Still on the heisei trail

The front page photo published by the Marianas Variety this week of a Japanese couple holding hands at the spot up Suicide Cliff where the Imperial couple bowed to honor the memory of those who died there 60 years ago, came to me as a heavy thud on the cerebellum. (As opposed to being grabbed by the throat, though that was just as equally true to the degree that I was left speechless by what to me was an intensely poignant scene.) “The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children of the fourth generation,” is a bit of social wisdom handed down from the Fertile Crescent that came to mind. I never really took the saying to be referring to revealed truth or historical determinism. I had rather taken it to be a practical observation on causality, the duration of consequences at a time when individual memory was the only means of retaining society’s database. Of course, the Sicilians took that to heart later and made avenge and revenge articles of familial obligation. But that’s another story. In the present case, with speculations about parallel universes and the non-simultaneity of the universes we habituate, and the vast retentive capacities of our current databases, the present is constantly a reliving of the past as it is a shock of the future that is already here.

This writer reflected a bit on matters relating to Japan of the last 150 years since the Meiji restoration, on the occasion of the imperial couple’s visit to Saipan. The perspective of the humanities requires a multi-faceted reading of history rather than the current dichotomous moralism that says, “we were victims and they were aggressors,” or, “they were bad and we were innocent.” We wrote something on the day of the imperial visitations that piqued the interest of the World desk of the BBC. They sought an interview but our timing was off in getting some sound bites recorded. It would have been a nice ego-trip to intrude on my Tinian lawyer friend’s happy hour cocktail with my voice in a London originating broadcast!

My Chinese wife was on a long distance telephone call to a former Saipan resident friend in Wisconsin when the question was asked on how the imperial visit was going. She replied that it appears to be proceeding smoothly, but added in jest what might very well be an authentic Freudian slip: “I am still putting my bomb together.” Upon hearing the exchange, I immediately tensed thinking that a team from the Presidential Security Team was about to barge into our dwelling to cuff the offending voice who dared mention a bomb. (A cynical friend commented later that the spooks were too busy monitoring the Urdu, Parsi, Bengali, Arabic, Chinese, and Korean traffic emanating from Saipan during the imperial visit to be concerned with English language exchanges.)

Later in the afternoon, a Korean-Chinese conversational English student immediately opened our session by saying that the “Japanese are bad people.” Gesturing with what appeared to be a firing rifle, she pointed her fingers at me and went staccato, “Boom, boom, boom,” to my face. She was evidently roused to anger by the emperor’s visit as she recalled the lessons of history she mastered in her school in China.

I ran into Kim Seung-baek, president of the Korean Association of Saipan, at the dental office shortly after the imperial visit. He looked tired, exhausted and subdued. I congratulated him for getting his picture on The Korean daily Chosun Ilbo, in a story headlined “Saipan Koreans Decry Neglect of Korean WWII Victims,” its coverage report on the emperor’s visit. He appeared noncommittal. The story quoted Mr. Kim as saying in reference to the Korean WWII dead: “I’m despondent when I think I’m the citizen of a country that for 60 years refused to build a memorial hall and left it to private citizens to build a single commemorative pagoda.” He noted that there had not been any attempt from Seoul to retrieve records of the Korean victims or find their remains. It appears that Mr. Kim’s double-pronged tirade was pointed at both the Japanese and Korean governments. Sadly, venom spilled over into the path of a solemn and somber sojourner in a pilgrimage of profound sorrow.

I know Mr. Kim to be a mild-mannered elder of the Immanuel (Korean) Methodist Church who is not normally given to outbursts of extreme political sentiments. It is also true that Korea is actively opposing Japan’s possible inclusion into the U.N. Security Council. The undercurrent of geopolitics in the Far East is evident in the continuing squabble over Japan’s own retelling of its own history. Its neighbors, particularly China and Korea, are not finding the telling truthful enough. Whether Mr. Kim allowed himself or his office to be maneuvered into a geopolitical squabble, a position that apparently the Association’s 2,000-some members would have preferred not to have been aired in its name, is a matter of conjecture. But in my estimation, the magnitude of the planned protest and the language used was uncharacteristic of the businessman Kim that I am familiar with.

That the Chosun chose a parochial perspective in reporting the emperor’s visit is understandable. Gleaning from the coverage given by the media from around the world, a different picture emerges. Reports from Oceania, Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, chose to focus on the humble stance of the royal couple. The unscheduled stop at the Korean War Memorial was universally highlighted but only to single it out as the sole discontinuous incident in the tightly orchestrated visit.

Vivid stories and images of the occupation of Nanjing, Shanghai, and the Korean peninsula, and the atrocities committed by Japanese imperial forces in Southeast Asia are the common contents of the album of memories sustained in the cultural luggage that we bring to our WWII recollections, recycled year in year out. No less than Tinian resident and CNMI historian Don Farrell referred to the rapacious behavior of WWII Japanese Forces when he decried the inappropriateness of having the Enola Gay crew and USS Indianapolis survivors be in the same island at the same time with survivors of Hiroshima. He proceeded to lecture on the appropriate rationale, attitude and story those who are coming to present the Hikabusha Experience might have in order to have their presence gain acceptance. It is not enough that they were invited to be part of the human community who are called upon after 60 years to appropriate the lessons of history, and not be overwhelmed by it. To Mr. Farrell, they need to demonstrate remorse and clearly articulate their gratitude for being “victims” for the sake of the greater good of invaders and invaded alike.

Experience in the legal realm has taught us that morality cannot be legislated. Nor can remorse be coerced. Neither one can be forced. Harassment in the name of either diplomacy or morality, which are polite forms of coercion, or outright bullying for that matter, is still harassment. Effective morals require broad acceptance and free adherence. Repentance is authentic when accountability is real and some form of atonement is proffered.

It is in this sense of profound accountability that I think Emperor Akihito, following in his father’s assumption of responsibility over the 15-year war in Asia, chose to launch the Heisei Era on January 8, 1989. Heisei comes from two combined Chinese phrases: “peace inside and prosperity outward,” and the “land is peaceful and sky is clear.” Combined, it now means “peace everywhere.” Stillness is the internal state of being; adequacy and prosperity are the external manifestations. The Chinese character for “good,” kichi is an open mouth full of food; kyo “evil” is a mouth with no food. Peace is thereby to be understood not merely as a psychological stillness of the mind, but a social state of productivity and abundance. It is in his guardianship of this sense of peace that we should and will hold the emperor and the citizens of Japan accountable.

Japanese Christians through their National Council of Churches offered the following statement as part of its appeal to the United States not to launch war after 9/11. “The lesson Japan has learned from its last reckless war, in which the precious lives of very many citizens of this and other countries were sacrificed, is that war can never bring about peace and reconciliation. War is always declared in the name of justice. However, to take up weapons and fight will never bring about the justice. (It) is realized when the lives of the least are valued.”
Peace is realized when the lives of the least are valued. Peace abides when productivity is earth-friendly sustainable, and the distribution of abundance is equitable. This is the standard that the emperor and his domain must answer for, will atone for, and it must mean the lives of the least within and without its national borders. I believe that the emperor deeply understands this, and so, prostate procedure notwithstanding, I use the words uttered 60 years ago, but this time with my contemporary meaning of “effectivity” and efficiency: “Tenno heika, banzai.” (Long live the emperor.) I add the wisdom and passion of my tradition: Grace and Peace!