U.S. & Japanese History - Essay Example

Introduction The essay is related to the background of the Japanese history. This gives the reader an overall view of the country and its people. Afterwards, the US-Japan economic relations are discussed in relevance to various example, then US-Japan defense and US-Japan social relations and US-Japan cultural relations are discussed. Then the treatment of Japanese citizens by the United States during the Second World War is discussed in a great detail. Lastly a conclusion is provided for at the end of the essay. Background The early Japanese people hunted and gathered food. Rice was introduced into the society in 300 BC. This led to the establishment of the societal hierarchy and numerous small villages (which later combined together to form lager tribes). Buddhism was introduced at around 538 BC. In 1912, during the First World War, Japan joined the Allied forces. During the Second World War (1937) Japan surrendered after two atomic bombs (one on Hiroshima and the other one on Nagasaki) were dropped. In 1942, Japan had a new constitution and in 1952, the Allied occupation of Japan ended (japan-guide.com). US-Japan: Economic Relations After the World War II, Japan held a very sympathetic position, in the world's heart. Though the other countries had had damage, the nuclear bomb had been used in the two cities (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) of Japan. As a result of this, two cities were almost entirely wiped out of its people, natural habitat and wild life. And for generations to come people had health problem to contend with. Babies were born with deformities, young people looked like they senior citizens and nothing can be grown in the earth of these two cities. Thus, the entire world felt very sympathetic of Japan. Japan on the other hand, learned from a first hand experience about the dirty side of war. To this day, Japan fights with countries, the world over to prevent them from gaining nuclear access. Japan, with the help of the nations around the globe built it self up from the rubble of World War II. It learned to be flexible, to keep it's own heritage, but, at the same time be open to the ideas and experiences of the western world. Japanese society is one of the most conservative societies around the world. In addition, there is also a strict division between the roles of men and women. But, the Japanese people wear western clothes and their children listen to western music etc. This clearly shows a combination of the two worlds, the east and the west. By picking out the best in the two worlds Japan has been able to rebuild itself with amazing speed and has re-established itself as one of the foremost developed nations of the world. US-Japan: Defense Relations With the USA being a capitalistic country and Japan being a non-capitalistic one, there has always been a profound between the two nations. Whenever there is a difference between the types of governments in two countries friction is imminent. US-Japan: Social Relations In his book The Clash, LaFeber (1997) talks about the many aspects in which the Japanese people look-up to the Americans. One of the examples is that the Japanese dress like the Americans (though of course they have their own national dresses). Baseball is another such aspect. Japanese ball teams have been formulated on the designs of their American counterparts. In fact, a number of American baseball players have been asked to come to Japan and play on their teams. US-Japan: Cultural Relations Cultural conflict between the United States and Japan has been sufficiently summed up by Rosen (2000) as, "Interpretations of Japan, as well as other Asian cultures, often carries an implicit assumption that the West is rational (and superior) whereas the East is bound by ancient traditions (and is inferior). "Oriental-ism" has been identified as the particular form that a Western stereotypical understanding of Asian cultures has taken. Intercultural communication becomes highly problematic as long as stereotypes are held and as long as the other culture is seen as foreign and wholly other. By transcending this "Oriental-ism" we will be in a better position to understand and communicate with those from another culture without having to set up a dichotomous boundary between "us" and "them." Conflict with Japan is focused on 1) because there seems to be a lot of it, and 2) because Japan represents a unique culture field which is, in some ways, both modern and familiar, yet in other ways seemingly foreign to Western interpretive structures. This paper will call into question some of the stereotypes that Westerners often project onto Japan as being a monolithic culture which is excessively authoritarian, hierarchical, and patriarchal. We will try to offer some other interpretive options for understanding a culture which has suffered from intercultural communication problems for so long." Thus, it can be seen from the above that cultural conflict between the two nations has their roots embedded deep in the past. In addition, he has written that Americans think of Chinese as culturally more accessible as compared to the Japanese people. According to Rothkopf (1997), globalization plays a tremendous role in binding nations together. As a direct result of world-globalization, the English language is playing another important role. Every language is different from another and people think in a certain way due to a specific language. Thus, when the people of the world start to think in the same language, then obviously their thinking will become similar. More Japanese today have gone to schools where English was taught. I would like to propose the theory that maybe this is the reason that in recent years Japanese and American relations have improved and become more tolerant. That is, with the increasing number of Japanese learning English, they are also learning to think in a different mind-set then what they are usually used to. This has enabled them to better understand their American counterparts. