The eyes of the world are upon Japan this Saturday. And Nagano will be in the eyes of many who will see, witness, and experience how Japan and the Japanese people greet the Olympics torch relay in this historic watershed. Nagano will have to do its best to give "face" as a gracious host of the torch, in the proper Asian way, not Western way.
How Japan and its people will respond to the Olympics torch on its way to Beijing is also being closely watched by the Chuugokujins inside and outside of China, over 1.4 billion set of eyes and hears, inside China and globally around the world.
At this juncture, Japan-China relations is at a low ebb. And there is much blame to spread around from both sides. Just consider what your own newspaper, the Yomiuri Shinbun, reported on what can happen if the torch relay at Nagano this Saturday goes awry:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/world/20080420TDY03101.htm
I, a Chuugokujin from overseas in the Chinese Diaspora, know how difficult it is. All fellow Asians like to remember the past while they are facing the future. And sometimes we tend to go overboard and forget that life must move on and go forward.
I have been watching Japanese society evolve in the last decade, also wracked by domestic problems associated with its high cost of living, increasingly ceding its competitiveness to its neighbors in Korea and China.
My father almost died during World War II, and like my father, my late mother also have a lot of war memories from this tragic world war which swept Asia-Pacific, and had caused so much pain and suffering from peoples in the region. I have heard and learned from their experiences.
That said, at this juncture, Japan and its people must now seize the moment and showcase to its Asian neighbors, in particular China, and the rest of its Asian-Pacific neighbors, e.g. Korea, Southeast Asia (Philippines) that as a nation and society, it is ready to put the past behind it, and move forward, in lockstop with the new World of globalization.
After, Japan is our Asian neighbor, right in our 'hood. Not the Western 'hood.
The dilemna, as I see it, as a Chuugokujin overseas looking inside Japan and Japanese society, is that Japan can't decide whether or not it wants to be East or to be West.
Japanese people are conflicting in their sense of identity as to whether they are "Easterners" or "Westerners," and consequently, because of this cultural ambidextrosity and schizophrenia, it is causing many Asians to look at Japanese as more "honorary white" than "Asian."
In a less civil way, the pejorative is "Yellow Monkeys." Beg your pardon.
I have always admired Japanese culture and the richness of its values and traditions. It's artistry, its discipline, and aesthetic taste are worshiped by many Chuugokujins who are Japanophiles. Many of our youths are fans of Japanese designs and innovations.
Japan has a reserve of ingenuity, design, and creative innovation which has made its products known throughout the world.
But there is something which has caused concern among many Chukokujins and other Asian Pacific peoples in the region about Japan and the Japanese people.
And as a friend of the Japanese people, I want to talk straight to my Japanese "furenzus."
This Saturday, "Don't be London. Don't be Paris. and Absolutely don't be San Francisco."
Nagano must do better than the Europeans and Americans.
And learn from the Aussies. In Canbrerra, the Aussies saw how the global chuugokujins, especially the Aussie chuugokujin, rallied and mobilized to protect the Olympics torch in Canbrerra.
It is a signal that for many chuugokujins, inside and outside of China, regardless of how they feel about politics and all the problems inside China, we all are proud, as a people, to be hosting the Beijing Olympics on 08/08/08.
Give us some "face." My Nippon Furenjus.
I respectfully ask of you in Japan and Nagano:
"BE CIVIL. BE POLITE. And BE MINDFUL that it is the Chinese peoples who are host to the Beijing Olympics 2008."
Don't be like many of those rude and arrogant Germans, full of their "Aryan" supremacist attitude, e.g. German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Don't be like the Brits, still living the glory and past of their colonial history, unable to come to grips that China and its people are no longer the "sick men of Asia."
Don't be like the French, boorish, vulgar, and not the "Paris," which used to be the cradle of civility, and genteel Europe. Not anymore; and Parisians have shown on April 7, that they have insulted not just China but its people, by their attack upon a Chinese paralympic athlete near the Eiffel Tower. Shame on France. The French has screwed themselves royally with their boorish hooliganism in the Paris leg of the Olympics torch relay. Shame on Sarkozy ("Elvis").
And Don't be like the Americans. Many of whom are dumb, ignorant, and don't even know where TIBET is located in the map; yet, they are protesting against China's human rights abuses. Gimme a break. The Americans have more problems inside their backyard at this time.
Japan and the Japanese can do much better. And I know they must do better.
If the Japanese people can only accept that they are Asians. Not Westerners. And that they are part of Asia-Pacific, and want to take their rightful place as a responsible neighbor to their fellow Asians-Pacific People. Now is the time. Now is the watershed.
Learn from history. Remember May 4th, 1919. If our Nippon youths don't remember what May 4th is all about, Wiki it at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Fourth_Movement
The West and its history-amnesic peoples might not remember May 4th. But we chuugokujins all remember.
Gurache, sankyu.merushi-supashi-bo.
