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COUNTRIES and CULTURES of the WORLD,
THEN and NOW, VOLUME I
[Excerpt, Countries and
Cultures, Vol. I, Kenya, P. 104-121]
KENYA
Population 29 million (3.0 % per year natural increase); area 585,000 sq.km. (225,000 sq. mi.); GDP $34 billion; average income $1170; literacy rate 69%
HISTORY. Fossils three million years old have been found near Kenya of man or his cousins. Many waves of people later passed through Kenya, from the north and west. Some stayed. Arab traders and buyers of slaves settled on the east coast in the 7th Century A.D. Chinese traders arrived soon after the Arabs. When the Portuguese, Vasco de Gama, arrived in 1498 he found ancient Arab, Chinese, and African settlements. British in 1867 reached an agreement with the sultan of Zanzibar giving the British some control of Kenya's coast. In 1890 Britain and Germany agreed that Britain would colonize much of East Africa but Germany could have the area of modern Tanzania. When Europeans arrived few Blacks lived in eastern Kenya, they had died of diseases. However, some tribes claimed it as their traditional territory.
The British declared a protectorate over British East Africa--today's Kenya and Uganda. They built a railroad from the coast to Lake Victoria. Europeans moved into the area, developing plantations. Asians controlled retail trade and small businesses. Africans were the laborers.
The Kikuyu was the largest tribe in Kenya. In the late 1940s militant men in the tribe wanted independence. They were called Mau Mau, and killed some Whites and many Blacks. In 1953 a colonial court convicted Jomo Kenyatta, leader of the Kikiyu, of leading the Mau Mau. He served nine years in prison. Many other Kikiyu were imprisoned. Some 11,500 Kikiyu were killed in fighting, far more than Whites or Asians. In 1961 Britain agreed that Africans would govern Kenya. The majority party, Kenya African National Union (KANU) refused to form a government while Kenyatta was in prison. He was released in 1961. The 2nd party, Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) formed a government. Tom Mboya, a member of the Luo tribe, was chairman of the All-Africa People's Conference in Ghana in 1958, and a founder of KANU. He was assassinated in 1969. In elections in 1963 KANU won, Kenyatta became prime minister. On December 12, 1963 Kenya became an independent monarchy, but it stayed within the British Commonwealth. On December 12, 1964 Kenya was declared a republic, with Kenyatta as the president.
Kenyatta favored members of the Kikiyu tribe. He became a president who ruled like a monarch. There was much corruption. When he died in 1978 Vice-President Daniel arap Moi became president. Moi banned secret ballot elections and harassed political opponents. He said that he won the election in December 1992. Opponents charged corruption, that he favors members of his Kalenjin tribe. They claim that 15 percent of any government contract goes to the Kalenjin officials, of which "H.E.," Moi, gets 10 percent. Moi threatened to arrest anyone who "insulted" him. Moi, a non-drinker, banned the making and drinking of chang' aa, a popular cheap alcoholic drink, the only kind most Kenyans can afford. Fights between tribes killed thousands in 1993. Attorneys claim that much land has been stolen by Moi's ministers. In mid-year 1995 Richard Leakey, paleontologist, registered an opposition political party. It is called Safina, meaning Noah's Ark in Swahili.
BACKGROUND. Some 21 percent of the people are Kikiyu, 14 percent are Luhya, 13 percent are Luo (Nilote), 12 percent are Kalenjin, 11 percent are Kamba, and 28 percent are other African tribes, Asians, or Arabs. Only one percent are Europeans. Nairobi has about 1.2 million, Mombasa has 800,000 in the metropolitan area. Some tribes, such as the Luo, are more aggressive, better educated, and they want more material possessions than others. Some 26 percent are Roman Catholic, 26 percent are Protestant, 18 percent are animistic, and 6 percent are Muslim.
Nairobi's January average high temperature is 25 degrees C, the average low is 12 C. The July average high temperature is 21 degrees C, the average low is 11 C. March through May, and December, are the rainy months. The northern half is dry. The southwestern plateau near Lake Victoria is rich. The Rift Valley, running mostly north and south, separates the high plateau from the coastal lowlands.
Only 3 percent of the land is arable. There are 1652 people per square km. of arable land. It is very crowded. In 1971 there were only 11 million people, in only 24 years population has increased 164 percent! If the population increase continues at the present rate there will soon be mass starvation. Much land is planted in cash crops to sell abroad, to raise money to pay interest on the huge national debt. This leaves even less food for Kenyans to eat. The main crops are coffee, corn, tea, sisal, pineapple, other fruits, and dairy products. Coffee is easy to grow, it is called "the lazy man's crop." Picking the red beans, cleaning and drying them for market is the main work. There are 11 million cattle. Imports exceed exports by 60 percent. Some 46 percent of the imports come from the European Union and 47 percent of the exports go to the UE. Tourism is a big industry. Inflation is about 55 percent. Unemployment in cities is 24 percent. The poorest 40 percent of the people got 13 percent of the income in 1985. Some experts say the poor get less now.
The National Assembly has 188 members plus 12 nominated by the president, and 2 more. Harambee means "let's pull together" in Swahili. Some people say the president should be rich so he can go to communities and tell them "If you raise X money to build (a school, hospital, bridge, or whatever), then I'll donate Y money." Others say the practice leads to widespread corruption.
The government is attempting to provide six years of primary school for everyone, at least in the cities. Many cannot afford uniforms and books, or they do not attend for other reasons.
TRAVELS. We flew over green rolling hills, then arid plains before seeing the tall buildings of NAIROBI. The airport is the busiest in East Africa. At 1820 m. (5970 ft.) elevation it has a nice climate the year around, but it rains more in April and December. I cashed a travelers check and negotiated with a taxi driver for a ride northwest into the city. Vehicles drove on the left. We were there in December, the high season, but had no trouble getting a room in a moderately-priced hotel. Many people had cancelled reservations in 1986 for fear of terrorism. Most people speak their tribal language, many also speak Swahili or English. The press seemed to be freer than in Egypt. Streets, cars, and buildings seemed to be cleaner and better-maintained than in Egypt or India. The black people were friendly, making us feel welcome. Our hotel had paintings of local animals and village life. The bar, playing "soft rock" from the U.S.A., was popular in the evening. Several pretty and well-dressed young black women looked for a customer in the bar, another patrolled outside the hotel.
click for larger picture
Table Mt., looking down at Cape Town, South Africa
Angry Elephant charging our van, Kruger Park, South Africa Zulu girls develop great posture
Nairobi is modern, streets are wider than in many cities. There are many tall modern buildings, like a city in Europe or the U.S.A. The railway from Mombasa to Nairobi and Uganda was built in 1899. The British moved their capital from Mombasa on the coast to the better climate of Nairobi six years later. The Parklands Road, becoming Forest Road, is a main eastwest street in the north part of the city. It goes through big City Park. A few km. south, Kenyatta Avemue runs west into Valley Road. Moi Avenue is mostly north to south, just east of downtown. It diagonals to the northwest. Uhuru Road is the main north to south street, it passes just west of downtown. Nairobi University and the National Museum are on the north side. City Park is northwest of downtown, Uhuru Park is southwest.
We took a city tour. They driver blamed Christmas traffic for being 15 minutes late. We rode by the railway station, the new conference center, President Moi's office, parliament, eucalyptus trees, and flowering bougainvillea, frangipani, and oleander. We rode by many embassies, the State House where the president lived, and stopped at the National Museum. It has good exhibits on the geology of the Rift Valley, and cave dwellers. Primitive people often drew Man with a body, arms, and legs, like sticks, without a head. Animals were realistic, well-drawn. Many of the fossils came from the Rift Valley, including footprints made 3.5 million years ago by a woman and a child. Realistic dioramas show the typical life of our ancestor (?) Homo Erectus and two now-extinct cousins with smaller brains. A skeleton is of a boy age 12 or so who lived 1.6 million years ago. Some of the fossils came from Olduvai Gorge, not far away in Tanzania. The museum also has exhibits of snakes, fish, and animals. A typical 18th Century Swahili kitchen is shown. The nearby Snake Farm has live snakes from all over.
