Based on the books of two inimitable historians – “In praise of shadows” by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki and “a Geography of Time” by Robert Levine.

When you’ll read these two very interesting and thoughtful books you will probably stop and think about the sense of time and clock, the sense of shadows and lights as they are the main ideas of them. Maybe the writers were inspired by the entire technological invasion into the inviolable historical aesthetics as Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, or just a simple comparative analysis of time that changes the countries all over the world or something else but all in these two works are great composed and worked out.
Jun’ichiro Tanizaki describes the culture of Japan in his book called “In Praise of Shadows”. It shows us the modernization of Japan in every aspect of life like toilet, theatres, lights, restaurants and moreover its reflection on the sense of aesthetics. The author shows his disappointment or better to say he’s quite furious with the cultural modernization that western people have brought to Japan.

We can perfectly understand his feelings while reading the description of chilly outside toilet or just the traditional dark colors worn by women that rarely left their houses. The well-lit toilet with modern electric lights does not fascinate him like deep, sorrowful, dark ones in a Nara or Kyoto temple, which always stands far from the main building immersed into the ocean of green leaves and moss. You’ll better understand when you’ll read it: “No words can describe that sensation as one sits in the dim light, basking in the faint glow reflected from the shoji, lost in meditation or gazing out at the garden. And surely there could be no better place to savor the pleasure than Japanese toilet where, surrounded by tranquil walls and finely grained wood, one looks out upon blue sky and green leaves”( Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, “In Praise of Shadows”)
He was assured that nothing could return the aesthetics of the past Japan. Even his favorite Kyoto restaurant was modernized with the electric lights. As you can see the problems of light and shadows are strongly examined in this book, the shadows that are the part of human being and that are inevitable in our life like the pain and an electric light that maims our surroundings.
Then he accentuates on the Fashion that seems to develop too fast converting into very astonishing forms. The cute ways of dressing with small skirts, white funny socks and shoes. New Robot – toys, games and cartoon characters with wide opened eyes and faces. All these are the new aesthetics for young woman and man that are perfectly supported by the market. This is the new kind of “cute” culture that makes a boy to dress like a girl and to show in pictures new spectacular hybrids like robot – samurai, techno Yeti and geisha Madonna.
The next would be an analysis made by Robert Levine, a professor of psychology in California. His amazing book written in a well – understandable manner is a gold mine for people who want to learn a perception of time. In this book the author shows how the culture and the geographical position could change this perception of time and how does people cope with these facts. He also demonstrates the fundamental ideas of life and culture such as “nature time,” “event time” and “clock time”.
He points on the great importance of clock time in most industrialized countries such as Japan, and says that The Americans and Europeans which go to Japan on Business would leave with a misunderstanding of those principles and attitude of people to time.
The Levine gives a comparative analysis of 31 countries using the two features: the walk speed and the time needed to complete a buying of a stamp. The first five countries also include Japan. The author sees them as aggressive. It’s almost because their life way is much quicker than ours, and they are always “ahead of us”.
In general these two books complete each other perfectly with a thorough analysis of culture and aesthetics of past and modern Japan. “In Praise of Shadows” points to the changes in aesthetics and perception of it after the western cultures’ invasion, gives us some concepts of modern Japanese society and some changes in it. “A Geography of Time” is much wider study of these changes. It shows us the complete result of industrialization and how does the Japanese treat their clock time.

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