PoS 272 - Juliano - NHK-Nationalism

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Juliano, Hansley A.

MA POS-GP

PoS 272

30 September 2011

Japanese Government and Politics

Dr. Lydia N. Yu-Jose

Performing the Nation: Representing Japanese Nationalism(s) in the NHK Taiga Dramas

Imaging Japan as a country and its position in the world continues to be a contested terrain of

discourse within different sections of Japanese society. A majority of the literature employed in the

identification and interpretation has this tendency to emphasize the uniqueness of Japanese society, and

how its participation in the world should therefore be marked by this continuing uniqueness and

valorization of the supposedly-singular way by which Japan was able to make its mark as a country in

Asia which can go toe-to-toe with other developed and civilized countries. The discourse of Japanese

nationalism, by virtue of its emergence and development in the context of desiring to be considered

equals by the Great Powers of the late 19th century as well as maintain its integrity as an Asian nation

(Benner 2006, 37) opens spaces for determining what constitutes Japanese identity as it is. However, it

would perhaps be important to note that the usual clear-cut divisions of extreme nationalists and

others when it comes to determining Japans identity and position no longer exactly hold (Goto-Shibata

2006, 81).

It is therefore interesting to note why, in popular consciousnesses (both domestic and

international), the image of the Japanese as fiercely, monolithically patriotic persists.

Patriotism as practiced by theshishi (men of high purpose) of the late Tokugawa era (1853-

1867) are marked by a level of unquenchable conviction of being in the right (Jansen 1959, 212), with

varying levels of intellectual sophistication. This was carried over in the extremist groups of 1921-1941,

which fostered a powerful sense of brotherhood, an adamant defiance of political authority, and a

willingness to kill, and if necessary be killed, for the common cause (Large 2006, 87). Such

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predispositions of militant nationalism are well documented in Japans actions during the Second World

War, when feudal loyalties were replaced by loyalty to the state, personified by the Emperor.

Despite the marked ambivalences of society and state when it comes to the commemoration of

people are complicit to the violent excesses of such nationalism, there is still a large contingent struggling

to legitimize and valorize these people, largely from their families and parties (specifically the LDP)

(Trefalt 2002, 122-3). Thus, the break between the Japanese peoples desire for the preservation of

cultural identity and the official state apparatuses desire to make Japan in tune with the rapidly-

modernizing world is emphasized. As it appears, [n]owhere is the touristic compulsion of nostalgia more

evident than in Japan, and nowhere are anxieties people feel about modernity and its consequences (or

modernization and Westernization) more acute than in Japan (Gerster 2005, 294, 299, 300).

It is therefore not surprising that the relatively richer cultural heritage of Japan would be

valorized by the Japanese in their popular culture. However, by virtue of such an arrangement, it is

inevitable that such nostalgia will create discourses that precisely clash with the project of positioning

Japan as an accepted part of the contemporary global space. It is in this direction that we ask what is in

the enduring nostalgia of the Japanese for their pre-war/Imperial past that affects their role, identity-

formation and position in contemporary Japanese and global society.

The NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Company) has an annual tradition of producing the taiga

drama (translated as Big River Drama): a historical period drama that runs weekly. A majority of these

productions, starting with the 1 st in 1963,Hana no Shgai, features events of the most beloved narratives

of Japanese history, largely from the Sengoku (Warring States) period and the Bakumatsu (late Tokugawa

to early Meiji) period. That the series continue to receive acclaim among the Japanese viewership for the

past 50 years denotes something worth questioning. Looking at the themes and representations consistent

in the narratives, the reception of the Japanese to the historical taiga drama produced by the NHK point

us to images, functions and markers of Japanese society that are valorized and deployed for particular

purposes in contemporary society. The study, therefore, seeks to address the gap in the literature

regarding how Japanese popular culture (as markers of the demographic which patronizes them) affects in

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many ways the perception of Japanese with regards to their society, and how their relation to their history

and contemporary condition continuously shapes their identity both as a nation and as part of the world.

In line with this, we also ask how does this knowledge points to us the continuing struggles/questions that

haunt discourses of Japanese nationalism to date. We can see, as I would argue in this paper, that

contemporary representations of late Tokugawa and early Meiji events and personages, as presented in

the annual taiga drama produced by the NHK, continue to reproduce undercurrents of nostalgia for the

modernized-yet-traditional Japanese ethos following the wakon-ysai ("Japanese spirit, Western

techniques") ethic of modernity and industrialization. They continue to traverse the fine line between an

official political nationalism which marks its uniqueness as its contribution to the global-international

community, contrasting it to the "cultural nationalism" which harks back to the rich Imperial and pre-

modern cultural/societal norms of Japanese society (as well as its extremist manifestations).

My study analyzes two dramas: Shinsengumi! (!; 2003) andRymaden (; 2010),

which were chosen based on their contemporary time period and their mutual portrayal of similar

characters and events. Comparing and contrasting the portrayals would exhibit a consistency of upholding

a particular image of Japanese history which emphasizes, in many ways, the nihonjinron way of thinking

that highlights the uniqueness of the Japanese ethos vis-a-vis other world-views. This valorization, in a

way, also is complicit with the reproduction of a Japanese self-image that underlies its seeming-

integration into the global political setup, while simultaneously subverting Orientalist perceptions of

Japanese uniqueness.

