“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side […] because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” – Luke 19:41-44
So this whole Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands brouhaha between Japan and China (and Taiwan) has brought up several common idioms in recent English lessons: “can of worms”, “the elephant in the room”, “walking on egg shells”, “to make waves”, “don’t rock the boat”, and the like. These kind of territorial disputes are one more item on the long list of subjects that are taboo, which is unfortunate since such nationalist distempers only continue to seethe and fester until someone finally takes the needle and lances the boil. Now if you’ll forgive that rather graphic imagery, in the spirit of such idioms let us delve a bit into the often maddening and exasperating experience of broaching the unspoken in Japanese culture.
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| There have been unconfirmed reports of a “smoke monster” on the island (Source: The Hanso Foundation). |
Furthermore, as a superpower, it’s almost expected that China would flex its muscles some. When the Japanese arrested that Chinese fisherman in those waters that rammed their Coast Guard vessels in 2010, rather than civilly trying to have their man freed, China erupted in a retaliatory firestorm of rabid fervor, throwing up economic sanctions on rare earths and silicon, with protests and rioting in the streets. Japan meekly backed down. In return, China demanded an apology and compensation. Later in the year a Chinese trawler rammed a Korean Coast Guard ship in Korean waters. So this recent spark where Japan quietly (others might say surreptitiously) bought the islands from a private Japanese individual, immediately after an APEC meeting with the Chinese President... well, they should have expected this kind of reaction. It’s like Japan ripped off a scab, then China poured salt on it.
The sleeping dragon is awake. By all accounts, China is just waiting for the opportune time to take a bite. Japan must exercise the utmost in prudence (or have its bigger brother nearby) before poking or prodding it.
(Have you seen Japan’s recruitment posters for their police force or Self-Defense Forces? I wish I had taken pictures of some of them, like the skinny police officer with a big thumbs-up, all goofy smiles and giggles.)
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| Technically not a recruitment poster, but you get the point. |
Of course, on the Japan side of things much of the fiery rhetoric to foment this conflict can be laid directly on firebrand ultra-nationalist Tokyo Governor Ishihara. The next set of elections will be very telling if he is re-elected… for the fifth time.
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| "I know, it's crazy, right? They just keep voting for me, no matter what ridiculous things I do. Maybe I should just go ahead and remove term limits and save the trouble of elections..." |
Let me add that post-Article 9 Japan as a whole has a giant co-dependency issue with the U.S. Militarily, America has pampered her to the point of atrophied muscles and an unrealistic outlook, the same way a 30-year old NEET (young people not in education, employment or training) still living with his parents is stunted with issues with solipsism. Ishihara might voice that Americans are racially inferior to Japanese, and the Japanese military needs to be ready to put down foreigners and immigrants -basically Koreans and Chinese- if they cause trouble after a natural disaster (like the Japanese mobs did to them in 1923), but there is one thing he gets right - the dire need for Japan to assert itself and to grow up, independent of the American military. Hopefully, with a level-headed leader when the time comes.
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| "Hey China, why all the fuss? Besides, all your base are belong to us," said Fire Lord Ozai, as he awaits Sozin's Comet to help him destroy the Earth Kingdom. |
But Japan of all countries should know better than that. If anyone should be able to understand a victim’s mindset they should. Every year they commemorate the atomic annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from a ground zero viewpoint, stripped of any historical context, and reinterpreted solely in terms of the helpless victims being attacked out of the clear blue sky by America.
And yet on the other side of the world, we have all made friends with Germany. There is no lingering doubt concerning their contrition. The Germans have completely eschewed any notion of being victimized like they claimed after WWI. Japanese politicians and textbooks are a different story. No wonder then that China can’t seem to erase the brutality of Nanking from its collective memory – if for no only reason than that their Japanese neighbors forgot all about it long ago, if they ever even knew. No, actually even that’s not true - it’s far worse; they dutifully remember one very specific part of it: to pray at shrines like Yasukuni for the souls of the ravaging Japanese soldiers that were involved.
