Lost in Japan: The apartment
January 24, 2002
I think I’ve discovered the secret to Japanese efficiency. It’s all in size. Take for example my new apartment. Actually it’s a box with a tiny 5×5 bathroom and a two feet wide kitchen. The kitchen is actually a hole in the wall with a hot plate and sink. I don’t know the exact measurements of my apartment. But just imagine a place where you open the door and you can see everything. From the front door to the rear wall, I say it’s about 20 feet.
This is a typical apartment in Japan. And as you can well imagine, it doesn’t give you much to work with. So when I’m home, everything has to be done with a purpose. When I enter the apartment I have to take off my shoes, Japanese style. But I can’t leave my shoes in the door way, because it would become cluttered. So they’ve built a shoe closet next to the entrance. I store my shoes there and jump into my slippers. Place my coat in the coat closet next to the shoe closet.
When it comes time to cook, there is no leaving dirty dish in the sink. The sink is too small, and so close to the hot plate that I wouldn’t be able to cook. Cooking is difficult enough without the dirty dishes, not because I don’t know how to cook (I usually microwave or boil things anyway) but because of the tiny space I keep bumping my head on the ceiling of the hole in the wall kitchen. Below the sink is a tiny fridge that opens into the entrance. Did I mention the hole in the wall kitchen is at the entrance of the apartment? So if the fridge door is open and the shoe closet door is open I won’t be able to get in or out of the house without closing both.
Real estate in Japan is really expensive, so things simply have to be built smaller. Offices, homes, apartments, cars, and factories. The Japanese have mastered the art of getting the most out of tiny spaces. When it comes to factories, you can imagine that things have to keep moving or else the space will get cluttered and they wouldn’t be able to do anything. Just like me opening the fridge and shoe closet door. Things would come to a halt.
March 20th, 2004 at 11:23 am
Dear Ejovi,
If you want to understand Japan, study Japanese art. Japan has never been invaded by a foreign country and may be the only nation with that distinction. While all other cultures have been greatly shaped by cultural “collisions”, Japan has not. Instead, it may define the word, refinement.
To say Western art has been influence by Japanese art is a gross understatement. If you can get a copy I recomment the book, Japonisme by Siegfried Wichmann, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1981. Try used book sources (and be sure to get an English version)
My undergrad degree was in Fine Arts. When I taught history in prison, I taught it by using another art form…music. Art tells you everything.
Best regards,
Beverly Wolfram
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