The Shonan coast is on the Pacific ocean. It is very close to Tokyo, which is the most densely populated area in Japan. The coast resembles something that you might see in an American resort area. I think the inspiration is Hawaiian, but there are elements of California and Florida. This is a good example of how the Japanese admire American culture - elements of American culture are incorporated into Japan and often come out similar, but with an almost intangible difference. You can see what they are trying to do, but often elements are different or just plain wrong. It's interesting when you point this out to a Japanese person as well - they are usually surprised, but not too disturbed. Once they've imported something, it becomes their own.
A good example of the reverse happening is sushi in North America. Everyone thinks that sushi is raw fish. But it's not. It's rice with vinegar added, almost like what we consider to be a salad. And now that sushi is such a staple of the urban diet, it has been twisted and morphed into something totally different than what you find in Japan. And I can tell people that sushi is NOT raw fish until I'm blue in the face, but the truth is that they just don't care!
ジェン
2 comments:
sushi is not raw fish, see i learned something today:)
lol... well sushi, or should I say maki rolls etc. can have raw fish as a PART of them right? Just as someone might put bacon bits on their caesar salad!
I LOVE SUSHI.
Anyway, I am off topic. I like that picture you posted. It gives me a whole new impression of Japan. It's so close to the most densely populated area, yet that scene seems so... serene, tranquil. If someone would have given it to me and asked me where it was I might have guessed the east cost of canada or something!
Crazy!
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