The dissonance of images of the Japanese-as-nipponjin and the Japanese as a person in the

international-global space (together with its gender and societal texts) exhibits the continuing rift between

the two nationalisms: a cultural nationalism that emphasizes its native identities produced by the Shinto-

Buddhist tradition and apolitical nationalism that teaches the Japanese to be cosmopolitan and

downplays the excesses of Japanese culture which reared its negative extremes in the Second World War.

It must be argued, though, that such a struggle is not exactly monolithic and dichotomous. In fact, their

deployment for particular purposes usually find them intertwined and complementary. As such,political

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nationalism can actually shape the production and appreciation of artifacts ofcultural nationalism

towards more acceptable and consensual lines of imaging.

The discussion will be qualitative and will employ a considerable amount of context analysis. It

will largely be an analysis of the discourses, implicit and explicit, in the narratives of the dramas chosen.

Similarly, the data that will be chosen regarding peoples reception of the series will be similarly analyzed

qualitatively: what behaviors were observed in the audience of the series during the run of the series, as

well as the resonance of the issues featured in the series to Japanese societal issues during their respective

runs. In analyzing the series narrative, we look at three things: 1) The method by which the setting is

presented and explained in the particular narrative of the series; 2) The central characters of the series, as

they are historical figures, will be analyzed and compared to the historical data available regarding their

lives and the popular/legendary perception of them; and 3) How the presentation of the characters

coincide with contemporary views of the Japanese people on issues that face the Japanese nation and its

position in the world. The analysis of the reception of the series (based on collected viewers ratings) will

be reviewed with consideration for the central issues of contemporary Japanese politics that were salient

during the run of these series and how the narratives and discourses of the series relate to the Japanese

perception of their contemporary situation.

The Collectivist-Inspired Tradition as Tragedy inShinsengumi!

Known for their fierceness in numbers and their fastidious upholding ofbushido (as they were

portrayed in countless media), the Shinsengumi, the special police force which patrolled Kyoto during the

Bakumatsu, became the paragon of samurai virtues, which is highly ironic considering that a majority of

them were rshi or masterless samurai, the ones most distrusted by the then-Tokugawa status quo. It in

this context that the NHK production Shinsengumi! might be analyzed and put into consideration: the

story of people who very much believed in the capacity to transcend boundaries, but were nonetheless

beholden to the values and aspirations the centuries-long status professed to (even if it is no longer living

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to it). It was precisely suggested in the narrative that the very banner of the Shinsengumi, bearing the

kanji makoto (; translated as sincerity) denotes such profession to tradition and beliefs that its leaders

(particularly its head, Kond Isami) lived by (Shinsengumi! 2004a).

An initial backgrounder would be necessary. The Shinsengumi was an offshoot of an earlier

project, theRshigumi, which was assembled under the orders of the assigned Protector of Kyoto, daimyo

Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu han. While it wait especially assembled in order to protect the shogunates

interests, its initial convenor Kiyokawa Hachir was an Imperial loyalist intending to use the office of the

shogunate to sow terror in its domains (Oishi 2004, 65). When the plot was exposed, thirteen rshi chose

to stay and serve for the purposes of the Aizu. Internal factions caused the reputation of the group to

suffer, but they were settled once the faction of Kond Isami (along with Hijikata Toshiz,Yamanami

Keisuke,Okita Sji,Nagakura Shinpachi,Sait Hajime, Inoue GenzaburTd Heisuke andHarada

Sanosuke, all associated with his Shieikan dojo of the Tennen Rishin-ry fencing school) emerged

victorious and took the helm of leadership. The post-faction hierarchy was thus composed of the

following (Wikipedia):

Commander (Kyokuch?): Kond Isami

General Commander (Sch?): Yamanami Keisuke

Vice Commander (Fukuch?):Hijikata ToshizMilitary Advisor (Sanb?): It KashitarTroop Captains (Kumich?):

1. Okita Sji (instructor inKenjutsu)2. Nagakura Shinpachi (instructor in Kenjutsu)3. Sait Hajime (instructor inKenjutsu)4. Matsubara Chji (instructor inJujitsu)5. Takeda Kanrysai (instructor in Military Strategies)6. Inoue Genzabur7. Tani Sanjr (instructor in Spearing Skills)8. Td Heisuke

9. Suzuki Mikisabur10.Harada Sanosuke

Spies: Shimada Kai,Yamazaki Susumu

As the Shinsengumi is an organization which accepted people of various backgrounds but are of

dedication to service, it is not surprising that documentation on the detailed lives of the members were

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quite scarce. As such, fiction has willingly filled in the gaps. The introduction to the leaders of the

Shinsengumi, at least the core group from the Shieikan dojo), showed that a majority of them were of

questionable backgrounds. Nagakura Shinpachi, Harada Sanosuke and Saito Hajime were deserters from

theirhan. The denizens of the Shieikan themselves (primarily Kond and Hijikata) were class-conscious

and were desirous of transcending it, because of the limitations that their peasant background imposed on

their social mobility and desire for acknowledgment despite his virtues and abilities. It is in this context,

perhaps, that we can understand at length the logic behind their desire to become better conduits of

bushido than the samurai themselves (Shinsengumi! 2004b):

Hijikata Toshiz: Kat-chan, will you teach me fencing? I want to become stronger. Will

you make me a pupil at Shieikan? I want to become a samurai.Kond Isami: A samurai?

Hijikata: Like you.Kond: It's impossible, forget it.Hijikata: How can you say it?Kond: I finally realized it. We are mere farmers from Tama.