For America, the closest thing we have to approximate that kind of deep scar on the public memory would be Pearl Harbor. Of course, we’ve forgiven the Japanese a long time ago for that, but the lesson surrounding the circumstances was most instructive. In hindsight, there is definite truth to the fact that America was simply caught off guard and it was our own damn fault for not being on the alert. We didn’t anticipate it, and so paid the consequences, and then tried to rationalize how such a tragic miscalculation could occur. But we say December 7th is a “a date which will live in infamy” due to the fact that the attack occurred, as fate would have it, without a formal declaration of war required by the Hague Convention, while Japanese diplomats were still in peace negotiations with the President Roosevelt. The recently discovered wartime diary of Japan's general staffs of the navy and army has a revealing entry for Dec. 7th: “our deceptive diplomacy is steadily proceeding toward success.” Such gambits in war are risky – they only work if you win.
The attack on the USS Panay in 1937 should have been a big clue anyway. Later, we would receive more painful lessons for being too trusting and giving Japan the benefit of the doubt. My grandfather told me stories of WWII from his time in the Navy. When Japanese surrendered after a battle and were lined up on the beach to be taken away, the American soldiers would let down their guard. One of the Japanese toward the back of the line would have a machine gun hidden and, as the ones before him ducked, then proceeded mow down the Americans. Pretty quickly, American soldiers learned not to trust a Japanese surrender and in general to turn a leery eye on whatever they claim, which China and other countries already knew firsthand. Such actions seems out of place for a country seemingly so obsessed with honor. Of course, a careful look at Japanese history would reveal otherwise. Gekokujō (下克上 or 下剋上), for example, is a concept of justifying otherwise dishonorable attacks if done out of a “noble” motive. Sounds like somebody took a page right out of the Koran playbook.
So decades pass. Elephants and cans of worms and measured, diplomatic smiles.
Today, of course, it’s hard to find a more courteous and peace-loving people. Japanese have in many ways been a model of such civil behavior. Though if you want to look deeper, you can find stories in the news of an old, crippled Nepalese man being kicked to death in the street with no one intervening to help – January of 2012 in Osaka if you feel the need to fact-check me.
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| Sneaky bastards like this cartoon character... whom Jesus died for. |
Of course, not all Japanese are sneaky bastards. Some of the most wonderful people I know are Japanese and I’m honored to be counted as a friend. (I trust they'll remain my friends even after reading this essay.) As a side note, I’m rather disappointed with the Chinese and Japanese Christians that I know for not taking the lead in seeking reconciliation – after all, they are brothers and sisters.
I’m not here to make a case for whether or not Japan might revive its imperialist past. It’s a moot point anyway; their willful ignorance of history says it all. “In war,” Aeschylus said, “truth is the first casualty.” The thing is, human nature is basically all the same; you can write yourself a whole new constitution and New Year’s Resolutions, but the old sin nature we all carry inside won’t be sanitized so easily.
It might just well be self-explanatory at this point, but The Economist lays it out so:
The media of all countries play on prejudice that has often been inculcated in schools. Having helped create nationalism and exploited it when it suited them, China’s leaders now face vitriolic criticism if they do not fight their country’s corner. A recent poll suggested that just over half of China’s citizens thought the next few years would see a “military dispute” with Japan.None of this is new to anyone who stayed awake in history class. Right of conquest aside, the legitimate ownership of the islands is more of an academic question (and I think obvious enough to the unbiased mind). But the practical question, which I’ve taken the scenic route to get to, is what does negotiating with Japanese mean to you and me on the day-to-day level?
The islands matter, therefore, less because of fishing, oil or gas than as counters in the high-stakes game for Asia’s future. Every incident, however small, risks setting a precedent. Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines fear that if they make concessions, China will sense weakness and prepare the next demand. China fears that if it fails to press its case, America and others will conclude that they are free to scheme against it.
