Business Trips with Marco Polo: Journeys from Japan Westward

Introduction:

From Japan Westward is a collection of articles and business projects gathered during my researches and journeys through the mysteries of Japanese culture, Asian aspirational dreams of desire, analysis of historical fetish objects, and studies of multi-global consumption and business behavior.

This series of articles initiated in my business experience as a practicing anthropologist, when research projects and adventures blended and carried me along Asia from Japan, my home since 2000. Working in market research, business training and digital anthropology, work projects ended up carrying me all throughout China, Korea, India and even up to the legendary Samarkand. I realized there should be no boundary between different areas of our lives since all our relationships are the same. Whether love, business, studies or desire, we are the same people wherever we go and one part of our life reflects on all the others. We work the way we sleep, the way we eat, the way we love.

Marco Polo: what one book can do to a little girl. My adventures most likely started when I was five years old with the first book I received from my father, Marco Polo On The Silk Road. It was a children's book given by an adventurer and mountain climber who never thought his daughter would inherit his character and end up much further away than Europe, the origin of our family origin and its long history. While my parents were climbing mountains in central Europe, my heart was far-far away, following childhood fantasies of Marco Polo and his camels walking along a magical desert that was covered with brilliant purple and lavender silk sparkling like diamonds in the sun. This image of my first book ended up being my life, my dreams, and finally my reality. My original studies of the anthropology of Japan and its hidden desires and secret values have been constantly expanding emotionally and geographically, and projects of market research along demands for business training and professional workshops flourished into magical journeys throughout Japan, China, Mongolia, India and up to the magical mysteries of the secrets of Samarkand. These adventures start with an introduction to a simple daily artifact: the shoe. How did shoes appear in S.E Asia? What do people think and feel about shoes in Asian cultures where footwear turned from protection to aesthetics late in their history? Why are young Japanese women currently leading a revolution against high-heels at work?

From foot-binding to anti-stiletto, or: what is it about the foot fetish that is global? The current Japanese rebellion against the high-heels at work (article I following the introduction) and my latest trip to China are a good introduction to this series and to the research of shoes - our main protection and life-support in the dangerous world around.

The place of business trips in business life should never be taken-for-granted. A business trip is never just a business trip. It should always be much more. I constantly encourage my clients and colleagues to keep their senses sharp and alert, and be ready to meet surprises and opportunities that strikes at the least expected moments while simply looking around or having a casual chat. The best part of the journey - as well as the business - is always embedded in the unexpected and the unplanned. The planned outline never follows the original plan and a successful partnership can only result from being able to adjust quickly, adapt to the circumstances, and above all understand hidden messages of the other side and the meaning of the reality they live in. So keep in mind: the only person you meet along the road is yourself. The Others, no matter now nice and smiling they may be, carry their own selves and history with them just like you. Smiles and proper manners are the biggest deception of a seemingly great business meeting.

On a business trip in Yunnan, as I was walking along the streets of Kunming observing the massive new construction of high apartment buildings that are taking over the farms, the new cars and colorful motorcycles, suddenly, on the right side of the road, I noticed a woman sitting on a tiny chair, looking quietly around in a street that was almost empty in the early morning. Quite amazed, I realized her tiny feet, about half the size of her hands, were well-tight and bound in the old style, a practice of a generation that is mostly gone by now. Was this real? What was she doing there? This was a neighborhood of working people, many younger farmers and part-time employees with families that cross China from city to city living in what is currently called "the urban village", a new urban space designed to support farmers and part-time employees who often need to change locations searching for a job. This was the topic of the research I was conducting - the global flowers market, how the area adjusted to meet the needs of the world's biggest flower market and to accommodate the farmers who arrive to Kunming to start a new farm and join the market. Then how could this woman's story and presence in the place add to my work? It is so rare to be able to have testimony of a person from this generation that is vanishing quickly.

