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Sat, 2010-03-20 14:03 — Traveler

Hello! "Never perfect" sounds

Hello! "Never perfect" sounds to me like something attributed to the modern "Japanese philosophy" meaning tacked on to kaizen - i.e., someone trying to make the point that this "philosophy" is centered on never accepting a thing as perfect or finished. I don't see that as being a necessary part of the actual meaning of the Japanese word, or even implied by it; it isn't among the Japanese dictionary definitions, and doesn't logically follow from the word's Chinese characters either (改 = reform/renew/redo/alter/improve, 善 = good/goodness). (Granted, kaizen doesn't necessarily mean "make perfect", so there's no conflict between that word and the "never perfect" concept – but that's equally true for the word "improvement" too.)

Organizations/persons dedicated to improving something might certainly make "never perfect" a part of their philosophy, explicitly or implicitly. Nothing rare about that! My point would simply be that we can find that stance all throughout humanity, whether the word at hand is "kaizen" or "improvement" or "улучшение" or what have you.

Thanks for writing!

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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.

Traveler's Law #1

"Any exposition pointing out 'cultural contrasts' must contain at least one bit of unsupported silliness."

Traveler's Law #2

"Any statement beginning with 'the Japanese' (or 'the French', 'Ghanaians', 'Asians', 'Westerners', whatever) is 99% certain to be a dumb statement."

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.

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