Living in the Dark Red

After four years in China I can't get over how clean and clear the air was in Peavine and now in Tokyo. Every once in awhile I come across an illustration of the difference in real numbers and it is astonishing! Take a look at this map that shows the dramatic differences.

Freshness Burger

After walking around the Ginza (Golden Seat) this morning I was a bit hungry and was lucky enough to stumble upon a Freshness Burger place near Hibiya Station. I had heard they had veggie burgers and was glad to have a chance to verify it. They have three vegetarian choices; soy burger, tofu burger and mushroom burger. I prefer soy burgers so I tried it. It was a bit sweet but passable. A good choice when in the mood for fast food or an excuse to have french fries and a cola. There are Burger Kings in Japan but unlike in their US eateries they don't have veggie burgers on the menu here.

More on the Japanese Health care system

I recently wrote an entry about my experience with the Japanese health care system. As you may remember, I was impressed, and sad, that the US does not yet have a universal system as good. A lot of progress was made this year in the U.S., over much opposition - an opposition that is actually threatening to undo that progress. For another expats experience with the Japanese model this article is worth reading. No system is perfect - but all things considered, Japanese citizens are much better off than we are in this regard. Let's learn from their experience.

Gaining Perspective

I brought my Internet radio with me so I can listen to my hometown news stations (mostly NPR) and keep up with things. It's kind of weird though to turn on the radio in Tokyo and hear about the Peavine mayor and the City Council feuding over this or that.

When they start talking about politics though I have to switch to the "new age" music station to calm down. The polarization of politics back home is doubly disappointing from afar and hearing about the extremism and the stupid nonsense the 24-hour news cycle generates feels like a needle under my fingernails. So I turn it off and I look out the window at the stars and the planets and remind myself of how insignificant the Rush Limbaughs of our world are. I imagine floating out beyond Jupiter (which I see from my window right now) and looking back at the tiny Earth. It helps put it all in perspective.

Tokyo Fashion

Most people in Tokyo really pay attention to fashion. It's not always my idea of fashion but they do have it. Tonight I went to a photo exhibition wearing a t-shirt and shorts and I felt out of place because all the Japanese were dressed very fashionably. Some of it was laughable; clown hats, super-pointy shoes (for men), crepe paper, etc. But at least they were artistic.

A Day at the DMV

Here’s a scary thought for you. I now have a Japanese drivers license but no idea of how to drive on the left side of the road as is required in Japan. I once rented a car in a left-hand drive country but that was a sparsely-populated Caribbean island – not a city of 13 million people.

The process took about four hours at the drivers license office in Tokyo. One starts out at a window for foreigners wanting to use their existing license to get a Japanese license. From there it is a process of going from numbered window to numbered window, taking a number and waiting to be called. Then off to another window on one of three floors. Clueless as to what is going on behind those windows one is left to wait, and wait. Fortunately, all the young people that have come to take their drivers test are a constant source of interest for the peoplewatcher. The fashions can be quite extraordinary. More on that in another post.

For new drivers getting their license at 18 they are required to take weeks of lessons that can easily cost over US$2000. What’s it cost in Peavine to get a license? Maybe $30 if one takes the free training at high school. But it didn’t prepare me for the streets of Tokyo.

Getting in Touch with my Inner Curmudgeon

I've had a few nice things to say about Tokyo in recent posts so least I lose touch with my curmudgeonly side let me point out a couple of things I think the Japanese need to rethink. One of those is the address system - which is not at all efficient. Rather than use street names and a sequential numbering system they use a - well, I'll let Wikipedia explain it here. It's about as easy to use as it is to explain. There are, every few years, foreigners found wandering the back streets of Japanese cities that aren't even aware that WWII is over.

It's not just foreigners that find this system difficult. There are district maps posted on neighborhood sidewalks that show people where shops and homes are located. Here's one from the Omote-sando area. Notice the little house where Steve Madden lives. You may have to click on the photo to be able to see it.


My own built-in GPS superpower is still challenged by this "system" and I'm averaging about 50% success rate on finding some of the small shops and eateries I've searched for. Unlike most world cities the tiny back streets in Tokyo are packed with retail shops. What would be a tiny back alley in New York is considered a street here. My mind keeps telling me these little passages are sidewalks so when taxis suddenly pass me with inches to spare I am always startled.

The other strange inefficiency I've noticed is the lack of a common understanding of which side of the sidewalk to walk on. Whereas in the States the norm is walking on the right side of the sidewalk - just like our traffic does - Japan is everything goes. If Peavine had sidewalks I'm sure we'd walk on the side God intended us to - the right.

But in Japan, despite their penchant for organization, there is no norm. People walk on either side or all sides. On crowded sidewalks this is completely inefficient. But one thing I will say, the Japanese don't bump into each other like people do in Korea and China. They must have built-in collision avoidance systems.

A Japanese Hospital Experience

I had a first-hand demonstration today of what a government-run "socialistic" healthcare system is like. I went to a hospital in Tokyo for a checkup and spent several hours witnessing the "horrors" of Japan's healthcare system. There were lines one or two people deep, waiting periods of several minutes for tests, hallways that hadn't been cleaned in an hour or so, and a small co-pay at the end of the patient's visit - and no follow-on bills. How could these poor souls live with such a system? Why was there a look of contentment on everyone's face? Why was the staff so cheery and polite?

Ok, ok - I have to admit it was all very impressive. The doctors were very good and spent up to 30 minutes explaining everything to me and answering all my questions without rushing out the door for their next patient. Once, when an unexpected test was needed, the doctor scheduled it immediately. "You're lucky you are in Japan," he said. "If we were in New York (where he had trained) it would take a week to schedule this test." A sophisticated communications system tied everything together and each doctor immediately knew what the previous doctor had done for me. I was guided from area to area by terminals that I would stick a card into and it would tell me where to go to next. It was all so easy - even in a foreign language!

Of course since I don't have Japanese national insurance I had to pay for my services but I was treated no different from the Japanese citizens, all of whom were getting nearly free or low cost healthcare because of their nationalized system. They pay an annual fee based upon their income but my Japanese friend said it costs him a couple of hundred dollars a year.

Witnessing this I felt sad that America doesn't have a healthcare system like this. How absurd it is that our recent debate over healthcare in the US was (and is) marked by so much misinformation. How crazy it must look to the Japanese, the Europeans and even the South Koreans who have had government-operated healthcare insurance for years - even decades.

It might be a good idea for us to look at what actually works before we start pulling out all the scare tactics next time.

Eat More Greens

On Sunday we had lunch in Azabu-Juban (a subway stop away) at a great vegetarian / vegan cafe called "Eat More Greens". Both the food and the atmosphere (and price) were perfect. Gman had curry and rice and I had taco rice. Both meals came with cold Ceylon tea and an innovative sweet bean dessert - all for less than $10 per person. Not bad for Tokyo.

Going Organic in China

Oh my. I'm glad I'm no longer eating in China. Tainted milk, fake eggs - I thought I'd seen or heard of everything. But this article tells that it can get worse.