TOKYO, May 15 (UPI) -- More than 60 years ago, my father was stationed in Japan. During the war he had served on the Aircraft Carrier Lexington. Later he was assigned to the War Crimes Tribunal in Yokohama. He spoke Japanese well. He showed great empathy for the Japanese people. He was fond of saying that the "Japanese are the Germans of Asia."
For my father, this was a show of great respect.
He himself was of Austrian heritage. But like many things in our family, his relationship to Austria was complicated. Proud to wear an American uniform, his family had left before the war -- choosing to leave before being driven out like many others. He would return to Germany in 1954 -- where he would marry my mother -- after his postings in Japan and Korea.
I was not nervous as Lufthansa Flight 710 from Frankfurt turned to make its final approach to Narita International Airport, some 50 miles from Tokyo. Between jolts and turns, I looked out the window. Below lay rice fields as far as the eye could see. As the first wheels touched ground, a Japanese flag appeared to the right outside.
I was reminded of my youth. I would regularly have six full-sized flags hanging in my room. The Stars and Stripes, hanging over my bed, was the glorious and proud constant. My favorite arrangement, and it hung the longest, had flags of North and South Korea hanging on the left wall; to the right the flags of Germany and Czechoslovakia. On the far wall was the grand flag of Japan -- the Rising Sun.
I am not sure what struck me first -- the remarkable friendliness of the Japanese people, or the Germanic order and cleanliness. And I do mean clean -- absolutely, completely and utterly. I have never seen anything like it. It made the German in me proud.
Even my German colleague commented. This brought me to laugh. I remembered a fraternal friend from Syracuse who had visited me in Berlin and Prague. Asked later in the United States by our fraternity brothers what I was like after 25 years, he was noted to have said, "He hasn't changed one bit. He's still a fanatic about order. But, visit him in Prague. In Germany, 'he's so German.'"
The Japanese are an intensely proud people, a people with one of the world's great and distinguished cultures. Tokyo is an astounding array of high-rise buildings. Modern technology is found everywhere -- the subways are a case in point. The rural areas reflect the old grand traditions. Even within Tokyo, one finds pockets of the old culture -- not least of which is the Imperial Palace.
Japan is again exercising its place on the world stage.
From the Six-Party Talks to the United Nations; from Europe to Africa; from China and Russia to India and Pakistan; from Energy to Security to Conservation, Japan is making itself heard. It is a voice of pride and pragmatism.
Not all of her neighbors are pleased with this development. Japan is conscious of her detractors. But Japan seems sincere in her contrition of past actions -- from the Second World War to her colonial past. In my meetings with government officials and diplomats, Japan sounded like a country confident, prepared and ready to accept a new world role.
I expected the young people to show equal confidence. But young people in Japan are timid. They are more removed from politics than I expected. Maybe that should not have seemed strange to me at all; developments in Europe and the United States echo the same. But I expected the younger generation in Japan to be more aware of their surroundings.
I was particularly surprised by the limited English, as young Japanese are keen watchers of things American. They are certainly up-to-date with European culture and music. In style, they have developed a unique blend -- a mixture of plastic, funky and colorful dress. Baseball caps and sneakers are in, as is hair coloring.
Japan is a frenetic society, constantly on the move. It has both the longest working hours and the shortest holidays of any developed country. When Japanese do finally take days off, their favorite mode of transportation is the train. They are particularly proud of the Shinkansen -- high speed trains which travel at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. They were the world's first super fast train. Today, Germany's ICE and France's TGV are similarly fast.
Japan remains a country of contradictions -- an old world colonial empire which has become an enviable first world economy. It struggles with itself as to which it wants to be. In Tokyo, this struggle is ever present, from the awe-inspiring high rises to the Shinto Temples in their midst.
And so it was yesterday that this contradiction came full circle: a distinguished grandmother accompanying her grandson to Tokyo Disney Resort -- she in an elegant kimono and he wearing a New York Yankees baseball-cap and Mickey Mouse sneakers.
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(UPI Columnist Marc S. Ellenbogen is chairman of the Global Panel Foundation and president of the Prague Society for International Cooperation. A venture capitalist with seats in Berlin and Prague, he can be reached at [email protected])
