In 1885 Fukuzawa Yukichi compared the spread of western civilization to a measles epidemic. He saw no other option for Japan but to set on a path of westernization in order to obtain not only the damages but also the benefits of this contagion. This has been more than a century ago. A lot has changed since then and today the slogan is globalization. For some it is a synonym for westernization, for others it signifies Americanization or the spread of information technology. It is better not to get bogged down trying to find a proper definition for globalization, as the term is very elusive. Rather focus on an aspect that is common to all its interpretations, which is the growing concern that we are heading towards global homogenization. The world is becoming similar everywhere no matter where we go and local customs and flavors are vanishing.

　 Even if I had shared such a concern earlier, my experience in Japan in the past two years convinced me that such a concern was misplaced. Whenever I am asked to summarize very briefly what I have learned here during my stay I answer that in Japan I learned that there is a different way to do everything. In our daily life we are usually unaware of the extent we are the prisoners of the customs and preconceptions of the society where we have been raised up. Living in Japan not only offered me the opportunity to learn about this country but also to reflect on my own culture and realize how contingent our values and customs are. Japan has presented me with an alternative way to look at the world and deal with both its tiny and grave issues. Although Japan has set on the path Fukuzawa Yukichi suggested and eagerly learned from the west (occasionally some bad things as well) it was able to preserve its distinct character. One can not sense the threat of homogenization, and there are plenty of local differences that surprise and challenge the foreigner.

　Let’s look at now some of the differences I noted between the Japanese culture and my home culture, Hungary. Naturally this will be an arbitrary selection of issues, and the choices will be just as telling about my country as about Japan, as a foreigner naturally finds those phenomenon interesting, where his own experience is markedly different from that of the other culture.

　Arriving from Europe to Tokyo the first to notice is the city’s scenery. There seems to be no general overarching design organizing the construction of buildings standing next to each other. A tall mansion is often looking down on a shabby little house. And not only the size but also the shape and design of the houses is in complete disarray. This vision is the opposite of what the foreigner anticipates. Japan has the image abroad to be a well-structured and organized society. And the Japanese social network is extremely well organized, indeed. But it is not reflected in the city’s architecture. Buildings and the cities are designed and built for the present and are not expected to stay there unchanged several hundred years later. This is the opposite of the European attitude. We think that by conserving the stones and the wood of the buildings we can preserve and keep our history alive.

　One has the impression that Schumpeter’s creative destruction is at work in the Japanese cities. The old swiftly disappears to offer its place for the new. In some aspects there is a high level of flexibility as change comes about very fast. It takes no more then a few days for the toyshop at the corner to transform into a small restaurant and start business right away.

　 But this is only one part of the story. Try to go into the restaurant and ask a set menu with juice instead of coffee that is originally included in the set. There is hardly any chance that you would succeed in convincing the waiter to spontaneously modify the rules of the menu for you, so to get a juice instead of the coffee with the set. And this is the exact opposite of what would happen in Hungary. In Hungary it would take a much longer time for the restaurant to open, but you would have an easy task convincing the waiter to modify the menu according to your request.

　Back to buildings. One of the most marvelous pieces of western art are the gothic cathedrals, with their high pillars running upward and the colorful light coming through their rose-windows. It is an exquisite beauty of a man made artificial place of stone and marble, but nature is bared out of the spell. Now visit a Japanese shrine or temple. Here nature is regarded as an integral part of the structure. Just walk up to the tomb of Tokugawa Ieasu among the tall pine trees, or listen to the waves of the sea at Itsukushima shrine. Man is living with nature, and not dominating over it.

　It is the same fondness of nature, which is reflected in the pattern of the kimono that should change with the season. The Japanese are very sensible to the beauty of nature and every place has the proper time to visit, when its beauty can be appreciated the most. A Hungarian would also recognize the beauty of momiji in Kyoto, but it would be no priority for him to visit the place at the time when the leaves are turning red.

　Groups of Japanese tourists sticking together is the stereotype probably every European entertains. The affection to stay and act in a group might be mocked at but I rather envy the strong attachment people have towards their community in Japan. And it is fascinating to see how active the small communities are. There is always something organized in the neighborhood, an undokai in the school, a cherry-blossom viewing in the park, a bit of kokusaikouryu with foreigners or a matsuri.

　The eagerness of the Japanese to participate in the activities of their smaller community is very different from the Hungarian experience. This may sound strange for someone who is aware of the fact that Hungary used to be a socialist country up to 1990. He may think that socialism promoted the activities of the communities. Well, it was quite the opposite. The socialist state tried to gain control over the life of the individual, control any free initiative, because it was suspicious of the individual’s motives. Similarly the individual was also suspicious of anything organized officially. As a result people were very passive to join community activities.

　But not only the enthusiasm for group activity but also the self disciplined behavior of the Japanese is foreign to us. Hungarians would not start cueing up at the platform while waiting for the train - what is the natural way to act like in Japan - unless they were explicitly told to do so. By the way talking of cueing reminds me a story that shows how much our actions are determined by the customary behavior we are used to.

　I was accompanying a Japanese friend of mine to the bus terminal in 5 o’clock in the morning. He was to take the early morning bus from Budapest to Vienna. When we arrived to the bus-stop we were yet the only people waiting for the bus. The fact that there was nobody else suggested that there would be hardly any other passengers on the bus, so there was no sense in cueing up. But my friend acted, as it was natural for him to do. He selected the spot that he judged to be the proper place for a line to start and moved there with his baggage, and there he became the first and only member of the cue. The other three passengers who arrived later just walked around while waiting for the bus, and did not join his initiative.

