AKIO KAWATO (Japan)

I grew up in Tokyo, and every time I returned from a trip to the provinces, I would look out of the train window at the round Toshiba building near Shinagawa, at the neon lights of Yurakte, and think, " How nice it is here in Tokyo!" At that time, the Marunouchi district was just beginning to build tall, seven-story buildings, and I was filled with pride at the sight of them, and every time I drove past, I repeated their names to myself.

Now the buildings of that time, built of whitish concrete and decorated with cheap fluorescent lighting, are already dilapidated and even look abandoned next to the new skyscrapers. The appearance of the city, its comfort and cleanliness make it, in my opinion, one of the best cities in the world.

One day, on a flight out of Narita Airport, I stopped by a bookstore and saw a stack of American Time magazine. On the cover of one of them was a photo of a Japanese singer and an optimistic headline: "Things are going well in Japan." Japan's position in society and culture was appreciated in Europe and Asia. They say "Japan is cool", and this is especially true of the part of Japanese pop culture that Time talked about in its special issue. Already gone were the empty pop idols who could only smile broadly and say "peace" with a victory sign folded between their fingers.

Currently, one more thing catches your eye. We-the baby boom generation - are the heirs of the pre-war education system, used to refer to others by their rank, not by their last name, and only talk about liberalism and building a civil society. And the younger generation, it seems, already without unnecessary conversations, naturally brings these ideas to life. For them, freedom has become a matter of course, they perceive it without hesitation, like air. People of the younger generation are said to be different, but they are well-versed in the new social rules, have clear ideas about their goals, and resist any encroachment on their rights.

What did not exist in post-war Japan! Premeditated murders, riots, strikes and corruption, the intricacies of big politics. Roppongi Junction, today the center of the entertainment district, was then a narrow path leading past the cemetery. Local residents used a round iron tank lying in the middle of the intersection as a bath. So the development of Japan did not go in a straight line, as is often thought abroad. In today's affluent society, unexpected shocks are not so frequent, even strikes on electric train lines have disappeared, and heated ideological and political disputes have sunk into oblivion.

In the 1960s, the protests of students and young workers alternated between America and the government, and now, after the end of the cold War, political disputes are not so much about strategic issues as about everyday problems of the moment. The "season of politics" has come to an end.

Thus, meaning has disappeared from society. Hatred or love of America, capitalism or socialism, and then other issues that concern society as a whole are no longer hotly debated. Young people are mainly looking for interesting jobs, and those who have a family make every effort to feed it.

Japan has not passed the fate of all developed countries - it is gradually becoming multinational. No one is surprised that Asian people are working part-time in restaurants, and Chinese students studying in Japan are gradually becoming newspaper sellers. They look similar to the Japanese, so they are not so conspicuous, but in electric trains and department stores, Chinese and Korean speech is increasingly heard. However, the Japanese themselves are also changing, and this applies not only to young people, even among the older generation there are active people and those who study foreign languages and try to read books in the original.

Gradually, Japan began to say goodbye to the oppressive society, where almost everyone was at the same age as before.-

Akio Kawato is one of the leading Russian scholars of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, during 1973-2002 he was sent four times to the USSR and the Russian Federation to the Embassy of Japan in Moscow (in recent years he was Minister Plenipotentiary, i.e. the second person in the embassy), in 2002-2004-Ambassador of Japan to Uzbekistan, currently - Chief Economist of the Japan Development Bank.

A. Kawato is the author of the epic story about Perestroika-era Russia "Beyond the Distance of the Earth"(Vagrius, 2001), published under the pseudonym Akira Kumano.

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they belonged to a particular company." Who knows what will come next - a more person-centered society or complete collapse and confusion?

AND YET- UNCHANGING JAPAN...

The spirit of collectivism is still evident in Japanese society. It is not so easy for large enterprises and organizations to react quickly to the ongoing changes. During the economic downturn of the 1990s, layoffs were rampant everywhere, but many places still have systems of lifetime hiring and seniority promotion. Most employees of large companies look like capable but risk-averse officials who rely entirely on their own businesses. These people give their "sovereignty" to companies and institutions, receiving a small piece of wealth in return. They have no history with their "I"in their life. Quite acceptable for a good team, "together, amicably" is imperceptibly replaced by "just like everyone else, without standing out". The group consciousness of Japanese people is most likely a legacy of the village community, when everyone lived together, but in today's individualistic society, it will not be easy for a person with such a lifestyle to find their place.

