- Kato Hidetoshi's Data Base -
The Machine Cult
Publication Date:199203
Book title: MEDIA, CULTURE, AND EDUCATION IN JAPAN [A COLLECTION OF PAPERS]
Publisher : National Institute of Multimedia Education
In the summer of 1870, Japan's great enlightened thinker and educator, Yukichi Fukuzawa, suddenly came down with a fever. His students began to wonder how they could find some ice for him. One of them remembered that a former Daimyo named Shungan ( Yoshinaga ) Matsudaira had once purchased a Western ice-making machine out of curiosity, but that since he did not know how to operate it, it had been subsequently neglected. The students quickly went and borrowed the machine, took it to the university laboratory, and figured out how to make ice with it. Thus they succeeded in curing Fukuzawa's illness.
The year 1870 was during a period of confusion, when Japan had just emerged from its long period of seclusionism to set foot on the path toward becoming a modern nation. Even so there was such a machine in Japan. When speaking of the old feudal lords, most people think of conservative authoritarians, but as is obvious from this episode, there were not a few among their numbers who liked new things as well. For example, Nariaki Shimazu of the Satsuma Clan bought a camera and had his own portrait photo taken with it. A certain clan leader in Shikoku saw a steamship and ordered his craftsmen to make him one just like it. Keinosuke Kawai, the supreme commander of the Nagaoka Clan, invested all of his clan's financial holdings in British machineguns, putting them to use in the Bakumatsu civil war. Even so the Nagaoka Clan was defeated.
The early modern age in Japan got its start through this sort of interest in and curiosity toward machines. This was before there was a constitution, or any sort of political system ( though there were countless voices expressing opinions ), or even any clear ideological concept of how things should be. There was a certain consciousness of the fact that there was a world out there containing an area known as the West that possessed an advanced civilization, but there were extremely few people who had ever actually traveled beyond the islands of Japan. In the midst of all of this, the Japanese people had an amazing interest in the machines that were born of Western civilization. They had not only an acute interest, but there were many people who had the skill to learn how to use those machines.
It was during this same period that steamships were imported into Japan. And as soon as they got a hold of these steamships and received basic instruction on their operation, they quickly learned how to handle them well. When the first British Consul-General, Sir Rutherford Alcock, entered Tokyo Bay in 1859, he was deeply impressed with the way the Japanese handled the small steamship that came out to meet his ship. He is quoted as having said. "They keep their engines and brass fittings so shipshape that they are equal to the most loyal of British military men."
In other words, Japan's modernization, that was generally seen as "civilization and enlightenment" began in very concrete terms with things that were visible to the naked eye and could be touched with the hand. And most of these concrete objects were machines. Let us take a chronological look at the history of this rather singular early modern period.
During the same year that Fukuzawa succeeded in producing ice with that first ice-making machine, printing was initiated, and the first automobile was imported from America. A shoe factory was already in operation, and amazingly enough, wine brewing was also being tested. In the following year of 1871, Morse code machines were imported, and in 1872, a railway line was opened between Shinbashi and Yokohama. And that was not all. Inventors appeared among the townsmen and began producing strange inventions. For example, there was one man who invented a spring-operated fan, and another who devised a steam-operated contraption for climbing mountains. Most of these inventions ended in failure. However, it was during this same that a man named Wasuke Izumiya was inspired by the horse-drawn carriage to invent the rickshaw that proved such a success that it was subsequently exported to many Asian countries.
I know this may sound repetitious, but I want to point out here once again that all of this took place during the period of confusion prior to the establishment of a political system and economic policies in Japan. From the stand point of common sense, the proper order would be for the government to begin by setting up policies for science and technology, then for the educational system to be formulated in accordance with those policies, and finally for guidance and support to be provided for industrial production gradually. But it appears that it was the wisdom and energy of the citizens that took the initiative in the case of the "machine" that served to stimulate Japan's modernization. The daimyo I mentioned earlier had very little political knowledge at the beginning, but they had a burning interest in machines that were able to accomplish all sorts of strange and wonderful things, and they did not mind spending great amounts of money on those machines. In fact, it appears that the various daimyo had a great interest in machines even before the 19th century. One good example is the clock. The clock was first introduced into Japan from the West at the beginning of the 18th century, and the daimyo became deeply absorbed in them as soon as they arrived. The government established an isolationist policy, so when the clocks broke down, the daimyo ordered their craftsmen to repair them. For example, since they did not have the necessary metal springs, they used whale whiskers as a substitute. Clocks made in such a way came to be known as "daimyo clocks," and today there is even a special museum dedicated to them. In any case, the daimyo of those days were totally fascinated with anything mechanical.
