The following is from the recent book "Biden is Red" by Masayuki Takayama, the one and only journalist in the postwar world.
This book is one of his best works.
It is a must-read not only for the Japanese people but for people worldwide.
Several passages will move the Japanese people to tears.
This book is true enlightenment for the Japanese people.
It is how the Japanese smile disappeared.
William Dixon, an Englishman who introduced the beauty of Fuji to the world in the early Meiji era, introduced the Japanese as follows.
"I can't see the face abducted by the hard work in Western Europe; everyone smiles, and it seems that there is no sorrow in the world."
The French painter Felix Legame also wrote, "The smile of the Japanese is the basis of all courtesy, and it never disappears, no matter how unbearable or sad the situation.
Edward Morse witnessed what Legame calls the smiling face during the Great Fire of Yokohama.
He saw no tears or irritation.
"People were smiling as if there were a festival and getting on with rebuilding."
The English poet Edwin Arnold wrote in his poem, "The scenery of Japan is graceful, and the people are as gentle, charming, and courteous as gods."
Rudyard Kipling, who visited Japan in 1889, marveled at the same thing, only he worried how long it would continue unbroken.
An American said something similar.
Townsend Harris, who came aboard to threaten Japan, said, "Japan is entering a new era. I dare to ask. Will it be true happiness for Japan?"
But this merchant-born diplomat was an imposter.
In his negotiations with the Shogunate, he had the exchange rate set at "the equivalent of one silver dollar and three silver pieces per minute.
However, Harris did not dare mention the exchange ratio of gold and silver.
As a result, there was a back road to earn gold at a lie-like rate of 3 Japanese oval gold coins with four silver coins.
The U.S. thus gained hundreds of thousands of gold coins, and Lincoln could pay for most of the Civil War.
Harris, of course, made a killing.
Kipling knew this and predicted that "Japan would eventually become a territory of the United States and be turned into a factory for making buttons and hooks" ("Kipling's Discovery of Japan").
In fact, Americans had no interest in understanding Japan.
Even Lafcadio Hearn called the bereaved families smiling at the wake "incomprehensible."
For the U.S., Japan was nothing more than a sitting duck, lumping the rest together as incomprehensible.
So when Japan defeated the powerful Russians, Theodore Roosevelt, under the guise of a Japan-Russia intermediary, arranged for Japan not to receive a single ruble in reparations.
Hoover and Secretary of State Stimson took away Japan's only interest in Manchuria, and Franklin Roosevelt launched a war against Japan to restore the U.S. economy.
Thus, bombs rained down on "picturesque Japan," and they burned everything.
On August 30, 1945, U.S. generals stationed in Japan were puzzled by the Japanese response.
The Japanese greeted them with a warm smile, "the basis of all courtesy," as Régamey put it, even as they dropped the atomic bombs.
MacArthur was not cultured.
He could not distinguish between Régamey and Green Turtle.
He expected the Japanese to be as frightened as fugitive black slaves.
So MacArthur intended to enjoy the pleasure of the winner, but they were smiling.
Why were they smiling?
MacArthur was chased by the Japanese in the Philippines and forced into humiliating desertion.
For a moment, MacArthur wondered if the Japanese were sneering at him cowardly.
Or, like Toshiyoshi Miyazawa of the University of Tokyo, who supported the GHQ Constitution, he also wondered if it was a flirt with the strong, a humble laugh.
Either way, it was distasteful, so he issued a directive to "stop the ambiguous laughter.
To enforce the directive, he organized the Japan Education Association and had a scholar write that and put it in a textbook.
Mr. Nagase, the homeroom teacher at Azabu Elementary School, also taught, "Stop ambiguous laughter.
MacArthur set up an "academic council" organized by such scholars to establish it for the future.
Toshiyoshi Miyazawa, who buttered up with a straight face, "MacArthur came and started the invisible August Revolution," was first elected as a member of the Council.
MacArthur erased the smiles from Japan, the frowns increased, and the people who passed by with umbrellas tilted up disappeared.
Even if Koreans kidnap the neighbor's child, the new Japanese say, "Long live Article 9," as if it were somebody else's business.
I want you to know that all of this is the fault of the Science Council of Japan, which did as MacArthur told it to do.
