Casi todos los que nos hemos acercado a Japón en algún momento conocemos, al menos de referencia, el libro de Alex Kerr, "Lost Japan". No creo que haya libros imprescindibles, pero si los hubiese, éste merecería considerarlo entre los candidatos.
Sin duda uno de los mejores libros que conozco para familiarizarse con un país. No es un libro de viajes, pero sí un libro iluminador para el viajero, escrito por un estadounidense que ha dedicado toda su vida a Japón, hasta el punto de que el original fue escrito en Japonés.
Después de una lectura reveladora, para consolidar su memoria y su referencia, voy a transcribir algunos pasajes que me han resultado sugerentes, brillantes o me han hecho descubrir el camino hacia determinadas claves del país del oriente. Procedo:
"...
The grand old Japanese houses were not just houses. Each house was a 'program' - designed to unfold and reveal itself in stages, like unrolling a handscroll. (pg.16)
For Japan as a nation, the old world has become irrelevant; (...) In contrast to Europe, change came (...) in a truly precipitous fashion. What's more, these changes were introduced from a completely alien culture. (pgs 26,27)
Japan is a country where the exterior is more often valued over the interior. (...) The importance of the exterior may be seen in the conflict between tatemae (oficially stated position) and honne (real intent)... (pg.64)
Focus on the 'instant' is characteristic of Japanese culture as a whole. (pg.65)
Japan is not a country of thinkers. (pg.113 - recomiendo revisar en el libro las consecuencias de este sorprendente argumento).
The Japanese educational system aims to produce a high average level of achievement for all rather than excellence for a few. Students in schools are not encouraged to stand out or ask questions, with the result that the Japanese become conditioned to a life of the averaga. Being average and boring here is the very essence of society, the factor wich keeps the wheels of all those social systems turning so smoothly. (pg.115)
There is an ancient Chinese saying, 'Calligraphy is a portrait of the heart'. (pg.126)
Tea ceremony is aesthetics for unaesthetic people (...) Zen is profundity for shallow people. (...) Westerns with their full-blown personalities are infinite in interest as human beings. But Western Culture is so limited in depth. The Japanese, on the other hand, so restricted by their society, are limited as human beings, but their culture is infinitely deep. (pg.140)
... the people of Kyoto has eveloped the technique of never saying anything. (pg.173)
Much has been written about the way Japanese buildings harmonize with nature, but there is another side to this: the strong tendency to bind and restrict nature. (pg.186)
The ultimate luxury -complete functionlessness- is absent. Zen, in particular, is a serious affair: mu (nothingness) is a virtue, but muyo (functionlessness) is a sin. (pg.193)
Sitting in front of a pachinko machineis the modern form of meditation. (pg.209 - fascinante la reflexión extensa sobre los pachinko)
With everyone so well behaved and satisfied with their mediocre lives, Japan specializes in low-level pleasures. (...) Pachinko verges on sensory deprivation. It is the ultimate mental numbing, the final victory of the educational system. (pg.223)
The military ethos is still a dominant force in Japan society. (pg.239)
From gardens to tea bowls, all objects (for Japanese art) are designed to be seen from one particular point of view. (pg.255)
CItando a Kawase (maestro de Ikebana): "Showing something natural is its native state, is not art. Artifice piled on artifice, giving you the illusion of the natural - that's art. (...) Only the most perfect dream aproaches reality." (pg.256)
