rice, people. rice.

The agricultural journalists' congress (the reason I was in Japan) was fun. Very few seminars, workshops etc – mostly visits to agricultural sites, organizations, farms etc. After 2 days in Tokyo, we headed northeast to Sendai City. From there we went on a 2 day agricultural tour the surrounding Southern Tohoku region.

I met some great people, but was also surprised at the narrow attitude of some of the participants. Most people were from Western Europe* and North America; for many, it was their first time to Japan (or, for that matter, Asia). I didn’t expect people to understand every nuance of Japanese culture (god knows I don’t, and I lived there for a year), but I thought at the very least they’d expect things to be a bit different to home. But on several occasions, I overheard conversations that implied that people were getting pissed off because things weren’t working as they expected (schedule changes, for example). We’re in a VERY different country, relying on translators, and there were a few hiccups. Who would’ve thought? And others whinged about the food, sneaking off to Starbucks and McDonalds when they had the chance.

Again – I don’t expect everyone to love all Japanese foods, and wanting some home comfort food is fair enough. But the attitude I sensed among some (and this was a small minority; most people had a ball) was not “Japanese food is very different, I’d like some more familiar food.” It was “Japanese food is shit, rice at every meal sucks, I want some REAL food.” Disappointing, people, disappointing. Thanks to MC, an ag journo from back home in Oz, with whom I discussed such things over late-ish night izakaya beers.

It was interesting too, seeing people start to understand the place of rice in the Japanese national psyche. Without viewing rice through a social/cultural/historical lens, it’s almost impossible to understand Japanese rice policies – e.g., paying farmers to keep 30% of their land out of rice cultivation but not really encouraging them to grow other crops on that 30%; 7-800% tariffs on imported rice (which is only imported because of obligation due to a trade agreement). But rice really is so ingrained (pun intended! HA! In-GRAINed! Geddit!?!) in the traditions and culture of Japan – and most other Asian countries – that if you simply view it in economic terms as an agricultural commodity, you can’t understand it. By the end of the week, people were starting to get it though. That’s not to say that they agreed with the policies, or that things can’t change. But in Japan, the “culture” component of agriculture should really be underlined, bolded and italicised - especially compared to, for example, Oz, which only has a couple of hundred (as opposed to thousands) of years of agriculture.

And, as always -- because I care -- here are some photos...

*There were a few Eastern Europeans too, and my hat goes off to the fattish, balding, moustachioed Ukrainian bloke who wore a skin-tight, shiny muscle shirt over his considerable torso. Fair play, fella:

hierarchy

One major difference between China and the Philippines, which I noticed while on the work component of my trip last week: the relative lack of social hierarchy and apparent relative egalitarianism. I've dulled this statement with qualifying words (relative, apparent) because I acknowledge its based on the observations of somebody who's pretty ignorant of Chinese culture and history.

Obviously there's some social stratification in China, but it seemed on the surface that it doesn't run as deep as the very stratified Philippines. My guess is that Chinese communism has played a significant role in this, but -- having no real knowledge of contemporary China (beyond what I read in newspapers and on websites, and what I saw last week), and no knowledge of pre-cultural revolution China -- I offer grains of salt to anybody who reads this.

First, I didn't see any of the extremes of wealth and poverty that are easy to find in the Philippines. That may be because wealth in China is indeed more evenly distributed, or it could be because I just didn't happen to see it in my 9 days there, or that the Chinese government (which blocks access to blogger, by the way) is better at sweeping it under the proverbial. Having said that, there was plenty of evidence of unshared personal wealth, particularly in the form of large, new European cars (especially black Audis). No doubt plenty has been written on China's current economic phenomenon, and to what extent the country's increasing wealth is being shared around. I shall add nothing to that body of knowledge.

Second, our driver sat in the same room, at the same table as the rest of us -- scientists, local communist party officials, token foreigner (me), local agricultural businesspeople. Not only did he eat with us, he toasted and was toasted by everyone else*, and chatted with everyone (except me, because we didn't share any language beyond "cheers"). In an equivalent situation in the Philippines, the driver would almost never join the professionals at meals. More than likely, he'd get a meal allowance of a couple of dollars and head off to a much cheaper place to eat alone or with the other drivers, if there are more than one.

*Our driver also didn't touch a drop of alcohol, which -- given he was the driver and considering the effects of the local liquor -- made him my own personal hero.

And -- because I still care -- here's another photo from the Forbidden City in Beijing: