by Vilmos Agoston (Hungarian writer and journalist, member of the Writers'(
Association of
Hungary, COE [Center of Excellence] Foreign Visiting Fellow, SRC,
1997-98)
From now on, my everyday conversation
will
be enriched with a new expression. I will always remember this period
when talking to friends, writing lectures or articles with the words
"while staying in Japan."
I would not have been able to say it of course, if I had not been
invited by Professor Norihito Tambo, D.E., the President of Hokkaido
University, at
the suggestion of Professor Tadayuki Hayashi, the Director of the
Slavic Research
Center to whom I owe a debt of gratitude.
As a matter of fact I become embarrassed when thinking over who else I
should thank very much. During my stay at the Center, I have found that
there is real team-work among the staff - a unique Japanese work
atmosphere
-, the decision making process is based on consensus. So I owe my
gratitude
to all the members of the Center, from those helping me in the library
to
the accounts department as well. They have tried to do their best
helping
me overcome my failure to master the Japanese language.
In fact, I have spent most of my time by sitting in front of the
computer, reading the books from the "ambitious" library of the Center
and the University, posing questions to myself and trying to find
answers to them in the two thousand
year cultural heritage of Japan.
Coming from a very different world, different historical background,
customs and cultural heritage, I posed too many questions and was very
eager to get prompt answers about anything that did not conform to my
previously held notions. Perhaps, it will take me a long time to fully
understand even a little part
of the Japanese "secret": linking its vast cultural heritage with its
quick
modernization process.
However it was not long ago - in the Meiji period - when Japanese
scholars went to Western countries to study their way of life, yet now
the Westerners are coming to Japan to analyze the unique Japanese way
of thinking.
I am very happy that the bilateral connections between Japan and
Hungary have deepened, by facilitating the visa-free travel in both
countries for tourists from June 1996. This is a very important step in
the process of mutual understanding and appreciation. I also had the
opportunity to visit Tokai UniversityÕs School of Letters,
Course of East European Civilization and the Osaka University of
Foreign Studies - these meetings were organized by Professor Osamu Ieda
from the Slavic Research Center - where I was greatly surprised to meet
so many students and scholars demonstrating a deep knowledge in
Eastern-Central European cultural and political issues and learning the
Hungarian language as well.
As I pointed out at the SRC's Summer Symposium on Coexistence, not only
Western, but also Japanese companies have contributed to the
globalizing process
of Central Europe. For maintaining stability in the region, for
enlarging
its presence in the markets of Eastern and Central Europe it would be
advisable
to establish newspapers, mass media, etc. to promote the ideas of
multiculturalism
and an open society, instead of letting the region be dominated by
intolerance,
xenophobia or hatred towards minorities and foreigners. In this matter,
people from Eastern and Central Europe are looking for help from Japan.
I came here in late May and I leave in early October, so I had a "Long
Hot Summer" in Japan, on its most beautiful island, Hokkaido, which
resembles my homeland of Transylvania. Sometimes walking like a
mountain monk in lonely places I was very surprised by the sense of
security I felt in Japan. The only threat I ever felt was from the
speedy bicyclists, the outlaws of the pavement. I presumed, that they
preferred the Zen-Buddhist experience of plunging rather than walking
and meditating on the meaning of the "sound of
one hand clapping." I can tell you, I preferred the latter.
Being autumn, and saying "Sayonara" it touches me with deep sorrow,
leaving so many new friends behind - not only among the members of the
Center, but also the visiting Fellows and their kind and charming
wives, coming from Russia,
Ukraine, Israel, and Poland. They helped me pass my leisure time by
sharing
a common experience of everyday Japanese life and culture. So many nice
people (elegant women, happy children, well-educated men), interesting
places,
temples, shrines and "pachinkos" will stay in my memory. "Once upon a
time,
while staying in Japan" - my own fairy tale has begun.
SRC Home
by Vilmos Agoston