Benedit Ruth's story: a woman who changed the course of the war

In the last breath of World War II, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword rescued
the culture of Japan from an anthropological point of view.
Ruth Benedict described the stark landscapes of war: debris piled up in the
streets, faces smeared with sweat and thin silhouettes gathered around
common pots and shelters. In the midst of this desolate and crude tale, traces
of past eras converged, with talk of reciprocity in social relations, a hidden
devotion to the emperor, different degrees of courtesy and filial piety. There
was also admiration for nature, poetry and writing, or for more everyday
activities such as eating, bathing and sleeping. She wrote about Japan from her
perspective as an anthropologist, seeking to remove the veil that hung over
this mysterious country.
Ruth Benedict (1887-1948) was a social anthropologist born in the United
States. In case you're wondering what the heck an anthropologist is, as a future
anthropologist I can tell you that I didn't know either until recently.
Anthropology is a career that studies human culture, evolution and activity, all
at once and separately as dictated by the object of study. You can study the
past through its material record (archaeology), the anatomical evolution
(bioanthropology) or how the human being develops in a society with a specific
culture (social anthropology).
The Role of Anthropology in World War II
Benedict had the opportunity to apply to Japan what he had written in
Patterns of Culture during World War II. At that time, Japan was an Axis power
of an imperialist character where the ultimate authority was Emperor Hirohito
with his prime minister commander-in-chief of the army, Hideki Toujou. Why
imperialist? - Perhaps you didn't know it, but Japan not only bombed Pearl
Harbor in the United States, but also invaded several Asian countries such as
Korea, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

Japanese troops were convinced of their superiority in Asia and developed a

paternalistic doctrine on the continent. Southeast Asia was their main target,
as it was poorer and could be used to transmit Japanese values. The Japanese
social system was very necessary for Asian progress with the country of the
rising sun at the head; of this they were very convinced and, therefore, it was
of great interest to the Americans to know how to defeat them. On this path,
they sought to understand their culture, their patterns of behavior and their
powerful sense of honor. The Japanese army's unmatched battlefield
discipline, war ideals and military tactics were an unknown. With all this in
mind, they recruited the young anthropologist to do the job of describing the
Japanese. The U.S. military could then come to understand their enemy in
order to defeat them utterly.

The difficulties of researching Japan

Benedict's work at the Office of War Information began in 1943, as the Allies
began to plot their victory over the Axis. Given the hostile context of World
War II, there were compelling reasons why a young U.S. Army collaborator
could not enter Japan at the time without problems. These were also difficult
times for traveling anthropologists and other researchers; many had to
emigrate from the countries in which they worked because of forced
conscription, racism, genocide or foreign invasion.

Japan was at a critical juncture, where traveling to the country if you were not
a soldier seemed like a suicide mission. Resources were scarce, no one knew
what was happening on the many islands where the imperial troops were
scattered; every day there were heart-rending rumblings followed by fireflies
that swept the sky and when they touched the ground they set fire to
everything in their path. The bombings sapped the will to survive in the
Japanese population. As a fact: a film that manages to transfer this imaginary
to the audiovisual in a very beautiful way in the face of violence is Hotaru no
Haka (The Grave of the Fireflies).
The chrysanthemum and the sword during the war in Japan.
Benedict's work was impossible to do in Japan. He could not live in the country,
could not talk to the people in their homes and workplaces, could not observe
their behavior in detail, or, as they say in anthropology, could not do "field
work". Despite the limitations on conducting research, Benedict managed to
obtain Japanese newspapers and talk to a few Japanese in the U.S., which was
difficult and frowned upon in a country with terrible racism. There were, in
addition, concentration camps on American soil where many Japanese died;
that's right, you read that right, not only Germany had concentration camps
(you must not forget that history is written by the victors). That is how Ruth
Benedict gathered information and began to write.

Few would imagine at first glance that The Chrysanthemum and the Sword
(1946) was written through "culture at a distance", an unconventional
methodology among anthropologists faithful to ethnography (consisting of
describing the culture of a given community in the field); however, it is a
surprising work that manages to capture the complexity of Japanese culture in
a fascinating way. The concept of duality, which is related to the coexistence
between the traditional and the modern, is central and difficult for Westerners
to understand. Along with this, the ability to reinvent oneself in the face of
disaster and the culture of shame are cross-cutting elements throughout the
book.

The system of obligations according to The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

in the culture of war in Japan.
The system of obligations was and still is an intrinsic characteristic of Japanese
culture that is still present in many of its actions.
On: it is a debt that will never be satisfied; it is the one contracted with parents,
teachers or the emperor, it is of an imposing nature, so it cannot be escaped.
Gimu: All actions that derive from the On debt are called Gimu and are part of
the Japanese ethics and order. You must be the best student, be a good son,
honor the emperor (ko-on), and so on. This may explain a bit why the Japanese
are so structured in academics and socially, as these behaviors were not done
out of love and altruism, but were largely done out of moral obligation.

Giri: Giri debt is incurred voluntarily, as when we decide to take a bank loan,
volunteer in an NGO, marry someone, receive a birthday gift from a friend or
visit a sick cousin. It must be repaid with an exact equivalent, so that the
obligation is settled. To this day, there are still features that remain, such as
White Day, where men give chocolates or presents to girls from whom they
received chocolate on Valentine's Day, as a form of social obligation.

The latter concept, according to Benedict, explained why it is not common for
Japanese to ask for disproportionate help from a stranger. The obligation
system creates an obligation to return attentions to that person. If this person
is never seen again, one would be in a disadvantageous and tedious situation
where the giri would never finish paying back.
Loyalty to the emperor
The emperor was held captive in the palace. The Americans on Iwo Jima were
defeating the last Japanese soldiers who held out for the last second of life,
giving a Pyrrhic victory to the U.S. in the bloodiest of battles against Japan in
which the largest number of Americans died despite outnumbering them.

No one expected two atomic bombs to fall on Japan; however, why wasn't the
imperial palace bombed killing the emperor?

One thesis that emerges from the book and the system of obligations is that
ko-on - loyalty to the emperor - would have caused thousands of Japanese to
continue to resist and fight to the death against the invading troops. The
offense of killing their emperor would make them never stop, even if there
were only stones left to fight. Conversely, with the emperor declaring his
surrender, there was no more fighting to be done. To continue the battle
would have been an offense to him, and it was already too much of a burden
to listen to the emperor himself communicate over the radio his surrender.
The American troops dropped the atomic bomb and invaded the island
without encountering any resistance. The ko-on was stronger than their
determination to resist. Nevertheless, the Japanese people reinvented
themselves from defeat to become the developed nation they are today.

Conclusions on Japan today

I do not think it is pertinent to say that Japan is the country it is only because
of the obligation system. There are possibly many variables that Ruth Benedict
did not consider during the execution of The Chrysanthemum and the Sword
in Japan's War. When the text was published in 1946, atomic bombs are not
even mentioned; perhaps because the strategy for victory was already assured
and the book had served its purpose. However, it is interesting to wonder what
Ruth Benedict would say about Japan today; would such a work be possible in
today's Japan? - It is likely; although being able to imbibe the culture from
one's own experiences, traveling, learning more about other cultures and
wondering what makes us essentially the same and different as Westerners
and Japanese, is a reflection I would like to invite you to.

Culture has the power to differentiate us and, on the other hand, to find
similarities. It is not for nothing that we have a particular interest in Japan. Nor
is it by chance that learning about culture is something special and determining
in our lives.