“Japan 2021, The Ambiguous and Myself” ＠Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan

● Opening

My name is Rintaro Kuramochi, and I am the lead attorney representing Global Dining Inc. (“Global Dining”) in the lawsuit to sue Tokyo metropolitan government that its order against Global Dining to reduce its business hours and the special legislation which the order is based on are illegal and unconstitutional. It is an incredible honor to be invited to an occasion with such significance.
Today, I would like to share with you about what we are trying to combat…from something different from a legal perspective.
In this speech, I would like to invite four navigators all of whom are iconic Japanese writers; Soseki Natsume, Yasunari Kawabata, Yukio Mishima and Kenzaburo Oe.
The keyword is “AMBIGUITY”.

● “Japan, The ‘Beautiful’ and Myself” and “Japan, The ‘Ambiguous’ and Myself”

 
Let us be joined by Kenzaburo Oe, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994 as a second Japanese ever. In his Nobel lecture “Japan, The Ambiguous, and Myself”, Oe accurately portrayed the heart of Japanese people and Japanese society. He referred to the great writer who won the same prize about 30 years ago in the same Swedish land - Yasunari Kawabata. Kawabata, in his Nobel lecture “Japan, The Beautiful and Myself”, cites poems written by zen monks to introduce the remarkable gentleness and compassion of Japanese people treating nature such as moon and snow as comrades. Oe commented that Kawabata could only express “Japan, The Beautiful, and Myself” through “un-shareable” and “introverted” spiritual experience portrayed in zen monks’ poems, and through shutting out connection with the outer world. “Shutting” completely, as if it were sakoku, or national isolation policy, and leading to “Japan, The Beautiful and Myself”.

● “Japan, The Struggling and Myself”

In his adjacent speech in 1993 at New York Public Library, this time, Oe cites Soseki Natsume upon describing “Japan, The Ambiguous and Myself”. Soseki portrayed Japanese as individuals, the agitations they faced upon Western individualism flooding into the country when Japan opened the country and modernized in Meiji era, which in Oe’s words he describes as “Japan, The Struggling and Myself”. This is the same concept Jean Paul Sartre rebuked as “Man is condemned to be free” and Erich Fromm discussed in “Escape from Freedom”.

● People of Japan “Having No Choice But to Skate Through the Superficiality”

Soseki, in his distinctive tone, discusses the “superficiality” of modernization of Japan, or “opening-up” or “enlightenment” :

“Modernization in the West (or in general) is intrinsic whereas that in Japan is extrinsic…In other words, I humbly suggest modernization is not genuine if it is not intrinsic…However, the wave of momentum that dominates the modernization of today’s Japan is that of the West. And because Japanese are not Westerners, every time such new wave surges, we feel as if we are lodgers unable to make ourselves feel at home…People impacted by this kind of modernization must feel some kind of emptiness…Also, they must feel some kind of dissatisfaction and concern. It is not praised that certain people pretend as if this modernization happened intrinsically…That is false. That is also frivolous….In short, modernization of Japan today is concluded as superficial...However, we must gulp down our tears and go on and skate around and through this superficiality.” (Soseki Natsume “Advances made by Japanese Society since the Meiji Era”, 1911)

Soseki condemns Japan’s modernization as “superficial” and claims he has no good counterplan, yet harshly criticizes those “pretending as if this modernization happened intrinsically” and “arrogance in claiming Japan becoming a first-class country after the war”. These critiques made in 1911, more than a century ago still provides us with much insight about our society and forum today.

Next, let us go on to the famous gentlemen who staked his life around 50 years ago to awaken people to regain Japan in midst the post-war regime.

● November 25, 1970 – The Shock and Manifesto to Today’s Japan

Just 50 years ago from 2020, Yukio Mishima, a writer who topped in a popularity survey for “The Most Dandy Man” above all the other celebrities and athletes such as Toshiro Mifune, Yujiro Ishihara and Shigeo Nagashima, committed a suicide by a ritual seppuku after entering the Control Room in the military base near central Tokyo and attempting to solicit the Japan Self-Defense Force to rise, but failed. While a violent coup is destructive of the constitution, the Manifesto by Mishima on that day is still relevant to us today:

“We have witnessed the post-war Japan indulge in economic prosperity…practice ad hoc hypocrisy and corrupt into mutation of our souls…Politic is dedicated to over-glazing contradiction, protection of one’s merit, thirst for power and hypocrisy while the grand plan of the country is dependent on foreign countries…and we had to bite our nails and just watch…It is apparent from legal logic that Self-Defense Force is unconstitutional. National defense which is a nation’s fundamental element is fabricated by opportunistic interpretation…We are raged for the far-too-long sleep our country was put into post-war.” (Yukio Mishima “Manifesto”, November 25, 1970)

Today, whether we can call ourselves prosperous or not, post-war Japan, especially the 　LDP government has come together solely under the identity of “economic growth” and “anti-socialism”. However, now that neither of them exist, the Party has corrupted itself into “protecting status quo” making no commitments to any values. No fundamental remediation is taken for the many problems we face in today’s society, not to mention the declination of birth rate and aging population and education, work style, tax and social security, legal system, imperial system and so on. There are only “patchworks” of ad hoc initiatives. Political power is corrupt with “dedication to over-glazing contradiction, protection of one’s merit, thirst for power and hypocrisy” while decisions on fundamental issues are influenced by “foreign countries” (a.k.a. United States). Would the current politicians or citizens be able to give a clear answer or rebuttal to this statement?

