28th of March
First of all, I would like to thank all of the people who gave us support and assistance, making this learning journey possible for us. We would not have been able to come so far and been so successful if it weren’t for you all. Thank you. Now looking back at the forum…this was such an amazing experience, how many people in this world actually get to interview the foreign minister and the ambassador simultaneously? I know we got a lot of criticism about having focused too much on whaling and war, but those were the two main topics that we felt strongly about. After all those interviews, research, and discussion on other topics such as contemporary culture, we realized that those issues were the main factors that shape the images that we have of each other. However maybe we hoped to achieve some kind of mutual understanding or something like that between the two countries by discussing those topics at the forum, hoped to get some answers that actually answered the questions that were bothering us. Maybe we did focus too much on whaling and war, putting the bad emphasis on Japan. I felt like I was not doing a very good job of defending my own country. Nonetheless, I thought it all went very well, the discussion being very fruitful, and I thought it was a brilliant idea to have both the foreign minister and the ambassador on the same set. This enabled us to ask the same question to both of them, allowing us to listen to both perspectives. Almost every person that we had interviewed previously stated that “Japan and Australia have a very good trade relationship”, therefore that is the reason why Japan and Australia have such good relations, so I thought that was what Mr. Stephen Smith was going to say as well. However, he surprised me by also acknowledging the people to people relations, which was very fresh and proved that he was well aware of the relationship that lies beneath the surface. It is unbelievable to think that this project has come to an end. It was definitely one of the most challenging and fruitful experiences I have ever come across. One thing is certain: I have acquired crucial knowledge and skills during this process. Analyzing information in mere seconds and having to form questions was something I was very inept at, and my lack of being able to reason logically really put me in a difficult position. This initially prevented me to vigorously participate in discussions, however, looking back at the learning journey as a whole, I do see significant improvement in the way I handle discussions. Even though I am not yet adept at doing those things, I am confident that I have definitely improved. Who would have thought that a person could improve so much in such a short period of time! Also, this may sound like a cliché but working with people of another nationality and culture has truly expanded my boundaries. I grew up in America so working with Americans is nothing but normal to me, but working with Australians was a whole new experience. I had thought that Australia would be somewhat like America and Europe, however surprisingly it had some distinctive elements in the culture that I could not identify with any other. To work with people of another nationality in harmony requires a great deal of cultural tolerance and understanding, and I think that the 4 of us all had that ability which prevented us from having any major cultural collisions. I feel very fortunate to have been able to work in such an accepting environment. Australia is more than just Japan’s “good friend”. We have a much deeper relationship, and by plunging into the surface and confronting the facts that lie beneath has made me realize that sustaining a good relationship with another country involves more than just agreements and discussions. This remarkable opportunity has triggered me to have a more vast perspective on current and past issues, and has given me the desire to learn more about our relationship. This project itself may have come to an end, but this “learning journey” will continue for me, and I hope it will continue for my other fellow panelists as well. Lastly, I just want to thank my fellow panelists and our producer Steve Cutting! We have been through so much together, and I am proud of our accomplishments. As a team, we have made history, and this would not have been possible without our incredible teamwork. I sincerely enjoyed working with you guys, and I truly appreciate all the support and assistance you gave me! The strong tie made within the team shall never sever, and hopefully we will be able to meet up as a team in the near future.
March 12th
The War Memorial portrayed Japan to be the aggressor; especially the picture with the Australian about to get his head chopped of by the Japanese really gives the idea that Japanese were fanatical. However Peter Stanley said that the purpose of the display was to show that the Japanese was actually respecting and honouring the Australian. I wasn’t able to quite catch that from what was displayed…how about putting up a picture of an Australian doing something just as equally as brutal to a Japanese person? Article Nine was a form of reconciliation: Japan would never treat Australians or any other kind of nationality with cruelty and disrespect like it did in WWII. Therefore Australia has no right to pressure Japan into committing military forces.
