todo menos el objeto 2010

Themes

Modern metropolis
Desolation and deserted landscape floods modern metropolis. The feeling of incompleteness turns each moment into another disappointment. The bathhouse is one of the most significant cultures of Japan, it is a place of cleansing of the soul. However, in the movie, the bathhouse represents a miniature of society – “mammoth”, “customer principle”, even “work principle”. Life becomes a chase between man and money, shifts between work and rest, wearing a mask turns into the usual state of being.  This is the depiction of modern society, these perceptions are the magic that turns “man” into “pig”. “Faceless” is an important figure in the movie. Faceless, voice-less, name-less, he is only  a mask, his interior is empty. He is the portrait of the urbanites. “Faceless” is a spirit without feet that appears at the entrance of the bathhouse unconsciously. The gods (urbanites) come to the bathhouse to rest their souls, however, there “faceless” bought everyone’s heart with godl, he swallows the frog and other persons’ voices. His loneliness causes him to feel grateful for Chihiro’s sympathy. He tries to but buy the companionship of Chihiro with money, but is rejected. The rejection comes from the a child’s hear, nevertheless, all grown-ups have forgotten this principle – one must not betray himself for money. Hence the gold turns into stone, which is its real nature – gold is worthy of being god because of man’s psychological projection.

The journey looking for the spirit
At the finale of the movie, Chihiro looks for the help of “Grandma Qian” in order to save Haku the dragon. The small town where Grandma Qian lives is an ideal world. Passing through a railway that runs on water (it implies the pursue of an ideal state and the mystique and ambiguous nature of the path of the spiritual), on a train full of faceless shadows, Chihiro arrives the Grandma Qian’s town. There she finds a streetlamp that guides her way (as opposed to the frog who guides the customer in the bathhouse) to Grandma Qian’s house (as opposed to Grandma Ton who provides quality baths to her customers) where she receives simple and sincere greetings. The bathhouse and this small town are the interpretations of the extravagant and the humble. Grandma, together with Chihiro’s company, make her a hair rope that embodies their blessings. When Chihiro leaves, she finds Haku the gragon standing at the door. On the way back to the bathhouse Chihiro cries out the name of Haku, which breaks the curse and enables him to find himself. We find that the real “money” is love. “Name” is the core of the movie. It is the self-spiritual symbol. Urbanites have long forgotten heir names. Chihiro has to forget her name to be called “Sen”, like all the other characters in the bathhouse who do not have names but called by their post – “the boiler”, “frog”, “Mr. Haku (White)” – precisely what the title “Spirited Away” suggests.

Child problem

The Giant Baby materialize the grown-ups’ love and protection. He lives in a nicely decorated room, well protected, as Grandma Ton is afraid he might catch an illness. Being over-protected makes him self-centered, fragile and unruly. In reality he has never been sick. In contrast, Chihiro is brave and determined, she often encounters difficulties, yet, they make her grow. At the end of the movie Chihiro follows her faith and find her parents, and when they return to the car covered in dust, although unaware, she has gradually grown.
Environmental issues
Chihiro’s parents turn into pigs because they are greedy for good, after Chihiro’s help the river god expels a large amount of rubbish – these events express man’s selfish and heartless destruction of nature. The river god gives Chihiro a precious dumpling - the symbol of nature’s infinite value – to thank for her help.
(Source: http://www.inmediahk.net/node/32136)

全名：荻野千尋　(被湯婆婆改名為小千)

主角：一個生活於現代的10歲日本女孩，帶有一點冷漠和任性，平時依靠父母，甚麼都不懂，逆境裏發揮超強適應力。被湯婆婆將父母變成豬，為救父母，千尋在 油屋積極打工，得到小玲及白龍的幫助，經過一段的經歷。出生於普通家庭，是一個典型被父母過分保護，過分寵壞了的獨生女。樣貌平凡，看起來總是鬱鬱不歡的 樣子。像大部分的現代人，她心地善良，正直但膽小怕事，平凡富裕的生活已把她與生俱來的天賦潛能給丟懶了，使她失去了自信和原始生存力量，也失去了自我存 在價值，只有孤獨寂寞的 生活，總是毫無生氣。在故事裡，千尋第一次被逼得自己一個人去面對一個陌生神秘的環境，回去的路已經找不到，父母的性命也繫於她手中，沒有選擇的她，只好 咬住牙根，下定決心不論發生甚麼事都必須向前進。而決心啟動了她內在的潛藏的生存力量——她與生俱來的正直感、勇氣、仁慈與愛心等。這是她第一次感受到關 心別人，為別人付出所帶來的個人存在感，感受到一個人的力量也可以為生命做出貢獻。千尋在這神祕之鎮的驚險探索教曉了她如何付出，如何施予，也讓她經歷了 活著的意義。這也許是我們現代人早已忘記的吧？！但這卻是宮崎駿要傳達給大家的啟示訊息：面對我們將來未知的困難和不明朗的景況唯一的方法就是從拾我們內 在原始的生存力量。

