Modernity in East Asia: The Search for Identity

Matthew Sisto

HIS 340W: Modernity through East Asian Eyes

May 9, 2014

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Towering skyscrapers, sprawling metropolises with brilliant lights and advanced technology – this is often

thought to be the definition of modern. It is true that the conception of modernity is often linked with a

materialistic and consumerist society. When one thinks of Japan, China, or Korea, they often think of cities like

Tokyo or Seoul, cities on the cusp of the most advanced technology with a high standard of living. However,

modernity in Asia is much more involved than the simple trappings of it. East Asia’s experience with modernism

was a traumatic experience that ruptured their individual societies which had established identities of their own

prior to the invasion of the West. The ensuing time after this rupture would consist of China, Korea, and Japan

seeking to redefine their identities in the context of being both modern and Asian. This paper will argue that

modernism for East Asia was and is a journey for identity, and overcoming the obstacle of the honor student

culture, a term which was originally coined for Japan, but which this paper links to materialism, something which

China and Korea are also susceptible to. The structure will be based off of the representation of the clock in the

film Kuroi Ame, tracing East Asia through a narrative described by ticking, rupture, winding, and chiming. A careful

analysis of the histories of the three countries and examples from literature and films will be crucial to

understanding how modernism was developed and is perceived in East Asia.

Ticking

China, Japan, and Korea

In the beginning of Kuroi Ame, the clock is shown ticking away time on its own, without any kind of

outside intervention to aid it in keeping time. Similarly, before the intervention of the West, China, Japan, and

Korea were separate entities which had clearly defined identities and functioned on their own. The Asian

conception of time as circular is appropriate in describing the enclosed nature of these societies. It is true that they

were intertwined with one another concerning culture and society. Still, Asia was its own entity, cut off from the

societies of the West. Korea is a perfect example of this. The nation was isolated from the rest of the world,

developing its own culture and identity. Yet at the same time, it was borrowing from China as well1, acting as part

of the Sino-centric system that was prevalent in Asia in the past. Korea still maintained homogeneity across many

aspects of the nation. As Michael Seth notes, “by the fifteenth century and perhaps earlier, ethnicity, language,

and polity were largely coterminous.”2 Indeed, even the breaks in the dynasties contributed to a stability in the

country that signaled neither cultural revolution nor an abandonment of the past.3 This method of dynastic

overturn is indicative of the conception of the circularity of time. Thus Korea was a unique phenomenon on the

global stage, a peaceful nation that was ethnically, socially and culturally homogenous.

1 Seth, Concise History of Modern Korea, 3.2 Ibid., 5.3 Ibid., 4.

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Japan had encountered the West in the past, but in a very limited way. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s failed

mission to invade Korea, hostilities toward foreigners increased, including the crucifixion of Christians in Nagasaki.

All of this culminated in the closing of the country via the Sakoku edicts issued by the Tokugawa shogunate. Thus

Japan became an isolated country for roughly 200 years, though it could not aspire to the same legacy of isolation

that Korea held. Japan had been in contact with Asia in the past, borrowing culture from Korea and China.

However, this period of isolation, known as the Edo Period, was a time of internal reflection in which the culture of

Japan flourished. Bourgeois culture and the merchant class grew extensively, and much of Japan’s traditional

culture that typically comes to mind to foreigners today stems from this period. The growth of these elements in

Japan was aided extensively by the sankin kōtai, which required daimyō (put simply, provincial lords) to make a

trip to the shogun’s residence in Edo. The travel was a large expense for the daimyō, involving much fanfare. Local

businesses were supported along the way as they provided food and comfort for the daimyō’s men. At the same

time, this system was a national law, which caused the daimyō to conceive of Japan as a unified nation with central

power, despite the fractured appearance caused of the country due to the provinces.4 A final point on Tokugawa-

era Japan is the shi-nō-kō-shō system of class structure. This was a hierarchy classifying all of the citizens of Japan

including the samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants (from top to bottom respectively).5 The samurai enjoyed

the greatest privileges in society while contributing the least. As time progressed, the samurai began to lose

influence in society because they could no longer afford to maintain their extravagant manner of living and

dressing, and the merchants began to take up their position of having the most influence (for they owned most of

the samurais’ debt). The eventual death of the samurai class would be of immediate benefit to Japan, but they

would continue to live on in the minds of the people as a cultural symbol of old Japan. Thus the Sakoku edicts,

Sankin Kōtai, shi-nō-kō-shō, and the samurai all aided in the establishment of a Japanese national identity.

China’s national identity differed slightly in its foundation from Korea and Japan. Due to the sheer size of

the country, the Chinese could not think of themselves as “Chinese” based solely on ethnicity, as Korea was free to

do. Rather, the basis of this was on shared cultural traditions and rituals.6 Again, this same sense of cultural

continuity was characteristic of China’s past, even with the rise and fall of the various dynasties. The Chinese

emperors were subjected to the concept of the “mandate of heaven,” which if they failed to fulfill, they could be

justifiably overthrown by the people. Consequently they were not able to simply rule as they wished.7 The

continual overturn of emperors according to the “mandate of heaven” contributed to the concept of the circularity

of time. Further, the prevalence of Confucian thought in Chinese society was a unifying force which aided in

establishing an idea of what it meant to be Chinese. Similar to the role of the neo-Confucian shi-nō-kō-shō in Japan,

Confucian principles guided the conduct of the Chinese people, binding them together under a singular mode of

4 Goto-Jones, Modern Japan, 28-29.5 Ibid., 30.6 Mitter, Modern China, 7.7 Ibid., 19.

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personal conduct.8 Confucianism then, as well as the “mandate of heaven” and China’s shared rituals, gave the

nation a sense of identity, even if it was different from the way in which identity was constructed in Japan and

Korea.

The idea of a sealed nation existing only in circular time is present in the film Spring, Summer, Fall,

Winter… and Spring Again.9 The monastery is isolated in multiple ways; it resides in the middle of a lake, which is in

turn located in the mountains. As the seasons progress, there is life and death, both physically and spiritually, as

the old man ends up committing suicide, only for the young boy to return and take over his position. The girl who

arrives at the monastery is a representation of modern society (essentially the West) rupturing this continuous

cycle (the concept of rupture to be discussed in the next section). In this film, there is an emphasis on culture as a

grounding force. If it is deviated from, identity will be lost and will result in self-destruction. The girl has no respect

for the traditions of the monastery simply because she is ignorant of them, such as when she sits on the small

statue to the surprise of the young boy. Eventually, he caters to her behavior, abandoning the traditions and

history he has known for so long. This leads to his loss of identity, ultimately ending with him murdering his wife

after he had entered modern society. Hence there is an indication that in order for the Asian countries to maintain

their identity, they must stay tied to their traditions, even in the face of a rupture of their originally isolated

society.

Western Identity

This rupture was of course caused by the West, which was its own entity as well before its excursion into

the East. In fact, the entire discourse of this paper would not exist had it not been for the West, as the West was

the originator of the modernity concept. Indeed, Takeuchi tackles this problem, essentially noting that modernity is

the West’s idea of its own identity. In contrast to the East, the West conceived of time in a linear model, where to

move forward in time was to progress. To achieve progress, Western identity was solidified through self-

preservation and self-expansion. Thus in order to find itself, Europe needed to establish an “other,” which became

the concept of the Orient. Europe had risen out of its feudal era and, by juxtaposing itself against Asia which was

still utilizing this state model, perceived itself to be “modern” and Asia as backward, due to the linear progression

of time away from this older statecraft.10 Therefore, in order to verify its own identity, the West (or Europe in

Takeuchi’s terms) needed to invade the Orient to further progress and Enlightenment thought.

Enlightenment thought drove this idea of progress for the Western nations. As Kant proposed, the people

need only be given freedom and then they could enlighten themselves. They needed to free themselves from the

tutelage of the superior who held them back from moving forward and using rational thought.11 Truly it was the

8 Ibid., 7.9 Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring.10 Takeuchi, What is Modernity?, 54-55.11 Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”.

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duty of these enlightened nations to spread rationality and freedom to the rest of the world. The curious point of

this notion is the inherent hypocrisy that is implicated in this kind of mission. In order for the West to be able to

free the Orient from the tutelage of its old ways, it would have to enslave it; for the Orient to become independent

and rational, the West needed to become its master. Mastering the East would come in steps and the West would

naturally encounter resistance in the process. To overcome this resistance was progress, for it meant the

advancement and the victory of enlightenment thought and values.12

In The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, the idea of resistance is key for Toru Okada in his quest to find himself.

