‘As a general rule, we can take it that when China is out of political favour perceptions of Japan will be correspondingly rosy. This, of course can work equally well in reverse. During the Second World Time magazine helpfully printed photographs of two typical Chinese faces and two typical Japanese faces, so that readers would have a better chance of knowing who their friends were. The writer admits that it is far from easy to tell the difference between the two races – “Even an anthropologist, with calipers and plenty of time to measure heads, noses, shoulders, hips, is sometimes stumped” – but he offers a useful hint: “Those who know them best often rely on facial expression to tell them apart: the Chinese expression is likely to be more placid, kindly, open; the Japanese more positive, dogmatic, arrogant.” So much for the “far more agreeable” cast of countenance that Oliphant found among the Japanese. Altogether, the history of alternating western responses to Japan and China would make a case study of our tendency to see what we want to see.’
Ian Littlewood: The Idea of Japan – Western Images – Westerm Myths, Secker and Warburg, (1996), Page 75
Today, the equivalent would be ‘How to Tell Your (Japanese) Friends from the ‘Chinks’!’ Racism, however, tends to adapt to the times and although Article 9 of the post-1945 Constitution of Japan states that ‘The Japanese People Renounce War Forever’ – a succession of US and Japanese governments have been sword rattling – particularly in opposition to what is perceived as China’s unwarranted economic and military expansion! China is growing through Socialism – whilst post-war Japan grew from being given billions of dollars of US aid! Any country given what amounts to ‘free money’ will economically develop if the right discipline is present. No one helped China and as a country she has risen out of the depths of despair upon her own and there is nothing to be ashamed about when the Communist Party of China is given the credit for what it has achieved!
THE SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 