Foot binding originated in China in the 10th century, and some believe even earlier. Records show the fascination with tiny feet continued and increased throughout the centuries, and by the 19th century the practice spread to all social classes and was no longer limited to high class women, performers, and dancers. Coming from classical ballet I've been practicing all my life, I have always been fascinated by the obsession different cultures have with women's feet, and how different habits and cultural patterns not only sustained but also glorified foot fetish in different creative ways and under the most peculiar excuses. From reflexology to sucking toes, tattooing, dancing, walking on different surfaces from iron nails to soft gym shoes, oils, deodorants, smells and sizes, from medicine to beauty and social classes feet are at the center of attention since history began. Officially, the practice of foot binding was legally forbidden in 1911 but it took several decades until it was enforced all over the country during the communist regime. By the middle of the 20th century, the practice was pretty much gone and many of my Chinese friends remember their grandmothers walking with bound feet and special shoes (usually called lotus shoes). Nowadays it is rare to meet women of the last generation of foot finding, which explains my surprise upon this unexpected meeting in the urban village. The woman we met was happy to talk and share her life story, which raised many conflicting emotions and thoughts in my mind and my heart. She wasn't sure how old she was, around 80-90, but she remembered well she was only three years old when her feet were broken and bound. She could never walk for long distances and was always limited to the areas close to home. Her son was one of the lucky farmers living in the urban village and owning a big apartment building and they could live comfortably from the rent. In the past, it was a big agricultural area that had to be turned into an urban environment and new construction. For her son, it was a loss of the work he had known for many years, but a gain of a good stable income from the rent. For her, it was all good since there were no more long spaces to cross walking. It was all around the corner.

China's foot binding and Japan's traditional footwear have nothing in common. The Japanese house was different and obviously the habit of taking off any footwear while entering the home created a style that was easy to put of and off and lighter to wear. In addition, the spaces between inside and outside of the living spaces (uchi-soto) added an important value in the separation that should be created between the closed and open spaces. Therefore the practice of leaving the shoes at the entrance door carries specific meanings and values that are symbolized in the shape of the shoes and the patterns of keeping them outside of the living and sleeping spaces. However, the different forms of footwear, just like in other cultures, have a symbolic meaning in segregating social classes, tastes, and group belonging. A shoe in Japan is never just a shoe. Neither is the foot that carries the shoe which is expected to look perfect, clean and shiny at all times. Another foot fetish to investigate deeper in the next article.

Can the "urban village" and the "village urbanized" be new models for future living?One of my past projects was a research of the trend of covering modern urban buildings in vegetation for both cooling and aesthetical purposes. The trip in Yunnan was busy and loaded with research and the annual International Conference of Business Anthropology that was held in Yunnan University of Finance. It is always a great event and a jolly opportunity when the old "gang" of adventurers and academics from different corners of the world meets again with recollections of previous years, and of course with the introduction of a new generation of creative young people armed with new ideas and ambition for developing businesses and startups. How did the new "urban village" fits into this scheme?

Shigeru Ban and the "urban village". As mentioned before, the "urban village" is a Chinese original concept of a village-inside-city whose original purpose is to provide economic support to farmers, ex-farmers, and low-income families that cannot afford expensive living and/or have to change living places as a result of changing work conditions. The villages were created during the process of expanded urbanization of China, and my client was interested to check if the business model can be suitable in smaller scale to his own country. What we didn't have enough knowledge about the opposite direction that is currently in full development as well, i.e. the spreading of new housing and modern entertainment to the villages and smaller cities in order to bring some of the innovations and the pleasure of urban modern life to distant places. The stories I previously heard about these urban villages were bleak and presented a dark and poor downtown areas, but this is far from the urban villages I have seen that were booming with young people, colorful shops, original ethnic restaurants, art and cultural activities, and prices high above what one can imagine. The farmers I have met in the international flower market had mostly positive stories about the possibility to move easier in between cities and start their own flower fields in the area. The main complaints were about the changing climate that started giving signs of serious problems in the natural environment and the fact the spaces of the market are becoming popular leading to growing competition, a process that inevitably leads to lowering prices. The people we talked to were satisfied with the better life conditions and the networks they maintain with other farmers for support and future sharing. Most owners were incredibly nice and happy to share information, and the research was a pleasure. One farmer invited us for tea and wanted to introduce his family that was all working in the market and living nearby. Another gave us some presents like small Bonsai and feathers of peacocks, the dominant symbolic bird of the area. So how does Shigeru Ban enter into the picture?

The peacock and Shigeru Ban. Ban is an unusual architect who focuses on materials beyond modern concepts of architecture and passing fads. He designs constructions from paper, cardboard, foam blocks, wood, all in traditional Japanese architecture that uses no nails and no glue but a special form of attachment of the parts. Ban thinks of building housing in less than 24 hours for natural disasters areas, he thinks about nature oriented living spaces, about crossing the line of urban-village discrepancy. But Ban also works for businesses, brands, religious cathedrals, churches, flag-shops in city centers, he is crossing all boundaries and all traditional terminology acceptable in architecture including modern styles that most of them still think by terms of goals, target population, spaces, environment and aesthetic style. As I was walking towards the new subway station of Kunming located at the entrance to the upgraded "village", I was wondering about the next stage of urbanization and how we can start changing our basic concepts of images of what is "city" and what is "village". Hopefully Asia can provide insights for the future.