Art for Art's Sake

So preparing a lesson the other day, I came across the idiom Art for Art’s Sake. I was supposed to be planning on how to explain such a phrase to a non English speaker, but it only made my mind wander to art. Being inclined as I am, I realized I haven’t really talked much about the art here. This is something that needed to be rectified.

Japan is the biggest mix of the beautiful and the garish I have ever seen. There is the austere beauty of temples and gardens, and yet overly loud and gaudy resonances in the signs, music, and fashions. Its this clash of old and new that makes everything so fascinating, but there is no doubt that no matter what, Japan has a highly visual culture. Whether it be traditional or pop art, it constantly surrounds you.

It really hit me this last Sunday as I spent the day walking around Nagoya. We have had a stretch of rain, but that day had perfect weather, with a sunny blue sky and unseasonably warm weather. I threw on my light trench coat, grabbed my ipod, and walked. It actually turned into the perfect Sunday, for apparently Sunday is the day to walk around Nagoya.

As I wandered to meet some people in Osu Kannon, a neighborhood south of my own, I let the music on my ipod wash over me. I find that when I walk through the city streets by myself, especially when listening to music, I become much more observant to things around me. I start to pick up on the little things that I pass over every time. It was in this way that I finally realized the subtle beauty of some of the daily things in Nagoya.

My street, being as busy as it is, is a bevy of bright lights and restaurants. But there are tiny pockets along the way that stand as a stark contrast to the overpowering brightness of such things; small, beautiful places that are easily ignored unless you are really looking. For example, there is a Buddhist temple on my street. In between the large buildings, convenience stores, and gas stations, there stands a beautiful old temple that is easy to miss unless one is looking. It is not very large, but it is everything one would expect a temple to be, with arching gates, peaked roofs, and a giant brass bell. Its absolutely breathtaking in its Zen-like austerity.

But there are even smaller touches that can be ignored. My neighborhood is very residential, and mixed within the newer houses and apartment buildings there pops up every once in awhile a very traditional home. It still retains the Japanese style roof, wooden frames with sliding doors that open onto tatami mats, and gated entrances. They look exactly like they may have 400 years ago, with none of the modern trappings of everything else around them. I find myself caught off guard and entranced every time I happen upon one. But as beautiful as they are, I find my personal favorite are the manhole covers.

The Japanese like to turn everything, from writing to clothing to advertising, into an art form. And for me, the manhole covers have been one of the most delightful surprises. I have actually taken to taking pictures of new ones I find, for there are quite a few around Nagoya. I think my personal favorite is the one of Nagoya castle, which is in and of itself a beautiful sight to see. But here are a few prime examples:

And these are the beautiful things that are tramped on and maybe taken for granted by most people here, except when seen through the eyes of a foreigner. But the wild stuff can be beautiful in its own right, if not fascinating in its ridiculousness.

So I commented before about three O’s: Outrageous Street Acts, Over-the-Top People, and Overwhelming Shopping Centers. Though they can be found separately all over the city, there are a few places they can be found all together in an trifecta of tremendous garishness. One of these is the Asunal Shopping Center in Kanayama. I happen to work nearby, and the entrance to the subway is smack dab in the middle of the shopping center. Now I have mentioned shopping before, and what an experience it can be, but I feel I should paint the picture of Asunal in a more specific manner.

I leave work right before dinner time, dressed conservatively and mentally unwinding from the day. And as I begin to relax, my tired mind is suddenly inundated by a loud open shopping center with bright, shining lights and lots of people. The people themselves, then, range from normal to over-the-top, with the over-the-top taking the spotlight. They are young Japanese people with dyed hair, styled to gravity-defying proportions, held up with gel and possibly magic to break the laws of physics as they do. Some go ultra blond and tan to look “western,” with both sexes going with large, bouffant hair. But whether blond and tan or not, the clothing ranges from stylishly ripped, loud, tight clothing, to “hip hop” style with velour track suits and rude, grammatically incorrect English phrases, to bastardized interpretations of 1950s American style, complete with leather pants and poodle skirts. But no matter what subsection these youths belong to, they are all like walking pieces of pop art, with everything being loud and bright and highly stylized.

And as if this wasn’t already a feast for the eyes, then the music wafts in. Asunal Shopping Center has an Asunal Live! Stage where various musical acts and idols perform. Every time I walk out, I am greeted by another J-pop concoction. Infectiously catchy in its mass-marketed way, I can’t help but stop and listen for a moment, if not just to laugh with a few other teachers as we marvel at their clothes and carefully manufactured siren song. I love when the young female idols sing one simple song, and then are surrounded for 40 minutes by adoring fans of awkward youths and middle aged men. But as hilarious an interaction that is to watch, my personal favorite so far were the J-Soul Brothers. A group of 7 Japanese male idols, they are a carefully constructed group where two of them actually sing, five just kinda sway in the background looking cute, and their music is anything but soul.

But if all that makes up Asunal is amusing, these factors were only intensified in Osu on this past Sunday afternoon. After my contemplative walk, I met up with a few people in Sakae and headed towards Osu. After walking through the beautiful Osu Kannon temple, we were then greeted by bright lights and painted walls to welcome us to Osu Shopping center, an open air shopping center that spans many blocks. And though I had been freely talking and laughing up until a moment before, after I entered the shopping districts, everyone I was with spent half the time in an almost awe-struck silence. Lured by the smell of takoyaki, the noise of people, and brightly colored shops, we poor gaijin were struck into silence by it all coming at us at once. And when we left, back out into the safety of the temple, we were nearly breathless from the experience.

But as I sat in the temple square and listened to the chanting monks from inside, I couldn’t help but be equally struck by the opposite and yet equally fascinating beauty that is Osu Kannon. A large temple, and one of the oldest in Japan, with grand architecture and Zen gardens, a perfect example of the beauty of traditional Japan, sits in conjecture and on the same grounds of an overwhelming shopping center, the bright lights, people, and signs that represent all that is modern Japan. They should be complete opposites, and yet they share the same space in almost blissful harmony. It is one of the many things that I absolutely love about this country, finding equal beauty in the old and the new. For only in Japan would such a place exist.