Travelers visiting Japan are usually easily forgiven for whatever they do, including dressing down for Cool Biz. When in doubt, they can always say sumimasen. ~Stanley TanThe Japanese have a wonderful power ofself-control. They don't lose their temper or quarrel with you, but if their honour is violated they maykill you. They can be bitterenemies.... The Japanese also have a high sense of chivalry.... But these things perhaps belong to the past. It is a great pity that people who have carried such ideals into practice are losing them through contact with European civilization. ~Sri AurobindoAspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war. ~Article 9 of the Constitution of JapanThe Japanese can only fulfill it by the sword. ~Friedrich von BernhardiYou see, it's beenour misfortune to have the wrong religion, Why didn'twe have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? ~Adolf HitlerThe Japanese were ready to surrender, and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. ~Dwight D. EisenhowerMajor U.S. military bases in Japan.You will stay at home and steep yourself in the work of certain Japanese artists, and then, when you have absorbed the spirit of their style, and caught their imaginative manner of vision, you will go some afternoon and sit in the Park or stroll down Piccadilly, and if you cannot see an absolutely Japanese effect there, you will not see it anywhere. ~Oscar Wilde
I don’t see anyadults here in Japan. The fact that you see salarymen readingmanga andpornography on thetrains and being unafraid, unashamed or anything, is something you wouldn’t have seen 30 years ago, with people who grew up under a different system ofgovernment. They would have been far too embarrassed to open a book of cartoons or dirty pictures on a train. But that’s what we have now in Japan. We are a country ofchildren.
The Japanese have a wonderful power ofself-control. They don't lose their temper or quarrel with you, but if their honour is violated they maykill you. They can be bitterenemies.... The Japanese also have a high sense of chivalry....But these things perhaps belong to the past. It is a great pity that people who have carried such ideals into practice are losing them through contact withEuropean civilization. That is a great harm that European vulgarizing has done to Japan. Now you find most peoplemercantile in their outlook and they will do anything for the sake ofmoney.....
Sri Aurobindo, December 30, 1938, quoted fromSri Aurobindo, ., Nahar, S., Aurobindo, ., & Institut de recherches évolutives (Paris).India's rebirth: A selection from Sri Aurobindo's writing, talks and speeches. Paris: Institut de Recherches Evolutives. 3rd Edition (2000).[1]
Won't you stretchimagination for a moment and come with me. Let us hasten to a nation lying over the western sea. Hide behind the cherry blossoms; here's a sight that will please your eyes. There's a lady with a baby of Japan, singing lullabies. Hear her as she sighs.
We call on allchurches andreligions that have a presence in Japan to speak out against the new asset-freezing law and the dissolution. No matter how much they can disagree with the Family Federation [for World Peace and Unification, formerly the Unification Church,] on many subjects, the new law and a precedent allowing for dissolution of religious organizations that only lost civil as opposed to criminal cases would threaten them as well.
B.H. Chamberlain, in hisThings Japanese (London, 1898), says: "Alleducation was for centuries inBuddhist hands; Buddhism introducedart, introducedmedicine, moulded the folklore of the country, created its dramaticpoetry, deeply influenced politics and every sphere of social and intellectual activity. In a word,Buddhism was the teacher under whose instruction the nation grew up." A.S. Geden, while quoting the above passage, further adds that "In a larger sense of these terms, Japan owes more educationally to Buddhist influence and instruction than perhaps any other nation, with the possible exception of theBurmese". WhenEurope forced its way into Japan, it found that most Japanese,men as well aswomen,could read and write. They were educated by Buddhist monks in their "temple-huts", known as tera-koya. Attendance at these schools was entirely voluntary. "There were also schools open for girls, which were, it may be assumed, always under the direction of the nuns".
B.H. Chamberlain, A.S. Geden. quoted in Ram Swarup (2000). On Hinduism: Reviews and reflections. Ch. 6.
Japan has demonstrated the possible industrial dynamism of a highly deferential society, indeed a society which has only recently masked the values and practices of adivine-right monarchy.
