reflections on 2006 Visit to TOkyo, Japan

Background

From May 2006 to January 2007, I spent nine months living in Tokyo as I served as a visiting Professor at the Center for Collaborative Research, the University of Tokyo (UT for hereafter) in Tokyo, Japan. I had the opportunity to visit because of a collaborative relationship between UT Intelligent Transportation System Center (CCR-ITS) and my associated institution, California PATH, www.path.berkeley.edu, at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB). It was a great and rewarding experience for me, as I made many trips to Japan before and have always been fascinated by many aspects of the Japanese society.

UT has a few campuses scattered around the Tokyo metropolitan area. CCR-ITS is located at the Komaba (駒場) campus, which is near Shibuya (渋谷) and is in the southwestern portion of central Tokyo, while the main campus of UT, Hongo (本郷) campus, is located in the northern part of central Tokyo. I spent most of my time in Komaba, with only a few chances to give lectures and visit Hongo. The experience that I share below therefore may be biased due to the locality of the areas that I stayed.

First of all, I have to say that being a resident for nine months is totally different from being a tourist as I was before. I had made almost 20 trips, each time for one week or so, to Japan for personal and business purposes before. During this long stay, I was able to understand and appreciate much more deeply about the social and cultural characteristics of Japan.

Lodging

The very first thing that Americans need to adjust to the life in Japan is the small living space.

During the span of the nine-month stay, I stayed in three different lodging facilities. Originally, UT tried to make an arrangement at a university lodge room at Komaba for me, which would be most convenient because it is right on the campus. However, the room is very small and the room size is about 180 sq-ft (17 m²) for faculty and 145 sq-ft (13 m²) for students. The room has a fold-up bed, a desk, and a mini kitchen and can fit barely anything else. As I was planning to have my wife staying with me for extensive periods, I asked UT to make other arrangements.

The first place that I stayed after my arrival was a temporarily one for the first 10 days only, before the next more permanent one became available. Because I was staying for a relatively short period, UT helped me lease these so-called monthly mansions. In Japan, the word “mansion” is used for more modern apartments in concrete buildings, while “apartment” refers to older units in conventional wooden structures. There is a special twist in the typical mansion or apartment rental agreements in Japan. The lease is usually for at least one year or two years. Besides the deposit (most typically an amount equal to 2-month rents), there is a gratitude fee (also typically 2 months of rents) that the renter needs to pay to the landlord when the contract is signed. The deposit is returned wholly or partially when the renter moves out, but the gratitude fee is a front-end payment that stays with the landlord. Therefore, unless there is a longer-term plan or commitment to stay in one place, it will not be economical to sign the lease. For this reason, UT suggested and made arrangements for a different option, the monthly mansions. Unlike long-term rental units that are usually unfurnished, monthly mansions are fully equipped with bed, refrigerator, television, kitchen range, rice cooker, basic utensils, vacuum machine, and washer. Of course, the rents for monthly mansions are much higher but it is a convenient option for short-term dwellers.

As for the price of apartments or mansions, it depends heavily on the location and the type of places one desires to live in. The most important factors in determining the rents include transportation ease, room size, neighborhood, and the building facilities. People care most about the daily use of transportation, so the deciding factors are the walking distance to the train station, and the possibility to use multiple subways lines or the number of transfers needed for one to get to school or work.

The students that I came into contact with at UT typically have to pay a monthly rent of 50,000 to 65,000 yen for a one-room apartment or mansion. For family types of room, it will be approximately be 1.5 to 2 times higher for larger space and/or newer buildings. The range of furnished monthly mansion rent is quite wide, but it will cost approximately 150,000 to 200,000 yen for two-person’s monthly accommodation. The rent for monthly mansions includes a daily utility charge of about 650-1000 yen. The renter will also be asked to pay an up-front cleaning fee of 10,000 to 35,000 yen, depending on the length of the stay. An internet search with the key words of “monthly mansion & Tokyo” will provide many links to browse through, if anyone is interested and able to read Japanese. Another effective way to look for apartments is to use rental brokers. Rental broker company offices can be easily found near train stations or in local shopping areas in Japan. The fee for locating an apartment or a mansion is 0.5 to 1 month of rents.

The size of the first mansion that I stayed in was about 230 sq-ft (21 m²), with a bed, a table, a bathroom, and a tiny closet. The bathroom was so small that the toilet was located underneath the water basin. I needed to rotate the water basin, which is hinged to the wall, in order to use the toilet, and returned the basin to its usual position in order to use the shower. The second mansion was relatively spacious with a size of 350 sq-ft (31.5 m²), and it was quite modern as it was built only a few years ago. The walk to the nearest train station was only 5 minutes, but it was located right next to a major local highway. For the first few nights, it was hard to fall asleep due to the traffic noise on the street. I stayed in the second apartment for about 4 months, before I moved to a university lodge for married couples, mostly foreigners. The lodge is located in a high-end neighborhood in central Tokyo but the lodge itself was about 30 years old. The lodge is partially furnished, so we had to purchase a television, microwave oven, and rice cooker. The rent was very low, at about 30,000 yen for a 400 sq-ft room, so I still came out ahead even though I had to purchase some appliances.

Transportation

In many ways, the Japanese society, especially in the big cities, is the complete opposite of what the America society is like. Transportation is the most obvious example. The great majority of people use public transit systems in Japan to go to school and work in urban areas. The subways and trains and buses in Tokyo are so convenient that it provides great incentives for people not to use personal vehicles unless it is absolutely needed. Due to the daily need to walk to the train or subway stations and the transfer in between, most Japanese people get a good dose of exercise every day. I actually appreciated the walking opportunity every day because it helped keep me in shape.

