Kyoto, Japan

(Make sure you click on the header of this posting so you can view the videos!)

Not sure how the Japanese have positioned themselves for innovation in the future….. but they certainly have done a lot of innovating in the past! Sometimes a solution is created where many never even saw an urgent need – such as delivering sushi efficiently to the end consumer…..

Lots of fun, but the consumer ends up consuming much more than originally intended – enhancing revenues for the sushi-shop owner.

Another amazing innovation that is not commonly seen outside Japan – the toilet that washes, dries, perfumes and anoints one’s backside, obviating the need for such pedestrian devices as toilet paper.

An adjunct to this – a device installed next to the toilet that generates white noise to mask the sounds associated with normal bathroom activities….

Japan is also credited with – not so much inventing, but mass-producing and popularizing – many other things. (Think Casio quartz digital watches, the Prius hybrid car, 1980s total quality initiatives (aided by American Edward Deming) and on and on.) Amazing as these developments are, the most compelling impression of Japanese culture is not so much the spirit of innovation as its devotion to beauty and harmony….. vividly evident in:

Exquisite ceramics created through painstaking processes….

A fascinating device used to make decorative braids….

The deliberate elegance of a geisha dance…

Intimidated by the prospect of having my photo taken with one of these meticulously-made-up performers, I did what uncomfortable people often do……

Given the artistic outpourings all around, visitors are encouraged to try their hand at creating their own things of beauty…..

The sad part of this type of trip is the brevity of the stay in each exhilarating destination. But we have a lot more ground to cover…. On our way next to Singapore!