In this video, Nick Kemp discusses how Japanese culture has a remarkable ability to notice and appreciate subtle aspects of nature and life, often to the point of creating words that capture these delicate moments—words that don't exist in English.
Embracing the essence of the external world
Nick: What you've reminded me of is Japanese do have this ability to notice the external world, and they even have words for things that we don't have words for. So a good example is, obviously, a lot of people might know wabi-sabi; and wabi-sabi is this aesthetic, you might find in traditional pottery or in nature, and that's external for them.
But in the West, we've taken it, and we're sort of trying to understand it as embrace your flaws, and we internalize these things. And then there's another word, which I learned from listening to Alan Watts, and it's yugen, and it's such a cool concept. So it's the intrigue of the mystery behind something that you're aware exists, but you don't actually see.
So it might be, you see a mountain, and you're wondering, what's behind the mountain; or you see the sun, and it's obscured by clouds, and so you know, it's there, and you can't see it. But there's this image or vision or justice intrigue to what can't be seen, and it's attractive.
And Japanese have this ability to articulate or form words, and we don't. So I think, their ability to focus on the external, and notice it to the point where they have particular words for very unique or subtle moments in nature, it's fascinating. Whereas we don't either notice them, or we just don't notice them enough to have words to articulate those experiences.
So I love that about Japanese culture, they're very aware of their external world, and appreciate the beauty, or just appreciate the reality of the external world. So it's always fascinating to learn more about Japanese culture and language.