To set the tone of this series of articles straight away: the Japanese culture does not exist. Despite many ‘scientific’ attempts, all under the banner of nihonjinron, to describe and prove the uniqueness of Japanese culture and its people, there is no unique Japanese essence, passed on from time immemorial, that units each and every…
Category: Culture
歌舞伎の導入 (culture introduction)
[These culture introductions are short introductions of Japanese cultural aspects written in easy Japanese.] 歌舞伎の導入 歌舞伎(かぶき)は、日本固有(にほんこゆう)の演劇(えんげき)で、17世紀(せいき)に始(はじ)まりました。歌舞伎(かぶき)は歌(うた)や踊(おど)りのある芝居(しばい)です。
Culture Files: Introduction
Introduction Each person has their own way of travelling. For some nature is important, for others culture is most important. Some organize their trips around regional dishes. And some like a mixture of all those things together to create a balance that satisfy their needs. Nevertheless, the greater part of the people who travel to…
Erotic photopraphy: Critical introduction to Gravure/グラビア and Gradols/グラドル
Introduction This article is written as a critical response to an article written by Shinshi Okajima for Tokyo Girls’ update. His article, in our opinion, provides an unsatisfactory explanation of the phenomenon of gradols/グラドル [gravure idols] for male subjects. By misrepresenting the use of fabric in the world of gravure/グラビア, he fails in our…
Foodfiles Nagoya: RedRock
Introduction Can Nagoya really be considered “the most boring city in Japan”, as Philip Brasor ( 2016/10/08) puts it, or is this general thought about Nagoya making the city bleaker than it really is? We are convinced that the latter is the case. In our view, if your focus is either on regional cuisine, Japanese…
Yūgen and Iki, the radical beauty of women a psychoanalytic perspective (Part 2).
Iki and the question of Yūgen. One might wonder what the concrete situation was that revealed the value of the Japanese aesthetics to me. It all happened on a rather quiet evening in Dotonbori street, while I was waiting for my friend. In this moment of waiting, this moment of inhaling (with various senses) the atmosphere…
Yūgen and Iki, the radical beauty of women: a psychoanalytic perspective (part 1)
Introduction This short article is written as a sort of response to, or even better, as a sort of thanks for the two-day Japanese event that was held in Bruges. This event made me realize once again – the first time was in Osaka, the value of the Japanese aesthetic categories, but only if they’re…
Mono no aware: An addendum to Umimachi diary in springtime
“The poetry of Yamato has one heart as seed and myriad words as leaves. This kokoro is the one that knows mono no aware.” (In preface of Kokinshū, see note 1). An Introduction for springtime. The Sakura trees are blossoming, the casket of nihonshu has been broken, the time to enjoy Ohanami with friends, lovers,…
Selection of photographs of Japanese Art (London, Summer 2014)
Introduction In the summer of 2014, I visited London. While I was there, I took the time to visit the Japanese hall/room in the Victoria and Albert museum and The British Museum. Today I’m presenting a selection of photographs. Enjoy.
Mono: a small mono-graph on Japanese post rock.
Introduction This short and brief report on Mono’s concert in Bruges (3/12/2014) doesn’t entail a review by all means. It aims at giving a possible explanation on the effectivity of their music, the effectivity of their instrumental post-rock. I’m not a music expert, nor did I wade through theory to be able to write this. You could…
Small commentaries: Zentai: Hokkyoku Nigo (North Pole No. 2).
Small commentaries is a new segment on Psycho-cinematography. The main purpose of this segment is to provide commentary on Japanese culture, media, news, … . This often rather crude commentary aims to instigate discussion. The commentary is thus more a question than an answer. So if you want to reply, critique or corroborate my writings…
Zentai
Introduction of the term The signifier Zentai (ゼンタイ) is a portmanteau word, which is a word or morpheme whose form and meaning are derived from a blending of two or more distinct forms. Zentai derives from the term: “zenshin taitsu”, 全身タイツ. Let’s take a closer look at that last signifier and the kanji’s and katakana’s of which…
An ordinary way of saying what’s to come
Hello, こんにちわ, to everyone who’s reading this, to everyone whose interest in Japanese culture (the high and/or the low arts) made him find this blog. I want to give everyone a brief heads-up, a brief look into the future. No, not into your future, but into the future of this blog. For this, I ask, like Robin Hood…
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