Haruo Endo
Thank
you for your kind introduction.
First
of all, I would like to extend my gratitude to
Before
getting into the main theme, I would like to say a few words about myself and
on my personal relationship with
My
name is Haruo Endo. Haruo is my given name and Endo is my family name. We,
Japanese, do not have the middle name like "bin so and so" as Arab
people have.
Does
Haruo Endo sound strange?
Please
remember me as "Helu Endo, sweet Endo" in Arabic way.
As
for my personal relationship with
I
remember I stayed at the old one-storied Al-Falaj Hotel then.
My
second visit was in 1985, when the Al-Bustan Palace Hotel was still under
construction to be made the venue for the first GCC
In
1990's, I have lived twice in Muscat for four years，three years from 1992 to 1995 and one year from 1997 to 1998, as a
JICA expert with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Moreover,
in 1996, I had the opportunity to have good company with Omani scholars and
post-graduate students at the University of Exeter in England when I was with
"the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies" there as an honorary research
fellow.
Through
my experiences hitherto with Oman, I have been much impressed by the glorious
progress and prosperity of your country attained during the “Renaissance” and I
remember those happy days when I worked with Omani colleagues at the Ministry
and the University, thanking them for their kindness and patronage extended to
me．
The
title of my lecture today is "
I
believe some of you have visited the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex to root for the
Omani football team last October for the 2006 World Cup qualifier game between
“Nippon”
has its origin in the words “Place from where the sun rises”, used by Prince
Shotoku, an early seventh-century Japanese ruler, to designate his country in a
letter to be sent to
The today’s
lecture is aimed at deepening your general knowledge on
Now,
let me start my lecture today, "
Firstly,
I would like to ask you what kind of image you have towards
Please
imagine!
I do
not think there is any Arab household that does not have any Japanese product, such
as car, TV, video, camera, watch etc.
Your
image of
They
are the only cities on earth that have experienced atomic bomb attacks during the
Second World War..
Those
who are familiar with the modern Japanese history may remember that
Do
you imagine even "Samurais”?
Those old-time Japanese warriors with curious hairstyles and belting on
swords?
Or you
may imagine Japanese football team, which took on
You
may have various images on
Then,
what is
Firstly,
Japan
is an island nation, consisting of nearly 7,000 islands.
The
main islands are four, namely
Japan's
land area is 378,000 km2, one point two times as large as that of
Oman, which is 309,500 km2..
Over 70% of
The
highest mountain in
As
It
is hot and humid in summer and cold, dry and clear in winter in
Japan's
population was 127.4 millions in 2002, ninth largest in the world.
There
are eleven cities in Japan that have populations of over one million, among which Tokyo is the largest
and has about 8 million inhabitants.
Birth rate is 1.3, compared to your 2.5% and average life expectancy is 78.36 for male and 85.33 for female in 2003, compared to your average 72.8 years.
In your case, people under twenty years old account for nearly half of the population.
It
is not clear where Japanese people came from.
However,
it is generally agreed that people of
As
As
for economic size of
GDP
per capita of
In
addition, Japanese export accounts for nearly 6% of the total world export in
2002, next to
Regardless
of its small land area, one twenty-fifth of
After
the Second World War,
Now,
the second largest economic power! What were the reasons for the success?
My
views are
●Firstly, there were strong national cohesion under wise leadership
and clear national policies.
●Secondly, I think Japan was very lucky.
●Thirdly, as the most important reason for the success in the
development of Japanese
economy, I would like to highlight the cultural
traditions and human resources as
follows:
a) Japanese had a great
sense of curiosity towards knowledge and technology.
b) They were sincere and diligent in learning
・Absorption of knowledge
and technology mainly from Europe during the Meiji
Era and mainly from
USA after the Second World War.
c) They abounded in ingenuity (they achieved
by themselves technological innovation and modification of advanced knowledge
and technology into the Japanese way, e.g. from SQC to TQC, Kaizen, JIT,
Kanban)
d) They were really diligent and
disciplined, dedicated, determined and group-conscious as well.
I
sincerely hope that you will achieve the goal of the Renaissance, keeping in
your mind that your success depends solely on your efforts.
Now,
let me continue to explain on Japanese society and Japanese people.
You might think the Japanese are very different from you. The Japanese wear different clothes, exchange greeting in different way and use chopsticks for eating. They are not Muslims and are allowed to drink alcohol, but not to have four wives, etc.
However,
I would like to emphasize that there are many similarities between us, which
might be a surprise to you.
As
for social customs, we, Japanese, take off our shoes when entering houses, and
sit on the floor cross-legged and eat rice. Going back to the period before the
Second World War which ended in 1945, we, Japanese, had large families,
respected seniors by deciding the
seating and serving orders by seniority, had a male dominated society, segregated
the sexes, highly evaluated virginity and chastity and so on, as you do today.
In
comparison to the size of family of 2.82 in 2000, Japanese family consisted of about
five persons in 1933 when I was
born (1930 – 4.98, 1935 – 5.02) . In my case, I have eleven brothers and one sister from one mother.
We could have formed a football team “Endo’s” and could have taken on Omani
National team.
Our
society was a male dominated one. Father was the most powerful in a family and the
eldest son of a family was treated differently from other family members. Birth of a son was celebrated more than that
of a daughter.
Then,
daughter's immorality was a shame to the family in
Please be reminded, however, that Japanese had
undergone a tremendous change in society, by “Americanized”, after the end of the
Second World War and the situation nowadays in
Going
back as far as to the Edo era before the Meiji era, about one hundred and forty
years ago, we Japanese also conducted public execution by beheading and revenge
was encouraged to wipe away a disgrace, as some Arab countries still do or did.
