"We require from buildings two kinds of goodness. First, the doing their practical duty well, then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it."
-John Ruskin
No matter which historical period you're looking at, Japan has always been elegant. From the beautiful poetry of the Heian period or the wood-block printing of the Edo period to today's sleek and efficient technology, there's always been something lovely about this country. Even their nickname--The Land of the Rising Sun--had a certain element of class to it. That's why I find it so odd that so many of the buildings in rural Japan have siding that's all but rusted away and great big chunks missing from the walls. It's like some post-apocalyptic movie montage where everything is falling apart and any survivors are too worried about zombies to care.
Top left: A rusty Mickey Mouse parking sign and the back of a rusty two-story. Top right: Rusty siding and a BMW under the attached lean-to.
Bottom left: The destroyed outer wall of a huge traditional-style mansion. Bottom right: a rusty blue storage shed and a destroyed garage attached to an obviously still-in-use home.
Bottom left: The destroyed outer wall of a huge traditional-style mansion. Bottom right: a rusty blue storage shed and a destroyed garage attached to an obviously still-in-use home.
I'm honestly at a loss to explain it. On one hand, Japan is a country that is obsessed with consumerism, with purchasing the biggest, the best, the most current. If you go into a recently built Japanese home, you'll be blown away by how modern and chic it looks. This epidemic of dilapidated buildings can't be because they don't care--they obviously do. It's also not because they can't afford it. Many of the rusted and burnt houses had nice cars out front (even a BMW, though granted not a terribly new one) and normal furniture inside. The only conclusion I can come to is that rural Japanese people have adopted a mentality of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it--and even if it is broke, who cares as long as it's not bothering anyone?" in relation to their buildings. Fighting rust in Japan seems like a losing battle that no one really bothers fighting.
Still, I'll admit that there's something beautiful about it. There's something about sunlight filtering through a splintered garage, or a bright blue tarp complementing a panel of singed wood. Maybe it's the idea that nature will always try and reclaim itself, and that graceful acceptance is more attractive than a futile struggle. For me, the way these buildings have aged has made them a million times more lovely than they ever were in the beginning, and it would be a shame to rip them down. Of course, were we in the US, they probably would have been demolished years ago. It's just another thing (like hanging whitey-tighteys from the laundry pole in the front yard) that would mortify American's but means nothing to the Japanese.
Historic architecture is something that I've always had a bit of a weak spot for. Give me a beautiful old house over a modern one any day of the week, no matter how nice the granite counter-tops and Jacuzzi tub might be. I love wood features, classic tiling, porcelain tubs, intricate molding, big, dark, solid front doors. But these qualities are all distinctly Western. These old Japanese buildings have none of them--to be honest, they're not even that old. It's an interesting thing for me to think about. Is it really dilapidation? Or is it just one more (slightly out of the ordinary) manifestation of Japanese elegance? I know which way I'd lean.
On a separate note:
I've created a Photobucket account so I can upload the pictures I've been taking. There just isn't enough room to put them all in my blog entries (and most of them aren't good enough to make the cut, to be honest!) so if you'd like to see more pictures of my town and my various adventures, I present a slideshow for your viewing pleasure! If you'd like to see my whole photo library, just click on the "View Album" link that pops up when you hover your mouse over the slideshow.
Historic architecture is something that I've always had a bit of a weak spot for. Give me a beautiful old house over a modern one any day of the week, no matter how nice the granite counter-tops and Jacuzzi tub might be. I love wood features, classic tiling, porcelain tubs, intricate molding, big, dark, solid front doors. But these qualities are all distinctly Western. These old Japanese buildings have none of them--to be honest, they're not even that old. It's an interesting thing for me to think about. Is it really dilapidation? Or is it just one more (slightly out of the ordinary) manifestation of Japanese elegance? I know which way I'd lean.
On a separate note:
I've created a Photobucket account so I can upload the pictures I've been taking. There just isn't enough room to put them all in my blog entries (and most of them aren't good enough to make the cut, to be honest!) so if you'd like to see more pictures of my town and my various adventures, I present a slideshow for your viewing pleasure! If you'd like to see my whole photo library, just click on the "View Album" link that pops up when you hover your mouse over the slideshow.