Japan in the past: A Nation of 12 Year Olds (7)

This immaturity is particularly noticeable in the realm of Japanese diplomacy. In order to gain popularity among the electorate, Japanese politicians play up Japan's role in the world as being important and even decisive, which, however, is not substantiated by facts. The majority of the Japanese do think and hope that Japan should by now be playing a leading part in Asia, at least, and government leaders come out with high-sounding slogans such as "activization of Japan's Asian diplomacy," in order to pander to popular demands. These slogans, not being backed by Japan's own actions or capabilities, sooner or later die a natural death. There is a curious mixture of wishful thinking and aspiration which betrays the immaturity of the Japanese mind.

Coming back to General MacArthur once again, it must not be forgotten that he was ruling a country whose people were laid prostrate by their defeat in the war. Japan had never before in her long history been beaten in a foreign war; the country's geographical position is such that it had been singularly free from foreign invasion. In the 12th century the Mongol hordes tried to invade Japan by deploying a large force, but they were thwarted in the adventure by a storm which broke out over the Straits of Korea, which is ten times the width of the Straits of Dover. In the wake of the Pacific War then, Japanese sense of security and invincibility was rudely shattered by their disastrous defeat, and the loss of confidence in themselves was complete.

Under these circumstances the Supreme Commander of the American occupation forces had an exceedingly easy task and encountered no resistance at all from any quarter. To the Japanese it was as though their emperor, to whom they had owed absolute allegiance, was suddenly replaced by General MacArthur. It was said in the early days of the occupation that a crying child was lulled to silence when told that an American soldier was around. During the occupation I once saw a huge crowd gathering in front of a theater in a remote provincial town. There was a big sign board reading "All Nude Show by the special permission of the Occupation Forces."

It was easy to see that whenever General MacArthur talked to a Japanese there was no dissenting voice. He was always met by the Japanese, who merely nodded an assent, even when his directives or suggestions seemed high handed and unreasonable. The General might well have con eluded that the Japanese were a childish people who were incapable of talking back or asserting their rights.

Almost 15 years after the end of the occupation, the Japanese are at last beginning to feel, in a vague way, that theirs after all is not a nation to be ashamed of, and attention is once again being focused on "Japan" as the central value of the Japanese. But there is as yet no precise indication as to what in or about Japan is to serve as a national goal.

There was the time immediately following the surrender when the hoisting of the rising sun national flag was deemed an undesirable and even shameful act. In fact, any symbols of Japan were discarded in toto, including singing of the national anthem. The reawakening of nationalism in postwar Japan, however, is not likely to lead to the resurgence of the extreme right wing as was the case in prewar years. The popular Japanese mood is too pacifist to allow the rightists to assert themselves.

Today many Japanese are still dubious about the extent of their own achievements and capabilities, and are convinced that the West is superior to them in many ways. But the Japanese will gradually regain the confidence which was shattered by their disastrous defeat in the war, thereby attaining greater maturity in their conduct as well as in their thinking.

Japan in the past: A Nation of 12 Year Olds (6)

Though most of these adopted English words have exact approximations in the Japanese lan-guage, the Japanese, due to their passionate love of things Western, are mutilating their own language by adopting more and more English words—mostly nouns—almost indiscriminately. There reigns a veritable Babel of confusion in the Japanese language today as a result of this totally uncalled-for adoption of English words, to the utter despair of purists and conservatives. The Japanese have in their long history never had much genuine pride in their own culture, which in itself is a borrowing or adaptation of Chinese and other foreign cultures. This selflessness, coupled with their avid curiosity for things Western, has resulted in this lamentable mutilation of their own language. To a Western observer this craze for English words may appear to be another instance of Japanese imbecility.

It is well-nigh impossible to keep secrets in Japan today. For this, the lack of the Western concept of individualism among the Japanese is largely responsible. Information of a confidential nature is easily passed on since the individual concerned is simply unable to resist the temptation of giving away the information to someone else. The Japanese ego is weak. In the absence of any legislation penalizing the dissemination of important state secrets, there is nothing in Japan today which prevents confidential information from being leaked to whoever is fishing for such.

Soon after the surrender of Japan in August, 1945, General MacArthur arrived in Japan and set up his headquarters in Yokohama. The General Headquarters had prepared a proclamation to introduce a direct military rule, including the use of military scrip in lieu of Japanese yen, and the setting up of military courts all over the country. The Japanese government had heard of the project and was very perturbed over the possible effects of the proposed measures on the populace.

Thereupon, high government officials made an eleventh-hour appeal to MacArthur not to introduce such harsh measures for fear that they might antagonize the Japanese. MacArthur acceded to the Japanese government's plea, and direct military rule was forthwith rescinded at his own discretion. The negotiations had of course been conducted in strict secrecy, but in no time the information was leaked to the press and was even reported to the United States by American correspondents. The American government was said to have been displeased over the liberty taken by the General to modify the original occupation directives, especially in deference to the Japanese wishes. It has been said that General MacArthur was mildly rebuked. I heard that the General at the time confided to one of his aides that he was so disgusted with Japanese ministers' inability to guard secrets that he henceforth would receive no one from the Japanese cabinet. During the seven years following that incident he indeed never once again received any of the Japanese cabinet ministers.

While Japanese traditionally are friendly, generous, and patient and do not lack in intelligence, they often betray immaturity in their thinking. The fact that Japan had been cut off for centuries from the outside world accounts for the lack of confidence on the part of Japanese in their dealings with other peoples. As a people nurtured in the isolated surroundings of their small islands and having had little contact with foreigners, the Japanese are good natured and tend to think of other peoples in terms of their own. The Japanese are often swayed by emotion and harp on vague generalities and are apt to lose sight of realities.

