Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
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Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
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Re: Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
#2I remember this was one thing that really made an impact on me about Japan when I went there as an exchange student.
"Even their manholes are thoroughly done and look amazing! What is even going on!?"
They can still make me smile every now and again when I visit, and I really admire the "Japanese sense of" (I don't know if it's particular to Japan) putting lots of effort into something seemingly mundane; putting effort into something which yields no practical return on investment. I wish there was more of this artisanship in the everyday city-life around us, to keep remind us how lovely life can really be. It's easy to forget sometimes.
Re: Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
#3I remember this was one thing that really made an impact on me about Japan when I went there as an exchange student. "Even their manholes are thoroughly done and look amazing! What is even going on!?" They can still make me smile every now and again when I visit, and I really admire the "Japanese sense of" (I don't know if it's particular to Japan) putting lots of effort into something seemingly mundane; putting effo…
I think you'll enjoy Junichiro Tanizaki's essay: "In Praise of Shadows"[1] on Japanese aesthetics - from toilet design to art of Kintsukuroi. If you haven't read it, it was written more than 50 years ago[2] and still stands true about the Japanese aesthetic culture - it is amazing.
[1][PDF] http://wwwedu.artcenter.edu/mertzel/spatial_scenography_1/Cl...
Re: Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
#4If they are too beautiful people might walk away with them.
Re: Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
#5I remember this was one thing that really made an impact on me about Japan when I went there as an exchange student. "Even their manholes are thoroughly done and look amazing! What is even going on!?" They can still make me smile every now and again when I visit, and I really admire the "Japanese sense of" (I don't know if it's particular to Japan) putting lots of effort into something seemingly mundane; putting effo…
Never has "because I can" applied more to a single nation. And it's all the more refreshing where things in the West only happen if there's a hustle behind it.
Re: Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
#6I remember this was one thing that really made an impact on me about Japan when I went there as an exchange student. "Even their manholes are thoroughly done and look amazing! What is even going on!?" They can still make me smile every now and again when I visit, and I really admire the "Japanese sense of" (I don't know if it's particular to Japan) putting lots of effort into something seemingly mundane; putting effo…
Never has "because I can" applied more to a single nation. And it's all the more refreshing where things in the West only happen if there's a hustle behind it.
I disagree. The US is "because I can". Japan is "because I should".
Re: Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
#7If they are too beautiful people might walk away with them.
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Re: Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
#8Why do some of the manhole covers have English, not Japanese, text on them?
Re: Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
#9I remember this was one thing that really made an impact on me about Japan when I went there as an exchange student. "Even their manholes are thoroughly done and look amazing! What is even going on!?" They can still make me smile every now and again when I visit, and I really admire the "Japanese sense of" (I don't know if it's particular to Japan) putting lots of effort into something seemingly mundane; putting effo…
>I wish there was more of this artisanship in the everyday city-life around us, to keep remind us how lovely life can really be. It's easy to forget sometimes.
Modern cities and buildings are all about quick bucks and ROI.
Even our costly monumental works (museums and such) are built by inflated-ego architects for the bucks, and with no sense of public beauty -- just their modernist or post-modernist personal ideology.
That's one thing that gets me about people suggesting to others to "just move" to find a job, and that they don't have to have any ties to any place (e.g. their home state).
In the end, this means treating every place as a temporary residency, sort of like a hotel, and having no civic concern and pride in it. In other words, it ends with ugly cities and dystopias.
The inverse would be the pride with which people like old New Yorkers loved their city (and of course old Europeans cities like Vienna, Paris, and so on).
Re: Japan’s elaborate, colorful manhole covers
#10If they are too beautiful people might walk away with them.
While it occasionally happens, in Japan they still have a sense of civic responsibility. They wouldn't do that.
There's also the fact that you could (statistically) also forget your Macbook Pro in a crowded public park in Tokyo and come back 2 hours later to find it there untouched (and unstolen).