Aug

Japanese Traditions in Yakushima Photography

by Meredith Mullins on August 1, 2016

Yakushima rainforest showing reverence for nature and Japanese traditions in photography. (Image © Kodo Chijiiwa.)

The primeval rainforest of Japan’s Yakushima Island
© Kodo Chijiiwa

Photographers Show Reverence for Nature, Beauty, and Time

Yakushima is an island in the North Pacific that seems to have its own spirit, its own magic. It is rich in Japanese traditions, as well as exceptional natural beauty—with its lush vegetation, wild coast, ancient trees, and proud mountains.

I had not heard of Yakushima, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, before wandering into a gallery at the famous Rencontres d’Arles—a massive annual photography event in southern France.

Thousands of photographs are presented at this summer festival, from vintage treasures to the trends of tomorrow. But there was something special about the collection of images from a group of Japanese (and Japan-inspired) photographers.

Swirling ocean near Yakushima island, showing Japanese traditions of reverence for nature. (Image © Antonin Borgeaud.)

The powerful forces of nature
© Antonin Borgeaud

The connection to nature was strong. The appreciation of beauty—both everyday and extraordinary—had deep roots. And the energy of earth, water, fire, wind, and sky was palpable.

The humility of the photographers was refreshing, as was their willingness to share the underlying philosophies that influence their work.

They had met through the Yakushima Photography Festival (YPF), a collective of French, American, and Japanese photographers who had all felt the spirit of Yakushima.

Each photographer has his or her own vision of Japan and Japanese traditions.

Meet Kodo, Miho, Antonin, Shizuka, and Satoru.

At the mercy of typhoon winds on Yakushima
© Kodo Chijiiwa

Kodo Chijiiwa

Kodo grew up on Yakushima and knows many of the secrets of its land and sea.

Kodo Chijiiwa
© Meredith Mullins

Living on an island, he also knows the power of typhoons and wanted to photograph the force of the winds on Yakushima.

He tried to stabilize his body and the camera; but, he explained, “The winds could control me as they wanted. So, I decided to express the sensation of my body being tossed around by making double exposures of the land and sea.”

These are photographs of sheer energy. We feel the force of nature.

Miho Suzuki

Simply put, Miho believes in beauty—in appreciating the trivial things in nature and daily life.

Beauty in everyday life
© Miho Suzuki

She was inspired by an excerpt from “Two Poems on the Rose” by Kitahara Hakushu that asked the question: why should we marvel at a single rose bloom?

Miho Suzuki, a photographer from the Yakushima Photography group, showing Japanese traditions and reverence for nature and beauty in her work. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Miho Suzuki
© Meredith Mullins

She dedicated her series of photographs to capturing something beautiful each day.

“I have captured the moments that took my breath away in my daily life,” Miho says.

The project is so personal that she doesn’t care if anyone else shares her sense of beauty. The vision is hers alone. These photographs—these memories— bring her happiness.

Antonin Borgeaud

Antonin is a Frenchman and co-founder of the Yakushima Photography Festival. His new series from Yakushima focuses on the lively personalities of the island—the macaques.

Making eye contact with a Yakushima Macaque
© Antonin Borgeaud

Antonin Borgeaud, photographer and co-founder of the Yakushima Photography Festival, focusing on Japanese traditions and reverence for nature. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Antonin Borgeaud
© Meredith Mullins

These old-world monkeys inhabit a small part of the island, indifferent to the presence of human visitors.

Antonin looked for the soul of each and presents a series of portraits where we are shown something of their curious personality.

Even though it is not recommended to make eye contact with a macaque (it’s a sign of aggression), the photographs clearly show a connection between subject and photographer.

Shizuka Sato

Shizuka Sato
© Meredith Mullins

Shizuka is sister and godmother to her younger brother Takuto.

She also named him, when her parents asked her to suggest a name. Her music class was studying conductor’s batons (called takuto in Japanese). She liked the sound of the word . . . and so did her parents.

Shizuka went away for a time, and when she returned home, she was surprised to see how quickly Takuto had grown. He was no longer a child. He was a young man.

Young man on bed by Shizuka Sato, showing Japanese traditions, reverence for nature, and passing of time. (Image © Shizuoka Sato.)

A time of transition—vanishing youth
© Shizuka Sato

Her photographs of Takuto tell a story of vanishing time—and deliver a nostalgic message that many things, including youth, are fleeting. The underlying message: Savor the moments.

Satoru Watanabe

Satoru’s stunning photography is born from Japanese traditions and respect for nature. He explains his influences:

“My grandmother was country-bred and prayed to everything. For her, kami-sama (the gods) was not something to seek forgiveness from, nor something that made wishes come true. Kami-sama was invisible, and yet worth folding her hands to.

