And everywhere were verbal advertisements on loudspeakers, or people in front of shops calling out the benefits of their wares. Many of the signs and billboards were video, so with all the color, the writing, the sounds, the movement of pictures and of masses numbers of peoples, the mental stimuli were enormous.
The Japanese are a very orderly and very methodical and quiet people themselves though. They line up between yellow lines to board the subways, or in queues in front of not-yet-opened stores or busy counters. They are silent on trains and subways. There are even signs telling oblivious foreigners to turn down the volume of headphones so they do not "leak" out and bother fellow passengers.
....and after
The Japanese are a very orderly and very methodical and quiet people themselves though. They line up between yellow lines to board the subways, or in queues in front of not-yet-opened stores or busy counters. They are silent on trains and subways. There are even signs telling oblivious foreigners to turn down the volume of headphones so they do not "leak" out and bother fellow passengers.
Here is the famous Shibuya crossing, not at rush hour in this particular picture, where masses of people get from one side of a large intersection to another silently en masse. Before the light turns.....
....and after
Transplanted Christmas
The Japanese, who are usually both Buddhist and Shinto, are adopting Christmas in its commercial and colorful aspects.
Imperial Gardens
We strolled through the Gardens, which are now much paved and graveled over, but still have picturesque pines and a watery moat, and great black carp that come up to the bridges when young men sit precariously on them to get their pictures taken for social media.
Art
We saw art of all kinds, from graffiti to pop to commercial to architectural to floral to confectionery to paper to finely crafted ceramics (which latter, sorry to say, I couldn't photograph).
And on we go to Kyoto.
Those painted flowers are gorgeous and I love the shaggy bunny. I looked at the feet of the lady in the photo (of the Japanese couple) too see what kind of fancy shoes she had, but had to laugh at the wedge flip-flops with socks, hahaha!
ReplyDeleteWe've had two Japanese students, both from Tokyo, stay with us so I'm familiar with some of this culture. Do you have an explanation for the paradigm between the quiet orderliness and often minimalist nature of the people and the visual chaos of their big cities? Tokyo doesn't entice me at all because of the noisy, chaotic jumble of city scape and the materialism of it all. They are so enamored with the materialism of American culture and adapting it. It does seem to be mostly the latest generations of the people.
ReplyDeleteThe last few days I've been sipping hot drinks from a beautiful Japanese ceramic cup I received from our last student. They have a wonderful ceramic heritage there.
Those painted roses are gorgeous.
Katie, those are not flip flops but the traditional clog, always worn with hosiery. The Japanese take great pride in their footwear and spend enormous amounts on the best.
ReplyDeleteIn that regard, Pam, I would surmise that as the people got richer and the young learned of western culture, the traditional love of the beautiful things was transmuted to consumer goods. The stores are phenomenal, the clothes gorgeous, the people dress very well. Always. Overall the lives of people here seem very conservative, compared to the West. Because space is so unavailable and houses very tiny, when someone buys something new, he or she usually has to get rid of something older. The people eat very conservatively even with the gorgeous array of confections around them. They walk a lot and keep very trim, most of them. They are very dutiful, considering their employment an honor and not a drudgery to be borne. Their birthdate is abysmal, like most of the world's, but they live quite well now. If one doesn't have children to support she can buy a new handbag for several hundred and give her old one away.
Umm, make that birth RATE.
ReplyDelete