Impressions of Japan

I first visited Japan about 30 years ago on a business trip. I did not have much experience with international travel, so the visit really seemed “foreign” to me.

What struck me most in that visit were the young, working women. They all wore a navy shirt and white blouse with a blue scarf tied at the neck. There outfits all looked freshly pressed. They all had trim figures, were petite and had long straight hair perfectly in place.

When I walked through the main train station there were over 10,000 people visible at one time. I’m only 6’-0”, but I could see over everyone’s head with no problem due to their height.

It was 15-20 years before my second trip to Japan. I went about 4 more times. My reaction was less extreme, perhaps things had changes a little, or perhaps I had become more accustomed to international travel.

This visit was different. I had prepared Kathleen to have the same reaction I did 30 years ago. To my surprise, when we left the ship in Osaka, the streets were practically empty. The subways had room to sit (for the first few stops only), and I did not notice any hint of a business uniform for the women.

As we spent our 2 days in Kyoto and then Hiroshima, it felt as if we could have been in Hawaii or San Francisco. These cities seemed no more or less Japanese than Guam had.

The young people especially looked Westernized. They had no more of the trim, petite, short build than do young people in other countries. I no longer can look out over the top of everyone’s head.

The teen girls in particular have some extreme examples. A handful dress in a punk rock style: colorful skirts with long pants underneath, long boots, colored and weirdly arranged hair. They look like they escaped from some cartoon magazine.

Kathleen thinks part of my reaction could be that we were not in a business district during business hours. Perhaps this was part of it. However, I heard a similar comment from another passenger who had had business in Japan, but had not been back for about 8 years. So, I conclude that a change has been happening.