Fascination with Japan

My fascination with Japan began in the nineteen fifties, when my father's company was the distributor for some Japanese electronic companies for Burma or (Myanmar). Japan had just started exporting. He used to go there quite frequently and every time he went there he would return with toys. Remote control cars, robots and of course pocket transistor radios. They were the first Asian country to manufacture sophisticated products. One particular incident sticks to mind. While he was there he had ordered a mail delivery of a remote controlled car. It did not arrive for a few months. He wrote to them. Within a few weeks we received two of them. It showed their commitment to customers.

The interest in Japan was revived when I arrived in Hong Kong in 1975 to start working with Citibank. While browsing in Ocean Terminal, I entered a shop called Mountain Folk Art. Among the many interesting things was what looked like a water color painting, nicely framed in a black oriental frame. I asked the sales person about it.He explained that it was a Japanese wood block print. Fortunately it was within my meager budget and it livened up my tiny apartment. Many years later I found out that my first purchase turned out to be a print by Hiroshige one of the best known wood block artist’s in the 1800’s.

Over the years my interest in Japanese arts and crafts increased , particularly in wood block prints and Japanese export silver where I think the craftsmanship is better than Chinese export silver but the production was limited. You will find numerous books about Chinese export silver but none on Japanese export silver.

I purchased prints by different artists including a French Japanese artist Paul Jacoulet and some prints by Okamoto and others.The purchases were from Hong Kong , Tokyo, London & New York.It might sound difficult to accept but in opinion I paid less for Japanese silver in Tokyo than I did in the other cities. Perhaps it is not appreciated there as much ? Not knowing enough I probably over paid in some instances, but I have no regrets.

I discovered that ukiyo-e by artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai with their vivid colors have had such a strong influence on Western painters , particularly French impressionists ( “Japonism”) painters such as Van Gough and Gauguin or even lithographic artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Perhaps because of the connection, during the peak of Japan’s economic boom, Japanese companies and collectors were paying over the top for Impressionist paintings.Even in India in the early 1900’s, the emerging modern painters particularly from the Bengal School tried to paint in the same style.

In addition to the wood block prints,I am fascinated by traditional Japanese architecture and Japanese gardens. With their minimalist approach and their harmony with nature, I have always wanted to have some elements of Japanese architecture and gardens in a house I was planning to build ( that's another story). Unfortunately with Delhi's security, its harsh summer and not having Larry Ellison's billions, I have had to settle for the local version of Shoji panel sliding doors in my apartment. The closest I have come to blending the two is purchasing some Yoshida Hiroshi's woodblock prints which were made when he visited India during the nineteen thirties.

Even now when I visit Japan I am fascinated by Japanese arts and crafts. While Chinese arts and crafts are exquisite, the Japanese take it a step further – whether it is netsuke or samurai swords, porcelain or any other crafts. No other citizen takes as much pride or as disciplined in what they do as the Japanese. A small example. When you go to a Department Store – Takashimiya or Mitsukoshi or any of the others which are still around, no matter how small the purchase, the sales girl ( or two) will go to great lengths to wrap it by folding in a series of complex “origami” type folds.


The question in my mind is that with the urbanization of the country and the graying of the population , will these skills be passed on to the next generation.Will the younger generation have the patience to go through the apprentice which would normally be required ?

Certainly on the print side, it still seems to to be the case, with prints being modernized and foreigners now getting involved,but what about the other master craftsmen.I am probably not aware or know enough about what is being done, but it would be a pity if a hundred years from now the only Japanese crafts you see would be in the museums.