Do the Japanese really love nature more than all other people ?

[craftsman]

I did not notice that people like more nature than in Western countries, on the contrary. I found that the Japanese are not big fans of hiking in the country at weekends, going to national parks (the US is great for that), work in their garden, watch nature documentaries (the UK is great for that), or fight to preserve their bit of nature and scenery near their house.

This is all very strange because I've found almost the complete opposite. Hiking has always been popular and even in the centre of Tokyo it is very common at weekends to see groups of people in hiking boots and floppy hats on their way to a bus and long distance train.
The island where I live is a national park and despite being expensive to get to has around 200,000 visitors a year and the main activity is hiking in the mountains. Other national parks, like this one, have the problem of too many visitors and have had to prepare plans to protect the nature from the effects of over-tourism.
Now as I'm sure you're aware there aren't that many residences with gardens, but the ones that do have them, are invariably taken care of well. There are professional gardeners who do this but it is usual to only use a professional once a year as they are expensive, the rest of the time it's the owner who does it.
The status of Yakushima as a National Park and then as a UNESCO site was due to the efforts of one local man who galvanised support across Japan. It is a national crime to damage some trees here now. It was also due to the efforts of a small community in the north part that giant turtle beaches are now protected. In another thread I mentioned a cousin of my wife's who was a local politician in Chiba and who started a campaign to stop the destruction of small community parks and encouraged the planting of more trees. These are just a few examples of people fighting back and there are many more.

In Japan the government freely destroys the whole countryside (and was not talking only about cities) by pouring concrete all along the coast (over 80%), all along rivers (only one river hasn't got concrete banks in all Japan), and all over hills and mountains (to prevent landslide as they say, but go to Switzerland and you won't see that). If you haven't read Dogs & Demons by Alex Kerr, I strongly recommened it to you on that particular subject. Japan is a country 13x the size of Belgium (where I live now), with the exact same population density, and I haven't seen a tenth of the natural beauty found in Belgium when I travelled around Japan, from Kyushu to Hokkaido (ok I skipped the Tohoku, which is probably the most beautiful for nature).

I agree with you that the excess amount of concrete has a very negative impact both visually and environmentally. However, your comments smack too much of generalizations. With your rivers figure I'm guessing you mean large rivers that run through towns and cities. Surely you don't mean all rivers....do you? And all over the hills and mountains? I'm going to presume you mean all over some here. My images of Japan that are stored somewhere in my head are overwhelmingly of unspoilt, forested mountains and yes, it was a real shame you missed Tohoku and many other mountainous rural areas where the concrete has yet to go.

I feel much more the seasonal changes in Northern Europe than in Japan. Being particularily sensitive to the seasons myself since my childhood, I have personal reasons to be annoyed at this Japanese attitude.

You may have been in wrong place to see the gradual change of seasons. I'm presuming you lived in Tokyo. But your constant comparison to Europe and Belgium in particular are to me slightly odd. I've been to Belgium and it seemed to me to be a pleasant country but I was certainly not struck by the nature. I too know the seasonal changes in Northern Europe very well and I can tell you if anything Japan's is much more obvious.

Hah, cultural differences ! It always excuses everything. Being married to a Japanese, I think that I know that it is not only for the "good form" that they complain (at least not her, nor her family). I get annoyed when she complaints too much about small things (and she knows it, so it is not for the "good form" at home), and she gets annoyed and nervous when her mother o grandmother complain about small things, even by email. In comparison, in my family (in Belgium) some people have been hospitalised and didn't tell anyone in the family so that they do not worry about them. This is stoicism. Many Japanese are just cry babies. The samurai were stoic; their time is long gone... Now it is the "itai", 'taihen" and "o-tsukare" generation.

I hope you don't make your poor wife nervous about this. I was referring to the good form in complaining about the small things because it is not good form to complain about the big. This is exactly as you describe it in Belgium when a family member is hospitalised. Stoicism is not solely a Belgian trait nor is it a European trait but the world over including Japan.

Well, my wife complains that she misses those things, and finds it harder to stay in a foreign country where she doesn't speak the language and cannot socialise easily than in Japan where she can meet people at work and after work all day. It may be tiring, but also stimulating. It is much harder to be alone in your room. I found the Japanese I have met to be weak to solitude, because they live in a very social, grou-minded country. The Japanese tend to feel very sorry and sympathise with old people who live by themselves, while in Northern Europe is is perfectly normal, even at a very advanced age. The only think for which I found the Japanese more stoic was for physical pain in some particular situations like childbirth (no pain killer) or sado-masochism (very popular in Japan, although rather softcore).

There you go about Northern Europe again. Yes, old people live alone in Northern Europe and are practically abandoned by their families in old people's homes. That is the case in Britain as I am sure it is in Belgium. It's nothing to do with 'group' but all to do with 'family'.