Re: Transmission, Inheritance, Emulation 7
Mr Lewis,
This column was an extended sequel to the previous one, which sketched the general impact of World War II on aikido. It is an interesting question to what extent the SCAP occupation succeeded in transforming Japan in America's own image, as the occupiers appear to have wished. Clearly it succeeded to a significant degree, as Eiji Takemae argued, otherwise we would not need the black sound trucks cruising the streets telling us all what Japan has lost.
The 'myth of Japanese uniqueness' has a special focus here in Hiroshima (though Nagasaki takes the shine off, just a little), since being the first atomic-bombed city in the world does indeed make the city unique. It is what happens next that is the problem, at least for me, for the city government uses this fact as the basis for an all-encompassing ideology that is just as tempting as Irokawa's 'black box'.
Yes, indeed. I will touch on this issue of cultural nationalism in a future columns, for the general question of aikido in Japan vs. aikido abroad needs a thorough examination.
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