Thinking Allowed: Arigato

And our month in Japan is over. Tova did her utmost to convince us we should stay in Japan forever. Her great love of Japan was both understandable and surprising. She is a rambunctious, lively, non-conforming child - all things that are in contrast to Japanese culture - and yet she adored all of it. Though she wrote us letters and threatened us with creative threats to get us to stay longer, we left anyhow. Now all the kids want to go back. Our last week in Japan was lots of fun. We had a one week Japan rail pass and made decent use of it. We visited friend and family. Nara was just as peaceful and full of deer as the first time, Naoshima was rugged and island and gave me my yearly fix of art culture, we glimpsed the attractive bulk that is Mount Fuji from the train, we formed close bonds with bullet trains, we bathed in wine, coffee, sake, green tea, and chocolate and wandered amongst impressive sculptures in Hakone, we ate ramen in the chaotic central Tokyo station, had a full-bodied digital art experience, saw kabuki, and wandered gardens in Tokyo. Some parting impressions:

1. Strawberries are the rulers of all fruit. There is a country wide obsession with the red amalgamated gems and they figure into most forms of indulgence and luxury. Though we couldn't bring ourselves to spend two digits on a single piece of fruit we were tantalized numerous times by oddly large plump strawberries lying cocooned in a bed of padding.

2. Garbage in Japan in confusing. There aren't really public garbages as you are meant to take responsibility for your own rubbish and bring it home with you. And yet everything is wrapped in three layers of plastic and put in a plastic bag so a lot of garbage is produced. Everything is either combustible or non-combustible. It seems to work great as Japan is a very clean country.

3. Where are all the cars? We couldn't get over how few cars there were on the road given the size of the cities we were in . Especially Osaka. The roads were always eerily empty with an occasional car passing by. Most families had bicycles fitted with numerous child seats. We thought long and hard about what laws or social reasons decreased the number of car owners and users so drastically. Regardless, we can say that cities are much more peaceful places to be with less cars.

4. It is taboo to eat while you walk. This was surprisingly difficult for us and I didn't realize how much we rely on eating/snacking on the go. But having done this for a month I think it is a very healthy practice. It basically means you don't snack and when you do eat it is to sit down to proper healthier food. It also means you appreciate and enjoy your meal more. It is also part of the reason why the streets and sidewalks are so clean. I think this could be a good step in the worldwide effort towards decreasing obesity and heart disease.

5. Showing respect. I think I partly enjoyed going to buy groceries because the person at the check out counter made me feel so great. As she rung up my items she would rattle off a string of words in a cheery voice with twinkling eyes and would bow every 10 seconds. This was all while she was repacking my basket for me so perfectly and precisely that I felt envious of her skill and a bit bad that 10 seconds later I would have to remove it all again. Bowing as a greeting in general is superior to waving. It is an action that requires more thought and you have to stop what you are doing and dedicate your whole body to greeting the recipient. I think this underlying respect for people and nature and objects is something that our family, and other countries, could benefit from.

6. Japan is a very spiritual country. Even in the heart of each city there are shrines everywhere that people use regularly. Kyoto had so many temples and shrines that at one point Aurora decided that the temples might become more meaningful if there were a fifth as many. On top of all of this there is a certain amount of spirituality in nature - gardens arranged just so to bring internal peace, rocks incorporated into artwork, mountains that are sacred. Although there were many rules, spoken and unspoken, they did not make us feel uneasy but rather we all felt a sense of peace.

Here is why the kids liked Japan:

Zadie: I like.

Sophia: It was quiet and wasn't too dirty with garbage. I liked the playgrounds. I liked that you could see all the palaces and temples. My favorite thing was the full body visual effects experience.

Aurora: It was quiet and peaceful and the food was good. And there were lots of fun things to do.

Tova: we got a thing that can be anything!