Togo Tsukahara's Wien Presentation, at 4S EAAST joint conference, 2001 October.
(Drafted 15 September 2000)
First, I should start with a greeting: Hallow something, and something.
It is my pleasure to have an opportunity of this presentation, and thanks to
the chairperson.
I should remark, that, even though I have this splendid opportunity in Hapsburg
Capital of Vienna, still, I confess, that, I do not like that Heider, whom you
chose as MP recently, and who is like Japanese Macho-Ishihara and French LePen.
By the way, this is my presentation.
The purpose of this paper is to show the background for today's discussion on Science and Technology in Japan: culture of science, science of culture. This is a paper to give an outline and a platform of detailed discussion, and I try to review recent affairs in the related fields. Accordingly, this presentation has general characteristics as a kind of survey paper. Notwithstanding, for some points, I would like to show particular contemporarity and contextuality of present day's science and technology in Japan. It is my intention to show there were multi-layered and overlapping factors that motivate and inter-relate techno-science and socio-cultural issues in Japan.
For Japanese techno-science, 1999 was a boisterous year. In the prolonged economic recession, Japanese competitiveness has been highly questioned, and reformation of different levels of social organization has been loudly called for. Once highly praised Japanese techno-science, Research & Development management and production technology were no exception. There was a growing sense of crisis in 1999 Japan, which is still continuing in the year 2000 even after a safer turn of Y2K eve.
Such a sense of crisis was enhanced when a series of high-tech related accidents
happened. In September 1999, a serious blunder has happened at the atomic power
plant in Tokai village, about 100 kilo meters north of Tokyo. There the irregular
critical state of nuclear reaction has occurred, and two people died so far
and more than few thousand people were exposed to some degrees of atomic radiation
respective to their position. This accident has happened not at the heart of
atomic reactor nor inside the main process, but happened in the peripheral part
of the process of preparation of source material. Unbelievably that, in such
a supposedly high-tech nuclear power plant process, it happened in the most
primitive way. The critical state of nuclear reaction was created when radio-active
substances, uranium in this case, were mixed manually by two buckets, by the
hand of unskilled labors.
What made the things worse was a poor treatment of the accident. No primary
care for the victims and a few un-informed fire-brigades stopped the critical
reaction almost without any special protection from radio-activity. This reminds
us of Chernobyl firemen's desperate efforts. As a result, the lack of crisis
management is known to public. No need to mention, lack of crisis-management
capacity generates a sense of deep anxiety, and distrust in techno-scientific
enterprise spreads among the wider public. The gross indiscretion of the atomic
power plant is responsible for such a deplorable state of combined factors.
Around the same time, the system of bullet train has got partly out of order since most of the tunnels of western part of Japan began to crumble. Not any one of the tunnel has yet been totally collapsed, but it was reported that almost everyday for a period of few months, some fragments of concrete were fallen from the ceiling of tunnels, and they occasionally have clashed 300 kilometer par hour train, broke windows and other parts of train. It is potential fiasco, anyway. Japan Railway have checked and repaired almost all tunnels by now. The reason of such crumbling tunnel is allegedly an improper construction, using cheaper sea sand which cause softening deterioration of concrete in years' decay. Not as dramatic as atomic accident and no one has seriously heart so far, but image of Japan Railway's safety was seriously damaged. The bullet train is widely known as a symbol of Japanese efficiency and exactness, historically grown with the Japanese economic success. Even it was a short time, it caused deep disappointment that symbolic super-express train was stopped by such shameful reasons.
Also as symbolically, heavy damage on techno-scientific self-confidence was
given when the made-in-Japan Rocket, H2, launching has failed. The motion picture
of small explosion on the poor H2 was broadcasted, and it has gone out of curriculated
track, far away from its due orbital flight. It was as if American Space Shuttle's
explosion. Some critics accused of the team of scientists for a big budget waist
for years. But such an accusation was not the dominant opinion at that occasion.
It was more likely to be a bemoaning and worry, and public spending of money
for scientific projects seems granted. People seemed disappointed of such an
unachieved techno-scientific venture of Japanese national project.
In this case, however, bad occurrence continued and the meaning of this failure
was obliged to get reviewed. Just a few days after the Japans failure, it is
reported that China succeeded in launching their made-in-China Rocket, Chang-Shi.
