Prairie Post
January 11, 2014
(today from Osaka)
It is a cool morning but the sun warms the air during the noon hour. They say it is unusually cold here, in this “city of merchants.” People are wearing winter coats and boots, even though the temperature regularly exceeds the 50 degree mark. The air feels crisp, and in the offices they bring out the electric heaters to keep their feet warm.
A new couple has come to town; they say, in search of the fountain of youth. The two seem to be quite excited about their new adventure. There are so many old and very old people here in this country, so many healthy older adults. Perhaps there is something to be learned about the culture, about health, about longevity.
They have just come from Tokyo, the domineering city of this energetic country. People – young and old, all in pitch-black hair, never gray, seem to move and live underground, in hallways connecting the subway system. This is where people eat, where people talk, where people shop. Only in Asakusa, the old part of town, is there a flavor of the traditional city with small shops around the temple, with people “cleansing themselves” of health problems with incense smoke and tying bad fortunes to clothes-lines.
Here in Osaka, there is much technology to face. Wakarimasen! The stove can only be started with a series of buttons. Wakarimasen! The microwave calls for temperature settings than levels of heat. Wakarimasen! The heating unit has direct blow, overhead blow and circulation options. Wakarimasen! Instead of answering with the appropriate call button, they push the emergency button. Wakarimasen! The washing machine washes and dries… but which of the 20 buttons washes? Wakarimasen! The toilet seat has options for warming the toilet seat with fifteen different buttons to push. Wakarimasen! Instead of ordering beer, they receive coffee. Wakarimasen! Instead of buying Kleenex, they discover they have paper towels. Japanese kimuchi is not onion, and chicken is not shrimp. Wakarimasen! There is a lot to learn.
They meet helpful people, members of the academic community, who explain that it is the Japanese way to help others, to be there when help is needed. They lead the way to eat the way the locals do, with udon noodles, with tempura, always tempura at meals. Gracious hosts lead the way in making meal choices by pressing buttons at the cafeteria menu board. When they return to their offices, they exchange shoes for slippers, so the hallways at the university are filled with shoes that are not worn in offices, next to a multitude of umbrellas that are left in umbrella containers.
The inquiring couple continues to look for cultural evidence of longevity; perhaps it is “hara,” the stomach, which supposedly contains the spirit of each person. Perhaps it is the secure life without violence or it is the non-slip surfaces in showers that prevent falls. Perhaps it is the yuimara, or healing web, the support people can count on. Or the food which is limited in size and contains little sugar or spice.
Perhaps it is the positive attitude and the hardworking engagement of 10-12 hour work days, here in this town, where it never really gets cold, where everybody is friendly, and where technology easily takes over.