I feel as if I have so much to say but then when I sit to write it, nothing compelling comes to mind. Is it because it’s been swirling in my mind for so long that it doesn’t seem new – doesn’t seem fit to publish? Part of me thinks that I should be documenting the daily oddities and thoughts that flow in and out of my mind while the other part thinks I should just watch another YouTube documentary.
In fact, yesterday, I watched “What’s the Cost of Being the Hardest Workers in the World? | Deciphering Japan”. They reviewed that uniquely Japanese concept of Kodawari – the relentless and uncompromising pursuit of perfection – that fascinates me. I don’t know of any other ethnic cultures for whom such a concept is a basic tenet of their cultural ethos, certainly not in America. On one hand, I can understand how that single-minded devotion to perfection could become unhealthy, exhausting and mentally stagnating in terms of broadening your thoughts but at the same time, could it be freeing? You choose one area to focus on – whether it be coding, cooking, comics or carpentry and you devote countless hours of thought, talk and tooling to it. And because you live in a country that understands and even honors that, you don’t feel weird for it. Either you meet other enthusiasts of your craft or those who are as grounded in kodawari as you so there’s no shame, no weirdness, no feeling out of place. You can fuss, focus and fuel yourself with the pursuit of perfection in that industry without fear of misunderstanding if you choose not to go out, not to engage with others, not to become beholden to the needs of others. After all, you’re seeking the best of the best so that others may know the love in you for that thing, service or person.
Lest you think I am myopic, I am fully aware that this concept, while Japanese in definition, is not 
exclusive to the Japanese. Kodawari is found around the world in millions of people, however, it is not as whole-scale beloved as it is in Japan. Nowhere else in the world is this concept embedded as deeply or revered as much as it is in Japan. Nowhere will you find it heralded as much as in Japan. Developing “a mind-set of determined and scrupulous attention to detail, motivated by a sincere passion and self-discipline; knowing that some of these efforts will go unrecognised“a is as Japanese as pacifism is Ghanaian and individualism is American.
I don’t have a trade or industry that I work tirelessly in unless you consider curiosity about how people’s culture impacts them and vice versa. I have interests that stem from my curiosity about people, their interactions and their effects on one another. This has led me to learn about people’s cultural heritages – exemplum primi the fact that I was watching this video in the first place – and how the guiding principles of those groups in turn creates tidal waves of power, influence and change. I don’t seek perfection in an industry either. I am shifting away from this concept of perfection because it has not served me well. I don’t know what perfection looks like for someone like me – a seeker. Perhaps that is the essence of what I do – that there is no perfection. There is only the seeking of more and more knowledge; the sniffing, pouncing and tracking of ideas as they present themselves before me.
a https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190124-seven-words-that-can-help-us-to-be-a-little-calmer
Inside Out 