Kenneth G. Henshall > Quotes

“Yhere is a well-known saying in Japan that if a song-bird would not sing, Nobunaga would kill it, Hideyoshi would persuade it to sing, and Ieyasu would simply wait for it to sing.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“The impact Japan has had on the modern world is enormous. It occupies less than 1/300 of the planet's land area, yet at the height of its economic growth in the 1980s it wielded one-sixth of the planet's economic might, and remains the third ranking economy in the world.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“Meiji Japan's two best-known entrepreneurs, Iwasaki Yatar (1835-85), the founder of Mitsubishi... came from this type of peasant-samurai background.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“It was during the age of Nara that Chinese writing led to the appearance of the first real books produced in Japan, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles of 712 and 720. These were followed shortly afterwards by the first poetry anthologies, the Kaifosu (Fond Recollections of Poetry) of 751 and the Manyusho ( Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) of 759. Some documents were even printed, another Chinese influence.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“Punishments in Europe at the time were also severe by modern standards, but severity of those in Japan was enough to shock many European visitors of the day. The Frenchman François Caron, who spent many years in Japan in the first half of the 17th century, wrote that "their punishments are roasting, burning, crucifying woth waies, drawing with 4 bulls and boiling in oil and water. Francesco Carletti, remarked : ... many suffered crucifixion on the slightest pretext, such as the theft of a radish... Sometimes also they crucify women, with babies at their breast, and leave them both to die in agony together.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“On 22 July 1941 it moved further south in Indochina, even though it realised this would probably provoke a reaction from the US. The official American response was to freeze Japanese assets in America and impose a comprehensive export embargo on American goods to Japan. These goods included the vital commodity oil. Japan depended on imports for than 90% of its oil and more than 3/4 of this imported oil came from the US.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“Antoher giant, Toshiba, started from a joint venture in the early 1900's between Americas's General Electric and two Japanese companies, Tokyo Electric and Shibaura Electric (part of Mitsui group).”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“Regarding video games, Nintendo has had a huge influence on young people around the world. The company is in fact much older than many might imagine. It started in 1889 as a card company, exactly a 100 years before it produced the Gameboy.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“A further embarrassing problem for Japan with regard to its wartime behavior was the prominent surfacing during the 90's of the "comfort women" (ianfu) issue. These women - mostly Korean, but including many from other Asian nations as well as some Dutch - were forced into the sexual servicing of Japanese troops. First of all the Japanese government denied any knowledge of this, but when confronted with documentation to the contrary (uncovered by a Japanese researcher) they conceded that they knew about it but were not involved. Then when confronted with further documentation categorically indicating the government's involvement, they had no alternative but to acknowledge the truth.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“The greatest boost for Japan's economy, however, came from another external source. In June 1950 communist North Korean troops crossed south of the 38th Parallel, the recognized dividing line between the zones of Korean Peninsula, and the Korean War started. Yoshida termed this a "gift of the gods".”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“This lowly view of women was on reason why so many - if not most - samurai preferred homosexual relationships.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“Many who might be considered more culpable were never brought to trial. Among those who escaped trial were the staff of the unit 731, who had conducted numerous biological and chemical warfare experiments on civilians and prisoners of war. The whole business of 731 was hushed up by the Americans, who offered immunity in return for scientific data from the experiments that their own ethics and laws prevented”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“In Japan the family has come apart and our sense of community has also disappeared... We are confused and lost. The response to that lostness is nationalism.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“At a national level this particularly so when those others seem to have something stronger or better than Japan does. It adopted, adapted and frequently improved, making the strengths of a potential competitor or foe intro own strengths.