No wander, neighbor's success caused more irritation than one's own failure.
Obviously, as a national project, rocket and spaceship development has a military
implication. North Korean missile launching and nuclear development is always
one of the important topics in the East Asian security talk. It is realized
that techno-scientific failure would be causing instability in regional security.
These three consecutive incidents shocked Japanese public and it caused disappointment
in wider layers of people, and resulted in undermining once highly placed self-confidence
in Japanese techno-scientific management.
One of the most famous techno-science critics Yoichiro Murakami characterizes
this set of three incidents as a declining sign of techno-scientific capacity
of Japan, and resulted in intensifying widely spread public distrust toward
techno-scientific works.
In addition to these accidents, environmental problems in Japan are becoming
serious. To name a few, dioxin pollution is notorious as the world's worst level,
as reported in the front page of "Time". (OHP 1) In addition, governmentally
financed big public works, namely construction projects of reclamations, irrigations
and dam-buildings are known to cause some large scale destruction of natural
environment.
It is also widely known, that so-called IT revolution is "passing Japan
by" as Boyd pointed out. Government now trying to call for new initiative
to promote IT industry, and Prime Minister Mori is organizing to submit new
basic law for IT, including support for building new Net superhighway. Their
slogan is "To pass U. S. in IT in five years." (OHP 2) However, this
political agenda has got a number of criticisms as unrealistic, and this is
just a political instrument giving an approval to unpopular public works projects
under the pretext of Internet Technology.
In general, Japanese techno-science these days are making less positive impressions,
and it is felt as if it were stagnated. Techno-scientific achievement is viewed
skeptical, and Japan's nation-building based on high-tech is seen as shaky.
However, the feeling of distrust and disappointment are dominating in present
day's Japan's techno-science, we can not live on without techno-scientific infrastructure.
Although there are failures and mishaps, there is steady advancement, as well
as improvement in public life thanks to techno-scientific innovation.
In the middle of disappointing topics in techno-science in Japan, emergence
of Play station 2 was sensational and a delight. (OHP 3) As it soon become clear
that the impact of it has been less than propagated, Sony's new strategic initiative
has certainly shed a new light of hope in Japan's techno-science in the middle
of economic recession.
Economic recession of Japan is a serious as reported in various media. (OHP 4) But at the same time, it is a strange phenomenon It still is serious according to the conventional economic merkmals, but it is different from other normal type of recession. Recession in such an affluent society of Japan is peculiar and contradictive, because even though there is recession, she is getting her gain from her strong Yen in currency market, and even in the stagnated situation, her foreign trade surplus is growing.
One of the most, but almost only, the serious problems is unemployment: Lately,
unemployment rate is experiencing the historically highest 5 %. (OHP 5) Once
famous for their diligence and thriftiness, Japanese mentality is changing,
and the number of crime rate, juvenile delinquencies and senior suicide are
increasing. Deterioration of social moral is deplored.
Even though recession undermines both social and psychological aspects, life
standard and commodity prices are maintained in rather stable level. Japanese
consumer life is mainly thanks to the cheaper imports from third world. Highly
developed consumer society is, in some sense, "a feminized society",
according to Donna Harraway. Japan is no exception. While feminism has never
gained their proper political and academic grounds in Japan, consumer market
was mostly led by highly consumptive young female. (OHP 6)
In the aspect of recent improvement of Japan's science and technology, we should
note that Japanese consumers now enjoy much higher quality products from refined
electro-chemical industry. Now 54 million sets of mobile phone are used, which
is nearly half of the whole population. The qualities of automobile and camera,
TV and audiovisual apparatus were that of legend; now computers and mobile phones
and video-camera are replacing their places, and for all, computer games and
related products are becoming the symbols of high standard of Japanese industry.
No need to mention, Pocket-monsters (Poke-mon) and Play-Station 2 by Sony and
entertainment related things were now the most well-known exports of Japan.
(OHP 7) Now Japanese pride of classic Samurai and Sumo, Fujiyama and Geisha
is becoming the things of past; for new generation, Japan is a country of Pock-Mon
and computer game characters. In other words, gadget, gimmicks and gizmo kind
of things are now the dominant image of Japan. (OHP 8) Yet, they are not the
products of old style mega-techno-scientific industry, all of them rely on Japanese
high-tech achievement.
