MY column has only made fleeting references to Japan in the past. I have touched on my grand-uncle Tunku Abdullah’s time in that country, and I have described how I love some products of Japanese cuisine and animated film.
But I have also mentioned imperial Japan’s ambitions on what became our country, and how it was a good thing that that project failed. Nonetheless, as I also said, any negative feelings about the country for its wartime role have long been well and truly gone. There was little resistance to the Look East Policy of the 1980s, and questions about what might have happened in Malaya if the atomic bombs were not dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki provoke more curiosity than ill will, like other ‘What If?’ scenarios.
Instead, in the aftermath of the unprecedented and multi-pronged catastrophe in Japan that began with the earthquake, subsequent tsunami and now fears of radiation exposure after explosions at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Malaysians are offering condolences and prayers for recovery. Some of these feelings were palpable in the video of the statement that the Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia that was made available online. His Excellency Masahiko Horie is normally such a cheerful fellow – barely a month passes that I do not bump into him at some event, jollying about with his equally jovial wife – that it seemed like a different person who had faced the cameras to thank Malaysians for their messages of condolence.
There is something about Japan that appeals to me. The preponderance of elaborate custom and ostentatious etiquette is a marvel to witness: whether on the sushi plate or in the folds of a kimono, and the fact that so many things about Japan are puzzling to everyone else only adds to its sense of mystique. The people seem to know their own history, including the darker episodes, and one imagines this has a profound influence on how they view their place in the world today. It must be said that I am surmising this based only on conversations with Japanese friends and popular perceptions of Japan, since within the country itself I have never left the confines of Narita Airport – something I still hope to rectify in the near future. Nonetheless it seems that Japan’s citizens have voluntarily subscribed to these principles within a democratic system (not without its critics, it must be said), having undergone massive economic development while throughout retaining the world’s only remaining imperial monarch, the 125th occupant of the Chrysanthemum Throne originating with Emperor Jinnu who supposedly reigned from 660 BC to 585 BC. It makes the lineages of many other dynasties look like novice latecomers.
Even without this pre-existing affinity towards the country, the Japanese response to the disaster is winning converts all over the world. My daily consumption of news and commentary is reasonably varied by online English-language standards, I think, and one observation I have repeatedly come across is the amazement at how the Japanese as a society have responded to the crisis. Why has violence not erupted? Why has there been no looting? Why do the emergency services still seem to operate so efficiently?
In trying to answer these questions, commenting readers have pointed to the Japanese sense of honour, its island status conferring a history of a feeling of togetherness, the memories of having to cooperate after World War II, and the nation’s ethnic, cultural and religious homogeneity. The last point is an interesting one, since it is the antithesis of what we pride ourselves in: our ethnic, cultural and religious diversity (even though sometimes it seems some believers are unable to possess their own holy book in the national language).
While some ponder those questions, the aftermath of the disaster in Japan is also firing up the Malaysian anti-nuclear power lobby. There are indeed many reasons to be cautious about adopting nuclear power in Malaysia, but more for fears of political corruption and inefficiency, I think, rather than the science behind nuclear power itself. Just recently I met a green activist who is pro-nuclear, saying that those who believe that Malaysia can rely on solar and wind are not living in the real world. I haven’t firmly made up my mind on this issue, but I hope this is not one of those situations where one unfortunate event completely prejudices the case when the circumstances could be rather different.
In the meantime, I think it is appropriate to say that in their time of need, Japan deserves our tribute.