Rant time! Make that rambling rant time…
Masako and I often joke that NHK (the government-owned TV and radio network) is much more like Fox News than NPR or PBS or the CBC or BBC. The tone adopted by NHK in most of its news and talk programs is similar to that adopted by a disturbing percentage of Japan’s high-level politicians… xenophobic, status quo, and most importantly, the idea that everything bad that happens to Japan is the fault of foreign meddling rather than the short-sighted, flawed policies of its own government. It’s Us vs. Them, “Them” being the foreign ideas that are destroying the purity of Japan.
Sound familiar?
Japanese are raised with the idea that Japan is a unique place. It is, but not in the way they think, and not in the ways they are taught. You may have run across funny stories, like the one of the ski equipment manufacturer whose products were rejected on the grounds that “Japanese snow is different than Western snow”. I myself have encountered otherwise intelligent and educated Japanese who truly believe that Japan is the only country that has four distinct seasons, the only country that has cherry blossoms, the only country that has cicaidas, etc. etc. etc., fill in your own blank. This is cute and funny the first time you encounter it. It becomes progressively more frightening the more you think of it.
The goverment of Japan has a vested interest in keeping this up. It is one leg that props up the Japanese psyche, the other being the idea that the rest of the world is confusing, disturbing, and dangerous. If they believe that Japan is the best, safest, and most advanced nation in the world, then people won’t go anywhere else to see differently, and won’t get any funny ideas about bucking the status quo.
This spills over in odd little ways, even on seemingly innocuous TV programs that are otherwise entertaining and educational. Masako and I tuned in to a show that featured a house-building competition between three construction crews; one from the USA, one from the UK, and one from Japan. They each had a lot in a fairly remote and pristine wooded area to build on, and the show focused on the design and execution of the three houses. All well and good so far.
The U.S. crew built a southwestern-style home with contemporary components. The Brits built a lovely brick cottage. The Japanese created a contemporary with interior “traditional” components and a wood-clad exterior. All were very nice.
There were problems along the way. The U.S. and U.K. teams used Japanese building products, some of which were unfamiliar to them. For example, the waterproof exterior stain turned out not to be waterproof. It ran all over the place. To me, this would seem to be an indictment of the product. But the show managed to spin it into “foreigners ignorant of Japanese products” and then made a big deal of the fact that the Japanese crew came over to help them clean up the mess. Okay, fine. Whatever.
There were also some interesting claims made during the show. The U.K. crew built several lintels in their house with decorative stained glass panels that could be opened for ventilation. The show claimed that this sort of architecture was a Japanese invention. Now, it is true that Japanese architects have been using lintels like this for a long time, usually decorated with carved wooden panels that admit air. But I find it somewhat difficult to believe that this idea originated with the Japanese, and that somehow it made its way to pre-medieval England. I seem to recall Roman and Greek architecture like this, and frankly it’s such a simple concept that it would be hard to determine who actually thought of it first. If I am wrong, and someone can prove it, please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll continue to believe it’s just one more morsel of BS being reported as fact, and move on.
The three houses were completed. One thing I thought was very nice was that the houses were by no means huge and extravagent showcases- all were modestly-sized (two or three bedrooms) and not too obtrusive. They were reviewed by a panel of experts. The winner? The Japanese house. Upon review, I have to admit that I thought it was pretty darn nice, and if I got to choose one, I would likely choose it, if only for its outdoor bath.
But then the shark was jumped. The idea was presented that Japanese housing was the best in the world.
The fact, however, is something the show did not bother to mention. The fact is, a great many Americans and Brits can and do live in houses exactly as portrayed on the show.
Most Japanese, however, do not (and in fact cannot) live in a house like that shown on the show. In the old days, Japanese houses were wood and paper, designed around a central support point or points, with sliding doors that would open to the outside, letting the outside in. Today, many municipalities ban wooden structures like the one on the show because of fire hazards. Due to lack of building codes (and the will and means to enforce them, caused by various unholy agreements between government and construction companies), most modern Japanese houses are flimsy and have no insulation whatsoever. The floor plans have been Westernized, regardless of local weather, so you have houses with poor air circulation running air conditioners or space heaters 24/7 in a desperate attempt to keep the uninsulated interiors cool / warm (I don’t even want to know how much energy is wasted in this way). Utility pipes are often simply tacked to the outside of buildings, resulting in a lot of unnecessary ugliness.
Japan’s old architecture is some of the most elegant, ergonomic, and downright beautiful the world has ever seen. Nowadays, the landscape is blighted with eyesores that would look more at home in the old Soviet bloc, or perhaps a third-world slum, than in an ostensibly first-world industrialized nation.
More on this to come.
