When you hear the word ‘Tokyo’, what are the first things that come to mind? For the sake of amusement, we’ll eliminate ‘sumo’, ‘anime’ and ‘sushi’. OK, GO!
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I’m willing to bet that ‘super-conservative bureaucracy’, ‘exorbitant costs of living’ and ‘mind-numbing levels of societal pressure’ were not the first things you associated with the Empire of the Rising Sun. In fact, I’m positive this microcosm of a city has more to teach us about the past, present and future of an entire country than we ever could have imagined. Luckily for us mere mortals, these brilliant minds are about to give us an inside view of one of the most multifaceted-yet-still-homogenous societies this world has to offer.
Meet Morteza Ariana, an Iranian-born and revolution-raised visual artist who, by chance of fate, found himself sneaking under the Berlin Wall into West Germany after his tenure as a soldier during the Iran/Iraq war. Unbeknown to Ariana, his adventure was only just beginning. It was in Germany he fell in love with a Japanese woman who would set him on a course of lifelong discovery. Morteza – ‘Mori’, for short – delved into language and history. He learned that essentially all aspects of Japanese society were fundamentally art forms, be it sado (‘the way of tea’) or kendo (‘the way of the sword’). He was enamoured with the ubiquitous concept of harmony with nature; so much so that that the word for ‘art’ doubled as the word for ‘flower’ (kado, in case you were wondering).
One of his fondest discoveries was that ancient Buddhist temples doubled as art schools; one was expected to have an understanding of natural beauty before they could hope to attain Zazen: ‘emptiness of the mind’. Ariana was seduced by the sophistication of Japanese culture; understandably so, considering the fact he was developing his own artistic identity and belief system at the time. “I had given up God and Islam” says Mori, who, by chance of art, inadvertently discovered Buddhism and Confucianism. “Art is the ultimate manifestation of being” and Mori will attest much of this enlightenment to his time spent in the spiritual capital of Kyoto.
Unfortunately, every utopia has an underbelly and Japan is no different. Among the vocabulary he acquired was the word karoshi: the act of working oneself to death, literally. As it stands, Japan on average loses 30,000 people a year to suicide due to an overwhelming drive to succeed in virtually all aspects of life. An additional 30,000+ die from over-exhaustion. Governmentally speaking, Japan has been a functional oligarchy for the last few centuries. One could argue that the imperial family has controlled politics and economy since the end of the feudal Meiji era.
Take a gander at the state of public schooling and it’s pretty easy to believe. Students are well versed in little else than learning by rote, deference to authority and a general submission to groupthink – a far cry from the free-minded artistry of antiquity. The relationship front is not much better, either. For a country so technologically advanced, family hierarchies and gender roles are strikingly antiquated; many relationships are still expected to result in marriage and most marriages are contingent upon social status. Contraceptives are a bit taboo and thus not always used, so many metropolises boast dangerously high abortion rates.
The bulk of these issues are faced by those considered Gaijin, or ‘outsiders’. As it turns out, for a culture so big on universal harmony and artistic inclusiveness, our neighbours to the East are well versed in the art of xenophobia. Says Mori: “Japanese conformity and homogeneity can be seen as the products of conscious and unconscious control of the economic and political system.”
If this is the case, it’s easy to see why so many 20-somethings are kicking the bucket in the woods, especially if you’re not particularly talented, ambitious or attractive. In fact, there is a term for many of these poor, wretched souls: hikikomori (‘one who avoids social contact and confines themself to isolation’). In the triptych TOKYO!, writers Joon Ho, Michael Gondry and Leos Carax attack many of these very issues in a way that only disgruntled Surrealists can, although admittedly these interpretations take a bit more sifting than does Ariana’s photography. Take a look at the brutish, grenade-tossing madman in Leos Carax’s Merde and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. For an up-close and personal view of such gems, check Meta House for Ariana’s exhibit Made In Japan, and the screening of TOKYO! Bring an open mind or at the very least, a mind-altering substance: the banality of this weirdness just may shock you – and that’s sans cosplay.
WHO: Artist Morteza Ariana
WHAT: Made In Japan exhibition opening (6pm) plus TOKYO! screening (8pm)
WHERE: Meta House, #37 Sothearos Blvd.
WHEN: From 6pm August 20
WHY: Everyone’s turning Japanese