Japanese
do not say "Yes" or "No" clearly in order not to offend the
other people, which is different from western people. I assume your
"Yes" or "No" is also ambiguous.
Politically,
Culturally,
we both have calligraphy, falconry, bull-fighting, tea/coffee-making ceremonies,
many of the same agricultural tools, similar music melodies and instruments and
so on.
As
for bull fighting, we have the bulls compete their strength. We never injure or
kill them like Spanish. We do not like to see blood.
As
for national characters, Omanis and Japanese are common in being friendly,
polite, kind, quiet, gentle and reserved. We both share a sense of social
obligation and consideration for others.
Omani
friends who have come over to
I am sure we both share similar national character, although you behave better.
Even
as for sense of values, we both share sense of values of honor, self-respect,
good manners, justice, loyalty, bravery, endurance, etc., according to my
observation.
I
think you have heard of "Samurai" or seen them in the movies or on
TV. They can be characterized by their strange hairstyle and clothes and belting
swords on, as you do khanjar. now.
They
belonged to the highest social class of warriors in
The
sense of values above-mentioned in
“Bushido” consisted of benevolence or mercy, justice, good manners, wisdom, honesty,
loyalty, piety and obedience to the seniors.
Concretely, “Be kind to others”, “ Be honest” ,”Do not tell a lie”, “Do not be a coward”,
” Keep a promise”, “Be kind to the weak”, “Be good to your parents” and “Be good to your brothers and sisters”
It
seems to me that this sense of values is shared by Arab people, especially by the
Faris, fi Arabi. Bushido might be similar to “Horosayya” fi Arabi.
The
highest sense of virtue to be observed by Samurais was loyalty to the clan and
the domain lord. They dedicated themselves to the clan and the lord, like your
"Asabiyah".
Samurai
was a highly honorable person. They committed "Seppuku", which was a ritual
suicide by disembowelment, to preserve their honor. You also evaluate the sense
of honor very much.
Moreover,
Samurais had to achieve revenge to wipe away a disgrace, as mentioned
previously.
Samurais
also evaluated martial spirit, modesty and frugality.
They
were proud of bravery and abhorred “cowardliness” and “injustice”.
I think
it is fair to say a few words also about differences between the two.
The
biggest one may lie in religion.
You, Arab people believe
in Islam and are very religious. You offer your prayer five times a day, you
observe Ramadan and Zakat. Many of you go to Hajj pilgrim.
On the other hand, most of
Japanese are not deeply devoted to one specific religion.
Although many Japanese
introduce themselves as Buddhists, they observe funerals at the Buddhism
temples, they go to the Shinto shrine at the beginning of the year and in need
and they celebrate Christmas in Christmas- time.
It is reported in
I am sure it may sound very strange to you. In this sense, Japanese do not appear to be religious. However, Japanese strongly feel the sense of awe towards ‘Power’ or ‘Energy’ beyond human knowledge. In this sense, Japanese can be said also to be religious.
However, I hope you will keep
it in your mind that we, Japanese are very open or generous about religion.
Considering the fact that
many conflicts have occurred because of religions, I think generous attitude of
Japanese towards religion is worth considering.
In
connection with religion, I am glad to inform you that there are ten thousands
of Japanese Muslims. The vice- chairman of
Other
than that, it is said that there are more than 100, 000 foreign Muslims living
in
For
your information,
Other
than religion, we might be different slightly in the degree of discipline,
diligence, dedication, determination, group consciousness and so on.
Japanese
keep time and promises.
Japanese
work hard.
Japanese
are loyal to the organization.
Japanese
are group-conscious.
Japanese
are determined people.
Next,
I would like to briefly outline the recent relationship between
The
Oman-Japan Friendship Society was established so early in 1973 in
In
1994,
As for
economic relations between
As
for exports from
Japanese companies have been involved in the various projects in Oman, such as oil production, the construction of refineries, desalination and power generation plants, gas processing plant, LNG plant and LNG tankers and port facilities. A Japanese shipping company is cooperating to the operation of LNG tankers by Omanis.
As
for technical assistance, JICA has been extending its cooperation since the
middle of 1970's. The first Omani trainee was
received by JICA in as early as 1975. The first JICA development study was
conducted in 1977 and the first Japanese JICA expert was dispatched to
Besides
the political and economic ties, cultural exchanges have been active, namely,
participation by Omani youth in the "Ship of World Youth" project,
"
The
I am
glad that the recent relation between
Before
closing the first session of my lectures, I would like to touch on the history
of human exchange between
While
there had been more than one thousand year’s history in cultural exchange
between
However,
Shigetaka Shiga's visit to
On
his arrival in
After twenty- three minutes, the man came back and told Shiga that the Sultan would accept him.
Sultan
Taimur kindly accepted Shiga and told him, "You are most welcome in
Shiga
responded by saying" What you said to me is just what I had wanted to
propose to you today. I will be sure to convey your words to the Japanese
people"
Shiga
left the palace with deep happiness at being given the audience and hearing the
warm words from Sultan Taimur.
On
his return to
The
reason why I say Shiga's visit to
After
stepping down from the throne, he came over to
In
1936, he came to
During his stay, Sultan Said and Sayyid
Tareq, his younger brother, came over to
I have learned that His Majesty Sultan
Qaboos dropped in at
Although heads of the Gulf countries have
visited
That is the reason why I have written the
Sultanate of Oman as the closest Arab country to
In
closing my first lecture, I would like to emphasize that we, at the doorstep of
21st century, should always remember the words said in the meeting
held between Sultan Taimur and Mr. Shigetaka Shiga 80 years ago.
Sultan
Taimur told him, "You are most welcome in
Shiga
responded by saying" What you said to me is just what I had wanted to propose
to you today."
I
sincerely hope relationship between
Thank
you for your attention.
.