March 11th
What was new to me among the things that came across was the word “multi-functionality”. Japan and Australia have been having FTA negotiations and the biggest barrier is that Japanese farmers want to put high tariffs on the Japanese agricultural product. Warren Truss, the Trade Shadow Minister explained to us that one of the reasons for this is because of “multi-functionality”, that agriculture exists in Japan because of the culture, and that agriculture is an important part of our culture. This made it sound like that Japanese tie everything to culture, and sometimes uses it as an excuse, regarding the whaling issue. However I highly doubt that the authentic Japanese culture is being preserved by the ones that claim it. So as we have been told in almost every one of our interviews, Japan and Australia have a very good relationship. Therefore there are few disagreements between the two countries. Andrew Dempster, Greg Hunt, and Carl Ungerer all emphasized that the main issue was whaling. However it can be said that it absolutely doesn’t pollute the other good bilateral ties. What confused me was, that Japan claims that they are doing scientific research, however whenever they are accused of slaughtering whales, they completely take it to another direction by saying that it is part of their culture. Surely scientific research is not part of Japan’s culture. According to Article Nine, Japan forever renounced war as a sovereign right of the nation to solve international disputes and to threat or use force as way to settle international disputes.However Carl Unger said that Australia and the similar countries would like to see Japan in a more “normal” state. The pressures for Japan to commit more military forces are undoubtedly rising.I just don’t feel comfortable and think it necessary having soldiers of my country participating in war, especially after it vowed never to fight again. Japan suffered a great lot during the WWII, and they have maintained a peaceful country for all of these years. It is just not fair for Japan to be dragged into an international dispute that Japan has nothing to do with. Our ancestors’ desire was for the younger generations to never have to experience the catastrophes that they went through. The quote “May Peace Prevail on Earth” is something that we live by and something that we should continue to live by.
March 10th
I think that we have come close to choosing which topics we will discuss at the forum. There was a deep interest in a couple of subjects, and the interview with Warren King of the Japan Section of the Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade really helped us clarify some issues for us It is obvious that Japan and Australia have a very strong trade relationship, however with the economical crisis affecting the world today; it seems like a bad idea to be so heavily dependable on each others’ countries. However even though Australia would take a very dangerous position and will be affected directly, they will get benefits when Japan recovers. So I thought that the balance of both the plus and minuses maintained our good and stable trade relationship. What really interested me was the FTA negotiations that have been held recently, and the 8th one is apparently being held this week. This is a very significant happening to promote better trade, showing how important the two countries are to each other. Trade is definitely one of the important topics to discuss. WWII is always a big issue when it comes to discussion, and Japan has been pressured by the Korean and Chinese government to apologize over and over again regarding the atrocities Japan committed during the war. However, the Australian government apparently is quite satisfied and doesn’t think it necessary for there to be an apology to the Australians by the Japanese. They think it has been dealt with, however they would surely accept any apologies if Japan decides to make any. The only concern is that these issues are not fully understood by the Japanese public. I think that increasing acknowledgement and awareness of what really happened during the war is a much better form of reconciliation than apologizing, which may sound insincere. Actions speak louder than words. I think that whaling is an issue that cannot be avoided when having discussion between Australia and Japan, because it is such an important issue for us. However the question is, why does Japan try to keep whaling, when it has absolutely no benefits to our economy? Is it just a nationalistic issue, and is made into a big deal to show that western countries are attacking us? Bridget and I were saying that it sometimes feel that this topic comes to a dead end, with no conclusion. As important of an issue it is, I feel like it is a very black and white issue. I would like to know more about the domestic and international pressures? We were able to learn the younger generation’s perspective in our discussion with the girls at Canberra Girl’s Grammar. They were all students of the Japanese classes there, and they seemed very eager and elated to talk about Japan. What surprised me was that apparently they don’t learn much about Japan and Australia relationship during the WWII in their classes. This struck me because all this time I felt ashamed about we Japanese not learning about the Australian involvement in the war and lack of information we acquired regarding this! They seemed keener on going forward and focus on the positive things rather than to linger on the negative things. They were more into the contemporary cultures as “kawaii” culture.A question was thrown at me about how I felt having discussions with Australians, being in the middle of them talking about Japan being the aggressor and such. That was a very interesting question which I never even thought about, which proves that I haven’t felt offended by the discussions that we have been having. I think that the Japanese tend to set themselves aside from the issues that are surrounding us, especially WWII-we tend to think of it as a part of history, we are not necessarily part of it. We try to keep our neutral position and not unjustify or justify either side. It can be said that the younger generations are not at all affected by the past issues that has occurred between the two countries.The Japanese Embassy was quite different from the Australian embassy in Japan, it was quite small, but had a wonderful collection of the Japanese cultural aspects on display.The minister there seemed to emphasize the need to increase more knowledge about each others countries. JET is a very good opportunity and a good example of cultural exchange. Also, he said that there should be more work on increasing the number of people who learn Japanese and actually have use of it after they graduate from school. I thought it was interesting that the minister mentioned that Australians tend to take Japan for granted, which I think he wanted to imply that Australia takes Japan for granted by thinking that Japan will always rely on Australia for natural resources and raw materials. I wish we had more time and opportunity to actually discuss these matters, unfortunately we didn’t get to. The things that we discussed today surely will have great emphasis at the forum and I hope that we can use this knowledge to create better questions, which will be crucial to get good answers, of course.
