This is a good time to write about a nation’s resilience in the face of calamity. I am referring to the stoic discipline with which the Japanese bore hardship and the death of 15,000 people in March 2011 following a nine-magnitude earthquake, the strongest ever known to have hit Japan. I can remember the TV coverage as if it were yesterday. Very young and very old Japanese formed a long orderly line for disaster supplies. There was no looting whatsoever as there had been in Los Angeles or in Mexico City, no weeping on camera so that the world would send more funds, just plucky resolve (gaman in Japanese) and ganbaru (to endure with pride).
As anyone who is familiar with Japan knows, tenacity is highly celebrated both as an individual and a collective trait. The recent outrages in Paris, and the collective dignity of the millions who marched following the murder of innocents, brought back memories of Japanese stoicism, a national trait that has served the country well, especially after the disastrous end of world war two.
Just about the time the earthquake hit Japan, my friend Peter Livanos gave me a gift that is probably the one I treasure most of all my possessions, a samurai sword of rare value and provenance, one that embodies the samurai’s code of bushido, and one of the most outstanding examples of Japan’s highly skilled craftsmanship.
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