This idea of resistance will be discussed in more detail later. A further idea that is prevalent is the idea of flow. In

Asian modernity, flowing water often depicts the link between the physical and material world with that of the

spiritual. In the way Japan, China, and Korea have been discussed so far, it would be safe to say that the flow was

unobstructed and continuous between these two realms, until the rupture of the West. This concept will also be

discussed in further detail, but it is important that it is introduced early on.

Rupture

Japan: Resistance and Honor Student Culture

With the fall of the atomic bomb in Kuroi Ame, the independently ticking clock is obliterated. Time stops

at 8:15am, a time which will be forever fixed in the minds of the Japanese people. Similarly, the invasion of the

East by the West ruptured the former’s circularity of time and ultimately way of life. For Japan, this came with the

arrival of Commodore Perry’s black ships, the infamous kurofune (黒船). In the face of superior technology, Japan

was forcibly pulled from its place of isolation, which it had so comfortably resided in for two centuries. The

kurofune became a symbol of the West and its superior culture and technology which overcame Japan with no

effort.13 This point of rupture is where Takeuchi would most likely say that Japan’s spirit (identity) began to die. As

stated before, the West faced resistance for its invasion of the East. Thus the West viewed modernization as

overcoming this resistance, whereas the East was modernized through this resistance. Takeuchi states that “the

history of resistance is the history of modernization, and there is no modernization that does not pass through

resistance.”14 For Takeuchi, Japan failed to become a modern nation because it lost all sense of identity. To be

European was to seek self-preservation and self-expansion. To be Asian was to resist. However, Japan did neither

of these things, so essentially it had no identity.15 By not resisting, it was automatically excluding itself from Asian

modernity. At the same time, the absorption of Western culture and technology indicated Japan’s lack of desire to

preserve its old self. Of course one might argue that Japan sought to preserve and expand itself during its

imperialist phase and World War II. Certainly, it even sought to resist the West. This should then be an ultra-

12 What is Modernity?, 57.13 Modern Japan, 17.14 What is Modernity?, 57.15 Ibid., 64.

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modern Asian nation, as it would by definition be both European (modern) and Asian. However, this is a false sense

of modernity, as Japan was seeking to preserve and expand an empty identity. Its experiment with modernity

would come after the loss of its identity.

Part of this lack of resistance stemmed from what Takeuchi calls the “honor student culture.” The honor

student culture arose from a pure absorption of the things that came from the West simply because they were

new. They imitated but without any internalization, cultural grounding, or originality. 16 By conceiving that they had

created material progress, the honor students believed they had advanced culturally as well, and that it was their

role to bring the common people (the backward students) with them. If ever there were a failure, it was never

attributed to the methods of the honor students. Rather, it was because the backward students had made

themselves to be an obstacle. Further still, if it was deemed that an honor student had failed, it was due to their

miscalculation of the backward students – they had forgotten about them. Thus the blame always fell on the

backward students, and the imitation methodology so prized by the honor students never changed.17

In The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Noboru Wataya is the epitome of the honor student. Externally, he has the

accoutrements of success, and his words appear to have importance. Internally however, he has no substance, and

his words lack intrinsic meaning. In reference to Noboru’s television appearances, Toru says, “But if you paid close

attention to what he was saying or what he had written, you knew that his words lacked consistency. They

reflected no single worldview based on profound conviction… If there was any consistency to his opinions, it was

the consistent lack of consistency, and if he had a worldview, it was a view that proclaimed his lack of a

worldview.”18 Here Toru is referencing what Takeuchi calls tenkō (転向).19 This is essentially a change of character

in which a person does not wish to maintain the self. They continually turn toward the new without a connection

to personal identity. This type of conversion occurs when there is a simple absorption of the external. Takeuchi

states: “Tenkō occurs where there is no resistance, i.e., no desire to be oneself. The person who holds fast to the

self cannot change direction, but only walks his own path.”20 Thus Noboru Wataya, with no sense of internal self, is

able to quickly switch and change worldviews to give the appearance of success and intelligence because he has no

foundation in himself. In addition to lacking consistency, Wataya casts the blame on the “backward students,”

especially because they lacked understanding of his superficially extravagant nonsense:

Trotting out the technical jargon was another forte of his. No one knew what it meant, of course, but he was able to present it in such a way that you knew it was your fault if you didn’t get it. And he was always citing statistics. They were engraved in his brain, and they carried tremendous persuasive power, but if you stopped to think about it afterward, you realized that no one had questioned his sources or their reliability.21

16 Ibid., 68.17 Ibid., 68-69.18 Murakami, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 75-76.19 What is Modernity?, 75.20 Ibid.21 Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 76.

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With the burden falling on them, the backward students are forced to work even harder to understand and try to

help the honor students, even if the honor students failed, because the former group believes it was their fault due

to the preaching of the honor students. The backward students had to trust the honor students, even if they were

not completely convinced of their methods, for the honor students were the most distinguished individuals of

Japan; they had to be right, even if it was incomprehensible to the backward students. Sergeant Hamano

exemplifies this ambivalence when discussing Japan’s Manchurian campaign:

“I don’t mind fighting,” he said. “I’m a soldier. And I don’t mind dying in battle for my country, because that’s my job. But this war we’re fighting now, Lieutenant – well, it’s just not right. It’s not a real war, with a battle line where you face the enemy and fight to the finish. We advance, and the enemy runs away without fighting… I’m telling you, Lieutenant, this is one war that doesn’t have any Righteous Cause. It’s just two sides killing each other… I can’t believe that killing these people for no reason at all is going to do Japan one bit of good.”22

Still, Sergeant Hamano continues to serve because he has no choice, has some level of trust in his superiors due to

his lack of comprehension, or a combination of both. Lieutenant Mamiya voices his concern as well, albeit in his

personal thoughts:

And when I thought about Japan, I began to feel as if I had been abandoned at the edge of the world. Why did we have to risk our lives to fight for this barren piece of earth devoid of military or industrial value, this vast land where nothing lived but wisps of grass and biting insects? To protect my homeland, I too would fight and die. But it made no sense to me at all to sacrifice my one and only life for the sake of this desolate patch of soil from which no shaft of grain would ever spring.23

Noboru Wataya plays a significant role in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle because he is the main obstacle that

prevents Toru from reuniting with his wife Kumiko. Noboru is the object that blocks the flow between the physical

and the spiritual. Essentially, the honor student (Noboru Wataya) is the main problem which is blocking Japan from

being reunited with its spirit and identity. The very individuals who claim to have found the Japanese spirit and

blame the backward students for lack of progress, are the very blockage themselves. This would be the conflict

which would engulf Japan’s grapple with modernity. The trappings of modernity clouded over the true spirit and

identity of Japan.

Korea, Rupture, and Resistance

Korea’s rupture is unique in that it was a country fought over by multiple powers: China, Russia, Japan,

and the United States. Throughout the course of its modernity since the General Sherman Incident, Korea was

tugged in various directions based on the other countries’ national interests. Although Korea, unlike Japan, resisted

in various ways, its identity was still confused based on who held sway over the country. As stated before, Korea

had been able to maintain its own identity while continuing to borrow from China. However, when the Japanese

annexed the nation in 1910, a new identity was forced on Korea. New reforms were pushed in order to integrate

the Japanese with the Koreans, with the end goal of creating one unified body of people. In 1939, the Name Order

22 Ibid., 143.23 Ibid., 146.

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coerced the Korean people into adopting Japanese names, dealing a blow to a source of immense pride for the

Koreans. They also had to register at Shintō shrines, and the Japanese officials banned Korean-language

newspapers.24 The forced assimilation was unsuccessful, partially due to the inability for many Koreans to speak or

understand Japanese,25 but also due to their internal resistance and spirit. Indeed, even before the forced

assimilation policies were put in effect, the moderate nationalists had recognized that the cultural and spiritual

cultivation of Korea would be the only thing that would allow its national identity to survive, so that it could one

day become independent.26 In truth, the simple fact that the Japanese attempted to assimilate the Koreans

hindered their hope to create a unified Japanese body. Due to the distinction drawn between who was Korean and

who was Japanese, the Koreans’ “Koreanness” became more apparent.

