Why do you deliver the speech?

 

I’m not good at standing in public performing, but I decided I will this time because I have a message I want to send to the public that I hope becomes a trigger to rethink about yourself as one Japanese citizen. This will be my first time participating in a speech contest, but I will do my very best performing, so please wish me good luck.

 

 

Genuine Japan

 

“O-mo-te-na-shi, omotenashi.”  I remember, in the year 2013, this catchy phrase together with this gesture which is called 合掌 in Japanese, had been showing up continuously on TV for quite a long time.  This gesture was used in the presentation in the Olympic bid as a symbol of Japanese culture, omotenashi spirit.  As all of you know, the presentation was a real success for Japan, which at the end won the bid to host the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Game.  I too, very much liked the concept of Omotenashi and the performance definitely left a great impression of Japan to the world. However, still, I couldn't help but feel awkward and most of all, disappointed at the performance.  From now on, I would like to tell you why.

 

When I lived in England, I went to a local school there, and I remember many of my friends often asked me questions about Japan with curiosity.  One asked me whether we have dolphin’s meat at school lunch or not.  My friend Jasper who would always do Kung-fu-like movements whenever he sees me said “Can you teach me a karate move? I want to use it on my brother” My other classmate Jessica who had her first try on sushi at the successful Japanese chain restaurant in London called “YO! Sushi”, said to me, “I just love sushi! They are so delicious! I particularly love the fresh crab and mango sushi!” I was shocked everyday.  No, we Japanese are not necessarily martial art masters like in the movie “Kill Bill”.  No, we don’t eat dolphins for breakfast, lunch or supper, and no, Jessica, the sushi you ate is not sushi at all. I mean, what kind of sushi has mangos on top?  Also among many misunderstandings people had, the most frequent I encountered was合掌.  Not all, but many foreigners have the idea that all Asians put their hands together and bow for everything. But how many of you have seen Japanese do this, 合掌, in daily lives? It’s true we do 合掌 before we eat or when we go to shrines, but that’s it! We never do it more than that. So during my 5 years of stay in England, it was like a daily routine for me to correct again and again the misunderstandings that my friends had.

 

 But one day, all my effort in England went in vain… Yes, I saw it. I saw a Japanese lady on TV saying OMOTENASHI while bowing with her hands together!  If it was a foreigner, I would think, "oh, ok it's the usual thing" but why did the representative of Japan choose to do such a performance?   The answer is simple.  Because they thought it was the best to appeal Japanese culture in a way foreigner would expect Japanese culture to be. In the beginning, I stated that I felt awkward and disappointed by the performance.  I felt awkward because the performance was not something that expressed the traditional Japanese culture but was something that expressed “foreigner-friendly Japanese culture”.  I felt disappointed, because they didn’t compete with the rivals by exposing to the world Japan as it is, but rather, took the easier path to win the bid by using the foreigner-friendly image of Japan.

 

Here, I am not saying that all the image foreigners have about cultures in Japan are wrong or bad. I think the presentation was a perfect performance as a method to win the bid. In addition, in this globalized world where cultures intermingles with another, I think it’s natural for the traditional culture to evolve into a new culture that has changed its shape to adopt the local preference. Take a look at sushi for example. Sushi has become one of the most popular Japanese foods in the world. But if you look around, you could find in the world there are more "foreigner-suited" sushi than, traditional Japanese sushi. Californian Roll was created to fit the American’s taste. It is a new version of sushi that has avocados and mayonnaise in the roll, which ingredients never used in traditional sushi. It is true that this food may not be a real sushi, but it is also true that this new type of Japanese sushi has made it a lot easier for the foreigners to accept it.  I believe these new type of products can well be approved as a “new Japanese based culture” and I think they are worthy of respect.

 

However, my point is, in this circumstance where “new Japanese based cultures” are evolving and spreading rapidly throughout the world, the most important issue we must consider is how we can let our traditional culture survive and never let it buried among those new. “Foreigner-friendly Japanese cultures” are cultures that have been adjusted to the preference of the local people and local cultures. So it is not much of a surprise for those cultures to get easily accepted by the world and they are capable of spreading on its own. But, talking about the traditional cultures which cannot be replaced by anything else, I believe efforts are needed to preserve and inherit them as an original state. Then, who will be able to protect it? Yes, only we can.

 

At this point, I would like to introduce an example of one Japanese who had already taken a step towards achieving this task. His name is Mr. Toru Okuda who is a top chef of Michelin three-star Japanese restaurants in Ginza. While many foreigner-suited Japanese chain restaurants such as “YO! Sushi” are rapidly developing around the world, in 2013, he had opened a washoku restaurant in Paris, in order to challenge the world with authentic Japanese cuisine. It may be difficult to get foreigners to accept such traditional culture of Japan as it is. But, whether it succeeds or not, it is certain that this attempts will be one of the triggers to get authentic Japanese cultures known to the local people. And I believe every Japanese citizen has the responsibility to take an action. I’m not saying that every person should accomplish something big like launching a Japanese restaurant in Paris like Mr. Okuda did, but I think there are things we could do in daily lives too. That is to keep on transmitting the “genuine Japan”, just like what I kept on doing when I was in England. I think these small attempts will lead to the preservation of our authentic culture.

 

     In 4 years time, we would have millions of people come to Japan for the Tokyo Olympic Game. There, more than putting effort to welcoming people with foreigner-suited version of Japanese culture, we Japanese have important things to do. I would like everyone here to rethink about what we should truly do as a Japanese. Because no one can pass on our traditional culture to the next generation, but us. Let us think again.