Today is Marine Day

海の日 Umi no Hi. Although Japan has benefitted from the sea since the mists of antiquity, it was only in 1995 that this national holiday was proclaimed as day to feel gratitude for the blessings of the oceans. Although in our present day it is observed on the Third Monday of July, I am a bitter-ender traditionalist that observes this holiday on its original date of July 20. Let’s celebrate by reading some non-fiction about Japan.

The Culture of the Meiji Period - Irokawa Daikichi

Irokawa Daikichi calls to mind Howard Zinn – a historian who in the Sixties wrote about ordinary people, their daily life, their political consciousness, and how the influential forces in government and business do their damnedest to ensure stability with an oligarchic grip on authoritarian power.

This history contains a wealth of information about the Meiji period in chapters that feel like essays. Irokawa’s thesis is that though the early years of the era saw much interest in democracy among ordinary people, the suppression of democratic movements, indoctrination in the schools and constant ultranationalist bilge in the mass media induced a spiritual malaise that turned vital citizens interested in grass-roots constitutions and national assemblies into apathetic, bored and fearful subjects. Of course, the victorious wars over China and Russia made nuanced views about imperialism unpatriotic and dissenters vulnerable to harassment, arrest, torture, and imprisonment.

The Emperor as God-like Figure in state Shinto ideology was a major factor in this process. Irokawa and his students scoured the countryside looking for storehouses with old primary documents and they also used poetry, letters, dairies and songs to support their claims. I can’t blame Irokawa for falling into the ‘unique Japan,’ ‘peculiar Japan’ schtick sometimes because where else would it be possible to unearth such precious and exceptional documentation but in literate, verbal, passionate, respond-to-events-in-writing Japan?

This is a fascinating blend of sociology, intellectual history, and literary criticism – now we know the political  and social reasons why Ōgai Mori and Natsume Sōseki were so troubled about Japan's future. For readers seriously into Japan and its busy 20th century, this would be an excellent example of accessible history.