March 9th
We drove out to Cowra today, which was a lovely two and a half hour drive and enabled me to see the “real” outback, unfortunately I wasn’t able to see any kangaroos though.I was very excited about visiting Cowra, because it has such a deep connection with Japan, and it one of the grievous memories that dwell in the minds of the Australians. We stopped at the Cowra Information Center, a nice cozy place where they displayed some information regarding the Cowra Internment Camp and watched a 9min hologram.I was familiar with there being a couple of nationalities in the prison, but I had no idea about the attitudes the prisoners had in the camp. It said that the Italians were content and satisfied to be there, and they were often released to work because of labor shortage. However that possibly couldn’t have happened with the Japanese, because they surely would have escaped. I think that shows how eager the Japanese were to escape, and the Australians sensed the unmistakable “bushido spirit” within the Japanese. However, the narrator in the hologram said that “not all the Japanese were fanatical” which showed great understanding and I was glad to find that they didn’t victimize themselves completely even though many Australian guards were killed by the Japanese POWs. I was surprised to know that the Cowra breakout was censored by the government, and I wonder why-maybe it was because to avoid panic? Or was there a more significant reason for that? I will have to find out about that. Next we met Lawrance Ryan, the historian, who was generous enough to meet us during his lunch break and show us around the Cowra prison. We first went to the place where the prison actually existed; unfortunately it had been demolished and is now just a large vast piece of land. However just from my personal view, I wondered why they didn’t have a more significant memorial for something that is so important in the Australian history. After that we went to the Japanese war cemetery, where the Japanese soldiers and internees who died in Australia. There were babies from 3 days old to elders who were 80 years old! I was amazed to hear that the cemetery was maintained by the members of the RSL, who had fought against the Japanese. It is astonishing to think that they could just leave there bitter memories behind them and show such generosity towards the people who were once foes to them. I felt ashamed that the war cemetery and that there was less acknowledgement about them in Japan. I really hope that this generosity will be acknowledged in Japan, and that the people of my country could do the same towards the Australian POWs. Or last stop today was to Coralie's place in Cowra. She was a nurse who had actually taken care of prisoners at the Cowra hospital all through WWII. She was a lovely old lady and she was happy to talk about her personal experiences. I would have imagined her to be quite prejudiced against the Japanese people, but she had nothing bad to say about them. She told us that the Japanese soldiers were doing what they had to do, so she didn’t think badly about them at all. It was nobody’s fault, at it is important to forgive. She said that it would have been easier if they could only communicate, since only a few Japanese POWs could speak English. I could understand that because even now a lot of the Europeans can speak English therefore they can communicate with people of the English speaking countries; however Japanese people have such a hard time communicating with the world. She mentioned that the people of Cowra were oblivious of what was happening in the prison, so I guess the government was doing a pretty good job censoring the woes that happened in the prison. I would like to hear more about that if I have the opportunity.She mentioned that she had a lot of fun at the Cowra hospital, which may be why she doesn’t have any negative images of Japan. She must have been very eager to interact with foreigners, and her being so young probably made her very open.
