Tokyo Diary

Emperors and Past Wars

I land in Tokyo for a two-month stay on September 8, the day after Japan has celebrated being awarded the 2020 Olympic Games, and several weeks later find myself contemplating imperial history. Starting November 30, Emperor Akihito and Empress Mic­h­iko start a five-day visit to India that is of great symbolic importance here. (They had travelled to India as crown prince and princess in 1960 and are returning now half a century later). Japan ret­ains the oldest hereditary monarchy in the world and the legacy of the chrysanthemum throne is both revered and controversial. It was Emperor Hirohito, father of the current emperor, who led Japan in World War II. There is a fascinating shr­ine here called Yasukuni that honours the 2.5 million who died in previous wars. Yasukuni is a flashpoint with countries like South Korea and China. Many MPs and ministers of the right-wing regime of prime minister Shinto Abe landed up at Yasukuni in the second half of October during a ritual at the Shinto shrine and immediately cre­ated a diplomatic hiccup. South Korea’s ruling party released a statement slamming the visit as “an irresponsible attempt to glorify Japan’s war of aggression”, referring to the 1910-1945 rule of the Korean peninsula. On the pillars of the shrine one can see images of Japanese soldiers crossing the Great Wall of China and that nation too periodically complains about the shrine. Yet, it’s the place for Japan’s nationalists to go. Inside the war museum, there is a real kamikaze aircraft. I also notice this inscription, written by a soldier as he sailed on the ocean to fight in China centuries ago: “We shall die in the sea/We shall die in the mountain/In wha­tever way we shall die beside the emperor.”

Conveyor belt experiences

A decl­ining population means labour is very expensive so there are all sorts of short cuts. Conveyor belt sushi for one. You enter the eatery, press buttons specifying which sushi you want, blue fin tuna or eel and so on. It arrives on a conveyor belt. It’s only at payment time that you interact with any­one. There are also ‘love hotels’ where people can check in anonymously for a few hours. Perfect for extra-marital affairs that need to be kept under wraps, I gather.

International House

I am staying at the International House of Japan known as I-House on which Delhi’s IIC (India International Centre) has been modelled. I-House chairman Akashi Yasushi tells me the IIC is better in some ways. Well, it’s certainly easier to become an I-House member than that of the IIC, but with the grass always being greener on the other side, this looks quite exotic to me. My room looks over a beautiful rock garden (far nicer than the rock garden at the IIC) that seems to be let out for marriages each weekend. From my balcony, I see couples first appear in the western dress of white gown and suit and then change to the gorgeous Japanese kimono and pose for photographs from an elevated spot in the garden while the guests below clap very politely. The newly-weds look like beautiful Japanese dolls posing in the  garden. I soon discover that they wear the white wedding gowns not because they are Christians but just like the dress and the process. The American occupation post ww-ii and Japan’s modern economic success has certainly left an imprint on the popular imagination here.

Slim and Huge

This is the slimmest nation I have ever been too. From the minute I land in Tokyo, I feel that my average Indian weight is bulky by these standards and joke with new friends that I am waiting to see someone who’s obese. But when I do, it’s in grand style—at the Grand Sumo Tournament in a Tokyo stadium. It’s quite a spectacle, the giant guys strutting on stage, then a quick push and heave and the other chap’s lost. There’s a lot of ceremony and theatre too linked to sumo. We went to a good show where the current champion Hakuho (from Mongolia, as many of the big sumo stars are from now) also had a bout. I stood near a wrestler and, believe me, these guys are giants.

Typhoons, quakes, radiation

Since my arrival, I have been woken up in the middle of the night by two quakes, one minor, other a 7.3 tremor from Fukushima that had me jump out of bed literally shaking at 2.11 am. Encountered two typhoons, one just a lot of wind, the second one a big gust that cla­imed 17 lives and delayed trains across Japan. We in India certainly have someth­ing to learn from this country in building quake-resistant buildings. No one here is afraid of buildings falling on them after a quake; the dangers are more from typhoons and tsunamis.

Last week...

In Tokyo I attended a tea ceremony and contemplated the zen experience.

Saba Naqvi is the political editor of Outlook; E-mail your diarist: saba AT outlookindia.com