Identity and moder nization

Descriptions of Japan should be placed in the context of “Japan and the rest of the world.” After all my travels I have not sensed that I have seen a country that even remotely resembles Ukraine, where at the same time you can clearly see the historical milestones showing precisely where we drifted apart. Will we meet again? I honestly hope we will.

For a number of years our newspaper has been trying to focus attention on the need for two things: to preserve our national identity and become modernized at the same time. During my visit to Japan, at the invitation of the Japanese foreign ministry, I received every proof that this can actually be achieved. Japan’s example of solving its problems after the Second World War is worth being emulated.

REMEMBER TO HAVE A STARLING BOX IN THE CITY OF THE FUTURE

Let’s discuss identity first. The Japanese have a markedly reverent attitude to the fact that they are Japanese and different from the rest of us. This is primarily manifested in their attitude to their national history. For example, the ancient city of Ise, home to Japan’s most sacred Shinto shrines, always teems with visitors, and this is true of both Shinto and Buddhist shrines. Professor Hakamada of Aoyama Gakuin University told me that Japanese people are not very religious, but at the same time faith and visits to shrines occupy a significant place in their souls. I should point out that their shrines are in good condition, and most visitors are Japanese, not tourists.

Then, there is the question of the attitude to the Japanese language. Serious attention is paid to the study of Japanese. We were told that Japanese and mathematics are the most important subjects in Grades 1-4 — once again, identity and modernization. Whereas the language is a kind of sacred code, math helps prepare thinking for modernization. Above all, the topics that must be mentioned when discussing identity and modernization concern schooling.

I don’t consider myself an expert on education, but what I saw when I was speaking through an interpreter with schoolchildren in Hiroshima and other cities and historic places impressed me. Everywhere children, obviously instructed by their schoolteachers, write down their impressions and attitudes to what they see or they sketch in the open air. I remember my Grade I teacher Pavlyna Fedorivna, who would take us to the park. We would sit on pieces of sacking and listen to her read Ukrainian books among the old trees and singing birds. It seems that with globalization we are making a mistake by rejecting all the warmth that we once had in school, the very things that I noticed with a sense of nostalgia in Tokyo.

I very much enjoyed my visit to the Panasonic Center, to where we were courteously invited by the management. The very form of the visit was evidence of the courtesy that is germane to Japan. I am impressed by the Japanese peoples’ ability to think of every detail when they prepare for a visit. I was greeted by a huge Panasonic screen flashing words of welcome to me. Among the wonders that Panasonic produces are high-quality video and photo cameras and a new generation of TV sets. However, I didn’t know that the company pays considerable attention to everyday technologies, so the Future Building was an absolute discovery.

This is a three-story family home designed for three generations (grandparents, parents, and children), where everything has been taken into account. The solar battery on the roof and energy-saving household appliances and technologies make it totally self-contained; it does not have to rely on external power sources. Modern television panels of various sizes are found in almost every room. Apart from showing television programs, they serve as devices for entertainment, relaxation, Internet, and as control panels for domestic appliances. These do not require sophisticated keyboards, just a light touch of the finger. The door lock will open only after you show your iris and it can identify you. There is every amenity, a study, a sensor-operated kitchen, and modern equipped bathrooms with micro-water-dispersion devices that do not dry out your skin. There is also a special room for the daily needs of the older Japanese generation, with sleeping mats and the items required for the tea ceremony. Besides modern amenities, this house also features a birdhouse for starlings and a miniature garden on the roof.

Ritsuko Tominaga, a Panasonic official, said that his company is engaged in a number of humanitarian projects, including rural landscaping, for example, planting trees. I was surprised when the people from Panasonic directed my attention to the fact that schoolchildren ask few questions. This is the sensitive “one-button” — problem, which probably does not exist in Japan alone. In other words, you simply have to press a button to activate an entire system. If it doesn’t work, you call a technician.

At any rate, it was decided that the Panasonic Center people would meet with schoolchildren. I saw an interesting and subtly humorous demonstration by specially made models and dummies of how an electrical circuit functions. Imagine company staff researchers spending Saturdays talking with schoolchildren, explaining things to them, sparking their interest, developing their thinking, and encouraging them to ask questions. School is where one starts understanding Japan’s mighty potential.

