In Praise Of Shadows… At The Expense Of The West;

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In Praise of Shadows… At the Expense of the West; A Response to the Article by Junichirô Tanizaki In his essay on the adaptation of western culture in the Japanese world, Junichirô Tanizaki uses certain metaphors such as the building of a home, the invention of the fountain pen and types of paper to show the way that this synthesis has affected the Japanese. His ‘in-your-face’ ethnocentricity becomes more and more evident through the progression of the piece as he begins to blame Western cultures for the tribulations of the Orientals. Through the introduction to the piece the reader is shown that Tanizaki’s upbringing exposed him to a very classical version of his culture. The plays, tea houses and education introduced to him by his mother, described as being “beautiful and archaically cultured”, molded him into a culturally focused man with a specific admiration for the past. This characteristic is evident within his essay as he contemplates the difficulties of maintaining historically important qualities whilst introducing modern invention. The author’s point is both interesting and an anthropologically valid inquiry into an issue which must affect many easterners with a similar sentiment towards technological progressivity. However, the manner in which the author embarks upon his topic, as well as the specific debasement of the western culture in order to make his point, are both unnecessary and culturally insensitive. The educated reader will immediately associate this particular act as a weapon of self-preservation where the speaker feels to be the situational victim. Particular examples of these attacks appear when the author elaborates on the decoration of the bathroom and differences between the cultures in respect to this bodily function. The author states that; “compared to Westerners who regard the toilet as utterly unclean and avoid even the

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