The Japan Society Review 44
Book, Stage, Movie, Arts and Events Review

Issue 44 Volume 8 Number 2 (April 2013)

Lost landscapes
Mike Sullivan watches a special screening of Eclair: Okashi Hourouki
Thirty years of change
Sir Hugh Cortazzi explores contemporary challenges

In this issue we remember and mark the second anniversary ofGreat East Japan Earthquake (東日本大震災) which occurred on
Friday 11 March 2011. It was a truly unprecedented catastropheso traumatic that its consequences are still reverberating
through Japanese society. The massive cost in human life andthe sheer scale of devastation would be difficult for any society
to cope with but Japan must also deal with the additional
aftermath of three nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima
nuclear plant. The trinity of disasters - earthquake, tsunami andtriple nuclear meltdown in one incident spanning a 24 hour
period make dealing with it one of the most testing challenges
ever to face a country. Sir Hugh Cortazzi looks at Contemporary
Japan: History, Politics and Social Change Since the 1980s which
examines some aspects of the immense challenges which face
Japan and how this is currently shaping society. Mike Sullivan

looks at a film festival to mark the anniversary while Lucy
Starles covers another Japanese film festival which reminds usthat even though Japan faces such daunting challenges life
still marches on. We then look at an early national tragedy with
global implications in Maritime Strategy and National Security
in Japan and Britain, From the First Alliance to Post -9/11. On alighter note Mike Sullivan looks at the mesmerizing performers
Siro-A. We would also like to congratulate Mike for winning theprestigious Japan Foreign Trade Council Essay Competition2012 with his impressive article “Strategies for a Depopulating
Japan ” A British Model and a Japanese Legacy.
Sean Curtin, April 2013

Contents...........................................................

.........................................................­........................................................................................................................................
1) Contemporary Japan: History, Politics and Social Change Since the 1980s
2) Eclair: Okashi Hourouki [エクレール～お菓子放浪記]
3) Kaidan Horror Classics

EditorSean Curtin
Managing Editor
Jack Cooke

4) Maritime Strategy and National Security in Japan and Britain, From
Reviewers
the First Alliance to Post -9/11
5) SIRO-A
6) A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600-1901

Mike Sullivan and Lucy Searles
Special Reviewer
Sir Hugh Cortazzi7) Japan Society Review writer Mike Sullivan wins the prestigious JFTC New reviews
Essay Competition 2012www.japansociety.org.uk/resources/the-japan-society-review

Contemporary Japan:
History, Politics and Social
Change Since the 1980s
by Jeff Kingston
Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester,2013
313 pages
ISBN: 978-1-118-31507-1
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
In this survey of contemporary
Japan Professor Kingston looks at the risks and challenges
facing Japan in the twenty-first century. He draws particularattention to Japan’s ‘demographic time bomb’ and themalaise and risks encountered by Japanese families.
His analysis of such problem issues as immigration andthe environment is carefully presented. His account of the
Tohoku earthquake and tsunami is a good summary of
the facts of this appalling disaster. He looks as objectively
as possible at this stage at the nuclear crisis arising fromthe destruction of the nuclear reactors at Fukushima.
He includes a perceptive chapter on the Imperial Family
in which he rightly stresses the need to ensure thatthe imperial institution continues to be relevant. He is
scathing about Imperial Household bureaucrats andtheir treatment of the Crown Princess. I agree; it took
me years of frustration to get these officials to agree tomy translating and publishing an English version of the
Crown Prince’s memoir of his stay in Oxford, which was
eventually allowed to appear under the title The Thames
and I [read our review in Issue 1].

