It was such developments that led to the birth of the “Third Reich” under Nazism, out of discontent and a thirst for revenge in Germany, which was deprived of the regions in which many German-speaking peoples lived. In China meanwhile, the end of empire opened up a period of civil war and revolution that would persist for two generations and from Eastern and Central Europe to the Middle East various small and unstable nation states were beginning to spring up. Japan, on the other hand, successfully incorporated Germany’s territories in the Southern Ocean such as Saipan into the “empire” as mandated territories. It should also be mentioned that WWI of 1914 to 1918 saw the collapse not merely of the Russian empire, but it also heralded the end of the Prussian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman rulers, with the Qing Dynasty of China disappearing even before that, in 1912. It also marks the first inklings of Japan’s “empire” in Asia that would gain a place in the history of the 20th century. 1905 marked the year in which the great Empire of the Romanoff Dynasty that stretched across Eurasia began to disintegrate slowly. For Japan, 1945 can mean only defeat in WWII and the beginning of United States occupation. 1905 marked the final year of the Russo-Japanese War and also the conclusion of the Treaty of Portsmouth between Japan and Tsarist Russia. As we look back on history from our anchoring in 2005, two such milestone dates that appear are the years of 19. Whatever the case, when addressing the questions of from where Japan has come and to where it is heading, it is not unnatural to seek markers whereby through clear changes or significant events, history can be compartmentalized. Looking at the poverty that existed in the Soviet Union and China during the same period, not to mention the famine that is currently afflicting North Korea, we can see with more than a soupcon of irony that Marx’s theory of absolute impoverishment actually appeared in Communist states. The adage of Chinese politician Guan Zhong (of the pre-Christian Chunqiu era) that “only after you have enough to wear and enough to eat will you learn honor and disgrace” was realized in less than 20 years in the Japanese post-war period. If we accept the words of Japanese Confucian scholar Ogyu Sorai in Seidan (“Discourse on government”) that, “to rule over the land, a man must first amass wealth that is the basis of power,” we can conclude that democratic politics in post-war Japan have indeed passed this initial “wealth” test. However, it is probably safe to say that if we were to apply a historical measure to this year, 2005, in which we find ourselves, the overwhelming majority of people in Japan would be of the opinion that modern Japan, now sixty years on from the end of WWII is, overall, in a better position than at any time in its past history. It was not only historians who have mourned the regression from an ideal and complete state of being-such tendencies can also be seen among the general populations throughout history. Such beliefs have been passed on into the historical consciousness of the Japanese people, in the form of the tenets of Buddhism, which foretells of an era of decadence known as “the latter days.” Among the great thinkers of ancient Greece there were those who held the pessimistic belief that history was regressing from a “golden” era to a “silver” era, after which would come the fall into the “bronze” era. In ancient Indian history, the transition was made from the Satya Yuga (“Golden Age”) to the Kali Yuga (“Age of Iron”), and it was believed that as time marches on, so too do social conditions gradually deteriorate. It may be a part of human instinct to desire to compartmentalize the natural flow of time and attach some standards or markers. Of course, time itself makes no such distinctions as it marches on relentlessly. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. V Looking to the future from “three years of great change”: dividing the 60-year post-war period IV Islam’s Japanese aspirations: Surpassing the doughnut phenomenon III A complex paradox: the center of the “Doughnut Phenomenon” II A “Divided 20th Century”: the cycle of success and failure I After Empire-100 years after the Russo-Japanese War and 60 years after WWII Masayuki Yamauchi, Professor, University of Tokyo Third Japan-Middle East Cultural Exchanges and Dialogue Mission Keynote Speech by Chef de Mission September 2005 “After Empire:The lessons of 60 years of post-war diplomacy in Japan”
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