Photograph of forest by Satoru Watanabe, showing Japanese traditions and reverence for nature. (Image © Satoru Watanabe.)

Kami-sama energy
© Satoru Watanabe

Satoru Watanabe, photographer from Yakushima Photography group who follows Japanese traditions and shows reverence for nature. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Satoru Watanabe
© Meredith Mullins

I can still hear her saying ‘Don’t make a wish to the gods. Just pray with folded hands.’

When I take walks in the forest up in the mountains, I believe the energy I felt was the same existence that my grandmother was folding her hands to—the gods in nature.

As I grow older, the frequencies in which I fold my hands increases, but even now, I never make a wish.”

Satoru doesn’t make wishes. He simply portrays the beauty and clarity of life in his photographs.

Bottle on table, a photograph by Satoru Watanabe showing Japanese traditions and reverence for nature. (Image © Satoru Watanabe.)

Reverence for beauty and simplicity
© Satoru Watanabe

Oh, I See

Da.Gasita book of Satoru Watanabe, following Japanese traditions and reverence for nature. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Da.gasita. Oh I See.
© Meredith Mullins

One of Satoru’s books is called Da.gasita. This phrase, In the Yonezawa dialect of Japanese, means “Oh I See.” The Japanese use the phrase often in conversation to let people know they have heard what’s being said and acknowledge its importance.

In wandering into the small gallery in Arles of this interesting group of photographers, I heard (and saw) what was being said. Da.gasita.

And my vision of Japanese traditions and my reverence for nature and beauty has been altered forever.

Arigatou Yakushima.

Sun reflection by Satoru Watanabe, showing Japanese traditions and reverence for nature. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Earth and sky
© Satoru Watanabe

For more information on the Yakushima Photography Festival, visit here.

For more information on the Rencontres d’Arles, visit here.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Japan/The World's Photography

Jul

Sweet Dreams of Ice Cream and Primal Rhythms

by Meredith Mullins on July 18, 2016

Ingoma Nshya Drummers in Rwanda, breaking cultural barriers. (Image © Lex Fletcher.)

The unifying power of music
© Lex Fletcher

Conquering Cultural Barriers in Rwanda

An open-air truck bumps along the rutted streets of Butare, Rwanda. The beaming woman in the back broadcasts through a crackling microphone.

Hello. Hello. You are about to experience something new.

Do you want to have a good life?

Do you want your children to grow up healthy?

Sweet dreams. The answer to your prayers.

Ice cream.

If you’re old, it will make you young again.

Come and see the dreams of women.

Ice cream.

It will change your life.

Her words are true. The ice cream in this African town has changed lives.

Rwanda girl tastes ice cream, breaking cultural barriers. (Image courtesy of Liro Films.)

Sweet Dreams: The first taste of ice cream
Courtesy of Liro Films

The first ice cream shop in Rwanda, Inzozi Nziza (translated as “Sweet Dreams”), broke cultural barriers in many ways.

The shop changed lives not just by bringing the first taste of ice cream to Rwanda. It also deeply affected the lives of the cooperative of women who made these sweet dreams come true.

Hope and joy were leading characters in this moving story, documented in a film by siblings Rob and Lisa Fruchtman called “Sweet Dreams.”

Rwanda houses and countryside, a place where cultural barriers must be broken. (Image © Sloot/iStock.)

A beautiful country shadowed by its history.
© Sloot/iStock

Rebuilding from the Horror of Genocide

In a country where the burden of the 1994 genocide touches everyone, the need for unity and reconciliation is critical to moving forward.

This need was felt deeply by Rwandan playwright/poet/musician Odile Gakire (“Kiki”) Katese. The country was slowly working through the rebuilding process. But, as Kiki noted, “People are not like roads and buildings. How do you rebuild a human being?”

Map of Rwanda, a country where women are breaking cultural barriers. (Image © bogdanserban.)

Rebuilding Rwanda after the genocide.
© bogdanserban

To help the healing process, Kiki called on music as a powerful universal force. She formed a drumming troupe—Ingoma Nshya (translated as “New Kingdom”).

She wanted to start a new chapter in Rwanda’s history, a new era. She brought together a group of women and challenged yet another cultural barrier.

Kiki Katese: Challenging cultural barriers. (Image courtesy of Liro Films.)

Kiki Katese: Challenging cultural barriers
Courtesy of Liro Films

Women had been forbidden to even touch the drums in Rwanda. Drumming was exclusively for men. But when Kiki asked why, she was told only that “drums were too heavy for women to carry.” Kiki’s response: “Okay, if it’s only because it’s heavy, let’s see how strong we are.”

