Out of the spotlight: Michael E. Stanley puts the focus on public-works projects that actually work

Japan, Inc., Dec, 2002 by Michael E. Stanley

Scattered throughout Japan is a variety of archaeological and historical sites that have been reconstructed or restored to some aspect of their original appearance. Usually these sites have a museum attached; some of them are prefectural or national historical parks on their own or parts of larger complexes. Their cost is but a tiny fraction of the huge amounts spent on such things as reclamation and road-building. For example, the total fiscal 2002 (April-March) national budget for presentation and restoration of historical sites is 2.69 billion [yen], a mere fraction of the total cost for the Isahaya Bay project, which is [yen] 235 billion and climbing as of this writing. Sadly, in many cases, the results of these projects are not well known outside of their immediate area. But sonic ate indeed impressive, conveying a concrete, three-dimensional sense of presence for various eras of Japanese history and prehistory. If properly managed, the cultural and educational value of these sites may just be well worth what was spent on their research, design and construction.

These smaller efforts have had a positive impact. Despite the problems that some may have, they are, in the last analysis, a plus on the side of public works in this country. I have chosen a few of these sites as samples.

Aomori's Sannai Maruyama

A little background on these sites is in order. Notre of the sites mentioned hereafter dates to the Paleolithic era--the classic Old Stone Age. The oldest site I will mention here is that of Sannai Maruyama, near Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture. It is from what the Japanese call the Jomon Period, an era that extended from about 10,000 years ago to about 300 years B.C.E. ("Before the Common Era," a term a bit more universal than the old "Before Christ" B.C.). The site at Sannai Maruyama was evidently inhabited between 5,500 and 4,000 years ago. "Jomon" means "cord-marked" and was originally used to describe a particular ceramic tradition; it has now become a catchall for the complex of apparently indigenous cultures that developed in the main Japanese islands during that long span of time. The subsistence of most Jomon cultures was heretofore thought to have been based solely on seasonal foraging, not on agriculture or husbandry, although some small-scale rice-growing did develop as the era drew to a close. However, evidence has been found at Sannai Maruyama of the cultivation of chestnut groves, gourds and burdock, Of course traditional foraging was certainly a part of the subsistence, but additional evidence hints at deep-sea fishing, a pursuit that requires a well-developed technological base. Until recently, foraging and mixed-subsistence cultures were considered more primitive than fully agricultural ones, but evidence from cultural areas such as the Japanese archipelago and the Northwest Coast of North America has shown that such societies, when blessed with a rich enough environment have grown as complex as many settled agricultural ones Authorities generally agree that the earliest ceramics in the world were produced in Japan by Jomon artisans almost 10,000 years ago. The recovered human remains from the Jomon cultures indicate that the people were of a physical type similar to the modern Ainu; this, coupled with the occurrence throughout Japan of place names of clearly Ainu-language origin, easily prompts speculation that some if not all of the Jomon cultures spoke an Ainu or Ainu-related language.