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Introduction Images of Self and Other
An important aspect of human nature is the need for recognition. Each of us has an image of who he and the other is, but one's image of oneself, and the image that others have of one, do not always correspond. When these two images match we are generally happy and get along; when they do not, communication must occur so that each can adjust his image of himself with that of the other. When the relationship includes only two people, this adjustment is often straight forward, but not without its complications. This is because the number of images are six including the image that each of us has of himself, the image that each of us has of the other, and the image which each of us has of the total relationship -- namely, how both people see themselves when viewed by a third party. As you can readily imagine, even between two people the matching can sometimes be difficult.
Now, add a third person, and see how rapidly the number of images which must be matched increases. To simplify things consider only one person of the threesome at a time. He has his own image of himself, an image of each of the other two, an image of each person's relationship to himself, an image of the other two's relationship to each other, an image of his own relationship to the group, an image of each of the other's relationship to the group, as well as an image of the other two's relationship to the group. Finally, there must be an image which each has of the entire group when viewed by others from the outside. Have I forgotten any? Now multiply this number by three! If it is too much to count, please do not be concerned, because this list is likely not exhaustive. There are always the images that one has of the images that others have of oneself. Moreover, what has been ignored in all of the above combinations is the possibility of deception -- namely, the purposeful manipulation of appearances in order to conceal from others, what one believes to be the real truth. Huh? The real truth? If you have ever wondered why living with others can sometimes be difficult, then perhaps you should consider more carefully what these images truly entail.
In Japanese society appearance is not everything, but one's image of himself and others does perhaps receive more emphasis than in most other societies that I know. Evidence for this is the frequency with which Japanese take and exchange photographs at social gatherings. Of course, imaging need not apply only to our perceptions of each other, it can also apply to the things that we eat, the clothes that we wear, the automobiles that we buy, and the ways in which we wrap and display our merchandise. By way of example, USAmericans are very concerned about power and function; Japanese on the other hand, place important emphasis on form and structure, As a result, Japan has created some of the world's best architects and one of the most tightly knit social organizations in the world.
Importance of Social Roles
Of course, living our lives, always conscious of the aforementioned, permutated imagery, could be nerve wracking. This is one reason that we assign roles to ourselves and thereby simplify our interpersonal relationships. Moreover, each society has a different way to minimize the number of images with which each of us must deal by encouraging certain kinds of behavior. For example, in a low-trust society, in which everyone is suspicious of everyone else, because no one trusts anyone who is not a member of one's group, there is a high premium placed on organized activity. Is this not Japan?
With each person playing a carefully assigned role, that he often shares with a large number of other people, his behavior can be easily monitored and controlled. In order for organized group activities to succeed, however, they require a strong degree of cooperation between those who organize and participate in them. The strong emphasis on group spirit and self-discipline that characterizes Japanese society provides the basis for this cooperation. Unfortunately, it also tends to squelch individual Japanese identity, not to the point that it is extinguished, but to the point that it is no longer readily discernible. This is not to say that Japanese are generally confused or without a point of view, rather simply that the lucidity with which they perceive themselves, the direction that they place before themselves, and the determination with which they pursue their goals, are often confounded with the role that each must play in his or her respective group. When removed from their group context individual Japanese can appear just as self-serving, conceited, generous, and loving as anyone from any other society, and sometimes even more so. Indeed, without the presence of the group to constrain their action, that which they feel most, suddenly emerges in proportion to what was held back.
Pyramids of Boxes Inside Boxes in a Box What makes Japanese society Japanese is the characteristic way of organizing activity -- a pattern of behavior that repeats itself over and over throughout Japanese society. Indeed, it is this aspect of Japanese society that gives Francis Fukuyama the foolish audacity to label Japan a "high trust" society.33 Indeed, Japanese are one of the most distrustful nations of people I have ever encountered. Japanese are forever stabbing one another in the back, playing malicious pranks (itazura) on one another, and venting their frustrations out on the general public and their neighbors behind facades of innocence, pretension, and deceit.34 What makes Japan a "high trust" society in the Fukuyama sense is the patterned way of organizing things -- not a deeply rooted psychological predisposition of generosity and comradship towards complete strangers. Japan and US society are hardly comparable in this regard. Complete strangers simply to not come together spontaneously to do anything in Japan! Rather, someone has an idea and good friends in the right places. Together they pool their means and according to a pre-established way of doing things introduce something new, say an industrial technique, a recently discovered material or design, or even a club or association devoted to the consideration and further development of a new idea. Voila! A new product or service appears! Little or nothing new is invented by way of social organization; only the inputs, outputs, and targets of a pre-established social order changes.
What Francis Fukuyama would label social capital in Japan is not built on implicit trust among individuals sharing a common set of values or philosophic principles. Rather, it is a common way of organizing any and all activity in Japan, so as to ensure cooperation. In Japan it is more a matter of guilty until proven innocent, than presumed innocence. Comparing Japanese society to the US Marine Corps would certainly be a more fruitful endeavor, than intimating that Japanese are even vaguely similar to the "slugs" of Washington, D.C. and Springfield, Virginia.35 Neither approach is likely to amount to much, however. The label "Japan Inc." introduced by others is not completely without merit in this regard; though it can lead one wildly astray.
