accepting the international rules of the West and catering to Western interests in East Asia. Thus the Jews entered Western society as individuals whereas the Japanese entered it as a nation.
The crumbling of the walls that had surrounded the Jews and the Japanese for centuries resulted in an unprecedented explosion of talents and skills. Pent-up energies and frustrations that previously could not be released now found channels of expression; long-suppressed ideals, plans, and ambitions could now be put into action; and high standards of education and scholarship, which had until then been applied to archaic books, could now be used for practical purposes.
The yeshivah student, absorbed for years in studying, memorizing, analyzing, interpreting, and debating difficult talmudic passages, had no particular problem in mastering modern medicine, law, or philosophy. For scholars who had racked their brains on ancient Hebrew and Aramaic texts, modern German, with its similarity to Yiddish, was an easy language to master. A long familiarity with abstract argumentation prepared the Jews well for scientific discourse. And for the Jewish peddlers and shopkeepers, the world of modern finance was not that strange. Generations of insecurity had taught them the art of adapting to new opportunities and new methods. Skillful in handling goods, money, and ideas, the Jews of Europe mastered quickly the secrets of modern economy. Within one generation of opening themselves to the secular culture of the West, the Jews of Europe not only caught up with the level of civilization around them, but soon numbered among its cultural leaders.
The enthusiasm with which the Jews immersed themselves in the German language produced outstanding literary fruits, exemplified in the writings of Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), one of the greatest German poets of all time, whose lyric verses and essays influenced many European writers of the nineteenth century. Heine studied at a private Jewish school until the age of eleven, when he was transferred to a French lycee. At age twenty-eight he was baptized as a Lutheran, but until the end of his life he stressed with pride his Jewish origins.
The emancipated Jews of Europe flocked into many fields, where their individual excellence and intellectual virtuosity bore much fruit. Medicine was one such field. Jewish doctors and medical scholars became prominent, particularly in such new and related fields as biochemistry (Benedict Stilling), immunology (Paul Ehrlich), X-ray therapy (Leopold Freund), and psychiatry (Cesare Lombroso and Sigmund Freud).
The same held true in the performing arts, music, and painting. The two most famous actresses of the French stage in the nineteenth century, Sarah Bernhardt and Rachel, were both Jewish. Among composers were Felix Mendelssohn (grandson of Moses Mendelssohn) in Germany, Jacques Offenbach in France, and Gustav Mahler in Austro-Hungary. Among the Jewish artists were Camille Pissarro and Amedeo Modigliani.
The Japanese too were well prepared for modernization. Samurai schooled in the difficult texts of classical Chinese, who had mastered the complex Chinese writing system and its adaptation to Japanese, devoted the same energies into the learning of English and German. Yet, it was difficult for them to speak these languages. The classical Chinese that the Japanese had learned was not meant for oral communication but for textual comprehension. An educated Japanese was supposed to understand foreign books, not engage in a conversation with foreigners. The polyglot Jew did not have his counterpart in the islands of Japan; still, passive understanding served the Japanese well in absorbing Western culture.
Since the Japanese did not possess a tradition of scholastic argumentation, practical ideas interested them more than abstract considerations. In possession of a rich tradition of sophisticated craftsmanship, well-developed learning skills, elaborate organizations, and rigorous personal and communal discipline, the Japanese could quickly adopt Western skills. Versed in the manufacture of high-quality ceramics, silks, and swords, they could comprehend how to handle a steam engine or operate a smelting furnace. The Japanese merchant had no great problem in learning to use a modern bank. The warrior trained in the leading of troops was easily transformed into a modern military officer.
Japan adopted Western techniques with a speed that astonished foreign observers. In 1855, one year after opening the country to intercourse with the West, the Tokugawa government built its first Western-style ship. Five years later, a Japanese crew commanded by Kimura Yoshitake and Katsu Kaishu first sailed a Japanese ship, the Kanrin maru, across the Pacific Ocean. In 1871, three years after the Meiji Restoration, which turned Japan into a centralized state, a postal system was established; and in 1872 the first railway, between Tokyo and Yokohama, was inaugurated. By the end of the nineteenth century Japan had become the most modern country in Asia, boasting a thriving light industry, a victorious army and navy, a sophisticated educational system from compulsory elementary schools to an elite university, a vigorous press, a dedicated bureaucracy, a sound banking system, a constitution, and an elected House of Representatives. In 1905 Japan defeated the mighty Russian army and navy and became the strongest local power in East Asia.
The Western notion of the Japanese as a nation of imitators incapable of original thinking derived from the fact that quite often the Japanese would adopt foreign techniques and institutions down to the minutest level. But this was true only at the initial stage. It would have indeed been foolish to try to develop an original modern technology or original modern institutions when Western techniques and institutions were working well and available. Yet, within a short time the Japanese started modifying and improving on what they had learned from the West, making their own contributions in various fields.
In 1888 a Japanese engineer, Shimose Masachika (1859-1911), developed a new and more powerful gunpowder, which later helped his country win the war against Russia. The Japanese too were attracted to German medicine and excelled in the fields related to it. In 1889 Kitazato Shibasaburo was the first to discover the bacterium which causes tetanus, and five years later he discovered the bacillus which causes bubonic plague. Kitazato's Institute for Infectious Diseases soon became one of the world's leading institutes in that field. His disciple Hata Sahachiro helped the German-Jewish immunologist Paul Ehrlich to develop a drug against syphilis. In 1901 the Japanese chemist Takamine Jokichi was the first to isolate adrenalin, and nine years later Suzuki Umetaro was the first to extract vitamin B.
7
Master or Genius?
THE JEWS and the Japanese joined the modern West with an ambition to excel, but because their traditions and historical experiences differed, the ways in which they proved themselves also differed. The basic Jewish position vis-a-vis the world had been one of nonconformism. As a small monotheistic people in an ocean of pagan culture and later as a small non-Christian or non-Moslem community in an ocean of Christendom or Islam, Jews had become accustomed to challenging accepted customs and values. Their survival as a nation and a religious group depended upon courage to adhere to beliefs and modes of behavior that differed from the majority of those among whom they lived. The Japanese, on the other hand, did not develop such a tradition. Confucian morals and bushido (the ethical code of the samurai) stressed the importance of conformism and obedience to accepted standards. Success and advancement were achieved not by dissenting but by outperforming. When the Japanese adopted Chinese civilization in the first millennium C.E., they showed their ingenuity not by challenging concepts and standards of that civilization, but by striving to implement them in what they believed was a more efficacious way.
There was considerable intellectual freedom in premodern Japan. Different schools existed for almost every cultural activity, from flower arranging to martial arts and philosophy. Although each school prescribed its own way of doing things, there was little animosity between them. Choosing a particular school, like choosing a game, was a matter of taste rather than of conviction, but once a school was chosen, one had to abide by the rules of the game; like in sport, success depended on performing well according to set rules. Accomplishment was a matter of rigorous training combined with personal style.
When the Japanese decided to adopt the Western culture, they went about it in the same sportsmanlike manner. Previous games were not discarded, but anyone wishing to play the Western game had to abide by its rules. Copying
