Presentation on Japanese Aesthetics

Space Doctors / Japanese Aesthetics CREATIVE SEMIOTICS LTD.
スペースドクトルズ
日本の感性論
Thursday 28th April 2016

記号論 = SEMIOTICS　(LITERALLY ‘SIGN THEORY’)
記号（きごう） = SYMBOL, SIGN, CODE, NOTATION
(ARCHAIC: AIDE-MEMOIRE)
印（しるし） = STAMP, SEAL, MARK, IMPRINT
(ARCHAIC: OMEN)

1  JAPAN: A SEMIOTIC CULTURE
2  AESTHETIC APPROACHES
3  ART / DESIGN TRADITIONS
4  JAPANESE VISUAL CODES
5  MY INTEREST IN JAPAN
CONTENTS

“The modernisation of Japan has been
orientated toward learning from and
imitating the West.
Yet Japan is situated in Asia and has firmly
maintained its traditional culture”
What I call Japan’s ‘ambiguity’ is my lecture
is a kind of chronic disease that has been
prevalent through the modern age”
Kenzaburo Oe, “Japan, the Ambiguous and
Myself”, Nobel Prize for Literature Speech
(1994)
JAPAN, THE AMBIGUOUS AND MYSELF

1. JAPAN: A SEMIOTIC
CULTURE
Context Dependence
Unique Writing System
Japanese Exceptionalism

Japan is a high context, detail driven culture in which everything is
inscribed with information saying how it should be used and in what
way. The above are taken from Japan Metro public service ads.
Industrial design objects like toilets, public information signage all
contain a wealth of text in order to orient and inform the Japanese.
CONTEXT DEPENDENCE

CONTEXT DEPENDENCE
Where to stand when queuing to pay:
“Please stand here and wait for the
cashier to call you forward”
At a Zen Garden in Tokushima. Slightly unusual form of sign. Often
in Japan there is information that might seem to be redundant.

Unique to Japanese is the semantic complexity of the script, three
writing systems that involve knowledge not only each sign and its
referent, but also about how the writing scripts combine in syntax in
grammar and how the meaning of ideograms shift in combination.
UNIQUE WRITING SYSTEM
2. KATAKANA
3. KANJI
1. HIRAGANA

UNIQUE WRITING SYSTEM
Puru puru,（ぷるぷる）meaning ‘bouncy’ Tsubu tsubu, （つぶつぶ）meaning ‘grainy’
For instance, Japanese has a system of onomatopeiac, mimetic
sounds called gitaigo that enabled them to express, feeling, nuance,
sensation – this is a fun facet of Japanese often used in advertising

Uniquely Western and Eastern – post modern before post modern.
Colonial power that asserted itself in the region in late 19th Century.
An Asian country that deep down sees itself as unique and separate
from other nations in the region. Though mix of Ainu and SE Asian.
Shares the Confucian values, sensibilities of North Asian nations but
shares the alienation clannishness of Scandinavian / Baltic countries.
Nihonjinron discourse feeds sense of Japanese exceptionalism and
feeds both insular, psychic togetherness and persistent xenophobia.
JAPANESE EXCEPTIONALISM

JAPANESE EXCEPTIONALISM
1920s Moga Modern Japanese girl : “Shiseido Face of Beauty”
Nihonjinron has fed beliefs about the uniqueness of Japan and the
Japanese: one of the areas of this uniqueness is the Japanese face
As Mikiko Ashikari writes: “Although there may be no ‘Japanese race’
in any scientific or biological sense, the Japanese tend to perceive
themselves as a distinct ‘racial’ group who share the same skin.”
“Cultivating Japanese Whiteness: The ‘Whitening’ Cpsmetics Boom and Japanese Identity”
Photo from Tokyo Design Week 2013

2. AESTHETIC
APPROACHES
EMPTINESS: Empire of Signs
OCCLUSION: In Praise of Shadows
TRANSIENCE: Situational Aesthetics

EMPTINESS: EMPIRE OF SIGNS
“Empire of Signs?
Yes, if it is understood that these signs are
empty and that the ritual is without a god.”
ROLAND BARTHES, THE EMPIRE OF SIGNS

