East Eats West

China's looming talent shortage

Dissatisfied with your job, think you skills are not appropriately valued? Think about working in China. Read more here.

Geishas Updated

Women are not only pleasant companions for Asian men, mother of their sons and keeper of their castles, but also a sign for longevity. For example have Chinese emperors and rulers from the founder of China, Qin, up to Mao Zedong maintained the habit of having hundreds if not thousand concubines. Philandering and sexual prowess are inseparable from health and vigour in Asia. In business, one of male’s favourite power games; it is only helpful to symbolize one’s strength and potency. So it is not uncommon in Asia to seal a business deal in the comforting environment of attractive young ladies, wives and girlfriends exempt. The same applies to Japan company outings to neighbouring China where the Japanese business men deeply and thoroughly study the cultural differences will singing Karaoke with Chinese ladies.

In the famous Ponto-cho district, one of the famous Geisha areas in Kyoto, the tradition of Geisha company has probably altogether vanished. Or shall we say it was updated and simplified? As one wanders through the narrow alleys of Ponto-cho pictures of scantly dressed young women is not to be looked over. There are little shops with tons of pictures and telephone number below (the friendly staff assisting with dialling). Hour hotels are also not far and in order to show what is on display inside, bouncers display photo portfolios; that is to Japanese men. As in ancient times, the finer nuances of Japanese cultures are strictly kept for themselves. So sorry dear tourist, access only for Japanese!

Guide to Japanese Guesthouses

In case you visit Japan one day on a tight budget, a good way of accommodation is Japanese guesthouses, called Ryokan. There are a few peculiarities that might puzzle the Western visitor. So here is the how-to from an experienced (hm-hm) Japan traveller: Upon entering most Japanese houses, including guest houses, temples and restaurants, leaving your shoes at the entrance is a must. In order to check in you have to bow approximately twelve times and say the same number of “arigato” (thank you). After having successfully checked-in, you will be given a Yukata, a kind of Kimono for going to the communal bath and wearing as a PJ. The rooms come in a traditional square layout with a Tatami (rice-mat) floor that doubles as bed. The windows have sliding panes and the Futon, your mattress, is probably stored away in a cupboard (In Japan a living rooms is also a bed room). Before entering your room you have to take off your slippers (also given at the reception). Before going to bed, you first have to “install” the bed in laying the Futon and the blanket with pillow on the floor (linen are often used a few times, so do except a few dark hairs or bring a small sleeping bag). In order to wash yourself, you have to put on the Yukata and walk to the communal bath with low-sitting showers with mirror and a bath-tub full of hot water (the water is used one night). So wash yourself properly before taking a bath and then take a dip (while other people shower beside you). The toilets range from old-fashioned (squat toilets) to high-tech with seat-heating and shower. As you can see, a few peculiarities but in general a very clean and tidy affair. Sleep well! As long the world is wondering what the Scots wear beneath their kilts, the Japanese can sleep well. For Japanese the question is already answered.

Miho Museum Kyoto

An ancient Chinese story tells about a fisher who got lost and by accident found a mystical place in the Peach Valley. There people lived harmoniously in peace and splendour. This is the story the Chinese architect I.M. Pei remembered when the Shumeikai Shinto sect asked him to build an art museum on the mountain top among trees in a nature preserve. The spot is overlooking a valley called, you guess it, Peach valley. Like in the fisherman story I.M. Pei wanted the same experience as in the story that you actually stumble, so to speak by accident, on this museum. His solution was to build the Miho museum on top of the crest, 85 percent of the building underground, accessible via a tunnel leading to a bridge. He wanted to create a feeling of peace and spirituality.

So imagine walking up a hill through a dense forest, making your way through a dark and bending tunnel to finally exit to a bridge. Once you crossed the bridge you enter via a stone staircase and enter through a glass door, resembling Japanese Shinto temples. I did not feel like a fisherman but I felt deeply touched and spiritually uplifted. The sheer beauty and harmony of the architecture blending in with the dense vegetation around it is awe-inspiring. The location and presence of this museum is only matched by the Getty Foundation in Santa Barbara, also located on a hill and being only accessible by a steep and winding road. The location and architecture make the Miho Museum beyond doubt one of the most inspiring museums in the world. The Louvre might be vast, the Hermitage might be even bigger, the Australian museums in Canberra, Sydney or Melbourne might be more structural and the various Getty museums architectural more challenging, but Miho takes first price for pure spiritual harmony. The proof is in the picture.