TOURS OF THE WASTE DISPOSAL PLANT

Japan also impresses by its attitude to the environment. The Japanese believe that nature is a continuation of them. They do not separate their homes from what they see through a window. They say, “Japan is our home.” It was no coincidence that I spotted a picture at a photo display showing a computer chip buried in greenery. That’s what Tokyo is like: a super-intellectual electronic brain embellished by gorgeous parks, above all by the one that the Japanese Royal Family presented to the city. When we talk about identity and modernization, it is important to keep in mind that intellect must not harm nature. The Japanese are amazingly capable of maintaining correct relations with time and space. I think this is one of the wonders they have worked, their extraordinary sense of moderation and harmony that emerges at the intersection of these two planes.

Among the places I visited in Japan was the Ariake waste disposal plant in Tokyo. This place should be included in tourist itineraries. There I heard a lecture given by top- notch experts on big city waste disposal problems. (A TV series called Garbage and the City could be produced, which we could watch instead of Sex and the City. It would be no less exciting.)

There are 20 waste disposal plants in Tokyo’s 23 districts. Almost everything is computerized, and the only thing employees have to do is check instrument readings. I took a photo slide show illustrating how everything is done step by step. There is a special online screen section showing how all this waste is melted in a furnace at 900 o C. Of course, all this indicates not only a cult of cleanliness; it is backed by a powerful energy-saving technology. The waste disposal plant uses the accumulated heat to warm two huge sports complexes, a large botanical garden with exotic plants, and then sells part of the generated energy. The ashes are used as a “cushion” for new fields: earth is silted on top, creating new islands.

Japan has a limited area in relation to the size of the population. I heard that Ukraine’s population is 40 percent of Japan’s and six times its territory. But the Japanese are creating islands. Tokyo is standing “on garbage,” but this waste looks like another Garden of Eden. There are no bad smells. A decade ago Tokyo was choked by smog. Today the air is as clean as the air at the beach — all due to the latest technologies: filters and more filters. There is also strict ecological control. I witnessed a curious spectacle in Kyoto: people were walking down the street, armed with large pincers and clear plastic bags, picking up every bit of garbage they found on their route. They were volunteers, citizens concerned about the cleanness of their beloved city. In other words, keeping the city clean is a rule of life, a hobby, a fashion — you name it.

Back home, people call it the Japanese miracle. It may be a miracle, but only in terms of a combination of mentality, industriousness, the Japanese sense of discipline and duty, and a number of other factors. At one time there was a dump here. After 20 or 30 years, this is what it looks like. We, fellow countrymen of Vernadsky, should not just get down to work; we must prepare the rising generation for living in this world. We must teach them to build relations with nature, raise their children, and reduce to a minimum the amount of damage being inflicted on nature by the current generation.

I saw groups of children visiting the waste disposal plant. I even posed for a picture with a child. They’re not just there for the heck of it. There is a special subject in the curriculum, starting in Grade 4; not all those global theories that schoolchildren are often burdened with in Ukraine, but concrete issues, like how to deal with garbage. This reminds me of a Kyiv Mayors’ Club meeting, which was attended by the deputy minister of housing and municipal management. I had already been to Europe and seen how they handle waste disposal, particularly in Germany, when garbage is distributed among four plastic bags. So I asked him when his ministry is planning to educate people to sort out their garbage by placing flammable and inflammable, organic and nonorganic things in separate plastic bags. I remember his irritated response: “You must have a very big kitchen. You want our housewives to start sorting out their garbage in their tiny kitchens and produce several bags of it?” I replied that what I was talking about was not my kitchen but Ukraine sinking beneath piles of garbage.

From what I could see, Japanese home kitchens are not large. Living on their archipelago has obviously taught them to be content with their small living space. The Japanese know how to “squeeze out” everything useful and correct from what they have. True, it took some time teaching them to sort out their garbage, but shortly after some educational measures were adopted, they started doing it.