對白：無面人是來到這裡才開始變壞，我要帶他去別處

角色啟示：在逆境下，人的善良、勇敢、積極等素質成為人的求生的本能

白龍 (全名：賑早見 琥珀川)

一個本質善良、溫文的十二歲男孩，是第一個也唯一一個主動幫助千尋的人。在” 神秘之鎮遺失自己的身分，為了達到目的也有他殘酷的另一面，為世所逼得”好人”是否也都有不得己的苦衷。帳房主管。性格矛盾複雜。

湯婆婆手下，外表冷酷但其實內心善良，本為白龍化身，與千有微妙感情，處處維護及協助她，原來二人曾經相遇…後因助湯婆婆偷取寶物身受重傷，快要死掉，千尋為拯救他甚至冒死挑戰錢婆婆…請求錢婆婆原諒白龍，白龍冒死去找錢婆婆救回千尋。

重點對白：我帶回你的寶寶回來，你要放走千尋和她的父母返回原來世界。

湯婆婆

年齡不詳的巨頭魔女，用魔法控制溫泉。看似是個壞人，但背後卻也有她辛酸的一面。喜歡嘮叨，諸多挑剔，控制欲強。「油屋」老闆，管理浴場大小事務，魔力強 大自私嚴厲，為人貪心，陰險、殘酷，視金錢為萬物，但獨裁的另一面卻是不能自拔溺愛著她的寶貝兒子寶寶，萬事該以為”大”， 喜怒哀樂全被這寶貝牽制住，這也就是她的弱點。她更奪去千尋名字。唯一大敵是其姊錢婆婆，為與她鬥爭更令白受重創，兒子及僕人更被落咒，千尋亦捲入其中，是破解魔咒的關鍵。

對白：上下一心，鐵柱都磨成針

角色啟示：魔女湯婆婆是迷戀金錢的溫泉經營者, 對自己的子女放縱不加管制, 是個失格的母親. 無顏任意揮霍金錢不尊重他人的存在, 性格如同小兒缺乏思考理性

小玲

樣貌平凡，個性率直，，為人溺辣，但心地善良。十四歲左右的少女。性格尖刻熱情，對現實持有許多不滿。雖然經常嘮嘮叨叨的，但是還是非常樂意助人，指導小 千工作的大姐姐，是典型的現代女性的表表者。表面很惡但其實非常照顧小千。她對白龍及湯婆婆婆反感。她對未來有希望，發誓自己日後必定不留在油屋工作一 世，希望到別處找地方居住。

特別技能：幫助小千找到錢婆婆。

角色啟示：要對未來有希望，做人一定要有禮貌。

對白：只要有雨，終有一日會變做海…

無面人

頭戴面具，不能發聲。他性格幼稚，自我控制能力欠奉，不懂如何與人溝通，只可以用沉默偷偷接近的方式來表達他內心的愛意。內心理的寂寞，使他渴望別人對他 的愛與關懷，同時潛藏在他心底的慾望，卻著要用金錢與財富去控制他人，當他被千尋拒絕時，他便發起狂來像一個鬧脾氣的小孩子。然而他感到千尋對他的仁慈與 關懷時，他終於可以把自已從孤獨中釋放出來，溫柔善良的本性才得以表現出來。不能與人溝通，喪失自我的悲劇人物。不懂說話的怪客一名，人見人怕，唯千尋對 他要好而生好感，為見小千竟搗亂浴場，更不惜吞食其他精靈借聲說話，身軀更變得龐大兇猛，小千如何應付他呢？

