Страна Япония: быть японцем

M. : Лингвистика, 2020.

Meshcheryakov A.

This book is in two parts. The first contains a study of the dramatic period of Japanese history in the first half of the twentieth century, when the country was rapidly sliding into the abyss of totalitarianism. The wars waged by Japan at that time brought innumerable calamities to the Japanese themselves and to the inhabitants of other countries. For the first time, the author reveals the managerial and especially the cultural mechanisms that made it possible to mobilize the masses with unprecedented success. He tries to understand what it meant to be Japanese at that time and what was the attraction for them of the country's chosen path. The focus is on such interesting problems as the attitude of the Japanese towards their body and spirit, towards old age and youth, life and death, towards themselves and others. The second part contains the treatises by Kaibara Ekiken (1630-1714) and Nishikawa Jyoken (1648-1724) - famous Japanese Confucian thinkers. In the treatises "Preaching in Joy" and "The Bag of Wisdom" they talk about what worried every Japanese: about the joy of life and the beauty of nature, about duty and justice, about religion and faith, about wisdom and stupidity, about how Japan differs from other countries.

Keywords: Япония, тоталитаризм, Japan, Kaibara Ekiken, Кайбара Экикэн, totalitarism, Nishikawa Joken, Нисикава Дзёкэн