Taking It Personally
Most of us don’t have to negotiate through the kind of damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t Kobayashi Maru of territorial claims and political squabbles, but we might have to collaborate over work projects together, struggle to get over a misunderstanding, or just try to be friends. As foreigners living and working with Japanese, we are used to their politely awkward mannerisms when it comes to taboo topics and toe the line between curiosity and offense as best we can. But, topics of nationalism and pride aside, there comes a point when all of the walls begin to get to us and for a simple heart-to-heart conversation things start to feel downright claustrophobic. I’m thinking of the movie The Last Samurai, how Captain Algren (Tom Cruise) was literally shut out from the others by having the doors slid in his face.
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| Please excuse me while I close this honorable door in your face. |
Another thing He did was to take a portion of His pursuing, unconditional love He has for the Japanese people He created and planted it deep in me. From that time on, it has been my heart to love and serve them, to have pity and compassion on their estate, to share the gospel with them, to befriend them and be there for them in their time of need. I get visibly excited at the mention of them. My dreams and future are inextricably bound up with them. In short, to yearn for them, with my heart hanging way out on my sleeve. And we all know how that story ends. Unrequited love is no walk in the park, my friend. I can’t help but be more sensitive, and thus feel the hurt all the sharper when attempts at friendship are rebuffed and doors are shut (sometimes literally) in my face by those I thought might be friends.
God is not surprised at the failings and betrayals of those He has set His love on. “Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person” (John 2:23-25).
Jesus wasn’t fooled by people’s words. He knows how weak our promises are and how shallow is our repentance. But neither did that stop him from loving us. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. […] God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8).
To think that despite God feeling such pain and rejection in His relationship with me, He continues all the while to pour out His deep, deep love on me. Having experienced that mercy in our lives, His desire is for us to walk in humility and a spirit of reconciliation with those we struggle to get along with.
Walking a Mile in Their Waraji
Because Japanese are trained to be so sensitive to what others think of them, and to keep their thoughts and feelings to themselves, they strive for a stoic, almost robotic perfectionism, to excel at avoiding confrontation. (Unfortunate that they do not come with an instruction manual.) Eventually then relationships with them seem one-sided. You begin to wonder that you feel no closer to them three years later than you did at the beginning. It may not quite strike you in so many words, but you feel a vague sense of that stereotypical inscrutable impenetrability. You’re being kept at arms-length and realize that three or thirty more years won’t make any difference. There’s a distance of oceans between you.
And if that is the case, perhaps they aren’t interested in a genuine friendship for its own sake, but just the benefits that come along with it, like being the token American friend or source of free English practice. You begin to get the picture that you’re merely being used. On top of that, you begin to notice when things that they’re saying to you don’t quite add up. After being lied to by friends or administration or co-workers or that particular girl, you might be inclined to confront them about it. In turn, they might give a vague, perfunctory “sorry” that you both know is meaningless. It can certainly be frustrating, even infuriating. I know I was bothered by it when it came to dishonesty about my Japanese visa application, but I had to learn to relax and entrust the matter to the Lord.
After a while, there’s a tedium to have to constantly keep up appearances, to maintain the front – the form and formality, as impeccable and silent as a tea ceremony. It’s hard to be friendly and generous to a stone wall. What do you say to someone who doesn’t want to talk to you? How do you relate to someone who doesn’t want to relate to you?
Consider for a moment things from their perspective. We might see them as stand-offish, insular (閉 鎖 的), hollow, phony, insincere, and disingenuous (不誠実), and we’d be right half of the time. And yet all of us know what that is like to want to be liked and approved by others. It’s perhaps our greatest inborn desire. God has created us to be relational, to crave a sense of belonging, and to fear rejection. As C.S. Lewis said,
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”So in the course of their relationships, they become experts at bottling up their inner feelings, hurts, pain, bitterness, resentments, and anger, but after a while of all of this begins to take its toll on the psyche. And while they might seem used to hiding their true feelings and putting up a front of polite fiction, can you imagine the strain and tension demanded to keep any insecurities at bay? It’s a wonder we don’t see them collapsing in the streets from nervous breakdowns.
To look at a few of their own idioms and expressions when it comes to easing away from confrontation and aggression, they say, “臭い物に蓋”, which literally means to put a lid on smelly things. That is, to ignore it, deny it, or try not to bring up unpleasant, contentious things because of the premium on harmony, or “peace at all costs.”