特別技能：懂得變黃金

重點對白：我要小千

角色啟示：這是宮崎駿作品裡出現的第一個軟弱、無作的角色，他用了滿多的情節來描寫千尋與無面人的關係。現今社會，往往對無面人這樣的人抱著負面甚至歧視 的態度；宮崎駿認為這是不對的。他認為每個人心裡都隱藏著一個無面人，而無面人正具體地表現出人類這一方面的本質：內心溢滿著寂寞，由於沒有自信心，於是 只敢偷偷地或鬼鬼崇崇地迷戀一些人或物，不敢也不會表達自己的心意，一旦被拒絕，便老羞成怒，而這些行徑，恰恰就暴露了人性黑暗深沉的一面。

鍋爐爺爺

沉默寡言，對於是是非非，不聞不問，外表冷酷，但當千尋和白龍陷於困景，卻非常願意地伸出援手相助，充分表現出老人慈祥的一面，他負責地下室中為溫泉控制高壓鍋爐，負責為浴場煲洗澡水，為小千介紹工作，與她及白龍感情要好，是千尋旅途中重要的依靠。擅長調節人際關係。

重點對白：你沒聽過嗎？這些就稱為” 愛” ，是”愛”呀

角色啟示及金句：既然幫手做工就要做到最好!!!

錢婆婆

錢婆婆 — 湯婆婆的雙胞胎，是湯婆婆的姐姐，持有魔女之契約印章。

本性善良慈祥的老婆婆，十分之令人敬愛及喜歡。最後收留了無面人在她家中打工，令他不再四處飄留，不再寂寞。

對白：

曾經發生過的事你一定不會忘記，只是你想不起來。

用魔法織東西始終比不上大家用線一針一針織。

啟示：魔法帶來的利害，反映現實生活中人類被科技的發達所影響，人類得到不少的好處和方便，卻也不知不覺破壞自然環境，改變人類日常的生活習慣，例如自從 手提電話普及後，我們約會的時間地點可以隨時改變，諸如此類的不守時，不常發生在舊時代，現在的方便，原來也是方便那些遲到大王。不知不覺地發生的事，改 變我們也是不知不覺的……萬物重生的早晨，來到寂靜無聲的窗口。放棄無盡需索，複歸於零的時刻，人類才會得到滿懷的所有。

啟示2：孿生的婆婆，不單是正邪之分，更是人類本相的寫照。湯婆婆對手下處處的控制、對財寶的追求、對寶寶的溺愛、住在油屋頂層，相對錢婆婆喜歡親手做些手作仔、待人和藹的態度、住在簡單的屋裡，顯出人美與醜、簡單與複雜的本相。)

寶寶

湯婆婆愛子，本為巨形BB，頑皮任性，只懂哭及嬉戲，被湯婆婆迫使留在家中不准外出，後被錢婆婆施魔法變成老鼠仔，小千沒嫌棄更帶他一同冒險。感受到外界多姿多采的生活，不甘只留在家中。

特別技能：你不陪我玩我就喊。

對白：小千，我不怕血，只要你陪我玩。

啟示：被封閉著, 被保護著, 彼此愈來愈疏遠, 人類從孩童時代就開始變的麻木, 他們過分沈迷於自我的世界, 幾乎患上了“自我肥大症“。

煤使

曾經因千尋有意搶他們的工作，對千尋十分憎厭，後又成為了千尋的好友，幫助千尋，弄死印章上的幼蟲。很厲害阿！！

特別技能：為鍋爐爺爺運送煤炭煲水

(Source: http://www.geocities.jp/sentochihironokamikakushi_hk/)

daisy General

The Inglehart Values Map visualizes the strong correlation of values in different cultures. Countries are clustered in a remarkably predictable way.

The World Values Surveys were designed to provide a comprehensive measurement of all major areas of human concern, from religion to politics to economic and social life and two dimensions dominate the picture: (1) Traditional/ Secular-rational and (2) Survival/Self-expression values. These two dimensions explain more than 70 percent of the cross-national variance in a factor analysis of ten indicators-and each of these dimensions is strongly correlated with scores of other important orientations.