“The West has understood this law only too well: all its cities are concentric; but also, in
accord with the very movement of Western metaphysics, for which every center is the site
of truth, the center of our cities is always full… The city I am talking about Tokyo, offers this
precious paradox: it does possess a center, but this center is empty. The entire city turns
around a site both forbidden and indifferent, a residence concealed beneath foliage,
protected by moats, inhabited by an emperor who is never seen… The streets of this city
have no names… the largest city in the world is practically unclassified. In this enormous city,
really an urban territory, each district is placed on the rather empty map, like a news flash.”
ROLAND BARTHES, THE EMPIRE OF SIGNS

“What is remarkable about Japanese culture or the
Japanese language as well, is that this semiotic
mechanism is working quite strongly…in order for alien
elements to be admitted into the culture… The empty
center, however, could have no scruple about it, since it is
at least theoretically ready to lend itself to, or even
invites, all kinds of possible reorganization based on any
standard of values and ideologies. A culture with an
empty centre would this tend to work centripetally – it is
somewhat like the astronomer’s black hole which draws
and absorbs evertyhig into itself – without suffering any
change at all. A culture with an empty centre can
accommodate and keep in it apparently diverse
elements.”
YOSHIHIKO IKEGAMA (ED.), THE EMPIRE OF SIGNS:
SEMIOTIC ESSAYS ON JAPANESE CULTURE

OCCLUSION: IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS
“Whenever I see the alcove of a tastefully built
Japanese room, I marvel at our comprehension
of the secrets of shadows, our sensitive use of
shadow and light… This was the genius of our
ancestors, that by cutting off light from this
empty space they imparted to the world of
shadows that formed there a quality of mystery
and depth superior to that of any wall painting”
JUNICHIRO TANIZAKI, IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS

“We do not dislike everything that shines but we prefer a pensive
luster to a shallow brilliance, a murky light, that whether in a stone or
an artifact, bespeaks a sheen of antiquity. I realised then that only in
the dim light is the true beauty of Japanese lacquerware revealed.”
JUNICHIRO TANIZAKI, IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS
OCCLUSION: IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS

“This particular aesthetic system does not recognize beauty in the
individual elements of a scene … beauty is born of a combination of
circumstances, including time, setting and scenery. It is not an
inherent, innate, fixed characteristic of an individual object… In
Japanese aesthetics… it is believed that beauty arises from a
specific situation. It can disappear when circumstances change.
Western societies, in contrast, have formulated … ‘substantial
aesthetics’, in which the mainstream notion of beauty is traditionally
considered to have a specific objective reality”. When a Westerner
says, for example, “The bird is beautiful,” he perceives that beauty
exists in the bird itself, independently of the bird’s circumstances.
Because this system of substantial aesthetics is predicated on the
notion that beauty is something with an objective reality”
SHUJI TAKASHINA, BEAUTY IN JAPAN AND THE WEST
Face to Face: Shiseido and the Manufacture of Beauty 1900-2000
TRANSIENCE: SITUATIONAL AESTHETICS

The beauty of a Zen garden inheres not in the qualities of individual
features, but in the placement and inter-relationships between them.

Kou you,（こうよう紅葉）
meaning red, yellow leaves’
Autumn viewing is popular,
One aspect of this is the Japanese love for changing of the seasons,
which occasion social gathering for viewing the cherry blossoms in the
Spring and for viewing Red, Yellow Leaves in the Autumn. Consumer
culture is often carried away by a focus on seasonal colour schemes
and the special feelings, rituals associated with each of the seasons.
Sakura,（桜さくら）
meaning cherry blossoms.
Spring viewing is popular,

The Ise Shrine in Mie Prefecture provides a typical example of this.
“Every twenty years, the shrine is razed and rebuilt in a rite called
shikinen sengu. Obviously, the newly rebuilt structure is not the same as
previous one. According to Western Aesthetics,… the rebuilt copy is a
copy, if not a sham... Having no faith in permanence of memory,
Japanese believe permanence of form ensures succession of memory.”
SHUJI TAKASHINA, BEAUTY IN JAPAN AND THE WEST

“This famous poem by an unknown author is made up of a total of
47 hiragana characters (every symbol except the n). It dates from
the Heian Era. It originally appeared in an official document in 1079.
It is used by Japanese children to learn the 50 sounds of Japanese.
Even at a young age, Japanese are confronted with the ephemeral.
Colours and shapes may
blossom, but not for long.
In this life, nobody lives
forever.
Going beyond the summits
of illusion.
No longer shallow dreams
of ecstasy.

