Fitting the Pieces Together

More Unique History, Language, and Culture

It is likely difficult to trace the origin of the word nihonjin-ron, because it is the kind of word that is easily invented and understood by those familiar with the underlying concept. One can imagine a Japanese, who after much discussion with foreigners and significant reading on his own, gradually came to realize that much of what he and other Japanese have believed about certain things for so long was simply not true, Alternatively, one can imagine a foreigner who spent much of his life studying Japanese language and society and gradually tired of hearing the same thoughts expressed from a variety of different Japanese sources so many times -- ­ thoughts that he knew to be contrary with his own knowledge and that he was forced to reconsider as a result. Either of these two sorts of people could have invented the word nihonjin-ron.

Nihonjin-ron (theoretical explanations given by Japanese) is, be it factual or not, common knowledge shared among Japanese about themselves and the world at large. It is knowledge that others find difficult to believe, because it runs contrary to what they know, or at least believe, to be true.

Facts are something that are verifiable in nature, or at least by others with contrary beliefs. Belief on the other hand are ideas that we share with others, but can neither prove nor disprove, because there exist no testable hypotheses that others who share different beliefs can employ to verify the authenticity of what is believed.

In short, we believe, simply because everyone else believes, and social order requires general agreement on certain things that are not verifiable. For example eating noodles with chopsticks is a verifiable fact, but no one can prove that eating with chopsticks is a superior way of eating noodles. Those who are brought up in East Asian culture believe that it is superior, only because they consider themselves East Asians and that is the way East Asian eat noodles. Eating noodles with chopsticks in the West is likely to invite ridicule and distrust, or simply identify one as being different and wayward. In the end, we do not challenge commonly held beliefs for fear of being considered a fool, a troublemaker, or a social heretic. Society in chaos is not a comfortable place to live, and those who threaten established beliefs are a threat to social order. Nihonjin-ron is on the order of belief, because it has become so much a natural part of the way Japanese think.

The problem with nihonjin-ron is that Japanese do not view it as belief, rather they hold it up to themselves and others as fact, and expect people from other countries to view it in the same way as do they. Fortunately, fact does not change as one move across national borders for if it did technology would not be transferable. Nevertheless, there do exist facts about human society that are not on the order of technology and do have application across national borders. For example, modernization is a social as well as a technological fact, and the effect that modernization has on society is similar throughout the world. The social relationships that exist in agricultural societies are generally not sustainable in commercial societies, because the relationships between people and their means of livelihood are fundamentally different.

These changes are not attributable to one society or another; they are facts, however complex in nature, that correspond to historical process and know no national boundary. Nevertheless, by insisting that Japanese society is somehow different many Japanese believe that by excluding foreign influences they can shield themselves from the pernicious social effects that modernization brings with it. In other words, they view themselves as special, modernization as foreign, and technology as separate and distinct from society -- a neutral factor, as it were.

By insisting upon a set of beliefs that simply do not square with the facts they alienate themselves not only from the rest of the world, but also from themselves. Mind you this is not to say that other cultures do not suffer from their own historical traditions, belief systems, and social myths.  Nevertheless, by insisting that Japan is somehow more unique than other countries Japanese makes it particularly difficult for Japanese to communicate with the rest of the world, and pervert their own understanding of who they are. This is an important loss for everyone.

So why do Japanese insist that they are more unique than others?

Probably the single most important answer to this question is that being special gives one the right to privileges not accorded to others and exempts one from punishments to which others are otherwise subject. Important to note in this regard is that Japan's special character does not appear to be merely of its own invention; rather it is the result of a combined effort on both the part of Japanese and foreigners living in Japan. Consider the following by way of example:

• More than any other industrially advanced nation of the world is it not the United States government that stresses the importance of an individual's right to pursue his personal happiness free of ethnic, racial, and religious prejudice? Notwithstanding, is it not also Japan that indefatigably insists that Japan remain a racially and ethnically pure society, and that its citizens adhere to collective restraints on individual freedom generally considered intolerable in the United States?
• Is it not Japan more than any other nation in the free world that denounces the use of nuclear weapons and the application of armed force beyond its national boundaries, but consistently supports the world's single largest supplier of conventional arms. There is no country in the world with as many overseas military bases as the United States, and the United States government maintains a very strong nuclear arsenal. There are no greater military spenders in the world today than the United States and Japan.
  

Are these blatant contradictions not excused by both US and Japanese citizens because of Japan's "special character"?

