Japan Power (Nihon Ryoku)
by Seigow Matsuoka, Everett Kennedy Brown
PARCO Publishing (Ltd.) Parco Entertainment Business Bureau, January 2010, 303pares, 1600yen, ISBN: 978-4-89194-814-6 0095
Review by Mikihiro Maeda
Seigow Matsuoka was born in 1944 in Kyoto. After serving as Object Magazine “Yu (play)” editor, visiting professor at Tokyo University, and Professor at Tezukayama Gakuin, now he is Director of Editorial Engineering Laboratory, Principal of ISIS editing school. In the 1980s, Mr. Matsuoka created a new idea of “Editorial engineering”, and became involved in research to connect the information culture and information technology.
NHK began airing a TV program called “Soul of Japanese” in 1990, and Mr. Matsuoka appeared on the program with Hiroyuki Itsuki and Masako Tanaka as a regular cast. They visited many places all over Japan, and discussed the hidden attraction of Japanese culture and its possibilities, so I believe many people are familiar with him.
Mr. Matsuoka manages a very popular his own book review website which has been accessed more than 1.8 million visitors, named “1000books 1000nights.” His rules of this site are not to take up two books by the same author, not to feature the same genre consecutively, and to also cover the latest books. He started this site from February 2000 and he had reviewed 1000 books by July 2004.
Recently, Mr. Matsuoka has published a book named “Japan Power (Nihon Ryoku)”, written in dialogue with Everett Kennedy Brown, an American photographer, journalist and anthropologist. While this dialogue between intellectual giant Mr. Matsuoka and Japan specialist Mr. Brown is valuable and precious, the combination of wonderful photos of Japan taken by Mr. Brown and the white character messages by Mr. Matsuoka on each photo are impressive. For example, Mr. Matsuoka’s messages are as follows. “Japanese became aware of the Shinto after the medieval period. Before that they lived with Buddha and God, and also mingled with Taoist, Confucian and folk beliefs. And even after that, Synchronization of Shinto with Buddhism continues. I believe so and it should be (p252).” He proceeded that “the substratum of Japanese culture, which are unique to Japan but also in Asia, is Ancestor worship (p254).”
He started the book as saying that “I like foreigners” at the beginning of first section “I saw Japan from foreigners viewpoint.” He maintains that discussing Japan with gaijin (foreigners) is very fresh, and Japan should be stared at by those alien eyes fixedly sometimes and should be rediscovered by them. He added that talking with foreigners like Mr. Brown about “lost Japan” is impressive and that he had not had such an experience for a long time. He is excited about Mr. Brown’s thinking ability and power of observation about Japan and he thinks it is more than native Japanese (p7). Indeed, when I am talking with foreigners who are familiar with Japan, I am also impressed with their ideas and interesting stories, which are often different from the Japanese way of thinking and I have learned a lot from their alien viewpoints.
The main body of this interview format started with “From where the Japanese is placed now” and the two authors discussed Japanese fashion and design, Japanese plays, Japanese artisans, Japan’s serendipity, foreigners in Japan, Japanese religion and finding Japan.
Interestingly, Mr. Brown mentioned that the contemporary Japanese do not seem to notice things that may improve their standard of living and they also intend not to see a jewel box buried beneath their feet. He clearly stated that even during the Edo period and the Warring States period, Japanese took advantage of the samurai spirit, incorporated excellent things from China and Europe, and then they succeeded to turn the Edo into a very rich community. Japanese can get more materials today than during the Edo period, so if they have the ability to choose, Japan is expected to produce something new and unprecedented (p47).
Mr. Brown has been living in Japan since 1988, but living in Japan for a long time, flooded with information on Japanese culture and Japan’s society, sometimes he loses himself and, in that case, he keeps his eyes fixed on his feet (p195). He gets back to the information and culture that makes his backbone; in particular, he looks back and reads the works of his favorite poets, philosophers and classics repeatedly. In this regard, Mr. Matsuoka agreed with Mr. Brown’s statements, saying that he himself (Mr. Matsuoka) has his own origin, his sense of beauty and value as his home position, and gets back to them and takes a look into modern society from there, and then critically evaluate from this base position (p197). These words remind me of a universal connotation.
Mr. Brown’s first encounter with Japan was at the age of three when he saw the photos of postwar Japan, gathered by his father for his diary. He was impressed by the picture of Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima, and he went to a Japanese Zen temple at the age of 19 and experienced Zen, and decided to go to Japan (p292). Currently, he established “Browns field,” which is the green space of old houses in Chiba Prefecture with his Japanese wife. Through making fermented food and ancient rice along with other activities, they are trying to pass on ancient wisdom of traditional Japanese living, mental and physical harmony, and dread and awe of nature to the next generation.
In the final section “How to make Japan,” Mr. Brown represented Mr. Matsuoka as follows. Men called intellectuals in Japan, they tend to focus only on the differences between Japan and overseas, however, Matsuoka presents a common point. Many people just look at the uniqueness of the Japanese people, but only Matsuoka is pursuing the universality of Japan (p295). In the same chapter, Mr. Brown professed that he has been trying to make his own Japan. To make and reform Japan is not a job only for the Japanese government. Rather, ordinary Japanese can create and generate their own range of Japan from their own hands. He concludes that he hopes this book will be a hint for making Japan.
In this context, my concern is as follows. Foreigners come to Japan because they like Japan, but while they are living in Japan they feel that Japanese culture and society seem exclusive to foreigners, and they come to dislike Japan. For example, there is no suffrage for foreigners who live in Japan, and Japan gives them special treatment occasionally. As a result, some foreigners living in Japan start to criticize Japan, or unfortunately they go back to their own country with disappointment that Japan does not change. If they return to their home with good impressions, they will talk about good images of Japan to their friends and family. I think that this is one of the most important points for Japan to live and let live with the international community.