This article really fits the theme of my blog, so I've decided to include it here. The original url is http://hnn.us/articles/35739.html
Rewriting Someone Else’s History: The Japanese Response to “Letters from Iwo Jima”
By Noriko Manabe
Noriko Manabe is a doctoral student in ethnomusicology at CUNY Graduate Center. Before returning to academics, she was an equity analyst covering media, the internet, and games in Tokyo at JP Morgan Securities. Her grandfather survived the Pacific Theater and her family survived the firebombs in Japan during World War II.
Something about the scene with the dog made me first laugh, then shake my head. It wasn’t the Hollywood hokeyness; it was that the dog looked too well-fed.
I immediately recalled a my mother's childhood memory that she tells over and over. During World War II, the American blockade led to food shortages in Japan, causing severe malnutrition for its citizens. By the end of the war, my mother, who was then twelve, weighed little over forty pounds. Her childhood pet was a rabbit; my grandmother had it killed to provide food for her family. My mother refused to touch it at first, but as hunger overcame her, she ate it, crying. Having a dog--let alone a horse--would have been an unimaginable luxury.
I was also taken aback by the pristine postcard images that were presented of the soldiers’ home towns. They were supposedly from cities that had been rendered rubble by American firebombs, which killed millions of civilians; they wiped out over half the civilian population in seventy cities. Certainly, squalor would have been more authentic.
Such seemingly minor inaccuracies add up to the trouble with "Letters from Iwo Jima." I don’t deny its potential importance in the context of current US foreign policy, which is overwhelmingly seen by the rest of the world as not constructive (according to a recent BBC survey), nor do I wish to detract from its cinematographic merits. Nonetheless, as a movie widely touted as showing the "Japanese point of view," the film poses the thorny issue of rewriting someone else’s history.
World War II remains a subject largely avoided by Japanese films. It has simply cut too close; practically all Japanese alive then lost someone in the battles or the firebombs. Most post-war Japanese films deal with the difficulties of life in that chaotic time, alluding to the war only through referring to loved ones who did not return. But today, the bulk of the Japanese movie-going public are in their twenties, with no experience with the war, either directly or through their parents. Such conditions have left the field open to Mr. Eastwood’s film.
As of February 4, "Letters from Iwo Jima" had taken in only $7.5 million at the US box office; it ranked no. 16. In contrast, in Japan—the world’s second-largest film market--the movie ranked no.1 at the box office for five weeks, dropping to no. 3 on its sixth week. The popularity of the film is attributable not only to admiration for Eastwood and lead actor Ken Watanabe, but also for Kazunari Ninomiya, who is a member of the pop group Arashi. The film has sparked discussion in forums such as the Yahoo Japan movie bulletin boards, where it has received nearly 1,700 user reviews. (This contrasts with about 180 reviews on the primarily American Yahoo.com bulletin board.)
Generally speaking, Japanese users have appreciated the film for its anti-war message, its sentimental story, and its "surprisingly sympathetic stance for an American director." Nonetheless, an articulate minority have taken issue with the historical inaccuracies of the film. Several commented that all the scenes looked "too clean—those battles, let alone our cities, were far more wretched." Some reviewers commented that Kuribayashi’s assertion that there was "no support" was not accurate, as kamikazes (suicide pilots) had sunk several American warships, and that these kamikazes should have been shown. Several commented about the unnaturalness of the characters’ behavior and dialogue ("Would a low-ranking soldier like Saigo have used such rough language, in that era?") Another pointed out, "All the mistakes in the customs of the period bothered us. Shoji screens were never used for the front door—how can you knock on paper? And young people had been wearing Western clothing, not kimonos, since the 1930s."
The greatest concern is that the film fails to explain why the Japanese felt the need to defend a seemingly insignificant island so fervently – the fear that the firebombing of Japanese cities, already devastating to civilians, would intensify were the Americans to gain Iwo Jima as a launching pad for air strikes. In not explaining this background, viewers felt that the film catered to the stereotype of the Japanese as lemming-like fanatics. Several viewers objected to the episodes involving conservative military officers—"no Japanese military officer would have cut off the head of an underling like that, nor would one have used a firearm in a residential area." In their minds, the movie was another example of the West’s exoticizing Japan as a land of odd behavior.
