It is well known that some successful American movie directors and producers, including Steven Spielberg, have been highly influenced by now-dead Kurosawa, a Japanese counterpart.
One of the earliest works of Mr. Kurosawa is “Sugata, Sanshiro.” Sanshiro is a judo hero who is faced with various challenges physically and spiritually, and gets into a decisive wrestling match in wilderness.
What is characteristic about Sanshiro Sugata is his humbleness. He tries hard to grow up and acquire personal integrity through sternness of judo practices and bouts. He is the remotest person from modern sports heroes who openly show off and display their joys of victory.
In a previous EE-report, I mentioned that Mr. Okuda, the powerful leader of Toyota Motor, is a long-time Judo practitioner, and his philosophy is based on a view on life and death, which has been fostered by his Judo practice.
Mr. Okuda especially mentioned a novel, titled “Sugata, Sanshiro,” the late Mr. Kurosawa had adopted to his first movie produced when this Japanese movie director was 33 years old in 1943 during WWII.
And Mr. Okuda refered to this hero when explaining his philosophy. San-shi-ro (which means a third-and-fourth-guy like Ichi-ro means a first-guy) conquered his fear, worry, and pain by resigning himself to higher enlightenment that what matters is death only and there is nothing to fear other than death.
There is a person in Poland who is working as a guide, an interpreter, or a translator for Japanese visiting Auschwitz. This Polish person, when he was young, was highly impressed with the film “Sugata, Sanshiro.”
Having completed his Japanese study in the Warsaw University, he came to Japan for further study and research. After graduation of a graduate school of a prominent Japanese university, he served various VIPs as an interpreter.
The Polish guide said to a Japanese newspaper reporter, “When Japanese students visiting Auschwitz said that they understood that they had not understood anything about the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, I felt I was paid off.”
What is a theme here? It is catholicity or universality.
Knowing a fact that even in a highly Catholic country still the Japanese virtue could be admired and comprehended, Japan might defend itself from false accusation that Japan helped Hitler and the Nazis denying the existence of Jews.
Japan had nothing to do with that atrocity. They had done it very secretly. Japan is at least as innocent as the Vatican City in this regard.
Another issue is the United Nations. If the U.N. is to embody universal value, it had better review its process of improving its Security Council. The fact that an Asian Security Council permanent member is attacking another Asian country well qualified to be a new Security Council permanent member tells why the U.N. doesn’t work.
If you neglect 60-year efforts for peace by Japan while blaming it for a war 60 years ago, you can do anything bad now relying on any remote reasons as justification.
A political party that reportedly killed or had people starving to death more than the Nazis had done, though through different means, should not lead the U.N. and occupy a seat of the Security Council.
Otherwise, citizens in the world had better come to Tokyo but New York for united peace activities.
(Information Source: The Mainichi Shimbun newsapaer)
“AND YOUR FATHER, WHO SEES WHAT YOU DO IN PRIVATE, WILL REWARD YOU.”