The Dignity of the Nation

Masahiko Fujiwara's The Dignity of the Nation was a bestseller in Japan in 2005, and reading the English translation by Giles Murray it is easy to see why. The book tells the Japanese what many of them must be longing to hear: that their traditional values are special, that the West is leading them astray, and that Japan can bring the world to a better day. But if there is scant respect here for Western notions of equality and freedom, there is also no ugliness or nationalism in Fujiwara's plea, which goes down with some gentle humor. The author jettisons logic, competition, and globalization in his championing of bushido, the ethics of the samurai. The tenets he outlines, benevolence toward the weak high among them, owe much to Christian ethics. The Japanese love of nature and its fragility, their "sense of pathos," and their love of nation are all being trampled by alien American notions, in Fujiwara's view. He writes to his compatriots, but outsiders might also benefit from standing back from the West's received truths and examining them with a fresh eye.