It is, however, seemingly contradicting. How should one explain Japan's delay
of IT
related field and much advanced in video-game related exports?
Morris Low discussed the characteristics of Japanese information technology
and its cultural background. Japan is a nation known for the production of computer
hardware and video games, but he points out that Japan is not an information
utopia. Rather, public access to information is severely constrained, and participation
of public in the process of socio-political decision making is very limited
and bureaucrats and private companies monopolize key information and those companies
who manipulated technology choice. Japan is, according to Low's view, more of
a controlled society, and actually Japan's use of computer is behind that of
many other industrial countries. Low further analyses characteristics of Japan's
information technology, of its particular preference for visually based technologies.
He points out cultural background of different nature of language. Because of
her particular language, Japanese, combinations of phonetical Kana, with using
thousands of Chinese characters, the Japanese were slow to take to the conventional
alphabet-based keyboards. As a result, rather than adopting an electronic culture
that relied on keyboard, many Japanese preferred a more visually-oriented culture
as can be seen in the popular use of facsimile (fax) machines, reading of "Manga"
comic books, popularity of video games and Karaoke. Therefore, it is rightly
claimed that the success of the Japanese video game industry is testimony to
the visual nature of Japanese culture. Low claims that there are limit to the
growth of such non-keyboard based culture, and such video-game type culture
relying on Nintendo, Sega and Play-station consoles are a handicap in upgrading
computer literacy.
To some extent, Low's remarks are agreeable. But we should not overemphasize
such negative aspects as general dislike of alphabetical keyboard by the Japanese.
Negative and delaying factor of innovation and the technological acceptance
sometimes turned out to be a positive factor to coin another way out in a very
different socio-cultural context. Visually oriented computer culture and diversion
from keyboard can therefore be considered as the very reason for the success
of the development of Japanese video games. Although their range of influence
are limited, Play station 2 and Pock-mon software are providing convincing evidence
of Japan's IT potential, as well.
It is certainly not fair to point out that Morris Low has failed to catch up
with another new trend of explosion of mobile phone cum internet, so-called
"I-mode", because his book has got published before the I-mode explosion
in Japan. We should not overlook the point that now Japan is moving quickly
to the second generation of wireless internet technology, particularly after
the NTT DoCoMo's I-mode mobile cellular phones was set off in the market last
year, and soon become popular and the number of registration now exceeded 10
million. (OHP 9) By I-mode cellular phones, one can send and receive data. Now,
there are 20-27 million internet users in Japan, nearly half of them, namely
more than 10 million, are connecting to it wirelessly. It is, one in five, and
one in ten to the whole population, respectively. Particularly for the younger
generation, particularly teenagers and students, the wireless phone is their
only phone and only IT as well. Figuratively speaking, Japan is more mobile,
and less wired, contrary to the image of bounded and less emancipated cultural
monotony of the Japanese. Based on the variety of different cultural reasons,
the Japanese do accommodate IT differently from other part of the world as well.
Now I would like to turn our eyes to more down to earth phenomena and its relation
to science and technology. I would like to remark public discourse and imaginary
of techno-scientific society.
For that, I will discuss two remarkable best sellers, million seller books of
1999 Japan.
The most sold book in Japan in that year is an autobiographical essay written
by Hirotada Ototake, a student of Waseda University. (OHP 10)
As you see he is handicapped person: His limbs are deformed, he has only a smaller
part of hands and foots. He is an impressive person, and this is an amazing
and admirable story of his struggle for life: and for all, this is a story of
his courage and hope. In light colloquial tone, he frankly writes about his
deformed body, and many surgical operations and painstaking rehabilitation process
and how he adjusts himself to everyday life. No wander his story touched many
people' hearts, and it is actually moving. He is always trying to be optimistic
and positive, and he actually is a bright young man, so he went through usual
school life, enjoying his life with a group of friends. He writes, "Being
handicapped is just a matter of inconvenience, but not at all misfortune."
From our point of view, we would like to point out some implications of techno-medical
optimism in his story. Optimism is a key tone of this whole book, and medical
operations he went through were of its most advanced. Particularly, the machine
he is on is suggestive. It is functioning as his legs. One can not help stop
thinking of Donna Haraway's famous declaration of "Cyborg" kind of
body-political reality in highly developed capitalist society.
