CULTURE CROSS-DIALOGUE BETWEEN ARABS AND JAPANESE
RUBY BIRD - Independent Journalist | 13.04.2006 13:51 | Anti-racism | Culture
CULTURE CROSS-DIALOGUE BETWEEN ARABS AND JAPANESE
PART 1
The purpose of the 6-7 mai 2004 Convention at the UNESCO was to promote the dialogue and cooperation between the Arab World and Japan. That was continuing the keys concepts of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted by the General Conference at its 31st Session, on november 2001. The intercultural dialogue would lead definitely to discussions from which a theory of dialogue might result. To show that experience could be shared between two regions apparently apart in culture and geography but whose histories can in fact be compared. The two reacted differently facing the West. Japan moved quickly into the modernity of the third millennium and exemplifies success. The Arab world, despite spectacular progress, is still searching itself in the actual world. The adoption of Western technology & science did not occur in the same way.
PART 1
The purpose of the 6-7 mai 2004 Convention at the UNESCO was to promote the dialogue and cooperation between the Arab World and Japan. That was continuing the keys concepts of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted by the General Conference at its 31st Session, on november 2001. The intercultural dialogue would lead definitely to discussions from which a theory of dialogue might result. To show that experience could be shared between two regions apparently apart in culture and geography but whose histories can in fact be compared. The two reacted differently facing the West. Japan moved quickly into the modernity of the third millennium and exemplifies success. The Arab world, despite spectacular progress, is still searching itself in the actual world. The adoption of Western technology & science did not occur in the same way.
Japan success is astonishing, we need to look beyond the culture, to see how dynamic and open Japan is to the process of borrowing and consolidating what it has acquired. To understand the spirit of men and women who make up a social human capital on which the country can rely in al circumstances. We might find the clue in the political, military and institutional reforms, the undustrialization and railway-building which began right from the start of Japan’s transformation in the Meiji era, on 8 november 1867. Culture, traditions and religions cannot explain a country’s successes in terms of social progress, economic power, development or modernization.
Modernity recalls notions of innovation, accumulation of knowledge, technological mastery, the creation of a new social and intellectual order. Modernity is a way of living in the world as autonomous being. Culture and development are inseparable because culture alone cannot explain in the whole the flowering of a process of modernization. The cultural diversity (the common heritage of humanity) must be accompagnied by the notion of substainability in its various aspects, including political, ecological, aesthetic, economic, jurisprudential sustainability. Giving cultural diversity its due. It will conduct to peace within countries, between regions and thoughout the world. When talking about Arab world and Japan, sharing experience, setting up a dialogue between the two when parallels with each other have been since long ignored. We know that each region has its geographical, historical and cultural identity and they have to find links, common heritage knowing that each has its own characteristic value system and a rich past.
The West has since a long time tried to impose a form of globalization to distant worlds, trying to bring what some call « civilization » to every land set foot upon, starting with explorers and missionaries. The Arab world and Japan have, in the course of history, encountered those navigators as early as the 16th century. Japan closed its doors over three centuries, from the start of the Edo Period (1603) and the rise of the Tokugawa Shoguns (1603-1867) and it was not until the treaty of Kanagawa was signed on 31st march 1854 by the last Shogun of the Edo period, under the Treatening of the United States Navy, that the borders were opened once more. Afterwards, other Western powers won the right to land in Japan. As for the Arab world, it has encountered the West, as in Egypt under foreign domination, where real power was held by the Mameluks while the Ottomans were the central authority. The British were at the gates whatching for the opportunity, as well as the French who established themselves for the last three years of the 18th century.
To close or open their frontiers, the two countries had no choice. At time, it meant loss of sovereignty and colonization but also modernization and a meeting with the West. We can still analyse relationships with the dominant cultures or ways of thinking in a way that a subordinate culture can still be capable of influencing and even undermining the dominant one. Since the 19th Century, contacts between Japan and the Arab World were prolific because of many travellers, merchants, sailors and envoys. In the context of Intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, a Buddhist-Muslim dialogue was organized at UNESCO Headquaters in May 2003 on the theme : Global Ethics and Good Governance, a Dialogue between Islam and Buddhism. It provided an opportunity to compare and contrast different cultural systems and civilizations and the contacts and interactions that they have inspired.
The dialogue between Japan and the Arab World could bring out several points :
- conducting a dialogue between cultures, founded upon modern experience
- how cultural diversity and its defense is received and perceived in the Arab World and Japan
- how are globalization and the intensification of exchanges which it brings viewed in both areas
- what can Japan bring to the Arab World and vice versa
- capacity of our societies to open new paths of dialogue, meeting the double challenge of cultural identity and openness.
