The 2011 F1 showdown at Suzuka would have more to it than meets the eye

As the 2011 Formula 1 season enters its final phase, the focus of the racing world shifts to the terror struck Japan for the 15th race of the season. Sebastian Vettel is just one point away from being crowned as the youngest double world champion, and he cannot think of a better place than Japan—the Land of the Rising Sun—for his coronation. The Japanese Grand Prix has been the venue for many title-deciding races, with 12 World Champions being crowned over the 24 Japanese Grand Prix that have been hosted, and Vettel could very well be the 13th. Amidst all the drama and excitement of Formula 1, many watchful eyes would be on Japan, which is hosting its first global event after the death-rattle of Tsunami and ensuing threat of nuclear leakage, earlier this year, had quarantined it on the international platform.

The Samurai tradition of Pride, Honor, and Respect reverberates through the great island nation of Japan, and its people are living proof of a samurai’s patience, grit and resilience, and perhaps it is this eccentric spirit that gives them the courage to rise so quickly after an abysmal decline as was evident in their post world war rise as a nation. Japanese Cinema led by pioneers like Yasujiro Ozu  and Akira Kurosawa paved the way for Japan’s phoenix-like rise into being after the macabre happenings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More than six decades after the ghastly nuclear horror, the might of the island nation is once again jolted, but this time by the wrath of Poseidon—the Greek God of Earthquake. The Land of the Rising Sun was struck by the bolt of Trident—magnitude 9 Mw on the Richter scale—on March 11, 2011. The earthquake triggered a deadly 133 feet (40.5 meters) tsunami in the northern parts of country. The kraken-like waves engulfed cities and rural areas alike, sweeping away cars, trees, buildings, and virtually anything that came in the way, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. Another disaster struck about 26 hours after the earthquake as an explosion in a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station caused one of the buildings to crumble to the ground. The cooling system at the reactor failed shortly after the earthquake leading to a leakage threat of the radioactive material outside the plant. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan had said, "In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan. If the nation works together, we will overcome”. However, a swift recovery would require a spectacle of epic proportions! What better an elixir than sports to do the wonder?

When the Roman Empire was at the pinnacle of its glory, Sports was the most potent tool in the hands of the Emperor to unite the masses amidst any incipient threat or danger: be it natural, social, economic, or political. On the slightest whiff of a danger, the Emperor would make the declaration for games—that would be held at the Colosseum—as a subterfuge to shift the attention of the masses from the veritable to the sublime, albeit contrived. This deception mostly served well in quelling the resentment of the people of Rome against the Empire. Even today, Sports is looked upon as a savior and has been known to galvanize terror-struck people motivating them to try and live normal lives. People of Sri Lanka were decimated by the 2004 Tsunami but it was their passion for Cricket that resuscitated the moribund nation and lifted its people from the maw of abject desolation. Only a force as powerful as Cinema or Sports can bring about such a dramatic recovery!  

So, the question that is lurking on everybody’s mind is whether an event of as big a proportion as a Formula One Grand Prix can provide the people of Japan with an opportunity to come to terms with reality and help them overcome the mental block caused by their recent plight?