We can also compare the Cambridge physicist Steven Hawking to him. Both of them
are expressing their message from their wheel-chairs. But, in contrast to Steven
Hawking's cosmic and meta-physical and sometimes mystic message, Ototake's preach
is realistic and more physical. Cosmic view according to Hawking is aloof and
afar in terms of time and space, characterized by his typical attitude of non-commitment
to life. His wheelchair is in that sense an instrument showing his detachment.
Whereas Ototake's story is a story of commitment to life. Optimism seems to
be his first and last philosophy even in the most desperate situation. For him,
wheelchair is his direct part of his body, and it is an instrument of commitment.
Such techno-medical complexity is taken for granted for his basic subsistence.
Optimism is, however, not very welcomed by everybody, and it is not so prevailing
in all phases of our society. In the time of recession, dominant atmosphere
of society is more like pessimism, and there is certain degree of skepticism
around. Ototake's propagation of optimism can be considered to be accommodated
within this wide spread pessimism in 1999 Japan.
The second best sold book in 1999 Japan was a book of consumer movement, "Do
not buy this!" (OHP 11) This is a work by consumerism, which is calling
for a boycott of a numbers of commodities. This is originally appeared as a
series of articles in the weekly journal "The Friday", one of the
leading radical leftist independent periodicals, written by a consumer activist
Funase and his friends. Actually Funase is well-known consumer activists, known
as a kind of Ralf Neder in Japan. As a book of boycott campaign, this book takes
an impressive style, and actually, it is inevitably imposing to some extent.
Use of such an imperative form in the title as "Do not buy this!"
is exceptional and criticized as aiming at unnecessary sensationalism as a sound
consumer education.
The style of this work is simple. As originally appeared in a weekly journal,
it has a set of two pages par commodities, and they are denouncing it as "Do
not buy this". Such as SMG (OHP 12) which is already widely rejected by
reasonable public, and such junk foods as instant noodle (OHP 13) in a plastic
cups known as a cup-noodle, and fast foods hamburgers of McDonald (OHP 14).
As a work of boycott movement, there is criticism on its campaign oriented style,
even from the other moderate consumer organizations, partly due to its stereotype
pattern. There were over-heated exchange made between pros and cons of this
book. As an immediate effect, some makers of particular products have withdrawn
their products from the market place. While most of producers refuted their
claims, some kept silence and just ignored, some even has advertised counter
ads and employed scientists and writers in order to rebuke them.
This book gives a big influence on Japanese consumer movement and public acceptance
of high-tech commodities. It gives awareness to the wider public on such facts
that even a can of Coca Cola contains variety of chemicals and is produced by
complicated high-tech fabrication process.
The debates concerning this book have a wide range, from refuting the authors'
attitude as radically left-wing and tinted with a negation of this capitalist-commodity
society, to the claims that the authors are anti-scientific and techno-phoebia.
By all means, what is remarkable is the sheer number of sales of this book to
the 1.5 million, and the fact that this sort of topics became a public issue.
In the affluent 80s and 90s, consumer movement in Japan had been becoming stagnated,
and the leftist discourse was forced to the place of out-of-fashion, while social
criticism is tending to be floating in the post-modern words play and diverting
their eyes from real issue of life. Questioning of people's safety and the quality
of life is getting an issue of public, exactly because of this huge sales success
of "Do not buy this!"
A number of journals took these topics in their issues, some books published.
The worst of all is a mimicking parody, "Do not buy, Do not buy this!"
Sensationalism was becoming to the degree of personal exposure, and while the
original "Do not buy this!" marked a sales record of 1.5 million copies,
this parody-like "Do not buy, Do not buy this!" was so far sold to
0.2 million. It seems that it became a good business to interfere and meddle
in this consumer discourse, and all similar kinds of books mushroomed, like,
"Buy This!", "Examination of Do not buy this!", and "Stop
Do not buy this!" and so on.
How should we analyse this books huge success in sales and the noisy debate
around it.
We can summarise that there are several effects of this book observed:
1 Enhancement of public knowledge on highly manipulated products, such products
as GMOs. After this book is published, the Japanese consumers stop buying GMO
related products and import of GMO Soya beans are dramatically decreasing.
