I'm playing around with font colors. I think the link color is too light now, but before it wasn't standing out enough, so maybe this is an improvement.
Also, I have moved from the southern edge of Osaka to the northern edge of Osaka. I think. I'm not sure subway maps really give an accurate representation of the city. I like it up here. Went for a walk really early this morning and encountered the Japanese version of old people doing morning exercises. Tell you what, I'll expound, and compare to the Chinese version. If you're bored by cultural minutiae, feel free to move on. It won't hurt my feelings.
When I lived in China, I wanted to study tai chi, so a friend took me to a park early one morning and we asked around until we found a good teacher. I can't speak for every city in China, but in Maoming the parks are full of small groups of elderly people doing various forms of morning exercises: maybe casual marching and hand-slapping routines designed to encourage blood circulation, maybe meditating alone in front of a tree, maybe ballroom dancing, maybe tai chi. Tai chi with swords!
The park I found this morning, on the other hand, seemed to be taken up with just one huge group, and they were all doing the same movements together. I watched for awhile and figured out that the group in white ballcaps were probably the leaders - I think it was one of them that was shouting out instructions. A lot of people had the same yellow shirts on, too, although I don't know what they were for. It wasn't military precision or anything; a few people wandered in and out, or stopped to help one man find his dog. Some people seemed to be newcomers and not as familiar with the movements. Overall, kind of like a low-key aerobics class and nothing like the meditative movements of tai chi.
So. China: chaotic, but not in a bad way. Complicated. Diverse. Not a place you can understand at a glance. Japan: fond of uniforms. Systematic. Orderly. A place for everyone and everyone quietly doing what seems to be expected of them.
I can't imagine either scenario taking place in America... although for all I know, retirement communities all over the country have morning exercises every day. I think it's a great thing - socializing and continued strength and mobility, all rolled into one. Plus, it was a darn nice park. Excellent trees.
