Awareness of Purpose

your plane seat three months in advance, because every seat is full. China offers enormous opportunities for trade. Japan wants to make full use of them. For this reason, Japan deliberately forgot the bitter memories of the past. As one traveler put it, Japan decided to endure every “pinprick” from China without complaint. That traveler wrote that during his stay in Tokyo (June 1985), Radio Beijing announced that China would build a museum showing pictures of Japanese atrocities from the past. The museum was to be inaugurated in 1987, marking fifty years since the Marco Polo Bridge incident. When Japanese people were asked to comment on this news, they remained silent. When pressed further, they replied: “You know our Chinese friends have a way of twisting our tails, and appealing to our conscience.” (The Times of India, 13 June 1985) Japan had one clear goal: to expand its trade. That goal shaped its character. It taught Japan wisdom, patience, restraint, and to speak only when necessary. That goal showed Japan how to forget the past and bury all disputes and grievances unilaterally, so that the road to its objective would be clear. The psychology of a purposeful group is always the same, whether its goal is trade or something else. When a group loses these qualities, it is a sign that it has lost its sense of purpose. Without a goal before it, its members have no character either.