Japan is on the whole a wonderful and friendly place. One can have many wonderful experiences and times here- it is generally 'friendly' to Westerners. I myself have been the eternal tourist for the last 8 years or so and love life here. Yet no-where on earth deserves an entirely clean bill of health. There always comes a time when one meets the disagreeable things that lie beneath the surface. For me, the greatest release from them is writing about them. I get great joy from this honesty- and also from the sense that what I say may warn others and help make the situation better- whether or not it directly affects me. In a sense, to do any less would be a sort of cowardice on my part, a dereliction of an intellectual's duty. So please remember the sense of appreciation that underlies this message. There is much that is good about Japan. Yet there is also much that is wrong.
One of the sad things about Japan is the amount of anger and unfairness here. Certain men have an awful lot of power and, when in a position to do so, can use it in a way to bully others. Consequently a lot of people life in a cringing fashion, afraid of the next 'psychic blow'. People are often bad-tempered or just simply unhappy with their lot. Women bare the brunt of this frustration, followed closely after by underlings. I am not saying that there is no good feeling, or that the 'harmonious' feeling that Japanese pride themselves on are not primary. Just that 'bad feeling' has an unusual power here and that people are often hyper-sensitive to it. Which means that one does want to complain about something, one is often dismissed as 'being angry', or even worse, as being an 'aggressive boat-rocker'. It is hard for people to distinguish between is righteous anger and cruelty or perverse subversiveness. This of course is a global and an historical problem. When is the 'troublemaker' right? When are the disagreeable words heroic?
Generally things go smoothly here... So it is expected that all will always go smoothly, without the need for change. The people often seem almost robot-like in their observance of this. People try to always either be, or to look busy with their affairs. Often, also, the person who asks for the change is treated as some kind of a criminal. They have broken with the pattern and need to be punished in some way for it. This is of course a psychic punishment, Japan being a country which has evolved to the point at which things are more psychic than physical yet it is a punishment nonetheless. Whereas the whistle-blower is a good person, he or she is treated like a bad person. The person who raises the alarm is treated as a kind of criminal.
The person who complains is in some way the source of the problem- the problem being the existence of a complaint rather than the thing being complained about. Hierarchy, authority contains a kind of absolutist power that should not be questioned. Yet, at the same time, Japan is a living democracy. Like so many Western things bolted onto the traditional culture of Japan, democracy has found an accepting home but has little precedence. That is, there well have been ways to change things from below in Japan before, ways for opinions to be expressed without the persecution of the speaker, but they were few and far between. On the contrary, democracy presupposes the frequent expression of such views.
One way to avoid changes in Japan is for people to dismiss the idea as a mere groundless emotion. They like to see things in strictly emotional terms. If someone has a problem, then they are angry, the source of the problem- as the problem is not so much what happened as the very fact that they are angry. The person who complains is a complainer- the attention is quickly and subtly shifted from the event to the victim. This is all down to the Japanese fear of confrontation. Confrontation in and of itself is seen as a bad thing and that which could occasion it is likewise a social wrong. The victim of a crime, should they complain strongly or angrily, is seen as themselves in the wrong, until it is soundly proven that what they say is true and accepted by all. Evil is not evil in the sense of viciousness but in the sense of whatever disturbs the social harmony, for whatever the reason.
It is all a culture that westerners, or fair-minded people generally, cannot hope to fathom or be in agreement with. Yet it is also a very functional arrangement. Social harmony does persist and is protected- massive economic undertakings are possible, be they at the expense of personal development or moral righteousness. It is a lopsided system, but one which has rocketed to the top of the contemporary world economic environment. Capitalism focuses on productivity, with little regard for the arts, fairness, the gentler emotions, authentic personal development or morality. By making itself into a cohesive group devoted to productivity, Japan has risen to very near the top- for the first time in her otherwise obscure history. It could be said that, generally speaking, so have other East-Asian countries with similar moral codes, sacrificing their individuality for the country's gain.
Yet it would be naive to see Capitalism in and of itself as humanity's future- it is but a stage. Many other values and virtues will persist until the end, and the final and complete manifestation of world unity will be very different to that visible today. Morality will matter. Righteousness will triumph. Fairness will have the day. The 'meek will inherit the Earth'.
Of course I may seem a bit unfair in these assessments- there is of course lots of compassion, kindness, flexibility and so on in Japan. My intention here is not at all to make a kind of sweeping judgment. In fact, I don't see judging as really being my role. I am just commenting an sorry if in doing so I caused any offence! In my next post I will tell the story of what led to this reflection- giving a personal side to all of this- a subjective perspective, if you will. I do not pretend to be totally objective in my assessments! Yet, I am still entitled to my views and observations... Which may not always be what people would like to hear!
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