J. C. D. Clark,English Society 1688–1832: Ideology, Social Structure and Political Practice During the Ancien Regime (1985), p. 73
Aspiring sincerely to an internationalpeace based onjustice andorder,the Japanese people forever renouncewar as asovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settlinginternational disputes.
The right of locomotion; the right of migration; the right which belongs to no particular race, but belongs alike to all and to all alike. It is the right you assert by staying here, and your fathers asserted by coming here. It is this great right that I assert for theChinese and the Japanese, and for all other varieties of men equally with yourselves, now and forever.
I was againstit on two counts. First, the Japanese were ready to surrender, and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. Second, I hated to seeour country be the firstto use such a weapon.
Japan should learn from the harm caused worldwide by state-imposed ideologies and religious oppression, which have often led to deep internal divisions. The state exists to serve all citizens, not just the majority or a favored group.
So why is Japan different? Why do its top officials – and this trend extends across seniorgovernment posts – resign office, seemingly at the drop of a hat? The theories are endless, most of them relying on oft-repeated but simplisticstereotypes about the supposed centrality ofhonor, saving face, and respect inJapanese culture... Japan's problems are too vast, and its strengths too great, to be ruled by something as capricious and frivolous as the whims of the majority.
Those Oriental people work like dogs. They work their hearts out. They are workers non-stop. They sleep beside their machines. That's why they're successful in life. I went toSeoul,South Korea, I went toTaipei,Taiwan. I went toTokyo, Japan. That's why these people are so hard workers. I'm telling you, the Oriental people, they're slowly taking over.
The Japanese spirit wavered from then on between the lure of the West and the need to preserve her territorial integrity. Slowly, inexorably, Western civilization covered up with its veneer this other civilization patiently built up in the course of centuries, long nurtured in suffering and in pride by generations of men and women. But this was only in semblance.The Japan of old still dwells deep in the soul of every inhabitant of her islands and manifests itself at every turn in some euphuistic subtlety or an exquisitely delicate courtesy. ... The spirit of Japan, conceived in theNara epoch, carried in the womb of her islands throughout theHeian period, delivered in the anguish of theMiddle Ages, schooled by the rod of iron of theTokugawas, fully grown now, benefited from all her past experiences.She cannot forget them.
Frédéric, Louis (1984). Daily life in Japan at the time of the samurai, 1185-1603. Tokyo: Tuttle.
Japan must import all of its majorminerals, fromoil toaluminum. Without those imports-particularlyoil-Japan stops being an industrial power in a matter of months.
It may be that Japan is only a speck on a world map drawn by Europeans, but the country consisting of a chain of islands has played and is still playing an important part because of its situation lying east of the continent in thePacific Ocean. From a cultural point of view Japan is an eastward limit of penetration, and a treasure-house, so to speak, in the history of world civilization. Another important thing is that Japan stands out as the first country in Asia which adopted modern mechanical civilization and carried it to the Asiatic Continent. The Japanese nation is, generally speaking, so generously disposed towards any system of thought that varying contradictions are kept on with no inconvenience whatever; it seems as if the Japanese nation were gifted with special capacity for tolerance. For instance,religions present an apt example oftolerance on the part of the Japanese nation.
Fukaya, Tadamasa (1973).The Fundamental Doctrines of Tenrikyo (天理教の根本教義), p. 1. Tenri, Japan: Tenrikyo Overseas Mission Department; printed by Tenri-Jihosha (天理時報社). (April 1973 revision of 1960 original.)
In theU.S., if you are a singer, you're usually a singer for life. In Japan, you branch out... Japan needs more child care places that are government funded. Big companies need to have day care centers. I used to take my kids on location. Sometimes my boss held my baby while I worked.
