Japan — The Strange Country

This is an interesting video about Japan. The most interesting part of it is that the author took down the English version of it. I’d like to know more about his decision to do so, because I suspect that there is a deeper story in it than the story of the video itself.

When we first watch this, we assume that the author is being self-critical, but he says this video represents a “foreigner’s point of view”. This is rather confusing. What he ends up telling is what he thinks is a foreigner’s point of view, so we are not sure who is telling the story. If this is indeed a foreigner’s point of view, it’s not being self-critical. It would be a foreigner pointing his finger at another nation. If we were to view it that way, the story is highly skewed and biased, verging on racism, because it does not put all the issues in a proper International perspective. So, we can accept his arguments only as self-criticism. If the video is being self-critical, stating that this is a “foreigner’s point of view” is a cop out. As one commenter pointed out on Vimeo; he is trying to avoid taking responsibility for his own opinions (which is typically Japanese).

I personally think that: he really wanted to promote self-criticism among the Japaneses, he also wanted to tease themselves, wanted some fun. Maybe, in order to increase the good reception of his video, he purposely made the video funny. Well, the video was made based in facts, but…he was gross. I don’t liked the way that he used to promote the quarrel. He used a funny way to represent the Christian figure of dying and going to the Heaven. If exist something that we have to be extremely careful to talk about, it is religion. Specially when the quarrel involves people of many different beliefs. I also was surprised how he could make fun about the nuclear bombings. I was a bit shocked because it.

Origami

Origami (origami) (from oru meaning “folding”, and kami meaning “paper”) is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding. The goal of this art is to create a representation of an object using geometric folds and crease patterns preferably without the use of gluing or cutting the paper, and using only one piece of paper.

Origami only uses a small number of different folds, but they can be combined in a variety of ways to make intricate designs. The most well known form is probably the Japanese paper crane. In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be different colors or prints.

History and Art

Much has been written about the history of Japan, but as we all know, history is not always true. To see actual history, we must look at what is painted, carved and printed as art! This means that the common people are the ones who really know what is happening in their own country and their artistic work shows it.
We can see, in the carvings of netsuke, paintings and woodblock prints, the views of foreigners that the old Japanese had. They showed the strange dress and manners of the foreign people. The government was, generally, against foreigners and any of their ideas. The common people, however, wanted the products and benefits that the new visitors could give to Japan.
The arrival in Tokyo Bay, in 1853, of an American fleet under Commodore Matthew Perry, started many changes in Japan. Much foreign technology was adopted and shortly after that visit, the Meiji Restoration began Japan’s growth into a position of world power. In Yokohama, which was often called “The Wildwest of the Far East” due its violent nature, the foreign visitors were exciting art subjects and not considered as enemies at all. Their inventions charmed the people.
The designers, carvers, printers and publishers of woodblock prints are what we can consider as the real historians of that time. We must always look at art to show us the true sprit of a nation. That is one of the reasons that I like Japan so much. It shows me its real feelings, culture and heart through its splendid art and customs!