And it was not only the daimyo. General citizens also found enjoyment in dreaming up all sorts of technical devices. For example, everyone knows that the traditional Japanese writing utensils are India ink and brushes, but in 1760, a craftsman named Tobei Kunitomo invented a portable writing set that was just like the fountain pen. But the greatest of all Japanese inventors appeared in the middle of the 18th century. His name was Omi Takeda. It appears that his genius level inventive talent got its start with clock technology, and he went on to create a series of mechanical dolls. Among them is the famed "tea serving doll" that is the prototype of today's robots. This doll carries a tea cup in both hand, takes it to a guest, and as soon as the guest takes the tea cup from the doll, it turns around and returns to where it started. No one knows why he went to all the trouble to create this doll. But it was likely from Omi's experiential knowledge and technology, along with his amazing intuition that he came to create this series of works, and they certainly must have surprised the people of his day. This was most likely the simple purpose behind his desire to design such things. This is a fine example of the art of Japanese craftsmen. Omi had no strong patron to support him, nor did he do his work in accordance with the orders of a customer. In other words, the work he did was for nothing other than his own personal pleasure.
"Mechanical devices" went on to develop in a number of different directions. Huge mechanical dolls appear even today in the Takayama festival of Gifu Prefecture. The dolls used here are the products of the skills of the traditional carpenters known as "Hida no Takumi" who have lived in this area for many generations. But they have no practical usefulness of any sort. But when one leafs through the pages of the book titled "An illustrated Collection of Mechanical Devices" (Kiko Zushu) that contains all these different types of mechanical toys and devices, one cannot help but be amazed at the enthusiastic creative inventiveness of the Japanese people of the 18th and 19th centuries. Invention was popular even among the scholars of common stock. For example, Gennai Hiraga used Dutch books as reference material for making the first experiment in Japan for generating electricity, and he developed a nonflammable fiber as well. Also, Giemon Tanaka made further developments of the clocks mentioned earlier, and he finally succeeded in perfecting a perpetual clock. This clock indicated not only the time, but the phases of the sun and the moon automatically as well. This was the most sophisticated clock in the world in those days.
But the most important point to be made here is that the people of Japan found great joy in observing these technological inventions. The people welcomed the exotic workings of machines, and they waited eagerly for the invention of more new machine. In ancient Japanese, the word "takumi" was actually used to mean both skill and craftsman. And it was particularly used for traditional carpenters. It is a well known fact that in traditional Japanese architecture, no nails or other metal materials were used, with the entire structure consisting of wooden framework. And there are any number of structures built in this style that have survived for several centuries. The Horyu Temple is one famous example. It is in such buildings that we find the art of traditional Japanese carpenters still living with vivid life today. It was practical application of this "art" that produced the "mechanical devices" mentioned above.
It was a sort of respect for this type of "art" among the people of Japan that gave birth to their thorough-going curiosity and that made them the greatest "machine loving" nation of the world. Today we are living within an extension of this same tradition. To the people of Japan, machines are priceless friends. In the West, the introduction of machines often results in a loss of work for laborers, giving rise to movements for destroying machines. But the Japanese have always welcomed machines unconditionally. When the railway was opened, the laborers who had born palanquins showed no objection, nor did those artists involved in painting portraits feel that their profession had been brought into question with the appearance of the camera. When the Morse code was introduced, the couriers were quite surprised, but they felt more joy at its appearance as another manifestation of "civilization and enlightenment." In other words, to the Japanese, "civilization" meant things from the West, and more specifically machines. People were deeply impressed by the "things" that machines made and the way in which those "things" served to make daily life more convenient.
