Our September online meet, we discussed Japan. Here are the notes from the meet. They are auto generated via Google Gemini and I have minor corrections.

1: Growing Up in 1980s Japan by Taro

Taro, who was born in Nagoya in 1960s, gave a personal account of his youth during Japan’s economic boom in the 1980s, the final decade of Emperor Hirohito’s Showa period.

The Economic Climate and Culture:

• The 1980s were a “very prosperous period” for Japan. After recovering from World War II, the nation became an “export powerhouse,” and by the end of the decade, its economy constituted 18% of the global economy, second only to the United States.
• This prosperity fueled a “Happy, vigorous period” of general optimism, which was visible in the era’s “outrageous fashion and hairstyles” and vibrant culture.
• Youth culture featured unique trends such as the takenoko-zoku, people who danced in parks in strange clothes, and the intimidating Bōsōzoku motorcycle gangs, who would carry baseball bats and make trouble at night. Girls’ fashion was characterized by huge bangs, while some boys wore modified, overly long school uniforms.
• With the economy doing well, disco clubs became a “really big thing”. Many women would dress in “body tight suits” and dance on large, elevated stages in huge clubs that were present in every big city.

Personal Experiences and Technology:

• Taro attended an all-male private school, which had an “unfortunate tradition of swimming in the ocean with a traditional loincloth”. He recalled the embarrassment of the event, especially for students who received light-colored loincloths that became see-through when wet.
• Technology was rapidly advancing. Taro’s first gaming experience was on an early Nintendo TV console that could only play one “Pong game,” which he and his brother played for over two or three hundred hours.
• His first computer was a significant part of his youth; it had no floppy disk drive, and all data had to be recorded on an audio cassette. He would spend weeks typing in pages of hex code from magazines to get a single game working. He later upgraded to the first Apple Macintosh 128K.
• Daily life was marked by intense crowding. Taro recalled that the trains were so packed that sometimes his “feet did not touch the floor because people were just pushing” him.

The End of an Era and its Aftermath:

• The government, concerned that the exuberant economy was “getting out of hand,” raised interest rates, which abruptly put the economy into a “downward spiral”.
• This led to a severe bad debt problem for banks that plagued the country for nearly two decades.
• The Tokyo stock market index, which reached its peak in 1989, did not recover to that same level for 34 years, finally surpassing it last year.
• Illustrating the long-term impact, Taro mentioned that years later he was able to buy a house in Tokyo for one-third of its 1989 price, but its value continued to decline for another ten years.

2: A Walking Holiday on the Nakasendo Way by Clara

Clara shared her experience of her first “walking holiday,” which she defined as a trip where “you walk all day” and then stay the night at an inn before continuing the walk the next day. Her journey was on a segment of the Nakasendo Way, a historical footpath spanning over 500 km between Tokyo and Kyoto.

The Journey and Locations:

• Clara walked a portion of the trail in the rural Kiso Valley, traveling in reverse from Karuizawa to Magome.
• Karuizawa: She began in what she described as a “fancy place” with a “Swiss chalet feel,” where Western missionaries first settled. She recommended a shop called Apple Pie Lab, which makes pies using many different kinds of apples.
• Narai: This was the start of the scenic part of her walk. She described Narai as a “very very very well preserved historic post town” that looks like a set from a “period movie”.
• Narai to Kiso Fukushima: This three-hour walk took her over the Torii Pass, where signs warned of bears and bells were provided to scare them away, though she saw none. Kiso Fukushima was beautiful but felt like a “very forgotten sort of place” with few tourists.
• Magome and Tsumago: The final section of her hike was scenic but also “full of tourists” and tour buses.

Reflections and Practical Advice:

• Packing Light: Clara traveled for two weeks with only a backpack, one change of clothes, and one set of pajamas, relying on the prevalence of laundromats in Japan. She also mentioned the convenient Takyubin  delivery service, which can transport luggage to your next destination.
• Rural vs. Urban Japan: After a week in the quiet Kiso Valley—where restaurants and convenience stores were sparse and many houses looked deserted—arriving in the bustling city of Nagoya was a “huge culture shock”.
• The Ryokan Experience: Clara admitted her idea of staying in a traditional ryokan was romanticized. In reality, she found the experience “very oppressive,” citing the strict, fixed timetables for meals and bathing, and the tiring social pressure to be constantly polite and “bow endlessly”.

Link: A 14-Day Attempt to Walk Across Japan (Clara’s narrative of her journey)

Questions & Answers

Q&A for Taro

• On studying in the US: When asked if it was common for Japanese students to go to the US in the 1980s, Taro responded that it was “not common at all”. In his grade of about 600 students, he was the only one intent on going. He was motivated by a desire to “get out of the country and see a wider world” and to avoid a typical career path of becoming an engineer designing cars in a factory.
• On mental health in the 80s and 90s: Asked about the prevalence of depression, Taro said he could see it. After spending a year in the US, he returned to Japan and felt that people smiled less genuinely. He noted that bullying was “very rampant in school” and that the phenomenon of hikikomori (people who isolate themselves at home) was already known.
• On changes in masculinity: A participant asked if young Japanese men are more “feminine” now. Taro explained that the concept of “herbivore men”—men not interested in “chasing after meat”—emerged a few years before 2000 as a reaction to the “vigorous 1980s”. He suggested that as material success became more difficult after the economic collapse, people sought different models for life.
• On his school’s size: Taro confirmed that his school was very large, with 600 students just in his grade. There were about 50 students per class and eleven or twelve classes in his grade.

Q&A for Clara

• On the inspiration for her trip: Clara explained that she was inspired by a previous trip to the UK, where she enjoyed the lifestyle of staying in countryside inns and “rambling around all day”. She wanted to have a trip where she could walk from one hotel to the next, carrying her backpack, rather than returning to the same place each night.

Photo Sharing Session

Preetam’s “Omoide Noto” find and a project Idea

Preetam shared a photo from his first trip to Japan in 2007, when he stayed at a ryokan in Kyoto. He found his room had a notebook called an “Omoide Noto”. This notebook contained stories and messages from previous guest who had stayed in that specific room. The concept of an “object having a story” inspired him to create a small project called iwinkd, which he described as “like a Twitter for an object”. The website allowed users to attach a code to an object, like a book, so that future owners could look it up and add to its ongoing story. The project ran for a few months before being shut down in 2008.

Link: Finding a Omoido Noto, a memory notebook and a project (Japan) - Small things, mostly

Ivy’s Cherry Blossom Dinner

Ivy, a participant from Germany, shared a photo of a dinner she had with friends in Kyoto. The photo was taken at an outdoor restaurant located next to Gion Street and behind the Yasaka Shrine. She was very lucky because this outdoor dining was only available for about two weeks during the cherry blossom season, and her group managed to get a table without a reservation. During this memorable meal, she discovered sparkling plum wine in a can, which became a new favorite drink and a special memory tied to her trip.

Ivy has kindly agreed to share her stories of walking in Europe for our next online meet. Join us.