Pallavi Aiyar, a peripatetic traveller and charming chronicler of ‘Things She Sees’, delivers once again. Orienting…is her Japan book, a montage she has collated for the edification of her readers, culled from her experiences in that country. It’s an easy read, filled with gently offered insights, where the nuggets to be savoured balances out the less-than-savoury bits.
Aiyar slants her confidences towards the Indian reader, telling us about Bodhisena, Rash Behari Bose, Radhabinod Pal, Rabindranath Tagore and Rajnikanth, not to forget the Hindu deities in the Japanese Buddhist pantheon; compares the state of cleanliness, punctuality and obedience to rules between the two countries; shows us how one country prizes vociferousness while the other tries to keep all expressed emotions under tight rein.
In a telling passage, she complains to a Japanese friend that mastering Japanese grammar seemed beyond her grasp. I think Pallavi, the friend replies, for you the bigger problem is going to be how to learn how to talk softly.
So, does the Land of the Rising Sun become any less opaque after we read of and glean many things from this book? Not entirely. There remain pockets of mystery which we cannot fully fathom even if we devour Murakami, Ishiguro or that consummate Japanophile Pico Iyer. Nippon continues to be an unique place, populated with a quiet, rule-obsessed hierarchical society, one that functions on a grid radically different from most other countries.
Aiyar chronicles the problems of opening and operating a bank account; how it is in the way of tea that Japan’s philosophical heartbeat pulses; their very chequered history with China; their total ease with long silences (Aiyar once saw a toddler fall off a swing at a public park and scream silently!). She avers that the Mari Kondo version of Japan is true, with minimalism, thrift and reuse as its pegs; tells of the complexity of the recycling rules and reveals how the high-tech country was still anachronistic in many ways.
Aiyar’s account of how she got her credit cards and money-filled wallet back intact is a jaw-dropping account for the Indian reader. This is the country where ‘What is Lost is Always Found’. The number of found items handed in was generally about four times the number of missing complaints filed… is it morally superior DNA, the writer muses. Then she touches upon the five million vending machines which are basically an effective shield against human interaction; the toilets and toilet deities; cleanliness; religion or the lack of it; the floral tourism of Sakura; their complete attuning to the seasons.
On the flip side is the average Japanese reaction of terror at encountering a non-Japanese speaker; death from overwork or karoshi; how mental health is still stigmatised in a country where emotional expression is discouraged; the cachet suicide carries; the pride and prejudices involved in being Japanese; how to eat in Japan (yes, that’s a thing too, but of course).
‘The No Foreigners Please, We Are Japanese’ chapter is quite an eye-opener, discussing the Japanese disinclination to accept foreigners. With barely two percent being foreign-born on the archipelago, this overt and covert reluctance is at variance with their much- touted politeness. This reader was especially appreciative of the haikus that dot the text all through.
The book is peppered with “bewilderment, delight, intuition, hunches, vignettes, snatches of coherence”, and it all comes well together. Now that Aiyar has done China, parts of Europe, Indonesia, and Japan, we look forward to her next travelogue.
Orienting, an Indian in Japan
By: Pallavi Aiyar
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 290
Price: Rs 499