The women proved their strength . . . and their ability to move beyond the past. They came from both sides of the genocide—Hutus and Tutsis. Many had lost Tutsi family members, friends and neighbors; and some had Hutu family members imprisoned for their role in the murders.

Rwanda women drummers, breaking cultural barriers. (Image © Lex Fletcher.)

Joy and power in the drums
© Lex Fletcher

“People have to reconcile with themselves, with happiness, with life,” Kiki suggests. When these women lose themselves in their drums, the past is forgiven. They come together as friends, as a unified rhythm—with obvious joy.

And Then There Was Ice Cream

Drumming began transforming the women’s lives. It gave them purpose . . . and pleasure. But there was more transformation to come.

Kiki believed that when you introduce one new idea, it creates the space for other new ideas. With that guiding philosophy, Kiki then met Alexis Miesen and Jennie Dundas, co-founders of Blue Marble Ice Cream in Brooklyn, New York.

Alexis Miesen and Jennie Dundas, founders of Blue Marble Ice Cream, breaking cultural barriers in Rwanda. (Image courtesy of Liro Films.)

Alexis Miesen and Jennie Dundas, Co-founders of Blue Marble Ice Cream
Courtesy of Liro Films

Kiki explained that she wanted to bring ice cream to Rwanda, and with it, an opportunity for members of the drumming troupe to become active in a small business.

A partnership was formed and the team rose to the challenges. They needed machines and furniture. They needed to find good local sources for milk, fresh fruit, and honey. They needed to learn the basics of business. They needed to select the shop staff from many members of the cooperative. They needed to set salaries and prices so that people in the town could afford this new treat.

Sweet Dreams manager and menu board, breaking cultural barriers in Rwanda. (Image courtesy of Liro Films.)

Building a business one item at a time
Courtesy of Liro Films

The processes were democratic. They even decided as a group the names for the sizes of ice cream—teta (baby) for small and nyshuti (friend) for medium.

The film documents the winding road, filled with obstacles. It culminates with the ultimate joy of success.

A dish of soft serve ice cream in Rwanda, breaking cultural barriers. (Image courtesy of Liro Films.)

A towering treasure
Courtesy of Liro Films

Ice cream arrives in Butare in all its sweet cream, passion fruit, strawberry, and pineapple glory. The curious townspeople overcome their trepidations and taste this new treasure.

“We’ve seen it in the movies, but we never had it in Rwanda before,” says one young man.

“It’s like eating hailstones,” says a more skeptical customer.

“Oh my god, give me more,” says a new fan, immediately falling prey to the velvety taste.

Rwanda drummers in front of Sweet Dreams ice cream shop, breaking cultural barriers. (Image courtesy of Liro Films.)

Opening Day in 2010—still a success six years later
Courtesy of Liro Films

Oh I See: The Path of Possibilities

Six years after the arrival of the new treat in Rwanda, a few more ice cream venues have appeared, but the women’s cooperative is keeping pace with the times. They now sell snacks, pizzas, juices, coffees, and teas to ensure their continued success.

The drumming troupe is performing near and far, with joy and passion.

The film “Sweet Dreams” has won awards and accolades around the world.

The rewards of this new era of breaking cultural barriers go beyond the obvious. The directors shared a moving moment after a screening of the film in Armenia when a woman in the audience stood tall and said, “This film is not just about Rwandan women. It’s about all of us.”

The final “Oh I see” moment comes in a quote from Kiki: “When you believe that something is possible, it’s done already.”

Yes, indeed, Rwanda. Give me more.

Find out more about the film “Sweet Dreams.” View the trailer below.

If video does not display, watch it here.

Find out more about Blue Marble Ice Cream and the nonprofit Hope Shines.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

Cultural Do's & Taboos/Rwanda

Jun

The Art and Philosophy of the Doggy Bag

by Meredith Mullins on June 27, 2016

Dog with Doggy Bag, showing how different cultures deal with restaurant leftovers. (Image © Meredith Mullins & Charlie Meagher.)

How Different Cultures Look at Leftovers

Are restaurant leftovers going to the dogs?

That depends on to whom and where you pose the question. Different cultures have different approaches to taking restaurant leftovers home. The history of the doggy bag is a bit furry . . . er, blurry.

The First Doggy Bag

Some say the idea dates back to Roman times, when food was often taken home in a napkin from multi-course, recline-while-you-eat meals.

We can trace the first doggy bags back to the U.S. during WW II when food was scarce and waste was unthinkable.

The idea was to give diners a way to bring leftover meat and bones to a canine best friend waiting eagerly at home. The dog was sometimes just a pretense, as the doggy bag was also a way to stretch food a little bit further in struggling households.

