Oh No !

“Whimsical”, after deep thinking ( yes, I can sometimes think !!), is a word I thought fits best to describe weirdness the world sometimes thrashes upon my eyes.

Phoenix truly is a wonder bird. “a legendary Arabian bird said to periodically burn itself to death and emerge from the ashes as a new phoenix; according to most versions only one phoenix lived at a time and it renewed itself every 500 years” is one of the explanations I found in the dictionary.

Somehow Phoenix reminds me of Japan. Virtually turned to ashes, is now the second biggest economy in Asia (excuse me for my ‘expertise’ in economics!) and above all is one of the most developed countries in terms of civilization, technology. And all that in such an amazing span !!

I had this wish with God - “Incase I get a chance to travel beyond my country, please make me visit Japan”. Somehow God more than heeded to my wish. As a bonus I was blessed to visit this miraculous land for the second time. I also thank my job and company for this.

Technology wonders I used to come across through media and ‘Made In Japan’ by Akio Morita ‘san’ had created a kind of preconceived notion about Japan before I could land there; and as if to greatly reinforce my notions and added to the fact that I am from a relatively less developed country, Japan indeed proved to me more than that. In my limited exposure to people of different countries, I found Japanese the most humble and helping in their nature and this noble feature was brimming across all ages.

Soon after I came out of the plane to the airport lounge my next hurdle, among those who finds English very very tough, and myself absolutely no Japanese (except to thank them !) knowledge, was to find how to reach the hotel where my accommodation was booked.
The helpdesk attendant was so humble, she patiently listened to us (me and my colleague, one more down-to-earth soul !), with extreme earnest requested us to wait for sometime so that she could consult the person with proper knowledge and get back. She was so committed in her work, with great difficulty she explained about the bus route and there upon the train route to reach place. And as if that is not enough, to make sure that we reach proper place to catch our bus she herself took us to the exit gate and showed us the bus stop ! And in each sentence she produced with her fullest efforts a deep respect and commitment was all visible even to the blind.

The experiences are many to prove that the Japanese are the most humble and helping by their nature and this is one among them.

‘Touch the perfection’ – Toyota’s caption truly represents Japan. The bus we were supposed to catch was scheduled to 6:37pm( hope I am right and back in my place, 37,38,39… are just ruled out. Its all rounded off and some times if its scheduled to 6am it can well turn out at 6pm!! no wonder rounded off ! isn’t it ?! ) and to my shock, on dot, it stopped right in front of us may be couple of seconds past !! And through out my stay there, I felt this time and again whenever it happened me to catch a bus or a local train. Especially with trains, it was amazing - earmarked on the platform, a thick yellow (I hope) line painted to indicate the waiting passengers as to where would each wagon’s doors be when the train halts, people form queues starting from those markings and it almost always works perfect !!

....STILL TO CONTINUE....