PSU Magazine Summer 1989

over, a humble introduction is made and a bow perfo rmed . The lower a person's rank , the lower the bow and the longer it is held. After accepting the card , the recipient must give it a thorough reading (or at least pretend to) and keep it in plain sight for a while. When it is put away, rather than slipping it absent- mindedly into a pocket, it's best that it be ceremoniously tucked into a special section of the reci– pient's own business card case. I delighted in revealing to the Japanese whom I met the cavalier manner in which an American might hand his card to some– one at any point during or after an introduction. 2. A personal stamp. My handwriting is appalling, so I was happy to learn that while in Japan I too was to use a signature stamp like everyone else. They're carried in a little case which also contains a small ink pad and are used wherever a signature is required in America. The official stamp of a famil y or business is registered and well protected . 3. A handkerchief. I always thought that handkerchieves were something grand– fathers carried around , the germ filled targets for sneezes and runny noses. That's why I never dreamed of owning one. Now I own three, but I don't blow my nose in them. Most restrooms in Japan don't pro– vide paper towels for hand drying. How could I hope to fit in with my Japanese co-workers when each time a group of us came out of the restroom I was the only one hunched over, shaking my hands in a frantic attempt to dry them? Also, Japan is an island in the ?acific, notorious for it's abysmally humid sum– mers. Hokkaido, the northern- most island , has the reputation of having the most plea– sant summers, but that's a relative claim . On any given day in August it is absolute– ly impossible to come away from slurping down a giant bowl of hot ramen noodles and not be bathed in sweat. Of course, how long that sweat remains is simply a question of whether you are among the many who own a handkerchief. At the beginning of my stay I must have looked pathetic, returning from lunch shiny and damp and staying that way until time to go home. PSU 14 Air conditioners? Long, severe winters and relatively few hot days in summer make a heating system the equipment of choice in most buildings in Hokkaido. But it is those relatively few hot days that make it a must that you have a handker– chief as well as the last item on my list. 4. A fan. Like tatami mats (woven straw mats for sitting on), I assumed that the little fans that Japan is famous for were no longer really used , just pulled out for tourists. I was wrong about both . A majority of restaurants have an area where customers can sit on tatami mats for the duration of a meal, and I found that the fans are a biological necessity. In the still , hot air of late summer I would look out across the office, through a dense cloud of cigarette smoke, to see dozens of fans flut– tering like the wings of butterflies. And I wondered how I previously survived without one. There was one other thing I assumed would be nothing more than a quaint reminder of days long gone, but turned out not to be so. One morning as I sat at my desk, deep in what looked like thought but was ac– tually a post- business dinner stupor, I was roused by an insistent clacking sound . At fi rst I suspected that someone in the office was as prone to desk tapping as I. A quick series of confident clacks... a pause... a couple more clacks ... a pause... then a brisk shaking sound , like a wooden tambourine. Intrigued , I lifted my pound– ing head from the desk top to investigate. There across from me sat my good friend Mr. Watanabe performing rapid calculations... on his abacus. And he wasn't the only person to use one; many people in the office did , young and old . I was told that even at some very famous, very advanced companies it is still re– quired , for some positions, that an employee be able to work an abacus to a certain level. Wasn't this the country that perfected the digital calculator and put one in every conceivable product from wrist watches to ink pens? Yet there I sat with the clacking of an abacus in one ear and the hum of computers in the other, observing the amazing integration of ceremony, ritual and tradition with modern day business in Japan. D Garden Master gardener Peter Chan By Kathryn Kirkland H ome from work with favor tion in hand is fo r many L perfect time to relax in a summer oasis - our backyards. B course it helps if the grass is gree n fl owers bright , the beds weeded .. . refreshing sound of a small founta11 doesn't hurt.