You Are NOT Special
I may have posted on this before, but it has hit me lately how much of the Japanese mentality is geared towards emphasizing the importance of the group over the importance of the individual. Some examples:
People are called by their last names first, even little children. One's personal name is secondary to the family name.
Students wear uniforms to school, even as young as age 3. Yes, 3.
The school I visit most often has children from ages 3-5. Every morning, the kids are taken outside for some morning exercises. They do it to music, and everyone must be in sync. Nothing is too different from America with that, except when they're done, the teachers teach the kids how to dry themselves with a towel. Imagine 90 children standing in a group (all wearing the same tee-shirt and shorts... or, most days, just their shorts) drying themselves with a towel. In rhythm. All students count, in unison, "1, 2, 3, 4...." up to 20 with each new number representing a stroke of the towel. This is repeated for their arms, legs and stomach.
Then, at the same school, there is synchronized teeth brushing. After lunch everyday, the students sit down and brush their teeth in unison. There's no out-loud counting this time (that's just plain silly), but everyone brushes together.
"The nail that sticks up gets hammered down." is a famous Japanese saying. If you stand out in any way, everyone else will be sure to pull you back down with them. Or an outside authority will put in you in your place.
Regarding the school uniforms, I asked some Japanese friends of mine what happens if students fail to wear their uniforms ("That doesn't happen.") or if they wear them incorrectly. If it happens, schoolteachers will write a negative comment on their permanent record, which will ultimately work against them when it comes time to get into a good high school or a good college.
There are most certainly some benefits to this universal conformity. When people see that others in their group are struggling, they are generally very willing to pick them up to the level of the group. Homogeny is paramount.
When purchasing a product or service, there is an acceptance that things were done right. There is the assumption that things were assembled or serviced according to a rigorous plan, with no steps omitted, corners cut or any other straying from the assigned path.
Compare the Japanese mentality to America's overemphasis on individuality. Take last year's World Cup TV coverage, for example. In what is arguably the world's greatest team sport played on its highest level, with teams representing whole countries, I shook my head at ESPN's coverage where you could vote for the "man of the match." An opportunity to single out one person in a team sport with each side representing millions of people.
Certainly there are times to focus on the individual and there are times to focus on the group, but I think these two cultures are on extreme opposing ends of the spectrum.
People are called by their last names first, even little children. One's personal name is secondary to the family name.
Students wear uniforms to school, even as young as age 3. Yes, 3.
The school I visit most often has children from ages 3-5. Every morning, the kids are taken outside for some morning exercises. They do it to music, and everyone must be in sync. Nothing is too different from America with that, except when they're done, the teachers teach the kids how to dry themselves with a towel. Imagine 90 children standing in a group (all wearing the same tee-shirt and shorts... or, most days, just their shorts) drying themselves with a towel. In rhythm. All students count, in unison, "1, 2, 3, 4...." up to 20 with each new number representing a stroke of the towel. This is repeated for their arms, legs and stomach.
Then, at the same school, there is synchronized teeth brushing. After lunch everyday, the students sit down and brush their teeth in unison. There's no out-loud counting this time (that's just plain silly), but everyone brushes together.
"The nail that sticks up gets hammered down." is a famous Japanese saying. If you stand out in any way, everyone else will be sure to pull you back down with them. Or an outside authority will put in you in your place.
Regarding the school uniforms, I asked some Japanese friends of mine what happens if students fail to wear their uniforms ("That doesn't happen.") or if they wear them incorrectly. If it happens, schoolteachers will write a negative comment on their permanent record, which will ultimately work against them when it comes time to get into a good high school or a good college.
There are most certainly some benefits to this universal conformity. When people see that others in their group are struggling, they are generally very willing to pick them up to the level of the group. Homogeny is paramount.
When purchasing a product or service, there is an acceptance that things were done right. There is the assumption that things were assembled or serviced according to a rigorous plan, with no steps omitted, corners cut or any other straying from the assigned path.
Compare the Japanese mentality to America's overemphasis on individuality. Take last year's World Cup TV coverage, for example. In what is arguably the world's greatest team sport played on its highest level, with teams representing whole countries, I shook my head at ESPN's coverage where you could vote for the "man of the match." An opportunity to single out one person in a team sport with each side representing millions of people.
Certainly there are times to focus on the individual and there are times to focus on the group, but I think these two cultures are on extreme opposing ends of the spectrum.
posted by David at 9:48 AM
3 Comments:
I wonder how the Japanese soccer team wipes the sweat off their brow, when the ref blows his whistle,so they can do it un unison...je blague
when i first heard you don't have to wear uniforms here for school, i was very surprised, just like in nippon, i've worn school uniforms since the first trip to school.
I am so glad that you keep a journal of these cultural shock events; it brought back the memories of lots of ridiculous things (from Americans view) I used to do growing up. For example, there were student guards formed by honored students (teachers pets) standing by the entrance of the school checking everyone's uniform, making sure the details were followed such as the zipper on the jacket needed to be zipped up to the same height (there was a mark on the jacket showing where the zipper should sit at). We had to do the "morning exercise session" following the "flag raising ceremony" where everyone saluted to the flag and sang the national anthem while again, the honored students raised the flag. Before and after the flag raising ceremony, students (I am talking about elementary school students too) had to march to and from the field with drum beats, and it counted like "1,2,1,2...", and 1 was for the left foot and 2 was for the right foot, so everyone was marching with the same foot forward (like in the military). Oh and during rainy days, no outdoor exercise sessions, but they broadcast this music across campus so everyone could do "eye blinking exercise" on their seats, turning head and blinking eyes at a uniformed pattern to exercise eyes....
Funny I went through all that. That's why I am crazy now.
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