Simply..hurrah....

28/6/2017

..for YouTube.

Here is a link to my favourite programme so far in the wonderful BBC Four Japan series.

Watch the artist about 30 minutes in - so exciting! And towards the end the typical apartments of young people - 'the real Japan is anything but zen' says presenter James Fox - make you understand more about Marie Kondo. What resonates with me particularly is architect Fujimori's statement that 'Humans need to be close to natural elements, like earth, water, plants.'

I wonder if any of you know who wrote the poem that includes these words We were not meant for escalators....we were meant for thunder...
I have googled it and searched my collection of Mary Oliver, but to no avail and I would love to find it again....

I kept pausing the programme last night to photograph the dramatic sky!

11 Comments

Linda

28/6/2017 03:04:49 pm

Found this as part of a longer quote (not a poem) on goodreads, sounds right.
Jay Griffiths, Wild: An Elemental Journey
................We are animal in our blood and in our skin. We were not born for pavements and escalators but for thunder and mud..........

Freda

28/6/2017 03:20:39 pm

Thank you so much Linda! Yes, I remember now. (I think maybe Cath first mentioned the book.)

cath

29/6/2017 11:41:23 am

Jay Griffiths has a lecture on YouTube too. If you haven't watched it already I recommend Ferocious Tenderness.

Madeleine Lawrence

28/6/2017 09:46:57 pm

I loved the documentary link Freda. I do wish, though, that they had showed more typical family homes, not just the extreme tiny, cluttered apartments of younger people. All of the city scenes made me so appreciative of my country home here in Australia. My part of the country is peaceful and spacious, with wide open views of the sky. I shan't take it for granted so much now.

Madeleine.x

Freda

29/6/2017 02:16:16 pm

I see your point Madeleine. There are another two programmes in the series which may show more. I was in the city today and enjoyed it but am so glad to come home to my country home!

Swissrose link

29/6/2017 12:32:17 am

I have seen a couple of the programmes and recorded a couple more, so yes, fascinating. Loved the one about the kimono and now fancying a visit to Kyoto... must watch the others I taped, now!
And yes, I have felt from the start that some understanding of Japanese culture and mentality are necessary to appreciate Konmari! I read a fair bit of criticism of her first book due to this and felt it had not been well translated for the western world, either in English or German, unfortunately.

Freda

29/6/2017 02:19:20 pm

She has now done it in Manga form (see the Hokusai film for further insight). Fascinating isn't it to see a culture so different from your own, and to try to understand it even a little. The skill and patience that goes into the making of the kimonos - awe inspiring!

Grace

29/6/2017 10:18:40 am

You have no idea how much the words from that poem speak to me right now. I want so much to jump off the escalator, but haven't quite worked out how to manage it ...

Freda

29/6/2017 02:20:02 pm

You will Grace I am sure!

cath

29/6/2017 11:44:14 am

The dramatic sky would have won from the programme for me too.

Freda

29/6/2017 02:20:46 pm

And tonight! Thank you for the link Cath.

Simply..hurrah....

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