This is not just a case of "know your enemy": it is a case of knowing what makes thy enemy a threat and then using his own strengths against him. More than a 1000 years ago Japan learned much from China, to the point where it was no longer a vassal nation but considered itself a superior one. It repeated the process some extent in the Tokugawa period, learning the use of firearms from the west. In the Meiji period iit furiously studied western imperial powers till it became one itself. After the war it learned much from America - admittedly with little choice to start with - but went beyond its compulsory lessons to the point where it reversed roles and became widely recognized as the master.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“The self-help philosophy fitted perfectly with the sentiments of Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901), one of Meiji Japan's most influential educators and advocates of westernisation. In his work Gakumon no Susume (An encouragement of learning) of 1872, he wrote :

There are no innate status distinctions between the noble and the base, the rich and the poor. It is only the person who has studied diligently, so that he has a mastery over things and events, who becomes noble and rich, while his opposite becomes base and poor.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“Japan's main strengths, then may be summarized as :

- pragmatism, especially flexibility and an ability to compromise and adapt
- a respect for the power of learning, particularly learning strengths of others
- a respect for ambition and achievement, including hard work
- a strong sense of nationhood
- an appreciation of the strength of the group
- a strong resilience
- an acceptance of authority
- an acceptance of hierarchy and inequality among individuals.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“In spring 1894 the Korean king called for military aid from China to put down a rebellion led by a powerful religious sect. China duly sent troops. SO did Japan. Though the rebellion was soon quelled both parties refused to withdraw their troops. The Japanese seemed determined to fight and in July initiated military action against China by sinking a ship carrying Chinese troops. Japan officially declared war later, on 1 August. The Sino-Japanese War had begun.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“In the 18th century Japan had the world's largest city, and world's most literate population.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“Much of our knowledge of these kingdoms, as indeed of life in general in Yayoi Japan, is gleaned from Chinese documents. The first written mention of the country is found in the Han Shu (History of Han), a Chinese completed around AD 82. It referred to the land of Wa - meaning the land of dwarfs - as comprising a 100 of kingdoms, whose enjoys regularly brought tribute to the Chinese base at Lo-lang in Korea. A far more detailed description is given in the Wei Chih (History of Wei) of AD 297, in a section on "easterns barbarians" that also includes various peoples of Korea and Manchuria.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“The use of the male pronoun above is deliberate, for the Chinese preferred their emperors to be male. This was one thing that was not modified in Japan. Although there were half of dozen reigning empresses in very early Japan, from 770 to the present only 2 females were to ascend the Japanese throne, both briefly and both in name only.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“Offical embassies to China had already ceased in the 9th century, and no further missions were to take place for some centuries. It was felt that Japan had little left to learn from China at this stage.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“The first Japanese strike in the Pacific War was not against America at Pearl Harbor. It was against British Malaya. About 90mn before Pearl Harbor, some 5k Japanese troops successfully attacked a British force in Kota Bharu, in the Kelantan Sultanate.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“When internal issues become troublesome it is often helpful to switch the focus to external ones.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“Japan's total land assets at the time were equivalent to no less than 60% of the entire land value of the planet - 200 times the 0,3% of the planet it occupies in geographical terms.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“The Heian court gave the world some of its finest early literature. For example, around 1004 the court lady Murasaki Shikibu wrote the world's first novel, Genji Monogatari (Tale of Prince Genji). Many of its thousand pages reveal a life of exquisite refinement.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“In 1929 Japan was one the founding council members of the LEague of Nations. Inthis particular aspect of internationalism it let the United Stated, which was never a formal member of the League. Soon afterwards Japan was greatly upset and disillusioned that it did not succeed in its proposal to have a racial equality clause put into the League's charter. This was in large part due to opposition from Australia, which had been operating its "White Australia" policy for some decades by this stage.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“It was from Korea - specifically priest-scholars from the Korean Kingdom of Paekche - that Buddhism was introduced in the mid 6th century. Its adoption was greatly aided by the practice of writing, which had also been introduced by scholars from Paekche a century earlier.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“The "room to live" view was often linked to a clearly selective argument that there were only three ways to ease the pressure of surplus population: emigration, advance into world market and territorial expansion? Japan was supposedly left with no alternative but the third since the west, with its anti-Japanese immigration laws and its trade tariffs, had effectively barred the first to options.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“China's influence was seen not only in the design of the city but also in grand buildings such as the Todaiji Temple, the largest wooden building in the world.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone

“Representatives was to comprise elected members only. However, the right to vote was given only to adult males paying at least 15 yen per annum in taxes, which meant about 2% of the adult population.”
― Kenneth Henshall, Storia del Giappone