Chronicles of an Ordinary Japan. Discovering Japanese Society.
Elytis| N° d'inventaire | 22420 |
| Format | 17 x 24 |
| Détails | 304 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Bordeaux, 2019 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782356392718 |
"A group of tourists who came to spend about ten days in Japan told me they were enchanted by the national kindness and helpfulness of the Japanese; but many wondered whether the legendary kindness of the Japanese was innate or the product of programming. Behind this questioning lies the question of what the Japanese really think. I am the first to appreciate everything that makes life so pleasant in Japan: the sense of a job well done or of responsibility, the desire to always do better, and the certainty that anyone who makes the required effort can achieve it. The sense of perfection is brought to its paroxysm in the martial arts, whose motto could be, better than yesterday, but worse than tomorrow. I am not talking about security (unparalleled), nor the services (the customer is king). The list is inexhaustible, so pleasant is the care in this "gigantic uterus in which we bathe," as child psychiatrist Watanabe Hisako likes to repeat. It is difficult - even impossible - to theorize about a country whose definition seems to be, why make it simple when you can make it complicated. My approach is therefore close to that of Nicolas Bouvier when he wrote Le vide et le plein: in the form of mosaics, I like to observe and explore everything that responds to a different logic. "In fact, these chronicles immerse the reader in another continent, where Western logic and culture are disoriented.
"A group of tourists who came to spend about ten days in Japan told me they were enchanted by the national kindness and helpfulness of the Japanese; but many wondered whether the legendary kindness of the Japanese was innate or the product of programming. Behind this questioning lies the question of what the Japanese really think. I am the first to appreciate everything that makes life so pleasant in Japan: the sense of a job well done or of responsibility, the desire to always do better, and the certainty that anyone who makes the required effort can achieve it. The sense of perfection is brought to its paroxysm in the martial arts, whose motto could be, better than yesterday, but worse than tomorrow. I am not talking about security (unparalleled), nor the services (the customer is king). The list is inexhaustible, so pleasant is the care in this "gigantic uterus in which we bathe," as child psychiatrist Watanabe Hisako likes to repeat. It is difficult - even impossible - to theorize about a country whose definition seems to be, why make it simple when you can make it complicated. My approach is therefore close to that of Nicolas Bouvier when he wrote Le vide et le plein: in the form of mosaics, I like to observe and explore everything that responds to a different logic. "In fact, these chronicles immerse the reader in another continent, where Western logic and culture are disoriented.