By Ali Syarief
I sometimes ask myself: Why do I feel compelled to correct things whenever I come across a negative or misleading story about Japan?
Perhaps, to some people, the easiest label would be “Japan apologist”—someone who constantly defends Japan or tries to justify everything Japan does.
I don’t really mind the label.
But I would like to make one thing clear:
I do not defend Japan because Japan is always right. I defend what I know to be true about Japan.
There is a significant difference between the two.
I certainly do not claim to understand Japan perfectly. How could I? I am not Suzuki, Tanaka, Yamamoto, or any other Japanese person. I am an Indonesian who has simply had the privilege of spending considerable time in Japan, interacting closely with Japanese people, living there on numerous occasions, and learning from Japanese society firsthand.
I have also been fortunate enough to receive Japanese scholarships twice.
So whenever I read or hear a story about Japan that, based on my own experience, does not quite reflect reality, I often feel the need to say:
“Wait a minute. It is not quite that simple.”
Not because I want to defend Japan.
But because I want to put things into perspective.
The Japan I Know
There is a Japan that can be seen from the outside: a technologically advanced country, Toyota, the Shinkansen, discipline, cleanliness, anime, sushi, and Mount Fuji.
But there is another Japan that can only be understood after spending enough time with Japanese people.
I did not come to know Japan only through books, newspapers, or television. I came to know it through conversations, friendships, host families, journeys, classrooms, seminars, meetings, and ordinary everyday life.
I have visited and stayed in Japan many times. I have built friendships with Japanese people. I have experienced Japanese culture not merely as a tourist, but as someone who has had the opportunity to live within it, even if only for certain periods of my life.
Those experiences are not simply memories of travel.
For me, they have become a kind of knowledge capital—a personal reservoir of experience that allows me to see Japan from a perspective somewhat closer than that of someone who knows the country only through headlines.
Of course, I can still be wrong.
I do not regard my experience as absolute truth.
But firsthand experience provides something that is often missing from news reports:
context.
And context matters enormously when we talk about a nation.
A story can be factually correct and still be misleading if its context is removed.
One incident may happen in Japan, but it does not automatically represent Japanese society as a whole.
One Japanese person may behave badly, but that does not mean all Japanese people behave that way.
And the same principle works in reverse.
That is where I believe I stand.
I Am Not Defending Japan. I Am Defending the Truth.
I do not want to be Japan’s spokesman.
Nor do I believe that I have to defend Japan in every situation.
If Japan is wrong, say so.
If the Japanese government makes a bad policy, criticize it.
If a Japanese company commits wrongdoing, expose it.
If Japanese society has serious social problems, they should not be hidden.
But when something is portrayed in a way that does not correspond to what I know and have experienced, I feel compelled to speak up.
Because I have experienced it.
That may be why I sometimes appear to be a Japan apologist.
I do not defend Japan because I believe Japan is perfect.
In fact, the more I have come to know Japan, the more I realize that Japan has its own weaknesses, contradictions, and problems.
But I also know that Japan is far more complicated than the simplified picture that sometimes appears in the media.
“You Are All Made in Japan”
There is one experience that has stayed with me for many years.
In 2003, I attended an AOTS alumni gathering in Sri Lanka. In his welcoming speech, the President of AOTS spoke about his pride in seeing AOTS alumni become successful and respected people in their respective countries.
Then he said something that I have never forgotten:
“You are all made in Japan.”
It was more than a compliment.
To me, there was a profound philosophy behind those words.
The message was that Japan should not be measured only by the products it manufactures.
Not only cars.
Not only electronics.
Not only machines and technology.
Japan can also create something far more valuable:
people.
People who experience Japan, learn from Japan, build relationships with Japanese people, and then return to their own countries carrying those experiences with them.
The President of AOTS even suggested that, in the future, Japan would not need to make cars.
Japan could simply make people like us.
I have never forgotten that idea.
Because if a Japanese car can travel across the world, a person shaped by Japanese experience can carry something from Japan even farther.
And I consider myself one of those people.
An Asset to Japan That Cannot Be Measured in Products
Perhaps this is why I see my relationship with Japan as more than a personal experience.
I brought something home from Japan.
Not a car.
Not a camera.
Not an electronic device.
But a way of looking at people, a way of appreciating process, a way of building relationships, and a way of understanding cultural differences.
That is why I sometimes feel that my experience with Japan has become a kind of asset for Japan.
Not because I work for the Japanese government.
Not because I am obligated to say that Japan is wonderful.
But because whenever I speak about Japan from a more informed and balanced perspective, I am helping to build a bridge between Indonesia and Japan.
Isn’t that also a form of people-to-people diplomacy?
Diplomacy that is not conducted by diplomats.
Diplomacy conducted by ordinary people through friendship, experience, conversation, trust, and mutual understanding.
So, Let Me Be Called a Japan Apologist
If someone wants to call me a “Japan apologist,” so be it.
I do not take offense.
But I would define the term somewhat differently:
I am not a defender of Japan. I am a defender of the truth about Japan—as far as I know it, understand it, and have experienced it.
I do not know Japan perfectly.
I cannot possibly understand all of its people.
I am not Suzuki, Tanaka, or Yamamoto.
But I have spent enough time walking through Japan, learning there, living there, making friends there, talking with Japanese people, and experiencing their culture to know that Japan is not always the country portrayed from a distance.
Perhaps I have my own bias.
Everyone does.
But I try not to let my affection for Japan override facts and experience.
If my experiences have given me a deeper understanding of Japan, then I want to use that experience not to glorify Japan, but to correct misunderstandings about it.
And perhaps that is the real reason why I sometimes look like a Japan apologist.
I am not trying to defend Japan.
I am simply saying: “I know Japan a little more closely than you might think.”