Many viewers raised objections that "good" was being equated with being America-friendly. As one user stated, "Only officers who had been to the US are depicted as rational and smart, while all other Japanese officers are evil and barbaric, as per the American stereotype." Another wrote, "Other than the America-enlightened officers, Japanese officers are shown flailing their swords and guns around like fools. . . The impression the film wants to leave at the end is that America is superior." Many dismissed the scene where the American soldier’s letter is read as unrealistic and mawkish ("Why would any officer seek to de-galvanize his troops?"). Others found the segments depicting Kuribayashi’s time in the United States to be long and gratuitous ("How does this advance the plot?"), while his poignant letters to his family from Iwo Jima, which have been published, hardly received a mention.
These viewers expressed concern that young people in Japan may take the film at face value as their primary impression of the Japanese in World War II, which remains an avoided subject in Japanese education. As one viewer commented, "I wish the Japanese would make a film that will tell the real Japanese side of the story in World War II. But the leftists would pelt it as being ‘hawkish’ and ‘neo-nationalistic.’" As far as potential shaping of opinion in the United States is concerned, I believe that the film could have achieved far more by raising awareness of the devastation caused by American firebombing (let alone the atomic bombs)--a subject not generally mentioned in American schools. Of course, "Letters" is not the only Oscar-nominated film fictionalizing someone else’s history. What victims of Idi Amin make of the British film "The Last King of Scotland" or Africans think of "Blood Diamonds" is something on which I have no personal experience to comment. Nonetheless, whatever the artistic merits of the film, creators and marketers of popular culture should be more wary of extending Western imperialism, as perceived by the world’s citizens, into the cultural sphere.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Japanese humility / American aggression (Part 2)
Well, if you've made it past part 1, then I guess my controversial blog title hasn't bothered you. I meant it solely to get attention, anyway.
So, if Japanese culture's idea is like the kanji described in part 1, where "humility" could be read as "a state of mind of truth," then how has that shown up in their dealings with other cultures and people from other cultures?
In a previous post, I talked about how Japanese language is heteronomic - the center of the language (and thought and so on) is based outside the self - on the group, on the person you're speaking with, etc.
So the self is considered sort of secondary. I'd like to look into this secondary-ness of Japanese.
Zizek writes:
"Every nation in Europe has this fanaticism, conceiving itself as the true, primordial nation. The Serbian myth for example is that they are the first nation of the world. The Croatians consider themselves as primordial Aryans. The Slovenes are not really slaves, but pretend to be of Etrurian origin. It would be nice to find a nation, which would accept the fact that they are not the first but the second. This might be a part of the Japanese identity, if you look at the way they borrow languages.
"I recently read a book on Kurosawa. It is said that 'Rashomon' was seen in the early fifties as the big discovery of the eastern spirit. But in Japan it was conceived as way too Western. My favorite Japanese film is 'Sansho' by Mizoguchi because it offers itself for a nice, Lacanian reading, the problem of the lost mother, the mother's voice reaching the son, etc. This is the Japanese advantage over America when the mother's voice tries to reach the son. In America one would get madness, like Hitchcock's 'Psycho', but in Japan you get a normal family."
Of course, it is the first paragraph where we find a reference to Japanese secondary-ness. It is interesting that Zizek brings up the borrowing of languages. To many cultures, a language is its own, and the bringing in of words from other languages is anything from frowned upon (American English) to outright not permitted (Was it Iceland that had a huge team work to create native Icelandic words for all of the foreign words that weren't in Icelandic?). In Japan, English is a huge part of the language, and it is as if this does point more towards their feeling of "humility" as secondary-ness, of letting another group be first.
When the Japanese first were opened up to Western culture, they were in awe, and it is easy to see from reading what they said and wrote, that they did in fact feel this secondary-ness.
Fukuzawa, a Japanese scholar who was one of the first to see the West, I believe he took a boat to go live in America awhile, wrote as follows:
"If we compare the knowledge of the Japanese and Westerners, in letters, in techniques, in commerce, or in industry, from the largest to the smallest matter. . . there is not one thing in which we excel. . . . Outside of the most stupid person in the world, no one would say that our learning and business is on a par with those of the Western countries. Who would compare our carts with their locomotives, or our swords with their pistols? We speak of the yin and yang and the five elements; they have discovered 60 elements. . . . We think we dwell on an immovable plain; they know that the earth is round and moves. We think that our country is the most sacred, divine land; they travel about the world opening lands and establishing countries. ... In Japan's present condition there is nothing in which we may take pride vis-a-vis the West. All that Japan has to be proud of ... is its scenery."
