Japan Echo Web

Nanjing: Not So Anti-Japanese

From China to Russia

As I noted above, what motivated me to try to expand jūdō’s popularity in the world and establish a nonprofit organization for that purpose was a desire to spread the jūdō spirit and an appreciation of the value of harmony—the very things that caused Mao Zedong to be fascinated with Kanō Jigorō. In doing so, my only objective was to encourage people to become more interested in Japan and to understand this country better.

My involvement with China came about through sheer happenstance. The establishment of jūdō halls dedicated to friendship there is attracting unexpected attention and yielding solid results in terms of increased interaction.

Prior to my first visit to Nanjing in 2008, I was interviewed on China’s state-run television network at the Qingdao jūdō hall, one year after it opened. The interviewer was Cui Yongyuan, a popular TV personality in China. For some reason they had deployed no fewer than seven television cameras. We sat facing each other, both wearing jūdōgi, and talked for 45 minutes. I was very impressed at the way Cui Yongyuan, who had no jūdō experience, had prepared for the interview by doing detailed research on Kanō Jigorō and me.

Through our nonprofit organization, jūdō coaches were dispatched, Chinese coaches were trained, and exchanges were arranged between Chinese kids who were just starting out in jūdō and kids in Japan. As a result of many such efforts, all based at the jūdō hall in Qingdao, jūdō spread and even became incorporated into physical education classes at schools. The lessons learned and accumulated in Qingdao can also be applied in Nanjing. Naturally, we are going to work hard to expand our efforts to promote interaction through jūdō beyond China as well.

Lately we are focusing on our neighbor Russia. There we have an unparalleled supporter in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, someone who really understands jūdō. In fact, I went to Russia this past March after visiting Nanjing. My main reason for going was to give a lecture at Saint Petersburg State University, but two days before I left for Russia I was asked if I could arrive there a day ahead of schedule, because the prime minister wanted to see me. This was an invitation from Prime Minister Putin, but it was impossible to comply. I politely declined, but I was asked again, and it was eventually decided that we would meet in Moscow after I presented my lecture.

The appointment was set for nine o’clock in the evening. My lecture had been scheduled to end at five, but I cut it short by thirty minutes. After arriving at the airport in Moscow I got the VIP treatment, traveling in a speeding motorcade led by a police car to the Russian White House (headquarters of the government of the Russian Federation). We arrived there at ten minutes to nine. This time, however, I was the one who was kept waiting, because the prime minister was still working; I did not actually see him until ten to twelve.

We had met before and had both gone to great lengths in order to meet again. Word of our meeting quickly spread throughout the country—as an advertising ploy, it was tremendously effective.

In July of this year I am planning to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories together with my former pupil Inoue Kōsei. We’re going to teach coaches and athletes there about the value of harmony and try to bring together kids from both sides and have them practice together. The very basis of the jūdō spirit is respect for one’s opponent. What we’re hoping to do is try to kindle that flame in young minds through jūdō.

Translated from “Nankin wa kanarazushimo han-Nichi de wa nakatta” Chūō Kōron, August 2010, pp. 188–93. (Courtesy of Chūō Kōron Shinsha)