Hijikata: That's not true. You are a fine samurai.Kond: No I'm not. We will be farmers from Tama forever. That's how it is in life. I've

made up my mind... to become than better than the samurai! I will be a farmer with thebest samurai spirit! Do you really want to become strong?

Hijikata: Yes.Kond: You cannot become a samurai.

Hijikata: I can become like a samurai. It means the same thing to me though.Kond: Training is harsh at Shieikan.Hijikata: Just how I want it!

It is therefore not surprising that they precisely structured their organization to become more

worthy of being samurai than those born into the class (who by then became very complacent and inept

due to the centuries-long peace). The rules that the Shinsengumi lived by and imposed to their members

(and more so their leaders) became notorious throughout the Tokugawa domains for their harshness and

stringency, with every infraction punishable byseppuku. A lot of emphasis is given in the narrative on

how people can effect change by group reliance and by sincerity to ones intentions. In a way, the samurai

ethic was valorized and made an ideal by the Shinsengumi even if it was precisely denied to it from the

beginning. Nevertheless, its value and seeming-perfection as a way of life was similarly deconstructed,

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especially when the people that they begin sentencing toseppuku were already those who they have

known for quite long (ibid., 2004c):

Nagakura Shinpachi: Why must he commit seppuku? Isn't confinement sufficient

punishment?Hijikata Toshiz: By our code, if you leave the group, its seppuku.

Harada Sanosuke: But its Yamanami we're talking about.Hijikata: All the more reason for him to commit seppuku. By sparing Yamanami... we'll

be showing emotions. It just takes one act of emotion to break up the group.It Kashitar: You may not want to hear the comment of a newcomer... but Hijikata-

kun, strictness isn't everything in holding a group together. Warmth can also...Hijikata: A newcomer should keep his comments to himself.Takeda Kanrysai: Judgement has already been passed on Yamanami.Nagakura: I want to hear the Bureau Chief's thoughts.

Takeda: But...Nagakura: Shut up! I want to hear it directly from the Bureau Chief!

Kond Isami: Yamanami has already resigned himself. The only thing we can do forhim, is to arrange a fine place of death for him.

Such desire to be worthy of service to the Shogunate, it appears, was not merely out of blind

loyalty. By virtue of their being agents of the bakufu, they were exposed first hand to the inconsistencies

and incompetencies of the people involved in the administration, which figured in the beginnings of the

Rshigumi. As such, the portrayal of Bakufu officials was similarly ambivalent in this respect: some are

portrayed to be well-meaning and struggling to preserve the peace and order mandate of the Tokugawa

(such as the Shinsengumis benevolent patron Matsudaira Katamori), some truly incompetent in their

impudence and insistence on their class background. This often causes clashes which, nonetheless, were

won by the Shinsengumis persistence to function. Witness, for example, the clash between Sasaki

Tadasabur, one of the leaders of the purely samurai-composed Mimawarigumi and Kond Isami during

the Kyoto fire (ibid., 2004d):

Sasaki Tadasabur: I'm impressed with the Shinsengumi's fast response. We just arrived.Kond Isami: Perfect timing. I was just getting the fire report. Please listen to it.

Sasaki: We're take the fire refugees to safety.Kond: Please wait.Sasaki: What is it?Kond: We should have a meeting first.

Sasaki: We don't have time for that.Hijikata: We need accurate information to act with prudence.Sasaki: While we're doing that, the fire will gain momentum. If you'll excuse me...

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Kond: Please wait! Don't act on your own!Sasaki: Are you going to tell us what to do?

Kond: If we act on our own, the situation will get worse.Sasaki: The Mimawarigumi consistes of direct Shogunate vassals. You can't tell us whatto do.Hijikata: You have to follow us. Please do as we tell you.

Sasaki: I refuse!Kond: Sasaki-sama!

Sasaki: We will do things our own way.It: We Shinsengumi arrived the site first. The Mimawarigumi came later. Will you just

give in?Sasaki: You're right. We're at fault for coming late. Let's hear your orders.

(after the fire was put out)

Kond: It's over.

Sasaki: Kond-san, that was great leadership.Kond: Thank you.

Sasaki: In times of crisis... you men might be of greater service to the Shogunate.

It is perhaps interesting to note at this point, perhaps, that one of the aesthetic markers of this

particular drama is the frequent use of close-up shots which show the facial expressions of the characters

in particularly specific moments. In tense confrontations or in serious discussions, characters who are

trying to understand the profundity of their conversation companion will be focused, the creases on their

faces, forehead and brows emphasized to convey particular states of emotion. Even in the most formal of

conversations, the discussions between lords and vassals are emphasized with subtle hints of emotions,

noting that despite the formalities and rigidities of Japanese social norms, the importance of amiability

and harmony is always put into play. As such, in contrast to what we will see later inRymaden, it would

not perhaps be too surprising that even when women are portrayed to be capable of being pro-active, they

are nonetheless bound by their social norms to deal with what the situation has given them. The scene

depicting the confrontation between Kond Isamis wife Tsune and his mistress Oyuki (formerly the

geisha Miyuki-dayu) gives us an idea (ibid., 2004e):

Tsune: He's a clumsy kind of person, so I can tell when he's lying. What he said earlier isa lie. He called you to Kyoto because he loves you. The rest is just an excuse.

Oyuki: I am truly happy to receive Kond-sensei's compassion. Now that it's come tothis... I can't stay with him.Tsune: Please stay by his side.