This feeling was also abound after wwii, where children in Japan were introduced to things like chewing gum and chocolate from the Western soldiers. It seems the idea of a good person being "sunao, tsutsumashii and otonashii" may have allowed them to be secondary in this way.
Their openness to importing foreign languages is also a part of this. They primarily take in English words, sometimes transforming them in Japanese ways so as they would be unuseable and not understandable in English speaking countries. However, they also take in from other languages - for example, ordering Italian food here involves using the actual Italian words for the foods rather than those Italian names exported to the US, and so on, and many words come from German (such as the word for a part time job - 'baito' which is taken from the German word for work (arbeit).
Sure, all languages have loanwords from other languages. But the degree to which the Japanese do it is on another plane.
I did a random search for a website with Japanese language. Upon finding the first one, I looked for the first paragraph I could find. Within this paragraph of three sentences, there are 12 english words - America, boom, booth, photo, blog, service, programming, site, category, style, web, news. This is pretty typical.
I've rewritten the above paragraph (which also has 3 sentences), replacing similarly functioning words with Japanese equivalents (only 6, half of the 12 found above):
"I did a random kensaku for a website with Nihongo language. Upon finding the first one, I sagashita the first paragraph I could find. Within this paragraph of three bunshou, there are 12 eigo words - America, boom, booth, photo, blog, service, programming, site, category, style, web, news. This is pretty futsuu."
So, if Japanese culture's idea is like the kanji described in part 1, where "humility" could be read as "a state of mind of truth," then how has that shown up in their dealings with other cultures and people from other cultures?
In a previous post, I talked about how Japanese language is heteronomic - the center of the language (and thought and so on) is based outside the self - on the group, on the person you're speaking with, etc.
So the self is considered sort of secondary. I'd like to look into this secondary-ness of Japanese.
Zizek writes:
"Every nation in Europe has this fanaticism, conceiving itself as the true, primordial nation. The Serbian myth for example is that they are the first nation of the world. The Croatians consider themselves as primordial Aryans. The Slovenes are not really slaves, but pretend to be of Etrurian origin. It would be nice to find a nation, which would accept the fact that they are not the first but the second. This might be a part of the Japanese identity, if you look at the way they borrow languages.
"I recently read a book on Kurosawa. It is said that 'Rashomon' was seen in the early fifties as the big discovery of the eastern spirit. But in Japan it was conceived as way too Western. My favorite Japanese film is 'Sansho' by Mizoguchi because it offers itself for a nice, Lacanian reading, the problem of the lost mother, the mother's voice reaching the son, etc. This is the Japanese advantage over America when the mother's voice tries to reach the son. In America one would get madness, like Hitchcock's 'Psycho', but in Japan you get a normal family."
Of course, it is the first paragraph where we find a reference to Japanese secondary-ness. It is interesting that Zizek brings up the borrowing of languages. To many cultures, a language is its own, and the bringing in of words from other languages is anything from frowned upon (American English) to outright not permitted (Was it Iceland that had a huge team work to create native Icelandic words for all of the foreign words that weren't in Icelandic?). In Japan, English is a huge part of the language, and it is as if this does point more towards their feeling of "humility" as secondary-ness, of letting another group be first.
When the Japanese first were opened up to Western culture, they were in awe, and it is easy to see from reading what they said and wrote, that they did in fact feel this secondary-ness.
Fukuzawa, a Japanese scholar who was one of the first to see the West, I believe he took a boat to go live in America awhile, wrote as follows:
"If we compare the knowledge of the Japanese and Westerners, in letters, in techniques, in commerce, or in industry, from the largest to the smallest matter. . . there is not one thing in which we excel. . . . Outside of the most stupid person in the world, no one would say that our learning and business is on a par with those of the Western countries. Who would compare our carts with their locomotives, or our swords with their pistols? We speak of the yin and yang and the five elements; they have discovered 60 elements. . . . We think we dwell on an immovable plain; they know that the earth is round and moves. We think that our country is the most sacred, divine land; they travel about the world opening lands and establishing countries. ... In Japan's present condition there is nothing in which we may take pride vis-a-vis the West. All that Japan has to be proud of ... is its scenery."
