By Jason Lim
I am writing this in the immediate aftermath of Japan’s victory over the U.S. in the Women’s World Cup 2011. Although I am heartbroken that my side couldn’t hold on to win, what a thrill and privilege it was to watch the proverbial underdog beat out the big dogs and win the whole thing.
And as the announcers kept saying, this win would undoubtedly provide a huge lift to a nation that is still reeling from the terrible aftereffects of the great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011. And I sincerely hope it does.
Nevertheless, I feel just a tiny bit frustrated that the great nation of Japan would be so desperately dependent on an improbable win in the World Cup to lift its national spirits.
To be frank, I thought that Japan would have been roaring back from the disaster already, rallying together as a nation to rebuild not only her infrastructure but her psyche and show Asia’s four tigers who the original king of the jungle was. But the roar has been nothing more than a slow whimper of a wounded animal too sick and tired to even lick its own wounds.
Where are you, Japan? Where is the indomitable spirit and industry that rebuilt the devastated nation from the ashes of World War II into the No. 2 economy in the world?
Where are you, Japan? Where is the nation that had the U.S. industry captains quaking in their boots and wondering out loud whether the Japanese economic tsunami would swallow them up?
Where are you, Japan? What happened to the world order whereby Asia was defined by Japan and others? I realize that China is a rising giant about to take over its traditional leading role in Asia, but, Japan, what about going down kicking and fighting? As we saw in the championship game, it ain’t over until it’s over.
But my questions are not fair. Or accurate. The question that I should really be asking is, “Where are you, the Japanese leaders?”
And I don’t mean just the politicians. Where are the giants of the Japanese society who dare to stand up and tell the nation, “Follow me! I have a vision of how Japan can rebuild and regain its leadership in the world.” Where is that visionary leadership that Japan needs at her hour of need?
Perhaps there isn’t any. Perhaps Japanese society has become so “conflict-averse” that no one is willing to stand up to publicly admit that there is something wrong and force the nation into a collective handwringing when tsunami victims are abandoned to radioactive poisoning, children show dangerously high levels of cesium in their urine, and contaminated beef make its way to supermarket shelves.
Perhaps I should have known that Japan was suffering a fatal disease of leadership last December when Japan’s Social Insurance Fund paid 99 yen ($1.08) as part of a welfare pension refund to seven South Korean women who were forced to work during Imperial Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
The key word here is forced. These were forced laborers who were made to work ― under the threat of death ― in coal mines and military installations and paid a slave’s wage. In 1998, seven brave women filed suit against the Japanese government to get their rightful share of the welfare pension fund that they were forced to pay into while working as slaves in Imperial Japan.
Of course, anyone with a half a brain would know that these women primarily wanted recognition for their suffering and vindication for the wrongs done against them. Money was secondary.
So, what nation with anything resembling a central leadership would allow its government to add insult to injury by issuing a $1 in refund to these women? How petty do you want to look to the international community? What better way to look clueless and recalcitrant to the rest of the Asian nations dealing with memories of Japanese wartime abuses?
Just stonewalling the women would have been far better strategy than going through the motions of calculating that Japan’s government owed seven powerless former slaves of Imperial Japan a God-forsaken dollar for the incalculable loss of dignity that they suffered. Oh, by the way, the Japanese government didn’t take inflation into account when calculating the amount.
But perhaps I am not being fair. Japan’s leadership did speak up forcefully recently when Korean Air’s inaugural flight of its A380 passed over Dokdo’s airspace. In protest, the Japanese Foreign Ministry ordered its employees not to take Korean Air flights.
And four Diet members from Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are planning a protest trip to Ulleung Island. Yup, way to be proactive over this critical national problem ― it’s certainly far more important than a melting nuclear fuel reactor.
On second thought, Japan’s leadership is worth something. About 99 yen.
Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based consultant in organizational leadership, culture, and change management. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006. He can be reached at jasonlim@msn.com and on Facebook.com/jasonlim2000.