The world's great people were moved by Japan 160 years ago. Foreign reaction: 'They may be poor but noble.'

2022年09月13日

日本人はまことに学問好きな研究心の強い国民である。台湾人が語る日本精神は、勤勉、向上心、正直、仕事を大切にする、約束を守る、時間を守る、フェアであることなどである。当時アメリカ人のモースは、「貧乏人は存在するが、貧困は存在しない。」と言った。イギリスの詩人エドウィン・アーノルドは、東京の公演で言った。「地上で天国にもっとも近づいている国だ。その景色は妖精のように優美です。その美術は絶妙だ。その神のように優しい性質は更に美しく、その魅力的な態度、その礼儀正しさは謙譲ではあるが卑屈にならず、精巧であるが飾ることもない。これこそ日本を、人生を生き甲斐あらしめるほとんどすべてのことにおいて、全ての他国より一段と高い位置にあるものだ。」(English) The Japanese are genuinely scholarly and research-minded people. As described by the Taiwanese, the Japanese spirit includes diligence, ambition, honesty, valuing work, keeping promises, and being punctual and fair. Morse, an American at the time, said, "There are poor people, but there is no poverty." British poet Edwin Arnold said at a performance in Tokyo. It is the nearest country on earth to heaven. Its scenery is as graceful as a fairy. Its art is exquisite. Its godlike nature is even more beautiful, its charming manner, its politeness humble but not servile, its elaborateness but not adornment. In almost everything that makes life worth living, this makes Japan a cut above all other countries.

The world's great people were moved by Japan 160 years ago.
Foreign reaction: 'They may be poor but noble.'

The Japanese learned to read, write and do the abacus at Terakoya (private schools) and learned kendo as the art of the samurai.

Even if it was the same sport, the importance is placed on humanity to raise the level of spirituality.

Isabella Lucy Bird, whose women traveled to the northern Kanto and Tohoku regions of Japan at the end of the same period, wrote about this.

The Japanese spirit is the same in urban and rural areas.

We are grateful for the 260 years of peace during the Edo period.

The Japanese feel that their children are their treasure and that education is more important than anything else.

Honesty and public-spiritedness, for example, seem to be familiar to Japan today.

I wouldn't say I like to praise the Japanese.

However, Japan has a unique culture and values.

I strongly feel that it is too short-sighted to say that Japan's modern history should be ignored because of the impact of the Second World War.

The video was not about right-wing, left-wing, and narrow-minded patriotism but true patriotism.

Ref)

Isabella Lucy Bird (1831 - 1904) was a 19th-century British Empire traveler, explorer, and travel writer.

The Travels in the Interior of Japan was written between June and September 1878. It was published in 1880 as "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan."

In "Travels in the Interior of Japan," she wrote of Japan at that time.

I then traveled 1,200 miles through the outback and Ezo.

It was perfectly safe and worry-free.

I believe there is no other country in the world where women can travel in such total safety and without danger or rudeness as in Japan.