Friday 30/01
In the pouring rain, and the bitter wind piercing through us, we arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, only to find out that we had left the camera equipment back at the hostel. Makoto and Lucie were generous enough to go back to the hostel and get them for us. The other members of the crew and I went ahead to interview Mr. Masashi Takahashi, the Principal Deputy Director of the Oceania Div. Asian and Oceania Affairs Bureau. He talked about a variety of topics including the political events that have shaped perceptions including the issue of Yasukuni Shrine, the school history textbooks in Japan, the Rudd government's visit to China, contemporary culture and his expectations for 2009, all in a mere 30 minutes. Mr. Takahashi seemed to be very confident in the fact that the bilateral relationship between Japan and Australia will continue to be stable, and will not change, regardless of China’s influence. Also he said that it is very unfortunate that so many positive things are happening between Australia and Japan but one negative issue could cause tension and destroy the image of a good partner, therefore it is important to keep on talking about these issues that interfere.
At the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports where we spoke to Mr. Yoshihide Miwa I learned that what is included in the textbooks is up to the private sector, as long as it follows the national curriculum. MEXT’s role is to verify that the facts written in the textbooks are true, and doesn’t include any false statements. The national curriculum does not mandate that Australia has to be included in the textbooks, which is probably why there is so little of information on the Australian involvement in WWII. To the question “Should there be a collaboration of history experts around the world to write history curriculum?” he answered that it is a good idea, but it would be very difficult because the way of teaching is determined by each country. However I thought they should discuss a sweeping reform in the national curriculum to include Australia’s involvement, because I think it is not fair to only include other countries such as America when Australia and Japan had a brutal relationship during WWII and played a role in making history.
We also got to talk with Mr. Susumu Arai, a former correspondent to Australia at the Yomiuri Newspaper and listen to his experiences, comparing them with the experiences of Mark from the ABC and Peter Alford from The Australian. I noticed that they have different views -Mr. Willacy likes to not focus on the political issues and look more into how he can shape images by the cultural aspects whereas Mr. Arai mainly covers the political issues, explaining that his paper is a very serious one. He also mentioned that there are no big differences in the protocols they must abide by being a journalist in Australia and Japan, however, Mr. Willacy said there seemed to be more unwritten regulations in doing journalism in Japan. I was wondering if the lack of news of Australia in the Japanese media meant that Japan was not very interested in Australia, but he explained that “no news is good news”, meaning the lack of news indicates that Australia and Japan have a very good and stable relationship.
Our last interview was with Mr. Chiba, film director of the movie “The Railroad of Love”. I thought it was interesting how he stepped outside the perspective of a Japanese person, and focused on emphasizing the true meaning of peace and love. He told us that the true meaning is not to understand the history, but to understand the people. Forgiveness can always be found within the people. This inspired me to look at the issue of war from a whole different viewpoint, and I was amazed at how some people can help you soften the brain and have a flexible mind.
He wishes to promote the word of love and understanding, and he taught us a valuable lesson that people are the key to solving problems that seem to be hard to resolve at first.
I cannot believe that we have completed our research week in Japan. After 14 interviews, lots of running around and my brain working at full speed, I am completely drained. It was like a year’s worth of learning condensed in one short week. Through this, I have not only gained knowledge about the Australia-Japan relationship, I think I have also gained some important life skills on how to communicate with people and to actually interpret an issue, analyse it, and form opinions and questions about it. I must admit, I have suffered quite a bit having no debating skills and having trouble with my English, comprehending specific terms. I hope to see an improvement in myself when we visit Australia this March. Looking forward to it!!
Thursday 29/01
I never imagined that the visit to the Yasukuni Shrine would be this emotional for the Australians. What surprised me was the lack of information in the commentary of the exhibits, which I think indicates that Australia’s involvement in WWII is not at all significant to the Japanese. Also, I think that the commentaries that are so indifferent to the Australians make the apologies made to the Australians sound so insincere. I learned that what the Australians are seeking for is there to be a little bit more about the facts that happened on the other side; for the Japanese to have a little more understanding of the treatment that they received.
Bridget and I did a voxpop with people going to and from the Yasukuni Shrine about the awareness of the Australian involvement in WWII. This was to see if the general public was aware of the relationship between Australia and Japan. As I had anticipated, maybe 2 of the 6 people that we interviewed had any idea about Australia’s involvement in the WWII. As one young man explained, this is caused by the lack of information in the textbooks and museums in Japan.
