For many Saudis, Japan remains an enigma. It is known to them only as an industrial giant that produces the best technology in the world. Little do they know that behind that is a culture and civilization that most non-Japanese never see or experience. Even though my trip to Japan has given me a better understanding of its people, it has, at the same time, left me confused about its social system and culture. I have also realized that Japan could one day become a Western cultural colony. It took so much, virtually without filtering, from the West after World War II. Many customs and traditions that had been Japanese for thousands of years were dissolved — or at least were diluted — by the Western ways that were adopted. I am speaking of things such as:
1. Respect of young for old.
2. Respect of students for teachers.
3. Respect of wives for husbands.
One of the Japanese lecturers who gave us a lecture on “Japanese culture and Japanese Attitude to Foreigners” said that in the past, students respected him as a teacher so much that they would never walk ahead of him. Now, he said, “Sometimes they step on my feet as they rush ahead of me and never even apologize.” He added, “They even use strong language in class when they talk to me.”
After Japan’s defeat by the United States in World War II which followed the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan’s surrender, the Japanese people lost all faith in what they believed was “country”. They also lost faith in the “we” conscience. They had put all their manpower, faith and everything they believed into their country and in the end when they were summoned to war, their country let them down. As a result, people lost faith in their beliefs and because of that lost faith, a number of things have changed in Japanese culture and society.
In general, I found that some of the good points of Japanese culture are: flexibility, diligence, quickness to adopt to new things and hospitality. The negative points are: they have no philosophy in life, they are not so good at dealing with foreigners, and their culture and social system is complex.
As I was talking to some Japanese youth about their generation and the difficulties they are facing, I learned that they faced problems similar to that of Saudis. A clash with the older generation in terms of ideas and the problems of unemployment are two good examples.
Following are some things from the personal journal that I kept while I was in Japan.
July 11, 2001: We’re on our way to the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) center in Osaka. The scenery is breathtaking. I still can’t forget what we saw when we landed in Osaka. We actually landed on a man-made island built exclusively for use as an airport. The runway was 3 km long and the airport was surrounded by the sea. From the plane it looked like we were landing on one of the aircraft carriers in the Gulf!
After passengers arrive, a train takes them from one section of the airport to the section where luggage is collected, passports are checked and immigration is completed. I “wowed” at least a dozen times while on the train — not that I haven’t been on a train before but the idea of a train in the airport as means of transportation is remarkable! We didn’t even leave the building.
When I claimed my luggage and walked to the line for my passport to be stamped, I saw what was unusual for a Saudi: A woman checking and stamping passports and another woman checking the luggage. I remember how I laughed when one of the people traveling with me said that the passport clerk had told him, “The last time I saw a hand-written passport was in 1981” — 20 years ago!
July 12, 2001: Today was the opening ceremony of the “Youth Invitation Program” for this year. There were participants from four countries: Laos, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Vietnam. This was the first time in 20 years since the program began that JICA had chosen participants from the mass media. If all went well, they plan to do so again in the future.
The ceremony was impressive. Ambassadors — except the one from the Kingdom — were present as was the JICA president, a representative from the Japanese Foreign Ministry and staff from JOCA (Japan Overseas Cooperation Agency).
Despite the importance of the opening ceremony, I am sorry to say that we Saudis had to show the whole world how disrespectful and careless we are! Even though we had been told clearly by JICA coordinators a day earlier about the place and time — 1:30 p.m. — for the meeting, we still could not manage to show up together on time. At 1:25 p.m., just five minutes before the opening address, I looked around the hall. All the participants from other countries were in their chairs in rows — except for the Saudis who were not all there. The ambassadors and VIPs were seated facing us; however, a third of us Saudis failed to show up on time and it was very embarrassing. One of the Japanese coordinators kept asking me, “Where are your colleagues?” I was very ashamed; I could see how nervous and tense the coordinators were. It was obvious they were not used to dealing with such behavior and had not had to do so in the past. We looked even worse when, after the opening speech was in progress, the absent Saudis began to trickle in. I cannot describe the looks the Saudis received. These are Saudi mediapersons. People who are supposed to be ambassadors of their country and responsible in everyway.
