A very strong stylistic device in any kind of arts is the contradiction. And I really love to see the play of contradiction in all of them: in paintings, in music, in movies, in performances, in prose, … But contradiction, likewise with oppositeness, can be found in daily life as well. And it seems that Japan is the perfect country to enjoy this in many aspects. Or I should better say that it seems that there are differing definitions for contradictions or opposites in my home country than those in Japan. So what is astonishing and seems contradictory to me, is maybe quite normal to Japanese people.

So I already mentioned in previous entries that I noticed the smooth combination of high tech and traditional handcraft which seemed like opposites to me before. But also in other fields of Japanese culture I find similar apparent contradictions. Japanese cuisine is another example to me. Simply said, it is based on the idea to preserve the original taste of the ingredients in a meal. But I have to realize that nevertheless therefor there is done a lot of effort; I even believe that Japanese cuisine is one of the most evolved in the world.

Another example is the Japanese tea ceremony. Making tea has always been a quite banal activity to me. But build around this activity there is a very complex culture in Japan, which can require years of learning and repeating to master how to prepare tea correctly.

These are just some few examples out of plenties which I encountered in Japan. So wandering through Japan sometimes seems to me like wandering through an interactive, living piece of art. And that’s fun.

Frederik