Japanese Culture

Welcome to your class blog.  This is where most of your "journal writing", worth 30%, will take place.  I may sometimes ask you to write something or answer questions on loose leaf in Monday's class.

As we noted in the last class, culture includes everything that people of a particular group are socialized (that is,trained by families, schools etc) to do, think, use, and make. I asked you to reflect a little on your feelings about Japanese culture.

Please write about aspects of your culture that you feel proud of, and others which you find a little tiresome, or out of date.

In my case, I feel the good points of Japanese culture outweigh the bad (otherwise I wouldn't have lived here for 20 years!!).  I appreciate the punctuality and efficiency found in businesses of all types (especially trains, as I have to use them a lot), and the convenience of having so many shops nearby and open until late.  I also enjoy the bathing culture, in sentos or rotenburo or onsen. I especially like riverside rotenburos in the mountains. Japanese food of all types is great, and I think it's a good idea to have several small plates on the table from which we take small amounts.  Nabe parties are fun too.  Dinner can seem like more of a shared experience here. 

On the downside, I don't like the amount of noise pollution in Japan (needless announcements everywhere, politicians in mini-vans touring neighbourhoods, screaming their names into mics, and horrible muzak in supermarkets and shopping streets (I live near one). Do you know what muzak is?  I think Japanese get used to a lot of noise, and don't notice it. The number of perverts (chikan) here is shocking too. 65% percent of Japanese women report having been attacked at least once, which is a shameful statistic.  I'd like my daughter to learn a martial art, so she can defend herself in future.

Cultural differences

Most of you have spent some time overseas and/or have some foreign friends. I guess there have been times when you've felt a culture gap (i.e. you couldn't relate to someone else's behavior or ideas because of cultural differences). Could you share a story of such an experience as your next post?

In my case, my wife is Japanese, so we often notice differences in our ways of thinking and acting. Actually, it's sometimes hard to know how much of it is because of culture, and how much is due to individual character. For example, one time when we were dating we had arranged to meet at a station at 6:00 and go to a restaurant from there. I arrived at exactly 6:00, and she told me she had been waiting since 5:45. I just said "Hmmm", or something like that, and started walking. As we were moving down the street, I suddenly realized that she seemed angry. "What's up?", I asked. She said that as she'd waited 15 minutes, I should apologize for making her wait (even though I hadn't been late). It was a bizarre idea, but I apologized anyway. Actually, she often wants apologies for things which seem trivial to me. Then I'm scolded for not apologizing "from my heart". Sigh...

Globalization's impact on me

Naturally globalization has affected my life in various ways, but the most obvious one is that it played a part in me choosing to live in Japan. I first came to Japan in 1989. At that time I was feeling adventurous and just wanted to explore the world as much as I could. I had been in India for 4 months before I arrived in Tokyo, and was curious to see what life in Japan was like (maybe I was also kind of chasing an American girl, but that's another story).

I knew very little about Japan then. I was even surprised and relieved to discover that there were some trees in Tokyo!! It was hard to adjust to the crowds at first. Being inside Shinjuku station at night made me feel like I was some kind of fighting spaceship in a video game, dodging missiles. After a few happy years here I realized I could enjoy having a career in Japan, even without speaking good Japanese (because of globalization). I went back to Brisbane to do my M.A., but always planned to return.

A magical experience

I took this photo while standing on top of an old, ruined temple in the countryside in Cambodia. The sunset was spectacular, and we could see across a really wide area of jungle. The sound of the insects was very mysterious, almost like some kind of machine. They must have been a similar creature to cicadas though.

Angkor Wat was very near this place too. If you have a chance, I really recommend you go there. There is a strange sense of something "special" as you approach it. It's hard to describe, but you might feel how wonderful the Khmer culture must have been. The Khmers came from present day Cambodia, but ruled a huge Asian empire from about 900 A.D.- 1400. The stone walls of Angkor Wat are decorated with countless carvings showing events from the daily lives of the people.

A great city I've visited

Have you heard of Dubrovnik? Maybe not. It's on the coast of Croatia, which used to be part of Yugoslavia before the war in the early 1990s. A few centuries ago, it was controlled by Venice (when Venice was an independent city-state, before Italy was formed). Many of the better buildings in the old town were designed by the Venetians. You can still walk around the outside of the old town on top of the city walls. Down below are charming stone houses built close together, some of them on a steep slope. My wife and I rented an apartment here for a few days. The people are friendly, the weather is usually good and the seafood is always fresh. This is a photo I took of the old town after swimming at the beach below. It is a beautiful beach.