Japan

One society which has not opened its doors to multiculturalism is Japan. A society of rules and tradition, especially away from the major cities which came back to me as I remember, back in the 60s when I was there, feeling the gulf between what my culture allowed and what the Japanese way of life demanded

I'v just been reminded watching a Japanese TV companies broadcast, the solemnity and the pace of the documentary was so tastefully different to what we are used to. The formality and the structure, what one could describe as the sense of poise that ever present social decorum which is embedded in the people.

The documentary dealt with one of the towns where art and tradition had been preserved. The Geisha and the quite flimsy wooden buildings designed to withstand earthquakes. I remember these neighbourhoods, the sliding doors and what seemed paper walls dividing the structure into rooms. The formality of respect. Taking off the shoes and the eternal bowing, acknowledging the others presence and your involvement in the unity of polite conversation. 

It brought it all back to me of how strange it seemed but in a sense how the formality and the respect made ones presence count. 

In the bustle of the big city we loose this interactive acknowledgement and I am reminded of a story Peter Ustinov used to tell of being in the Airport in Tokyo with thousands of people milling around but respecting each other's space and hardly ever colliding and contrasting it with a visit to Alice Springs where the one and only other person in the Airport building bumped into you.

Shinto and Buddhism play a large part in the psychological make up of the nation with piousness  the critical commentary on ones own virtu and behaviour playing a part in the outward display of moral rectitude. 

It was a far cry from the secular individualism I was used to.  The superficial but polite bond with others, the displays of conservative accountability, you were there and were counted as a collaborating member of the human race was intriguing to one used to the indifference of Western Society.