Unacquainted Harmonies
336 Hours in Tokyo
de Alex Federowicz
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From the Introduction of Unacquainted Harmonies:
It's tempting for a western outsider to view modern Tokyo with familiarity, especially an American. The popular culture has been steadily influenced by American media since the end of World War II and has largely been accepted and embraced. The boom of the post war years and economy that continues to thrive allows for consumption and excess on par with the most decadent US habits. A traveler only needs to ascend from the labyrinth of Shinjuku's train station and get caught in the torrent of people rushing into the shimmering canyons of restaurants, hostess clubs and karaoke parlors to feel that they are in a place no different than New York's Times Square. One would be awfully mistaken by being lulled into this false sense of security though. For one thing Shinjuku's entertainment districts are dozens of times larger than Times Square and are only comparable in their visual excitement. Underneath is a complex, Japanocentric culture making no attempt to cater to any foreign tourist. While establishments hostile to outsiders are far and few in between, none generally hurt for foreign currency and it follows that most effort is placed on competing for their Japanese patrons, who pack into districts like Shinjuku nightly. Tokyo has embraced much of what the west has to offer but always makes it into something uniquely Japanese. The underlying culture is strong and the people are proud of it. They make no compromises to those who don't understand and no apologies when it comes to how they are perceived. Thousands of years old ritual and religion live side by side with modern global interaction and interest. What is left is confusing and seemingly conflicting.
On the surface Tokyo can seem brusque, unforgiving and impatient. Even locals will complain about barrages of rude denizens. It can make the streets a tough place to navigate and the heat of the monsoon that much hotter. While it's difficult to understand abrupt people in any culture here it is especially so, even for the Japanese and it troubles them. There was a morning I set out across the city to photograph a shrine only to discover that it was largely covered in restoration efforts and the light was atrocious by the time I arrived. Instead, mildly defeated, I sat down under a tree with an iced coffee and was promptly approached by an older Japanese man. Perhaps in his sixties he remembered well a more traditional time in Japanese culture, one built on a rigid structure of respect and manners. His disparaging view of modern Tokyo compared the younger generations to terrorists and longed for the social charters of yesteryear. The fact is that these internal cultural clashes are part of an ongoing struggle as the Japanese try and balance the customs that their society is rooted in with the continuing influence of informality associated with the west. It is a troubling time for the Japanese population while a large part of their societal identity remains in limbo.
What doesn't help are the extremes interpretations of western culture are taken to without fully seeking to understand where it comes from. Waiting to board my plane to Narita I recognized one example of such extremes, a young Japanese man with the beginning of some dreadlocks dressed head to toe and accessorized in Bob Marley or Jamaica branded apparel. In Tokyo it is common to see kids dressed in thousand dollar outfits mimicking what may have proudly cost a western 'punk rocker' next to nothing. Haute couture as a garish blend of lace, billowing fabrics and bouffant hair styles, mixing just as much Paris runway as with images from a Japanese comic book. Even the biker gangs that inhabit Yoyogi park every sunday seem to miss the point. Their interpretation of American 'bad boy' culture sees them dressed like the 'T-birds' from the movie Grease, swilling beer and twisting and twirling to anything from 1950s rock and roll hits to the Sex Pistols. Just next to them are a group of people who decided to identify with the 'squares', putting on a much more G rated performance. However, neither group holds any animosity toward one another, freely interacting but dancing separately. The bad boy gang still held to a rigid hierarchal structure even with their seeming challenge to authority and societal rebellion. There was a ring leader and his lieutenants and those who would take a knee out of respect when they spoke. When he motioned for them to dance, they danced, to misbehave, they misbehaved but to be sure there was respect. Respect was certainly held for each other but also for those watching such a performance. Beer cans thrown on the ground in wanton disregard of manners were promptly picked up by those who threw them and I'm sure if any passerby were hit there would have been a thousand apologies. Even if this challenge to traditional values in Japan is only skin deep, it is still too much for some people who wish for a return to older ways.
Balance, no matter how seemingly tentative, is achieved in Tokyo when all is said and done. The old ways continue to thrive very well with the new and they are embraced just as much as new cultural ideas are. Tradition is comforting, a place to hide when the rush of modernity becomes too much. Younger generations have certainly managed to reshape foreign influences and create a uniquely Japanese pop culture, one that a western outsider might easily identify with. To be sure though, these harmonies between western culture and how they have been melded into eastern ones become completely unacquainted, remaining interpretations only. Tokyo is an amazing place, even if a challenging one for a visitor. It is a brusque town, but on the surface only. Ultimately Tokyo is just a world of microcosms, tiny universes that people live their lives within, a necessity to one's personal space in a city so densely packed. Interactions between such universes are limited as those within them value what little space they have for themselves. However, it takes astonishingly little to transcend such boundaries in this place and once you do it is surprising to see just how welcoming people will be to a complete stranger.
I would have liked to caption this book but I really think it would all have just been lost in translation. Even these few paragraphs seem to fall short of beginning to explain the deep complexities of this this place. The nuances are impossible to convey in only a few sentences and in some cases defy words all together. Japan's similarities with any place else are skin deep only and sometimes that can be easy to forget. However, the manner in which the old ways dance with the new is elegant here and even if disturbing to some the coexistence is ultimately peaceful, if not progressive.