This paradoxical method of assimilation is shown in the film My Way.27 In the beginning when the

Japanese ban the Koreans from running in the race, the decision further divides the two groups which the

Japanese say they are trying to bring together. This tension simmers until it boils over when Jun-shik is disqualified

from winning the race he runs for allegedly “blocking” Kimura, a Japanese runner who actually attempted to trip

Jun-Shik. In response, the Korean people riot and attack the Japanese. The participants in the riot are then

sentenced to become imperial soldiers in the Japanese army. Again, the paradox is clear: the punishment for the

Koreans was to become Japanese, further creating the divide between what the Japanese deemed was “Japanese”

and “Korean.” The entry into the imperial army also exemplifies the two-fold identity crisis of Korea. On the one

hand, the Koreans maintain their idea of national identity based on the concept of the divide as just mentioned. On

the other hand, they are forced into a false identity, for even if they feel internally that they are Korean, they must

at least bide their time by complying with their imperialistic conquerors and pretend to be Japanese.

In another scene, Hasegawa, Jun-shik’s eventual Japanese friend, volunteers fifty Koreans to be part of a

special suicide mission against the Soviets. Jun-shik refuses on behalf of all the Koreans, stating that none of them

had willingly volunteered. Hasegawa argues that the Koreans should be proud to die for the emperor. To this, Jun-

shik responds that they have nothing to be proud of, for they did not willing wish to die for the emperor. Once

again, the Koreans were forced to comply with a false identity, but inside they knew who they were. They had not

lost track of their identity.

Here there is a marked difference between two of the Koreans in the film – Jun-shik and Jung-dae –

indicating the two paths that could be taken concerning identity and the resulting consequences. At the Soviet

prison camp, Jun-shik encounters his old friend Jung-dae, who is now leading the prisoner work force composed of

Japanese and Koreans. However, Jung-dae had compromised his identity as a Korean in favor of saving himself. He

adopted the persona of a member of the Soviet Union, even going so far as to assume the name “Anton,” and

24 History of Modern Korea, 74.25 Ibid., 75.26 Ibid., 52.27 My Way.

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became cruel and inhumane to all those under his care. He discriminated between neither Japanese nor Korean in

his conduct. When he catches his old friend Choon-bok stealing bread, he almost protects him, until the Soviets

arrive in the storehouse at which point Jung-dae turns Choon-bok over to the Soviets. Also, while working out in

the forest, Jung-dae kills the kakeshi-maker from Yamagata, inciting a mini-riot from Hasegawa and another

Japanese prisoner. Jung-dae in his quest for vengeance had become the very same thing he had loathed back when

Jun-shik had been disqualified from winning the race. If Jung-dae is to be taken as an example of a modernizing

Korea, he loses himself in his attempt to survive. According to Takeuchi’s terminology, his wish for self-

preservation and self-expansion (his increased power over the prisoners and revenge against the Japanese)

perhaps would have “modernized” him, but because he lacked any kind of resistance, he was unable to maintain

his identity and so, like Japan, defended and expanded upon an empty existence. In the end, Jung-dae is shot in a

battle with the Germans. He dies as a false member of the Soviet Union, but he does so with a slight amount of

redemption – he remembers who he once was, and then covers the person whom he knows maintained their

identity – Jun-shik – so that Jun-shik does not die also. Thus if Korea lost its identity, it would only end in

destruction, culturally, nationally, and possibly physically.

As for Jun-shik, he is able to maintain his identity throughout the film, even under conditions of forced

assimilation. In the midst of being coerced to become Japanese, Russian, and then German, he still retains his

Korean identity through resistance. Sometimes this resistance was externally manifested, such as when he stands

up to Hasegawa in the examples cited previously. At other times his resistance is internal. Hasegawa notices that

Jun-shik, no matter where he is, continues to run. Jun-shik never forgot that he was a runner; it was a part of

himself that he refused to give up, and this same attitude is expressed in his will to remain Korean. If Korea were to

follow the example of Jun-shik, it would find life even in death. Hasegawa goes on to carry Jun-shik’s identity for

him after the latter’s death. Thus, by not seeking vengeance and remaining true to his core, Jun-shik was able to

find life in rebirth. The death of an age of old Korea could be carried on through into modernity if only it retained

its identity.

One of the brilliant features of My Way is that it not only captures this struggle for identity via resistance,

but it also depicts the problem of honor student culture quite clearly through Hasegawa. Throughout much of the

film, Hasegawa appears on the surface to have an identity in Japan, but this is not grounded. Like Jun-shik, he had

been a runner when he was younger, but once he entered the imperial army, he abandoned that old way and fully

embraced his new position. This is similar to tenkō in which Hasegawa does not convert internally, but rather

changes by the external because he is not rooted in a clear identity. Further still, he encourages his own men to

become living sacrifices for the emperor, but he is unwilling to do so himself. He endorsed the sacrificial behavior

because it helped him to maintain self-security. At the end of the battle just before he and Jun-shik are taken to

the Soviet prison camp, Hasegawa begins shooting his men for retreating. He casts the blame on these “backward

students” for withholding victory. As Takeuchi would say, he took no responsibility for himself, because he could

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not conceive that the problem was with him; it was the backward students who had failed to understand, whom

he had forgotten to “take into account.”28 Fast forward to the Soviet Union labor camp, Hasegawa is put in the

same position that he had put the Koreans in: the Soviets make Hasegawa conform to their ways and command

him to denounce his own country by stepping on the Japanese flag. Hasegawa defies them, turning to the Japanese

and Korean prisoners behind him, and shouting that they should bow before the emperor. Jun-shik verbally notes

this hypocrisy, stating that just as Hasegawa does not wish to submit to the Soviets, he in turn has no right to

attempt to make the Koreans bow to the emperor. Jun-shik takes it a step further and says that if he wishes to be a

true loyal servant to the emperor, Hasegawa should commit hara-kiri as he had made the other colonel do for

deserting the battlefield (Jun-shik claims Hasegawa’s crime was killing his own men). Thus Jun-shik points out the

hypocritical honor student culture that is blocking Hasegawa from merging the physical with the spiritual, or his

true identity. Hasegawa is defending Japan, but he is not rooted in a true identity. The honor student mentality and

tenkō behavior that were instilled in him were keeping him from finding his true self.

China and Internal Tension

China’s point of rupture came with the Opium War of 1839-42. It is true that the Chinese had had contact

with the foreigners before, as the British had been trading with the Chinese before this conflict. It was actually the

Chinese circular conception of time and society that was the ultimate point of contention. The Chinese had refused

to trade with the British because they were in need of nothing. Having been a self-sustained society for many years

prior to trade with the British, they had produced and consumed all that was necessary for their society to function

independently of outside help. Consequently the cycle of rule remained symbolically closed, unhindered by the

external. With no Chinese demand for British goods, the British were only buying, which was detrimental to the

economy. Their compensation came from the sale of opium, until it was banned by the Chinese government for its

highly addictive nature. This ban was the spark for the Opium War, resulting in China’s loss and acceptance of

“unequal treaties.”29

The Qing dynasty was weakened further by the Taiping War of 1851-64 and the Sino-Japanese War of

1894-95. The latter was a war which externally chipped off pieces of the empire, as Korea and Taiwan were ceded

to Japan. The Taiping War was a conflict of internal sorts, eating away at China from the inside out. This event

would foreshadow the period of the Warring States, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Until Mao declared the

Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese would be racked by internal warfare. This internal grapple was something

Lu Xun and Ding Ling discussed in their writings. For them, how could China seek to become a modern nation when

it was busy tearing itself apart?

Many of these calls to society by Lu Xun and Ding Ling were in reference to women. The texts often had a

two-fold message concerning both women (social) and the nation (identity). For example, in What Happens After

28 What is Modernity?, 69.29 Modern China, 21.39

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Nora Leaves Home?, Lu Xun discusses what would happen to Nora, the woman who has left her home in search of

opportunity. If she, like other women, chose to liberate herself, what will happen when she finds that there are no

opportunities available to her? The male dominated society which advocates for women freeing themselves is ripe

with hypocrisy, because they do not aid in helping to establish the opportunities. Therefore the men speak of a

united front where all people are free, but in the background they are inactive.