We had the incredible opportunity to go to Makoto’s school and have a discussion with a few other students. The purpose of this visit was to listen to the opinions of the young generation, and this was the first time that we actually got to do an interview/discussion with people of our own age, in an informal way which made it easier for us to talk about the subject. We talked about a few topics on our main topic of “Images of Australia in Japan and Japan in Australia”. I thought the most interesting was the difference in our education system . Australia’s education system consists more of discussions and interactive activities, whereas Japan’s classes are more like lectures. I was keen to find out about the pros of Japanese education system, and one of the girls named Honoka answered that by saying that all the students are taught equally.
This was interesting to me because it opened up a whole new perspective on that subject. As someone who has had first hand experience in the Japanese and Western education system, I still struggle to see the benefits of the more conservative Japanese style.
Wednesday 28/01
Today was quite different from the previous two days which were mainly interviews which consisted of asking questions and learning from the answers. We were able to make a different approach to learning, by visiting museums that helped deepen our understanding of the Japanese culture. It was great to take a break from the interviews and actually see the aspects of the Japanese culture while absorbing them.
Japan’s culture is influenced by its surrounding cultures, which creates a harmony and also makes it unique. I think that the main purpose of visiting this museum was to learn how much the traditional culture influenced the contemporary culture, the old acting as the root of the new.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much of the Ghibli Museum, but as soon as I entered the museum, a breath of fantasy blew upon me, and I was astounded by the beauty and warmth of the atmosphere that surrounded me. It releases a special, nostalgic air that makes me feel like I am somewhere close to home.
Ms. Omi repeated producer Hayao Miyazaki’s words of “everything happens within 300m”, which I think means that you don’t have to go out of your way to find inspiration, it is right in front of you. I happen to find that this is why Ghibli is so accepted by so many cultures and generations, because it is so easy to relate to, and the context of it is so simple and easy to understand.
Mr. Komoho Kobu, the secretary at the Japanese Whaling Association was very kind and generous, not at all belligerent, like I thought he might be. Although it is such a controversial issue, I came away with the feeling that this is such an easy problem to solve if only we could see it from the other country’s perspective.
Tuesday 27/01
What was most impressive to me was that Professor Sekine told us that people in Japan tend to think that America is the “the centre of the universe”, therefore they want to study about the culture and everything about the US. However, it is important to learn about the culture of different societies to change the generalised perceptions. Living in Japan, I know how much this is true and I can relate to this because after I came back from America and before I went to America once again as a foreign exchange student, I had never been anywhere other than America which made me only interested in the culture of America. However, travelling to other countries outside of the US made me realize that there are other places in this world that are as developed and as magnificent. Also, Professor Sekine said that people in Japan are starting to realize that the US is strongly influenced by religion which makes Australia a more standardized country.
Monday 26/01
It was a hectic day for all of us, waking up early in the morning and doing three straight interviews in a row, only stopping briefly to have lunch at the local supermarket near the Tokyo Institute of Technology. First stop was at the NHK Broadcasting Center, where we interviewed the ABC correspondent Mark Willacy, next we chatted with Professor Roger Pulvers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and then had a conference on Skype back at the hostel with Hokaiddo University professor Phillip Seaton, a specialist in WWII. It’s interesting to know that Australia and Japan try to maintain good bilateral relations regardless of the issues that they may have between each other. Does that indicate that Australia and Japan are essential partners for development...?Also, I was surprised that what I thought were the main vehicles of projecting images of Japan- Manga, Anime, Sushi, and Karaoke-don’t really indicate an interest or admiration for Japan but simply a superficial kind of interest. Although politicians try to use it as factors to deepen relations with other countries because that is all we have now, considering that our economy is declining.I’m interested to know how these gaps in interpretations of cultures can cause collisions as well as the mixture of traditional and modern cultures within Japan. Today was an intense day, but I think we managed pretty well. Although we had some hesitation at first we were able to loosen up after we got the conversation flowing. I am excited to see how the next 4 days will go!