I visited the amazing land of Japan for the first time last month.
The minute I set foot in Tokyo’s Narita Airport, it felt like entering a surreal country—almost too good to be true!
The first thing that one notices is the extreme politeness of the Japanese people. Their repeated bowing to greet guests is incomparably more respectful than our customary casual handshake. I was amazed to find out that everyone gets the same excellent service, at no extra charge! No one gets tips, including waiters and parking attendants.
Japan is impeccably clean. No litter can be found anywhere. Piles of dirt or garbage are nowhere to be seen. You cannot find a single car in the streets with a dent or speck of dust. Even trucks hauling construction materials are covered with a net and hosed down before leaving the loading site, so as not to scatter dirt on city streets. Amazingly, after a typhoon directly hit Tokyo, there was no debris in the streets.
To top it all, there is very little crime in Japan due to the calm demeanor of the population and absence of guns. Despite Tokyo’s crowded sidewalks, everyone goes about their business, without pushing or shoving, arguing, or raising their voices. Drivers respect traffic laws and conduct their cars in an orderly manner, without cutting in front of others or honking horns.
Many people are seen in the streets wearing medical masks. One would think that they are protecting themselves from catching the flu or some other disease from passersby. It turns out that the mask wearers are the ones who have the flu. They are being exceedingly considerate, not wishing to pass their germs onto others!
Besides visiting Japanese shrines and ancient palaces, I had the opportunity to engage in Armenian-related activities in this far-away land. I was pleased to learn that the Republic of Armenia had an embassy in Tokyo. Ambassador Hrant Pogosyan and Attache Monica Simonyan received me graciously and briefed me about their relentless efforts to foster friendly relations between the two countries. We discussed opportunities for collaboration between the Armenian community in the United States and the Embassy of Armenia in Japan, particularly during the upcoming Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.
A totally unexpected treat was the concert organized by the Armenian Embassy, celebrating the 110th anniversary of Aram Khachaturian’s birth. Three top musicians, pianists Armen Babakhanian and Julietta Vardanyan, and cellist Aram Talalyan, had flown from Armenia especially for this one-night performance. The Japanese audience, comprised of foreign diplomats and a handful of Armenian students and businessmen, were highly impressed with Khachaturian’s music and the virtuosity of the performers. I even met a Japanese scholar who spoke Armenian fluently. I had never heard Armenian spoken with a Japanese accent!
Japanese friends had kindly arranged for a meeting with CEO’s of several major corporations in Tokyo and Kyoto to discuss investment possibilities in Armenia. I was highly impressed by the state-of-the-art stem-cell research laboratory at Kyoto University.
Later that day I had the unique opportunity to give a lecture to a group of bright university students and their professors. They spoke English quite well and asked numerous questions, even though I was told that Japanese students normally do not ask questions. My talk covered the Armenian Genocide, the Artsakh (Karabagh) conflict, Syria’s civil war, the Arab Spring, the controversial issue of Comfort Women, and the necessity of peaceful resolution of conflicts.
After returning to Tokyo, my hosts surprised me by presenting me, from the archives of the Japan Times newspaper, a copy of the issue dated Oct. 4, 1998, which had a half-page article about my humanitarian efforts for Armenia on behalf of the United Armenian Fund.
My final meeting was with three high-ranking Japanese government officials, with whom I discussed at length Japan’s relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, China, Russia, and South Korea.
My conversations with Japanese university students and government leaders made me realize that Armenians have made a habit of concentrating all of their political efforts on the Middle East, Europe, and North and South America, totally ignoring the large number of strategically important countries in Asia.
It may be politically and economically more productive to extend the span of our attention to countries whose citizens know hardly anything about Armenia and Armenians.
Harut Sassounian
parev harut- I myself have visited japan, oh about 25 years ago. my reason for going there was to da a pilgrimage to the two cities where the atomic bombs where dropped, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
I wish turkey was as respectful and clean as the Japanese.
Japan’s comic books and animation and video game industry is rife with a desire for ideas. Most of these ideas come from history, from existing cultures and mythos.
What we should export is Armenian History to them. Our own pantheon, our own legends, our own histories – they are perfect for unique and original storytelling. People like Narses or the Second Battle of Sarvandik’ar are great options that many Armenians ourselves aren’t aware of.
This is what needs to be done.