Though one thing is strange about the museum: having such a supreme location with a stunning view I assumed there is a place to sit outside. Well, there is, but only in the rear. Unfortunately there is now terrace or exit to the West, overlooking the valley. I could not figure out why (and why the restaurant just serves sandwiches and cakes but no lunch). Learn more about the museum here.

See pictures

Zen gardens and Buddhist temples

Temples are in China and Japan what churches are to Europeans: they are ubiquitous, ancient and often true works of art. My absolute favourite temple compound in Toyko is Daitoku-ji in the north. This array of temples has such famous sub-temples like Koto-ji, Daisen-ji and Ryon-ji. The temple compound houses dozen of still active sub temples that all belong to the different Rinzei Buddhist sects. Japan is actually riddled with Buddhist sects and some of them are very rich and influential. Rinzei Zen-Buddhism and also Cha-do, the renowned Japanese tea ceremony, got started here. The first temples with their traditional dry Zen gardens date back to the 14th even though many of them were several times rebuilt due to fires. As far as I know all Daitoku-ji temples are still active today and it is not uncommon to see the priests doing tours and selling spiritual souvenirs. The striking feature of Japanese Buddhist temples with their magnificent gardens and barren rooms is their quietness and calmness. Their strict design and simplicity symbolize Zen-Buddhism’s strive for purification, clarity and riddance of expectations and desire. In general they consist of a large meditation hall that can be parted by screens, a niche with a Buddha figure, a quarter for the priest, a separate bath-house and some have tea-rooms in order to appreciate Cha-do, the way of the tea. Nature in the gardens is moulded into a man-made harmony and balance often representing famous Chinese ink paintings. In contrary to Chinese Buddhist temples Zen temples do not have many ornaments or elaborate decorations, just some well-placed display of craft: like a vase with Ikebana with an ink scroll in a corner. All works of art get rotate during the year according to the season and stored safely the rest of the year. The priests outfit is as simple as the temple, consisting of a woollen Kimono and traditional sandals. Wood, tatami, sliding doors and silk screens dominate the inside of the temples while the outside is structured by stones, pathways, moss, water and vegetation. The main meditation hall faces the garden even though one meditates with the back towards the garden. Sliding doors can block or open the view to the garden. European gardens traditionally are categorized into landscape gardens, predominant in England, and decorative or ornament gardens originating in France whereas Japanese Zen gardens come either in the variety of “dry” garden where stones and pebbles symbolize water, accentuated with a few dominating rocks, or “wet” gardens that do have water, waterfalls and fountains. Buddhist gardens normally have a theme they represent: Zen gardens often have Zen riddles like “a-un” (inhale-exhale, the basic Zazen exercise) at their core. In contrary to European “palace” garden design, Japanese gardens often have a religious origin and where often promoted by emperors. The oldest gardens still have the same layout as when they were originally designed back in the 14th century.

Kyoto, 25.-27.10.05, 76th to 79th day

Kyoto is located west two hours from Tokyo. It is the former imperial city before Edo (Tokyo) became the seat of the emperor. On three sides there are hills and the city has a grid layout. It has 1.4 million inhabitants and is famous for its Zen gardens, temples, Noh theatre and delightful cuisine.

I tried to withdraw money from an ATM. Well, I do know now about 15 ATM locations of banks in town those have VISA stickers on them. They all very kindly (with graphical animation and voice) refused my card. Finally I asked in a shopping mall and they pointed me to the Central Post Office, There my Maestro card worked!

Due to budget reasons I am trying to stay at local Ryokan (Japanese for guesthouse). Well, there are two problems with that: The first one is that if Japanese translate directions into English the result is questionable up to confusing. Because the Kyoto grid system is organized into neighbourhood, streets names are hard to find and mostly written in Japanese. The second problem is the fact that traditional guesthouses are only labelled in Japanese and do not look like hotels. So they are hard to spot (I literally walked by one without knowing it). The good news is that everyone I asked tried their most to help me, including asking around and calling the guesthouse. Once I asked a taxi driver but he did not know either. So he called the guesthouse, brought me there (it was very close) and would not take any money for it! Alex, this would be taxi-driver-heaven for you here!

