Following my recent visit to Japan, I continue to process the experience and try and better understand Japanese culture. As I have previously mentioned, I was overwhelmed by the complexities of Japanese aesthetics and design that permeate Japanese life. The excellent video below about the designer Masayuki Kurokawa, describes his take on eight aesthetics concepts to better understand the Japanese sensibility.

The eight concepts are: The Aesthetics of Subtlety, The Beauty of Coexistence, Sensing the Invisible, The Space between Things, Seeing without Seeing, The Essence of the Unadorned, Beauty in the Made, and Breaking to Become.

微 (Bi) The Aesthetic of Subtlety 00:37 並 (Hei) The Beauty of Coexistence 02:06 気 (Ki) Sensing the Invisible 03:33 間 (Ma) The Space Between Things 05:18 秘 (Hi) Seeing Without Seeing 07:11 素 (So) The Essence of the Unadorned 09:02 仮 (Ka) Beauty in the Made 11:41 破 (Ha) Breaking to Become 13:56

You can also read a more in depth exploration of the eight concepts here.