Hello Harut,
You have described quite well the atmosphere in Japan.having befen there myself long ago,I can see how things are now too.Except perhaps advanced more in technology.A country that has no rival ass rgds its cleanliness and that not only in the street,but also in hotels, private homes etc.
With/ref. to fostering both business and cultural relation with them also important.
I beg to differ a bit as to Armenians having made it a habit of concentrating ion Middle east and other countries,ignoring the Far East,not really that important as I ´would rather we concentrated first and primarily in the Nordic countries such as Finland, the Scandinavian countries and Spain/Portugal,where new Armenian Diasporas have lately burgeoned.WE need to educate latter,before going to the Philipines and Myanbar and/or Singapour.
The Japanese,let´s not forget had a not too recent past that was somehow different and not very much like those -to put it mildly-than those I have indicated.
otheerwise all else is very well pointed out and we need to develp more our relations with them.But again one would think the Northernmost European countries should be placed before kjapan and the other Far Eastern ones.
Best Rgds
Leonard,
What we Armenians, and other peoples of the Middle East, can import from Japan is some humbleness, spirit of tolerance and discipline. In turn, we can export our oligarchs to that country to be recycled in thier highly advanced factories.
Please stop this love fest with Japan, it is getting nauseating.
It is the Japanase after all who committed some of the worst atrocities in WWII and to this date they tend to rewrite parts of the history that they don’t like.
You’re making this out to be a utopic land.
No crime in Japan? That is just not true, you just didn’t scrape the surface. There is a lot of organized crime in Japan, and their society is less civil than appearances make them out to be.
All in all Japan has a lot of virtues, but please put some reality as a backdrop.
Coming to Armenia, I would trade all of Armenia’s flaws for all of Japan’s any day in exchange for all their virtues.
spirit of tolerance ?
surely you jest, Arshag.
I guess you have not heard of Rape of Nanking ?
Perhaps the Korean so-called ‘comfort women’ ?
Actually teenage Korean, Chinese, Filipina and other South East Asian girls abducted by the savage Japanese Imperial invaders to be used as sex slaves. Young girls abducted for sex slavery by a savage invading foreign military: now where have I heard that one before.
You have any idea what the Japanese Imperial Army did to the counties they invaded and conquered ?
The infamous ‘comfort women’ is just the tip of the iceberg.
And Japanese nationalists deny it happened, and worship their war criminals.
Some spirit of tolerance.
As to Oligarchs: sure, why not ? then you can import their Yakuza into Armenia.
Then you will see what real oligarchs and gangsters are like.
Armenian oligarchs can’t hold a candle to gangsters or oligarchs of other nations.
Humbleness ?
They worship their unelected Emperor as a God: bow to him as if he is a Deity.
People that think like you call the popularly elected President of RoA names, and consider him ‘illegitimate’.
Based on nothing more than false accusations and rumours.
Japanese have a very strict societal hierarchy: good or bad, what the top man decides, others follow without fail.
Men have their assigned role in society. Women have their assigned role in society.
Everybody subordinates their personal needs to what benefits the Japanese society at large. Even at high cost to their personal lives.
Armenians like you know better, of course: with us Armenians everybody is a leader. Nobody follows.
If it is not the guy you like or voted for, then you give yourself the right to call him ‘illegitimate’.
(generic ‘you’).
Go on a hunger strike; throw a tantrum; start demonstrating; disrupt the society; go to Council of Europe as a member of your country’s National Assembly and publicly, falsely accuse the President of your own country.
Maybe we can send Armenians that think like you and Zaruhi Postanjian to Japan for a few years, so you guys can learn to respect authority, and follow orders.
The list of Japanese vs Armenians is long.
And Japanese have many accomplishments to be proud of.
And Japanese are hard working people: much to be admired about them.
But I’d rather be an Armenian, despite our long history of suffering.
Armenians have not committed a Nanking.
Armenians have not enslaved ‘comfort women’.
Armenians have not tortured POWs and have not conducted Nazi-like medical experiments on the victims of their conquests.
Even when attacked, massacred, invaded, Armenians have behaved more humanely towards their defeated enemies than any other ethnos I know.
We are a GREAT people. Few like us in this world.
To Avery,
You are at the opposite end of the spectrum of “other-nation worship”.
You make Armenians out to be gentler and better humans, less flawed.
