Japan in the World

Not even Britain is as remotely insular as Japan. The Channel may be the greatest culturalpsychological divider in the fabric of the Western world, but it has never prevented a lively interchange. For Japan, however, concourse with China was always hazardous; relations with Korea, strained. Moreover, the very fact of Japan’s homogeneity and stability has added to her isolation. The British Isles with their English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh components have always had a heterogeneity whereas Japan has become virtually uniform.

The Japanese are both hierarchyconscious and given to close collaboration. In this and in many other respects they resemble the English. Socially they look “up” and “down,” but they also glance sideways. The society is paternalistic (in politics, no less than in industry and business) and there is, if not exactly a brotherly feeling, certainly a collective bent, a reasoned and calculated fellowship—great assets in an industrial civilization. At the same time the Japanese is not easygoing. He does not readily establish contacts because he is reserved, sometimes timid, and given to Weltschmerz. Alcohol plays an important part in breaking down barriers; and under the influence of sake and other spirits, (many of which cost less than a cup of coffee) an almost embarrassing friendliness develops. In Japan there is nothing shameful about intoxication.

EK

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Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

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Not even Britain is as remotely insular as Japan. The Channel may be the greatest culturalpsychological divider in the fabric of the Western world, but it has never prevented a lively interchange. For Japan, however, concourse with China was always hazardous; relations with Korea, strained. Moreover, the very fact of Japan’s homogeneity and stability has added to her isolation. The British Isles with their English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh components have always had a heterogeneity whereas Japan has become virtually uniform.

The Japanese are both hierarchyconscious and given to close collaboration. In this and in many other respects they resemble the English. Socially they look “up” and “down,” but they also glance sideways. The society is paternalistic (in politics, no less than in industry and business) and there is, if not exactly a brotherly feeling, certainly a collective bent, a reasoned and calculated fellowship—great assets in an industrial civilization. At the same time the Japanese is not easygoing. He does not readily establish contacts because he is reserved, sometimes timid, and given to Weltschmerz. Alcohol plays an important part in breaking down barriers; and under the influence of sake and other spirits, (many of which cost less than a cup of coffee) an almost embarrassing friendliness develops. In Japan there is nothing shameful about intoxication.