‘I would have welcomed more on the problemsof persuading young Japanese to question theirteachers and elders and on their reluctance totravel and study abroad.’
His chapter on the yakuza and their future makes
interesting reading.
His account of contemporary politics contains some good
points and is generally perceptive. Unfortunately although
this edition was published earlier this year he was unable
to deal with the second Abe government and the partyof the unreconstructed nationalists Hashimoto Toru andIshihara Shintaro. An analysis of these developments will
have to wait for a third edition.
Kingston’s emphasis is more on the political and social
issues of contemporary Japan than on the economic
challenges. He is right to stress the risks to families and the
young arising from the changes in employment practices
under which greater flexibility in the labour market has
been achieved through a decline in the permanent staff
of companies and an increase in the number of temporary
staff who are paid less and have fewer rights. He estimatesthat if the number of subsidized jobs were added to the2number officially unemployed ‘Japan’s unemployment
rate would have been 9.3 per cent rather 5.7 per cent as of
mid-2009.’ This makes the Japanese unemployment ratecomparable to that of some European countries.
Against this background Kingston is not an advocate ofgreater liberalisation and further labour market reform, but
he fails to suggest alternative policies to kick-start growthin the Japanese economy. The expansionist policies ofKuroda, the new governor of the Bank of Japan, were, ofcourse, instituted after this book was published.
I found one reference to the Olympus scandal. It deserves
much fuller treatment in any future edition as does thewhole topic of corporate governance.
Kingston comments on the issues of the national flag andnational anthem and on attempts to instil patriotism andnotes that only one Japanese University makes the worldlist of the top twenty universities. I would have welcomed
more on the problems of persuading young Japanese toquestion their teachers and elders and on their reluctanceto travel and study abroad.
These caveats apart Kingston’s book seems to me to
be a good introduction to contemporary Japan. But I
hope that in any future edition he will take a hard look atsome sentences in the introduction which left me withthe feeling which is, however, belied by the subsequent
analysis that he had succumbed to the myth that Japanwas victim rather than aggressor in the Pacific War.
On page 5 Kingston writes: ‘Given the extent of excesses
and atrocities committed by Japan, the US, and its allies.’
I realize that some actions by allied service men during
the war and after were not in accordance with the
Geneva conventions and that in battle things may have
happened which should not have been allowed, but I
do not accept that such acts, which were not approvedby allied governments, were in any way comparablewith what the Japanese military did in e.g. Nanking or
Singapore or in the construction of the Burma-Siamrailway, to say nothing of the surprise attack before war
was declared on Pearl Harbor. If Kingston was thinking of
the American carpet bombing of Japanese cities and of
the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki heshould bear in mind the casualties which the Americans
had suffered in the battle for Okinawa and take note of
the responsibility of Japanese leaders for what happened
in 1945. Prince Konoe in January 1945 realized thatJapan faced defeat but his obstinate and morally blind
colleagues refused until it was too late to come to termswith the inevitable.
In the same paragraph Kingston states that during theoccupation ‘American troops did commit serious crimes
against the civilian population, including murder, rape
and assault.’ He qualifies this by noting that Japanese
had feared worse knowing how Japanese forces had
behaved in occupied territories. Having served with the
British occupation forces in Japan in 1946/47 I am notaware of more than a few serious cases and I wonder if
Issue 44 Volume 8 Number 2 (April 2013)

the incidence of violence against Japanese by Americans
was any greater than it would have been in the USA.
Certainly our judge advocate general insisted on fair trials
of offenders and there was never any attempt to condoneof justify violent behaviour.
On page 7, referring to the legal proceedings of theInternational Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE),
Kingston asserts that the proceedings were ‘deeply
flawed.’ ‘In addition, Allied war crimes went unexamined
and unpunished, leading many observers to dismiss thewhole spectacle as “victor’s justice.” ’ Certainly there havebeen many criticisms of the IMTFE, but to dismiss the
IMTFE in these words is oversimplifying and panderingto the Japanese nationalists who call for judgements ofthe tribunal to be abrogated. Moreover to refer to ‘allied
war crimes’ without explanation or specification is surely
misleading.
Jeff Kingston is Professor of History and Director of
Asian Studies at the Japan campus in Tokyo of Temple
University.

