Japanese Jewish Scene in Tokyo

Guest Blog by: tJIoGT Department of Zionic Studies, Visiting Prof. Abraham Cohen.

I was recently in Tokyo of all places on Shabbat, and wanted to go to a synagogue for services. At first I strongly doubted that there would be a synagogue anywhere in Tokyo, but much to my surprise, the hotel concierge directed me to a synagogue not too far from the hotel.

I entered the synagogue and was surprised to see that everyone there was classically Japanese in appearance: the rabbi, the cantor and all of the congregants had typically Asian features. Their pronunciations of the Hebrew service were a bit off (Balukh atah... merekh ha-oram), but other than that, the service they performed was just like the one at my own synagogue back home.

After the service, I went up to the rabbi to tell him how much I enjoyed the service.

The Japanese rabbi said to me, "Thank you! Are you Jewish?" And I confirmed that I was. The rabbi said...

"Funny, you don't look Jewish."

Why Is India So Backwards?

I recently had the grave misfortune to travel to India. Anyone who has been to India will know already that I didn't enjoy myself at all.

While I intend to make this trip a running theme on these pages over the course of ensuing months, let me begin by saying that I have never been a particular fan of India, Pakistan, or any of those other countries. I am sure you know the ones I am talking about.

Having spent a decade living in, and adapting to a society that places extreme importance on:

Personal hygiene and cleanliness;
An abhorrence of being outdoors whilst bare feet;
A never ending, relentless pursuit of improved toilet hygiene;

I was nonetheless disappointed to be in India.

I should have known something was up when I arrived at the departure gate where the Air India jet was waiting for me.

At first, nothing looked out of place on the surface of things, but look a bit closer.

The big problem I  initially had with this machine was that odds are it had probably spent a fair amount of its lifespan being maintained, serviced, and operated by, well I'll just say it, Indians. I am sure any reasonable person would agree, Indians are not known for their attention to detail or tecichal capacity are they? Granted, for some reason, they seem to be very good with computers, and running call centers, but not much else.

For whatever reason, it seemed to have a lot of paint chipped off its nose. I know its only superficial, but I always like looking at all the different paint designs employed by world carriers when I go to the airport. It relaxes me.

India, if you cant even get the paint job right, what else is going to be wrong with the plane?

Maybe the pilots just hit a lot of birds (definitely not good), or maybe the tarmac approach man with the ping pong paddles in New Delhi is rubbish at estimation and often has the planes nudging into the arrival terminal on approach. Who knows? In any case would it kill them to touch up the paint job.

Its not as if they are working during the stopovers. The pilots were in the cockpit sleeping, having put newspaper, yes, newspaper up against the windows to give themselves a bit of privacy.  Get a load of it. All class.

Once up in the air, I got a bit of a shock at the stewardess's outfit. It was a Indian sari gown thingy that exposed their mid rift. My stewardess woman was old and fat so it was all very offputting. To top it off she also refused me alcohol service on the grounds that I already had a drink. Fair enough, I did, but it wouldn't have killed her to waddle off to the galley and bring me another one.

Touch down in Delhi. The first thing that hits you is the smell. Fair enough, you get used to it after to 3 or 4 days, but at first it is very ordinary. You know how you smell when you are say, camping and you have to go 2 days or more without a shower? Thats how the entire country smells.

Before I offend anyone, please allow me to reiterate that was not intended as an insult. It is an undeniable, irrefutable, objective statement of fact. 

The entire country smells like a bum hole.

Rainy Season Thoughts

Well, well, well. Summer is here at last. Cant say I am the least bit happy about the arrangement, but like most salary men, I am pressing on regardless. I am sure the Japanese will find a way someday to avoid inconveniences such as summer. Once they put their minds to it, I am sure it can be achieved quickly. Look at what they have done with their transportation system, and mastery of high technology.

Isn't it amazing how everything springs to life at this time of year. In fact, at times it seems as though there is something popping out of every nook and cranny. Everything seems to be new again. This is probably one of the reasons I love it so much. The rain is a bit of a problem though, especially when one forgets one's umbrella, or there isn't one that can be readily stolen. I often think it would be great if Japanese companies like Hitachi, or Sharp could use their technology to make it so it only rains at night. Wouldn't that be great! In any case it would be much better than the current arrangement we have.

Plants in Japan during the rainy season sure are amazing too. Some grow at an enormous pace, taking over entire garden beds in what seems like only a few days.

As is the case with most Japanese people, I am a tremendously keen gardener. I have a few bonsai and even a couple of planter pots on my balcony. It helps me to maintain a bond with nature and nice atmosphere at my house.

I am not the only one keen on getting my hands dirty in the garden. Check out these photographs I took recently whilst walking about in Shinjuku.

A lovely mix of decorative and naturally occurring foliage if ever there was one.

Sometimes there are trees in these gardens. Often though, their leaves fall everywhere ad cause a right mess. If you are going to trim them back a bit like this one, its best to get in as early as possible. If you are genuinely serious about trimming them back and getting any wayward branches that could cause problems in early summer, then its best to start as early as possible.

Another problem many municipal councils have in Japan is city tree roots spreading every which way and upending roads and other paved public spaces like this one in Yokohama. 

Just goes to show what can be done a little bit of effort. Look at that paving. It doesn't keep itself level you know.

The final word has to go to this effort, once again from Shinjuku-ward.

Quite a fair bit of potential on display here. Much like me, its best days are either clearly in front of it, or well  and truly behind it. Very hard to tell at this stage.