Twenty things I love about Japan
Today is the start of my 20th year in Japan. Rants are easier than raves. Ranting is a daily sport practiced by foreigners in any country, as well as locals in countries where it is a national sport. Name yours. Rant has a prophylactic function. I believe that grumbling is OK as long as it is not systematic and understood by the grumbler that ranting function is to release some pressure in the day to day struggle to fit and feel content with one's surrounding reality. Only Buddha did not rant I assume, nor raved.
I decided some times ago, before today's deadline to figure out 20 things I love about Japan, just to discover how this self-imposed exercise was far harder than I could fathom. In fact, it was pretty difficult and valuable. Ranting is easy, raving with toned dow, that is, lucid enthusiasm is another beast. I could have listed up my favorite sushi and a few other dishes to come up with the figure 20. Easy. Or 20 locations I am particularly fond of. Et voilà! But rather than material goods to digest or places that exist without ego recognizing their existence, I wanted to try and list up something else that would belong more to the impressionistic side of being here in Japan.
A word of caution: I am plenty more aware than the short-time visitor that every other entry I am listing here can be dismissed by a counter example, a piece of experience that shows the contrary. Life is not a mathematical process, and for all the good sides I am listing here, I too have personal proofs that it does not happen that way systematically. With crass or diffused imbedded xenophobia and conformism dyed in the cultural textile, Japan has also its lot of foreigner bashers, plain fuckers and scoundrels like everywhere all over the planet. It is not a blind dumb love affair, believe me.
1. I love the overall security that makes having a stroll at night here and around just like that, a nonchalant experience even in many parts of Tokyo. There are lots of situations where nonchalance still rules here.
2. I love to walk around temples and shrines when it rains. Rain fabulously fits the traditional Japanese landscape. Visiting Versailles Chateau when it rains is a sad, sad experience. Probably rain makes stone a desolate sight.
3. I love public baths and onsen, the non-hightech ones. Dipping in hot (not too hot please!) water is a pleasure. Roten-buro, that is the same but in the outside is a pleasure multiplied by ten. Especially when it's cold outside. A real treat at night!
4. I love the simple but delicate pleasure of grilling a fish on a bamboo spike (not a daily feature) or watching (and participating) to people being content by having a glass of shochu and some pickled vegetables or even a few mere peanuts. My father-in-law is just a champion at beaming to simple earthly pleasures. It is not easy as it may seem to perfect that state of mind.
5. I love the light on a sunny winter day in Tokyo at around 2:30 pm.
6. I love the easy-going attitude one can adopt in a shrine or a temple. OK, I am not part of it which may explains that, but it is all the same relaxing to get around a local temple rather than a church or a synagogue. This is all subjective of course but Japanese Gods leave me alone, they don't talk to me, which is OK.
7. I love the non-robotized simple gentleness of staffs in some little restaurants (I am thinking of one particular soba restaurant in Kanda here as most human relation in services is robotized, so the chance encounter of the non-robotized version is sheer luck).
8. I love the still lack of overall daily cynicism in society (unless you watch TV, but I don't). OK, there is plenty of cynicism here too but it is not blasting on your face from morning to evening.
9. I love the overall lack of human rudeness. When you come from Paris, you know what overall rudeness means.
10. In the same wavelength, I love the majority of people to not grumble days and nights. It definitely affects the quality and interest of daily conversation from my point of view (meaningful conversation is dearly lacking). But just as with relative security, you quickly get used to the lack of vocal tantrum.
11. I love to see women clad in yukata after the bath relax and transform for a short while in some sort of little girls.
12. I love the apparent stress free faces of girls and women (the obasan are another league).
13. I love when straight-talk generates (rarely) a short break in the tatemae face of grown-ups.
14. I love new crop rice. Quality riz-nouveau is delicious.
15. I love the still prevalent honesty of many people in everyday life (I am not blind to endemic business or political scam here, of course). Losing ones bag in a train in Tokyo and finding it again later is still not a miracle. It can still happen.
16. I love Okinawa. We went there twice. Most of the time, the weather was bad, rain in May and September. The sea water was cold. But despite all of this, I keep on being fond of Okinawa. This large capital of sympathy may be related with the people we talked with here and there.
17. I love nishin soba. I was ready to skip any food example I love in Japan but not this one. Nishin soba is the quintessence of Japanese exoticism in food, a bouquet of flavors nothing from home can relate to. Something that is distinguishably Japanese, that belongs to the dim light, not the hightech world. There are of course lots of other recipes that fit the bill for outwardness . Sushi have gone over 20 years from a pricey dish to something even available in Paris' supermarkets today, and therefore does no longer qualify. Nishin soba though won't get globalized tomorrow. The nishin is herring smoked, and I believe slowly cooked in a soya sauce base broth. It keeps the fish shapes intact but the taste and texture belong to an idealized world of silence and tatami mats in a quiet home in Kyoto.
18. I love people that wait for the light to turn green before crossing the street. Trespassers may be growing in numbers but this compliance to a few civil society rules are still largely followed by the majority. I used to slalom around cars anytime under any light color in Paris, but I am no longer able to perform that risky business. I don't see waiting at the red light as a concession to one's freedom of movement.
