How Do You Live?

“You take many things from the world, but I wonder what you will give back in return?”

 (How do You Live? p. 127)

How Do You Live? by Genzaburō Yoshino (1899-1981), written in 1937, has been an influential book for generations of Japanese adolescents. The first translation into English was published very recently. Many readers — myself included — wanted to read it because of its influence on filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. His recent production The Boy and the Heron (which won an Oscar and is widely praised) refers significantly to the book, which is read by the film’s central character. I have loved Miyazaki’s films for a long time, and I’m eager to see this new one. Frustratingly, it has not yet been released on DVD or streaming, and no clear date has been announced. Note that the Japanese title is “How Do You Live?” clearly referring to the classic book.

The Novel

Copper, a fifteen-year-old middle-school student, is the central figure in How Do You Live? His home is in Tokyo and he attends a traditional Japanese boys’ school, where he deals with the typical problems of boys his age: notably with bullying of himself and his best friends. The chapters about Copper’s somewhat rough schooldays contrast vividly with chapters of calm, rather didactic advice and observations written or spoken by Copper’s uncle, his mother’s younger brother. 

The details of school and daily life, including the descriptions of the city, the boys’ clothing and school uniforms, and their homes is an interesting portrayal of a former time — though the most emphasis is on life in the school. Occasionally the author even offers a hint of the domestic life of Copper and his mother, for example, for a holiday called Higan:

“In the kitchen, as was her custom during Higan, his mother was hard at work with the maid, making ohagi, rice cakes covered with sweet red-bean paste, sesame, and other treats.” (p. 257)

A photo of Tokyo in 1936, from a collection in the Guardian.
If you read the book, I definitely recommend looking at these images. (source)

Before the War

Here’s what I can’t stop thinking about while reading: in the 1930s when the story takes place, Japan was experiencing the rise of a militaristic government. Their leaders would soon attempt to conquer the Asian world, having begun with the colonization of Korea (1910) and China (an active war by 1937) — and just a few years later continuing with the attack on the US base at Pearl Harbor and invasions throughout the Pacific. Surprisingly, I found no direct mention of this political and military situation in the book, perhaps because the author, a socialist, had already spent time in jail for his political views, and because a secret thought-police monitored all publications. 

The bullying incident central to the novel thus may have dual meaning in this situation. Here is one quote from the older students who threaten Copper and his friends:

“Make no mistake,” they insisted, “once they enter society, students with no love of school will surely become citizens with no love of country. People who don’t love their country are traitors. Therefore, we can say that students who don’t love their school are traitors in training. We must discipline any such fledgling traitors.” (p. 149)

With over 80 years of hindsight, a reader can’t help wondering how these fictional boys, including both bullies and victims, would have fared a few years later. Did they inevitably become soldiers? Were they heroic? How did they live? Or did they die? And have generations of future readers in Japan also wondered about their wartime fate? 

Of course this type of speculation is not a good way to read fiction that was written in the past, but it’s compelling to think about, in my opinion.

Rich Boys and Poor Boys

Copper and his mother live in a relatively modest home; they lost their more luxurious home when his father died a few years earlier. One of his friends is very wealthy, and one is very poor — a situation that leads to quite a few observations by Copper’s uncle about material goods and human well-being, for example:

“If nobody made anything, there would be no tastes, no pleasures—consumption would be impossible. The work of making things itself makes it possible for people to be truly human. This is not just a matter of food and clothing. In the academic world, in the art world, the producers are needed far more than the consumers.” (p. 140)

The educated and refined thoughts and observations of Copper’s uncle reveal a wide variety of historical and philosophical approaches to how the uncle hopes Copper will lead his life. He tells Copper about many great men, mostly westerners, including Copernicus after whom he chooses the nickname “Copper.” 

For another example, Cooper and his uncle have a long discussion of Napoleon’s rise and fall, with consideration of his military skill and leadership. Thus the author shows a variety of ways that both Copper and his uncle view a great man. His uncle sums up this discussion of Napoleon’s heroic life:

“Because no matter who the so-called hero is—whether it’s Napoleon or Goethe or even Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who ruled all of Japan in the sixteenth century, or General Nogi, who commanded the Japanese army during the war against Russia—all of them were born during this long, long march of human history and will die within it as well.” (p. 169)

 

Buddhism and Representations of the Buddha

While reading How Do You Live? I was constantly surprised at how thoroughly the cultural and historic facts considered central by Copper’s uncle were rooted in European culture rather than Japanese culture. One chapter in particular was striking, because it concerned the artistic roots of traditional sculpture representing the Buddha. Specifically, these roots began with Greek sculptors who lived in a particular area of Afghanistan after the conquest of Alexander the Great. At that time Buddhism was beginning to take hold as a major religion in Asia. During the initial centuries of Buddhism, Copper’s uncle pointed out, there were no sculptures depicting the Buddha with a human face. Then Greek traditional artists modeled the Buddha to look like the traditional figure of Apollo. 

Buddha from the 4th-5th Century BCE, in the Greek tradition. (source)

Here is part of the conversation between Copper and his uncle about the Greek artistic tradition and its effect on Buddhist sculpture throughout two thousand years:

“From his uncle’s explanation, Copper understood that Greeks were the first to produce Buddha statues. Despite that, to think that these Buddhist sculptures, which were so iconic of the East, were actually children of both Eastern and Western civilizations, naturally couldn’t help but give him a strange feeling. 

“‘So, Uncle, the Big Buddha at Nara is also like that?’ 

 

“‘That’s correct. That huge statue was made by Japanese people, but the skills to do so came from China. And China learned them from India. If you follow them back to the source, you end up at the Gandhara Buddhas again, and from there you are connected all the way to Greek sculpture.’” …

“‘When you think of how Greek civilization flowed right over all these natural barriers well over a thousand years ago, crossing the Chinese mainland and carrying as far as distant Japan—Copper, one can’t help but be truly surprised, don’t you think?’” (pp. 267-269)

 

The Great Buddha of Nara, 8th century. (Source)

The Central Thought of How Do You Live?

In the final chapter of the novel, the author makes his point about human responsibility to all fellow humans loud and clear. In Japan in 1937, this might have been a defiant and dangerous approach, and it might seem radical even now, if taken as a deep and thoughtful value. Specifically, Cooper says:

“I think there has to come a time when everyone in the world treats each other as if they were good friends. Since humanity has come so far, I think now we will definitely be able to make it to such a place. So I think I want to become a person who can help that happen.” (p. 275)

At the end, the author asks the reader: “How will you live?”

Blog post © 2024 mae sander, photos as credited.