The Japanese Are Like That
Representatives
Continental Europe: BOXERBOOKS, Inc., Zurich
British Isles: PRENTICE-HALL INTERNATIONAL, Inc., London
Australasia: BOOK WISE (AUSTRALIA) PTY. LTD.
104-108 Sussex Street, Sydney 2000
Published by the Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc.
of Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan
with editorial offices at
Osaki Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0032
© 1955, by Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 55-10620
International Standard Book No. 978-1-4629-0386-3 (ebook)
First Tuttle edition, 1955
Twenty-seventh printing, 1987
PRINTED IN JAPAN
Contents
| Author's Preface | 7 | |
| 1 | A Japanese Rip van Winkle in America | 11 |
| 2 | Paper Houses, Bathhouses, and Teahouses | 25 |
| 3 | The Japanese Woman in Kimono | 43 |
| 4 | Boiled Octopus and Broiled Eels | 63 |
| 5 | Believe It or Not | 81 |
| 6 | How to Live on $50 a Month | 95 |
| 7 | Bespectacled Dwarfs | 115 |
| 8 | Made in Japan | 135 |
| 9 | WPA for 88 Million People | 153 |
| 10 | Earthquake, Thunder, Fire, and Father | 175 |
| 11 | A Nation That Acts as One | 191 |
| 12 | "Apres Guerre" | 205 |
| 13 | The Two Japans | 219 |
Author's Preface
THE Japan of the gorgeous cherry blossoms, the beautiful geisha, and the sublime Mt. Fuji has been told and retold in a thousand and one books published throughout the world during the past century. But this is not the real Japan with which the rest of the present-day world is vitally concerned. The Japan which the world must come to know is the new Japan, the reborn Japan. When I say reborn, I am contrasting the new Japan with that Japan which rose meteorically from an Oriental, historic obscurity to rank as one of the world's foremost powers, which rocked the whole world for several years with a fanatical war, to be finally laid prostrate by a catastrophic defeat, the first in its long history. The reborn Japan of which I speak starts perhaps at the same point at which it found itself more than a half-century ago, and only by understanding this new Japan can one hope to predict its future course.
The point of view from which I discuss the ways of life of the Japanese is in terms of contrasts with those of other countries where I have had some personal experience. My remarks do not deal directly with great world problems; it is my opinion that the needs and desires of the Japanese will be better understood by other peoples if they see us as we actually live from day to day. If the world is to move in the direction of harmony, it will have to move in terms of a more realistic understanding between one people and another. By understanding, I do not necessarily mean sympathy; I refer instead to a knowledge and perhaps appreciation of the cultural background of a people and a realization that this cultural background is a living force from which no people can escape and which indeed prevents them from reforming themselves as fast as they might wish.
I have done my best to portray the customs and habits of my countrymen in an objective light. I am fully aware that I am exposing myself to criticism for showing their shortcomings in too glaring a light. As I see it, however, my task is to paint a picture of Japan today just as it is. On the other hand, since we Japanese cannot be our own judges, I attempt no critical appraisal—this task, pleasant or unpleasant, is for the rest of the world.
It is my most sincere desire that both foreigners and Japanese will weigh carefully what I have written and will gain some benefit thereby. I hope that other lands will gain a clearer understanding of "what sort of people" the Japanese really are and that my discussion of some of their more lamentable characteristics will contribute to more realistic thinking about Japan.
Finally, I like to hope that this book may bring one step closer to reality my dream of a world of tolerance and justice where the citizens of all countries will be able to make the rounds, freely and in friendship, not only of their neighbors' lands, but of their neighbors' neighbors' lands as well.
| Tokyo, Japan | Ichiro Kawasaki |
| June, 1955 |
1 A Japanese Rip van Winkle
in America
ONE morning in 1950 while sitting in my office discussing a measure which, at the suggestion of the Occupation authorities, was to be undertaken by the local Japanese government, I was summoned by my superior. Carefully collecting my papers together, I mentally tabulated all our ideas on the measure at hand and went into my bureau chief's office. I was prepared to relate as best I could the analysis of the measure and the means by which I