Japan is known for its millennia-old culture but also for being subject to natural disasters. From the meeting of these circumstances, concepts of resilience have emerged that influence every aspect of life.
The Japanese word for resilience is danryoku sei, which also means elasticity, flexibility and adaptability. These qualities are invaluable in a country that has experienced dramatic historical events and is particularly prone to natural disasters – it lies on the western edge of the Ring of Fire, an area that accounts for 90 per cent of the world's earthquakes and three quarters of its volcanoes. Despite a past and present marked by calamity, one of the most important social values in Japan is that of harmony. And achieving – and, above all, preserving – balance even in turbulent times requires resilience.
Today this word is often used in relation to climate change to describe how well a community or an entire nation is able to anticipate, prepare for and respond to the effects of global warming. Japan, like all other nations, is vulnerable to climate disruption, but there are aspects of its history and culture that make it well equipped to face them.
We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.Kenji Miyazawa
"Fall seven times, get up eight." So goes a Japanese proverb. No matter how many times we face failure, then, what matters is picking ourselves up and pressing on. "This idea is present in many aspects of Japanese culture, from school to the workplace, from sport to martial arts," explains Garr Reynolds, who teaches people how to apply Zen principles to communication. "The problem is that we often let our mistakes discourage us so much that we can't recover," Reynolds continues, but being resilient means knowing how to learn from difficult situations instead.
The phrase nana korobi ya oki also teaches us that important things require commitment and determination. We can link this concept to that of gambatte, an expression commonly used to mean "do your best" and "don't give up." The emphasis, therefore, is placed not on success but on how we face a given situation. It is a positive, encouraging message that people share in contexts such as sport, work and everyday actions.
Beyond the intelligence quotient, perhaps not everyone knows that there is also an "adversity quotient" for measuring how well equipped people are to face obstacles, developed by Paul Stolz over twenty years ago. A science of resilience, in other words. And according to researcher Barbara Fredrickson, resilience is linked to positive emotions, which are the fuel that keeps the path illuminated even in the darkest moments. When we struggle to find positivity within ourselves, others can sometimes come to our aid, especially in settings characterised by a strong sense of community.
The idea of placing the good of the community before one's own lies at the heart of Confucianism. This, like other concepts developed by Confucius, the Chinese philosopher of the sixth and fifth centuries BC, is also part of Japanese culture, which owes much to the influence of neighbouring China. A recent example of this profound sense of social responsibility is that of the "Fukushima 50", the employees of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant who put their own lives at risk to avert the worst consequences of the damage caused by the tsunami of 11 March 2011.
A spirit of sacrifice and resilience that was also shown by the inhabitants of Tōhoku, the region struck by the earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 20,000 people. Many observers were struck by the calm and orderly behaviour of the disaster's victims and by their solidarity – for instance in sharing relief supplies. Since then, the people of the area have been determined to get back on their feet, despite the trauma and very real difficulties; a recovery that also includes the conversion of Fukushima to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2040.
A common practice in Japanese companies is to transfer staff from department to department so that they become familiar with every part of the business. Even in the workplace, then, knowing how to start over is considered an important asset. The concept of uprooting or demolishing something in order to recreate it is given concrete expression in the tradition of rebuilding, every twenty years for over a thousand years, the naikū and gekū shrines within the Ise complex, one of the most sacred sites in Shintoism. According to this religion, nature renews itself constantly and everything is transitory, and the destruction and reconstruction of these buildings has made it possible to pass millennia-old techniques from generation to generation.
Japan is renowned for its architectural and engineering excellence, some of which has also developed in response to natural disasters. From historic buildings such as the goju no to pagodas built across five storeys as an anti-seismic measure – the oldest example being the Buddhist temple of Hōryū-ji – to the impressive underground flood-control cathedral inaugurated in Tokyo in 2006 after more than a decade of construction work.
The capital, like the rest of the country, is susceptible to the effects of climate change such as rising sea levels and extreme weather events: the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel is a system of tunnels and cisterns that allows water to drain away when the five rivers running through the city overflow. As well as reducing by two thirds the number of homes affected by flooding, it has even become a tourist attraction.
Persevering, always giving one's best, putting others before oneself and being prepared. This is the profile that brings together the Japanese concepts of resilience, one literary embodiment of which was Kenji Miyazawa, a poet and writer from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, originally from Tōhoku.
In the days following the 2011 disaster, one of his poems was broadcast on Japanese radio. Ame ni mo makezu, "not yielding to the rain," celebrates altruism and the happiness achieved by helping others before ourselves. This, for Kenji, is the essence of being human.
Not beaten by the rain
Not beaten by the wind
Not beaten by the snow
or the summer heat
Has a strong body
Has no desires
Never loses his composure
Always smiles a quiet smile
Every day eats four bowls of brown rice
miso and a few vegetables
In all things, sets himself aside
Observes carefully, listens, understands
And does not forget
Lives in a small thatched hut
in the shade of a pine wood in the countryside
If to the east there is a sick child
goes to tend to him
If to the west there is a weary mother
goes to carry her sheaves of rice
If to the south there is someone near death
goes to tell them there is no need to be afraid
If to the north there is a quarrel or a legal dispute
exclaims: stop such foolishness
In times of drought he sheds his tears
If the summer is cold he walks about filled with concern
Everyone calls him a blockhead
No one praises him
And no one worries on his accountThis is the person
I want to becomeAme ni mo makezu by Kenji Miyazawa, translation by Rossella Marangoni