America Will Never Hold Its World Leadership Position Unless It Ends Its Racial Prejudice
I had the opportunity to visit Washingotn, D.C. in April a year ago, and was suprised at the very hostile atmosphere. It was only five days after Congress passed the resolution condemning Japan on the semiconductor issue. I met some of my old friends, senators and congressmen, who with subtle smiles admitted that racial considerations, or more directly, racial prejudice, played a role in US-Japan relations. This was after I had discussed several concrete examples with them. Although they shied away from the subject of racial prejudice as if it were taboo, they did admit that it is there.
Initially, they violently denied my allegations, citing that the Pacific War of 40-some years ago as the only real source of prejudice against the Japanese. I declared that it was not as simple as that. It appears that the Americans were firmly of the opinion that it was the West, namely Euro-Americans, who established modernism. My reaction was as follows.
It may be true that the modern era is a creation of the white race, but you have become somewhat presumptous about it. In the pre-modern era, Asiatic races such as Genghis Khan and his armies raided the European continent, destroying tows and villages, looting and raping. Yet at that time, many Europeans actually imitated the style and behavior of Khan's hordes, curring their hair short, shaving their eyebrows, and walking menacingly with knees apart. That was nothing compared to the strange ways modern Europeans and American adopt the style and fashions of some of the present era's heros, such as the Beatles and Michael Jackson. Even Asian kids do this. Probably Khan was some kind of cult figure then and while women regarded him as a "hero" of sorts.
Some say that the roots of the so-called "yellow peril" can be traced back to the atrocities committed by Khan and his men. At any rate, we should keep in mind that there is prejudice committed by Khan and his men. At any rate, we should keep in mind that there is prejudice against Orientals, as the following episode illustrates.
I had a chance to talk with the Secretary of the Navy about the Amber System. Amber is supposed to be the color of caution and danger and this system is named for this concept. Under the Amber System, ordinary vessels such as tankers and container ships, are equipped with sonar on their bows. The sonar can detect underwater objects. Some objects are rocks, etc. which navigational charts will show. What the system is looking for are nuclear submarines.
The Amber System alone cannot detect the nationality of the submarines detected; it cannot tell if they are American, Russian, or whatever. It simply detects the presence of some foreign object and this information is relayed directly to the Pentagon, which knows what is on the navigational charts and also where U.S. subs are located, so they will be able to ascertain whether the particular sub is American or not.
I suggested that the Navy equip all Japanese commerical vessels with this system. Japanese seamen are reliable and the Japanese merchant marine travels all the oceans and seas. Japanese vessels, including our oil tankers, could gather information along vital cargo routes and the U.S. could analyze the information received from the Japanese ships.
To my suprise, the Americans said that it was none of Japan's business. I asked that how, in light of the very limited number of U.S. ships, how can you deny the need for such assistance. Their answer: "We cannot leave such a critical matter with Japan." I asked if it was appropriate to involve the British and the Germans, and they said it would be.
The fact of the matter is that Americans do not trust Japan. Japan would have no basis with which to analyze the information collected by the Amber System, yet they were still worried about the Japanese reliability in merely collecting the information. It seems that in their minds, even the Sovients are more trustworthy than the Japanese. American racial prejudice toward Japan is very fundamental and we should always keep it in mind when dealing with the Americans.
During the Second World War, Americans bombed civilian targets in Germany, but only on Japan did they use the atomic bomb. While they refuse to admit it, the only reason they could use the atomic bomb on Japan was because of their racial attitude toward Japan. The fact that they actually dropped the atomic bomb on Japan is sufficient indication that racial prejudice was a factor.
It is my firm conviction that the roots of the U.S.-Japan friction lie in the soil of racial prejudice. American racial prejudice is based upon the cultural belief that the modern era is the creation of the white race, including Americans. This confidence appears a bit overwhelming, probably due to America's relative youth as a nation, which tends to blind it to other cultures. If Americans were ever to be made aware of the presence of a real Japanese culture in the Azuchi-Momoyama period as did the Spanish and Portuguese missionaries, they might develop some respect for Japanese cultural history. Unfortunately, the present American education system does not teach children the value of other cultures. In the period noted above, there were over 20,000 "terakoya" schools all over Japan. No other nation had such an extensive schooling system at such an early point in their history.
During the Edo period, even farmers and peasants were able to read and write at least one or two thousand characters, including hiragana and katakana. Japan already, at that time, had a complete postal network, called "hikyaku" as far as the southernmost end of Kyushu. Documents and information fo various kinds were avialable in libraries in many cities and towns.
This is the kind of information I give to Americans who exhibit ignorance of our culture. Unfortunately, most Americans don't like to see these facts, and they tend to change the subject. In short, their historical prejudice and cultural narrowness has reached a point where they cannot see another's point or see the value of another culture. All this has made Americans, in the post war period, very irritable on the issue.
The American position at this point seems to be that the British and Germans can play whatever role the Japanese could, and can do so without irritating the U.S. Americans are essentially an honest people, and in fact do admit to the existence of racial prejudice, if they are pressed on the subject, which I do. However, this is not enough. They should also admit that prejudice does not hold any solutions to the problems developing in the world today. It is important that they face the situation, aware of the historical context, seeing that the reality is that the power in the world, including the economic power, is shifting gradually from West to East. It may not be as strong a shift as is expressed in the expression the "Pacific era," but at any rate it is in America's interest to rid itself of prejudice against Asis, including that against Japan, in order to maintain a position of leadership in the world.