The recent school gate scandal in Japan showed one of the biggest Japanese national idiosyncrasies which I have been pursuing after for the last thirty years.
A former finance ministry bureaucrat Mr. Sagawa and the prime ministers secretary Mr. Yanase as well did their job following the justice of the “seken” they belong to under the circumstance that even the justice is comparative in Japan due to the lack o the concept of absolute.
It would be really hard for a Japanese to stick to their own opinion or own justice when there is no place for independent individuals in Japan.
Even the deputy prime minister Mr. Aso revealed that his personal opinion and social opinion (following the justice of his “seken”) differs each other accidentally(as usual).
You can hardly survive Japan without bending the justice, it means almost the same as die.
Since there is no concept of independent individuals facing God(absolute) one by one in Japan, at the Meiji restoration in 1868 Japanese fabricated the story that the emperor as a Human God, and to protect the people not to face the society individually called group identity not like the western society, Japanese made all the imported social system including the education system as “tatemae” means things should be, and “seken =small community” and “ijime=bully” as “honne” means the real mind.
Western people developed the modern civilisation separating body and soul temporally while Japanese were forced to separate them by modern civilisation and all became schizophrenia.
The lack of secularisation made Japan remain as premodern society just like medieval world.
My journey of pursuit after Japanese national idiosyncrasies ended ended up with the worst result as the Japanese government has been occupied by a cult called Nippon Kaigi showing the characteristics of unsecularised society which is the mixture of religious crime and political crime.
I wrote in the previous column,
“ I believe Japanese are like convinced criminal believing their inerrancy or infallibility.”
I’m convinced now this was brought up as a substitute of the human God(almighty) after the Emperor made a declaration “the Emperor as a human” since Japan lost in the world war two.
Hopefully this worst experience being uncivilised in 21st century left out as the Japan Galapagos would become the trigger for getting civilised and become an universal country.