This feeling was also abound after wwii, where children in Japan were introduced to things like chewing gum and chocolate from the Western soldiers. It seems the idea of a good person being "sunao, tsutsumashii and otonashii" may have allowed them to be secondary in this way.
Their openness to importing foreign languages is also a part of this. They primarily take in English words, sometimes transforming them in Japanese ways so as they would be unuseable and not understandable in English speaking countries. However, they also take in from other languages - for example, ordering Italian food here involves using the actual Italian words for the foods rather than those Italian names exported to the US, and so on, and many words come from German (such as the word for a part time job - 'baito' which is taken from the German word for work (arbeit).
Sure, all languages have loanwords from other languages. But the degree to which the Japanese do it is on another plane.
I did a random search for a website with Japanese language. Upon finding the first one, I looked for the first paragraph I could find. Within this paragraph of three sentences, there are 12 english words - America, boom, booth, photo, blog, service, programming, site, category, style, web, news. This is pretty typical.
I've rewritten the above paragraph (which also has 3 sentences), replacing similarly functioning words with Japanese equivalents (only 6, half of the 12 found above):
"I did a random kensaku for a website with Nihongo language. Upon finding the first one, I sagashita the first paragraph I could find. Within this paragraph of three bunshou, there are 12 eigo words - America, boom, booth, photo, blog, service, programming, site, category, style, web, news. This is pretty futsuu."
Japanese humility / American aggression (Part 1)
What are the desirable characterists of a person in your culture?
One thing I find really interesting is that an important personal trait in one culture may not even have a representative word in another culture.
The other day, a Japanese friend described her (male) co-worker, and asked me what that type of personality is called in English.
"He is quiet, and doesn't try to trouble others, and even if he gets upset he never shows it to anyone. He's the kind of person that would never think to show his anger to someone else, even if that person has done something to upset him."
Can you think of the English word to describe her co-worker? I certainly can't.
I can think of a group of words that are sort of similar - but in fact many of them are negative in meaning or connotation - whereas the description above was of how perfect the co-worker is! Words like wimp, meek, shy, inhibited, timid, insecury, quiet, etc. Not a single word describes his qualities, and all of the words imply an opposite meaning.
The Japanese word to describe this type of person is "sunao." Many Japanese have asked me how to say "sunao" in English, and I have to quit and just say there isn't an equivalent, and that you should have to describe the whole concept to an English speaker rather than just use an equivalent word. Sunao is written with kanji meaning something like "basic honesty."
Sunao is defined as: amenable // amiable // compliant // graceful // honest // malleable // obedient // straightforward // supple // tractable // yielding, meek, docile, unaffected, honest, frank, etc.
Two other words in Japanese are often used to describe such positive characteristics as well: otonashii (written with kanji meaning 'adult') and "tsutsumashii" that could be read as "a state of mind of truth."
Respective definitions:
obedient, docile, quiet
modest, reserved, quiet, humble
So, what would be some words to describe the perfect characteristics for an American? In a lot of ways, they would be words opposite in meaning to a lot of the above words. And, in a 'vice versa' fashion, many would have negative meanings and connotations in Japanese. Words like aggressive, assertive, outgoing, determined, driven, etc.
One thing I find really interesting is that an important personal trait in one culture may not even have a representative word in another culture.
The other day, a Japanese friend described her (male) co-worker, and asked me what that type of personality is called in English.
"He is quiet, and doesn't try to trouble others, and even if he gets upset he never shows it to anyone. He's the kind of person that would never think to show his anger to someone else, even if that person has done something to upset him."
Can you think of the English word to describe her co-worker? I certainly can't.
I can think of a group of words that are sort of similar - but in fact many of them are negative in meaning or connotation - whereas the description above was of how perfect the co-worker is! Words like wimp, meek, shy, inhibited, timid, insecury, quiet, etc. Not a single word describes his qualities, and all of the words imply an opposite meaning.