The Traditional/Secular-rational values dimension reflects the contrast between societies in which religion is very important and those in which it is not. A wide range of other orientations are closely linked with this dimension. Societies near the traditional pole emphasize the importance of parent-child ties and deference to authority, along with absolute standards and traditional family values, and reject divorce, abortion, euthanasia, and suicide. These societies have high levels of national pride, and a nationalistic outlook. Societies with secular-rational values have the opposite preferences on all of these topics.

The second major dimension of cross-cultural variation is linked with the transition from industrial society to post-industrial societies-which brings a polarization between Survival and Self-expression values. The unprecedented wealth that has accumulated in advanced societies during the past generation means that an increasing share of the population has grown up taking survival for granted. Thus, priorities have shifted from an overwhelming emphasis on economic and physical security toward an increasing emphasis on subjective well-being, self-expression and quality of life. Inglehart and Baker (2000) find evidence that orientations have shifted from Traditional toward Secular-rational values, in almost all industrial societies. But modernization, is not linear-when a society has completed industrialization and starts becoming a knowledge society, it moves in a new direction, from Survival values toward increasing emphasis on Self-expression values.

A central component of this emerging dimension involves the polarization between Materialist and Postmaterialist values, reflecting a cultural shift that is emerging among generations who have grown up taking survival for granted. Self-expression values give high priority to environmental protection, tolerance of diversity and rising demands for participation in decision making in economic and political life. These values also reflect mass polarization over tolerance of outgroups, including foreigners, gays and lesbians and gender equality. The shift from survival values to self-expression values also includes a shift in child-rearing values, from emphasis on hard work toward emphasis on imagination and tolerance as important values to teach a child. And it goes with a rising sense of subjective well-being that is conducive to an atmosphere of tolerance, trust and political moderation. Finally, societies that rank high on self-expression values also tend to rank high on interpersonal trust.
This produces a culture of trust and tolerance, in which people place a relatively high value on individual freedom and self-expression, and have activist political orientations. These are precisely the attributes that the political culture literature defines as crucial to democracy.

(Source: http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/library/set_illustrations.html)

daisy General

Confucianism, Daoism (Taoism), and Buddhism commonly name the three main pillars of traditional Chinese thought, although it should be obvious that like any “ism,” they are abstractions — what they name are not monolithic but multifaceted traditions with fuzzy boundaries and complex histories and internal divisions. “Daoism,” in particular, needs to be handled with care, for it designates both a philosophical tradition and an organized religion, which in modern Chinese are identified separately as Daojia and Daojiao, respectively.

(Source: http://plato.stanford.edu)

The Chinese philosopher and social reformer, Kong Zi, (Wade-Giles - K’ung-fu-tzu; or Pinyin - Kongfuzi; see also - Kong Qiu), or Master K’ung, is best known by the Latin form of his name, Confucius, which was bestowed by Jesuit missionaries centuries after his death.

Confucius was apparently born about 551 BC in the Watch Tower (Queli) district of Qufu, then the capital of the state of Lu of the Zhou kingdom. He is believed to have worked as a minor civil servant and teacher under the Zhou Dynasty.

The tradition he left was not originally intended as a philosophical learning, as much as a “Way of the Gentleman”, and in Chinese “Confucianism” is better rendered as “The School of the learned”. Confuciansim itself is a system of honour codes and moral assumptions for the educated upper classes of Chinese society, principally formed by Confucius, Mencius (Mengzi), and Xunz.

Themes

Confucianism generally stressed the virtues of truthfulness, loyalty, learning - and moderation in eating and drinking. Confucius believed in a modest, regular life, and urged his followers not to be extremists. He considered war to be a profound evil, and urged his followers to avoid it through negotiation.

The key to the whole Confucian philosophy, a moral and ethical code as much as a religion in itself, was: ‘Do unto others as you would be done by’ - a key Foundationist ideal.

(Source: http://www.interfaith.org/confucianism/)

Cultures and countries strongly influenced by Confucianism include China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam, as well as various territories settled predominantly by Chinese people, such as Singapore.

