What is the national character of the Japanese?

China is a vast country. In the 1930s, when Japan invaded China, it occupied the northeast, north China, Beiping and Nanjing of China with decades of careful planning and strength, but China was not defeated. One of the important reasons is that China is vast, especially the vast hinterland of China provides a huge turning stage for China's army. Moreover, China not only has a vast hinterland, but also has many dangerous terrain to defend. Compared with the vast hinterland of China, there is hardly any hinterland in Japan. Japan is a long and narrow island country, which consists of four big islands and some small islands. The straight-line distance from any land to the ocean is no more than 60 kilometers, which is almost equivalent to the range of a long-range cannon.

The sorrow of the Japanese is that God has given it the population of a big country and a strong national will to be a big country, but it has not given it the territory of a big country.

Japan has few natural resources, too many mountains, too few plains, too many volcanoes, too few mineral deposits and frequent typhoons and earthquakes. In Japan, the longest river is only 300 kilometers, but in China, any stream is longer than this. It is conceivable that the Japanese archipelago is strategically constrained by its narrow and shallow geographical environment. {22}

The situation in Japan is very similar to that in Britain. However, through the "great geographical discovery" and a group of explorers, the British immigrated the redundant population to Australia, the United States, Canada and other vast places, which changed the situation that the contradiction between man and land was too sharp. But the Japanese chose the road of asking for land and resources from neighboring countries.

The natural environment will inevitably affect the national consciousness. The so-called "island root" is mainly "crisis consciousness" and "aggression consciousness" Crisis consciousness breeds aggression consciousness, and the failure of aggression intensifies the national crisis. The sense of crisis that haunts the hearts of the Japanese people all the time has become the subconscious of the people of this island country, and the Japanese belligerence also stems from this.

China has a large population, but its per capita resources are better than those of Japan except fresh water. Moreover, nearly 3 million nautical miles of marine resources in China have not been well utilized, and the vast western region still has great development potential. Compared with Japan, where resource conservation is close to the limit, China people can alleviate the resource crisis as long as they implement strict conservation policies.

According to media reports, Dr. Bruce Abbott, president of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, pointed out in an interview with Time Weekly that after the Indonesian earthquake at the end of 2004, the Asia-Pacific plate became more and more fragile, and earthquakes and tsunamis would become more and more active. In particular, the Japanese archipelago in East Asia is already on a "funnel" that may collapse at any time.

The deepest trench in the world is the Mariana Trench (with an average depth of 8000 meters, only 200 kilometers away from the Japanese archipelago). Due to the push of the Asian continental plate and the retreat of the Pacific plate, it is expanding to the northeast at the rate of 10cm per year, that is, the Pacific-Japan Islands. After the earthquake, scientists observed that the trench further accelerated its eastward expansion. The Japanese archipelago, located at the junction of the Pacific Ocean and Asia, is undoubtedly on the edge of the deepest funnel in the world! If there is an undersea earthquake similar to Indonesia once or twice, except for the Ryukyu Islands in the south, the Japanese islands are likely to face extinction and slide into the trench.

Such a terrible prediction is tantamount to a disaster for the Japanese. Although several versions of this prophecy have become popular in Japan, it is still necessary for the Japanese to urge their government to make more friends with their neighbors and less enemies with them.

At present, the Japanese people's wealth accumulation is close to the limit, and it is almost impossible to go further. Japan's sustained economic depression in recent ten years is not only due to the changes in the international economic situation, but also an inevitable reflection of the rise and fall of Japan's economy. However, the international oil price continues to soar and the prices of major industrial resources rise, which brings all kinds of ominous signs to Japan's economic recovery.

The current situation in Japan is quite similar to the Japanese economic crisis in the 1920s. The Japanese got rid of the economic crisis by invading the northeast of China and launching a war against China. Will the Japanese who are eager to get rid of economic difficulties repeat the same mistakes?

The roots of the island country were born in the environment of the island country, which gave the Japanese an excessively strong sense of self-identity. This makes the Japanese categorically divide human beings into "us" and "them". All of them are non-Japanese except Japanese. This is a modern island tribe mentality. Even if the Japanese introduced a large number of political and economic systems, culture, art and religious forms from China and the West, they could not fundamentally change this mentality of the Japanese.

Although this concept of having differences inside and outside is conducive to the formation of the purest oneness of the Japanese nation and the birth of a strong national cohesion, if this character is brought into full play, it will also develop an arrogant, indifferent and selfish national character. In essence, the root of the island country is a narrow clique unwilling to be responsible to the world and other countries.

It is precisely because of its isolated geographical location that the Japanese were never conquered by other nationalities before 1945. This is unique compared with other major nationalities in the world. In particular, the powerful Mongolian Corps lost its strength in the Japanese Strait, which strengthened the invincible consciousness of the Japanese people. Ruan Wei, a cultural scientist, pointed out: "A serious consequence of this situation is the national mentality that the Japanese can only win but not lose. Perhaps this mentality leads to the heroism of Japanese soldiers in Japanese textbooks, which may be an advantage under certain conditions. To a large extent, Japan has achieved economic success by virtue of this national character. But in other cases, this is a serious shortcoming. "

The Japanese national character, which can only win but not lose, makes the Japanese nation lack a profound macro-thinking, and even less a kind of political wisdom that combines rigidity with softness. Often only know how to move forward, don't know how to retreat, only know how to make profits, don't know how to get along with people, only know the interests of the group, regardless of the feelings of others.

At the end of the Pacific War, it was clear that the Japanese were defeated, but the Japanese military department forced the soldiers on Okinawa to fight back. The Japanese continued to carry out "100 million pieces of jade" and "decisive battle at home". This is the direct reason why Americans decided to use atomic bombs. Because if you don't do this, the casualties of the US military will be very heavy.

The rigid mentality of the Japanese who can only win but not lose almost led to genocide.

In international relations, this mentality of the Japanese is also an important reason for their aloofness and indifference. In the eyes of foreigners, Japanese people are polite and indifferent when dealing with other nationalities. In contrast, Koreans and Koreans are warm, lively and cheerful. All these show to some extent that although the Japanese have made brilliant economic achievements, it is difficult for them to live in harmony with their neighbors. Although the economic achievements of the Japanese nation are envied by the world, it is difficult for the Japanese to gain the love and respect of other nations.

As far as economic strength is concerned, the Japanese can completely act as world leaders, but it is difficult to exert political influence by sticking to their island mentality. If the Japanese stubbornly want to win in Asia, their expansion energy should not be underestimated.