The Japanese word to describe this type of person is "sunao." Many Japanese have asked me how to say "sunao" in English, and I have to quit and just say there isn't an equivalent, and that you should have to describe the whole concept to an English speaker rather than just use an equivalent word. Sunao is written with kanji meaning something like "basic honesty."
Sunao is defined as: amenable // amiable // compliant // graceful // honest // malleable // obedient // straightforward // supple // tractable // yielding, meek, docile, unaffected, honest, frank, etc.
Two other words in Japanese are often used to describe such positive characteristics as well: otonashii (written with kanji meaning 'adult') and "tsutsumashii" that could be read as "a state of mind of truth."
Respective definitions:
obedient, docile, quiet
modest, reserved, quiet, humble
So, what would be some words to describe the perfect characteristics for an American? In a lot of ways, they would be words opposite in meaning to a lot of the above words. And, in a 'vice versa' fashion, many would have negative meanings and connotations in Japanese. Words like aggressive, assertive, outgoing, determined, driven, etc.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
"Japanese girls love Western guys"
My last post made me remember that I wanted to write about this. I'm going to break my ideas up by 8 numbers to make it a quick read (hmm I like numbers). I also mean this about all foreigners in general, but some points are necessary for West/US in specific.
1) It's not true. Japanese girls don't like foreign guys. See #2.
2) It's really not true.
3) Yeah, you heard about the guy who had so much success with girls in Japan. He was probably telling the truth. But, see #4.
4) Japanese women at the present rate, 1% of them marry foreigners. Of that 1%, 25% or so marry Westerners. To do the math, (0.025%) that means that 1 out of 400 Japanese women marries a Westerner. The other 399 may have never even spoken to a foreigner in their lives, and would be afraid to. Is that what they meant?
5) Sure, marriage isn't everything. Lots of Japanese have tried dating a Western guy, right? Well, If 1 in 400 marries, how many of the remaining 399 tried dating a Westerner or went home with one after a night at the club? Not as many as it would seem, see #6.
6) If you are a Westerner and want to pick up women, can or can't speak Japanese, odds are you'll end up at one of the bars or clubs that cater to Westerners. In Tokyo, that would generally be either Roppongi or Shibuya maybe. All Japanese girls know this. If they want a Western guy (or free English lessons, just as likely!), they'll try hitting up the Western clubs. How many of _those_ girls are interested in Westerners? A good number sure, but they make up maybe 1 out of every 10,000 girls in Tokyo.
7) Sure, if a girl can get past her nervousness about dating an alien species, and gain enough confidence that language problems won't arise, maybe she'll be curious about dating a foreigner. In a purely victorian way, it's "trying something new" and when the cultural differences and language differences hit, she's going to re-intergrate back into Japanese society along with the other 398 girls per 1 that actually stays with the Westerner.
8) Sure, an average or even ugly Western guy can have better chances with girls than in his home country. Why ? First, A) look at #7. He's a new thing to try. B) Japanese can't tell ugly Westerners from good looking ones. It's true. They have their own set of measurements. Someone that is considered "gangly, oafy, spindly and malproportioned" in his country will be called "tall" here (as in tall, white and handsome). There are a number of traits they look for, but they don't look with Western eyes, so they simply can't tell the good from the bad as far as Western ideas of beauty go. C) They want to practice English, and the running idea/joke is having a Western boyfriend is the best way to do that. D) Westerners remind them of Hollywood - of stars, celebrities - that stuff is almost as big as Japanese movies, stars and celebrities if not bigger.
9) Odds are if you meet and date/marry a Japanese girl, she's going to have better English than your Japanese is. Why? She's lived outside the country, she's adapted to another culture, and odds are she's far more a cultural citizen of that other country than of Japan (i.e. not Japanese).
10) Did I say it was hopeless? No, no, no. Don't get me wrong. I'm just attacking what I quoted in the topic, "Japanese girls love Western guys." My statistics, while rounded, are from reliable sources (Government papers I've translated and the Hiragana Times news magazine), and my experience seems to prove valid.
It's a lie, but not plainly and simply. It's an uninformed mistruth.
1) It's not true. Japanese girls don't like foreign guys. See #2.
2) It's really not true.
3) Yeah, you heard about the guy who had so much success with girls in Japan. He was probably telling the truth. But, see #4.
