The Japanese Experience
In August 1945, the US dropped two atom bombs on Japan, reducing two of its major cities to ruins. Strangely enough, the Japanese seem to bear no grudge against the Americans, for, they say, it had only reacted to Japan’s violence in the arena of war. The responsibility, therefore, needed to be shared by each side. This realistic attitude on the part of the Japanese has seen them through all kinds of adversity and brought them to extraordinary heights of progress in modern times.
Both the major industrial cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bustling with life, became enormous areas of devastation in a matter of minutes. Within a ten-mile radius every kind of life—human, animal and vegetable—was blown to bits. One and a half million people died on the spot. Ten thousand of them simply disappeared. Yet these cities have now been built up once again with wide streets, spacious houses, parks and gardens, all of which have a modern look. Only one ruined building has been left as it was, in order to remind the people of the grim punishment meted out to them during the Second World War.
When the late Mr. Khushwant Singh, an eminent Indian journalist and social commentator, visited Japan, he learnt, much to his astonishment, that the Japanese do not exploit the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to discredit the US. It is other nations, on the contrary, who have exploited the same events for this purpose. When Mr. Singh asked the reason for this attitude, a Japanese replied in a surprisingly calm tone:
“We hit them first at Pearl Harbour. We killed a lot of them. They warned us of what they were going to do, but we thought they were only bluffing. They beat us fair and square. We were quits, and now we are friends.” (Hindustan Times, April 4, 1981)
A memorial has been erected to commemorate the dead, the victims of a gruesome tragedy. In the museum are displayed photographs depicting death and destruction on a mass scale. About 70 lakh Japanese visit Hiroshima every year to witness this spectacle.
The Japanese did not let hatred for another rule their lives and future. By virtue of such a temperament, they have scaled great heights of progress in a very short span of time. They have neither petrol resources nor any other mineral wealth, most of their raw materials having to be imported. Keeping all these drawbacks in view, it is most amazing that they have dominated world markets. This is mainly owing to the superior quality of their goods.
Mr. Singh also enquired about the prospects of the legal profession there. He was told that it was not a flourishing business, the reason being that the Japanese preferred settling disputes on their own to going to the courts. Willingness to admit faults by each party is the surest way to bring quarrels to an end. It is only when either party seeks to place the whole blame on the other side that the quarrel takes a turn for the worse. Whereas the very gesture of shouldering the blame softens up the other side, with the result that the dispute dies a natural death.
This realistic attitude has greatly benefitted the Japanese in many respects. For instance, this makes them place their trust in one another. They thus save the time and money they would otherwise expend on lengthy legal proceedings. There are 50,000 lawyers in the US, while there are only 11,000 in Japan. Such legal experts are just not in demand.
Most of the commercial institutions trust in verbal understandings. Formerly it was practiced only among the Japanese, but now foreign investors have also started to take advantage of this practice. Avoidance of unnecessary legal obligations invariably speeds up the work.
Essentially, such an outlook gives rise to unity. It is undoubtedly the greatest force that contributes to the success of a nation. In the words of an expert on Japanese affairs, the secret of Japan’s success lies in:
“Never quarrelling amongst themselves, always doing everything together.” (Hindustan Times, April 1981)
