Japan 3: Azuchi`s History

Azuchi is an historical town. Back in the Sixteenth century, the Shiga prefecture was known as Omi and it was said that whoever controlled Omi would control Japan due to its strategic placement near Kyoto - the old capital. Lord Nobunaga was the first to dominate the area. In 1579 he built the magnificent 7 storey Azuchi Castle which overlooked the area. Apparently this was the tallest wooden building in the world at the time and it attracted the attention of visiting European missionaries. Azuchi Castle`s interior was in fact designed with a European style cathedral in mind. There is an empty space in the centre of the castle reaching up to the first five floors, much like a church tower. Nobunaga was the first leader to officially recognise and invite Christianity into Japan. He also founded the first Christian Seminary in 1581 in Azuchi. However, Nubonaga`s dominance was shortlived. While he was visiting the Honno-Ji Temple in Kyoto, a rebellious servant surrounded the temple with armed men. Rather then surrender Nobunaga committed seppuku. So after only three years the Castle was burned down, and the seminary destroyed. This was unfortunate for the four young students he had sent to Rome to study Christianity - times had changed by the time they returned. A portrait of one of the students, Ito Manshu, was recently discovered in Rome. However, they faced quite a bit of persecution back in Azuchi. The writer, Shyusaku Endo, is now an honourary citizen of Azuchi after work Silence, traced the story of the the persectution of Japanese Christians.
The Azuchi Castle is now only a set of ruins and the site of the Seminary is now a town park.

Japan 2: Azuchi, Landscapes

Yesterday evening, at dusk, Tomoko and I went for a walk around Azuchi. It is a small town in the Shiga Prefecture and not too far from Kyoto. It is a quiet rural town surrounded by small rice and vegetable fields. Azuchi has a small lake called Nishinoko. It is apparently harvested for pearls, but Tomoko also tells me that it is quite polluted. Azuchi is also surrounded by some very unique hills which seem to grow out of nowhere, in stark contrast to the flat lakeland and fields. The contours of the hills are rocky and jagged, so they have a steep and sharp outline against the evening sky. However, their actual surface is hidden beneath the deep green of the forest trees. They are not too high at all which makes them appear like mountain peaks but without the main base structure. I am half expecting the rest of the mountain to rise up from its hibernation deep within the ground.
The hills continue into the distance, dissolving into the thick cloud. The sun is almost set and it all gives off a very mysterious quality, but this may be simply because I am not used to these hills - this landscape is new to me. Just like the dusty mountians of Albania which seemed so strange to me - they offered a beauty in comparison to the poverty and destitution of the towns. It`s all very different to the Alberta landscape, where the magnificent but monstrous Rocky Mountains suddenly appear after over a thousand kilometres of prairie. Compared to this everything seems so subtle, more difficult to interpret and less a balancing of extremes.
Of course, the next day, when we walk through Azuchi in broad daylight everything is much more revealing. In the far distance are a much higher range of mountains. Their snow-capped peaks encircle the area. Somewhere, nestled between the foreground hills and the distant mountains, is Kyoto.

Japan 1

Airports are a city or country`s first point of contact with a visitor, and it`s for this reason that they tend to appear generally the same. They are often the first site of gentrification because it is simply the first sight. Each airport has the same functional and clinical architecture disguised in a more contemporary facade. The same billboard advertisements decorate the walkways between terminals, the same English appears on signposts underneath the local language, and you are greeted by the same austere security and service industry friendliness.

I find it difficult to capture the atmosphere of a place from its airport and this is odd considering it is the first point of arrival. Perhaps I am just expressing the lack of different airports and places I have visited. I imagine that in a nation where the economic situation means the process of gentrification has not even begun the place`s atmosphere can be immediately revealed. When I visited the Tirana airport in 2002 it seemed to hover in a state between dereliction and construction - I couldn`t tell which. At an airport like that the country wears its atmosphere on it`s sleeve.

Manchester, 11.00 am
Manchester Airport has an air of expectation for me. It is where I wait for an event to happen. It may be my departure - the beggining of a journey, or my return from a long absence. It`s the place where I await the arrival of an expected guest - a visiting friend or relative, or even someone new whom I have never met before. I think this kind of contingency can only come from the place you call home. The only place that contains all these departures, arrivals, returns, expectations, "hellos" and "goodbyes" is the place you call home.
For Tomoko, I imagine her feelings are different. She is not at home, but about to make a long awaited return home.

Dubai, 1.00 am (local time)
The Dubai airport is more like a shopping mall than an airport. It seems to be buzzing with shoppers, but they are in fact all travellers. It`s also complete with the false decor that you find at any large shopping mall. Mock torches line the high walls, and giant palm trees line the floor. Sections of the wall are made up of an arabic architectural facade with the desert sands and starry night sky painted in the background, giving you the "experience" of Dubai even if you don`t leave the terminal. The grandeur of the airport certainly does reveal something of Dubai itself. It`s a place that has obviously had a lot of money thrown at it. However, it`s not a centre built on the foundations of oil wealth, but simply on wealth itself. Vast amounts of money are poured in and investments will most certainly be returned.
Money will produce more money: this is the formula that they hope will work when the oil runs out. This is perhaps why there is something oddly global abut the airport. Even at 1.00 am there are people from all over the world continually passing through - some in the distinctive dress of their homeland but most are not. All the duty free shops remain open, creating a perpetually well lit day time experience for all the travellers. It some ways the shopping here is like a sort of global bazaar - but only in the same way that sitting in a McDonald`s is like sampling global cuisine.

Kansai Airport, 4.00 pm (local time)
Tomoko warned me not to be shocked if she doesn`t hug her parents, even though they are meeting for the first time in three years. She`s never hugged them before, and we will bow and shake hands when we meet. However, when Tomoko`s dad greets me he immediately hugs me and pats my back. I`m sure that was a big step for him. I feel like I`ve been welcomed into the family even before they have met me. But that`s how families operate - you are always already accepted no matter who you are or what you are like. I could not have expected a deeper or warmer welcome.

We all have a coffee together in the airport and then make the two hour drive to their home. Their home is in the Shiga prefecture near Kyoto. It`s a rural area, but since it is night when we arrive I cannot see much of the landscape.

Ambiguity and Art: British Art Show 6

I.

Already we are confronted with ambiguity. When Alex Farquharson and Adrea Schlieker, the two selectors of BAS6, describe our contemporary times as “these post-Postmodern days” a pseudo-philosophical term is being used to suggest a cultural shift, but in the end only offers us a concept that is vague and indistinct. Post-Postmodernism carries about as much weight as “post-feminism” does in relation to feminism – that is, not much. (Those developing upon feminism are more likely to use the term “third wave feminism” and likewise any development upon Postmodernism would need a similarly substantial description). Postmodernism is varied in its definitions and contexts and to suddenly shift to post-Postmodernism is to take away these contexts and leave us in a state that is essentially underdeveloped and unthought. With this comes the removal of any responsibility for thought development or interpretation. Our responsibilities dissipate before us in the non-context of post-Postmodernism.

This is unfortunate as any engagement with modern art depends heavily on a work’s context – whether aesthetic, cultural, political, or even in relation to the space in which it is exhibited and the works which it is presented alongside. The problem of ambiguity, however, is not one that is inherent in the works which make up BAS6, but it remains a problem that viewers are constantly confronted with.