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Oyuki: Eh?Tsune He recently lost a very precious friend. I'm sure he's deeply hurt by it. But I wasnt

there for him at the time. You were. That vexes me. But it's my duty to protect the fencinghall at Edo. So please take my place.Oyuki: Are you sure?Tsune: (nods)

Oyuki: You have no idea what kind of woman I am.Tsune: My husband wouldn't fall for a bad woman. Please take care of Kond Isami.

(bows) Please promise me one thing though. That it'll only be while he's in Kyoto.Oyuki: Only while he's in Kyoto.

Tsune: Yes. (tears rolling down her right eye)Oyuki: Very well. (bows)

This recalls minding an observation from Roland Barthes: This is what is expressed through a

practice of forms (a word whose plastic meaning and worldly meaning are here indissociable), by the

politeness of the salutation the bowing of two bodies which inscribe but do not prostrate themselves.

[I]f I say that in this country politeness is a religion, I let it be understood that there is something sacred in

it; the expression should be canted so as to suggest that religion there is merely a politeness, or better still,

that religion has been replaced by politeness (1982, 68). The markers of harmonization, despite the

seeming-problematic, is played out in a level of subtle intensity that marks the situation something very

much a marker of Japanese sincerity as well, despite its avowed formality and detachment (if only to

highlight what would have been a rough confrontation between a wife and a mistress.

Finally, the entire rhetoric ofsonn ji as it is portrayed in the drama appears to be very quixotic,

despite its high aspirations. It was actually noted thatji as a principle is held by both sides of the

conflict: whether Imperial Loyalist or Shogunate official. As such, it is possible, at least in the narrative

ofShinsengumi!, that Kond appears as an advocate of it no different to the Chsh radicals. The

conversation between him and a Japanese doctor trained in Western medicine (which he consulted

regarding Okitas worsening tuberculosis) gives us a few insights on it (Shinsengumi! 2004f):

Doctor: Isn't Kond-san a ji advocate?Kond: Yes.Doctor: Most of the tools here are from foreign countries. This (a scalpel) this(tweezers) and also this (scissors). Western medicine is far more advanced than ours. I

don't know why Ii-tair opened up the country. But if Japan disassociates itself from theworld there will be o bright future. What can ease the pain of your precious person... isknowledge from the West. Do you still insist on expelling the foreigners?

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Since it is, after all, a narrative which comes from the side of the Tokugawa Shogunate, it

wouldnt be surprising that it will be very much conservative with the views that it employs and deploys

with regards to the ideas that have swept Japan at the time. We will see later how, in contrast to the

Shinsengumis emphasis on camaraderie and collective conviction to uphold tradition, the image of the

shishi shall prove the plausibility and pragmatism of an individual action that is unfettered (or at least, not

bogged down) by traditional and societal norms.

The Potentials and Limits of the Patriot-as-bermensch inRymaden

As there is a wealth of literature and productions portraying Sakamoto Ryma in various lights,

there is already a broad-brush template of his portrayal as the quintessentialshishi, whose values and

capabilities are not to be overestimated. Marius Jansen notes how [h]is romantic career and his buoyant,

self-confident bearing and correspondence lent themselves extraordinarily well to the image the nation

wished to hold of its Restorationshishi. A cluster of stories illustrating his quick intelligence, his practical

bent, his indifference to position and power, his nonchalance in money matters, and his calm and casual

bearing in time of danger, fitted him equally well for the roles of sage and warrior (Jansen 1961, 345).

As such, one might think that there is nothing more to be said of Ryma as he is known as a folk hero,

well-loved and admired by many Japanese up to this day. Nonetheless, interpretations of history for each

generation would not be denied, and as such the 2010 productionRymaden serves, as its executive

producer Kei Suzuki shared. For the narrative, Suzuki wanted to show a cheerful, down-to-earth Ryma

which nonetheless preserves his integrity as a man of thought and practice, proving that anyone even

a nobody from the country can actually change the course of history. There are a lot of things about

Japan today that also seem unchangeable. I hope this new Ryma will demonstrate that they can in fact be

changed" (as quoted in Corkill 2009).

It is not surprising, therefore, that the narrative would take an approach that exhibits, in its

breadth and scope, the challenges that Ryma chose to face in light of a Japan that was violently torn

from itssakoku (locked country) policy by the forces of outside intervention. As many stories dealing

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with the late Tokugawa period would open, the arrival of American Commodore Matthew Perrys fleet,

the Black Ships, served to strong-arm Japan into negotiations of opening its borders, while opening new

possibilities for the shogunate which has then ruled for 250 years (Jansen 1961, 51). If the story of

Rymaden has a main strain, it would be the evolution of Sakamoto Rymas personality into the

enterprising maverick he is well-known for in Japan to date. It is emphasized, precisely, that he was not

born the daredevil that he would be infamous of being. To complement his story, on the other hand, the

life of future Mitsubishi founder Iwasaki Yataro was weaved into it as well, as the foil perspective of the

everyman who seems bound by situation and is easily overcome by desperation. While, obviously, many

artistic liberties were taken in the narrative, the story nonetheless serves its purpose of showing to us an

epic which started in the most unlikely of places.

Born in Tosa han (present-day Kchi Prefecture, Shikoku) in 1836, Sakamoto Ryma was the

youngest son of lower-ranking (kashi) samurai who were nonetheless living amiably. As a child, he was

notorious for being an overly-kind, clumsy and weak-willed boy which suffered the disdain of his fellow

youth. In the opening episode, It is this clumsiness that would earn him the ire of a high-ranking (joshi)

samurai, Kashiwabara Tadahachi, who would later threaten to kill him, if not for the timely intervention

of his then-ill mother (Rymaden 2010a):

Ryma: Im very sorry! Im very sorry!

