Japan: Swords and Butterflies - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 259

History rarely moves in a tidy circle. But If Nagasaki was one of the first Japanese
ports open to the West, it is also the place of another great transformation, the end of the
Japanese Empire. On August 9, 1945, a B-52 American bomber dropped an atom bomb
on Nagasaki and the Mitsubishi arms factory. Nearly one-and-a-half square miles of the
city were vaporized; nearly 74,000 died in the blast, and even more were wounded and dis-
figured. Ground zero for the bomb blast was the northern part of Nagasaki. It is now the
site of the Peace Park. Statues, a fountain, walkways, and bouquets of flowers help with
healing and remembering. And the visitor proceeds, conscious of the silence in the park.
HOW DOES GEOGRAPHY SHAPE JAPANESE CULTURE?
The islands of Japan lie one hundred miles from Korea and 450 miles from China. Seen on
a map, the islands look like a giant bow, taut and ready to let fly an arrow eastward. Japan
is an archipelago (literally, arc in the sea). It comprises more than one hundred islands, of
which Kyushu, Shikou, Honshu, and Hokaido are the largest. The total land mass of Japan
is about the size of California, but in that geography live more than 127 million people. By
comparison, the vast territory of the United States contains more than 316 million. Much
of Japan is mountainous, and only 12 percent of the land is arable. But Japan's arable land
is intensely cultivated, and much of Japan's culture springs from its soil. [231]
From China, Japan learned to plant and harvest wet rice. Wet rice is labor intensive.
Streams must be diverted. Shallow dams must be built around the rice fields. Rice shoots
must be drilled by hand into wet earth. And the earth must be flooded during growing sea-
son and drained at harvest time. The entire production cycle requires cooperative work by
villages and their families. Out of this cooperation have come centuries of deference to vil-
lage elders and a strict family hierarchy. Villages keep century-long records of labor and
obligations. Each person knows his or her place in the family and village hierarchy.
As Ruth Benedict notes, wet-rice cultivation put a special stamp on Japanese cul-
ture. [232] In contrast to the West, where the evolution of democracy has been rooted in indi-
vidual rights (The Magna Carta, The Declaration of Independence), rights in Japan began
as group rights. Rights that an individual might have were derived from his or her place in
the group. And as Benedict also notes, in the West, individual rights comport handily with
a culture of personal responsibility and its companion, personal guilt. Both are tied to a re-
ligious and moral code (the Ten Commandments, The Sermon on the Mount, The Epistles
of Paul). Breaking the moral code threatens to bring damnation and suffering after death.
Japan is a culture of shame. Group rights go hand in glove with shame. In shame cul-
tures, moral transgressions bring shame and dishonor to one's family, one's clan, and one's
associates. “Saving face” greatly matters in a shame culture. Never ask anyone directly if
she has passed her examination or if he has been promoted.