- Intercultural communication may develop into the sharing of a common language, through the expression and emotion that language induces.
First of whole, Japan has a background of Oriental culture and philosophy. The Arab World has, in its majority, a background of Islamic culture and philosophy. Over the past years, the government of Japan and the governments of Arab countries have been boosting inter-regional dialogue in order to strenghen mutual understanding and partnership. The Seminar on the Dialogue among Civilizations : The Islamic World and Japan, was held in Bahrain in march 2002. In the following year, the Japan-Arab dialogue Forum was established and its first meeting was held in Japan in september 2003. At that time, the government of Japan dispached a mission of persons of cultural, scholars and researchers, members of the business community to the countries of the Middle East to promote dialogue with related groups and individuals.
In surveying the difficult problems facing the Arab region, M. Atsuko Toyama (former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) : «… I am led to conclude that never has there been such a need as today for dialogue at a deeper level between Japan and the Arab countries, a dialogue to be undertaken with the participation of other regions… It is my understanding that some of the key phrases in the dialogue will be the « role of education in modernization » and « cultural diversity and globalization »…. ». It became urgent to renew the awareness of the diversity of cultures and tu understand and respect other cultures. So, the aim was to promote cultural exchanges and to set up co-existence and symbiosis of the cultures. Arab World and Japan have to pursue their relationship.
At the International Conference for « Dialogue of Civilization » held at the United Nations University in Tokyo in July 2001, participants discussed the definition of « Dialogue ». It was established that we not need to be threatened by « otherness ». We just have to discard prejudices and stereotypes and go forward with dialogue. At the end, we find the « otherness » the source of a richer world. According to H.E. Mr. Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan (Ambassador, permanent delegate of the Sultanat of Oman to UNESCO) : «…It is taking place between two parties that have had no disagreements and no historical misunderstandings ; two sides between which ancient and more recent history has witnessed no conflict ; two sides separated by geography and joined by a single continent… We are called upon today more than ever before to be open to the successful experiences of the rest of the world in order to deepn our own culture and make it more creative…. »
The dynamic view should lead to promote rather than to protect cultural diversity. The strongest driving force behind its promotion is the interaction of cultures. Often, when we talk about culture, we often mean what is indegenous to our nations. Cultures can also be shared by several regions, over a continent, or even globally. We better talk about «civilizations, when they became widespread. The questions are whether globalization favours more individual cultures or whether it tends towards the integrative of civilizations. Whether culture is something that is best left to the individual or to the community. Whether there is a place for the state or the international community to get involved.
How can the cultural values of each country, society or regions be maintaines under the pressure of a great wave of change ? Nowadays, we notice definitely the predominance of Western civilization, especially since the 19th Century. Arabic, Japanese and other non-western worlds were and are still under pressure of Westernization. Western civilization attempted to change the non-western world according to its norms and value systems. This attitude and its power to change other’s cultural values caused a feeling of threat among the non-western people despite the benefits brought by progressism and modernism. Still, there are many prejudices, such as Islamophobia all around the world.
Modernity recalls notions of innovation, accumulation of knowledge, technological mastery, the creation of a new social and intellectual order. Modernity is a way of living in the world as autonomous being. Culture and development are inseparable because culture alone cannot explain in the whole the flowering of a process of modernization. The cultural diversity (the common heritage of humanity) must be accompagnied by the notion of substainability in its various aspects, including political, ecological, aesthetic, economic, jurisprudential sustainability. Giving cultural diversity its due. It will conduct to peace within countries, between regions and thoughout the world. When talking about Arab world and Japan, sharing experience, setting up a dialogue between the two when parallels with each other have been since long ignored. We know that each region has its geographical, historical and cultural identity and they have to find links, common heritage knowing that each has its own characteristic value system and a rich past.
The West has since a long time tried to impose a form of globalization to distant worlds, trying to bring what some call « civilization » to every land set foot upon, starting with explorers and missionaries. The Arab world and Japan have, in the course of history, encountered those navigators as early as the 16th century. Japan closed its doors over three centuries, from the start of the Edo Period (1603) and the rise of the Tokugawa Shoguns (1603-1867) and it was not until the treaty of Kanagawa was signed on 31st march 1854 by the last Shogun of the Edo period, under the Treatening of the United States Navy, that the borders were opened once more. Afterwards, other Western powers won the right to land in Japan. As for the Arab world, it has encountered the West, as in Egypt under foreign domination, where real power was held by the Mameluks while the Ottomans were the central authority. The British were at the gates whatching for the opportunity, as well as the French who established themselves for the last three years of the 18th century.
