1a. Mr Uedo is the head of an international toy company, an old family business, which in the past twenty five years has diversified into hand-held electronic games. Until now he has lived in a penthouse flat atop his company’s head office in Tokyo. He has decided that in two years time on his 70th birthday, he will leave the day-to-day running of the company to his eldest son and move back to Numazu, his home town. But first he must build there the classical Japanese house that he has always dreamed of. A house with a steeply sloping roof, upturned eaves, verandahs, and a garden to delight his old age.
A Japanese house and its garden are one and, to achieve visual harmony, must be designed together. The essence of a traditional house is its refined and tasteful simplicity. It is usual for one man to do the designing and direct the building and decorating. This man is a Daiku san or master carpenter. It is almost certain that this man’s father will also have been a Daiku san and have passed on age-old skills to his son. On enquiry, Mr Uedo finds that a Mr Kato, a man with many years experience, is highly recommended.
Wood is the preferred material for family homes in Japan. The country has earthquakes, typhoons, and a high humidity in summer. Wood is resilient and withstands most shocks. It can be surprisingly durable. Major pillars and beams in the Horyuji Temple have been in place for 1,300 years. Clay, bamboo and paper are also among the basic materials that are used.
Mr Uedo, although still closely involved in his business, makes time to visit his slowly rising house at least once a fortnight. At first there is nothing to see but the cement footings. This a departure from earlier houses which sat on a network of beams supported by short posts resting on rocks and were not anchored to the ground. Although this method has proved itself, with houses more than a hundred years old still standing, modern building codes demand cement footings.
On a later visit, he finds the roof beams being placed. These are massive whole-log beams and it the roof that will act as a stabilizer against the elements. Unlike the Western-style house, the Japanese house has no internal load-bearing walls although it does have structural posts to give some support. It expected that by his next visit the clay roof tiles will be in place. Although azure blue is a popular roof colour for such buildings, Mr Uedo has decided that earth tones would be more appropriate.
On this occasion, Mr Kato explained to him the practical advantages of the deep eaves and the upturned corners. Mr Uedo will be able to leave the floor-to-ceiling sliding doors to the verandahs open even in the humid rainy season. And in summer, the angle will be just right to keep out the hot summer sun.
Some months later, Mr Uedo finds the outer walls well on the way to completion. Over a lattice of split bamboo four layers of clay have been applied each one of a different consistency and, since each one has had to dry before the next was applied, it has been a slow job. One more coat of fine clay and he will have walls that will breath and not sweat as concrete does in a humid climate.
We will jump ahead in time. The house is finished and has taken eighteen months. A lesser one could have been completed in three months but this is a dream house. Our friend, Mr Uedo, takes us, his foreign visitors, to see it. The front door of latticed woodwork slides easily without effort and we step into the genkan and take off our shoes.
The first thing that strikes us is the pleasant smell of cedar, cypress, pine, and tatami. We rub our hands over one of the exposed structural posts, admiring the grain, and, although it has no stain or laquer, it has a silken feel. It has been planed to an unbelievably fine finish and we are soon to find that this is the standard of workmanship throughout.
The immediate effect is of uncluttered spaciousness and subtle beauty. The transoms over the sliding doors and panels are intricately carved. The panels themselves being wooden frames covered with paper each being decorated with a different pattern. As room dividers they are ideal and may be moved to make several small rooms into one large room if desired. We wonder at the use of paper though because it is not normally a very durable material but Mr Uedo tells us that this is washi, a hand-made paper. It is strong. Some of it is made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree and some from a mountain plant called gampi.
There is only one solid interior wall and this holds the tokonoma. This is a focal point, a beauty spot, and the finest timber and workmanship have gone into it. Mr Uedo has a scroll of fine calligraphy hanging there. He is rather unusual in being a Japanese Christian and a family altar is a notable omission.
