Some thoughts on Japanese culture

Last night at my ikebana (flower arranging) class, I was enjoying, and marveling at the complexity of, tea ceremony and my teacher asked me what I thought about Japanese culture. Upon thinking about it my own experiences in Japan, I said that my answer is two things: organized beauty and the beauty of organization.

Tea ceremony is meticulously done, all for beauty’s sake. The handle is held like so, the dishes put here, moved there and served carefully. The bowl you drink out of, the sweets you eat, everything has been carefully organized to be beautiful. The same goes for ikebana. The flowers are organized to be beautiful, put into their correct places for the right meaning. You are presented with uncluttered and intentional beauty. This also applies to nature. There is an entire mountainside in my town that has been deforested of the natural cedars and planted with cherry trees, because cherry trees are beautiful. Neatly organized by type and blooming time, it is.

I think this also applies to what is considered beautiful in Japan—the organized things. Simply think of the stereotypical Japanese tour group. People capable of going on their own choose to go with a bus full of strangers. A ride in Japanese person’s car gives me even more organization: everything in its place, each place specific. Perhaps this isn’t the most straightforward definition of beauty, but rather one that also includes desirability. Organization is desired, and thus when things are organized, it serves to act as a thing of beauty. You are presented with uncomplicated and intentional organization, it is deemed beautiful.

Conversely, my first instinct to describe Canadian culture it is to say “multiculturalism”—which only broadens the mix. I grew up in my own subset of multiculturalism in a community made of largely of Dutch immigrants. We have our own traditions: ollie bollen on New Year’s Day, chocolate letters on Christmas. The traditions seem to be mostly food orientated… certainly not anything on par with the Japanese celebration of beauty and organization. Leaving Japan this summer will be also be bringing bits of Japanese culture with me and it’s somehow reassuring to know that when I come back to Japan, these things will still be here. Only 2 months left, I better soak it in while I can.