In August 1945, the U.S.A. dropped two atom
bombs on Japan, thereby reducing two of its major
cities to ruins. Strangely enough, the Japanese seem
to bear no grudge against the Americans, for, they
say, it had only reacted to Japan’s violence in the
arena of war. The responsibility, therefore, needs to
be shared by each side. This realistic attitude on the
part of the Japanese has seen them through all kinds
of adversity and brought them to extraordinary
heights of progress in modern times.
Both the big industrial cities, Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, bustling with life, became enormous
areas of devastation in a matter of minutes. Within
a ten-mile radius every kind of life-human, animal
and vegetable was blown to bits. One and half
million people died on the spot. Ten thousand of
them simply disappeared. Yet these cities have now
been built up once again with wide streets, spacious
houses, parks and gardens, all of which have a
modern look. Only one ruined building has been
left as it was, in order to remind one of the grim
punishment meted out to the Japanese during the
Second World War.
When Mr. Khushwant Singh visited Japan, he
learnt, much to his astonishment, that the Japanese
do not exploit the events of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, in order to discredit the U.S.A. It is other
nations, on the contrary, who have exploited these
events for this purpose. When Khushwant Singh
asked the reason for this attitude, a Japanese replied
in a surprisingly calm tone:
“We hit them first at Pearl Harbour. We killed a lot
of them. They warned us of what they were going
to do, but we thought they were only bluffing. They
beat us fair and square. We were quits, and now we
are friends (The Hindustan Times April 4, 1981).
A memorial has been erected to commemorate the
dead, the victims of a gruesome tragedy. In the
museum are displayed photographs depicting
death and destruction on a mass scale. About 70
lakh Japanese visit Hiroshima every year to witness
this spectacle. In the course of conversation with the
Japanese, however, one can sense the hidden
feelings of hatred against Americans. But they do
not let it rule their lives.
By virtue of such a temperament they have scaled
such great heights of progress in a very short span
of time. They own neither petrol resources nor
mineral wealth, most of their raw materials having
to be imported. Keeping all these drawbacks in
view, it is most amazing that they have dominated
world markets. This is mainly owing to the superior
quality of their goods.
Mr. Khushwant Singh also enquired about the
prospects of the legal profession there. He was told
that it was not a flourishing business, the reason
being that the Japanese preferred settling disputes
on their own to sueing in the courts. Willingness to
admit faults by each party is the surest way to bring
quarrels to an end. It is only when either party
seeks to place the whole blame on the other side
that the quarrel takes a turn for the worse. Whereas
the very gesture of shouldering the blame softens
up the other side, with the result that the dispute
dies a natural death.
This realistic attitude has greatly benefited the
Japanese in many respects. For instance, this makes
it possible for them to place their trust in one
another. They thus save the time and money they
would otherwise expend on lengthy legal
documents. There are fifty thousand lawyers in the
U.S.A., while there are only 11 thousand in Japan.
Such legal experts are just not in demand.
Most of the commercial institutions place their trust
in verbal understandings. Formerly it was practised
only among the Japanese, but now foreign investors
have also started to take advantage of this practice.
Avoidance of unnecessary legal obligations
invariably speeds up the work.
Essentially, such an outlook gives rise to unity. It is
undoubtedly the greatest force that contributes to
the success of a nation. In the words of an expert on
Japanese affairs the secret of Japan’s success lies in
“never quarrelling amongst themselves, always doing
everything together,” (The Hindustan Times, April,
1981).
Ref - The Moral Vision
- by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
