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Changes, I

MAX HAS a theory. The theory is that the "Westernization" of Japan is the root cause of all the misunderstanding of Japan by Westerners.

Max's first trip to Japan was not as a corporate businessman with a wife and family, but as an enthusiastic but marginally successful participant in the Tokyo Olympics. That was 1964, and things were different.

In 1964, Japan presented itself to the world as a modern nation, well on the road to recovery from the devastation of war and capable of organizing itself and others along lines compatible with the "big-time" standards of the West.

The Olympics were a showcase, and sure enough Japan performed with the fragile confidence of a debutante at her first ball. Most athletes were housed in Quonset huts in a place called Washington Heights—now a place of grass and trees called Yoyogi Park.

The housing remained from Occupation days and Max discovered, as he's certain a generation of military families before him discovered, that the semi-cylindrical metal structures were marvelous transmitters of sound. Banging track shoes against the wall could wake up close to a hundred people.