Strangers in a strange land – Part 1.

The Japanese in the West.

A few reflections and examples of Japanese people who find a home at the far side of the world.

My starting point – Sensei N.

Previously I have written about a Japanese Wado karate Sensei who I encountered many decades ago; a man who impressed me with his modesty and humility. I called him ‘Sensei N.’

I want to use his example again as a springboard for these scattered thoughts about Japanese people who travel from their home and arrive in a place where the culture and expectations are so very different.

Put into perspective; Sensei N. when I came across him, was in the fresh flush of youth and I know for a fact that once in the UK and outside of the Dojo, he clearly enjoyed indulging in the good-time culture he found in London and other parts of Britain.

As an example; after one training session with him, myself and one of my training buddies encountered him on a station platform, where, quite merry from drink, he cordially invited us to join him at a local hostelry for a few ‘bevvies’ ¹. Unfortunately, pleasant as it would have been, we had to decline as our train was approaching the platform.

For Sensei N. life in this country must have seemed so less constrained than in Japan. Add to that his position of authority, as part of an elite team of instructors, and everything is rosy for a youthful, single Japanese guy.

The nail that must be knocked down.

Looking at the wider Japanese picture.

I remember a radio documentary a few years back, talking about Japanese people who moved to London in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. The theory being put forward was that London (particularly in the ‘swinging 60’s) acted as a magnet to young Japanese who were sick and tired of Japanese social restrictions. Some of these were undoubtedly the misfits, the ‘tall poppies’. It has to be said that exotic and forbidden fruit were the pull.

Obviously, there are so many other reasons that Japanese people came to the UK, like work or personal matters, including establishing a new family in a new land. I understand that.

Other foreign travellers.

With the Japanese, I suppose, for some, it was like what Australians in their 20’s used to do.

They would travel from the far side of the world to sow wild oats and ‘do’ Europe; then somehow get it out of their system and return to Oz. (I worked with a young Australian guy. His social media page was made up of ‘places I felt I needed to visit, to show my family back home that I had got my card stamped’).

Similar to some South Africans, only many of the ones I have spoken to had no desire to go back to S.A.

So, around London’s Earl’s Court you had an Australian enclave, which the locals called ‘Kangaroo Valley’ (for the South Africans, it was around SW London and dubbed ‘Boerwors Corridor’.

The Japanese.

With the Japanese diaspora, the real explosion started with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Somehow, hard-line restrictive official attitudes in the Japanese government softened. Prior to the Olympics, ‘tourism’ did not qualify as a good reason for Japanese to travel abroad; but in 1964 thousands of Japanese passports were issued for that purpose alone.

London in the 1960’s.

The seething metropolis that was London in the 60’s was a hotbed of social freedom. It was a virtual cocktail of wildness fuelled further by what was described at the time as ‘the permissive society’. The place was awash with young people with money in their pockets enjoying the post-war boom. All restraints were off, oral contraceptive (the pill) supposedly liberated young people to just do what they wanted, with little or no consequences. Not to pour cold water on it; allegedly, the actor Michael Caine (in his later years), dismissed the image of the Swinging Sixties in London, saying it was the same dozen people shagging each other down the Kings Road.²

But you can’t ignore; Carnaby Street, Mary Quant and the mini-skirt. In all honesty, if you were from a repressed Japanese background, what’s not to like?

Historically.

There is a history going way back of Japanese people leaving their home to travel to the West to learn about Western attitudes, philosophies and technologies; all with the purpose of enhancing the Japanese modernisation project.

For example; in the late 19^th and early 20^th century, the Japanese secret service (the spy agency) was probably the worst ‘secret’ organisation in the world. The agents made no pretence at subterfuge, they simply told the Westerners, ‘Oh, we are intending to visit your factories and armaments industries and steal your ideas’. The response was, ‘That’s fine by us, you are no threat anyway’. (Not so sure how smart that was).

The London Nipponjinkai – from 1881 onwards.

It’s worth dipping back into the past and looking at the first semi-permanent cultural bridge in the UK capital, because it does supply some perspective on the relationship between the Japanese and the Europeans; in this case, particularly the British.

The first significant Japanese support network in London initially came into existence around gatherings at a particular restaurant in the Strand in the centre of the city. It then gradually grew to establish some kind of ‘club’ for ex-pats, modelled in the classic English gentlemen’s club, with its own premises, complete with reading room, library and restaurant. Yes, this was the first official Japanese restaurant in London, which came into existence around 1904.

The Nipponjinkai (as it was called) grew steadily as the Japanese population expanded, this was for bankers, diplomats, traders and assorted merchants. The premises changed over the years, but the formula remained the same.

In 1919 there were 1500 Japanese people living in London. It was going really well until the years of WW2 when the wartime authorities closed the Cavendish Square club down and put it under control of the Swiss. The Japanese population shrank; they were either pushed out or left.

Around 1955 the situation cooled down and the Japanese started to return (statistics say that there were 401 Japanese citizens living in London). However, many Japanese suffered residual hostility as a result of the war. As an example; in London, many Chinese restaurants refused to serve Japanese customers because of the hangover from Japan’s colonial expansions into Chinese territory.

By 1960 the Japanese Club had its restaurant back and had set up its own welfare system, with Japanese doctors involved; this was because of the differences in treatment expected by the Japanese citizens.

Nipponjinkai Interior, St Albans Street W1. Image credit: Nippon Club article 2014.

In the 1970’s things went a little downhill and the club limped along. The main reasons were that premises were getting too expensive and the restaurant couldn’t survive because of the growth of Japanese restaurants in London. I believe that the Nipponjinkai is still in existence, but it is a shadow of its former self.

Conclusion.

As the UK acted as such a magnet for Japanese martial arts instructors in most of the major arts; judo, aikido and karate, there is no doubt that within a Dojo environment, across the decades, clashes and unfortunate incidents have occurred.

Though, I am not sure that these are entirely cultural clashes.

I go back to my earlier point about Japanese people who bridled against traditional social restraints and desired to be somewhat ‘let off the leash’. I think that some of the Dojo excesses that I have heard about (across the disciplines) are a result of nature rather than nurture.

Talking about this with a younger Japanese guy; his view was that the examples of bad behaviour in UK Dojos by senior Japanese teachers (in judo, aikido and karate) would not be tolerated in Japan, which somewhat proves my point.³

Following up.

In the second part I want to identify one Japanese rule-breaker who came to the West; not a martial artist, but a painter, who really shook things up. Foujita Tsuguharu.

1. ‘Bevvies’ English vernacular slang; shortened version of ‘beverages’., i.e. booze.

2. Do I really have to explain the word ‘shagging’?

3. I am aware that semi-militaristic ‘hazing’ which crosses a line into plain brutality, has occurred in Gendai Budo inside Japan. But I think they are exceptions rather than rules and probably only exist in the past – but I might be wrong. I remain optimistic.