Eclair: Okashi Hourouki [エク
レール～お菓子放浪記]
Directed by Akio Kondo [近藤明男]2011, 105 minutes
Review by Mike Sullivan
SPOILER ALERT: CONTAINS PLOTSUMMARY
To mark the second anniversary of
the Tohoku Earthquake the Japan Foundation screened two
different movies; the 2011 movie Fukushima Hula Girls andEclair: Okashi Hourouki. Although Eclair is a movie based on
the story of a young boy and his survival through the closing
months of the Second World War, the Japan Foundation
explained that this film was chosen because it ‘was shot in
the autumn of 2010 in Ishinomaki-city and other places in the
Miyagi prefecture. Many of the beautiful locations and historicbuildings were swept away by the tsunami.’ In Ishinomaki
alone over 3,000 lives were lost and over 20,000 homes
destroyed. The Japan Foundation representative explained
how this movie now represents a record of buildings that nolonger exist; the most poignant aspect is that there are extras
thatlosttheirlivesinthetsunamiwhocanbeseeninthismovie.
As such it was a very solemn audience that appreciated thisopportunity to watch this movie, and in addition, the story
itself is very heart wrenching and more than a few people
wept some tears.
The film is based on the autobiographical book written by
Shigeru Nishimura [西村滋] in 1975, [雨にも負けて風にも負けて] , that tells the story of an orphaned boy sent to areformatory school, after which he is adopted and meets
many new people. As the war draws to a close he begins to
Issue 44 Volume 8 Number 2 (April 2013)

lose all those that he cared about and is left leading a gang oforphaned children struggling to survive in Postwar Japan. Oneof the main themes of the movie is the concept of the Eclair,a sweet pastry he has never tried, and a song about two girls
buying sweets in Paris, “Okashi to Musume,” taught to him by ayoung female teacher. Throughout his story he stays in contact
with the teacher until he believes that she died in Hiroshima.
Akio Nishimura (Hajime Yoshii ~吉井一肇) is starvingon the streets and steals some sweets, he is caught by apolice officer, but the kind officer (Kan Mikami ~三上寛)
merely talks to the boy and offers him some food. One of
the enduring aspects of this movie is that no matter how
tough things are, or how desperate people become, there
is always someone who offers him kindness and help, andthis helps Akio retain an unconditional love and respect
for those people. However, he is sent to the reformatory
along with two other boys and it is at the school that Akio
encounters a sadistic teacher intent on physical punishment,
and a young female teacher, Yoko (Saori Koide ~ 小出早織) who in contrast bestows great kindness on Akio.
One day Akio hears Yoko singing Okashi to Musume,
absolutely enthralled he insists on Yoko singing it again,
and she in kind makes him learn the song. For Akio living
in a world where starvation is common, and sweets or
pastries virtually non-existent, the song represents a pathto happiness as he can imagine the joy of eating delicious
food like an eclair. Surviving through miseries such as thedeath of a friend and Yoko’s departure to Hokkaido to carefor her mother, Akio is adopted by an elderly woman living
alone, he works at a local cinema and he enjoys a happy life
as he can meet the police officer and his wife, the cinema
employees are kind to him and as per his own nature heloves his new ‘mother’ unconditionally, unaware that she
is only interested in the money that he can earn for her.
Eventually he discovers that Yoko plans to marry and move
to Hiroshima, thus breaking her promise to come back, andafter he injures himself and discovers that his new motherplans to replace him with a new orphan with more earning
power, Akio runs away and ends up joining a theatre troupe.
He once again discovers some measure of happiness working
for the theatre troupe and he is able to travel the countrysideand visit places like Ishinomaki, however as the months
go by the war also comes to a close and starts to affecteveryone and everything around Akio. One of the actors ishiding from the draft, and when a second actor receives hisdraft letter and commits suicide, the first actor has to flee aswell because the police will come to investigate. With thetwo main actors gone the troupe has to disband and Akio
returns to Tokyo. He luckily misses the bombing raids andcomes back to a Tokyo in ruins, his friends the police officer
and the cinema workers have died and he finds a newspaper
detailing the new weapon dropped on Hiroshima.
In the aftermath of the end of the war Akio is leading a gangof orphans in a fight for survival on the streets of Tokyo,
unbeknownst to him Yoko survived Hiroshima and is looking
for Akio in Tokyo. As she wanders the streets and time goes byshe starts to lose hope of finding him until it is revealed to her
3

