In war, everyone loses!

Ugetsu Monogatari (Japanese, 雨月物語, Rain-Moon Tales; 1953)
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi

Geopolitical strategists will want us to believe that war is a necessary evil the human race must endure to advance. For a nation, a race or whatever name we give to a group of people with the same thinking to survive, they must engage in combat to stay relevant. Failing which, their ideology will have to change to suit the aspirations of the victors.

Again and again, we see wars are started by great powers to create business. The whole military-industrial complex thrives on it. Citizens sleep well, knowing their neighbours will not overpower them anytime soon. Leaders think they are serving the nation excellently by marching into wars. They purposely overlook the pain, destruction, sorrow and inner demons that it brings out to devastate humanity. Families are torn apart. Food production is disrupted. Peace of mind is broken into pieces. Social mores are shredded. Human values take a backseat.

This is one of the movies that put Japanese cinema on the world map. And it is also one of Martin Scorsese's favourite films. Kenji Mizoguchi holds a special place in Japan, comparable to legendary moviemaker Akira Kurosawa.

This film is set in the Samurai era (1568-1600) when civil war was spreading all over. Genjūrō, a potter, and his brother-in-law, Tōbei, lead a simple life. Genjūrō is all out to make profits with his blossoming business. Tōbei dreams of being a samurai. As hostility is imminent, Genjūrō's wife posters him to leave the village, but Genjūrō goes off anyway to make one last sale before leaving. He goes off with his Tōbei to town. It proved to be a big mistake.

Genjūrō's wife is stabbed by soldiers. Genjūrō is charmed by a ghost and almost marries her. In the confusion of the civil war, Tōbei became a samurai by presenting a severed head of a general as his killing when he merely stole it from a warrior. Tōbei is feted as a samurai and goes places only to find his wife working in a brothel. They return home to lead their old life. Genjūrō returns home to find his wife and son. The following day he realises it was just his wife's apparition.

In the wise words of Lao Tze, everybody loses in a war, especially the common man. The tranquillity and growth achieved all the peaceful years go down the drain, and a reset button is started, littered with tragedy, death, destruction and disappointments.

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Without mercy, man is like a beast

Sansho the Bailiff (山椒大夫, Japanese; 1954)
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi

At the outset, we are told the story occurred in "an era when mankind had not yet awakened as human beings." I pictured that time can any time in Man's history. We just have yet to awaken. We can scream all we want that all Men are created equal in the image of God and whatnot, but the fact is that people always try to dominate each other. Humans always try to be one up against their neighbour and, if possible, push him down an imaginary hierarchy.

Even before the mass transatlantic migration of slaves from Africa to the New World, slavery was already very much alive in every civilisation. There was a penchant for white slaves as brown people (read Arabic) prospered. The Vikings and Barbers were famous for the trade of white slaves. Some were captured crew members of small ship-jacked vessels. Others were bundled up when pirates landed on shores to snap up unassuming bystanders. There are stories of pirates picking men off English coasts at late as the 16th century.

Malik Ambar

Even within communities, having slaves became a norm as society started having more disposable income. The darker-skinned or the economically disadvanced always get trapped in slavery. As spoils of war, the conquered are enslaved. One can safely say all civilisations had some kind of slave community. The Greeks, the Egyptians, the Muslim Empire, the Indians and the European colonial masters all had them. Perhaps, only the Harrapan society escape such stereotyping. Excavation of Harrapan remains revealed no structures denying hierarchical arrangements in their architecture. Cyrus the Great is said to be the first leader to have given his slaves and workers wages.

History tells of an Ethiopian slave, Malik Ambar, who was sold off as a slave after his territory was conquered by enemy factions and landed in Jeddah. He converted to Islam and reached the Deccan plains as a slave soldier/mercenary. He got embroiled in local politics,  was a threat to the Mughal Empire and eventually became the Ahmadnagar Sultanate's ruler. His descendants integrated into the complex Indian diaspora. 

Domestic helper abuse in Malaysia.

As the world progressed, people looked at slavery as barbaric and felt they needed change. Change they made, only in cosmesis. Slavery took different names; bonded labour, indentured servants, foreign maids, unskilled workers, etcetera.

