Ever wondered what twenty years of living in Japan would do to your brain? In this Blog I will cover this question frequently so please read on to find out! One of the most interesting things about talking about others, particularly a whole race of people, is that the very act of doing so makes you also reflect on yourself. A common Buddhist expression says “When you think of others, you think of self.”
So firstly, I want to draw some identification lines. Some people, particularly Westerners, who have lived in Japan, even only for a few years, end up wanting to actually be a Japanese. They talk like them, dress like them, and try to think like them. In all ways they have the desire to want to be Japanese, which is actually a just reflection of wanting to be accepted. It’s one thing to be accepted by the Japanese (as husband and wife for example) and entirely another to want to be accepted as a Japanese. This has never been something I have needed, not even for a second. Nor will it ever be that way. In fact, I find it quite weird. Wanting to be accepted is fine in itself, but as a Japanese? Would a Japanese for that matter really want to be a foreigner? For me, personally, that’s a step too far. On the otherhand It’s also true that our sense of self can equally be a sense of separation. For whatever reason though, such people often get profoundly upset when they are told the fact that they will never be fully accepted as Japanese by the Japanese. Of course, it’s a very different story for those children who have been born of both Japanese and foreign parents, and the internationalization of Japan is a very important topic for me, and indeed the entire country, but I will get into this fully in another post.
My point here is that we can all get obsessively carried away with thinking and labeling the world and that this left unchecked ultimately ends up overloading and distorting our sense of self. We don’t need to fundamentally change who we are, but we do need to disentangle ourselves and pause, and start to see things with a kind of reversed understanding. Kids have it naturally, imbued with a sense of wonder for the miraculous.
Just in the same way that the Japanese have converted “ideas from the West” into their own culture without becoming “Westernized” we too can borrow ideas from them to make our lives better, richer, clearer and in harmony with others around us. The Japanese way of being has a lot to offer the world, and some things that should never be, just as it is true of the West. As it is viewed from our unique perspectives for all of us, there are desired points and undesirable points on both sides of the fence.
As this topic is really the theme for my entire blog and website, I’m just aiming here to get you warmed up for the thrilling marathon ahead and, as always, in this post and I’m doing it through the lens of my own, purely Australian, glasses.
Imagine if you will that you have been living in Australia (as you no doubtedly have) and one day the government abruptly announces that the very nature of being an individual is no longer sustainable for the country (and for that matter the planet) and that everyone from now on has to think in the opposite direction. In fact, the Prime Minister states, “this way of thinking will now be systemized”. Up until now everything you have ever done has primarily been for yourself and now, this way of thinking, you have been told, is going to be upended and thrown into reverse.
This is what awaits an Aussie that migrates to Japan. “Confusion” is a word that springs to mind, but it’s not actually that, as, when the Japanese are dealing with you, they just harmonize with you and let everything slide over the top. Therefore, it’s not confusion you confront but more of the realization that you just can’t SEE, penetrate, or move forward in any way that is an advantage to you, unless It’s also beneficial to what the Japanese want from you themselves. Under any other circumstances, trying to make progress is very much like trying to mix oil with water!
So how does this affect you and your trip to Japan? As you are a traveler to Japan, you are a welcome guest, your presence obviously adding to the economy. While matters of money are buried deep, what this means is that, everything, the entire system, is designed down to the finest detail, to make your trip go smoothly. Quite literally then, everybody is thinking of you!
Let’s suppose however that you also want to penetrate beyond what is presented to you. Well, here is a kick starter. The nature of this reversed thinking means that life in Japan is totally structured. It’s especially designed so that one doesn’t have to think! Everything has been worked out in advance like some ingenious energy saving system. In fact, compared to us Aussies, the Japanese have very little experience with behavior that is inner directed.
So what does this mean for you specifically? Well firstly it means that while on your travels if you try to do something that is infrequently done, or has never been done before, then you are going to meet with a response you don’t want. By this I mean your attempt will fail simply because it is not something that is already in the system! Furthermore, because harmony is a big part of the system, the Japanese always try to avoid direct confrontation. You will be confronted with a “roundabout discussion” which never seems to go anywhere. Just take this as a “NO”.
When I arrived in Japan for the very first time in 1991, I was a very naïve twenty six year old. I expected to see many people walking around in Kimono and I had zero idea of how Japanese actually lived. As everything was completely opposite to my individual Aussie way of thinking, learning this turned out to be a very slow process. Even though I read books (in those days mainly about how to do business in Japan) clarity on the subject was something that was very difficult to grasp. Of course, I understood things here and there, but when I tried them on the system it was just in no way enough to have any kind of an effect.
Don’t be as naïve as I was. On your trip you should look out for the hidden. The bottom end of any society has always fascinated me simply because it is so telling. For many years I often wondered why the down trodden were not cared for in Japan. This is because the system has, from the early feudal days, always been about inequality, whereby the powerful control the weak. There is no sense of the need for Aussie fair play here, because from the Japanese point of view, there is no such thing as “right and wrong.” The idea that all people are equal is a Western invention. This is only agreed to, in principle, by the Japanese, who for centuries lived daily life separated by class and rank that were controlled by ritual. In terms of the “totally free” Aussie lifestyle this can be a very difficult philosophy to accept.
Perhaps it could be argued that we should not judge this, but rather just observe it. After all things are what they are. Who knows what leads a person to drop out of society? There can obviously be many reasons. From my own Aussie point of view however, having a sense of compassion here keeps me sane.
Next post: Fuji: Preparing for the journey ahead