The basic teachings of Confucianism stress the importance of education for moral development of the individual so that the state can be governed by moral virtue rather than by the use of coercive laws.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism)

Taoism (frequently pronounced /ˈtaʊ.ɪ.zəm/, though Daoism /ˈdaʊ.ɪ.zəm/ is preferred), from Chinese Daojiao 道教 (pronounced dào (help·info) jiào (help·info)), refers to a variety of related philosophical and religious traditions and concepts. These traditions have influenced East Asia for over two thousand years and some have spread to the West.^[1] The word 道, Tao (or Dao, depending on the romanization scheme), means “path” or “way”, although in Chinese folk religion and philosophy it has taken on more abstract meanings. Taoist propriety and ethics emphasize the Three Jewels of the Tao: compassion, moderation, and humility. Taoist thought generally focuses on nature, men-cosmos correspondence (天人相应), health, longevity, wu wei (action through inaction), liberty, immortality and spontaneity.

Quotations:

	“Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river.” Lao Tse.
	“Without going out of your door, You can know the ways of the world. Without peeping through your window, you can see the Way of Heaven. The farther you go, The less you know. Thus, the Sage knows without traveling, Sees without looking, And achieves without struggle.” Lao Tse.

(Source: http://www.religioustolerance.org)

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, referred to in Chinese as Chán. Chán is itself derived from the Sanskrit Dhyāna, which means “meditation” (see etymology below).

Zen emphasizes experiential Prajñā—particularly as realized in the form of meditation known as zazen—in the attainment of awakening, often simply called the path of enlightenment. As such, it de-emphasizes both theoretical knowledge and the study of religious texts in favor of direct, experiential realization through meditation and dharma practice.

The establishment of Zen is traditionally credited to the Southern Indian Pallava prince-turned-monk Bodhidharma, who is recorded as having come to China to teach a “special transmission outside scriptures” which “did not stand upon words”. The emergence of Zen as a distinct school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century CE. It is thought to have developed as an amalgam of various currents in Mahāyāna Buddhist thought—among them the Yogācāra and Madhyamaka philosophies and the Prajñāpāramitā literature—and of local traditions in China, particularly Taoism and Huáyán Buddhism. From China, Zen subsequently spread southwards to Vietnam and eastwards to Korea and Japan. (Source: www.wikipedia.org)

daisy General

Tensions and conflicts come from fear of “the other powers”, disagreement and opposition of values, interests and needs. Japan and USA are one of the most advanced nations in the world and represent opposing power in the Orient and the Occident. Their societies demonstrate significant constrasts of Eastern and Western cultures.

Confusian, Taoist and Zen philosophy is fundamental to Chinese and Japanese culture, as is Christianity foundation to Western culture. These philosophy and religions condition the structure of societies and mark guidelines for social behaviors and values. Many religions intend to unite the universe and put all the problems in “nature”, “science” and “man”, “society” in the same system and structure, when there unexplanable basic questions arise, each religion make up their own answers. Man’s knowledge of “nature” and “science” grows and religious explanations become fallacious. Confusian thinking differs from other religions because instead of “nature” and “science”, its main concern centers in humanity, human relations and society, which are eternal topics.

China and Japan: Confucism aims at forgeting one’s self and care about the others, Taoism’s goal is harmonious coexistence of man and nature, Zen meditations intend to free the heart from stress and suffer and achieve inner piece.

West: The Christians believe that man is born isnful and his goal of life is to redeem himself through confessions and prayers in order to go to Heaven.

Comics, cartoons and animations form an indispensible part in youth culture and everyday life in Japan and the United States. They provide entertainment, fulfill fantasy and are sometimes educational. The following comparisons of the work of animator Hayao Miyazaki and American superhero comics intend to distinguish the temperament of the Japanese people and the Americans and how religions integrate and influence their cultures and way of life.

Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki was born in 1941, in Tokyo. In his childhood, he witnessed the American invasion in his home city and was striked by the tragedies it brought. His animations often show his resentment of war and antipathy towards all kinds of persecution of human civilization on nature and include subjects like enviromentalism, material worship , childhood, and education. He hopes that through his animations, people can see hope and a better future worth living and exploring. Unlike western animations that only aim to entertain children, and in contrast to mainstream Japanese anime, which subject matters circle around violence, blood and sex, Miyazaki’s philosophy and thinking enable his creations to raise consciousness and touch the people’s heart. He once said: “ This country (Japan) has too many businessmen who earn money from the children!”, “My works portray how realistic are today’s Japanese children, I want to create movies that children can appreciate from the heart…” (Ref.: 商業週刊)

