Japan is a unique country in a variety of ways. The most profound distinguishing (salient) characteristic is that they developed from a medieval nation to one of the front runners of technology in less than 100 years. With this rapid change, one would expect for the traditional artistry techniques and cultural uniqueness would be lost. However, the Japanese government took deliberate measures to ensure the preservation of their culture.
The Japanese government officially named a group of experts as ‘living treasures”. These are people that are masters at crafts like hand made rice paper, kabuki theatre, doll making, and other crafts that have thousand year histories. The very few, select, highly skilled members of this group are given government pay in exchange for sharing their gift and training others to continue the tradition once they are gone.
It takes a special type of government to recognize the importance of moving forward yet, understand that the past should be respected and continue to thrive for future generations. It really says something about the Japanese society. They hold artists with the highest level of respect and admiration. The medieval style of passing on art styles is still thriving. The living treasures are often still living in the same villages where they grew up, even at the age of 96, and they still have apprentices studying under them until they are ready. Another interesting thing the artists in Japan still do is take on the name of their mentors when they are ready. For example, there are six or seven generations of actors with the same name.
It is a breath of fresh air to see a society with art and design so heavily ingrained in its traditions and future. They are able to combine the past and to the future and look at the world in a unique way. They are all designers, making life better or more interesting for everyone, making their culture better by adding layers of complexity to it.
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