I'm Not Alone in This Enormous World.

I'm writing journals on two weblogs; one is written in Japanese, the other is in English (this weblog), every other day.

I've written Japanese journals for fourteen years and English ones for nine months. Recently I'm enjoying writing English ones but getting tired of writing Japanese ones.

Since the disaster of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plants, I've been thinking about the democracy of Japan seriously. It may be an exaggeration, but this disaster was the conclusion of Japanese democratization after the defeat of World War II, as if the defeat of World War II was the conclusion of Japanese modernization after the Meiji Restoration.

I wrote many journals about Japanese politics and governments, and democracy itself on both of Japanese and English weblogs since 3.11.

But I haven't gotten almost any reasonable comment on my Japanese journals about them. They'er are full of superficial blames and anger at TEPCO and the government in Japanese mass media and Internet, but I haven't been able to find any deep consideration about the causes of this disaster or any fundamental proposition about the reform of Japanese governments and democracy.

I've got tired of writing journals about this disaster and Japanese democracy, because I've felt as if I was the only one who thinks about such things.

But I've got many brilliant comments on my English journals about them. I translated Haruki Murakami's speech about the earthquake and the accidents of nuclear power plants ("Haruki Murakami's Speech on Catalonia International Prize "As an Unrealistic Dreamer"") into English. I'm really glad that so many people understood my translation and gave me many excellent comments. I know that there were many people all over the world who cared about this disaster in Japan and shared the same concern with me.

Haruki Murakami himself rarely appears in public places in Japan, but he casually gives lectures and speeches in foreign countries. I can guess the reason why he doesn’t like to appear in Japan.

Tony, a friend of mine on lang-8, who always writes quite intellectual journals and comments, gave me a comment below.

Isn't the same thing happening in Japan at the moment, as a result of the natural disaster and the resulting nuclear accidents? It appears to me that many people who never even thought of questioning the decisions of politicians and corporations before are asking how the decisions were made which contributed to the severity of the nuclear accidents. Would you describe that as questioning the principles on which Japanese democracy is based? Certainly it involves questioning how Japanese democracy actually functions in practice.

This is exactly what I want to say.

And then, 252, another friend on lang-8 from France, gave me a comment.

It is a great pleasure to read that many people over the world also think that our political systems have to change and that it's worth fighting for increased democratization.

When I read them, I think that I'm not alone in this enormous world, even if I'm lonely in Japan. And I smile a little to myself.

Am I being too sentimental?