American superhero comics
A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is “a fictional character of unprecedented powers dedicated to acts of derring-do in the public interest”.Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes—ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas—have dominated American comic books and crossed over into other media. The word itself dates to at least 1917. A female superhero is sometimes called a superheroine (also rendered super-heroine or super heroine). By most definitions, characters need actual superhuman powers to be deemed superheroes, although terms such as costumed crimefighters are sometimes used to refer to those without such powers who share other common traits with superheroes. (Source: www.wikipedia.org)

daisy General

Zen is a school of Buddhism that originated in China. It spread to other Asian countries including Japan, where it is fully integrated into the culture, traditions and everyday life. Today, Japanese Zen has gained noticeable popularity in the Western world, however, mostly in forms of stereotype products, beauty salons and in some cases even combined with yoga. (Mis)Interpretations of Zen religion or way of life remain on an aesthetic level and in commercial terms.

Examples:
枯山水 (in roman “karesansui”) literally means “dead mountain water”. Commonly translated as “Zen garden” in the English language. Zen monks create patterns with dry sand in a karesansui to help meditation. Nowadays it is easy to find miniature versions of karesansui – an imitation of the original at a therapist’s office or a static ornament for a coffee table.

daisy General daisy

Orientalism denotes all activities that associate with Eastern cultures in the West - from academic studies to artistic imitations. The term “study” may identify some degree of objectivity, however, one should be aware that the study of a foreign culture never breaks free of prejustice, the burden of history, conventional definition, stererotype and the expense of personal baggage.

In his book Orientalism, Edward Said defines the term as “a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient’s special place in European Western experience.” What he refers to is that “The Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe’s greatest and riches and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural context, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other.”(p.1) He speaks of “a fairly constant sense of confrontation felt by Westerners dealing with the East. The Boundary notion of East and West, the varying degrees of projected inferiority and strength, the range of work done, the kinds of characteristic features ascribed to the Orient” which “testify to a willed imaginative and geogbraphic division made between East and West” (p. 201). Edward Said regards Orientalism as “a manner of regularized (or Orientalized) writing, vision, and study, dominated by imperatives, perspectives, and ideological biases ostensibly suited to the Orient” and that “The Orient is taught, researched, administered, and pronounced upon in certain discrete ways”(p.202) since the nature of Western attitudes towards the East based on an ideological way to deal with the “otherness”.

The author claims that his “whole point about this system is not that it is a misrepresentation of some Oriental essence — in which I do not for a moment believe — but that it operates as representations usually do, for a purpose, according to a tendency, in a specific historical, intellectual, and even economic setting” (p. 273). It should be made clear that the definition of the term itself varies depending on the context and the connotation it is given - in my case, the scope of Orientalism lies within opposing duality of the East and the West, the Orient and the Occident, the inferior and the superior, and one and the other.

Edward Said regards “the journey, the history, the fable, the stereotype, the polemical confrontation” as “the lenses through which the Orient is experienced, and they shape the language, perception, and form of the encounter between East and West” (p. 58) Therefore I question: Is it possible to study or interpret the essence of Asian cultures without the issue of biased translation? That is to say: a direct and authentic contact to the subject devoid of any kind of interference?

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Interaction between the East and the West initiated as early as the West Han Dynasty (202BC - 8AD) when Zhang Qian, a Chinese imperial envoy,  began his exploration in Chang’an (now Xi’an, in inner China) and reached till the Mediterranean. Trading soon prospered on the new established route which later became known as the Silk Road - for silk was the most popular trade product from the East to the West. Europe’s trading with China had been growing more intensely ever since and today, with the rising potential of the unexploited continent, businessmen in the more advanced West still see China as their 15th Century explorers did - a “big piece of meat” of tremendous profits and benefits.

Maybe this is how it all went wrong. If the first explorers were scholars not merchants and the first interactions between Europe and China were based on interests for each other’s cultures and not how much advantage one can take of the other, perhaps the Occident would have a totally different view and understanding the Orient.

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無印良品 MUJI

Muji is the abbreviation of Mujirushi Ryohin – literally it means “no brand, good product”. Muji promotes not only quality design at a reasonable price, but also a lifestyle of simplicity and comfort, a poetic vision and a sensible approach to urban living. However, when Muji arrived in Barcelona, it is located in la Ramble de Catalunya, where fashion giants are concentrated, and its good cost a triple of their original prices in Japan.

