Duty, Honor, Country... Was it All a Waste?

Japan has been at war for over 10 years before the US got involved in the Pacific. The once poor and weak nation of Japan was to soon forge a destiny never imagines before. The world progresses without them and yet, Germany, Russia, France and the British have mustered their own power and serve as some of the most powerful nations on the face of the earth. Yet, " Japan stand like a giant amidst cripples and dwarfs. And yet we allow our people to grow more and more desperate, our little children to die of malnutrition", as Matsuda points out to Ono (173). Ono is presented with a dilemma that not only changed his perspective on the world he lived in, but that it was time to move on and change his way of painting. Mori-sans "floating world" may be that of pleasure and show the beauty that is contained with women and drinks, but to show the reality of things is a major step that Ono soon took after drawing a picture. This picture didn't only show the reality behind all the fake "floating world" ideology that everything is nice and perfect. Instead, "Eyes of the Horizon", depicts the difference in society by showing a gap between the wealthy and poor. Children represent the poor as they have barely enough to survive or even live anywhere in such harsh conditions, while politicians and business men drink and have all the time in the world to do what they want. What causes controversy and Ono's dismissal from Mori-sans villa is showing that the three children turn into Imperial soldiers who serve the Emperor, while the wealthy men retreat from the picture as if to hide from something. This was due to Matsuda's insistence that Japan must progress. He says, " It's time for us to forge an empire as powerful and wealthy as those of the British and the French. We must use our strength to expand abroad. The time is now well due for Japan to take her rightful place amongst the world powers. Believe me, Ono, we have the means to do so, but have yet to discover the will. And we must rid ourselves of these businessmen and politicians" (174). Japan was behind and many knew nothing of the outside world, the real world. Japan was itself its own 'floating world", where everything was perfect and beautiful, but they wouldn't progress much since they still dealt with problems about how society is. Here is where everything is based on. Ono's decisions to create something people didn't have, didn't believe in was soon to spark a change in mind, hearts, and souls of every Japanese person who thought it was imperative to make Japan better and bigger. This was the beginning of a new era for Japan. a simple painting or photograph can have much effect on people. For example the photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima was memorable because every person back in the State were influenced by it. It provided hope and helped raise money for the war, since production of weapons and everything needed to win against Japan was declining at a heavy rate. Ono's painting is similar. It provided hope, even though at first it was disloyal to his teacher, but it was a step that soon gave young men the incentive to serve their Emperor, to serve their country, to believe that their country was expanding and becoming better. Of course this wasn't the case in the end, but Ono has no reason to believe that he did wrong is making patriotic paintings. At the time it was honorable to fight and die for Emperor and family, but as we see Japanese culture changes. It was risky and yet blameworthy to what Ono did to help the war effort. But as Ono point out, " We have the satisfaction of knowing that whatever we did, we did at the time in the best of faith. Of course we took some bold steps and often did things with much single-mindedness; but this is surely preferable to never putting one's convictions to the test, for lack of will or courage" (202). I do believe that Ono was right and is proud that he did what he did. The war benefited them in a way, but showed that in reality, Japan wasn't ready for the world. It accomplished only the fact that such ideology was to be forever cast away.

Ishiguro, Kazuo. An Artist of the Floating World. New York. Vintage Books. 1989.