Pre-War Intellectuals

George told me about all these pre-World War II intellectuals who taught at select universities and high schools in Imperial Japan, in the late 1930's and early 40's when he went to school. He said one English teacher was also a professional pottery maker, and once brought in a Japanese-style plate he made with an English sonnet etched into its surface in beautiful maroon. There was also a math teacher, a slightly crazy but insanely smart man, who scolded George for having misspelled a Latin noun (I forget which) on the cover of his notebook. There was also the professor of Chinese poetry, still in his early thirties, who would freely link a scene in a Tang dynasty poem to such and such scene in André Gide's novel, which of course he had read in the original French, or compare an ancient Chinese tea-drinking guru to an eerily similar guru in such and such Sanskrit text, which he had apparently read in English and Chinese translations.

Where were they all, before, during, and after the War? How did they let it happen? Were they, goodness forbid, killed in the air raids? And an additional question: can their failure, if I dare call it that, give us a clue as to why there seem to be so few of such intellectuals (or I may simply say, people) in present-day Japan? Or, if there are any, where are they, and what are they up to? Where are you all?

* George here presumably refers to Shin'ichiro Nakamura.