Re: [tlug] (OT) The enigma of Japan (was: UNIX jobs on TLUG)

[Brett Robson <tlug@example.com>]

Josh Glover wrote:
> So far we agree. The only quibble I have with what you are saying is
> that I don't think it is valuable to dissuade people from reading
> books before they are "ready" for them. The important stuff keeps
> bubbling up, so if I read "Enigma" 10 years ago and thought it was
> shite (I did, BTW), but Steve's comments make me think I may have
> missed something (they did, and I had), I'm likely to re-evaluate what
> I read (I did), and re-read the book (pending).
>
> All I can say about "Enigma" is that after three years of living in
> Tokyo, it didn't seem as far off base as I had remembered.
>
>   
I came to Japan with the JET Programme on a whim with no real research 
or knowledge of Japan other than common stereotypes and only knowing the 
basic etiquette rules. A long term Japanese friend in Australia 
suggested that I didn't study too much and have preconceived ideas.
The city I lived in for the first year was in Hokuriku,  a city of less 
than 40,000. It had a naval museum including a large outdoor plaza, 
children's book museum, city museum, modern auditorium, and two sports 
centres. This city wasn't isolated, it's borders where just lines on a 
map part of a larger metropolitan area and all the adjoining cities had 
similar facilities and so of course these were all under-utilized. The 
city museum was especially terrible, a huge modern building containing a 
few old maps (no doubt facsimiles) and miniature copies of the festival 
floats.
After having lived in Hokuriku for a year, and then Aichi for a couple 
then moving to Tokyo I read Dogs and Demons. That is a very negative 
book but put into perspective all the white elephants projects I had 
seen. Apparently what I had seen was replicated all over Japan.

Brett