Ono Stuck in the Past

Imagine yourself as an old man overlooking a city that has grown and changed in front of your very eyes. Would you feel old, shaken, upset, or have an unsettling sense of nostalgia that lingers in your mind like a disease. What you must ask yourself, being this old man I told you to imagine, is nostalgia good or bad? Does nostalgia slow the pace of human development and cultural ideals? Some may argue yes or not to this question, but I believe you must take the perspectives of all people to have a good idea of what is good or bad. Sounds impossible, and it is, but the more people you listen to the more educated you will become.

Many of us look to the past for comfort, or answers to our current dilemmas. I would like to include a quote from an early 20^th century English car racer Doug Larson, “Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.” Musuji Ono, from An Artist of the Floating World is a prime example of this nostalgic tension that plagues his current life. Once looked upon as a prestigious artist in Japan for his works of nationalist painting, Ono’s life took a drastic turn with the fall of Japan in World War II. Suddenly Ono’s paintings became ideas of the past that would no longer benefit Japan, and Ono was looked upon as part of a generation that failed Japans honor, international prestige, and pursuit of power. During Ono’s peak of power in Japan, he was consulted by the Arts Committee of the State Department for upcoming or suggested policies.

In Ono’s case, Nostalgia is hurtful for his future. He will never gain whatever is left of his former prestige, and he will also be seen as a damper on the ever-changing Japanese society after World War II, due to his pre-war nationalistic views. Nostalgia is not necessarily dangerous, it can answer questions we may have in current society, or at least share a conservative view of the past. It can secure old values so that they are not removed from any certain culture. Ono is reminded by his former teacher Matsuda that things do not last for eternity, “realize there are now those who would condemn the likes of you and me for the very things we were once proud to have achieved” (Ishiguro 94). The past is no longer a reality for Ono, so he must allow himself to adapt to the changing culture and society in Japan.

 History is often written by those who have experienced it first hand. Often when history is written years after a particular event the author may include a bias towards current times compared to those of the past. Problems of the past are often forgotten because it is human nature to block out the bad things, and remember the times that were only good. So today when we study history, there is often a blanket of nostalgia included with the information. This can skew the view many of us have of the past.

 Ono’s personal use of nostalgia is one of pleasure, but this pleasure comes with a price. Ono escapes the present by remembering the good times of the past, leaving out the times he suffered or met adversity on a grand scale. Ono can be a lesson to us all, when we remember the past include the good and bad times we have experienced, not a biased idea of “The good ol’ days.”