Yabuuchi Satoshi

Afterword

As an island nation on the fringes of East Asia, Japan was able to go its own way for most of its history. In particular, the isolationist policy it followed from the seventeenth to mid-nineteenth century, forbidding nearly all contact with the outside world, resulted in the creation of a unique culture. The formative and performing arts that blossomed during this period, sukiya-style architecture, kabuki, sumo, woodblock prints, netsuke, etc., were to make a strong impression on the West.However, since its defeat in the Second World War, it has given itself wholeheartedly to the adoption of the American lifestyle and capitalist philosophy, resulting in the virtual disappearance of the subtle culture and unique lifestyle that had flowered there for centuries. This is a problem it shares with the rest of East Asia and appears to be the price to pay for rapid economic development.The people of Asia did not participate in the voyages of discovery or the creation of colonial empires and they are now struggling to find a way to reconcile their culture and national identity with rapid industrialization and rampant globalization. However, I believe that it is not the politicians or the economists who will be able to present the people with a new way of living or create a new set of values, but the artists of the various countries who have been guaranteed the freedom of expression. Asian artists bear a heavy responsibility to bring out the memories contained within their genes, but at the same time, they are standing on the threshold of what promises to be a very interesting period.

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