The Land od the Rising Yen

force of kinetic energy
squeeze a dozen or two extra sardines into the railway carriage. Perhaps a few
dozen are squeezed out on the other side but no one would miss them.) Roads, as
soon as you get off the superhighways with their impressive and spectacular intersections
are pretty awful. The housing shortage is frightening and as more agricultural
labourers flood into the cities it is getting worse: there is no privacy,
overcrowding is dreadful. Only about twenty per cent of Japanese houses have
proper drainage, the honey-cart still trots along the streets even of Tokyo at night. Noise is constant and deafening. Air pollution is poisonous.

    The Economic Planning Agency on
Japanese Living Standards prepared a White Paper for the government and, among
other things, reported (according to The Times, 7 July 1969) that to
judge by the number of parks in Japanese cities and the availability of public
libraries, Japan rates far behind the advanced countries of the West. The United States is fifteen times better off in this respect.
    There is a great deal of
dissatisfaction about these problems. The agency implied that the government
ought to pay more attention to the lot of the common man and less to the economic
glory of Japan as reflected in — guess what — G.N.P.
    Over one third of the working people
complained that their budgets were severely strained. Even though incomes were
increasing every year, people did not feel much better off. The rich also
complain about the unbearable traffic conditions: that they cannot drive ‘their
new Toyotas and Nissans through the heavy traffic in cities’.
    The Prime Minister’s Office had
previously published evidence that ‘frustration indices’ existed on an
unprecedented level. ‘Frustration index’ is just American semi-scientific
jargon meaning that a sense of frustration is spreading among the Japanese.
This does not prove, of course, that the Economic Miracle is non-existent or is
not a real miracle. But the more a Japanese hears about it, the more he expects
for himself. Propaganda is counterproductive: the greater the glory of Japan, the higher individual expectations become and the worse the frustration. All this
should not cause ironic smiles at the expense of the Japanese, we should feel
no Schadenfreude. Their achievement is great and awe-inspiring.
Frustration only means that however much has been achieved a great deal still
has to be done. It also brings home the lesson that man does not live by
Economic Miracle alone.
     
    It is not only the West which watches
Japan, but also the new African nations. A member of the Japanese Government
told me:
    ‘They are in two minds. They feel
contempt for us and say that after one single defeat we surrendered completely
to the West. That we gave up all our aims and aspirations to pursue material
welfare only — selfishly, egotistically and thinking of ourselves alone. But
other, knowledgeable Africans wink. They imply: just wait. As soon as Japan is really strong enough, she will discard her veil and will reveal herself as a
powerful ally and champion of the non-Western nations.’
    My informant failed to add his own
comment on the knowledgeable African wink. But Japan, of course, will not
discard her veil; she has no veil. Japan is not the champion of the
East; nor of the West; of the non-aligned; nor of the aligned. She is the
champion of herself. And this, perhaps, is the strongest and most powerful
basic reason for the frustration: the Japanese — workers, capitalists and
particularly students — feel that the rich have only one great, noble and
sacred aim: to become even richer.
    And they ask (in Japanese this is a
more elegant phrase, with a distinct archaic flavour); so what?

PARADISE
     
    Japan is the world’s greatest
expense-account Paradise. Salaries, like wages, are still comparatively low;
salaries, in fact, have risen less sharply than wages. The average salary of a
clerk is Y 40,000 a month which comes to £560 or $1,350 per annum. But a
lot of perks, fringe benefits, change the picture. Large bonuses are paid twice
a year, raising the man’s money income considerably; travel to and from work is
usually paid for; people get free or subsidized lunches; unmarried employees
often get free housing; married and unmarried get free holidays with all expenses
paid; and there are, usually, excellent sporting and other leisure facilities.
And ultimately, when the man reaches the stratospheric heights of the