Poli-Soporifia: The New Zen

Japan has made many important contributions to world culture. Think of sushi, anime, game software, and maid coffee shops, just to name a few. Japanese meditative arts are also well-known around the world. Young people from foreign countries come to Japan to study Zen and follow the contemplative, centering activities of this spiritual quest. Tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and even the martial arts sustain this revered aspect of Japanese culture that has been passed down through the centuries.
This long tradition is not limited to temple and shrine, however. Even in the political arena, Japanese cultivate this ancient tradition. Japanese politicians of the highest rank seem to require proficiency in this art in order to make it on the national stage.
Here we can see former Prime Minister Koizumi as well as other top members of his Cabinet practicing this venerable discipline. Democratic Party bigwig Ozawa also shows his capability alongside another disciple of this traditional pursuit of inner calm and assurance. Former Prime Minister Hatoyama also proved that he could meditate with the best of them in the National Diet. And the current Prime Minister, Kan Naoto, is regarded in the media as an accomplished master of this extreme regimen.
I had thought that only Japanese politicians had the persistence and inner strength to perform this ritual at such a high level, so you can imagine my surprise in reading that Vice-President Biden had also picked up this training and exhibited it during President Obama's deficit speech on April 13 this year. It is my understanding that the Vice President has never visited Japan, so I was curious as to how he gained this capability, a technique that – as with Zen training – can only come through discipline and persistent effort.
What my extensive research and off-the-record interviews revealed was that the Vice President has been practicing this at home for many years, by using a DVD called Meditative Boot Camp. In his relentless pursuit of transcendental bliss, he has already achieved high levels of spiritual clarity. His colleagues, for example, testify that it is not uncommon for him to center himself during after-dinner conversations with family and friends or to have transcended to a higher state during meetings when he was a Senator. The Vice President shares this discipline with Senator John McCain and former President Clinton, demonstrating the broad bipartisan appeal of traditional Japanese arts. He is even said to have learned some tips from the Chinese during his 2001 trip to China while he was in the Senate. Chinese leaders use a bootlegged version of this DVD and are assiduously trying to catch up with the meditative leaders in Japan.
While Japan has been shocked by earthquake and tsunami recently, it must be reassuring to know that government figures around the world still recognize the power of meditation and are eager to adopt this noble feature of Japan's ancient culture.