In modern times, most religions agree that enslaving someone is not permitted. Perhaps, only the leaders of the Religion of Peace have not unequivocally condemned slavery. In their faith, the non-believers are of the same standing as the slaves. They are serfs meant to serve the believers. Through conversion, they attain equal status with the rest.

The Climatic 'Si Tanggang' scene!

Even in this age and time, we read reports of employers keeping their domestic helpers under the chain and lock for various offences, no different from the transatlantic slave trade and or slave markets in the Ottoman Empire. That begs the question of whether we are or will we ever be 'awakened'?

This is another classic from Japanese cinema. Set in 11th-century medieval Japan, an aristocrat is disposed of by pirates. His wife and children scurry to safety after the aristocrat is exiled. The wife is separated from her two kids. The wife is sold off into prostitution, and the children are enslaved. The melancholic film tells how the son eventually meets his mother.

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A re-look at history?

Asia Reborn

(A Continent Rises from the Ravages of Colonialism and War to a New Dynamism)

Author: Prasenjit K Basu

The 21st century, especially the second half, is considered an Asian century. Still, no single nation is said to have successfully challenged the Pax Americana of the late 20th and early 21st century. A continent ravaged by events from the 18th through the 20th century, Asia is making a comeback.

As they say, time is cyclical. From the Common Era (C.E.) to the 1600s, when Europe and the Middle East were pretty much in the dark ages, more than half of the world's GDP came from India and China. Both these countries were the world's superpowers and ruled the greatest oceans. Suddenly, there were either domesticated or decided to close their doors. The European and Arabic powers, who all these while were running around like headless chickens, morphed into a force to be reckoned with. They ushered in mercantilism, slavery and colonialism. They embraced Industrial Revolution while the rest of the world was napping.

In the prophetic words of Ibn Khaldun, history is a cyclical process in which sovereign powers come into existence, get stronger, lose their strengths and are conquered by other sovereign powers over time. More precisely, every community is uncivilised initially and tries to acquire power through its inborn fighting and kinsmanship. The generation after that, after living in the cushy life of their conquest, slowly loses their killer instinct and becomes 'civilised'. The subsequent generations will be like the occupants their ancestors had conquered, cultured but weak and without prowess. Barring exceptions, he estimated that a dynasty would last about 120 years. The Ottoman Empire is said to be an exception. It lasted 624 years. The reason for its longevity is the realisation of this edict, the necessary motivation infused by extraordinary leaders, solid traditions and morals, and wise decisions. Even then, the mighty Caliph soon became the sick man of Europe and crumpled on its weight.

As the Europeans ventured out on their voyages to the East, they quickly usurped all the wealth available along the way they went. Kingdoms after kingdom tumbled with their shenanigans and their meddling in local politics. Close to 200 years, it was the rule of the European race over the colonised Asiatic lands.

The turning point came around with Commodore Matthew Perry's legendary stop of his battalion at Kyodo port in 1868. The Japanese woke up to the fact that the world had wised up while they practised a closed-door policy. The Meiji Restoration was an effort to sponge all knowledge from the maestros and improve their own capability. Their efforts proved fruitful when the Japanese defeated their arch-enemy in the north, the Russians, in 1905.

Industrialisation required raw materials, coal, steel and petroleum. Their neighbouring lands, like Manchuria, Sakhalin Islands, and other parts, were run over for this purpose. When the Western powers decided to place a trade embargo on Japan, they had to source their raw material beyond their comfort zone. The Japanese monarch, conforming to the increasing nationalistic wave, decided to follow in the footsteps of the Western imperialist power. That was the Eastern Front of World War 2.

WW2 was an eye-opener to the sleeping giants of Asia. Each was embroiled in its own struggle with the Western colonial yoke. India was caught deep in self-rule efforts. China was trapped in failed dynastic rule and internal squabbles. Smaller nations were manipulated to serve their seemingly caring masters.