2 Resurgence of consumer movement and leftist criticism on consumer society
and overflow affluence of commodities, in public and mass-media level.
3 Intensifying growing skepticism towards techno-scientific culture. The prevailing
skepticism to industrial products is one factor, and vague but widely spread
natural orientation and ecological inclination are surely the factors. Some
authors remark it as a sign of maturity of consumer society in Japan. In my
view, however, it can rightly be seen as resulted from widespread anxiety of
modern way of consumer life.
We should also consider the thing between Ototake and "Do not buy this!".
What are there between these two? We can easily point out the two as samples
of the dualism of optimism and pessimism, or a polarization of hope and anxiety
in our modern way of techno-scientific presentation. However, in reality, we
can be optimistic and skeptical towards techno-science at the same time. More
important thing is, my final remark on Japanese techno-science today, that these
discourse are embedded in the particular socio-political context of resurgence
Japanese Nationalist sentiment. What we should see is more immediate political
events and its relationship to techno-scientific issues.
Once again, one of the most important characteristics of Japanese social trend
today is the resurgence of Nationalism (OHP 15), as was seen in this country
of Austria too when Mr. Heider appeared as a powerful politician. In the time
of recession, it seems common in everywhere in the world.
Now I should focus the interrelated commitment of the Japan's nationalism and
Japan's techno-science. This is one of the important topics in science studies
in Japan's STS community, and so far discussed various authors. The so-called
dual character of Japanese fascism in history and Japanese Right wing's particular
theory of "overcoming modernity" has been discussed by Hiromatsu and
Tsukahara, (and Mizuno absent today though). For the more recent cases, Yoshioka
and Low, Nakayama discussed Japan's strategy of "Nation Building based
on Science and Technology", and the so-called Japanese techno-nationalism
in 1980s, is discussed by Tessa-Morris Suzuki, which is characterized as "Techno-Utopia".
Today I would like to demonstrate one up-to-date example of the relationship
between Neo-Nationalism and techno-science in Japan, through the case of Shintaro
Ishihara, a governor of Tokyo. (OHP 16) He is known to his series provocative
racist remarks and nationalistic claims. As a sensational politician and a provocative
machismo, he is proud of being typical male-chauvinist type, and he makes dauntingly
paternalistic remarks, which enraged feminists and even embarrassed mildly liberal
intellectuals.
Since he took his office at the Tokyo Metropolitan Office, in April 2000, he
made the worst racist remark in front of Japan Defense Force. (OHP 17) It was
when he has made a speech of requesting a mobilization of JDF in case of natural
disaster, he maintained that the order should be kept by armed force, and "our
army" (defense force) should keep "criminal foreigners" from
committing crimes in a panic state after such an event of earthquake. His term
for "criminal foreigners (Hanzai wo okosu Sangokujin)" is a historically
pejorative expression meaning inferior people from three Japan's former colonies.
He meant to appeal public, since the earthquake is always a matter of concern
for the Japanese, and almost becoming an obsession. Fear of foreigners was another
factor behind political agitation on Xenotism and chauvinism. I need to explain
why this is the worst in particular Japanese context, because such remarks immediately
reminds us of a historical lesson, that in the aftermath of the last big earthquake
in Tokyo in 1923, Japanese military committed massacre of thousands of Koreans,
Chinese and the Communists in the state of panic.
There was variety of protest movements organized both domestically and internationally.
(OHP18) Time featured his issue, and one of the French papers nicknamed him
as "Mini-Heider" on that occasion. (In my view, however, French should
call him as Mini-LePen, though.)
Now it is not matter whether he is Heider type of Le Pen kind, but what really matters now is that he is having the real power, and actually becoming more. Ishihara, once called as "Mini" fascist kind, is now becoming someone who has more direct access to actual power than any of his European counterparts. Actually in September 3 in Tokyo, he deployed fully equipped military force in the middle of Tokyo, under the pretext of the drill of natural disaster. (OHP 19) They are fully armed, with tanks and helicopters, fighter planes and war boats. He took an opportunity of regular disaster drill in September. At that very moment, in Miyake Island off Tokyo bay, there are actual people suffering from an eruption of volcano. Ishihara is genius to make use of that eruption as his pretext of the demonstration. This drill, called "Rescue Tokyo, 2000", is of course appealing to the public. But as a matter of fact, he sent not a single man of JDF to the island, but called seven thousands in front of him and mass media. It was somehow theatrical, indeed. Prime Minister Mori and cabinet members stands behind Ishihara. In Ishihara's speech, the importance of self-protection from foreigners and patriotism are explicitly proclaimed. Those critical to the resurgence of Nationalism were, according to his words, "stupid leftists". The biggest problem for critical liberals and the leftist intelligentsia kind of people (maybe including most of us here) is that he is very popular and he is democratically, directly chosen by Tokyo's citizen. In addition, his popularity is actually increasing in this disaster drill.
