Advertisement
Published: February 27th 2013
Edit Blog Post
The Sky of Kyoto
Just to create a dramatic effect *) Japan is a highly innovative and technically developed country. In fact I was almost ready to see robots in the streets of Tokyo =) It was quite an astonishment to understand that Japan is not a technically developed country at all.
Can you imagine – they don’t have wi-fi in an international (!) airport and they don’t even accept credit cards in the shops there! This seems ridiculous but almost everywhere in Japan you have to pay in cash and in most shopping malls the shop assistants even don’t understand the words “credit card”! (Compare with South Korea where you can pay by credit card even in a taxi)
No futuristic buildings, streets in most cities look like featureless industrial blocks. A pressing atmosphere of hopelessness is felt almost everywhere. Historical buildings look old and neglected.
I’ve seen only 2 progressive things in Japan: toilet bowls combined with bidet, with music and heated seats; and bathtub which is automatically filled with water of required temperature. Ah, and lots of vending machines everywhere in the streets. Very convenient. But that’s where progress ends.
The Europeans have built a large hadron collider, there is a spaceport being
built in the USA – is there anything like that in Japan? No. They only make singing toilets 😊
I was so much surprised that in some places they still use video cassette recorders! I haven’t seen these in use since early childhood.
On the whole there is an impression that Japan was an innovative country once in 80s and early 90s but now it not only rests on its former achievements but even degrades.
In fact Japan is experiencing a heavy economic recession. Such world-known corporations as Sony have huge debts. And that should be no surprise if you understand their way of living and social structure.
The Japanese work in a same corporation for their whole life and they often do it from generation to generation. When a child is born, his life is already scheduled. He knows in which school and university he would go and in which company he will work and it’s impossible to change this plan because that would mean social death. If a person loses his job it’s considered disgrace and some people find nothing else to do in this situation but to commit a suicide.
It’s difficult
to imagine this for people living in Europe or USA because they are free, they can move from one city to another, they can change their job as often as they wish, they can choose university to study. But in Japan you can’t do it. Everything is strictly limited. And of course such inflexible social structure is a good base for the reign of bureaucracy, for corruption and covering up of law violations.
Although such lifestyle did yield an economic boom, but in the end it resulted in stagnation and having no prospects.
It's like in USSR where forcing people into rigid frames made them do increadible things like BAM Construction. But then the country suffered in full the inevitable consequences or the regime.
*) Japanese girls are brightly dressed and look a little like anime girls There is really so much bright and colorful clothes sold in Japan… but they wouldn’t wear it. Almost all Japanese are dressed in grey, black or brown. So boring. Their life must be boring also – clothes reflects the spirit. It corresponds with the impression of hopelessness you can feel in this country if you have an
attentive look around.
*) You know these napkins nicely smelling with mint, that are served everywhere around the world in Japanese restaurants before food. I like this smell and I thought in Japan it would be even better. What do you think they smell in Japan? Pure alcohol!
*) Japanese national house interiors are harmonious and beautiful Can you imagine an empty room with only a mattress on the floor or an empty room with a low table and a few sitting pillows around it? Well, this is a traditional Japanese room. So they look mostly empty and uncomfortable for living and I couldn’t find any harmony there even when I tried )
Maybe that’s why the Japanese live more in European style flats now – with sofas and bookcases and so on.
I also thought that in Japanese castles and temples the interiors would be very unique and worth seeing. How silly of me!
1) almost no authentic interiors have remained
2) if something has remained – it also looks empty!
What you see inside any Japanese castle is a lift or a staircase in the middle
and some kind of museum around with a few exhibits covered with glass. As an example you can see the interior photos of Kumamoto castle.
What European interior designers make is not a Japanese style, it is a decorated, adorned and colored Japanese style.
In general I found that the Japanese are quite good at creating false impression full of mystery about themselves and many foreigners are so improvident to believe them.
Important: By no means do I want to insult anyone. I’m writing about what I see and it’s not my responsibility if what I see is this.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.255s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0314s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb