Banyan

Japan and the uses of adversity

The rest of Asia watches with horror, pity and admiration
Mar 17th 2011 | from the print edition

FEW bright spots illuminate the bleak sequence of calamities unfolding in Japan.
But here are two: the quotidian, stoic heroism with which so many Japanese have
responded to devastating loss and terrifying danger; and the outpouring of symp
athy and support for them from around the world. In the many parts of Asia where
anti-Japanese sentiment runs deep, the disasters may even mark a turning-point
in attitudes, bringing a new respect and warmth to perceptions of Japan.
Hostility towards the country in what bankers call “ex-Japan Asia” has fluctuated, a
nd, especially in China, has at times been manipulated by governments. But it ha
s never vanished. It has three roots. One is the legacy of Japan’s imperialist pas
t and its begrudging, half-hearted apologies for wartime atrocities. Second are
simmering territorial disputes with China, Taiwan and South Korea over tiny isle
ts in the East China Sea, and the fisheries and oil-and-gas fields around them.
Third is plain envy of Japan’s efficiency, wealth and power, mixed with resentment
at the arrogance they are sometimes seen as fostering. That Japan is a huge aid
donor and investor in developing Asia has mitigated but not eradicated these pr
ejudices, which have also withstood two decades of economic stagnation punctuate
d by a huge disaster—the Kobe earthquake of 1995. Japan’s present emergency, however
, may have a more lasting impact. It is more multifaceted and comes after a furt
her 16 years of relative Japanese decline, including its recent ceding to China
of its status as the world’s second-largest economy.
Related topics
Asia
China
Japan
2011 Japan Disaster
Accidents and disasters
Even now there have been a few vile, jubilant voices among Japan’s neighbours. The
chinaSMACK website reported a microblogger who greeted the earthquake with the
pithy remark: “Splendid!” A blogger in Taiwan—an assistant to a member of parliament—cri
ticised donations to Japan, and indulged in racist abuse of Japanese “dogs”. Less gr
otesquely, a Malaysian newspaper published an insensitive cartoon of a popular J
apanese manga hero, Ultraman, fleeing a tsunami.
All of this, however, met fierce criticism. One comment on the Chinese “Splendid!” p
ost was “What’s wrong with you?” The Taiwanese blogger’s boss and the Malaysian newspape
r were quick to apologise. And the cruelty was not just an Asian phenomenon. The
re was equally offensive rubbish on Facebook out of America, calling the catastr
ophes retribution for a 70-year-old act of infamy at Pearl Harbour.
Away from the nastier fringes of the internet, the typical reaction, in Asia as
elsewhere, has been of appalled sympathy. As the tsunami of sludge swept over no
rth-eastern Honshu on March 11th crowds gathered, transfixed by the pictures, in
front of television sets in shops, bars, stations and airports. Since then it h
as become more apparent how many lives might have been lost, what hardship survi
vors are enduring, and what peril they face from the risk of a deadly nuclear di
saster. Japan’s past hardly seems relevant any more, except for the memory that it
is the only nation to have suffered nuclear attack.
Beyond pity at seeing residents of a rich, proud country scavenging for food, ho
arding bottled water and huddling for shelter on schoolroom floors, it was hard
not to feel admiration as well. Chinese and Indian websites were agog at the ord
erliness of the Japanese, even those now homeless and even as the nuclear panic
mounted. They noted the lack of looting. Some drew unfavourable comparisons with
their own people and governments. An article on one Chinese site, Caixin, refer
red both to the earthquake in China’s Sichuan province in 2008, when some 70,000 p
eople died, and to the way schools in Japan have been used as shelters. In the S
ichuan earthquake many schools collapsed. Parents blamed corruption and shoddy c
onstruction.
This popular response was matched by official warmth. Like China’s during the reli
ef effort that followed the Sichuan earthquake, Japan’s foreign relations have imp
roved. It has been on bad terms with China since a row last September over the S
enkaku islands. But China has donated aid and, at his annual press conference on
March 14th, Wen Jiabao, the prime minister, made a point of giving a message of
support for Japan, recalling its help to China in 2008. Similarly, the disaster
s have led to a rapprochement with Russia, with which relations have also been f
raught over a territorial dispute. Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, h
as offered aid in the form of energy and ordered officials to speed up an oil-an
d-gas project on the island of Sakhalin to meet future Japanese demand.
Russia’s offer may be based on the assumption that Japan will have to pare back it
s reliance on nuclear energy. And that is another lesson that Asian observers of
Japan’s crisis have taken home: if even Japan—so well-organised and disciplined, so
well prepared for disaster and so experienced in nuclear power—can come so close
to catastrophe, what nuclear risks are their own countries running? Despite crit
icism of Japan’s handling of the nuclear crisis, many Chinese or Indians suspect t
heir own authorities are no more competent or transparent.
Meltdown
Yet China is building almost as many nuclear power plants as the rest of the wor
ld combined. India, too, has big plans to expand its nuclear-power industry. Lik
e China and Japan, it is prone to earthquakes. This week both India and China an
nounced safety reviews. Neither is likely to call a permanent halt to further ex
pansion. The world has tended to approve of their plans. Both countries at prese
nt rely heavily on coal for electricity generation, which both will be boosting
hugely in coming decades. The alternative to nuclear expansion may be more coal,
and higher carbon emissions. It is hard to look on the bright side for long.

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