Ding Ling speaks of this internal division as well. The story When I was in Xia Village tells the tale of the

girl Zhenzhen who is rejected by many of her fellow villagers for being with and violated by the Japanese, even

becoming the wife of a Japanese officer.30 Ding Ling’s story New Faith illustrates this violation when the

grandmother returns to her village and repeatedly tells them all of her violation by the Japanese. Her purpose is to

incite anger against the Japanese, for if when she was relating her story “she saw their faces blaze red with anger,

she’d feel quite satisfied at the fire she’d started.”31 Eventually at a meeting, she begins to spur the people to

action:

“Don’t pity me! You should really pity yourselves! And protect yourselves! Today you think that I am the only one to be pitied. But, today, if you don’t rise up, stand up to the Japs… ha! Heaven! I really don’t want to see you suffer the way I did… I’m old, after all. A little more suffering is nothing to me: when I die, that’s that, and so what. But look at you, how young you are! You should go on living. You haven’t enjoyed what life has to offer. Can you have been born just to suffer, just to get pushed around by Japs?”32

She succeeds in bringing the people together against the common enemy of the Japanese. However, if this is the

only thing that brings them together, what happens after this enemy disappears? Indeed, this relates back to What

Happens after Nora Leaves Home?, for just like the women, if they are liberated (the people from the common

enemy), where will they go from there?. Both groups would have been awakened from their old state by moving

forward (the women from home, the nation from the past into modernity). Thus they cannot enter the old dream

state where they had once resided.33 In order for both to move forward, they need to be empowered, and Lu Xun

posits that the women can do this using money through the accession of economic liberties. But could the same be

said for the nation as a whole as it concerns modernity? What if the people cannot be empowered because of the

crushing power of the state? These questions will be addressed later in the discussion, but at this point it is worth

noting a binary that Lu Xun introduces concerning a return to the past. On the one hand, Lu Xun advocates for

China to release itself from the bondage of the old Confucian philosophies, as they are in his opinion cannibalistic

and encourage the people to turn against one another rather than promote unity.34 On the other hand, he

indicates that “the ability to forget the past enables people to free themselves gradually from the pain they once

suffered; but it also often makes them repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.”35 Though this appears to be a

contradiction, Lu Xun is alluding to moving from the past without forgetting, to remember the past without living

30 Ding Ling and Lu Hsun, Power of Weakness, 136-37.31 Ibid., 69. 32 Ibid., 81.33 Ibid., 87.34 Modern China, 122-23.35 Power of Weakness, 89.

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there. For China to modernize, it would need to maintain its identity or otherwise risk an emptiness that was

surrounded simply by modern accoutrements. His warnings would prove prescient for the coming reign of the

Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong.

“Farewell My Concubine,” Split Identity, and Resistance

Farewell My Concubine36 portrays the experiment and search for identity in China from the perspective of

two actors who grew up together. Since he was young, Dieyi had been forced into a female role. So, as time

progressed, he increasingly identified as a female. He also began to take his acting role more seriously, translating

it from the stage into everyday life. Dieyi was deluded, believing that his and Duan’s roles transferred off of the

stage and were a reflection of reality. In this case, Dieyi is able to maintain his identity throughout the movie,

keeping him confident and stable in who he is. Even to the very end, when he is confronted by those of the

Cultural Revolution, he stands up for the tradition and the Beijing Opera. He never commits tenkō, remaining true

to his identity in front of the Japanese, the Nationalists, and the Communists. Therefore, Dieyi maintains the

tradition of China throughout its different periods (Warring States, Japanese occupation, Nationalist rule, and

Communist rule). At the same time, he defends his other identity as female with the same amount of vigor

throughout the film. His perception of his role being transferable to reality was indicative of his defense of his

feminine identity. Yet this identity was a false one which had been forced upon him, and that he internalized as

being real. He realized the emptiness of this role at the very end of the film, where he kills himself in the final act of

the play where he normally pretends to do so. He ends his life in the identity he was most familiar with – a

feminine role on the Beijing Opera stage.

Duan had an acting role forced on him as well, but he internalized it as only belonging to the stage. He

understood that once he was out of costume, his identity as the king in the play was over. Duan instead finds his

identity in being Chinese. Yet even this has its troubles, as China was not quite sure what it was either, exemplified

by its many transitions beginning with the fall of the Qing. At the end of the film, Duan turns against Dieyi due to

pressure from the Cultural Revolutionary mob which had grabbed him and Dieyi. They hated the Beijing Opera

because it was a symbol of the old and “backward” ways of China. Duan changes his identity at that moment based

on the external, essentially committing tenkō. Though he was rooted in being Chinese, “Chinese” lacked a solid

root in itself, and thus Duan found it easier to change than Dieyi.

Ultimately both men had sides of their identity that were positive and negative. However, the key is

resistance. Dieyi was able to maintain his identity in tradition and the Beijing Opera because he was able to resist

the external pressure of the various movements that surrounded him in the volatile and changing atmosphere

(Japanese, Nationalists, Communists). On the other hand, his lack of resistance to external pressure placed on him

concerning his acting role caused him to internalize his feminine stage role too intensely. Duan was able to resist

36 Farewell My Concubine

13

this pressure, allowing him to find his identity elsewhere in everyday life as Chinese. However, he was unable to

maintain the connection to China’s tradition throughout the modernization process and thus his identity as a

Chinese citizen was unstable.

Of all the characters featured in Farewell My Concubine, Xiaosi has the least stable identity. Dieyi

originally trains Xiaosi to become an actor. He does become a good actor, but he also becomes an avid supporter

of the Cultural Revolution. Therefore his identity as an actor is negated by the Cultural Revolution, which looks

down upon the old Beijing Opera. Xiaosi represents the honor student culture, as he simply floats from one new

thing to the next, since he has no grounding in any kind of identity. This is shown when he is sullenly wandering the

streets and encounters a parade of people celebrating the Cultural Revolution. He suddenly becomes happy,

skipping and leading the way in front of the parade – that is until he ducks into another alley and returns to his

meandering. Xiaosi is a master at committing tenkō on both a small and large scale.

Violation and Skinning

The concept of rupture in East Asian modernity is often depicted as some type of personal violation, or as

the physical skinning of the body. One clear example of this violation is Creta Kano in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Creta tells her story to Toru in which she relates that when Noboru Wataya hired her for her prostitution services,

she was violated by him during the session. It would seem strange to think that one could be violated in

prostitution, but Noboru’s violation was not sexual. Rather Creta notes that her rape was of an internal nature:

“The pain was almost impossibly intense, as if my physical self were splitting in two from the inside out… In the midst of this pain and pleasure, my flesh went on splitting in two. There was no way for me to prevent it from happening. Then something very weird occurred. Out from between the two cleanly split halves of my physical self came crawling a thing that I had never seen or touched before… I had absolutely no idea what it was. It had always been inside me, and yet it was something of which I had no knowledge. This man had drawn it out of me.”37

Essentially Noboru Wataya removes Creta Kano’s identity and now she had a new identity, only it is empty.

“Virtually everything inside me had spilled out and been lost. At the same time that I was entirely new, I was almost entirely empty. I had to fill in that blank, little by little. One by one, with my own hands, I had to make this thing I called ‘I’ – or, rather, make the things that constituted me.”38

Noboru Wataya’s significance in this lies in his representation of the honor student. It could be perceived that

Noboru’s rape of Creta Kano is a depiction of Western intervention in the East. Further still, the honor student

culture derived from this defilement by the West, in an effort to catch up to and surpass the Western powers.

However, Creta Kano’s rape is depicted as being more the result of the influence of the honor student and the

obsession with material progress and gain. If Noboru represents the honor student culture, Creta Kano can be

taken to represent Japan, or even China and Korea. Concerning Japan, the honor student culture splits the physical

from the spiritual by removing identity. There are constant references to flowing water and “restoring the flow” in

37 Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 300-301.38 Ibid., 305.

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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and Noboru Wataya as the honor student is the obstacle which blocks this movement.

By removing Creta Kano’s identity, Noboru inserted himself (the honor student culture), creating an almost empty

container whose contents were solely Wataya’s defilement. Malta Kano tells Creta that the defilement is in her,

and that she must figure out on her own how to remove it.39 It is discovered later that Noboru Wataya is linked to a

dark legacy of World War II, which is in turn linked to honor student culture. Thus, at the time Murakami wrote

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, he felt that Japan had this defilement from World War II and the honor student

culture within it, the latter having separated Japan’s consciousness between the physical and the spiritual because

the country’s identity had been lost in the process. This still holds true in the case of China and Korea, as both were

violated by the Japanese during their imperial expansion, which is again a desecration by this same honor student

culture, the difference being that Japan was defiled internally by this culture whereas China and Korea were

violated by it from the exterior.

