On the Launch of Nippon.com
In an increasingly integrated world shaped by the forces of globalization, it goes without saying that Japan’s future will be one of close symbiosis with the rest of humanity. At the same time, though, the current state of the international community shows clearly that the deepening of mutual dependencies in the political and economic spheres can lead to surprising levels of instability. The waves of economic globalization that have swept over us since the 1980s have been accompanied by numerous conflicts between states and the rise of economic regionalism all around the world.
Now, in the year 2011, Japan has been confronted by fresh problems. The March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the ensuing disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have combined to present the nation with its greatest challenge since World War II. Their impact will be felt in the way Japan shapes itself and its future from now on.
This is the backdrop for our launch of Nippon.com. In the two decades since its economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, Japan has increasingly turned inward, to the extent that today we even hear concerned comments about the nation’s growing indifference to foreign relations.
But the world remains interested in Japan. The members of the international community continue to look to our nation as a valuable contributor to the formation of common values and the fostering of universally appealing culture.
Our aim is for this website to provide true-to-life views of Japan to viewers all around the world. From our nongovernmental perspective, we hope to share the universal aspects of Japan’s own culture and to make our contribution by increasing global understanding of the country and the Japanese people—in particular, of their diverse characters and views and their indomitable spirit in the face of harsh times.
We intend to produce nearly all the content on this site ourselves; there will be few translations of already published material. One aim of this approach is to free the site from the preconceptions common to established media and present frank, historically aware explorations of the issues of our times. We view it as our mission to cast a fresh eye on today’s Japan, to think flexibly about the questions this investigation provokes, and above all to maintain an independent stance.
We begin this site in five languages: Japanese, English, Chinese (both simplified and traditional characters), French, and Spanish. In the near future, we will be adding Russian and Arabic to this list for a total of seven tongues—all the six official languages of the United Nations plus Japanese. With generous support from the Nippon Foundation, we are working to create an Internet channel that can reach more than 6 billion readers worldwide.
The Japanese have long placed great importance on the concept of en—deep, even karmic, ties between human beings. Today the time has come for the people to consider the vital nature of these ties once more. En stretch out from the Japanese people and crisscross the entire globe, in the end returning back home to their own islands. We are in a mutually connected world where all of us depend on one another. As we produce Nippon.com, we will keep these ties of interdependence—the links between Japan and its partner nations around the world—firmly in mind.
In closing, let me also touch on another old Japanese concept: the practice of uchimizu, the casting of water on the earth before one’s home or shop. This helps to cool the air in the hot summer and to reduce dust year-round, presenting a clean, welcoming atmosphere to visitors. I welcome you all to our new site with this spirit of uchimizu in mind. We want this to be a welcoming site presenting a clean, fresh face to the world.
On behalf of the Nippon Communications Foundation, I thank you for visiting Nippon.com. I hope it will be the first of many visits.
Harano Jōji
Representative Director, Nippon Communications Foundation
October 2011
