Report From Nagano

Part 4 of a continuing saga

by Eric Wenocur

Subject: Report From Nagano IV: So, what's the big deal?
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 11:03:49 -0500
From: Eric H Wenocur (EHW_LTS@compuserve.com)
To: editor@s2n.org

Konnichi-wa comrades,

Well, we are nearly a week into the actual Olympic Games. By now everyoneshould have had a chance to watch some of the CBS coverage. You can drawyour own conclusions. Back in the shop we tend not to see much of thefinal shows that you get in the States; we end up watching raw camera feedsor switched feeds from the venues or pieces that are being edited, so Idon't have much opinion on it. I have heard a variety of complaints aboutthe coverage but I can neither confirm or deny anything. ;)

In the end, after all the dire predictions, the city of Nagano seemsrelatively unscathed by the event. There are definitely large crowds insome areas, such as around the train station, where the Olympic PR andsouvenir tents are centered, and along Chuo-dori street which runs betweenthe station and the Zenkoji temple. But the paralyzing crowds and trafficthat we feared have not materialized. Even on the press side, which issupposedly 8,000 strong, it does not seem too bad. Of course, being on the7pm-7am shift my perspective might be a little skewed; we tend to findourselves on virtually empty motorcoaches most of the time, while I knowthat the day shift buses are full.

Speaking of which, the Nagano Olympiccommittee's Herculean effort at providing official transportation hasturned out to be permanently disorganized. For some reason they cannotseem to get these buses to arrive at the scheduled times and often do notknow which ones are going where. It is frustrating to stand out in thefreezing cold at 7am waiting for a specific bus while 8 or 10 empty onesdrive up, stop and leave. They cannot conceive of re-routing the things tofit the need.

Work continues to be very light, to my great surprise. I have so much freetime that I have gone back to working on design projects for home. Unfortunately I did not anticipate the time available so I did not bringall my files, but I had some sent over (three days by Express Mail, notbad!). It is a pain working on a laptop, but I can get a lot accomplished.

Everyone is also taking time to see events. We can get free ticketsthrough CBS on an as-available basis. I have put in for events which willnot cause me to lose too much sleep; skiing aerials next week and figureskating exhibition on the 21st. I also went to a hockey match thisafternoon (Thurs here) which was...fine. That is to say, it looked likehockey to me.

Harvey, the Quantel service guy from England, has fashioned himself asleeping area under one of the workbenches. He's lined the space betweentwo back-to-back benches with packing paper and closes himself in with bigcardboard boxes. This is so reminiscent of the "Seinfeld" where Georgebuilds a sleep nook under his desk that I even took a picture of him lyingunder there! Meanwhile, many people have bought these tiny Mini-Discrecorders and want to copy various music CDs onto them. Unfortunately theU.S. copy-protection system prevents digital-digital copies between thesedevices, so the resourceful maintenance techs rigged up a dubbing systemwhich strips out the copy-code using some digital audio test gear. It'squite amusing.

The Yanagimachi Village cleaning squad has gotten very aggressive lately. When we started working overnight shifts the CBS Housing department kindlyprovided us with "DO NOT DISTURB" signs in Japanese for our rooms. For awhile they worked alright; the cleaning crew would come barrelling in atabout 10am and slam doors, talk loudly and generally create a din whilecleaning--but did not try to clean the rooms with signs. This would wakeme up, but only briefly. Sometimes they would return later in the day todo the rooms they had passed over. Unfortunately we are often stillsleeping at 3pm. A few days ago they decided to ignore the sign on my doorand unlocked it while I was still lying in bed. I was not really sleepingany longer but I had no desire to get out of bed so they could change thesheets again. When the first one stuck her head in I tried to indicatethat she need not clean the room. She went away and was followed by twomore workers, each asking if it was okay to clean. I eventually made itclear that it was not necessary, or desired, but one of my roommates, whohad also been sleeping, was quite incensed at the whole incident. Apparently they don't like to abandon a mission. It has not happened sinceso perhaps someone complained.

Another important thing I have learned is that the stuff that we find sofunny about those old Japanese sci-fi movies is all TRUE! The police allwear matching outfits and white helmets, every kind of public-worksemployee wears a jumpsuit (for a while we joked that they were all actuallythe same crew who just changed outfits depending on the job), the citiesare criss-crossed with power and phone lines and the buildings aresurprisingly flimsy--an easy target for Godzilla or Mothra. When we werestuck in the goddam bus out on the highway, the few police that did show upwere wearing winter jumpsuits, helmets and these vests with flashing lightson the front. It is easy to see where Ultraman originated. The Japanesehave no need for self-parody (nor would they probably understand it).

