An Unflinching Look at the Origins of Brutality and the Code of Bushido
Our next DN event takes a crucial, unflinching look at the Japanese presence in Asia during the 1930s and '40s. Inspired only partially by films like The Railway Man, we shift the focus from the suffering of Allied victims to the essential questions surrounding the origins and motivations of the torturers and murderers who blackened Japan's name.
Date : July 8
Time : 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Charge : 10,000yen for non-Delphi members and free for members
Were these perpetrators simply racists, group-absorbed, or emperor-worshipers who had lost the autonomous ability to distinguish right from wrong? And is the latent violence today in Japan's classrooms and offices a continuation of that wartime mindset?
We will inevitably touch on the Bushido warrior code. While revered as a cornerstone of traditional Japanese culture, was this elite code, popularized in the Meiji-era, in fact a passport to violent excess? We’ll take a closer, more cynical look.
Addressing these complex questions will be Roger Pulvers, a leading authority and not your average academic. An immensely knowledgeable artist, writer, and critic, Pulvers was assistant director on Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence and scriptwriter for the controversial film Best Wishes for Tomorrow. Having scoured archives and met leading perpetrators—even becoming close to the son of one of Eric Lomax’s torturers—Professor Pulvers has made the crucial imaginative effort to understand the Japanese psyche during the Pacific War.