So much has been written about Tokyo that it's hard to say anything new or interesting about it. But everyone sees it differently. How did I feel when I first met him? I flew there in the fall. And it seemed to me that this was not a city, but a real poem made of stone, woven from mists, washed by typhoons. We often learned from TV broadcasts that a typhoon was coming to Tokyo. At the same time, spirals of powerful wind currents appeared on the screens... When you go up to the 17th floor of the Tokyo TV tower, you will see a panorama of the metropolis in steel-gray, gray-blue, gray - bluish and gray-pearl tones.

It is completely shrouded in a light haze, which sometimes seems a little lilac. And in the distance, as if above the city, you can see the seaport of Yokohama with tall tower cranes, port facilities and countless ships at the wharves.

The city seems like a huge hive. Tokyo is characterized by very dense buildings. And you begin to understand why the most daring projects of the cities of the future were born here, and the city itself is already a breakthrough in the XXI century. This is where the idea of architect Kenzo Tange arose, who dreamed of placing the city above the shallow Tokyo Bay and connecting the new and old parts of it with the "urban axis" - an elongated area of the citywide center with state institutions and public buildings. Along this center, a high-speed monorail was supposed to pass in the form of an overpass at a height of 50 meters above the water. All buildings and communications were planned to be built on pile foundations. The project of another architect-Kiyonore Kikutake-was generally fantastic in nature. He proposed to build a "sea city" by placing public centers on circular platforms with a diameter of 800 meters, and housing itself in concrete cylinders submerged in water for 30 meters. The author considered the advantage of such housing to be the opportunity to observe the life of the underwater world. Reading the descriptions of such projects, you never cease to be surprised at the flight of thought of Japanese architects and at the same time understand how acute the issue of territory for development is in modern Tokyo.

You look at the city from a bird's-eye view and see strict, slightly cold, geometric shapes, most often a cube and a cylinder. They look like a mock-up from above, and between them stretch long, narrow streets-corridors with gaps, where squares, small green squares and fountains are located. And when you go down and walk through the streets, you are struck by their perfect cleanliness and order. Glass and concrete everywhere. You go and admire the glittering glass facades of high-rise buildings. Glasswashers, sitting in special booths, wash the glass facades of these buildings to a shine. By the way, their work is considered quite complex, qualified and well paid.

The Japanese have learned how to build earthquake-resistant buildings, because for them earthquakes are a household phenomenon. My friend Galya, who invited me to visit, said that during small aftershocks, the Japanese almost do not pay attention to them. She once told me with a laugh that at the university where she teaches Russian language and literature, the Japanese advised her to hide under a table during a small earthquake, but instead she carefully propped up a cabinet with educational films, fearing that her visual material would die.

If the business center impresses the imagination with the scale of buildings and skyscrapers, then ordinary residential neighborhoods look completely different. We lived in the Setagaya-Ku area, near the Sangengia metro station. Coming out of the subway, we heard the roar of the air railway overhead. But as soon as they turned off the central avenue, they immediately found themselves in another world. There are winding, narrow, picturesque and very cozy streets without names, which were quite difficult for me to understand, especially after the strictly perpendicular and parallel streets of St. Petersburg. A large street running from the metro has many branches. And to find your neighborhood and the house where you live, you need to remember some landmarks. For me, one of them was the supermarket "Marafuji" - very beautiful, brightly lit in the evenings and pleasing to the eye with an abundance of goods, mainly food. Residential buildings are usually two or three storeys high. Shops and offices are located on the ground floors, goods are displayed directly on the sidewalk, and the street is crossed by garlands of light bulbs that look like grapes and colored balloons. Most of the houses in Tokyo are new, because even before World War II, the city was destroyed by a powerful earthquake, and there are not very many old buildings left.

MY FRIENDS KODO AND GALYA

What does a traditional Japanese panel house ^* look like when I was visiting friends? Their

^* A traditional Japanese panel house does not have heating systems, although the city can be quite cool in autumn and winter. In autumn, it rains due to typhoons. On such days, the rain is a wall, and the air is saturated with moisture. The daytime temperature is +22°/+26° but the rooms are +18° and very damp, so I had to turn on the heater. And in winter, the temperature in the city drops to 0°/-1°/-3°. And then it becomes quite cool in the houses (up to +11°). Urban amenities in such houses are available.

