Ish, I was sure that you had some backing for your beliefs…you often do. And, in general, I have found your posting to be rather even handed and somewhat insightful.
This said, in this one instance, I find what I understand to be your view to be to be far from the case. Without belaboring the issue, I referenced your words “they..lack creativity” as being ‘in some ways’ not close to reality. I also just referenced your words about the Japanese “…originallity is almost non existant…”. I will add directly here that such an assertion appears absurd to me. You replied to my using the term ‘Eastern cultures’ with “By the way, I did not say that all eastern cultures produce few creative individuals.” I agree. That is not what you said nor what I implied you said nor is it what you appear to be refuting now. I retain my original view and clearly say that what you have referenced in your last two posts does nothing at all to disparage this view. I invite all to read them and form their own conclusions. On Jan 2, 8:51 pm, Isparklaria <[email protected]> wrote: > Here is another highly revealing article about Japanese Culture. It is > over 16 years old but that doesn't matter, in my opinion. > > http://www.newint.org/issue231/nail.htm > > new internationalist > issue 231 - May 1992 > > The nail that sticks out > Conformists belong, non-conformists and ethnic minorities get hammered > in Japan. > John Charles and Peter Mallat unravel Japanese groupthink. > > 'SHIGOTO ARIMASUKA?' pesters the tall, dark-skinned man at the railway > exit. He bows incongruously, imitating the mannerisms of the culture > he envies. 'Sir, Sir... do you have a job for me?' > > He is an Iranian day-labourer, doing the hard, dirty jobs now scorned > by almost all Japanese. After getting one day's work he prowls > endlessly in search of the next, before bedding down for the night in > a local park. Sleeping rough is his only option since the local > flophouse was closed by the authorities. For the most part they cause > him little trouble. The indifference of the public is, he says, almost > worse. > > He has - or had - a wife in Iran. Is she still there?.., he doesn't > know. His working conditions?.., a finger-stump is mute testimony. > Accident insurance?.., the gentleman surely jests. 'We Iranians > are...' he begins in English, but words soon escape so he switches to > Japanese. 'We are proud... but war has ruined us.' He shrugs, smiles > ruefully, and is consumed by the surging crowd. > > The old man crouches on the granite steps, mumbling to himself and re- > fighting long forgotten battles. The salarymen weave wary circles > round his stinking nest. Nobody has spoken to him here - he says - for > 20 years. In his sad delusion he imagines that his wealthy wife drives > him out of the house each day 'to avoid gossip' and picks him up at > night. In this most group-oriented of societies even the dropouts > cling to rags of respectability. Wa means 'harmony' or 'proper place': > the executive in the office and the Little Woman minding the hearth. > The consequences of social deviance are so alarming that office > workers between jobs are sometimes forced into masquerades of leaving > home in the morning to return at the end of the working day. You see > them snoring in theatres and glumly clock-watching in coffee shops. > > Japan is unthinkable without groups. Perhaps they developed from the > co-operative labour needed in the scattered villages of a rice-growing > culture. To this day the threat of Mura Hachibu ('rejection from the > village' or ostracism) by family, university alumnus league, company > or even golf club would be enough to bring the most determined social > deviant to heel. It can sometimes seem as if the only escape from the > demands of the group lies in madness. > > The boy shakes his fist and menaces the train guard through the glass. > He suddenly begins to weep. Everybody on the train is desperately > playing the game of 'pay no attention'. One passenger - fluent in > English from residence abroad - feels it necessary to apologize to the > foreigner for such a wanton ruffling of the 'perfect face' of his > country. 'I am sorry,' he says. 'He is... strange. His behaviour is... > not Japanese.' Not Japanese. The words evoke the whole mentality of > group cohesion and rejection and endlessly-interlocking social nets. > > Who are the Japanese? > Anthropologically it is not at all clear: a conglomerate of > Polynesian, Malay and mainland Asian elements, perhaps from Mongolia, > who imposed themselves on the aboriginal Ainu and gradually drove them > northwards. The precedence of the Ainu in the islands, like the thorny > subject of Japanese army atrocities against the Chinese in the 1930s, > is another point glossed over by the schoolbooks. > > Culturally it is a different story. Japan has a notion of its own > uniqueness that many Japanese are convinced an outsider could never > fathom. The Japanese language ovefflows with words of status, words of > self-abasement, words of guile and subterfuge - and many words that > defy accurate translation. Words like Ciri and On translate as 'duty' > or 'obligation', but the depth of their meaning is quite different. > Within the tightly-ordered framework of Japanese groups - village, > family, school, workplace - they weigh heavily indeed. Outside these > groups they lose almost all meaning. Thus in Japan there is little > goodwill for someone you don't know and little sense of a broader > public interest. Peter Tasker, in his book Inside Japan, calls the > Japanese the 'kindest, cruelest' people in the world. The face > presented depends entirely on whether you are seen to be part of a > group or