Book Blog #6

"Listen-God only exists in people's minds. Especially in japan, God's always been kind of a flexible concept. Look at what happened after the war. Douglas MaCarthur ordered the divine emperor to quit being God, and he did, making a speech saying he was just an ordinary person. So after 1946 he wasn't God anymore. That's what Japanese gods are like-they can be tweaked and adjusted. Some American chomping on a cheap pipe gives the order and presto change-o-God's no longer God. A very postmodern kind of thing. If you think God's there, He is. If you don't, He isn't. And if that's what God's like, I wouldn't worry about it(286-287)."

This passage was a little irrelevant to the story line, considering the two characters that are interacting happen to be steeling a small rock. Although, it is very interesting. This passage sort of lets the reader into either the characters point of view towards God, or the authors point of view, either way they are probably about the same. Coming from an American stance on God, this seems like a much more relaxed way of looking at God. I'd have to agree with the book though, God does seem like a flexible concept, but at the same time a very strict concept, depending on how you look at things. Whether your religious or not this passage kind of puts you into whichever category. It is also interesting to see an Asian writer give an impression of god or even religion for that matter. It would seem that such a different culture would also have a different view of god, and also this view seems rather liberated, the view is still close to my American view of god.