To close or open their frontiers, the two countries had no choice. At time, it meant loss of sovereignty and colonization but also modernization and a meeting with the West. We can still analyse relationships with the dominant cultures or ways of thinking in a way that a subordinate culture can still be capable of influencing and even undermining the dominant one. Since the 19th Century, contacts between Japan and the Arab World were prolific because of many travellers, merchants, sailors and envoys. In the context of Intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, a Buddhist-Muslim dialogue was organized at UNESCO Headquaters in May 2003 on the theme : Global Ethics and Good Governance, a Dialogue between Islam and Buddhism. It provided an opportunity to compare and contrast different cultural systems and civilizations and the contacts and interactions that they have inspired.
The dialogue between Japan and the Arab World could bring out several points :
- conducting a dialogue between cultures, founded upon modern experience
- how cultural diversity and its defense is received and perceived in the Arab World and Japan
- how are globalization and the intensification of exchanges which it brings viewed in both areas
- what can Japan bring to the Arab World and vice versa
- capacity of our societies to open new paths of dialogue, meeting the double challenge of cultural identity and openness.
- Intercultural communication may develop into the sharing of a common language, through the expression and emotion that language induces.
First of whole, Japan has a background of Oriental culture and philosophy. The Arab World has, in its majority, a background of Islamic culture and philosophy. Over the past years, the government of Japan and the governments of Arab countries have been boosting inter-regional dialogue in order to strenghen mutual understanding and partnership. The Seminar on the Dialogue among Civilizations : The Islamic World and Japan, was held in Bahrain in march 2002. In the following year, the Japan-Arab dialogue Forum was established and its first meeting was held in Japan in september 2003. At that time, the government of Japan dispached a mission of persons of cultural, scholars and researchers, members of the business community to the countries of the Middle East to promote dialogue with related groups and individuals.
In surveying the difficult problems facing the Arab region, M. Atsuko Toyama (former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) : «… I am led to conclude that never has there been such a need as today for dialogue at a deeper level between Japan and the Arab countries, a dialogue to be undertaken with the participation of other regions… It is my understanding that some of the key phrases in the dialogue will be the « role of education in modernization » and « cultural diversity and globalization »…. ». It became urgent to renew the awareness of the diversity of cultures and tu understand and respect other cultures. So, the aim was to promote cultural exchanges and to set up co-existence and symbiosis of the cultures. Arab World and Japan have to pursue their relationship.
At the International Conference for « Dialogue of Civilization » held at the United Nations University in Tokyo in July 2001, participants discussed the definition of « Dialogue ». It was established that we not need to be threatened by « otherness ». We just have to discard prejudices and stereotypes and go forward with dialogue. At the end, we find the « otherness » the source of a richer world. According to H.E. Mr. Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan (Ambassador, permanent delegate of the Sultanat of Oman to UNESCO) : «…It is taking place between two parties that have had no disagreements and no historical misunderstandings ; two sides between which ancient and more recent history has witnessed no conflict ; two sides separated by geography and joined by a single continent… We are called upon today more than ever before to be open to the successful experiences of the rest of the world in order to deepn our own culture and make it more creative…. »
The dynamic view should lead to promote rather than to protect cultural diversity. The strongest driving force behind its promotion is the interaction of cultures. Often, when we talk about culture, we often mean what is indegenous to our nations. Cultures can also be shared by several regions, over a continent, or even globally. We better talk about «civilizations, when they became widespread. The questions are whether globalization favours more individual cultures or whether it tends towards the integrative of civilizations. Whether culture is something that is best left to the individual or to the community. Whether there is a place for the state or the international community to get involved.
How can the cultural values of each country, society or regions be maintaines under the pressure of a great wave of change ? Nowadays, we notice definitely the predominance of Western civilization, especially since the 19th Century. Arabic, Japanese and other non-western worlds were and are still under pressure of Westernization. Western civilization attempted to change the non-western world according to its norms and value systems. This attitude and its power to change other’s cultural values caused a feeling of threat among the non-western people despite the benefits brought by progressism and modernism. Still, there are many prejudices, such as Islamophobia all around the world.
RUBY BIRD - Independent Journalist
e-mail:
rabinouchette@aol.com