Well, for our Japanese coordinators, I guess they had to learn the hard way that we Saudis have no respect whatsoever for appointments — let alone time! Laymen or mediapersons, it makes no difference.
On the personal side, something unexpected happened as I was sitting in a front row seat for our group. Sitting adjacent to me on my left was a woman from Laos; their seats were next to ours. She took a good look at the group and then turned to me and asked, “Aren’t there any women journalists in your country?” I froze for a second. That was a very good question. The 18 Saudi mediapersons in the group were all men; not a single woman had come along. I had to think quickly to come up with a clever and quick answer. Luckily I had read that JICA had sponsored some Saudi female nurses for a training course in Japan a few weeks before our arrival. So I mentioned that. Even then I could sense that she was not satisfied with my answer. I’m sure she didn’t want to hear the long version of the answer — that Arab News is probably the only Saudi newspaper with female journalists working as editors and reporters. And that all other Saudi newspapers only hire women as freelancers and their articles are faxed to the papers. Did she really want to hear that Saudi women can work only in the medical and teaching fields and that they are still fighting for their rights in society? Or that a lot of Saudi men still believe that the role of women does not go beyond breeding and raising children even in the age of cyberspace and globalization?
I’m sure if I had told her that she would have asked more questions.
The bottom line is that no matter how I tell it, things looked bad. And if I were not a Saudi and had looked at our group for the first time, I would have asked the same question.
July 14, 2001: I have always wanted to know what it would be like to use the underground for transportation. And Japan is as good a place as anywhere else to do that.
Though I spent my childhood in the US, I never got the chance to visit large cities such as New York or Los Angeles where I could experience the subway. I found out that the underground in Japan consists of a subway and a railway system — a city under a city as I would put it.
My new friend from Saudi Gazette, Hassan Hatrash, and I were on our way to Universal Studios. The thrill of experiencing something new and at the same time going from one area to another for the first time in Japan was both exciting and scary. One thing any visitor to Japan will quickly learn is that Japanese — though they study English from junior high school — do not speak English at all. So our English was useless in Japan. However, three things I saw in the underground railway continue to amaze me.
1. Unlike the subways in major cities in the US, there was no graffiti in Japan. With the majority of people in such densely-populated cities as Osaka and Tokyo using the subway or railway for transportation, everything was organized and clean. For a facility used by hundreds of thousands of people daily, that such a huge number do not litter is something we Saudis are not used to. Not a single empty soda can thrown on the ground, not one piece of paper.
2. It’s obvious how much attention the Japanese give to the handicapped. Even the ticket machines have dots next to the buttons so that the blind will know the fare for each ride and use the right coins.
3. There were no officers or any other law enforcement official on the subway — except for one officer in a booth whose job was providing assistance to anyone stranded or wanting to change his route after he has already paid for his ticket.
It’s amazing to see these people queue to wait for the train without anyone forcing them to. They do it in the simplest, quietest and most natural way — so much so that even Brits, those masters of queuing would stand and marvel. How can such an enormous number of people organize themselves so peacefully without anyone forcing them to? Truly amazing.
People have also said — and I am saying it again — we Saudis will not prosper unless we read. The Egyptian lecturer who gave us some Japanese lessons in Riyadh was right. Most Japanese read in the subway instead of talking. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes. After getting into the railway or subway, most Japanese take out a newspaper, a book, or even a comic book and read until it is time for them to get off. As for the younger generation, I’ve noticed that if they’re not reading a comic book, they’re sitting quietly sending messages on their mobiles. No laughter, no commotion, no noise. Just the sound of the train racing along the tracks. I’m not used to so much quiet. Is it because where I come from people talk too much or is it that the Japanese are quiet people? Hmm... I’ll find out soon enough.
