A question of taste and preference

One of the fascinating things about being in Japan is the opportunity to see the world thru another set of lenses. Last weekend was another opportunity to be reminded about how tastes, what is beautiful and what is important can be so different from culture to culture.

I had the opportunity to visit the Kyu-Iwasaki-tei Garden 

This was the original estate of the Iwasaki clan who were the founders of the hugely successful Mitsubishi conglomerate. At the time they were one of the wealthiest families in Japan. They hired the British architect Josaih Condor in 1896 to build an appropriate mansion for the family. Condor was well known in Tokyo at the time for designing western style magnificent buildings:

                                    

Sure enough this structure did not disappoint with its sweeping balconies, it's intricate woodwork and hardwood floors, the beveled glass windows, all of the elements seen in estates throughout Europe and places like Newport Rhode Island.

         

                                       

                                       

I thought to myself, oh yes, the Meiji restoration when Japanese aristocrats were entranced by the West and took on all things western. This would make sense that a super wealthy family in Japan would build a home like this to emulate the West... Until I got to the back of this western mansion and saw this corridor:

       

                                 

                                        

     

This corridor is exquisitely built with simple, pure lines, simple wood beams, floors covered with tatami mats and soji screens looking out on an inner garden on the side.

As it turns out the family actually lived in a sprawling complex of Japanese style rooms which they preferred to live in. At the end of this hall they had shoes and western clothes stored so that they could emerge to welcome their foreign guests dressed as Westerners surrounded by the Western tastes that guests were used to.

As a family they preferred this environment:

Simple rooms with tatami mats on the floor looking out over gardens...

Like most traditional rooms next to no furniture but small alcoves in each room for a few simple but exquisite art pieces to display....

                                   

Beautifully crafted overhangs out of exquisite wood beams to provide shade and shelter form the rain...

                                    

Surrounded by gardens of ancient trees and stone lanterns to remind them of their ancestors...

                                   

With my early life in the US and Europe I resonate to the beauty of Condor's design. I am humbled and 

inspired to realize once again that tastes and cultures are different and that people around the world understand "comfort", "beauty", and "home" differently.

Another lesson relearned last Sunday.