Saturday, November 13, 2010

Travel Diary - Day 2 & 3

We went to Asakusa Kanon temple in the morning. Temples here are anamalgam of Buddhist and Shinto faiths. Shintoism worships nature andits various elements. For example, Mount Fujiyama or 'Fuji San' as itis referred to, is worshipped as a God. Buddhism which came via Chinalater on was accepted as a more evolved religion but without giving upon Shintoism. Sort of best of both the worlds. The Japanese were verymuch under awe of the Chinese in earlier times. Their occupation ofManchuria appears to me to be a sort of delayed reaction to asuppressed inferiority complex. One great thing about the Japanese istheir quick recovery from setbacks and acceptance of reality.They havean enviable knack of converting threats into opportunities.
Another thing that impresses immediately is the spotless cleanlinessof roads, footpaths, buildings, public places and so on. This is aningrained characteristic of every individual. Nobody forces them to doanything but they do the right thing every time without exception.Rule of law is embedded in their brains and workaholism, a religion.
After the Meiji restoration they adopted westernization in a big wayand to make up for the lost time under the warlords, (known asShoguns), workaholism was adopted. Even though they are much moreadvanced than the West in many speres of life now, this culturecontinues. After seeing the Japanese at work as well as play, Mybeleif that it is the collective characteristics of the people thatdetermine how they will govern themselves, how they will develop,prosper or take to terrorism and negativism, is further reinforced.Whether it was the Emperor's rule or General MacArthur's hegemony,development went on unabated. To a lesser extent, we dispensation of Narendra Modi,progress has been unabated. The only difference that rulership makesis the extent to which it facilitates the fulfillment of the naturalurges of the people. Some Gujaratis alsohave this trait. That is why under indigenous outdatedmonarchy/feudalism or under the British or under the sham socialism ofNehru-Gandhi kind or under the present are better at it, some are worse while someare proactive and give a further fillip to the people.
Next, we went to a large mall. I had made purchases at the shoppingrow in the temple itself. Hence, all that i did was window shoppinghere. Next, we went for lunch at an Indian restaurant. After lunch wewent to the Toyota Museum. Here, the Universal design studio impressedme. The concept is that every product should be so designed thateveryone including the handicapped or the gadget unfriendly peoplelike me can use it. We saw a robot blowing a trumpet on voice commandsfrom a girl demonstrating the robot. I asked whether her husband toofollowed her voice commands. She said that she wished he did so alwaysbut the product is under constant modification and will, with age,become near perfect!
Then, we went to a theatre sort of place where we saw a formula onekind of race on the screen. What was exhilirating was that we got thesame thrills that the drivers were getting. Our seats were rattling,getting raised, tilting and so on as if we are riding the racing cars.It once again brought out the child in me, with all the fears,exhiliration and a ffeling at the end as if I had committed a greatact of bravery,despite knowing that it was all a make believe. Then I'drove' a vehicle as one does in a video game but the seat , steeringwheel, brake and accelerator were all there.
In the evening again we went to an Indian restaurant before turningback to the hotel. Next morning, we went by bus to Otemba park wherethere is a Buddhist Pagoda, then to Lake Hakone where we had a packedlunch. From there on to the railway station Mishima for the first ofour rides by a Bullet train. When one stands on the platform and onesees it sizzling past, one is scared at the incredible speed withwhich it zooms past. From Mishima, we went to Shin Osaka. Shin meansnew. We got in at 3-48 P.M. and covered nearly 450 km in 2 hours and15 minutes. We had half an hour's wait at Shin Osaka and then got atrain to Hiroshima, this time, covering 337km in one and half hours.There were fewer stops this time. Had dinner at an Indian restaurantand checked in to a hotel for the night.
Pappa

No comments:

Post a Comment