Chapter 866.: 866.
『 Let’s return to the nobility discussion 』
Jii-chan said .
『 You’re attending the best school for young ladies in Japan . Your school became like that because of Kaan, the late Kanou-kun, and my influence 』
The big three?
『 During the post-war economic growth, Japan’s society made a great paradigm . To put it simply, the traditional nobility gave birth to the Meiji restoration, and the bourgeois rank of wealthy people collapsed . Creating a new class in society . Let me say it beforehand, those that collapsed were only a portion . Most of the nobility have survived by changing along with the time . We risked our lives to protect our family 』
Jii-chan’s story must be interesting to the young ladies .
Their existence as young ladies is proof that the nobility of Japan survived .
『 It’s identical to how Kabuki and other traditional arts still exist to this day . Kabuki was also in the precarious state during the occupation of the allied forces in Japan . It just happened that a commissioned officer of the US army liked kabuki, so it remained . Even so, they created some absurd restrictions such as “I don’t like the feudal tales,” or “it doesn’t suit the Christian ethics” and such 』
So that happened .
『 The occupation army complained about Shogi . “The rule where you can steal a piece from your opponent is the abuse of prisoners . It’s a savage game,” was their reason for banning it 』
Huh?
Shogi is savage?
If you ban it for that reason, then what about the current computer games?
『 Did you know? McArthur said, “In science, arts, religion, and culture, America and Germany are at their 40-50’s, their prime of life, but Japan is still a young man in their teens . ” “Japan should learn from the West, and the West should guide Japan . ” 』
Japan is still a child compared to the West?
『 That’s how foolish he sees Japanese people are . Well, calling the people bumpkins would be better 』
Jii-chan speaks in displeasure .
『 Although, that was a blessing for the Japanese 』
Huh?
『 Before the war, Franklin D Roosevelt created this “new deal policy” to recover from the Great Depression . It’s something you learned from your history classes . It’s the beginning of Keyne’s modified capitalism gaining political power . Instead of entrusting the business to market freely, the administration intervenes and redistribute the assets . The people using the new deal policy were all young people burning in idealism . However, in reality, the new deal policy isn’t always successful . The societal structure so far changed by political power, it was hard . The society will not obey as the government official imagined, and America, who couldn’t complete the change, participated in the war 』
War .
『 They needed a large number of materials for the military . Europe’s industry was on decline during the war . America was using all of the allied nations’ military goods . The ordinary citizens endure during the time of war . They introduced daylight savings time and bring in women to work . When America joined the second world, war…and Hawaii was attacked, the Americas hardly had anyone in the front . They keep their industrial production with the pretext of “its war,” and they were able to change the system in their country 』
America changed during the war?
『 If it was during peace, then there are lots of people opposing . It disturbs those who hold vested interests . However, during the war, they can take them down with “are you allied with the enemy nation?” They can restructure the government to their liking 』
Jii-chan said .
『 In the end, Franklin Roosevelt was saved by the war . If there was no war, then perhaps his New Deal policy will never become the system . However, it happened . I don’t believe in the conspiracy theories that Franklin Roosevelt rushed to war with Japan for himself . A single president’s forecast changed history . It’s all a coincidence that everything went as Franklin Roosevelt expected 』
Y-Yeah .
But why is “Franklin Roosevelt’s” name is said in full all the time?
「 Nii-san . In America, there was another president with the name of Roosevelt 」
Luna read my thoughts and whispered .
「 Theodore Roosevelt has a hobby of creating teddy bears 」
「 Oh, right 」
She knows a lot .
『 Then, during the postwar period, the American occupants using their political measures all survived with the New Deals policy . Therefore, in their ideal minds, they started teaching the “poor” Japanese people who still are 12-years-old compared to themselves . To us, they’re just idealistic children, and they were the ones ignorant of the world . However, some sympathized with the Americans among the Japanese . People who say that the Americans were right, that Japan will stay as a child if Americans don’t guide them, that everything Americans tell them is for good . No, even now, most survive by having plain ill-will in their head 』
Jii-chan said .
『 They drowned in American culture, longing for the flashy and beautiful life in movies . However, those who say that it’s their way of life are the middle class in America . It wasn’t the age where everyone has a camera, like now . There are hardly any people traveling overseas . It’s not the real-life in America, it’s just the ideal life shown in movies . In fact, America still contradicts the world even now . They’re distorted . They have a social class in poverty . But they don’t convey that…They win over the Japanese by showing the paradise 』
There was no internet back then .
The imitations from movies are different from reality .
『 Showing American movies to the Japanese was one of McArthur’s political measures . He knows the power of film . If we’re talking about telecast from back then where the politicians and the president are known to the masses, it was because there’s a newsreel before the movie itself shows 』
News before the movie?
『 Wheelchair was created for President Franklin Roosevelt, who had his lower half paralyzed . In short, he was disabled . However, most of the American citizens didn’t know that 』
Huh? The president’s in a wheelchair, and yet nobody knows?