Tokyo Motor Show, 23.10.05, 74th day

Where do you see fathers with their sons photographing lightly clad women? Where do you see beautifully dressed young women bowing and smiling constantly with a catalogue in their hand? Where do you see the newest car technology presented by ever-smiling and charming ladies? Welcome to the annual Tokyo Motor Show! If you have ever doubted that fast cars and powerful bikes get you the girl, you will be convinced after having visited the Tokyo Motor Show 2005. All the big motorcycle and car brands use young, smiling girls in sexy dresses who constantly smile in each and every lens. You can see hundreds of guys with the latest digital cameras firing away in order to capture the beauty. The Tokyo Motor Show is the place where men are still men and women know what men want. This is the place where women liberation has not invaded yet and where potency and virility is translated into to V8 and W12 engines, where dreams take on numbers of Newton meter and where the world is under your control and the touch of a gearshift. It is good to be a man and girls have name tags with Chika on it! And if you fear you did not hunt down all the girls, may I suggest you buy the official CD with all the girls in perfect posture and smiling on it?

The best showroom: All in black with two white cars and a woman in business dress: Lamborghini. The only producer with Western guys cleaning the cars: Audi. The sexiest girls: Ducati and Suzuki. The most attractive novelty: BWM Z4 concept car and the Alfa Brera. The most elegant new car: Aston Martin V8 vantage. The “who gave my son the right to draw a car”-price: Mitsuoka (a unknown but whacky Japanese producer). The most disappointing showroom: Ferrari. Have fun with the pics!

In the evening I was invited out by Yasuyo, the daughter of my host family and friend of my sister, to a fashionable neighbourhood called Omote-sando. We had dinner in a Japanese grill and boy did it taste good: No bones, no oily food and definitely no smashed chicken as in China! And like in many Japanese restaurants we took our shoes off at the entrance. The neighbourhood is frequented by fashion agencies and you see many BWMs, Mercedes and Porsches favourably in white with shining chrome rims and all passengers including the driver having LCD displays for watching movies. Have a look...

Kyoto, 24.10.05, 77th day

Today I drove with over 300km/h from Tokyo to Kyoto in the famous «bullet train » or Shinkansen. I flew past majestic and holy Mount Fuji and after only two hours arrived in Kyoto.

Finally I am again in my beloved and magnificent Kyoto. Kyoto, birthplace of Zen Buddhism in Japan and the tea-ceremony, home of many ancient Japanese crafts, location of many wonderful « dry » Zen gardens and renowned in Japan for its marvellous cuisine. Again I was taken back by to a time long, long ago when Kyoto was Imperial capital and seat of the Shogun. Its narrow alleys still are full of history and charm, the little houses built out of wood tell many stories. A deep feeling of joy and tranquillity took hold of me and while I war riding my bicycle in the crisp air of a sunny fall day. I visited the historic Daitokuji temple and garden compound. This array of many smaller sub temples, including the famous Daisen-in, is the birthplace of Rinzai Buddhism, one of the two main Zen Buddhism sects (Soto Buddhism is the other one). It is here where the monk Sen no Rikyu transformed the from China imported custom of drinking tea in a Zen Buddhist art form called Cha do in the 16th century. I spent the whole afternoon immersing myself in this wonderful ancient world that is kept alive until today by many active sects and its private temples.

In the famous Daisen-in temple with its three “dry” (meaning constructed without water but stones symbolising water and waves) gardens a Japanese tour guide forgot her hat beside me. I picked it up and brought it back to her. This small deed created an outstanding reaction from her side. She bowed about hundred times, said every time thank you, addressed her tour group and pointed at me many times and eventually invited me to have a some macha (green tea) with her in the temple. Her gratitude was absolutely overwhelming and charming!

I tried to capture with my pictures the spirit and the peace of the Daitoku-ji Zen gardens but they do not even approximately convey the atmosphere of peace, attention to detail and sense for aesthetics that can be felt in this temple area. What a contrast to the noisy and crowded Chinese attractions! See the pics here...

Japan, 22.10.05, 75th day

I am back in Japan, finally. I realize know how much I missed it and how even more I love it. After all the chaos and noise of China, Japan is a thoroughly mind-rattling experience. Its people politeness and strive for order and precision is very comforting: Staff in immaculate uniforms everywhere, smiling faces and employees who bow while saying hello and thank you. Everything is in perfect order and speck less clean. How I love the heated toilets with warm water shower, Asahi Super Dry, the world’s best beer, its citizens obsession with cleanliness and the daily nightly bath in a computer-controlled tub that tells you when the water temperature is correct. People are told not to use mobile phones on trains and subways and they actually don’t, girls love wearing skirts with boots and taxi drivers wear hats and ties and actually know their way, helped by GPS. I feel like coming home, also very much because of the warm reception of my dear friends Taki, Hiroko and her charming daughter Yasuyo.

Please, please say cheese...

Take a guess: What are these Japanese starring at?