(89)After arriving in Yokohama, I immediately wanted to see everything and more! One of my first favorite scenes was of this quaint Japanese garden; it was so different from our own, rich bustling home! Since the Japanese still aren't quite on the up and up yet, they have much of this scenery still preserved; it's really quite relaxing. Hohohohoho. You can see the still great use of wooden framework too! Quite pretty architecture, I must say. Moving on...
(214)As I progressed through my journey into this beautify wild and exciting country, I began to admire its people as well as its scenery! These three lovely ladies are dressed in the traditional dress of the country, which as you can see is quite different from our own. Still quite flowing, modest and feminine though, hohohoho. The more well bred youth in he country is tasked with learning the arts, though I'm not sure how artful this music was, hohohohoho. Quite fascinating though, to see how different their use of instruments is from ours.
Their country folk though, are quite a different story! Not as interesting I would say, as the young girls about the town, but quite quaint! They seem to be hard working people, rough and tumble, I would say, hohoho! Didn't feel the need to stray much in small towns such as in the one where we saw these folk, but they seem to share the same passion for that plain tea as much as the rest of the Japanese!
(210)Some of the Japanese architecture were really quite a sight! Pagodas and temples often fit in well with the greenery around them, looking almost as old as the forest! In this particular one, you can really see the ornate detail the Japanese put into their work. Very fun coloration as well, really added to how exotic this building felt! The stone lanterns in front really add to the mysterious atmosphere as well, eh?
Perhaps one of the most intriguing things I saw was a sacred dance by the natives! Quite strange sounding and slow, but perhaps appropriate for the worship of their own heathenish gods, eh? Hohohoho. It almost appeared as something pulled out of the depths of time, what with the ancient stone surrounding us, the manner of dress and the manner of worship going on. Quite the interesting costumes and scenery, though!
---
So, for this post, I attempted to take on the persona of a rich old man with some time on his hands whom decided to follow the globetrotter trend. The man I portrayed very clearly had a sense that the west was superior to Japan, and chose to look only at the portions of Japan that resonated with his view that Japan was not modernized; commenting upon the untouched nature of Japan, what looked to be ancient traditions and its architecture, which is quite different from the east. He also seems to think that Christianity is superior to any Japanese sort of worship, and is thus intrigued by any sort of Buddhist or Shinto practice, which also helps him to classify the Japanese as 'other'. Overall, he views the western world as more modernized, educated and 'right', while viewing Japan as underdeveloped, exotic, and as a place to be viewed and studied.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI think that this post was really entertaining and very straightforward to read. The way the narrative was written, I almost felt like your persona was going through a slide show and describing the photos. I think you succeeded in portraying the old man. Good job!! :]
Aw, thank you! Glad to hear that I seemed to have accomplished what I wanted to do.
DeleteIt was a lot of fun to read this post. I liked that you kept in character the whole way through, though still maintained accurate points about what it was you were seeing, even if it was through the eyes of a cheery American (I'm picturing a Santa from all the 'hohohos'). I also really like the images that you chose. There is a lot of variety between them that emphasizes different parts of Japan.
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks so much! And yeah, that was what I was going for, thank you. :)
Delete