19. I love that administrative Tokyo expands to areas that are plain countryside with fields and still old train sleepy train stations.
20. I love to see there the rice fields with lush green flooded with clear water.
I decided some times ago, before today's deadline to figure out 20 things I love about Japan, just to discover how this self-imposed exercise was far harder than I could fathom. In fact, it was pretty difficult and valuable. Ranting is easy, raving with toned dow, that is, lucid enthusiasm is another beast. I could have listed up my favorite sushi and a few other dishes to come up with the figure 20. Easy. Or 20 locations I am particularly fond of. Et voilà! But rather than material goods to digest or places that exist without ego recognizing their existence, I wanted to try and list up something else that would belong more to the impressionistic side of being here in Japan.
A word of caution: I am plenty more aware than the short-time visitor that every other entry I am listing here can be dismissed by a counter example, a piece of experience that shows the contrary. Life is not a mathematical process, and for all the good sides I am listing here, I too have personal proofs that it does not happen that way systematically. With crass or diffused imbedded xenophobia and conformism dyed in the cultural textile, Japan has also its lot of foreigner bashers, plain fuckers and scoundrels like everywhere all over the planet. It is not a blind dumb love affair, believe me.
1. I love the overall security that makes having a stroll at night here and around just like that, a nonchalant experience even in many parts of Tokyo. There are lots of situations where nonchalance still rules here.
2. I love to walk around temples and shrines when it rains. Rain fabulously fits the traditional Japanese landscape. Visiting Versailles Chateau when it rains is a sad, sad experience. Probably rain makes stone a desolate sight.
3. I love public baths and onsen, the non-hightech ones. Dipping in hot (not too hot please!) water is a pleasure. Roten-buro, that is the same but in the outside is a pleasure multiplied by ten. Especially when it's cold outside. A real treat at night!
4. I love the simple but delicate pleasure of grilling a fish on a bamboo spike (not a daily feature) or watching (and participating) to people being content by having a glass of shochu and some pickled vegetables or even a few mere peanuts. My father-in-law is just a champion at beaming to simple earthly pleasures. It is not easy as it may seem to perfect that state of mind.
5. I love the light on a sunny winter day in Tokyo at around 2:30 pm.
6. I love the easy-going attitude one can adopt in a shrine or a temple. OK, I am not part of it which may explains that, but it is all the same relaxing to get around a local temple rather than a church or a synagogue. This is all subjective of course but Japanese Gods leave me alone, they don't talk to me, which is OK.
7. I love the non-robotized simple gentleness of staffs in some little restaurants (I am thinking of one particular soba restaurant in Kanda here as most human relation in services is robotized, so the chance encounter of the non-robotized version is sheer luck).
8. I love the still lack of overall daily cynicism in society (unless you watch TV, but I don't). OK, there is plenty of cynicism here too but it is not blasting on your face from morning to evening.
9. I love the overall lack of human rudeness. When you come from Paris, you know what overall rudeness means.
10. In the same wavelength, I love the majority of people to not grumble days and nights. It definitely affects the quality and interest of daily conversation from my point of view (meaningful conversation is dearly lacking). But just as with relative security, you quickly get used to the lack of vocal tantrum.
11. I love to see women clad in yukata after the bath relax and transform for a short while in some sort of little girls.
12. I love the apparent stress free faces of girls and women (the obasan are another league).
13. I love when straight-talk generates (rarely) a short break in the tatemae face of grown-ups.
14. I love new crop rice. Quality riz-nouveau is delicious.
15. I love the still prevalent honesty of many people in everyday life (I am not blind to endemic business or political scam here, of course). Losing ones bag in a train in Tokyo and finding it again later is still not a miracle. It can still happen.
16. I love Okinawa. We went there twice. Most of the time, the weather was bad, rain in May and September. The sea water was cold. But despite all of this, I keep on being fond of Okinawa. This large capital of sympathy may be related with the people we talked with here and there.
17. I love nishin soba. I was ready to skip any food example I love in Japan but not this one. Nishin soba is the quintessence of Japanese exoticism in food, a bouquet of flavors nothing from home can relate to. Something that is distinguishably Japanese, that belongs to the dim light, not the hightech world. There are of course lots of other recipes that fit the bill for outwardness . Sushi have gone over 20 years from a pricey dish to something even available in Paris' supermarkets today, and therefore does no longer qualify. Nishin soba though won't get globalized tomorrow. The nishin is herring smoked, and I believe slowly cooked in a soya sauce base broth. It keeps the fish shapes intact but the taste and texture belong to an idealized world of silence and tatami mats in a quiet home in Kyoto.
18. I love people that wait for the light to turn green before crossing the street. Trespassers may be growing in numbers but this compliance to a few civil society rules are still largely followed by the majority. I used to slalom around cars anytime under any light color in Paris, but I am no longer able to perform that risky business. I don't see waiting at the red light as a concession to one's freedom of movement.
19. I love that administrative Tokyo expands to areas that are plain countryside with fields and still old train sleepy train stations.
20. I love to see there the rice fields with lush green flooded with clear water.
posted by LD at
12/05/2004 09:52:00 AM