Kashiwabara Tsunamichi: Was it you who pushed Tadahachi down?Kashiwabara Tadahachi: You desecrated the spirit of the Samurai!Ryma: Please forgive me!Tadahachi: Father, let me kill him now!

Sakamoto K: Please wait! Please have mercy! (runs in, kneels next to Ryma)Servant: Im so sorry my lord, this woman barged her way through.K: Please spare my son! Please spare my sons life!Ryma: Mother!

Tsunamichi: You low ranking Kashi dare to force your way into a Joshis residence?Sakamoto K: My son is young and ignorant. He has no intention at all to offend my

lords. I beg you, I beg you please have mercy on him!Tadahachi : That piece of dirt pushed me into the mud!K: As regards to that, I will sternly discipline him and imprint on him what he didwrong.

Tadahachi: Shut up and move aside!K: Then please kill me instead!Ryma: Mother!

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K: It is the mothers fault that the child was not taught. Please take my life instead!Ryma: No! No! Dont kill my mother!

Tadahachi: Since you say so, Ill kill you both together!Ryma: Dont kill my mother!Tsunamichi: Thats enough! Slashing your sword for something senseless like this, if youstain the house, even the meals will taste bad. (to the Sakamotos) Get out right now.

Succesful in saving her sons life, K collapses into the ground and passes away. The entire

harrowing experience left an indelible mark on the young Ryma, who from then on resolved to make use

of his time into developing himself into a samurai worthy of his name and her mothers trust. When the

story jumps into the year 1852, he has already grown into a competent swordsman capable of besting

others, although still very much non-confrontational. When his childhood neighbor, then-birdcage seller

Iwasaki Yataro, ran afoul of anotherjoshi already known to abuse and kill kashi (very similar to what

Ryma suffered in childhood), he immediately jumped to his aid and asked for forgiveness, suffering

abuse in Yataros place. Being a man with a sense of pride in his poverty, Yataro was very much annoyed

with Rymas intervention, despite him saving his life. As they struggled and fell into a river, they have

this heated exchange (Ibid.):

Yataro: Its all your nosy fault we fell down here! You stupid idiot!!

Ryma: Yataro! Oi! (pulls Yataro up the bank) Yataro! (grabs him by the shoulder)Dont give up your life because of some silly trivial thing! Arent you supposed to be

smart? Arent you going to have a leisurely easy life?!!Yataro: Kashiwill never be able to suppress the Joshi to the day they die! This willnever ever change!Ryma: Actually, Yataro.I know someone. She made a Joshi who had already raised

his katana, put it back down again. My mother. I had pushed down a Joshi child. Justwhen I was about to be beheaded, (smiles) mother succeeded in changing the Joshisview. In Tosa here, Kashi are so badly abused by Joshi. Even though everyone is sayingthis country will not change, I dont think so. If my mother can move the Joshi to change,

then Tosaone day Tosa will see reforms too.Ryma: Are you saying that the day will come when Kashi can win over the Joshi?Ryma: No! Kashiand Joshi. will all be the same!Yataro: Ha! Ha! And what do we have to do to change this world into what you

said?Ryma: I dont know! I think hard about it every day. I still cant figure it out. What I

understand is, conflict is not going to change the world. Disputes with the Joshi, are notgoing to change anything. That was not the way my mother had used then.

Acknowledging the growth and maturity of his son, Sakamoto Hachihei eventually relented to

Rymas request of being allowed to travel the world, see a lot, and learn from it. Securing a travel permit

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to Edo, Ryma enrolled in a fencing school while meeting many other young impressionable minds. Their

burgeoning interests in the issues of the day, brought precisely about by the turmoil and confusion

besetting the bakufus (the shogunate system) dealings with foreigners, led them to questioning the

current state of affairs in Japan to date. His meeting with Katsura Kogor, then a student of Yoshida

Shin (as well as their mutual witnessing of a Black Ship in motion) confounded them about what

precisely Japan could do to stand up to the foreign powers (Ibid. 2010b).

Back in Tosa, however, Rymas childhood friend Takechi Hanpeita has begun organizing the

kashi under the slogan of Imperial loyalism, charging that it is through the expulsion of the foreigners

from Japan that they protect its interests and culture. His good standing in Tosa as a man of letters and the

sword, it appears, gave him enough credibility to be allowed to travel to Edo with his students. However,

Takechi has similarly adopted the stringent measures of samurai discipline, so much that he was willing

to command a loyal student to commitseppuku (ritual suicide) due to a minor infraction that, supposedly,

would compromise his advocacy ofsonn ji. Ryma, however, would have none of it and led the erring

student to escape punishment. It is in this altercation that Rymas unorthodox and pragmatic stance

would surface, clashing with the textbook samurai virtue which Takechi supposedly upholds (Ibid.

2010c):

Takechi Hanpeita: You let him go, didnt you? Ryma, Ive always treated you as my

friend. When Im with you, youre the only one who lets I feel at peace. However, do notstand in my way anymore! I cannot be tied down by little things in front of me now.Ryma: Takumas life is a little thing in your eyes?Takechi: Thats right.

