Within the context of our private, custom travel experiences, we have been blessed with opportunities to explore the many prisms and facets of Japan’s truly singular culture.
A big part of Japan’s uniqueness is its wabi-sabi aesthetic. Wabi-sabi is a Japanese worldview/state-of-mind emphasizing simplicity and purity – the beauty and awe of all things humble, unpretentious and imperfect. In a recent university commencement speech, singer/songwriter John legend defines the meaning of "soul" - he defines "soul" as authenticity, about finding things in your life that are real and pure. Perhaps unknowingly, John Legend is referring to wabi-sabi. My conception of wabi-sabi is a beautiful sunset, the still morning frost, a graceful and simple Japanese tea ceremony. It’s a sort of subtle, unspoken beauty, like Katherine Hepburn vs. Marilyn Monroe (our friend at United Airlines, Suzanne Wahl, feels a more contemporary comparison is Kate Winslet vs. Angelina Jolie). Wabi-sabi, in essence, is savoring all of one’s daily simple pleasures. Wabi-sabi parallels the basic concept of Zen Buddhism in that intuitive insight is considered a more critical force than intellectual deliberation. This Japanese lifeview perhaps contributes to the country’s deep sense of egalitarianism, with one seeing few outward signs of wealth in this wonderful land.
Randy Lynch
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