We returned to spend most of the day at the National Museum. The 17 ethnographic exhibits show life in Kenya's tribes. They include musical instruments, magic, charms, and masks of medicine men. Wood carvings are done by the Kamba and a few other tribes, they make bowls, walking sticks, and headrests or pillows (plus statues of people and animals for tourists). All over Africa men and women sleep with the head on a low stool to protect elaborate headdresses, including mud plaster. Mud on the hair is used for beauty and to keep lice out of the hair. Basketry and weaving is often artistic. Nearly everyone carries things on the head, usually with the help of a round ring or cloth wrapped around the base. Boys spin tops with a cord and whip. A Volkswagen toy car was made of mud and dung. A rolling hoop is made of sticks tied together, pushed with a stick. A ball of banana leaves is soaked in water then shaped and dried. Girls are given dolls for fertility. Tobacco snuff and bhanji (marijuana) are used by men and women. Farmers use digging sticks much like those in the altiplano of South America's Andes. Rats are trapped and eaten by all tribes. Necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and ear plugs are often different for the single or for married, circumcised or uncircumcised. The Luo and other tribes wore no clothes until recently, other tribes wore a small apron. Many bright personal ornaments were made of glass, imported by Arab traders. For the Masai, black represents night, white is day, and green is the peace after a rain. In dry areas the body was washed with animal fats. Toothbrushes were a stick with a soft end. Some portable homes were a wicker framework tied together, covered with animal hides. Beds were leather on a framework. Stools for adults were the only other furniture. Three (never four) hearthstones were used. Butter was made in a wooden container with a paddle wheel powered by a string on a bow, like a primitive drill. Another museum exhibit shows the carbon 14 method of dating fossils up to 50,000 years old. If older, the potassium argon or fission track method is used, to determine the age of volcanic rocks found with the fossils.
Leaving, we passed Nairobi University, tuition is free for Kenyans who pass exams. Intersections have roundabouts (traffic circles). Many streets are named after black leaders in Africa or the U.S.A.: Kenyatta, Moi, Mboya, and Ralph Bunche. Bunche was a diplomat from the U.S.A., representative of the U.N., he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 and died in 1971. When he succeeded in getting Israelis and Arabs together in the same room after their first war, he is claimed to have asked "Why can't we settle this like good Christians?" Our "all afternoon" tour was only 1.5 hours when we excluded time to repair the engine of the minibus in a gas station. We were advised that there are robberies in Nairobi, especially at night, perhaps as many as in larger cities of the U.S. A. Our guide said there is "much corruption in the government." We saw several restaurants serving Indian food, especially curries.
We took a tour to Langatta to see the "Bomas of Kenya" dances, a few km. from Nairobi. Near Wilson Airport the car had a flat but no jack. Our driver flagged down a passing van to take us to the show. In one or two kilometers it ran out of gas. My wife and I began to walk in the direction of the dances, only two more kilometers. Just before we arrived our driver arrived, the tire was changed. The first half of the dances was ending. Five women and five men dancers, with musicians, provided a cross-section of dances of Kenya's 46 tribes. In the dance of the Luhya tribe celebrating boys' circumcision the women's grass skirts were flying. The Borano tribe had a wedding dance. A Nyatiti dance of the Luo tribe followed. The tall, slim Masai young men dressed in ocher-color robes jumped high, arms stiff, holding a spear. Girls danced in front. Masai men with spears did the "Lion Grunt" dance. In the Sengenya dance of the conservative Islamic Digo tribe women wore long sarongs, men had long feathers on the back. In the dance of the Kayamba tribe men carried rattles made from bean pods. A dance of the Girima tribe used precussion drums, the girls followed, with cloth skirts and feathers on their back. The Kiringongo men made music with a xylophone and rattling seeds in pods. The last dance was a wedding dance of Western Kenya, with drums, rattling gourds, and the tails of the women's dresses flapping.
We negotiated with the tour company for another visit to the dances. Dances included a Luo dance honoring the circumcision of boys. The program included a comedy and an acrobat show. Tumblers leaped up to the top of two men standing one on top of the other, to make three tiers. One man did a hand stand while supporting three other men. A man did a hand stand on four chairs, balanced one on top of the other.
We saw the nearby villages typical for each tribe. Each village had a fence built of sticks surrounding it, to keep cattle in at night. All of the huts were round, usually made of vertical sticks, daubed inside and out with mud. Huts of the Kikiyu were made of planks, not wattle and mud. Almost all had thatch conical roofs, some had a big overhang to protect the mud walls from rain, and for cooler shade. Most villages had a granary on big rocks, with barriers to keep out rats. The Taita tribe had typical huts. Those of the cattle-raising Masai had mud roofs, not thatch. Huts of the Mijikenda, Kuria, and Kamba tribes had inside partitions to create several rooms. Some huts had a low door and peepholes for windows, others had big windows. All huts had dirt floors and a fire pit, some had a raised platform. Some dirt floors were hard and smooth like concrete, with either blood or fresh cow's manure tamped into the dirt. Vendors also sold handcraft things: baskets, wood carvings, gourds, and necklaces and bracelets carved from stone, or made from copper or brass.
A young waiter at our hotel said he was a waiter at Nairobi's Norfolk Hotel north of downtown in 1981. A well-dressed Arab man was lavish with tips. After a few days he asked for a tour of the hotel. He left his briefcase leaning against the main pillar. The bomb inside destroyed the hotel, killing 70 guests and all but four of the 18 employees. Our waiter was in the hospital or recovering for 18 months. The hotel was owned by Jews.
There were 12 or 15 beggars in the downtown area. Several said they were from Sudan, north of Kenya, but fled from the civil war. One man said he was a physician from Uganda but had to flee the war there. He gave a long hard-luck story. He said the war in Uganda was ending, now he needed at least 20 dollars to return home. My wife, a physician, asked him a few medical questions. He flunked the test.
We visited Asian friends we had met on a houseboat in India's Kashmir. They picked us up in a new Mercedes. They owned a thriving business, their parents had moved from India. Their living room had a table made from the legs and hide of zebra. The several big pieces of carved ivory were bought before its use became illegal. They served a big buffet, with their extended family, living in the same household. We found enough curries that were not too spicy. In Nairobi we walked to many places, and took a matatu taxi to others. They have regular routes. A van does not start a trip until until all seats are filled. The driver then picks up many more to pack in. A woman held her four-year old son in her lap. He began to go through the many items in her purse, holding each up, asking what it was. One was a small package labeled Rough Riders. She quickly grabbed the condoms and put them back into her purse.
Sidewalk vendors sell beautiful carved wooden masks, often made by the Kamba tribe. Some are decorated with feathers. Shops on Bazaar Street sell bright cotton dresses like many Kenyan women wear. Other shops sold ivory and skins of many types of wild animals during our visit. Some are no longer legal, to protect wildlife. Poachers kill valuable animals to sell the horns and tusks to agents who sell them in Asia. Some are wrongfully believed to be aphrodisiacs or to make a male more virile. My wife got a shampoo and set in the "Curl Up and Dye" beauty shop.
We took a safari to NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK, only a few kilometers south of the city. It has 120 square km. and adjoins a game reserve. The rolling grassland has many scrub trees and "fever" or thorn trees--they grow in low places where there is malaria fever, caused by mosquitoes. From the minivan with a pop-up top we looked for wild animals. First we saw several ostrich as tall as a man, with long, flexible necks. Males of the tan hartebeest have horns that look like a 2nd set of ears. A herd of Thomson's gazelle watched us warily. They are antelope, can run fast, and have a black horizontal stripe. We found a black rhino and her calf. The driver went closer for a better look, she charged at us, head down. Instead of trying to outrun her the driver turned off the engine! She stopped her charge. They are very near-sighted, she thought the offending animal was dead. Later we found another rhino, which also charged, we turned off the engine, and it stopped. Rhinos are the 2nd-largest land mammal, the black adult weighs from 1000 to 1800 kg. (2200 to 3960 lb.). They can run at 50 or 60 km. (30 or 36 mi.) per hour, more than two times as fast as a human, for a long time. (The white rhino is bigger, weighing 2300 to 3600 kg., it has a longer "nose horn" and a square lip for eating grass.) Rhinos mark their territory with droppings and defend it from other rhinos. We saw at least 30 vultures, as big as a turkey, but uglier. At a waterhole we saw several hama kop birds. We passed Grant Gazelles, then many ugly black wart hogs, with vicious teeth. Next were 10 black buffalo, with curly horns, looking gentle, but the most-feared of all animals by hunters. They are entirely different from the gentle water buffalo of Southeast Asia. African buffalo adults weigh 900 kg. (1980 lb.). They sometimes stalk a person, circling before an attack. At least one bird ate insects from the back of each buffalo. Continuing on dirt roads, we saw more ostrich, the males were black and white, females were grey. We saw a herd of brown waterbuck. In trees we watched two kinds of gray monkeys, one was large, the other was small. African and Asian monkeys do not use the tail for climbing, but monkeys of South and Central America use the tail.
