The Indispensable Nation: Can Japan save the world in the 21st century?

It is hard to find anyone in Japan, suggests Roger Pulvers, who is optimistic about the future of the country – other than members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The swelling national debt, the denial of the country’s past transgressions in Asia, the ominous moves to reverse the course of the country’s peaceful diplomacy and replace it with a threatening aggressive stance – all these darken the clouds of a gathering storm over East Asia.

 

Is Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s ‘beautiful Japan’ the only past that people can turn to in order to give them a justified pride in their nation? This lecture considers ‘another Japan’ – and a mainstream one, at that – which offers positive and practical hope for the country.

 

The basis for this alternate ethos is found in the ethical, cultural and social values, expressed in the works of many of the nation’s artists, writers and thinkers. Roger Pulvers argues that, through these values, particularly as described in the works of poet Miyazawa Kenji, film director Ozu Yasujiro, essayist Shirasu Masako and playwright Inoue Hisashi, the Japanese can free their nation from the trap of today’s political retrogression and give the world a model of genuine progress worth emulating.

 

To reserve your place, please call the Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk or submit the online booking form.

 

Free –Booking essential – places are limited