The waste disposal plant has two types of machines. The first one processes waste from companies and restaurants, for a recycling fee, and the other one services apartment buildings according to a clear-cut schedule. When I asked whether any fines are issued, I was told that there are none. If someone makes a mistake, it will be reported in the local press, which is presumably the worst kind of punishment. The guilty party will feel very uncomfortable and will never repeat this mistake. This is something the Japanese hold sacred; they talk about the national features that identify them as a separate race as an absolute norm. I was told that since ancient times a special code of ethics has defined the circumstances in which a Japanese can sacrifice his life: first, for his honor; second, for his family; third, for his master/employer; and fourth, for his native land.

Sometimes we hear jokes about the Japanese people constantly nodding their heads, which by no means denotes that they agree with what they are hearing. It simply means that they are listening attentively to what is being said and digesting it. But when they say “yes,” they mean it. It is also an element of their basic education, self-organization maintained on a very high level.

GRANNIES ONLINE

In this context I must mention that such elements appear not only in school but at an early stage of upbringing. When I was talking to a manager at the Shiseido cosmetics company, we not only discussed the high technology that is used to manufacture high-quality cosmetic products and market competition, but also about his company’s social programs, and how it treats its female employees. I was told that men used to work hard and paid little attention to their children: about 30 minutes a day. Today every effort is being made to ease the burden on future generations so that fathers can have paternity leaves. One of the company managers was in charge of the in-house daycare center. Not all private companies operate daycare centers. The one run by Shiseido is maintained with company revenues, and it looks fantastic. There are not many children, about 30. My visit took place when the two-year-olds were being taken on their daily constitutional. All the children were taking off their socks and carrying them, stumbling on their unsteady feet, to their individual lockers, from which the indoor footwear would be retrieved and laundered. In Japan, it is customary to instill independence at an early age.

Another detail attests to how it is possible to preserve warm family relations even at a great distance. There is a Web camera in the daycare center. Grandfathers and grandmothers who work can use the Internet to connect with their grandchildren online or send e-mails, for example, informing a schoolteacher that “my grandson sneezed this morning. Does he have a cold?”

JAPAN AND THE OTHER WORLD

I am devoting so much attention to these subjects because they have to do with the lives of very many people. I believe there are things in Japan that should be discussed in terms of figures and leading technologies. This country is the world’s giant. Its political destiny took a complicated course after the Second World War. I think that it will eventually become a standing member of the UN Security Council, because Japan wants this status, and that it will start playing a considerably more important role in the international arena. I believe that this will happen because I see both economic and cultural, human potential in the Japanese attitude to its future generations. In regard to national identity, there is no issue of a second official language in Japan — this issue is nonexistent in principle, even though this country is surrounded by very important and influential countries that were once Japan’s enemies. Today they are business partners.

I am reminded of an example from our Ukrainian life. I returned from my trip to Japan on Sept. 9, Literacy Day in Ukraine. I turned on the television, which was tuned to a Ukrainian channel and watched a Russian-speaking female reporter interviewing Mutsuo Mabuchi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine. Do I have to tell you that the ambassador replied in Ukrainian, stressing that he was studying the Ukrainian language to give it moral support?

Of course, Japan has a special attitude toward Russia. What we know from Soviet textbooks about Russo-Japanese relations looks a bit different when viewed from the Japanese point of view. We know that there is a long-standing dispute concerning the four islands that Japan wants returned. Incidentally, I have never heard a clear-cut statement from our politicians in regard to this issue, and I don’t expect one in the foreseeable future. Under the Soviets we were told that the Second World War ended with the surrender of the Japanese army and that those islands always belonged to Russia. The Japanese side has a different view on this matter. This period in history is portrayed in Aleksandr Sokurov’s film The Sun. When Japan was losing the war, Emperor Hirohito made an unexpected move, calling on his fellow countrymen, primarily the military, to surrender in order to secure Japan’s future. Some could not accept this and committed suicide, seppuku. Others obeyed the call. What was most insulting to the Japanese (something they still remember) was that the Soviets represented their capitulation — their own decision — as a conquest. The islands were seized despite Japan’s voluntary capitulation, but such nuances rate little space in our textbooks.

This event is still a source of pain. In Japan I was told that after its capitulation Stalin deliberately broke the terms and conditions of the surrender. One could say that it is hard to get back to that logic after so many years, but Japan wants those islands back.

When I was in Tokyo, the city welcomed a delegation from Russia led by Deputy Prime Minister Naryshkin. I witnessed the sharp reaction to this visit in certain quarters of Japan. There were rallies organized by ultra-rightists near the hotel where the Russian delegation was staying, shouting slogans demanding the immediate return of the islands.

