Bushido

Kimiko and I just finished watching The Last Samurai. The samurai and there way of thinking is so amazing and I can't help but give my opinion. Gee, what a shocker...

In the movie, which isn't exactly accurate but close enough, Tom Cruise's character is captured by the samurai in a battle and comes to love and understand the "way of the samurai" or bushido in Japanese. As he is examining the life of the Japanese he says that the Japanese wake up in the morning and dedicate their lives to the perfection of anything that they do. This is so true.

Although Japan has changed a lot since the time of the samurai, they are still a people that work for perfection. Everything they do if for the betterment of everyone involved and everyone does benefit from this.

But the question you have to ask yourself is if the benefits outweigh the consequences. Obviously this way of life did not turn out for good for the samurai seeing as they no longer exist. So will this same thing happen again? Is it a problem that needs the influence of foreigners to be solved or are the influences of the foreigners the problem?

Some things to ponder...