{"id":2154,"date":"2025-12-09T13:51:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T04:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsletter.nichibun.ac.jp\/?post_type=messages&p=2154"},"modified":"2026-04-15T13:05:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T04:05:32","slug":"our-desired-modernity-is-so-near-and-yet-so-far","status":"publish","type":"messages","link":"https:\/\/newsletter.nichibun.ac.jp\/en\/messages\/2154\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Desired Modernity is so Near and yet so Far"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever since I first came to Japan from Egypt twenty five years ago, I have been drawn to the peculiar charm of Japanese society. However, the success of Japan\u2019s modernity and the co-existence of utility and rationality within it remains a mystery. While researching the rationalism of Fukuzawa Yukichi and others at Osaka University, I came to realize that here lay the heart of the matter.<\/p>\r\n

However, when I headed home to enthusiastically present my findings to Arab colleagues, I experienced the same kind of shock Fukuzawa felt when he discovered that nobody in Yokohama understood him when he spoke Dutch. Arab academics dismissed a decade of research, merely insisting that, \u201cJapan is an Oriental country. Fukuzawa\u2019s Western-obsessed rationalism does not represent Japan\u2019s true essence.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

In 2017, I spent a year in the exceptional environment of Nichibunken, where I deepened my understanding of figures like Minobe Tatsukichi, Inoue Enry\u014d and Shibusawa Eiichi. Upon returning to Egypt, I again presented my results to Arab colleagues. This time, in stark contrast to my previous experience, I received overwhelming praise.<\/p>\r\n

It was like magic. Those academics who had frowned on Fukuzawa\u2019s rationalism were impressed by Minobe Tatsukichi\u2019s emperor-organ theory and applauded Inoue Enry\u014d\u2019s theory of public religion. For those searching for something distinctly \u201coriental,\u201d the traditional tinge to Minobe\u2019s legal order or Enry\u014d\u2019s Buddhist-based modernity was crucial. They also heaped praise on Shibusawa Eiichi\u2019s The Analects and the Abacus<\/em> as, \u201cPrecisely the modernity we aspire to.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The experience taught me that culture is always a mirror, reflecting the image people wish to see. And led me to truly understand the meaning of the phrase \u201cso near and yet so far\u201d for those like me who seek to understand the theory of modernization.<\/p>\r\n

\"\"

Minarets overlooking Modern Japan: Fukuzawa, Shibusawa, Enry\u014d, Minobe.
Top left: Fukuzawa Yukichi; Bottom left: Shibusawa Eiichi; Top right: Inoue Enry\u014d (from National Diet Library. Kindai Nihon no sh\u014dz\u014d (https:\/\/www.ndl.go.jp\/portrait\/<\/a>))
Center: Al-Azhar University mosque (Photo by author)
Bottom right: Minobe Tatsukichi (\u201c1943nen no Minobe Tatsukichi.\u201d Wikimedia Commons\uff08https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Minobe_Tatsukichi_1943.JPG<\/a>\uff09).<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"featured_media":2153,"template":"","message_category":[17],"class_list":["post-2154","messages","type-messages","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","message_category-essays"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsletter.nichibun.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/messages\/2154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsletter.nichibun.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/messages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsletter.nichibun.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/messages"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsletter.nichibun.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsletter.nichibun.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"message_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsletter.nichibun.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message_category?post=2154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}