Japanese Women
Who do you think is the most famous and talented Japanese woman? Although there are a number of exceptional Japanese women, few of them have had the ability to cross cultural borders.
In that sense, I believe Yoko Ono and Yayoi Kusama stand out. Both are globally recognized artists who were born in prewar Japan.
I’d like to focus mainly on Yoko Ono, because I’ve read the book, which details her courageous life, “WOMAN、the incredible life of YOKO ONO” by Alan Clayson with Barb Jungr and Robb Johnson. Her courage and strong will to pursue her vision and overcome adversities as a Japanese woman living in foreign lands deeply impressed me.
Source: wikipedia, Marcela_Cataldi_Cipolla&action
Yoko Ono is a well-known artist, musician and peace activist, and the world’s most famous widow after John Lennon’s tragic death in 1980.
To me, her life looked like a roller coaster of highs and lows. In her early stage, people cast scornful eyes on her multiple marriages and her works, including her performance of “Cut Piece” and her “Bed-ins” with John, largely because she is an oriental woman. On top of that, for many years, she was unfairly blamed for the break-up of the Beatles.
Despite the unfavorable situation she sometimes encountered, she stuck to her beliefs no matter what people said. It is remarkable that she thrived on adversity and kept on evolving. Actually, she poured her feelings of anger, frustration and desire for peace into her art projects and sublimated them into her art works.
Looking at her background, she was born into one of the rich, elite Japanese families who had shaped the country into a modern industrial and economic powerhouse. She was also privileged to be able to gain a western education by going to college in NY.
At the same time, she experienced great hardship during WWII. The strong sense of fear she experienced in the Tokyo air raids is the backbone of her peace activities. Especially since she came from the upper class, she was expected to behave in an elegant and modest manner.
Yayoi Kusama must have had the similar experiences as Yoko in Japan. Yayoi Kusama is a celebrated Japanese artist. She is almost 90 years old, but known for unflagging energy and creativity. She is most famous for her legendary paintings and objects incorporating red polka dots and yellow pumpkins. Japan was a poor country in her childhood and was not the place where such a forward-thinking lady could display such avant garde works of art.
Yoko’s fateful encounter with John Lennon advanced their activities in pursuit of world peace. Even after John’s death, she continued to work on her own art and finally climbed all the way to the top as a conceptual artist. It was after John’s death that she gained world recognition in her own right.
Throughout it all, Yoko Ono has overcome racial discrimination and harsh criticism. She learned a valuable lesson that what screwed up her heart and body was fear and anger within herself. In other words, fear, or feeling frightened, weakened her heart. She added moreover that your small movement or action has always a meaning and can contribute to changing the world for the better. This is her message for younger generations.
Nowadays more and more women have been getting higher education, but not all of them expect to get ahead in society. Young people nowadays tend to have an introspective mind-set and lack entrepreneur spirit.
Great artists such as Yoko Ono and Yayoi Kusama thrived on adversity and overcame the challenges life presented them to make important works of art.
Nowadays, Japan is a rich and peaceful country where people enjoy very comfortable lives. The unfortunate side of this is that no one feels the need to challenge themselves and great artists or game-changers are not likely to be born in the current state of Japan.