People all over the world refer to Japan as the Land of the Gods, and call us the descendants of the gods. Indeed, it is exactly as they say: our country, as a special mark of favour from the heavenly gods, was begotten by them, and there is thus so immense a difference between Japan and all the other countries as to defy comparison. Ours is a splendid and blessed country, the Land of the Gods beyond any doubt, and we, down to the most humble man and woman, are the descendants of the gods... Japanese differ completely from and are superior to the peoples ofChina,India,Russia,Holland,Siam,Cambodia, and all other countries of the world, and for us to have called our country the Land of the Gods was not mere vainglory. It was the gods who formed all the lands of the world at the Creation, and these gods were without exception born in Japan. Japan is thus the homeland of the gods, and that is why we call it the Land of the Gods.
Hirata Atsutane,Kodō Taii (Summary of the Ancient Way) (1811), quoted in Ryusaku Tsunoda, William Theodore de Bary and Donald Keene (eds.),Sources of Japanese Tradition (1958), p. 544
You see,it's beenour misfortune to have the wrongreligion. Why didn'twe have thereligion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? TheMohammedan religion too would have been more compatible to us thanChristianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?
[The Immigration Agency] considers filming while knowing that recording is prohibited inside the facilities to be an unforgivable act, no matter how much it is based on personal conviction.
Two lawsuits filed [in October 2023] in Japan will test both theindependence of Japanese courts and whether unpopular groups can be accused of almost anything with impunity.Democratic countries protectfreedom of speech, which certainly includes criticizing groups one does not like. There is, however, a clear line separating harsh criticism from outright lies.
In response to the M7 earthquake at Noto region in Ishikawa prefecture, we have immediately set up the Prime Minister’s Office of Response - Disaster Counter Measure HQ. Putting human lives as priority, we are making every effort to assess damages - putting forth all efforts in disaster response. For those in affected areas, please pay close attention to the latest information and place personal safety as your priority.
Great Japan is the divine land. The heavenly progenitor founded it, and the Sun Goddess bequeathed it to her descendants to rule eternally. Only in our country is this true; there are no similar examples in other countries. This is why our country is called the divine land.
Kitabatake Chikafusa,Jinnō Shōtōki (A Chronicle of the Direct Descent of Gods and Sovereigns) (1339), ed. H. Paul Varley (1980), p. 49
If you look at thestatistics of theJapanese economy around 1995–1997, it had a couple of years of 2–3 percentgrowth. That was theKeynesian influence of the then-head of the Economic Planning Agency. He was a good Japanese exponent of Keynesianism.Japan built beautifulbridges and other infrastructure, but abandoned these sorts of projects because its debt is so big, and its deficit is so big, that it will not do them anymore. … I think Japan could stand a really good Keynesian sustained stimulus.
Lawrence Klein, "Keynsianism Again: Interview with Lawrence Klein",Challenge (May-June 2001).
South Korea spends the equivalent of 1.7 percent of itsGDP on caring for the old, just one step above the stingiestOECD member;Mexico. Neighboring Japan, on the other hand, is generous to its seniors, doling out an amount corresponding to 8.9 percent of its GDP on the archipelago’s vast grey-haired population.
The Japanese people, since the war, have undergone the greatest reformation recorded in modern history. With a commendable will, eagerness to learn, and marked capacity to understand, they have, from the ashes left in war's wake, erected in Japan an edifice dedicated to the supremacy of individualliberty and personal dignity; and in the ensuing process there has been created a truly representative government committed to the advance of political morality,freedom of economic enterprise, andsocial justice. Politically, economically, and socially Japan is now abreast of many free nations of the earth and will not again fail the universal trust. That it may be counted upon to wield a profoundly beneficial influence over the course of events inAsia is attested by the magnificent manner in which the Japanese people have met the recent challenge of war, unrest, and confusion surrounding them from the outside and checkedcommunism within their own frontiers without the slightest slackening in their forward progress. I sent all four of our occupation divisions to theKorean battlefront without the slightest qualms as to the effect of the resulting power vacuum upon Japan. The results fully justified my faith. I know of no nation more serene, orderly, and industrious, nor in which higher hopes can be entertained for future constructive service in the advance of the human race.
