Journey to Japan, in thought

Confucius Lives Next Door
What Living in the East Teaches Us About Living in the West
by T. R. Reid

The parts where he made it personal--supreme.  The strictly informative parts--good.  The theories--dry.  Dry-ish.

When his daughters were enrolled in a Japanese school and the headmistress said, "no taibatsu.(corporal punishment)  No ijamme. (teasing/bullying) None at all.  I won't allow it."   You had to cheer!  Here was a father who had done--and was doing--his homework. He'd learned about Japanese schools and was prepared to try the experiment, but not at the expense of his daughters' well-being.  He asked the right questions.

His next-door neighbor Matsuda-san gave him a delightful, first hand insight into manners, mores, beliefs and behavior.  I could have listened to his Confucius-next-door all day.

Among many other ideas the book proposes, most intriguing is this--do Americans take personal liberty too far, at the expense of public security?  You can tell he thinks so.  And...after reading this book...maybe I do, too.  Along with the rights of citizenship come the responsibilities of citizenship.  Voting.  Participating in your school boards.  Reporting crimes and maybe even carrying out a citizen's arrest or two.  Supporting our police--and keeping them honest.

Example from today's news: why is Texas considering vouchers for parents to enroll their kids in private schools or religious schools?  How is that going to make our public schools better?  Bah!

He adds an afterword that points out the flaws in his own arguments--in keeping with the Japanese tradition of atodaki.  Why can't every writer do that?  One of the glaring questions regards corruption.  With all the respect for authority built into the eastern philosophy, how do explain the widespread corruption in government officials?  Is it all the result of respect for family, expressed as nepotism?  When you appoint your nephew's cousin to a position in government, is that corruption or family honor...and how does it play out with the public interest?