JAPANEASE WORLD VIEW

"It is up to you". I am often told since I came here to the United States. When I order dishes in a restaurant, or when I buy something in a department store, even though I need more suggestions and recommendation from people there, they just say, "It is up to you".

In this country, the individual is usually supposed to have his/her definite choice based upon his/her own unique favor or idea. While I am in Japan, store clerks and salesmen usually try to describe the necessary information and recommend something appropriate for me to buy.

Obviously, we have these slight but fundamental differences between two countries. Why so different? Where do these differences come from? It is easy to attribute them to the difference of cultures or to the difference of traditions. But, actual situations seem to be more complicated, so I'd like to analyze myself as well as the characteristics of Japanese society.

It is often said that in Japanese society, the traditional nations of authority, groupism and hierarchy are directly/indirectly and consciously/subconsciously respected and emphasized. This tradition really affects the Japanese education system and its practice in schools and thus characterizes our culture.

I have the memory that I was often taught how important cooperation and consensus are, while I was a student. I am sure that this has been stimulating the group identity and equal society except each student's achievement of various tests. On the other hand the significance of the individuality has been long neglected and diversity has not been developed. I have almost no recollection that I was asked my opinions in my schooldays: "What do you think, Yoshikawa-kun?"(Japanese teachers didn't call their students by the first names many years ago.)

This results in the fact that Japanese have the common characteristics such as politeness and kindness, and unfortunately dependence and hesitation. And, I have to say the Japanese society is definitely the uniform one. I know that the negative aspects among these features of Japanese people are more often pointed out. I believe that this poor character should be immediately corrected and reconsider in the current education system.

More important, however, is that Japanese recognize that living in such a uniform society is very easy and much less uncomfortable than the Westerners expect, as far as one is so educated. This is partly because one is seldom requested to show his/her own opinion and to live independently in our society. It is all right to follow the tradition or the social practice and to comply with the way of the majority of people so that you really feel secure and at ease within the society. This dependency to each other can develop a sense of solidarity and a stable society. It is expected that you feel the desire to be loved and supported by others, while a fully independent person may appear unsociable to the others mind.

You don't need to worry about your future after graduation because your teacher recommends an appropriate company that you should enter. You don't need to be concerned with whom you will get married because the matchmaker (mostly your aunts, superiors in your office, or a housewife in your neighborhood) introduces you appropriate women at the marriageable age. It is really true that it is comfortable to remain and dependent.

This is, I suppose, why we Japanese have much tacit understanding which we share in our society, and which people out of the society don't know. It is quite a good example of this that in Japanese language the subjects such as 'I' or 'you' are usually skipped in spoken language and sometimes even in written sentences. But, this is a little bit different from the fact that people sharing one culture have the common values in the belief and the concept which people in the different society can't understand.

It is really interesting as well as meaningful to mention that in Japanese language we don't have proper terms which are corresponding to 'identity', 'concept' and 'privacy' so that these English words have been adopted in Japanese language and often used in daily life, pronounced as "aidentiti", "konseputo" or "puraibasii". (Japanese usually must end with a vowel). But, we have many words similar to 'cooperation.' I believe that this is not a coincide but really reflects the character of our society.