Been reading a few books on different cultures of interest, including a book of Japanese values. It suggests that group cohesion is given great importance, which seems clear.
But then it suggests skilled athletes or people who invent something useful in Japan can run into difficulties because of this cohesion. In other words, an athlete with superior skills might be thought arrogant or be ostracized by her/his teammates unless she/he was remarkably modest. Or that someone who invented something clever might be completely ignored and forced to pursue the invention outside Japan to win national acclaim. Were these things generally true? Are they still true today?
I remember once beating a Canadian-Japanese woman at Scrabble, and apparently causing slight offence when I stupidly told her I was good at Scrabble. When I learned a bit of Japanese, humility was emphasized. “I somehow won”, “I am sort of good sometimes”, etc. There is reverence for the best sumo wrestlers or ground breakers like Honda. Are they too subject to the same expectations of humility after their success? Or are they so Japanese there is only one way to behave at all times?
I can tell you I’ve met several Japanese immigrants who expressed that this was the case, and a problem, and that is why they came to the US. This was mostly 20-30 years ago, they told me then Japanese culture was changing at a very slow pace. They were amused when we complained about the slow pace of social progress in this country when it was rapid compared to Japan.
However, I have seen a little bit that the attitudes of younger Japanese have changed recently. Japanese youth, as youth almost everywhere, are more globalized now, and are better prepared to interact across cultures. I hope so anyway, even in our more open culture individualism is not an easy path in life.
The same book makes the claim that under Tokinawa, Japanese were taught their language was too difficult for foreigners to learn. It was also forbidden for Japanese to reach their language. Supposedly, at this time people who could speak Japanese had to make their interlocutors aware of this fact since it was assumed to be an impossibility. This sounds a little rich, it is easy to speak a language poorly. Yet I’ve had an occasional similar experience. Is this bullshyte?
I’m thinking your book might be simplifying things quite a lot so I’m wondering who the target audience is. I hate rolling out the discussion-dropping “Cite?!?” but can you share the title, author and publisher of the book that’s conveying these things?
This is certainly not to suggest the author is full of $#!+ but perhaps may be providing some extreme examples that weren’t widespread practices – hasty generalization, if you will.
To give some other less spectacular examples, though, it is considered inappropriate to eat or drink out on the street (in non-designated eating areas) and public displays of affection (e.g. kissing) are frowned-upon. Both of these unspoken rules of public behavior are influenced by that super-cohesion pressure: It is considered rude to call attention to the fact that you have plenty (food, or affection in this case) when others around you may have none.
A good contrast is your inventor example. Thomas Edison is famous for having invented the phonograph and the light bulb and electric power systems (DC) for the public. In truth, his Menlo Park company had a lot of hard-working scientific theorists and engineers whose results were patented under the Edison name. The Japanese, however, take the opposite approach: In the English language school where I taught, fellow teachers pointed out one of my English language students and said, “This guy invented cyanoacrylics – superglue!” but he would answer, “No, no. I work for the company, but there were several of us on that project.”
–G!
If I have seen further
It is by standing on the
shoulders of giants.
–Isaac Newton