What is “KIREI” ? It is not clean, beautiful or neat.

Japan is often said to be a “KIREI country”.
In that case, “KIREI” will give the impression that there is no trash on the streets, the air is clear, and it is clean.
When you say “That person is KIREI”, it means that the person is beautiful on the outside or attractive on the inside.

There is a word in Japanese called “KIREI”, and the word is used to express not only one thing but various things.

However, if there is a common point, this “KIREI” is a positive word and can be said to represent a certain “beauty, tastefulness, cleanliness”.

But, I feel that the word “KIREI” has “something” that is a bit different from the English words “clean” and “beautiful.”
“KIREI” is something unique to Japan, and it seems to represent the characteristics and culture of Japan.

An article about New York

Please remember the atmosphere of the subways in your country. Japan’s subways are clean and convenient transportation that everyone uses. American Subway apparently wasn’t like that.

I found an interesting article some time ago. This article is from about 20 years ago, but it is about the subway in New York in the United States. The story continues as follows.

“In the 1980s and 1990s, New York City had an epidemic of crime. On average, there were more than 2,000 murders and more than 600,000 felony cases per year. Drug dealing and gang warfare were so common, especially in poor neighborhoods, that at dusk the streets were like ghost towns with no one walking outside. And the subway was especially bad, in what can only be described as chaos.

In 1992, New York City had 2,154 murders and 626,812 felonies. Five years later, however, the number of homicides had fallen by 64.3% to 770, and the number of felonies had fallen by almost half to 355,893. The subway saw a 75% drop in felony incidents in the early and late 1990s. The streets are full of people again, bicycles are back, and residents can be seen standing and chatting on the stairs in front of the entrance. What happened?

It’s not like there was a large-scale population shift that left people who were more likely to run into crime. It’s hard to imagine that everyone suddenly became aware of the difference between good and evil. Crime-prone people were still living in New York City, but for some reason, those tens and hundreds of thousands of people suddenly stopped committing crimes. What does that mean?

New Corporation President David Gunn, who oversaw the rebuilding of the crime-ridden subway, began a multi-billion dollar operation to clean up graffiti on the subway.

Many people at the time thought the bigger crime problem should be dealt with, and that graffiti when the entire subway is on the verge of collapse is as irrelevant as scrubbing the deck of the Titanic. However, Gunn was stubborn and decided to clean each route and each vehicle according to a plan. At turnaround stations, we set up cleaning bases, and if even one car had graffiti on it, we either erased it on the spot or removed the car. He cleaned it thoroughly. This graffiti cleaning operation continued from 1984 to 1990.

Subway police commander Bratton then took the same seemingly misguided tactic in dealing with the frequent felonies on the subway. They worked to eradicate free rides. The number of people arrested for previously overlooked misdemeanor crimes jumped fivefold between 1990 and 1994. And felony cases have gone down.

When Rudolph Giuliani was elected mayor of New York City in 1994, Bratton was appointed Commissioner of the New York Police Department and deployed the same strategy throughout the city. Crimes in the living environment, such as demanding money for wiping the windows of cars parked at intersections in the city, drunkenness in public places, and littering of garbage, have come to be strictly controlled.

And crime in the city plummeted, just as it did in the subway.

I think it’s a well-known story in the United States, but by thoroughly cleaning the entire city and subway, the space became cleaner and the number of crimes decreased sharply.
In other words, humans are creatures that are influenced by their environment.

“KIREI” is a unique Japanese culture

“KIREI” is related here. Since I was born in Japan, I feel a sense of incongruity when I go abroad.
That is, I feel that the cleanliness of the city overseas is somewhat different from the “KIREI” that I feel in Japan.

This is difficult to express in words.
The cleanliness in overseas has a cleanliness that has been added by human hands. It looks very clean and tidy, but the “KIREI” that you feel in Japan, and the “KIREI” that is emanating from things that have been used for many years and are still being used and polished to this day.
Something feels different.
Compared to other countries, Japan as a whole is calm, has few crimes, and has a modest national character. Like the subway example mentioned above, I think it has something to do with “KIREI” in an environmental sense.

It would be very nice for the city to become “KIREI”.
I think that people can live a more fulfilling life in a “KIREI” place than in a dirty place, such as the absence of disease, and the richness of the mind that comes from cleanliness.
This characteristic “KIREI” that can be seen in Japan, not only is it simply clean, but also “KIREI” where you can feel the taste of Japan, what exactly is this?

KIREI scenery in Japan

Even if it is difficult to put into words, I believe that something can be seen and felt. Lastly, I will post some “KIREI” photos that I felt when I visited various places in Japan.
Although everything is made by hand, it is kept in “KIREI” by the people who manage it every day and the people who visit it, creating a profound atmosphere.

Katsuoji Temple in Osaka

Katsuoji Temple in Osaka becomes KIREI when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom in the spring.

Although the large number of daruma inside Katsuoji Temple are placed randomly, you can feel the history of the daruma, and the arrangement feels like KIREI.

Spectacles Bridge in Nagasaki

Megane Bridge in Nagasaki is one of the tourist attractions. This bridge was so named because the reflection of the river below makes it look like a pair of glasses. This Megane Bridge has a KIREI appearance at any time of the day or night.

Kanazawa Station （introduced in the world’s most beautiful station rankings）

Kanazawa Station is a very KIREI station that has been selected as one of the most beautiful stations in the world.

Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima

Japan is the only country in the world where an atomic bomb was dropped. Those cities are Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima City was left behind to remember the tragedy, and it is still kept at KIREI by Hiroshima City.

Port Tower in Kobe

The port tower in Kobe lights up KIREI at night.

“Daikokuya” famous in Asahikawa, Hokkaido

Daikokuya is a famous Genghis Khan restaurant located in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. The appearance of the store located at the back of a snowy road is exactly KIREI.

Akama Shrine in Yamaguchi Prefecture, famous for “Hoichi without ears’’

Akama Jingu Shrine in Yamaguchi Prefecture, where Hoichi the Earless, who is famous in folk tales, rests, is colored in a distinctive red color.

Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, a tourist attraction

Kiyomizu-dera, a famous temple in Kyoto, is full of be KIREI greenery in the summer and soothes the souls of those who see it.

Zenkoji Temple in Nagano Prefecture dyed white with snow

Zenkoji, a famous temple in Nagano, is covered with snow in winter. There is no other way to express that appearance than KIREI.

The photos shown here have the meaning of KIREI as a scenery.
As I mentioned at the beginning, KIREI can be used for people, but it also has the meaning of cleaning and turning it into KIREI.
Therefore, I have summarized the definition of KIREI and also summarized how it differs from other expressions, so please read the following articles.

●“KIREI” — Definition in English
●The habit of taking care of things
●“Clean”, “Clean up” and “KIREI” difference in meaning of words

Thank you for reading.