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the house is not a very large two-story silver-gray mansion with a tiny garden where persimmons and a few other trees and shrubs grow. On the facade - a sign with the owner's name, notifying about his occupation. On the ground floor there is a small doctor's office, reception and office.

Kodo's estranged mother, who raised him, works at the reception desk. She was in her sixties at the time. She kept medical records, helping her husband (Kodo's father) and continues this work now with her stepson. The Japanese do not use the word "stepmother", they call such a woman "non-native mother". The remaining rooms on the first floor are residential. They are occupied by this lady. Kodo's late father had bequeathed her half the house, as well as a paid car park near the house on the street under a shed, so that she would not need it, having a permanent income item. Kodo, of course, pays his non-native mother a salary for her work.

My friends occupy the second floor. Let's go up the stairs. To the left of the small landing is the guest room, approximately 10 square meters, to the right-the corridor, bathroom, toilet, behind the screens - a tiny study-library of the owner with a comfortable large black leather chair, then - a large, modernly furnished room of Mariko's daughter (Masha) with a bookcase, table, sofa. I can only say that in the girls ' room in the East, there are usually a lot of soft toys, regardless of the age of the daughter. A door from the hallway to the right leads to a large living room where the whole family gathers in the evenings. There's a huge horseshoe-shaped sofa with melted-milk upholstery and matching overstuffed armchairs. There's a big color TV in the center and books everywhere. Directly along the corridor is a large kitchen-dining room, approximately 14-16 square meters. There is a dining table in the middle, surrounded by chippendale^-style chairs. Next to the table is a large refrigerator. Near the work wall there is a utility table, cabinets, shelves, a sink and a gas stove. In the right-hand corner is another round table littered with books. On the sideboard near the wall - gifts, souvenirs, Russian lacquer samovar in Khokhloma style and much more. But the dominant element in this house, of course, is books - on medicine, on various fields of knowledge, fiction in Russian and, of course, in Japanese, as well as books in English.

In this room, Galya cooked, and we all gathered at the table in the evenings, when we did not go to a restaurant for lunch. Our hostess is a wonderful cook and not at all specific Japanese dishes-in the house they love both cabbage soup and borscht. Since this is a Japanese-Russian family, both Russian and European dishes are often prepared here, although there is a lot of seafood on the menu, as well as vegetables and fruits.

Both my friends, Galya and Kodo ,are very warm people with a high spiritual culture and great erudition not only in professional terms. The basic life principle of my friends is active kindness. Sometimes they are stingy in their words, but always generous in their deeds. They were the sponsors of the Nabokov Museum-apartment in St. Petersburg. And at the same time, they have always remained and remain modest people. When Galya was invited to the presentation on the opening day of the museum, she did not consider it necessary to go there.

Kodo graduated from the 1st Medical Institute in Moscow and completed a course of study at the Svyatoslav Fedorov Clinic, so his first specialty is therapy, and the second, and also very favorite, is eye microsurgery. Together with the teacher, they wrote a book about eye surgery. I saw her in Kodo's office. There are two photos of the authors on the cover. Kodo was the first Japanese person to have myopia correction surgery performed by the master himself. And very successfully. The operation was captured on video and later used to promote Soviet medical techniques in Japan. Kodo-san comes from a samurai family and is no longer a first-generation doctor. His father was a fairly well-known general practitioner in Tokyo, continuing a long family tradition. For a while, he studied not only in Japan, but also in the United States, then worked in Yemen, and traveled a lot. He also visited the Soviet Union, Moscow and Leningrad. When he was visiting for his son's upcoming wedding, I met him. He spoke good English and was extremely polite and helpful. One of the ancestors of Kodo served as the prototype of the hero of the famous Akiro Kurosawa film "Red Beard". He was the doctor who treated the poor for free. There were legends about him in the city. Kodo, Gali's husband, often traveled to the Soviet Union and still goes to Russia, giving lectures in Khabarovsk and Irkutsk. Recently, he was in Alma-Ata, where he was awarded the title of Honorary corresponding member of the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences. He has repeatedly made presentations at scientific conferences in different countries, and also wrote articles for medical newspapers.

