About the Japanese

I've been admiring Japan for a long time, even before I was too young and ignorant to be culturally appreciative. I was merely fascinated by the manga, the games, and the anime....which I still am. But before I've always dreamed of the high-tech-ness of Tokyo and the people and the shingansen and just the amazing technology.

So then I went to Japan two times. One time to Tokyo and I was stunned by the clean, civilized and incredibly crowded streets where all I could see was people's heads. The technology was scarily advanced, and I kept staring people's cellphones like a idiot.

Hm, you'd think Mocha would be less bitter.

The second time I went to Japan is to Nagoya in an exchange program. I thought of it as another way to buy manga and see high-tech stuff.

BIG MISTAKE.

I did see high technology, but then I realized something else.

Since Nagoya and Kyoto are old...I got to see the amazing architecture built by the ancient Japanese and it completely altered my point of view of Japan to a whole new perspective.

And then of course that was where the weepy-ness kicked into me.

The matter-of-fact idea of Japan having had a gloriously glittering culture hit me late, but eventually I got to learn more about their civilization in the Oxford book and in my civilization textbook. The civilization textbook talked more about the culture and what happened, and the Oxford book elaborated more on the aesthetic perspective. I wouldn't be able to link the things together if i didn't have my civilization book.....thank you civilization.

So the main topic.

It's amazing how beautiful Japan looks, huh?

Many people found the Heian period unnatural and kind of weird. But it is true that it made a huge contribution to the current Japanese culture. The Tale of Genji wouldn' be here if it wasn't for this period. The Tale of Genji made the historians know more about the way of living as well as the perspective on art.

For example:

This picture explicitly shows what the Heian people expect in a home. No separation on the inside and outside, the extremely well-organized garden with water and plants, and layers and the colors of women's clothing.

I also admired the aesthetics of the shogunate periods. It's very amazing how their views changed so dramatically in such a short period. I wonder if it was the bafuku's influence?



This is the Jochiji temple which was one of the Zen Buddhism schools.
Cool beauty huh?
In this kind of enviroment, no wonder the samurais are appreciative and willing to work.
Practising in that kind of scenery is going to get the energy out no matter what.