The Japanese and Their Obligations

Burmese Harp


Earlier this year, Cyclone Nargis made landfall and either killed or displaced 130,000 Burmese while the outside world watched in horror due to the military junta ruling the country keeping help away.

In 1957, 12 years after the end of World War II, the Japanese movie classic Burmese Harp was released. This was five years before the military junta took power in 1962. This movie is about the final months of World War II when the Japanese were at battle with the US's right hand ally, Great Britain. Throughout this movie, the main character, a Japanese soldier named Mizushima, plays the harp in an effort to increase morale of his crew. Early on, the Japanese find themselves being ambushed by the Brits. They sing their way out of the situation and as they sneak away out of harms way, they hear their song being sung off in the distance. As it turns out, the Brits and local Burmese are arm in arm singing. The war had ended three days prior.

The surrendering Japanese are sent to a distant prison camp. Mizushima has one last job to do at the request of his captain. He is to inform a stranded group of Japanese soldiers on the top of a mountain that the war is over and encourage them to surrender.

Mizushima carries out his last order for his captain but along the way has a life changing event which displays one of the backbones of Japanese culture. This is the way the Japanese carry out their obligations. The Japanese have two forms of obligations which are "On" and "Giri". "On" is the stronger of the two and is the type of obligation that is everlasting. The best way to remember it is that it goes on, on and on. "Giri" is to meet the obligation equally. The best way to remember it is how the Japanese celebrate Valentine's Day. In Japan, the women give the men chocolates on February 14th. In return, Japanese men give their female friends who gave them chocolates a gift on the manufactured holiday, "White Day" on March 14th.

This Christmas, we did our form of "Giri" to friends who have gone above and beyond for us. This year was our first full-calendar year back in the US after being in Japan for three years. Furthermore, it was my first full year back home since 1992. Along the way, I've had to do what was needed to do but at the same time reflect as to where I want the future to take me. Just as my past entries have indicated, this year has not been about "sunshine and rainbows". It has been about regrouping and moving forward with the momentum that I've created "out there". In short, my good friend who has been my "Consigliere" from my days in California, Japan and even now. Also, when we first got back home, my wife was working part-time at the library near my childhood home. Our family friends from the neighborhood would spend their days as retirees checking out material and chatting with my wife. This was very helpful since the transition for my wife was more than we could have ever imagined. Even my "Consigliere" couldn't see things our way which is understandable since he had never lived outside a 50-mile radius from where we grew up. Then my sister's in-laws were very interested in my time in Japan and things Japanese would always chat whenever we met. At my nephew's baptism, they picked up the tab on our lunch which caught us by surprise.

Other little things like the time I had to shell out $50 for locking my keys in the company car. As predicted, having a set of spare keys or being prepared didn't quite add up with that bunch. Then a week later, I did it again and never carried out my intentions of getting a set of spare keys made. I called up my dad's friend who works for a lock company that responds to calls from knuckleheads that lock themselves out of their home, business or car. He popped the lock for free and talked to me about the transition. At that time, we had to move from my hometown to the next county over since my wife upgraded her library job to a full-time job with benefits as a translator for a Japanese textile company. I'll never forget him saying, "It is not about what you want to do, it is what you need to do." He and my dad have been volunteering for decades at a local university working a home football games. It is a hobby that has been time consuming but gives my pops structure to his week during from late summer to early winter every year. As it turned out, my dad's friend needed to fill a vacancy at the first game of the season and since he helped me out with locking my keys in the car, I graciously agreed to help. Furthermore, I was able to create a memory of doing what my dad did since I was five years old, at least for a day.

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