Letter from Tokyo

Tokyo is a big, buzzing, chaotic city; the epitome of the metropolis, the stylized “mega city.” I am gradually coming to realize that this stylization is Tokyo’s subtext, but where does it come from? I would describe it as the result of a process of alienation leading to liberation from redundancy and the strait-jacket of “reality.” As an observer, I am no longer under the obligation to search for missing parameters since the only parameters left are those without which it would be impossible to construct any kind of identification.

With reality safely shut out, I can relax, and this is probably one of the reasons for the Japanese urge to stylize – the relaxation of the mind.

My encounter with the Tokyo subway rush hour supports this assumption. Travelling on crowded trains, walking through innumerable tunnels or sipping coffee at a café while watching commuters streaming by makes me feel like a fish in the sea; a surprisingly relaxing sensation caused by the fact that the commuters are reduced to neutral signifiers of persons, i.e. persons devoid of expression.

Applied to the performing arts, this stylization results in the elimination of the yoke of realism, as seen in the Kabuki ...