Japan in the past: A Nation of 12 Year Olds (4)

If a Japanese is accosted by a Westerner in the street and asked the way, the Japanese will often go out of his way to show the stranger how to get to his destination. This is an act of kindness that is appreciated in any country. But in other matters also, Japanese accedes too readily to the wishes of a foreigner. Japanese also gives in to a foreigner's threat too easily.

At the Tokyo Olympic Games held in 1964, the French contingent of athletes arrived in Japan, and upon arrival was handed a program of various events printed in English by the organizers of the Games, the Japanese National Committee for the Olympic Games. But the French athletes refused to accept the program on the ground that it was not written in French, the "international" language. Now it is well known that Frenchmen have been in the habit of using the French language as a lever to enhance their national prestige whenever practical. In fact it seems to be their national policy to do so.

The Japanese Olympic officials, at the protest of the French athletes, tendered deep apologies and hurriedly went to the trouble of translating the entire program into French, and had it printed and distributed to the French visitors. I do not know whether such a regulation exists within the Olympic Committee in regard to the printing of programs in both French and English, but even if there were, if the same incident happened in other countries, officials of the countries concerned would surely ignore the protest as unwarranted. After all, it was a trivial matter which merely related to the program and any Frenchman could very well have read or understood it. I even doubt if the Frenchmen would have refused to accept the program in English if the same thing had happened in Europe or America. The Japanese good naturalness is such that it is often taken advantage of by other peoples and, in many such cases, the Japanese must give the impression of being quite childish.

The Japanese tend to believe wholeheartedly what foreigners, especially Occidentals, tell them or what they have to say. Hence a Japanese scholar, when writing a thesis, quotes freely from Western writers in order to make his thesis appear more authoritative. A Japanese lecturer tells an audience that an American or European authority has said such and such a thing in order to substantiate his point of view.

Since the end of the war, the Japanese generally have less regard for and are little interested in the emperor either as a person or as an institution. But a few years ago when a British journalist published a book on the present Emperor Hirohito, and when the Japanese translation of the book was published soon afterward, the book became one of the best sellers in Japan. The contents of the book were nothing new to the Japanese, but the fact that a Westerner had written a book on the emperor of Japan was enough to impress the Japanese reading public and to revive their interest in the emperor.

Certain Japanese newspapers have special arrangements with the Times of London or the New York Times, whereby they are authorized to reprint some of the articles appearing in those papers. Of course the Japanese newspaper companies have to pay huge sums for such services, but it nevertheless is the best way to promote newspaper sales. The Japanese reading public places more value on reports appearing in the British or American papers than on those emanating from their own Japanese correspondents stationed in London or New York. Such credulity of the Japanese may be due to various factors, such as their blind reverence of things Western and their inferiority complex toward Occidentals, but it also betrays their rather infantile mentality.

Japan in the past: A Nation of 12 Year Olds (5)

The Japanese have not yet been able to develop individualism as it is understood in the West. They have been used to repressing their own ego in their relations to the family or community. Thus, a Japanese individual can be said to be devoid of backbone, so to speak. He is pliant, has no firm convictions of his own, and tends to act with group psychology. This is the reason why Japanese, when he goes to a Western country for the first time, often falls in love with the country to a remarkable degree. Many Japanese who resided in France for any length of time have, in many cases, become Francophile. I have known many such Japanese who take inordinate pride in speaking French, singing French chansons, and wearing beret Basque caps even after they come back to Japan. People like the French who have a strong individual character, seem particularly to appeal to the Japanese, whose life has always been fettered by numerous social strictures and inhibitions.

Hence the Japanese, when they go to a Western country like France, at last breathe the air of freedom which they have never experienced before, so much so, that they readily take to the way of life of the country. Many of my colleagues who had been stationed in England likewise became so enamored of the English way of life that some of them even continue to wear a bowler hat, read the Times of London, and carry an umbrella regardless of the weather, after returning to Japan. And, they will probably continue to do so for the rest of their lives.

In Japan there is some sort of craze, or what the Japanese call a "boom," that strikes the whole nation from time to time like an epidemic. There has, for example, been a craze for growing orchids, for collecting old coins, for owning Western antique furniture, etc. Recently there was a boom for collecting stones and rocks, large and small, mainly for ornaments, when most well-to-do frantically went in for all sorts of stones, curiously shaped or fantastically colored. As a result, there developed a big market for stones not only for business but also for speculation. It is characteristic of these fads, however, that they are usually not sustaining and once the craze is over, everybody completely forgets about it as if nothing had happened, much like a calm morning after a stormy night.

If someone starts doing something out of the ordinary, his fellow countrymen find it difficult to resist the temptation not to follow suit, and in fact, the whole nation succumbs to the fad. The absence of a strong ego with the Japanese is also responsible for the Japanese penchant for imitating indiscriminately what others, especially Westerners, do or say.

This Japanese "selflessness" may in part account for the recent corruption of the Japanese language with English words. Everywhere in Japan today one catches the sound of English words—in the jargon of politics, in the language of trade and technology, clothes fashions, magazine titles, foods, and sports. For instance, mudo for English mood, is a word which might seem a little odd but everyone can at least guess the meaning. Mudo is increasingly used in daily conversations as well as in advertisements. An advertisement for a high-class apartment house in Tokyo says that "the manshon (mansion) is hai kurasu (high class) and gojasu (gorgeous)." Mansion, high class, and gorgeous are all English words adopted into the Japanese language with somewhat perverted meanings. A man may take a takushi (taxi) to go to resutoran (restaurant) and have hamu raisu

(ham rice), a favorite Japanese dish consisting of boiled rice mixed with chopped ham and green peas. They are pretty accurate and certainly uninhibited approximations. No danger of mispronunciation confronts the Japanese, for they think in syllables and everything can be transliterated into the relatively simple Japanese katakana syllabary.