Japanese – Asia’s Honorary Whites?

Japan is a beautiful country. Japanese folks are some of the nicest people on Earth – obsessively clean and orderly, very meticulous, ritualistic, great manners and a keen sense of shame if they do something not right, art out of mundane stuff, and many, many admirable cultural traits. I love their food; every dish is usually exquisitely prepared, and the taste is often great, not to mention the level of health consciousness that goes into it.

But I just cannot reconcile these perfectionist qualities I see in them with the leaders they now have.

Their political leaders are forever anxious to please Joe Biden and some of the very obnoxious leaders in both sides of America’s political divide. And their NYT equivalent, Nikkei Asia, is in my opinion most unashamedly distortionist when it comes to reporting on China. Everything about China in it is bad, especially Xi Jinping, who often is being portrayed as a monster. Even images of him are doctored to make Xi look “ugly” or menacing.

Xi often a Fu Manchu in the eyes of Nikkei

Of course, Nikkei is not the only press that is trying to influence the world to hate China. 80% of the Western media does that. They have obvious reasons to do so. But coming from Asians, that is disingenuous. Modern Japanese are genetically 70% Han Chinese, but their leaders make them think they are superior to Chinese.

Of course, I do not expect Chinese and Japanese should behave like abang-adeks (siblings). After all, the Russians and Ukrainians are East Slavs, and they are now at each other’s throats. The Whites in continental Europe are more or less of the same stock, but they have never been united as a nation since history began. Tribal interests reign supreme. Even in Singapore, where 70% of the population is Chinese, you also see a bias against China in the way their MSM reports developments there – on issues like COVID numbers, real estate bubbles, and even human rights. Their tone gives the impression that situations are so dire that the country is about to collapse under these weights. I asked a Singaporean friend why their MSMs are behaving that way. He explains: Our economy is still very dependent on America; we know how they behave. They want “friends” to side them, and they consider Singapore as one to them. Micron is big here, and our port houses America’s naval facilities. China will always tolerate us (kai-ki lang mah – own kind!); our subtle poking will NOT prompt them to act like bullies to us!

Point taken.

I always assert that the world has produced only two great transformative leaders during our life time: Lee Kuan Yew and Xi Jinping. It has certainly produced many great leaders in the last century – Winston Churchill of Great Britain, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Konrad Adenauer, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk of Turkey, Mao Zedong of China, and several others. But I dare say that none of them can be said to be transformative greats.

Singapore was in a pathetic state island when it separated from Malaysia in 1965. It was very dependent on the hinterland, namely Peninsular Malaysia, for its wellbeing, including water supply. Lee transformed it into a truly First World nation – all achieved during his watch. He also worked out a succession policy that can ensure sustainability.

As for Xi, he brought millions out of poverty and made China an example that not everything about, or from, the West is great. Of course, this has scared the hell out of America and the imperialist minds in the U.K. and Japan.

These two greats possess three similar denominators: They are ethnically Han Chinese, both are Confucianist, and they are autocratic, but in a benevolent way.

On reading this, some readers will say I am talking like a typical Chinese chauvinist. In fact, I am, but only in this instance. My chauvinism is borne out of my observations of the quality of Western political leaders today. Most of them are intellectually shallow. Lee and Xi’s conducts exemplify the very essence of the Ru 儒philosophy and it is encapsulated in these eight Chinese characters: 礼义廉耻 公明正大 (lĭ yì lián chĭ. gōng ming zhèng dà; some say the latter should read 光明正大 guāng míng zhèng dà).

礼Lĭ is the practice of good manners or diplomacy, extending good courtesy to even enemies; 义yì reciprocity to good deeds received; 廉lián humility even if you are great shakes; and 耻chĭ a self-sense of shame if you do something or disgraceful.

公Gōng means for the benefit of the bigger community; 明ming clean, transparent; 正zhèng the correct stance to take, or thing to do; and 大dà a big heart, picture, or magnanimity.

Their adoption and true practice of these eight “virtues” were the path that led them to great statesmanship.

Lee has passed on, and his legacy is there for all to see. Some may argue that his earlier political days were not that pretty, for he had used pro-Communist leftists to claw his way into political dominance, but only to finish them once he had consolidated his power. A Machiavelli?

Xi has also convinced observers of his formidable mettle with what he had used to transform China. The results are also clear. However, I do harbour a concern – about a tendency in Chinese society to promote emperor-ism. Mao was a case in point. During his reign, the whole society was paralyzed into singing praises for him day-in-and-day-out, regardless of the madness he had plunged the country into. Lately, Xi appeared to have allowed himself to be treated like one – even the standing committee members of the Politburo must walk several steps behind in public appearances. And there is always a mention of Marxist thoughts when he gives speeches. And TV readers are also conditioned into parroting his “imperial” title and the Xi Jinping thoughts now. I observe that the stations are now unable to go beyond scripts they have been prepared for them to read. Ever see any breaking news from CCTV4 or CCTV13 or CGTN lately? Hope Xi does not get carried away, like what Mao did.

In my opinion, Japan under its present breed of leaders poses the greatest danger to China. Thanks to the way they elect their leaders, and the way their leaders bring in sor-cais (empty-headed chaps, Cantonese term) to help them, hegemon America will be a lame duck in no time. Yet, instead of working with China and Korea to complement one another, Japan is following Western nincompoops like shadows.  

Japanese leaders and its military have always been students of Sun-zi 孙子. Shintoism is also steep in Buddhism and Confucianism. But in treating their neighbours, they appeared to be adopting Sun-zi’s bing fǎ (兵法, the art of war) wholesale! And that is deception, deception, deception. What should be needed is more Kung-zi, or Confucianism where 公Gōng is the key.

These Japanese leaders do not want to face up to true history. They are persuading their young to think that invading China and Southeast Asia during World War II was the country’s sacred duty to help fellow Asians. They have also been conditioned to think that they are genetically superior, like the Whites. (Years ago, in South Africa during the Apartheid days, Japanese were treated as honorary Whites!)

During World War II, their military caused atrocities of the worst kind on Chinese and overseas Chinese. Colonel Shoji who was the chief operational strategist behind the invasion of Malay wrote a handbook for the soldiers to carry along. It explicitly spelled out how their soldiers should treat the conquered people: Be benevolent to the natives, and be very harsh with the local Chinese. (Many of the Japanese soldiers were actually Taiwanese. They had been Nipponized to look down on their own kind. (Japan ruled Taiwan for half a century! No wonder Taiwan today has a China hater in the name of Tsai Ing-wen!)

Japanese solders also inflicted great miseries on British, Australian, and Indian soldiers. But people like Scott Morison and Rishi Sunak have obviously not read history. I do not know Narendra Modi’s stance on this matter. His will always be unique.

If the Japanese leaders can come to their senses to realize that they are not White, then West Pacific will certainly emerge to the best example of how a future world should evolve.

End