Admiration of Japan's Fair View of History
Another weekend, another day trip. Last weekend, I had the fortune of stopping by Kurihama (久里浜), a beautiful little seaside neighborhood in Yokosuka (横須賀) City in Kanagawa (神奈川) Prefecture. Yokosuka, besides being famous as the largest base for the US Navy here in the Far East with aircraft carriers making it their home port, is, somewhat relatedly, the first landing spot of the first US Navy visit to Japan in 1852. The gunboat diplomacy of the Commodore Matthew C. Perry at the time successfully forced a Japan closed to the world to sign a trade treaty with America.
So, why am I sitting in my room at 8pm on the first day of New Year's break reminiscing what I did last weekend? Besides the fact that I am bored (yes, true that), the impact of that sudden visit by a bunch of American ships in 1852 has deep social implications for Japan that particularly resonates in a time like the New Years. To be specific, the behaviors of people during such vacations precisely display that continuous conflict of traditional Japan willing to sacrifice all its foreign relations for cultural purity with a modern one that represents the "Western-ness" of Asia.
How is the conflict obvious during New Year's? (And also, during Christmas?) Well, as an other Asian country, in Japan, New Year's is about getting together with families, as a sign of unity and collectivity, and if put negatively, self-isolation (quite tellingly these days as the streets of Tokyo are so empty as people depart for their respective hometowns). Yet, at the same time, ads for New Year's parties, counting down the last minutes with alcohol and friends, Western style, are ubiquitous, implying their popularity.
To what degree should the Japanese accept, with open-mindedness, completely foreign attitudes toward some event or object all humans share lies at the core of the conflict. And all of that conflict started with that pivotal visit in 1852. But walking through the tiny little museum in the Perry Park in Kurihama has given me, seemingly for the first time since I came to Japan for work, the confidence that the Japanese will inherently accept foreign attitudes at the end.
But the title of Japan as an "honorary Western nation" did come from a series of painful bloody forced openings. Perry led the political and technological, Meiji Emperor the societal and cultural, and MacArthur the economic and psychological. But despite the enormous losses in cultural heritage, economic wealth, and human lives, Japan emerged from each less doubtful of her need to depend on absorbing the best of the foreigners to stay competitive.
And the little museum in Perry Park devoted its entire interpretation of the landing in Kurihama with true gratitude. Perry and the Japanese officials receiving him, in complete contrast with what would have been said at the time, are described as completely noble and worthy of respect as major personalities in history. Nowhere to be seen are the other consequences of Perry's visit, including the loss of traditional Japanese culture and more importantly, the increasing Japanese belief in militaristic force and its unrestricted use on foreign soil as the primary form of strength.
But those very omissions make the Japanese accounts on Perry an extreme yet worthy comparison with the reactions of other Asians during those "first encounters" with the whites. Especially in China, the events leading up to the Opium War is still regarded as national humiliation of tremendous magnitude. The Chinese officials such as Lin Zexiu (whose statue proudly stands in New York Chinatown) who completely resisted any peaceful negotiations by the Brits are still honored as national heroes.
The disdain for the conservatives who refused outside contact is so well implied in Japanese mentality and its history books. In this particular aspect, Japan is much more "mentally mature" than other countries forced open by Western military superiority. And it is that the led Japan, not China or any other Asian country, to become the first developed economy outside the Western world. It is time for Japan to use this unique strength once again to completely change its culture, as displayed in New Year's and in its offices.
So, why am I sitting in my room at 8pm on the first day of New Year's break reminiscing what I did last weekend? Besides the fact that I am bored (yes, true that), the impact of that sudden visit by a bunch of American ships in 1852 has deep social implications for Japan that particularly resonates in a time like the New Years. To be specific, the behaviors of people during such vacations precisely display that continuous conflict of traditional Japan willing to sacrifice all its foreign relations for cultural purity with a modern one that represents the "Western-ness" of Asia.
How is the conflict obvious during New Year's? (And also, during Christmas?) Well, as an other Asian country, in Japan, New Year's is about getting together with families, as a sign of unity and collectivity, and if put negatively, self-isolation (quite tellingly these days as the streets of Tokyo are so empty as people depart for their respective hometowns). Yet, at the same time, ads for New Year's parties, counting down the last minutes with alcohol and friends, Western style, are ubiquitous, implying their popularity.
To what degree should the Japanese accept, with open-mindedness, completely foreign attitudes toward some event or object all humans share lies at the core of the conflict. And all of that conflict started with that pivotal visit in 1852. But walking through the tiny little museum in the Perry Park in Kurihama has given me, seemingly for the first time since I came to Japan for work, the confidence that the Japanese will inherently accept foreign attitudes at the end.
But the title of Japan as an "honorary Western nation" did come from a series of painful bloody forced openings. Perry led the political and technological, Meiji Emperor the societal and cultural, and MacArthur the economic and psychological. But despite the enormous losses in cultural heritage, economic wealth, and human lives, Japan emerged from each less doubtful of her need to depend on absorbing the best of the foreigners to stay competitive.
And the little museum in Perry Park devoted its entire interpretation of the landing in Kurihama with true gratitude. Perry and the Japanese officials receiving him, in complete contrast with what would have been said at the time, are described as completely noble and worthy of respect as major personalities in history. Nowhere to be seen are the other consequences of Perry's visit, including the loss of traditional Japanese culture and more importantly, the increasing Japanese belief in militaristic force and its unrestricted use on foreign soil as the primary form of strength.
But those very omissions make the Japanese accounts on Perry an extreme yet worthy comparison with the reactions of other Asians during those "first encounters" with the whites. Especially in China, the events leading up to the Opium War is still regarded as national humiliation of tremendous magnitude. The Chinese officials such as Lin Zexiu (whose statue proudly stands in New York Chinatown) who completely resisted any peaceful negotiations by the Brits are still honored as national heroes.
The disdain for the conservatives who refused outside contact is so well implied in Japanese mentality and its history books. In this particular aspect, Japan is much more "mentally mature" than other countries forced open by Western military superiority. And it is that the led Japan, not China or any other Asian country, to become the first developed economy outside the Western world. It is time for Japan to use this unique strength once again to completely change its culture, as displayed in New Year's and in its offices.
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