Concerning techno-science analysis, we should remember the fact that he once
was known as the author of "Japan that can say no", co-authored with
Morita, then the president of Sony. With the President of Sony, Ishihara argued
that Japan should be assertive to Americans when it faced to the negotiation
of development of SFX fighter airplane, and R&D of aero-space industry.
Japan should, according to him, protect her own intellectual property right,
and accordingly, she should protect her own defense industry. Morris Low analyzed
this issue, and he characterized Ishihara and Morita as typical "Techno-Nationalists".
"Techno-Hegemony" is another key term for him, which is originally
discussed by a business historian Yakushiji in different context, but Ishihara
can be considered as a propagandist of Japan's "Techno-Hegemony" today.
We can analyse Ishihara's techno-scientific Nationalism as constructed by some
different factors as follows:
1 Antagonism toward Americans. Rejecting them as an aggressive, biased and the
"Imperialistic" superpower, and Japan should be assertive to them.
2 Looking down upon fellow Asians. One exception is Malaysia's President, Mahatir,
with whom, he wrote a book, "Asia that can say NO".
3 Assertiveness (that can say No) is his principle strategy. There is, however,
a deep psychological trick in it, that in order to be an assertive, the one
should be considered as passive at first. If one wants to say "No"
to someone, the prerequisite condition to say no is that one has to be questioned
or imposed something. So he pretends himself as a passive player in the game,
disguising himself in the suffering position. My argument is that the strategic
use of assertiveness is a new version of once typical Japanese and German fascist
discourse of late comer's imperialism.
4 Belief in the supreme Japaneseness, das Reinkeit der Blud, and Japanese Eugenics,
as expressed traditional family value and worship to Emperor and royal house,
combined with anti-feminism and homo-phoebia.
5 The European origin modern science and technology is considered to be adapted
within the framework of Japaneseness, and the limitation of the so-called Euro-American
Modernity is alleged to be overcome. Such as Japan's legendary Zero-fighter
plane is idealized as a combination of "Western skills and Japanese spirit",
despite such a suicide attacks by Zero-fighters in the end of World War II.
This conceptual concoction, the combination of "Western skills and Japanese
spirit" deserves scrutiny.
In the age of Play Station 2 and Pocket Monsters, where is his Techno-Nationalism
about? We should note the fact that Mori's quest on to pass United State in
IT in five years is interrelated to, and actually based on, Sony's new IT strategy
led by new Sony's director Idei. Mr. Idei is a successor of Morita, who was
a comrade of Ishihara in their "that can say no", and he is actually
one of the most important members of Mori's IT initiative. Mori's political
ability is questionable in every respect, but we should not underestimate Japanese
bureaucratic and cooperation capacity to organize industrial policy. Even though
political leadership is ranked as the third class, bureaucracy and cooperates
culture is at the first class. The Japanese scientists are said to be less original,
but they are traditionally good at catching up the forerunners.
From wider historical viewpoint, we should not forget the context that this
political initiative is embedded in the rising Nationalistic sentiment. We are
now able to see the sign that the issues argued and propagated in the book "Japan
that can say No" is now becoming real: Ishihara in the direction of politics,
he substantiates his ambition steadily and his objective is to surpass U.S.
in every dimension and ultimately to make Japan militarily independent nation,
whereas Sony in inventing new strategy of the field of IT, with a initial success
in Vaio and Play Station. We still do not know, at this stage, whether Japanese
"Pocket" Monsters will keep quiet in future within one's small "Pocket"
or not.
(Whether they may be in the process of evolution or not, we should wait for
Dr. Sakura's discussion. )
Thank you.
(End.)