Well, here it is at long last. What is, you ask? Japanophilia, my blog about the things I enjoy in Japan, taken away from all the other things I write about or photograph on my various other sites. I realised, finally, that I wanted to specialise in something that I am seen as having an unusual access to- that being Japanese culture. This seemed to be as good a way as any to express it.
So what is, or isn't, this blog? Well, it won't provide an appropriately critical examination of Japan, whatever that is. No, this is far from being a perfect country, but social critiques, necessary though they may be, are not the primary reason for this blog's existence.
No, this blog is to express that endless dream of 'the real Japan', a fantastic land on which the sun never sets, only endlessly rising. It is a land in which the rich culture and history come alive once again, being revisited amongst the hustle and bustle of modern life, with all it's seeming insanity. It is a land in which the pursuit of beautiful simplicity takes precedence over all else, yet is accompanied by the comfortable feeling that all is as it should be, anyway.
It is a fantasy to be found amongst the temples, shrines and gardens that dot this archipelago like oasis in a Saharan desert, offering cultural repose. This blog is about a Japan that perhaps no longer is, or even never was, for any but the most aesthetic samuri-monk who ever lived. It is a Japan in which all the cherry blossoms are perfect. It is a place I love to visit- and I hope, through this blog, you can, too.
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