VOX POPULI: Resilience and optimism a cure for today's ills

War clouds are gathering over the Korean Peninsula. On the home front, there is high public disillusionment with politics, the government is mired in fiscal difficulties, stock prices are falling again and the cattle industry is in crisis. History has a way of dumping problems on nations regardless of the ability of their leaders.

Allow me to present some quotable quotes from the month of May while I tried to maintain a positive outlook on things.

Yuji Fujimoto, a lecturer at Mukogawa Women's University, was previously involved in food education at a primary school.

Drawing on his experience, Fujimoto commented on the foot-and-mouth disease scare in Miyazaki Prefecture: "We eat gifts of life. I hope the present crisis will prompt everyone to take interest in people and things beyond the food on their table--cattle farmers and meat distributors, what happens to leftover food, and so on."

Takayuki Sugiura, 38, is the editor and publisher of Messenger, an information magazine containing personal accounts by cancer patients. His experience as a cancer survivor led him to publish the magazine.

Sugiura said: "Every cancer patient searches for hope amid despair. Each person's power is small and so is his or her gleam of hope, but hope becomes easier to find when many people search for it together."

Shunputei Shota, 50, a rakugo comic storyteller, who has a busy television and theater schedule, is also a writer. He noted: "It was a miracle that I was born in Japan in these wonderful times. So, why not experience everything there is to experience?"

Tanie Kitabayashi, a veteran actress who died in April at age 98, was a legend in her lifetime, according to film critic Tadao Sato.

"Even when society is restless, an elderly woman brings an aura of calm," he said. "In Japanese movies of the past, there were plenty of opportunities for someone (like Kitabayashi) to shine--as a supporting actor or actress with a truly unique presence."

John Dower, 71, a Japan expert and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is retiring from teaching. He is the author of "Embracing Defeat," a 1999 tour de force about Japan under postwar Allied occupation. He said that in the immediate aftermath of World War II, many Japanese displayed tremendous resilience and optimism at every level and sought to build peace that does not rely on the military. He wanted to write about those people.

Resilience and optimism are exactly what we need today.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 31

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.