“MUJI is not a brand. MUJI does not make products of individuality or fashion, nor does MUJI reflect the popularity of its name in its prices. MUJI creates prodcuts with a view toward global consumption of the future. This means that we do not create products that lure customers into believing that “this is best” or “I must have this”. We would like our customers to feel the rational sense of satisfaction that comes not with “this is best”, but “this is enought”. “Best” becomes “enough”.

- Excerpt from The future of MUJI (Message) (http://www.muji.com/message/)

Muji states that its products “do not represent minimalism as a style“, but are “universal and accomodating precisely because they are plain and unadorned“.  However, it seems that it is difficult for the Westerners to comprehend the no brand philosophy and appreciate the plainness of Muji’s design as modesty rather than a style.

Image source

Takashi Murakami
Remarkable for his superflat technique and blurring of high and low art, contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is often compared to pop artists like Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg, as both repackage popular motifs such as comic and everyday objects and bid them for astronomical prices in the high art market.

In an interview by Magdelene Perez, Muramaki was asked: “You’ve done work with Louis Vuitton and others that straddles the line between art and commercial products. Do you think there are dangers to mixing art with branding and merchandizing?” In response to the question, the artist says: “I don’t think of it as straddling. I think of it as changing the line. What I’ve been talking about for years is how in Japan, that line is less defined. Both by the culture and by the post-War economic situation. Japanese people accept that art and commerce will be blended; and in fact, they are surprised by the rigid and pretentious Western hierarchy of ‘high art.’ In the West, it certainly is dangerous to blend the two because people will throw all sorts of stones. But that’s okay—I’m ready with my hard hat.” (June 9, 2006,  THE AI INTERVIEW: Takashi Murakami, ARTINFO, retrieved on 2008-04-24)
Monogramouflage is a limited collection of Louis Vuitton goods designed by Murakami. The artist employs his superflat figures and military camouflage patterns to decorate the LV monogram canvases.

The interest of the French super brand in mixing contemporary Japanese art with their exlusive produts not only marks an era in which “designed in Japan” is an added value to a product, it represents the increasing intensity in turning Japanese aesthetics into marketing strategies.

Publicity of Eastpak

Junichiro Tanizaki
I always think how different everything would be if we in the Orient had developed our own science. Suppose for instance that we had developed our own physics and chemistry: would not the techniques and industries based on them have taken a differenct form, would not our myriads of everyday gadgets, our medicines, the products of our industrial art - would they not have suited our national temper better than they do? In fact our conceptions of physics itself, and even the principles of chemistry, would probably differ from that of Westerners; and the facts we are now taught concerning the nature and function of light, electricity, and atoms might well have presented themselves in different form.

I wrote a magazine article recently comparing the writing brush with the fountain pen, and in the course of it I remarked that if the device had been invented by the ancient Chinese or Japanese it would surely have had a tufted end like our writing brush. The ink would not have been this bluish color but rather black, something like India ink, and it would have been made to seep down from the handle into the brush. And since we would have then found it inconvenient to write on Western paper, something near Japnese paper - even under mass production, if you will - would have been most in demand.

Paper, I understand, was invented by the Chinese; but Western paper is to us no more than something to be used, while the texture of Chinese paper and Japanese paper gives us a certain feeling of warmth, of calm and repose. Even the same white could as well be one color for Western paper and another for our own. Western paper turns away the light, while our paper seems to take it in, to envelop it gently, like the soft surface of a first snowfall. It gives off no sound when it is crumpled or folded, it is quiet and pliant to the touch as
the leaf of a tree.

- Excerpts from In Praise of Shadows

Gastronomy
Restaurants named after the wok (a Chinese cooking utensil) and udon (a type of Japanese noodles). Wok in the Occident world is synonym of Chinese cuisine. Imagine what would be the equivalent in Asia - a Spanish restaurant named “Paella Paella Restaurant”.

Harajuku

Harajuku is one of the most trendy place in Tokyo where youg people hang out and express themselves with authentic styles of clothing. American singer Gwen Stefani created a group of dancers named after Harajuku Girls, and launched a clothing line called Harajuku Lovers (I suspect the name is inspired by Super Lovers, a popular brand in Japan).

Harajuku girls in Harajuku

Gwen Stefani and her dance group Harajuku Girls

Ad for the clothing line Harajuku Lovers

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