4) Japanese women at the present rate, 1% of them marry foreigners. Of that 1%, 25% or so marry Westerners. To do the math, (0.025%) that means that 1 out of 400 Japanese women marries a Westerner. The other 399 may have never even spoken to a foreigner in their lives, and would be afraid to. Is that what they meant?
5) Sure, marriage isn't everything. Lots of Japanese have tried dating a Western guy, right? Well, If 1 in 400 marries, how many of the remaining 399 tried dating a Westerner or went home with one after a night at the club? Not as many as it would seem, see #6.
6) If you are a Westerner and want to pick up women, can or can't speak Japanese, odds are you'll end up at one of the bars or clubs that cater to Westerners. In Tokyo, that would generally be either Roppongi or Shibuya maybe. All Japanese girls know this. If they want a Western guy (or free English lessons, just as likely!), they'll try hitting up the Western clubs. How many of _those_ girls are interested in Westerners? A good number sure, but they make up maybe 1 out of every 10,000 girls in Tokyo.
7) Sure, if a girl can get past her nervousness about dating an alien species, and gain enough confidence that language problems won't arise, maybe she'll be curious about dating a foreigner. In a purely victorian way, it's "trying something new" and when the cultural differences and language differences hit, she's going to re-intergrate back into Japanese society along with the other 398 girls per 1 that actually stays with the Westerner.
8) Sure, an average or even ugly Western guy can have better chances with girls than in his home country. Why ? First, A) look at #7. He's a new thing to try. B) Japanese can't tell ugly Westerners from good looking ones. It's true. They have their own set of measurements. Someone that is considered "gangly, oafy, spindly and malproportioned" in his country will be called "tall" here (as in tall, white and handsome). There are a number of traits they look for, but they don't look with Western eyes, so they simply can't tell the good from the bad as far as Western ideas of beauty go. C) They want to practice English, and the running idea/joke is having a Western boyfriend is the best way to do that. D) Westerners remind them of Hollywood - of stars, celebrities - that stuff is almost as big as Japanese movies, stars and celebrities if not bigger.
9) Odds are if you meet and date/marry a Japanese girl, she's going to have better English than your Japanese is. Why? She's lived outside the country, she's adapted to another culture, and odds are she's far more a cultural citizen of that other country than of Japan (i.e. not Japanese).
10) Did I say it was hopeless? No, no, no. Don't get me wrong. I'm just attacking what I quoted in the topic, "Japanese girls love Western guys." My statistics, while rounded, are from reliable sources (Government papers I've translated and the Hiragana Times news magazine), and my experience seems to prove valid.
It's a lie, but not plainly and simply. It's an uninformed mistruth.
Foreigners in Japan and a few ideas
Wow, it's been a few weeks since I've made a post. That's not good!
Well, this is the busy season for my job, and I think I'll be taking on a job to translate a book that will hit the shelves in the US, so while very cool, I'm going to be very busy too. In the meanwhile, I'll try to post smaller things as I think of them.
Coming back to the idea of the "other" - Here's a social science definition taken from wikipedia (you can refer to previous blog posts to read a bit more. It's going to be a recurring theme on this blog:
Lawrence Cahoone (1996) explains it thus:
"What appear to be cultural units—human beings, words, meanings, ideas, philosophical systems, social organizations—are maintained in their apparent unity only through an active process of exclusion, opposition, and hierarchization. Other phenomena or units must be represented as foreign or 'other' through representing a hierarchical dualism in which the unit is 'privileged' or favored, and the other is devalued in some way."
When I saw English speaking Americans in the US, and they had to be within close proximity of some foreign-language-speaking person(s).. for example, mexicans, I saw many of the people comment that the mexicans were probably saying bad things about them.
This is a weird psychological condition I've seen over and over again, where a person's lack of self-confidence or paranoia or whatever it is clouds judgment, and the other stands in as this 'exterior thing' that is mocking them.
What would give you the idea that everyone around you is mocking you? That's a sad way to live. And then, to look at that sort of experience - Ah yes, everyone that speaks a language I can't understand is using that language to put me down, to ridicule me, etc. It's very strange, and I've seen it everywhere.
I met a guy here in Japan that said, "Yeah, I can't speak Japanese. GOD KNOWS what they're saying about me when I see them look at me!"