We walked a kilometer along a small river. A hippo was half-submerged. Every 90 seconds it raised its head up for air. The guide said it had recently eaten an impala and was resting. They must stay submerged most of the time, their sensitive skin sunburns quickly. An adult weighs up to 3200 kg. (3.5 T). They sometimes kill each other in fights. Several naked women and children swam or played in the water on a hot day. Some 200 meters away a big crocodile, five meters (16 ft.) long, weighing more than 400 kg. (880 lb.), sunned on a bank, watching the swimmers. The crocodile has a narrower jaw than the alligator, and when the mouth is closed the 4th tooth shows. Newspapers in Africa often report that a croc kills and eats a child, up to teenage. When the croc slithered into the water, heading toward the swimmers, we went back to the swimmers. Our guide warned them of the big croc. One woman said they weren't afraid of crocs. They stayed in the water, we went on, not knowing if the croc had fresh meat. We saw nests of the wavo bird hanging from trees, like vampire bats of southern Asia. Some of the giraffes had their long neck down to eat the tops of low trees. Males have horns. Like the black buffalo, their tongue is designed to get leaves from thorny trees and bushes. Giant elands are a big antelope, males have long almost-straight horns. They were as tall as a man at the shoulder. White egrets were near the eland at a waterhole. Another minibus saw a lion but we couldn't find it. Our last stop was at the orphanage and home for sick animals. It had leopard, cheetah, hyena, lion, civet cat, jackal, and an animal like America's wildcat. The park, near Nairobi has almost all African animals except the elephant, they destroy fences and trees, and would be too dangerous near the city.
We signed up for a five-day camping safari with a local company. In two minivans with 12 young Europeans, two Australians, two driver-guides, and two cooks, we headed west. We passed unpainted frame houses with a rusty metal roof, flowering bougainvillae, and small fields of corn, potatoes, tomatoes, sugar cane, bananas, and plum trees. Many people walked along the two-lane paved road, the women wore bright long dresses, carrying cans of water on the head or bundles of firewood on the back. Donkeys pulled water carts to make deliveries, selling water. Some of the many sheep were killed to sell mutton and to make the sheepskin rugs sold along the road. Fruit stands sold plums and several other fresh fruits. We rode on the high rolling plains with many trees, then descended into the dry RIFT VALLEY that runs from Mozambique north to Turkey. In Kenya it is some 45 km. (27 mi.) wide. Bones of our oldest ancestor were found in it, in Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Masai boys wearing an ocher-color robe, carrying a long stick to fight lions, herded goats along the road. We passed a satelite tracking station, dust devils made by wind in the dry sand, thorny bushes with flat tops, dry grass, a "cactus tree" 10 m. (33 ft.) tall, and white Brahma cattle. We stopped in a town that looked like the Old West of the U.S.A., where a shop sold necklaces, bracelets, shields, wood carvings, and things made of sheepskin. The outhouse had a concrete slab with an oriental-style rectangular hole, over a pit. We saw a few impala and hartebeest (a kind of antelope), then we again climbed up to the green plain. It had fields, a few round mud huts with thatch roofs, goats, cattle, men wearing a bright red blanket with a shoulder pole, and carrying a stick horizontal on each shoulder.
In NAROK we stopped for a picnic lunch. Some round mud huts had a Coca Cola sign on the wall. We fed our banana skins to a herd of goats. Leaving, we soon saw impala, zebra, gazelle, and almost-black "blue" wildebeest (gnu). They are a big antelope, male adults weigh 225 kg. (495 lb.). Horns stick out then turn backward. They are called the "clown of the plains," their curiosity often gets them killed. If they are successful at avoiding capture by a lion they may circle back to watch the lion, and get eaten. Our guide said they often have a little worm in the brain that makes them "crazy." Ant hills were more than a meter high and wide at the base. Secretary birds are black and white, like the colors that secretaries wore 60 or 70 years ago. They are more than a meter tall. They sometimes stamp on a snake or little animal to kill it. Other times they carry it in the beak to a high altitude and drop it, then hurry down to get the carcass. One baboon was in a tree, some 30 more were on the ground, looking for seeds. Many had a baby hugging to its mother's back. They had prominent seat pads, adults weigh up to 40 kg. (88 lb.). We passed a Masai village of mud houses with mud roofs, a fence built of thorny bushes surrounded it.
We entered the MASAI MARA GAME PRESERVE, on the border with Tanzania. Animals from the nearby Serengeti Plains or Olduvai Gorge often migrate through Masai Mara. We saw hartebeest, zebra, and three plains or "bush" elephants. Their ears are much larger than ears of Asian elephants. Bulls weigh six tons (5,455 kg.) or more and are four meters (13 ft.) tall at the shoulders. Tusks are up to 3.45 m. (11.3 ft.) long. African elephants are usually swaybacked, Asian elephants have a straight or arched back. African forest elephants are smaller, about the same size as Asian elephants. Like many animals, elephants are usually in a group or herd. Adults protect calves from lions and other predators. They eat 400 kg. (880 lb.) or so of plants each day, and must spend many hours each day eating. They can't see well but can smell acutely. Most African elephants cannot be trained. Hannibal was lucky to train 37 elephants to take with his army to Rome 2200 years ago. The other van had a flat tire. It could not be changed until the elephants moved far away. We waited patiently.
We saw a herd of topi, a kind of antelope. They are brown with a black face and legs. Sometimes six or eight impalas in a big herd, running leisurely, spring up vertically on spindly legs to three times their height, landing on all four legs. They reminded me of children getting out of school on a nice spring day. There were many Thompson gazelle and black wart hogs. In a campground at the edge of the preserve we pitched our pup tents and rain flies, and spread out mattress pads and sleeping bags inside. No one else was around until 10 Masai women and girls saw us from their village a kliometer away. They waded the shallow Talek River and tried to sell bracelets made of beads of various colors. They had shaved heads, ocher-color robes, many colored bead necklaces, big earrings like a wooden spool, and sometimes a headband. They live on milk mixed with blood that they get from the neck of a live cow or goat. They need cash to buy grain and salt. The girls about 10 to 14, pre-puberty, regularly sleep with the young moran youths. The girls primp a lot and often change partners. The moran must wait until they have enough cattle to buy a wife.
We left in the two vans for another game drive to look for animals. We saw Egyptian geese, then six female lions and one male, half-asleep. The male, nearly a meter tall and three long, is the "king of beasts." They usually live in a pride of a few males and more females and cubs. They defend their territory against other lions. At age three or four males are kicked out of the pride, they must wait until they can build their own pride. The lioness does much of the hunting. Like elephants, they fear no animal except another lion or elephant. Man is their only other enemy. A male adult lion weighs 200 kg. and attacks at 80 km. (48 mi.) per hour. In the minivan we could approach to within a few meters of most animals. We returned to our camp as a thunderstorm hit. When it ended we wrung out sleeping pads and bags and tried to dry them near the bonfire that we kept going all night to keep animals away. Our two cooks always prepared delicious food, cooked over the fire.
During the night we heard many animal and bird sounds, including the scary hyenas, and donkeys braying in the Masai village. We drank coffee as some 20 gray monkeys and 10 baboons arrived in camp. We were warned not to feed them. The baboons left, the monkeys lived in trees near our camp. On the game drive we saw guinea hens, a lone male lion (it may live alone all of its life), and a jackal (like a medium-size dog) carrying a small animal. Two foxes put their heads out of the den. Blue starlings were plentiful. We saw a big herd of blue wildebeest, buffalo and their insect-eating birds, and a female lion with four cubs. We returned to camp to eat a big breakfast. On the next game drive we found many termite mounds two meters high and wide, big fig trees, more lions, and giraffes eating leaves of thorn trees. Their tough forked tongue 45 cm. (18 in.) long permits them to strip leaves from thorny plants. An adult stands 5.5 m. (18 ft.) high, it has only seven bones in its long neck. Giraffe can kill a lion with a kick from their long leg. But at a waterhole a giraffe spreads out all four legs in order to lower its head far down for water. A giraffe kicks forward, like a cow, not backward, like a horse. Lions kill giraffe at waterholes. We saw a herd of Grants gazelle, larger than most gazelle, then a family of six elephants. Seven female lions were surrounding three wart hogs in the grass. All nearby animals watched cautiously, but the wart hogs escaped.
After a lunch of tasty fish, three Masai girls, Marie, Andrea, and Mercita, 12 years old, spent the afternoon in our camp. They asked the usual questions: "What is your name?" and "How old are you?" They tried to sell bracelets. They went to boarding school in Narok for a year, spoke fair English and could count to 100 with my help. They could make change accurately. When they were a year old a hole was punched in each ear, then gradually enlarged. They had a piece of wood about 2.5 cm. (an inch) in diameter in each ear. Each wore many necklaces and bracelets made of colored beads. They had shaved hair and very dark skin, almost black. They sang a few Masai folk songs. When I asked what they were about they said "a boy and a girl." Village elders told them not to permit their photo to be taken, it "takes the soul away." However, they asked to be photographed for five shillings (25 cents U.S.A.) each. I did. My wife read a book, lying down in the shade on a pad. When she started to get up, two Masai women groaned for her.
