Korea, China and Japan - Preparing to Move Forward against Development in the End of Modern Era The lights are off. The leading economies of Europe and America are struggling through the darkness of financial crises. The Earth is choking on the prevailing environmental pollutions. Natural resources are rapidly depleted as China and India have joined the stream of over-consumption. The earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear accident that struck Japan last March shook the strongly rooted beliefs in technology innovations and development. People started questioning the feasibility considering economic growth as the only measure of happiness. In order to find the right path in the darkness, one needs to mark milestones. The new trend burgeoning in Asia is worth being marked as a milestone. Part of the new trend is re-discovering of Asian identities that value living in harmony with the nature, diverging from blindly chasing after Western materialism. Crises cross borders. In such world, making a common effort to respond to the crises while embracing all local societies is a whole new experience and a valuable asset. Hankyoreh has launched a special project of publishing series of reports titled, `Asia, Our Common Future`, to carefully examine this milestone. Chapter 1 - Asia after the Apocalypse - is a review of the whole series that also examines Asia`s introspections triggered by the Fukushima disasters. Chapter 2, `Society without disasters, entrepreneurship can make it`, examines the efforts to reduce environmental pollution and eliminate the root causes of crises that Asian major enterprises have been making. Chapter 3, `Dear Asia. Sincerely, Asia.`, introduces examples of solving problems in parts of Asia as a whole. An interview with Patrick Smith, the author of `Japan: A reinterpretation` What initiatives is Asia preparing for the future of human species? Patrick Smith has answered this question while traveling through Eastern and Western countries. `Asia is moving forward `against development`, establishing a new set of fundamentals`, he said. While non-Western countries were completing their first modernization based on materialistic values, they went through a new evolution, adapting both preserved traditions and imported Western values as their new integrated identity. This interview took place over email exchanges. Additional information that was extracted from his books and editorials has been added for better comprehension, with the author`s consent. - You have remarked that Asia is coming toward the end of the journey that started in the 19th century. In other words, materialistic projects that defined the modern times have been completed while a new type of project is emerging. How would you define this trend in one word? - I want to call it `Post-materialism`. A Japanese scholar, Gato Norihiro, has used the word, `Post-developmental Society`, which is similar to my ideas. Post-materialism transcends the belief in growth as the only measure for success further beyond. This is very new. Asia has been chasing after the West for a century and a half. Now, it is trying to teach them something. Although some object, one cannot underestimate the strength and durability of this new concept. - What were your motivations for coming up with such thoughts? You have said that Asia will be trapped in nihilism if it continues to focus only on materialistic development, which is an adopted idea from the West. - One conclusive motivation was the fact that materialistic modernization has come close to its end. We have asked fundamental questions such as `What do I do now? Who are we?` It gained momentum in Japan and was spread to Korea and other regions after some time. China has just begun to address such questions. - Can this phenomenon in Asia also be an answer for Western countries that have been on the quest for moving forward beyond the modern times? - Yes. I think that Asia will contribute greatly in re-conceptualizing social identities and measures of success. However, whether the Western countries will adopt such changes as their new values is a separate question. - Why is it Asia in particular that can come up with solutions to such problems? - Asia is in a unique position. Asian countries are non-Western countries that either have completed or are finishing up the materialistic modernization projects. Although they have been adopting and imitating Western concepts and values, traditional non-Western values have always coexisted in them. In contrast to the great diversity in Asia, this is a common experience for all Asians. Therefore, Asia is obligated to come up with solutions to the problems that Western countries cannot solve. - How did the earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear accident affect the way the people of Japan think? Do you think that the shocks from the disasters will be a motivation for Japan to recognize the limits of Western modernization that they have been promoting for over 150 years and to internalize new political, economic and social paradigms? - Yes. If there are evident social and economic fallouts, the Japanese will adopt a new perspective on life that accepts little growth, even though they would have to sacrifice the reputation for their economic strength. Even local regions that are not directly affected also have been rethinking their old beliefs in technology that were adopted from Western countries. In other words, their beliefs and thoughts are moving beyond `first-rank-ism`, an old value that has been the driving force of Japan. In fact, it has been long since they declared freedom from the enslaving growth. The so-called `lost 20 years` was a period of self-reflection for Japan. They sought for new economic, social and environmental values that will bring a balance to the old concept that focuses only on economic growth during `the lost 20 years`. The limits are clear. Japan will demonstrate what is to move forward beyond and against development. - China has emerged as one of the strongest country and has been promoting excessive economic growth. They plan to spur the development of nuclear power plants. That is contrary to what you have mentioned before, that China is learning from Japan`s past experiences and that it will consider sustainability beyond growth. Isn`t your opinion overly positive? - Currently, China is obsessed with Western modernization. Just like Japan, they are misunderstanding modernization as Westernization. However, we need to see what`s hidden. What is visible is not all that there is. The Chinese experiment bears more significance than it looks. Questions on Westernization projects are being raised in China. The Chinese passionately strive for finding own identity. I find that encouraging. What`s happening in China is a process of realizing a true modernization. This means that they are finding their unique identity that is not an imitation of Western countries. - South Korea is one of the major countries in Asia that has strong roots in Western modernization. Current government is going ahead with the Four River Project, a massive construction project whose objective is to straighten out the rivers. Even after Fukushima nuclear accident, they are pushing the expansion plan for nuclear power including additional constructions and exports. Meanwhile, social welfare services and the environmental issues have gained public attention to become one of the major political agenda. How would you explain such irony? - This is a common phenomenon for Asian countries. What we need to know is that coming of new eras and degradation of old eras are not as clear-cut as described in textbooks. In European modernization also, modern and pre-modern concepts co-existed. Radical era wasn`t radical at all times. Korea and Asia are following that pattern. Don`t be startled. Change is gradual and the old degrades slowly. - How will Asian communities that strive for non-Western modernization look like? `Truly `modern` Asia will resemble Europe`s four estates of the nation. Institutional transformation that supports mature mentality will also take place. Consider Asian traditions. You will find that they are more similar to Germany`s social market economy than the market fundamentalism originated from Britain and America. Asian community is also a matter of institutionalization. As Asian countries mature, transformed institutional frames will emerge. Diversity in Asia has been analyzed as an obstacle to establishing systems like mutual markets or currency funds. I disagree with it. Diversity and misalignment will not cease to thrive and that`s rather a healthy phenomenon. A Man of Letters, an Expert in Eastern Issues, Receives Praise from Hajun Chang Who`s Patrick Smith? `Japan: A Reinterpretation` is recognized as one of the most influential books on Japan analysis that is comparable to `The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture` by Ruth Benedict. Patrick Smith is the author of this book and also a journalist. `Japan: A Reinterpretation` was selected as one of the `notable books of the year` by the New York Times. The book reveals the hidden parts of Japan across all fields - politics, society, education, arts, etc. He recently published an essay titled, `Somebody Else`s Century` in which he examines how Asia is transforming itself in the era of anti-Westernization. He clearly states his view on Asia, that it is the future of the West. The `Somebody else` in the title indicates Asia. He claims in his essay, `It is time for us to accept the fact that the new century is no longer the era of the West`. He finds Asia that has struggled with identity confusion to be a nutritious ground for planting the seed of a new century. He has traveled all throughout Asia while working as a Tokyo branch manager at International Herald Tribune from 1987 to 1991, and correspondents at the New Yorker and the Far Eastern Economic Review for over 20 years. Professor Hajun Chang said, `He understands the East in a perspective that integrates the East and the West. He is a writer who understands the East far better than Easterners and is rarely found worldwide`.