From: dcroz@twics.co.jp
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Not a Myth at All
Date: 25 Dec 92 11:30:09 GMT
Organization: TWICS, Tokyo, Japan

Yoke Tanaka writes:
 
=}Are you a psychologist?  Are you a mind reader?  There may be some Japanese
=}who think like the above, but I would say *very* few.
 
     And are *you* a psychologist?  Are *you* a mind reader?  How come you get
to listen to what people say and look at what they do and make inferences about
what they're thinking, and I don't?
 
     Come to think of it, how come I don't even get to take them at their word
for what they're thinking?
 
=}You don't seem to grasp the fact that Japanese culture has a totally
=}different personality than that of the US or other countries.
 
     Good grief, you're not trying to take us on the "Japan is Unique" magical
mystery tour, are you?  I would say rather that *you* don't seem to grasp my
main argument:  whether this personality is different or not, it's racist, and
there is *nothing on earth* that can justify or excuse that--not "uniqueness,"
not some specious "inferiority complex," not the fact that Japan has only been
open to the outside for approximately the same stretch of history as the period
from the end of slavery in the U.S. to the present. . .not no way, not no how. 
There just ain't any excuse that works.  
 
=}The Japanese themselves call it "haji no bunka" (roughly, "culture of
=}shame").
 
     What's rough about it?  "Haji," shame, the particle "no," here used to
indicate that "B is of type A," and "bunka," culture.  A "bunka" that is of
type "shame," or, more colloquially, a "culture of shame."  No need to be
modest, I don't see how to get closer.  But let's not forget that this is
usually invoked to explain some instance where Japanese have acted like
sociopaths when away from home.  There's a kotowaza about that, too.
 
=}Also, from the time Japanese are kids they hear the phrase "okyaku sama wa
=}kamisama desu".
 
     "The customer is always right" (cult. equiv.) is rather strongly observed
here, but that argues *against* your position.  If I was a "customer," they
wouldn't be reacting that way.  But a "customer" is by definition human, and
I'm a ketou, so. . .
 
=}I think *more* of Japanese have an inferiority complex against the Americans
=}than a superiority thing.
 
     When will this bit of disinformation, this deliberate misdirection, ever
be laid to rest?  There isn't now, and never has been such a thing as a
Japanese inferiority complex with regard to the untermenschen--which is to say
everybody who's not strictly and 100% Japanese.
 
=}I remember many of my friends complaining "why do we (Japanese) have to all
=}learn English".  "Why can't they learn Japanese?"
 
     This is your support for the proposition that the Japanese have an
inferiority complex?   People who've been brought up with such an inflated view
of themselves and their country that they wonder "Why can't they (the entire
rest of the world, I presume) be required to learn Japanese if they want to
talk to us?"
 
     What do people say when watching a movie that has a member of the British
raj saying something similar about the "wogs" learning English?
 
=}So, here are some underlying factors ...
=}  1.  Japanese, in general, do not expect foreigners to learn their
=}      language.
 
     So what?  When I go to another country, I don't expect everybody (or
sometimes anybody) there to speak English, but when I find somebody that does,
I don't fly into a panic and experience a medullar core dump.
 
     Besides, *why* is it that the Japanese do not expect foreigners to learn
their language?  Because foreigners *can't* learn their language because only
members of the master race have the necessary genetic endowment.  But this
isn't racist, you see; it's just a different "personality."
 
     This is an interesting example of the human's ability to believe two
contradictory principles, in turn and as each allows the outcome he wants.  
"They can't learn Japanese," but "They should have to, to spare us the trouble
of learning foreign languages."
 
=}2.  It is engrained in their minds to accomodate the customer as much as
=}possible.
 
     Which, of course, includes conversing in the customer's language of
choice, right?  If the customer evinces a desire to converse in Japanese, they
just switch to Japanese, right?  Suuuure they do.  Sorry, doesn't hold water.
 
=}  3.  People that work in Kiosks or fast food places are low-skill
=}      labor.  They are adept at performing their routine duties, but
=}      are totally inept when it comes to an unexpected situation.
 
     An unexpected situation?  Like, for instance, a human being approaching
the kiosk and ordering a pack of cigarettes in the worker's mother tongue; the
same language that all the other customers routinely speak?  Oh my, yes, I can
see how that would be terrifying.  
 
     The only way that could be an "unexpected situation" is if my basic
premise is correct.
 
     Besides, this is by no means limited to kiosks.  The jerks at Borland
Japan were some of the worst I've ever encountered.
 
=}  4.  They are probably taught what to do if a foreigner who might
=}      understand English approaches.  They are probably not taught
=}      what to do if that person spoke Japanese.
 
