To the distant observer
‘Examining the ‘otherness’ of Japanese culture

A Lateral View, Essays on
Culture and Style in Contem-
porary Japan, by Donald
Richie, Publ. Stone Bridge
Press, 245 pp, softcover

REMEMBER the day |
discovered gestures were
not universal.

it was on Crete, 1985. | was
blitheiy conveying what Donald
Richie calls the ‘nearly univer-
sal...right-handed gesture denoting
the act of eating’ to.a wizened
‘ Greek woman doubled over with
a load of firewood.
The result was a frenzy of
mutual hand flapping and babb!-
_ing — testimony to the peculiar
“ethnicity of hand signs. |
Richie’s book of essays on con-
temporary Japanese culture is
devoted to examining the
“pecuiiar ethnicity’ of the Japa-

nese. ty
With his acute perception,

Richie gives the socio-cultural

background for behaviors that

 , westerners have always viewed

- with a bemused curiosity, from the
‘ ,Japanese penchant for group ac-
. tivities.to the eerie machinations of
e@ Vok theutre. : -
= What emerges is an engaging in-
-.." troduction to the Japanese collec-
tive'soul, one that, despite its
modernity; is underneath clothed
in.ancient Asian garb.
-'s For instance, while they appear
. to have embraced an army-ant
-- wark ethic, Richie observes that
- once work is over the western
time schedule gives way to
“more purely Asian. rhythms.”
~.fn “’Gesture as language” ;
ichie-gets behind the japanese
smile, which is not what
westerners perceive to be an
eagerness to please or placate.
© smile‘is not only an ingrained
ial duty.in Japan, it has become
internalized.’’ oa,
: People smiling in the face of -
dversity. are not being obse-
ious, they are displaying a phil-
osophica! acceptance of events,
ays Richie,’ : to

Barbara Black
BOOK REVIEW

Other essays in the collection
include forays into the Japanese
theatre, film and city, all of which
lift a veil of ignorance from the
reader and create wonder and
respect for this culture.

Wind and Stone, by Masaaki
Tachihara, Publ. Stone Bridge
Fvess, 159 pp, softcover

In stark contrast to Richie’s il-
luminating zssays and from the
same publisher is Masaaki
Tachihara’s novel Wind and
Stone, translated by Stephen W.
Kohl.

There is something unnervingly
dispassionate about this book
despite jacket assertions that
Tachihara “explores the
psychology of human passion.”

I'm still uncertain whether it is
the author’s shortcoming (yes) or
my own shortcoming as a western
reader that leaves this story flat.

Some aspects of the story which
1 found as distasteful as biting into
a betentacled clump of sushi were
made more palatable by Richie’s
explanations, surprisingly.

_ When the central figure, Mizue,
for instance, admits to her hus-
band Shida she’s having an affair,
he sees only an affront to his
public respectability and does not
consider his complicity in the
marriage breakdown. | was scan-

. datized.

But, as Richie observes, ir Japan
the social and private individual .
are as one. :

While control of the individual,

- in the way of strict social mores, is
anathema to westerners, it is not

for the Japanese.

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They honor the group code and
protect the business persona.

After Mizue’s husband degrades
(and spouse-rapes) her as punish-
‘ment tor adultery, she realizes
“Shida could have done far
worse than leaving her body feel-
ing numb. Her husband was more
mature than she had realized.”

Later, Shida takes a lover and
acts more flagrantly with her than
Mizue ever did.

While the restrictions upon and
misogynist attitudes toward
women are clear, they are never
commented upon by the author.
In fact, his male characters seem
to corraborate.
~ The love-starved and distraught
Mizue, aroused by the sensual
design of her lover Kase’s garden,
embarks on a doomed effort of
personal growth.

Rather than allowing us to sym-
pathize with this very human
adulteress (as in Tolstoy’s Anna
Karenina), the author injects a sub-
tle disdain for her behavior, leav-
ing us uncomfortably ambivalent.

Perhaps this is because, in the
end, any possibility for fulfilment
on Mizue’s part is unlikely.

Tachihara peppers the novel.
with references to the Japanese
garden esthetic. © -

Kase, the gardener and antist, in
fact designs Shida and Mizue’s
garden with the specific purpose
of arousing Mizue.

The interplay of the two sen-
sualities — human and garden —
is an interesting idea, but in
Tachihara’s writing comes off
one-dimensional. co

He writes ‘‘Kase told her how

he had realized her body was like -

the path in 2 tea garden.” It is all
See Tachihara’s poge 30

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