The Importance of Context

I know I’ve harped on about this before, but it really is so essential. The prior experiences you bring to any situation inevitably colour your understanding. And as I’ve also said before, that’s good and necessary. That’s sometimes called learning, and it would be nice if more people did it. It would also be nice if more people realized the limitations of their understanding; that their prior experiences aren’t necessarily shared by other people. Take, for example, this oft-quoted trope I regularly hear from otherwise intelligent and thoughtful people –

“Japan is a small country.”

No. No it fucking isn’t.

Lichtenstein, that’s a small country. Tonga, Tuvalu, Trinidad and Tobago. These are all small countries. Japan is pretty sodding unsmall, just about any way you care to slice it:

10^th most populous – The same population as France and the UK combined.

62^nd largest land area – In the top 35%, so larger than most. Larger than every European country except France, Spain and Sweden.

12^th most developed – Comfortably higher than most of Europe, including good old Blighty.

5^th highest military expenditure – Higher than the lefty peaceniks in Pakistan, Egypt and Israel.

3^rd biggest economy – Smaller than only the US, and recently China.

This last one is the key. Not so much for the relative figure, but who it’s relative to. If we ignore the Koreas (and most people do), then Japan’s nearest neighbours are China and Russia, which top two of those categories. And Japan’s most important diplomatic relationship is with the USA, which tops most of the others.

Japan’s most readily available points of international comparison are the biggest, strongest countries around. Frankly any country is going to feel underpowered and insecure when measured against them. So Japan builds itself an identity as the plucky little underdog, the little train that could, constantly punching above its meagre weight when in reality it’s anything but. Whatever the obverse of a big fish in a small pond is, that’s Japan.

Not this. Also pictured: dinner

Every country builds national myths about itself, and without exception these myths contain a significant amount of bullshit. England has these notions of the Stiff Upper Lip and Fair Play, when we owe most of whatever clout we have left on the world stage to a couple of centuries of royally fucking over anywhere inhabited by people with darker skin than us, simply because we could.

And so it is with Japan’s ‘Small Country’ myth. In a way it’s a brilliant piece of expectation management, as any achievement can be touted as a magnificent overcoming of the odds, when frankly it's exactly what any sensible analysis would lead you to expect should happen. If anything, you’d expect better, but so many people have bought into this inferiority myth that there’s little pressure, little incentive for Japan’s leaders to step up their game.

Understanding your limitations is good, it means you can play to your strengths. But imposing unnecessary constraints on yourself definitely isn’t. Learning the wrong things does nobody any good at all.

(Beating off virtually no competition whatsoever, this was my most commented on post of 2011, so got itself entered in the 2011 Special j-festa over at japingu)

Credit where it's due.