For nine days I took part in a press tour organized by the Foreign Press Center, Japan, on the initiative of the Japanese government (FPCJ is an image-making organization that cooperates with journalists across the world). Ten journalists from the world’s leading media in Australia, Spain, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Slovenia, and the Netherlands arrived to keep their readers informed about Japan’s effort to overcome the consequences of the March 2011 disaster. Among them was a journalist of The Day from Kyiv, Ukraine.
Japanese started by showing their calling card, a mind-boggling cultural heritage. The visiting journalists also met with government officials, university lecturers, company owners. This was official Japan. But there was also modern and original Japan they could see at pop culture centers, in manga comic books, marveling at the variety of IT facilities, Tokyo Sky Tree (the world’s tallest television tower), anime centers, and the Akihabara Electric Town (the place name translates as Field of Autumn Leaves; it is a major shopping area for electronic, computer, anime, and otaku goods, including new and used items).
The journalists attended a major sumo tournament, visited several Buddhist temples, the Hatsukayasai Festival at the Motsuji Temple (when prayers are offered up to Matarajin, the secret Buddha housed in the Jogyodo Hall, for freedom from illness and disaster in the New Year) and saw with their own eyes that Japanese genuinely respect their cultural legacy, and that above all, they know how to present it to visitors.
Japanese deserve every credit for having dealt with last year’s disaster so quickly and efficiently (few other countries would have done so). They are well aware that renewing Japan’s international image as a safe and ecologically clean country is a top priority. In this sense, I believe, the matter is not only the huge budget appropriations (230 billion dollars), but also the special Japanese mentality, the ability of this people to overcome hardships, never give up struggle, and keep moving forth. Sendai Airport was rebuilt six months after the disaster and it received the first flight in September 2011. This is the best proof. The town of Natori in Miyagi prefecture (with 10 percent of the residents killed or listed as missing) was devastated by the quake and tsunami — there are many photos carried by the world’s media. This empty area, with a home spared by the disaster here and there, is a vivid reminder that modern technologies often prove helpless when confronted by the rage of the elements.
Japan turned into an economic giant after the Second World War, aided by the United States. This small densely populated territory developed its economy, using foreign experiences, although mostly due to the special Japanese attitude to work. Among the last points on the journalists’ itinerary was a visit to Yuasa, a town in Wakayama prefecture, the place where soy sauce has been made for the past 750 years, since the Kamakura period. The journalists were impressed to learn that the authentic technologies had been handed down by generations, borrowed by more than 100 countries. The ability to preserve and share knowledge is an important trait in every nation, above all in Japan.
Personally I believe that experience is the key word for Japanese, in time of ordeal as well as in every positive sense of the word.
Dr. Shikegi Hakamada, professor, School of International Politics, Economics and Business, Aoyama Gakuin University, an internationally acclaimed expert on Russia-Japan relations, Russian and CIS history, told The Day about Japan’s views on European problems, transformations in the postsocialist community, as well as about the traditional Japanese national identity.
Some politicians appear to be using the mutually exclusive notions of East and West; they seem to forget that the East includes Japan which is a unique and intelligent world unto itself, with its views on, and concepts of, what is happening elsewhere in the world. How do Japanese visualize the crisis in Europe?
“This is a civilizational crisis in the first place. For a long while we have been witness to an euphoria in Europe, with Europeans believing they had invented a new form of society by uniting their states.
They were wrong to assume that national sovereignty could be made a museum exhibit. The 1990s and early 2000s were marked by idealism. This crisis shows that it was just an illusion. Creating a new society in a superstate (while discarding sovereignty), where, allegedly, there will be no contradictions between the components – is a postmodern approach. It didn’t work in Europe and the contradictions are still there, as vividly evidenced by the relations between Germany and Greece, even between Germany and France, Spain and Italy. This means that mankind hasn’t as yet invented a new social system. International relations, national and ethnic interests remain essentially the same, with each [nation and ethnic group] having its own interests and ambitions that often prove selfish. This egotism is hard to overcome. An integrated Western Europe serves as a graphic example. Many believed it was the most advanced society and that problems among countries could be easily solved that way. Now we see that it wasn’t and they couldn’t.”