Ryma: Only the devil can say something like that.Takechi: Then only the devil can accomplish great deeds!Ryma: In Takechi-sans heart, you have the great honourable aspirations to changeTosa, to change Japan. But you also have that compassion towards a single stalk of

flower. The devil will not appreciate flowers.Takechi: (picks up his sword and cuts the flower off) Dont talk like you know

everything!Ryma: I wish you a safe trip back.

It is perhaps important to note at this point how the dialogue construction of the drama, as it is

presented, is consistently presented with an imaging of the Japanese psyche as something that does not

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emphasize too much on the directness of words but more on experiential and harmonizing tendencies; that

is to say, the hara of Japanese thought-logic which does not exactly correspond to the dichotomous belief

system in the Western dualistic Aristotelian logic (Yoshino 1992, 13). Similarly, the aesthetics of the

scenes portrayed between individuals, whether they talk of ideas encompassing Japans place in the world

or their personal relationships, has that identifiable mark of precision, which Barthes noted as the Oriental

tendency towards the infinitesimal There is a convergence of the tiny and the esculent: things are not

only small in order to be eaten, but are also comestible in order to fulfill their essence, which is

smallness (1982, 15). That the portrayal of Ryma, in light of his image as the most progressive among

the figures of the Bakumatsu, serves as a mixture of such logical forcefulness yet sensitive enough to

operate along the lines of dialogical hara emphasizes further how Japanese identity and commitment

could actually blend with outside ideas. His conviction, all the same, were to bring forth the detriment of

the bakufu, as he chose to join Takechis Tosa Kinnto (Tosa Loyalist Party) even when he was offered a

post at the Tosa administration by no less than the reformist (yet still kashi-discriminating) Yoshida Ty.

This is where the narrative deviates from historical record: as could be recorded from his letters and

expressions, the historical Ryma was very much still an extremist proponent willing to join in rnin

revolts (Jansen 1961, 162).

In the drama, when Ryma eventually escaped from Tosa as a dappan rshi (under the

assumption that to be truly able to change Japan one must not be bound by stringent loyalties), he went

straight to learn from the newly-appointed Naval Commissioner Katsu Rintar (Rymaden 2010d), who

recently established a Naval Training Academy. Records again disagree: while Ryma supposedly was

anxious to learn from Katsu, historical records hinted that he actually intended to assassinate him due to

his image as a kaikoku (open country) advocate, but was only stayed by listening to Katsus explanations

(Jansen 1961, 163-164). This experience of conversion, it appears, was given to another character, Okada

Iz, a noted assassin working under Takechi Hanpeita (and who, in this drama, was similarly Rymas

childhood friend), likely due to a lack of documentation on the historical person (Rymaden 2010e):

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Katsu Rintar: Hey!Ryma: Yes?

Katsu: Hes here to kill me. Right! You knew that, whore you bluffing, you asshole!Really!Ryma: Iz! Did Takechi-san tell you to comeOkada Iz: No.

Ryma: Are you still killing people?!!Iz: Its not like that!

Katsu: (pats Ryma) Stop, stop, stop! (Pats Iz) This fellow is just trying his best to dohis job, right? Before that happens, before you kill me, first listen to what I have to say.

Then you can do what you want, OK? Wait!. Hey, Iz. This is called a globe. Its a replica of the big wide world. Look here

closely. This here is America. Heres Europe and heres China. Now guess where Japanis. Eh? (He kneels next to the model.) Well, Japan..This little island in the corner, isJapan.Iz: Thats Japan?

Ryma: Eh?Iz: What?!! Thats Japan?!

Ryma: Eh? Izo! You really didnt know?!Iz: How can that be!

Katsu: Yes! Yes! The globe has finally come to use! (to Iz) Hey! Youre verystraightforward. I like that! I like you! Very good!

Like student, like mentor, perhaps. Katsu, despite being an official of the shogunate, was very

much open to pragmatic solutions to various problems: in fact, he did not hesitate to take in dappan rshi

like Ryma in order to teach them how to become independent citizens of a nascent nation. The portrayal

of Katsu very much suggests that of a benevolent mentor who is willing to listen to peoples ideas, albeit

still very much in a roundabout hara way that tests their character. His statements in the narrative do

suggest an ideal image of Japan that practically embodied how the Meiji era unfolded:

Peoplewont really get it, if you tell them. It wont be long before the people can feelit for themselves, and then theyll change. Firstly, our school has its own merits Right,

we have no Han-related barriers. ... Secondly, we have no distinction in class hierarchy.And finally, in order to sail the black ship, theyd have to pick up western studies,anyhow. Once they realize how advanced western civilization is, theyll know its foolishto go to war with foreign countries. (Ibid.)

When we say Ji, Ji, therere really 2 levels, macro-Ji and micro-Ji. Expel the

foreigners! Strike them down! Thats micro-level. What were doing is macro-Ji -learning from foreign culture and then, strengthening ourselves to defend Japansindependence. Thats macro-level. (ibid., 2010f).

Nonetheless, in this portrayal of the shogunate, Katsu is a fish out of water. The shogunate, very

much touchy for its position and vengeful in the opportunism of the Chsh han to advance Imperial

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loyalty against the Tokugawa, does not tolerate any dissent, even constructive criticism. As such, Katsus

unorthodox methods were regarded as treason when it was discovered that one of his students in the

Naval Training Academy, Mochizuki Kameyata, was part of the aborted plot to burn Kyoto, the Ikedaya

Affair. This, as it was recorded, sealed the fate of the Navy Training School Katsu organized to

modernize the Japanese militia and the country (ibid., 2010g):

Katsu Rintar: Punish Chsh?!

Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu: This is the chance to crush Chsh, and confiscate its lands.Then no one will dare defy us anymore. And the Bakufu will have peace.Katsu: If I may, my Lord! If I may, my Lord! Is this the decision of our Shgun, Iemochi-k? At present, our country of Japan should focus on countering the challenge from

foreign countries. At this critical time, we cannot afford to have internal strife!Hitotsubashi-sama, I beg you! Please reconsider this!

Yoshinobu: You dare to contradict me. Youre still as gutsy as ever. However, yourobtrusive behaviour is getting very irritating lately. The Navy Training Academy has

housed numerous dappan rnin from various Hans. One of whom attempted to joinChsh retainers in their rebellion in the Ikedaya earlier.Katsu: We work We work only for Japan.Yoshinobu: Silence!! This is not behaviour befitting of the Bakufu Navy Commissioner!!

Such despotic portrayal of the bakufu is not new, and is perhaps to be expected of a narrative that

practically glorifies the Meiji restoration. What might be noted, perhaps, is how the portrayal practically

is suggestive of the rhetoric used by Japanese extremists in the years prior to the Second World War

(1921-1941), where the privileged of society are denounced, the peoples interests are not taken into

consideration, and the tendency to use violent means to achieve ones goals becomes more and more

appealing (Large 2006, 95). Nevertheless, it was precisely made clear in the ultimate fates of Takechis

Tosa Kinnto and the Chsh loyalists during the Hamaguri rebellion (defeated, repressed and forced to

commitseppuku) that their rhetoric cannot last without enduring resources and institutional clout. In the

narrative, as Ryma chose to serve under the Satsuma han together with his fellow students at the Naval

Training Academy, he noted: Takechi-san and his men. their desire to protect Japan was no different

from ours. But, just by their aspirations, they could not change the world. We should have learnt that from

them already. The regret they left behind, must not be wasted in vain. Think about it. In order to

accomplish our goal, what should we be doing? (Rymaden 2010h). And it is in this field, precisely, that

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Ryma found a way to bridge a possibility to changing the balance of power in Japan: in bringing about

the alliance between formerly-bitter enemies Satsuma and Chsh. In enterprising exchanges between the

domains for assistance, Rymas recently-established company, the Kameyama Shachu, brokered talks

between Satsuma, and the merchants of Nagasaki, foremost being Thomas Glover as supplier of arms and

ships (ibid., 2010i). Eventually, when war between Chsh and the bakufu erupted, Rymas company

joined in the battle at Shimonoseki and contributed to victory, while he simultaneously began planning

for a peaceful turnover of power from the shogunate back to the Emperor (the Taisei hkan movement).

(ibid., 2010j).

One might be tempted to think that, like the similar methodology of historical writing, women

were once again placed in the backburner. It must be emphasized, precisely, that the narrative of

Rymaden sought to highlight as much women participation in the story of Rymas struggles. First and

foremost, as mentioned in the beginning, it was his mother that impressed on him the capability of

discussion and reasoning (a perceived Western construct at that ifnihonjinron would be believed, but is

actually rooted in Japanese culture). Similarly, it was his sister Otome that impressed on him a strength of

character and conviction that would guide him throughout his life (Rymaden 2010a). On the other hand,

though, the role of romantic relationships (and how women were portrayed) in the narrative was

ambivalent. While Rymas childhood beloved, Hirai Kao, was somewhat passive and accepting of her

being merely a pawn in the struggles of Takechis rise to power (even asking him to leave her in order to

be able to continue his worthy fight; ibid., 2010k), the same cannot be said of the woman who later

became his wife, Narasaki Ry (or Ory); she was stubborn enough to join him in his travels and was

even, in his own words, the means by which he survived the ambush on the Terada-ya inn where he was

stopping for the night (ibid., 2010l). The other two women, Chiba Sana (the daughter of Chiba Sadakichi,

his kenjutsu master) and the Nagasaki geisha Omoto (who also served as his accessory to avoid

authorities) were obviously smitten with him, because he acknowledged their strengths as women even

though he did not reciprocate their feelings. Much should be mentioned, nonetheless, of the merchant

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ura Kei, who was the wealthiest woman in Nagasaki and who was the first to throw in her financial

support to Rymas underground activities (ibid., 2010h).

Highlighting the roles of various people in the narrative, I argue, does not only emphasize how

Ryma was able to convince them to join his vision of a new Japan; in fact, the narrative would show that

had Ryma not been willing to deal with different people of varying backgrounds and interests, his efforts

would have been left in vain. The precise virtue of Ryma, viewed as enterprising, modernistic and alien

to the traditional Japanese culture, it appears, is actually very Japanese in itself: the willingness to depend

and be interpersonal. To absolutize either dimension of his narratives efforts is to fall into the

essentializing trap, and[t]he assumption that uniquely Japanese modes of thinking and behaving are

incomprehensible for non-Japanese tends to hinder social communication between Japanese and foreign

residents and the latters integration into social life in Japan (Yoshino 1992, 37). Building the image of

Sakamoto Ryma as a poster boy for the ideal liberal-individualist man, it would appear, inevitably falls

flat due to the continuing tensions that Japanese people view their association with each other. In fact,

rather than reinforce a more cosmopolitan notion of society,Rymaden fosters an image of a Japanese

collective that is pragmatic in its capacity to reach out to one another.

