The Water of Life meets the Ghost in the Machine

A story of Scotland and Japan

The connections between our countries are many dating back to the 1800s when adventurous travellers brought everything from whisky to folk tunes from the mountains of Scotland to the mountains of Japan.

My own relationship with Japan dates back to my teen years sitting up (far too late) on Tuesday nights watching Sumo tournaments on Channel 4. I knew every wrestler, their record, whether they needed to win their next match or be demoted. I knew the names of every move (my favourite is oshi dashi - a not particularly elegant but effective chest slapping push!)

My idol was Chiyonofuji aka the Wolf (yes I’m dating myself!) closely followed by a young Konishiki who was powering up the ranks as one of the first successful foreign wrestlers!

Whilst I studied Japanese for a short time at college, the universe didn’t work its magic until twenty years later when out of the blue I was given the opportunity to move to Tokyo to deliver a complicated and groundbreaking new software solution as part of a joint venture with a local Japanese company.

I didn’t need to be asked twice and landed in January 2007 with two suitcases and a Blackberry that didn’t work because Japan was already way ahead of the game on 3G with mobile apps and my trusty BB was old tech.

I was bedazzled by Japan and it is still one of my most favourite places in the world. It was such an honour for me to live and work there. My Japanese was ‘embryonic’ when I first arrived and the project I was working on was very intense from Day One. Most of our work was accomplished through translators and interpreters and so my opportunities to practice my Japanese outside of meetings was quite limited. Most of my day to day conversations were with taxi drivers to and from the office. As soon as they knew I was from ‘Sukottorando’ they would say two things:

‘Ah! Whisky! Sean Connery!’

It’s good to know what you’re famous for! Sometimes I would get questions about golf or the Queen. After three years, my Japanese had improved enough to attempt an occasional explanation of the United Kingdom’s complicated constitution and the thorny question of whether Scotland was a separate country from England (that’s controversial enough without the challenges of a second language!).

Many of these early experiences involved intriguing overlaps with my Scottish roots that broadened my understanding not only of Japanese culture but my own. For example, when shops or restaurants are closing, they play an instrumental version of Auld Lang Syne. The first time I heard this, I thought I was imagining things! I asked a colleague the next day and apparently the tradition of Auld Lang Syne enjoyed at the end of Scottish events like Burns Suppers, had somehow morphed into a more general ‘time to go home people’ ritual in Japan. It never failed to make me smile whenever I heard the tinkly version in a supermarket or pharmacy!

Sometimes I would hear other music that reminded me very much of home, but it was all in Japanese. Again my curiosity led me to the discovery that many popular Japanese love songs are actually based on Gaelic folk tunes! The exact origins of this phenomenon are somewhat lost in the mists of time, but a certain Scot, Neil Gow, is generally credited with travelling to Japan in the late 1800s recording and categorising many songs which had never been written down before. He also played his own Scots music for his Japanese hosts. Over the years, Japanese lyrics were added and these songs made their way into the mainstream of Japanese culture usually as ‘traditional’ love songs.

Such cultural crossovers bring us back of course to our most famous export - whisky. Tokyo was filled with the most amazing whisky bars and extremely knowledgable sommeliers many of whom had travelled far more widely in my home country than I had. In 2003, Suntory won their first (and by no means last) global Gold Medal whisky award - the first time a whisky produced outside Scotland had won Gold!

Rather than being mad about it, Scottish people embraced this win, somewhat tickled that our own Water of Life had been raised to exceptional levels of perfection by Japanese producers and consumers who love our national drink. Whilst we treasure our Single Malts, this is definitely a blend we can all appreciate.

Such interweaving of culture, the sharing of knowledge and resources, the way that collaboration and innovation enriches our countries and economies, the respect and fondness built through trade and exchange are all things that give me heart and optimism for the future.

I hope that rapid technological progress, increased joint research and innovation, and continuing flows of investment, goods and people, will continue to deepen the connection between our countries over the coming years. The historic roots of Japanese and Scottish partnership can provide the energy and connectivity we need to power future growth.

I wonder in five or ten years time from now what a Tokyo Taxi driver will say when I tell them I’m from Scotland! I’m sure whisky will still be on the list, but maybe also Renewables? Kelp? Robotics?

Maybe even Outlander (currently Number 1 in the charts here in America whenever I mention my nationality)!

Tokyo already has some robotaxis on the road so there might not even be a human driver in 2030! If that comes to pass, I hope there will at least be an option to choose a conversation topic so I can still chat about the Water of Life with the Ghost in the Machine and keep these stories alive!

Japanese version of Auld Lang Syne (with lyrics sometimes sung at University graduations)

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Saltire Sentinel’s editorial stance.