Newsletter No. 437

你是否很喜歡看漫畫？ 我從小到大都愛看漫畫。因為我研究思想史，所 以喜歡看與歷史有關的漫畫，有些有深度的，對 人生思想有啟發的我也喜歡看；例如《蟲師》便 不錯。舊的如手塜治蟲我很喜歡，很有靈性，很有 哲理，大友克洋的我也愛看，雖然他以科幻包裝， 但談的是人性。 這是你的研究方向嗎？ 我有兩個研究方向，一是中日思想文化交流史， 另一面是日本流行文化。 是否有點南轅北轍？ 對我來說是互通的。研究流行文化時，以往思想 史研究的訓練會影響我，我會像做思想史那樣探 討流行文化；而我處理思想文化交流史的時候， 流行文化的一些理論，如本地化、混種化，又可以 借用。 你為甚麼喜歡做研究？ 做研究得到的滿足感最大。做研究的時候，好像 能脫離現在2014年這個空間，覺得自己生活在德 川時代，當我研究那堆東西的時候，和古人好像 有種神交，這種感覺是很奇妙。 為何對德川時代的日本特別感興趣？ 我們身為中國人，做這個時代的研究，有條件做 得比日本人更好。尤其是我專研德川時代漢學與 日本本土思想的交流，我們閱讀古文的能力不會 比日本人差，又有中國儒家、中國哲學的背景，所 以做這種題目我們是有優勢的。 我們在311地震看到日本人守法、有秩序一 面；但在福島核災，又見到東京電力不負責 任、隱瞞的陰暗一面。這種矛盾現象應如何 解釋？ 日本人的公民意識很強、很團結，國民質素很高。 如果在外國，停水停電馬上就動亂，但他們不會。 但企業的情況就不同，它們的許多行為，以歐美 標準來衡量是不夠好的。你看《半澤直樹》就知 道，企業很多隱瞞，很多勾當，要下級承擔責任， 甚至有一些制度性的貪污，還有所謂金權政治， 與政府的關係千絲萬縷。日本人在公民層次是值 得敬佩的，但企業層次則還有許多問題。 當初為何想到寫博客「知日部屋」？ 我在博客提出「反日不如知日」，這是一個態度。 雖然博客能發揮的影響力不大，但總算能夠提供 多一種聲音。傳媒有許多關於日本的報道是譁眾 取寵，亂報一通，我在這裏寫出來，起碼多提供一 個角度讓人家去看事物。 現在為何很少寫博客了？ 近半年我已經轉了去寫臉書，一來是喜歡臉書比 較多互動，第二是我愈來愈忙，而博客文章比較 長，多半五百至一千字。臉書寫幾句就可以。我不 想忙到完全斷絕與外界的溝通，所以暫時就用臉 書的形式。 你在忙甚麼？ 我有幾本書準備出版。一本叫做《德川日本的中 國想像》，已交給出版社。另一本《日本流行文化 與香港》，已答允出版社年底交稿。第三本《易經 在日本、韓國、越南及琉球的傳播與改造》，計劃 明年會完成。 Do you like manga (Japanese comics)? I’ve been a keen reader of manga since I was young. I like manga that deal with historical topics because I’m a researcher of intellectual history. Manga that are deep and inspiring also appeal to me. Mushishi is a good one. For older ones, I like Teduka Osamu’s works, which are very intellectual and philosophical. I also like those by Otomo Katsuhiro. Although they belong to the sci-fi genre, what they really talk about is human nature. Is this also your research interest? I have two research interests. One is intellectual history of Japan and Sino-Japanese cultural exchange. The other one is Japanese popular culture. They seem to be poles apart. To me, they’re complementary. When I do research on popular culture, I benefit from my training in intellectual history. I tend to study popular culture the way I study intellectual history. When I study intellectual history and the history of cultural exchange, I borrow some concepts from the theories of popular culture, such as localization and hybridization. How do you like doing research? Research brings me a great sense of satisfaction. When I immerse myself in research, I feel as if I was removed from the present and have travelled back in time to Tokugawa Japan, interacting with people of the past. It feels wonderful. Why are you especially interested in Tokugawa Japan? As Chinese scholars, we have an edge over our Japanese counterparts in the research of this period. It is especially true for the area in which I’m interested—the intellectual exchange between China and Japan. We understand ancient texts as well as, if not better than, the Japanese. And we’re familiar with Confucianism and Chinese philosophy. So, in this area, we do have the ability to outshine others. In Japan’s 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, we saw that the Japanese were law-abiding and self-disciplined people. But we also saw many irresponsible behaviours and cover-ups in the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s handling of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima. How do you explain such a contradiction? Japanese society is civic and tightly knit. Its people are decent and respectable citizens. In any other country, power outages and cut-off of water supply would definitely trigger riots. But it wouldn’t happen in Japan. However, Japanese enterprises are a different story. As you can see in the TV drama Hanzawa Naoki , Japanese enterprises are riddled with problems like cover-ups, foul play, buck-passing, institutional corruption. Money politics is also a problem because these enterprises are closely intertwined with the government. As citizens, Japanese individuals are highly admirable. But Japanese enterprises are far from perfect. Why did you establish your blog ‘Nippon Heiya’ in the first place? I advocate an attitude in my blog: it’s better to have an informed Japan watcher than a Japan hater. Mass media tend to produce sensational reports about events related to Japan. I’m not a very influential blogger. But at least I can provide an alternative voice, so that people can see Japan from a different angle. Recently you haven’t updated your blog as frequently as before. Why? I’ve been writing mainly Facebook posts in the past six months. It’s because Facebook is more interactive and I’m too busy to write blog articles, which are usually 500 to 1,000 words in length. Instead, a few sentences will do in a Facebook post. I don’t want to lose contact with the outside world altogether because of my tight work schedule. So I stick to Facebook for the time being. What are you busy with? I have several books to publish. One is entitled China in Tokugawa Imagination , which has been finished and sent to the publisher. Another one is called Japanese Popular Culture and Hong Kong . I’ll finish it and send it to the publisher by the end of this year. The third one is named The Popularization and Localization of the Yijing in Japan, Korea, Vietnam and the Ryukyu Kingdom , which is expected to be finished next year. 吳偉明教授 Prof. Ng Wai-ming Benjamin 日本研究學系 Department of Japanese Studies 10 No. 437, 4.5.2014