Europeans' Unconditional Trust（different fashion senses: 3）

An impression I always get in Europe is

Europeans must have a
"conviction", or
"belief", or "unconditional familiarity"

with

things called
"the nature" & "body"

---

Living in Europe

And I had to notice
very often, many people engage activities involving the nature

For example........

―Hiking and camping are at least 83 times more popular than in Japan

―Swimming in a lake/river in summer is precisely 332 times more common than in Japan

―A half-naked, young, decent-looking man (not wearing T-shirt or open the front of the shirt, due to summer heat) walking/cycling even in the city centre and nobody cares

And in particular, Europeans' attitude towards sunlight always catches my eyes

―Sunbathing everywhere
in a park, riverside, one's tiny garden

―Intentionally & happily choose a terrace seat in the middle of the summer day,
where their face & body are exposed to direct sunlight
Their carelessness with sunburn always looks natural, nonchalant & even innocent, to my Japanese eyes

---

These scenes bring me an impression;

Europeans enjoy, appreciate & experience the nature directly
as much as they can
with their body

---

Then,
how do Japanese enjoy the nature?

They apply the same cultural principle here

They prefer things that are indirect
Thy treat things in a distanced manner
& They like hiding

Japanese Zen garden
Kimono
Bonsai
Ikebana.......

are all heavily "processed"
rather than "organic"

One can say,
"It's sophisticated"

On the other hand,
"It's extremely artificial"

---

Japanese has this avoidant attitude even towards the nature

They can treat only its illusion
They can enjoy only its copy cat (Neko)
They can play with only its shadows

For a long time, I was thinking
it's all because
Japanese are too timid & too coward

Their small, fragile, too sensitive stomach can't digest the rough, wild, dynamic reality

Thus, they can enjoy only things that are
washed
cleaned
filtered
& sanitised

There is another, kinder, more acceptable, more generalised opinion about it;

"Japan experienced too many natural disasters and it made them feel awe, fear & distant about the nature"

Maybe true
Maybe not

---

From my Japanese perspective,
European's way to relate themselves to the nature looks
very direct
very careless
& very nonchalant

And it leads me to think
they have the same approach to their own "body",
which is what interacts with "the nature"

---

Different approach to the nature & body produced different fashion senses

as well as
different ways of expressing in "Being a man" and "Being sexy"

First, "Being a man"

I always feel
some morbidly conservative notion of "Being a man" exists all over Europe

It's..........(To be continued: Next)