|
It's actually cold today - I needed to wear TWO layers to uni! At last, it
feels like a proper Autumn.
Just come back from a rather interesting fire drill. As well as doing a
regular drill, the firemen showed us how to use a fire extinguisher (they
actually encourage you to fight small fires here), and then afterwards, we
had a lesson in earthquake safety. This was really fun - the fire
department has a machine that simulates earthquakes at different
strengths. Volunteers got to sit inside the machine (which was basically a
lorry with a replica room inside and a shaking device underneath), and had
to take all the necessary precautions when the earthquake started. It was
fun watching my mates Tom and Julie staggering about and try and hide
underneath a tiny desk!
These extra precautions that Japanese have to learn for earthquakes made
me think about the dangerous nature of Japan itself. In England, we have a
pleasant climate, very few dangerous animals and very few natural hazards.
Japan, however, has to contend with typhoons, volcanoes, earthquakes,
tsunami and the odd dangerous animal (bears, poisonous bugs) even in the
modern age.
This possibly why the Japanese have such an appreciation of the idea of
beauty in the fleeting nature of life. In the West, we tend to value
things that are very old, a lasting legacy of the past. In some ways, the
Japanese seem to have an opposite view; that beauty is found in the
blooming of cherry blossom, the fall of the autumn leaves, a perfect full
moon - all things that are fleeting. In such a dangerous country, the
Japanese are traditionally faced with the prospect of death everyday - and
so, life is a fleeting moment, and beautiful for this reason. Death, too,
is appreciated in poetry as a melancholy form of beauty. This may also by
a reason why suicide, which is generally shunned by the Christian
tradition of the West, is accepted and considered almost noble in Japan.
Moreover, the Japanese seem to live as if each moment may be their last.
In England, we tend to take things slowly - deadlines are normally far in
advance, work is usually laid-back, and things are generally unhurried. In
Japan, everything must be completed as quickly and efficiently as
possible, old things must be replaced the minute they become redundant
with the new. This is also why Japan seems like such a futuristic place to
live - as a nation the Japanese appear to prefer running towards the
future, rather than dwell in the past.
|
