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Kimono and Yukata
Wearing kimono every day is now almost unheard amongst Japanese but on certain
special occasions, it is still the only thing to wear. Though once worn by both
men and women, in recent years it has become rare to see men wearing kimono though
a man wearing a dark, crested, formal kimono cuts a fine figure indeed.
Now that the kimono is no longer worn regularly, young Japanese women commonly
take “kimono lessons” to learn how to select and wear them. Especially
important is how to tie an obi, the long, wide length of silk wrapped around the
waist as a belt.
The age and status of a woman influence her choice of kimono as does the season
and, of course, the occasion. The most famous of kimono wearers, the geisha, pride
themselves in their knowledge of the fine distinctions that make up the language
of kimono. Their garments are always of the highest quality and artistry and they
wear them with a grace that is all but lost in other walks of life. These days,
walking the cobbled streets of old Kyoto, you are more likely to see tourists
who have paid to be dressed and made-up as geiko, the Kyoto term for geisha.
Kimono are worn at many traditional events. Every year in January for instance,
girls who have turned 21 in the past year wear kimono to celebrate their “Coming
of Age Day”. Summer festivals and fireworks displays are the time to wear
yukata. These are lighter kimono made from cotton instead of silk. Much brighter
and more boldly-patterned than regular kimono, yukata add to the gaiety and colour
of the summer months. Yukata is also the name given the cotton dressing gowns
loaned to you in Japanese style hotels and inns.
If you are considering buying kimono while in Japan be aware that new kimono are
always made to order and that traditional kimono shops are stocked only with bolts
of fabric. Department stores also offer kimono fabric and there you are more likely
to find help in your own language. Searching out a second-hand kimono shop is
another option. Many are specifically geared towards foreign visitors and sell
good quality used garments at a fraction of the price. |
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Sake
Rice is not only Japan’s staple food but also the source of its national
drink, sake. It is not just an important drink at the bar and at the table but
also at the Shinto shrine. Throughout Japanese history, sake has been a drink
associated with the gods. At every important festival and ceremony from New Year
celebrations to weddings, from children’s 3rd, 5th and 7th year festivals
to the annual harvest festival, sake plays an important role. Some shrines even
brew their own.
The wealth of varieties of sake (also known as nihonshu) is quite remarkable.
Firstly, there are several grades of sake, the very purest being made with only
water, polished rice and koji, which is steamed rice laced with the enzymes that
begin the fermenting process. Connoisseurs will tell you that the best sake is
made with rice polished to 30% of its original size and nothing artificially added.
However, about 95% of sake is made with much less polishing and with pure alcohol
and sugars added separately and much of it is not to be sniffed at.
Secondly, not only do all the major breweries each produce many different nationally
available brands, but all over the country small local breweries produce local
sake known as ji-zake. Thus, there are literally hundreds of different varieties
to investigate, more than enough for the most enthusiastic researcher!
Sake is drunk in several different ways. Most grades of sake are perfectly drinkable
hot but usually only quality sake is drunk chilled or at room temperature. However
you choose to drink it, it makes the perfect accompaniment to all kinds of Japanese
food and is an ideal gift to take home. |
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Shrines and Temples
Gabled roofs curving gently upwards. Exquisitely-crafted wooden structures as
imposing as they are graceful. Otherworldly gardens that have taken centuries
to reach that moment of perfection when you step into them. The shrines and temples
of Japan will both amaze and inspire.
Buddhism has flourished and diversified since it arrived in Japan in the 7th century
and it has left a legacy of statuary and temples that it would take a lifetime
to explore. In Nara, many temples from this period still stand, ambitious wooden
pagodas and prayer halls that are well over a thousand years old. The world’s
largest wooden building is here, the great hall of Todai-ji temple, where sits
the awe-inspiring Great Buddha, the largest bronze casting ever attempted. Visit
the temples of Kyoto and you begin feel the later influence of Zen. Words cannot
describe the unfathomable beauty of the moss and rock gardens at famous temples
such as Ryoan-ji and Daitoku-ji or the exquisite fusion of Zen and the tea ceremony
at the Temple of the Silver Pavilion.
