19 October 2009 Japan: Apparently the only island nation on Earth
Apparently even the intellectually deficient can become president of RISD, probably the best design school in the US. I hope he can draw good.
There is an article in the NY Times about extravagant Japanese lunch boxes, or bento. I am well aware of these, and tremble at the thought of having to compete with all those Japanese moms willing to get up an hour early to craft their little one’s piece of art for the day (I know people who do this).
In this NYT piece, various luminaries (or not) give their opinions as to why Japanese people seem to care more about the aesthetics of little things. Anyway, the president of RISD gives this little piece of wisdom:
“I would say that Japanese culture is particularly attuned to the appreciation of beauty because it springs from an island nation with limited natural resources. Japan has always had to get by with less wood, metal, fuel and so on, so its culture has evolved around how to make less into more.”Now, this is a worn out piece of Japanese cultural theory that Japanese people (and the guy appears to be Japanese, or at least of Japanese heritage) trot out to explain just about anything about Japan.
The thing that always bugs me is…The world is full of island nations. A fact that Japanese people never seem to have caught on to. And, if the world has many island nations, then offering “Japan is an island!” as a primary explanation for anything that doesn’t also apply to all those island nations, is just blather.
Does Brittain have ornate bento? How about Jamaica? New Zealand? That this little piece of Logic 101 appears to be be beyond so many cultural commentators never fails to astound me.
2 comments in “Japan: Apparently the only island nation on Earth”
October 20th, 2009 at 1:07 am
I don’t doubt that “island nation” is often an excuse for not using one’s brain, but I would suspect that it has been used correctly at some time during the course of history, yet that use would not necessarily apply to all (or even any other) island societies. The ramifications on each society due to its “islandness” certainly differ from place to place, and from time to time, and so it seems not unreasonable to attribute something specific to one society as having been promoted due to the society’s long history of isolation.
Also, there’s something to be said for Japan’s long, continuous, late-lasting “islandness”. Britain is an island, yes, but had extensive interaction with much of the world for thousands of years (it had a long history even when the Romans visited in 47). Japan had interaction with China, but dramatically less. In the sense that “island” refers to “isolated”, Japan is rather unique in the length, depth, and purity of its isolation.
I have no comment one way or the other about the specific example you cite, but I think “island nation” is not wholly without merit in every situation.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:23 am
Australia!