Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009

By NAME WITHHELD

Okinawa

Although I am a non-churchgoing Westerner, I am still at a loss as to how to respond to slurs — like that delivered by ruling Democratic Party of Japan secretary general Ichiro Ozawa — that Christianity is "exclusive and self-righteous" and that Western society is "stuck in a dead end."

Do the targets of such insults (Westerners or, for that matter, Asian Christians) respond in kind by bringing up, for example, the many wonderful things done by the "Japanese spirit" on the Asian continent between the Meiji Restoration and 1945, or by suggesting that the only good things in Japanese culture are those imported from outside — such as Buddhism, a religion born in India and transmitted to Japan by way of China and Korea?

Japan has a big problem: its political caste. These people — Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara also comes to mind — seem to have a crippling inferiority complex toward the West, and now perhaps China as well. Thus they fall over themselves making inane comments about the superiority of the "Japanese spirit," which is quite a different thing from possessing a healthy sense of pride in one's country and culture that includes respect for other countries as well.

U.S. President Barack Obama has a problem, too. The Japanese political caste has always been opaque, smarmy and childishly assertive, making them very difficult "partners." Perhaps a separation, if not divorce, is in order: Washington should downgrade relations with Tokyo and seek closer collaboration with China, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — at least until the local political caste is replaced by people who think and act like mature adults. That clearly hasn't happened with the election victory of the DPJ in August.

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.

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