Japan — A Geek’s Paradise!
Anime, manga, robots, electronics, billboards, temples, shrines, glitz, glamour, lights, action, bushido, samurai, ninja, zen! All these words describe a particular land, a particular people, a particular culture. It’s a place which many like-minded individuals often dream of visiting. To many, it is a paradise of sorts. It harbors all that we, as geeks, value and hold dear. It is one of the few locations on earth where we can revel in and celebrate what makes us tick. This paradise I speak of is none other than…JAPAN, the land of the rising sun!
For 22 days, I had the privilege of visiting and traveling through this wondrous country taking special care to observe everything from a geek’s perspective. I was more than impressed at their uniqueness on many different levels. From technology to design to aesthetic to art, the Japanese consistently demonstrated a more thoughtful and thorough approach to things than any other group of people I have ever seen. On the surface, it often seems like ideas are taken to unnecessary extremes. But this impression changes once you start experience how useful and convenient these extremes are. Let me elucidate this with a quick, albeit somewhat crass, example.
Toilets. We westerners think we have the kibbosh on comfort and beauty when it comes to the porcelain god. We believe we are cute and funny when we sensationalize the toilet bowl and fantasize about customizing it with all kinds of gadgets and niceties. In Japan, they have taken the ideas we joke about and made them into a reality…plain and simple. The biggest, and for me personally, most satisfying innovation they have added is the heated toilet seat. In many places, not all but many, toilet seats are equipped with a built-in system which plugs into the wall and sends a current through the toilet seat causing it to heat up. Though small and seemingly insignificant, the heated toilet seat brings a whole new meaning to the word ‘restroom’. Once you start using one, you actually begin to look forward to your next meeting with it. It may seem odd and insignificant but it makes a universe of difference.
The innovation does not stop there, however, as the Japanese have added several other features warranting what appears to be a control panel on the side of the toilet. To the foreigners eye, the control panel looks downright scary and confusing. There are a multitude of buttons with kanji, katagana and hiragana symbols scribbled on them staring mysteriously back at you piquing your curiosity. Those brave individuals willing to take a chance will discover how one set of buttons turns on a motorized bidet. Once activated, a jet stream of water sprays you from the rear and continues to do so until you hit another button to turn it off. The remaining buttons in the same vicinity allow you to modify the pressure, temperature and, in some cases, location of the water as it cleans your behind. Another set of buttons activates a second bidet, this time from the front. As you might have guessed, this bidet is specifically for women. Being a country and culture of extreme polity, the toilet seat has yet another button, this one also for women. When pushed, it makes the sound of a toilet bowl flushing…but without the flushing. The purpose of the button is to mask the sounds a woman may be making while relieving themselves in the restroom. Apparently, the idea behind this is to avoid any potential embarrassment.
It is not just that the japanese take ideas and action them and improve upon them in an effort to attain maximum efficiency, they also believe highly in aesthetics and beautification. One interesting thing I noticed, both at a friend’s apartment in Tokyo and at other hostels where I was staying, when the Japanese have finished using the restroom, they do not leave the toilet paper ripped with a jagged, horizontal edge. Almost always, they will fold it and make a distinctive and aesthetically pleasing triangle for the next person who comes to use it. It sounds minor but it is this level of both attention to detail as well as beauty which typifies the experience of Japan. To us, these kinds of things may seem trite or innocuous but that is only because we are looking at it as an isolated event. The japanese take a wholistic, big picture view and to them, the full experience matters and everything contributing to that experience is fair game for improvement and importance. It really comes as no surprise that geeks of many different flavors and variety would come to love and appreciate the Japanese way of thinking.
As most geeks are already aware, it goes without saying the Japanese have a unique mastery of gaming and technology. For anyone that has been to Japan in the past, they will quickly agree that any geek or gamer or anime fan or cospay lover should do everything in their power to visit Akihabara, the Mecca of geekdom. Nestled on the eastern side of Tokyo, Akihabara hums with a density of arcades, manga stores, maid cafes, pachinko spots, electronic department stores and numerous flea market boutiques selling every kind of electronics hardware component imaginable. When I arrived in Akihabara for the first time, I was genuinely spellbound. It does not matter what anyone else says, many geeks will genuinely feel at home in this one of a kind place. Personally, my fascination was more with the new arcade games. With the advent of highly advanced computers and gaming consoles, I was of the opinion that arcade gaming was obsolete and a dying activity. There was nothing more to arcade games to really innovate and even if there was, no one would really care. Thankfully, the Japanese proved me totally wrong. One of the coolest new creations I saw in the arcades at Akihabara was this game incorporating touch technology where you could command whole divisions of armies with these different cards you move around on a table. It was amazing. It looked like a true to life simulation of a battle where you are the supreme commander with a gods eye view and the ability to move and manipulate whole groups of soldiers. Just when I thought everything had already been done, this comes along and totally blows my mind! The funny thing about gaming culture is that surprisingly, it’s something done by both genders. I really got a kick out of seeing couples together where the girl was watching her guy playing a game and marveling at how skilled he was. She looked at him like he was a hero!
And that sentiment is what really characterizes the whole of the experience of Japan. You have to see it and feel it and test it and soak it in to understand and grasp it. More than any other country, I think Japan has what every geek is looking for to whet their appetite. It may not all make sense at first but it is worth at least trying and seeing to find out how you feel about it. If not now, a trip to Japan should definitely be on every geeks bucket list. The electricity is always surging in Akihabara, waiting for the next flock of geeks to make their pilgrimage.
