2026/06. Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi JP

罪は残り、水は流れる - The Sin Remains, and the Water Flows

日本人の（海外視点から見た）健忘症とも言い得る「水に流す」の精神は、（かなり）楽観的に捉えると、世界平和の礎になり得る特色の一つだと思う。

アメリカ人の半ば成人の青年と話す機会が直近であったのだけど、核を落とされてアメリカ人に対して憎悪は無いのか？と率直に聞かれて、何故か僕は、現代日本人はアジア諸国に対して行った虐殺の歴史が教科書にも書かれていない事を知らない、という事を（間接的に）引き合いに出して話したりしていて。

国家レベルの策略？で健忘症になったとしても僕は何故かその良い面も有り得る、という話を本当に何故だかしていたんだ。アメリカ人の彼は僕だったら許せない、とハッキリと言っていた。

そうじゃ無いんだよ、水に流すっていうのは厳密には（キリスト教的な？）許す・忘れるって事では無いし、勿論罪は残るんだけど。そういう事じゃなくて「水に流す」っていう事なんだ、と何故か帰国子女枠の僕が力説してて、嗚呼、僕もようやく日本人になってきたのかな、って。

補足すると、

「水に流す」べきなのは罪そのものではなく、復讐の連鎖や憎悪の増殖なのだと思う。加害の記憶や責任まで流してしまえば、それは単なる忘却や隠蔽になる。

けれど、記憶と責任を保持した上で、それでも次の争いにしないための感性としての「水に流す」は、もしかすると日本文化が世界に差し出せる、かなり危うくも貴重な技法なのかもしれない。


I think the Japanese spirit of mizu ni nagasu, which from an outside perspective could almost be called a kind of amnesia, may, if viewed rather optimistically, be one of the qualities that could become a foundation for world peace.

Recently, I had the chance to speak with a young American, somewhere on the edge of adulthood. He asked me very directly whether Japanese people feel no hatred toward Americans, despite having had nuclear bombs dropped on them.

For some reason, I found myself indirectly bringing up the fact that many contemporary Japanese people do not even know, or have not been properly taught, the history of the massacres Japan carried out in other Asian countries.

Even if this amnesia was produced through some kind of state-level strategy, I somehow found myself talking about the possibility that it might still contain a positive aspect. I really do not know why I was saying it.

He said very clearly that, if it were him, he would not be able to forgive it.

But that is not quite it.

Mizu ni nagasu is not, strictly speaking, the same as forgiving or forgetting in a Christian sense. Of course, the sin remains. That is not erased. But it is not about that. It is about letting it flow away with the water.

And there I was, oddly enough, as someone who had supposedly belonged to the “returnee” category, passionately trying to explain this. I thought to myself, perhaps I am finally becoming Japanese after all.

To add something more:

I think what should be “washed away” is not the sin itself, but the chain of revenge and the multiplication of hatred. If the memory of harm, or the responsibility for it, is washed away as well, then it becomes nothing more than forgetting or concealment.

And yet, if memory and responsibility are both preserved, while still refusing to turn them into the next conflict, then perhaps this sensibility of mizu ni nagasu is a dangerous yet precious technique that Japanese culture may be able to offer to the world.