Xenophobe's Guide to the Japanese
By Sahoko Kaji
1/5
()
About this ebook
"For all the apparent worship of the way of the warrior, being yasashii, which means being gentle, tender, caring, yielding and considerate, is very important in Japan. Asked what a Japanese values most in a potential spouse, both sexes tend to put being being yasashii at the top of their list of desirable virtues. The concept is even applied to the inanimate. For instance, a car or shampoo can be yasashii to you, to the eye, and to the environment."
Related to Xenophobe's Guide to the Japanese
Related ebooks
Japanese are Like That Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kata: The Key to Understanding & Dealing with the Japanese! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kickboxing Geishas: How Modern Japanese Women Are Changing Their Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Empire of Dogs: Canines, Japan, and the Making of the Modern Imperial World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLittle Book of Kyoto Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsXenophobe's Guide to the Chinese Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Xenophobe's Guide to the Estonians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waste: Consuming Postwar Japan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuper Cheap Japan: Budget Travel in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima and Surrounding Areas Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Geishas and the Floating World: Inside Tokyo's Yoshiwara Pleasure District Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gambia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe French Way: The Truth Behind the Behavior, Attitudes, and Customs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRiding Into War: The Memoir of a Horse Transport Driver, 1916-1919 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diva Nation: Female Icons from Japanese Cultural History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJapan in 100 Words: From Anime to Zen: Discover the Essential Elements of Japan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Imperial Concubine's Tale: Scandal, Shipwreck, and Salvation in Seventeenth-Century Japan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Tea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJapanese Tourism: Spaces, Places and Structures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife of Geisha Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaking Home from War: Stories of Japanese American Exile and Resettlement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChampagne Salary: Diary of a Tokyo Hostess Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incredible Japan Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Tales of Old Japan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsXenophobe's Guide to the Greeks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jia: A Novel of North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Knocked Up Abroad Again: Knocked Up Abroad, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThailand Take Two: Thailand Take Two, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAt Home in Japan: A Foreign Woman's Journey of Discovery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Xenophobe's Guide to the Aussies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrides and Customs: Around the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Humor & Satire For You
Mindful As F*ck: 100 Simple Exercises to Let That Sh*t Go! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex Hacks: Over 100 Tricks, Shortcuts, and Secrets to Set Your Sex Life on Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Joke Book (Period): Hundreds of the Funniest, Silliest, Most Ridiculous Jokes Ever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love and Other Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5101 Fun Personality Quizzes: Who Are You . . . Really?! Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pimpology: The 48 Laws of the Game Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 2,548 Wittiest Things Anybody Ever Said Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Best F*cking Activity Book Ever: Irreverent (and Slightly Vulgar) Activities for Adults Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Solutions and Other Problems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nothing to See Here: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tidy the F*ck Up: The American Art of Organizing Your Sh*t Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: A Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shipped Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Soulmate Equation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious People: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Go the F**k to Sleep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Favorite Half-Night Stand Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Xenophobe's Guide to the Japanese
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Xenophobe's Guide to the Japanese - Sahoko Kaji
Japan.
Nationalism & Identity
The ins and outs of being Japanese
To the Japanese, the world is split into two kinds: ‘we Japanese’ and everyone else (or, vaguely, ‘Westerners’, for everywhere, even Hawaii, is west of Japan).
Five-sixths of Japan is uninhabitable because it is so mountainous that it is only suitable for pine trees, and there are no roads, houses, or factories. The remaining one-sixth, mostly on the coast, is uninhabitable because there is nothing but roads, houses and factories. This means the Japanese live on top of each other, so any idea of individuality, of not relying on another person, is well and truly expunged from the psyche.
Individuality and selfishness are as welcome as a sumo wrestler barging the line at a buffet.
The Japanese are gregarious by nature – individuality and selfishness are as welcome as a sumo wrestler barging the line at a buffet. They consider one of their strengths to be their homogeneity: sentences often begin with the phrase We Japanese
, as though they all act identically and hold exactly the same views. The result is a strong sense of uchi, meaning ‘inside’, i.e., ‘us’ or ‘at home’, and soto meaning ‘outside’, i.e., ‘them’ or ‘abroad’.
