日本人不了解自己的软实力

The more Japan's global relevance in economic, political and military terms seems to decline, the more it cares about projecting soft power. The government's "Cool Japan" project subsidizes "attractive products or services" that, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, "make full use of the unique characteristics of Japanese culture and lifestyle." These include decorative washi paper, a cosplay-inspired clothing brand and a bonsai plant grown with renewable energy.
日本在全球经济、政治和军事领域的重要性看似下滑得越厉害，它就越关心如何展示自己的软实力。政府推出了“酷日本”(Cool Japan)计划。经济产业省表示，该计划资助那些“充分利用了日本文化和生活方式独特性的诱人产品或服务”。其中包括装饰和纸、角色扮演风格的服装品牌，以及使用可再生能源的盆栽。

Despite this concern, both the Japanese government and the Japanese people seem unaware of the global impact of Japan's most successful cultural export to date: the so-called Suzuki Method of music instruction.
尽管存在这种担忧，但日本政府和公众似乎都不知道，迄今为止，日本最成功的文化输出——名为“铃木教学法”(Suzuki Method)的一种音乐教学方式——具有怎样的全球影响力。

Originally conceived in the 1930s by the violinist Shinichi Suzuki, the Suzuki Method proposes that all children can learn to play an instrument as naturally as they learn to speak their native language. According to the Talent Education Research Institute, an educational organization founded by Mr. Suzuki, about 400,000 children in 46 countries are now learning to play musical instruments the Suzuki way. But just 20,000 of them are Japanese. As the institute puts it, the method "has earned high acclaim overseas, more so than at home."
这个方法最初由小提琴家铃木镇一(Shinichi Suzuki)在20世纪30年代提出。它主张，所有小孩都能学会演奏乐器，就像他们学会讲自己的母语一样。铃木镇一创办了才能教育研究会(Talent Education Research Institute)。该教育机构的资料显示，目前在46个国家有40万儿童正在铃木教学法的帮助下学习演奏乐器，其中仅有2万儿童是日本人。研究会指出，和在日本国内相比，该方法“在海外赢得了很高的评价”

It's not the first time the Japanese seem to miss what of theirs is worth celebrating and need to be told by outsiders. Ukiyo-e woodblock prints were used as wrapping paper for export wares when Japan began trading with the Western world in the second half of the 19th century. They were soon "discovered" by European Impressionist painters, who hailed them as a distinct art form. Modern Japan has repeatedly overlooked the merits of its own artistic and cultural production out of a blinding insecurity about its international standing.
日本似乎不知道自己的哪些方面值得珍视，反而需要外界来告知他们。这种情况已经不是第一次出现了。19世纪下半叶，日本开始与西方世界进行贸易往来时，浮世绘木版画被用来包装出口商品。欧洲的印象派画家很快就“发现”了它们，将其誉为一种独特的艺术形式。由于对自身的国际声誉存在一种盲目的不安全感，日本在近现代一再忽视自己的艺术和文化成就。

The Suzuki pedagogy was misunderstood from its very beginnings in the 1930s. Upon returning to Tokyo from Berlin, where he had spent most of his twenties, Mr. Suzuki found himself in high demand as a teacher. His first young pupils were conspicuously more skilled than others at the time — when classical musicians of any age were rare in Japan — and were soon heralded by the Japanese media as prodigies and geniuses.
从20世纪30年代诞生开始，铃木教学法就遭到误解。铃木镇一20到30岁之间的大部分时间都在柏林度过，返回东京之后，有很多人想聘请他为师。他最初培养的一批年轻学生，明显比其他人更娴熟——当时在日本，任何年龄段的古典音乐演奏者都很罕见——而且很快就被日本媒体誉为神童和天才。

Mr. Suzuki abhorred such terms. He believed that the sheer joy of making music or learning just about anything was accessible to all children. There was a pastoral element to his approach: Its main goal was not to mass-produce professional musicians but rather to mold individuals into sensitive and thoughtful human beings with "noble hearts."
铃木镇一讨厌这样的说法。他认为，搞音乐或学习任何东西都会带来纯粹的快乐感，也是所有孩子都可以享受到的。他的教学方式具有一种田园风格：主要目的不是为了批量培养专业音乐人，而是把个人塑造成敏感周到、有“高贵心灵”的人。

In "Powerful Education," published in September 1941, Mr. Suzuki called for reforming Japan's educational system; he argued that teachers were too quick to give up on children who lagged behind. He stressed the importance while, say, learning to play the violin of goal-setting, encouragement and repetition.
铃木镇一1941年9月发表《强大的教育》(Powerful Education)一文，呼吁改革日本的教育体系；他表示，老师们太急于放弃功课落后的孩子。他强调，在学习演奏小提琴等技能的过程中，设定目标、鼓励和反复练习很重要。

But this was too bold a proposal for the time. The Japanese empire had already embarked on its ill-conceived expansionist path, having started a war with China in 1937. Some of Mr. Suzuki's young students were called unpatriotic for playing music during a national emergency.
但是这个建议太超前了。当时日本帝国已经开始进行恶意扩张，在1937年与中国开了战。由于在国家处于非常时刻之际演奏音乐，铃木镇一的一些年轻学生被说成不爱国。

In this oppressive atmosphere, the kind of sweeping change Mr. Suzuki envisioned, which required re-educating the educators, did not go down well. As Japan was beginning to lose yet another war it had started, this one against the United States and its allies, he wrote another book urging elementary school reform. The authorities prevented its publication.
在这种压抑的氛围下，铃木镇一设想中需要对教育者进行再教育的彻底改革没有被众人接受。日本也对美国及其盟友开了战，当它在这场战争中露出败象时，铃木镇一写了另一本书，呼吁对小学进行改革。当局阻止了该书的出版。

The war eventually ended and then, in March 1955, less than 10 years after Japan's utter defeat, Mr. Suzuki gathered some 1,200 children in a gymnasium in Tokyo. Black-and-white footage shows the 56-year-old Suzuki doing some lithe footwork on a makeshift podium and waving his bow like a wizard's wand as he conducts the young violinists through difficult pieces, including Bach's Double Concerto.
战争终于结束了。在1955年3月，距离日本战败不到10年的时间，铃木镇一把1200名儿童聚集在东京的一座体育馆内。黑白画面显示，56岁的铃木站在一个临时搭建的讲台上，当年轻的小提琴学生演奏一个又一个困难曲目时，比如巴赫的二重协奏曲，他会一边步履轻盈地走动，一边挥舞着琴弓，就像挥舞魔杖一样，指导学生们演奏。

News of this group concert, the first Suzuki performance to attract national attention, reached the United States. American instructors traveled to Mr. Suzuki's music school in Matsumoto, a scenic mountain town, hoping to discover the secrets of this Japanese miracle.
通过这次团体演奏，铃木镇一首次吸引了全日本的关注，并让消息传到了美国。美国教师前往铃木镇一音乐学校的所在地——风景秀丽的山地城市松本——希望能发现这个日本奇迹的秘密。