6. Japan’s Love of Archaeology
For most people, archaeology is not exactly the kind of stuff that generates excitement. Not so in Japan, where archaeology is quite a popular subject. The Japanese people revel in their country’s uniqueness, and exhibit greater fascination with their pre-history than just about any other people in the world. In that country, new archaeological finds are often announced in bold headlines on the front pages of major newspapers, and bookshops usually have entire sections devoted to Stone Age Japan. Because of that, Japan went into a tizzy in 1981, when self-taught archaeologist Shinichi Fujimora announced his discovery of 40,000-year-old Stone Age artifacts. The most important thing about his discovery for the Japanese public was that it established that human beings had been present in Japan for at least that long.
It was a spectacular find that launched Fujimora’s career. It gained him national and international fame, and quickly put him in the forefront of Japanese archaeology. The Japanese, whose culture is heavily indebted to that of China, have often sought to differentiate and set themselves apart from the Chinese. Historic discoveries that support the uniqueness of Japanese culture and origins are bound to make their discoverer hugely popular. So it was in that environment and against that backdrop that Fujimora’s archaeological finds made him a national celebrity. His discoveries were incorporated into school textbooks, and taught to Japanese children for years.