Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan

History Is on Japan's Side
By Peter Fretwell & Baldwin Kiland, The New York Times, 15 March 2011

Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan came before a press conference over the weekend and made a simple declaration: “I think that the earthquake, tsunami and the situation at our nuclear reactors make up the worst crisis in the 65 years since the war. If the nation works together, we will overcome.” History, and current research on human resiliency, suggest that he is right. In fact, history and research suggest that Japan will emerge stronger, not weaker, in the years to come.

Today, some researchers say that posttraumatic growth is far more common than long-term posttraumatic stress disorder. The norm is to adapt and grow following trauma. That phenomenon is, not coincidentally, Japan’s heritage and cultural norm. In the months and years to come, the world’s third-largest economy, already troubled, will face even more challenges. But Japan’s remarkably well educated, highly productive and uniformly disciplined work force also will have reconstruction projects, recovery and clean-up to unite them. The economic and psychological drive provided by those tasks cannot be underestimated, even as we acknowledge the depth of the tragedy. Not that long ago, as their cameras showed us the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, television reporters earnestly declared that New Orleans might never return to its previous glory as The Big Easy. A few even declared the city a lost cause. Today, those predictions seem inane. New Orleans’s centuries of hard living was matched by its hard life — hurricanes, floods, disease and multiple wars, to name a few. Writing off a city with that life experience never seemed a good bet to those who study human resiliency.

After the staggering loss of life (by some estimates, three million deaths) and property in World War II, Japan rebuilt itself into one of the world’s great intellectual, economic and industrial powers. Without diminishing for a moment the magnitude of the current crisis, or the human tragedies, Japan’s prime minister exhibited one of the hallmarks of leadership in crisis by reminding his countrymen of their heritage. In invoking Japan’s history of resiliency and determination, Kan tapped into one of the most powerful factors in human resiliency: knowing you have the strength, knowledge and stamina it takes to make it through, because you have made it through other adversity in your life.
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