The gruesome process of skinning a human also has ties to this kind of violation. Skinning requires the

removal of one’s physical identity – their skin, face, etc. In a way, Creta Kano’s rape is a type of skinning,

considering that her physical self was split in two. Thus to get to Creta’s true identity, Noboru Wataya must

remove her external identity. Yamamoto’s skinning in the book also demonstrates the concept of violently getting

to the true self. After the Mongolian finishes the skinning, what is left of Yamamoto is described as “a bloody red

lump of meat from which every trace of skin had been removed.”40 What Yamamoto appeared to be was on the

external, his skin. When this was removed, his true self was shown, although this is more of a physical depiction of

the true self in reference to biology. However the concept remains analogous to Creta Kano’s violation. A similar

skinning to Yamamoto’s is depicted in Red Sorghum41, where the Japanese imperialists force some Chinese

butchers to skin other fellow Chinese. The man slated to skin Sanpao decides instead to stab his target because

Sanpao had called him a dog and shouted, “You are Chinese too!” So this man, though shot by the Japanese, died

with his identity and allowed Sanpao to do the same and not be subjected to the cruel violation of the skinning.

The other butcher does not resist the Japanese. Significantly, the Japanese tell him “You skin him or we’ll skin

you!” He skins Louhan, but afterwards is seen covered in blood and sitting in the field, having lost his mind.

Similarly, Japan was forced by the West to go and “skin” China and Korea, because it felt that if it did not attempt

to match and surpass the West, it too would be skinned by the West.

The film Paprika42 also depicts a skinning when Paprika is essentially raped by Osanai (considering his

hand placement), and split in two in the same manner that Creta Kano describes having felt. Osanai discovers that

Atsuko is the true identity of Paprika. Atsuko is naked inside the skin of Paprika, which is significant in describing

the vulnerability felt by Asia during the process of being violated and skinned by the West. When the secure outer

39 Ibid., 307.40 Ibid., 160. 41 Red Sorghum.42 Paprika.

15

layer is removed, the true self is revealed, but this self is defenseless (just as Atuko was unconscious and able to be

pushed back and forth between Osanai and Konakawa). Thus the identities of Asia were subject to manipulation by

the external powers (recall forced identity).

Winding

Japan and Conceptualizing Defeat

After the clock is destroyed in Kuroi Ame, almost every time a clock appears, it is being rewound.

Someone is always winding the clock, as it can no longer remain ticking on its own. When the clock stops (rupture

in the case of the first clock), it needs to be rewound to begin anew. Similarly, after the rupture in Asia, society

needed to be “rewound” to prepare for a rebirth. The defeat of Japan in World War II dealt a drastic blow to the

national consciousness, essentially ending Japan’s time of rupture and ushering in the period of “winding.” Japan’s

new task was to internalize this defeat and make sense of it in light of what it meant for the nation’s identity. Why

exactly had Japan failed? The general assumption was that Japan had been technologically inferior to the United

States and their allies and thus were unable to secure victory. However, Takeuchi asserts that this was not the

cause, but rather that Japan was internally sick. To Japan, Western superiority resided in their technology.43 As

discussed previously, for the West to overcome resistance in the East was progress and advancement, and the

opposing side perceived it as retreat or defeat. Thus if the West was defined by Japan as superior based on

technology, the defeat of Japan would be perceived as a technological flaw rather than one of spirit.

Japan had originally attempted to surpass the fake modernity forced upon it by the West, and then

transfer this to the other Asian nations.44 However, because it failed to modernize in accordance with this model,

when it attempted to pass this modernity on to the other Asian nations, the only thing it could offer them was a

false modernity. Japan’s society was now under the U.S. occupation forces. What it would truly have to come to

terms with was the bombing.

With Japan’s defeat came victimization. Having been the only country to ever suffer the effects of the

atomic bomb, Japan became a unique community in the world. The horrific incidents at Hiroshima and Nagasaki

came to define the nation. Kuroi Ame45 identifies this through the very name of the film. Yasuko could not wash

out the black rain from her pure white clothing. The white clothing was the innocence of Japan (and the world) of

nuclear weapons, and once stained by it, it could not be washed out. Yasuko’s statements concerning her identity

as a hibakusha (被爆者 or “atomic bomb survivors”) are applicable to both the hibakusha themselves and to the

nation as a whole. When her father is trying to goad her to come and stay with him, Shigematsu refuses him,

saying that Yasuko, his wife, and himself are a “community bound by the bomb.” Indeed this a group excluded

from the rest of society, for Yasuko finds it difficult to marry, as all men are afraid of her having been in the

43 What is Modernity?, 77.44 Modern Japan, 84.45 Kuroi Ame.

16

presence of radiation. The only person she can relate to is Yuichi, who is also scarred but instead by his experiences

in World War II. Thus because the two of them are excluded from society, they can relate to one another. Yasuko

says when she speaks to Yuichi, she can be herself because he is the only one who truly understands. Thus Yasuko

represents both the exclusion of the hibakusha from the rest of the Japanese and the exclusion of the Japanese

from the rest of the world.

This exclusion leads to self-victimization. The victims reason it is because of the bomb that they are

excluded from the world, and are consequently “sick.” When the doctor tells Yasuko that the lump on her rear has

grown worse, she believes that the bomb has finally caught up to her. Japan similarly felt that the bomb is what

had caught them and made them “sick” as a nation. Yet this sickness was something internal, to which Takeuchi

had been alluding to in his writings. Yasuko is similar to the backward students who, being told by the honor

students that it was the bomb which defeated Japan, attribute the sickness to the bomb. However, the nation was

sick because of the honor students. In Ikiru,46 Watanabe Kanji also suffers from an illness, in his case stomach

cancer. When he first learns of the news, he victimizes himself and goes to his son for support. However, his son

refuses to listen to him and Watanabe flashes back to all the times when he had failed his son, thus realizing that

the problem was with himself. He first seeks to find meaning by spending money and having a “good time.” While

he is riding in the back of the car with the two women, they begin to sing a Western song. Suddenly, Watanabe has

them stop the car and he gets out to vomit. The Western song and Watanabe’s night on the town represent the

honor student’s experiment with the West and emphasis on material progress. However, Watanabe vomits all of

this “material gain” up, as he cannot forget the sickness that is inside him; no amount of spending could cure the

illness within him. In the end, he realizes that he must turn outward and focus on others in order to make himself

truly happy. Similarly, Japan needed to look to the other nations surrounding it, rather than remain focused on the

interior.

This proved difficult, for as discussed before, Japan was unique in the world in experiencing the power of

the bomb. This fear is realized in Gojira47 (ゴジラ) where the power of nuclear weapons and indiscriminate

bombing is depicted in Gojira’s specific targeting of the city, inevitably taking the lives of citizens in the process.48 In

American renditions of the film (as well as other monster films such as The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms), Godzilla

specifically targets humans, indicating a lack of understanding of the fears which were so prevalent in the minds of

post-war Japanese.49 This brings into question the United States’s own comprehension of and responsibility for its

actions concerning the bomb. Has the U.S. come to terms with the bombing of Japan? Was it truly necessary?

The Decision to Drop the Bomb: U.S. Responsibility

46 Ikiru.47 Gojira.48 Tanaka, “Godzilla and the Bravo Shot,” 4.49 Ibid., 3.

17

While Japan needed to come to terms with the bomb and redefine its identity, the United States needed

to confront its reasoning for dropping the bomb (and still needs to do so today). One reason often touted by the

U.S. is that it was necessary to prevent a land invasion of Japan, which would have resulted in an excess of deaths

compared to the dropping of the bomb. One problem with this statement is that with the dropping of the atomic

bomb, there was widespread indiscriminate killing. The bomb did not care whether one was a combatant or not. It

obliterated all in its path with equal force. Had a land invasion been conducted, chances are that combatants

would have been the main target, though this cannot be confirmed completely. Second, there was a question as to

whether or not Japan had already lost the war and was willing to surrender. The country had suffered from the fire

bombings of the Allies and was surrounded by the U.S., Britain, the Soviet Union, and China.50

Indeed, contrary to popular thought, Japan was in a position to surrender. The country had been hinting

at doing so, only they were worried about the terms of “unconditional surrender” by the United States. If the U.S.

were to revise its terms so that Japan could keep the emperor, then victory for the allies would have been secure.51

However, the U.S. was not willing to revise the terms because Truman wished to keep the Soviet Union from

securing any portion of Japan after its defeat.52 If the bomb could be dropped before Russia was able to enter the

Pacific Front on the offensive, then the U.S. could claim all of Japan. The Russians were one of the factors that was

frightening Japan enough to want surrender. Japan was well aware of the damage the U.S. could cause, but to be

confronted by a Russian invasion was a daunting prospect.53 The bomb partially contributed to surrender, but

Japan had essentially been defeated already, so the main reason for its use was Truman’s territorial goals. As

Walter Brown had relayed, President Truman had been “‘hoping for time, believing that after [the] atomic bomb

Japan will surrender and Russia will not get in so much on the kill.’”54

Another reason for the bombing is connected to the establishment of identity in the United States in

opposition to Japan. It was no secret that many countries had conducted bombings of populated urban areas in

the past.55 The Japanese were viewed as less human however, and it there seemed to be more of a call for an

extermination of the entire population. Years of bombing civilian populations resulted in a desensitization to this

kind of behavior.56 Furthermore, propaganda at home portrayed the Japanese as bestial. Stories of the atrocities

such as the Bataan Death March spread throughout the media. Indeed, these atrocities were horrific, and there is

no justification for the war crimes conducted. However, these events were used by the media as propaganda to

fuel hatred toward the Japanese. Thus people were more comfortable with the mass bombings of Japan. So by the

time the atomic bomb was proposed, people were so desensitized that it was deemed permissible.