How do you think this crisis could be settled?
“This crisis is political as well as economic. Germany’s ex-Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer recently declared that the euro doesn’t have a country that will protect it, whereas the dollar, the Japanese yen, the Russian ruble is protected by the state. Apparently, a stable currency is impossible without state support. As a left liberal politician, he held a different view on these factors back in the 1960s.
“National elements are increasingly present these days. There’s no way they can disappear. Now we hear Great Britain say it is happy to have never taken a full-scale part in the EU. There are always national interests to consider, so that achieving harmony among various states is easier said than done.
“In order to carry out a normal and painless transformation of the EU, the Utopian postulate that the state [as body politic] no longer makes sense must be discarded. Things must be viewed more realistically and sober-mindedly. Matters pertaining to sovereignty must be seriously considered. We believe in human values, yet self-esteem and egotism can’t be overlooked, considering that these traits are germane to nations, religious communities, organizations, and firms/companies. All of these have an ego of their own, whereas an attempt to create anything superhuman on this basis would be illusory. Each nation has its identity, so it is necessary to build one’s country and international relations on this basis, relying on these environs.”
You built your country relying on cultural values. How is the Japanese national identity faring?
“We Japanese believed for a long time that we’d lost our character, traditional culture, Samurai spirit, precisely because everyone cared for oneself and increasingly less about social values. This quake and tsunami show that Japanese do preserve their specifics, traditions, and that our [national] spirit is strong enough. The world was surprised to watch the way Japan coped with the aftermath of the March 2011 disaster… This has also changed our mentality. All positive aspects in the cultural realm should be recognized and upheld, and the recent events reminded us of the fact. So many of our close and dear ones died. A horrible occurrence, a tragedy. Under the circumstances, Japanese maintained a very good emotional posture. This is one of our traditional conservative traits. Of course, there are negative aspects to conservatism. The Japanese people has a strong spirit, but its political leadership doesn’t. Our government proved actually helpless when faced up with the crisis. Usually Japanese society goes stably without strong government. Because our society has a keen sense of discipline and order, and so we can meet and cope with top priority challenges. However, now in the crisis we feel that our society needs a more rational and strong government.”
How do you feel about the transformations that are taking place in the post-socialist countries? How can one overcome the consequences of totalitarianism?
“In the aftermath of the USSR’s collapse, euphoria gripped Western Europe and post-Soviet countries. After the communist party and totalitarian system, any country felt it could become an advanced one, what with its high education standard, technologies, and resources. Boris Yeltsin, addressing the people on December 31, 1999, admitted that reforms, democracy, and market economy had turned out to be much more difficult to implement than expected. He apologized.
“Mentality can’t be changed in 10 or 20 years. For example, there is a big difference between Japanese society during the Edo – or Tokugawa – Period (1603-1868) and the present day. Today’s Japanese communal member is close to his French counterpart because he knows what democracy, human rights, modern sciences are all about, yet emotionally he is closer to his Edo ancestors than his modern French counterpart. Moscow outwardly looks different from what it was 20 or 50 years back, but essentially it has remained the same. Watching today’s Russians, I’m reminded of Nikolai Gogol’s stories. Russia hasn’t changed since then. A different kind of mentality is in the process of making, of course.”
What role is Ukraine playing in the process of transformations in Russia?
“People in Russia have the Orange Revolution experience on a subconscious level. Russians took to the streets in December, held rallies on Moscow and St. Petersburg squares not because they were poverty-stricken but because they felt offended by those in power; they demanded respect. One ought to realize that Ukraine would be hard put to exert any influence on a huge country, such as Russia, single-handedly. Ukraine should make good and independent use of Western Europe to do so. Ukraine is facing more pressing challenges in the economic and foreign political fields. Yanukovych is balancing between Europe and Russia. Somehow, the man fails to realize that Russia will never make concessions in terms of gas prices for as long as Ukraine insists on its independent status.”
