I read today, an interesting article - "Enhancing Japan's Cultural Crafts" - a discussion between two living legends of Japan - Tadao Ando and Miyake Issey (JapanEcho, August 2007).
The discussion started off with 21_21 Design Sight which was inaugurated on March 30 at the new Tokyo Midtown complex in Roppongi. It is a 'design museum' that preserves and introduces "Japan's legacy of design and faces the future while reflecting the trends of the current age".
The facility is operated by the Miyake Issey Foundation and, and was designed by Tadao Ando. Across Tokyo Midtown you also have Toto's architectural gallery, called Gallery Ma, as well as the National Art Centre and the Mori Art Museum.
But this post is not about galleries in Tokyo. It is about the thoughts of two individuals who represent the brightest facets of the island nation; ideas that have turned Japan from post-war rubble to an economic powerhouse.
I keep looking for the secrets of Japan's dynamism -- can some aspects of it be replicated in India? Having worked for ten years in a Japanese government agency, I am convinced that in today's Japan, the government machinery is the last place to seek dynamism. It is more like a sluggish, paranoid giant that lives in delusions of past grandeur (a familiar attitude in India), oblivious of world that is rapidly changing. It was wonderful to know that great minds are grappling with this problem.
Here are some excerpts:
"The really important thing is to have a goal -- to have a goal and to carefully manage your time...Japan became a powerhouse after the war because manufacturers took time to make their products while solving problems one by one. Lamenting about the current state of affairs with complaints about "kids these days" won't change anything; my idea is to increas the number of people with this patient, problem-solving mind-set, even if only a few.
"If we trace the roots of Japanese design, we discover that its origins lie in "daily-life design". In the late 1920's Yanagi Muneyoshi, the father of industrial designer Yanagi Munemichi, led what was called the Japanese folk-craft movement. It emphasized discovery of beauty amid daily life and produced work of wonderful quality that were highly praised by Bernard Leach, a British potter who visited Japan during that period...
"Without a past, you cannot have a prestnt. And because there is a present, there will be a future.
"If you look at redevelopment projects like Shinagawa and Shiodome, you can see that they've been built neatly, quickly, and beautifully, but they don't respond to people's curiosity. We need to build city communities where you can enjoy yourself without spending money and that satisfy curiosity.
"In Japan people think it's "cultural" to bring objects from other countries, but this is nothing more than paying money to borrow things...
"With few exceptions, bureaucrats are a rather dull bunch. And even politicians are mostly indifferent -- they only apply their mind to elections. Most bureaucrats have done nothing but study since they were children, and they haven't cultivated their sensibilities. People like these, who have grown up without time to think freely on their own, are the ones leading the country. In this light it is imperative that we make changes in the current structures and systems.
"All government ministries and agencies are structured vertically, and there is complete lack of dialogue among them...
"Japanese havn't managed to inteact will with the rest of the world. People may blame this on the language barrier, but it's more a matter of psychological inertia. It is more important than ever for Japanese to enter into dialogue with the rest of the world. We have to realise that we are living in such an age."
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