　Perhaps the Hungarians’ reluctance to cue can be explained by our experience in the socialist economic system. At that time the economy was guided not by the rules of the market but by the rules of shortage as a Hungarian economist aptly phrased it. Demand was greater then supply so cueing up was a general practice, and usually only those at the front of the line received what they were seeking. Distribution of goods was less based on money that on the time people invested in finding out where and when to cue up. It did not matter whether you had the money or not as you had to wait for the goods to be available. It took for example ten years of waiting just to get a new car that was built in one of the member states of the socialist economic zone.　

　The following experience I also shared with the same Japanese friend just mentioned above. Here we had to realize the difference between our societies concerning what is regarded as a dream job. We had a dinner in a Hungarian restaurant and another Hungarian friend of mine joined us who at the time was working for the Hungarian Ministry of Trade. He told us that he was very glad because he had been recently offered a job at a private company. He was planning to quit his job at the ministry and start at the private company right away. My Japanese friend was shocked, how could someone leave a prestigious government position without any hesitation to go and work for an average private company. We had to explain him, that in Hungary not only the salary would be higher but also in general private business has a much greater appeal.

　Before coming to Japan we (me and my wife) had hardly cooked at home. But since we have come here there is an increasing pressure on us to cook, as our friends frequently ask us to prepare some Hungarian dishes for them. Occasionally we cook together with some friends and this is a great opportunity to learn about each other. At one time we were cooking together with a Japanese friend and I was assigned the task of cutting the leek. After I was done it turned out that the part I was about to throw away to the trash was the very part needed for the Japanese dish we were preparing. And similarly the Japanese friend would have thrown away the part that we consider being the most delicious.

　But to move the discussion to a more general level I had realized that the philosophy of cooking is very different in our cultures. According to the Japanese way food should only be cooked for a short time because the final dish should preserve the individual flavor of its ingredients. Hungarian cooking however is a very time-consuming process. We cook the ingredients for a long time together so the individual tastes are lost and transform into something very different form that of the parts. But please do not ask me what is better, some sashimi with sake or red wine with meat that has been marinated for two days. Both are delicious.

　Weather is an unavoidable topic. It seems to be a major issue in Japan, as the terms that play the role of ‘How do you do’ - are atsuine during the summer and samuine during the winter. This might make one think that Japanese weather must be rather disagreeable for most of the year. However this conclusion is wrong. Take winter for example, what is relatively mild in Japan (or in Tokyo at least). The only problem is that the temperature inside the house does not really differ from the temperature outside. Five degrees Celsius is quite all right, while someone is walking to the station, but much less so when having a dinner at home. For some reason instead of a central heating system the Japanese prefer local heating. It is possible to heat the table, the carpet, the blanket, one’s sock’s or even the toilet seat separately. Therefore there are many warm spots in the flat but unfortunately there is always some parts of the body that feels cold. But the Japanese does not seem to mind this; perhaps it all depends on what one got used to at the time he was a child.

　If someone compares the outfit of Japanese and Hungarian kids during the winter there is a great difference to note. Japanese kids are wearing short trousers or skirts and often walk around bare foot in the cold corridors of the school building. If my grandmother had seen this she would have been horrified. She believed that kids must be wrapped up as much as possible during the winter to protect them from the cold. I still remember the winter chapeaux she used to knit for me. These were made of thick wool, covered my whole face and only my eyes were left free. I looked exactly like an astronaut in it. And frankly our winters are not so much colder than the ones in Japan.

　The enlisting of such differences could go on for a long time. Visiting a different culture, witnessing the customary behavior of its members, and spotting the values it adheres to is very interesting. But there is more to it, as it raises questions for us concerning ourselves by showing how dependent our values and behavior are upon the society we have been socialized in. For somebody from Europe coming to Japan is an invaluable experience, as one has to realize that there is a different way to do everything besides the one that seems natural for us.
The present is often depicted as the era of globalization. There is information available from all corners of the world and an increasing number of people pack their suitcases every year to see distant places with their own eyes. These experiences induce changes, when people reflect on their own values and behavior, and are ready to alter them in the light of what they have seen. Some worry that such a process would lead to a global homogenization, and also point out the dangers if societies lose the traditional values that have been shaping them. It is beyond doubt that as a society changes many of the yardsticks that have been guiding the action of its members will alter and adaptation to these new conditions raises some problems. But those who put the emphasis on these problems do not realize what the present world has to offer. We are offered the opportunity to learn about everything happening in the world and than the choice is ours to take what we think to be beneficial for us and reject what we find damaging.

　Fukuzawa Yukichi arrived at a similar conclusion when he assigned the path for Japan to follow. Japan eagerly learned from the west but it did not lose its distinctive character. Globalization is just like the measles contagion of westernization at the time of Fukuzawa Yukichi. As it will unavoidably happen to us we should not try to resist it, but make the right choices, in order to make its benefits dominate over its damages. 

　On Fukuzawa Yukichi’s ideas see: Bunsho Hashikawa: Japanese Perspectives on Asia; in Akira Iriye eds. “The Chinese and the Japanese, Essays in Political and Cultural Interactions”, p. 324-355, (1980).