Stories of past glories or of past wrongs are useful tools in the present but they, too, often come at the cost of abusinghistory. History is also abused when people try to ignore or even suppress evidence that might challenge their preferred view of the past. In Japan at present, thenationalistright is furious witharchaeologists who are going to examine some of the scattered tombs where generations of theJapanese royal family are buried. Scholars have been asking for years for the right to investigate the sites, some of which go back to the third or fourth century. Thenationalist fury grows out of their belief that the emperor is sacred and is, moreover, descended in an unbroken line from the sun. Japan, in the nationalist view, is a “divine land.” The more prosaic answer is that the royal family came originally fromChina orKorea; even if that is not true, it is probable that there was a good deal of intermarriage between Japan and the mainland so that the imperial family’s bloodline may contain non-Japanese genes. If the investigations find evidence to confirm that hypothesis, a key part of thenationalists’ mythology is destroyed.
It’s important that the truth doesn’t get lost in the noise. In a country where legal nuance often collides with social stigma, the [Toru] Goto case is more than a courtroom drama—it’s a test of whetherjustice can survive the weight ofideology.
How courteous is the Japanese; He always says, “Excuse it, please.” He climbs into his neighbor’s garden, And smiles, and says, “I beg your pardon”; He bows and grins a friendly grin, And calls his hungry family in; He grins, and bows a friendly bow; “So sorry, this my garden now.”
Ogden Nash,I’m a Stranger Here Myself (1938), 'The Japanese'
Today is a chance forAmericans, especially our young people, to say thank you for all the things we love from Japan. Likekarate andkaraoke. Manga andanime. And, of course,emojis.
Hana-ogi: It is very difficult for Japanese women to speak in public. I have never done so, but, perhaps, now it is the time.
Sayonara (1952). written by Paul Osborn. As well as Japanese animation,technology has a huge influence on Japanese society, and also Japanese novels. I think it's because before, people tended to think thatideology or religion were the things that actually changed people, but it's been proven that that's not the case. I think nowadays, technology has been proven to be the thing that's actually changing people. So in that sense, it's become a theme in Japanese culture.
Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—theUnited States of America was suddenly and deliberatelyattacked by naval and air forces of theEmpire of Japan. The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American Island ofOahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to ourSecretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance ofHawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage toAmerican naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas betweenSan Francisco andHonolulu. Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack againstMalaya. Last night Japanese forces attackedHong Kong. Last night Japanese forces attackedGuam. Last night Japanese forces attacked thePhilippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attackedWake Island. And this morning the Japanese attackedMidway Island. Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our Nation.
Japan's scheme of conquest goes back half a century. It was not merely a policy of seeking living room: it was a plan which included the subjugation of all the peoples in the Far East and in the islands of the Pacific, and the domination of that ocean by Japanese military and naval control of the western coasts ofNorth,Central, andSouth America. The development of this ambitious conspiracy was marked by thewar against China in 1894; the subsequentoccupation of Korea; thewar against Russia in 1904; the illegal fortification of themandated Pacific islands following 1920; theseizure of Manchuria in 1931; and theinvasion of China in 1937.
It is a common concern of the international community thatChina tries to change the situation and increase tensions in theSouth China Sea by carrying out extensive and rapid land reclamation, building its base in the region and utilizing it for military purposes. We have deep concerns over such actions and want to re-emphasize that Japan cannot accept (them)
In Japan, strong girls are very popular. The tradition of my country has in theTarazuka, the Japanese theater in which only women take part, the maximum level offeminine emancipation. These actress cover all roles of the plays, even the male ones. I was inspired by them to create Haruka. It wasn't easy to makechildren understand how there could be truelove between twowomen. Haruka is a tomboy, she talks and dresses like a boy, and therefore it's natural she falls in love with Michiru.
Thesenshi are very sexy, andboys like it. In Japan, moreover, boys are quite weak and they search for a strong partner. They want to be dominated, and the senshi are ready to do it.
Business travellers visiting Japan are usually easily forgiven for whatever they do, including dressing down for Cool Biz. When in doubt, they can always say sumimasen (or 'excuse me') at the beginning of the meeting, should they find themselves underdressed for the occasion.