No one is advocating that either Japan or the United States quit the military alliance that they have shared for so long, because both societies have much to learn from each other and a strong military alliance encourages mutual discovery. Maintaining a solid military friendship between two so very different societies also offers hope to the rest of the humanity that peace and prosperity are possible between nations of such diverse historical, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. Rather, that the veil that covers Japan be withdrawn, so that Japanese and others can properly understand, who the Japanese people truly are and the real historical context in which they find themselves! If this is not achieved than someday history will demand the truth, but at a nonpropitious moment, when many who have built their lives and fortunes, either consciously or unconsciously, on misunderstanding and deception will be bitterly disappointed.

Perhaps the USAmericans and Japanese will slowly come to terms with reality before it comes crashing in upon their heads. Perhaps the thunder cloud that has risen over Japan since the close of World War II will simply pass with the winds of change and time. Perhaps the Chinese social-market economy will simply blow eastward across the Western Pacific and force the US-Japan alliance apart as both countries compete for market share in what could easily become the world's largest domestic economy. One cannot live forever in a lie, because time does not stand still, and the world is moving forever forward.

We can send people to the moon, because what we believe to be true about the world is verifiable in nature, and we can find comfort in our beliefs because we share them with others. Nevertheless, beliefs that are founded on a reality that no longer exists eventually dissolve. We can hide from reality in the short run just as we can find momentary relief from our frustrations in cinema, at a concert, with a good book, or a bottle of sake in the company of good friends, but always we must return to the source of our frustration, if it is both real and important.

When Japanese draw the line between themselves and the rest of the world, they must realize that they draw a line between themselves and humanity. For better or for worse, humanity is bigger than Japan and can care no more about Japan than Japan cares about itself. If Japanese wish to succeed in the world, then they must embrace humanity, not as an artificial world that they recreate within Japan, while other Japanese conquer overseas markets, so as to insure a continuous import of food, raw materials, and energy, but as a part reality with which Japanese must join hands. Japan can no more be a self-indulging, sulking child who hides behind closed doors until its parents seek it out; than a protective bully who crashes in the doors of its neighbors with claims of imperial authority.

Nihonjin-ron was not the invention of a single government agency, political party, or academic circle. It is barely even a school of thought; rather, it is a popular way of thinking, that arose from the trauma of World War II and the postwar occupation, and that has been repeatedly reinforced over the years to serve a variety of political, economic and social ends. One cannot point the blame for the perpetration of this myth at a single government agency or group of intellectual elite, nor can one simply undo it with courses offered at a local university. Nihonjin-ron is just as much a part of Japanese language and culture as taking one's shoes off before entering a room covered with tatami (tightly woven straw matting). Moreover, nihonjin-ron continues to serve an important role in Japanese society no matter how anti-social it may appear from a worldly perspective. Unfortunately, that role no longer appears nearly as productive as it once was, and in many cases it appears debilitating. The socio-psychological, linguistic barrier, that Japanese have built to shield themselves from the occupation and semi-colonialization of a reality long past, is far more restrictive than it is protective in today's world.

Many Japanese who go abroad find it difficult to function well, unless there are other Japanese to support them. So convinced that they are more different than everyone else, they find it difficult to free themselves sufficiently enough from their own upbringing and acquire the habits and language of someone else. It appears that many Japanese actually prefer to learn foreign languages at home and pretend that they are international, rather than go abroad and experience life in a foreign culture.

Many Japanese marvel when foreigners can learn to speak their language as well as they, because they have been told most of their lives that Japanese is the most difficult language in the world and that only they can truly speak and understand it. Sometimes it appears that Japanese even listen for their guest's mistakes so as to confirm their own false conviction that foreigners cannot speak Japanese as well as they. Often Japanese look at the outside world in horror and blame foreigners for every imaginable social ill within their own society.

In the end there exist few things that are purely Japanese except the words nihon, nihon-jin, and nihon-go and of course everything good and bad that Japanese associate with them. What makes a society unique are the constellation of its parts -- not the parts themselves. Human beings are too much alike to be considered as different as many Japanese prefer to think.

It is one thing to know what makes a good Japanese different from a bad Japanese; it is quite another to believe that there exists a perfect Japanese or a perfect Japan. All individuals, no matter their place of birth, their parents' origin, or the region in which they grew up, are a product of both the good and bad of their own society. One may strive to maintain a clear line between good and bad, and even insist that foreigners living in one's society adhere to that line, but one cannot claim that foreigners are not as capable as Japanese of learning where that line is drawn. More importantly one cannot claim that foreigners by their very nature are always in the wrong.

Putting the Ship Back on Course

In order to escape from the perversion of historical process that nihojin-ron entertains Japanese need to reassess their historical legacy and their relationship with the United States. They must stop blaming the West and especially the United States for all that is evil in their world and must stop looking to their pre-Meiji past for everything that is Japanese and good. Insofar as nihonjin-ron is so deeply embedded into the Japanese psyche, this is likely to be a difficult task without the help of foreigners to reveal for Japanese the forest behind whose trees they live.