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Tue Jan 22 18:01:32 IST 2008

Japan's youth should avoid assimilation into cultural imperialism 
 
My dear Edward Said, 
 
On New Year's Day, I participated as a commentator in Tokyo in a debate on =
satellite television by some youths in America and their counterparts in Isl=
amic countries. 
 
One of the students in New York eloquently advocated the role of world poli=
ce by ``the most powerful and richest democratic country.'' 
 
His point was that all the problems would be solved if ``we'' taught democr=
acy to ``those'' who are less advanced. 
 
A girl student in Cairo clearly described the variety among Islamic countri=
es and the anger against America shared by each of them. She also sent a mes=
sage to the self-righteous American student: ``Read Edward Said's books inst=
ead of those propagandized by the mass media.'' 
 
Since the 11th of September you have intensively written penetrating articl=
es that are all enduring as well as relevant to the times. They are going to=
 be collected and published in this country. Together with them, I hope, my =
countrymen will also read ``Culture and Imperialism,'' of which a superb Jap=
anese translation was published last summer (both by the Misuzu Shobo publis=
hing house). 
 
The time has already come in which cultures are all ``hybrid, heterogeneous=
, extraordinarily differentiated, and unmonolithic.'' At such a time, why sh=
ould the cultural and the national identity of Americans combine to rule the=
 world with the use of massive violence? This was the question you raised, s=
oon after the end of the Persian Gulf War. 
 
However, in the middle of the war in Afghanistan, Japan readily volunteered=
 to be assimilated into the cultural imperialism of America, with mixed hope=
 and anxiety. 
 
It seems that the sometime Japan bashing by the West has visibly subsided; =
and, as the course they will take in the 21st century, Japan and the Japanes=
e, at the nadir of their disorientated economy, have chosen to follow in the=
 wake of America with its unitary and monolithic political and cultural iden=
tity. 
 
The prime minister, who promptly expressed his unqualified wish to take par=
t in the aggressive policies of the Bush administration and thereby graduall=
y nullified the resisting constitutional power of Japan against warfare, is =
enjoying enormous popularity in wide-ranging sectors of the nation. 
 
Nevertheless, I am still hoping that the youths of Japan will learn wisdom =
and courage from your works and never assimilate themselves into the bizarre=
 political and cultural situation brought about by the Afghan war. I hope th=
ey will be able ``to think concretely and sympathetically, contrapuntally, a=
bout others than only about `us.''' 
 
When you first came to Japan in the summer of 1995, I had the privilege of =
being your interlocutor in the officially published dialogue. I took the opp=
ortunity to have you autograph my copy of ``Culture and Imperialism.'' We ha=
ve since met many a time, but I have somehow failed to tell you, my dear Sai=
d, that your book gave me the incentive to resuscitate myself as a novelist.=
 
 
By the time of our reunion in Tokyo in 1995, I had publicly announced that =
I would give up writing novels. I was then devoted only to reading. My crisi=
s was made more serious by the fact that my lifelong friend and spiritual gu=
ide, the composer Toru Takemitsu, was dying of cancer. 
 
I gave up writing novels after a long deliberation. I then felt that my way=
 of writing had deviated from its original principle and intent and had gone=
 astray into a maze: the materials of my novels had become too much involved=
 with my own life, on the one hand, and, on the other, with esoteric mystici=
sm. If I had kept on writing that way, my novels would have lapsed into perv=
erted confessions of faith. In such a state of mind I received the Nobel Pri=
ze in Stockholm, feeling it to be a kind of burden. 
 
Whenever I was in the company of Takemitsu during my youth, I tended to cre=
ate monologues most of the time. He suddenly enlightened me with a precise s=
olution: It was just like a composer hitting upon the exact notation for whi=
ch there could be no other alternative. That bliss was leaving me forever.<B=
R>
 
In such a predicament, I was reading your ``Culture and Imperialism.'' I wa=
s reading it partly to intensify my criticism against myself for not suffici=
ently confronting history and reality. At the same time, I now remember, my =
literary yearning was being satisfied by your fully genial ways of reading a=
 whole variety of novels. 
 
After the death of Takemitsu, I spent a long time writing ``Toru Takemitsu'=
s Elaborations'' to make up for his loss. I also made up my mind to make a f=
resh start by elaborating my own method of writing novels. 
 
For my support and stay, I had not only the word ``laborate'' but also othe=
rs uniquely re-defined by you concerning intellectuals and their morals-thos=
e intellectuals who are sufficiently independent while deeply rooted in soci=
ety. 
 
In re-reading ``Culture and Imperialism'' in my native language, I become k=
eenly aware that, written some 10 years ago, it can be an exact analysis of =
present-day Japan and Japanese. 
 
The Japanese are now willingly accepting the rule by cultural imperialism o=
r unification of the cultural and national identity, which engulfed America =
at the time of the Gulf War and has been reiterated and reinforced in Americ=
a throughout the war in Afghanistan. It also means Japan's envisagement of h=
er identity with the world other than Islamic countries. 
 
Certainly the Afghan Reconstruction Conference in Tokyo was held for all-im=
portant motives. But the high-ranking Japanese officials, with the exception=
 of the Government Delegate Madam Sadako Ogata, looked as if they were celeb=
rating the war victory in the presence of the Secretary of State Mr. Powell.=
 
 
Did this not have a bearing on the fact that, although temporarily, the Jap=
anese government barred from the conference the delegates of two NGOs who ha=
d seen the dubious battle with their own eyes? 
 
The tone of my letter has become grim. And yet I find hope in the emerging =
new breed of young intellectuals who can raise their effectual voice of diss=
ent against the united cultural imperialisms of America and Japan. I mean, f=
or instance, the women members of the said NGOs and of even smaller respecti=
ve groups of volunteers who are proficient in telecommunication techniques; =
and also those youths in the southern islands of Okinawa that house the mili=
tary bases for the war in Afghanistan. Those Okinawans are trying to establi=
sh a network with ``them'' or ``not us'' and are receiving less and less att=
ention from inhabitants of mainland Japan. 
 
I am not certain-perhaps nobody is-whether humankind can surmount the curre=
nt crisis without being integrated into the imperialism (not only cultural b=
ut overall imperialism) of one great nation. 
 
But suppose we can. Then it will no doubt be by ``them'' or those diverse p=
eople, whether the volunteers of the NGOs or the Okinawans, that a spatial a=
nd temporal sphere could be created in which the humankind will lead a genui=
nely humane life in the 21st century. 
 
With warmest wishes, 
 
Yours ever, 
 
Kenzaburo Oe. 
 
(Translated into English by Hisaaki Yamanouchi from the Japanese original.)=
 
 
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