Dear People of the World (formerly Dear Americans)

6 years ago, September 11, 2001, I was watching evening news on TV. Breaking news came up, I saw the scene that one of World Trade Center towers was burning. First, I thought it was a terrible accident. I thought the building would survive. Actually, I hoped so, because I've been there. The other tower was hit, and I realized it was never an accident.

After an hour, both buildings collapesed and then another news came, Pentagon was hit.

I could not believe what happened. After this incident, that week's news reports were all about the terror incident.

After that, the U.S.A attacked Afghan, and then Iraq. Tens of thousands of innocent civilians were killed and Binladen was never captured. Hussein was hanged to death but he had no link with Al Quaida. No weapons of mass-destruction was found.  

Some say "911 happened because it should have happened."

One recent Dutch movie "Black Book" that depicted Nazis occupied Holland had an interesting scene. One German officer made a speech and said "Let's strike down terror resistance and get back free Europe." This scene overlaps the speeches made by the U.S. officials.

Who are the real terrorists?

What caused terrorism? What kind of situation are we in now?

Since 911, I began to think about what to do to change things better. That is why I became so interested in history. 

I think 911 made documentary films like Micheal Moore's become so popular. There are a lot of problems on earth. Reality is much more thrilling and cruel than fictions. We all have to think about that and seek the solutions for those problems.

The purpose of this blog is to send messages to American readers. But since this is written in English. I believe other English speaking people should be reading. So I decided to post messages to them from time to time.

Today, I write an article for Canadians. The topic is "Anne of Green Gables." The book was written by Lucy Maud Montgomery in 1908.

When we hear Canada, the first thing to come up with is this story. Many people in Japan know that. The story is introduced in Japanese school textbooks. It became popular cartoon program. You can see the program by clicking on this site. My family watched that show.

The story took place on Prince Edward Island in the end of 19th century. An orphan girl named Anne, came to the island. She was wainting for a farmer named Mathew Cuthbert. Mathew and his sister, Marilla was planning to adopt an orphan boy who could help their work in the farm. At first, they were upset with Anne's arrival but later they came to like her and decided to adopt her. Anne was talkative and imaginative girl. She met wonderful people and had wonderful experiences on the island.

In Japan, translated version was first introduced in 1950's. The title in Japan is "Akage-no-Anne (Anne of Red Hair)." If you have read this book, you know how "Red Hair" is important words in this story.

 The most impressive words I read in the book was "Without my imagination, I could never go through such hardships in my life." I really think imagination is very important in our life.

Kind of girlie version of "The adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain, the story was in fact reflected by the author's childhood memories on the island.

One Canadian guy I know told me Prince Edward Island, which they call PEI is boring place. He said the island wastes tax by getting provincial status. But this place is very famous for the place of this story among Japanese people. A lot of Japanese tourists visit there. Anne contributed to Canada's tourism industry.  

Surprisingly, Canada's closest neighbor, Americans don't know this book. Even a teacher of English literature in college.

Americans should know such a wonderful story exists in their closest neighboring country.  

Last Wednesday, President Bush made a speech to the veterans in Kansas, Missouri.

His speech has been criticized by Japanese media because of his lack of knowledge about our history.

He talked about the doubts regarding democratization of Middle East nations.

His remarks about how our country developed to today's democratic society were, in fact not accurate.

Quote:

Some said Japanese culture was inherently incompatible with democracy. Joseph Grew, a former United States ambassador to Japan who served as Harry Truman's Under Secretary of State, told the President flatly that -- and I quote -- "democracy in Japan would never work." He wasn't alone in that belief. A lot of Americans believed that -- and so did the Japanese -- a lot of Japanese believed the same thing: democracy simply wouldn't work. "

 Well, even in pre-war era, we had the democracy movement so called "Taisho Democracy." Taisho is the era between 1911 and 1925. That was the most active era for deomocracy movement. In 1925, the parliament passed universal suffrage law that gives all men of 25 and older rights to vote regardless of their income level. It was done by Japanese democracy activists.

As for Japanese women, Bush said.

It's interesting what General MacArthur wrote in his memoirs. He wrote, "There was much criticism of my support for the enfranchisement of women. Many Americans, as well as many other so-called experts, expressed the view that Japanese women were too steeped in the tradition of subservience to their husbands to act with any degree of political independence." That's what General MacArthur observed. In the end, Japanese women were given the vote; 39 women won parliamentary seats in Japan 's first free election. Today, Japan's minister of defense is a woman, and just last month, a record number of women were elected to Japan 's Upper House. Other critics argued that democracy -- (applause.) "

 In pre-war era, there were women's suffragist activists in our country. They fought against the nation's male chauvinistic tradition. One of them, most famous one of all was Ms. Raicho Hiratsuka. She published women's liberation magazine "Seito (literary meaning is Bluestocking)" In the first issue of the magazine, she claimed "In the beginning women were suns that can shine themselves. Now we are like moons that shine only by others' lights. Let's get back our hidden suns."

In fact they made some achievement in pre-war era, they amended the law that barred women from attending political meetings in 1922. Then in 1930 they had lower parliament to pass the law that gives women's local voting rights but rejected by upper house which was dominated by peer members like House of Lords in England. Next year war in China started. The nation leaned towards militaristic mood.

Women's suffrage was approved after the WW 2, but such movement existed strongly even before. So that is why women's liberation became so successful in postwar era. Not just by the U.S. occupation.

Bush tried to compare Japan's democratization and cases in the Middle East. But two nations were foundamentally different. Our nation was pretty much homogeneous whereas Middle East is muti-national. Our country's democratization was easier because national unity was strong. In the places where the unity was so weak, "free" means disassociation, no base for authoritative entity. No trust in government. The government cannot manage economics and security. Just anarchism preveils. Anarchism is different from liberation or democratization. Just chaos, worse than tyranny.

Mr. Bush and Americans, please study more about history and the politics.

The film was shot in late 1940's Japan which was occcupied by U.S. led allied forces.

Humphrey Bogart was starred in this film as Joe, who came back to Japan after the war. Before the war Joe managed a club in Ginza, which is Tokyo's most famous shopping and entertainment district like 5th Avenue in NY.

The story was like post-war version of "Casablanca." The plot is very similar. Joe re-encountered his past lover in Tokyo, but she was already married to another man. First he was jealous of her but later he tried to help her out.

I was really surprised. "Casablanca" was war propaganda movie against enemies like Germans. But this movie was kind of friendship movie with Japan which was also the enemy during the war. It seems to reflect post-war diplomatic policy of U.S.

The description of Japan was not very strange even though it was filmed in such old days. Very precise, in fact. The streets, black markets, airport. Japanese characters portrayed in the film were very real. The film producers showed respect to our people. Bogart spoke some Japanese, not good accents but very accurate words.

In the last part, Joe said to his Japanese friend, "We are not enemies any more. Now we're helping you to stand up against old system."

Yes, indeed, we became democratic nation with the help of the U.S. and two countries became greatest friends.

Bogart was a great prophet. Thank you, Americans.