1. Life background of Utsutsu Umiyama and Kazuma Nanjo
Background of Utsutsu Umiyama: Symbol of hard work and rationality Utsutsu Umiyama grew up watching his father's back as he worked for a small local trading company during the postwar reconstruction period. His father gave everything he had to provide for his family, but there was no joy or fulfillment in his appearance, only the struggle to survive. • Umiyama's monologue: "My father worked hard. But what awaited him was not happiness, but a broken body and death. In a society where working is the only meaning of life, something important is missing." Umiyama believes in rationalism, but he also has doubts about a society where people live for work, and he begins to search for ways to change Japan.
Background on Kazuma Nanjo: The Value of the Field and Agriculture Growing up in a rural village, Nanjo Kazuma learned the joy of harvest and the bonds with people through a life of family and community cooperation in growing crops. Autumn festivals were the pride of the village and a place to share their efforts. • Nanjo's Memory: "In the rice fields after the harvest, everyone was smiling and enjoying the festivities. Farming was life itself, a symbol of joy. But that has disappeared, swallowed up by efficiency and mass production." Nanjo believes in the inherent value of agriculture and believes that by harnessing the power of the field, people can truly regain the meaning of life.
2. The Spiritual Loss of Postwar Japan
1. formation of a labor-oriented society Postwar reconstruction and economic growth deprived the Japanese of many cultural values and spiritual richness. The joys of harvesting crops and enjoying festivals disappeared in the wave of efficiency, and family and community ties were lost. • Umiyama: "People have forgotten the meaning of festivals and harvests, and have become driven to simply work." • Nanjo: "Farming was a way of life. It has been reduced to a job where efficiency and profit are the only priorities."
2. a society that pursues only happiness Japanese people began to deny the dirty and ugly, to deny discrimination inside the psyche, and to forget the equivalence of life and death, misery and happiness. Values affirming only happiness became widespread, and the ability to accept misfortune and difficulty was lost. • Umiyama: "Life has value, including happiness and unhappiness. If we forget that, we lose sight of the very meaning of life itself." • Nanjo: "There was dirt and hardship in farming and in life in the field. But it was also a way of life."
3. control of ministries by the U.S. Control of the Ministry of Health and Welfare: Standardization of Spirit The U.S. took away the Japanese people's ability to overcome discrimination and conflicts within their psyche and instilled in them the value system of pursuing only happiness. This created a society in which labor became the sole purpose and other values became invisible. • Umiyama: "Labor should be part of human dignity. But the moment it becomes everything, one loses something." • Takahashi: "A society that pursues only happiness and excludes unhappiness has made people like machines."
The domination of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology: self-flagellation and denial of culture In education, the Japanese people have lost their national pride due to the inculcation of a self-sacrificing historical perspective. Furthermore, the policy of blind faith in science and technology has resulted in a disregard for human sensibilities and cultural values. • Nanjo: "All we were taught in school was to deny our own country. Children who have lost their pride will not have the strength to believe in the future." • Takahashi: "Technology alone doesn't fulfill people. It's how you leverage it that matters."