Introduction
Colonialism was highly practiced by major European powers which made sure that they had many colonies in Asia, Africa, and America. The aim of colonialism was to seek raw materials for the growing industries, seeking a market for the manufactured products and imperialism. To achieve this, they used several strategies to make sure that they acquired and maintained their colonies. (Fanon 2001)
Strategies used by Europeans in colonialism
The Europeans imposed their culture on their subjects. They made sure that they used the same language, education system, and any other mode of socializing. The aim of this was to ensure that their culture took root and so no other colony would manage to colonize the subjects. The colonial language was used in ensuring that there was a smooth means of communication between the colonialists and the subjects. For example, the Britons used made sure that the English language was the main language while the French encouraged their subjects to master their language and culture in order for them to become French citizens. (Fanon 2001)
Religion
Religion played a big role in colonialism. Most of the Europeans were Christians and so they tried to impose religion among their subjects. In most of the colonies, the missionaries were the first to go and spread Christianity in readiness for the colonialists to take over. They also used Christianity as a weapon of propaganda and to encourage obedience by the subjects as resistance will be seen as going against the teachings of Christian doctrine. (Fanon 2001)
The European colonialists used their military power to colonize others. They used force to conquer other governments and hence they imposed their system of governance. For example in Australia, the British conquered the Maoris and established their own system of governance. The military protected them as they established colonies and assisted them in imperialism.
European nations tried to colonize many nations but some nations offered great resistance to their quest to colonize them.
Some countries such as the USA, Russia, China, and Europe play a significant role in global politics; Japan comes out as a great and distinct nation. This arises from economic superiority and many historical and political factors that extend many years back to the third quarter of the 19th century. (Fanon 2001)
Japan’s strength is due to her strong strategic culture and her unique social culture. Japan had an ancient civilization and strong political culture that enabled it not to be colonized by European who had a colony in neighboring China. This was due to her strong respect and adherence to her traditions, pride in their nation, and the dedication of her citizens to hard work and honesty.
There are many factors that led to the resistance of the country not to be colonized.
Japan remained closed to the outside world and so the Europeans could not easily intrude and influence it till mid 19th century. The first attempts were made in the 16th century but failed.
The first contact of Japan with the outside world was in the mid 19th century when Admiral Perry from the United States sailed to Yokohama bay with a number of ships and hence they managed to establish contacts with the Japanese.
IN the year 1867, the Meiji restoration took place and was led by a group of young samurai who restored the Japanese emperor power and authority and moved from Kyoto to Tokyo where they placed the new capital. The main aim of the Meiji restoration was to restore the emperor and to place Japan on a political and economic path to integrate itself with the existing globalization that was taking a modern path.
The high nationalistic young leadership went into rapid industrialization and built strong armed forces in line with the western lines. Young Japanese were sent to different parts of the world to undergo studies in different fields. They went to the United States to study industry and business practice, Britain to study naval skills, and the imperial army from Russia. BY the last decade of the 19th century, they were able to be at par with the world powers. (Endo 1980)
The strong economic and military power prevented the Europeans from colonizing Japan but instead, Japan colonized other nations such as Korea and China.
The European used Christianity as a base in which they could use in colonization. Many countries in which Europeans colonized had Christianity influence but in Japan, Christianity was practiced since long time ago although it was not colonized. In Shukaku Endo’s silence is an attempt to explain a difficult question in history as far as the history of Japan is concerned in relation to Christianity. In other nations, Christianity flourished but in Japan, it did not take root.
At first, Christianity took root in Japan but later as it was growing at a rapid rate, Japan changed its policy on foreign religion and started to persecute Christians. Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa emperor saw the emerging Christians as a big threat to his power as he saw the Christians had great loyalty to the foreign priests and ministers than the emperor. With this, there was slaughtering and execution of the Christians. These executions did not deter Christians from practicing Christianity but only encouraged them. The Japanese government took a new turn and demanded the religious leaders to apostatize or face torture to their bodies and those of their followers.
In doing this, the aim of the Japanese government was to stop the further spread of Christianity. Endo’s story takes place under these conditions. According to Endo, Christovao Ferreira, an early minister became the first missionary to apostatize in Japan. This was a great shock among the churches that were sending missionaries to Japan. Due to this, Sebastian Rodrigues came to find out what had happened to his former tutor. While on his journey, he would find his belief being challenged as he tried to keep his faith in Christianity in a country that was against Christianity. Endo brings out the larger question of where is God in the most difficult time of a Christian.
He also questions the role of Christianity dying among the nonbelievers. The silence of God that Rodrigue faces as he waits to be tortured or the witnessing Christians undergoing agony makes him question his decision to go there.
Silence tries to depict the cultural problems which the Japanese possess while trying to comprehend and think through the Christian faith. Endo also questions whether the converted Christians were truly Christians and even he further doubted whether Christian faith would be converted to Japanese without being lost in translation. The writer tries to explain the limited humanistic view Japanese have towards comprehending the theological view Christianity demands. (Endo 1980)
Endo tells a truth that needs to be distinguished from faith and religion. Silence provides an avenue for the human desire to believe despite the seeming silence of God.
According to Endo’s reference of Japan as a swamp, he looks at the growth of Christianity in a region that was highly resistant to Christianity. A swamp is a place where nothing can meaningfully grow. Christianity could not grow in Japan and faced many hostilities.
He says that Christianity cannot grow as most of the people believe in Buddhism which has a deep root in Japan. The cultural aspect of Japan not accepting influence from the outside influence has made Christianity growth in Japan to be hard and this has provided the ministers with difficulty in preaching the gospel. The Japanese language has also contributed to the low growth of Christianity and mistranslation of the facts in Christianity which also raises doubt whether the early Japanese Christians were real Christians. (Endo 1980)
Conclusion
Japan is a great country in that it managed to resist the influence of Europeans by adopting a culture that was difficult for the Europeans to penetrate. The Japanese resistance to influence by the Europeans is also brought about by its resistance to Christianity and so it was able to maintain the purity of its culture. Also by sending its young people to study in different countries provided Japan with the skills of being self-efficient in terms of industrialization and military prowess and this enabled it to be at the same level with other world powers hence it was not colonized.
Work cited
Endo, Shusaku. Silence. Taplinger, 1980.
Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth, Pref. by Jean-Paul Sartre. Translated by Constance Farrington. London: Penguin Book, 2001.