There are a variety of Japan Railway (JR) train lines, private railways, and metro (subway) lines in Tokyo that one can easily find a route to most destinations easily. In most situations, the public transit is cheaper and more time efficient than taxi or personal cars. For people who use the transit everyday, there are commuter passes that offer good discounts. For tourists, there are also some daily passes available.

One particular interesting phenomenon in Japan is the last-train ritual. Most subways and train lines are run from early morning (5 AM or so) to past mid-night. It is common for friends to gather together or to hold parties quite late at night. If the party ends late, many people will try to catch the last train home to avoid paying for taxi. As a result, when I rode the last train on a Friday night I was rather surprised to find that the trains were so packed that I could barely get in. When the train reached a major transfer station, many people rushed out of the train and ran quickly for connection to the next last train that they needed to catch. It was quite a sight.

Riding trains and subways in Tokyo are relatively inexpensive. For example, the price of a short ride is about 120-150 yen, and 250-400 yen for longer rides or rides that require transfers to multiple train lines that are run by different companies. On the other hand, bus tickets are relatively expensive, especiallyin the rural areas. For example, in the suburbs or country sides, one-hour bus ride will cost more than 1000 yen. Several train systems already adopt the smart IC cards so one can stores money in a card and scan it through gate machines on entrance or exit. In March 2007, a new card system, PASMO, will be adopted in in the metropolitan Tokyo area, and the same IC card can be used across many train lines.

Food

You will feel that you are in paradise in Tokyo if you like sushi or sashimi (raw fish). The seafood is so fresh and so good that I already miss it even though I just came back to US for a few days. There are many different levels and varieties of sushi restaurants that the quality is not necessarily consistent. However, if you can ask for local people’s recommendations for good sushi places, you are guaranteed to be greatly satisfied.

Because of the high cost of living (hotel rates for tourists especially), most people has the impression that everything is expensive in Tokyo. On the contrary, my own travel and living experience are quite the opposite. If one doesn’t mind dining in local shops or diner-style restaurants, it is actually very enjoyable and inexpensive when compared to the costs in America or in Europe. For example, when I don’t have much time and need to grab a bite quickly, I often look for a Matsuya (松屋)or Yoshinoya (吉野屋)near train stations and have a bowl of rice covered with stewed meat and a cup of soup to fill my stomach for only 300-500 yen.

For tourists who are Japanese challenged, one good option is to dine out at a restaurant row, which is often located on the top floor of a department store. One can find these types of places near all major train stations in Tokyo easily. These restaurants have sample dishes in the front window and pictures and prices are often shown in the menu. In these places, the spending range for lunch is about 1000-1500 yen, and 1000-5000 yen for dinner per person.

There are of course high-end restaurants that will cost much more than what is stated above, but many high-end restaurants serve business people or provide social functions that are not usually frequented by regular folks. Regardless of the type of dining choices one choose, I think in general people will find the dining experience quite satisfying because there are very diverse choices. For example, young people in Japan also love pizza and pasta just like Americans and western restaurants with international flavors can be easily found. One most appealing aspect of dining out in Japan is no gratitude needs to be paid. The price you have to pay is what you see on the menu, with indications of whether the consumption tax (currently at 5%) is included or not.

One of the fun things that we love to do in Japan is to go to supermarkets where the local people shop for groceries. I have found the quality of seafood, meat, and vegetables to be quite high. There are certain types of food that are priced much higher in Japan than in US, but there are many seasonal products and frequent sale events that one can easily find items to fit the budget and the taste of personal likings. In supermarkets, there are also offerings of cooked or readily made food that one can take home for a meal without the hassle of cooking after a long day.

Social and Cultural Differences

Japan is a very dynamic country, culturally and technologically, which is one of the reasons the nation has become very competitive in many industries globally. However, there are certain elements of people’s daily lives that demonstrate relatively rigid social structures. These cultural phenomena may come across a bit strange or confusing, especially for those who are exposed to the Japanese society for the first time.

One perfect example that reveals such cultural differences is the Japanese language. The most challenging aspect of learning and using Japanese for foreigners as well as for some Japanese is that the same actions or expressions can be stated in many forms with different choice of words. It is very important that appropriate expressions are used according to the relationship between the conversing parties and the subjects of discussions. While the casual usage of words is understood between friends, the improper use of expressions or words is considered impolite or socially unacceptable.

The rigidly structured culture fabrics are also evident in people’s relationship. For example, on the UT campus I could observe that the students or staff members showed tremendous respect to the professors when they meet and greet each other. The more casual interaction between professors and students on US campuses will be considered totally inappropriate in Japan. In a company or as a matter of fact in many other types of situations, one can tell the seniority of different people by ranks or by age simply by observing how they greet or bow to each other.

There are numerous interesting things in Japanese lives and people that I can talk about. Until next time, I wish everyone a pleasant experience if you have plans to travel or to work overseas.

Ching-Yao Chan

http://path.berkeley.edu/~cychan

February 12, 2006

It is my pleasure to introduce Ching-Yao Chan to the readers of eceblogger. Ching-Yao is Associate Research Engineer at California PATH, UC Berkeley. PATH stands for Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways and it is an organization within the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Berkeley. Ching-Yao leads several externally funded projects in the field of intelligent transportation systems. I had a chance to collaborate with him on one of these projects, in which he helped the UC Berkeley police deploy a police cruiser with the Project54 system.

Ching-Yao has just returned from an extended stay in Japan, where he served as Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo. He graciously agreed to share some of his experiences about living in Japan with us. Thank you Ching-Yao, we’re looking forward to your contribution to eceblogger.

Andrew Kun