Return to China

On Friday night, we missed the photography museum but did thoroughly enjoy a quiet evening and a delicious dinner at Yebisu Garden Place. The girls did NOT sleep on Saturday, but were little troopers all day long, and have enjoyed a quiet day with their toys and their own space all day today.

Japan has consistently given me the worst culture shock, upon my return to China. Japan is a thoroughly developed nation, and it reminds me that China has a long way to go. China still struggles with pollution, while Japan has recycling bins every few feet and bright blue skies. China still struggles with hygiene, while even Japan's public bathrooms sparkle. China's crowds push each other and treat the person next to them with a striking lack of respect, while people in crowded Tokyo wait patiently and smile helpfully.

But even more strikingly, Japan seems to have struck the balance that I fear China is running away from. Japanese cities - Kyoto certainly, but also Tokyo and Hiroshima - feel distinctly Japanese. They have a very Asian flair to them, which appears in many different aspects of life. A specifically Japanese style of dress looks striking; specifically Japanese architecture abounds; and most restaurants serve distinctly Japanese food. There is plenty of Western influence in Japan - no doubt. It seems like the country has become remarkably Western since World War II. But it has remained remarkably Japanese, and that's where I fear China will fail. Shanghai has a strong tendency to push out the Chinese, in favor of a quick copy of the West. The quick copies rarely satisfy, and you're left with nothing authentic in a city of copies. This may be more true of Shanghai than of China. But I still worry that China's fast forward into modern economic times and parity with Western cultures will end up throwing away what is distinctly Chinese about daily life, leaving a rather bland place behind.