21ST CENTURY JAPAN
INTRODUCTION
"The dikes of the unchanging East have burst, and the floods run under the bridge so swiftly that the old observers are breathless; and those who formed their judgments on the state of things yesterday must revise their opinions today. A new Asia confronts us…. Japan is being subjected to changes so deep and thoroughgoing that a new era no less remarkable and critical than the Restoration of 1868 is now upon us." --Yusuke Tsurumi, Present Day Japan, 1926: 2-3.
"More than any other nation of the East, Japan has adopted, adapted, co-opted, or even stolen the best of the West. But also more than any other nation of the East, Japan has remained itself." --William Forbis, Japan Today, 1975: 4.
"Nothing exists; all things are becoming." --Reiho Masunaga, The Soto Approach to Zen, (quoted in Ross, 1960: 267).
Japan, it would seem, has always been changing--and always staying the same. In the dynamic age of imperialism, the Anglo-European powers viewed askance Japan's refusal to be "modern"--that is, industrial and capitalist. Thus, beginning in the mid-19th century, they set about "dragging" Japan out of feudalism. The result was the first dramatic overhaul of Japanese society, the Meiji Restoration.
When the results of this transformation went awry, leading to military authoritarianism and war, the same foreign powers, now led by the United States, set about once more refashioning Japan in its image: a new Constitution, a refurbished export-driven economy, and a tighter Cold War relationship with the west. The result was what many termed "the Japanese Miracle."
In the 1990s, however, the miracle faded. The economy slumped and unemployment rose; the political system was shaken by recurrent scandals; and surveys showed Japanese people gripped by fatalism and hopelessness. Today, the Japanese economy is showing modest signs of recovery, but the lost decade has left after-effects. Above all, there is a sense that the post-war arrangements no longer adhere; that the underpinnings of the previous miracle cannot be resurrected. In this context, Japan appears to be embarking on a third transformation. Among the more obvious changes occurring is a resurgence of nationalism, largely--though not exclusively--of the right-wing variety. Most notably, far-right elements of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in 2006 launched efforts to remake the Japanese Constitution and to strengthen the state's functions in the key areas of defense and education. Abe's resignation one year later has left the outcome of these initiatives in doubt; nonetheless, these events are important, both for Japan and the rest of the world. They deserve examination.
On August 30, 2006, my wife, my son, and myself landed in Fukuoka in the south of Japan. For the next two weeks we traveled by express or bullet train (shinkansen) or local bus to as many sites as we could reasonably see (Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Himeji, Kyoto, Nara, Fuji, and Tokyo) before taking an overnight--and underwater--train via the Seikan Tunnel to the island of Hokkaido and the capitol city of Sapporo where I taught for the next three-and-one-half months at Hokkai-Gakuen University. Using the guest accommodations provided by the university as our base, we made one subsequent return journey (with our daughter, who joined us for a time) to the Japanese mainland (the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara) and several excursions to other parts of Hokkaido (the port cities of Otaru and Hakodate; the resort town of Lake Toya and its environs; and the hot spring resort of Jozenkai).
This book is my personal record of that time: places, events, observations, above all, the people. It was written on the cusp of several events that shook Japan while I was there: the coming to power of a new and fervently nationalist right-wing government dedicated to changing Japan's constitution, including the role of its military; the increased threat of a nuclear-armed North Korea; and pressures wrought by Japan's long-time mentor, the United States.
Beyond these specific issues, however, I came gradually to understand Japan and its people as increasingly caught between a series of obdurate, sometimes hostile, and--equally--sometimes false or misleading choices; Japan's geographic location within Asia and its political relationships with the west, especially the United States, and the pressures of consumerism in late capitalism being examples of the first kind, tradition vs. modernity or the collectivity vs. the individual being examples of the second. In finding its path through this thicket of challenges, Japan is both singular and similar to countries elsewhere. In either instance, understanding what is happening within--and to--Japan makes imperative the abandonment of old clichés and renewed attention to Japan by everyone in the west, including in Canada; hence, this book.
But what kind of a book is it? This is a question I repeatedly asked myself as I was writing it.
This is not a travel diary, even less a guide. I have never been very good --that is to say, interested--in keeping detailed notes of my journeys, where I was on a particular day, what I ate, etc. Likewise, this record is not an exhaustive--or, I hope, an exhausting--account, but one selective of our four months in Japan. And yet it does contain rich descriptions, and some prized photographs, of many parts of Japan and of the people we met there.
This is also not a detailed, scholarly tome boasting rich, new discoveries. There are many things associated, whether legitimately or not, with Old Japan (ikebana, sumo, kabuki theatre) and New Japan (manga) about which I do not remark. Yet, I have also included descriptions of such sub-cultural elements as pachinko parlors and love hotels and have cited my sources for facts and quotations where necessary.
This is also not a work of fiction, though its tone and subject matter at times may suggest so. Subjective in parts, yes; told sometimes in story form, true. But there is nothing manufactured here, and I have endeavoured throughout to get what I have written "right." At the very least, I have sought to open a window through which the reader may come to see Japan differently.
Part One of this book is a study of the potentially momentous political changes currently underway. This section began as my own attempt to try to understand the country. Just as a painter comes to "know" his subject matter in the course of putting it to canvass, or a photographer comes to "see" the world in the frame in which she places it, I understand the world best in the midst of writing about it, putting what I see, and hear, and read about--what I experience--in my own words. In short, it began as my attempt at "framing" Japan and slowly spread from there. I have attempted to verify my observations with credible sources, duly cited, but the interpretations remain mine alone based upon my background as a political sociologist, a Canadian, and a decidedly sympathetic observer.
Part Two contains a slightly less academic series of short articles, many of which were previously published in the Edmonton Journal, Lethbridge Herald, and Winnipeg Free Press, and anecdotes of my time in Japan. (The dates of publication for these articles are earlier noted.) As in Part One, some of these articles are political in nature, but others are primarily cultural and social. Again, I have provided citations where necessary for some of the information in the articles (including those previously published) and anecdotes, though the views and impressions again remain mine alone.
Some years ago I heard a Canadian author--I can't remember who--remarking (only somewhat facetiously) that every Canadian has stuffed in his or her dresser drawer a swath of poetry. I will not subject the reader to all of my unpublished poems written over the years, but Part Two does contain, as well, a selection of Haiku-inspired poems written during my stay in Japan.
Ultimately, I leave it to you, the reader, to decide the nature of this text. At the very least, I hope you will say of it that it was "a good read."
But, enough: Make of these writings what you wish.