MUSINGS OF A JAPANOPHILE
by Nina Streitfeld
Several years ago, a Grand Kabuki troupe from
Japan gave a series of performances at the
Metropolitan Opera House in New York. I was
privileged to attend one of its performances,
along with many members of the Japan Society of
New York. In the lobby, during intermission, a
group of us gathered around the renowned Japan
scholar, Donald Keene, who, when asked what had
inspired him as an American to become an authority
on Japanese literature and culture, dutifully
mentioned his work as a translator for U.S. Naval
Intelligence during World War II. He then stated,
simply, "I discovered I liked things Japanese."
I was tremendously impressed with this answer. I had
often been asked the question, "Why Japan?" by
people wondering how, in middle age, I had become
an enthusiast of Japan - studying the language and
customs, developing friendships with Japanese
people, eating Japanese food, seeing Japanese
films, attending events at the Japan Society and
generally taking every opportunity to immerse
myself in Japanese culture. I found it difficult
to explain until Dr. Keene expressed it so
perfectly - I discovered I liked things Japanese.
When discussing my interest, however, I encountered
people who derided Japanese culture as
"derivative." After all, Japanese kanji characters
were Chinese, Buddhism came from India via China,
and so forth. And there was this stereotype that
the Japanese only knew how to copy the inventions
and technology of others. It is true that during
the Meiji Era, Japan, realizing the need to
modernize and industrialize sent people around the
world to learn about and bring back information
from which they had been sheltered during
centuries of self-imposed isolation by Shogunate
regimes. It was an extraordinary national effort
that succeeded in enabling Japan to adapt to the
modern world, and to this day, scientific,
technological and cultural developments are
imported from abroad to advance the prosperity and
health of the nation. This is not true in some
other countries, where foreign cultures are
perceived as a threat. Compare the Japanese
attitude with the current French obsession with
protecting their language and culture from foreign
influence.
But it is important to note that while absorbing
foreign ideas and artifacts, the Japanese
transform them, making them distinctly their own.
This is not copying, but, on the contrary,
transforms foreign products and practices into
something entirely new - something unique. I use
the word "unique" in its truest sense, meaning
"there is nothing in the world exactly like it."
The whole concept of originality as the creation of
something from nothing and nowhere is a
misconception. Creativity combines existing
elements to produce something entirely new.
Consider these examples. Shakespeare, undoubtedly
the greatest writer in the English language, took
his stories from commonly known histories and
legends. But, infused with Shakespeare's depth of
understanding of human motivation and articulated
in his inimitable poetry, his works stand alone in
their revelations of the human condition, their
expressive beauty and their ability to bring about
cathartic change in those who see or read them.
Similarly, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's mysterious
poem, Kubla Kahn, was believed to be the most
original poem ever created, written after an
opium-induced dream. An enterprising English
scholar subsequently traced every concept, line
and image in the poem to other literary sources
available to the poet at that time. This made the
poem no less magical for it was Coleridge's
combination of these ideas and images that made
the poem so strikingly original. Finally, Gilbert
and Sullivan, inspired by Japanese costume and
culture, created their own musical confection, the
delightful Mikado.
American culture is also a constantly changing amalgam
of all the cultures of all the peoples who came to
America and continue to arrive on our shores. Yet
despite a mix of diverse geographical conditions,
people and traditions, or perhaps because of it,
American culture is distinct, unique and highly
creative. Today, while engaged in a dynamic
between preserving tradition and embracing change,
America is driven by technology and globalization
to become less parochial and more international in
outlook. Yet, despite international business and
the travels of millions of American tourists
during the last century, before the fateful events
of 9/11, we Americans thought of our country, like
the Japan of old, as an island unto ourselves,
safe from danger and immune to turmoil beyond our
shores. Now we know better. As we come to terms
with our inescapable connection to the problems of
the rest of the world, we are also in the process
of acknowledging the contributions of many
cultures to our own. Just as Japan takes from America, America takes from
Japan, which has contributed far more to our
culture than we sometimes realize. Since Japan
opened to the West in the late 19th Century, a
continuing process of absorption of Japanese ways
has been going on throughout the West, as well as
in the U.S. While a good deal of this has taken
place within the recent past, some occurred so
long ago that the process of blending into the
European West and the U.S. is no longer
detectable. Just as Japan has benefited from
absorbing ideas from abroad, we learn from Japan.