It was such feelings of interest and surprise that served as the main support for the industrialization of Japan. There is no doubt that if there had been any sort of scepticism toward the machine, the speed of industrialization in Japan would have been greatly impeded. The Japanese welcomed the machine in everything from the steel industry to the textile industry. Both the leaders and the people were unanimous in their belief that the introduction of machines was absolutely necessary in order to place Japan among the civilized nations of the world. Thus, quite a large part of the budget of this poor nation was allocated to the purchase of machinery.
Concerning the way Japanese people use machines, a most impressive example is the fact that many of the trolley cars that were in use in Kyoto up to the end of the 1960s had been imported from England a full century ago. In proof of this, their dashboards bore the name of Manchester, the place where they had been manufactured. From the time these cars were purchased, Japan concentrated all its energies on learning mechanical technology from the West and in thus catching up with the rest of the world. This was true not only in the manufacturing industry, but in all other fields as well, machines were freely introduced and put into practical use.
Another important point to be noted in this context is that, different from the West, the technicians who invented and made machines did not suffer from any sort of social class prejudice. In Western culture, there was always a group of "scholars" or scientists on the one hand and a special group of craftsmen on the other. Normally there was a great social gap between these two groups. The social status of the former was high while the latter were considered nothing but laborers. As a result, these two groups remained apart from each other with hardly any contact of any sort between them. This was a custom and a system that had been formulated over a long period of history. But in Japan, the situation was very different. Here "science" and "technology" have always been considered parts of the same body of knowledge. In the universities of Japan, separate departments of sciences and engineering were set up, but there was very little differentiation between the two and no sense of a difference in quality or status. The mission of the science department was to pursue theory and that of the engineering department to put theory into practice. They always maintained a relationship of mutual cooperation.
Also, the Japanese government worked to foster the nurturing of learning in both science and technology in its organization of the system of higher education. The government was always fully aware of the great importance of application in the natural sciences. As a result, at the end of the 19th century, Japan produced the greatest number of persons educated in the field of science and technology, most particularly in the field of engineering, in the entire world. One of the people who was the first to take particular notice of this fact was W.E.Ayerton. He was a British scientist who discovered that Japan had exerted great efforts toward the opening of an institute of technology and that it had developed into the largest school of its kind in the entire world by the middle of the 19th century. And based upon what he found here in Japan, he wrote in Nature Magazine, "While it may seem strange under the circumstance, though Japan is constantly first class in engineering production activities, it is still lagging far behind in systematic education of its engineers." This governmental policy in education was directly reflected in Japanese industry. A huge number of factories were built one after another, and a vast volume of industrial products were produced. And before long, Japanese consumers found their daily lives surrounded with domestically produced industrial products. Of course, the points most strongly stressed in the governmental policies toward science and technology were first to nurture production of military products, and second to promote production of products that could be exported. Thus in the very earliest stages of industrialization, "machines" did not become a part of the daily lives of the Japanese people. At the same time, during the 1920s, such products as automobiles, clocks, and phonographs gradually began to permeate the lives of the people. And the people of Japan came to experience "progress" through their machines. To the Japanese, machines were unconditionally convenient and enjoyable. In this context, one fact that must not be ignored is that during the 1930s the most popular hobby among the children of Japan was the building of radios. As a result, during this period, all sorts of scientific and technological inventions were produced in Japan. For example, the first high level application experiment for television in the world was carried out by Kenjiro Takayagi in 1927. And in the field of the munitions industry the famed Zero Fighter Plane was designed.
In 1945, Japan was defeated in the war. And Japan thought carefully about the reasons for its defeat. The first reason was the overwhelming mass production establishment of the allied force. The allied forces, particularly America, were supported by vast mass production, and it was with such mass produced products as airplanes and ships that Japan was overwhelmed. The second reason was the high level of technology in the West. Particularly in the field of radar, Japan's technology was no match for that of America. America's radar was able to detect all movements of the Japanese military forces without fail, and fighters that were effective in defeating the Zero fighters were quickly developed by America and England in the early stages of the war. And the most decisive product of all was the atomic bomb. Research was being carried out on the atomic bomb in Japan as well. Thus, the instant the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the scientists of Japan knew exactly what it was. The newspapers described it as merely a "new type of bomb," but the scientist and the military were immediately aware of the fact that Japan was lagging far behind in the military utilization of atomic power.
