The author, who has long visited Kyoto to capture its seasonal transformations, had to cancel the trip due to heavy air pollution drifting from China. Reflecting on how Kyoto’s gardens embody Japan’s aesthetic sense and public spirit, the essay interprets China’s smog as the collective form of individual “bottomless evil” and “plausible lies.”

An essay discussing the seasonal beauty of Kyoto and Japan’s aesthetic sensibilities cultivated over 1,000 years. The author’s planned visit to Kyoto is canceled due to air pollution from China, leading to a reflection on how collective individual evils can manifest as major societal problems.

2013-01-30

For some reason, I have continued my visits to Kyoto.
I walk through Kyoto in every season.
No, I walk through Kyoto as it changes moment by moment, day by day.
My photographs aim to convey to the world the wisdom that has been cultivated and refined for over a thousand years.

Human beings are not meant to live for greed.
I once wrote that what Kyoto’s gardens communicate is the beauty of all regions of Japan.
It is no exaggeration to say that these gardens express the aesthetic sensibility the Japanese have nurtured for more than a thousand years.
It is no exaggeration to say that the heart and soul of the Japanese dwell there.
That is why the Japanese were able to foster a sense of public spirit.

Yet today, I could not go to Kyoto.
As “News 23” reported last night, the Kansai region was covered with air pollution drifting in from China.
Today, Osaka was shrouded as if in photochemical smog, the sun completely hidden.

It is not only that I cannot take the photographs I wished to capture.
This is also harmful to health.
Regrettably, I canceled my trip to Kyoto.

Many must have wondered: what is the cause of such severe air pollution in China?
It is nothing less than the embodiment of what happens when each individual’s “bottomless evil” and “plausible lies” are amassed into a collective whole.