Research assignment

Depending on the nature of this research assignment I may end up choosing another quote, as this one is a bit unusual, or perhaps completely inapplicable! The quote comes from a novel titled Love and Death, written in 1939 by the Japanese writer Saneatsu Mushanokōji. I haven't actually read the novel itself, but instead found the quote in Misunderstanding: Europe vs Japan (Chuokoron-sha, Tokyo, 1982, p.135) by Endymion Wilkinson. The following is written from the point of view of the story's protagonist, Muraoka, who writes home from Paris:

Wherever one goes one sees only Occidentals... somehow I have the feeling that we are looked down upon... A solitary Japanese among a group of Occidentals is hardly an imposing figure. This is due to a large extent to our not being suited to Western style clothes, but even if we try to make something of the color of our skin and our physique, we still have very little to boast about. Nevertheless, I am confident that from the standpoint of spiritual power and intelligence we are not in the least inferior. The majority of Europeans love pleasure too much. Few of them have any faith in a future life. For the most part they live idly from day to day.

Despite this being a work of fiction, Wilkinson asserts that it is reflective of the "popular sentiments" towards Europeans held by the Japanese during the 1930s.

East vs West

Just a very brief post - came across a website today with a series of simple diagrams contrasting the (supposed) ways in which Westerners and Asians will approach particular situations:

http://buburuza.net/2008/12/culture-east-vs-west/

As it mentions, the person who created these images is a person who was born in China and has studied in Germany. Whilst I feel a lot of the red images are certainly representative of life in China, I don't agree that it "applies to all Asians" as the website states. Similarly, I don't believe that all the blue images are true of all Western people.

However, it's still an amusing concept and makes you think about these things a little.

Symbols

As it's Constitution Day in Japan today I was going to write some vague and rambling post about nationalism in Japan, but I might leave that for another time. Instead, I'd like to post up this picture which I took about a month ago:



Due to the prevalence of Buddhism in Japan it's not at all uncommon to see the swastika symbol in various forms, most typically an omote-manji (anti-clockwise swastika) on temple decor or on traditional clothing (dancer from Awa Odori), and Western people in general seem to be aware of such a usage. Although for many foreigners here it's still a mild surprise to see an angled ura-manji (clockwise swastika) such as the one above adorning people's clothing, motorbikes, accessories, etc., identical to that used by the Nazi Party of WW2 Germany. Clearly there isn't the same stigma attached to this particular type of swastika in Japan as there is in the West; if this student shown above were to walk around in particular countries he would no doubt face threats and intimidation, and in Germany and Austria, would be arrested for doing so.

So, I guess I'm asking anyone reading this as to whether it's acceptable for the youth of Japan to use the angled ura-manji as a fashion statement? Or whether it shows a sort of ignorance or contempt for historical events?

Although having said all that, due to the fact that the swastika (and numerous other noble and powerful symbols dating back thousands of years) were misappropriated by the Nazis there is a sweet irony of sorts in seeing something like this happen. Admittedly I am also perhaps guilty of trivialising such symbols due to having clothing/accessories/CDs/paraphernalia featuring the Iron Cross, Nordic runes, the Soviet hammer and sickle, and even the symbol of the DPRK's Korean Workers' Party. However, I certainly wouldn't bring my ushanka nor my USSR flag to Japan!

Perhaps it just comes down to a relativism of sorts - Australia is/was quite removed from communism and its effects (aside from the nonsensical "fear of communism" business in the 40s and 50s) yet has a relatively high population of people who were adversely affected by Nazi Germany, hence the strongly negative reactions to a symbol such as a swastika. I'd be happy to be corrected on this if I'm wrong, but I believe Japan could be considered to have the inverse of this situation.

I was also going to make mention of the Rising Sun Flag in contemporary Japan and the West, but I think this post has gone on for long enough. :)