That is not a virtue in this brutal world, but a flaw. We all know how the sheep loses out to the wolf. A nation cannot persevere if it doesn’t also know how to judiciously wield force. Praying to Jesus did not save our millions from having their necks sliced.
The Japanese have a lot of virtues. When taken with a critical eye, there are lessons that can be learned.
You mention emperor worship as a flaw. Yes it is. But it also shows how the Japanese make for a much more cohesive society. They can subordinate themselves to their leaders (strong parallels with Germans in fact) and sometimes go down the route of folly but sometimes also achieve greatness. This is a virtue under certain circumstances and a flaw in other situations.
They also have cultural and societal traits that make them achieve better results in group efforts, a complete opposite of Armenian traits where individualism reigns.
Comparing nations is a futile exercise, but we can ascertain that only a handful of nations have occupied the pages of glory in the history of recorded mankind, and Armenians are not one of them. Their times have come and gone, and may return again. History still has to prove that the meek shall inherit the earth.
to samurai Gevorg:
obviously you have misread or misunderstood my post.
{“Please stop this love fest with Japan, it is getting nauseating.
It is the Japanase after all who committed some of the worst atrocities in WWII and to this date they tend to rewrite parts of the history that they don’t like.
You’re making this out to be a utopic land.”}
did you write that, or was it some other Samurai ?
And I am quite familiar with who we are: long before we started to pray to Jesus and after.
The myth that Christianity has somehow caused our many problems is not supported by fact.
As to being gentle and such: there is a world of difference between massacring unarmed civilians and defending yourself and being ruthless with an armed enemy that wants to exterminate you.
During the NKR war our fighting men gave Azerbaijani civilians a safe passage out of surrounded towns and villages.
Every time.
They never resorted to wanton massacre of defenseless civilians just because they could.
At the same time, they had no compunction killing as many armed enemy invaders in action as they could. In some battles, the kill ratio was 10-to-1 in our favour: that level of lopsided kill-ratio is unprecedented in battle when both sides are roughly matched as to level of military technology. In fact Armenians’ military equipment was far less in quality and quantity than Azerbaijan’s.
That not only proves one can win battles and wars without resorting to massacre of unarmed civilians, but proves what kind of people Armenians are.
We are a GREAT people. Few like us in this world.
Ssamurai! Gevorg
“… for all of Japan’s any day in exchange for all …”.
Could you explain this please? Lest I mis any of your version of Ssamurai bravado?
Harut,
this article differs significantly in style from your other articles I have read before.
First of all, Japan has its own share of good, bad and ugly. So does Armenia. Let’s not melt from first impressions.
Frankly this article lacks any coherent ideas, and it seems that it has been written just to justify a visit to Japan, possibly by the request from sponsors.
After reaching half of the article the amount of I, me, my pronouns makes one think the article is just about YOUR visit to Japan, not about what Japan, its people, its history, its culture, or its experience can offer Armenia and Armenians to find their proper place in modern world, and points of application for such help.
Hello Harout
We met in Armenia in 2009 at a dinner table on the 9th of May and I gave you a book written by Hagop Oshagan “Ankeghin Gedoutsin Dag”. I have always been impressed how much you have done “on your own” to the Armenian Cause for Justice and Truth. I admire you for that and we need people like you to form “one day” the “Armenian Diasporan Zionist Organization” to counter the Turkish and Azerbaijani organizations who getting better and better by the day. To connect with your article about Japan, Japan has a long and bloody history to survive up to our present day. The person that commented about Japan’s violent and aggressive history but look what the Americans have done during the last century until our present day and using wrongly the name of DEMOCRACY. And look at these Some vile European countries are doing
in Syria. I am not even talking what the Turks have done and what they are doing now to their neighbor. A Chinese Lady commented one day that every living person on this earth should visit Japan during their life time and see how the Japanese LOVE and CARE for their Country. She said, this Chinese Lady, that when this happens, THE WORLD WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE. I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO JAPAN but I feel she right.
Mr. Zohrab,please don´t hastily ¨copy¨ the Zionist org.We can do much better than that adopting our own.Which in my ¨¨suggestions¨has always been as a Supreme Council of the Diaspora,with 5 deptartments,
Legal/political in Strasbourg.FR.,Exec.in NY.Economic in Geneva CH,Social Servioces and future Repatriation organizing dept.in Mosocw(near abroad with 2 million Armens around.
