My Japan: a cultural memoir

by Roger Pulvers

Originally published in Japanese under the title If There Were No Japan: A Cultural Memoir, this book was acclaimed for its insights into Japanese life, bringing together aspects of history, culture and everyday life to paint an original and revealing portrait of the Japanese people and the pressing issues facing them today. During his decades of passionate engagement with Japan, Pulvers became close friends with many of the most gifted writers, artists, filmmakers, actors, and journalists in the country. Whether delving into ancient traditions or providing vivid accounts of contemporary customs, analyzing characters in Japanese fiction, or recounting personal encounters with individuals, the author illuminates those inventive elements that have made Japanese culture and design the envy of the world—and that signal a way forward through the twenty-first century.

Genres: Japan

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Roger Pulvers OAM (born 4 May 1944) is an Australian playwright, theatre director and translator. He has published more than 45 books in English and Japanese, from novels to essays, plays, poetry and translations. He has written prolifically for the stage and has seen his plays produced at major theatres in Japan, Australia and in the U.S.

Pulvers has also directed widely in Australia and Japan, both in English and Japanese. He has written original scripts for radio documentaries and dramas that have been produced by ABC (Australia), as well as television scripts for NHK (Japan) and screenplays for feature films. - Wikipedia bio

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having lived and worked in Japan many years ago I have pursued a long-standing interest in the history and culture as well as the ongoing social, economic, and political issues of the country. Part of that means that I have read Pulvers' historical novel on Lafcadio Hearn, his translations of poet Kenji Miyazawa's work, and some of his articles in the English language daily newspaper The Japan Times.Thus, it was with interest that I purchased and read the English translation of this book.

The book was divided into two parts. The first was an account of the circumstances under which Pulvers went to Japan in 1967; how/why he fell in love with the country, learned its language, became knowledgeable about and engaged in the culture via his teaching, translating, and writing of plays. Admittedly, I don't read or write Japanese. Neither have I lived in the country for more than 40 years. Thus, I was not familiar with most of the people he wrote about. Much of it reads more like a who's who of the people he got to know and work with in contemporary literature and film as well as a description of his going to live in Australia, coming back to Japan, etc. Ie, it rambles and it got tedious at times.​

In part two, Pulvers offers an analysis of some aspects of the country's culture which he thinks are significantly related to its not having worked its way successfully out of the doldrums it has been in these last 25+ years. He makes three basic points here. First, the culture's ​characteristics ​and the social, economic, and political programs ​which seemingly worked ​well ​in the past ​are ​not any ​effective ​longer. In fact, he opines that young people have largely given up trying to advance in the society because they have little hope that they will be able to​. According to Pulvers, neither do they want to gain the kind of 'success' that they parents did.

Second, he disputes the commonly held stereotype that the Japanese lack creativity. In one chapter he gives examples of one actor, one scientist, and one diplomat who courageously went against mainstream conventional expectations and at considerable cost to their careers at the time to make great contributions in the world. He also has one chapter on the extent to which the Japanese capacity for design has had tremendous influence on the world.

Third, Pulvers argues that ​the current leaders of the country have failed to recognize th​e​s​e obstacles as well as the potential strengths which the country and its citizens have to offer​. Instead, they keep ​suggesting​ more of the same ​recipes for 'success' that were used from 1950-1990 ​rather than a new, seemingly radical approach to dealing with such things as population decline, inequality for women and minorities, energy and environmental concerns, and security issues with China.
As the book was initially written in Japanese it might be that those readers are more familiar with the people Pulvers uses to illustrate his ideas. Perhaps what I pereceived as a rambling style is more common and readily accepted in Japanese language books than in English language ones. By the time he got to his recommendations for what the country's leaders need to do about its circumstances I came away tired and a bit disgruntled at all the time spent finally getting there.

For those who want a more succinct analysis with clear and specifc prescriptions as to what needs to be done by Japan's leaders and without his personal history I recommend a series of three articles which Pulvers wrote for the Japan Times in March 2013.

​ These can be found at
​https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/...

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The key to the creation of a dynamic future is found in your country’s culture. The key to your own future lies in your personal relationship to that culture, either as passive observer or active participant.” - Roger Pulvers

Roger Pulvers draws you into Japan through its literature, theatre, food, and mannerisms. He brings you along with him through his life in Japan. He has a way of transporting you through the the streets of Japan: “It was as if I was looking into a magic lantern, the kind that people peered into before the age of movies.” Roger also has a way of pushing conversations along that is non confrontation - a very Japanese way of behaving as he highlights. For instance, he argues that race has no place in the 21st century and that “young people in any country are not responsible for the crimes committed by their parents, grandparents, and ancestors. They are only responsible for not permitting those crimes to be committed again.” On the whole, this book gave me a deeper understanding of a culture I didn’t know much about.

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently read a Roger Pulvers memoir called The Unmaking of American and saw that he also recently wrote a cultural memoir called If There Were No Japan (2015). I think the books are quite similar, however, this book was first written in Japanese-and that being the case comes across as a bit condescending-having a thing or two to tell the youth of Japan about their culture. Then again, it was the culture sections in The Unmaking of an American that I most appreciated and this books has lots of that as well, but also the humble brags that marred the other volume as well. That being said, the man has lived an interesting life mostly pursuing things that intersted him-so hats off.