With the exception perhaps of the dual peaks formed by the Ministries of Finance and Education there is no single mountain of authority from which all power emanates in Japan. What does exist, however, is a pattern of social organization on the order of Mt. Fuji that repeats itself over and over throughout the Japanese social landscape. In the end few Japanese know very much about who controls their society, but everyone has an approximate idea of the mechanisms employed, and certainly everyone knows who stands directly over him -- be it his spiritual ancestors, parents, teachers, mentor, or boss!
If put to the task of characterizing Japanese society with a single metaphor, then it would be pyramids of boxes in boxes in a box.
With the exception of the outer most box, which is Japan itself, at the top of each box is a lid controlled by those inhabiting the next outer most box. In such a scheme one arrives at the top of one's own social pyramid -- namely, the top of the largest box -- only by passing through each of the smaller boxes contained within it. Though one can try to open the lid to one's box from the inside, such behavior is generally frowned upon, and likely to be punished with confinement in one's current box. Notwithstanding, those who occupy the outer boxes are free to open the lid's of lower boxes and view inside. Indeed, such viewing is even welcome by those within the smaller boxes, because it is only in this way that those inside become recognized and are allowed to pass into the next larger box. Within each box most everyone works together in a fairly egalitarian and democratic environment in which determine what goes on in their own box. Because creating a disturbance in one's box is likely to disturb those in other boxes, social harmony within each separate box is very important. Of course in the smallest box, one is completely alone and able to do what one wants, but the time spent in one's own box is more for rest than the pursuit of individual activity. In the end it is preferred to be in a larger box with others so as to avoid feelings of isolation. It is this need to be with others while still alone that Japanese have appropriately labelled wabi-sabi.36 Of course the boxes that form these pyramids are not always air tight, but one does not pass through the occasional holes within one's box without notice, and quickly returns for fear of being caught.
Few appear to offer younger Japanese, those who usually occupy the smaller boxes at the bottom of the pyramid, a picture of the entire scheme of things, because such a picture might entice them to push through the lid of their own boxes before it is time. Notwithstanding, after passing through several boxes in the prescribed manner one necessarily gets the hang of things and can easily imagine how things are handled in the next bigger box or even at the top of one's own pyramid. What transpires between the pyramids of boxes, however, remains a mystery to all but those who have reached the top. Yes, there are those who are able to obtain a glimpse of other pyramids from the outside by passing through the holes in the walls of the boxes of their own pyramid, but there is little they can hope to accomplish outside, because part of the requirements for moving upward from the smaller boxes to the larger boxes is the experience of having lived in the smaller boxes contained within a single pyramid.
In the end this form of social organization makes it very difficult for foreigners to enter Japanese society as anything other than special guests with permits to pass through the boxes to which they do not officially belong. Moreover those who do eventually become members of a Japanese box and pyramid are unlikely to have the credentials required to move into larger boxes, because they have never occupied smaller boxes of the same pyramid as anything more than visiting guests. Moreover, foreigners generally lack the procedural familiarity required to move from one box to the next -- familiarity which few Japanese have themselves, until they have already passed through several boxes on their own. Thus, more often than not special boxes are built for foreigners, which although contained within the largest box of the pyramid do not generally form a part of the same hierarchical arrangement through which most Japanese members of the pyramid must pass.
33 Francis Fukuyama. 1996. Trust. The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. Chapters 14 and 15. New York: Free Press Paperbacks, pp. 161-183. (text)
34 The Japanese hirgana for the word itazura are いたずら. Although seldom written in this manner the Sino-Japanese rendering is much more revealing -- namely, 悪戯 (bad fun or enjoyment). (text)
35 Francis Fukuyama. 1999. The great disruption. Human nature and the reconstitution of social order. Chapter 8, Where do norms come from? New York: The Free Press, pp. 143-144. (text)
36 The expression wabi-sabi (わびさび) apparently originated from the Japanese words wabishii (わびしい) and sabishii (さびしい). Wabishii translates into English in wide variety of ways including cheerless, comfortless, dreary, disconsolate, forsaken, recluse, sunless, and wintry. Sabishii can be rendered as depressed, unfulfilled, lonely, cut-off, and solitary. (See 岩波国語辞典第五版 (Iwanami Kokugo Jiten Dai Go Ban). Iwanami Japanese Dictionary, 5th Edition and リーダーズ英和辞典 (Riidaazu Eiwa Jiten), English-Japanese Reader's Dictionary. Both contained in システムソフト電子辞典バージョン3.3. SystemSoft's Electronic Dictionary, V.3.3.) Together these two expressions capture the notion of the individual Japanese alone in his group. (text | the problem of wabi-sabi)
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