Ersatz nature

Today in Japan it seems like there is a flower shop on almost every street corner, but for the most part the plants they offer are cultivated, not gathered from the wild. Seeds are frequently imported, and the shops are full of flowers of European or North and South American origin, many grown in hothouses. Do we conceive of these as “nature,” or simply as “flowers”?

We are surrounded by a flood of “ersatz nature.” Concrete that is molded and stained to resemble wood is used in construction; sushi and box lunches are garnished with plastic leaves; phony wood grain is printed on fire-resistant wallpaper and on styrofoam food containers at convenience stores; the list goes on and on. Doesn’t this reveal something about our feelings toward nature? For some time there has been a debate over whether the Japanese actually love nature or are content with the appearance of nature.

Susan Sontag, author of Against Interpretation (1966) and Illness as Metaphor (1978), once remarked on the gaudy artificial cherry blossoms decorating Japanese shopping streets and the floral patterns featured on the white crockery and ceramics in department stores, saying that it seemed that the Japanese love of nature was really love for the “semi-natural.”