My Trip to Japan

Today I would like to digress a bit from standard legal discussion, to share with you my thoughts and observations about a recently undertaken trip. 

A short while ago, I returned from Japan, where I had gone on a business / pleasure trip. 

It is my intention to soon be launching an English language-instruction website, where I will be providing English-language learning opportunities to non-English-speaking lawyers and other professionals, via Skype. I love teaching - I've always been a teacher! This initiative will allow me to incorporate both my love of the law along with my love of teaching.

It appears that throughout Japan (and the Far East, for that matter), there is a palpable recognition and acceptance of the importance of learning and knowing the English language. English is truly everywhere! Most business people whom I met, were able to maintain with me, at the least, a very basic conversation in English.

With Maître Akihide Nagira of Akasak-Aoi Law Office, Tokyo

So while I was in Japan, I met with several lawyers, to spread the good word about my venture and to also hear and learn from them about how I could best fine-tune my program to meet their particular cultural and academic needs. 

A get-anything vending machine!

As mentioned above, this trip was also a pleasure trip. Japan is an exotic, fascinating and exciting country! Many of the standard clichés about Japan, such as 'it's a land of contradictions' and 'it incorporates the new and the old' couldn't ring any truer. When confronted with this reality which is Japan, it was really necessary to have a major mental paradigm shift in order to to grasp and assimilate many of the accepted and standard practices of everyday life of Japan.

And the Japanese people whom I encountered were just so incredibly friendly, helpful and accommodating! Suffice it to say, that as a stocky, tall non-Asian with a big white beard, I kinda stuck out from the crowd!

My 'Japanese-style' yarmulke - Loved by everyone!

On top of all that, I wore my yarmulke [religious head covering] at all times, wherever I went. No doubt about it - I was foreign and I looked seriously different.

Notwithstanding, to the credit of everyone there, I was never ever made to feel uncomfortable or not accepted. No staring, no impolite words and never any rude behaviour. On the contrary, when possible and appropriate, people were curious to find out more about me and my life.

With a memorable shopkeeper in Hakone

Furthermore, if I ever lost my way in Tokyo (more times than I care to mention!), passers-by whom I asked for assistance with directions very often accompanied me to my final destination to ensure that I reached it, even if this meant enduring a considerable detour for themselves.

And the graceful manner of greeting one another! How poised and respectful it is to bow politely to each other upon meeting! Took me a while to get used to it, but by the time that I was ready to return home to Canada, I was bending my head just as well as I got it!

My Japanese host and friend -

Mr Hisanobu Higuchi, CEO of Ishou Keikaku Inc

Mr Hisanobu Higuchi, CEO of Ishou Keikaku Inc, a thriving and dynamic graphic-arts company in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo - really set the bar for demonstrating true Japanese hospitality! He made incredible arrangements and accommodations for me and accompanied me all over Japan, ensuring my safety, security and comfort.

As an example of Mr Higuchi's gracious hospitality, whenever we ate our meals together, he was understanding and supportive of my adherence to my Jewish kosher dietary laws. [These laws, really way beyond the scope of this post, place restrictions on what a kosher-observer may and may not eat. In a nutshell, particularly as it affected me in Japan: no shellfish, no pork and chicken / beef prepared only according to Jewish kosher guidelines. During my stay in Japan, no such meat was available.] 

My sorry meal...and his feast!

Usually, he would be partaking of a delectable, artistically  prepared and visually-enticing bento, while I unpacked my kosher whole-wheat and mozzarella cheese sandwich, packaged in aluminium foil! A different person might have been easily put-off by my refusal to share in the same (national and ethnic) foods as his host, but not only was Mr Higuchi not offended, he was sympathetic and cooperative. He even arranged kosher foods and meals for me, as much as is possible in Japan. [No surprise here, but not much of a demand for kosher food in Japan!]

Kosher Certification for a sushi meal

I also met with his courteous and professional staff on many occasions and was able to talk and interact with them. They were keen to showcase their work to me and to familiarize me with the cutting-edge technological as well as time-proven processes which they employ in their projects. They were all welcoming and eager to hear about and learn of my Jewish and Canadian customs and traditions. Every time that I came into their office, I was treated with honour, respect and friendship.

I realized partway into my trip, that  I had developed  an emotional and spiritual bond with the Japanese people. I felt a kinship with them, with their values and their experiences.

Indeed, we are very very different peoples. Different religions, different cultures, different ideas. Different practices that control and guide our lives. 

Of course we both live and partake in the same Western culture, but as I learned, 'Western culture' can be very huge with many differences between different regions.

However, through my friendship with Mr Higuchi and with my better acquaintance with Japanese persons and the Japanese way, I discovered that we are really not  all that different from each other! We all share the same worries and concerns of people of our generation. We have families and friends whom we love and worry about. We share similar interests in life. We are curious and seek to explore and discover each other's cultures. We hope for a better future for our children and the next generation.

After the devastation of WWII, Japan revitalized itself! What a place!

Tokyo - close your eyes for a moment and you can imagine that you are in Manhattan! The public infrastructure, the transit system, the commercial and business life, the cosmopolitan people - I won't enumerate every incredible development and great aspect, but suffice it to say that for a country that was severely crushed during the last great war, they have really risen to incredible heights now.

Once, while walking in Tokyo with my friend Mr Higuchi, I commented to him about the apparent old-age of a certain structure. He looked at it and without any particular emotion, he noted how that building had been lucky to have survived the bombings on Tokyo.

As a North-American, those words struck me hard! Living here in this generation, we have been habituated to a certain level of peacefulness and security in our lives. Not many of us could ever imagine our homes and cities being a target of attack and warfare. I believe that one of the tragedies of  9/11 - aside from the very obvious ones, of course - is that we in North America now feel much more vulnerable, open to attack. Our previously believed impregnable fortress has been breached and violated.

At the site where the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima

I also went to visit Hiroshima, the site of the horrendous nuclear bombing during the last days of WWII. The city had been decimated, totally destroyed. Today it is a vibrant city, resurrected beyond belief.

My family and many members of my Jewish community, are originally from Europe. During WWll, their homes, their communities and their lives were utterly destroyed and shattered. After the war ended, they and many other Jews came to Canada as  refugees and painstakingly rebuilt their lives. Today we have a beautiful life and a booming and prosperous community in Canada.

Thus, as a child of survivors, I feel a special closeness and empathy towards Japan and her people. I saw with my own eyes how Japan has been rebuilt after it's own destruction and desolation of WWll.

I travelled with my Japanese host and friend to Hiroshima, to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, the Children's Peace Monument and the Peace Memorial Museum, in order to learn about and share the pain and burden of the Hiroshima and Japanese people. And while there, I was also reminded and  felt the pain of my own Jewish people, who was sadly ravaged and lost six million innocent lives on the other front.

But like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Hiroshima and Tokyo and Japan - and my people - have risen again.  We have worked hard with focus to rebuild our homes, our families and our lives. We have created a better future for the following generations. There is hope for a better future in mankind.