     You're guessing, and your guess is not plausible.  Intercultural training
for kiosk employees?
 
     Besides, why would they *need* to be taught what to do in the event that a
ketou were to act just like a real human being?  
 
     How would the lesson plan read?  
     
     "Now, when a ketou comes up to your kiosk and says, in perfectly
understandable Japanese, 'I'd like a packet of tissues, please,' under no
circumstances are you to comprehend what he wants."
 
=}  5.  Japanese, in general, tend to "tomadou" ("be at a loss") when
=}      confronted with an extraordinary situation.
 
     What "extraordinary situation" is that?  A talking animal?
 
     That's a pretty nifty five-point catechism, but it just doesn't hold
water.  You're making excuses for why the Japanese go brain dead in an
"unexpected" or "extraordinary" situation; but you just don't seem to be able
to grasp that what is making this particular situation so stressful for them is
their own racism.  If they weren't racist, they wouldn't seize up when
confronted by a ketou.
 
=}it is _possible_ that these low-skilled laborers all have this "holier than
=}thou" mindset ... but it's not likely.  They have other things to worry
=}about.  Such as life.
 
     Their racial superiority *is* the central "fact" of their life.  If they
have so many other things to worry about, one might wonder why they spend so
much time talking about it.
 
=}Another possibility is that they have never encountered a foreigner who
=}ordered in Japanese.
 
     Hardly likely, but so what?  You speak to someone in his native language
and he gets the brain squirts because he considers you to be of a different
race?  And this isn't racism?
 
=}People that are quick on their feet could handle those situations
 
     "People that are quick on their feet could handle" a human being speaking
to them in their own native language to transact such a complicated affair as
selling their two-hundredth pack of cigarettes for the day?  Golly gee, I hope
I get that "quick on my feet" some day.
 
=}So a foreigner orders in Japanese, they don't know what to do.
 
     Okay, I get it, this has been a put-on, right?  You wanted it to look like
you were arguing against my position, but you're really just parodying the
opposition, right?
 
     "A foreigner orders in Japanese, they (the Japanese) don't know what to
do."  
 
     It boggles the mind.  Why *don't* they know what to do?  A human being has
spoken to them in their own language.  Where's the bottleneck?  Where did the
communication break down?
 
     Let's just remember, whatever the answer is, it *can't* be racism.  It
can't be racism because. . .because. . .well, just because, that's all.
 
=}"Does he really know what he's ordering?"  "Is he really saying what I think
=}he's saying?"
 
     Yeah, that sounds like what they say to themselves.  At bottom they don't
*really* believe animals can talk; they suspect you're just parroting sounds
you don't really comprehend.
 
=}in a restaurant, they may try talking back in English so that you will be
=}forced to point to an item on the menu.  That way there is no screw-up.  They
=}get in trouble for screwing up your order, so it's in their best interest to
=}be absolutely sure what you want.
 
     I don't see how that mitigates the offensiveness of their behavior.  That
looks as racist and insulting as any explanation I posited.  The underlying
premise is a refusal to believe that animals can talk.
 
=}Many people like hiding behind barriers. . .Have you ever tried communicating
=}with. . .They don't like that. . .Many seem to enjoy the barrier. . .many
=}people like barriers. . .Many people like being able to lock their doors.
 
     And when they erect those barriers and lock those doors specifically on
the basis of race, it's called. . .all together now. . .
 
=}I'm not saying all Japanese are shy and awkward, and that none have a
=}superiority thing.  However, I would think you'd find more of the former than
=}the latter in Kiosks, restaurants, etc.
 
     I'm ready to prove the opposite any time you. . .(is proposing a wager
legal?). . .maybe I'd better just say, any time it becomes worth my trouble.
 
=}Some of the most arrogant Japanese I've met are those that have spent 2 or 3
=}years abroad and go back thinking they have the other side all figured out.
 
     They can be the most blatant, agreed.  Interesting that we all assume that
these Japanese regard "abroad" as "the other side."  Does that work for other
countries?
 
**Some of the most arrogant Englishmen I've met are those that have spent 2 or
**3 years abroad and go back thinking they have the other side all figured out.
 
**Some of the most arrogant Canadians I've met are those that have spent 2 or 3
**years abroad and go back thinking they have the other side all figured out.
 
**Some of the most arrogant Somalians I've met are those that have spent 2 or 3
**years abroad and go back thinking they have the other side all figured out.
 
     Nope, doesn't scan.
 
=}Sounds like you're trying to fire the first shot.
 
     One could arrive at that conclusion, starting from your preconception that
the behavior of the Japanese could be caused by anything *but* racism.  If we
don't rule that out *before* considering the evidence, other lines of thought
open up.