America’s former ambassador to Japan says the country must make a critical choice--- either remain isolated by a sense of cultural separateness, or become a full-fledged member of the international community.

The Japanese – Torn Between Two Worlds

Condensed from “The Japanese”
Edwin O. Reischauer

Japan is the second largest of the industrialized, trading democracies and the key country in the “first world’s” relations with the communist “second world.” And the developing “third world.” But the language barriers with all three worlds are grater for Japan than for any other major country. Few government officials, businessmen or intellectual leaders can speak with their counterparts in other countries beyond a few social pleasantries. Of the dozens of cabinet ministers I have known in Japan over the past two decades, I can think of only three who could conduct a serious intellectual discussion in English.
In international meetings, Japanese ability in the language of the conference, which usually is English, likely ranks near the bottom among the participants. Inevitably the voice of Japan seems less loud and distinct than it should be. This is a sorry state of affairs for a country so great in economic size and so overwhelmingly dependent on its international relations.
There are a number of reasons for this blind spot. One is that Japan has traditionally thought of contact with other cultures as being through the written word, not as two-way oral communication. There even seemed an advantage in not communicating with foreigners, and in keeping them from learning about Japan and what was in the minds of Japanese.
The great majority of Japanese have little appreciation of the drawbacks of this situation. They are not aware that Japan is intellectually isolated, or that to others it sometimes appears to be a tongue-tied giant or a sinister outsider. Only slowly have they begun to realize the need for others to understand Japan better and for Japanese to know more about the rest of the world. For both purposes a great improvement in language skills is mandatory.
Another barrier in Japan’s relationship with the outside world is more amorphous, and probably more difficult to overcome: the Japanese sense of being a separate people. The line between the “we” of the Japanese as a national group and the “they” of the rest of mankind seems sharper for them than for most other people.
The attitudes are natural product of Japan’s geographical isolation and its unique position as the one major industrialized country that is not of Western cultural background—the country that does not quite fit into either the Western or Eastern worlds. In fact, the Japanese almost glory in the thought that they are somehow unique.
Many Japanese might feel themselves to be international, and in some ways they are. Newspapers and television give good international coverage. World fads and fashions sweep Japan as fast as anywhere. The Japanese have repeatedly shown their close cooperation with the United Nations. But one need only scratch the surface to discover the strong sense of separateness the Japanese still feel.
The Japanese sense of exclusiveness becomes clear-cut in their attitudes toward foreigners in Japan. They take it for granted that foreigners will always remain outsiders. By contrast, Americans take for granted that any foreigner in the United States would like to become an American citizen.
Japanese attitudes toward other East Asians illustrate my point even better. Most Koreans and Chinese in Japan are permanent residents, but the Japanese do their best to keep them separate, making it difficult for them to acquire Japanese citizenship and commonly discriminating against them. Intermarriage is rare and is looked down upon.
The Japanese also have a special anxiety that Japan will lose its identity in the flood of influences from the West. The early 1970s saw anew cresting of these fears. A spate of books and articles asked what it meant to be Japanese and what was Japan’s distinctive role in the world. The Japanese called it the Nihonjin-ron.
If one defines all modern technology as being culturally Western, then very little remains in Japan that has not been affected by it. But there is very little in the West, too, that has not been influenced by modern technology. We are almost as far from our 18th century forebears as the Japanese are from theirs. Modern technology originated in the West, to be sure, but like technological advances throughout history they inevitably belong to all people.
If one does not identify modern technology with Western culture, then the picture looks very different. The Japanese have given to modern institutions their own special flavor. These institutions belong to them as much as they do to the rest of us. Young Japanese seem to sense this and therefore to be less concerned with the danger of losing their Japanese identity. As a result, fears about Japan becoming Westernized or losing its identity are mainly problems for the older generation and as such will inevitably fade away.
For a people who had virtually no outside contacts only a little over a century ago, the Japanese have developed diverse and close international relations with most of the world. But if we look at them as a nation entirely dependent on world peace and a growing global trade, then their contacts seem inadequate.
Japan in its own interest needs to do better. The world faces grave problems, and Japan should maximize its contribution to the solution of these problems. To do this, the Japanese would need a much stronger sense of mutual cooperation between themselves and others.
The needs go much deeper than the enthusiasm for the United Nations and the formal “internatioalism” that the Japanese have espoused. They must overcome their sense of separateness and, to put it bluntly, show a greater readiness to join the human race. They must identify themselves with the rest of the world and feel a part of it.
There are significant roles for Japan over and above its position simply as one of the stronger national units. As the one great and wealthy country that has renounced war, Japan may help all nations find their way past the crushing burdens of military rivalries to a more peaceful age.
Toward non-Western peoples the Japanese can also play a significant role of inspiration. The Japanese achievement of affluence has shown that economic strength need not be limited to the Western world. The even more remarkable Japanese achievement in developing a fully open, democratic society could have an even greater impact, if it were better known abroad. The success of the Japanese in adopting so much from Western culture while maintaining their own strong cultural traditions and thus producing a dynamic cultural mix that is entirely their own could both comfort and inspire non-Western peoples.
The Japanese might also lead the way toward the development of the global fellow feeling that mankind needs for survival. The relationship Japan has developed with the United States and other industrialized nations is the first example in history of broad cooperation across the major cultural and racial lines that divide the world. This relationship is far from perfect, but it is the beginning of a relationship that some day must embrace all peoples of the world.
“THE JAPANESE” 1977 BY THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE AND PUBLISHED BY HARVARD PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

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