Lost in translation

It’s my third day in Japan. Yesterday we left Tokyo just after the launch of Jacevo, our Japanese peer organisation. It was a success. In a day we signed-up 120 members.

A year ago I was in NY watching the fall of the American banking system on the TV. Today we have the first black President at the White House and the Japanese celebrate their first political change in 50 years: the Liberal Democrats have been defeated in a national election for the first time since the Second World War. The Democrats are in government with the promise to give politics back to politicians – putting the bureaucrats in their place – and take the country out of 15 years of recession and depression. Naturally, they love the third sector. Who doesn’t?

I was here in 2006 for a study visit and wrote a report on civil society in Japan that you can’t miss. Now I’m here with Sir Bubb to witness the outcome of that visit and subsequent exchanges with Japan. Several delegations have come to visit us in the UK from Japan but I have never understood what they were doing until now. Yes it’s happening but I’m not sure I really understand. It’s the certainly the case that I’m lost in translation.

Yesterday night we had dinner with the mayor of Nagoya. He’s a brilliant, funny, smart guy; truly a reformer with humour. We had a gorgeous dinner in a smart restaurant and sat down a tatami drinking hot sake. Everything looked perfect until we started talking about the Second World War. Naturally I initiated the argument that while everybody has seen the pics of the bombings in Germany, I’ve never seen anything about Japan except for the nuclear bombs launched in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

When you travel across the country you realize that not much has been left of historical Japan. Even the castles on the top of the mountains have been torn down. This is strange for such a society that is so respectful of the past and traditions. The country must have been heavily bombed. The Americans wanted to humiliate the people by destroying their tradition. This is plausible.

The problem came when we started talking about the evil Americans who made the Japanese look violent and wild by inventing stories such as the Nanking massacre (also known as the Nanjing Massacre). It was explained to me that many Japanese people argue that the event was not true but produced for American propaganda to justify the atomic bombs.

At that point I felt the cultural distance and didn’t know what to replicate. I must confess I don’t know much about Nanking but I compared the accusations with the denial of the German concentration camps. It might be wrong but that was the feeling. Fortunately, Stephen diverted the discussion on to the food. Wise Brit!

We assume that globalization and internet have made the world small and every corner available for our curiosity. Fortunately the world is still all to discover. We just have much more information available but it doesn’t mean we understand it.

Fortunately I’m surrounded by smart people who help me understanding such information. Phillida Purvis is my special advisor for Japan. If you want to know anything about the third sector here ask her.