50 Modern Japan, 86.51 Stone and Kuznick, The Untold History of the United States, 162.52 Ibid., 163.53 Ibid., 173.54 Ibid., 164.55 Ibid., 157.56 Ibid.

18

For years Americans have grown up hearing that the atomic bomb was necessary to save lives by

preventing a land invasion of Japan. However, after looking at the documents and conversations surrounding the

bomb, it becomes more apparent that there were other political interests in mind. Japan victimized itself after the

bombing, and it began to identify as the only country that had suffered the atrocities of the A-bomb. This legacy of

the war would be something Japan would have to move beyond in order to find its true self again and to create a

modernity that was distinctly Japanese. At the same time, the United States has identified itself as the victorious

nation that won the war in the Pacific using the atomic bomb. In its own way, the United States had made victory

by the A-bomb part of its identity. Yet, if the notion of the necessity of the bomb is false, it creates a large empty

pocket in American identity. This is not a regrettable thing, for like Creta Kano, this portion of American identity

can be put back together piece by piece. The search and confrontation of the truth, no matter how painful, leads to

an authentic self.

Korea: Split Identity and the Extremity of Remembering the Past

For Japan, peace came with the rupture of the atomic bomb, and with a heavy casualty count. Peace cost

not only the lives of the combatants lost in the war, but also the lives of the many citizens who perished in the

incendiary bombings of Japanese cities, as well as the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The same question of

the cost of peace comes in to play with the status of Korea after World War II. With Japan’s occupation at an end,

the Korean peninsula was vulnerable. The Soviets understood this and began moving into the north of Korea. Once

more concerned with the spread and territorial conquest of the Soviets, the United States rushed to secure a

foothold in Korea. The line of demarcation was to be drawn up quickly. The completion was fast and arbitrary, the

shape being chosen purely for military reasons.57 The problem with this was that it separated families from one

another, and further cemented political differences that were beginning to take shape in the North and the South.

The country had been unified throughout its entire history up until this point. There had been proposals by Japan

and Russia to divide Korea, but none ever took shape.58

Korea’s modernity had once again assumed the shape of a puppet state, controlled by the desires of the

larger powers. Its identity had been split into communist and democratic, but putting the political ideologies aside,

what both Kim Il Sung and Syngman Rhee desired was Korean unity. Both North and South Korea were backed by

foreign giants in the Korean War. For North Korea, Russia and China backed the invasion of South Korea. Russia,

though hesitant at first, decided to support North Korea partially because if the DPRK was victorious, Korea would

become a buffer for Russia. The war would also distract American attention from Europe.59 China under Mao was

interested in spreading communism and encapsulating Asia further under the revolutionary banner. Further, the

Korean War would be a unifying cause to mobilize the people of China, aiding in Mao’s consolidation of power.60

57 History of Modern Korea, 84-85.58 Ibid., 85.59 Ibid., 101.60 Ibid., 104.

19

China’s fervor for spreading communism was the United States’ greatest fear. Truman needed to end the spread of

communism in Asia and thus was determined to contain it by securing Korea.61 The United States must once again

recognize its role in the division of Korea, and the atrocities that were committed during the war, as they are more

often ignored. Incidents such as No Gun Ri and the mass incendiary bombings of North Korea are some atrocities

committed by the United States that are painful to bring to mind. This is not to say however that the United States

is the sole cause of all of the proceedings and atrocities of the Korean War. Just as in the case of Japan, the United

States must recognize the atrocities it committed, but this by no means indicates that the war crimes committed

by the Japanese can be forgotten. Terrible acts were committed on each side and all parties must recognize their

role, for to deny it is to suppress part of the nation’s identity, albeit a painful part. The only way to heal is to

remember. Indeed, Korea committed its own atrocities against the enemy and against its own people. There were

executions of POWs on both sides, and both the ROK and DPRK conducted purges of its own citizens.62

Remembering the past is key to understanding identity, but the idea is to move beyond the past to

construct a new future. The danger arises when the past becomes a place of residence. Yuichi in Kuroi Ame is an

example of this. He continues to live on in the war, so that his time of peace has been corrupted. He is unable to

let go. Similarly, Korea lives in the past, South Korea to a lesser extent than the North. However, post-war

developments in South Korea were partially motived by competition with the North and with Japan.63 As for the

North, it felt that the war had not really ended. The ever-ready militarization and the industrialization promulgated

mainly for a stronger military were indicative of the country’s priorities, if its leader’s statements were not already.

Indeed, Kim Il Sung “never accepted the outcome of the Korean War as anything other than a temporary setback,

and he never gave up the goal of reunification.”64 Both countries sought national sovereignty and economic

autonomy, but their paths had been driven largely by the external powers which had invested in them. Thus the

Korea’s struggled with an identity that was both split and forced.

Vengeance and Corruption of Identity

The traumatic experiences suffered by Korea could serve as motivation for vengeance. Yet the question is

begged, what happens to the person who seeks vengeance? Can they return to their old self once the quest is

complete? The film Oldboy65 explores this problem. It discusses how memory can be either self-healing or self-

destructive, and that the suppression of memory creates a false sense of security and peace. Oh Dae-su, after

being imprisoned for fifteen years seeks to find his captor and exact vengeance. Throughout the film, there are

various instances of rupture, signifying Korea’s abrupt transition into modernity. For instance, when Oh Dae-su is

first freed from prison, he emerges from a suitcase on the top of a building fully dressed in Western attire (i.e. a

61 Ibid., 99.62 Ibid., 107.63 Ibid., 164.64 Ibid., 130.65 Oldboy.

20

business suit). This is like Korea emerging from its prisoner status in the colonial era into a Western-style nation

virtually overnight. Oldboy is full of other allusions such as this, but the main point to be extracted for the purpose

of this discussion is what happens to both Oh Dae-su and Lee Woo-jin. There is a scene in the film where Oh Dae-

su returns to the place of his imprisonment and takes out his aggression on his captors with a hammer. Damage is

inflicted both to the captors and to Oh Dae-su, as the latter is impaled in the back with a piece of wood; vengeance

has no winners. This concept is portrayed in the end results of Lee Woo-jin and Oh Dae-su. For Oh Dae-su, he

worked to gain vengeance, only to end up groveling at the feet of Lee Woo-jin, apologizing for his past mistakes. It

all began with a rumor that Oh Dae-su spread concerning Lee having incestuous relations with his own sister.

Though this rumor was true, it caused Lee considerable grief. Thus Oh Dae-su, instead of continuing to remember

the past, decides to silence it by cutting out his tongue. When Lee Woo-jin reveals to Oh Dae-su that he has been

tricked into having incestuous relations with his own daughter, Oh Dae-su chooses to erase his memory, so that he

can go on living in a fantasy world. However, suppressing the past did not have any effect on the present, for the

present was still effected by the occurrences of the past. As for Lee Woo-jin, he had succeeded in exacting

vengeance against Oh Dae-su, but it was not enough for him because he was still unable to adequately deal with

the memory of the past. It was his fault originally that his sister died, and instead of using this memory to heal and

move forward, he lived there, and it drove him to shoot himself. This is shown by the merging of his memory with

the present when he is riding in the elevator, until he shoots himself, rupturing the dream and bringing everything

back to reality.

