Serious! Japan is no stranger to this! Interview with a Local Guide: Cuba's Dependence on Inbound Travel, Inequality, and Education Problems
I was in bed, shocked and bedridden from my shocking salsa experience, but I remembered the words of the guide who had accompanied me on my walk in Havana two days earlier.
I could not forget the words of our guide, Daniel, who expressed his concern about the current situation and future of Cuba.
As I mentioned in an earlier article, Daniel is a graduate of the University of Havana and a guide who has studied in Japan.
We talked a lot as we strolled through Havana.
We were able to hear many things from Daniel about Cuban history, religion, the economy, and the temperament of the Cuban people.
One of the most memorable talks was Daniel's view on the current situation in Cuba.
There are both good and bad things about Cuba."
The best part is the wonderful education and medical system. I also spent 6 years at the University of Havana and one year studying in Japan. All for free. It is wonderful that everyone has a chance to learn.
But there are serious problems in Cuba today.
It is a matter of economy and tourism.
My father was an engineer. He was a professional, so to speak.
But the salary was $3,500.
Yes, food and medical care are provided by the government. But basically, things are not enough.
Maybe if they had the money they could buy more, but most people can't.
I have a child. How much do you think the child's shoes, how much?
They cost 5,000 yen. A pair of children's shoes.
Can you afford it on a salary of $3500?
Even if the internet costs 100 yen per hour, can you use it if your salary is 3,500 yen?
Professors at my university and professionals like my father are all paid that way.
There is no money.
By the way, Takahiro (the author), who do you think has the most money in Cuba right now?"
-Maybe it is the government bureaucracy? Have you become corrupt like in the past?
No, it is not.
In fact, the people with the most money right now are cab drivers."
-!
They have ten times more money than we do.
So do hotel and restaurant clerks. They all make their money from tips."
I see...I knew it was strange.
Tipping in cabs and restaurants is a Western rule of etiquette that must be observed.
So I quietly went along with it.
However, I began to wonder if this was really a good thing here in Cuba a few days after I arrived.
All Cubans are treated as state employees, and their salaries, which vary slightly, are fixed at about 3,500 yen.
I wondered if it would be acceptable to give such people a tip of 100 yen or even 500 yen.
What does 100 yen or 500 yen mean to someone with a salary of 3,500 yen?
A generous person would tip the bill at 1,000 yen or 2,000 yen.
Nearly half of their monthly income comes from just one cab ride or serving customers at a restaurant.
Where on earth does that money go? Surely the government is absorbing it?
If I had it in my pocket, wouldn't that make me financially crazy? I have been feeling this way ever since I came to Cuba.
But it was only after hearing Daniel's story that I was able to make sense of the situation.
Cab drivers and hotel and restaurant clerks have ten times more money than the average person.
After all, tourism is clearly putting a strain on Cuba's egalitarian society.
The Cuban education system is free all the way through college.
But getting into college is extremely difficult.
And it becomes even more difficult from the time you enter until you graduate.
There were 40 of my classmates when I entered the school, but by the time I graduated, there were only 13.
It is really difficult. It's hard to even keep up with it if you don't try really hard.
But when you graduate after all this hard work and become a professor or a professional, the salary is $3,500.
If they can't do that, today's young people don't want to study.
In the past, children dreamed of being doctors, veterinarians, and lawyers.
But what do you think are the dreams of today's children?
I'm a cab driver.
Everyone wants to do only tourism, which is a quick way to make money.
The system in the world is still running somehow because there are still people left in the profession, albeit at an older age.
But what if they are gone?
I don't see any future for Cuba at all; I can't imagine what Cuba will look like in 10 or 20 years."
...My God...isn't this a much more serious situation than in Japan?
It is people who have studied various fields of expertise that make a country run and a social system function.
Who will run the country if all people become cab drivers or hotel and restaurant clerks just because they make money?
Tourism is a double-edged sword.
It is something that could destroy the foundations of the country if one step is taken wrongly.
The monthly salary is 3,500 yen, but a tip of 100 yen per cab. If you convert it to a month, you can earn more than 10 times your monthly salary lightly.
It's really hard to resist such a lucrative business. I am not sure that I would be able to resist if I were put in such a situation.
In Japan, this means that every time you give a person a ride in a cab or serve a customer at a store, you will receive a bonus of 1,000 yen or more. In Japan, this means that every time you give someone a taxi ride, you get a bonus of 1,000 yen or more for every customer you serve.
It would be hard to resist this temptation. It is human nature to study hard and then feel foolish if you have no choice but to live a life of poverty.
But it will one day strike the country as a disease that could destroy it.
By the time you realize it, there is nothing you can do about it.
There are no longer any people left to run the country.
Japan is no stranger to this.
Tourism will increase further in Japan in the future.
Hakodate, where I live, has also seen a rapid increase in foreign tourists in recent years, and new hotels are being built one after another.
Japan is currently suffering economically to the extent that the economy cannot survive without tourism. Industries, especially in the rural areas, are not performing well and are facing hard times.
I understand the importance of tourism as its savior.
But if they are swallowed up by it, the foundation of the country will be destroyed before they know it.
Tourism does not produce things. It does not bring about new inventions that change the world. The number of professionals who support the social infrastructure is rapidly diminishing.
I am not saying that tourism itself is bad.
Tourism is an important opportunity to get to know a country. It is also an important source of economic income.
It was a lifesaver for Cuba, which was in dire economic straits without supplies due to the U.S. economic blockade.
However, Daniel strongly warned that the negative aspects of tourism should not be underestimated.
All Cubans were equally poor.
However, the introduction of tourism has quickly widened the gap.
Will the good old Cuba of the past be lost?
Cuba is in the midst of such rapid change.
The introduction of tourism brought enormous foreign capital into Cuba.
This strain has had a major impact on the educational problems of young people.
Education is an important issue that will determine the future of the country.
In Cuba, tourism is advancing its education to the point of crisis.
So what is the current state of education in Japan?
I can't talk about that here, but it sparked a great interest in the issue of education in my mind.
Education will determine the future of the country. It was a conversation with Mr. Daniel that made me keenly aware of this fact.
be unbroken
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