Accepting Modernity

Never before has mankind been so connected, and yet so alone. As I get ready for my oral comps (to be administered in written form since I am out of the US), I'm reading up on the classics such as Robert Putnam and his Bowling Alone material. Back in 1995 he wrote that the rise of the television took us away from engaging each other as the tube took more and more of our leisure time starting around the 60s. I haven't read anything of his past the 90s, so I don't know his opinion on the internet's effect on what he calls social capital. What I do know is that society is constantly changing for better or worse; accepting change is always tough for people though.

I got a little Japanese taste of this the other day on the way home. I've written in the past about how maiko-san (like geisha) who adorn the streets of Kyoto now use taxis to get from teahouse to teahouse. To everyone I know, there is nothing wrong with that at all. I've never heard anyone complain they should be taking rickshaw or walking from place to place.

However, maiko-san used to use their beautiful sleeves to keep necessary belongings such as coin purses and the like. Nowadays, though, cellphone have entered their sleeves.

The other day as I rode my bike home from dinner, I passed by a cab with clients in the back and a maiko-san in the front. As I approached, I was drawn to this girl's beauty. Now in all honesty, people have a fear of clowns, and although I don't fear them, I don't really see the beauty in all of that white paint on their faces.

Yet, this girl looked like a manikin in her beauty. The makeup accented the almost perfect features of her face, or perhaps hid the faults. Her kimono was gold with a majestic pattern. At that moment I felt like I understood why maiko-san have stood the test of time and continued to this day. The way she sat in the front seat of the cab unflinching as she looked down only added to the appearance of a manikin. As I thought, "is this real?" I slowly gained ground on the cab and peered more inside.

Yes, it was real. Nevermind the clients in the backseat of the cab, she was busy texting on her cellphone possibly about her favorite SMAP singer Kusanagi being arrested for exposing himself in a Tokyo park in the wee hours of the morning. The beautiful creature wasn't a piece of old Japan time-warped into the present for our pleasure, but rather the future of the past (which equals the present or modern) doing what all idle girls do here in Japan.

The pure maiko-san has gone to the pasture just like bowling leagues (from Putnam). This is just something we have to accept.

However, as technology changes and old forms of association change into different forms, have we become more alone than our predecessors? Would it be more valuable for that girl to put away her cellphone and draw up conversation with her clients in the backseat?