Sign of the Times
DPJ has lessons to learn from Japan's history
Everyone kept going uphill, drawn by the soothing sight of white fluffy clouds in a blue sky. It was no doubt hard, but still, they were happy times.
The tough days depicted by Ryotaro Shiba in the historical novel "Saka no Ue no Kumo" (Clouds above the slope) were happy ones because of the direct link between local efforts made by individuals and the rise of Meiji Japan. "If you don't like being poor, you better study," a young boy in the middle of nowhere on the island of Shikoku is told. The assumption here is that studying would help one get on in the world, which would then, in turn, support the rising nation. This is a big difference from today's society, in which college graduates or even those with doctorates cannot find work. Life was tough way back when, but it was filled with bright hope.
While individuals were busy with their homework and jobs, Meiji Japan itself continued to press on up the hill, eventually accomplishing one of the most tremendous feats in the history of the world: catching up with modern western civilization.
It was not an easy task. Western civilization was extremely powerful, itself was global civilization. Various civilizations until then had been driven by manpower and horsepower, but western civilization after the Industrial Revolution sped across land and water powered by engines. It became the first civilization in history that could see the world as less than infinite.
In this way, western powers became main players on the global stage in the 19th century. They were mighty on a level completely different from non-western nations, which allowed them to destroy non-western societies and bring them under their colonial umbrella. Of the two countries that ancient Japan had looked to as the source of civilization, India had become a British colony, and China all too easily lost in the Opium War. Under such circumstances, it would not have been surprising if the small island nation of Japan had come under the rule of a western power.
But what this tiny nation did was defy the trends of world history. Fifty years after the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry and the black ships, Japan had developed into a modern nation on the same footing as the most powerful western nations, defeating Russia, a military giant. It became the first non-western society to make it to the center stage of global politics. This marked a defining moment in the history of mankind, one that transformed "world history" comprised merely by the west to world history of the world. As it turns out, the three boys in the middle of nowhere in Shikoku eventually came to be major players in this shift. Herein lies the wonderment of the series of events behind " Saka no Ue no Kumo."
Why is it, then, that Japan was the only non-western society that emerged on the modern stage? Why was this small country able to achieve what both China and India could not?
In my opinion, this was due in large part to Japan's experience with outside powers, particularly with China in the seventh century.
In the year 663, the Yamato dynasty dispatched 27,000 troops to the Korean peninsula, where it suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of a coalition army from the Tang dynasty and the kingdom of Silla. The loss generated fears that the enemy alliance would launch an attack on Yamato soil, and the very existence of the Yamato dynasty appeared to be in danger.
The Yamato responded first by building a mountain fortress and water fortress in Dazaifu and citadels protecting the area spanning from the Seto Inland Sea to Mount Ikoma, and by setting up a beacon communication network. Second, it sought to learn any lessons it could from the Tang dynasty, recognizing the superiority of its civilization.
The establishment of Heijo-kyo 50 years later as the capital of a constitutional government modeled after that of Tang China, was proof that Japan had surpassed its role model, which was one of the world's top civilizations at that point in history. The half a century after the Yamato navy's defeat was a period of leaps and bounds for Japan.
What allowed this nation to achieve such feats continued to run in our blood, allowing us to ward off attacks from western powers using similar tactics. On the one hand, there emerged an effort to eliminate outside threats with ethnic pride, as seen in the spirit of "joi" (expulsion of barbarians). On the other hand, both the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji government acknowledged the superiority of the west and promoted the process of modernization, leading the country to a victory over a western military power.
The political turmoil of 1873 was crucial in the establishment of Japan's track of modern reform. Upon hearing of the Meiji government's decision to launch an attack on Korea, Toshimichi Okubo, who had joined the Iwakura Mission and was in the Europe at the time, returned to Japan to reverse the decision.
Around the world, governments that have been successful in overthrowing an old regime often fall under the illusion that they are omnipotent, acting foolishly out of the belief that they can do anything. Intoxicated by the fact that they have changed the state of domestic affairs, they become convinced that they can change the world.
In his written objection to the Meiji government's proposed attack on Korea, Okubo warned that such a battle would only make Japan vulnerable to attacks from other powers. To Okubo, who had observed the goings-on of western countries, it was clear that Japan had plenty of reforms that it should be conducting within the country. He set the nation in the direction of devoting all its energies to modernization instead of waging battles with other countries, guiding the emerging power from its explosive joi spirit toward the sobering tasks that had to be completed for Japan to become a modern nation. And it was because the nation succeeded in doing so that we are where we are today.
This past fall, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) pulled off the remarkable achievement of regime change with overwhelming support from the public. However, in the lingering glow of their victory, has the DPJ fallen for the fantasy that they can easily control foreign diplomacy and national security according to wishes voiced domestically?
Domestic support and international interests are two fundamentally separate things. It is my hope that the DPJ demonstrates the level-headedness needed to handle the Japan-U.S. security arrangement, which is crucial in guaranteeing our national security. (By Makoto Iokibe, president of the National Defense Academy of Japan)
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) December 24, 2009