Did you think that Japan was a country of refined minimalism?
What I love about Japan are the contrasts, from new daring architecture to the old, countryside esthetics. Yesterday’s excursion was a true orgy in the latter.
The Tokushima village of Kamikatsu might be a small place, but its inhabitants, together with a Tokushima LED company, proudly present an impressive collection of more than 30 000 dolls every year for Hinamatsuri, the girls’ doll festival.
The number of dolls does not impress me however, nor the fact that the exhibition hall contains a giant papier mâché dinosaur and some fossils from the area. I found my luck in the narrow corridor leading from the dusty paper beast back into the café attended by the doll sized waitress in the picture below;
Classic Japanese sense for composition combined with a lovely taste of dust, bleached polyester fabrics, houseplants borrowed from the villagers and fake cherry blossom lit up by blue LED technology.
What else can you ask for?
The picture above shows the centre piece and true pride of the Village: an 8 meter high doll pyramid with thousands of Japanese dolls.
And finally, the Exit and the LED fireworks.
Magdalena Perers 