In the van we rode to a tourist hotel. We had a drink by the pool, then swam. The European girls were topless. Late afternoon we went on a game drive, following a cheetah nearly an hour as it searched for impala, gazelle, or small animals in an area of low grass. It flushed a fox from a den. They ran in a big circle. The cheetah let it get away, they prefer rabbits. Cheetahs are the world's fastest animal, they can run at 110 km. (66 mi.) per hour for a short distance. They weigh 50 or 60 kg. (110 or 132 lb.). Four giraffes watched the cheetah continuously, as if it were a lion. Later we saw 12 resting lions, and a crowned crane. It was more than a meter tall and had a crown on the top of its head.
We returned to camp for dinner around the campfire. We escaped to tents for a hard shower, returning when it ended. Spotted hyenas made a kill near our camp. The made awful noises most of the night, fighting. Several of our group had taken a van to go to the hotel's bar. They reported that upon returning, in the headlights they saw 20 or so hyena near our camp. They are more of a predator than a scavenger. Four or five hyenas will chase even a lion away from its kill. Adults weigh 80 kg. (176 lb.) They are said to be hermaphroditic--both male and female. Our guide said that if a camper sticks a hand or foot out of the tent a hyena may chew it off. We built the bonfire bigger and resolved to always zip up our tents at night. We didn't carry any firearms and were not permitted to shoot any animals. I had to urinate, by a tree some 40 meters from camp in the dark, taking a flashlight as usual. Two hyenas, fighting, ran close to me. Others in our group shouted for me to come back. Once, during the daytime when I went behind the same tree, 10 or more monkeys scampered ahead of me. They thought I was chasing them. They broke off little limbs and sticks, bombarding me.
A sausage tree had big seed pods, shaped like a German sausage, some 25 cm. (10 in.) long, hanging from limbs. We rode east near the border, passing eight mongeese looking for a big cobra to kill. They are faster than a striking cobra, then they bite the back of the snake's head, killing it. The snake rarely bites them, but the venom would kill a mongoose. We saw several buffalo, lions, vultures, and ground hornbills--they are black with red casques or crowns, and bright beaks. They build the nest in a hollow tree, the female is sealed in with mud until the chicks hatch. We saw several termite mounds up to three meters high and seven meters across (10 and 23 ft.). Two giraffe were fighting in play, hitting the upper necks together. If they really fight they use their stubby horns. In the Olngainet River we watched Hippo Pool. At least 30 hippos or "sea cows" were partly submerged, blowing water, snorting, and flicking their ears at flies. Two noisily mated in water for an hour. They made a big splash, the pool was better than a waterbed.
We rode in TANZANIA for an hour on a dirt road, stopping to watch lions. We then returned to our camp in Kenya. The next day several of us visited a Masai village, an enkang, paying the chief. It had six huts, surrounded by a thorny brush fence. Cattle are herded in each night to protect them against predators. Young calves sleep inside the hut, in an alcove. (A manyatta is a larger village, without a thorn fence around it, for circumcised youths and single men.) The compound had one man and his five wives. The hut of the first wife is to the right of the entrance, the 2nd wife's hut is left of the entrance, the 3rd wife's hut is to the right of the hut of the first wife, the hut of the 4th wife is to the left of the hut of the 2nd wife, etc. Children of each wife live in her hut until they became adults. We met two of the chief's wives, and 10 or so children. They usually wear two garments, one is an ocher-colored pullover. Women were topless. All had shaved heads, it prevents insects from living in the hair. Youths have long hair, usually reddened with ocher. The youths were away with the cattle. Children wanted to sell things and asked for "school pens." Each hut was less than two meters high, with a low door. Sticks are tied together and vertically to a framework of posts and poles. Mud is daubed inside and outside. The roof is also mud, slightly rounded for rain water to leave. The big room, lighted only by peepholes, had a bed covered with cowhide, where everyone sleeps together. The ceiling was too low to stand up. The cooking fire does not have a chimney or an outlet above, most of it escapes through the peepholes. The room was blackened from smoke. Masai have many eye problems, from the smoke, cinders, and flies seeking moisture that crawl around their eyes, mouth, and nose, even more than elsewhere. The nearest school was 100 km. (60 mi.) distant, but some children boarded there. Our guides said lions seldom attack Masai or their cattle, preferring wild animals. They don't like the smell of the Masai. Neither did I. Masai have the reputation of being the worse cattle thieves, but they claim to no longer steal cattle. Masai never farmed until recently. They believed that to disturb the soil angers the earth. They even left the dead on top of the earth, for vultures. They refused to dig a well for water. However, the population explosion no longer permits them to have a lot of land to graze animals. Some Masai are now farmers.
On the way back to camp we looked for game, finding several females babysitting their cubs. The grazing animals often graze together, watching for predators. Giraffe are a big asset, they can see predators in tall grass. If a predator is spotted they form a half-circle around it, watching and grazing nervously. We stopped to gather dried limbs on the ground, often from trees pushed down by elephants to get the fruit. Each day we hauled a load of dead wood back to camp.
Around the campfire we told stories. The guides told six:
(1) A cook slept in the tent with the fresh fruit. An elephant, wanting the fruit, picked up the tent and its contents, running and shaking it. After 50 meters the tent zipper broke, the cook fell out and ran away, the elephant ate the fruit.
(2) Two Japanese male tourists rented a four-wheel drive vehicle to see an isolated part of Masai Mara. They got stuck in a mudhole. One finally left to defecate behind nearby bushes. He didn't return, but the other, afraid of predators, did not go search for him. After two hours game preserve guards, who protect animals from poachers, investigated the vehicle. The driver asked them to look for his friend on the other side of the bushes. They found him, dead, half digested by a big python.
(3) A zebra was drinking at a waterhole. A lion grabbed its rear end at the same time as a crocodile grabbed its head. They tugged and pulled. The big croc slapped the lion hard with its tail, stunning the lion so it released the zebra. But there was another lion. It bit a big piece out of the croc, killing it.
(4) A minivan got stuck in a mudhole where they stopped to watch three lions to the right of the vehicle. Our guide-driver volunteered to fasten a rope to his minivan to pull them out. He began to carefully tie the rope to his rear bumper while watching the sleeping lions 15 meters away. The male woke up, leaped for the driver, who leaped inside his open left-front door. As he closed it the lion hit the door, hard.
(5) A traveling salesman on the Nairobi to Mombasa route (on the coast) regularly stopped for a snack at a country restaurant where a troop of baboons lived and begged for food. He gave them two sandwiches, after first putting spicy red peppers inside. As they suffered and ran for water he laughed. A few weeks later the man stopped at the same highway stop, with his wife and two children. The baboons recognized the man, formed a circle around him, and began to bite him with their sharp teeth. Soon he was dead. The baboons ignored the others.
(6) A baboon grabbed the baby of a young family on a picnic, and carried the baby up a tree. A crowd soon formed. People debated about whether to shoot the baboon and catch the baby as it fell. The wiser young father set out a big plate of tasty fresh fruit and ordered everyone to back away. The baboon came down to eat the fruit, and the father grabbed the baby, unharmed.
One morning we packed up, first driving east. On the way out of the game preserve we saw many animals. Three big birds glided low a few meters ahead of our van, like fighter planes in formation. Outside of the game preserve we passed small farms, with small homes made of planks. Fences were made of a row of growing cactus or of brush tied together. We passed "cactus trees " 12 m. (40 ft.) tall, trees with flat tops, many plants with thorns, Russ-ian olive trees, fields of corn, rolling hills, goats, and men carrying a long stick on both shoulders. Cattle herders use them to fight lions. In the Rift Valley we stopped at the same tourist stop as a few days earlier. After climbing out of the valley we headed northwest, stopping for lunch. We talked with a hungry little barefoot girl outside. We bought a loaf of bread, giving it to her. She finally decided to share it with two little boys, apparently her brothers. The cook gave her some bananas. We passed Lake Naivasha, the dry grass and trees reminded me of West Texas. While we waited for a flat to be repaired on the other van we bought oranges and roasted peanuts from little boys. Peanuts in the shell were wrapped in a piece of newspaper, rolled in the shape of a cone. Some peanuts were raw, the others were burned. Vendors along the highway made platforms of big rocks to display sacks of fresh oranges for sale. Hay was put into pyramid-shape stacks.
