An essay describing an encounter in Hikone that reveals the enduring martial spirit of regional Japan, arguing that true cultural renewal will emerge not from imitation of the West but from Japanese people rediscovering confidence in their own traditions and creative identity.
Originally published on May 11, 2017.

Late at night, while walking through the town of Hikone, I was suddenly surrounded by a group of young high school students.
May 11, 2017.
What follows is a continuation of the previous chapter.
Late at night, while walking through the town of Hikone, I was suddenly surrounded by a group of young high school students.
The female students carried naginata or bows and walked briskly onward.
The male students carried kendo or judo uniforms.
The sight of steam rising from the bodies of these young people as they walked back to the station after club activities was magnificent.
So this, I thought, is another Japan that still exists, and I was deeply moved.
Tracing back the lineage of students in Hikone leads from Hikone Commercial College and Shiga University further back to the domain school of the Ii clan, lords of 180,000 koku.
I was moved by the realization that this martial spirit still remains alive.
Even a Nobel Prize someday… that is not impossible.
Looking at Japan only from Tokyo leads to mistakes.
I felt that from now on, young strength emerging from the regions would represent Japan, though the process toward that future was beyond the imagination of someone old like myself.
Ideas ingrained in Japanese people—surpassing the West, combining Japanese spirit with Western learning, catching up and overtaking—have not yet completely faded, but young people are steadily walking their own paths guided by their inner motivation.
In the worlds of manga, anime, and games, and of course in sports as well, Japanese people now win gold medals as a matter of course.
Thinking about what lies ahead, I can see an era emerging in which new cultures, dignity, grace, and forms of entertainment—natural expressions of Japaneseness in everyday life—will be admired by people around the world.
Looking even further ahead, I envision a time when each Japanese individual possesses their own culture, takes pride in it, and refines their sensibility to further develop and create it.
To give a concrete example, Japan’s culture of inviting guests into one’s home is weak compared to other cultures.
Foreigners sincerely wish to be invited into Japanese homes, but few Japanese respond to that desire.
People offer excuses such as “our homes are too modest,” but in truth it is because Japan’s traditional culture is so magnificent that people feel their own homes are far too inadequate to be shown.
The time has come for Japanese people themselves to become aware of the extraordinary greatness of their own traditional culture.