We are intrigued by the tatami mats which cover the floors of all the major rooms. They are about five centimetres thick and, apparently, are always made to a standard size so that a room size may be given by the number of mats it will hold. Mr Uedo tells us that, although traditional, tatami mats also make good sense. They are warm in winter, cool in summer, firm enough to walk on and yet soft enough to lie on. We ask Mr Uedo if we may try lying down on one and he looks askance at our strange request but we are guests and he cannot refuse. He is right, they are soft.
Before we leave, we inspect the garden. Although not very large, it gives a sense of peace and tranquility. It is a place where one could easily forget the outside world. It has a pretty little waterfall and a limpid pool with languid brightly coloured carp. We wish Mr Uedo well in his retirement. 1b. It is quite a contrast to look at the housing of one of Mr Uedo’s employees. Toshio Tanaka is a draughtsman and lives in a large block of flats reminiscent of the concrete egg-crate style of architecture common in the former communist block countries. Being single, his need for space is not great but his flat is very small indeed. The genkan is merely a square metre of different flooring inside his door, more symbolic than real. There is only one main room which must be both lounge and bedroom and this opens straight onto the passage outside but there is also a door leading to a small balcony and a window looking out onto it.
The room seems full with just a desk, a chair, the T.V. and his stereo. A bed, except for a very narrow one, is entirely out of the question. A futon can at least be folded away to make more space.
The kitchen is simply an alcove and its ventilation is by extractor fan. Somehow, it manages to contain a double gas burner, a slender refrigerator with a microwave perched on top, a rice cooker, cupboards and a small sink bench. There is no way that Toshio can entertain guests in this flat. He must take them to a restaurant. The preparation of a quick breakfast is all the use that the kitchen gets.
The only remaining room contains a shower, a western-style toilet, a hand basin, and a compact washing machine. Being like the kitchen on an interior wall, it is also ventilated by a fan. Toshio is able to hang his washing on the small balcony if he wishes but usually takes it to a laundry.
Although this may seem a seedy place to live, Toshio has made it home. The walls are decorated with posters, banners, and many photographs. He has, on a shelf , a small display of the pottery of his home prefecture and a rather pretty arrangement of dried flowers. The flat is close to his work, close to public transport and to much that is going on. He has made some very good friends in the building.
- Akiko Nishioko. Wife and mother. Supermarket Checkout Supervisor.
Akiko Nishioko is a thirty five year old housewife who would like to see Mr. Uedo in the nether regions with the devil Mara tormenting him. Her husband Ichiroo works for the Uedo Corporation as an engineer. She would say that it is his whole life and far more important than his wife and family. They have two daughters aged 12 and 13.
The year before this,the Uedo Corporation took over a small company in Osaka that specialises in electronic voice synthesis for toys and Ichiroo was promoted to take charge. He could not see the problems which it would involve for his family, the promotion was all important. He would find suitable housing in Osaka. He would find a good school. But after nine months this had still not happened and although he is just one among the half million Japanese men taken from their families by job transfers, this does not make it easier. Even before the move, Akiko and the girls had seen far too little of him.
Now, with two establishments to maintain, the house here in Funabashi and the flat in Osaka, Akiko has had to return to work. AND! There is an added problem for which Mr. Uedo cannot be blamed. Ichiroo’s mother!!
When Ichiroo’s father died, Ichiroo had been adamant that they must look after his mother, it was expected. That was easy enough for him to say but it was Akiko who was paying the price. Under the old ways a bride entered the house of her husband’s parents and often became little more than the unpaid servant of her mother-in-law. Now a mother has entered into the house of a daughter-in-law and expects that the same rule applies. With Ichiroo gone, his mother believes herself to be head over Ichiroo’s wife and over the entire household.
Ichiroo’s mother has strong Buddhist convictions and has brought with her her own household altar. She has taken down, without asking, a scroll of which Akiko was particularly fond and has replaced it with with one containing ‘The Four Noble Truths’. She is insistant that everyone in the household must carefully follow ‘The Middle Way’ and make proper devotions. They have been much too slack before. In Akiko’s view she is an old hypocrite. Akiko had soon noticed that whereas her daughters would make a dash for the toilet when there was work to do, her mother-in-law would be plunged into deep meditation.
