First, let me state my credentials. I am a freelance translator living in Yokohama, Japan. Most of what I translate has to do with international aid organizations and their programs. In particular, I translate a lot of
JICA project documents, studies, and reports. I have also translated several chapters of a book on disaster reporting published by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Agency). In my first comment, I condensed and paraphrased my translation of some stats about Japan's
tsunami warning system and how it was developed. I did not set out to specialize in these types of materials; it just happened as a sort of happy accident.
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Japan is the most seismically active region on the planet, and therefore, most prone to tsunamis. In fact, it's fairly common knowledge that the word tsunami itself is a Japanese word that has gained currency in English in preference to the misnomer "tidal wave." The word
tsunami is composed of a combination of two Chinese characters, or kanji, which together literally mean "harbor wave." It is not hard to imagine why, since a tsunami becomes a giant wave only when it enters shallow water, and can wreck an entire coastal village and its fishing fleet in a matter of minutes in spite of the protection a harbor offers. The earliest mention of a tsunami that I am aware of in Japanese literature occurs in the
Hojoki (scroll to #21), the work of an early 13th century poet.
Considering Japan's susceptibility to earthquakes and tsunamis, it is hardly surprising that the Japanese are particularly sensitive to disasters arising from such phenomena. This provides some background as to why the Japanese government has offered the largest aid package of any nation at $500 million. According to one Japanese news source, Japan has contributed 25% of the world's aid to the region. This is quite an impressive statistic, considering the record number of typhoons that made landfall in Japan in 2004, some with disastrous consequences, and a major earthquake in late October in Niigata. Though Japan certainly has disasters of its own to contend with at home, this fact has also contributed to their compassion for fellow victims of a massive natural disaster abroad.
The criticism of Bush's handling of the PR aspect of the tsunami aid efforts, as Kos mentioned in $350 million and a PR goldmine lost, got me to thinking about the PR angle in Japan's case. Let me preface my comments on this by saying that I have seen nothing at all about this in the press, and thus my comments are purely editorial. Still, they may serve as an object lesson to the U. S. in our present role on the global stage.
My thought was that Japan may stand to gain renewed respect among its Asian neighbors for its commendable response to the tsunami disaster. Certainly, there is no shortage of lingering rancor over atrocities committed by imperial Japan from the early 1930s until the end of WW2. During this time, Japan colonized, controlled, and oppressed the entire Pacific Rim. This was undertaken on the pretense of The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, to which the present U. S. agenda of "making the world safe for democracy," or better yet PNAC, bears an uncanny resemblance. The result of Japan's imperial adventure was utter defeat, perhaps best symbolized by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In fact, much of Japan's urban infrastructure lay in ruins from conventional bombing, which had killed a huge number of civilians, not to mention the privations the civilian population was forced to suffer under the rule of their own militaristic government. Thus, the Japanese emerged from the war feeling they had been the ultimate victims of the hubris of their imperialistic, militaristic regime. No amount of introspection and remorse on the part of the Japanese, however, has done anything to placate the sense of injustice still felt by Chinese and Koreans in particular over the atrocities committed against the citizens of those countries by the Imperial Japanese Army. These countries have yet to receive an apology from Japan, much less anything in the way of monetary reparations. Thus, my initial thoughts on the PR potential of Japan's generous tsunami aid for renewing Japan's image among its Asian neighbors, while they may have some merit, constitute nothing more than a moot point so long as Japan still refuses to address its Asian neighbors' lingering complaints about its behavior in a war more than half a century ago.
Before dismissing this as yet another stillborn insight, however, it occurred to me that perhaps I was barking up the wrong tree. Perhaps if Japan has anyone to win PR points with, they are the same segment of the population that Bush so conspicuously blew his chance with by not interrupting his vacation to address the disaster. As a close ally of the U. S., Japan has clear security interests in distancing itself from aggressive anti-Islamic American policies without distancing itself from America. Their quick response and generous aid to the afflicted areas may prove to have accomplished this, though whether anything of the sort was intended is purely a matter of conjecture.
It would be worthwhile to explore the ramifications of Japan's modern history for the present course being charted by the U. S.
Japan's Constitution is an extremely progressive national charter, particularly with regard to Article 9. Article 9 states:
" Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. 2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized."
The Japanese take Article 9 very seriously, and it has proven resistant to numerous arguments for amendment over the years. In fact, not one word of the constitution has been changed since it was adopted in 1946. It has informed Japan's mobilization of the SDF (Self-Defense Forces) to provide peaceful support to various efforts or to provide aid. At present, the SDF has been deployed to assist in aid and rescue efforts in the tsunami disaster. In fact, according to the Japanese press, three SDF ships that were homeward bound from anti-terrorism support activities in the Indian Ocean were diverted to Thailand to aid in rescue efforts by request of the Thai government. They are also, no doubt, involved in many other activities related to the tsunami disaster that have not yet come to my attention. Japan is a good example of how peaceful efforts can make a difference. Of course, such efforts get little press abroad. Peace does not make splashy headlines; it is not exciting. It does not contain explosions nor does it mobilize powerful emotions of outrage. It is, however, far more effective in creating a world full of friends and allies rather than enemies. There are those of us who hoped in vain that the U. S. might chart such a course in the wake of 9/11.
Since the U. S. launched its imperial adventure in Iraq, apologists have sought to draw parallels between the U. S, occupation of Japan after WW2 and the present "occupation" of Iraq. The occupation of Japan was a success, all things considered, and helped catalyse Japan's transition from a war-torn nation to the world's second largest economy. It is already very apparent that events in Iraq are not going to unfold in anything close to the way they did during the occupation of Japan. In the "I hate to say I told you so" department, I offer you this essay by the historian John Dower warning about the essential differences between conditions in Japan then and Iraq just before the invasion. What Japan's modern history has to teach us is that hubris is the fast track to ruin, defeat, and humiliation. Perhaps only after the Bush administration has ruined our country nearly beyond repair will someone draft us a constitution that, like Japan's, prevents our engaging in this kind of insanity again. I'm not holding my breath.
Meanwhile, the tsunami has shown us how quickly the forces of nature can make a mockery of human endeavors.