A dose of sensibility: an intelligent view of "the Japanese mind"


	Hello! I'm a US citizen with 20+ years behind me living in Japan and speaking Japanese. Here I'll lay out some info for fellow (and future) learners of the language and transplants to the country. I'll also be talking a lot about the messy topic of "cultural differences" – where I don't agree with much of what you'll hear elsewhere. Find more about the site here. If you'd like to keep up on new posts, there's an RSS feed. Finally, please comment on anything of interest!

	Syndicate

	Bookmark/Search this post
	Delicious Digg Reddit Magnoliacom Newsvine Furl Google Yahoo Technorati Pubsub

A dose of sensibility: an intelligent view of "the Japanese mind"

Submitted by Traveler on Fri, 2008-07-11 22:23.

I don't often check The Japan Times online or off, but happened to load it up today on the screen. (Actually, I was curious about news of the iPhone's appearance in Japan.)

While I was there, I clicked on a few articles (so as to escape doing real work : ) and came across an article about a Tokyo-based non-Japanese writer I'd never heard of, David Pearce, and his Japan-based novel I'd never heard of, "Tokyo Year Zero". Such writings always stand a good chance of springing cringe-worthy Japanology dribble upon the poor reader, but this novelist had a wonderfully opposed comment to make:

The Japanese press would ask — and they mean this is a compliment — "How could you get inside the Japanese mind?" As if there is only one Japanese mind. I always find this a very strange concept. Even liberal, well-educated journalists and friends of mine who are Japanese will say, "It's amazing how you could write as a Japanese."

The government and media perpetrate this myth of one Japanese mind, as if everyone's got f**king ESP or something. And yet there's 120 million people in this country, and I've been here 14 years and every single person I've met has been a unique individual. So as I was writing, I wasn't really thinking, "Is this what a Japanese person would do?" I was just thinking, "Is this what this character would do?"

Beautiful! I've been in Japan for over 20 years, and if asked to describe "the Japanese mind", would myself just brush it off as the dumb question it is. "The Japanese way of thinking" is a topic I have no interest in, for the same reason I have no interest in astrology: it's a vapid non-subject.

I raise a toast to the novelist! His clear thinking is all too rare.

Peace follows turbulent times [Tokyo-based author David Peace]

Bookmark/Search this post with:

Technorati Tags: debunking Japan myths

Post new comment


	New words, and new uses of old words, appearing on this site: Culturology For lack of a better word, "culturology" is what I label a particular brand of fascination with, and practice of, "cross-cultural comparison". (Suggestions for a better name are welcome!) Not cultural comparison as it can be in theory: an objective, even interesting, examination of different cultures. Rather, I use "culturology" to mean cultural comparison as it too often appears in practice: subjective and unscientific nonsense, with a good story taking precedence over facts. Or, for a pithier definition: Culturology is the dogged effort to dig up and exhibit "cultural differences" whether they exist or not. Culturologists The uncritical practitioners of culturology, whether academics, writers, or just general fans of "cultural difference" tales not hampered by critical examination. Japanology This has a general meaning of "the study of things Japanese"; here I use it to mean culturology as applied to Japan. It's closely tied to Nihonjinron, with all negative connotations intact. Japanologist The uncritical believers – Japanese or otherwise – of elements of Japanology. Japander With a friendly nod to Japander.com, which has long applied the word to the commercial appearances of Hollywood stars in Japan, I use the verb in a way closer to the original "pander": to Japander is to tell the Japanologists the silliness they love to hear. "I think Japanese developed as the world's most complex language, thanks to Japan's unique four seasons" – that's Japandering. words in quotes Words like "Westerner" and "the East" may appear in quotes to emphasize their inherent silliness. A claim that "the Japanese" are baffled by some "Western mindset" regarding a "cultural difference" that doesn't even exist is deserving of all those mocking quotes.

Home Japan

Syndicate

Bookmark/Search this post

A dose of sensibility: an intelligent view of "the Japanese mind"

Post new comment

Culturology

Culturologists

Japanology

Japanologist

Japander

words in quotes