Akiko’s day starts at 6a.m. At which time she dresses and prepares a tray with tea and rice wafers for her mother-in-law. Akiko claims that she herself never eats breakfast but as she prepares her daughters’ breakfasts and school lunches she always nibbles the odd fragment of rice cake , perhaps the odd pickled plum, and little pieces of whatever else is going. In between, she takes sips of tea and pays partial attention to the T.V. in the corner. A load of dirty clothes is hastily bundled into the washing machine with instructions to the girls to transfer them to the drier before they leave for school.
She has to leave the house by 6:45 am. Although Chiba where she works as Supermarket Checkout Supervisor is only 11 km from Funabashi and she has a 7:30am start, the bulk of the traffic at that time of the morning is toward Tokyo. There are relatively few trains in the opposite direction. She is always careful to make a brief prayer in front of the altar before she leaves. Someone is certain to be watching to make sure that she does.
The supermarket opens at 8:00am but before that there is much to do. The dress and make-up of each operator has to be carefully checked. There is always a short pep-talk with a reminder that their customers are special people and must be treated as such and some brief news of what is happening in the company. If any of the girls have rung in sick, part-timers have to be wheedled into coming in. Then it is time to line up and greet the first customers.
It can be quite a stressful job, particularly in dealing with angry customers, and Akiko is always pleased when 4:00pm comes. At that time, she is relieved by another supervisor who will continue until the market closes at 9:00pm. She will do her own shopping before leaving for home and usually buys just enough for that day unless the prices are really low.
Once again she will be going against the main flow of traffic which is now coming out of Tokyo. Her normal time for arriving home is about 5:20.
The girls will be home from their after school activities by this time. She prefers that they do their homework immediately on arriving home so that the rest of the evening can be free. She thinks it disgraceful the hours that some children are expected to keep. This means that she has to prepare the meal and generally tidy up the house by herself but it is a price that she is prepared to pay.
The evening is usually spent watching T.V. But since grandmother has rather strict ideas on what is suitable for young ladies to watch, the girls tend to stay in their own room and play tapes. But there are a myriad of other ways beside in which it is implied that Akiko is remiss and that the girls are not being properly brought up. Constant little snide remarks.
Akiko is always in bed by 9:30pm and most nights she cries herself to sleep. The requirement to give a personal evaluation of living in a Japanese home rather than a Japanese house implies that the relationship with other family members occupying the house must be considered. If it was just the house alone, I would have to say that I would enjoy living in Mr. Uedo’s house. I appreciate beautiful timbers, I love their look, their feel, and particularly their smell, and the Japanese sense of beauty is very close to my own.
However, I would find the average Japanese house rather cramped in comparison to what I am used to. Even for the Japanese this can often be the cause of problems.
While in the past it has been normal for several generation to live in the same house, the smaller houses made necessary by suburban land prices make this difficult. Also it appears that the deep reverence that Japanese people have traditionally shown to their elders is now declining. Physical and psychological abuse of the elderly is on the increase. Mainichi Shinbun claimed that according to one expert, “many modern families find themselves caring for their old relatives unwillingly and are not able to cope with the stress. They often resort to violence and neglect.” The newspaper highlighted a number of disturbing instances of such abuse. It must be admitted that here in New Zealand, trying to look after aged parents in ones home can often lead to difficulties. There is a desire these days for more personal living space but there is no actual Japanese word for privacy. The Kondasha Encyclopaedia of Japan says, “In group-oriented Japan, the right of the individual to privacy has traditionally been less honoured than the family, group, or community right to know about and intervene in an individuals affairs.”Donald Keene an American Japanologist in his book ‘Living in Japan’ says,The only real privacy comes from shutting oneself off spiritually from people who may in fact be only a few feet away, and this kind of privacy is necessary in Japan.” Tetsuya Chikushi, a journalist, wrote that children growing up in their own room is, “a phenomenon considered by many to represent the greatest historical change in Japanese society.”
The computer has lost a page or so but it exists in print and will be restored.