One hundred years ago, on August 8, the Office of the Consul of Japan opened its doors in Adderley Street, Cape Town. "Of Japan's 37 embassies and consulates in Africa, this is the smallest - and the oldest," smiles today's consul, Yasushi Naito, from the office, now on Heerengracht Corner.
"We are part of Capetonians' DNA. Our roots are intertwined."
In 1918, 50 years after emerging from isolation, Japan wanted a strategic presence at the Cape's global interaction point. Trade in Japanese goods, especially silk and cotton, surged after the base was established.The first recorded Japanese person in South Africa was a slave, "Anthonyj de Later van Japan", who, after being freed in 1666, owned property at the corner of Adderley and Strand streets, where Woolworths now stands. Today, only 1,600 Japanese people live in SA, yet their culture has infused the country like strong green tea.
Fired by young people's interest in Japanese contemporary culture - anime, Studio Ghibli movies - the consulate has partnered with the Cape Town International Animation Festival in recent years, and organised an exhibition of "kawaii" cute culture at the V&A Waterfront in 2017.
DISCIPLINE RULES
In March, about 5,000 people flocked to Japan Day at Oude Libertas in Stellenbosch, an annual, ever-growing event. It surprises and delights Consul Naito to see South Africans playing the Japanese drums and flute and demonstrating karate, judo, aikido and the sword arts of kendo and kenjutsu, and to watch children absorbed in ikebana flower arranging.
Whether it's cultivating koi or bonsai, meditating or sparring with an opponent, Japanese pursuits seem to draw us out of our heads into the present, and make us happier, better people.
Kyoko Kimura Morgan, founder of Origami for Africa, teaches origami in underprivileged local schools to help kids master themselves and gain confidence. It's why martial arts schools are fixtures in our suburbs, townships and city centres. Whenever I procrastinate, I hear my sensei saying: "You've got to face up to these things." (Osu and thanks, Dylan Hammargren of Lakeside Karate Academy).In the dojo, discipline, respect and effort rule. A six-year-old green belt can take down an adult, because karate is about using what you've got, and everyone's got something. But jeez, forget to bow on entering the dojo and it's 20 push-ups for you.
WABI-SABI
Is it the spectre of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, the centuries of tsunamis, fires and wars, that have led Japan to perfect ways of handling impermanence and channelling destruction into creativity?
The traditional Japanese aesthetic notion of wabi-sabi centres on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. Beauty is seen in asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, modesty. It reflects life's truths: nothing is perfect. Everything ends.
"In Japan, almost everything has the capacity to become art," says art historian Dr James Fox in the BBC Four documentary The Art of Japanese Life. Consider the precision and elegance of sushi and bento boxes. The quotidian task of preparing and consuming food is elevated to art, even an opportunity for enlightenment (depending on how mindfully you eat). Marie Kondo taught us to fold linen mindfully, thank objects for serving their purpose before releasing them to charity shops, and to always ask the question, "Does this item spark joy?".
For "less is more" we salute you, Japan, from haiku to uncluttered interiors. Japan's traditional dwellings were minimalist, open-plan, mutable spaces centuries before Modernist European architects appropriated these elements for home kitchens and artisanal coffee bars.
ZEN GARDENS
Japan gives us constant reminders of resilience and renewal. Ginkgo trees from the Green Legacy Hiroshima project, grown from seeds distributed worldwide from trees that survived the atom bomb, have been planted in Cape Town's Arderne Gardens, on Vergelegen Estate and at the Cape Town Holocaust Centre.
"Nelson Mandela had a very strong interest in Japan: how Japan overcame devastation, how to be the master of your own destiny despite devastation. His grandson Ndaba even came to the Embassy of Japan in Pretoria to work," says Consul Naito who, in February 1990, was the first Japanese person to meet Mandela.We reciprocate, too. After the tsunami in 2011, SA dispatched the first rescue team ever to be sent from Africa to Japan.
This Heritage Day at the Fugard Theatre, jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim, a martial arts master and proponent of Japanese culture, will perform a work he has composed to mark the consulate's centenary.
Respect for things other than us is ingrained in Japanese religion. Shinto venerates nature, sensing spirits in everything around us, in rocks, leaves, the air. Zen Buddhism values the unknowable; to a Western mind accustomed to instant answers and explanations, mystery and its gateway, meditation, can be revelatory.
In the Cape Winelands, Zen teachers Heila and Rodney Downey established the Robertson Dharma Centre 30 years ago after travelling around Japan. "Japanese Zen is the cornerstone of our practice. It's a unique simplicity yet lacking nothing," says Heila. The centre has a raked-gravel Zen garden, an interview room resembling a traditional tea house, and sliding doors and screens inspired by shoji screens in the meditation hall.
"The Japanese sense of honouring the space or environment and the person equally is unprecedented," she says. "Meticulousness, honour and respect are truly evident in all aspects of Japanese culture, and it is this that every person who sits retreats at the Dharma Centre experiences and will take away, and perhaps care just a little more."WHERE TO EAT AUTHENTIC JAPANESE:
CAPE TOWN
Fujiyama: For fresh sushi and sashimi; expert at tuna. 77 Church Street. 021-424-2491
Obi: Sushi master Papa San and chef-partner Ben Betterndorf make popular dishes loved by locals. 14 Long Street, 021-418-4040
Izakaya Matsuri: An affordable, varied Japanese bar with food. The Rockwell, corner Schiebe Street and Alfred Road, Green Point, 021-421-4520
Kyoto Garden Sushi: For fusion cuisine and an extensive variety of Japanese single-malt whiskies. 11 Lower Kloofnek Road. 021-422-2001
JOBURG
Japa Express Sushi Bar: Authentic cuisine in a serene atmosphere. Rivonia Village, 9th Avenue, Rivonia Boulevard. 011-807-3999
Yamato: Cosy, casual and classic, offering sushi and sashimi, tempura and noodle dishes plus set menus. Illovo Muse, 198 Oxford Rd. 011-268-0511..