by Akio’s previous ‘mother’ that she has seen Akio leading agang of children. On the day that Yoko visits that part of Tokyo
looking for him there is a singing contest taking place and Akio
is urged on by his gang to take part and win the first prize of rice.
Yoko looks for Akio while the songs of the contestants is played
through speakers in the streets she walks through, however,she can’t find him and exhausted she sits on a bench. It is
while she is sitting there that she starts to listen to one of thesongs being sung by a young boy, she realizes that the song
is “Okashi to Musume.” Akio is the clear winner of the contest
as he sings beautifully and the whole audience joins him in
his joyful imagination of living in a world where even children
can happily eat sweets. They call on him to sing it again and
it is as he sings it a second time that a young woman starts
to approach him from the audience and as he sings the final
line his eyes find his beloved teacher standing before him.

Kaidan Horror Classics [妖しき文豪怪談]
The Whistler [葉桜と魔笛], directed by Shinya
Tsukamoto; The Nose [鼻],directed by Sang-il Lee; andThe Days After [後の日],
directed by Hirokazu ­­Koreeda
2013, 121 minutes
Review by Lucy Searles
This year, to mark its tenthanniversary, The JapanFoundation Touring Film
Programme is showing
a huge range of films by contemporary Japanesefilmmakers that all fit within the genre of jidai geki (period
dramas -時代劇). These are films that cast a nostalgic
eye back on previous eras or events through a variety ofgenres and mediums in an attempt to give a broad andvibrant picture of Japan’s past. In keeping with this idea isthe set of three films the Kaidan Horror Classics. All threeof the films are based on famous literary tales or the works
of well-respected Japanese authors, giving the films awonderfully unique vision – modern reinventions ofclassic tales. While the classification of the films as ‘horror’is perhaps misleading, all three films feature a link to thespiritual, religious and the supernatural with very littleof the features that many would associate with modern
Japanese horror films.
The first film shown is The Whistler based on the story
The Cherry Tree and The Whistler [葉桜と魔笛] by Dazai
Osamu [太宰 治] published in 1939. The film, adaptedby director Shinya Tsukamoto [塚本晋也] and starring
Aoba Kawai [河井青葉], is about Yuko who spends hertime looking after her terminally ill younger sister. Upon
discovering mysterious letters addressed to her sister
Yuko sets out to discover the identity of the sender. The
4film mixes haunting visions with beautiful scenery andfrantic music, building up a tension throughout the film
and with a few genuinely terrifying moments, it works
well. While it may have been the weakest of the three,particularly in terms of cinematography the film is still aninteresting examination of family life and relationships inShowa-era Japan.
The second film shown is perhaps the most moving of
the three, The Nose [鼻] is based on the story of the same
name by Akutagawa Ryunosuke [芥川 龍之介], who wrote
many stories based on Japanese folklore and Buddhist
tales. Directed by Sang-il Lee [李相日] and starring Yutaka
Matsushige [松重豊] as a Buddhist monk named Zenichi,
who attempts to save a child from the river only to push
the child away when he sees the monstrous nose themonk had been hiding.
The film follows the guilt raked monk and his growing
paranoia and fear as well as the villagers who live aroundhim. With beautifully shot images of the lush green
countryside and the dark shadowy huts of the village thefilm does not shy away from depicting the squalor andpoverty of medieval, rural Japan. The film stands out fromthe other two, not only because of the medieval time
setting which is in contrast to the Showa period films thatframe it, but also because the film questions what it is to be‘normal’ and examines alienation and self consciousness– a message that transcends time periods and can affecteveryone.
The final film shown in the collection is the graceful The
Days After [後の日 also sometimes translated as Latter
Days] that is adapted from a number of fantasy stories
from the writer Murou Saisei [室生 犀星] and directed by
Hirokazu Kore-eda [是枝裕和]. The films centers arounda young couple that have lost their child, only for him toappear in front of them once again. Is it a reincarnation
or a ghost? The film focuses on the peaceful days of thereunited family and the fathers efforts to work out where
the child has come from. The film is beautifully shot, with
spectacular sequences that perfectly capture the feelingsof loss that are explored in the story. A particularly beautiful
scene is the moment in which the father tries to seek out
where this child has come from, running over a bridge inthe twilight and stopping a man with a light to ask if hehas seen the child. The whole scene is shot entirely in thereflection of the water, in nothing but shadows, the lightfrom the lamp glowing in the ripples.
While all three films are very different, they do all sharea similar vision of the past. The spirituality and mysticism
in all three films create a feeling of the past as anotherworld far removed from modern life while showing thatthe same feelings of loss, loneliness and alienation are thesame no matter when they are felt or how the situations
change.
Opposite page: Stills from The Nose and The Arm

