Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Japan and Us: What’s the connect? 

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By Avner Pariat

I don’t usually write about foreign policy matters but there have been certain developments in the recent past which have prompted me to do just that. That being said, has anyone else noticed the sudden flowering of all things Japanese in these hills? In just the span of a few months we have had a large Cherry Blossom Festival funded by the Japan Foundation, a film workshop aided by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and the City of Yamagata in St Anthony’s College and one must add to this the ongoing infrastructural work presently funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the improvement of NH51 and NH41. And of course there is the inter-personal connection building up which is crucial to foster good ties. The Japanese seem very interested in promoting artists and intellectuals from the state and possibly starting fellowship programs and residencies with locals.

My friends, Tarun Bhartiya and Samrat X, were in Japan recently for some cross-cultural events aimed at dialogue and relationship building. Now all this is fine, but I have to ask myself: why now? Why are the Japanese suddenly interested in the north east? Mind you, they do a lot of work in the rest of the country as well but aside from developmental assistance much of the cultural programs are done within the large metros of the plains. Yes you can argue Shillong and Aizawl are also metros in their own right but then again there is a case for the opposite as well. I am not suggesting anything sinister or conspiratorial, of course, but why now and why us I reiterate. Why not start similar events like the Cherry Blossom Festival in say Orissa or maybe Jharkhand? If they have had something along those lines in those places, media certainly hasn’t covered it and I am unaware of any events as I write this.

So with some liberties, I will try to dissect this new phenomenon as I understand it. But first a little background. I might say that this is all new and recent but actually Japanese involvement in the North East has been around for a while. One notable example is the iconic Umiam Hydro Electric Project (Damsait) which was created by the Japanese as part of their War reparations towards India. This was in the early 1960s and the project recently turned 50. It still produces more energy today than the stupid, money guzzling Leshka Myntdu HE project. Anyway, that is all a part of History. But the recent resurgence in Japanese interest in the NER is quite thought provoking. Firstly, we must accept that this is no mere coincidence. At some high level of policy-making this decision was consciously taken. After all, nothing of this sort can take place without mutual understanding. In a sense, the moment the floodgates are opened, a host of activities and actors can come through.

Now the Japanese are most assuredly acting on the Act East policy which our Central governments have been trying to promote for a long time now. This would explain why JICA is funding road projects in the region. That being said, what’s in it for the Japanese though? This is not simply charity work after all. No developmental agency anywhere in the world is involved in charity work. Not just charity anyway. Else they’d go bust in a matter of months. Likewise with the Japanese! This is not some project that they need to spend money on because some law of theirs makes it mandatory to spend or do CSR. This is of course about power and influence for the long run. So are the Japanese interested in the roads themselves? I doubt this and I don’t think we will be seeing any Japanese people manning toll-gates here any time soon. So this is probably about something else. Maybe they are interested in the projected trade and commerce that these roads could bring. They could be interested in commodities from Meghalaya but I really don’t know what would be so special here that they might want.

I think these roads are a “gift” in order to parley favour with the Indian and Bangladeshi governments over time. The Japanese already have a strong influence in Myanmar and a South East Asian corridor could be very lucrative for Japanese companies and firms. But alas, I am but a tiny ant in this immense fabrication of plans and projections. I cannot see beyond what is shown to the public. However, I will say this, many people talk a lot about this vaunted Act East trade route but unless the local people get something out of it, it would be pointless and doomed to fail. I mean the small and medium players, not the officers and ministers. All these players in the region especially foreign need to actually sit down with local people and sort such things out properly. If not, there will be more harm than good that is done to us.

Now, besides the infrastructural development that the Japanese are helping us with, there is also the notion of soft power which is perhaps much more important. This never sees the type of money infra sees but it is more powerful at building bonds between communities and people. Inter-cultural events, creative and academic fellowships, writer’s residencies all serve to enhance a country’s soft power. But why is the question. Why would it be so important for a country that is funding a project to also reach out to the people? It is not a mandatory condition. After all, of all the road projects we have seen in the past few years, we never saw any sort of need for the hired firm or implementing agency to be seen as a friend and a benefactor. Most of Meghalaya’s road projects are self contained systems. Workers and machines brought in from outside with almost no local help required save for certain building materials like stone and sand. But the Japanese are interested in the long run and so need to be in the good books of the local people they encounter, as I see it. That’s probably one reason for them funding cultural exchanges. The other reason which is perhaps much more interesting has something to do with Japanese society itself. It is ageing rapidly and has the lowest birth rate in the world. These factors contribute to a dangerous decline in the workforce. Japanese industry and indeed the economy itself is in real peril. If they cannot get workers fast enough and in abundant enough numbers, they will suffer an economic catastrophe. This is where the NER comes in, I suspect.

Our pre-existing love of Japanese culture makes us the ideal candidates for a new substitute workforce. The cultural agencies of Japan have been actively promoting Japanese language and culture in many institutions and among many individuals. It seems clear that they are laying the foundations for a Nippon-sensitive and Nippon-conscious demographic which may prove useful for their home country in the next decade or so. Again this is just theorising but it still makes for fascinating stratagem.

 

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