It's tempting for a western outsider to view modern Tokyo with familiarity, especially an American. The popular culture has been steadily influenced by American media since the end of World War II and has largely been accepted and embraced. The boom of the post war years and economy that continues to thrive allows for consumption and excess on par with the most decadent US habits. A traveler only needs to ascend from the labyrinth of Shinjuku's train station and get caught in the torrent of people rushing into the shimmering canyons of restaurants, hostess clubs and karaoke parlors to feel that they are in a place no different than New York's Times Square. One would be awfully mistaken by being lulled into this false sense of security though. For one thing Shinjuku's entertainment districts are dozens of times larger than Times Square and are only comparable in their visual excitement. Underneath is a complex, Japanocentric culture making no attempt to cater to any foreign tourist. While establishments hostile to outsiders are far and few in between, none generally hurt for foreign currency and it follows that most effort is placed on competing for their Japanese patrons, who pack into districts like Shinjuku nightly. Tokyo has embraced much of what the west has to offer but always makes it into something uniquely Japanese. The underlying culture is strong and the people are proud of it. They make no compromises to those who don't understand and no apologies when it comes to how they are perceived. Thousands of years old ritual and religion live side by side with modern global interaction and interest. What is left is confusing and seemingly conflicting.
On the surface Tokyo can seem brusque, unforgiving and impatient. Even locals will complain about barrages of rude denizens. It can make the streets a tough place to navigate and the heat of the monsoon that much hotter. While it's difficult to understand abrupt people in any culture here it is especially so, even for the Japanese and it troubles them. There was a morning I set out across the city to photograph a shrine only to discover that it was largely covered in restoration efforts and the light was atrocious by the time I arrived. Instead, mildly defeated, I sat down under a tree with an iced coffee and was promptly approached by an older Japanese man. Perhaps in his sixties he remembered well a more traditional time in Japanese culture, one built on a rigid structure of respect and manners. His disparaging view of modern Tokyo compared the younger generations to terrorists and longed for the social charters of yesteryear. The fact is that these internal cultural clashes are part of an ongoing struggle as the Japanese try and balance the customs that their society is rooted in with the continuing influence of informality associated with the west. It is a troubling time for the Japanese population while a large part of their societal identity remains in limbo.
What doesn't help are the extremes interpretations of western culture are taken to without fully seeking to understand where it comes from. Waiting to board my plane to Narita I recognized one example of such extremes, a young Japanese man with the beginning of some dreadlocks dressed head to toe and accessorized in Bob Marley or Jamaica branded apparel. In Tokyo it is common to see kids dressed in thousand dollar outfits mimicking what may have proudly cost a western 'punk rocker' next to nothing. Haute couture as a garish blend of lace, billowing fabrics and bouffant hair styles, mixing just as much Paris runway as with images from a Japanese comic book. Even the biker gangs that inhabit Yoyogi park every sunday seem to miss the point. Their interpretation of American 'bad boy' culture sees them dressed like the 'T-birds' from the movie Grease, swilling beer and twisting and twirling to anything from 1950s rock and roll hits to the Sex Pistols. Just next to them are a group of people who decided to identify with the 'squares', putting on a much more G rated performance. However, neither group holds any animosity toward one another, freely interacting but dancing separately. The bad boy gang still held to a rigid hierarchal structure even with their seeming challenge to authority and societal rebellion. There was a ring leader and his lieutenants and those who would take a knee out of respect when they spoke. When he motioned for them to dance, they danced, to misbehave, they misbehaved but to be sure there was respect. Respect was certainly held for each other but also for those watching such a performance. Beer cans thrown on the ground in wanton disregard of manners were promptly picked up by those who threw them and I'm sure if any passerby were hit there would have been a thousand apologies. Even if this challenge to traditional values in Japan is only skin deep, it is still too much for some people who wish for a return to older ways.
Balance, no matter how seemingly tentative, is achieved in Tokyo when all is said and done. The old ways continue to thrive very well with the new and they are embraced just as much as new cultural ideas are. Tradition is comforting, a place to hide when the rush of modernity becomes too much. Younger generations have certainly managed to reshape foreign influences and create a uniquely Japanese pop culture, one that a western outsider might easily identify with. To be sure though, these harmonies between western culture and how they have been melded into eastern ones become completely unacquainted, remaining interpretations only. Tokyo is an amazing place, even if a challenging one for a visitor. It is a brusque town, but on the surface only. Ultimately Tokyo is just a world of microcosms, tiny universes that people live their lives within, a necessity to one's personal space in a city so densely packed. Interactions between such universes are limited as those within them value what little space they have for themselves. However, it takes astonishingly little to transcend such boundaries in this place and once you do it is surprising to see just how welcoming people will be to a complete stranger.
I would have liked to caption this book but I really think it would all have just been lost in translation. Even these few paragraphs seem to fall short of beginning to explain the deep complexities of this this place. The nuances are impossible to convey in only a few sentences and in some cases defy words all together. Japan's similarities with any place else are skin deep only and sometimes that can be easy to forget. However, the manner in which the old ways dance with the new is elegant here and even if disturbing to some the coexistence is ultimately peaceful, if not progressive.
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