Explore everyday life in Japan
Of the many things I look forward to in Japan throughout the year, seeing the trees and shrubs after they have been prepared for winter is one of my favorites. If that sounds strange, I can understand why.
I don't really have a good reason for why I love seeing these geometric and linear forms decorating parks, standing over trees, and poking out from behind the walls that surround houses here. I just do. They seem to add a new dimension to the world around me. In some ways, they make me feel as if I had momentarily walked into the space of an M.C. Escher lithograph and by doing so, they add a little something extra to my day. They also serve as a nice reminder that I no longer live in the land I was born and raised in, which, believe it or not, is easy to forget on a day-to-day basis.
If you come to the northern parts of Japan in late November or early December, you will most likely see men in coveralls standing on three-legged ladders carefully tieing sturdy bamboo poles to the trunks of trees and then patiently securing each of the trees' branches to these poles with fairly thick twine rope. The process takes time, and I often find myself surprised that cities these days still fund such projects. I must say, though, I'm glad that they do.
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.