The application for Korea is that the country should seek to remember the past, but not live there. For

North Korea, it continues to live in a state of believing that the Korean War is still raging, and is simply at a

standstill. Their identity revolves solely around the war and getting revenge against the United States and Japan, as

well as reunifying the country. What has North Korea become in the process of searching for vengeance? Can it

return to the old Korea, or is it too far gone? Similarly, if South Korea seeks vengeance for the past, what will

happen to the country during the progression? The memory must live on, because to suppress it is to run the risk

of repeating the same mistakes. For Oh Dae-su and Lee Woo-jin, vengeance became their identities. Their old

selves were lost in the midst of their pursuit. The painful memories could have become part of their identities

which would have aided in the healing process had they been used to move forward, but the memories became a

tool for exacting vengeance. The double-edged nature of painful memories in Korea have the potential for both as

well. Memory can lead to healing, or it can lead to becoming an empty shell.

The Concept of Winding and its Two-fold Implications

“Winding” as introduced in the title for this third section has two different implications in Asian

modernity. The first is positive, as depicted in the film Depatures.66 For Daigo, a part of his identity is rooted in the

painful memory of his father leaving, inferring that he did not love Daigo because of this. When Daigo tries to recall

66 Departures.

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the memory of his father, he cannot picture his face. However, each time the song “The Wayfarer” is played in the

film, Daigo recalls the same memory of his father giving him the stone at the river. The song rewinds his memory

(as he tells his wife at one point that his father liked the song, and he even recalls a memory of playing the song for

his father on the cello; naturally then, it would make him recall thoughts of his father) and each time it does,

another piece is added, guiding him until he finds his father. When he does find his father, his memory is fully

restored and he has full closure. Thus the song was a sort of guide that brought Daigo to a sense of renewal.

Remembering was painful, but it was also life-giving.

In The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kuroi Ame, winding seems at first to be a negative thing. The wind-up

bird signaled an impending rupture or calamity, and only those who heard its call would experience the rupture.

Toru describes it as setting events into motion which people were helpless to control:

The cry of this bird was audible only to certain special people, who were guided by it toward inescapable ruin. The will of human beings meant nothing… People were no more than dolls set on tabletops, the springs in their backs wound up tight, dolls set to move in ways they could not choose, moving in directions they could not choose. Nearly all within range of the wind-up bird’s cry were ruined, lost. Most of them died, plunging over the edge of the table.67

Toru realizes that many of the stories are connected by this bird to his own life. He himself had managed not to fall

off the table. On the surface then, these calls of the wind-up bird lead only to death and destruction. Yet for Toru,

these events all led to him being reunited with Kumiko. Thus these negative events lead to healing as well.

Similarly in Kuroi Ame,68 almost every time a clock is shown after the first one is blown apart, someone is winding it

up and it chimes. This is similar to the winding of the wind-up bird, as after each time the clock chimes there is a

calamity or bad news. These windings are often done by Yasuko, and in the end she has the prospect of marriage

with Yuichi. However, she falls ill and is rushed to the hospital. Thus there is hope for happiness in the future with a

degree of uncertainty. This ambiguity is also present for Toru, as Kumiko must go to prison for a time after ending

her brother’s life. There are bright prospects for the future, but there are still negative things that need to be dealt

with which throw in a degree of uncertainty. Similarly, in Asia the events of the past may have been a chain of

negative ones, but if the memories can be surpassed (not succumbing to them and falling over the edge of the

table, so to speak) and used as a path to healing, a new and brighter identity and future might be achieved.

Chiming

China, Korea, and Japan: Death of an Age and the Ghost of the Honor Student

Once the clocks have been wound in Kuroi Ame69 they chime. The chiming is both a symbol of rupture (as

discussed previously) and of rebirth. The recent chapters in the histories of China, Korea, and Japan have passed

away. Yet their remnants still linger. Mao Zedong has been long dead, and a new and different regime has taken

67 Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 525-26. Emphasis is mine.68 Kuroi Ame.69 Kuroi Ame.

22

shape in China since then. However, the effects of the Cultural Revolution and his rule are still evident. The power

of the state in controlling the people was significant in Mao’s rule, and events such as the Tiananmen Square

Incident are reminders of the state’s willingness to use the military to control the masses. In addition, the Cultural

Revolution had been used as a way for the people to leave the past behind, thus cutting China off from its old

identity.70 The destruction of many of the old items of China (shown by the way in which Duan and Juxiao must

destroy all of their old belongings in Farewell my Concubine71) disconnected the people from their old traditions

and history. Thus with the emphasis on economic efforts in the newer age, the Chinese have become more

concerned with making money than remembering their old heritage. Further, the amount of repression is still

evident. The television series Heshang bravely contradicted the state and some of China’s recent past which the

film makers felt had held the country back even for as long as it has been in the modern world. However, it was

banned after the Tiananmen Square Incident, with the filmmakers ending up in prison or exiled.72 Thus on the one

hand, China’s people are increasing their living standards, and the country’s economic status in the world is

climbing. Yet there is still a large amount of repression, and the suppression of public opinion prevents individuals

from being able to empower themselves to cause change in the society.

For Korea, the split in identity continues to grow; the legacy of the war still draws a sharp line

(ideologically and physically) between the two countries. Though there is still hope for reunification, both North

and South Korea continue to struggle over who is the “real” Korea. The juche ideology is something unique to

North Korea, which has set it apart on the world stage as a separate nation. However, the goal of juche still has

Korean identity in mind, even if it is ambiguous, as it seeks to merge the people’s separate identities into a

conglomerate Korean identity.73 South Korea has developed a nation with many more Western tendencies due to

the influence of the United States. The boom of South Korea’s economy created a disparity with North Korea, who

had originally taken off economically, only to grind to a halt and decline. This disparity is indicated in South Korea’s

ambivalence towards reunification. The cost of reunification would be substantial, and the burden would most

certainly fall on the South Korean government. Further, the cultural differences between the two nations would

create problems, indicating the degree of polarization between the North and South.74 North Korea’s identity

remains rooted in the Korean War and Japanese colonization. South Korea has established a society based upon a

growing economy and increased presence in international participation. Indeed, Korean goods have become some

of the highest quality in the world. In the automobile industry for example, Hyundai and Kia are becoming

increasingly associated with higher-end luxury. However, is there a danger in the Korean society that consumerism

is becoming ever more prevalent and supplanting the old values of the nation? It is certain that this may always be

the case in any consumer society, but South Korea has worked to maintain its heritage and even export it. The

70 Modern China, 62. 71 Farewell My Concubine.72 Modern China, 130.73 History of Modern Korea, 218.74 Ibid., 254-55.

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Truth and Reconciliation Commission established in 2005 aided in working with Korea’s painful memories of the

past, to work toward reconciliation rather than continuing to brood in them. The Cultural Properties Protection

Law and the establishment of the Academy of Korean Studies are just two examples of the way in which South

Korea worked to preserve its national heritage. Further, the phenomenon of the “Korean Wave” indicated the

extent to which Korean culture had become popular in the world.75 It could be said then that South Korea has

succeeded in creating a state which has the trappings of modernity, but remains distinctly Korean. North Korea on

the other hand has attempted this, but the emphasis is similar to China, which is to be recognized on the

international stage as a large world power to be respected. This emphasis focuses more on material progress

rather than a combination of cultural preservation and material production. It is true that North Korea has a

distinct Korean identity based on juche, but this identity is rooted in vengeance, using the memories of the past as

a self-destructive tool and as a weapon against other nations. This is an aspect then which has prevented North

Korea from passing through the false modernity imposed by Japan and the West to a distinctly Korean modernity.

War is still in the mind of Japan, even after the end of World War II many years ago. This is linked to the

legacy of defeat and how Japan has dealt with it in various ways. The inability to properly internalize the defeat

was a cause for Japan’s struggle with passing through modernity. The search for identity included looking back at

the War, but did this mean remembrance and atonement for the mistakes, or an identity rooted in pride for

Japan’s actions and motivations?76 The role of the United States in a Japan that already seemed self-sufficient,77 as

well as the memory of the bomb caused Japan to victimize itself so that it did not have to apologize for its actions

in the war.78 There seemed to be a split identity in Japan where the “Public Japan” seemed to be sorry for its

actions in the Pacific War, but the “Private Japan” still sympathized with some of the actions and ideologies of

Imperial Japan.79 Thus, incidents such as visits to Yasukuni Shrine incite anger among Japan’s neighbors, but these

visits may be a way for japan to search for atonement and open up dialogue about the past.80 It is in essence an

indirect manner for Japan to address the concerns of its neighbors and its own identity.

