The Japanese Way

World within a nation

Although many Japanese make a sincere effort to help foreigners participate in Japanese society, together they are confronted with an enormous task ­ in overcoming the resistance, ignorance, or indifference of other Japanese, who are proportionately much larger in number. The end result is a few bilingual Japanese caring for a large number of non-Japanese speaking foreigners who have surrendered to a fate of relative isolation or superficial interaction with Japanese society at large.

The upshot of this is a kind of artificial miniaturization of the outside world within the host nation with small groups of self-appointed, bilingual, Japanese civilian diplomats shuttling back and forth between these hosted communities and Japanese society at large. Mind you this is not to say that every foreigner living in Japan lives in a geographically isolated ethnic community. Neither is it too say that foreigners living in these communities do not have the freedom to leave them. Indeed, it is better not even to think of these communities as geographical locations, although geography sometimes plays a very important role. Rather, they should be thought of as psycho-sociological national boundary lines between Japanese and foreigners in general on the one hand, and Japanese and foreigners of particular foreign countries residing in Japan on the other.

In the former instance Japanese and foreigners participate at various organized meeting where each side has the opportunity to meet the other and engage in language and cultural exchange. These meeting are often sponsored by local government and various civic groups concerned about the seeming inability of the larger Japanese community to accommodate the foreign presence. The predominate languages are EngIish and Japanese, and not a few Japanese attend these events for English language practice. In the latter instance, the shoe is often on the other foot, and it is foreign governments and local ethnic civic groups concerned about the welfare of their own citizenry living in Japan, who sponsor them. The languages at these latter meetings are primarily those of their ethnic or national host sponsors.

The number of foreigners who join Japanese organizations that are not dedicated to either language, culture, or international business appear to be few. Moreover, the participation of foreigners in Japanese organizations is often limited by their role as the group's token foreigner. Thus, the role of unofficial diplomat is not limited solely to Japanese. The primary language at these meetings is, of course, Japanese, but still pressure is exerted on the foreigner to teach English or his mother tongue, whichever is in greatest demand by individual members of his host's organization.

Even long term residents of Japan with Japanese spouses send their children to private schools designated for other children with international backgrounds rather than to public or private Japanese schools, where they might grow up with "normal" Japanese children. These international schools tend to be very expensive, because their teaching staff are more often than not of foreign origin, and pecuniary incentives play an important role among members of the foreign community living in Japan. The children of foreign residents who cannot afford to send their children to these private schools are often disadvantaged, if at least one of their parents is not Japanese. Lacking the language and cultural training of their Japanese peers pushes these children automatically to the periphery of school social life.

Being different and the same

If this is Japan's vision for the future of the world outside of Japan -- not simply Japan's recreation of the world within its borders; then which government does Japan wish to see in charge of the world in which Japan necessarily becomes a minority population? Or perhaps, Japan does not view itself as a model for the rest of the world and prefers just to be left alone as more different from everyone else?

Truly I do not know what Japan's vision of the world is, because I am not privy to what is said in Japan's elite government, political and industrial circles, where the decisions about Japan's future and Japan's relationship with the outside world are largely made. Certainly, if a vision does exist, then it has yet to become public knowledge. What I do hear repeatedly from the Japanese general public, however, is an alternation between several well-practiced points of view that are barely coherent and more often than not employed as debate tactics rather than carefully thought out strategies for world progress.

For example, the same Japanese who insist that Japan is unique and cannot be compared with other nations, often contend that other nations are no different. Although there is nothing contradictory about these two notions, they are only valid so long as the standards used for comparison are different. For example, when a Chinese points the finger of blame at Japan for its crimes against humanity, Japanese frequently point to the United States and say what about the atomic bomb. This despite Japan's standing treaty with the US that places Japan directly under the US nuclear umbrella. Thus, when Japan is incurring blame, its citizenry prefer to think of themselves just like everyone else, but when there are obvious benefits to be obtained from being different, Japanese are quite content with being different.

When someone from the US complains to Japan that its markets are closed, Japanese insist that Japan's history and culture have always been different and that it was not Japan who forced the US to open its markets to Japanese. Well, if Japan receives no benefits from its activity in US markets, why does it not withdraw? Certainly, the US military presence in Japan is at the invitation of the Japanese government. Is there an unsettled account between the US and Japan, which only the US is unwilling to repay?

One sometimes has the feeling that Japan cares only about Japan, and its only sense of world vision is to do what is best for Japan. Of course, both Japanese and Western observers claim that no nation is altruistic and that Japan is simply behaving like everyone else. Well, if becoming international were only the task of formally appointed diplomats, I suppose both sides might have a good argument here.