Japanese popular songs are heard all over Asia these days; it reminds me of the time when Japanese became so interested in American pop music, which, at the time, conditioned our psycho-emotional base so that post-war Japn evolved into a consumer-oriented society. Structurally, there must be similar powers during such social phenomena and I wonder what it is today.
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I had an argument with an American correspondent recently. I asked him to look at those developing nations which were under American auspices. The Philippnes and those in Africa, Central and South America are all in hopeless situations. Americans once called the Philippines "a showcase for democracy." I said that Americans are mistaken.
While the Philippines may have felt more comfortable under American administration than under Spanish colonial rule, and while they still listen to America, the US never really imparted to them an understanding of genuine democracy. The chairman of the House Subcommittee on Southeast Asia once suggested to me that the US and Japan should split the cost of financial aid to the Philippines. I responded "You're kidding!" He said that money alone cannot improve the situation in the Pilippines because of the internal situation. The US does not even know where its aid money actually ends up. And most fundamentally, social conflict in a nation cannot be solved with an outsider's cash.
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There is a chieftan in the Truk Islands, who speaks Japanese, and who said that since the Japanese left, their children have only learned to be lazy as the Americans give aid-money and things which spoil human beings. If you give people lettuce seeds, they will learn to grow lettuce, but if you give them money they will simply import lettuce and learn nothing.
America is reluctant to recognize the importance and value of local cultures. Christian missionaries do not permit the natives to chant their charms and they prohibit the use of herbs as medicine -- herbs that have traditionally been used in healing sicknesses, found in certain localities and used according to local customs. Local festivals are banned so that traditional songs and dances are forgotten. Tradition is dismantled. Americans force other cultures to give up their traditional value and impose American culture upon them. And they do not even recognize that this is an atrocity -- a barbaric act!
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Those Asian nations where the economy has been a success story, such as Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, were all, at one time or another, under Japanese administration. We are aware that some negative things happened under the Japanese administration, but it cannot be denied that many positive changes were left behind.
Among the resource-supplying nations, the only Southeast Asian nations which have developed stable socio-economic systems are those where Japan has cooperated as a fellow Asian country. I pointed this out to that correspondent with whom I had the argument; in return he only kept silent.
In any case, these NICS are turning into NIES who are catching up to Japan, which make Japan nervous. However, this is fine with me. Japan should work more positively, basing its approach on the premise that we must live in harmony with other Asian nations, developing constructive political strategies to assist these countries economically and politically. Entering a new era -- the Pacific Age -- Japan cannot remain prosperous without the rest of Asia. We need Asia more than we need America.