On the Depths of Japanese Culture, by Yukio Mishima
"In the twenty years of the postwar, under pacifism, all things to do with the warrior, the Spain-like hot-headed spirit of Japan have been suppressed."
On the Depths of Japanese Culture
Yukio Mishima
It was recently reported that at Tokyo Airport1 a young man made a failed attempt on the life of the American Secretary of State. Every newspaper in Japan was awash with slander and abuse, severe criticism, and vitriol directed against that young man. The young man stated that his aim was to at least injure a representative of the United States in revenge for the injury of a Japanese participant in the anti-base protests on Okinawa by the bayonet of an American soldier and that he held no personal grudge. The young man had no history of membership in far right organizations.
I do not agree unconditionally with terrorism or the statements of that youth. I simply found it interesting that all newspapers so unanimously insulted a nameless young man and without exception displayed exactly the same hysterical reaction. Left, center, and right newspapers simultaneously presented exactly the same symptoms of hysteria. Such symptoms of hysteria usually appear when one is attempting to hide something with great haste. What were they trying to hide under this rage and abuse?