CORRECT STARTING POINT

Japan has far outrun the US and Britain in business. So far as foreign exchange is concerned, Japan is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, its foreign exchange reserves count to 1,311,254 US dollars in 2022. This ranks Japan as second only to China. How did Japan turn its military defeat into economic conquest? By encouraging patience and perseverance and avoiding provocation, it concentrated its energies on peaceful (and, of course, remunerative) fields, rather than indulging in retaliatory violence. It initially accepted the military and political supremacy of other nations. It quickly adapted itself to new scales of values, then set about to the economic rehabilitation of the country without wasting a single moment on bewailing lost opportunities. It didn’t blame others for its misfortunes or on pointless nostalgia. Rather than committing further mistakes, Pearl Harbour being the greatest, it concentrated its attention on seizing existing opportunities. In short, Japan accepted the blame for its own destruction, and, once having done so, was able earnestly to launch itself on its own economic uplift. This episode projects a very important lesson for us. We must never lose sight of the fact that we are not lone travellers on this earth. There are always others who are trying to race ahead of us in this world of competition. The resulting situation can be approached in two entirely different ways. One is to collide with anything which obstructs our path. The other is to circumvent obstacles and then to go on our way. Clearly, the first is self-destructive, while the second, of avoiding confrontations, is much more likely to prove advantageous. A ship which sails straight at a rock or an iceberg is doomed to disaster. It is the ship which veers temporarily off its course to avoid the reefs which will eventually sail safely into harbour. Similarly, Japan, by giving up ideas of military supremacy, has reached a much more worthwhile objective – economic supremacy. It is worth remembering that Hiroshima and Nagasaki, once symbols of Japan’s total annihilation as a military power, are now symbols, seven decades later, of Japan’s stunning economic success. o We must never lose sight of the fact that we are not lone travellers on this earth. There are always others who are trying to race ahead of us in this world of competition.