Issue 44 Volume 8 Number 2 (April 2013)

Issue 44 Volume 8 Number 2 (April 2013)

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Maritime Strategy andNational Security in Japanand Britain, From the First
Alliance to Post -9/11
Edited by Alessio Patalano
Global Oriental, Leiden and Boston,2012
255 pages
ISBN: 978-1-906876-27-2
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
This book arises from a conference held in London in2009 organized by the Department of War Studies atKing’s College, London and the Japanese Embassy. ‘This
project [readers are told] represents the summationof the intellectual contributions of leading scholars
in the field of British and Japanese military history
and strategy.’ Part one, headed Strategic partnershipand military rivalry across the oceans covers the years
between the re-opening of Japan in the nineteenth
century to the end of the Second World War in 1945.
Part two deals with Strategic priorities from the cold
war to Iraq. Part three looks at Maritime strategy in aninterdependent world.
The editor in his introduction says that ‘In reviewing
the Japanese and British experiences, the book seeks
to identify areas of common security and operational
interest that could help develop stronger military ties
and reduce the impact of the limitations of national
resources.’ These areas are unfortunately not clearly
indicated.
As is inevitable in a multi-authored work the approachesof the various contributors vary. The scope of thebook is wide and the themes do not lend themselvesto clear-cut conclusions. A good deal is made of thefact that both Britain and Japan are ‘island nations’with important trading relations, but the differences
between the two nations both in geographical andhistorical contexts are significant.

to turn its attention to participation in international
peace activities. The development of Japanese policy
was slow and tortuous. Japan faced constitutional andlegal issues as well as deep-seated pacifist attitudes
at home which inhibited more effective actions. The
Japanese response to the first Iraq war was seen as
belated and although Japanese financial assistance
was in the end considerable it earned limited goodwill.
Japanese defence forces can now take part in‘expeditionary missions’ but ‘there are still significant
gaps in the relevant Japanese operational doctrine(page 155).’
Part three begins with further discussion of thepolitical and ‘normative’ constraints to Japan’s national
security. Japanese ships can now provide protection
for Japanese vessels from Somali piracy, but Japaneserules of engagement remain more restrictive thanthose of other countries. Japanese defence policies
have some way to go before they can be seen as thoseof a ‘normal’ power.
It is unfortunate that this book was put together
before the implications for Japanese defence policyof the growth in Chinese naval strength, including thecommissioning of China’s first aircraft carrier, could beproperly considered. The Senkaku islands in the South
China Sea which are the subject of dispute between
Japan and China are not even listed in the index.
This review is written for members of the Japan Societyrather than for the defence community as a whole. It
does not, therefore, deal with the various discussions
in this book on British defence policy and strategic
objectives.

SIRO-A
Leicester Square Theatre, Friday 1
February – Monday 22 April 2013
Review by Mike Sullivan

The facts covered in the first historical section will
be familiar to those who have studied the history of
relations between Britain and Japan up to the end of
the war. The British exercise of naval power in the Far
East in the 1850s and 1860s was an object lesson forJapan and provided the spur for the Japanese Navy tomodel itself on the Royal Navy. The balance of power
shifted in the twentieth century and the British cameto see Japan as a rival rather than as a friend. Britain
was declining and Japan rising. The fall of Singapore in
1942 marked the nadir of British power in the Far East.

SIRO-A are a six member grouporiginally from Sendai who havebeen based at Leicester Square
theatre since the 1st of February
and will finish on the 22nd of April.
They first started performing in2005 and since then they have
won the 2011 ‘Spirit of the Fringe’award at the Edinburgh Festival 2011. Their unusual
performance can only be described as an amazing blendof dance, music and technology, as the boundaries
between different genres become increasingly blurred
SIRO-A are at the forefront of a new wave of performers.

