On the Atmospheric Between. A Cross-Cultural Adventure

This paper aims to clarify the background and difficulty of the phenomenological cross-cultural research on the “between” (in Japanese: aida or ma) in terms of atmospheric studies. As two examples, Hermann Schmitz’s neo-phenomenological concept of situation and that of atmosphere (with Martin Heidegger’s, Gernot Böhme’s and Tonino Griffero’s related works) as well as Bin Kimura’s concept of aida are discussed in terms of their views regarding the dichotomy of subjectivity and objectivity and situational experience prior to the individuation of each part of the whole. According to the categorization by Griffero, the full-fledged “prototypical atmosphere” can be proved to be a holistic “between” as a relation prior to the related poles. This is similar to the concepts of atmosphere and situation proposed by Schmitz, which again have some similarities not only with the East Asian concept of ki/qi but also with Kimura’s theory of the between, but Kimura’s final position should be characterised by its “depth” with an apophatic discourse. In conclusion, we assert the need for more investigation and creation of the possible language for the experience of pre-individuation, which has been more or less ignored by traditional European ontology.