In NAKURA, population half a million in the area, we bought snacks in a supermarket. People did their last-minute Christmas shopping. We drove a few miles south to LAKE NAKURA NATIONAL PARK, where we pitched tents on a grassy camp site. We stood up a dead tree and decorated it somewhat like a Christmas tree. It was Christmas Eve, December 24, 1985. The "tree" looked great. We made fruit punch, adding alcohol. We made the mistake of leaving the remaining half-bowl, in the dark, near the food, while we played games and sang Christmas songs. The Swedish group next to us made beautiful music with trumpets. We noticed that Julius, our cook, was in a jovial mood. We soon discovered that the punch was almost gone. The other cook said that for some reason Julius had become worthless as a helper, so he sent Julius over to us.
On Christmas morning one of the Swedish trumpeters played reveille, the haunting melody was beautiful. Monkeys had opened a box of chocolates, they were all gone. They chased each other between the tent and the rain fly. A troop of baboons were still in our camp site, draining the dregs of bottles of whiskey and cans of pop. We drove some 30 km. (19 mi.) around the big lake. We walked on the soft beach, with guano from birds and salt crystals from evaporating mineral water. We couldn't walk in the game preserve, it was too dangerous. Flamingoes walked together in the shallow water, eating lichen and plants, making a loud whirring sound as thousands of legs moved through the water. Their pinkish color comes partly from what they eat. Other birds included arctic tern, spoonbills, cormorants, yellowbill storks, and big maraboo storks. We drove up to Baboon Lookout. Pelicans flew by in formation, waving up and down like a ribbon in the wind. We also saw many waterbuck, small red buck, and wart hogs. We saw an old volcanic crater, thorn trees, and euphorbia cactus trees 14 m. (46 ft.) tall. They have a poisonous milky sap. Other trees, with tiny leaves for a dry area, are like mesquite. In Hippo Pool we saw thousands of flamingoes but no hippos. Flamingoes in the air are long and slender, with long, slender wings. The head is straight out in front, the long legs are straight out behind, to reduce air resistance. They circle into the wind to land and put down their long landing gear. We also smelled, then saw, two dead waterbucks on the salty shore. We hoped that vultures or other scavengers would hurry to clean up the area. We returned to Nairobi on the Trans-Africa Highway, stopping at several police checkpoints. People beautifully dressed for Christmas waited patiently by a bus with a flat tire and no spare. Women and girls carried things on the head. At viewpoints vendors included boys selling bunny rabbits. Shops sold carved wooden animals, snakes, masks, sheepskin pelts and hats. Platforms made of rocks in front of small farms sold fresh rhubarb. December 26, Boxers Day, is when gifts are opened in Kenya. December 25 is a religious day.
We took another five-day camping safari, going south to Amboseli and east to Tsavo West National Parks. We stopped a few hours in Nairobi National Park. Continuing south, we saw termite mounds three meters high and five across (10 & 16 ft.), of red earth as hard as concrete. Giraffes nibbled leaves on acacia trees. Dozens of huge round birds' nests--weavers-- hung from limbs of some trees. Women carried bundles of firewood on the back. Many rectangular huts of wattle and mud had a metal roof. In NAMANGA a souveneir shop had painted stripes, like a zebra. Many of the wood carvings were beautiful. Masai women and girls sold bracelets made of beads and asked to have their photograph taken, for five shillings. Going east, we passed a few Masai moran or warriors, with red-ocher robes and skirts, sandals, dyed long hair plastered with mud, bead necklaces, headband and earrings, and each carried a stick about 1.3 m. (4 ft.) long. Other Masai herded goats near Masai villages. Some Masai huts with a wattle and mud roof have walls of sticks, sometimes bare or covered with animal hides, rather than mud. Near AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK it was drier, with fewer low trees. The big base of Mt. Kilmanjaro, elevation 5,896 m. (19,340 ft.) rose up into a cloud not far south. It is Africa's highest peak. As we entered the park, hawkers, not Masai, sold animals and people carved carved of ebony and other wood. The pretty young women wore Tee shirts with names of various cities in the U.S.A., their nipples pushed the front far out. One of them should enter a wet-Tee shirt contest. We rode another hour on dirt roads with mudholes to our camping sites. We pitched our tents with rain flies in the sand in the dark, then gathered firewood below the trees. Two of the other campers were professors from Poland, teaching temporarily in an African university. We enjoyed talking with them and others around the bonfire. The Poles told many jokes in which Russians were the butt of the joke. In the dark our bonfire seemed to attract scorpions. They made a straight line toward the fire, then crawled into it, learning too late that it was hot. We had to be careful not to sit on the ground. Our guides and other campers told animal stories. I noticed that our cook, Peter, slept in a minivan, not a tent. I told the story of the cook who slept in the tent with the fresh fruit, carried away by an elephant. Our cook began to laugh. I asked "Peter were you that cook?" He said he was, and it was at the same campsite we were then in, Amboseli No. 4!
We made several game drives each day, seeing a good assortment of animals. Vehicles in Amboseli must stay on a dirt road to avoid damaging the thin grass and causing erosion. In Masai Mara vehicles were permitted to go cross-country. Three Masai villages were permitted to exist in the park, their cattle competed with wild animals for food. Giraffes had very long eyelashes. The park has many dangerous Cape buffalo. Panta monkeys ate wild figs and other fruit. Impala often lick each other, like cattle. We saw stork and ostrich. We stopped at Amboseli Lodge to cool off in the nice pool. Again, the young European women were topless. British and North Americans are more conservative. Wind blew clouds away from Kilmanjaro, its snowy summit seemed almost close enough to touch. We saw many trees, some were big, pushed over by elephants, to eat the leaves or fruit. Late afternoon we saw our first leopard, stalking game in tall grass near a creek. In one day we saw the "Big Five:" lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, and rhino. The huge "bush" elephants have tusks that turn down, and ears as big as a small car. Impala like to graze in the open, away from trees where a lion or leopard may be hiding. Monkeys were plentiful, eating seeds and fruit in trees. Eagles and vultures sat high in trees, looking for food. Crowned cranes looked for snakes, they fly high and drop them to kill the snake. At night we heard jackal calling, and saw a few in the daytime. The males mark their territory with urine, and fight to protect the territory. They are mostly predators, like hyena.
Another driver told ours that a lion had just killed a buffalo. We raced over, there were no other minivans. The young male lion was still panting. Only a male lion can bring down an adult buffalo alone. They bite the neck, close the windpipe, and hold on until the animal drops. The lion's neck (mane), face, and paws were bloody. People in our van, parked a few meters from the dead buffalo, voted to stay all afternoon to see what happened. After two hours the panting lion defecated, then went to a nearby waterhole to wash and drink. A jackal and vultures on nearby snags almost decided to go grab some buffalo meat, but the lion hurried back. Three hours after the kill the lion pulled strips of red meat from the rear end of the buffalo, then pulled out a mature fetus of a calf. He carried it 15 m. away, hiding it under a bush. It ate the placenta. A big male elephant browsed in the nearby swamp, pulling huge quantities of grass as fast as it could with its trunk, and eating it noisily. Two egrets on its back ate flies. It flapped its huge ears to circulate cooling air. When we left just before dark we noticed another lion circling slowly toward the kill, awaiting a signal that it would be okay to join in the feast.
Soon after breakfast the next day we returned to the buffalo kill. A female lion 80 m. (260 ft.) from the kill was awaiting an "okay" signal. The other male lion had been accepted, both were resting near the kill. A huge convention of vultures, eagles, and jackals waited their turn near the kill. Leaving, we saw a herd of 60 bufffalo, a calf sucked its mother's teats as she walked. Her legs gently kicked the calf. We left Amboseli, heading east on back roads near the Tanzania border. We passed many Masai villages, bare-breasted women, red volcanic rock, red soil, tall grass and thorny bushes, big termite mounds, and big, snowy Kilmanjaro on our right. Soon we were close to Mt. Mawenzi, elevation 5152 m. (16,900 ft.), with its rocky pointed summit partly covered with snow. Near Buffalo Camp we saw a flattop acacia with eight storks resting on upper limbs. We saw fields of corn, and Blacks wearing Western-style clothes. Many trees with little leaves look like mesquite. There were more euphorbia "cactus trees." We stopped at another zebra-painted souvenir shop, selling shields, spears, and bead necklaces. The toilet was a concrete slab with square holes. The red dust on the road was bad for 180 km. (112 mi.). We passed a typical primary school, in a shed, with a metal roof and an open wall, then round mud huts. Men and women carried sacks of grain on the head. When we slowed down for herds of goats or cattle on the road, Masai herder boys asked for "school pens." A boy tried to sell us the skin of a python, 45 cm. wide and four meters long. (18 in. & 13 ft.). Trees had huge birds' nests, often the "social weavers," (a kind of finch) with a hundred birds or so. Each pair has a cavity in an enclosed nest three meters (10 ft.) high.