How can this be brought to exist ,I have explained before many a time over.In all Armenian-dense townships of the Glove we claqssify into Work/prof.type groupings elect our 3 person reps(for their Merits) I have also detailed what merits,but I repeat again-One for being most advanced in prof.one,culturally ,nat´l,Int´l and one economically(note please) one complements other(s).Main objective REAL PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION,not from man on the street,by campaigning ,money spending through Power brokers.WE can have our own NOT COPY blindly….
As to article by Harut,he has reported,as he always does quite well.If some like me make small extra ¨suggestions¨I´m sure he take them quite nicely.He is our only-so far- spokesman this isde of the ocean(atlantic9 …have no one else so assiduously doing it.Thanks Harut,keep it up.And Zohrab, sometimes keeping some dirty cloths within one´s premises, better than exposing them.Meaning this great country that indeed is as yet one of the most Free Democracies,if not the most free.
Addendum,
Near forgot,
The FIFTH Department of the yet non-existing Supreme Council of Diaspora*the only one that exists,in St. ST. Etchmiadzin(in conjunction with Great House of Cilicia….latter until such time as our Genocide Recognition is not globally acknowledged-hopefully in a yr and a half, when Genocide State also admits its culpability and pledges RESTITUTION-compensation/……………………..
Ssamurai Gevorg
“… for all of Japan’s any day in exchange for all their virtues” …
Could you explain this please? Lest I miss any of the delicacies of your Ssamurai bravado?
Avery
My response should not be considered as a defense of what Japanes have done or not done. But, for the record, the Ministry of Foreign afairs of Japan and several Japanese high ranking officials at ministerial level have so far acknowledged and apologized for the crimes commited by the Imperial army of Japan. Besides, war criminals have been tried, condemned and executed. Though, of course some sections of the population and the political forces are as yet not repentant.
But, show me one imperial power which has not committed atrocities against other peoples. That seems unfortunately to be the nature of humans when they acquire unchallenged power. All big powers have commeitted such crimes in one time or other in varying degrees.
However, what a state does to others is generally not what on which basis we judge the people of that country. More importantly is how the government of that country treats its own people and how the poeple treat eacht other
I can stille remember, and maybe you too, the picture of the owner of a large Japanese company who publicly apologized the people for a technical fault in one of their productions which had caused fatal accidents. Needless to say, the defective cars were called back and the damages compensated. Apologizing publicly and bowing in front of cameras as a sign of acknowledging fault is probably what you don’t see often by functionaries of other countries. Would such a think happen in Armenia?
True, every nation and peope has good and bad sides. Japanese too are not an exception, nor are we Armenians for that matter. Praising some other people for some virtue that we lack doesn’t mean that we are ashamed of what we are or have. Yes, we have also good virtues which others should probably copy.
Lastly, you accuse me of calling ”our popularly elected president ‘illetimate’”, while I haven’t entered in this discussion at all. You say: “People that think like you call the popularly elected President of RoA names, and consider him ‘illegitimate’. Based on nothing more than false accusations and rumours.”
Where did you bring this from? Where did I call the president of RoA names or call him “illegitimate”?. May be that was your general impression from my other postings in other pages, but no, I will tell you what I precisely think about the president of RoA.
Well, “legitimate”, he may be, like many other legitimate presidents and heads of state coming out of the poll box as victor in our parts of the world. But, “popularly elected“? You must be joking. Is the widespread corruption and the continuing exodus false accusation and rumour? And if it is not who is responsible for this state of affairs other than, mainly, your “popularly elected president”, his Republican Party and the oligarchic system that they represent and defend?
Ok, having said this, I do not mean to absolve the opposition, or those who call themselves “opposition” from responsibility for what Armenia is undergoing now. In fact, the social culture of the country and the individual Armenians has to undergo change before a sensible change in greater level can be achieved. And yes, we have to do something with our obstinacy, arrogance, hard-headedness, our “gorozutyun”, for our own self and the future of our country. And why not learn some good manners from others and leave the bad for themselves?
Comment by samurai Gevorg: “They also have cultural and societal traits that make them achieve better results in group efforts, a complete opposite of Armenian traits where individualism reigns”
See, that is why the American democracy (with its individualism and intolerance of tyranny) is more suitable to our character than the slavish Japanese mentality. In fact, we Armenians have been ready for an American style democracy for thousands of years.