[PREV - ECOLOGY_OF_MIND] [TOP]
August 08, 2022
There are two things I've known
about Japanese culture that I've (Which might even be true.)
learned from various sources, and
it's suddenly occurred to me that (While watching the third episode
I don't see how they fit together. of "The Anicient DooGo Girl".)
Most Japanese have a strong belief OTAKU_USA_2017
in something like "animism", they
think that everything around them
has a spirit of it's own.
This is not just true of natural
phenomena like trees and mountains,
it also seems to be true of Myself, I think many
manufactured products. Japanese products have an
evident quality to them
that results from this
respect for these objects.
But it is also true that Japan has ANIMISTS
an obsession with *new* products,
they dislike keeping old things
around to the point where there are
many very serviceable things that Dangerbaby comments that when
are simply discarded. living in Kyoto in the late 80s,
she and her fellow English teacher
gaijin weirdos were all riding
around on "gomi bikes", abandoned
bicycles that they would just
reclaim from the trash.
How do these two things
fit together? An LA Times story from 1987:
If the bicycle has a spirit of "Scavenging for ‘Gomi’: Garbage
it's own, how can you justify Can Yield Treasures in Japan"
treating it in this disrespectful
fashion? https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-11-15-mn-20827-story.html
To me, this sounds like "nouveau
riche" behavior: wasteful behavior to
demonstrate you have wealth to waste.
It could be there's another angle here
though: I've heard you can get some
serious deals on things like antique A Western self-styled
kimonos: many people refuse to wear modern animist on
the clothing of the dead, presuming youtube regards it as
it's haunted by their spirits. a nice feature of
cities that there are
Maybe those Gomi Bikes are *old* buildings in
bicycles of the dead? cities, expecting them
to be infused with the
spirit of the people
But then, I've often wondered who've lived there
why this would be a problem: over the years.
if you can address these
spirits, couldn't you ask them Opposite behavior
for permission and/or offer from an identical
them tribute or apology for belief system...
using an old object?
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