The visa application process for Japan is probably the strictest in the world. It is even stricter than that of the US.

Arriving at Tokyo airport, the lines at the immigration counter were also the slowest and longest one has ever seen in one's life. Even the Japanese had to wait like the foreigners before they could go to their homes.

"Mushi-Mushi!" was the greeting one got on one's phone; Mr Hiroshi Fujimura had called me from Tokyo after picking up Junoon's album Azadi, at the Virgin Mega Store in the central Rappongi district of Tokyo. "How did you hear of Junoon?" I asked Fujimura-San. "I read that you follow [Ustad Nusrat] Fateh Ali Khan," he explained. The late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is considered by some Japanese as one of the living incarnations of Buddha! Mr. Fujimura runs a Japanese concert promotion agency which had arranged some of Nusrat's sold-out concerts in Japan, and he felt that Junoon's music would be well received by the Japanese.

The Japanese tour turned out to be a real trip. Stepping out of Tokyo airport on a freezing and rainy January night, one almost felt being somewhere in outer space, or another planet in the future. It looked almost like a scene out of Blade Runner, the cyber punk futuristic film starring Harrison Ford. The factory fresh 2000 Mercedes 500 SL that had picked us up from the airport had a voice operated cell phone, a satellite traffic and location monitoring device, television and what not. Just as we decided, in jest, to ask our hosts if we could check email in the car as well, we noticed that the car was negotiating a 60-degree turn at around 140 kilometre per hour, in the rain. "This car must be worth the 14 million yen that the driver says he paid for!" Brian speculated. The sleek black Merc did not lose its tight grip on the slick road despite its speed. We completed our 120 km journey in just under an hour!

On arriving at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinju-ku, our fascination for Japan increased. I have always admired the Japanese, since my college days in the early '90s when I took Japanese classes, thinking that I would some day visit Japan. Later on, I made a few Japanese friends, including my best friend and roommate in college, a Japanese-American named Mike.

What is so exquisitely adorable about Japan is its prevalent culture of respect. You cannot help noticing how much the people of Japan respect themselves and one another. A country technologically more advanced than Western Europe or North America, the Japanese have untutored politeness and prove that modernity can go hand in hand with civility. This is a great lesson for us in Pakistan, where we, too, have an ingrained sense of respect for our parents, neighbours, and even strangers. However, it seems that we associate rudeness with modernity. If you do not respect yourself, you cannot expect others to respect you.

The fact that the Japanese have an unswerving belief in themselves was effectively demonstrated by a Japanese professor of South Asian Studies. Mr Muruyama opened the window of our hotel room and pointing to the skyscrappers of Tokyo, said smugly: "All this, in fact all of Tokyo, was flattened by the Americans in 1945." In the year 2000, Tokyo has the most expensive real estate in the entire world. In roughly the same time as Pakistan has existed, Japan has built itself from nearly zero-level into possibly the third most economically important country in the world. All this came from an island nation which has almost no natural resources to speak of.

Prof Muruyama's Urdu was nearly perfect: "Hummeh aapka mauseeqi bauhat pasand aaya!" he complimented Junoon's music. Hearing a Japanese ad for our Tokyo concert on the FM Radio was gratifying. Junoon did an indepth interview for Music Asia, a Japanese music magazine that focuses on Asian pop music. The knowledgeable journalist had thoroughly researched his topic, and so we all enjoyed the interview. This facet of the Japanese, their extreme professionalism, was obvious everywhere throughout the tour, as we found when we prepared for our shows. The Japanese technicians had made extensive preparations based on all the instructions we had sent months before. Lighting, sound, security, all was of the highest standard we had experienced anywhere in the world.

Junoon's concert in Tokyo was a success. Representatives of the Pakistan Embassy attended the show, as well as a diverse crowd of over a thousand Pakistanis, Indians and shalwar-kameez wearing Japanese! For the first time since Nusrat Fateh All passed away, Pakistani performers had come to play in Japan. It was a real honour for Junoon.

On return to Pakistan, one feels that more people need to go to Japan and experience this culture, which would prove to be inspiring for us. The hard-working professionalism of the Japanese made it clear to us what Pakistan needs to move forward. A strong sense of self-respect and respect for others, honour, and above all, hard work.

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