I am starting this blog post on day 10 of a 12 day Round
the World trip. I just boarded the Shinkansen in Tokyo. In a little over 2.5
hours I will be in Osaka. Hopefully in less than an hour I will see Fuji san
(aka Mt Fuji). It is always hard to predict from the weather in Tokyo whether
Fuji san will be hiding in the clouds or reveal herself.
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Unfortunately Fuji san was hiding this time so I can only show an old picture |
Watching the Japanese “urban countryside” rush by usually
puts me in a reflective mood and today is no different.
I was a relatively young man when I started traveling the
world but as the years pass I find myself on the upper end of the age spectrum
in meetings. During my first trips to Japan, I often was 20 years younger than
the people I was meeting or negotiating with. The logical part of my brain and
the mirror tell me I am getting older but I keep waiting to “feel” it with the
exception of a gimpy right knee worn down by decades of morning runs.
For some reason in the past several days I have been
asked my age in four countries. Being asked your age in Asia is more common
than in the US. In Japan age is more closely linked to rank in a company than
it is in the US. In general, older people are treated with more respect in
Confucian societies than in America so the age thing isn’t all bad.
The first time I was asked about my age in the recent
past didn’t bother me because it was on my home golf course in North Carolina and a Japanese playing
companion who is bigger and stronger than I am noted that my drives were 10 to
15 yards past his on almost every hole. Finally on the back nine, he said
“Joe-san, may I ask your age?” “Showa san-ju-ni nen” I responded stating the year of my birth in
terms of the reign of the emperor at that time. He did the five second calculation and said
“wow!! ”. “Yes, I am that old” I said but had the last laugh on the scorecard.
Looking back, my biggest age crisis came when I turned
19. My life seemed to have rushed by and I viewed the onset of “20” with
trepidation. Age 30 was noted but since my 10K times were still dropping, it
didn’t bother me. I didn’t even take note of 40 and 50 didn’t seem like a big
deal until many of my younger peers told me it was hard for them to accept that
I could be 50. “You will get your turn soon enough" was all I could say.
The year I turned 50 we went on a family holiday to Viet
Nam. On New Year’s eve my wife entered me in a kayak race which turned out to
be several. That is, since I won my first heat, I moved on to the next the
round and the next. I wound up in the finals with a 25 year old and was a
length ahead half way through the race only to be nudged out at the finish
line. A few hours later I was reading a book by the pool when I suddenly felt
four shadows looming over me. A delegation of young hotel workers had come to
congratulate me on my kayak exploits in the nearby river. Their English was ok but
they struggled to find the right words to explain my failure at the finish line.
“We were really impressed, you know you if, if, if you …..” I said: “don’t worry
I understand - if I wasn’t so damm old I would not have lost at the end”. Well
since I had brought it up they confirmed – “yes, that is right for somebody
your age, you were impressive”. I stood up, smiled and said “thanks – I think”.
Last weekend, I met someone I knew ten years ago when I
lived in Japan. We shared a meal and caught up on our lives. As we were saying
goodbye, he said “how old are you now?" I was caught a little off-guard, stated
my age and then wondered to myself why he asked.
The final blow in the recent round of age questions came
early this week. I was at a Starbucks with some people I used to work with. I mentioned meeting one of the senior
executives in their company a few days earlier in Shanghai. They wondered aloud
how much longer he would be in his current position and his chances of getting
to the very top of company management. They mentioned his age and then, for
some reason, wanted to confirm mine. I
was not sure how my age fit into their calculation of another person’s upward
mobility but clearly I was somehow a
barometer of “senior status”.
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| Having a senior moment on a golf course near Tokyo |
Tomorrow will be my last full day in Japan on this trip.
Fortunately I am playing golf with three friends that are 3, 6 and 22 years
older than I am respectively. They know how old I am and are unlikely to make
age a topic of conversation. For a few
hours, I will be the young man in the
group again.
