KARACHI: The Japanese must love nature, the outdoors and greenery. The opinion was formed after attending the Japanese Calendar Exhibition, 2017, at the Information and Culture Centre of the Consulate General of Japan being held in collaboration with the Pakistan Japan Cultural Association (PJCA) and the Japan Pakistan Association here.

The six-day exhibition of 150 calendars has been divided into some 16 themes or categories depicting the rich cultural heritage of Japan, including ‘Landscape’, ‘Japanese gardens’, ‘Flowers’, ‘Bonsai’, ‘Four seasons’, ‘Kimono’, ‘Architecture’, ‘Art’, ‘Children’, ‘Animals’, ‘Daily life’ and ‘Cars’.

Each calendar has been printed on high-quality paper. The advance technology of Japanese photography and printing is also evident, especially from the transparent pictures in some of the calendars.

Coming to their love for nature, a large part of the exhibition has beautiful pictures of plants, trees and flowers. There are calendars with pictures of miniature bonsai trees and flower arrangements and absolutely breathtaking Japanese landscapes. But even the ones which fall under the category of ‘World scenery’ and are not really about Japan display beautiful scenery of grassy hills and plains, flower fields and tall trees.

The calendars in the ‘Children’ category also show the little ones engaged in some kind of outdoor activity such as making a snowman or riding a scooty in a lush field. The ‘Four seasons’ category is the most dramatic by far. Japan, also known as the land of the rising sun, has been captured most expertly while experiencing the four seasons.

But nature and the outdoors is not all that is there on display. In the ‘Architecture’ category, you get to see elegant interiors with even the sizes of the rooms provided on one side of the calendar other than the days of the month. You get a sneak peek into Japan’s traditional and modern homes. The ‘Daily life’ category includes entire calendars concentrating on food. The sushi presentations in one are quite interesting, although one needs to develop a taste for this kind of cuisine.

The ‘Cars’ category is a treat for automobile lovers. The ‘Art’ category has some exquisite pictures, including an entire calendar dedicated to the rooster, which should be very timely for followers of the Chinese lunar calendar as the year of the rooster is just beginning.

The exhibition concludes on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2017