The Beautiful and the Everyday

This will be a posting primarily of pictures.  Half are of Shukkeien, a stunning Hiroshima garden and half of everyday scenes from my travels here so far. Together, I hope they give a somewhat fuller sense of Japan and the many layers of this country.

Shukkeien, one of Japan’s great gardens, is small, roughly 12 acres in size (about two New York City blocks).  It was built in 1620 for Hiroshima’s feudal lord and restored after the war.  Some of the trees actually survived the bombing and bloomed the following year. 

Shukkeien is designed so that at every turn you see a new vista.  It has a plum orchard, which at this time of year attracts lots of people, including some serious photographers and amateur watercolorists. Shukkeien also attracts the newly-married who want to have their picture taken in this beautiful garden.  It was just lovely to be there, to wander, look, sit, watch people and enjoy the beautiful and careful plantings.

The pictures of everyday Japan are something of a counterpart to the beauty of Shukkeien.  In my travels here and in talking with friends, I realized we all tend to focus on what we find beautiful or interesting, but rarely what we think is ugly.  As I looked back through the pictures I’ve taken, I certainly am guilty of that.

Though I actually tried to take pictures of what was unappealing, there are none that showed the grey city buildings, streets barely wide enough for a single car, or some decrepit buildings, all of which exist here.  But the pictures I do have are of things that I have found in virtually every town or city I’ve visited.

Everyone hangs out their laundry, and even new apartment buildings have small balconies with poles built in for hanging.  My guess is that dryers take so much expensive energy, and the Japanese are very careful users.  But everyone has an air conditioner, necessary in Japan's hot and humid summers.  Shopping arcades are Japan's pedestrian malls, probably what were once narrow streets.  It works, especially when it rains.  I was fascinated with the American chains that had stores here, including the unexpected Lawsons Milk and Seven Eleven.  And yes, McDonalds and some Starbucks are here, too.