We entered TSAVO WEST NATIONAL PARK. It is known more for birds than animals, which are hard to spot in the dense vegetation. The red soil and lava rock changed to black or brown. Tall grass became denser, some bushes had red flowers. We stopped to look at the Shetani Lava Flow of some 200 years earlier, like half-melted chunks of asphalt. A few trees grew on the lava. After another 10 dusty kilometers we saw a few baobob trees, with small limbs growing from the short, thick trunk. The campsite had a covered arbor to shelter our pup tents. I started to take a shower but the high water tank ran dry. We went on a game drive in the bushy, grassy hills, with many volcanic cones more than 300 m. (980 ft.) high. We saw many striped Burchell's zebra, almost as big as a horse. They are immune to Rinderpest and other diseases that kill horses. Some colonists have harnessed them to pull stages, but they are wild and have weak backs. When bred with horses, the animal resulting is not fertile, it is like a mule. Yellow weaver have round nests, not so big as the social weavers. Some tree limbs drooped with the weight of nests.
Mzima Springs gushes from a rock, creating a river. The clear water comes from the Chuyulu Hills, some 15 km. (9 mi.) north. Near the river there were heron, monkeys, baboons, and several types of palm trees, including one with red bark. We descended below the water surface in an aquarium tank to look at fish like striped bass. A big crocodile cruised slowly near the bank, looking for someone to eat. A dozen hippos played in the water, snorting and blowing water, sometimes raising only their head above the water every minute or so. One came close to our viewpoint. Leaving just before dark, we saw a long single-file line of baboons going to the water. The area is closed at night, when big animals come to drink. In trees with flat tops or tops shaped like an umbrella many birds roosted, including as many as 10 big maraboo storks in a tree. We stopped at beautiful Kilaguni Lodge to look out across the green grass and bushes, to rolling hills, volcanic cones, and a few animals. In the evening we looked at the thousands of stars, and listened to the jackal and Russian jokes, as usual. The Southern Cross didn't appear until 3:00 A.M.
On New Years Day a big troop of baboons came through camp, emptying cans and bottles of the last dregs, and looking for anything left out that they could carry away. We went on a game drive, seeing dik-dik, a small antelope, only 40 cm. (16 in.) tall, weighing less than 4 kg. (8.8 lb.). The four oryx, a big antelope, had vertical horns, up to a meter long, almost straight. There were many ostrich, Grants gazelle, and impala. At a water hole we saw a jackal and two storks. We stopped again at Kilaguni Lodge, admired the panoramic view, and looked at dozens of swallows that built nests among the rafters of the porch. Leaving, we saw redbeak hornbills, giraffe, and a big herd of elephants, red from the red soil. Like horses that roll in dust, elephants spray dirt on their skin to discourage flies. The Whydah birds (widowbird) have long tail feathers. They lay eggs in the nest of weavers and let the weaver hatch and feed the young. The Whydah tries to act and make sounds like the weaver.
We rode back to Nairobi on the Mombasa to Nairobi highway. Big European-made cross country buses have names like "Exotic Coach," "Caboose II," and "Space Vehicle." We met Julius, a cook on our first safari, greeting him with jambo, or "hello," in Swahili. He said that his Christmas with us, when he drank too much punch, was "his best Christmas ever." He had been a cook working for British colonials. He said that Kenya was "much better in the old days, under the British." Not far from the coast, where Asians and Muslim converts live, there were many mosques with bright towers. Our driver sang verses from the Koran in Arabic. If a vehicle breaks down along the highway, which is often, tree limbs or piles of rocks are placed in advance to warn other drivers. While our driver stopped at the Small World Country Club to have a blowout repaired, we sipped a drink while watching African adults and children dance to blaring music. Some little girls were great dancers. In Nairobi we stayed a few days in a popular tourist hotel in a quiet neighborhood west of downtown, then flew to Zimbabwe.
ASIA
Click for larger picture
Bagan, Burma (Myanmar), men & women wear longyi "skirts"
[Excerpt, Countries and Cultures, Vol. I, P. 161-164]
Japan
Population 125 million (0.3 % per year natural increase); area 378,000 sq. km. (146,000 sq. mi.) on 4 main islands: Honshu (main), Hokkaido (north), Kyushu (south), and Shikoku (south), plus many smaller islands; GDP $2,530 billion; average income $20,200; literacy rate 99%
History. Man has probably lived in Japan for 200,000 years. Various people arrived since then, from China, Korea, and Pacific islands. Yayoi people had arrived, probably from Korea, by the 1st Century A.D. They used bronze, iron, and the potter's wheel. Beginning in the 4th Century A.D. the Yamato culture began to unify most people. In the 5th Century the ruler Yuyaku controlled most of Japan and much land in modern Korea, but Korea was lost in 532. In 538 Buddhism was brought from China. In 592 the Asuka Period began under Prince Shotuku Taishi, who built Nara's Horyuji Temple. Much of the culture of China and Korea was imported. The emperor began to have more power. He was believed to be a descendant of the sun god. In the Nara Period there was much construction beginning in 710. The Buddhist priests built expensive temples and statues of Buddha, and had much power. In 794 the Heian Period began, the emperor's court moved to Heian (Kyoto) to weaken the power of the priests. The Fujiwara family became sort of court administrators, with much power. An aristocracy of big land owners developed. They became a warrior class, with the best swords, bows, armor, and horses. There were many battles. In 1185 Yoritomo became shogun. In 1192 the Kamakura Period began when Yoritomo was granted by the emperor the position of military commander. He was a shogun who had the power to appoint military governments throughout Japan. The Zen sect of Buddhism became very popular. Buddhist priests were urged to marry to lessen the gap between priests and the people.
In 1274 and again in 1281 Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler of China, invaded with many boats and warriors. They were defeated both times, the 2nd time partly by what Japanese call a kamikaze, a divine wind storm.
In 1338 Komyo defeated the new emperor and his other rivals, becoming shogun, in Kyoto. The Ashikaga shoguns tried to keep the support of the shugo military rulers in the provinces. Two groups of shugos fought each other in Kyoto beginning in 1443, burning the city down--the 30 years' Onin War. Japanese ships sailed in much of eastern Asia, trading their swords and sulfur with China for art objects and coins. The daimyo (feudal lords) owned all of the land, the farmers were their serfs.
Portuguese arrived in Japan in 1543 to trade. Missionaries were not far behind. In less than 40 years there were 150,000 Christians. The Europeans brought muskets and cannons, which the Japanese learned to use to drive out all Europeans in 1614. Many castles were built. In 1590 General Hideyoshi had conquered all of Japan. He made a survey of all land and let peasant families in each village control it. Almost everyone was divided into one of four classes: samurai (warriors), peasants, artisans, and merchants. In 1592 his army conquered much of Korea and planned to take China, but his army did not get sufficient supplies. It returned to Japan. When Hideyohi died Tokoguwa won battles against his enemies and moved the capital to Edo (Tokyo) in 1603. The Tokoguwa shoguns for the next 250 years acknowledged the emperor in Kyoto but used military administrators to run the country.
Christianity was banned in 1614, those who remained Christian were killed in 1622. Spanish were ousted in 1624, Portuguese were ousted in 1637. Chinese were limited to living in particular neighborhoods. The almost continuous wars then began to end. Population increased, merchants became wealthier. In 1825 an edict ordered that all foreign vessels be kept away from Japan. The British defeated China in the Opium Wars ending in 1842. Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S.A. arrived with a fleet of warships in the bay near Edo (Tokyo) in 1853. He ordered that Japan open its doors to foreigners and their trade. He said he would return.
On March 31, 1854 a treaty was signed by the Tokugowa shogun and Perry. Others opposed the shogunate, and in 1868 the shogun surrendered to the emperor's army. Emperor Meiji abolished the shogun system, opened up Japan, and ordered that Japanese improve industry and learn as much as they could from the foreigners. Schools were built, attendance became compulsory. The army and navy was small but it was modernized, with a military draft, like some in the West. In 1889 a constitution, patterned after that of Prussia (Germany) was approved by the emperor and "given" to Japan.
Japan and Russia claimed islands in the Pacific. They compromised, with Japan getting the northern Kuriles and Russia getting Sakhalin. In 1882 China got control of Korea, but Japan and Russia also wanted it. In war with China in 1895 Japan got Formosa (Taiwan), and partial control of Korea. Japan also got much of Manchuria but was ordered by Russia, Britain, and France to return it to China. Russia in 1891 began to build the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to the Pacific. In 1896 Russia and China signed a treaty, so the eastern end of the railroad could be built through China. It was completed in 1904 except for a short distance south of Lake Baikal, at the Mongolia border. Japan was worried that Russia was becoming a rival in the Far East. Early in 1904 Japan made a surprise attack on Russian ships in Russia's main Pacific port, Port Arthur. Japan's army also defeated Russia's in Korea. U.S.A. President Theodore Roosevelt persuaded both Japan and Russia to agree to a treaty in the summer of 1905. Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. Japan made Korea a protectorate in 1907 and a colony in 1910. Japan had budget deficits each year. The Soviet Union competed the Trans-Siberian Railway, to Vladivostok, in 1917.
