The Chrysanthemum Throne
Canada is currently hosting Japan's Imperial Majesties, the Emperor and Empress of Japan. Emperor Akihiti and Empress Michiko are on a private visit to the country, first to spend time in Ottawa, then on to Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver. Japanese emigrants to Canada settled primarily on the country's West Coast, in the early 19th Century. Actually, there is much about British Columbia, particularly Victoria and Vancouver that seems reminiscent of Japan. Mostly the weather, the topography to an extent, and the flora.
Japan, needless to say, is comprised of a set of three islands, and is mountainous besides, so it doesn't have the land mass of even one Canadian province, itself mountainous, but with ample room to stretch. At one time the Government of Japan was actually trying to persuade its elderly to move to Victoria, and many did. Younger Japanese were somewhat less anxious to leave their country of birth; once gone they could never return and be viewed by their peers as being the same. They would be foreigners.
It's interesting to note the long trade relationship between Canada and Japan. The land that Canada owns in Tokyo is considerable, its acquisition dating back to the first quarter of the 20th Century. In a city of some fourteen-million people, where land is at a premium and people live in crowded districts, in high-rise apartments too small to have the appurtenances of a Western home, that kind of land ownership is akin to resembling the land on which the Imperial palaces stand.
Japanese people adore nature. They live in crowded urban communities and crowded rural communities as well. Space is at a real premium, and so are housing and rental prices. There are few gardens in Japanese cities, and those that do exist are postage-stamp size. Growing fruit trees and lovely Japanese maples. Peoples' prized bonsai and their fishbowls with resident goldfish are placed outside the front stoop, sometimes right on busy main streets. And they always safe from pillage; people respect private property.
The Japanese adore nothing more than to set out on a trek, a mountain climb through various villages leading up to well-worn mountain paths. At their summits many have temples, some dedicated to notable monks. Some host giant and elderly ginko trees. There are some forest trails that wind through bamboo forests, with typical stone Japanese lanterns scattered here and there, and tea houses where ceremonial green tea can be partaken of. First, however, one must suffer the rigours of exiting cities, by subway, train and bus.
Japanese respect public property. As they do the rights of others to be safe and secure in public. The Japanese criminal class could be distinguished by the large, black vehicles they drove, while everyone else drove white, ivory or off-white vehicles, in a monochrome of traffic anxious to move, but held back by the very press of its crowded streets. Yet motorcyclists and bicyclists ride alongside the cars and the trucks, with relative respect. Parked cars, motorbikes or bicycles can be left unlocked, and they will not be tampered with.
Japan is seen as the world's second-largest economy, despite the two recent economic set-backs it has experienced in back-to-back recessions. It is Canada's third most important trading partner, and fourth most important investment source, mostly concentrated in the manufacture of automobiles, and resource extraction. The two countries - mostly Canada - are moving toward a free trade agreement. The major difficulty in succeeding in one between the two countries would be the protectionist agricultural sector in Japan.
Japanese are extremely fastidious about the quality of their food. And they feel that food grown themselves, carefully, and with due attention to good growing methods, with a bare minimum of pesticide use benefit them enormously. Indeed, the food grown in the country (and imported from elsewhere) is vastly superior in quality and taste to that available in most other countries. The fruits and vegetables and fish of far better quality and taste. Japanaese consumers demand no less.
Although Japanese have gradually become accustomed to their own versions of western-style supermarkets, most shopping is still done in small mom-and-pop stores specializing as tea shops, rice shops, fish mongers, butchers, noodle or bread shops, greengrocers and fruiterers. Consumers demand excellence and they get it. Try to shop for rice in various places, to get a 'better price' and you soon discover that no matter where you buy your rice, it will be priced the same. That's the rice-farming lobby.
Japanese believe they grow the best rice in the world. And people who grow accustomed to Japanese rice agree with them. This country of 217+million people with a long, distinguished culture, art, traditions, and respect for nature, where people living in cramped togetherness have learned to be socially-receptive to close communion, distinguishes itself as a peaceful nation after the calamity of its Axis-affiliated nuclear reception in defeat during WWII.