Part two begins with a discussion of Japan’s post-war
defence policy. The emphasis from the start was on the
defence of the Japanese archipelago, but following thefall of communist regimes in Europe Japan was forced

The small theatre in Leicester Square filled up surprisingly
fast as the audience sat down in expectation of seeing
something very different to other mainstream theatres,
as we waited we were entertained by one of the cast

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Issue 44 Volume 8 Number 2 (April 2013)

members using a camera on the audience members
and putting funny images over the screen image. The
following hour passed by far too quickly as these wellpractised performers flawlessly pulled off a show which isamusing and brilliant. Dancing is given a new perspective
as although the dancing itself is very good, the mixture
with technology is astounding as it is perfectly timed
with special effects. A notable example is the Peacock
Dance which incorporates once dancer with multiple
colour projections of his
same
movementsonthe screen behind him. A
personal favourite is a dance
performance by two of thecast members using suits
covered in lights.
Throughout the show there
are touches of comedy,
such as cast member Abe
Toshinori’s personal history
being presented via themedium of photos whichquickly tell us everything
about him and the use of
shadow puppetry to show acast member having trouble
with a misbehaving ballwith an unpleasant end for the cast member. The useof shadow puppetry is prevalent in the show in order
to allow multiple things to happen at the same time, as
demonstrated in one section where one cast member isable to create an amazing visual display of his shadows
doing several things and creating music at the sametime.
SIRO-A has proven to be very popular, and seeing partsof their performance on the internet does not do justice
to experiencing the actual thing or seeing it for yourself.
It is a visual splendour complimented by technologicalprowess and musical talent.

A History of Japanese
Political Thought, 16001901
by Watanabe Hiroshi,translated by David
Noble
I-House Press, International
House of Japan, 2012
543 pages
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
Professor Hiroshi Watanabe
is professor emeritus at
the University of Tokyo and a specialist in the history
Issue 44 Volume 8 Number 2 (April 2013)of Japanese and Asian political thought. Students ofJapanese history, philosophy and politics will find thisbook of outstanding value. It is clear, well-constructed
and informative. The translation by David Noble reads
well; indeed it rarely seems like a translation.
Professor Watanabe begins with a summary of Confucian
thought and much of the book is devoted to an analysisof the various interpretations of Confucian precepts
made by Japanese scholars
in the Edo period including
Hakuseki Arai [新井 白石],
Sorai Ogyû [荻生 徂徠] andShõeki Andõ [安藤 昌益].
Confucianism was not areligion, but was regarded
as the official philosophy of
the ruling elite. Confucian
teaching, however, did
not always conform to therealities of Tokugawa rule.
The Confucian conceptofmeritocracywhich
lay behind the Chinese
selection of bureaucrats
throughcompetitive
examinations was at odds
with the Tokugawa system
where ‘the army was the bureaucracy, the bureaucracy,
the army.’ The army consisted of the samurai who werean hereditary elite whose ‘stock in trade was the violence,
maiming, and slaughter demanded by warfare.’ [pp 2728] ‘The looting and pillage . . . often associated with thewarrior class’ were hard to reconcile with the benevolence(jin -仁) of Confucianism. The ‘way of the warrior’ (bushi-武士道) as it developed in the peace enacted by the
Tokugawa, which was ‘based on a very personal sense ofhonor and shame’ was ‘reduced to little more than shamand playacting’ [p.38].
Tokugawa rule was accepted for over 250 years if only
because peace and civil order were preserved and there
was no recurrence of the decades of terror that had
prevailed before Tokugawa hegemony was achieved.
But if the Tokugawa had received ‘the mandate ofheaven’ should this mandate be preserved for ever?
The Confucian precept of dynastic overthrow or hõbaku
seemed sound to Ieyasu who usurped power, but ‘began
to seem disruptive and traitorous in a world at peace’[p.99]. Confucian precepts could thus be used against themaintenance of Tokugawa rule.
Confucianism was not the only philosophy which
potentially undermined the shogunate. The researches
and teaching of Mabuchi Kamo [賀茂 真淵] and above allof Norinaga Motoori [本居 宣長] on Japan’s ancient texts
also challenged Confucian philosophy and undermined
the basis of Tokugawa rule. Norinaga thought that‘the ancient way’ signified ‘the great and honourable
7

