is the suffering in japan real or illusion?
On Mar 20, 1:20 am, Sandeep-Kuber Technologies <[email protected]> wrote: > Not one but three cruel ironies are being played out in Japan as the > country tries to comprehend the apocalypse > of the past 10 days. > > The Japanese prize nature, beauty and order, yet the tsunami has mocked > all three. > > It has been distressing to see a people whose culture values > cleanliness, refinement, delicacy and graciousness, wandering around in > the clothes they fled in and sitting on the street near giant saucepans > waiting to be served from soup kitchens. > > The love of nature is the very basis of Japanese aesthetics. > > They show their joy at the arrival of 'sakura' or cherry blossoms with > picnics, tea ceremonies, musical concerts and special meals. > > The Japanese cherry tree is not cultivated for its fruit --- it is not > fruit-bearing --- but purely for the ephemeral beauty of its blossom. > > In Japanese homes, the sliding partitions are invariably painted with > scenes from nature. > > Traditional wooden homes, often flimsy-looking, are not built as > fortresses against the elements but rather intended to blend in with the > surroundings because the Japanese approach to nature is different from > the western desire to subjugate > it to man's will. > > They are taught that there is no dichotomy between man and nature and > this temperament finds expression in > traditional scrolls or ink drawings where nature dominates. > > The artist, instead of treating the natural scenery merely as a backdrop > for depicting people, lets nature take > pride of place while relegating humans to marginal figures. (Although > the ultra-controlled Japanese garden > with its clipped and pruned trees and raked stones is the opposite --- > an attempt to bring some order into > nature's occasional unruliness). > > The passion for beauty and exquisite refinement immediately strikes any > new visitor to Japan. > You enter another universe in which the most subtle aesthetic > sensibility is woven into the fabric of daily life. > > Everywhere you look, you see delicate mannerisms: the ticket inspector > on a train who turns to the seated > passengers and bows before leaving the compartment; the supermarket > sushi parcels covered in persimmon > leaves; shop assistants wrapping mundane purchases in beautiful paper > with as much care as they would a > sacred offering for a temple. > > Anything that offends their aesthetic sensibility is shunned. > Worshippers' shoes outside Hindu temples may be strewn higgledy piggledy > but outside Buddhist and Shinto shrines in Japan, the slippers that you > put on before entering are tucked into each other and arrayed neatly in > a line on the steps. > If a monk at the shrine chances upon a pair that is even slightly > askew,he will instantly bend down and straighten it. > > Visitors have been known to observe this elegance --- particularly among > Japanese women whose elegance is simply extraordinary --- and go home in > a spasm of selfhatred, feeling gauche and graceless. > > The television pictures of devastated towns and mile upon mile of debris > would be agonizing for any nation but > it has to be excruciatingly painful for a nation that has turned love of > beauty into something that is as unconscious and reflexive as blinking. > > Japanese conduct in public is a perfect manifestation of how this > pursuit of refinement, transported into the > external domain, creates harmony and order. Very rarely do you hear > anyone speaking loudly. > > There is no aggression; their manner is gentle. > > There is no coarseness; no scratching, yawning or stretching. And they > most certainly never push, elbow or > jostle. Even now, surrounded as they are by horror and calamity, they > are unlikely to abandon their > customary decorum. > > It is this consideration and respect for others that allows almost 130 > million people to live together peacefully, > despite one of the highest population densities in the world, and boast > of a crime rate that is one of the lowest in > the industrialized world. > > These qualities of politeness, honesty and gentleness will enable the > Japanese to come through this catastrophe > with their dignity intact. > > They are already on display: no one is looting (unlike New Orleans after > Hurricane Katrina or during the > Gujarat massacre) or panicking and people are queuing up for water and > food. > > In the midst of flattened towns and muddy fields where their homes once > stood and without water and electricity, people are shown on television > channels still bowing and speaking to one another with formal courtesy. > > Even in normal times, vending machines stand undamaged by vandals. > Pedestrians bend down to remove a tiny scrap of paper from an immaculate > pavement. > Taxi drivers in black suits look at you if you mistakenly hand over far > too much money and hand the extra back. > > A Tokyo resident who was in a restaurant when the earthquake struck on > Friday reported that everyone ran out onto the street. But when the > tremors subsided, they walked back in and formed an orderly queue to pay > their bills. > > An awareness of the transience of things and a melancholy wistfulness at > their passing has always been central > to Japanese cultural tradition. > > The tsunami has sadly bequeathed them with abundant experiences > reflecting the truth of this axiom. > > It has also brutally demonstrated the truth of another Japanese > principle, the aesthetic principle > of 'wabi sabi' which postulates the beauty of things as "imperfect, > impermanent, and incomplete". > > An apt description of modern civilization, with all its sophisticated > gadgets, when faced with > nature's fury?