It might be interesting for a scholar to make an
inventory of all the areas in which we in the West
have been enriched by Japanese contributions to
our way of life.
Toward the end of the 19th Century, when Japan's
emissaries traveled around the world, they created
a movement in the West called "Japonisme." Artists
in Europe and America were inspired by things
Japanese. Among them was the French impressionist,
Claude Monet, whose painting of a Japanese bridge
is one of his most famous. Those who visit the
museum at Monet's home in Giverny can see works
from Japan displayed there. Japanese artists also
influenced and continue to inspire many American
artists. In Kent, Connecticut, a Japanese-style
wood kiln built at Still Mountain Center fires
pottery created by Americans who learned their
craft in Japan. Links between Japanese sources and
American works are constantly being discovered.
Recently, Noboru Uezumi, a vice president of our Japan
Society of Fairfield County, learned that Genjiro
Yeto, a Japanese artist whose painting is
exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art,
studied at Bush-Holley House between 1890 and
1900. Uezumi did some research and learned that
Yeto introduced Japanese arts and culture to
artists in the then flourishing Cos Cob Art
Colony. Studying works produced by members of the
art colony during that era revealed to Uezumi the
extent to which they were inspired by Japanese
concepts, approaches and artifacts. In addition,
he learned that the paintings of American
impressionist Elmer MacRae clearly reflect the
influence of Japanese wood-block prints, and that
MacRae's studio was decorated with Japanese-style
paper lanterns, origami cranes and paper fans.
In theater, film and costume design, Japanese
contributions are almost too numerous to mention.
Not only was the movie Rashomon made into a
Broadway play, it became the generic model for
storytelling from several perspectives. The Seven
Samurai was recast as a Hollywood Western. One
need only look at Star War's ferocious Darth Vader
to recognize a warrior in samurai battle gear. The
playwright Thornton Wilder cited the minimal sets
of Japanese Noh theater as having been an
important influence on the creation of his classic
American drama, Our Town. The Japanese film art of
anime has set new standards for artistic
expression in animated film. The practices of
Zazen Buddhism, a Japanese version of Buddhism,
have attracted many Americans, while thousands of
young Americans are using the Suzuki method to
learn to play the violin and are also writing
haiku poetry. Karaoke has become an American
pastime, health-conscious Americans are eating
tofu and drinking green tea, and so many food
establishments and supermarkets now sell sushi
that it may soon be considered as "American" as
pizza pie.
In the automotive industry, a dynamic competition
between American and Japanese manufacturers drives
the development of new products. Decades ago, the
American engineer, Edward Deming, having been
spurned by American industry, went to Japan and
persuaded Japanese auto manufacturers to implement
his concepts of quality through continuous process
improvement. Japanese cars ranked amongst the best
in the world, and the American auto industry,
shaken to its foundations, reformed its
manufacturing processes, working overtime to catch
up with its Japanese competitors. Now Honda and
Toyota are taking the lead in reducing gasoline
consumption and harmful emissions with the
introduction of affordable hybrid
(gas-and-electricity-powered) cars. American
manufacturers will undoubtedly follow suit. The
result of this rivalry can only benefit the
planet.
Japan and America - our two great nations - have
learned and continue to learn from each other.
Today, our respective nations face gargantuan
challenges, both within our borders and from an
increasingly populous, poor and troubled world.
Working together to utilize our particular talents
and resources to maximum effect can empower both
our nations to lead and contribute to solving the
world's most intractable problems.
(Nina Streitfeld, a public
relations counselor by profession, is president of
the all-volunteer Japan Society of Fairfield
County, Inc.) |