薮をつついて蛇を出す – Poke a bush , a snake comes out. As we would say, “Let sleeping dogs lie.”
見目より心 – Heart over appearances. Substance is more important than form.
瓜田李下 – Melon field, under a plum tree. Or, “Avoid the appearance of evil (that you might be there to steal that fruit).”
後悔は決して最初に来ない - Repentance never comes first. (I assume boycotts and rioting come first.)
Lastly, the death poem of the eccentric monk Ryōkan, goes:
裏を見せ
表を見せて
散る紅葉
Translated, we could say, “Now showing its back side, now its front side, the maple leaf falls.” The idea being that as autumn leaves twirl to the earth there is no hidden side. It’s a beautiful idea, and one that goes against the grain of culture, usually expressed in such dichotomic terms like Tatemae/Honne (outer impression/true feeling), Ura/Omote (hidden side/public appearance), Uchi/Soto (inside of the group/outside).
With this in view, it’s no wonder that shame cultures would prefer to solve disagreements in a more private, circumspect way. These public spectacles over the islands, including mass rioting and boats firing water cannons, is uncharacteristically jingoist and therefore all the more alarming.
Now both sides understandably say that losing the islands would be “a national humiliation.” My question for Japan is are they troubled by the fact that they are distrusted and despised by their neighbors?
The world might see China increasingly as a bully, but to the Asian world Japan is still the main bully. (Just as to much of the Middle Eastern world and other places, America is seen as the world bully.) There’s truth on both sides. The common trait to all bullies is arrogance. Without humility, one cannot expect to fully and truly and lastingly repent of one’s past sins.
The insincerity of Japanese contrition is going to come back and bite them in a big way. My friend Lorel said, “theirs is a culture that is incredibly obsessed with form, at the expense of substance. Prayer, fasting, devotions--these can become ‘empty’ rituals for them. They need to learn, above all things, the importance of truth, and honesty as a necessary attitude to see the truth. As it is, they are taught to hide and deny the truth.”
I’m reminded of Proverbs 14:9, “Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright.”
None of us read the same history books growing up. It is crucial to be able to openly and civilly dialogue together and not take things so personally. Chinese and Japanese, Koreans and Japanese, American and Japanese, etc.
Once we can understand the information and history and personal connections coming from our enemies, we have to re-prioritize our values and discard the notion that superficial harmony is so valuable. Then can we could focus more on the goal of friendship, not because we agree on everything, but because we love and respect each other. If there is no place in one’s culture for forgiveness and reconciliation, that merely indicates that your culture is too self-conscious or status-conscious. That kind of self-centered idea is unhealthy and wrong and needs to be amended. A true friendship has roots that go deep. It can weather political storms and outlast disagreements.
One of the sad deficiencies of a worldview like Shintoism is that it has a poor definition of sin in the first place, which is a categorical mistake. It is seen merely as an external indiscretion or blemish that can be brushed off or waved away like so much dust on the furniture. A few types of ‘indiscretions’ however are seen as especially grievous socially and therefore bring on extraordinary abasement and condemnation, with no real way to effectively expiate, purge, or clean oneself of the guilt, to forgive or be forgiven, and restored in relationship. One can see how this is foundational, with ripples affecting all levels of society. But if we can be the first to understand what sin truly means (hint: it’s in the Bible), humble ourselves, and repent in sincerity, and then treat others with grace upon grace, imagine the impact.
Obviously, there’s quite a bit re-learn and we can’t do it all here. Might I suggest getting together for tea or coffee sometime? We can talk about some of our favorite books and watch the maple leaves fall. Perhaps Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics or C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves or something you happen to have by Ryōkan. I’d be content to simply meditate together on what is meant by that wondrous verse in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, “For He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.”
… Now then, who’s got the bill?
Awesome post dude. You should get this translated into Japanese.
ReplyDeleteThanks, bro! Well, first thing I'd have to find someone who isn't too offended by it, and could offer a sweet rate. Hm...
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