Who to give dragon spring sake to8/26/2023 ![]() ![]() Lake Kuzuryu is not such an interesting place.’ said the maths teacher. ‘No Sam san, there is nowhere to hire boats. But my investigations returned no significant leads on any rentable watercraft. Had such a magnificent place been located in my home country, there would doubtless be some enterprising local offering kayaks or rowing boats for hire, capitalising on the certain demand by visitors to take to the water and enjoy its exquisite scenery. My first inkling that the beauty of Lake Kuzuryu was not being recognised was when I tried to track down a boat in which to explore it. But whilst it’s easy to understand differing views of what constitutes beauty in humans, never had I realised that appreciation for unspoilt beauty of the natural landscape could be a matter for debate. I had already noted some of the differences between Western (or maybe just my own) perception of beauty and that of Japan’s the fact that yaeba – double tooth – is regarded as kawaii – cute – and that the pigeon-toed shuffle that many Japanese women adopt is seen as attractive because it is deemed the feminine way of walking. Where one culture or one person finds attraction, others may find nothing, or perhaps even repulsion. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But I found that my appreciation for its splendour was not shared by the locals. Clear, blue-green and contained by steep, forested slopes, it was one of the most magnificent I had ever seen. High up in the mountain folds above Ono, there sits a lonely lake. ![]() (This is a chapter extract from “For Fukui’s Sake” – published with the author’s permission.)
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