Finding the time to explain; to churn over the thoughts in your head so that you can translate them to someone else. Here in Japan I have that time. So far my job has consisted of lots of emailing and web-surfing; the real teaching will start on August 24th, but even then I will have a lot of free time, especially the nights and weekends. I find this to be a very special luxury of my life here because I can relax and contemplate many things. Today was Sunday so I felt particularly free. I finished one book and started another. I also went to Kikuchi Gorge and went on a hike (this was 45-55 minutes by car). This was all after I visited Aso Shrine in Ichinomiya (about a 15-20 minute drive away).
At the gorge I found these words on the bottom of a map:
“Natural Recreation Forest is for your recreation and relaxation, where all of you can touch living nature directly. Love nature and make friends with it, and also let’s keep the water clean and the trees green around here.”
Couldn’t have put it better myself. There were hundreds of Japanese people all around the water, in the water, and on the trails admiring the flowing water and waterfalls. Some people, probably from the closest big city—Kumamoto City—even had posh clothes on and heels (one girl did this whole steep hike in heels and she did not even sweat).
Later and during my hiking through the woods above the water (where fewer people frequent), I started to think about how the respect and love for nature that seems to be a cornerstone of Japanese culture relates to other customs and ways of life that I have noticed so far. In particular I have noticed that the way people think about the body and its various functions here is completely different than America and Europe. People frequently get nude together in public baths, people freely burp and (less frequently) fart without the bat of an eyelash or the turn of a neighbor’s head, and people sneeze freely without need of reply (i.e. “bless you” or “salud”). Then an old idea of mine came to mind (and this will not surprise those who know me well) about how Eastern peoples have had much later contact with higher primates such as monkeys and apes than have Western peoples. I am pretty sure about this generalization (although I could be wrong, as usual). Well, anyhow I do think that this contact with our simian friends (and enemies) has had a positive effect on the people who have had the contact: monkeys and apes give us an affective other in the animal world—they are a species that are like humans enough that they are closer to kin and to recognition than most other species. This is why, when people (like Franz Kafka in Prague) were digesting the idea of evolution, the ape was so important. Not only did the ape help to create the feasibility of the theory of evolution for scientists through a sort of logical analysis but they also provided everyday people with a visible and behavioral analog to the humans they saw everyday. Western peoples have been at a loss here for they have had more of a chance to forget key aspects of our place in the world of animals. Protagoras’ idea that “man is the measure of all things” (480BCE) has had more of a chance to be developed, prosper, and multiply in a world devoid of other more human-like mammal species. Christianity and Judaism boldly show their acceptance of Protagoras’ theory in their respective books (Bibles). I think it would be fair to say that both Buddhism and Shintoism reveal a very different outlook in their respective texts – one that sees humans as part of a much bigger web of life and powers that exist in the nature around them. Not to say that this is all due to our simian friends, but I think it made a difference. Perhaps I am just projecting and retrajecting, but at least it's amusing, eh?
The Japanese are avid protectors of the environment on cultural and religious levels as well as on political and economic levels. There are obviously major exceptions, but the general rule wholeheartedly outweighs the exceptions. I admire this greatly. I can only think that both Japan’s environmental friendliness and love for natural beauty have something to do with conceptions of both the body and humanity’s place in the world (and it goes the other way around too). Likewise, I can only suspect that the major cultural and religious legacies of the U.S., including the conception of the body, have something to do with how absent-mindedly so many Americans can, both individually and communally, neglect their air, water, and soil, and ultimately, their own bodies.
1 comment:
Dearest Nick, my brother. I know my idea is not very mainstream; in fact to some it would be completely absurd. The Sake I am drinking is minimal though, and some would find that an offensive comment to make (namely me). But I think you misinterpreted my post... I am not saying that Eastern cultures understood evolution, they just had a different view of the animal world based on their kinship with the primates. This deeply affected certain religious sects in Asia as well as in other portions of the world where primates were visibly present. It is precisely because Western peoples did not have any real contact with the primates (at least until TV and the media could bring them to the comfort of their own home) that the human-dominating, anthropocentric views were more easily able to flourish in the West. And this is just my opinion, man. peace.
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