By contrast, the holy places of Shinto are wilder and less crafted. Shinto is
the ancient national religion of Japan that venerates trees, mountains, natural
springs and waterfalls. The shrines of Shinto share space with nature rather than
sculpt it. Passing through a torii gate, perhaps climbing the stone steps of a
hilltop shrine, one enters a place of purity and reverence where birds twitter
and the fox gods snarl.
Famous city shrines include Meiji-jingu in the heart of Tokyo and Heian-jingu
in Kyoto. The holiest, however, is the Grand Shrine at Ise, a living example of
the oldest kind of Japanese shrine architecture. Shrouded in a cocoon of virgin
forest, it is so holy that it must be rebuilt every twenty years to ensure its
purity.
From the stupendously grand to the tiny streetside altars that local volunteers
keep clean and colourful, both shrines and temples, Shinto and Buddhism, pervade
Japanese life at every level. It might be that your most memorable experience
of the holy places of Japan is simply an out of the way spot that caught your
eye and drew you in. Whatever the case, the temples and shrines of Japan will
leave you with a lifetime of memories. |
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 Etiquette
Few things about Japan are as much misunderstood as etiquette. It is sometimes
imagined that the slightest faux pas will leave the poor visitor out in the cold.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Simply being willing to do or not
do what the Japanese do is enough to get you by.
One simple point is to remember to take off your shoes whenever you are prompted
to. In Japanese style restaurants and hotels, many temples and people’s
homes, in fact, you should take off your shoes wherever you see polished wooden
floors or tatami, the rectangular mats of woven rice straw that are used for flooring
in traditional rooms. On tatami, even slippers are not allowed so leave these
on the wooden floor outside the door. There will also be slippers specifically
for use in the toilet that it is wise to remember to take off before you return.
Next comes bathing in onsen (hot-spring baths), sento (public bathhouses) and
traditional-style hotels. Here the thing to remember is to wash thoroughly on
the little stools around the bath before getting in. Baths in Japan are for soaking,
not for scrubbing.
Much is said about how to use and how to not use your hashi (chopsticks) but the
key is just not to do anything that you wouldn’t do at home. If it’s
rude to do it with a knife or fork then it’s the same with hashi. The aspect
of table manners that you might find it hardest to get used to is the slurping
that you will hear in noodle restaurants. If you want to join in, go ahead –
the louder the better as it’s considered to be a sign of a person enjoying
their food.
And finally, the introduction. It is well known that the Japanese bow instead
of shake hands when they first meet but while you attempt your bow you might find
that they extend a hand to give you a welcome that you are more used to! If so,
then just try to combine the two, muddle through and use it as an icebreaker!
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 Business
Etiquette
Many things about the way business is conducted in Japan surprise the foreign
visitor. It’s also widely known that a full understanding of the Japanese
business world can take many years to cultivate. If it’s your first time
visiting Japan on business just be aware of some of the ways in which you can
create a good impression and keep your eyes and your mind open. |
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Bowing & Shaking Hands |
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Shaking hands has, to some extent, been adopted in Japan but, like many things
adopted from Western culture, it has not entirely replaced more traditional modes.
The bow is still of primary importance as a greeting and it is also used in many
other situations such as offering thanks, apologising, and expressing humility.
So ubiquitous is the bow that even those who stay only for a short time often
take the habit home with them!
When meeting someone in a formal situation a handshake is appropriate, if at all,
only after business cards and bows have been exchanged. If a Japanese extends
a hand before the more traditional preliminaries, it is almost certainly a conscious
gesture designed either to put you at ease or to express his international sensibilities.
How deeply you should bow and how long for varies according to the situation.
Most of the time, only a shallow bow is required. Simply bend 20 degrees at the
waist with your hands down by your sides, holding the bow for 1 or 2 seconds.
Deeper bows should be reserved for people who are clearly your senior and those
to whom you want to express a particularly high degree of respect. Bending 45
degrees at the waist for 2-3 seconds is considered a deep bow.
