to:

 www.boyedemente.com.

 

High-Tech Advances Turn Toilets into Suites Fit for Kings & Queens!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

TOKYO—An aspect of Japan that continues to impress and amaze visitors is the high-tech evolution of the toilet—or “restroom” in more genteel terms—from a hole or slit in the floor to stylish high-tech suites that, to use an old phrase, are fit for a king or queen.

     Beginning around 2006 new office buildings, department stores and even roadside rest-stop facilities and private schools began to feature upscale toilets that are the epitome of both high-tech and high-design, so much so that many of them actually attract visitors who don’t have “to go”….who just want to see and marvel at them.

     Among the most conspicuous example of these new restroom suites are those on the different floors of the rebuilt Daimaru Department Store, adjoining Tokyo Central Station on the east side.

     Each of the basement floors as well as all of the 12 stories above ground of the famous landmark department store have restroom suites that are designed to “fit” or “suit” the products and services sold on that floor—ranging from foodstuffs on the first basement level to “Restaurant Row” on the 12th floor.

     Men using urinals in the restroom suite on this floor have spectacular panoramic views of the surrounding area. The women’s restroom could be compared to a presidential suite.

    These new lavatories are not just “smart” in their use of high-tech, they are also designed to be “green” in their use of energy and the overall impact they have on the environment. This includes using natural lighting with electric lights that go on, automatically, only after the natural light begins to fade in the evenings.

    A highway rest-stop facility for women maintained by Metropolitan Express Company in Kawaguchi north of Tokyo looks like something you would find in a ritziest hotel, and is outfitted with a deodorization system as well as a system that emits aromatherapy oil.

     Said a spokesperson for Metropolitan Express Company:  “Restrooms that help tired drivers relax and renew themselves just make good sense”—a rationale that is, of course, perfectly rational, but is something that one generally finds only in Japan.

      The movement in Japan to rethink and redesign restrooms is rapidly becoming a standard among Japan’s managers who see it as yet another way to raise the corporate image of their companies while contributing to the greening of the country.

     Not surprisingly, this movement has given birth to a growing number of firms that specialize in designing toilets. One of the most prominent of these firms is Gondola Architects, which designed the restrooms of Daimaru Department Store. Another prominent toilet designer is Yasui Architects & Engineers Inc.

     This phenomenon, which is apparently unique to Japan, is a clear manifestation of Japanese culture—not just a commercial ploy to burnish the image of companies.

    The Japanese are culturally imbued with both the desire and the need to design and create things that incorporate the concepts of elegance and beauty as well as function—elements that are characteristic of all of their traditional arts and crafts.

     This national trait is, of course, one of the primary reasons why the Japanese have been so successful in designing and manufacturing such a large variety of consumer products that have become worldwide bestsellers—a design influence that has had a fundamental impact on product designers around the world.

     There are, in fact, over 50 key principles of traditional Japanese designs that I have identified and explained in my book, ELEMENTS OF JAPANESE DESIGN—Key Terms for Understanding & Using Japan’s Classic Wabi-Sabi-Shibui Concepts.

     These design elements constitute the whole framework of Japan’s traditional culture, from the principle of wa (wah), or harmony, to the philosophy of Zen—which teaches one to recognize the difference between illusion and reality.

     So the next time you are in Tokyo and have occasion to visit a high-end (no pun intended!) toilet in Daimaru, the NEC Tamagawa Renaissance City or NEC’ss new headquarters building in Tokyo’s Minato War, the Kinrankai Girl’s School in Osaka, or any of dozens of other new buildings throughout the country be aware that they are not just gimmicks. They are reflections of Japanese culture.

 

Copyright © 2008 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente is the author of more than 50 pioneer business, cultural and languages books on China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, including WHY MEXICANS THINK AND BEHAVE THE WAY THEY DO – The Cultural Programming that Created the Character and Personality of Mexicans [available from Amazon.com]  To see a list and synopses of his books go to:

 www.boyedemente.com.