The Meija Period ended and the Taisho Period began in 1912. Japan entered World War I, 1914-1918, on the side of the Allies. Japan made "21 Demands" on China, but the Allies did not help Japan to get them. Japan got Germany's possessions in the Pacific. In 1925 all men in Japan won the right to vote. From 1918 to 1922 the Japanese, British, and U.S.A. had occupied Vladivostok and other parts of eastern Siberia, to limit the Bolshevik gains. Japan withdrew its army in 1922. In China the Kuomintang established a national government in 1927, among feuding warlords. Japanese assassinated Chang Tso-Lin, Manchuria's ruler, in 1928. Japan saw markets for its goods being closed, such as by the high tariffs in the U.S.A.'s Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930. Crowded Japan wanted Manchuria, with good farming land. When a bomb was exploded in 1931 on the Manchurian Railway near a Japanese army camp (the "Manchurian Incident"), the army quickly conquered most of Manchuria. The Japanese set up Pu Yi, descendant of the last Manchu emperor of China, as figurehead emperor of Manchuria, which Japan called "Manchuko". The Japanese army greatly expanded and built weapons factories in Manchuko, away from scrutiny of Japanese at home. In 1936 Japanese celebrated 2,600 years of rule by emperors, although early emperors ruled only over a small area.
There were many little battles at the border between Japan and Soviets between 1936 and 1939. On July 7, 1937 fighting broke out between Japanese and Chinese at a bridge near Peking (Beijing), the "China Incident." Japan bombed Shanghai and its army captured all of China's coastal cities and its capital, Nanking, by the end of 1938. Military officers acquired control of the Japanese government by the end of the 1930s. Political parties were abolished in 1940. Japan greatly expanded its army, navy, and air force. To expand in Southeast Asia, it tried to end the threat of the navy of the U.S.A. by bombing the naval base and ships in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Japanese sunk the battleship Arizona and many other ships. The next day the U.S.A. declared war against Japan and its ally, Nazi Germany. Luckily for the U.S.A., the aircraft carriers were at sea and were not sunk at Pearl Harbor. Japan, with a well-trained and well-equipped military, quickly took over much of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. The U.S.A. began to retake Pacific islands, one by one, after great losses to both sides. The U.S.A. captured islands that made Japan within range of its new high-altitude long-range B29 bombers. Tokyo and other cities were attacked with fire bombs. Some 130,000 died in one Tokyo fire alone. Friends who lived in Tokyo during 1945 told me recently that they and many neighbors left Tokyo for the country, fearing an invasion by the U.S. A. The U.S.A. on August 6, 1945 dropped its new secret weapon, the atom bomb, on Hiroshima, and another on August 9 on Nagasaki. The Japanese Emperor, Hirohito, made an unconditional offer of surrender. Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, on the U.S.A. battleship Missouri. The Soviet Union entered the war against Japan during its last few days, and got Japan's south half of Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands. Some 1.8 million Japanese, military and civilians, were killed during World War II.
The U.S.A.'s army under General Douglas McArthur occupied Japan. He forced democratic institutions upon Japan. A new constitution was passed on May 1, 1947. Farmers were given the land they had farmed for generations, the landlords lost control. Since there were many farmers and little land, most got only a hectare (2.5 acres). McArthur encouraged strong agricultural co-operatives.The association of co-ops, Nokyo, has become strong politically, erecting barriers to foreign food, keeping food prices high for Japanese consumers. Japan's educational system was revised to the 6 years primary, 3 years middle, and 3 years secondary school system. The emperor is no longer considered to be a god, a descendant of the sun goddess. McArthur insisted upon equal rights for women. School attendance laws were applied to girls as well as boys. He asked Japanese leaders whether they wanted to apply laws making adultery illegal to men also, or to eliminate the laws altogether. The Japanese were stunned, men had always committed adultery, women had few rights. The Japanese chose to eliminate the crime of adultery. Women as well as men have the right to divorce, and to vote, at age 20. The constitution provides that Japan "forever renounces war." The Japanese military is restricted to defending the home islands and a 1,600 km.(1,000 mi.) radius around them, including keeping sea lanes open. Most Japanese oppose the use of its troops for peacekeeping missions of the United Nations. The military is limited to one percent of the Gross Domestic Product. However, Japan, with its huge Gross Domestic Product, spends around 54 billion dollars, the 3rd-greatest amount in the world, on its military. The U.S.A. spends five times as much as Japan. Russia is the 2nd-greatest military spender, but it spends less than one-sixth as much as the U.S.A. The U.S.A. continues to have 47,000 troops stationed in Japan. Nearly two-thirds are on Okinawa, where they are no longer welcome, after a few rapes of local females. Japan pays part of their cost. The government of the U.S.A. has chosen to spend much of its total budget on the military, rather than on health, education, research for the future, and welfare. Japan has been free to spend huge sums on non-military research, to develop and sell products in the future.
During the Korean War, 1950-1953, the U.S.A. stationed troops in Japan and bought many supplies from Japan, helping the economy. Japan regained its full sovereignty on April 28, 1952, after the Peace Treaty of 1951. In 1972 Okinawa and smaller islands were returned to Japan, with the U.S.A. retaining the right to maintain military bases.
Japan gradually improved the quality of its products around 1950, and the word spread. Akio Morita acquired the rights to use the transistor developed by North Americans. Using the transistor, his company, SONY, designed, produced, and sold a long line of electronic products, including the tiny radio used with earphones (Walkman), radios, TVs, and more. He insisted upon making good quality products. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), a branch of the government, has helped to improve and promote Japan's industries and exports. The ministry often actively helps a company in ways that would be criticized as socialism in the U.S.A..
Japan followed the advice of North Americans to greatly improve the quality of its manufactured products. Japan's economy continued to improve. Before 1945 Japanese firms could fire employees easily, now it is difficult. In 1991 a series of political scandals began. On October 4, 1994 a bad earthquake did much damage on Hokkaido. On January 17, 1995 a worse earthquake hit Kobe, the main container port. Roads and railways to Kobe were destroyed. Japan has had several big scandals in recent years. They include big losses by the giant Daiwa Bank, which tried to hide losses from speculating. Other Japanese banks speculated in real estate, it cost a billion dollars to bail them out.
Background. The islands extend for 2,790 km. (1,733 mi.) from the southwest to the northeast. The main islands are Kyushu in the south, then Honshu (the largest), Shikoku, and Hokkaido in the north. There are many hills, and some 60 volcanoes. Earthquakes are frequent. Tokyo has 8.1 million, nearby Yokohama has 3.3 million, they are separated by Kawasaki (population 1.2 million) but appear to be one city. The Tokyo metropolitan area is perhaps the largest in the world. Osaka has 2.8 million, Nagoya has 2.2 million, Sapporo has 1.7 million, and Kyoto and Kobe each has 1.5 million. At least 77 percent of the Japanese live in an urban area.
Around 90 percent of the people follow the practices of Shinto, which is more of a way of living than a religion. Nearly 75 percent follow Buddhist practices. Most Japanese follow both Shinto and Buddhist practices. A baby seven days old is baptized at the Shinto Shrine. Children are dressed up and at age three are taken to a shrine to pray for their health and happiness. Boys age five and girls age seven are also taken to a shrine. Weddings are held there. Students go to a shrine to pray for a good grade on an exam. On New Year's Eve, up until January 7, people go to a shrine to pray for health and happiness. Shinto started as nature worship, important when most people were farmers. It changed into ancestor worship. Shinto influences good luck charms that some people carry.
Funerals are held at Buddhist temples. (See Religions). Even Japanese businessmen consider the year represented by one of the 12 animals of Buddhism to determine whether this is a good year to make a major change in a business. Zen Buddhism is popular in Japan--one sits with arms and legs folded, eyes half open, and meditates, to "communicate." On New Year's Eve, December 31, the bell in Buddhist temples is rung 108 times, to drive out the "108 evil desires" that man is subject to. The obon festival celebrates the visit of souls of ancestors, with food, music, and dancing.
Many Japanese have beliefs and practices that we call superstitions. Four and nine are unlucky numbers. We saw a few fortune tellers, each sat at a small table in the afternoon or evening in a shopping or market area. The Buddhist calendar is not used now in Japan, but everyone knows the 12 animals of the oriental Zodiac, the junishi. The year 1996, for example, is the Year of the Rat, and many decisions will be based upon its characteristics. On New Year's day and for sometime after, a twisted straw rope is put over the door of a house, to bring good luck.
