Conversations from Japan Part 1
Kristina Dryza
After having a series of conversations with Japanese residents about various aspects of the culture, I thought it’d be nice this month to write a Q&A style article on some of the topics discussed. Below is part one of the series.
Japanese Atsuhiko Yamada, a 49-year-old independent designer.
KD: Favourite place in Japan?
AY: Kakitagawa-Springs. I like anywhere I can see beautiful nature, but this place is very special to me. The water flow under the ground comes from Mt. Fuji and the lava stratum purifies the water as a natural filter. I love the story behind this place. The spring used to be so dirty and polluted because a big industrial complex was nearby, but a local gentleman revived the springs making the water pure again. When I visited and met him I learnt the incredible history of the place. It’s a great example of how humans can do incredible work with nature.
KD: Favourite Japanese food?
AY: Ozouni. The Japanese have this dish only for the New Year celebration. It’s a traditional soup and each region and family has a different style. In Kyoto where I was raised they use shiro-miso (white miso) to make the soup, then put kashira-imo (a special potato), mochi (rice cake) and carrots in it. The ingredients all have meanings. Kashira means head in English and is for making a wish to be ‘head’ (the top) that year. The color of mochi is white and the carrot is red. The Japanese think these two color combinations express a celebration. Like many other countries, food is not just for eating - it’s an expression of culture.
KD: Explain an attitude that is 'typically' Japanese
AY: Curiosity is part of the Japanese character and attitude. The Japanese have been living on small islands for a long time. Geographically they are isolated from other cultures by the sea. This has generated a strong curiosity about people, places and things outside of Japan.
KD: Describe a product or service that for you embodies the values of Japan
AY: Brands like MUJI that are affordable and have a simple design philosophy.
KD: Name one thing about the Japanese that you'll never understand
AY: Why is there no roundabout? It’s more efficient. You see hundreds of traffic lights on the road that stop you every 50 metres in the city, and sometimes cars are waiting for a green light even though no car is coming into the junction. I guess someone forgot the clever roundabout when they introduced the traffic system from the West to Japan!
KD: What do you wish the West could understand about Japanese culture?
AY: I think Japanese culture is like a filter that mixes imported culture and the Japanese character, and then purifies the essence to create something new.
We often see some indication of the Western or Asian essence in Japanese culture even though people think it is purely Japanese. It’s not ‘pure’ Japanese as the Japanese culture has always consisted of various influences and origins from other parts of the world.
KD: What do you miss most when you're away from Japan?
AY: My father, mother, sister and friends. Also, many beautiful small things like the daily life atmosphere, traditional paper crafts, a serene local shrine, family operated local restaurants and so on.
German Clara Kreft, a 32-year-old interpreter, hobby-tour-guide-operator and blogger whose lived in Japan for 10 years.
KD: Favourite place in Japan?
CK: Sitting on the engawa (veranda) of my friend's house drinking tea. It's only 30 minutes by train from central Tokyo, but so quiet that in the morning you can hear the temple bell two kilometres away and the owls and pheasants in the bamboo forest behind the house.
KD: Favourite Japanese food?
CK: That's really difficult to decide because there's only very few things I dislike. When friends are visiting I often take them out to Tofu-ya Ukai, a fancy tofu restaurant in Kanagawa prefecture. You wouldn't believe what you can do with tofu!
KD: Explain an attitude that is 'typically' Japanese
CK: The ability to reply to a question that really is a yes-no-question with an answer that is so vague, that it cannot even be counted as an answer! And despite this, everybody is happy about the result, since everybody understood that the person asked didn't really want to answer the question. An example would be:
Q: "Do you have a boyfriend?"
A: "(smiles mysteriously)"
KD: Describe a product or service that for you embodies the values of Japan
CK: Trains. Trains are a service I use on average about an hour a day. They are (almost) always on time, high-tech, very convenient, reliable and a great service.
KD: Name one thing about the Japanese that you'll never understand
CK: Yakisoba-Pan. It's a snack you will find in bakeries and convenience stores - a roll cut open with noodles inside. Noodles are something you will often find at the stalls of a shrine, or at temple festivals, but I still don't understand what's so yummy about combining carbohydrates with carbohydrates. Would you fancy some potato on your bread???
KD: What do you wish the West could understand about Japanese culture?
CK: Love hotels maybe? The guidebooks always make them out as seedy, strange places, which they are not (well, not all of them anyway!). Many are equipped with a flat-screen TV, Bang & Olufsen speakers, Playstations and karaoke machines, which makes them more like a high-tech paradise. Some of them also have interesting chairs, others are completely pink and there’s also some with Rococo-style interiors. But as sexual preferences go: chacun à son goût. And so everybody will want to use a different room!
KD: What do you miss most when you're away from Japan?
CK: The food. When I go home or travel elsewhere, there's always good food; but not in such variety, high quality and cheap prices as in Tokyo.