Embracing Defeat, John W. Dower

This book was a phenomenally eye-opening account of the confusion and evolution of Japan before and especially after the Second World War.  Though I certainly won’t retain all the information I read about in this well-written but dense piece of history, here’s an attempt to jot down a few lessons:

1.) I still can’t believe I live in a place that is so peaceful and welcoming when my grandfather fought in the very war that started Japan on the path to peace.

2.) I had no idea how revered and even worshiped the emperor was before the Japanese defeat in WWII.  Until then, he was referred to as a god, and the direct descendant of the sun god Amaterasu.  Amazing.

3.) After reading about what American GIs did to women (“comfort” women serving as government-sponsored sex workers) and the culture at-large in Japan after WWII, I sometimes feel ashamed to show my face here.  That kind of pain is still inflicted on many Japanese through the continued military presence in Okinawa, where rapes and reckless behavior still occur to the disgust of many Japanese.  That’s probably why the new administration (Hatoyama) seems to be making such big shifts in the Japanese support of American war efforts in Afghanistan and other military maintenance traditions in the Pacific.

4.) The irony of “imposed” democracy is one of the most important lessons I learned in this book.  Rather than allow democracy to form in a spontaneous and creative way, the U.S. basically forced her values upon an entire nation with deeply held and long lasting traditions of political life.  Japan certainly benefited from the U.S. occupation and in their guidance over the new constitution, but the cons of imposing something that should be embraced by a “grassroots” movement also weigh strongly in my mind as a detriment to our postwar policies here.

5.) The bombs.  I certainly understand the mentality of why the atomic bombs were dropped much more than I did before.  The determination of the Japanese to not accept defeat at any cost required great sacrifice to break.  However, the U.S. persecution of Japanese “war criminals” then automatically carries a great deal of irony.  After killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians ourselves, we executed leaders for doing the exact same thing.  They just happened to be on the losing side of history, and thus didn’t have the option to take the American military and political leaders to task for their role in the concentrated bombings of civilian targets.

6.) The U.S. occupation had a massive censorship on Japanese press and art in the 6-7 years after the war.  I feel like that effort had a crippling effect on the development of a truly “free” press and expression in Japan and buried a lot of very important conversations that might have set Japan on a better initial path of rejuvenated internal recovery.

7.) Leaving Emperor Hirohito, who led Japan into war, without any responsibility for the war was surely smart policy, but is just another example of the trade offs of U.S. pragmatism vs. idealism.  Like in the current situation with Iran, supporting the protesters (whom we would like to see as successful because of the horrible government they are seeking to remove) is a Catch-22.  If we support these protesters, and stand by our idealistic American charter of freedom and democracy, we risk further alienating the Iranian leaders with whom we are seeking meaningful and productive dialogue to end a dangerous path towards the development of nuclear weapons.  If we don’t support these protesters, we lose a great opportunity to see the spread of a system of government that, although far from perfect, at least holds high the goal of providing equality and opportunity to all its citizens.

8.) American lawyers basically wrote the bulk of the Japanese Constitution in a week.  And not even lawyers who were truly prepared for the task!  But what was produced has been an interesting Japanese-specific form of democracy.  It makes me think about Iraq and the incredibly short time period that we imposed “democracy” on their government and people.  Japan has lasted because it depended on peace and economic development for its sustained growth.  Can Iraq survive on such a fragile sheet of paper without the same commitment to peace and without great opportunity for widespread economic development apart from serving our oil needs?

9.) Many of the successful Japanese companies that are prevalent today have their roots in post-WWII development, and even in the Korean war re-militarization of Japan (Even though we imposed a completely pacifistic constitution, we then asked them to re-arm a few short years later when we wanted them to help us fight the “reds.”  The irony never ceases.).  Canon and Nikon made military optics tools before switching to consumer cameras.  Honda started by a guy taking small engines from war communications devices and refitting them to power bicycles called the “Dream.”  Sony, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and many other companies all benefited from restructuring following the war.  This must explain previous (and some current) Americans’ anti-Japanese product sentiments.

10.) Hierarchy, patriarchy, and bureaucracy have been a major part of Japanese public life for a long time.  In trying to change this mentality, the U.S. put these exact things in place again.  General MacArthur was the “Supreme Commander,” and all laws pronounced by the U.S. victors were required to be embraced by the Japanese.  Although the ends may have justified the means, the hypocrisy in these efforts certainly wasn’t lost.

Japan is a fascinating place.  The mix of old and new, Asian and Western, is startling, exciting, and depressing all at the same time.  On a train, I’ve seen gothic punk 16-year old girls with pink spikes for hair standing right next to their peers clad in flowery traditional kimono and wooden sandals.  Both are costumed to a certain extent, but the contrast is striking and confusing at first glance.

After delving into the modern roots of this country, I can understand why that tension exists.  It’s due in part to having received democracy through imposition, and also through the process of seeking a postwar identity after some of the strings to the conquerors had finally been severed.  I imagine Japan asking herself, should we: 1.) seek out the traditions of the past, 2.) rebrand Japanese culture with a unique flair, 3.) embrace Westernization, or 4.) accept some bizarre mix of all of the above?  From what I can tell, option number 4 has been the route taken, whether intentionally or not.