Japanese Politics: Japan is Rashomon?

Before the horrible events of WWII, Japan or the Land of the Rising Sun was a rich and strong militarist country. But the postwar years, the horrible atrocities that they had done to Asia was simply unforgivable and even now, Japan has never said "sorry", "forgive me", "gomenasai", "moshiwakegozaimasen", "yurushite kudasai" or what ever. They would only visit the Yasukuni Shrine and bow to the people. I will try to explain why they haven't done this simple set of words later as we progress.

Before I discuss, I found it hard to believe that this movie had anything to do with Japanese Politics but my opinion changed soon after. So now I would like everyone to see the movie first before I proceed any further:

*due to long uploading, video temporarily unavailable.

After seeing the movie, I came to a realization that the movie can be related to Japanese politics with a little deep interpretation and imagination. I would explain each line they said or acts they portrayed in the movie that MIGHT relate to Japanese politics.

In the movie, the traveling man was concerned by the two men (priest and woodcutter) on what happened to them. He listened to every story and judged it after he heard each one. In my point of view this act is an act of 'groupism' in Japan were each member of the group would listen and carefully decide on the conclusion. I read in an article that Japan has a high voting rate for subnational elections and this is the fact that Japanese, are concerned for the community in which they dwell in.

The conflict itself for me is portraying the conflict of today's Japanese bureaucracy themselves, they have their own view or opinion in each solution to a problem for their country. I mean there is a clash between the LDP and DPJ. Knowing that they are rival parties creates an unconsenus to the problem or in other words, they are stuck and just beat around the bush. I think that matters in politics is a stuggle of power on WHO gets the last word in running the country.

Another line from the movie that I drew out was that "Women are weak by nature". This shows that coming from history even up to now, in Japan women are looked downed upon by men. It is in their culture that men always get their way. In the woman's story she CANNOT decide for her own to marry the bandit and also, men devalue women when she's been with other men. Even if the women are tormented by their husbands because they couldn't disagree to the man's decision. For us it may be un-gentleman, but it is in their culture. I mean even in the Diet, I believe that there are a few percentage to none of women because women's rights are unequal. Even the family wage concept is still implemented by some companies. Ofcourse, things are different now that women have now some equal rights in their country but not to the extent that they are at the level of Japanese men.

I want to also share that Japan's government is a collection of the greatest minds across the nation because they pass people because of their skill unlike here in the Philippines, the members are somewhat have 'good' connections with the president. Japan has become effective as a nation because the people running the country: the bureaucrats, the politicians and companies all work hard together to develop their country. I think what makes Japan different from us is that Japan loves our country and it is hard to admit that we do not love our own.

Humans are always self-interested. In a reading, there stated that the world is indeed a dog-eat-dog world just like the traveling man said, "If you're not selfish you won't survive". Even the priest lost faith in man after hearing this, since he had a very strong faith in humanity that despite selfish actions of the woodcutter, there is indeed still good in each man and this symbolizes that even the Japanese before did something wrong and couldn't do anything in the past; make amends by giving asia develpment projects, scholarships, and the like just like the woodcutter getting the baby.

Lastly, I think that Japan has a deep history that helped change Japan drastically. One good example that the people wanted change was at the Meiji Restoration. People do need to change and for the better. Now Japan changed again and renounced war as a means. I think the woodcutter in the movie symbolizes Japan; transforming and changing for the future(baby). A new beginning of the day shines and starts from Land of the rising sun.



here are some videos:

Yasukuni
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQVBZ3CcOUE

Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WElLqEDP1Jc

Why Japan, Why Compare Japanese Politics?

Why Japan? First, Japan by 1980’s was established as world’s 2nd largest economy. Second, in 1982 Japan’s political experience was becoming more complex rather than the pre-1982 era. Since Japan politics is difficult to comprehend, I believe that there are two factors that we should have a background to comprehend the deeper understanding of Japanese politics: Japan’s historical background and the behavior of Japanese society.

Indeed, each and every one of us disregards history due to the fact that history deals with the past. But if you ask me, history is crucial not only in politics but in other fields as well. Knowledge in history could avoid horrible events that have occurred in the past such as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If Japan didn’t surrendered at that time, there would be more casualties. This proves that the decision makers do change depending upon the circumstances. History also helps us try to study and learn how other countries developed. And most importantly, understanding history is the key factor in understanding politics. According to James Stockwin in his book entitled “Governing Japan”, he points out that history determines a states behavior because of factors like war, alliances, neighboring country’s behavior, and the like. Another would be history can even be a tool for political uses. In one article that I have read about the meaning of samurai, its code (similar to the code of chivalry to the knights in the West) was used as propaganda to the soldiers during the WWII era.

Japanese politics is really hard to explain to other people namely because Japanese society is really different because of three things: One, they are group oriented in the sense that they want to distinct in a within a group; doing their part for the group and mainly is that they are very loyal in a group. Two, one factor that we foreigners should be aware of is that in Japan age does matter or there are assumptions of hierarchy. I find that during my early months stay in Japan, with the exception of my sensei and friends, I found that it is really hard to converse with other people because they have a lot of levels of speaking when addressing people; sonkeigo, kenjogo, nichijo kaiwa to name a few. It is not only confusing but hard to fully master it; even to Japanese themselves; what more to us foreigners? Nevertheless, it really matters to them how you address each one according to their rank, atleast in the political world. Lastly, Japanese are well known to be disciplined and obligated in their work. This is because they have this sense of mutual obligation and they do care for others or atleast within their group. I believe that Japanese are independent but are not selfish. I remember one time during my stay that I was walking on my way home with a friend and we carried a lot of groceries and got caught up with the rain when we were halfway home, a Japanese lady was kind enough to stop her car just to give us her umbrella. Japanese society for me is as diverse and complex as Japanese politics.

Why Japanese politics? Japan for over 37-years is under the majority of the LDP. This is because not for their good leadership skills but the people have the desire for reformation. However, to fully understand Japan’s motives, we need to use comparative politics. I think that comparative politics is a good way in understanding one’s own politics because it gives you a picture or a standpoint to where we are ‘in’ right now. By this, a country could apply the other country’s success and avoid its flaws. Another would be that if we can compare the politics of Japan with other countries, then we might be able to understand how the Japanese react to decision making procedures in the globalized world. Knowing Japan’s politics would help us understand, hypothesize and predict Japan’s plans and motives. I could say that Japan’s politics is diverse and complex because of their long history with other countries. After all, Japan over the years was heavily influenced by the Chinese. They even adapted Kanji as part of their writing and the religion; then followed by Japan’s first encounter with Western influence namely the Spanish and Portuguese influences on Christianity. I believe that religion is powerful in governing people in a way because it changes a person’s view on an issue. This is why when Tokugawa regime came to isolation and persecuted the Christians and its missionaries because religion has more hold of the people. One good thing about the Tokugawa regime was there was a long lasting peace. But not all good things last. After the Tokugawa regime, the Meiji renovation was a big step in changing the system and modernization of Japan; a desperate attempt to ‘catch up’ with developed nations. After this came WWI and WWII. WWII Japan became a military nation and even up to now, there are some Japanese who want Japan to go back to its former self.

Politics is indeed a sensitive issue to study because explaining it is not an easy thing and since human beings have the quality to be rational and think of their own free will determining politicians’ behavior is a challenging study to handle with. This is why I think studying politics is important because we will be affected to its outcomes.