Law 038; Order

And life became ordered, measured and formal again. Sometimes, I figured, Japan would be, sort of, more wobbly without all this order, the formality and the hushed, courteous tones people speak in.

Talking of speaking, my trip was mostly full of gesticulations, since most Japanese don8217;t speak a whit of English. And this is despite a government-sponsored influx of teachers of Anglo-Saxon origin. Gesticulation was all fine, but their pronunciation had me on the wrong foot more than once. Like with Hiro, our guide, who once told me: 8220;We have erections only once in four years.8221;

My sympathies were with the Japanese women through and through, until the actual truth hit me when another guide kept pronouncing 8216;river8217; as 8216;liver8217;.

Or there was this another embarrassing incident when my guide misunderstood my queries about live bands and nearly took me into a place which had live sex shows!

But language barriers didn8217;t prevent me from exploring the place thoroughly, or to be more precise, the hang-outs and the public places. Like this sashimi bar in Shibuya, a famous Tokyo youth district full of neon blazes.

While the atmosphere around me was electric, sashimi cuisine8212;slivers of raw tuna, octopus, and other fish on cubes of sticky, gooey rice8212;had to be ingested with loads of seasoning and sauce.

But I had no such problems with sake, the Japanese rice wine, which I sampled at the Izakaya or Japanese-style pubs. After leaving your shoes outside the room, you sit cross-legged on cushions spread out on the tatami reed mat flooring. And guzzle down as much of it as possible, since they don8217;t let you get much out of the country.

Having heard that a Japanese stay is incomplete without sampling the delights of the Japanese spa8212;the traditional same sex hot springs bathing pool, I decided to try and find one.

When our hotel in picturesque Osaka offered this therapeutic facility for its guests, my friend Rema Nagarajan and I decided to drop our clothes. First into a pool with scalding hot water and then, after some time, into a pool outside filled with cooler water, with bamboo groves surrounding it. The effect, needless to say, was rejuvenating.

My one-month stay saw me travel on work a fair bit8212;about six cities, from Nara to Tokyo to Asakusa8212;and also included sight-seeing no doubt, and of all the palaces, shines and parks, the Shirakawa-go appealed the most.

Shirakawa-go is this legendary 1,000-year old village with old thatched roof houses and Buddhist shrines that have been preserved in near-pristine condition. Apparently, when Osaka was being bombed during WW II, the Japanese used to send little children to take shelter there. In spite of the devastation all around, nothing ever happened to Shirakawa-go. And the calm pervading the place makes you believe it all happened without ever doubting it for a second.

It is this co-mingling of near blind faith and the latest technological advances that is puzzling about Japan, more than with any other country. They seem to take everything in their stride. There8217;s this city called Odaiba, a reputed youth hot spot, where a prominently displayed Statue of Liberty hits you in the face.

But it is only foreigners like me who see it as a paradox. For the average Japanese, acceptance of American goods and lifestyle is now a way of life.

Just like earthquakes.