In his interview one week before death, Mishima left a harsh criticism to the politics: “The enemy is the government, the LDP and all of the post-war regime. That includes Socialist Party and Communist Party. For me, Communist Party and LDP are nothing different. They are in fact identical as being symbol of hypocrisy.” (“Yukio Mishima – Last Words”). This also resembles today’s politics in Japan. Whether it is LDP, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Communist Party (and any other party), it is corrupt with the longing for keeping its seats and positions, thirst for power and hypocrisy.

Oe, in his aforementioned speech pointed out: “The great success of Japan for its economic prosperity…has accelerated the ambiguity of Japanese people which was nurtured through modernization like a chronic disease, and further added a new phase”. He suggests that economic prosperity lead people of Japan to lose their visibility on their identity, and shares a common mindset with Mishima as viewing post-war Japan as enlarging its interest in “Economy a.k.a. Money”.
However, while he shares this common mindset and attempts to combat with the “Ambiguity”, Oe does not cut into the issues of the Japanese Constitution; he affirms and accepts the “Ambiguous” Constitution which allows the existence of “Ambiguous army” as a “fundamental moral for new Japanese”. In this context, it would have to be condemned that Oe’s “‘Combat’ with ambiguity” is nothing more than “‘Escape’ from ambiguity”.

● “Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself” in the Era of COVID

Soseki, Kawabata, Mishima and Oe - Despite their standings, we can see that they have all combatted with “Japan, the Ambiguous and Myself” throughout. Unfortunately, it must be emphasized that such “Ambiguity” has been replenished and nourished by “COVID” and still stands strong in the center of Japanese society in 2021.
That fact that Japan, which went through opening of the country after isolation, civilization and enlightenment (bunmei-kaika) and two World Wars and experienced “modernization” and “democratization” remained “Ambiguous” at its core. As Japan kept operating under its “Galapagosized” “closed” rule, the country stands where it is today, manifesting the very concern raised by Soseki 100 years ago; being unable to achieve Western-derived political framework and values in an “intrinsic” manner. Under the COVID era, people of Japan were bombarded with “request” for “voluntary” restraint and other exercises of authority with no apparent legal basis or extension. After all, people of Japan were merely wearing rented costume that is Western-derived political framework and have yet established a Japanese-style of liberal democracy.

● the collusion of us citizens and political power

However, this “Ambiguity” was somewhat convenient in forming the society. Common citizens are ensured their mediocre societal position. Those in power and elites are able to conveniently fill in the blank space by their own terms. That said, the source of “Ambiguity” in Japan was the collusion of us citizens and political power both wanting blank space to allow for their opportunism. COVID has exposed this disease going on in the veil of “Ambiguity”.

● “ambiguous constitution”

What cannot be overseen is that both of Mishima and Oe who took opposite positions, referred to “ambiguous constitution” when facing “ambiguity” of Japan. For better or worse, the backbone of ambiguity of post-war Japan was the “Ambiguous” Constitution of Japan. It is clear in 2021 that ambiguous constitution which allows flexible interpretations of those in power is unable to discipline us, the sovereign people, from having our sovereignty "seized."Oe once described as “Ambiguous army based on ambiguous constitution”. Through this case, we would like to also purse whether this ambiguous constitution can really save our rights and serve as a tool to better design the society.

● “Japan the [xxx], and Myself”

Lastly, I would like to finish my speech by introducing the closing statement from Soseki’s lecture “My Individualism”.
Soseki states that his insights on individualism may “somewhat be of your reference” however also closes the speech noting if there were any confusions about his lecture, it must be because he did not explain it enough or did not explain it adequately, and encourages the audience to “not leave the confusion as it is and come to my house. I will try to explain to you as best as I can”. I believe that this kind of attitude is essential. We need to follow through with “not leaving the confusion” on “ambiguity”. Of course, in the world of today, we do not easily invite others to our houses, but we would like to thoroughly face the “bad” ambiguity through this case. I used the term “bad” because in Japan there are also “good” ambiguities. Through this case, we hope to face the ambiguities of Japan and make it as a step to unite with the various existences in this society that are not easily seen behind the veil, or that we pretend not to see.

Thank you for your attention.