TheJiof Nostalgia

If something is shared by the two dramas, they both highlight the multiplicity of ideas during the

period, a time where there would be 1,000 opinions about the situation of their country and you cannot

easily tell which one is right or wrong. Despite this outward desire for theirsakoku past, Japan is very

much willing to deal with foreigners and have integrated them in the development of the domains and the

country. Moreover, it could be noted that in both narratives, the changes that were engulfing and posing

the fall of the Shogunate were consistently portrayed as "inevitable." This fiery faith in the inevitability of

success through sincerity and enterprising (within or outside the norms of the Japanese social hierarchy)

suggests to us that, in many ways, it is theshishi who won the cultural warfare. The desire to be part of

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the historical motions was universal among the characters, which might be gleaned from the fictional

representation of the scholar Sakuma Shzan:

A person should just think about himself for the first ten years of his life. For the next ten

years he should live for his family. For the ten year after that, he should live for hisprovince. When he is 30 years old, he should live for Japan. When he hits 40, he should

live for the world. (Shinsegumi! 2004g).

It cannot be noted how great the reception from the audience these two series were supposedly

enjoying during their runs. Shinsengumi! was among the few taiga dramas which have had a special

epilogue, which recounted concerning the last days of Hijikata Toshiz and his death defending the Ezo

Republic in Hokkaido.Rymaden, being the well-loved telling of a national hero as it was,created a

phenomenon akin to a Ryma fever in Japan, supposedly contributing to tourism and history-related

commerce immensely (Spoinichi 2011). In a way, it was actively stimulated, in part, by the post-episode

travelogues regarding sites related to the life and times of Sakamoto Ryma. Such is quite remarkable,

considering that the ratings for the series averaged in the high 10s: 17.4% forShinsengumi! and 18.72%

forRymaden.

It would not be a high assumption, in a sense, if we would argue that this overwhelming support

for such narratives of glorified Japanese past figures in as the active manifestation of nationalism as

nostalgia. It is perhaps an amusing coincidence that Shinsengumi! was airing during the time of the most

popular Japanese prime minister, Koizumi Junichir, who was an adamant and prided symbol of Japanese

visibility in the post-war era international scene. When Koizumi and and the Tang Jiaxuan said that

agreement over historical memory is crucial to stable international relations in East Asia (Kushner

2007, 795), there is an implicit understanding that they should both value their historical heritages and the

weight that their actions have as it is recorded. From here, the right wing pundits, including manga author

Kobayashi Yoshinori, there is a consistent critique of the Japanese supposedly losing sight of their pride

as a nation, instead kowtowing to former colonies (i.e. China, Taiwan) just because they made major

mistakes during the Second World War, even if Imperial Japanese history precisely has a glorious

military and national heritage. The nationalist project is also capitalized, in many ways, by the

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conservatives affiliated in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to normalize Japan (Ryu 2007, 724),

especially when it comes to perceptions of whether or not Yasukuni Shrine should become a public

monument to Japanese heroes again (especially considering that Yasukuni still houses many war

criminals, together with the Restoration patriots and other war dead who served valiantly and honorably

during the Second World War). As might be noted: it seems to many people that the nation cannot

acknowledge those who died in its service during the Second World War. For obvious reasons, this is

unsatisfactory to those who lost a member of their family (Trefalt 2002, 124).

This, in many ways, is constitutive of a reification of the situation of political alienation in Japan

that we have been witnessing to date: [C]ertain political attitudes, including trust, do not change

suddenly. If the new parties meet the expectations of their supporters and can manage to expand their

bases, then they will have made an important contribution to creating citizens closer to the democratic

ideal. Japan will enjoy a virtuous circle of political incorporation, increasing civic orientation, and

(probably) increasing trust. The flip side of this scenario is a vicious circle in which new parties fail to

live up to expectations and drive ever more voters into disengagement and distrust. (Kabashima et. al.

2000, 798). To date, other than the surge of electoralist fervor that brought the Democratic Party of Japan

to power in 2009, no avid manifestation of historical Japanese citizenship has yet arisen and is made

manifest, made accessible, or made visibly apparent. The closest, as it would seem, is the consumption

and participation in the narratives of such popular culture (as is portrayed in the taiga dramas), by which

Japanese at least still have a sense of connection to an active (if often forceful, violent and lethal)

citizenship.

Thus, the failure and limitations of state-building in Japan might give us pause to reflect. Might it

not be indeed that the current liberal-democratic state of Japan is seen as the new declining Tokugawa?

Yet why does the consumption of culture as political traces no longer bring about active participation? It

is, after all, dictated by the medium: the narrative is shown in television, which only stimulates reactions

and not reflective thought. As Neil Postman wrote on the discursive apparatus of television: [i]t comes as

the unintended consequence of a dramatic change in our modes of public conversation. [I]t is an

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ideology nonetheless, for it imposes a way of life, a set of relations among people and ideas, about which

there has been no consensus, no discussion and no opposition (1986, 157). As there is no resonance in

the state apparatus for them to enact their pride and identity as Japanese, it would seem, there is no other

space to enact the participatory side of being Japanese other than consuming and being consumed by the

signifiers of such dramatic representations, however fictive they might be. The reception of people to the

narratives of the Bakumatsu (as they are articulated in the NHK dramas) exhibits an adherence to a

Japanese narrative which people take pride on, but that is not emphasized by the state. The perceived

virtues of the historical Japanese actors, things which they cannot find in the current political arena of

Japan, further the cleavage between being-Japanese-as-identity and being-Japanese-as-citizen.

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