That the Emperor and Empress have decided to make an unusual trip to Canada following one that the Emperor took in the 1950s as a prince awaiting his destiny, favours this country immensely. Their lively curiosity to experience the vastness of this country and its natural beauty does them great credit at their advanced age. Their appreciation of all they survey on this visit, their joyful communication with those they greet echoes that of the people who have come out to witness another kind of history.
Japan, needless to say, is comprised of a set of three islands, and is mountainous besides, so it doesn't have the land mass of even one Canadian province, itself mountainous, but with ample room to stretch. At one time the Government of Japan was actually trying to persuade its elderly to move to Victoria, and many did. Younger Japanese were somewhat less anxious to leave their country of birth; once gone they could never return and be viewed by their peers as being the same. They would be foreigners.
It's interesting to note the long trade relationship between Canada and Japan. The land that Canada owns in Tokyo is considerable, its acquisition dating back to the first quarter of the 20th Century. In a city of some fourteen-million people, where land is at a premium and people live in crowded districts, in high-rise apartments too small to have the appurtenances of a Western home, that kind of land ownership is akin to resembling the land on which the Imperial palaces stand.
Japanese people adore nature. They live in crowded urban communities and crowded rural communities as well. Space is at a real premium, and so are housing and rental prices. There are few gardens in Japanese cities, and those that do exist are postage-stamp size. Growing fruit trees and lovely Japanese maples. Peoples' prized bonsai and their fishbowls with resident goldfish are placed outside the front stoop, sometimes right on busy main streets. And they always safe from pillage; people respect private property.
The Japanese adore nothing more than to set out on a trek, a mountain climb through various villages leading up to well-worn mountain paths. At their summits many have temples, some dedicated to notable monks. Some host giant and elderly ginko trees. There are some forest trails that wind through bamboo forests, with typical stone Japanese lanterns scattered here and there, and tea houses where ceremonial green tea can be partaken of. First, however, one must suffer the rigours of exiting cities, by subway, train and bus.
Japanese respect public property. As they do the rights of others to be safe and secure in public. The Japanese criminal class could be distinguished by the large, black vehicles they drove, while everyone else drove white, ivory or off-white vehicles, in a monochrome of traffic anxious to move, but held back by the very press of its crowded streets. Yet motorcyclists and bicyclists ride alongside the cars and the trucks, with relative respect. Parked cars, motorbikes or bicycles can be left unlocked, and they will not be tampered with.
Japan is seen as the world's second-largest economy, despite the two recent economic set-backs it has experienced in back-to-back recessions. It is Canada's third most important trading partner, and fourth most important investment source, mostly concentrated in the manufacture of automobiles, and resource extraction. The two countries - mostly Canada - are moving toward a free trade agreement. The major difficulty in succeeding in one between the two countries would be the protectionist agricultural sector in Japan.
Japanese are extremely fastidious about the quality of their food. And they feel that food grown themselves, carefully, and with due attention to good growing methods, with a bare minimum of pesticide use benefit them enormously. Indeed, the food grown in the country (and imported from elsewhere) is vastly superior in quality and taste to that available in most other countries. The fruits and vegetables and fish of far better quality and taste. Japanaese consumers demand no less.
Although Japanese have gradually become accustomed to their own versions of western-style supermarkets, most shopping is still done in small mom-and-pop stores specializing as tea shops, rice shops, fish mongers, butchers, noodle or bread shops, greengrocers and fruiterers. Consumers demand excellence and they get it. Try to shop for rice in various places, to get a 'better price' and you soon discover that no matter where you buy your rice, it will be priced the same. That's the rice-farming lobby.
Japanese believe they grow the best rice in the world. And people who grow accustomed to Japanese rice agree with them. This country of 217+million people with a long, distinguished culture, art, traditions, and respect for nature, where people living in cramped togetherness have learned to be socially-receptive to close communion, distinguishes itself as a peaceful nation after the calamity of its Axis-affiliated nuclear reception in defeat during WWII.
That the Emperor and Empress have decided to make an unusual trip to Canada following one that the Emperor took in the 1950s as a prince awaiting his destiny, favours this country immensely. Their lively curiosity to experience the vastness of this country and its natural beauty does them great credit at their advanced age. Their appreciation of all they survey on this visit, their joyful communication with those they greet echoes that of the people who have come out to witness another kind of history.
posted by Pieface | 6:52 PM
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