outside it. > > On April 28 1952 Japan was restored to its sovereignty after the post- > war American occupation. The nation had miraculously 'endured the > unendurable', as the Emperor had enjoined it to do, and had proved a > surprisingly warm host to thousands of US troops. This paradox is > usually explained in terms of the group system: events had shown that > Japan's imperialist ambitions were illusory, and the White Man was top > dog. Thus all ranks and groupings moved down one notch giving > Americans top status. One of the first acts of the post-occupation > government, however, was to require all foreigners to carry a > fingerprinted ID card. Protests were immediate and continue. > > Jack McIntosh, a Canadian missionary with 30 years in Japan, has no > doubt this law was directed against Koreans and Chinese - the two > groups who might pass for Japanese most easily. The 680,000 people of > Korean ancestry are the largest minority group in Japan. Most were > born here and many speak only Japanese. Yet they must still regularly > register as 'aliens' and carry the demeaning ID card at all times. > Some 12,000 apply to become Japanese citizens each year. Detailed > investigations of kinship and lineage follow. The assumption that they > will abandon their cultural heritage and even their family name > provokes hatred and rebellion. Usually only about half the > applications are successful. McIntosh is an illegal resident himself, > on account of his refusal to be fingerprinted in 1985. He therefore > cannot leave Japan. He believes the real purpose of the Alien > Registration Law is 'to show 16-year-old Korean youth that they are no > good'. > > Hidden Identities > Many schoolchildren of Korean extraction can give you a harrowing > description of hiding their backgrounds from their classmates at great > psychological cost - only to be found out when presenting a different > passport on a school trip. Their friends melted away before their > eyes. In Osaka's Ikuno, ward where a quarter of the population is > Korean, less than five per cent use their real names in business > dealings. Kim Sung Il, a second-generation Korean, refused > fingerprinting, was arrested and had his finger prints taken against > his will. He recounts the story of a school teacher accused of some > trifling infringement of the Registration Law who was taken from her > classroom by a hundred police. > > Prejudice is deeply ingrained and government policy does little to > alter it. A ministry spokesman, Kawakami Tomimi, hit the right level > of bland government euphemism: 'If Koreans remain here indefinitely > without assimilating, maintaining a separate identity, Japan will have > a minority problem. That is undesirable.' > > In fact, Japan has had a minority problem for centuries, ever since > the Yamato peoples drove the Ainu to the inhospitable northern island > of Hokkaido, where they largely remain. Like indigenous peoples > everywhere, the Ainu have rediscovered their own identity, and are > pressing for reform. > > The Burakumin minority are actually Japanese, the lowest in a pecking > order of rank that was supposedly abolished way back in 1868. The > remnants of caste discrimination linger on outside Tokyo or in the > districts of the capital that tourists never visit. Such people did > and often still do the 'defiling' tasks of slaughter, tanning, corpse > disposal and scavenging that society is squeamish about. Despite the > 'Economic Miracle' labour is still needed to remove human excrement > especially in country districts - and even in Tokyo itself one on > eight homes lacks proper drainage. > > 'Official Japan' is keen to gloss over the case of the Burakumin - it > detracts from the image of perfect harmony they want to present to the > world. The word Burakumin means 'community or hamlet people'. But a > hostile Japanese society often refers to these outcasts as Eta, a > brutally frank word meaning 'extreme filth'. Semantics aside, a caste > of untouchables is still clearly in evidence. The Government has tried > hard to overcome such prejudice - for Burakumin are Japanese after all > - in marked contrast to its meagre efforts on behalf of Koreans. But > such feelings die hard. > > One problem has been the Koseki, or Community Registers. Japan is a > society that pays elaborate courtesies to ancestors and their spirits. > They are yet another group to which obligations are owed. The Japanese > go out of their way to prevent any 'mixing of the blood' which they > feel would pollute and dishonour their family tree. To preserve this > purity of the lineage (Ie) extensive record-keeping is needed. Hence > the social importance of Koseki, which details intimate family > information. > > Formerly open to casual inspection, the records are now kept locked in > an attempt to reduce their influence. Questions about ancestry - in > job interviews for example - must be carefully posed. But potential > employees are still vetted for ancestry. Robert Steiber, a worker at > the Buraku Liberation Centre, suggests one reason is that the employer > - always seeking 'harmony' - may feel other workers would be > uncomfortable in the presence of Burakumin. The blame is thus deftly > transferred to the victim. But the Burakumin are now asserting a pride > in their identity and challenging conformist Japanese society to > accept them as they are. It is an uphill fight. > > Blood lives > Another use of the Koseki is to ... > > read more » --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Memphis Freethought Alliance" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/memphisfreethoughtalliance?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
