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Our ties with Japan

[Extracts from a speech delivered by Dr. G. Usvatte-arachchi, at the launch of "The Distant Neighbours: Fifty Years of Japan-Sri Lanka Relations", edited by Prof. W.D. Lakshman and published by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo

Nihonno to its natives, re ben to their neighbour China, le Japon to the French and Japanaya to us, Japan has been a country of great interest to many people.

Subjects and authors

This is a large book on a variety of subjects and written by people with very different intellectual baggage. Seven of the papers are in the very large ambit of social science. There is one on religion and another on the experience of Japanese Overseas Volunteers working in Lanka. One paper is written entirely by a Japanese scholar. Three papers have been written in collaboration by Lankan and Japanese scholars. Ten have been written by Lankan scholars. So, it must have been quite an effort on the part of Professor Lakshman to make a whole of these disparate essays.

I begin with the paper by Hishashi, 'Sri Lanka in the eyes of Japanese social scientists'. It is quite evident that the Japanese were trying to understand a society with which it planned to do business.

It was interesting that Japanese scholars had worked on some of the same areas as American scholars. For example, how does Suzuki's work on Buddhism, compare with those of Gombrich and Obeysekere on the same theme? Noriyuki Ueda's 'Exorcism in Sri Lanka: Cosmology of image and healing' is on the same theme as Bruce Kapferer's work 'A celebration of demons'. Toshio Shibuya has written on themes which have been worked on by Stanley Tambiah on the ethnic conflict. One anticipates differences because of the different life experiences of the observers.

Diplomatic relations

G.Wijayasiri is a distinguished diplomat who gives a useful account of diplomatic relations between Japan and Lanka. It is intriguing why it took as late as the 19th century for a national of this country to reach Japan. There is evidence of people from this island having reached China and the whole of Southeast Asia 15 centuries earlier. Perhaps the stretch of sea north of China was too formidable to cross in the vessels then available and they had to wait till the steel hull and the steam engine provided some safety.

In dealing with the modern period, it would have been interesting had Wijayasiri framed his history within the attempts of Japan to emerge into the larger diplomatic arena. After hesitating steps in Cambodia, the Balkans and East Timor, it is fascinating to watch Japan taking firm steps in its interventions in Lanka.

Capital flows

There are papers on Japanese capital flows to Lanka, official development assistance, foreign direct investment and on Japanese volunteers overseas. They contain useful data. One question I have is why the Sri Jayawardenepura Hospital, one of the major projects for which Japan provided funds, does not find mention in any of the chapters. Lanka has attracted very little direct foreign investment and Japan has provided some of it.

Language teaching

Then there are the three chapters, two on Japanese language teaching and the other on Japan through Sarachchandra's eyes. The attempt at Colombo University to conduct courses on Japanese studies is an ambitious one. We also need centres which study India and China. However, we must truly study these societies, not simply their language and religion. Students need to get a good grasp of the nature of their economies, society and forms of government. The government of Japan can provide teachers as well as opportunities for our teachers to study and conduct research in Japanese universities.

J.B. Disanayaka's chapter is mostly an account of contributions of Sarachchandra to Sinhala drama, quoting extensively from what the latter wrote.

Disanayaka must have explored the reason why the theatre-going habit in Lanka is so poor compared to that in Japan. He could also have helped us to get to know somewhat better the contributions of noh and kabuki to Sinhala theatre by citing actual instances rather than leaving it to Sarachchandra and Bandula Jayawardene to say that these elements appear in Sarachchandra's plays.

I found Mahinda Deegalla's chapter 'Austerity as a virtue' the most difficult to follow. I admit it was very difficult. Then I rationalize, “Did not the Buddha say 'attakilamathanuyogo, hinogammo, puthujjaniko, anariyo, annattha sanhito' (Punishing oneself is lowly, foolish, ignoble and destructive.)?” Did you say that the last refuge of a lazy man is the scriptures? You may be right!

What is missing?

What do I find missing in the volume? I would have liked to see an instructive account of how Japan keeps up with the massive flow of scientific and technical literature. It is astonishing how well and fast they learn of scientific work in, say economics. There must be a pretty efficient translation industry. How it functions would have been instructive to us.

Secondly, I would have liked to see some account of Akira Kurosawa's work, not simply Rashomon, but the masterly adaptation of King Lear and a very poetic movie I saw, 'The Fox and the Rainbow'. Thirdly, it would have been very useful to know how Japanese society handles the problem of aging, as we enter that difficult period in the evolution of our population pyramid. Fourthly, a point that comes up time and again in these essays but is never followed seriously; the colonial experience. The lasting consequences of that traumatic experience stand out in several discussions comparing the Japanese experience with that of Lanka and I would have enjoyed reading that account.

Lastly, what would have been more topical than some comparison of government and private universities in Japan? However, I am a spoilt old man and when I am presented with some good reading material, I ask for more. I recommend it for your reading pleasure.