Ways in Which Japanese and Americans Viewed Each Other - Essay Example

Discuss your impressions of the ways in which Japanese and Americans viewed each other. What things did they seem to notice about each other, and what things were they interested in understanding about each other. When Townsend Harris first visited Japan in the mid-nineteenth century he was one of the key initiators of a new era in international history. Japan had been closed to all but a few minor trading visitors in the years before this time, and Harris set about building an extensive diplomatic and trade relationship between the United States and Japan. There are a number of fascinating documents and images which survive from this period, including Townsend Harris’s own journal, the writings of the first Japanese diplomats to visit America, and many official letters and treaties. Most of these deal with practical issues the time, but beneath the surface of official correspondence, and between the lines of the dry bureaucratic language there are some key indications of the way that the two nations viewed each other. This paper examines in particular the interest which the two nations showed in each other’s outward appearance, public behaviour, intelligence, and attitude towards their homeland. The very great difference in style of dress and personal adornment must have made a great impression on both parties when they first came into contact with each other. Townsend Harris was received with great splendor by the Japanese emperor and his various officials, and there is an emphasis on public display of wealth and military force in visits on both sides of the ocean. One depiction of Japanese dignitaries being received on the deck of the U.S.S.R. Roanoake, for example, shows the Japanese delegates in the foreground, wearing flowing light colored robes, while the Americans in their dark tailcoats stand on the right and in the background. A Japanese image of American visitors also draws a sharp contrast between the tall, and very dark Americans wearing trousers, while the Japanese figures are shorter, broader and considerably more colorful in their patterned robes. As a modern observer, looking back at these images, it strikes me that the Japanese figures are depicted in the American pictures almost as if they are women. The erect stance of the Americans contrasts with the bowed figures of the Japanese, which no doubt reflects the tradition of inclining the head out of respect which Japanese people always do in formal situations. There may be a feeling of masculine superiority in the American pictures, and this no doubt reflects the way that they saw themselves taking the initiative and making their way into Japan. Conversely, the American figures drawn by the Japanese look like slender birds, and have a brittle, spiky and off-balance appearance, looks less secure than that squat and square images of powerful Japanese men. One aspect that is very noticeable in the American view of the Japanese is that there is admiration for the ability of large crowds of people to remain silent: “Picture the thoughts of those countless men, women and children, who formed a rank five feed deep on each side of the way; who peeped from the windows..for a distance of over seven miles – and all in absolute silence!” (Harris and Cozenza, 1959, p. 573). The author of this narrative, which is based on Harris’s journal entry of November 23res 1857, exclaims in wonder because he interprets the silence of the crowds as being caused by the magnificence of the American flag (and by implication also the greatness of American military and cultural power). His use of the phrase “the appalling silence of such a vast multitude” (Harris and Cozenza, 1959, p.573) also implies that the crowd have are afraid of the flag, and their silence is a sign of weakness and submission. There appears to be little understanding of the cultural difference between American crowd behavior, which is typically rowdy and noisy, and Japanese crowds, who naturally seek order and calm, in order to preserve each other’s dignity in public. Rowdiness befits a country of individualists who pride themselves on their independence and resourcefulness, while dignified silence is the expression of a much more group-oriented culture. The reverse of this situation is described by a Japanese visitor who was part of the Iwakura mission and observed the crowds of American citizens outside his hotel window: “The citizens gathered and cheered, celebrating our safe arrival...The crowd cheered and clapped for quite some time. Western people are ever eager to promote trade and like to extend a warm welcome to foreign visitors” (Kunitake, 2002, .p. 66) The Japanese view of the Americans does not match the view that the Americans have of the Japanese, however. Accounts of the American/Japanese encounters are not in the least fearful, as is seen in Seishisai Aizawa’s “New Proposals” (1958) which describe the Americans who visit Japan as “the alien barbarians of the West” who have “squinting eyes and limping feet” (Aizawa, 1958, p. 596). This descriptions suggests that the Japanese see the Americans as being morally and physically inferior to themselves. The author acknowledges the superior numbers of Americans but he describes them as are arrogant and aggressive, which by implication suggests that he sees the Japanese as being modest and peaceful. Later in the same document, the author bemoans the tendency of Japanese citizens to begin emulating the barbarian customs of the visitors: “If someday the treacherous foreigner should take advantage of the situation and lure ignorant people to his ways, our people will adopt such practices as eating dogs and sheep and wearing woolen clothing. And no one will be able to stop it” (Aizawa, 1958, p. 601). From this comment, it appears that the two cultures make use of different domestic animals, and the thought of eating or wearing products from sheep is seen as an indication of barbarity and inferiority. There is quite a lot of bluster in this Aizawa’s description of the Americans and it extends also into a negative view of American intelligence: “Thus it stands to reason that the Westerners by committing errors and overstepping their bounds, are inviting their own eventual downfall” (Aizawa, 1958, p. 596). The texts from the American side do not resort to so many insulting phrases, but there are some deeply patronizing implications in some of the laws and treaties that the Americans drew up to regulated trade between American ships and Japanese merchants. Arrangements are made, for example, for the Japanese to use coins supplied by the Americans. This provision is justified by the explanation in Article V of the 1860 “Treaty of Amity and Commerce Between the United States and Japan” that “some time will elapse before the Japanese will be acquainted with the value of foreign coin” (Harris and Cozenza, 1959, p. 581). The greatest difference in the perceptions of the two countries can be explained in terms of their different attitudes to their homeland. Townsend Harris’s sentimental attachment to the American flag is evidence of a belief in a relatively recent and hard-won political achievement, bringing independence and hope for the future. It is very different from Aizawa’s fanatical attachment to “our Divine Land” (Aizawa, 1958, p. 596) which he equates with heaven. For him, Japan is naturally superior, taking prime position at the top of the world, much like the head of a human being, and leaving other nations to be the feet and legs, or, in the case of America “the hindmost region of the earth” (Aizawa, 1958, p. 596). These examples have shown that each nation was blinded by assumptions about its own natural superiority, and in celebrating their own achievements, they failed to grasp the subtleties of culture and the best qualities of the other party in these first tentative steps towards international partnership. [1258 words] References Aizawa Seishisai. “New Proposals,” in Tsunoda, Ryusaku, De Bary, WM Theodore, and Keene, Donald (Eds.) Sources of Japanese Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1958. Print. Harris, Townsend and Cozenza, Mario Emilio (Ed.). The Complete Journal of Townsend Harris, First American Consul and Minister to Japan. 2nd edn. Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1959. Print. Kunitake, Kumi. The Iwakuru Embassy, 2002, p. 252-253. Print. Miyoshi, Masao. As We Saw Them: The First Japanese Embassy to the United States. 1979. Print. Tsunoda, Ryusaku, De Bary, WM Theodore, and Keene, Donald (Eds.). Sources of Japanese Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1958. Print Read More