GEt youR caFFEinE Fix in thE city - Metropolis

The Last Word
Spot the
Difference
The cost of
Japan’s “Us vs.
Them” mentality
By glen Clancy
When you’re riding
the train in
Japan, take note
of where everyone
sits around
you. If there is a spare seat next to
you and a spare seat across the way,
Japanese people will often take the
latter. Is this racism? I would argue
not—at least not a sinister form of
racism.
There were 2.1 million foreigners
liv ing in Japan in 2010, 1.6
percent of its 127 million total population.
In Japan, common attitudes
towards foreigners (or what I’d call
“soft racism”) are often born out of
the ever-present focus on cultural
difference rather than feelings of
superiorit y (“hard racism”). The
decision to avoid sitting next to a foreign
person on the train most likely
derives from a fear of the unknown,
rather than a genuine aversion to
foreign people.
The word for foreigner in Japan,
gaijin, has become synonymous
with an “us” and “them” mentality.
In Japan, you’re often not an Australian,
Briton or Indonesian. You’re
simply a gaijin.
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The linguistic classification of
foreigners into a single group both
inadvertently encourages ignorance
of the array of different cultures
worldwide, and prevents the realization
of the many social and human
similarities other cultures share
with the Japanese. For example, I’ve
often been asked such questions
here as, “Do people overseas eat a
lot of rice?” or, “Do people overseas
drink coffee?”—as if everyone outside
Japan is a united entity.
But there are advantages to this
shared national psyche. It bonds the
Japanese people closer together and
forms a family-like union between
127 million people, or rather—124.9
million people.
This sense of family unit y is
reflected in universal social practices
such as removing shoes before
entering a house or school, the custom
of public bathing in onsen as
well as activities such as nabe parties
or izakaya outings. Following the
Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of
3/11/2011, there were numerous foreign
reports written in admiration of
Japanese victims and refugees lining
up courteously in ration queues
and remaining considerate of others
despite the horrific conditions.
Another example of this consideration
lies in a story of a friend of
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mine who headed home after work
one day carrying ¥100,000 rent in
cash. As he reached for his wallet
before arriving home his gut sank
with the realization that it was gone.
As happens in so many stories of this
kind in Japan, the local police station
called him to interrupt his distress.
A stranger had found the wallet on
the street and handed it in—along
with its precious contents. Though
many readers might have heard—or
experienced—stories like this, it’s
worth remembering that there are
few countries in the world where
this k ind of thing happens. The
family-like bond in Japanese society
breeds this kind of common respect
and thoughtfulness for their fellow
community members—and even a
foreigner, in this case. But this sense
of unity comes at a price.
Many Japanese people struggle
to relate to foreigners. Often when
I order at a restaurant in Japan, for
example, the waiter will turn to
my Japanese friends and reply to
them—even though I’ve just spoken
in Japanese. This lack of familiarity
and understanding of foreign
cultures could be damaging to an
aging Japan faced with increased
immigration and intensifying globalization
pressures.
Some of these social issues have
been recognized by the Japanese
business community who lobbied
successfully for English to become
a compulsory subject for fifth- and
sixth-grade elementary school students
from 2011—albeit only one
lesson per week. Rakuten, Japan’s
largest internet online retailer,
announced that English will be the
company’s official language by 2012,
with all internal meetings held in
English.
The Japanese government has
also made some steps towards “internationalizing”
the Japanese psyche
over the past few decades. Way back
in 1978, the government launched
the Japan Exchange and Teaching
(JET) program in communities
across Japan. In 2011 there were
4,330 participants from 39 countries
acting as assistant language teachers
(ALTs), sports education advisors
(SEAs), and coordinators of international
relations (CIRs). The program
has been largely effective promoting
cross-cultural interaction at grassroots
level. However, there still
remains a gap in the appreciation of
the diversity of foreign cultures, and
a communication gap.
Japan needs to expand on these
programs and policies to strengthen
cultural awareness and, in turn,
improve Japanese international relations.
This will expose more Japanese
to foreign people—hopefully without
adversely affecting their family-like
social bond—and allow them to
communicate, exchange ideas and
most importantly, relate. And perhaps
the next time I’m travelling on
a train in Tokyo and there are two
empty seats, a Japanese person will
sit next to me, not because they chose
to sit next to a foreigner, but because
they didn’t see a difference.
ThiS lAck oF
UndERSTAnding
oF FoREign
cUlTURES coUld
BE dAmAging To An
Aging JApAn FAcEd
wiTh inTEnSiFying
gloBAlizATion
pRESSURES”
■ Glen Clancy is a former resident of
Japan who now works at Arena magazine
in Melbourne. He can be found online at
www.aussiebeef.wordpress.com
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