The Japanese Sense of Beauty

The Japanese have ….. strong aesthetic sense: they beautify, embellish, adorn and decorate everything they touch. ….. sandwich in Japan is not just ….. sandwich, it is ….. work of …..art. It is cut into ….. artistic shape - it can be circular, octagonal or star-shaped - and given ….. colour scheme with ….. carefully placed bits of ….. tomato, coleslaw and pickles. There is, as ….. rule, ….. flag or some other decoration hoisted on ….. top. Every dish is aimed at ….. eye as well as ….. palate. Every tiny parcel, from ….. humblest little shop, radiates some original charm or at least tries to, and reflects ….. pride: look how well done it is! Every taxi-driver has ….. small vase in front of him, with ….. beautiful, fresh, dark-red or snow-white flower in it. Once I watched ….. man at ….. counter in ….. fish-restaurant. Sushi and sashimi - ….. famous raw fish of Japan - comes in many forms and cuts, and it takes about ten years for ….. man to reach ….. counters of ….. first-class establishment. ….. man I watched was not bored with his somewhat monotonous job: he enjoyed every minute of it to ….. full, took ….. immense pride in it. Michelangelo could not have set ….. freshly carved Madonna before you with more pride and satisfaction than this cook felt when he put ….. freshly carved piece of ….. raw fish on your plate.

….. Japanese are unable to touch anything without beautifying it, shaping it into something pretty and pleasing to ….. eye. One evening I was walking in one of ….. slummy suburbs of Tokyo and saw ….. heap of rubbish outside ….. backyard of ….. factory. It was ….. immense mountainside of ….. rubbish, but it was not just thrown out as it came: all ….. boxes were piled into ….. graceful if somewhat whimsical pyramid, while ….. loose rubbish was placed on ….. top as ….. artistic and picturesque decoration. Someone must have spent considerable time in converting that heap of rubbish into ….. thing of beauty.

The Land of the Rising Yen by George Mikes (BrE)