『 He could stand up from his wheelchair and walk a single step . Therefore, the newsreel shows him walking that one step to the platform . They’re not showing the wheelchair . Therefore, most of the citizens think that he can walk 』
So the video shows the impression that he can still walk .
『 America is a vast land that not even the president can go all over the whole nation . The best he could do is move around a vast city and another . One can read his political measures in the newspaper . They can hear him over radios . However, the majority of the people only see him moving in newsreels 』
Haa .
『 Actually, in the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy, produced during the war, there was a scene where James Cadney, disguised as Franklin Roosevelt, tap dancing on the floor . If the people know that Franklin Roosevelt lives in a wheelchair, then they won’t make that scene . They’ll see that and won’t laugh at it . It’s the worst kind of joke 』
If they make a scene where the president, who is paralyzed below, tap dancing…
It will get people seriously angry .
The Internet would be on fire .
『 Franklin Roosevelt can walk a single step . That’s what the screen shows . They’re not lying . However, they’re not telling the truth either . The president’s legs are paralyzed . It’s those people who use such unfair impression which came to Japan 』
Jii-chan said .
『 Then, using the reason that they won the war, they started remodeling Japan’s history and culture to their own ethics, as if it’s their plaything . However, their New Deal policy is too idealistic, too childish . They think that great evil and unjust acts are minimum . No, if it wasn’t America, who thinks of Japan as an underdeveloped child, that occupied our country, then they would mess up with Japan and never let it stand on its feet again 』
Right .
『 The nobility was so close to collapse . No, actually, some families were sacrificed . Fortunately, the time where the most danger exists didn’t last long, America didn’t have the time to toy with Japan . The cold war with the communist nation started 』
Cold War?
『 The plan of the occupation army at first was to take down all the ruling class of Japan . The old ones . For America, the democracy flag bearer…they want to distribute the leader’s assets to the masses . They do not understand the worth of families with long history 』
The occupants didn’t know the worth of nobility .
『 But, the Cold war happened . Then, America feared that if they eliminate the old leaders of Japan, the communists will rise . They don’t want Japan, who advanced to democracy, turn red . Japan has no other islands between the pacific ocean and Hawaii . If Japan becomes communists, then they will take up the whole of East Asia . Therefore, the Americans panicked and strengthened their relationships with the old leader classes of Japan . They must’ve thought that if they don’t resume the governing body of Japan before the war, they won’t be able to stop the wave of commoners turning to communists 』
And so, nobility remained .
『 And that’s a long-standing problem of Japan since post-war . In other words, the leaders of Japan who had control before the war has lost, and nobody among them took responsibility . Thus, the commoners, especially young students, were irritated . They thought, “Pull them down!” However, during that age, if they were to break down the whole system and change it to something new, it will become messed up . Japan endured the military occupation for several years, and then, the former leaders were allowed to return . It still continues to this day . Well, of course, I belong to the group of the old leader class, so I think that way, but I’m aware of the other opinion . I know people who lost, who collapsed . As a result, turning into some ridiculous shape . However, Japan still had the “Japan-like” in their country because we didn’t fall to ruin, that’s what I’d like to believe 』
Jii-chan said .
『 What we inherited from our ancestors isn’t blood, assets, or name . Japan is for the Japanese people, and that’s why we’re proud that we’re Japanese…It’s a will that we defend 』
The young ladies listen to Jii-chan earnestly .
『 We’re not higher than others because we’re nobility . We’re not smart . We’re not valuable either . We don’t have to be refined . No value . If we’re just rich, then we can get friendly with other influential people and rise up with that thought, can’t we? 』
It’s not money or power .
『 Humans are creatures that coexist despite having different views, “unchanging” and “ever-changing . ’ It’s the inconsistency of life . That means, the will to continue living eternally for as long as the next generation is born, and the will to change depending on the situation, both will contradict and coexist . Then, humans continue their existence through the ages . People with the intention to change along with the era are common . Then, I think that we exist to carry the will to keep the old tradition 』
That’s the role of nobility .
『 I let my granddaughters wear Kimono . They learned to live a life in tatami mats . You girls are the same . The school you attend is training you to behave like a Japanese person . That’s what Kaan, Kanou, and I instructed the school to do 』
Oh, so that’s why the young ladies are learning traditional Japanese dance .
Learning how to live wearing Japanese clothes .
『 Your school never lets in daughters outside of nobility . That means refusing entry of daughters of rising businessmen, politicians, or celebrities . But on the other hand, we are donating a hefty sum to your school 』
Jii-chan said .
『 Most prestigious schools accept such girls for their business . However, children not born as nobility are different from us . They have the opposite will than us . In short, “the will to change constantly . ” People with that strong will are reaching grand success at this age . They gain both social status and fortunes . However, we do not want our daughters, no, it’s granddaughters already…you girls to have that will . Maybe when you’re adults already . Once you have established a “self,” where you no longer shake from people with a different opinion than yourself . However, when you’re still young, we want you to go through pre-school, elementary, middle school, and high school, with the will of nobility . We want you to become those who keep, not those who change the tradition 』
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