At the beginning of his medical career, Kodo worked for a while in a public hospital to get a good practice. But when he saw that when treating patients, doctors often prescribe drugs that do not harm their health, but are not necessary in the treatment process, but only increase the cost of the course, he decided to follow the path of family tradition and take up private practice. This is certainly due to his meticulous personal and professional integrity. The main thing for him in his work is the patient himself and the result of treatment, and not the cost of this treatment. No wonder his patients do not want to be treated by other doctors.

Galya teaches Russian language and literature at the Hagia Sophia Catholic University. She is a professor of the Russian Language Department and participated in the creation of a multi-volume Russian-Japanese dictionary. Of course, the Japanese compiled the dictionary entries themselves, they didn't trust anyone with this task. But the correction of the materials was entrusted to a native speaker of the language and culture. Galya has been living in Japan since the mid-70s, and we met her in 1965 while working at the preparatory faculty of the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute (LPI). Kodo, her future husband, also came to study there in 1966. On that day, I was the interpreter on duty, responsible for meeting newly arrived students. They came from Moscow. The interpreter was supposed to meet the students on the platform of the Moscow railway station, take them to the institute, arrange documents and settle them in a hostel. When we arrived, Kodo wheeled his huge black wheeled suitcase into the lobby and stopped at the watchhouse. I remember very well that there were only two Japanese students among the new students. Kodo was wearing a black leather jacket and dark gray trousers. When I spoke to him in English, I noticed that he had a strong accent. He sounded a little shaky. I was very surprised at the time. We naively assumed at the time that it was impossible for people in Japan not to know English, and I said: "Why is it that English is so poorly taught in the West?" To which he objected: "In the East, madame!" And we both laughed. He was 19 years old. Years have passed, but we remember this day and our first conversation as if it all happened only yesterday. And now my friend has become a respected doctor and

^* Chippendale-style of English furniture of the XVIII century.

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he speaks excellent English.

When I came to visit friends, Galya accompanied me for the first two weeks on trips around the city, and we started our "working day"together. Classes at the university started on October 1. On those days when Galya had to go to work, her daughter Masha played the role of hostess in the morning. Masha was 16 years old at the time, still in high school. In Japanese schools, children spend a lot of time studying the language, at least four hours a day. And in general, they have very large training loads. Although Japanese children are traditionally allowed to do anything before entering school, they are not restricted in any way. They can literally walk on their heads. They are granted the right of free development. But as soon as they enter the school, this freedom ends once and for all. And then the strictest discipline comes into force. The level of requirements for students is very high. They are preparing for their future working life, because in Japan, work is first and foremost.

The Japanese, as you know, are incredible workaholics. Training at school and university is precisely aimed at forming such an attitude to work. Of course, at the same time, young people can also relax. Young people like quite modern types of recreation: discos, bars, restaurants, cinema, theater, museums; more affluent ones - trips around the country, trips to other countries and, of course, sports. And nature walks, admiring sakura trees, watching TV programs (TV games are extremely popular) are available to almost everyone, even not very rich people. Now, of course, the hobby of computer games is very popular. And here there is a danger of getting a "computer disease", to go into virtual reality. Galya told me about the drama in the family of her friends. Their son has completely lost interest in real life, lost friends, and doesn't want to study or work. He lives only at night, in his virtual world.

THE MAN IN THE HOUSE IS KING AND GOD

I will tell you a little about the clothes of people on the streets. All young girls are simply dressed, wearing short skirts, mostly dark or black, and light blouses or T-shirts (tishaski). You can meet girls in jeans. Young guys have a fashion for light shirts or the same tishaski and, of course, jeans. Hairstyles are also very modest. Many people have a virgo-

shek - short haircut. I didn't see any makeup on their faces, except for a little makeup on their lips. It seemed to me that they are not fond of makeup, perhaps they only use it on special occasions ^* . Even when we met a well-known singer who has her own program of national songs on television, this young woman was practically without makeup, although during the performance of folk songs she performs in makeup and a kimono. But on the streets of the city for the whole month, only once did I manage to meet a woman in a kimono. And then she wore it on the occasion of her daughter's wedding. But when we were at a tea ceremony in a fashionable hotel, all the participants were dressed in kimonos: women - in bright, and men - in dark kimonos.