There is no need to return the numerous bows of shop assistants and elevator attendants
but it is polite to acknowledge the bows of service staff in restaurants and hotels
with a slight nod of the head. |
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Business Cards |
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In the status sensitive world of Japanese business, it is important to know
where a person fits into a hierarchy right from the beginning. This is why the
business card or meishi has a particular importance.
Before arriving, it is well worth printing special business cards for your visit
as it is polite to have the reverse side printed in Japanese. Your name should
appear in katakana, the phonetic alphabet used for foreign words. This will make
it easier to pronounce for those not wholly familiar with foreign names. Keep
them pristine and presentable in a plastic, leather or metal case. Dog-eared cards
held together with an elastic band will result in a negative first impression.
Exchanging meishi is an important preliminary to business meetings and knowing
the correct procedure will help you avoid awkwardness. Do not immediately offer
your hand as you would in the West as this may well cause confusion. Instead,
face the person you are being introduced to and present your card with both hands,
Japanese side up and with the print facing the recipient.
While offering your card introduce yourself with a stock greeting such as “Tanaka
desu, hajimemashite, dozo yoroshiku.” (tah-nah-ka dess, hah-jee-may-mah-shi-tay,
doe-zoe, yoh-roh-shi-ku.) This roughly translates as “my name is Tanaka,
pleased to meet you”. It is usual for visitors to present their card first.
Both giving and receiving meishi should be accompanied with a light bow and the
whole process should be conducted slowly and methodically with each person in
turn. Don’t deal out your meishi like playing cards. When you receive one,
study it carefully and treat it with respect. Pocketing it immediately, creasing
it or writing anything on it gives the impression that you don’t consider
it important. Keeping them on the meeting table while you talk is both acceptable
and advisable as it will enable you to remind yourself of names without making
it obvious that you are doing so. |
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Directness |
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One aspect of Japanese culture that sometimes frustrates foreigners is a
certain indirectness in speech. In Japan, stating one’s opinion in direct
terms can be construed as rude. Foreign visitors who do not realise this sometimes
come across as unnecessarily forceful and confrontational.
On the flip-side, Japanese subtleties of expression are often missed, thus resulting
in confusion and misunderstanding. People doing business in Japan often bemoan
the lack of “straight answers” from their Japanese counterparts. They
have probably just interpreted this deeply ingrained cultural tendency as vagueness.
Fortunately, the Japanese are well aware that in other countries, clarity is considered
more important than maintaining harmonious relations and foreign visitors are
given ample leeway. It is also true that Japanese indirectness generally does
not carry over into foreign languages. A Japanese talking to you in English is
likely to be much more frank than if he were speaking in his own language.
It remains however that to understand the Japanese, it is important to try to
pick up on allusions and try to use inference to catch their full meaning. In
speech, try to take into account the effect that what you want to say might have
on the sensitivities of those around you and measure your words accordingly.
If you don’t understand the language, you can avoid offence by simply not
stating your own personal desires too strongly and, if you must disagree, to do
so in far more couched terms than you might be accustomed to. |
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Calligraphy
Chinese writing was adopted by Japan in the 5th century and was originally used
only for official purposes and the copying of Buddhist writings. Skill in calligraphy
soon became an essential skill in cultivated circles where it was quite as important
to have good penmanship as it was to compose beautiful poetry. Calligraphy grew
to be appreciated as a fine art and continues to be considered as such today.
The three main styles of calligraphy are distinguished by how loosely or precisely
the characters are drawn. Kaisho (“square script”) is rigid and precise,
it is used in everyday writing and situations in which legibility and clarity
are important. Gyosho (“running script”) is a softer, semi-cursive
style that originated from a need to write kanji (Chinese characters) more quickly.
Fully cursive calligraphy is called sosho (“grass script”). Individual
strokes and characters run into one another in a more or less continuous stream
which makes this style very beautiful but near impossible to read. Most calligraphic
art is in the sosho style and is therefore not judged by its legibility but by
the touch with which the brush is handled, the shading of the ink and the balanced
placement of the characters on the paper.
