I had to be careful with this question as I didn’t want to run off into a loquacious rant. When I think of Japan or Japanese culture, there are so many images that I found one leading to another and so on.
I grew up in the early 1970s and I remember watching those late night television shows featuring Japanese martial arts. The “Kung Fu” movies were always dubbed in English, and I took it for granted that there were no English speaking person capable of such majestic fighting ability. In the 1980s and 1990s, Samurai warrior movies and TV shows became popular and there were many that were actually in English. The Ninja craze was at its peak in American movies.
In a more sober reflection on Japan, I am drawn to the Pearl Harbor attack by Japanese forces. One of my favorite movies is “Letters from Iwo Jima”, the story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the U.S. and Japan, as told from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers who fought. That historical chapter brings about all types of feelings and thoughts; Kamikaze pilots, F.D.R, Winston Churchill, Hiroshima, “Enola Gay”, the flag raising at Iwo Jima, Pearl Harbor, etc.
Japan also provokes the images of focused, hard working, smart and industrious people. I can’t think of a more remarkable post-war recovery than Japan’s following WWII. In just a few decades Japan became one of the strongest economies in the world, preceded only by the United States. Today, Japanese design, products and influence are everywhere in America. Cars, electronics, motorcycles, musical instruments, and sushi bars are almost as common as American products of the same nature and often more popular than the American counterpart.
Lexus vs. Cadillac, anyone?
Kevin
I grew up in the early 1970s and I remember watching those late night television shows featuring Japanese martial arts. The “Kung Fu” movies were always dubbed in English, and I took it for granted that there were no English speaking person capable of such majestic fighting ability. In the 1980s and 1990s, Samurai warrior movies and TV shows became popular and there were many that were actually in English. The Ninja craze was at its peak in American movies.
In a more sober reflection on Japan, I am drawn to the Pearl Harbor attack by Japanese forces. One of my favorite movies is “Letters from Iwo Jima”, the story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the U.S. and Japan, as told from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers who fought. That historical chapter brings about all types of feelings and thoughts; Kamikaze pilots, F.D.R, Winston Churchill, Hiroshima, “Enola Gay”, the flag raising at Iwo Jima, Pearl Harbor, etc.
Japan also provokes the images of focused, hard working, smart and industrious people. I can’t think of a more remarkable post-war recovery than Japan’s following WWII. In just a few decades Japan became one of the strongest economies in the world, preceded only by the United States. Today, Japanese design, products and influence are everywhere in America. Cars, electronics, motorcycles, musical instruments, and sushi bars are almost as common as American products of the same nature and often more popular than the American counterpart.
Lexus vs. Cadillac, anyone?
Kevin
2 comments:
very interesting juxtapositions of images and written impressions here, thanks!
Hi Kevin! The good and the bad of a warrior ethic and society- I enjoyed your post about this...
I remember being quite puzzled about Kamikaze pilots until studying further the warrior-ethic within Japanese culture along with the cultural reasons why Japanese prison camps were so horrible; to their culture, death is honorable but capture or surrender is something far worse than death. Very interesting and enlightening and, like you said in your post, sobering as well.
Best, Lachlan
Post a Comment