A few words about the traditional Japanese family. In such a family, the tradition is observed: the daughter should serve the father, the wife-the husband, the mother-the children. The man in the house is king and God. In some Japanese families, husbands often still live by this rule. Sometimes they abuse their power and even allow themselves to raise a hand against their wife. In such cases, women can use the help of a consultation center. This social institution provides wives with shelter in cases of violence on the part of their husbands. They can hide there for a while and then return home. Previously, there were cases when the husband was brought home by a geisha, of course, he was drunk. And the wife always bowed to the geisha and thanked her, without showing the slightest surprise, indignation or protest, because she took it as something natural. Indeed, if her husband hadn't been escorted home by a well-bred geisha, God knows what might have happened to him.

But it should be said that much is already changing in modern Japanese society. If both spouses are socially established individuals, then there is a parity relationship. There are even cases when the wife earns more than her husband and sometimes just supports him. Good families have a relationship of mutual respect and trust. In the best modern families, both in one-national and even more so in international ones, where the wife can be American, French, German or Russian, relations develop differently. The budget of such a family sometimes looks like this: the wife's earnings go to everyday needs (food, clothing, small household purchases), and the husband's earnings, which are often higher, are spent on maintaining social status - maintaining the company, paying for its employees, paying for office space rent, buying office equipment, and a car (a successful Japanese person must change their car every five years), as well as to buy housing for children, on business trips, on family holidays in the country or abroad, on large gifts for anniversaries, on bank deposits in the name of children. You can understand what is the measure of responsibility of a real man in Japan, so the Japanese are very concerned about their health. Although, of course, the degree of such care depends on both the character and well-being of the person.

Living in Tokyo is very expensive. This city is considered the most expensive in the world. In a family, a husband and wife have each a separate bank account. Japanese people think about old age in advance and try to prepare for the time when they will no longer be able to work. Japanese people retire at 65 (both men and women). The biggest problem in Tokyo is providing housing. And if a person does not have a home, he is forced to take out huge loans in the bank. People pay them out all their lives. Sometimes the debt remains such that children and grandchildren continue to pay it off, because land prices in Tokyo are unusually high.

When Kodo's father became seriously ill, the cost of caring for him was so exorbitant that each of the family members had to take on a round-the-clock duty in the hospital. That's when Galya started speaking Japanese. Kodo's father was buried according to Shinto custom: all relatives were dressed in kimonos. During the cremation, they stared intently through the glass window of the furnace to see what the skeleton would become. And when they saw that he had taken the form of a seated samurai, they all calmed down. It was a good sign that he had entered the other world in this form.

GOOD IS PAID FOR WITH GOOD...

If we talk about the Japanese mentality, it is impossible not to note such qualities of Japanese people as introspection, unconditional introversion of the individual, their self-control, you-

^* However, in recent years, this attitude towards cosmetics in Japan has changed. Many girls and boys dye their hair, lips, wear extravagant hairstyles and toilets. And yet it is still not considered a sign of good taste.

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perseverance, extraordinary determination and perseverance in achieving the goal, the ability to navigate the circumstances and make the right decisions at the right time. At the same time, as the authors of the book "These Strange Japanese People" rightly write, ^* most Japanese people are workaholics. Work for them is the meaning of life. Of course, family is also very important. Eastern people are generally characterized by the cult of service. At work, they are, as they say, service people who are completely devoted to their work, as well as strictly observing the laws of corporate honor. The same cult affects not only personal, family, and social relationships, but also friendships. If you have ever done a Japanese person a favor or were necessary in his life at an important moment, then he will never forget it and will repay you a hundredfold, even in 30-50 years. Japanese people have a strong temperament, but it is not customary for them to openly express their feelings. This can be seen by observing their stingy gestures and restrained facial expressions. When a Japanese woman laughs, she almost always covers her mouth with her hand.

The addiction of most Japanese children to computer games leads to a decrease in their vision, starting from a fairly early age. Therefore, many children constantly wear glasses, while others use lenses. Often, adults and children resort to vision correction surgery. However, due to natural caution, not everyone trusts eye microsurgery. There are doctors (and there are many of them) who claim that such operations can have unforeseen consequences in 20, 30, 40 years.

Japanese people are also characterized by a special emotionality and acute sensuality in the perception of the world. However, this particular feature was the reason that in the Japanese Kabuki theater, starting from the XIV century, all female roles were performed only by men, whereas earlier women played female roles. But the appearance of women on stage caused such an explosion of emotions in the male audience that it was necessary to change the composition of the actors-performers. Since then, the tradition of performing female roles by male actors has become unshakable.

