THE JAPAN EXPERIENCE
IN August 1945, the USA dropped two atom bombs on Japan reducing two of its major cities to rubble. Strangely enough, the Japanese seem to bear no grudge against the Americans, for, they say, it had only reacted to Japan’s violence in the arena of war. The responsibility, therefore, needs to be shared by each side. This realistic attitude on the part of the Japanese has seen them through all kinds of adversity and brought them to extraordinary heights of progress in modern times.
Both the big industrial cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bustling with life, became enormous expanses of devastation in a matter of minutes. Within a ten-mile radius every kind of life—human, animal and vegetable was blown to bits. One and half million people died on the spot. Ten thousand of them simply disappeared. Yet, these cities have now been built up once again with wide streets, spacious houses, beautiful parks and gardens. Everything here now has a modern look. Only one ruined building has been left as it was, in order to remind one of the grim punishments meted out to them during the Second World War.
When Mr Khushwant Singh (a noted Indian journalist and an acclaimed author, d. 2014) visited Japan, he learnt, much to his astonishment, that the Japanese do not exploit the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to discredit the USA. It is the other nations, on the contrary, who have exploited the same event for this purpose. When Khushwant Singh asked the reason behind this attitude, a Japanese replied in a surprisingly calm tone:
“We hit them first at Pearl Harbour. We killed a lot of them. They warned us of what they were going to do, but we thought they were only bluffing. They beat us fair and square. We were quits, and now we are friends.” (The Hindustan Times, April 4, 1981)
A memorial has been erected to commemorate the dead, the victims of a gruesome tragedy. In the museum are displayed photographs depicting death and destruction on a mass scale. About 70 lakh Japanese visit Hiroshima every year to witness this spectacle. During conversation with the Japanese, however, one can sense the hidden feelings of hatred against Americans. But they do not let it rule their lives.
By virtue of such temperament, they have scaled such great heights of progress in a very short span of time. Japan owns neither petrol resources nor mineral wealth. Most of its raw materials have to be imported. Keeping all these drawbacks in view, it is most amazing that Japan has dominated world markets. This is mainly owing to the superior quality of their goods.
Mr Khushwant Singh also enquired about the prospects of the legal profession there. He was told that it was not a flourishing business. The reason being the fact that the Japanese preferred settling disputes on their own to suing in the courts. Willingness to admit faults by each party is the surest way to bring quarrels to an end. It is only when one party seeks to place the whole blame on the other side that the quarrel takes a turn for the worse. Whereas the very gesture of shouldering the blame softens up the other side, with the result that the dispute dies a natural death.
The realistic attitude on the part of the Japanese has seen them through all kinds of adversity and brought them to extraordinary heights of progress in modern times.
This realistic attitude has greatly benefited the Japanese in many respects. For instance, this makes them place their trust in one another. They thus save the time and money they would otherwise expend on lengthy legal documents. There are over 1.3 million lawyers in the USA, while there are only 23 thousand in Japan. Such legal experts are just not in demand.
Most of the commercial institutions trust in verbal understandings. Formerly, it was practised only among Japanese, but now foreign investors have also started to take advantage of this practice. Avoidance of unnecessary legal obligations invariably speeds up the work. Essentially, such an outlook gives rise to unity. It is undoubtedly the greatest force that contributes to the success of a nation. In the words of an expert of Japanese affairs, the secret of Japan’s success lies in:
“Never quarrelling amongst themselves, always doing everything together.” (The Hindustan Times, April 1981)