Such group consciousness before the war was associated with the militarization of the country, and after the war-with the ideas of democracy and equality.

The parents of the criminal, even the management of the company where he worked, although not responsible before the law, but often censured by society. This is more typical of the countryside than of the modern state. With the development of a market economy, society should become and is becoming more free. More and more people can do in life without their fellow countrymen, blood relatives, and similar connections. To protect the rights and freedoms of every citizen, society must be transparent and legal.

The other side of democracy - the legislative guarantee of individual rights and the imposition of punishments and duties in accordance with the law-has not taken root here.

In Japanese society, the consciousness of equality has taken deep roots. However, if everyone is equal, then society does not function. People treat each other as equals only if they have the same social status in society. The difference in age or only in the profession requires the use of different styles of politeness. Even an adult deliberately "obeys" an older person for no apparent reason, except for the age difference, even if it is 2-3 years, and pretends to be "pampered". This is a feature of Japan. In the post-cold war world, everything is changeable, and there are no clear shapes, as in the star nebula. The world order that existed during the Cold War has fallen apart, and its legacy is also disappearing, and now, like in a card game, cards are being dealt anew. Western dominance, which has lasted since the great discoveries, is coming to an end in the face of an upraised Asia. America is gradually turning into a motley mosaic society; the European Union is groping its way along the path of building a united Europe; and the countries of Asia and Africa, which won freedom in the post-war period, are currently engaged in building nation-states in the image and likeness of Europe; in the regions of developed countries, all sorts of non-governmental organizations are gaining influence. In this turbulent world, Japan cannot yet forget its Cold War-era vantage point. After all, during these 60 years, under the protection of the "atomic umbrella" of America, the economy and culture flourished in Japan, as in its time

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this time was in the three-hundred-year Edo period.

However, new times dictate new conditions, changes are constantly taking place, and the Land of the Rising Sun needs to take its rightful place. In 1989, as the Berlin Wall and the old world order were crumbling before our eyes, a European who had hitherto seemed to respect Japan abruptly told me: "I don't see a place for Japan in the new post-cold war world. Probably, the meaning of his words was that until that time Japan was valued as an important component force in the confrontation with the USSR, but now Europe and America offer us a real competition. Now, 15 years later, China's entry into the international scene and Japan's stagnant economy have made the latter's position in the world increasingly relative.

In Japan, there is a constant struggle for existence. The mood of Japanese diplomats working abroad and returning to their duty stations after a vacation in Japan can be compared to the mood of soldiers going to war. Receptions and official dinners may seem light-hearted, but if our diplomat suddenly hears criticism or insult addressed to Japan even in one thrown word, he needs to immediately respond and, having quickly oriented himself, be able to properly protect the interests of the motherland.

Japanese people live comfortably, and few people have the desire to go abroad for an internship or business trip, to stay there for permanent work. However, the precarious position of industry and the poor economic situation have until recently led to the fact that voices are already heard in the country demanding restrictions on imports and the introduction of protectionism, and calls for "internationalization", which were so often heard during the heyday of the "bubble"economy, are no longer heard.

Young Japanese people are increasingly found in the branches of foreign companies in Japan or abroad. Europe and America, whose attention has been captured by China, have begun to see something new in Japan, which still occupies half of the entire Asian economy, acts as a counterweight to the growing power of China, has a closer European system of values and behavior than China, and which has finally reached a high level of modern culture. They began to communicate more openly with the Japanese.

Of course, there are no special reasons for inspiration. Japan should strengthen its position both in America and Europe, as well as in Asian countries. In my opinion, in order to carry out such complex and large-scale tasks as our country is facing in the coming millennium, Japan needs to support the liberal values and principles of a democratic state in order to adequately meet the requirements of the modern economy and culture. After all, such a" computer "as mir will not run on "software" consisting only of teamwork and dedication, although without these qualities it will be a completely different Japan...

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