Tea Cup by Gowstar Design
My friend at Gowstar Design gave me one of the tea cup from his hand-made ceramic series.A hand-made object definitely gives a nice human warmth. The contour is nice and thins out toward the edge, so it feels nice when you are sipping on tea. It feels great drinking jasmine tea in the morning, looking at Elysian Park outside my window.
So, Japan has enjoyed a long period of safe and peaceful times.
But in the unstable condition it currently is, can we draw a straight line to war? First of all, I am a pacifist, but I don’t intend to ritualistically dream peace and call it a day. Its hard for me to imagine Japan or China at war, but the point of this exercise is to draw up a simple scenario in which war is possible. Having said that, a violent war that suddenly breaks out is unlikely between Japan and China in the modern age.
However, recently some politicians have suggested to place the self-defense force on the Senkaku islands, an series of uninhabited islands that have been under dispute with china since the 70′s. This proposition can lead to war depending on how its carried out.
While Japan claims the Senkaku islands as its own, and probably intend to use the self-defense force as a deterrent against the Chinese government, this is a naively optimistic plan. Just like the government thought that releasing the detained Chinese captain would conclude the senkaku incident, its not reading beyond the optimistic and ideal outcome of their situations. A normal, functioning government would usually do this, but the current Japanese government cannot be easily trusted.
“Violence does not solve anything” is a Lie
In schools, we are taught to reject violence, and I’m sure we’ve all heard the statement “Violence is not a solution” sometime in our life. This is a lie. This statement shows a fundamental lack of understanding of what it’s rejecting. Not TRYING to understand what you are fighting against, is a dangerous premise in an ideological conflict.
The essence of violence, which makes it dangerous, is that it does “solve” the issue. It solves it forcefully and in an one-sided way, and overrides any logic or reason. The winner takes all by brute force, and is privileged to form the truth and history with a carte blanche.
Chinese fishing vessel ramming the Japanese costal guard ship
Japan has been trying to promote its culture and tourism by the slogan of “Cool Japan”, much like how England promoted itself in the past. Unfortunately, the recent diplomatic defeat against China is promoting “pussy Japan” to the world.
Opening Night Discussion
Atelier Hitoshi Abe’s installation at the SCI-Arc Gallery is opening July 30th, with a discussion between architect Hitoshi Abe and the director of SCI-Arc, Eric Owen Moss starting at 7:00pm, followed by an opening reception. Please stop by if you are in the area. More details at Los Angeles Times and SCI-Arc
Update! Photos and video of the gallery installation can be found in my photography section.
I just invented KARMAPUNCH. You can’t complain after being karmapunched, because something good is going to happen to you in order to balance the universe. On the other hand, if you don’t believe in Karma, you can go around punching people in the face and getting thanked for it. It all works out.
In any field, there are few, passionate people constantly priding themselves on working late.
Hey, sorry for the long silence. It’s been really busy these days. The Wien University project by Atelier Hitoshi Abe is featured in the 2010 spring issue of the JA magazine, amongst works by other prominent Japanese Architects such as Atelier Bow-wow. If you have a chance, look through them at a local Architecture Book store, or make me rich by clicking on the amazon link(and buying it!).