3. ART / DESIGN
TRADITIONS
Calligraphy
Decorative Art

“There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist is forced to be
spontaneous. He must paint on a thin stretched parchment with a
special brush and black water paint in such a way that an unnatural
or interrupted stroke will not destroy the line or break through the
parchment. Erasures or changes are impossible…” Bill Evans
Liner notes from Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue
CALLIGRAPHY

“In calligraphy there are also many styles to be mastered: these
range from the more restrained, rectilinear styles, such as the
kaisho style, through oracle and seal scripts through the cursive
script (gyousho) all the way through to running script (sousho) style
as well as non- standard abstract expressionist forms like Zen’ei.”
CALLIGRAPHY

CALLIGRAPHY
光男間,（みつをあいだ）
Popular poet, calligrapher
and philosopher who
emphasized importance of
human beings individuality
and encouraged human
flaws, failings as natural.
This calligraphy reads:
“It’s okay to stumble.
We are human after all”

CALLIGRAPHY
早雲武田（そううんたけだ）
1978-present
Contemporary avant-garde
calligrapher who does a lot of
working promoting the artistic
freedom and therapeutic
benefits of calligraphy in Japan.
This calligraphy spells the
character ‘Hope’ at Meiji
Jingumae station in Tokyo.

CALLIGRAPHY
In this ad for Shu Uemura mascara,
eye liner, calligraphy is referenced
for the precision and refinement of
the strokes and its inky blackness
In this ad for Tama San barley tea,
the calligraphy strokes are rough
and convey an organic warmth that
helps connote natural ingredients.
In this ad for Sendai Table tourney
2015, the white calligraphic strokes
seek to convey speed and flair and
the responsiveness of top players

DECORATIVE ART - LACQUERWARE
•  Japanese lacquer is an organic substance that is crafted to look
eventually like a synthetic substance – just like Japan itself, glossy
perfection on the surface, conceals warmth and love of nature.
•  Production of lacquer is something incredibly time consuming and
that demands great artistry: it is a process that parallels the idea
honing one’s strength of character, like beating a samurai katana.
•  “I discovered in the gloss of this lacquerware a depth and richness
that of a still, dark pond, a beauty I had not seen before”

On my trip to Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture
in 2014 I the studio of Shioyasu where they
Took me through the process from extraction
of urushi (lacquer) sap through to the mixing
with earth, through to a bitumen paste
The sort of box you see here (price was
about £2000) is the result of extremely
painstaking craft, of either chinkin gouging
or maki-e painting but the final product is
beautiful and actually quite durable too.

Tsubaki shampoo launched by Shiseido in 2007 and marketed for
Japanese hair used packaging that resembles lacquerware. The
connotation is clear – lacquerware is the acme of Japanese beauty.

4. JAPANESE VISUAL
CODES
Yohaku
Wabi Sabi
Simpuru
Kawaii
O-Share
Zeitaku
Hade
Otaku

余白
This literally means, blank space, margin, which incorporates the
concept of ma 間 which is an interval or space. As Ara Isozaki writes
in Ma: Space-Time in Japan (1978/2009) “MA is literally defined as
the natural interval between two or more things existing in a
continuity”. It is very much valued in and of itself. It is invisible, but
not insensible, it creates fullness out of void. Valued in architecture.
JAPANESE VISUAL CODES - YOHAKU - 余白

詫び寂び
Wabi Sabi describes a traditional Japanese aesthetic sensibility
based on an appreciation of the transient beauty of the world.
Often uses beige, brown, earthy colours or Japanese moss green.
This aesthetic is most employed in travel advertising and artisanal
design, particularly of furniture, objets d’art, tableware to evoke
something unique, warm, idiosyncratic and modestly Japanese.
JAPANESE VISUAL CODES - WABI-SABI - 詫び寂び

JAPANESE VISUAL CODES - SIMPURU – シンプル
シンプル
‘Simpuru’ described a minimalist design style that involves minimal
use of materials, contour bias and a focus on emotional design.
Uncluttered graphics signify an appreciation of humility, discretion
and restraint. It is used in product and packaging design, in poster
design and appeals as warm, friendly by among younger generation

JAPANESE VISUAL CODES - KAWAII - かわいい
可愛い
Kawaii has etymological roots in the term kawayushi, denoting shyness,
embarrassment, and vulnerability, and kawaiiso means pathetic, poor,
and pitiable. It came to prominence associated with young girls but then
became associated with the rise of more independently minded, but
socially frowned upon hedonistic young women with disposal income.
Kawaii has morphed hugely. Too complex to do justice really in one slide.

