There is a
school of thought that believes Westernization to be something that will get
adopted in the pursuit of materialism in the Orient. They believe that it is
the sacred duty of the West and its manifestations in Christianity, capitalism
democracy et al to be adopted across the world. The Orient, to borrow from Marx
was steeped in primitive society and needed to be fashioned into a modern
society underpinned by materialist pursuits. The Marxian society might not have
been formed yet, there is a growing perception of increased westernization in
the Orient. In India, the process of Westernization might have started through
the Brahmo Samaj movement which was essentially an Abrahamic reshaping of Hindu
thoughts. There were many movements, perhaps Indian equivalent of renaissance
that did seek to create a departure from the Indian thought process into
something western shaped Indic philosophy. Yet, India considerably remains
indigenous for which many arguments have been advanced. It is not to go into
detail the Indian response but what would be of interest is to understand
certain myths that have come to be shaped in the question of Westernization of
the Orient.
The prime
example which many quote would be of Japan. Japan has been cited by many
scholars as a shining example of Westernized society. It was a society embedded
deeply in feudalistic roots and transformed within less than a century or so
into a modern society rooted in Western ethos. Maybe, it could be the Western
influences starting from Meji Restoration in 1868 or the American occupation
post World War II that shaped the Japanese society to western interests, but at
the broader level in terms of perception, it is deemed to be Occidental that
Oriental. Yet, there are scholarships which are challenging this proposition. One
such essay by Joe Davidann is published by Aeon here.
Davidann strongly argues that while the Americans might believe that Japanese
adopted a path of Westernization through the 20th century, realities
were the opposite. He seeks to shatter the myth that has coloured the US policy
makers for nearly three quarters of a century.
The Americans
were in denial over the Japanese militarism in the 1930s which eventually led
to the War. The Americans were under a myth that the Western style democracy
that was taking shape in Japan in the early part of the twentieth century as a
manifestation of Western influence. The rise of militarism was seen as a return
to the past, something of the rise of the Samurai yet again. They sought to
dismiss the Westernisation as a mere façade in the Japanese pursuit to return
back to the Samurai period of the Tokugawa period. They simply could not
countenance that the rebellions in the Japanese army during the late 1930s were
more inspired by Fascism prevailing in European society than a hankering for
the feudal past located in Japanese history. There was no doubt, a strong
Samurai tradition within the Japanese military, yet there were ceremonial in
invoking the past and morale boosting rather than a tool of modern warfare. In fact
Japan had sufficiently modernized itself by the time of the World War II in
respect of its armed forces. Swords were ceremonial hardly the ancillary
instruments of warfare leave alone the critical war methods. Japan would hardly
go into World War II with swords!
The American
occupation post War was intended to shape Japan in the way US would like it to
be. There was an ambitious plan of democratizing Japanese industry from the
Zaibastu model which ended because of the Cold War compulsions. Attempt to
simplify Japanese language too did not take off. Educational system continued
to remain hostage to Tokyo bureaucracy. Language reform seems to have ended up
nowhere. The myth that Americans westernised Japanese is more built up to crave
for the American arrogance seems to be the viewpoint of the author in the
article cited above. The author further cites that Christianity in Japan is all
about the story of Japanising the Christian missionaries rather than
Americanising Japanese Christians. Some scholars apparently viewed the years
running up and during the War as dark period of Japan. They believed rather
than Westernization, it was the Americanisation that would drive Japan forward.
They believed that Americans had by and large achieved the purpose of their
occupation which as the author points out was incorrect. Yet in their own
delusion, Americans never think of their project gone wrong. Japan has been sceptical
of the West. While it has adopted certain thinking, it was more to undo the
societal frictions that existed within Japan rather than blind aping of the
Western civilization.
Scholars pointing to Americanisation of the
Japanese society and economy point towards apparent Western influence on
Japanese scholar Fukuzawa Yukichi, one of the leading lights of the post-Meji restoration
period. Yet, the author points out with good examples how this is an incorrect
assertion. Fukuzawa made his trips to US as English translator for the Japanese
diplomatic missions in the 1860s. yet for the all influence that he seemed to
have got from the US, his approach was more of a curious tourist or a scholar
than appreciation of US beauty and seeking its replication into Japan. His
writings demonstrate his view of a very careful approach to mediate the Western
influence on the Japanese society. In fact, the influence was minimal. He did
seek to bring about reforms in the Japanese society overthrowing the vestiges
of feudalism embedded in the Tokugawa period. He was of the view that is
impossible for Asiatic societies to mirror the west given the profound
differences that exist between them. He went further and argued that Western
society itself was not homogenous and differences were galore across the
societies though geographically, the separation was less.
The author
concludes that there was no doubt lot of money was infused into the health or
education system in bringing them to the Western models. Yet he questions the
assumptions that they were westernized. He believed that the Westernization was
scanty in degree contrary to the American perception. Interestingly, many in
the US equate Japanese Westernization with military bases in the country. This apparently
is a naïve view but nevertheless pervades in many circles according to the
author. As the author points out, the discussion is rather much skewed and does
not examine facts on the ground. While perception hovers around Japanese being
product of Occidental values, the ground reality is Japan remains fulcrum of
the Orient.
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