Today, we went back to American soil again. It was much faster than the trip over to Japan. :)
We headed to the US Embassy for briefings and a meeting with Ambassador John Roos. The actual compound that the embassy sits on is incredibly impressive. We've really only seen the embassy itself and attended the reception the night before at the official Minister-Counselor's residence, but having seen other embassies, this is pretty nice. The grounds are huge, with their own garden and apartment buildings. The Minister-Counselor was telling us the night before that it was a piece of land that the US acquired during WWII and after the war, it made sense to just keep it since they had built infrastructure on top of it. It now was an incredibly smart move since rents in Tokyo are sky-high (much like New York City) and so it saves the tax payers back home money. Good move.
After entering and admiring a really fantastic picture of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (she looks fierce in her official photo) and signing a condolence book for the lives lost at the Embassy in Benghazi, we headed up to a conference room where we were then briefed on issues in Japan by a team of staff.
I have to say, they really know their stuff. We have heard and learned many thing since arriving, but the State Department really takes the time to explain pieces of it we might not have fully understood in other meetings. The operation we have at the Embassies are really impressive and it is kind of making me think about back when I could have made decisions in my life during college when I was very interested in a career in international relations. I think I would have very much liked to have been a Foreign Service Officer. My life would have been very different. Of course, I'm not complaining at all. I love the work I do, and it fulfills me, but the what ifs are unavoidable as I meet and hear the stories from the State Department.
The Ambassador was incredibly gracious. He was scheduled to spend 10 minutes with us but really stuck around to have a good conversation with us well after that. He imparted something that I've heard nearly every day that we've been here and it's pretty simple: "Ties between countries are ultimately ties between people; it's really no different than relationships between people."
This whole time we've been traveling, I am re-discovering my love of international relations, which you'd think I wouldn't have forgotten that I have. But every time that I come to Asia, though it's only been the Philippines, I think of how fortunate I am. And I think of how sad it is that not every American travels to see other parts of the world. The general misunderstanding of how other countries operate and function are lost on the general American public, which then affects their views on foreign policy, which then affects how they vote in an election. I'm not saying we're right or wrong or ignorant, but foreign policy, like politics, like relationships between people, can be delicate things with nuance and a better understanding of what motivates someone who sits across from you can prove to be all you need to really understand to make any relationship function well.
We had another meeting with a business organization, which was interesting as well - and that included representatives from big companies, such as Toyota and Hitatchi. Now I know that labor and business don't always see eye to eye. But what was more concerning to me during that meeting was the jet lag I am still feeling. I can tell you that I honestly took away a few things, chief amongst them was that more women should be involved in corporations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (free trade agreement) will have massive implications not just for the US and labor but also in my humble opinion, opening up Asia to be the power it's supposed to be in this century, and that we really need to do a lot of union organizing in places like South Carolina and open up those right to work states.
I didn't explode upon meeting the businessmen or being that close to the 1% of Japan. So it was a good day.
After that, we had conversations with a Professor on energy policy following Fukushima. Before the tsunami, Japan had 54 nuclear power plants with plans to be reliant on nuclear energy at 50% by 2030. After the Fukushima incident, the Japanese public was not only angry at the government for saying it was a safe source (which it still mostly is), but there has been a large push to get rid of nuclear power all together. It's a really difficult situation, but given Japanese history with nuclear energy and radiation (um, this is still the only place the nuclear bomb has every been dropped, so their commitment to it before is pretty interesting as it is), it's also become an emotional one. And it was fascinating, but he said something that has struck me since, "Are we making policy based on rational thought or based on emotion?"
Working in government, I think this is possibly one of the most articulate questions I have heard posed since there are times I'll read of a bill or when there's public push or sentiment strongly for or against something that clearly is a knee-jerk reaction, this is really the question that should be asked all the time. Rational thought has long-term implications. Emotional thought has short-term ones. Governing needs to take both into account. This is going to be an unfinished thought as I am still mulling over the significance of this, which, strangely enough, speaks volumes to me.
We did squeeze in one sight-seeing opportunity. Kind of. Because we couldn't really see the palace. But mark this, because I am about to paraphrase Mitt Romney, of all people: the trees really are the perfect height. But here, in Japan (see Michigan remarks and then YouTube "AFSCME" and click on the link of those remarks to see a hilarious comparison piece to Mitt and Anchorman. Brought to you by the letter K):
So we got as close as we could to the Imperial Palace and tried our best not to sweat all that much. Failed that. Me, anyway.
So now we're on to my favorite part of the day, and the part where you'll see the most pictures. Because I had to take pics of the entire thing: dinner.
We had a dinner meeting with a columnist who writes for the equivalent of the Wall Street Journal here in Japan, and while he had fascinating things to say, we had the most amazing and opulent traditional Japanese dinner.
I stopped counting the courses. The atmosphere was somewhat formal, but it was relaxed. So to make you all incredibly jealous, here is the meal in it's entirety:
We started off light:
And here's the entrance to the restaurant:
We then finished the night with some drinks and to check out the Tokyo nightlife. So here is the picture of the day, er night:
To make up for the late post as well as not having a pic of the day from yesterday, I will add an extra blog post that you won't want to miss. For serial.
Until then, see you next post. Sayonara.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Tokyo, Japan
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