(October 29, 2020 issue)
This book is one of his best works.
It is a must-read not only for the Japanese people but for people worldwide.
Several passages will move the Japanese people to tears.
This book is true enlightenment for the Japanese people.
It is how the Japanese smile disappeared.
William Dixon, an Englishman who introduced the beauty of Fuji to the world in the early Meiji era, introduced the Japanese as follows.
"I can't see the face abducted by the hard work in Western Europe; everyone smiles, and it seems that there is no sorrow in the world."
The French painter Felix Legame also wrote, "The smile of the Japanese is the basis of all courtesy, and it never disappears, no matter how unbearable or sad the situation.
Edward Morse witnessed what Legame calls the smiling face during the Great Fire of Yokohama.
He saw no tears or irritation.
"People were smiling as if there were a festival and getting on with rebuilding."
The English poet Edwin Arnold wrote in his poem, "The scenery of Japan is graceful, and the people are as gentle, charming, and courteous as gods."
Rudyard Kipling, who visited Japan in 1889, marveled at the same thing, only he worried how long it would continue unbroken.
An American said something similar.
Townsend Harris, who came aboard to threaten Japan, said, "Japan is entering a new era. I dare to ask. Will it be true happiness for Japan?"
But this merchant-born diplomat was an imposter.
In his negotiations with the Shogunate, he had the exchange rate set at "the equivalent of one silver dollar and three silver pieces per minute.
However, Harris did not dare mention the exchange ratio of gold and silver.
As a result, there was a back road to earn gold at a lie-like rate of 3 Japanese oval gold coins with four silver coins.
The U.S. thus gained hundreds of thousands of gold coins, and Lincoln could pay for most of the Civil War.
Harris, of course, made a killing.
Kipling knew this and predicted that "Japan would eventually become a territory of the United States and be turned into a factory for making buttons and hooks" ("Kipling's Discovery of Japan").
In fact, Americans had no interest in understanding Japan.
Even Lafcadio Hearn called the bereaved families smiling at the wake "incomprehensible."
For the U.S., Japan was nothing more than a sitting duck, lumping the rest together as incomprehensible.
So when Japan defeated the powerful Russians, Theodore Roosevelt, under the guise of a Japan-Russia intermediary, arranged for Japan not to receive a single ruble in reparations.
Hoover and Secretary of State Stimson took away Japan's only interest in Manchuria, and Franklin Roosevelt launched a war against Japan to restore the U.S. economy.
Thus, bombs rained down on "picturesque Japan," and they burned everything.
On August 30, 1945, U.S. generals stationed in Japan were puzzled by the Japanese response.
The Japanese greeted them with a warm smile, "the basis of all courtesy," as Régamey put it, even as they dropped the atomic bombs.
MacArthur was not cultured.
He could not distinguish between Régamey and Green Turtle.
He expected the Japanese to be as frightened as fugitive black slaves.
So MacArthur intended to enjoy the pleasure of the winner, but they were smiling.
Why were they smiling?
MacArthur was chased by the Japanese in the Philippines and forced into humiliating desertion.
For a moment, MacArthur wondered if the Japanese were sneering at him cowardly.
Or, like Toshiyoshi Miyazawa of the University of Tokyo, who supported the GHQ Constitution, he also wondered if it was a flirt with the strong, a humble laugh.
Either way, it was distasteful, so he issued a directive to "stop the ambiguous laughter.
To enforce the directive, he organized the Japan Education Association and had a scholar write that and put it in a textbook.
Mr. Nagase, the homeroom teacher at Azabu Elementary School, also taught, "Stop ambiguous laughter.
MacArthur set up an "academic council" organized by such scholars to establish it for the future.
Toshiyoshi Miyazawa, who buttered up with a straight face, "MacArthur came and started the invisible August Revolution," was first elected as a member of the Council.
MacArthur erased the smiles from Japan, the frowns increased, and the people who passed by with umbrellas tilted up disappeared.
Even if Koreans kidnap the neighbor's child, the new Japanese say, "Long live Article 9," as if it were somebody else's business.
I want you to know that all of this is the fault of the Science Council of Japan, which did as MacArthur told it to do.
(October 29, 2020 issue)