Asians, for the first time, saw an Eastern power stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Western and oust them. The manner in which the Brit scooted off at the news of the Japanese invasion left a bad aftertaste amongst their subjects in Malaya. Their new masters, they realised, were worse off than their predecessors, igniting the question of self-rule in the hearts of many South East Asian nations.

The Japanese did one right thing, though. They left a nidus on all the lands upon which the newly independent countries prospered later. The Japanese set up many industries to keep up with the needs of the Japanese Military Industrial Complex and the pressures of WW2. The Japanese model of financing and running industries were emulated in Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria. In fact, after the war, Koreans working in Manchuria returned home to develop their own homegrown businesses.

History suggests that all the colonial masters left their colonies bare. Amongst the various colonial masters, the British are said to be the gentlest of the lot. The Belgians, Spanish, Portuguese, Germans and French were notorious for inflicting brutal scars upon their subjects. Even though the British are known to have left their conquests with functioning governmental machinery, infrastructure and contended society, of late, they are mostly praised for their diplomatic behaviour and geopolitical manipulations. A sample of their calculated meddling was in China. In the name of wanting with the reluctant Chinese, and ended up turning the whole nation into opium addicts. For their effort, the British were gifted with a lease on Hong Kong and areas around it for 100 years. 

This voluminous book is an excellent go-to book to help join the dots to all the history topics we learned during our school days. History was taught to us as if events on the world stage happened in isolation. With age, we realise that every event is linked to each other. The underlying basic themes are geopolitical control, economic dominance and painting a positive narrative of the oppressors. Living true to the age-old adage, money does make the world go round.

The author, P Basu, is an economist by day and a history buff by night. His two decades of nerdy research into the history of Asia helped connect the dots between each and every colonial power's move from unproductive to the rice shores of natives who ushered them in with reverence. In return, the colonialists usurped their happiness, overstayed their welcome and made a slave out of their hosts. They destroyed the natives' civilisation and philosophical wisdom to propagate foreign materialistic self-centred ideology. A new world economic module that emphasised capitalistic mercantilism over humanism prevailed worldwide.

In the epilogue of the book, Basu explains how the Japanese invasion of Asia helped Asians to re-discover themselves to emerge as a force to be reckoned with. The Japanese business module of financing, learning from the Masters and encouraging tertiary education amongst its citizens has shown positive results in Korea and Taiwan. Even though Malaysians, under the premiership of Dr Mahathir Mohammad, were 'Looking East' towards the Japanese, they failed miserably. Starting on a better footing than South Koreans, they fared poorly. They emphasised racist policies and never shed their rent-seeking attitudes. The strive to excel through sheer hard work was never on their plates.

(P.S. The book is strife with many trivia that would excite many a nerd. With the weakening of the Qing dynasty, the wreckage of the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion, China was carved up by many European powers. They controlled many geo-strategic areas and ports. The Germans acquired a German base port in Shandong District. German settlers started a brewery in the Tsingtao area to quench the thirst of many weary Europeans in China. This, of course, is now the famous Tsingtao Beer from China.)

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Write t

Only in Japan?

Old enough! (Japanese, since 1991)
Reality Show

For a long time, people in Japan have been in stitches periodically, seeing toddlers who are barely able to walk going off on a journey to perform their first chore. Children between two (yes, as early as two) to five are assigned by their parents, as planned by the documentary makers, to go out of their houses, out in the street to run a list of errands. 

It is thunderous to see these easily distractable cuties wobbling around with bags strapped over their shoulders, out in the streets, looking at buildings around them, reminding themselves how to get to their destinations. The camera crew who accompany them are not allowed to help them out. They act out as mere passers-by. Invariably, the children will end up completing their tasks. Besides seeing the kid's antics, viewers will also have a picturesque panoramic view of the landscape of different small towns in Japan.

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,

Home again, Home again, jiggety-jig.

The first thing that crosses a non-Japanese watching this show is that these things can only happen in Japan. Allowing a young child out in the street all alone to do stuff in the name of making them independent will only be done by the Japanese. Firstly, as I know, young kids do not learn academic things in the first years of their early education. Instead, they are taught skills. They learn about body hygiene, cleanliness, performing house chores, cleaning toilets, cutting vegetable etcetera.