JAPANESE VISUAL CODES - O-SHARE – オシャレ
オシャレ
Usually associated with the Economic Bubble of the 1980s and the
fashion conscious, luxury label obsessed Japanese consumer. Carries
connotations of snazzy as well as some class envy (c.f. Pijo in Spanish)
Aesthetically quite close to what we think of as premium design, which
is slick, sleek and sharp often deploying blacks, metallics and greys.

JAPANESE VISUAL CODES - ZEITAKU – 贅沢
贅沢
Zeitaku means both extravagance and lavishness. Historically, Zeitaku
was considered a sin in Japan where a Buddhist parsimony was to be
appreciated. Today, it has both positive and negative connotations. It
also means abundance or richness. In brand communications, the term
‘zeitaku’ is used when expressing ‘richness’ of ingredients. And it is now
expressive also of experiences (e.g. travel, spas, healing, gastronomy).

JAPANESE VISUAL CODES - HADE – 派手
Space for Images
(delete boxes)
派手
Hade is usually defined as showy, bright, gaudy. Usually entails layering,
protrusion and a cacophony of colours. It is very much the style of
Osaka and the Kansai region rather than Tokyo or Kanto, which is a
result of the merchant, not samurai pedigree. They are generally seen
to be loud and to have a penchant for extroversion and humour. Hade
is the preserve of 15sec attention getting ads, TV entertainment shows.

JAPANESE VISUAL CODES - OTAKU – オタク
オタク
“Otaku signifies more than manga and anime fanboys and geeks. It is a
new type of culture – one that blurs the world of children and adults,
worships pop culture minutiae, fetishizes objects real and virtual, and at
its worst spawns an almost autistic, inward looking possessiveness.”
Otaku is migrating from clandestine sub-culture to Cool Japan export.

5. MY INTEREST IN
JAPAN
JET Programme
Calligraphy, Art
Business Trips Abroad
Futuristic Fantasy Novel

MY INTEREST IN JAPAN – JET PROGRAMME
I spent one year teaching English as a foreign language in Yamaguchi
Prefecture in Western Japan. There were few English speakers so
my time there sparked my interest in Japanese language and culture

MY INTEREST IN JAPAN – CALLIGRAPHY
I have maintained an interest in Japanese calligraphy. On the left, this
is Misato Watanabe, who is a calligrapher and typographer I met in
London. On the right is the virtuosic sign for a pizzeria in Nagato City.

MY INTEREST IN JAPAN - CALLIGRAPHY
I have since practiced Japanese calligraphy under various teachers
in London. It is one of my passions. I have written articles on it and I’m
keen to improve my brushwork technique and repertoire over time.

MY INTEREST IN JAPAN - BUSINESS TRIPS
I conducted a study for eYeka, one of which was for ADK Stand for
Japan, geared towards using semiotics to filter down global crowd
sourced entries paying tribute to the best of Japanese pop culture.

MY INTEREST IN JAPAN – BUSINESS TRIPS
From 2003-2008 I conducted several studies for Unilever Japan on
topics as diverse as moisturisation, seduction, scalp care and beauty
helping Dove understand why Real Beauty did not really work in Japan

MY INTEREST IN JAPAN – FUTURISTIC FANTASY NOVEL
I have just finished writing a detailed synopsis for a novel called Tokyo
Gloaming 2045, which is a dystopian techno thriller with a strong moral
dimension set in Japan where technology change sex and love forever.
Image: Dan Kitchener

CHRIS ARNING
Mobile: 07951 160 921
Skype: chrisarning
E-Mail: chris@creativesemiotics.co.uk
Website: www.creativesemiotics.co.uk

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