The other issue which has held Japan back is the remnants of the honor student culture. There is a danger

that Japan is producing hard workers that serve a company well, but do little to innovate.81 Further, the elite

institutions that breed Japan’s leaders continue to be based on merit,82 indicating the tendency towards the “‘take

the lead’” and “score points”83 mentality. Recall that the honor student mentality is geared more towards material

progress, deeming culture to be inherent in this. If honor student culture is allowed to persist, it will continue to

75 Ibid., 263-64.76 Modern Japan, 121.77 Ibid.78 Ibid., 125.79 Ibid., 131.80 Ibid., 133.81 Ibid., 142.82 Ibid., 146.83 What is Modernity?, 67.

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create a barrier between the physical trappings of modernity and spiritual identity. Japan has maintained many of

its cultural and historical traditions, but this seems as though it is a separate and isolated world from the physical

everyday life lived by the Japanese. The barrier separating the two may very well be the remnants of honor

student culture.

Death and Rebirth: Breaking through to the Other Side and the Restoration of the Grand Narrative

Thus with the death of the old ages in China (Mao Zedong), Korea (the Korean War), and Japan (the Pacific

War), there is a chance for rebirth. In Departures,84 as Daigo observes the salmon, he notices as some attempt to

swim upstream, others which have died float back down with the current. Daigo says to the old man next to him

that it does not seem worth it, that they should work so hard to swim upstream just to die. The old man in turn

tells him, “They are trying to get back to where they were born.” Returning to the place of birth was a renewal, and

the salmon leave their offspring there, which resemble themselves, but are also new salmon with uniqueness all

their own. The salmon struggle against the flow and by death the flow is restored, and their new offspring (as well

as themselves) can travel with it again. Similarly, with the deaths of the ages, China, Japan, and Korea can create a

new identity by returning to their roots, to redefine modernity in context of their old selves.

A new prevalent subculture that has emerged in Japan and has spread to other parts of the world is the

“Otaku.” Hiroki Azuma explains the development of this culture in terms of the consumption of the database in

which there is a lack of a grand narrative being consumed, the grand narrative being essentially a worldview.

Azuma defines a grand narrative as “various systems [that] were consolidated for the purpose of organizing

members of society into a unified whole; this movement was a precondition for the management of society. These

systems became expressed, for instance, intellectually as the ideas of humanity and reason, politically as the

nation-state and revolutionary ideologies, and economically as the primacy of production.”85 With the decline of

the grand narrative, the otaku needed to find a new one. They did this by constructing one out of derivative works

(what Azuma calls simulacra) that are neither a copy nor an original of anime and manga works, and by consuming

the moe (particular characteristics that are deemed attractive) of characters. Simulacra and moe are not connected

to a narrative and so by the consumption and collection of these the otaku hopes to build a grand narrative, which

Azuma calls the “grand nonnarrative.” Azuma then describes the concept of narrative side-slipping, in which the

simulacra are consumed in an effort to get to the overall narrative that is unseen. However, each way of looking at

the simulacra only continues to exacerbate the problem, and the consumption continues in an effort to continue

reinterpreting the simulacra in order to reach this database.86 This cannot be achieved as the database itself is only

composed of the isolated pieces of simulacra which are not connected in any way to a grand narrative; they simply

give the illusion of one.

84 Departures.85 Azuma, Otaku, 28.86 Ibid., 105-106.

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With the loss of the grand narrative, which is a form of identity, the otaku look to construct their own

identity, only the building blocks have no root in a grand narrative, thus creating the illusion of an identity. This lack

of a grand narrative is indirectly linked back to the honor student culture once again in committing tenkō. Tenkō is

a form of side-slipping, changing the interpretation and the view in order to achieve a worldview, but this only

gives the appearance of one. Noboru Wataya exemplifies this as Toru Okada says, “If there was any consistency to

his opinions, it was the consistent lack of consistency, and if he had a worldview, it was a view that proclaimed his

lack of a worldview.”87 As mentioned before, honor student culture is connected to material progress, which in

turn implicates consumerism. This consumerism is not unique to Japan, and Azuma notes that his theory is most

likely applicable to other areas unrelated to Otaku culture, especially concerning the processing of emotions

without the “other”:

Today, emotional activities are being “processed” nonsocially, in solitude, and in an animalistic fashion. For in the postmodern, database-model society, there cannot be such a thing as a grand empathy. Today, many otaku work are clearly consumed as tools for such animalistic “processing.” To this extent, the functions of moe-elements in otaku culture are not so different from those of Prozac or psychotropic drugs. I believe the same observation can be made of some trends in the entertainment industry, such as Hollywood films and techno music.88

In all of the Asian societies, achieving true modernity requires breaking through this “animalistic” consumption.

The honor student culture is the obstacle which prevents the flow from being restored. May Kasahara alludes to

this materialism in one of her letters to Toru concerning the Miyawaki House (which was not coincidentally

connected to the legacy of the War):

…once the people who lived there had disappeared, the whole look of the house changed. It was almost creepy. I had never seen a vacant house before, so I didn’t know what an ordinary vacant house looked like, but I guess I figured it would have a sad, beaten sort of look, like an abandoned dog or a cicada’s cast-off shell. The Miyawakis’ house, though, was nothing like that. It didn’t look “beaten” at all. The minute the Miyawakis left, it got this know-nothing look on its face, like, “I never heard of anybody called Miyawaki.” At least that’s how it looked to me. It was like some stupid, ungrateful dog. As soon as they were gone, it turned into this totally self-sufficient vacant house that had nothing at all to do with the Miyawaki family’s happiness… You just can’t trust a house.89

May notes that the material house was not tied to the happiness of the Miyawaki family. It seemed that way when

they were living in it, but after they left, it became “self-sufficient.” That is, materialism continued to move forward

even in the absence of the Miyawakis. Analogous to Japan, this illustration implicates that with the death of the

Japanese spirit, materialism marches on, and it is possible to get caught up in this materialism and not regain the

spirit.

Toru Okada realizes that the obstacle blocking the flow is this superficiality caused by the honor student,

Noboru Wataya. The whole idea of Toru breaking through the well is a depiction of breaking through modernity to

the other side. The blue mark on his face serves as a conduit because it connects him to the past with the

87 Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 75-76.88 Otaku, 94.89 Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 530.

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veterinarian who shared the same mark. This is why he is able to heal the internal problems of the women that

Nutmeg brings to him. He can restore the connection between the spiritual and the physical using the conduit of

the past. Only Toru can do this because he had succeeded in breaking through to the other side, from the physical

interior of the well, to the spiritual world of Room 208. After Toru kills Noboru Wataya in that room, he loses

strength and his consciousness slips, and “all [he] had to do was give [himself] up to the gentle flow.”90 Like the

salmon, after death the flow is restored and Toru can allow it to take him with it. When he reappeared in the well,

he realized he was “surrounded by water” and “the well was no longer dry.”91 The death of Noboru Wataya, or the

death of the spirit of the honor student culture, removed the obstruction and allowed the water to begin flowing

again. Toru had succeeded because he had found his identity throughout his journey, something which Noboru

Wataya lacked. Toru had found this identity through his investigation of the past, especially through Cinnamon’s

Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, which resemble the outer surface layers representative of an overall grand narrative.

Indeed, Toru notes that Cinnamon had made sure to show him only one story, but that he “had also made sure

[he] knew that there might possibly exist a whole, huge cluster of stories.”92 Toru notes that Cinnamon “was

engaged in a serious search for the meaning of his own existence,”93 and that the creation and accumulation of the

chronicles served to define the entire grand narrative, even if only one could be read. Thus identity stemmed from

the use of narrative to describe and remember the past. The discovery of identity was the only way Toru could

hope to bring the spiritual world back together with the physical.

For Asia it would seem that the quest for modernity is the quest to overcome consumerism, the honor

student culture, and the trappings of modernity – to break through to the other side of modernity and create

something that is uniquely Asia yet still “modern.” Like Toru, the remembrance of the past as an integral part of

the self needs to be realized and maintained, so that materialism as an end in itself can be overcome. The

restoration of the grand narrative is paramount to rediscovering and recreating identity. However, this not only

applies to Asia, but also to the West. Does not the West engage in a similar process of animalistic material

consumption, and a need to strive to “overtake?” Even now the push for scientific and technological education and

advancement has brushed history and tradition aside, leading to a generation that has increasing amnesia

concerning the past and a confused identity. In analyzing Asia and its search for identity, the West must also take a

hard look at itself and try to understand what does it mean to be modern in the West? For if the West created

modernity, and modernity consists of material consumption and progress, what does this implicate for the West’s

identity? As modernity in Asia continues to be analyzed, the West must study it not only with an eye on Asia, but

an eye on itself as well.

90 Ibid., 587.91 Ibid.92 Ibid., 526.93 Ibid., 525.

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