The appearances of my home

Alas I have fitted you with the unsatisfactory pictures of an less-than-healthy looking home. As you can see time has not been all too kind to my house as the mold eats away at the outer walls.

But what I can say in its defense is that these are only the appearances of the place. Its heart, its innards, are nice enough to the eye (although exceedingly difficult to represent in photos; you'll have to take my word).

That said, there is a peculiarity of the culture of aestheticism here in Japan. That while beauty is such a highly regarded element, the towns are often sores to the eye. Thus the ideals of beauty that pervade the handwriting, the multitude of arts, the Shinto shrines, the gardens, have been lost somewhere to the bigger picture of the modernized civilization.

Do not get me wrong--the beauty still exists out there and within the peoples' practices. It is just not applied to the modern, social-centered things like towns as a whole.

Which tempts me to say that the ideal of aesthetics here may only be a surface-level of aesthetics. It is not the kind of ideal of beauty that pervades the more general parts of society. The local government does not, for example, seem to control development or architecture in order that it may be as pleasant looking as it could be. On the contrary: the land is stripped to its elements; trees are planted in rows, pulled out like weeds; dams intervene, roads cut through everything. The trucks spew out black smoke; electronics factories are notorious polluters of the most harmful chemicals and metals. Everything that cannot be easily recycled is burned. South American rainforests are mauled down in order that disposable chopsticks can be supplied for any small eating. Horses are turned into sashimi.

Thus the ideals of aesthetics do not necessarily penetrate the ethical integrity, the social projects, the local and national governments' planning, the economy as a whole. This should not be too surprising; there may be no civilization on earth that truly accomplishes those lofty feats. But maybe in local situations.

I've always believed that the highest forms of beauty in a human being do not exist on a visual level. Then again, the ugliest parts of the human would also exist in the mind, heart, and soul. Human eyes are pretty beautiful. But I guess I am trying to say is that I value kindness, ethical integrity, sincerity, empathy, goodwill. Those civil aspects of humanity, humanitarianism. In other words I think that it is a mistake to judge a book by its cover. Not only is my house nicer than it looks from the outside, but many beautiful things are less so when they are more closely examined (if you have that patience).


This isn't news to anyone. For some reason my tired mind, on this Sunday morning, wants to extrapolate, express, etc.. But at least I finally gave you the pictures that I promised.

In conclusion, however, I must say that the spectre of delusion goes in both directions. The one that finds beauty underneath a surface of ugliness and one that finds ugliness underneath a surface of beauty. Which is worse? They both have their vices and spices. It's just a good example of the many ways in which humans may only see just a couple sides of an exceedingly multi-faceted world.

The middle school next to my house:
And the construction situated next to it:
Our schools's special elephant statue (symbolzing the exchange program our town has with Satit Kaset School in Bangkok):