To summarize a stay

During the 1960’s Anthropologist Kalervo Oberg used the term “Culture shock” first and foremost to describe how human beings can react to unfamiliar places. Oberg was within that context writing about an individual experiencing a new culture in a between a culture experience.  According to the professor Stephen Bouchner, who has specialized himself within that field, differences in core values can be a major source of culture shock. Looking back on my experience of Japan it is hard not to put cultural differences in core values as one of the most influential factors of this journey.

On the surface one can easily describe Japan as a modern, polite, organized and clean country with a low crime rate. This is still true as I am about to leave. But the layers and complexities that make this happen did at some point appear during my stay in this country. Bruce W. Davidson writes about two interesting terms called tatemae and honne which refer to a…

“…distinction between one's outward public face and one's true intentions or hidden thoughts. It is often considered more tactful or practical to conceal more than one reveals in words.”

These terms are not just valid when considering the politeness. They are crucial. One could argue that a public face that hides true intentions or hidden thoughts are to some extant a reaction to fear of social punishment. And by that logic follows that if you don’t have the choice to not help, then by default the polite act turns in to something else. This is not neccessarily unique for Japan, one could probably argue that the western sociologist Erwin Goffmans theory of “Front stage” / Backstage” is similar to the phenomenon. But I would still argue that there is a more common trait among citizens within western societies to say no and be more straight forward about it. In Japan the sense of will is by no means any different but how it is conducted that differs.  

Either way Japan is often referred to as a country with collectivistic attitudes or described as a consensus society and relies on what some define as giri – described as the obligations you have to others. I can definitely agree with Japan as a consensus society. This is where the importance of harmony within the Japanese society seems to tie down or suffocate individuals possibilities to act on their own ideas and that social pressure forces people to make decisions on standards set by their group. Consensus per se is not a bad thing, on the opposite, but when consensus in someways are shaped out of fear then it is hard to distinguish between actual consensus and oppression. Some of the Japanese people that I have had the opportunity to talk to about this topic say that one of the problems is also that you do not just represent yourself when you are living your life in a way that the collective disagrees with. You are to some extant representing your family and friends too.


To clarify: going back to my home country Sweden has not filled me with a dislike of Japan. But it has raised some question marks about the Japanese politeness and if people are acting on their believes. It is also how I have come to understand the "lies" that I have encountered from time to time and how they are used as a negotation method often referred to as a misunderstanding  on behalf of the person who becomes manipulated. I have also realized how views of gender differs in Japan in comparison to my home country.


Even though I have heard arguments about how the house wives in Japan has a higher status then the equivalents in Sweden, which is probably not untrue, the opportunitys for japanese women to pursuit a career seems to be far more difficult. Hopefully this is something that will change as a consequence of the low birthrates of Japan and the need for economies to grow,

Education in Japan

Bruce W. Davidson a professor at Hokusei Gakuen University shared in 1998 his opinion on the Japanese educational system:

“Such a hierarchically-controlled, factual exam-oriented education system naturally produces uninquisitive, uncritical, and unreflective students. The Ministry is perhaps now reaping the harvest of its own policies in a generation of high school students who refuse to read anything but comic books.”

 To put this quote in to some context we should do a brief historical revisit to the aftermath of the Second World War.

In 1946, after the WW II, the occupying US government was trying to establish a democracy within Japan. Thus education is to considered a very important part of shaping and changing societies the US government invited the U.S. Education mission to assist the Japanese in shaping a educational structure that according to Mariko Onos paper “Critical perspectives on the current educational system in Japan and alternative education: Creating ethical and democratic society”(Ono: 2011) would help Japan in creating a more democratic nation. Ono writes:

“The mission emphasized that school curriculum should foster individuals’ ability to think as democratic citizens, rather than emphasizing memorization and vertical system.”

One can wonder what happened to that idea. Even though the Japanese students that I have encountered in school definitely have their own, individual ideas on various topics, it would be dishonest to say that the Japanese educational system in general seems to be encouraging the students in developing their own individual ability to discuss and carry out their own perspectives on things. The explanation for this is according to Bruce W.
Davidson in “Critical thinking education faces the challenges of Japan” that the educational system is centralized where certain national tests based on memorization determines whether students will have the opportunity to advance to the next stage in their education. Davidson writes:

“Everyone knows that the only important thing for advancement in society is to pass those tests, so time spent on other things is basically time wasted.”

I’ve had discussions with Japanese students who take naps during class because they have been up at night studying what they recorded on their recorder while sleeping. Not much participation going on there. And even if we toy with the idea that they are exceptions among the Japanese students at Kansai Gaidai University, all of the students that I’ve talked to similar dreams of going to a western university. Possibly one of the greatest gap they will encounter is the differences of how participation, discussions and opinions are valued in class.

Karaoke

- What?! Why? What were you supposed to do? My guide and goto guy,Tatsuya, seemed kind of confused.
- I have to figure out what japanese people do. Can you help me?

A couple of hours later we were on the bus on our way downtown. We had decided to go to a Karaoke place near the center of Hirakata City and I had made a specific request to Tatsuya that he would show me a Karoke place where we wouldn't run into alot of ryugakusee (foreign exchange students).

My plan was to do participating observations in Karaoke rooms and that I would be able to try to understand the karoke-phenomenon from the native point of view. Tatsuya had agreed to be my translator for the evening and in someways us as a duo seemed to cover an emic and etic perspecitve.

Tatsuya found my idea of entering strangers karaokerooms to be weird. Apparently it is considered somewhat odd to make contact with people in other karaokerooms if you don't know them. Another of my japanese friends explained it a bit more specific the day after:

- It is only drunk foreign students that enter other peoples karaoke rooms.

If we would have had something similar in Sweden it would probably be seen as the perfect place for meeting new people. But in Japan it actually seems more socially accepted to rent a karaoke on your own then to seek contact with people that you don't know or to invite them into your room.

We arrived at the Karokeplace and a white sign with red font spelled out "Jankara" in Katakana. We rented a karaoke room (you are actually not allowed to enter the place without renting a room first).
But shortly after we've settled in the room the exploration started. I opened the door to one of the neighboring, more crowded karaoke rooms and I introduced myself and the cause of my study(Tatsuya translated).

The members of this group of people were second year university students who were on a spring break. When I started to interview them they were six or seven people but as the observation took place some of them left and others arrived.

Even though I tried to ask them a lot of question I also experienced the tricky parts of doing participating observation. They were asking most of the questions and they also wanted to take pictures with me.

After a while it got better and less exciting for them to meet a foreign student so I made the decision to not try to enter more rooms during the evening because the procedure would probably be similar. They found karaoke as a good way to release stress and tension because you can sing and be as loud as you want.

For someone who have lived in Japan it is understandable that it is not possible to be loud at home if you are living in a dorm, at your parents house or in a apartment as they did. The walls are thin...

Some of the groupmembers also were of the opinion that karaoke was appreciated by most people in Japan and that most people sang karaoke even though it probably was considered to be more popular among the young. Having a conversation with one of the employees gave a another view of the Karaoke visitors in general. Apparently the older generations more oftenly go to Karaoke during day time while the young go during the later hours of the day and therefor the younger generation does not see the "old" singing karaoke as much.

Portrait

It is interesting how roads cross. I remember the first time that I met Tatsuya Ogawa, it was during the orientation week and as every other student I had to register my computer at the school.  Without exaggerating I was somewhat surprised when the Japanese person who assisted me also started to use some simple phrases in Swedish. It was an unimaginable thought and a unreal feeling to travel around the world and there meet a Japanese person who at the time actually spoke better Swedish then I spoke Japanese.

We started talking(in English I might say) and he introduced himself as Tatsuya and turned out to be my first personal connection with the country where I had arrived. Nowadays i consider him to be a good friend of mine. Tatsuya is a 21 year old Japanese student on the way of educating himself to work within tourism and is planning on going to Iceland as an exchange student. The most striking thing about him is he's good humour and how obvious it is that he enjoys learning different languages and to meet new people.

