Kyoto street
Japan simply has many things that make you fall in love. It is not about visual beauty or perfection.
Nature is harsh in Japan. Situated in the ring of fire, is a boiling pot of earthquakes and volcanoes, hot springs, smoking mountains and tsunamis besides being covered several months a year by a coat of frost or deep snow.
Japan shakes almost daily and architecture is fully adapted to it. Tokyo is no exception. Although there are high-rise buildings, Tokyo impresses by the relative small amount of them and the huge number of small dwellings. Being its population so large, like many Asians Japanese are used to very small surfaces as living space, mainly in urban areas.
With 35 million people on the greater Tokyo area, of a surprisingly small size, should be one of those dark spots of the world. It is not. Besides being impossible to believe that such crowd cohabitates in a surface of barely 2% of the Japan’s total territory it is even harder to believe that pollution and noise rates are so low. Tokyo has one of the cleanest air and noise levels in the world, which is incredible when you see the volume of people in the city. Shibuya metro station sees four million commuters every day.
This is one of the extraordinary things about Japanese timeless lifestyle. Gone beyond the sophistication of Chinese style of its origins, Japanese were able to remove all un-essential details to the very last. 20 sqm in Tokyo seem more spacious than more than twice this surface anywhere in the world. Far from feeling claustrophobic and crammed, Tokyo interiors give the feeling of wellbeing and lack of sophistication.
Incredibly, nothing seems to be missing while nothing redundant can be found.
When I left Japan it took me several weeks to digest and mildly understand what I had experienced. I had this feeling of trying to swim under the surface and not being able to grasp very deep. A feeling of not being sure of the depth but understanding that it was far away below my reach or the one of most outsiders.
Japanese are not openly friendly by western standards. Embedded in a highly hierarchic and complicated society they do not naturally try to meet outsiders, less even if those are foreigners that may not know how to behave in their society. However, Japanese are aware of their inner intricate ways and masters at facilitating life to foreign people. While they will not try to explain their culture, they allow the visitors to go through the surface while easing their trouble. As far as there is no will to open hidden doors, all is helpful and smooth in Japan. They cherish the culture of making visitors not feeling embarrassed. Things could be very complicated in Japan. However, they are not.
I expected Japan to respond to the kitsch images of kimonos and pagodas that are often seen in photos. I was impressed by how those details blend into the landscape. Although they are part of the daily life, they seem nothing but small adorning details over a very complex but minimalistic civilization. Japanese cherish their past as much as they worry for their future. Retro buildings and frozen in time interiors from the forties, fifties or sixties are common. They lack the artificial touch of the nostalgic trend that pesters nowadays chain wannabe coffee shops around the western world.
The authenticity of their culture is probably what impresses more the senses. It takes time to realize what the matter really is. I believe that the biggest gift of Japan is to insist on being what they are and be void of complex towards the outer world.
We are nowadays marked by the images of the tsunami that ravaged the country few years ago. The amazing scope of Japanese media gave all graphic details of the terrible power of nature.
Japanese were organized to such point that finding remains of the catastrophe is difficult. I learned most about Fukushima through manga books. In the western world we relate manga to aggressive commercial characters that invade the market in shape of plastic tennis shoes and schoolbags. The industrial mainly Chinese translation of manga is pervert. Manga can be a cheap Ben10 drawing.
I have learned that manga is a sophisticated deeply Japanese form of contemporary art. I consider it one of the best ways to learn about Japanese culture and history. Manga is contradictory like the country itself. It can describe the deepest Japanese feelings, the most refined cuisine or the most gruesome pornographic stories.
A worker from Fukushima wrote full series while at the plant in the giant operation to clean away radiation. Written in a clandestine way, the author was able no blend industrial work in one of the riskiest spots of the world with ink art. For anybody who wishes to get a better glimpse of the spirit of Japan I recommend to go through serious manga any time.
Beliefs, moral, pride, strong and weak points, Japan possesses many masters of this art who give an impressive insight of Japanese living at all levels.
I recommend Japan for those who wish to listen to silence. I recommend it for those who wish to wake their palate anesthetized by years of too salty too sweet food. I recommend it for all those that need to find their self between all the junk that eats us up.
I recommend Japan at any time. To see kimonos, ride a Suzuki bike or simply get lost in the streets of Tokyo.
I hope to keep on trying to understand… It seems to be a lifetime job.