Japan has a lot ofengineers who work at desks. When it comes to implementation, though, they lose confidence and haven't got the courage of their convictions when other people criticize them. Engineers like that can't buildcars. Success in this industry demands engineers who have thecourage and the decisiveness to implement ideas.
Kiichiro Toyoda in the 1940s cited in: Satoshi Hino (2005).Inside the Mind of Toyota: Management Principles for Enduring Growth. p. 93
It seems that the ideology ofsacred kingship was created, restored, and reinforced in Japan at the time of national crisis. The second half of the seventh century was exactly such a period. Japan faced a national crisis again in the second half of the nineteenth century when, according to its internal logic, the ideal of theritsu-ryō state with its sacred kingship ideology woke up from its long sleep and was reestablished with some inevitable modifications. In this respect, I hold that the conceptions of state and kingship inancient Japan have provided for Japanese society a structural continuity that has never been lost, though the society has undergone various historical changes and transformations from archaic times down to the present.
Manabu Waida, 'Sacred Kingship in Early Japan: A Historical Introduction',History of Religions, Vol. 15, No. 4 (May, 1976), p. 342
Still, it was the restructuring of Japan that formed the main model for future American initiatives outsideEurope. Although there were disagreements among US advisers as to how radical the restructuring of Japan should be, the basic direction was not in dispute: it was only through becoming more like the United States that Japan – the only non-European economic and military power – could be redeemed. The key to success was not only the rebuilding of Japanese institutions, but also the remolding of ‘‘the Japanese brain.’’ ‘‘Our problem,’’ according to an 1945 instructional film for the occupation forces, ‘‘is in thebrain inside of the Japanese head. There are seventy million of these in Japan, physically no different than any other brains in the world, actually all made from exactly the same stuff as ours. Thesebrains, like our brains, can do good things or bad things, all depending on the kind of ideas that are put inside.’’ The mix ofcoercion, enticement, and appeal to the popular will that the occupation authorities used to put ideas into Japanese brains emphasized the new role that the state had come to occupy inAmerican policy at home and abroad. In the beginning phase of the restructuring of Japan – just as in the implementation of theMarshall Plan inEurope – it was veterans ofFranklin Roosevelt’sNew Deal programs who set the aims, and in doing so they reflected a much more positive view of what the state would be able to do than had been usual in American policy abroad. Even though theCold War soon saw New Dealers lose influence within the occupation regime and inUS foreign policy in general, allpostwar American administrations up toRonald Reagan were much more willing to use state power for social development purposes than any of their predecessors had been.
Odd Arne Westad,The Global Cold War: Third World Intervention and the Making of Our Times (2012), p. 24
I know that you are fond of Japanese things. Now, do you really imagine that the Japanese people, as they are presented to us in art, have any existence? If you do, you have never understood Japanese art at all. The Japanese people are the deliberate self-conscious creation of certain individual artists. If you set a picture byHokusai, orHokkei, or any of the great native painters, beside a real Japanese gentleman or lady, you will see that there is not the slightest resemblance between them. The actual people who live in Japan are not unlike the general run of English people; that is to say, they are extremely commonplace, and have nothing curious or extraordinary about them. In fact the whole of Japan is a pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people. One of our most charming painters went recently to the Land of the Chrysanthemum in the foolish hope of seeing the Japanese. All he saw, all he had the chance of painting, were a few lanterns and some fans. He was quite unable to discover the inhabitants, as his delightful exhibition at Messrs. Dowdeswell's Gallery showed only too well. He did not know that the Japanese people are, as I have said, simply a mode of style, an exquisite fancy of art. And so, if you desire to see a Japanese effect, you will not behave like a tourist and go toTokio. On the contrary, you will stay at home and steep yourself in the work of certain Japanese artists, and then, when you have absorbed the spirit of their style, and caught their imaginative manner of vision, you will go some afternoon and sit in the Park or stroll down Piccadilly, and if you cannot see an absolutely Japanese effect there, you will not see it anywhere.
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