>"You got what you deserve!" one Japanese held up a hand-written sign at the
>airport where they landed. "You are Japan's shame," another wrote on the Web
>site of one of the hostages. They had "caused trouble" for everybody. The
>government, not to be outdone, announced it would bill them $6,000 for
>airfare.
And people say, in defense of the Japanese, that they are at least "polite". So much for that myth.
>Treated like criminals, the three have gone into hiding, effectively
>becoming prisoners inside their own homes. The kidnapped woman was last seen
>arriving at her parents' house, looking defeated and dazed from taking
>tranquilizers, flanked by relatives who helped her walk and bow deeply
>before the media, as a final apology to the nation.
In a totalitarian society, I suppose one tries to be as invisible as possible. Not quite the same thing as "polite".
>Beneath the surface of Japan's ultra-sophisticated cities lie the
>hierarchical ties that have governed this island nation for centuries and
>that, at moments of crises, invariably reassert themselves. The ex-hostages'
>transgression was to ignore a government advisory against traveling to Iraq.
>But their sin, in a vertical society that likes to think of itself as
>classless, was to defy what people call here "okami," or, literally, "what
>is higher."
Are there any redeeming features whatsoever of Japanese culture? Nothing comes to mind.
>To the angry Japanese, the first three hostages - Nahoko Takato, 34, who
>started her own non-profit organization to help Iraqi street children;
>Soichiro Koriyama, 32, a freelance photographer; and Noriaki Imai, 18, a
>freelance writer also interested in the issue of depleted uranium
>munitions - had acted selfishly. Two others kidnapped and released in a
>separate incident - Junpei Yasuda, 30, a freelance journalist, and Nobutaka
>Watanabe, 36, a member of a pro-peace non-governmental organization - were
>equally guilty.
>
>Pursuing individual goals by defying the government and causing trouble for
>Japan was simply unforgivable. So the single government official to praise
>them was, not surprisingly, an American one.
Well, I suppose at least Japanese society makes American society look free.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas