After a callous remark from Tokyo’s governor, Shintaro Ishihara, we see a growing rift in Japanese cultural values that often does not bubble to the surface until, in this case, a destructive, powerful force of nature incites human nature to rationalize. Ishihara described the earthquake a “divine punishment” and said “We need to use the tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has attached itself like rust to the mentality of the Japanese people over a long period of time.”

The growth of individualism in Japan is something we’ve watched over the past decades, as technology and globalization have irreversibly influenced its youth. Exposure to a world of popular culture, greater opportunities to travel the world and more channels to pursue one’s interests have made the idea of being a unique individual, a hallmark of many Western cultures, a popular one among Japanese.

However, the individualistic tendencies of Japanese youth don’t look similar to what a Westerner is accustomed to seeing. Take cosplay for example, which is a kind of performance art popular in many parts of Japan where people dress in costume and congregate in a designated area of a city. The desire to emulate a fictional character that one connects with on a personal level is similar to the way one might idolize celebrities or other famous individuals, but cosplay is one unique, Japanese manifestation of the value.

Ian Buruma of the Wall Street Journal tells us the far right in Japan claim Japanese youth “have lost the old collective spirit of the obedient, disciplined Japanese, who supposedly always put the interests of the nation before their own.” However, the opposite has been true from what the media has shared about the greater reaction to disaster in Japan: a strongly collective effort to “remain calm and carry on” despite widespread physical and emotional misery.

Furthermore, many of us have noted the stoicism with which the Japanese have responded to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. The cerebral if not sublime expressions we see in photos of people in the affected regions tell a unique, cultural story of collective responsibility and attitudes towards expression. The Journal also reflects on this:

Foreign observers have remarked on the discipline and solidarity of Japanese in the face of their current circumstances…It comes from the social conformity that is imposed on all Japanese from an early age, as well as from the duty to take care of one’s own and the fear of causing trouble to strangers. But it is also the result of an awareness, instilled by centuries of living with disasters, that what comes down can be rebuilt.

Many non-Japanese have a hard time interpreting the typically inward expression of emotion, which applies to both positive and negative situations. Many interactions between Japanese are highly intuitive, and feelings are transmitted with only the slightest visible or audible expression. Homogeneous societies such as Japan’s tend to be extremely contextual, as nearly 100% of the population share a common history, lifestyle and upbringing, eliminating the need to communicate in explicit, direct or overt ways (to compare, think about the way one would communicate with a person on the street in New York City).

Rescuers and victims carry bags of food aid from a helicopter in Yamada, northern Japan

The Journal continues to trace a path to the root of where many in Japan derive their feelings towards calamitous acts of nature and how to overcome them, two very cultural topics.

The sense of danger from natural calamities has deep roots in Japanese culture. The country’s earliest native religion, Shinto…is composed of rituals to appease the forces of nature, which are held to be divine. Since nature can be angry as well as benevolent, these gods must be kept happy with offerings, ceremonies and sacrifices.

Although many buildings are no longer made of wood (which is too expensive and hard to maintain), Japanese cities still look a little jerry-built, rather like movie sets, as though in anticipation of impermanence…

Impermanence is also a central concept of Buddhism, embodied in the changing of the seasons, which are heavily marked in Japan by festivals and other holidays. A somewhat fatalistic attitude towards nature is embedded in the Japanese psyche.

How does the Japanese mentality relate to the mentality of people living near active volcanoes, for example, or tornado prone areas, where disaster is known to strike without warning?

Is this a chance for Japan to steel itself and emerge as an even stronger nation and economy?

We appreciate your comments and thoughts. Please leave them by clicking on the title of this post and then scrolling to the bottom to leave your thoughts in the comments field.

RW3 CultureWizard

The subtitle caught our attention: “In Japan every year, leftovers are roughly the same as the world’s annual total of food aid.”

The Japan Times uncovers a subtle cultural issue that many of us can relate to: the decision to leave or take leftover food home from a restaurant.

Generally, our cultural background informs our philosophy on the matter. In the US, the term “doggy bag” may have been invented out of embarrassment, implying the leftover food was for the pet dog, and not for the person. The manner in which we leave our plates with or without food leads to another discussion over the significance we ascribe to these actions. Watch this classic video, which illustrates how in China, clearing one’s plate indicates one’s hunger, which allows the host to display his or her generosity (for an Anglo-Saxon, it signifies one’s satisfaction with the meal and a hearty aversion to waste).

A doggy bag that won't leak liquid and can be reused. Eriko Arita

Returning to Japan, the aptly named Doggy Bag Committee (DBC), a Tokyo-based non-profit organization, is campaigning to reduce the food restaurant-goers waste. DBC asks people to carry plastic, reusable doggy bags (pictured above) and encourages restaurants to allow customers to do so. It’s not clear from the article if eateries provide doggy bags. However, DBC has found that many restaurants are opposed to the use of doggy bags because of a fear that food will go bad and may make customer’s sick, thus hurting the restaurant’s reputation. One mother even tells her children, ” ‘If you are full, you have no choice but to leave the food,’ because most restaurants don’t let us take the leftovers home.”

In terms of embarrassment, would you be uncomfortable asking for a box to take your leftovers with you? Where does embarrassment come from and how does culture play a role?

According to a DBC survey, 90% of respondents were happy to take home leftover food, but how many will actually do so?

How does Japanese culture play a role in the reduction of wasted food through the use of doggy bags?

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

With titles like Yes, I Can With Obama: 40 Magical English Phrases From Presidential E-mails and Learn English Grammar From Obama, Japanese publishers have found a niche to sell instructional books for learning the English language. According to the New York Times, President Obama’s easy to understand voice, accent and vocabulary in his speeches and addresses have made him a natural target for English-learners in Japan, where he is already very famous.

Alluding to Japan’s highly indirect norms of communication, a Canadian speech writer living near Tokyo tells the New York Times that “Japan has not been serious about communication…In a Japanese company or political party or anyplace where Japanese come together as a group, the process is consensus-forming, and the outcome has to be consensus, and the consensus is internal. In that, the audience often gets forgotten.”

This is an extremely insightful view into Japanese culture. Loyalty to the community-at-large is a hallmark of Japanese society, where decision-making is up to the group, rather than the individual.

Click here to jump to the article.

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