To be taken seriously, for your well-being to receive proper attention, in other words to matter to the Japanese, you must be uchi. If you are not, you can expect little consideration: you are soto, and what you will get is benign neglect. You are invisible. To the Japanese, foreigners are soto most of the time.
Once you are their acquaintance, preferably their customer, the red carpet rolls.
Japan is uchi, everywhere else is soto, so the Japanese can behave differently overseas. There you can express an opinion, admit you don’t actually want to get married or study accountancy – so long as nobody at home hears about it. ‘Embarrassment on the road is left behind’ as the proverb conveniently goes. Many a European man is bemused to find that the sparky, fun-loving, independent Japanese girl he’s met on her travels turns into a meek yes-woman back at home.
To your uchi friends, you divulge your innermost secrets. With mere acquaintances you stick to talking about the weather. Under no circumstances should the two attitudes be confused. Thus the existence of a stranger in the lift or the corridor is never acknowledged. Doors slam in your face, elbows ram into your side, briefcases leave marks on your knees and nobody apologises. But once you are their acquaintance, preferably their customer, the red carpet rolls.
The Japanese find such sudden switching quite natural. The uchi/soto business is about cutting up the world into manageable proportions. You are brought up to care for each other; but obviously you can’t care for everyone, so uchi comes first, strangers last. You have to draw the line somewhere. And, for the Japanese, the coast of Japan is a convenient place to do it.
How they see others
To be Japanese, you must have a Japanese name and exclusively Japanese blood. Everyone else is a gaijin (‘outsider’) and can never be Japanese. If you are a ‘proper’ Western gaijin, the Japanese will be disappointed if you are not tall, blond and blue-eyed. These looks have big appeal, especially to the younger Japanese, many of whom wear contact lenses to make their eyes look blue, or dye their hair. Considered the ultimate in visual desirability, Western models, actors and rock stars are recruited by the media to advertise everything from cars to cough drops.
To be Japanese, you must have a Japanese name and exclusively Japanese blood.
To the majority of Japanese, foreigners are classified roughly as a) the dark-skinned, b) Koreans, and c) Americans. (Even the British are regarded as Americans. The Japanese love affair with America runs deep. Asked ‘What nationality would you like to be if you were to be born again?’, 30% of those polled answered ‘American’.)
Large numbers of Koreans live and work in Japan due to Korea being a former colony. The Japanese Constitution forbids any discrimination – but only against Japanese citizens, and as the Koreans are not allowed Japanese citizenship they are exempt. Discrimination is a touchy subject – and therefore avoided. The Japanese way of dealing with something they find unacceptable is by not talking about it: if it isn’t acknowledged, then it can be regarded as ceasing to exist.
The Japanese way of dealing with something they find unacceptable is by not talking about it.
Westerners in Japan are exonerated from following Japanese ways and even the most blatant misconduct will be forgiven on the grounds of them being a gaijin – a word that is too impolite to be publicly pronounced; a word that mothers scold their children for using. Gaijin embodies a combination of fascination and disdain for the ‘unruly’ Westerners, the underlying meaning being S/he is not Japanese. S/he will never be able to be Japanese, no matter how rich, smart or good looking… poor soul… we have to treat him/her kindly
.
The Japanese think that, thanks to their learning, studying and research, they know the rest of the world far better than any foreigner will ever know them. Hence a foreigner who speaks Japanese and shows appreciation of Japanese culture is dubbed henna gaijin (weird foreigner). The nation is convinced that, though foreigners will never know them, if they suffer long enough, they will know the foreigners.
How they would like to be seen
The Japanese would like to be seen as an orderly, hard-working people, capable of meeting expectations – of being well up to every task. But their ideal is to be super-clever in secret. As they say, ‘The wise hawk hides its claws.’ The reverse is the ultimate indignity.
"The Japanese would like to be seen as being well up to every task. But their ideal is to be super-clever