Japan is a safe country. Children do not get kidnapped or harvested for body parts. The Japanese are world famous for their social courtesy, and their road manners are world envy. Their streets are well maintained, devoid of open manholes or potholes. There is ample space and clear demarcation for pedestrians to walk safely. Furthermore, their culture encourages independence. Elsewhere in the world, the police will zoom in, or their parents will be charged with child abandonment. 

(P.S. I had to go out to do shopping at the wet market when I was nine. I learnt the hard way, after an avalanche of earfuls, how to pick fresh fish at a bargain. I, however, never perfected the skill of getting a bargain. I found it too combative and was self-conscious to be mocked at my 'ridiculous' offers.)

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The secret of happy living?

Ikigai, Discover your Reason for Being

Justin Barnes (2019)

Modern living has become complicated. From a community which used to live simply using age-tested traditions, we had evolved to one that simply lived for the moment, fulfilling the hedonistic desires of senses of the individual self. They thought they could live long lives enjoying the gift of life indefinitely unlike their forefathers because they knew the sciences and they had the armamentarium of modern medicine as a shield.

Unfortunately, life proved to be empty despite the vast knowledge and precise know-how that they had discovered over the leaps and bounds of various industrial and scientific revolutions. They started looking for answers to fill this void. They wanted long modern lives but not aches, encumbrances and the emptiness associated with it.

They look around, and they saw the Okinawans who were happy and led extremely long lives. They postulated that probably it is their moai - the safety net of lifelong friends and support groups at various levels to aid in their social, financial, health and spiritual needs. 

Beyond all these, the researches posit that the individual mindset is of paramount importance. One should find contentment in whatever situation he is embroiled. Like Sisyphus, they should find happiness in whatever mundane position they are stuck in. After a certain level of attainment in life, one should do things for the joy of doing it. It should not be a chore. Only then, the drive would be there to delve into the nitty-gritty, fine-tuning and turning it into an art form. A simple example of this would be the case of a ramen maker. He would spend years and years learning and perfecting the craft of making the dish from scratch and ensuring that it is flawless in every aspect.

One strategy is to aim for small joys; not grand targets. The importance of early to rise and shine cannot be overstated. Physical activities mobilise and energise the day ahead. Prudent plant-based food consumption and stopping eating when one is 80% full cannot be overstated. 

One cannot be fixated with beauty. He must learn to appreciate blemishes and find beauty in the perfectly imperfect. Every imperfection has a tale to tell. Learn to relish the simple pleasures in life. 

The mystery of human existence lies not just about staying alive but also in finding something to live for. We just tune in and tune out. 

Talking about leading purposeful, happy lives, I am reminded of what my Tamil Language teacher taught us way back during POL classes. I have to admit that I only remember two verses of the 109 of the Avvaiyyar's Aathichoodi. In Tamil schools, these verses from the foundation of inculcating good values, discipline and doing good deeds. Students are expected to memorise these verses. Like writing lines, they were used as punishment. On the other hand, competitions are held to pick out students with flawless pronunciation. 

Like that it goes on with almost every alphabet of the Tamil language.

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Between keeping the cake and eating it.

Wild Geese (Gan, The Mistress, Japanese; 1953)

They are at a crossroad; between fulfilling their traditional roles playing the second level as the Rock of Gibraltar at the home level versus their empowerment to stand unaided against the elements of Nature. On one end, they have a biological duty to perform to justify their existence. On the other side, there is an element of not wanting to be typecast. What started as complementing one another has turned out as an inter-gender competition, a tit-for-tat. The barrage of information and the bombarding of call for reform proves too confusing. The constant fear of taken for a ride is palpable. They want the cake but eat it too, and ending up losing both; enjoy the ecstasy of being put on a pedestal and the joy of accomplishing biological duties. For some time now, probably from the turn into the 20th century, there has been a perpetual struggle between individualism and the need to fall in line with the demands of society.