During my stay here I have not yet met any other Japanese student who actually can speak fluent English and make basic sentences in Finnish, Swedish, and German.   

I choose a picture of him that I took at one of the times we were hanging out at the Hirakata bar Seven gods.
I think that the location for the picture suited Tatsuya as a person very well. Even though he prefers kareoke to bars the seven god felt more like a location that represented Tatsuya better.
Just as the bar calls itself the fifth Seminar House and is eager to connect with international students so is Tatsuya. He is my friend and many times he has turned out to be my goto guy if and when I need assistance in any form in understanding the Japanese society. 

My neighborhood

Taking a walk in the neighborhood of Katahoko Higashimachi made me think about what Benedict Anderson referred to as “Imagined Communities” (Anderson: 1991). Even though Anderson used his famous term by describing how one consider him-/herself as a part of a nation despite that a member of a state or nation is very unlikely to meet or know all the people in the state where they are living.  

The same statement can be made about the neighbourhood where I have my stay. As an exchange student in Japan at the lowest  language level and not being able to comprehend daily conversations and participate in discussions with the locals of this part of Hirakata has put me in a position of only observing that which is around me. Theodore C. Bestors probably made a correct observation of how well labeled the Japanese societies are (Bestor: 2003, p 321) but without knowledge of how to decode all the labels and signs the possibility of making false assumptions are tremendous.

As a Seminar House 1 resident one of my daily routines is a walk or bike route from the Seminar House towards the Kansai Gaidai University. The neighborhood can by this route be described as a interesting dialogue of commercialization, tradition, the modern and the old Japan. About half way through the route placed among houses and worn down two story apartments there is a memorial ground called Katahoko Konshidan. I remember the first time I saw the memorial ground and how I wasn’t even sure if was allowed to enter it.

When I returned to this part of my neighborhood I realized that the memorial ground from the beginning of the 18^th century with it’s statues that I almost didn’t dare to touch also can appear as perfect soccer goals for some of the early teenagers of Katahoko Higashimachi. They didn’t mind when I showed them the camera and in my broken Japanese asked if it was OK to take pictures of them. Rather they started to pose a bit before returning to their intensive soccer game. 

Footware & Photos

In Douglas Adams novel “The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy” the main character Arthur Dent becomes aware of the towels importance and how it is considered to be “... the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have” whilst travelling around the universe( Adams:1979 & 2004, p 18). 

In reality and in Japan a towel is simply a towel. However there is one other, from a western point of view, useful bathroom product that might come in handy if you intend to stay or visit the land widely known for samurais, Manga, Anime, sumo wrestling and electronic industry. 


If you already have visited Japan I suppose that you also figured out that:
 - yes,  I am talking about slippers.

Owning and wearing slippers in Japan is crucial. According to the www.japan-guide.com it is neccessary if you want to be seen as a person with good manners. As I arrived and entered the Kansai Gaidai arranged Seminar House I was gently told to take of my shoes by the doorway or genkan as they call it. By that time I realized three important things.

Firstly: That it is custom to wear slippers inside the houses in Japan. 

Secondly: That I hadn’t brought any slippers with me. 

And lastly: Socks smell after a while and wearing shoes doesn't really help in any other way then preserving the stench during the door-to-door 20 hour travel. Luckily the RA’s at the Seminar House prepared a short tour for the newly arrivals and the first stop along this tour was a place to buy the comfortable footwear we call slippers. 


I was by japanese standards a brute.

Luckily the rules for the occassions to wear or not to wear slippers are quite easy. When entering a house you replace your ordinary outdoor shoes with slippers. Wearing your outdoor shoes inside someone’s home is a BIG no, no.

   You don’t walk on tatami with slippers. Instead you should walk on the mat either bare foot or with socks on.

-   
.And for your own good you better remember  to remove and/or switch the
toilet slippers to your ordinarie ones before returning to the dinner table at a 
restaurant.