Tobe, Japan, ama women divers go 10 m. deep Nara, Japan, Todai-Ji Great Buddha Hall, perhaps
in cold water for abalone and pearls the world's largest wooden building
In crowded Japan, being polite and getting along with others in your group, at work, school, or in the family is very important. The culture stresses the importance of inter-human relationships, not the individual. The family, regular contacts, the work group and the firm are important. Others are ignored. Never force a competitor into a corner, let him/her save face. Avoid conflict. It is better not to make a decision than to made a bad decision. Let the group think about a problem. Be patient, the problem will be solved. Less than 10 percent of the attorneys are licensed to practice law in courts. However, corporations have many attorneys to advise, to help the company avoid trouble, and to negotiate settlements of differences without wasting time and money in court.
Some 13 percent of the land is arable. There are 2,544 people per square km. of arable land. It is very crowded. Tokyo's average high temperature in January is 8 degrees C, the average low is minus 2 C. The average July high is 28 degrees C, the average low is 21 C. The rainier months are June through September.
Japanese men and women each carry a personal seal, which they use to ink-stamp checks, letters, and other documents instead of a signature. Each seal is registered with the government. Businessmen carry calling cards to distribute readily, indicating their title or status. They decide quickly who warrants a higher or lower status in the pecking order. A salaryman in a big corporation has had a good future, with regular promotions and increases in salary. He has had security from layoffs or firings. However, recently some corporations have laid off employees. New employees have been hired on a temporary or part time basis, without the assurance of job security. Ordinarily, Japanese share more equally than does the U.S.A. There are almost no super-rich or very poor. Japan does not have the huge differences in earnings that corporations typically have in the U.S.A. It does not have the super-greedy. All employees of a corporation have an interest in helping it prosper in the long run. They are willing to work long hours without overtime pay or complaining, to help the company in time of need. Management and labor share the wealth and power. Workers normally get an annual bonus equal to pay for one or two months. Income for the president of the largest corporations is typically less than the equivalent of half a million dollars per year. On one of my flights across the Pacific I talked with the Japanese man sitting in the cramped coach class seat next to mine. He had started with his corporation at age 12 when the war with the U.S.A. started. He had many regular promotions. At the end of the trip he gave me his card. He was the operating vice-president of a corporation the size of General Motors. Do executives of the U.S.A. modestly travel coach-class?
Japanese have traditionally been small. Many young Japanese (and other Asians), having had enough proper food to eat all of their lives, are as tall as Europeans and North Americans.
Japan's economy was stagnant for five years in the early 1990s, with the high value of the yen, competition from other Asian countries, falling stock prices, and problems of corruption in some banks. However, the economy has begun to expand again. Inflation is only 0.7 percent. Unemployment is high for Japan, partly because some manufacturing is farmed out to other countries. Unemployment is at least 3.4 percent. There are 5.0 million cattle and 10.9 million pigs. The annual fish catch is 9.3 million metric tons, the 2nd-highest in the world, after China. Imports of 241 billion dollars per year come from the U.S.A. (23 percent, $55 billion), Southeast Asia (25 percent), and China (9 percent). Exports of 361 billion dollars per year go to the U.S.A. (29 percent, $104.7 billion), and Southeast Asia (33 percent). Thus, Japan has a favorable balance of payments with the U.S.A. of more than 49 billion dollars per year. Exports by Japan are high, even though the yen has more than doubled in relation to the U.S.A. dollar from 1985 to 1996, making Japanese products more expensive. Japanese save more than 15 percent of their income. This money, in banks and other assets, is used to expand Japanese industry. In the U.S.A. the rate of savings is less than one-third that of Japan. However, many Japanese, wanting consumer products without waiting to save and pay cash, are borrowing money from sarakin or loan companies, with very high interest rates.
Japan imports huge quantities of petroleum for its automobiles and power plants, mostly from the Persian Gulf area. However, 33 percent of its power is generated in nuclear plants. Plans are to increase this to 42 percent by 2010.
The Japanese income tax is far below that of the U.S.A. and most of western Europe. It has been only around six percent of an average worker's pay. Wages for women are still only about half that for men. Many women do not work after they marry and have children. Women are expected to be compliant, and not to be intellectual. They are to be seen and not heard.
In the evening we often saw groups of men, and groups of young women, out on the city, eating downtown or going to an early movie. However, the girls, "Young Office Ladies," go home early. They are rarely seen after nine in the evening. Men stay out much later. When a baby is born it is registered with the city under the name of the father. When a girl marries her name is transferred from her father's name to her husband's name. In villages parents consult a matchmaker and choose a husband or wife, or young people get the consent of parents before marriage. In cities they find it wise to consult with parents before they marry. Some young Japanese women who are university graduates and have traveled extensively, told me that they would never marry a Japanese man. I asked why. Several said "Japanese men expect to control the family and do what they please, but marriage should be 50-50."
Japanese cities are quiet, as in Germany. Noise is discouraged. Japanese, living in crowded cities, learn young not to shout, or to play a radio or TV loud. Crime and unemployment are low in Japanese cities. We saw many bicycles in Tokyo, parked in racks outside office buildings or on sidewalks, unlocked. A Japanese or foreigner can usually safely walk streets or ride the metro late in the evening. Of course, as in all large cities, some streets and alleys should be avoided in the evening. High crime rates go with high unemployment. Blacks in cities in the U.S.A. have very high unemployment. There is little for them to do legally so many turn to crime to make a living. However, Japan has a problem with Yakuza gangsters that expect big payoffs from corporations. If a corporation does something questionable and public disclosure would be disgraceful, it becomes a victim of extortion. Some corporations are said to hire gangsters to fight gangsters.
Japan has refused to make an apology that other Asian nations consider sufficient for Japan's actions in World War II. However, Japan gives around 15 billion dollars a year in foreign aid, some two-thirds goes to Asian countries that Japan attacked during World War II. [The U.S.A. gives around 12 billion dollars yearly in foreign aid, but much of that is military aid. Half goes to Israel and Egypt.] Many thousands of Korean and Philippine women were forced during World War II to become prostitutes for Japanese troops. Many prisoners of war, Chinese, Korean, and Russian, were tested with germs to see how quickly they would die. Japan violated the Geneva Convention many times. The Philippines, Chinese cities, and many others were almost destroyed by Japanese bombing and shelling.
Nine years of school is compulsory. Most school children wear a school uniform. The school year was reduced from 240 class days in 1994, by eliminating most Saturday classes. School children study hard, but once they pass the exam to enter a university of their choice, most play more and study less. If Japanese 14 or 15 year olds do well on comprehensive exams they can enter a prestigious secondary school, which will enable them to enter a prestigious university. Their career and advancements will be assured.
Many Japanese families are expected to live overseas at least a few years, working for a Japanese corporation. Those with children are often reluctant to stay several years away from home, because the children may not receive a Japanese-style education. When they return home they may not pass the exam to get into a better secondary school and university, their career will be limited. I have represented Japanese corporations, their executives were quite concerned about the Americanization of their children. Some cities with a high concentration of Japanese, such as Sydney, Australia, have Japanese schools, with Japanese teachers. We see groups of Japanese tourists with a Japanese-speaking guide, in many countries. We also see many university-age Japanese students, traveling, especially to western Europe, in groups of two or three. Yet, statistics show that the 125 million Japanese make only 11 million trips abroad per year. This is lower than Germans, Australians, or North Americans. Japanese are afraid of crime in places like the U.S.A. Much publicity was given in Japan and Europe about the Japanese university student who did not understand the questioning and was shot by a gun-toting homeowner in Louisiana, U.S.A.
The Diet (parliament) has a House of Representatives with 500 members, and a House of Councilors with 252 members. Each serves a term of four years. The Prime Minister heads the Cabinet. The Liberal Democratic Party controlled Japan for 35 years. In 1989 it lost its first election. Three new parties, including the Socialists and the New Party Harbinger, were formed.
Japan today may be compared with the British Isles of the early 20th Century. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902, continuing through the 1920s, attempted to weaken and limit their common competitor, Russia. Both Japan and Britain were somewhat aloof from peoples on the neighboring continent. In some ways they were superior, with a strong merchant fleet and navy, as well as manufactures.
Japanese have long been suspicious of foreigners. Koreans are the largest majority group. Chinese are second. Foreigners are normally expected to live in particular areas. In December 1995 Japan's highest court upheld Japan's requirement that foreigners living there be fingerprinted.
Japanese told us that retired men and women age at least 65 get free medical care. Some people who have been laid off from their job also get free care. Japanese have a long life expectancy, a higher percentage of the population is elderly than in any other country.
Baseball, table tennis, tennis, football (soccer), karate, judo, and kendo (a kind of fencing) are popular sports.
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