This conundrum is apparently relevant today as much as it was in the Meiji-era Japan. When Commodore Perry landed in Japan in 1853, the Japanese who till then had strict isolation policies were shocked. They thought evil men had arrived in their mythical dragon. After initial resistance, they relented to allow American to stop, trade, refuel and repair their vessels. Rather than risk being colonised, they thought of mimicking the enemy. Years later, Emperor Meiji started social and economic reforms. Samurais had to shed their swords for pens. People shed their traditional grabs for western clothes. There was a push to learn, excel and push shoulder-to-shoulder to other sex but, at the same time, women had to find their places in society in the midst of this confusion - between a patriarchal system that had laid rules for gender roles, of a system that brings one down versus women empowerment where one demands what is needed.

Against this background, this film is set. Otama is considered a curse for being a discard. The man she married to turned out to have been married before, with kids. She left, leading a life as a burden and a source of misery to her old father. A devious family friend, wanting to write-off her debts with a loan shark, arranges a meeting with a supposed grieving shopkeeper widower in view of re-marriage. In actual fact, the man is her moneylender. He is unhappily married with kids, looking for a mistress.

The shenanigan is soon discovered. Things get complicated when the moneylender becomes possessive of her and Otama falls head over heel in love with a cash-strapped medical student with big ambitions. Is she going to screw up the plans of a capable young man with her selfish desires? Is he going to give up his offer to work in Europe for love? Where does the arrangement with the moneylender go? Is Otama going to continue living with the dubious reputation of being 'the other woman'?

Rather than trying to outdo each other, there is a need to reach common grounds. Both sexes have their biological and functional roles in society. Their functions, over the years, much like anything in else, have been shoved down their throats. Everyone is equipped with different capacities and capabilities. The society will benefit from harnessing the best out of both parties. It is not a race.

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We are bound to repeat the sins of our fathers!

Greatest Events in WW2 (Netflix, 2019)

We all know almost everything about WW2 and how humanity showed its ugly face in annihilating each other. What makes this offering unique is that, beyond the colourisation of old films, it gives a somewhat good account of why both sides acted the way both the feuding parties did what they did. 

It narrates the sequence of events of the Second World War in Europe, on the Western and Eastern Fronts as well as the Pacific Wars. It tries to shed light, or at least give a viewpoint to the many controversies of the day and the many questionable decisions made by the world powers of the day.

In wars, they say, nobody wins. There is no doubt, however, that the act of war promotes technological advances and stimulates the economy while it lasts. The aftermath of war also is an advantage to the victors as they dictate terms of conquest and take the lion's share of re-development of the losers territories.

In essence, WW2 is the continuation of the Great War. German felt that the Versailles Treaty had unfairly blamed it for starting the war. Reparation payments had literally bankrupted the nation. In the midst of all these emerges a leader, elected all through the legitimate ways, a democratically chosen head who proclaimed himself as the Fuhrer. People were happy as the economy was improving, industrialisation was going full steam and Germans were getting employment. 

Hitler managed to build a nationalistic spirit and managed to unite his people under the German flag. On the outside, Hitler seems like a nice chap who has cordial relationships with Russia and the British. But at the local level, he with Goebbels, his Propaganda Minister are hellbent in convincing the Germans that Jews are their enemies. The Jews had a steady hand in the Bolshevik Revolution and the creation of a fascist State. Hitler decries that the West is decadent. 

The World, still reeling from a debilitating World War and the Depression of the late 1920s and early 30s did not think anyone would go into war. British PM Chamberlain had embarrassingly vouched for Germany that it had no expansionary intentions over its neighbours after it had annexed Sudetenland. 

Sure enough, Hitler did not keep to his words. His Pervistin (an amphetamine) spiked Wehrmacht (army), and the spanking new and efficient Luftwaffe (airforce) literally steamrolled (blitzkrieg) through Austria, Czechoslavakia, Poland in the East and France as well as Belgium in the West. The Germans expanded North to conquer Norway and Sweden. In almost two weeks, the more significant part of Europe was under German control. The British were humiliated at Dunkirk when they had to scuttle away with civilian help when they were surrounded by the German Army. The Germans were controlling the whole of the Atlantic coast of Europe.

