A New Dawn for the Rising Sun

For this blog post, I’ll be analyzing the key moments of a rising cultural conflict between the older generation in Ogata-San and the upcoming generation in the lens of Shigeo.

“In your day, children in Japan were taught terrible things…They were taught lies of the most damaging kind. Worst of all, they were taught not to see, not to question. And that’s why the country was plunged into the most evil disaster in her entire history” (147)

“You have no idea, Shigeo, how hard we worked, men like myself, men like Dr. Endo, who you insulted in your article. We cared deeply for the country and worked hard to ensure correct values were preserved and handed on” (147)

“Very few men could see where it was all leading at the time, and those men were put in prison for saying what they thought. But they’re free now, and they’ll lead us to a new dawn…For instance, the sacking and imprisoning of the five teachers Nishizaka…but those men are free now, and they’ll help us reach a new dawn” (148)

From the first part of the dialogue, we see that Shigeo is quick to criticize the education the teachers like Ogata-San taught to the children of Japan. The traditions that were instilled in the young Japanese children were things deemed mythological and lacked logic of science to back up their claims. These “lies of the most damaging kind” set the children up to believe in their nation and their superiority. This was an important critique by Shigeo because questioning the higher power could be dangerous. There are many times where scientific claims could get you killed or imprisoned if it did not match or went against the authority in power. Another thing to note is that “they were taught not to see,” meaning that they would always have an obscure vision towards Japan. An individual or entity in power remains in power by filtering out what their subjects should and need to know. By teaching children at an early age, they completely screen out all intents to ask questions. This creates a paradox between what the children are able to read from the newspaper and if the children are able to decode what truly is going on.

This cycle further perpetuates through the use of media. We know that media has played a strong role in both sides of the war as propaganda can be seen boosting the morale of the people. After the war, the media takes on a different form. Post-WWII Japan and the occupation of the U.S. meant the installation of capitalism and liberal ideals. Because U.S. was free to exploit Japan and use it as an economic and political sphere, the U.S. made it an interest to impose new and “correct values” to the Japanese. We see this in Shigeo’s thinking because he advocates the new process of thinking, even backing up the imprisoned “teachers” and believing they will help lead them to a “new dawn”.

This “new dawn” may see idealistic for Shigeo, but one thing even more interesting is whether women will play a big role in this new society. There is an engendering of a virgin Japan and how it was viewed as “her entire history” after being penetrated by “Little Boy” and “Fat Man.” It is also critical to note that Ogata-San and “men like [him]self” found a way to preserve the country and that Shigeo and “those men” are able to rebuild the country, yet there is no mention of women being a part of either ones. Perhaps this may be the newest “disaster” in their history, the lack of inclusion of women.