Heroes Not Zombies

I’m in Tokyo just now and this is such a fascinating city. It’s significantly different from not only Scotland but all the other places I’ve visited in the world. Firstly it’s vast. From my 18th floor hotel room I look out of mile after mile of skyscrapers and buildings. Each morning has been hazy outside but the weather forecast last night said a “typhoon was knocking at the door of Japan”, and although I’ve seen no sign of rain yet the wind had picked up a lot this morning. I love the cooling breeze when the temperature is 30 degrees plus and the humidity is around 80%! The winds have blown away the haze so much to my surprise I could clearly see the distant mountains way beyond Tokyo this morning (almost reminded me of home!)

The in-house hotel magazine is usually just glossy ads for expensive branded goods but this issue has an article about Tetsuya Chickushi promoting the idea of “Michikusa” (which roughly translated means “loitering on the way or taking a pause and looking round”). He promotes “Slow Life” and says he was inspired by the Italian “slow food” movement. He says michikusa is about stopping, allowing a little time to stray off the path and follow your curiosity and he mentions an activity of drawing up a michikusa map. What a wonderful idea!

Here’s his closing paragraph –

Traditionally, Japanese society has had a very strong homogenous nature, and the economic success of the modern age was attained as a result of everyone working together in the same direction without rest. And at very high speed, too. Even now, we continue to set our priority on speed, which is why we still tend to think about everything in a shallow, narrow and brief manner. But I believe that now is the right time for us to think pluralistically in a deep, broad and thorough manner. Perhaps, Japan is about to enter a phase when we should take a pause, sometimes even enjoying michikusa, and contemplate thoroughly on what true happiness is for us.