The first marketed doggy bag, created by the Chicago-based Bagcraft Corporation, included a poem written by the wife of the co-founder, as well as a diverse range of friendly dog faces (equal dog opportunity).

Oh where, oh where have your leftovers gone?
Oh where, oh where can they be?
If you’ve had all you can possibly eat,
Please bring the rest home to me.

The doggy bag evolved from there, into containers of all shapes and sizes, as well as creative art made by upscale restaurants.

Containers serving as doggy bags, ways that different cultures deal with restaurant leftovers. (Images © Thinkstock.)

Sometimes the dog got the leftovers and sometimes the food became the next meal for the humans in the family.

A large steak dinner, showing the need in the U.S. for a doggy bag for restaurant leftovers. Different cultures have different size portions. (Image © Monkey Business Images.)

Doggy Bags Around the World

In addition to the U.S., where portions are so generous that doggy bags have become standard practice, many Asian cultures seem comfortable with “take home” requests. Restaurants have the requisite containers—from India to China to Singapore to Hong Kong.

Chinese take out boxes serving as Asian doggy bags for restaurant leftovers, showing that different cultures have different approaches. (Image © Medioimages/Photodisc.)

The doggy bag concept, however, has been a bit slower to come to Europe.

You Can’t Take It With You

Years ago in France, the idea of even asking for a doggy bag sent fear through the heart. When diners finally conjured the courage, they were met with scorn, as only a French waiter can muster. An eye roll. A smirk. A “Ce n’est pas possible.”

Sometimes the waiter relented, but continued the theatrical production through public embarrassment or intentional torture of the food in question.

The dramatic sweep of a plate of choucroute, en masse, into an empty lard bucket—the only container that the kitchen staff could spare.

Waiter with bucket for restaurant leftovers, as different cultures have different solutions for the doggy bag. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The rolling of a salad into a tight aluminum foil cigar. The offer to allow the diner to take the casserole dish home and bring it back the next day. The stories are endless.

Even the best restaurants, anxious to please customers, had difficulty finding containers for the take-home food.

Doggy bags just weren’t part of the culture. They were an affront to dining etiquette. Portions were correctly sized so that diners were expected to savor every bite. Presentation, freshness, and impeccable timing for each course were priorities for the chef.

The idea of food being jostled, jarred, and rearranged by transport—or eaten or reheated hours later—was a well-sharpened knife to the heart of the French chef.

French dinner, making it difficult to package these restaurant leftovers into a doggy bag, the reason different cultures have different approaches. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Oh, I See. You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

In January 2016, life in France changed forever. A new doggy bag recommendation took effect.

No more waiter scowls when you ask to take your leftovers away. No more eye rolling. No more smirking in the kitchen about the “crazy Americans.” No more furtive searching for an appropriate container. When you ask for a doggy bag, you get one. A new era has been ushered in.

Why?

The French restaurant industry accounts for nearly one million tons of food waste annually. The government vowed to reduce food wastage by 50% by the year 2025. The doggy bag promotion was a first step.

Aluminum foil roll at Café de l'Homme, a doggy bag for restaurant leftovers signifying the approach of different cultures. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Other European countries are also tackling food waste reduction. The UK’s Sustainable Restaurant Association launched a “Too Good To Waste” campaign in 2011, giving out 25,000 recyclable doggy bags/boxes to participating restaurants—from Michelin-starred to fast-food chains.

Sweden also has a campaign called “Do Not Throw Away Your Food,” which educates the public on the effects of waste and promotes the use of doggy bags.

It may take awhile to change dining etiquette, especially when thinking about restaurant leftovers, but the wheels are in motion in several different cultures.

An aluminum foil swan, an artistic doggy bag, part of the different cultures approach to restaurant leftovers. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The restaurant industry in France is already promoting a change from “le doggy bag” to “le gourmet bag.”

Soon, everyone will want one.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 8 Comments

Cultural Do's & Taboos

World Views:

Topics

Category Archives: Different Cultures

Japanese Traditions in Yakushima Photography

Photographers Show Reverence for Nature, Beauty, and Time

Kodo Chijiiwa

Miho Suzuki

Antonin Borgeaud

Shizuka Sato

Satoru Watanabe

Oh, I See

Sweet Dreams of Ice Cream and Primal Rhythms

Conquering Cultural Barriers in Rwanda

Rebuilding from the Horror of Genocide

And Then There Was Ice Cream

Oh I See: The Path of Possibilities

The Art and Philosophy of the Doggy Bag

How Different Cultures Look at Leftovers

The First Doggy Bag

Doggy Bags Around the World

You Can’t Take It With You

Oh, I See. You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks