Shall We Dance?

As the vacation portion of my trip to Japan ended, I found myself lost in transition. After getting a little oriented to Tokyo, I needed to shift into business mode. I started worrying again about proper protocol and whether I would end up offending my hosts, who easily lived up to the legendary reputation for Japanese hospitality.

I visited another city, Kanazawa, which affirmed my impression that Tokyo is only one view--albeit a prominent one--of Japan. Kanazawa and Kyoto are apparently the most popular tourist destinations for the Japanese. I was told that one of the reasons is that neither city was bombed during World War II. I suppose Japanese history and culture might be more well preserved in these cities. What must it be like to realize that entire cities disappeared?

Kanazawa was definitely different than Tokyo, given its agricultural base and industrial presence. I saw a truck driver who looked like a character out of the movie Tampopo. I saw large swaths of land devoted to various crops, but I did not see a single sign of livestock. I had the pleasure of visiting Kenrokuen Garden and a couple of (restored) samurai homes. As the days moved on, my appreciation for Japanese attention to detail, balance, and presentation grew. I enjoyed meals that appealed to every one of my senses. I was overwhelmed by the way in which a garden was seamlessly integrated into one of the samurai homes. It seemed perfectly natural that a tree had grown through the roof. Even though there was plenty of noise nearly, the trickling stream eventually became the only sound I could hear. The balance between private/public and indoor/outdoor is something I had never fully appreciated about Japanese architecture and design. When I returned to Tokyo, I noted that even in the midst of the most dense urban jungle, there are attempts to fold in green spaces, even on building roofs and sometimes within buildings. This reflective aspect of Japanese culture was captured in one of my favorite movies Afterlife.

Another one of my favorite movies is Shall We Dance? At our farewell dinner, I was asked to offer a few words for a toast. I offered the following: "When asked about this visit, I described it as a dance. When a group begins a dance, there is awkwardness and nervousness as people get to know each other. But as the evening goes on, if all goes well, eventually everyone moves as one. Thank you for inviting me to this dance, and I look forward to the next time we dance."