I told him that I could understand it and that usually when a Japanese person looks at me and talks about me, it's like I'm a reminder that they should study English - almost every time I am near Japanese people and they notice me, suddenly their conversation turns to English study and how it's important to become more international and so on. Not exactly "haha stupid foreigner" or whatever.
The next thing is, I've noticed so much, when people see a lot of bits of the 'other' that they don't understand, they reduce it to something sexual. The other is not only this exterior thing that mocks them, but also some exterior thing of heightened sexuality that you cannot reach or join - almost a sort of sexual jealousy.
For example, I've read numerous accounts about "hot prostitute girls in Japan hand out tissues on the street to try to get you to come with them, and the tissues are for [ahem, peewee herman purposes]" and so many similar things. Or some foreigners see a Japanese sign they can't understand on a small dark alley street "ah, that must be a whorehouse!" Again, this isn't limited to Japan, but the ideas of exoticism of the country by people from other countries do lend to these ideas.
In truth, the tissues are used by every business in Japan - from pachinko (pinball) parlors to cosmetic companies to NEC, Sony, what-have-you. The tissues are something you can use, and they come with a little slip advertising the company. So they get the advertising, you get tissues, of course they'll have a young girl out on the street handing them out as a part time job, and of course you'll take them because it's a good deal. And that sign in the dark alley? It was a basic noodle restaurant.
Well, this is the busy season for my job, and I think I'll be taking on a job to translate a book that will hit the shelves in the US, so while very cool, I'm going to be very busy too. In the meanwhile, I'll try to post smaller things as I think of them.
Coming back to the idea of the "other" - Here's a social science definition taken from wikipedia (you can refer to previous blog posts to read a bit more. It's going to be a recurring theme on this blog:
Lawrence Cahoone (1996) explains it thus:
"What appear to be cultural units—human beings, words, meanings, ideas, philosophical systems, social organizations—are maintained in their apparent unity only through an active process of exclusion, opposition, and hierarchization. Other phenomena or units must be represented as foreign or 'other' through representing a hierarchical dualism in which the unit is 'privileged' or favored, and the other is devalued in some way."
When I saw English speaking Americans in the US, and they had to be within close proximity of some foreign-language-speaking person(s).. for example, mexicans, I saw many of the people comment that the mexicans were probably saying bad things about them.
This is a weird psychological condition I've seen over and over again, where a person's lack of self-confidence or paranoia or whatever it is clouds judgment, and the other stands in as this 'exterior thing' that is mocking them.
What would give you the idea that everyone around you is mocking you? That's a sad way to live. And then, to look at that sort of experience - Ah yes, everyone that speaks a language I can't understand is using that language to put me down, to ridicule me, etc. It's very strange, and I've seen it everywhere.
I met a guy here in Japan that said, "Yeah, I can't speak Japanese. GOD KNOWS what they're saying about me when I see them look at me!"
I told him that I could understand it and that usually when a Japanese person looks at me and talks about me, it's like I'm a reminder that they should study English - almost every time I am near Japanese people and they notice me, suddenly their conversation turns to English study and how it's important to become more international and so on. Not exactly "haha stupid foreigner" or whatever.
The next thing is, I've noticed so much, when people see a lot of bits of the 'other' that they don't understand, they reduce it to something sexual. The other is not only this exterior thing that mocks them, but also some exterior thing of heightened sexuality that you cannot reach or join - almost a sort of sexual jealousy.
For example, I've read numerous accounts about "hot prostitute girls in Japan hand out tissues on the street to try to get you to come with them, and the tissues are for [ahem, peewee herman purposes]" and so many similar things. Or some foreigners see a Japanese sign they can't understand on a small dark alley street "ah, that must be a whorehouse!" Again, this isn't limited to Japan, but the ideas of exoticism of the country by people from other countries do lend to these ideas.
In truth, the tissues are used by every business in Japan - from pachinko (pinball) parlors to cosmetic companies to NEC, Sony, what-have-you. The tissues are something you can use, and they come with a little slip advertising the company. So they get the advertising, you get tissues, of course they'll have a young girl out on the street handing them out as a part time job, and of course you'll take them because it's a good deal. And that sign in the dark alley? It was a basic noodle restaurant.
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