Reading Room: The Meiji Restoration and the 'Aftermath' of Japan's Competitive Society

The event on the 10th of this month with Akiyoshi Senzaki was a great success, with over 70 people attending, including those watching online. Even after it ended, there was a long line of people waiting for Senzaki-san to carefully sign books with his brush pen, and it wasn't until an hour later that the gathering finally dispersed.

My only regret is that the discussion on postwar Japan theory became so lively that I missed the chance to talk about the chapter on Soseki, my favorite, in 'Declaration of Return to Criticism'. The work featured is 'The Gate' (serialized in 1910), but I thought I would take the opportunity to read the so-called 'trilogy' in reverse order, and I noticed something, so I'm making a note of it.

'And Then' (serialized in 1909) is generally thought of as a 'love story'. I took the header photo from Hulu, but the 1985 film version also follows that interpretation, and Yusaku Matsuda's performance, where you can't tell if he's being serious or bluffing, perfectly matched the high-class idler of the late Meiji period.

To put it briefly (sorry), if I quote the back cover of the current Shincho Bunko edition—

Natsume Soseki is known for becoming an exclusive writer for the Asahi Shimbun in 1907 and publishing his major novels through serialization in that paper. Therefore, 'And Then' did not have such a summary when it was first published, which is natural (though it seems there were 'preview' articles for the serialization).

In other words, readers read it little by little every day without knowing what kind of novel it would eventually become. Similarly, if you turn the pages without any preconceptions, you notice something.

It is not actually clear whether Daisuke 'once loved' Michiyo.

From the beginning, the protagonist Daisuke is consistently troubled by a mild, 'depressive' physical and mental malaise. While asking himself why he is like this, he begins to think that he has actually always loved Michiyo, who became the wife of his close friend Hiraoka, and that he cannot bear her current unhappiness, only later. In terms of the paperback, the end of the main text is on p. 344, and this is on p. 277.

In 'The Gate' as well, the past of the protagonist couple, who seem to have a secret, is not revealed until much later (though it is written on the back cover of the paperback). However, in the case of 'And Then', the story progresses by tracing Daisuke's subjectivity, so it is unclear whether the 'cause of his depression' (his love for Michiyo) that he discovers here is a fact or merely his own impression.

Then, where does the real cause of his depression lie? In my diagnosis, not Daisuke's, it is that he realized the Meiji gacha problem.

Daisuke is what we would call a NEET from a very wealthy family; his father was likely a senior vassal in the former domain, and now his older brother has taken over the company and is successful in business. Prewar Japan was a super-inequality society, so a NEET of Daisuke's class doesn't just live in a child's room; he lives in a detached house provided by his family, with a live-in elderly maid and even a student assistant. Amazing.

Admittedly, he is an intellectual who graduated from university (likely Tokyo Imperial University) and is smart. He probably put a lot of effort into his studies until then. But as a result of thinking about so many things, he realizes 'something'.

I drew a super-rare winning ticket in the parent gacha, but didn't my old man just win the era gacha? That's the idea. With that state of mind, the couple Hiraoka and Michiyo, who were friends of his when he was a student, show up at Daisuke's door.

These two, especially Michiyo, lost the gacha. Hiraoka, who worked at a bank and was transferred to Kansai, indulged in geisha entertainment as was common at the time, was embezzled by his subordinates, got fired, and returned to Tokyo. After losing her newborn child, Michiyo also ruined her heart due to stress, and the couple's relationship has grown cold.

Against the Meiji Restoration, which was said to be the end of the class system and the arrival of a world of merit-based competition, Daisuke and Soseki are asking: 'And then,' what actually happened? Isn't something wrong?

Yes, you there, you just thought, "That's just your opinion, isn't it?" Well, that'snot quite right (laughs).

Because Hiraoka, having sought support from Daisuke's family to no avail, changes careers to become a newspaper reporter, a profession with low social status at the time. He then says this to Daisuke, who is inwardly leaning toward stealing Michiyo away.

Kotoku was arrested for the High Treason Incident in June 1910, the year after the serialization, and executed in January 1911. However, the ideas of this man, one of the finest prose stylists of the Meiji era, would later exert a hidden influence on the state socialism of the Showa era, which intended to 'correct the gacha'.

Meritocracy is the operating system of modern society, and once installed, it cannot be reverted. In other words, once introduced, it cannot be "denied" (and precisely because it cannot), one must always engage with it while maintaining skepticism and continue to diligently debug it.

I have only updated the terminology to modern standards, but the Japanese people since the Meiji era have called the spirit that permeates "And Then" (Sorekara) "criticism." Therefore, it is something entirely different from the childish idea of deluding oneself into thinking that "the answer has already been found" somewhere in the world to wipe away the contradictions of modernity, and simply shouting "Wooooo!" toward its implementation.

Although I could not quote Soseki himself, I believe it was an event that conveyed that message sufficiently. I would like to express my gratitude once again to Mr. Senzaki, the staff involved, and all the attendees.