I have been living in Japan for the past four months. Don’t worry I am not one of those ‘trying too hard to fit abroad’ Indians who do nothing but criticise India. I love my country with passion and tell you what, I like Japan too. And I feel there are so many things we Indians can learn from the Japanese and make our country a better one!

You’d be wondering why all of a sudden, I am writing about the merits of a life in Japan but hey, didn’t you hear the news? The oldest living man is Japanese, his name is Tomoji Tanabe and he is 113 years old. For the uninitiated, Japanese women have been topping the World’s longevity ranks for 23 years while the men follow a close third to Iceland and Honk Kong.

Ok, so let me try and elucidate the reasons for a LONG life in Japan.

1.    People are safe. You know you will come back home when leaving for work/school/market etc. etc. in the morning.

2.    The police actually help a lost soul find the way. You know something, that was precisely their job always but many cops have evolved their duties to suit their comfort or maintain the false aura of fear that distances the common people from them.

3.    They are well prepared to face disasters. We know Japan’s susceptibility to earthquakes. A natural disaster that cannot be predicted. But hey, even the Japanese are ready to deal with one if it happens. The buildings are made of a special kind of light-weight concrete. There are emergency earthquake packs in offices.

4.    Government offices are proactive and well-organised. And may I say efficient too!

5.    They are not afraid to get their hands dirty to keep the place clean. The pain that the citizens and the establishment takes to keep the country clean is commendable. No one complains about sorting the garbage as burnable, plastic, cans and what not. If you don’t do it, your garbage collecter will. So, in a way you are shamed to sort your trash yourself.

6.    You can drink water from the tap directly.

7.    Your children are safe playing in the park. Not just that, 10 year-olds can safely commute on their own by the metro.

Well, I did say I’d try and discuss a few reasons.

Hard to believe, but there is an almost ideal place on the earth. And guess what, it took a lot of effort to get there.

Tags: · Children, clean, earthquake, garbage, Government, honk kong, Iceland, Japan, man, metro, office, oldest, police, safe, Tokyo, tomoji tanabe, water, woman

I wonder airport security standards could be so high yet immoral that it urged a woman to miss her scheduled flight. The criterion of not allowing change in pockets or jewellery seems to be a passé now and thanks to the revised version that considers women underwire bra on the top of to-be-deeply-scanned object list. The thumb rule is women with underwire bras won’t be allowed to enter the airlines and if you dare to break the rule (even out of ignorance) then possibility is you may have to face the destiny similar to Nancy Kates.
Jet Blue passenger Nancy Kates went through the same pain at the Oakland International Airport whils getting the security check done. The mental detector on duty sensed within minutes the presence of underwire bra alarming TSA agent to do the needful by pulling her out of the queue. Kates was treated no less than a criminal for wearing that particular “Bra” and accused the agent for being too personal as she said: “The woman touched my breast.”

Kates managed to meet the supervisor and reminded him of the fact that Constitution bars perverse searches and that “examining a woman’s brassiere is certainly unreasonable.” The entire incident is so unnerving that I can’t stop imagining the highest standards of security that travelers would be expected to meet (especially women) before flying. And isn’t getting the “reasonable” rejoinder in the form of a pat-down is humiliating?
Via Sfgate

Tags: · Airports, Consumer Activism, metal detector, security, underwire bra, United States, woman