“Ranking” Mania in Japan

For some reason, the Japanese love rankingu (ranking), and there are TV shows that go out of their way to find interesting topics and organize them into ordered lists for you. For example, a variety show might sample all major brands of sausages sold in supermarkets then report on which were the most delicious, do a report on Haruki Murakami’s runaway best-selling novel IQ94, and then rank the top brands of bottled green tea or the most popular pet names this year. There’s even a show called “Father’s Wideshow Study” that sums up the important news from the past week in order of how many hours each subject was reported on by the media, so that busy salarmen who don’t have time to watch the news every night can keep up with current events. This love of ranking isn’t new, and the Japanese have a long tradition of listing the “three best” of a given topic, such as the three most beautiful views in Japan (nihon sankei), which are the Japanese pines of Matsushima, the view from the top of Mt. Amanohashidate along the Sea of Japan, and the floating Japanese arch at Miyajima near Hiroshima. There’s also an official ranking of the three most beautiful Japanese gardens, with the top spot going to Kenrokuen Park in Kanazawa Prefecture, an amazing place to visit.

Kenrokuen is ranked as the most beautiful garden in Japan.

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