Very interesting and fun article. But you don't fully understand about using ATMs and credit cards in Japan. Japan as a society does not use credit cards like Americans. The Japanese have many debit apps and the young use them to pay at stores, restaurants and train & subway stations with their smartphones, Apple Pay, Pay Pay, etc. Most seniors still use cash! Japanese still send cash payments by mail, Genkin Kakitome I always use the prepaid card Pasmo to swipe for train and subway fare. It is easy to use. You do add money to it with cash at machines at the train/subway stations or convenience stores and it is also easy. One can get cash with their debit card in an ATM at any convenience store in Japan and as you know they are everywhere. Using Bank ATMs can be challenging. The biggest reason that everything seems cheap in Japan compared to 20 to 30 years ago is because wages have been flat since the bubble period for 25 to 30 years. Prices never went up and actually went down in the deflationary period 1998 to 2012 only rising never recently due to inflation. You forgot to mention the highly advanced Japanese Bidet toilets almost everywhere. Have the runs? No Problem in Japan. The old Squatty Potties you could find in the 80's & 90's are few and far between.
Well said, Rohit! “Somehow, they have made the mundane necessities of life, of buying snacks at a supermarket or getting a cup of coffee, not feel like an experience in making you wish your life were better. In the US every interaction seems poised to fill you with envy for those who live a rung above you, not in Japan.”
The “restaurants in random places” phenomenon is truly delightful. I lived in Kamiyacho (near Roppongi) for a few years in the early 2010s. There was a Thai restaurant tucked away in a side street that was amazing. Just three tables and a bench - pretty run down but immaculate. The most interesting place for me was a market near Ueno which sold the plastic food models that are ubiquitous in the displays are various combinis and restaurants. It was all slightly ridiculous but the attention to detail was exceptional - pretty much sums up the Tokyo experience!
Great, now I want to visit Japan again. First time was around 1997, on a study tour, and everything indeed was the future. The smallest of cellphones! Personal digital assistants that had a stylus and could recognize (Japanese) handwriting! And they'd just gone from taking over the world (American "Japan Scare," anyone?... Which not incidentally seems to explain a lot of Trump re. tariffs) to the lost decade.
Second time was some twenty years later. Much easier to get around with a smartphone, still completely ... What? As you wrote, futuristic and not. Also, still very traditional, very much its own culture and society. And that, even when they make coffee or American workwear.
And I need to go for a deep dive into matcha. Japanese (Uji) matcha has been under the radar in some respects, and at the same time, it has become so popular that stocks are all sold out and new supply will be 80-150% more expensive than last year. If you can get it.
So well written - you've an alternate career as a travel writer someday :)
"It shows how much maintenance is important to keep civilization running. It demonstrates more than anywhere else I’ve been the importance of product thinking, to ensure that the customer has a good experience regardless of the ingredients at your disposal. Of how you can use customer service and culture to make up for technological deficiencies even as you apply the technological skill to build the future." I would have emphasised the culture as the foundation.
The Japanese embody the cultural understanding that mastery and meaning emerge from dedicated practice and attention, not from constant novelty or advancement. This pursuit of constant improvement among service staff, factory workers and even toilet cleaners (as Wim Wenders beautifully captured in Perfect Days) is refreshing. Contrasted with a hustle culture in the rest of the world that measures success by productivity rather than presence.
The best part about this travel post is the attention to detail and the fact that you can remember all of it and put it down into words. Wow.
Very interesting and fun article. But you don't fully understand about using ATMs and credit cards in Japan. Japan as a society does not use credit cards like Americans. The Japanese have many debit apps and the young use them to pay at stores, restaurants and train & subway stations with their smartphones, Apple Pay, Pay Pay, etc. Most seniors still use cash! Japanese still send cash payments by mail, Genkin Kakitome I always use the prepaid card Pasmo to swipe for train and subway fare. It is easy to use. You do add money to it with cash at machines at the train/subway stations or convenience stores and it is also easy. One can get cash with their debit card in an ATM at any convenience store in Japan and as you know they are everywhere. Using Bank ATMs can be challenging. The biggest reason that everything seems cheap in Japan compared to 20 to 30 years ago is because wages have been flat since the bubble period for 25 to 30 years. Prices never went up and actually went down in the deflationary period 1998 to 2012 only rising never recently due to inflation. You forgot to mention the highly advanced Japanese Bidet toilets almost everywhere. Have the runs? No Problem in Japan. The old Squatty Potties you could find in the 80's & 90's are few and far between.
this was phenomenal
Well said, Rohit! “Somehow, they have made the mundane necessities of life, of buying snacks at a supermarket or getting a cup of coffee, not feel like an experience in making you wish your life were better. In the US every interaction seems poised to fill you with envy for those who live a rung above you, not in Japan.”
The “restaurants in random places” phenomenon is truly delightful. I lived in Kamiyacho (near Roppongi) for a few years in the early 2010s. There was a Thai restaurant tucked away in a side street that was amazing. Just three tables and a bench - pretty run down but immaculate. The most interesting place for me was a market near Ueno which sold the plastic food models that are ubiquitous in the displays are various combinis and restaurants. It was all slightly ridiculous but the attention to detail was exceptional - pretty much sums up the Tokyo experience!
It makes the city! I had exceptional Mexican food in a random place near koto city, completely unexpected.
Great, now I want to visit Japan again. First time was around 1997, on a study tour, and everything indeed was the future. The smallest of cellphones! Personal digital assistants that had a stylus and could recognize (Japanese) handwriting! And they'd just gone from taking over the world (American "Japan Scare," anyone?... Which not incidentally seems to explain a lot of Trump re. tariffs) to the lost decade.
Second time was some twenty years later. Much easier to get around with a smartphone, still completely ... What? As you wrote, futuristic and not. Also, still very traditional, very much its own culture and society. And that, even when they make coffee or American workwear.
And I need to go for a deep dive into matcha. Japanese (Uji) matcha has been under the radar in some respects, and at the same time, it has become so popular that stocks are all sold out and new supply will be 80-150% more expensive than last year. If you can get it.
Thanks, Rohit. Some of your best writing!
Thanks !!
Excellent article Rohit
Thanks!!
So well written - you've an alternate career as a travel writer someday :)
"It shows how much maintenance is important to keep civilization running. It demonstrates more than anywhere else I’ve been the importance of product thinking, to ensure that the customer has a good experience regardless of the ingredients at your disposal. Of how you can use customer service and culture to make up for technological deficiencies even as you apply the technological skill to build the future." I would have emphasised the culture as the foundation.
The Japanese embody the cultural understanding that mastery and meaning emerge from dedicated practice and attention, not from constant novelty or advancement. This pursuit of constant improvement among service staff, factory workers and even toilet cleaners (as Wim Wenders beautifully captured in Perfect Days) is refreshing. Contrasted with a hustle culture in the rest of the world that measures success by productivity rather than presence.