Civilisations may clash, as Huntington posited but they can and do also learn from each other. A civilisation in isolation exhausts its energies at some stage and stagnates. For a vibrant civilisation, contacts with others are vital for its creativity and innovations. These contacts are made as a result of trade and commerce, war and conquests and the exchange of intellectual ideas. Those societies which are under developed often borrow from the more advanced civilisations and after emulating them improve their condition and speed up the process of development.

In the ancient period, Japan lagged far behind socially, politically and economically because of its isolation. Therefore, its ruling classes decided to learn from China which was at that time much further ahead in every aspect of life. Therefore, between the 5th and 14th centuries Japan started to send students, teachers, intellectuals, merchants, and diplomats to China to learn from its civilisation. As an outcome, Japan adopted the Chinese scripts for its language, introduced the institution of the bureaucracy, imitated Chinese art and architecture, culinary etiquette, system of irrigation and some technological innovations. It also learnt the philosophy of Confucius and the teachings of Buddha. The acceptance of Chinese civilisation and culture transformed Japanese society and liberated it from backwardness.

Japan repeated this process in the 19th century when American commodore Matthew Perry’s ‘gunboat diplomacy’ forced the Japanese government to open its ports for foreign trade. This allowed the European merchants and traders to come to Japan for trade and commerce. At this stage, the Japanese ruling classes realised that they were not advanced in comparison to Europe. There was a discussion among the Japanese intellectuals as to how to respond to the challenges posed by European intervention. One point of view was to revive the old Japanese culture and values to strengthen national identity in order to face the new European threats. The other opinion was to adopt the methods that led to the modernisation of Europe in order to compete with them. After accepting the second proposal, the reform movement was launched in the country. The domination of shoguns or feudal lords was ended and the authority of the emperor was restored. This period is known as the Meiji restoration. This time the government decided to send its students, intellectuals, traders, and diplomats to Europe and the US to study their political, social and economic system. When these people returned after studying, they started to propagate modern ideas and debated how to change Japanese society after adopting the western system.

Japan could teach us a thing or two about learning from others

In the first phase, the Japanese imitated the European institutions and traditions but gradually they re-adjusted them in the framework of Japanese culture.

In the second phase, they used their creative powers to modernise the country independently. The first sign of their power came in 1905 when Japan defeated Russia in a naval battle. It was the first victory of an Asian country over a European power and it thrilled the colonised nations.

However, when Japan became an industrial and military power, its ambitions were to expand its influence and to occupy the neighbouring countries to fulfill its imperialistic designs. Its role in the First and Second World Wars was imperialist and expansionist. It invaded China and committed incredible bloodshed and massacred people. It occupied Korea and behaved brutally with the local population and sexually abused women, many of whom were forced into state-sanctioned prostitution and became known as comfort women. In the World War II, as Japan was on the side of Nazi Germany, Hitler dubbed them the Asian Aryans. The defeat in the World War II and the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atomic bombs, forced it to sign a peace treaty with the allied powers. However, the Japanese again made efforts to recover from the destruction and reconstructed the country on a new basis. In the new Constitution imposed on Japan, they renounced war forever.

Secondly, the powers of the emperor were curtailed and he became a mere figurehead. Japan re-emerged onto the world stage, not as a military power but as an industrial and economic power.

The lesson of history is that one should not close doors to outside ideas and should remain ready to learn, adopt, imitate and re-adjust the values and norms of one’s civilisation for the sake of advancement and progress. In Pakistan, some circles argue that the invasion of foreign culture is threatening our traditional values, and therefore such influences should be restricted. A wiser view may be to learn from foreign ideas in order to revive our institutions and customs while also maintaining our identity. We have to learn from the example of Japan in how it benefited first from the Chinese civilisation and later from the Western advancements.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 9th, 2014