I also get a general feeling about the Japanese that is both amusing andsort of pathetic, but hard to explain. The surface culture has what I (asan American) perceive as a child-like quality. Public signs, advertisingand even serious written matter are loaded with cartoon characters of everydescription; they love to add what we would consider a "cutesy" touch toeverything. Primary colors are used a great deal and much of theirmachinery has a toy-like appearance; the police cars, fire trucks andconstruction equipment seem small and flimsy. Couple this with the brightcolors, and a team of matching jump-suited workers, and it's kind of like aliving Playmobile set. Then it gets even weirder when you consider howgrim their urban landscape is. Place these toy vehicles in a gray, crampedenvironment, where even the new buildings look dilapidated (the TV coveragedoes not expose the true appearance of the place), and a nearly surrealquality begins to develop.

I keep having the feeling that much of what we see here now has not changedsignificantly since World War II. Perhaps this is pragmatism, perhapsinflexibility. I am no great supporter of the (capitalist) agenda "changefor change's sake," but it is hard to come face-on with NEW officefurniture that is straight out of the U.S. Government catalog from 1955 andnot be bemused. Or perhaps confused; this is the same country thatproduces high technology of all kinds! The sense of WWII-era outlookpervading the public infrastructure is eerie at times.

The child-like aspect is also present in the way the people behave. Theysometimes seem almost naively eager to do good (particularly, as I havesaid before, when dealing with crass Westerners) and genuinely pleased bythe slightest act of good will. I suppose one could see this as arefreshing lack of cynicism, but I sense that their entire world view isdifferent in a way that is not necessarily inherently positive. There isalso an unsavory interest in, what appear to be, very young girls in boththe general culture and the pornography. The psychology of this societywould be fascinating to investigate--if it were possible to getstraightforward information from the Japanese. Of course, these are alljust my own impressions.

The Food Part:

I have received some ribbing (sorry) about my apparent fixation with foodover here so I have decided to create a special section for this subject. Anyone who can't take anymore may skip this part! Actually, there is notmuch to tell this time. We received our CBS meal coupons for the IBC andthey are good in the cafeteria OR the in-house Royal Host restaurant. Therestaurant has become a general favorite because they have quite goodAmerican-style food. The service is spotty, and some items kind of odd,but it is really not bad at all for basic cuisine. They also have properlytranslated menus and a staff that speaks decent English. In both cases thecoupons are good for quite a lot of food, which is particuarly important inthe cafeteria because the Japanese idea of portion size is a joke. I guessthey don't eat as much as Westerners. It seems we quickly revert fromadventurous world travelers to provincial home-bodies when given theopportunity.

Which is not to say I have completely given up. I had some goodKorean-style barbecue at a new place directly across from the IBC, a nicechange. Also enjoying oyaki, the little buns that are sold everywhere. They come with a variety of fillings and make a nice snack. Because of thework situation my forays out for new restaurants have declined. For thecurious, I don't care for sushi so I have not been eating it! I know, sucha waste to miss out in Japan, etc. I've been told that even thehole-in-the-wall places are very good, but I have also noticed that theJapanese do not eat as much sushi as we tend to imagine. At least not uphere in the mountains.

An update on desserts is that while the Japanese make some unlovable nativesweets they do a good job with Western imitation (as we well know). The"French" bakeries have nice bread and pastries, the chocolate candy isquite good and they have some interesting variations on familiar items. The IBC cafeteria sells a packaged, but fresh, "banana cake" which is akind of pound cake slice wrapped around whipped cream filling with a bananainside. It's good; no bean paste!

Overall, we are beginning to tire of the place. It is amazing how quicklyyou can adapt to a new environment to the point that I am no longer veryaware of being in Japan. It has become just another anytown in some cornerof the world (as did Guam a year ago). In addition to the sports events Istill want to try the Japanese bath house down the street and, possibly,visit the wild monkey reserve if I have time.

-- Eric

For pictures documenting some of the highlights of Eric's trip, check out this Web page.

Copyright 1998 Eric Wencour, all rights reserved.