Reentry

It’s early October and I’ve been back from Japan for a few months. As expected, a lot of people have been asking me how it was. The short answer is that it was amazing, and that I fell deeply in love with Japan. But the longer answer is more complicated. Yes, I fell in love, but now I’m here…and Japan is there. 

From the moment we landed on the other side of the Pacific, I was immediately drawn to the overall sense of order, cleanliness, and community. Tokyo is an absolute miracle of organization. For a city of 37 million (!!!) people, it’s cleaner and works better than any place I’ve ever been. When I think about how the electricity and the plumbing and the water somehow gets to every nook and cranny of this endlessly sprawling metropolis, it short circuits my brain. The trains are immaculate and almost always run on time. They get you anywhere you need to go (in the entire country) at 200+ mph, so there is no need for a car. Shinkansen for the win!

Less obvious, but absolutely essential to their social and cultural fabric is the sense of community and collectivism. Japan is known for being very organized, for having a lot of rules, and for doing things a certain way. At first this can feel a little stifling, but after a while it makes a lot of sense. There is a saying in Japan that “the nail that sticks up gets hammered down,” which is not a great philosophy with respect to art and expression. But when you’re trying to keep a city of 37 million clean and safe and running smoothly, rules help.

But rules only work if people follow them. And in Japan, most people follow them — not out of fear of consequences, but out of a sense of responsibility and a shared appreciation for the greater good. They are looking outward, to see what’s happening around them, to see what they can do to improve what’s outside. This outward looking perspective — this intentional awareness about one’s surroundings — is the thing I loved most about Japan.

Here in America, we spend more time looking inward. What’s happening for me? What can I do to improve my situation? We glorify bold self-expression and freedom of speech. We put the rich, famous, and controversial on pedestals. It’s woven into the fabric of our country, our culture, and our constitution. This radical independence can certainly be a good thing, especially for art. But in the end, it fosters a society of individuals that are generally looking out for themselves. 

As a tall white American guy living in Japan, I was very visibly an outsider. So while I didn’t really feel or look like part of the Japanese community, I could definitely sense and appreciate it. Walking through Tokyo felt safe, secure, streamlined and peaceful in a way that no city has ever felt to me. After a few months of enjoying this feeling, I was less stressed and happier than I’d felt in a long time. I started to notice small things in my daily walks that would deliver little bursts of pure, intoxicating joy, even awe: The chatter coming from the groups of uniformed school kids, the sun bouncing off a beautifully painted mural, an old lady tending carefully to the little garden on her stoop. It’s a really nice state to inhabit, and one that’s entirely possible without drugs. My baseline stress level was significantly lower in Japan, and my daughters now tell me that they like “Tokyo Jamie” better than “Boulder Jamie.”

For a lot of my stay in Tokyo, I was a regular at a bathhouse about a 10 minute walk from our place. After a soak in the hot bath and a few cold plunges, I’d head into the sauna. Inside that tiny cedar room, there was a television that was usually showing the local news, which is pretty uneventful: Someone backed into a fire hydrant, but now it’s fixed. Shohei Ohtani had a good game for the Dodgers. Someone stole a bonsai tree from the bonsai tree place, but at least they only stole one, instead of clearing the place out. I always loved watching the news in Japan. 

Occasionally, I’d reluctantly look at the news for America: Guns, violence, division, drugs, corruption, fighting, yelling, lying, us vs. them, arguing. Watching from Japan, America looks pretty bad. So I stopped reading the American news. And with the election looming, whatever happened was not going to be good. I was feeling like I didn’t want to go back.

But now I’m back. And I’m trying to figure out how to live here, in a place that now feels overly complicated, wildly expensive, self-centered and broken. Yes, Japan was amazing. Now it’s time for me to figure out what I’m going to do about it.