I have had a tough time finishing Fujiwara Masahiko's nihonjinron rant in book form, but I have finally reached the last chapter. Not that it is difficult, it's just that it is a tedious, boring read of a book written by a man who believes that normal human feelings/emotions are experienced only by---or particularly by---Japanese. Of course this is what nihonjinron is. A mythical, quasi-religious fiction.
Fujiwara attacks the west in general and the US in particular. He draws ridiculous conclusions and makes hasty generalizations about the cultures and people of the west based on shallow stereotypes, hearsay, and the like. Europe and Britain do not escape his rants either. Other countries of the world don't really figure much, but he makes a few references to China, Korea, and other Asian countries/culture in the book---none especially flattering as compared to Dai Nippon.
He also attempts to discredit logic by setting up logical fallacies and then using logic to discredit them. From there, he leaps to the absurd conclusion that logical reasoning is flawed because he discredited the fallacy!! To give him credit (!?), he appears not to understand that he is attacking a logical fallacy with logic. A math professor who taught at a US university who does not understand logic.
He seems to actually believe that his sudden discovery that logic alone cannot solve all the world's problems is something that is nobody ever thought of in the Ayn Rand-ist, Mr. Spock-like US. According to Masahiko, we robotic idiots in the west cannot understand this: Logic alone cannot solve all problems! Wow! Who'd a figured!
He discredits democracy and champions a sort of dictatorship of mysterious elites in which citizens---scratch that---subjects have only one single right: The right to complain. It is possibly the most repressive system one could imagine, except that Fujiwara fantasizes that bushido would make it all OK because the elite dictators would show the peons bushidoistic compassion. And they would presumably be really, really smart. Smarter than all the subjects combined.
He cherry picks "facts" to such an extreme that many of his arguments are actually weakened for any but the true believer who can't be bothered to think. Just the type who would make an ideal subject in his fantasy-world bushido dictatorship. He very conveniently forgets things which Japan did in the past--such as the invasions of Korea under Hideyoshi, its annexation of Korea, the many internal wars in Japan's past, its treatment of minorities---the eta (burakumin) among others---in the Tokogawa era, most likely because these facts would discredit his whole thesis of neo-bushidoism. This especially applies to anything that seems a bit unpleasant about Tokugawa since this was a popular period for bushido . Since it worked so well for Japan in the past (?), he wants to export his neo-bushidoism to the rest of the world in order to save it. (It is amazing---no, comically naive---how he thinks Japan alone could solve all the problems in Iraq.)
I hope to write more, and in more detail as time goes on, but the book is simply ridiculous in most parts. He may have this great view of Japan and its past, as may many Japanese who don't know their own country's history, or much about the rest of the world except for nihonjinron myths, but I doubt many others share the fantasy. I'd suspect China and Korea might have a less than enthusiastic opinion of bushido. Though again, to give Fujiwara credit, he does admit that Japan was "mean" to China and "bullied" it in WW2. I have seen no mention of any "meanness" or "bullying" as far as Korea is concerned.
I will say, however, that he does not seem to share the exact same views as the right wing nationalists, the Abe/Aso/Tojo nutjobs. He may understate or leave out some of the things Japan did (at least in this book) but he does not deny that Japan did wrong in WW2.
As I read months ago on the internet (by a Japanese writer) there isn't much to be said for the contents of this book. The question is: What exactly is the purpose? Where does he want the country to go?
My question is: Why was this such a big seller in Japan? Do people really take it seriously? Do folks believe this sort of nonsense? (From what I have read and heard, many do like the nihinjinron "We are uniquely human" aspect, but feel a bit uncomfortable with his denunciation of democracy.)
Saturday, June 30, 2007
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I agree with Andrew Rankin's review of this book, in which he notes that, "The title of this little book deliberately echoes that of a notorious pamphlet issued by the Japanese government in 1937, at the peak of nationalist hysteria, in an attempt to define the essence and superiority of Japanese culture."
ReplyDeleteThe pamphlet he is talking about is 国体の本義 (Essence of the National Polity) is notorious for clearly setting out the basis on which Japan's ultranationalists claimed racial superiority over the rest of mankind.
In "The Dignity of the Nation," Fujiwara Masahiko makes the same claim when he says, "There is no measure for calculating moral excellence, but if a methodology existed for comparing different countries over the last thousand years, I suspect that Japan would come out on top by a long margin.
This high moral sense, which seems to be programmed into the DNA of the Japanese..."
His book is a Nihonjinron rant that hits all the low points of that genre. The nonsense about Japanese hearing cicada chirps as music while foreigners hear them as so much noise is a hoary chestnut that's been repeated by every Nihonjinronka from Lafcadio Hearn to Dr. Tsunoda. He also goes on at length about the "unique emotions of the Japanese" which, when you stop to think about it, is both a highly silly and racist notion. One of the things I found most disgusting about his book is the disdain expressed in it for China and the Chinese.
I agree with Andrew Rankin's review of this book, in which he notes that, "The title of this little book deliberately echoes that of a notorious pamphlet issued by the Japanese government in 1937, at the peak of nationalist hysteria, in an attempt to define the essence and superiority of Japanese culture."
ReplyDeleteThe pamphlet he is talking about is 国体の本義 (Essence of the National Polity) is notorious for clearly setting out the basis on which Japan's ultranationalists claimed racial superiority over the rest of mankind.
In "The Dignity of the Nation," Fujiwara Masahiko makes the same claim when he says, "There is no measure for calculating moral excellence, but if a methodology existed for comparing different countries over the last thousand years, I suspect that Japan would come out on top by a long margin.
This high moral sense, which seems to be programmed into the DNA of the Japanese..."
His book is a Nihonjinron rant that hits all the low points of that genre. The nonsense about Japanese hearing cicada chirps as music while foreigners hear them as so much noise is a hoary chestnut that's been repeated by every Nihonjinronka from Lafcadio Hearn to Dr. Tsunoda. He also goes on at length about the "unique emotions of the Japanese" which, when you stop to think about it, is both a highly silly and racist notion. One of the things I found most disgusting about his book is the disdain expressed in it for China and the Chinese.