A consciousness of these reasons for defeat made post-war Japan decide to exert its greatest efforts toward development of science and technology. Since the Japanese people had been so extremely fascinated with machine technology since the middle of the 19th century, they had no hesitation in completely accepting this government policy. Also, on top of this, a new constitution was adopted by Japan in 1945 in which it was announced to the world that Japan would never again maintain armed forces. Thus, Japanese technology was completely concentrated on the peace industry. All sorts of machines were developed and put on the market to satisfy the demands of the people. One example is the semiconductor. And it goes without saying that it was Japanese technicians who first hit upon the idea of using transistors in radios. Other countries were busy putting this tiny semiconductor to use for military purposes, but Japan applied it to the making of radios and tape recorders. In this way, civilian goods that utilized transistors were invented in Japan and dominated the world market. It is a well-known fact that the prime minister of a certain country spoke of the prime minister of Japan as a "transistor merchant." And it is true that Japan went from the transistor to the integrated circuit, and finally developed the semiconductor and became the world's top producer. On top of this, since, as mentioned earlier, the Japanese constitution does not recognize the munitions industry, the semiconductors that have been developed one after another have been put to use in not only communications equipment but in all sorts of other fields as well. For example, all Japanese cameras are packed full of semiconductors that operate their various sensors. Also, in the case of automobiles, engines are full of computer circuits that ensure top operating conditions at all times.
Electronics is being utilized in an amazingly broad range of fields. Let us take, for example, the field of pachinko that is Japan's most popular form of entertainment. Historically speaking, pachinko was invented based upon a hint from America's pin ball machine, but recently, a single pachinko machine contains as many as fifty semiconductors, making it a precision electronics instrument. This game is played by simply inserting a one-centimeter in diameter steel ball into a hole on the front of the machine, and then it moves through the holes inside in accordance with a process very much like that of a slot machine. As the result of combinations of all sorts of figures and signals, the players are able to obtain prizes. In order to make those combinations absolutely random, the makers of these game machines have begun to commission electronics experts to design them. Thus the present day pachinko machine is no longer a simple affair. It has changed into a highly complex computer.
The daily life of the average citizen has undergone an amazing electronic transformation. Taking household electronic appliances as examples, even the electric rice cookers is controlled by computer today, and the electric vacuum cleaner that is capable of automatically detecting the difference in flooring materials by means of fuzzy logic has become the mainstream. A huge number of automatic vending machines fill the streets of the cities. They are designed in such a way that they can detect the type of coin that has been inserted and give the correct change, and there are some of them that even go so far as to give vocal instructions to the customer by means of sound tapes and thank them after the transaction has been completed. Ticket machines and even wickets at railway stations have also become mechanized today.
When a customer makes a mistake, the machine provides him with appropriate instructions. In other words, in many ways, the daily life of the Japanese people is controlled by computers today. And the Japanese people themselves feel no sense of strangeness or repulsion to this phenomenon. In fact, most of them are quite overjoyed at the convenience and pleasantness thus provided for their lives.
And this phenomenon is in evidence in areas other than daily life as well. In the field of production, conversion to machines and automation has progressed greatly. One of the best examples is the industrial robot. A full 70% of the industrial robots in use in the world today are in Japan. Interest has risen in these robots in other countries as well, but in most cases, the labor unions strongly oppose their introduction. The main reason given is that if robots take the place of conventional human labor, there is no way the mass unemployment can be avoided. But in direct contrast, the laborers of Japan have welcomed robots with open arms. Their reasons are that simple repetitive work can be left up to robots, because more than anything else, robots are able to produce absolutely uniform work devoid of errors. For example, in the tightening of a single bolt, there is an inevitable difference in tightness when it is done by human beings. But since machines are, after all, nothing more than machines, they never make mistakes. And, after all, human labor should be applied to jobs that machines are incapable of doing. Thus in the factories of Japan, robots have taken the place of human beings. And on top of this, robots have become new "co-workers" for the laborers in Japanese factories. The workers have given pet names to each of their robots, and they give them words of encouragement every day just like they do to their fellow human workers, treating them very much like human beings. Herein is seen a sense of trust and "friendship" toward machines among the Japanese. It is hard to tell just what significance this trend will have for Japan in the future. But it does appear that the Japanese people will continue to develop new machines and to co-exist joyfully with them.
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