Images of Japan

Image Collecting

Having examined the motivation for deception and the institutional framework which makes Japanese society especially vulnerable to the creation of nihonjinron, let us turn to some of the prevailing images of Japanese society that have likely resulted from this deception. The images that I am about to share with you have been collected while both an active participant in, and non-participating foreign observer of Japanese society. Imagine a displaced person looking for a new home where he could advance a career that he began very late in life on the one hand, and an impassioned observer of human society with extensive overseas and foreign language experience on the other.

As someone once aptly put it to me many years ago, becoming a member of a new society is like placing a mask over one's face and wearing it everyday until it begins to feel so much a part of one that it is eventually forgotten. Of course, the analogy dictates that the proper mask be known in the first place, and this is rarely the case. Moreover, everyone does not wear the same mask in the same society, because each of our personalities and personal histories is different. Accordingly, one must find a mask that not only reflects one's host society, but also matches the contours of one's own personality. In order to achieve this end one must actively participate in one's host society, for it is only through experimentation that one finally comes up with a mask with which both the individual and the individual's host society can feel comfortable. By then, the mask is hardly necessary.

As a foreigner in Japan this process is particularly difficult, because Japanese want so badly to draw a strict line between that which is Japanese and that which is not. To make matters worse, many of these same Japanese are confused about just exactly where that line should be drawn. Moreover, the foreigner in Japan is sometimes accorded certain privileges, which, should he take advantage of, accentuate his foreign identity. Becoming a member of a new society is hardly an easy task in the first place and refusing to take advantage of these privileges is not always easy. Also, because not everyone agrees on what it means to be Japanese, misperceptions on either side can lead to animosity on the part of the host, and eventual isolation of the guest. Where one was treated before as a welcome foreigner, one becomes an unwelcome obâsutê (overstay) or hen na gaijin (an unusual or strange foreigner). In the end, if one is able to perceive oneself in one's own mirror as a Japanese, and that image is an accurate reflection of Japanese society, then it is likely that others will tend to perceive one that way as well, but as noted elsewhere this is not always sufficient.

Of course, things are much easier in Japan, if one simply plays the role of foreign observer, eternal guest, or perpetual student. In general, certainly not in all cases, Japanese do not want foreigners to participate in Japanese society as anything more than interested observers or invited guests with limited participation. In effect, foreigners are often perceived as international ornaments employed to decorate festive domestic occasions. Japanese often begin with the assumption that Japaneseness is something that only Japanese can know. As a result, attempts to become Japanese are frequently viewed as a threat to established beliefs and an invitation to social disruption. Students of Japanese language and society are routinely expected to return to their respective countries and teach others about Japan. The idea, of course, is to teach what they have been taught, but not necessarily what they have learned. Ironically, foreign observers appear to be observed more often than they observe. But then, could the relative numbers of those who are observing and their often very different outward appearance lead to a very different outcome?

The images that I am about to describe are hardly mine, but they are the one's with which I have been struggling for the past eight years. Many of these images appear to be accurate descriptions of the way Japanese truly perceive themselves, many others are merely comfortable surface images that Japanese display in order to turn foreigners away or to cover up things Japanese prefer to keep hidden. These latter images are highly ritualized in so far as they are repeated ad infinitum by almost everyone. Other images are those shared among foreigners and accurately reflect Japanese society just as often as not. Certainly part of the deception can be clearly placed on the gaijin's doorstep, because most foreign-born residents, and many Japanese-born foreigners, live on the perimeter of Japanese society and only participate in it, as do many Japanese, in a limited number of ways.

In order to simplify the complexity that these images entail I have tried to organize them conceptually into those that are commonly shared among both Japanese and foreigners, and those that are not. Mind you, just because an image is shared does not make it valid, ­ it simply proves that if the image is truly a deception then it is mutually deceiving. Similarly unshared images are not necessarily false images; the same image can be viewed through two different cultural prisms simultaneously.  Finally, my standard of judgment is my own, and does not necessarily reflect everyone elses.

It is unlikely that you will agree with the entire set of imagery displayed below, because Japanese society is both vast and complex, and each of us, Japanese or foreign, participates in it differently. Moreover, I have collected these images from a large variety of sources, the entirety of which most readers have only been exposed in part -- including me.