Thursday, May 03, 2018

"Blessed are the poor" - Japanese Pacifist Constitution


Tokyo

Japanese Pacifist Constitution

It was since around 1500 that the European civilization and Europeans gained lead against the Islamic world, India, and China in terms of economy, science, engineering, and other social systems.

Europeans had been stopped in their efforts to reach Asia to acquire wealth by Islamic nations in the west of the Mediterranean Sea.  So, Columbus and other bold sailors went out for the Atlantic Ocean.  They could reach America by sailing over the Ocean or India, South East Asia, or China by sailing around Africa.  However, along with the start of the Age of Discovery, Christianity in Europe was facing a drastic and revolutionary movement triggered by Martin Luther of Germany.  And also the printing revolution was triggered by Gutenberg of Germany.  And then, the literary revolution was launched by Shakespeare in England.  And, scientific revolution represented by Newton occurred, followed by the Industrial Revolution.  Consequently, dominance by the European civilization was fixed.

However, the biggest factor for the European civilization dominance in the world looked like the discovery of America.

As proved by the Japanese success since the middle of the 19th century, predominance of the European civilization could be stopped by a non-white, non-Christian, non-European or Asian country from buying European technologies, applying them, and developing them to its own environment to catch up Europeans, if the Asian country had deep and wide cultural tradition equivalent to Europeans.     

So, the war between the Empire of Japan and the U.S. was so critical although it was fought between 1941 to 1945 as part of WWII where the Empire defeated U.K. troops and fleets around Singapore.  The Empire of Japan stood as the representing nation in Asia while China, India, and other Asian nations had been fully or partially colonized by European nations.

Japanese had cultural backgrounds with Confucianism created in China and Buddhism created in India.  They had also their own unique literature system.  The depth and broadness of the Japanese culture and spiritualism could compete with Europeans.  Japan was not simply unique culture but the eighth civilization in the world as with civilizations of China, India, Muslims, the Eastern Orthodox, the Western Europe, Latin America, and Africa.

The fact that China, Taiwan, and Korea have succeeded in their economic, business, and engineering development can be understood as examples following Japan's success.

So, the defeat of Japan by the U.S. 70 years ago was so symbolic in terms of key to understanding nature of predominance of the Western Europe Civilization.

The Pacific War between the Empire of Japan  and the U.S. was virtually ended with atomic (nuclear) bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  But, what was left after this war in Japan was the new pacifist Constitution drafted by General MacArthur who led US and allied troops that occupied Japan for several years after the surrender of Japan.

(It was in 1952 that Japan regained its independence after 1945, while the Korean War erupted in 1950.)

That is why Japanese still keep this Constitution in the original form even today.  Yet, how to revise the Constitution has been a big political issue in Japan.   But, the underlying philosophy of this Constitution is, so to speak, American Christianity.   And, it looks like the Japanese Constitution is the true legacy of the era and the true memory of American Christianity in 1940's.

It should be also noted that African Americans came to gradually obtain full civil rights after WWII. 

     
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Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Mat 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.