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the American students. US-Japan: Treatment of Japanese Citizens Burton, Farrell, Lord, and Lord in their article describe the underlying factors behind the relocation of the Japanese citizens by the US government during World War II. A direct citation of their work is given as follows, "On December 7, 1941, the United States entered World War II when Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. At that time, nearly 113,000 people of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of them American citizens, were living in California, Washington, and Oregon. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066 empowering the U.S. Army to designate areas from which "any or all persons may be excluded." No person of Japanese ancestry living in the United States was ever convicted of any serious act of espionage or sabotage during the war. Yet these innocent people were removed from their homes and placed in relocation centers, many for the duration of the war. In contrast, between 1942 and 1944, 18 Caucasians were tried for spying for Japan; at least ten were convicted in court. To understand why the United States government decided to remove Japanese Americans from the West Coast in the largest single forced relocation in U.S. history, one must consider many factors. Prejudice, wartime hysteria, and politics all contributed to this decision." (Burton et al) Their article describes that anti-Japanese feelings in the country actually came about as a result of resentment against the Chinese in the United States. Chinese immigration over shadowed the Japanese immigration. The Chinese immigrated during the gold rush; whereas the Japanese immigrated to the USA approximately at the same time that the Chinese exclusion act was passed. Most of the Japanese landed at Hawaii (with the exception of some who came to the mainland) with little or no money and almost half of these immigrants became farmers. Anti Japanese movements were at their peak in 1905 when Japan defeated Russia, which was the first defeat of a western nation by an Asian country. To fully depict the discrimination that the Japanese people went through a direct citation from the same is provided as follows, "Discrimination included the formation of anti-Japanese organizations, such as the Asiatic Exclusion League, attempts at school segregation and a growing number of violent attacks upon individuals and businesses". (Burton et al) To help tackle the above situation, the Japanese government intervened and protested the treatment of its citizens. As a result of which a "gentlemen's agreement" was formulated. The American government decided to revoke the segregation of the school system and other discriminatory acts, whereas, the Japanese government guaranteed to regulate and limit the number of people emigrating from Japan to the United States. The Alien Land Law was passed in 1913. The main purpose of the law was to prevent outsides (especially people of Asian origin) from owning their own land and property. One of the main reasons for this was that the Japanese proved to be good and hard-working farmers, which eventually resulted in a large amount of animosity for the other farmers in the region. After Pearl Harbor some 1,500 Japanese were imprisoned as a result of various reasons ranging from treason to spying. During this time, most of the Japanese people tried to show their loyalty to America, by working in the military, to help fight the Americans against their own country. At the time, any rule that was imposed on the Japanese was to be followed blindly. Failure to do so could result in "subject to treason" and the subsequent jail. Conclusion Thus, Japan and USA has a very unique relationship. Both of the countries eventually both the same things; both of the countries want to become world leaders in today's global economy. Both of them would like to make the world a better and more peaceful place to live. Again, both the United States and Japan want to eliminate terrorism, provide their people with a safe living environment and to guide giant corporations (such as; Buick and Toyota) to treat their employees in a just and fair manner; such that none of the two are cheated from their required earning. Both of the countries have hard working people who have learned through centuries of labour that hard work is the best possible way to live a life. Though, there are cultural and societal differences, one simply feels that the two countries have not yet understood each other fully and once they do, it will become much more easier and feasible for the two to live and work side by side, becoming friends and allies and helping each other towards progression and growth. The past for the two countries might not have been great, but if the two work together and learn to live together with tolerance and in peace and harmony then the future for both the countries would become wonderful. Works Cited Burton J., Farrell M., Lord F. , And Lord R. "An Overview of World War II; Japanese American Relocation Sites" A Brief History of Japanese American Relocation During World War II (2000): Date of Access May 28th 2006 LaFeber W. "The Clash: A History of U.S.-Japan Relations" W.W. Norton and Co. Inc. (1997) Rothkopf D. "In Praise of Cultural Imperialism" Foreign Policy Vol. 107 (1997), pp. 38-53: Date of Access May 28th 2006 Rosen L. "Orientalism and Cultural Conflict" Faculty of Intercultural Communication Issue 4 (2000): Date of Access May 28th 2006 Read More