The last piece Vaclav Havel wrote for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta before his death reads: “I think that Russian society is carrying out a struggle with the toughest of all the known forms of post-communism, a sort of special combination of the old stereotypes and of the new business-mafia environment. It is possible that political scientists will find a connection between the current situation in Russia with the Arab revolutions, but I personally hear in the current events, more than anything else, an echo of the fall of the iron curtain, an echo of the political changes in 1989-90.” Would you care to comment?
“One is reminded of the Arab Spring, indeed. The rallies in Moscow involved intellectuals and middle class, and the ones in the Arab countries were different. I’m very impressed by [Russia’s] public critical response to what is being done by those in power, and yet I can’t help feeling skeptical about the prospects of Russia. Most of the people support the current political system and Putin, although his prestige isn’t as strong as it used to be. Anyway, he will be elected president in March.
“Another important aspect. Havel was a democrat who believed in the spirit of the 1980s. Yeltsin made a historic statement when he apologized for what he had failed to accomplish. It is also true that Putin had achieved what had seemed unachievable during the eight years of his presidency: stability. Havel’s times were marked by political romanticism and he symbolized it. I have previously stated that Russia is Russia, that this has nothing to do with the Havel times. Here is an example: Russia is more corrupt now than ever previously, which means that the laws don’t work. Are there any signs of democracy and modernization? I feel more pessimistic about such things. Take the Baltic states. Political transformations and perestroika were carried out there a long time ago because these countries are part of Western Europe.”
How do Japanese interpret the notion of freedom?
“This isn’t a widespread notion, although we do believe that we’re free to act and speak as we wish. The spirit of Tradition is extremely strong, so relationships among individuals are more important than a given individual. For example, if you stress your ego or individualism, others will think of you as a provincial, ill-mannered character. Another example. Each presenter taking the floor at a symposium in America must say he has his own view on the matter. In Japan, even if you disagree, you always start by saying, ‘I fully agree with what has been previously stated…’ And then you must listen carefully to figure out that his view on the matter is absolutely different. This doesn’t mean that one’s ego is nonexistent in Japan, just that showing it is bad manners; that contacts and relations between communal members are more important.”
Would you formulate a pressing issue on Japan’s current agenda, apart from the March disaster, ageing, and financial crisis?
“I don’t think that the current Japanese government is an adequate one. These people have no experience because they have been in opposition for too long; all they have learned is lashing out at those in power. Running a country is an altogether different matter. To them the incumbent government was the enemy, one others had fought before them.”
Japan is a monoethnic body politic by more than 90 percent. What does this mean in today’s globalized international community? What are the pluses and minuses?
“There are pluses and minuses, of course. Japanese society is sufficiently monolithic. Historically, it has adopted advanced Western elements and technologies, all the while retaining its own traditions and culture. Being monolithic, in the course of globalization, is a minus rather than plus. A number of foreigners have surfaced at Japanese companies of late. I guess none of us would have dreamed of a foreigner heading Sony or Nissan. Be that as it may, globalization is taking its time getting hold of Japan, perhaps because of our traditional approach to a number of cultural aspects.”
How would you describe the current relations between Japan and Russia? Any chance of settling the Kurile Islands issue? Is this issue topical in Japan?
“As a Japanese, I’m well aware of the historical aspect of this issue. Economically it is totally insignificant. They often say in Russia that the islands contain rich sea resources and that’s why Japan needs them so badly. That’s wrong. I often tell Russians that Japan has historically proved that it can be rich without having such resources. There is that other country [i.e., Russia. – Ed.], teeming with resources and remaining poverty-stricken. In fact, that’s a matter of sovereignty rather than resources. That’s also a matter of national dignity. Japan realizes that Russia isn’t likely to give up the Kurile Islands in the near future. Yet this doesn’t mean that Japan should give up struggle because that’s a matter of principle in the first place, a matter of national sovereignty. Imperial ambitions are still alive in Russia, so one shouldn’t be surprised by its desire to remain a cultural/religious and political center.”
