December 7, 2003
By KEN BELSON
TOKYO - The climax of the new film "The Last Samurai" is no
ordinary fight scene: It is a coda to Japan's medieval past
and a nod to its enduring fighting spirit.
After a dramatic battle, the leader of a group of rebel
holdouts commits ritual suicide rather than surrender in
shame to the well-armed and newly Westernized Japanese
Army. The victors, awed by the rebels' bravery, bow in
reverence. Though they now wear Prussian-style uniforms,
they remain true to the samurais' unspoken code of Bushido.
The film takes place in the late 1870's, when Japan was
abandoning its feudal society and industrializing, yet the
same tug of war between preserving tradition and opening
Japan to the world persists today. Even as Japan is about
to commit troops in Iraq, sending its military abroad for
the first time since World War II, the tension between old
ways and modern life is evident.
The movie, though fictional, reminds us that while the
samurai are gone, many of their values are still part of
the fabric of Japanese society. Though outsiders - and many
Japanese - exaggerate the resonance of this mix of
allegiance, self-control and shame, the social structure
that nurtures these values has resisted everything from the
American occupation to encroaching globalization.
"Hierarchy is still part of everyday life in Japan," said
Sheldon M. Garon, a professor of history at Princeton
University and author of "Molding Japanese Minds"
(Princeton University Press, 1997). "It's in every
relationship, whether it's a company, college or otherwise.
The basic organizational structure is remarkably
resilient."
American society may celebrate initiative and reward
upstarts, but most Japanese still define themselves by
their affiliations and their ranking in these groups. The
samurai did not invent the system; they were just ardent
followers of it. But their fervor has become lore in Japan,
where "salarymen" are compared to warriors, baseball teams
are like armies and students cramming for exams wear
headbands like kamikaze pilots.
The flip side is the shame in letting down one's boss,
coach or teacher. "The Japanese ethical code consists of
three main pillars: obligation, shame and the environment
that surrounds people," said Shinichi Yanaka, a professor
at Japan Women's University and a specialist in Bushido,
the samurai's code. "To do something bad in Japan does not
only mean breaking the rules but also doing something that
society does not permit."
This system of social checks and balances was heavily
refined during the shoguns' rule from 1600 to 1868. The
circles people moved in and the roles they performed were
far more rigidly defined than today, and the penalties for
failure were often crueler, including banishment and death
by sword.
The arrival of the Americans and the industrialization they
ushered in threatened the system and the ruling class that
long benefited from it. Within two decades - the time frame
for "The Last Samurai" - Japan's industrialists and their
Western backers all but replaced that status quo.
But the samurai spirit and the precepts of Bushido made a
comeback in the 1930's as Japan's military prepared the
nation for war. The kamikaze pilots, who defended the honor
of Japan and the emperor by turning their airplanes into
missiles, were the most fanatical expression of this
thinking.
The sentimental attachment to the samurai code runs deep.
Japanese form hundreds of relationships based on deep and
often subtle obligations to one's company, school or sports
teams. And with those obligations comes the shame in not
meeting them.
After World War II, workers began to see themselves as
toiling not for money but for the honor of serving their
corporate masters, and helped turn Japan into an economic
giant. During the economy's 10-year slide, though,
thousands of businessmen have killed themselves for letting
down co-workers, companies and families.
"After the war, people thought their companies were their
family and decided to be loyal to the company," said Eiichi
Motono, a professor at Waseda University who studies
Japan's industrial development. "People who did not work
for companies were considered heretics, and those who
failed to keep up with their business were looked down on.
That is why people commit suicide in today's stagnant
economy."
Increasingly, Japanese are questioning their romance with
the samurai past, even as many others cling to the old ways
and lament the decline in the lifetime employment system
and other cornerstones of postwar Japan.
One thing is certain, though: No matter how strong the
pressure for cultural change, the intertwining code of
obligation and shame that has grown over centuries will not
unravel easily.
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