customs of our august land’ before they were pollutedby the importation of teachings from the Asian continent[p.238].’ Norinaga believed that ‘the emperor rules notby virtue, but by heredity. Therefore, his sovereignty isabsolute’ [p.245].
Another force for change was the perception whichdeveloped in the Edo period of Japan as an entity or
country. As Japan became more prosperous under thepax Tokugawa, travel increased and there was increased
demand for maps not only of Japan but of the rest of theworld. Rangaku (Dutch studies) led to more information
becoming available about the world outside Japan. By
the middle of the nineteenth century it was apparent tomany in Japan that the land of the rising sun could nolonger remain isolated from the rest of the world. The ideathat Japan was opened in one fell swoop by the force ofPerry’s Black ships is a oversimplified myth. The time wasripe for change.

restrained idealism.’
Watanabe’s book explodes various historical myths andcontains much food for thought. I commend it to allstudents of Japanese history and politics.

Mike Sullivan wins the prestigious JFTC
Essay C­ ompetition 2012

Watanabe has much else of interest to say about the Edo era
and its codes and beliefs. His chapter sixteen on ‘Sexuality
and the social order’ underlines the differences between
China and Japan in relation to the role of women. Men
and women mixed much more freely in Japan. Women‘were expected to join men in performing quite arduous
outdoor labor’ and women could and did participate incommerce [p.296]. Virginity was not a prerequisite formarriage. Women were expected to exercise their charms
whether they were wives or courtesans or as Watanabe
puts it ‘Ordinary women were courtesans in plain dress,
courtesans were gaudier and more gorgeous wives’[p.304]. The section of this chapter on homosexuality ends
with this comment: ‘Homosexuality was an emblem of
the misogyny arising out of the solidarity and machismoof the warrior class, as well as a symbolic expression of
warrior rule in the realm of gender relations’ [p. 309].
Coming to the Meiji period Watanabe notes that ‘It wascommonly (though tacitly) understood that restoring
imperial rule did not actually mean reinstating personalrule by the emperor.’ He also points out that the Meiji
leaders were frequently inconsistent in their beliefs andactions, ‘Many underwent multiple conversions’ [p.355],
but this should not be held against them. Pragmatism
was justified. He stresses that the Meiji state was not ‘asimple fusion of Western institutions of representative
government with the ‘traditional’ Japanese emperor
system.’ Indeed ‘the emperor system was modelled incertain respects on the monarchies of the contemporaryWest’ [p.389].
In the context of the Meiji Revolution (he prefers thisto Meiji Restoration) he discusses in some detail thewriting on political issues of Yukichi Fukuzawa who saw
freedom as ‘liberation from a hereditary caste system.’ For
Fukuzawa ‘the purpose of government is to guarantee
order and advance the welfare and happiness of thepeople.’ Watanabe comments that Fukuzawa’s politicalphilosophy at times ‘seemed a cynical pragmatism, atothers lukewarm compromise, at others an effectively
8

JFTC Essay Competition 2012 winner: ‘Strategies for a
Depopulating Japan’ A British Model and a Japanese
Legacy by Mike Sullivan
We are proud to announce that Japan Society Review
writer Mike Sullivan has won the prestigious Japan
Foreign Trade Council Essay Competition 2012 withhis article ‘Strategies for a Depopulating Japan’ A
British Model and a Japanese Legacy. Mike was flown
to Tokyo in January for the award ceremony, where hereceived the Grand Prize of 1,000,000 yen for his work.
There were 216 essays submitted from 50 different
nationalities for this year’s competition, but despite
very stiff competition Mike came out on top.
Mike commented, ‘It was an honour to be the grandprize winner and to be flown to Tokyo. I enjoyed
my trip and it was a great experience to be part of aprestigious award ceremony.’

Issue 44 Volume 8 Number 2 (April 2013)