Fakery in Japan

Now this is a funny thing. Some aspects of humanity you think are universal. And it`s only when you live 12 hours by plane from your home country that you find out that they`re not!

And I love that.

There are a lot of things you can learn when travelling to another “close-by” country. Other European countries do do things differently/ behave differently. But even some thigs are European-universal. By just experiencing a European way of life and outlook and discovering those things that are similar to your country you would be forgiven for taking this European-wide similarity and applying it universally to the world.

Sometimes you really need to travel right outside of your segment of this sphere, right from the north to the south, or, the west to the east in this case to really discover what are global universals and what aren`t. It`s funny to discover things that you assume were. And are in fact not.

(I realize this is getting rather abstract, so I`ll give it some concrete).

I came to this thought after an experience on my birthday came to trigger one of these realizations that I periodically have here.

My birthday party had turned into a weekend event. I wanted to go shopping in the days, dancing in the night – desperate to do Tokyo properly because it is a fabulous city and I hadn`t been there nearly enough. (It was an absolutely fabulous birthday which I will describe in the next blog post).

One of the several distinct shopping areas – Ikebukuro, was suggested (by my students and friend Tomoko, so I was enthusiastic to go there. Ikebukuro slightly reminded me of Oxford Street, and then Covent Garden in London in character as we followed Tomoko through the streets to where we were going shopping. We were looking out for “Sunshine City” in the Tokyu building. A shopping mall type experience then. To be inside a shopping centre wouldn`t have been my choice as I did want to experience Tokyo. Rather than a generic shopping centre. But, I`m always keen to follow Japanese people, because as a foreigner, you usually have some typically Japanese experience as a result rather than doing things I normally would ……

…. AND WE SURE DID!

Lunch was on all our minds by 12 – quickly too, so we get straight to the shops. Tomoko though, had that covered. Shes obviously done some research before – armed with google map printouts and what was available in the Sunshine City complex. She said we`d be going to a gyoza and ice cream bar. Gyoza aren`t my favourite food in the world, nor Andrew`s or Jean`s who are trying to be healthy, but we just went along with her anyway, because it`s not the done thing in Japan to stand out and make a fuss.

I first got the hint that this was going to be one of those weird, unique, only in Japan-type experiences when Tomoko mentioned the \300 entrance fee. “What?” An entrance fee just to a gyoza place??!” So, we paid our \300 into the machine (this, by the way, is something in many Japanese food establishments that doesn`t make me bat an eyelid anymore, but for British peple perhaps it is a bit weird buying your lunch ticket of whatever meal-drink bar – sald bar – bread bar – dessert combo deal you`re going to go for) and put our tickets through the automatic gates and entered.

IT WAS ENTIRELY BIZARRE.

No natural light, fake brown paneling – odd plastic cartoon structures here and there – a Christmas tree – a fake shrine – a fake chapel – dark. And then the fake festival too! We had entered some kind of alternative reality theme park world. Except there weren`t rides. This was in a shopping centre. Which was in regular Tokyo outside. Everything was totally weird – almost as if we were in a theatre set of phantom of the Opera in certain areas.

At first I think us gaijin felt a little put out a good well-meaning Tomoko had brought us into this strange dark place that we couldn`t get out of now we had our entrance tickets- we were in. All we had wanted was a quick bite. The Chinese dumpling shop outside of Zara would have been good for me!

But quickly we got into the swing of experiencing one of these “only Japan!” places. They had created this fake festival atmosphere inside the place. With gyoza stalls crammed together just like you would find at a real festival! Tight pathways to walk between the stalls on to create the crowded festival atmosphere. Even the funny fish tanks that you can find at festivals you find there. An open area of small stalls and tables for casual seating (which you would find ONLY at a FESTVAL in Japan). And the crowd was there! There were so many people pushing around these gyoza stalls. We bought our gyoza slightly overwhelmed by all the choice and sat on the low tables in the dark fake festival seating area to eat them. Then we went to the ice cream area up some fake Disney type grand house staircase to the ice cream palce where there was so much different kind of ice cream. Turkish ice crea. Soft cream. Belgian. Giant cabinets with loads of different hagen daaz pots. And the slot machine areas with the high pitched intense sounds to the side. It was consumerism and consumption gone made. (Again this aspect of Japan that I have mentioned before – when we work, we WORK. When we don`t work, we REALLY DON`T WORK. We go to strange lands like this a spend and buy, and eat and drink!) As we were eating our ice creams finding a funny bench opposite some strange structures with flashing lights we noticed people with headsets and wearing packs. Holding their packs up to the sky and occasionally grabbing to hit the lights then walking on. Andrew and Tomoko asked what they were doing. It turns out they were playing some kind of ghostbusters game, where they were hunting ghosts. Entirely bizarre. And all the more so because these were adults doing this. Not kids. Young men and women – probably on a date one couple.

A fake festival had been created inside a shopping centre with ghostbusters. And finally I am coming to the point in this post. The Japanese don`t seem bothered by fakeness. At all!

I think that in the west, we highly value originality and genuineness. I had assumed this was a universal, but various experiences in Japan and China have made me think this is not the case. Obviously we have such things as theme parks and laser Quest in England, which the only thing I can think of with a small relation to this. But for the Japanese it goes further. In this alternative reality we were in that lunchtime there was also fake shrines. And a fake church. That would NEVER happen in the west – to make a fake religious place. Because that is something serious for many people. And it just wouldn`t be done. But the Japanese view fake things the same as real things. They are just as happy to have their photo taken outside a fake shrine/ festival as a real one.

This lack of bother surrounding fake things extends into other more serious aspects of Japanese life. A wedding for example. For Japanese a church wedding is very fashionable these days. But the Japanese aren`t Christian. They just want a fake Christian wedding. They don`t think this is weird in ANY WAY. There are fake Christian chapels all over the place in Japan. And there is a recognized job in Japan to be a FAKE PRIEST. And I am NOT JOKING. It is even better if you manage to get a western fake priest as opposed to Japanese (so good extra career for some gaijin here!)

These fake Christian weddings are so popular in Japan at the moment. It is not for a select funny few. Most couples want this. (Though, I have to be fair and say, many will also have a ceremony at a shrine too).

But the point remains. The Japanese aren`t bothered by fakeness. To the westerner, genuinity is highly valued. We like to see things that are old, that are the original. Like our churches and old buildings for instance. We like them. We are proud of them. But in the east an original shrine is not particularly valued. They are rebuilt every 40 years. (This is the same in China).
Can you imagine the equivalent – rebuilding a catherdral every 40 years???!!

It is a funny moment when you come to realize that something like really valuing something that is genuine, is not so important to everyone across the whole world, as I think I thought.