May 11, 2004

• As I said, this will be the start of a series of observations based on my experiences over the last few months here. Some will be serious, some won’t be. I’ll still have regular updates, so if you want to skip reading the long essay-like entries ahead (or still comment) feel free.

  
  

  Escape from Nanzan

  
  

  Two meanings in that: one, I finished all my exams yesterday so I have no more classes left; and two, about a week ago I did have to break out of Nanzan University.

  
  

  Lemme explain that second one first. It was late at night (around 11PM) and I was walking from around the Irinaka Station area to get back to Nagoya Daigaku Station in time to catch a train home. I don’t know how to get from one station to the other directly (on foot), but I know how to get to Nanzan from either. So I walk to Nanzan. The south gate is wide open so I walk on through. I get to the north gate, though, and it’s shut tight; in fact, all other gates except for the south one through which I entered were shut.

  
  

  Me: #$&@(3&?!! Why the hell is this gate closed? …aw forget this, I’m not walking back; there has to be a way around it.

  
  

  I toss my bag over the gate and climb over the fence to continue on my merry way to the station. I find this to be a perfect analogy for my entire approach to Japanese bureaucracy…

  
  

  And, as I said, my classes are also done. I’m relieved, but now it feels like I have absolutely nothing to do. I mean, all the professors we had in IJ400 I think were great; about the class itself I have little to no complaints. Plus, it being the only class I really had to worry about, the ‘intensive’ part of it wasn’t even so much a worry. So now, there’s just finding what to do in the remaining three weeks I have in the country. KF

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  (Entry 1) The Absence of Culture

  I’ll admit, this will likely sound disagreeable to many people, and I expect that. A few of my opinions–especially on our usage of language and particular words–I express a bit strongly despite occasionally being way out in left field. So don’t be surprised if you find what I say completely ridiculous; though, I still do believe everything I write. Anyway, to the point: I don’t believe in the existence of culture. Or, more specifically, I don’t believe that what we think of as ‘culture’ is in line with what we like to think it means. (Now, for anyone who’s ready to ignore the rest because it’s not Japan-related, most of the examples I’m going to give are from my experiences in Japan.) Merriam-Webster’s definition (link here): the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. That’s what we want it to mean. How we normally use it, though, is to describe characteristics of ourselves or another group (real or artificial) to differentiate ‘us’ from ‘them’. In other words, our usage of culture isn’t to describe a particular group, but to differentiate us from them, or them from us. Let me give a few examples… What do you normally think of as examples of Japanese culture? Public baths, taking off shoes before entering the house, eating rice every day, sumo wrestling, kimonos, sushi or sashimi, etc. But, if I talked about how Japanese normally eat three meals a day–one in the morning, one around noon, and one around late afternoon-to-evening–that wouldn’t readily come to mind as a part of Japanese culture, would it? It doesn’t because we (meaning Americans) do the same thing. That is to say, because it’s not ‘different’ from us, it’s no longer in the realm of culture but the realm of something else… common-sense perhaps. Perhaps if we were coming from a Spanish perspective it would appear to be a cultural trait–but Spanish meals are usually eaten at different times (lunch is around 2-3 and the main meal). I.E., Spanish meals are done differently than American meals, therefore in comparing the two societies the timing of meals is a part of culture. But, because Japanese and American meals are usually done around the same time, that doesn’t come to mind when one thinks of cultural traits. Taken to a further extent, this also means that the meaning of culture is dependent upon two very subjective, transitory things: what one considers his own dominant culture, and what one considers a dominant culture in the world surrounding him. Let’s put it this way: I grew up taking off my shoes before I entered the house. Despite growing up with both Bengali and American cultural aspects, I never considered it a part of my ‘culture’–it was just common sense (i.e., I walk around outside and in public bathrooms with these shoes; I’m not tracking that into the house). It wasn’t until my regular, multi-generation-American friends came over and I asked them to take off their shoes that I figured it must have something to do with culture, since they didn’t normally do the same. When I got to Japan my first time, taking off the shoes in the foyer made sense to me. I mean, would you want to track mud all over your host family’s carpets and tatami mats? Bengali culture does it the same way, and that’s what was in my mind. The only way it comes to mind as a ‘cultural’ trait is if I compare it with typical American culture. Now, if I were fresh-of-the-boat from Bangladesh, I likely wouldn’t even pay the practice any mind, simply because American culture wouldn’t have as much of a presence in my train of thought. So it would perhaps be more accurate to describe ‘culture’ not as something which is a defining aspect of a particular group, but as a unique defining aspect of a particular group. Unique is obviously a subjective term, dependent upon the perspective of whomever is using the word. Culture, I believe, is the same way. This also means that ‘cultural differences’ is redundant (for something to be part of culture, it has to be different). ‘Cultural similarities’ is an oxymoron; the only reason it exists is if it’s possible to compare it to a third-party group (e.g., taking off your shoes is a cultural similarity between Indians and Japanese, from an American standpoint), or to contrast it with a number of other ‘cultural differences’ (e.g., Japanese also love baseball [despite the numerous differences they have with American society]). This is why it’s hard for Americans to think up many examples of American culture: we don’t have anything readily with which to compare. For Japanese it’s much easier–since bits of American culture are so widespread, there’s a basis for comparison. That’s why Japanese will likely consider taking of one’s shoes in the home a part of Japanese culture; had it been Indian culture which were dominant, this probably wouldn’t come to mind as part of ‘culture’. But American culture (real or not) has a presence across so much of the world that it’s a default basis for comparison–this is also why Canadian culture consists mostly of trying way too hard to prove how much they’re different from Americans. So that’s the gist of why I don’t quite believe that culture truly carries the idealized meaning we’ve come to give it. At the very least, I never experience ‘culture shock’ simply because I don’t believe that whatever’s supposed to shock me really exists. Well, what do y’all think? And not to worry, my future observations won’t be near this long, and likely more entertaining… KF

  • 1:37 am
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