Sat, Mar 03, 2001 page8

• Never forget the past, but forgive it

  • By Ho Sheng-fei 何聖飛
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  The comic book On Taiwan (台灣論) by Japanese cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi (小林善紀) has caused a mighty uproar in Taiwan. The main reason is the book's assertion that wartime comfort women worked voluntarily for the Japanese military. The book's content is extremely right-wing and the author uses selective fragments of history and selective witnesses to rationalize Japan's conquests and colonization before and during World War II.

  Kobayashi mentions several times what he calls "the glorious history of Japan," and maintains that Japan should abandon its "apologetic diplomacy." He also believes that Japanese who feel guilty about Japan's wartime behavior have a distorted sense of national consciousness. However, he does not seem to know that this is the most frequently criticized aspect of post-war Japan -- the refusal to apologize sincerely and to face up to past wrongdoings.

  Japan has been despised not because of a lack of national consciousness, as mentioned by Kobayashi, but because of its arrogance and reluctance to admit mistakes, in stark contrast to Germany. Germany also committed appalling atrocities during the war, but it honestly repented and apologized afterwards. Only through such a process can a country be reformed and the souls of its people rescued. Such differences between these two countries' post-war attitudes toward wartime crimes may be explained by Japan's national character.

  Cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict was commissioned by the US government during World War II to conduct research on the national character of the Japan-ese. Benedict gave an in-depth description of the their understanding of shame and guilt in her famous book The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. She pointed out that Japanese society is molded by a "shame culture" and Japanese are constrained by the force of shame. They believe once mistakes are made, no amount of atonement can do any good. But one does not have to worry unless one's wrongdoing is discovered. Japanese culture therefore lacks a ritual of atonement and repentance. Instead, it depends on external forces for restraint. By contrast, a society with a culture of guilt relies on people's internalized consciousness of guilt.

  Because the Japanese lack a culture of repentance, they are unable to apologize sincerely. They try to escape responsibility by erasing and blurring their history of conquest. Only when they honestly examine the mistakes of the past, however, can their country progress. They should not blindly gloss over -- or even beautify -- their wrongdoing in order to boost the morale of the new generation. Undoubtedly such an unwise and perilous approach would only deprave the people's souls. They may not only become incapable of liberating themselves from their shameful past, but they may even repeat the mistakes of their ancestors.

  In addition, the friendly attitudes and interesting descriptions presented in the book about Taiwan and its customs have made young Japanese crazy about Taiwan. Hidden behind this friendliness, however, is a much wider ambition and purpose. The author depicts Taiwan through his own rose-tinted spectacles. He intends to show the shared historical emotions and close ties between the two countries and hopes to make today's Japanese recall their former glory and pride by reaffirming the feats of Japan-ese rule. In fact, the Japanese cannot find their lost confidence in Taiwan, but in their own minds. Only by acknowledging and re-dressing the flaws in their national character and facing their past can the people stand upright and move forward.

  The book gives one-sided explanations to historical events. The author wants to reconstruct Japanese confidence through the mouths of some people in Taiwan who have good feelings about Japan. He also selectively places a benign gloss on Japanese colonization by calling it relatively "benevolent rule" compared with those of other foreign regimes that ruled Taiwan or other forms of European or US colonialism. But no matter how different the colonialists' attitudes toward their colonies, their oppressive nature is still the same. The dignity and human rights of the colonized people are similarly deprived and infringed.

  But while the oppressors need to repent and apologize, the oppressed people also need to forgive and understand. We can forgive it, but never forget it. Aggressors cannot be allowed to rewrite or erase history. Both sides must remember the historical lessons, work together to move forward, and prevent themselves from falling into the same old ruts again. Meanwhile, when facing so much injustice, bullying and oppression in the world, we should transcend ethnic hostilities and disputes, and examine these problems from a higher level. Treating other humans with violent and inhuman means is definitely wrong and must be banned.

  If one blindly allows oneself to be trapped in the labyrinth of nationalism, one will finally forget the essence of being human and be unaware that one is committing inhuman crimes to "glorify one's people."

  Ho Sheng-fei is a graduate student in the school of journalism at National Chengchi University.

  Translated by Jackie Lin
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