Has Japan lost its soul?
Westernization has been generally good but what about the loss of core values

By MYNIPPON Team (With contribution from Takao Aoyama)

Almost all non-Japanese and a small section of young Japanese continue to write to us saying how Japan needs to change.  The constant refrain is that Japan is not changing fast enough and this has been largely responsible for the continued recession and other problems in the country.  On the other hand, a select number of genuine Japan lovers are shocked to see the rate of change in Japanese society.  While a lot of these Japan lovers travel to Japan to learn the language, immerse themselves in a culture of Zen, tea ceremonies, and ikebana.  What they see in Japan is crowded roads, unstoppable construction, wild girls, and a pathetic tendency for material things.

To experience what made all of us fall in love with Japan, one has to do what tourists end up doing - go to Kyoto, Nikko, Kamakura and Nara.  Even in these places, you will not be able to get away from McDonalds or pachinkos or ugly vending machines every where.  The land whose eternal beauty is personified by simplicity, is now immersed in tackiness.  In fact, the producers of the film "Memoirs of a Geisha" were so disappointed by the presence of neon lights, satellite dishes, and power lines in Kyoto's Hanamachi area that they decided not to shoot the film there but to build a set in Hollywood.  "What we found was that there's just not much of 1930s Japan left," says John Myhre, the production designer, in an interview with Architectural Digest.

The surreal beauty of a geisha is now supplanted by women who dress like prostitutes half of the time (the skirts are so short that Japanese men's hobby is to guess the color of a woman's panties as she walks and then simply confirm it when she gets on the escalator, the hair is blonde, and the skin is tanned).  The degree of hypocrisy and fakeness is so pervasive that almost everything can be bought artificial - you can hire wedding guests, rent pets, and play with a robot if you are bored.  However, Scott Koening thinks differently, "I don't think too much about what is going on in Japan. I think it is just evolving. One of the things I like so much about Japan is the mix of things.  It is like an enigma, sometimes hard to explain."

A lot of Japan lovers are, however, getting very concerned with the developments in Japan.  As Ruskin Fink writes, "Japan is selling out" and if that wasn't enough, they're doing it to a festering country, with an insipid culture, full of ignorant narrow-minded people. Don't get me wrong about my feelings for Japan - I study the history, language, old culture, religion and martial arts, and my eyes and ears perk up like a dog's whenever anything Japanese comes on the TV. But I'm constantly reminded of Japan's downward spiral. When I catch glimpses of Japan's modern pop culture, I get a twinge in my stomach, a mix of anger and sadness. I think to my self, "What the hell is Japan doing!" Modern Japan seems to be acting like the dork in high school who nobody liked, so he just copied what all the cool people were doing to fit in. If I had one piece of advice to give the Japanese, it would be "Hey, don't try to be like us, we're not that cool and the U.S. is not all that it is cracked up to be."   I'm only 21, but it's only taken me this long to see that the United States of America is dragging the whole world down with it, and its extremely depressing to think that Japan will be the first to go. But if anyone wants to fight to keep Nippon's culture alive against foreign corruption, I'll fight along side of them any day."  (Related article:  Japan exports pop culture to Asia)

A few hundred years ago, the Buddhist poet Basho lamented, "Even in Kyoto, I long for Kyoto".  This appears to be such a timeless thought.  While you dream of Japan with its shrines and temples, miso soup to drink, and time for reflection, all you get are French fries, absolute chaos, and a society mired in corruption, adultery, and chaos.  Nikko and Nara are what they are known for only when you are within the confines of the historic areas.  The moment you step out, you are in the world you left behind.  The only geishas you can hope to see are in guidebooks and if you expect to listen to traditional Japanese music, you will have to buy CDs since most radio stations have no time for such 'unpopular' music.  (Related article:  Traditional Japanese koto player)

Update:  In response to our series of articles on the topic of how Japan is losing some of its traditions, Nadejda wrote, "It will be a pity for Japan to lose its uniqueness to the superficial Western culture. I am learning Japanese for my first year and I am interested to learn why ancient traditions - like tea ceremony and kimono demonstration have been lost. However, to my best understanding, Japanese people nowadays are coming back to those wonderful traditions. Am I right?"

You are probably right that some of the traditions may be going through a revival phase. We recently met with three Japanese teenagers and interviewed them at length. To our pleasant surprise, while they were still fascinated by America/West, they were equally immersed in Japanese traditions. They even shared some of their photos with us showing them wearing elegant kimonos and mini skirts depending on the situation. Two of them were also taking tea ceremony lessons. Looks as if there is hope.

Recommended links:  Japan may not be losing its soul?     Save the Japanese culture   Cultural differences    

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