There is a funny story about the stand taken by the Japanese communists, if one compares it to the stand the Ukrainian communists have adopted in regard to Russia. They not only want the return of those four islands but Sakhalin as well.

Speaking of Japan and the rest of the world, there is, of course, the Japan with its relations with Russia and the Japan with its special attitude toward the US. A Japanese woman told me she had had a hard time trying to figure out why her schoolteachers kept telling her she had to adopt a friendly attitude toward the United States, despite the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Russia had not done anything like that, but relations with Russia are bad. This is a very complex web of many events.

When I was visiting Hiroshima, my attention was caught by the sculptural composition with words addressed to the victims of that horrendous nuclear bombing: “Sleep in peace. We shall not repeat our mistakes.” I cannot recall being told in school about the Japanese sense of guilt over taking part in the Second World War. As I understand, this topic is also rather painful. There are still people who believe that Japan has not shown enough repentance and that there has not been enough purification. These ideas are advanced by liberal circles that are wary of revanchism. We know that after World War II Japan formally had no right to maintain any kind of armed forces. What it has is self-defense forces, an army made up of top-notch career officers. The fact remains that part of Japan is still recovering from the war.

Recently a rally of 40,000 people took place in Okinawa, the site of the US air base, for the sole reason that several sentences had been excised from local school history textbooks, which state that the Japanese military encouraged the populace to commit suicide during the war. When the Americans were about to land, part of the Japanese military considered this inadmissible and preferred to commit suicide. Such suicides allegedly took place on a mass scale. They have this fact in their recorded history and they condemned it, but then, all of a sudden it was deleted, so those 40,000 people rallied to say that history cannot be rewritten. This struggle of ideas in Japanese society remains invisible to us.

Without going into the subtleties of diplomatic relations, I asked Nobuyuki Teshima, an administrator at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, whether he believed that the time would come for the Americans to admit they are sorry for dropping the bomb. He replied that they would surely say it was what they had to do to end the Second World War. He added that the Americans are working not to apologize, but to prevent anything like this from happening again. This was a very diplomatic reply. Ex-US President Jimmy Carter once visited Hiroshima, but no current US politicians have visited this city.

The museum features a section illustrating the end of World War II, particularly information showing that the United States had long been working on an A-bomb that had to be tested. At the same time, it had to report to US taxpayers on how this money was being used. Nuclear weapons are expensive. One could say that Hiroshima and Nagasaki served as an “information pretext” — a horrible one. I was under this impression all day after visiting Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Museum.

I met with Kodzi Hosokawa, who survived the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima. He took a photograph of a building that was destroyed in the bombing (it has not been restored). The photo shows the ruins at such an angle of sunlight that it looks as though it’s crucified. He told me that the cupola reminds him of the crown of thorns. He added that the bombs were dropped not on Hiroshima and Nagasaki but on all of mankind. I asked if returning to that period in history is difficult. “It is difficult, of course,” he replied and said that his beloved sister died of burns and radiation disease. There is a lot one can read about this tragedy, but the most important accounts are those by eyewitnesses.

The Japanese must be given credit for their philosophical attitude to all the dramatic events in their history. After the nuclear bombs and the appearance of US military bases in their country, I believe that many Japanese had a serious struggle with motives. I don’t know who should be credited for the victory of Japan’s postwar policy. All I know is that the Japanese did not succumb to vengeance. This does not mean that they have forgotten — just that they decided to rebuild their country. Graphic proof of this is found in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, with the photograph that ends the exhibit. Its caption reads that nothing would grow on this burned soil for another 75 years. But a year after the bombing a flower started growing there. The picture shows the flower on the site of those old ruins. This is a very powerful symbol.

Clearly, this is an experience that we Ukrainians must learn from, because we suffer from victim syndrome. We must learn to live with the past, overcome it, and transform it into good deeds, into a kind of creative energy. I believe that the Japanese have shown us the best way to overcome catastrophes and impress the world with their domestic achievements. The important thing is that the Japanese cultivate respect for the US. It is no coincidence that the Japanese are compared to bamboo, which bends but does not break.

To be concluded in the next issue