In Japanese culture, in literature in particular, it was customary to express love feelings very cautiously. But relatively recently, in 1985, in Tokyo, the publishing house "Samigoro" published the first edition of the poems of the poet Ruboko Sho (980 - 1020) "Komachi Nights or the Time of cicadas". A real scandal broke out in the Japanese scientific and literary environment. Multi-millionaire bibliophile K. Kawabaki has published a tenth-century scroll of parchment purchased at a bookshelf in Kyoto. It was an erotic tank, unknown in medieval literature until recently (as Victoria Borz writes in the preface to the Russian edition). Ruboko tanks are distinguished by a pronounced subjective coloring. A poem is a dynamic reaction to a love event, real or fictional:

I run my lips
up your 
, caressing your body.
In the flutter of swift wings
Swallow will flash by.

In the poems, the reader feels the physical joy of life, subtle psychological nuances in the development of a sensual drawing. The title of the cycle of poems mentions the name of the famous poetess and courtesan Ono - no Komachi (IX century), who was the founder of the classical tradition of tanka - five lines. Komachi was famous for her beauty and exquisite taste in lovemaking.

The tragic fate of Ono no Komachi, along with poems about love, reckless and sad, made her name legendary. One legend told of the death of Prince Fu-ka-Kyoshi, Komachi's first lover. Ono-no demanded that her lover pay for one more night with her 99 consecutive nights (like Cleopatra). Fu-ka-Kyoshi died of a ruptured aorta, one night short of a hundred.

And Ruboko Sho, almost a hundred years after the poet's death, felt a mystical passion for her. And in every one of his lovers, he saw her. 99 Tanka Ruboko Sho is 99 nights of a poet with the ghost of a poetess.

In Japan, they are very concerned about the purity of the nation and are cool about mixed marriages. Therefore, if the son is going to marry a foreigner, this intention can be taken with hostility. He may even be disinherited by his father. Half-blood children are also treated rather coolly. This is especially true for boys. A half-breed boy can face serious difficulties in promotion, and it is difficult for him to achieve a high social position. Girls are given leniency in this regard.

Japanese people have a highly developed sense of duty and are able to be grateful. When Kodo, as a student, worked as a nurse and translator at Sheremetyevo Airport, the airline awarded him a round-the-world tour for this work.

The Japanese have a peculiar sense of humor. Once, at a friendly feast, a Russian friend suggested that Kodo drink to the victory of Russian troops in the Russo-Japanese war, to which he calmly objected: "And today, by the way, is the birthday of the Japanese emperor!". Of course, the Japanese do not forget this holiday.

In addition to the traditional New Year (according to the European calendar), there are many other holidays in the country: the Day of majority (in 20 years), the Day of the foundation of the state, the Day of the Spring Equinox, the Day of Autumn, the Day of Greenery (respect for nature), which, unfortunately, is not in our calendar or in our everyday life. And also-Children's Day, Day of Respect for the Elderly, Day of the Sea, Day of Remembrance of Ancestors, Day of Culture, Day of Thanksgiving to work. Especially noteworthy is March 21 - the Day of Praising nature and Love for all living things on earth. On this day, the Japanese visit the graves of their ancestors. My friends said that the most favorite days are spring weekends, when everyone is happy about cherry blossoms. This is probably why the Japanese developed a special frost-resistant cherry variety for St. Petersburg and gave the city a thousand saplings to celebrate its 300th anniversary. It is impossible not to admire how reverently the Japanese treat nature. And we'd do well to learn from them.

There is another interesting romantic holiday in the country. It is celebrated on July 7 and is associated with the legend of the love of a rich girl and a shepherd. Young people fell in love with each other and met by the roadside under a tree. But God was angry with them and separated the lovers, allowing them to see each other only once a year. They turned into two stars that are clearly visible in the night sky only on July 7. If you write a love letter on this day and tie it to a special tree, then your dreams will come true. I have heard a similar legend from Koreans and Vietnamese. It also says that when the shepherd came to meet the girl, instead of her, he saw one of her white blankets on the tree. Then he realized that she had ascended to heaven and become a star. Not wanting to be separated from her, he also wanted to turn into a star. And God granted his wish.

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