Upon arrival in Tokyo, I was detained in customs for about half an hour because of the drugs in my possession. It’s complicated but I will get back to that in a moment.
First things first. The Japanese are an astonishing people.
Here’s one example: In response to the deadly 1995 terrorist sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway system, the city removed all municipal trash receptacles. To this day there are very few trash bins on the streets of Tokyo. One might think that such an action would lead to trash-strewn streets but that has not been the case.
Tokyo streets are virtually spotless. This is in a city of 12 million people mind you. When the bins were removed, the residents were instructed to carry their refuse with them until they got home where they could dispose of it properly. They complied.
The Japanese tend to act collectively; conformity is the norm in their culture. As a society they decide what is best and they act accordingly and in lock step.
By contrast, walk the streets of New York City and note the difference. Periodic sanitation strikes notwithstanding, garbage abounds always.
Tapping into their collective will allows the Japanese to achieve extraordinary feats. Clean streets is surely one thing but at a much larger scale consider their rapid rise to economic superpower after utter devastation from WWII.
Why do I mention all this?
Well, because, despite the demonstrated benefits of conformity in Japan society, things can get bogged down when currents turn awry. Individuals are not empowered to resolve problems when they come up. Rather, they seek out the next level in the hierarchy for resolution. Several levels of bureaucracy may need to be consulted before an impasse can be overcome. It’s a very slow process that is worsened when the non-Japanese come to town. As a rule, most foreigners don’t take kindly to waiting.
For the first time since the pandemic, foreigners are back in town. I am one of them and we are here to run in the Tokyo Marathon. Granted only about 10,000 of the 38,000 runners in the marathon are non-Japanese. But we don’t herd well. I feel that the Japanese may have forgotten what it is like to deal with us.
Or, perhaps, in response to the pandemic, they made some procedural changes designed to enhance safety that are only now getting tested against a flood of incoming tourists.
Back to my experience in customs.
In order to streamline the entry process in customs, Japan has made available an app (Visit Japan) that holds all of the information that would normally be hand-written onto the customs declaration form that flight attendants hand out upon landing at the airport.
The idea is that the traveler enters the information (name, passport number, items to declare, etc.) into the app at home before leaving for the airport. The app generates QR codes, which can be swiftly scanned in customs. This automation, in theory, saves a lot of time for both the traveler and the customs agents.
Maybe I misread or misinterpreted the instructions for entering information into the Visit Japan app. In any event, I declared my Parkinson’s medication that I brought with me in the “Declaration of Personal Effects” section. That raised a red flag.
At least three levels of bureaucracy were called in to ask me questions about the drugs I carried. All of the officials brought over to interview me studied my prescription drugs, asked if I had any documentation for them (I didn’t, other than the labels on the bottles), thanked me for my cooperation, and asked me to wait.
While I waited, another couple was detained for declaring the Xanax they brought with them.
I was not bothered by all this. I was in no hurry and all of the officials were very polite. I chatted with some of them about the upcoming marathon and at least one of them planned to run it. Of course, I was released eventually but I still have no idea what I did wrong.
The Japanese put a lot of faith in QR codes and the apps that generate them. A similar approach was used to check in runners at the Expo before they could receive their bib packets. Every runner is required to have the Global Safety app loaded on their phone and data — eight days of body temperature measurements, COVID test results, etc. — loaded into the app.
Once again, there were issues and long delays brought about by confusion amongst the runners as to how to properly use the Global Safety app created for this process.
Getting into the race itself tomorrow morning involves another check of the Global Safety app data and the QR code it generates. Most of the runners realize that it is highly likely that there will be issues. It’s causing some anxiety. The race documentation states that if the information is not entered into a runner’s phone then they will be denied entry into the race.
But, what if their phone dies? What if they can’t get on their network? What if the race Wi-Fi fails? Will race officials really disqualify runners for any of these offences?
We’ll know in a few hours. I plan to get to the start area early because I am expecting long delays.
In the meantime, I am having a lovely time in Tokyo.
As is always the case at the Majors, I have had numerous lively conversations with other runners. Camaraderie is easy: we all do physically nutty things and express sincere support for the nutty things others do.
Although the Michael J. Fox Foundation doesn’t host any entries for the Tokyo Marathon, Team Fox is nevertheless cheering on their athletes who are running tomorrow. Natan Edelsburg, Bill Bucklew, Margo Selby, and I are all going for our six star medals. We got together at the Imperial Palace to get a photo to send back to HQ in New York.
As advertised, the food in Tokyo is fantastic. I got a delicious bowl of ramen at a tiny over-packed restaurant after waiting in line for about an hour. Definitely worth the wait. I was the only white guy in the place but I did my best to fit in by slurping my noodles noisily.
And it is indeed possible to get great meals— rice balls, sushi, Japanese style fried chicken — for cheap at the 7-11’s.
Ramen, rice balls, sushi. Carbo loading made easy. As of right now it’s 11 hours to showtime and I feel ready.
In 2023, I will be running for Team Fox in some races again. You can donate to my London Marathon campaign (click this link). I could really use your support. If you share the passion that The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) and I have for finding a Parkinson’s cure please consider contributing. All donations are meaningful and greatly appreciated.
Alternatively, if you would like something tangible in exchange for a contribution, you may purchase my book Run With It: A True Story of Parkinson’s, Marathons, the Pandemic, and Love. I’ve heard it’s a good read. Most of the reviews are coming in at four to five stars and it recently was named a Finalist in the 2022 Wishing Shelf Book Awards contest. (Winners will be announced the beginning of April.)
All profits from its sale are donated to MJFF. It can be found on my authors website and Amazon. It’s cheaper on my author site (for domestic shipping), a larger percentage goes to MJFF than for Amazon sales, and you get the option of having it signed by the author.