Calligraphy is displayed not just in museums but in many private and public places.
Displaying calligraphy is especially important in the tea ceremony where an appropriate
hanging in the alcove helps to create the ambience of the room. The work of Zen
priests is favoured in this context. Poetry and calligraphy also go hand in hand.
A skilled master can express the rhythm and sentiments of a poem with his brushstrokes.
Traditional furniture such as folding screens and sliding doors are sometimes
decorated with squares of coloured paper on which famous poems have been written.
Once committed to paper, a piece of calligraphy is never retouched, making it
an intensely immediate art form. Calligraphers are revered not only for their
skill and scholarship but also for the high spiritual level they need to attain
in order to achieve the clarity of mind considered necessary for truly creative
brushwork.
Today, the pen and the computer are taking over from the brush in almost all areas
of modern life. However, children continue to be taught to use the brush in school
and many thousands of calligraphers still practice diligently at home, hoping
to one day acquire the technique of the masters. |
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Kabuki
Modern day kabuki theatre is a extravagant spectacle that has evolved over the
centuries into high art. Performance has become stylised to the extent that every
gesture is a dance and speech is rhythmic and musical. The lavish costumes and
striking make-up are worth seeing in themselves.
It wasn’t always high brow entertainment, however. The origins of kabuki
go back to the beginning of the 17th century when a famous prostitute used to
dance on the riverbanks in Kyoto. Soon many courtesans were showcasing their talents
on stage and the government saw it as a threat to public morals. Women were banned
from the stage and kabuki theatre had to become a more substantial art form.
As a consequence, the content of the plays grew in importance and writers worked
hard to satisfy the demands of both actors and audiences. Some plays were historical
dramas dealing with the tragic stories of heroic samurai, others were domestic
dramas concerned with the lower classes. One development that shaped kabuki significantly
was the wholesale adoption of plays written originally for the bunraku puppet
theatre. Actors began to incorporate puppet-like gestures into their performances,
contributing to the stylisation of movement we still see today.
The requirement that men play women’s roles became an essential part of
the appeal of kabuki. The actors who specialised in these roles became known as
onnagata and their skills at mimicking the gestures and expressing the psychology
of women became highly refined. All kabuki actors require such a range and depth
of artistic ability and appreciation that training begins in childhood. Most of
today’s top performers were born into kabuki families that have gone back
generations and every new actor has to study closely the performances of his predecessors
in a particular role.
With the aid of the earpiece guides that are available at the major kabuki theatres
in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, kabuki is now accessible to foreign visitors. A full
performance usually consists of several plays and can last more than 4 hours but
it is quite acceptable to leave half way through. If you just want a taste, inexpensive
4th floor tickets for one act can be purchased at the Tokyo Kabuki-za though the
earphone guide is not available. |
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Manga
One thing that often strikes first time visitors to Japan as strange is the sight
of adults (usually men) reading comic books. The confusion arises from seeing
comics as kid’s stuff only. Even in the West this is not entirely true but
in Japan it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Modern manga is written for a democratic variety of age and special interest groups.
Lovesick schoolgirls get romance manga. Sports fans get to choose from manga about
soccer, baseball and golf. Young boys get plenty of sci-fi and fantasy manga,
the kind that most closely resembles the comics of the West but where else could
you find a sub-genre dedicated to fans of gourmet cooking?
The wide-ranging appeal of manga has much to do with a combination of escapism
with rather mundane subject matter. Characters with superhuman powers will still
often be shown at school, hurrying to work or getting on with family which, by
giving them a grounding in reality, gives them a wider appeal than the average
one-dimensional superhero. Readers are encouraged to connect with and find something
of themselves in their favourite characters.
With such wide-ranging appeal and such a large and constantly evolving output,
manga has real cultural significance. The Foreign Ministry certainly thought so
when it decided to publish a manga to defend its foreign aid program, an example
of the way the manga format is used to explain complex subjects. Reflecting –
and perhaps even helping to shape – the national psyche, it is hard to dismiss
manga as mere child’s play. |
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