ghoti

This year is the 100th anniversary of the death of the Japanese novelist, Natsume Soseki.

Until recently he had been featured on the Japanese one-thousand yen banknote (about USD10). He had studied in London on government scholarship for two years from 1900. This month the Soseki Museum in London privately run by Ikuo Tsunematsu, a scholar, will close this month on September 28th.

In 1999 I came on a Japanese government scholarship to Japan to study Japanese Literature. There is nothing better than being given the opportunity to learn. I had always wondered why the Japanese government spent so much money on foreign exchange students like me but gave next to nothing to its own citizens. They should be giving out scholarships like they did during the Meiji Period (1868-1912) to people like Soseki. They should be making the next Soseki, Kafu and Ogai instead of doling out to others who may not stay in Japan, but they don’t. Japan really has a lot to lose by not nurturing its own talents.