Understanding alone cannot solve conflicts. Empathy is more important. Evil is possible when one sees one's adversaries as less than human; it is also possible when one sees one's own cause as exclusively legitimate.
There too many to mourn for on this and many other days past and future, but I just thought of Edward Seidensticker, who just passed away last month in Japan.
The very first reason that got me interested in Japan was Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country, one of Seidensticker's profoundly beautiful renditions.
Great literature articulates our humanity and great translations help to reveal its universality. A professor in Tokyo interviewed by the International Herald Tribune says: " He did more to make Japanese people appear human to foreigners than all of Japan's public diplomacy combined."
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出会いは人だけでなく国や文学、全てについてあるのですね。その出会いが、他の国や人に多大な影響を与える文学や絵画・映画など芸術と呼ばれる分野のものは、人々の心に深くそして永遠に記憶されるものですね。
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