The first taste of German defeat came about when they sent their Luftwaffe to the thinly guarded Battle of Britain. The RAF managed to ward off the German's night raids in a heroic defence which gained points for Churchill as an excellent wartime Premier. The English were offered the olive branch but was blunted refused by Churchill.

Over at the Pacific end, the Japanese military was being hijacked by the extreme right-wing faction of the society. They had spread a Samurai-like unwavering loyalty to the nation and portrayed a God-like status to the Emperor in the eye of his subjects. 

Industrialisation and the demand for coal and iron got the Japanese rampaging through Manchuria and Nanking. Germany made a pact with Japan and Tojo, an army commander became the PM of Japan. This further fuels its military agenda.

Pearl Harbour marked the entry of America into the war. The USA retaliated by flying deep into Japanese territory. The Battle of Midway showcased drama in real life as the US Army and the Japanese intercepted each others' messages and created elements of surprises to outwit each other. Even though many of the Japanese bombers failed to detonate at the most crucial moment, they were winning the Pacific War. By a twist of fate and element of luck, the US dive bombers caught up with the Japanese fleet and got the upper hand in the War.


In the earlier part of WW2, Russia and Germany had a non-aggression pact with each other and carved off Poland. The Nazis viewed the Slavs as inferior and the Jews as the conspirators of the Communists. Even though the Balkans and Central Asia (including Azerbaijan) were more exceptional spoils with their old-fields, Hitler decided to attack Stalingrad in Operation Barbarossa. History repeats itself. Attacking Russia in the height of winter was a big mistake as the Germans realised just like how Napoleon and his men discovered the hard way when the Russian natives abandoned their towns after torching them. This began the end of German dominance and the most significant turning point in the war. They were surrounded, trapped and starved to death. Like the Russian Matryoshka doll, the onion metaphor, the Russians came back with a vengeance.


Rommel was given the task of guarding the Atlantic Wall. There were four likely sites that the Germans expected to be attacked. Pas-de-Calais was thought to be the locality of landing. Through multiple military deceptions, false misinformation and the use of encryption devices (Enigma being one of them), the Allied Forces managed to plan in the French beach of Normandy. 

The Battle of Bulge or the Ardeness Counteroffensive was the last German offensive campaign on the Western Front. After their disastrous stints in Russia, the Allied Forces ( the British, Americans and the Canadians) must have thought that moving in must have been easy. The Germans counterattacked with much vigour in the lousy weather, rendering the Allied airstrikes impossible to execute.  Just when everything seems gone wrong, the weather cleared, and the Germans were defeated as the Russians advanced on the Eastern Front.

As the heat of the war escalated, it came to light that it was not the Axis Forces the evil ones. The RAF, through the leadership of Arthur 'Bomber' Harris, practised area bombing. His 'Operation Thunderclap' which involved night bombing and utter devastation of the cultural town of Dresden. Dresden was of no military interest. The carpet bombing of this town literally created a firestorm and cooked its citizens. Gobbles strategically leaked out pictures of Dresden carnage to neutral press in Switzerland and Sweden to garner world sympathy as well as to tarnish the squeaky clean image of the Allied Forces. The voice of dissidence grew louder.

It became clear through World War 2 that even civilised people fell into depravity when the situation is ripe. The liberation of inmates of concentration camps in places like Buchenwald showed how Man is coerced so easily into evil. Again and again, history has shown how we fall prey to the sweet talk and rhetorics of the leaders to sanction something, which in retrospect, is so inhumane.

The necessity of the need to drop nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains unanswered. The Japanese forces were already wearing thin. Their resources had already been depleted. The Empire was already a spent force. The Russians, after successfully completing their Eastern European front, were moving in from the North. Perhaps, the need to quash the Communist dominance over this area was urgent. Knowing the mortifying effects of the atomic bombs, the white men still proceeded with the mission. Perhaps the Asians were lesser human. Would they have done the same to their European brothers? 

The lesson learnt at the end of the series is that Man's greatest enemy is Man himself. He is spineless, is easily manipulated and is hellbent on destruction. He will let past history pass him by and is cursed to repeat the sins of his fathers.

"I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

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